Update 23.09.25 changes: - The main part of this update is the preview for the "time skip" system and the first part for the war events. The "time skip" system will advance the events after the current end of the main story and is split into different phases. My plan is to keep adding to these phases over time, as it's too much to do it all at once, while also continuing the content of the "current" time. You can enter the "time skip preview" by using the sparkling book in Ryen's bedroom in the castle of Aldlyn. - Only the "pre-war" phase has events at first, where the story guides you to the war phase. There are some dialogs in the "pre-war" phase you only get when you have previously selected to prepare for war against that nation. - During the war phase, you can fight with the vanguards, or use a text based system if you want to get through the story faster. (Currently only Begus is available for war.) - The text based system has a random chance to win or lose battles, depending on various factors like army skill level, special equipment (like anti-cold armor), or choices during the dialogs. Losing a battle this way will cost you only Action Points. There is a special reward for finishing the battle at Meddling Castle within a time limit, but else there is no rush or limit to the AP or turns you have. - There are 8 battle locations for the current version of the war system: Near Witton, center border of Central and Begus, near Parverhill, the street in the north of Begus, Ironholm Prison, Diminus Castle, Meddling Castle, and one story battle after Meddling Castle. The story battle after Meddling Castle was secured is the current end of the test version. (There are no battles available for Amagal or Dorgania yet)
- At the start of the battle, you can now select to change the formation. It doesn't allow you to move the starting positions, but you can swap the squads with each others, for example, to put your melee units in front, and ranged units in the back. - In the formation phase, you can also change a squad on the battlefield to one of the unused squads from the reserve. - The formation phase allows you to look around the battlefield before you start the battle. - I added little icons to show how troops in vanguard battles are armed. - Fixed a bug which caused the previously used armor to disappear when you changed the armor of some vangaurd leaders to plain armor. - Fixed a bug which caused enemy melee squads in vanguard battles to counter ranged attacks. - I changed the white arrows of the "selection icon" you use to interact with things, for example on the country overview map, by adding a black border all around it. This way it's easier to see on white backgrounds. - New design for the list of items and equipment of the vanguard forces, and where to get it, to include the new war battles: https://i.ibb.co/GVnYSZt/Vanguard-item-list-tall.png For the next update, I plan to finish the vanguard battles and events for Begus (Whitestone Citadel, Norhall Stronghold, and Calterburry) and the war with Amagal. The future story will explain more about some of the things that happen during the war phase in this update.