Reworked farmland, recruitment, battles -Phase 19

Dear City Builders,

Greetings.

Last time, we shared the design direction for the new player tutorial's independent levels and the redesigned farmland system.

This week, along with the accompanying video development log, we'll provide a more intuitive demonstration of how "Spring Planting, Summer Cultivation, and Autumn Harvest" are now functioning.

I. Why Rebuild Farmland?

Farmland is a fundamental system in *Beacon of the Sands*.

Spring planting, summer cultivation, autumn harvest, and winter storage are not just about visual atmosphere; they are the foundation for a city's survival.

This overhaul of the farmland system focuses on three main areas:

Reducing the number of planting steps.

Simplifying the understanding of the fertility mechanism.

Predicting expected output in advance.

II. Spring: Merging "Reclamation" and "Sowing" into "Cultivation"

Previously, "Reclamation" and "Sowing" were separate actions in spring.

After this update, "Reclamation" and "Sowing" in spring will be merged into a single "Cultivation" action.

Newly created farmland will default to planting millet. This is primarily to reduce the situation where "farmland is built, but the crop is forgotten, resulting in empty land."

III. Fertilization: Reworked

After the adjustment, the initial fertility of farmland will be determined by the average fertility of the area selected during construction. Current fertility can be viewed in the "Summary" and "Planting" tabs of the farmland.

The rules for fertility consumption and recovery will also be clearer: fertility will be gradually deducted after each autumn harvest; fertility will gradually recover each summer if the land is fallow. No additional laborers are required during fallow periods.

In short, planting consumes fertility, and fallowing restores it.

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IV. Summer Care Allows You to Preview the Autumn Harvest

Once farmland enters the summer care phase, it continuously consumes "water" and "fertilizer," and requires laborers to weed. These three elements—water, fertilizer, and weeding—collectively affect crop ripening progress and the final autumn yield.

During the summer care phase, players can preview the estimated autumn yield under the current conditions, allowing for early assessment of the season's harvest.

It's important to note that even without any summer care, farmland will have a guaranteed minimum yield; a complete crop failure is not guaranteed.

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5. In autumn, clearer progress feedback is added to the harvest stage.

After the farmland enters autumn harvest, the current harvest progress and remaining harvest quantity will be displayed in real time. At the same time, the harvest progress, harvest performance of farmers, and product acquisition will be synchronized, allowing players to more clearly see how this season's harvest is being completed.

At present, the overall UI of farmland is still in the first version state, and will continue to be adjusted in the future.

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VI. Brief Summary of This Week's Updates

Besides the farmland system, a batch of system adjustments, feature optimizations, and bug fixes were added to the Pioneer Test Package this week.

Here's a brief list categorized for easy reference.

**Recruitment System**

The recruitment system has also undergone some changes and adjustments.

Armory Adjustments:

Recruitment is impossible without an armory. The armory will also be a unique building type, preventing the construction of a second armory.

The recruitment panel has also added more detailed options. Players can now select to recruit only specific types of equipment, such as iron swords; weapon categorization has also been reorganized.

Additionally, two new recruitment priorities have been added:

Fastest Speed:

Prioritizes recruits and laborers closer to the armory;

Minimal Work Impact:

Prioritizes idle recruits and laborers or those with minimal impact on current production.

Of course, there are also some rule adjustments, which will be highlighted in the next log.

**Other System Optimizations**

● In the Nobility System, the population requirement for promotion has been changed from population count to number of units.

● Adjusted the wall shield values ​​to prevent low-level weapons from being completely unable to penetrate them.

● Fixed the issue where the charge mechanic for infantry wielding spears was not triggered.

● In conjunction with recruitment-related changes, the probability of soldiers getting sick has been significantly reduced, but they can still contract plague.

● Expanded the number of auto-save slots.

● Added a prompt that the game needs to be restarted after changing frame generation settings.

● Graphics cards that support frame generation will now have it enabled by default.

● Unavailable options in the graphics settings will no longer be displayed.

Bug Fixes

● Fixed the issue of recruited laborers losing their weapons.

● Fixed the issue of missing translations in some language versions.

● Fixed the issue of some crew members' equipment not being properly returned after disbanding chariot units.

● Fixed the issue of farmland textures incorrectly displaying as white in DX11.

● Attempted to fix the issue of roads abnormally disappearing and then reappearing in some cases.

● Fixed the issue of some chariot spearman models displaying incorrectly.

● Fixed the issue of some buildings incorrectly displaying debugging blue lines.

● Fixed an issue where the road interface would open simultaneously when the mouse hovered over a road while constructing a building.

● Fixed some potential crash issues.

● Fixed an issue where shortcut key remapping prompts were incorrect after loading a save.

● Fixed an issue where copied and pasted configurations in the building panel did not update promptly.

● Fixed an issue where removing retainers could incorrectly reset the current building recipe.

● Fixed an issue where the total population display after loading a save might be inconsistent with the actual population.

● Fixed an issue where new key bindings did not update promptly when remapping.

● Fixed an issue where the laborer survival board did not refresh promptly, preventing imprisonment.

● Fixed an issue where the disease status UI above a soldier's head was misaligned after the soldier grew larger.

● Fixed an issue where attached defensive structures were not removed when demolishing rammed earth walls.

● Fixed an issue where the public opinion buff did not take effect correctly in the Yin-Yang Clan intermediate national policy.

Performance Optimization

● For FSR anti-aliasing, Level 1 UE sharpening is enabled by default to reduce blurring issues.

● Added smoke and dust effects when buildings and warehouses change positions.

● Added gravel splatter effects to stone-related animations.

● Fixed an issue where construction tasks were incorrectly completed prematurely.

● Updated the resource point icons on the world map.

— The Mandate Order Dev Team

Reddit:

MandateOrder_Dev (u/Haunting_Sector_643) - Reddit

Official Reddit Moderator: u/Haunting_Sector_643

About Mandate Order:

"Mandate Order" is an Eastern war construction simulation game. In this turbulent era where "a country has no fixed borders and life or death depends on the day", you will play the role of a "city defender" who sticks to the border - building a fortress brick by brick, arranging hundreds of workers, integrating the strategies of hundreds of schools, and running a warm life for a small country in the gap between the games between big powers.

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