Voor de Kroon - The Hundred Years' War

Hello everyone!

Big day today. After a week of internal testing on the Discord I'm proud to announce the second native Voor de Kroon campaign: The Early Hundred Years' War.

The campaign is set in 1345, just as hostilities between England and France are picking up again after a short truce. It's the year leading up to the famous Battle of Crécy. You can play as England and try to invade over the sea or defend as France and keep your territories intact.

I wanted to release the campaign a bit earlier than I anticipated to be able to look at the game from a different angle, which should hopefully result in a more polished 1.0.

Alongside the new campaign, this update introduces major battlefield mechanics, new historical armies, improved AI, expanded campaign systems, 87 new battle locations, 17 new factions and 19 new units.

Welcome to the Mid-14th Century

The new campaign map counts 86 settlements across England, France and the surrounding regions, fought over by 17 factions, each with their own historical armies, heraldry and language sets.

Small slice of the 86 settlement counting campaign map

All 17 new campaign factions

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Battle Improvements

Genoese mercenary crossbowmen with deployed pavise shields

Battle Stances. Infantry formations can now switch between two stances through the Unit Detail Panel:

• Hold the Line instructs soldiers to preserve their formation and position. This makes it useful for blocking enemy formations, protecting supporting troops and resisting cavalry.

• Loose Formation gives individual soldiers more freedom to move and fight. Better when maneuverability and close combat matter more than keeping a rigid line.

Schiltrons. Multiple formations using Circle Formation can now be combined into a single large schiltron. Select several circle formations and drag them together to merge them into one big defensive position.

Cavalry under fire. Cavalry is now more vulnerable when charging through sustained missile fire. Mounted units lose speed while under fire and certain projectiles have a chance to unhorse riders entirely.

Deployable pavise shields. Pavise shields can now be planted on the battlefield, giving the troops wielding them protection against incoming projectiles.

Smarter loadouts. Mounted troops can now use different equipment depending on whether they fight on horseback or on foot. Ranged units also automatically receive an appropriate quiver when one isn't already part of their body equipment.

On top of that, archers in free-fire mode now properly lead their shots, ranged units hold a tighter stance in circle formation and multi-select dragging automatically orders formations front to back (ranged in front, melee behind). The RTS UI now also displays the player's morale radius, which has been reduced by 40%.

New Items and Units

Willem IV waving a big Hollant banner

The Early Hundred Years' War campaign is supported by a large expansion of units and equipment:

• Weapons: the longbow, heavy crossbow, billhooks and late Danish axe.

• AdjustedHelmetsthe Pembridge helmet with crown, 14th-century kettle helmets with padded or chainmail aventails and orles, new bascinet models and improved aventails for existing bascinets.
• AddedArmor11 new mid-14th-century body armors, new gold-decorated leg armors and new mid-14th-century unit bodies.
• AddedVisualsnew heraldry patterns and emblems, historical banner models, new horse saddles and textures and new surcoat textures.

In addition the update contains a variety of non-related equipment for editor use such as the Palazzo Ducale great bascinet (with a decorated variation) and two French great bascinets

Campaign and AI Improvements

AI armies can now manage artillery, shields, mounted troops, reserve formations and anti-cavalry tactics more effectively. AI-controlled cavalry can decide when it is advantageous to dismount, shield-equipped formations make better use of their protection against incoming projectiles and brace-capable infantry has improved anti-cavalry behavior on Tactician difficulty.

On the campaign map, AI factions can now pursue wider campaign goals in a manner much closer to the player. They make more purposeful decisions about expansion, defense, territorial objectives and enemy targets.

Editor Expansion

The Editors have received substantial expansions for creators:

• Support for multiple currencies (including the new French currency)

• Starting truces and alliances

• Campaign-specific historical language sets

• Port connections: settlements can connect across nearby water, letting creators represent islands, overseas territories, coastal routes and conflicts across the Channel

• Placing specific officers in settlements and marking officers as vassals at campaign start

• faction categories and a heraldry emblem outline setting in the Faction Editor

The Castle Creator also gets French castle parts and a new sandstone wall with dark roof material set.

Fixes and Polish

Beyond the headline features, this update includes a long list of fixes and quality of life changes: smoother formation dragging and multi-select, fixed campaign camera stutter and scroll-wheel zoom, corrected auto-resolve logic, many heraldry and loadout fixes, a crash fix for the tournament host widget and much more. The full changelog is below.

Because this update contains so much new content, there is bound to be some bugs in them, always feel free to report them! It helps a lot.

Thank you all for the continued support! as always!

If you have suggestions, bugs or just general ideas for the next update, feel free to join the discord or drop by in the discussions. Always happy to hear your input.

https://discord.com/invite/MQXFbqpWpW Full Changelog

• Add Early Hundred Years' War Campaign

• Add Battle Stance Toggle to the Unit Detail Panel for Infantry: Hold the Line or Loose Formation. Units in Hold the Line stance maintain formation, making it useful for blocking enemy formations and countering cavalry tactics

• Add Schiltron Mechanic: Drag while multiple formations are selected in Circle Formation to merge them into one large schiltron formation

• Add mounted pinning mechanic: under fire, cavalry moves slower

• Add AI Artillery Management Logic

• Add Deployable Shield Mechanic for Pavise Shields

• Add Currency Selection Support to the Campaign Editor

• Add 87 New Battle Locations

• Add Mid-14th-Century Unit Types

• Add Ability to Toggle Starting Truces and Alliances in the Campaign Editor

• Add Support for Multiple Campaign Currencies to the Campaign Editor

• Add French Currency

• Add New Horse Saddles

• Add Historical Banner Models

• Add Settlement Port Logic to the Campaign Editor: Settlements Can Connect Through Nearby Water

• Add Ability to Place Specific Officers in Settlements in the Campaign Editor

• Add Ability to Mark Officers as Vassals at Start of Campaign in the Campaign Editor

• Add Support for Campaign-Specific Historical Language Sets

• Add More Heraldry Patterns

• Add New Heraldry Emblems

• Add Aventail Support to Early Bascinets

• Add AI Shield Management Logic

• Add AI Dismount Logic

• Add Unhorse Chance Property to Projectiles

• Add Outline Setting for Heraldry Emblems in the Faction Editor

• Add French Castle Parts for the Castle Editor

• Add Late Danish Axe

• Add Infantry Billhook

• Add Late Billhook Weapon

• Add Polehammer Weapon

• Add Longbow Weapon

• Add Heavy Crossbow Weapon

• Add Sandstone Wall with Dark Roof Material Set for the Castle Creator

• Add AI Logic for AI Factions to Pursue Their Campaign Goals Like a Player

• Add Palazzo Ducale Great Bascinet with Decorated Variation

• Add French Great Bascinet with Visor Variation

• Add Pembridge Helmet with Crown

• Add 14th-Century Kettle Helmets with Padded or Chainmail Aventails and Orles

• Add Blind Officer Head

• Add Bascinet Model 4

• Add Mid-14th-Century Unit Bodies

• Add 11 Mid-14th-Century Body Armors

• Add New Gold-Decorated Leg Armors

• Add Player Morale Radius Display to the RTS UI

• Add Categories to Factions

• Add Proper Shot Leading to Archer Free-Fire Mode

• Add Perk Listings for Arrow-Protecting Shields, Cavalry-Crippling Projectiles and Deployable Shields

• Add Support for Mixed Lord Unit Heraldry with Global Heraldry Enabled: will mix with allied faction heraldry during campaign

• Add Quiver Mesh Logic to Ranged Weapons: if no quiver is present on the unit body, spawn one

• Add Scroll Buttons to the Diplomacy UI

• Add New Horse Textures

• Add New Surcoat Textures

• Add Front-to-Back Ordering for Formations When Multi-Select Dragging (ranged front, melee back)

• Add Ability to Create a New Noble House When Making a Lord a Vassal

• Add New Church Campaign Props

• Add Procedural Settlement Icons on the Campaign Map: every town looks unique on the map, also showing churches and gallows built in the settlement

• Improve AI Anti-Cavalry Management on Tactician Difficulty for Brace-Capable Formations

• Improve Bascinet Aventails

• Improve Various Helmet and Equipment Textures

• Improve How Vassal and Heraldry Logic Works: only lords get vassal heraldry as a continuation of the noble house when recruiting; town militia keeps town heraldry

• Improve Castle Spawning Logic

• Alter Settlement Start Garrisons When Not Bordering Enemy Sectors

• Update Existing Banner Textures

• Alter Mounted Unit Loadouts Based on Mount and Dismount State

• Change How the Number of Banners in a Formation Is Calculated

• Tweak Look of White Plaster Material Set for the Castle Editor

• Tweak Shield Spacing on the Diplomacy Screen

• Make Small Improvements to AI Tactical Decisions

• Update Main Menu Videos

• Remove Lance Crossbars

• Update Loadouts for Friso-Hollandic Wars Factions with New Items

• Tighten the Stance of Ranged Units in Circle Formation

• Reduce Player Morale Radius by 40%

• Retexture Various Helmets

• Various Texture Optimizations

• Change Tooltip Text on Unit Heraldry Shield

• Fix Camera Trace Issue

• Fix Signal Units Using Hold-Up-Shield Animations

• Fix Crash Related to the Tournament Host Widget

• Fix Player Heraldry Color Assignment in Battle

• Fix AI Issue with Reserve Units

• Fix Command Range Decal When Entering Tactical View

• Fix Campaign Map Scroll-Wheel Zoom

• Fix Mounted Respawn During Sally-Out Battles When the Player Dies for the First Time

• Fix Officers Not Being Dismounted When Their Unit Dismounts

• Fix Hoods Combined with Aventails

• Fix Head and Neck Lock Issues in Loadouts

• Fix Faction Leaders Potentially Receiving Mercenary Units When Assigned the Most Elite Unit

• Fix Breathing Holes on the Back of the Mid Bascinet

• Fix Officer Loadout Generation

• Fix Officer Heraldry Inconsistencies

• Fix Custom Campaign Factions in the Campaign Editor

• Fix Lance Couching When Ordering a Formation to Move

• Fix Auto-Resolve Logic

• Fix Own Cavalry Dying on Stakes After the Battle Ends

• Fix Issue with Signal Units Riding Around Bald in Closed-Helmet Aventail Units

• Fix Faction Name Saving Bug in the Faction Editor

• Fix Ailette Heraldry

• Fix Unique Building Check in Campaign Gameplay

• Fix Reinforcement Unit Max Ammo Count

• Fix Messy Formation Drag Logic Feeling Jumpy

• Fix Bug Related to Settlement Building Start Slots

• Fix Various Heraldry-Related Bugs During Battle

• Fix Bug Related to Formation Multi-Select

• Fix Campaign Camera Movement Stutter

• Fix Bug Related to Formation Pathfinding

• Fix Multi-Select Siege Orders