Today, Long Jaunt Studio released the beta for the latest update to its hit medieval kingdom simulation, Norland.
Norland Patch 39 is a significant update, introducing 90 new enhancements to the simulator, with each improvement serving to make gameplay noticeably more pleasant, logical, and engaging. For example, spouse relationships is getting a big rework based on community feedback.
Spouses now sleep together to save house space (including the king and queen in the castle), affairs only have consequences when caught in the act, and characters will only cheat under stricter and more logical rulesets. You’ll also see a specific reason for refusal when trying to date certain characters.
The loyalty mechanic has also been removed after the introduction of politicians. These characters now have followers, meaning they are defined through relationships. Politicians also have special desires, known as political demands, each of which has certain consequences for completing or ignoring.
Balancing and midgame changes might be the most important adjustments for many Norland players, especially those who struggle to get started but find it too easy once they’ve mastered the mechanics. To solve this, the developers introduced the following balancing patches:
- Trade. Prices for some caravan goods have risen, but now you’ll be able to earn more money by trading them if your merchant has a higher skill than the caravan trader. This means caravan trading can sometimes be as profitable as trading on the map. In addition, you’ll sometimes get information that a certain good is likely to rise sharply in price next time, letting you speculate right from the start.
- Cities Population on Map. We also increased city growth, so in the mid and late game you’ll see the difference—cities will actively build walls and strong towers, place crossbowmen on them, and expand their garrisons.
- AI help. We tweaked the AI, and now it will more actively come to the aid of allies and send larger armies.
- Defense become stronger. Walls and towers are now three times stronger, so city sieges will eventually require more serious preparation. Let us know if we went overboard.
- Archers Vision. Also, archers can no longer see through walls, and their accuracy is greatly reduced if a wall stands between them and their target. This protects garrison archers and increases the value of towers.
- Protection Of Blessed. Of course, this works for you too, so defending will be easier. For defense, we also made the Blessing book available to all cultures, and the blessing now includes church protection. So now you can survive hard times under the wing of Mother Sophia.
- Replenishing Migration. And if you still get looted, the new replenishing migration mechanic will help cities recover faster (migration increases if the city has many job vacancies).
- Treasurer. In case stronger opponents give you trouble, we improved the seduction mechanic, and also gave a critical role in medium and large cities—the Treasurer. If the Treasurer is eliminated, the city suffers -30% to its army for three turns.
Other additions include Nectar (a new drug), a streamlined prayer system, new prisoner barracks, and, last but not least, carrots. You can see the full list of patch notes for the beta here.
Norland is available on PC via Steam Early Access for a typical price of $29.99. For more information on this and all of the other updates the medieval kingdom simulator has received since its release, be sure to check the rest of Simulation Daily.
