Heartland Frontier Content Update - v0.2.7

The heartland is the last untamed frontier on the continent. Feuding lords, barbarian chieftains and great powers all seek to exploit and colonise your homeland. Build up your forces, found a nation and resist the foreign invaders.

Heartland Frontier is a 4x strategy game with roleplaying elements. Customise your  class, faith and starting position then enter the randomly generated world. Dynamic events based on your current situation means every game is different.

A little bit about where the game stands as-is:

• Classes: The Soldier, The Bishop.
• Faiths: Paganism, Sun Cult, Moon Cult.
• Events: Over 40 context-sensitive events.
• Units: 10 different cohort types spread across 4 different specialisations - infantry, cavalry, skirmishers and siege.
• Trade Goods: 10 resources - each with a unique bonus that directly affects gameplay.

New Units: Tribesmen + Horsemen

This week I have added more units to the game, specifically Tribesmen and Horsemen. These units have been added to create more variety in the infantry and cavalry unit types. 

Tribesmen are infantry that are slightly weaker than base Spearmen, they have lower attack and defence but are typically found in large numbers.

Horsemen are cavalry that are slightly weaker than base Knights, they have lower morale and defence but again are typically found in larger numbers.

The point of adding these new units is to give tribes their own set of units to deploy. You will typically find the new units when nomadic tribes migrate into the heartland. You can also recruit Tribesmen if you are pagan.

World Generation: Map Overhaul

This week I have spent a lot of time reworking how the map is generated at the start of the game. Maps are still randomly generated, with unique terrain, cities and characters.

Some changes have been made to make the 'random' maps more consistent however. By this I mean in the past you could start the game with with 5 or 6 nearby holdings - or none at all.

This true randomness would make the game harder or easier due to a role of dice, and this didn't seem right or fun. 

To avoid frustration I have added some rules for world generation. Every game you will now start with 2 or 3 farmsteads and 1 or 2 workshops. This standard start for all cities will mean all characters will roughly start off on the same footing.

In addition to improved starting positions, I have overhauled how cities themselves are placed at the start of the game. Settlements will no longer be packed together.

Each city will have a roughly equal distance between it and its neighbour, where before you could start the game surrounded by enemies - which would make the game significantly harder.

The world remains randomly generated, however some rules have been added to generally improve user experience.