Game Version 0.4X

0.41 & 0.42

General Fixes & Additions

• Solved an issue where the server’s player count could sometimes exceed the set maximum player limit. Servers will no longer show 152 / 150.
• Introduced a tip informing players that the server is full when it reaches its maximum player count.
• Solved an issue where player nameplates weren’t showing while in free-flight mode.
• Solved an issue which caused Melee Arena servers not to restart based on the set schedule if the server is empty.
• Solved an issue where the cooldown timer to fire swivel guns or mortars in the Naval Battlefield or Coastal Siege game mode would disappear if the artillery piece is loaded with a shot.
• Solved an issue where the melee combat indicator would continue showing when switching to free-flight mode.
• Solved a recurring exception which was sometimes being produced when processing an achievement on the Naval Battlefield, Naval Assault or Coastal Siege game modes.

» Players are now once again able to gather score contributing towards their leaderboard standing and soldier rank whilst playing on the Official Naval Warfront servers.

• Solved an instance which caused players to get stuck loading a map whilst playing on the Naval Battlefield, Naval Assault or Coastal Siege game mode.
• Palisade walls present next to one of the spawn points on Fort Salettes are no longer destructible.

Server Optimisations

• Solved multiple issues which resulted in increased memory over longer periods of runtime.
• Solved multiple issues which resulted in decreased server responsiveness over longer periods of runtime.
• Performed several server-side optimisations on maps playable on different game modes.
• Solved an issue where an error was being produced when a player hits a mounted cavalryman with an artillery shot.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced on the server when a player makes use of the auto-join function to spawn.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced on the server when a player attempts to fire a rocket from the emplacement.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced on the server when a player places sandbags on earthworks.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced on the server when trying to process the ‘Hornblower’ achievement.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced on the server when a player damages another ship using an artillery piece and disconnects.
• Servers which become full will have their connect button greyed out.

Client Optimisations

• The logic for how maps load within the game has received a complete overhaul to improve load times and reduce inconsistencies. An issue where the player would occasionally load the map of the previous round has also been taken care of.
• Performed multiple optimisations on Cavalry Units to improve framerate.
• Performed multiple optimisations on the Scoreboard to improve framerate.
• Performed multiple optimisations on various User Interface elements to improve framerate.
• Performed multiple optimisations on VoIP to improve framerate.
• Performed an optimisation on the water shader present on land-based maps to improve framerate.
• Solved an instance where players experienced a sudden spike in framerate when they launched the Voice Acting panel for the first time.
• Ragdoll Corpses are now adjusted according to the player-selected graphical preset. Using lower graphical settings will reduce the number of corpses in the field of battle, therefore, improving the framerate.
• Players are now able to toggle off horse-related effects through the game options. They are disabled by default when using the low and very low presets.

» Toggling off horse-related effects will also disable audio related to horse movement. We want to look into this in a future update.

• Players are now able to toggle off destruction debris through the game options. They are disabled by default when using the low and very low presets.
• Players are now able to toggle off environmental clutter to prevent birds and other small props from showing through the game options. They are disabled by default when using the low and very low presets.
• Performed various optimisations on the Causeways map.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced on the client when a player dies or dismounts from horseback.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced on the client when scrolling through the scoreboard.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced when a player fired a chain shot.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced when a player interacted with an artillery piece.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced when a player gets trampled.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced when attempting to connect to the lobby.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced when the naval vessel you’re crewing sinks.
• Solved an instance where an error was being produced when the player gathered a score.

Game Responsiveness - Server Configuration

• You are no longer able to host game servers capped to run lower than 60 FPS.
• Players that join game servers not running optimally will be warned that their gameplay experience is consequently being impacted.

» Game servers running below 60 FPS will result in delayed melee combat, shooting and interactions irrespective of the player's ping.

• You should ensure that your community or event servers are running at a stable framerate by using the ‘rc get serverFPS’ command.

» Issue 10 instances of the above command during gameplay and if it shows that your server’s framerate was constantly below 60 FPS, you should expect melee combat amongst other mechanics within the game to be delayed.

• Introduced functionality allowing servers to automatically restart based on a specific set schedule.

» Anvil Game Studios Official servers will be set to restart daily improving game responsiveness.

» You can find more information detailing this system's use below.

» Documentation - Holdfast Automated Shutdown Systems

• Game servers will now automatically relaunch themselves following an unexpected crash.

Gameplay - Melee Combat

• Removed the cooldown previously applied to disincentivise feint over-use as this introduced unnecessary block delay.
• Decreased the rate at which players can issue secondary attacks. Shoves and kicks now have a longer cooldown.
• Reduced the damage shoves and kicks deal when the ‘Resilient’ trait is in effect for both the Infantry Officer and Grenadier classes from 5 to 2. Classes sporting the ‘Resilient’ trait will now meet their end within 4 secondary attack hits instead of 2 if they have already been stricken with a bayonet in their upper body.
• Preventive measure towards players utilising crouching to hide melee strikes. Strikes will now remain in hold position for a longer duration if actioned from a crouching position.
• Going from standing to crouching and crouching to standing is now more responsive.
• Players will now have their movement speed slightly reduced when holding a strike or striking.

» An additional tip is now present in the game informing players of this mechanic.

• Players can no longer amend the settings file to increase their melee combat sensitivity gathering advantage over others.
• Prussian Infantry Officers now come equipped with a sword which matches the length of other factions.
• Players will now display a new indicator informing them of the direction they will block or strike towards. You’ll find multiple settings to adjust this new user interface additions including its position in your game options.
• Players will display a new indicator informing them that their combat experience is impacted should they be experiencing high latency (ping). We recommend that you play on a server correct to your region.
• Introduced a tip informing players that they will instantly face their demise should they be stricken by a melee weapon while aiming or reloading.
• The mechanic will be undergoing more improvements in future updates.

Gameplay - Cavalry Units

• Hussar, Dragoon and Cuirassier class now take longer to spawn. The wave spawn timer for all cavalry-based classes has been set to 20 seconds while the infantryman retained their previous 10 second timer.

» Server administrators can configure wave spawn timers by inputting the following commands per map rotation: wave_spawn_time_seconds 10 and wave_spawn_vehicle_time_seconds 20

• Players are now immune to all damage for a maximum of 5 seconds after they spawn. Cavalrymen can quickly traverse the field of battle and make their way to the enemies’ spawn. You’ll have to think twice before attempting this rather ungentlemanly feat.

» Canyon, Fort Salettes and all Army Siege maps have their spawn immunity timer set to 2 seconds.

» Server administrators can configure spawn immunity timers by inputting the following command per map rotation: spawn_immunity_timer 5

• Strikes to the right with a sword from horseback are now swifter. The quicker slash makes for better fluidity.
• Secondary hits with a singular sword slash from horseback now deal less damage and more so than often won’t result in the player’s demise.
• Horses travelling at the slower gaits no longer trample infantryman.
• Horses no longer rear on the first shot from a firearm allowing them to continue moving. Instead, the horse will reduce its speed to the first gait. Should the horse be once again injured, it will rear consequently exposing the cavalryman to more vulnerabilities.
• Increased the volume of horse-related sounds. Pay attention to your surroundings and take action before you find yourself killed.

» You can control horse-related audio through a slider from the game’s settings.

• Players can now rebind the mount and dismount key from the key bind settings.
• Reduced the number of cavalry units available for each faction from 12 to 10 when Open Plains maps are in rotation.
• Reduced the number of cavalry units available for each faction from 8 to 6 when Causeways is in rotation.
• Reduced the number of cavalry units available on Grassy Plains 1 whilst playing on the Army Battlefield game mode to 2 Hussars and 2 Cuirassiers or Dragoons per faction.

Gameplay - Officers The Rank & File

• Line Infantry, Grenadier, Guard, Coast Guard and Marine classes now sport a new trait - ‘Orderly’. Those in the rank and file no longer make for easy pickings while following their officer’s orders. You must be standing in line in order for this trait to become active.

» It increases your chances of surviving shots from firearms at longer distances by diminishing the damage dealt while standing in formation.

» Should your shot find its way to an enemy player also standing in line, the diminishing effect will not apply. Line versus line engagements remain just as deadly.

• Score gathered by players for maiming or killing someone when standing in line has been increased to 35.

» Amended the ‘Rank & File’ ability to include the following descriptive text - ‘You gather additional score for maiming or killing someone while standing in line.’

• Increased the firearm accuracy bonus provided by musicians from 7% to 8% with the bonus stacking upwards to 12% from 10% when another musician is playing a tune along.
• Musicians are now able to see line markers set by Infantry Officer so they can better follow manoeuvres by those in the rank and file.
• Flagbearers now further increase the chances of survival to those in the ranks sporting the ‘Orderly’ trait when shot at by firearms from longer distances.

» This is in addition to the buff they provide which improves reload speed.

• Flagbearers are now able to see line markers set by Infantry Officer so they can better follow manoeuvres by those in the rank and file.
• Introduced a hint instructing players how to equip their flag when playing as a flag bearer.

» Press ‘3’ to equip your flag

• Infantry Officers are no longer able to tank canister or shots fired from a blunderbuss at a close-distance when being assisted by a Guard unit. Prior to this update, a bug allowed Infantry Officers not to be hit by two consecutive shots from a blunderbuss or canister.
• Increased the speed at which field guns can be moved.
• Increased the speed at which rocket launchers can be carried.
• Increased the speed at which ladders can be carried.
• Countdown timers leading to a barrel’s explosion now also show if you ignite a barrel belonging to the enemy faction.
• The health indicator for the player-built chair that you’re sitting on while playing with the Sapper class no longer shows. It was rather intrusive and obstructed visibility for the fellow enjoying a moment of respite.
• Removed the ability for Sappers to construct palisades and shooting platforms on all Plains maps, Tahir Desert and Causeways in the Army Front map rotation.
• You no longer have to play on the same map following a server restart. Game servers won’t always launch with the first map defined in the map rotation come to this update.

» This new feature remains true to the set player population settings.

» Server administrators can enable or disable map randomisation on server launch by inputting the following command: map_rotation_start_randomise true or false

• Multiple changes targeting balance on Fort Salettes when playing on the Army Battlefield game mode.

» Introduced an additional entry point to the left of the fort.

» Factions now spawn to either side of the fortification and must make their way to the fort where the battle ensues. One faction no longer spawns inside the fort when the Army Battlefield game mode is playing.

• Multiple changes targeting balance on Fort Salettes when playing on the Army Siege game mode.

» Increased the health points for the fort doors leading to Fort Salettes allowing the defenders more time to mount their defence.

» Ladders on Fort Salettes must now be carried and raised adjacent to its walls. You’ll no longer find them pre-placed.

• Moved one of the base spawns present on Causeways closer to the other when the Army Conquest and Army Battlefield game mode is playing.
• Players will now find more props which can be used as cover on the Causeways game level.
• Reintroduced Snowy Plains 1 & Grassy Plains 3 to the Army Front map rotation for additional variety.
• Naval borders for the Martello Tower, Open Waters and Harouti Islands maps have been brought slightly closer to contain the engagement.
• Rotated the initial position of the carriable rocket launcher present on Desert Ruins to face towards the objective.
• Reinforcements available to the defenders whilst the Army Siege game mode is playing have been increased by the following amounts.

» Fort Christina - 35 Additional Reinforcements

» Fort Pierre - 45 Additional Reinforcement

» For Schwarz - 45 Additional Reinforcements

» Camp Salamanca - 50 Additional Reinforcements

» Desert Ruins - 40 Additional Reinforcements

» Sharpton - 30 Additional Reinforcements

» Highlands - 50 Additional Reinforcements

» Arendan River - 30 Additional Reinforcements

• Hussar, Cuirassier and Dragoon units have been made available for the attackers on the following maps while the Army Siege game mode is playing.

» Fort Christina - 1 Hussar and 1 Dragoon or Cuirassier

» Fort Pierre - 2 Hussars and 2 Dragoons or Cuirassiers

» For Schwarz - 2 Hussars and 2 Dragoons or Cuirassiers

» Camp Salamanca - 1 Hussar and 1 Dragoon or Cuirassier

» Sharpton - 2 Hussars and 2 Dragoons or Cuirassiers

» Highlands - 2 Hussars and 2 Dragoons or Cuirassiers

• Redesigned the end of match user interface to feature your soldier rank advancement instead of the leaderboard standing.

» Score you've gathered during a round with a specific class will accumulate and contribute towards advancing your soldier's rank.

» Unique medals are awarded every 5th level.

Quality of Life

• Eliminated the use of the mouse hover when using the scoreboard. Simply make use of the scroll wheel to scroll down the scoreboard.
• Players will now display a hint next to the mini map for the first minute after they join the round informing them that they can mute other players by pressing the ‘P’ key.

» You can disable this hint through the game options - ‘General Hints’.

• You no longer zoom in and out with your camera while in free-flight mode and scrolling through the scoreboard.
• Players are now provided with the ability to pan and tilt the camera while in Cinematic or Free-flight mode by using the arrow keys.
• You can make use of the new ‘Depth of Field Focus Point’ slider in your ‘Game’ setting to make your shots look crisper when in Cinematic or Free-flight mode.

Server Administration

• Server administrators can now enable a command to instantly build player-built defence.

» rc set instantBuildMode true

• Server administrators are now able to enable God mode per team. Players in one faction become invincible while the others won’t.

» rc set characterGodMode 1 true - Everyone becomes invincible.

» rc set characterGodMode 2 true - The Defenders become invincible.

» rc set characterGodMode 3 true - The Attackers become invincible.

» rc set characterGodMode false - Disable invincibility.

Bug Fixes

• Solved an instance which prevented players from launching the game and get stuck viewing the ‘Anvil Game Studios’ logo.
• Solved an instance which prevented players from launching the game if the 'HoldfastOptions' settings file was deleted.
• Solved an issue which caused the spawn menu to appear in white if the player joined the round using the ‘Auto-Join’ function.
• Solved an issue with the terrain popping in and out when using free-flight mode.
• Solved an issue which prevented the French Infantry Officer from equipping a lantern while holding a sabre.
• Solved an issue with incorrect localisation for the Polish language.
• Solved an issue on the Custom Map (Land) where the Army Siege game mode wouldn’t function as intended.
• Corrected the amount of available class slots for the Cannoneer on Lamarsh Fen.
• Corrected the amount of available class slots for the Cannoneer on Snowy Plains (S).
• Solved an issue with cracks within the terrain appearing on Causeways.
• Solved an issue which caused the ‘Graphic Preset’ setting to be incorrectly labelled as ‘VSYNC’.
• Solved an issue which caused players to speed up when moving up the stairs present on Fort Winston and Fort Arena.
• Removed an invisible object that players could collide with near the barn on Camp Salamanca.
• Solved an issue where a player’s volume would be automatically set to zero once you unmute them from the Round Players ‘P’ panel.
• Solved an issue where players could sail outside the boundaries of the naval borders present on Harouti Islands.
• Solved an issue where two bells where overlaying one another on Canyon.
• Solved an issue where explosives barrels were able to kill friendly players when being carried.
• Solved an issue where if you get damaged while carrying an explosive barrel and animation that the barrel exploded would play but deal no damage.
• Solved an issue where the explosive barrel would be stuck in an endless loop of being ignited if you ignite it then someone tries to extinguish the fuse and dies in the process.
• Solved an issue where multi-kills from cannon explosions weren’t counting as assist kills for the loader.
• Solved an issue which caused text to appear broken in the scoreboard.
• Solved an issue which caused some UI elements to appear blurry when playing on the lower graphical settings.
• Solved an issue where the VoIP indicator didn’t show for the player you are spectating.
• Solved an issue where the destroyed model of the rocket launcher wouldn’t match the correct rotation of the launcher before it was destroyed.
• Experimental fix towards an issue which causes cavalry units to take flight on the Desert Ruins map.
• Experimental fix towards an issue which causes rounds to prolong when playing the Naval Battlefield game mode.
• Experimental fix towards an issue which sometimes causes the player to be unable to fire a cannon when playing on the Naval Battlefield or Coastal Siege game modes.
• Experimental fix towards an issue which causes rain sounds, horse-related sounds and musician tunes to cut off.
• Experimental fix towards an issue where the leading faction indicator on the top bar UI would sometimes show incorrectly.
• Solved an issue where you would still be presented with the UI detailing your personal leaderboard standing when the round ends even if you didn’t partake in it.
• Solved an issue where your personal leaderboard standing wouldn’t show when the round ends if you’re playing with any of the secondary Line Infantry classes, Fifers, Drummers or Violinists.

» You still retain your progress in the leaderboards with these classes as the bug was specific to the end of match user interface.

• Solved an issue where sometimes your in-game soldier rank medal wouldn’t match the one present in the leaderboards.
• Solved an issue where the ‘Soldier Rank' user interface still continued to show even if the player didn’t participate in the round in the end of match screen.
• Increased the reliability for rank retrieval showing your soldier rank after the match ends.
• Solved an issue where a continuous ticking audio cue could sometimes be heard during the end of match screen.
• Solved multiple instances where the count-down timer informing players when they’ll spawn was showing incorrectly.
• Solved multiple issues with overlapping UI elements in the spawn menu.
• Solved an issue with the Portuguese translation showing in German when hovering on traits and abilities.
• Solved an issue where sometimes players weren’t able to sit on chairs built by the Sapper class.
• Solved an issue where sword strikes from dismounted cavalrymen can sometimes be invisible for other players.
• Solved an issue where names wouldn’t show when the player is moving a field gun.
• Solved an issue where if you’re playing a tune with a musician and opt to spawn with another musician class, the music menu will open upon clicking on the spawn button.
• Solved an issue where players would die a slow painful death if they stood atop a small campfire.
• Solved an issue with the health indicators for player-built defences resetting to a random value.
• Solved an issue where voice-acted Prussian cheers, shouts, insults and commands would sometimes cut-off.
• Solved an issue where players could get stuck on map load if the server goes offline when the player is loading.
• Solved an issue where a small number of reinforcements still continued to show even if the respective faction was out of reinforcements.
• Solved an issue where score gathered from killing cavalry units wouldn’t contribute towards bettering the player’s leaderboard standing or soldier rank.
• Solved an issue where the ‘Ambience’ slider would also raise or lower the volume of tunes played by the musician class.

» Musician tunes can now be separately controlled through the ‘Musician Song’ audio slider.

• Solved an issue which caused fire cool down timers for swivel guns and mortars not to show when playing on the Naval Battlefield, Naval Assault or Coastal Siege game modes.
• Renamed the 'Officer Reinforce Indicator' setting to 'Officer Reinforce Marker' to prevent it from clipping in the interface.
• Adjusted the visibility of horse dust particles.
• Solved multiple issues with texture parallax mapping for buildings present on Desert Ruins.

0.40

Major Update. Cavalry! Ride To Glory

Gallop away gentleman as tides of glory await! Ride into battle with your trusty steed and engage the enemy from horseback with the new Hussar, Cuirassier and Dragoon classes. Come have a read of our blog post as there’s plenty more to look forward to in this much-anticipated major update release.

Before you do so, as is well deserved of all this mounted goodness, there’s a new trailer for your viewing pleasure.

Cavalry Units! The Hussar

Have your pick at one of these well-dressed cavalrymen. Sporting a rather flamboyant uniform won’t come of much use in the field of battle but their increased damage with swords while riding on horseback and increased speed will certainly come in handy while playing this class.

Discharge your pistol at the general direction of the enemy, equip your sword and charge away.

Hussar Role: Cavalry - Branch: The Army

Well-dressed. Great showmanship with swords on horseback.

British Hussar – 15th (The King’s) Hussars

French Hussar – 7e Regiment de Hussards

Prussian Hussar – Leib-Husaren-Regiment

Abilities

Horseback Riding - Trained in the art of horseback riding. You are able to mount and ride glorious steeds of war.

Traits

Skilful Rider - Well-versed in the art of horseback riding. Your speed while riding a horse is increased by 10%.

Mounted Sword Specialisation - Drilled in various sword combat techniques while on horseback. Your damage when wielding a sword while on horseback is increased significantly.

Cavalry Units! The Cuirassier & Dragoon

Carbineers on horseback. These units excel at the use of this firearm while mounted and combined with the versatile mobility their steed provides, they can quickly traverse the battlefield, take careful pickings of the enemy and retreat back in support of your lines.

Well trained Carabineers can excel just as much as a hussar in melee combat albeit the advantages traits provide.

Cuirassier & Dragoon Role: Cavalry - Branch: The Army

Mounted infantryman. Carbineers on horseback.

British Dragoon – 1st Royal Regiment of Dragoons

French Cuirassier – 4e Regiment de Cuirassiers

Prussian Cuirassier – Brandenburg Kurassier-Regiment Nr. 3

Abilities

Horseback Riding - Trained in the art of horseback riding. You are able to mount and ride glorious steeds of war.

Traits

Mounted Firearm Specialisation – Experienced with the use of firearms while on horseback. Your damage when firing pistols and carbines from horseback is increased by 10% and accuracy by 10%.

Horseback Riding. Cavalrymen & Combat

Master the art of horseback riding as those brave gentlemen once did. You’ll have a much easier time doing so should you give a quick read to what’s going to follow. Mounting, dismounting, putting your steed on the gallop, firing from horseback and various other aspects related to combat.

Riding On Horseback

Let’s get to the riding now, shall we? Hussars, Cuirassier and Dragoons all spawn readily mounted. Once you’ve had your pick at one of these classes, you’ll find yourself on horseback. Holding the ‘W’ key will take the horse from one gait to the other gradually building up its momentum. An indicator to the left of your steed’s health bar will reflect the pace at which the horse is moving.

Pressing the ‘Shift’ key once your steed reaches a full gallop, will take it into a sprint further increasing the speed at which it travels. While the horse is at a sprint, your movement on horseback will be limited as you grab tightly of its reins. Tread carefully as this can place you at a disadvantage when engaged in battle since you can only strike forward and cannot make use of your firearm.

Should you need to make a turn, press the ‘A’ key to go left and the ‘D’ key to head right.

Horses travelling at a slower gait can alternatively toggle and go into strafe mode by hitting the ‘Z’ key. Your steed will consequently move to the left or to the right at the press of the ‘A’ or ‘D’ keys. You’ll find no excuse to neatly dress the gaps and keep in formation. A regiment must uphold its reputation.

Slowing down is at times key to ensure your survival. You can do so by pressing the ‘S’ key. Should this key be held long enough, your steed will start moving backwards at a slow pace.

Holding the ‘Ctrl’ key will similarly reduce the horse’s speed. There’s one key difference however, your horse will not go backwards after it reaches its lowest speed and instead come to a halt.

Make your way over smaller defensive emplacements and fences by jumping with your steed while on horseback. Carefully time your jump and press the ‘Space’ key at the right moment.

It is not a simple feat to handle these beasts but you’ll get used to their ins and outs as you go by. Practice makes perfect.

Swimming While On Horseback

Go for a swim all the while remaining mounted. Controls here remain as usual but you are unable to engage in combat.

Halting The Horse

Spotting a Chevaux De Frise reaching ever closely? Should you find yourself in a pickle, firmly hold the ‘F’ key and pull on your horse’s reins. This will rear the horse and bring it to a complete halt.

Hitting this defensive emplacement will kill your mount and diminish your health points as you fall from horseback.

[[File:Full stop.gif]

Dismounting From Horseback

Instructed to fall in line? You can dismount from horseback by pressing the ‘E’ key while your horse is going at the slower gaits.

Mounting Back On Horseback

Keep your steed at a safe distance as you never know when the need arises to climb on horseback once more. Press the ‘E’ key while looking at your horse, mount and get going. Riders that have met an unfortunate end will leave their horse ownerless. Should you find yourself dismounted, try to mount another.

Mounted Swordsmanship

If you favour the Hussar class, you’ll find yourself engaged in combat up close and personal more so than often. Equip your Sword by scrolling to the relevant weapon or pressing the ‘3’ key, move your mouse to your desired strike direction and stab or slash away at the enemy.

If you have yet to release your strike, you can cancel and switch to another by holding the ‘Right Click’ mouse button.

Mounted Marksmanship

Carbineers make use of their firearm on horseback as you would whilst playing an infantryman. Hold ‘Right Click’ to aim, press ‘Left Click’ to fire then ‘R’ to reload.

The speed at which you travel on horseback will be restricted to the slower gaits whilst reloading.

Trampling Infantryman

Horses are mighty beasts! Blocking their path is of little to no use and you’ll find yourself injured or killed in the process. Horses travelling at a faster gait will deal greater damage to those unfortunate infantrymen.

Should you be enough in good favour to remain alive after the fact, you will no longer have your weapon equipped. Wait a short while to come to your senses after the knockback and equip your weapon using the scroll wheel or number keys.

Community. Join The Discord!

Looking for a good bunch of fellows to play the game with? Do join our Discord! Linebattle events where players are encouraged to play in formations relevant to the Napoleonic era are hosted by the community through the week. Discord is also a great place to be to stay in touch with the game’s development. Feedback is always greatly welcomed.

If you’re a fellow in the ranks of a regiment, go declare your enlistment. Through this, you can gather access to the ‘Field Camp’ where regimental specific discussion ensues. We look forward to seeing you there!

https://discordapp.com/invite/holdfastgame

There’s more to look out for in this major update! Additions focused towards gameplay balance, quality of life improvements, performance optimisations, administrative tools, plenty of bug fixes and more.

Take a look at the changelog for all the details.

Game Features

• New Cavalry Unit! The Hussar. Have your pick at one of these well-dressed cavalrymen. Great showmanship with swords on horseback.

• New Cavalry Units! The Cuirassier & Dragoon. Carbineers on horseback. These units excel at the use of this firearm while mounted and combined with the versatile mobility their steed provides, they can quickly traverse the battlefield.

• Horseback Riding! Ride glorious steeds of war. Mount, put your steed on the gallop and charge into battle.

» Hussars, Cuirassier and Dragoons spawn readily mounted.

» Line Infantry Officers are able to mount and issue commands all the while remaining on horseback.

» Press ‘Shift’ to sprint when at full gallop and the ‘F’ key to instantly halt a horse.

• Horseback Combat! Engage the enemy on horseback with swords, pistols and carbines.

• Trampling Infantryman. Horses are mighty beasts! Blocking their path is of little to no use and you’ll find yourself injured or killed in the process.

• Chevauxs De Frise. Riders that find their way into these player-built defensive emplacements will find themselves dismounted. Make sure to make good use of these anti-cavalry defences.

• Cavalry Leaderboards. Rise to the top in the new leader boards.

• Small Shell Rockets. New shell rockets to be mounted atop launchers and fired away! They have less range than their larger variant and can, therefore, more easily target those making their way near the launcher.

• Scrollable Scoreboard. Players can now scroll through the scoreboard should they wish to view themselves at the very bottom of the list. It won’t be a great sight to behold but it stood as one of the most player-requested quality of life additions so we delivered.

• 1st Person Field Of View. Players can now adjust their field of view while in 1st person from the game options.

• Dedicated chat channel for Infantry Officers, Hussars, Dragoons and Cuirassiers. Co-ordinate in the field of battle.

• Carpenter Axes. Carpenters are now able to destroy wooden emplacements with their 2H Axe. This also includes palisades that make up for defences on some of the game’s fortifications.

Game Polish

• Players are no longer able to destroy moveable field guns and rocket launchers being operated by their own faction with explosive barrels or other artillery pieces. Should an artillery piece be captured by the enemy, this can still be destroyed.

» Setting ‘friendly_fire’ to true will once again allow players to destroy friendly moveable field guns and rocket launchers.

• You are no longer required to ram swivel guns and mortars. Instead, a short cool-down timer is applied between shots.

• You can now adjust the VoIP volume of each and every individual through the Round Players ‘P’ menu.

» Adjusting a player’s volume will persist through rounds.

» You’re now also able to ramp up and boost the volume of those low-sounding players.

• Players can now enact defences in more locations when playing the Sapper class.

» The fortification present on Fort Christina.

» The fortification present on Fort Schwarz.

» The elevated grounds near the church on Training Grounds.

» Multiple areas within Fort Salettes.

• Players can no longer capture flags from underneath the bridge whilst playing the Army Conquest game mode on Highlands.

• Players will now find themselves killed if they jump in the fire present atop the lighthouse on King George.

• Players are no longer able to angle the Infantry Spikes and Chevaux De Frise (S) player-built defences.

• Carbines now come animated with a ramrod when reloading.

• You are now able to change the default Windows audio device without restarting the game.

• Renamed the ‘Weapon Fire’ audio slider to ‘Weapon’ as players can now adjust the firearm reload sounds through the same slider.

• You can now adjust audio related to destructibility through the ‘Ambience’ slider.

• Players that die during the match then select the ‘Freeflight Mode’ will now remain able to type in chat.

Gameplay Balance

• Flag Bearers and Musicians now only gather assist score from kills done by others through firearms of which they provide bonuses to.

• Similarly, Infantry Officers only gather assist score respective to the buff they are providing. For instance, if the ‘Fire At Will’ command is issued, the Infantry Officer will gather assist score for kills by the ‘Rank & File’ using firearms.

• Spikes situated around the Highlands and Fort Christina fortifications damage cavalry if an attempt is made to traverse the walls with them.

• Slightly reduced the damage dealt by sword and muskets against player-built defences.

• Increased the damage dealt by axes that the Carpenter class wields against player-built defences.

• Light infantryman now moves at a greater speed while on foot. They also had their accuracy when firing whilst crouching slightly increased.

» Light Footed trait increased from 5% to 7%.

» Skirmisher trait crouching accuracy increased from 13% to 15%.

• Destroying objects with the Carpenter Axe now gathers you a total of 5 score instead of 2.

• You can no longer switch from 1st to 3rd person view to shoot from behind hills while remaining in better cover whilst playing the hardcore game type.

• Slowed down the rate at which players can feint from one strike to another.

• Increased the speed at which the ladder can be carried.

Gameplay Balance - Naval Combat

• Carpenter axes can now deal damage to wooden structures aboard naval vessels.

• Rowers assisting the fellow steering the rowboat now properly contribute to its increased in speed. Rowboats are now able to travel at a faster speed due to this.

• Coastal and naval artillery pieces had their effective range reduced to promote closer-range engagements.

• Reduced the maximum aim of naval guns present aboard ships by a few degrees.

• Opposing naval vessels now spawn slightly closer to one another on Harouti Islands and Open Waters to make up for what was mentioned above.

• Increased the maximum speed of the 1-Gun Gunboat and Rocketboat.

• Decreased the maximum ship speed of the 13-Gun Brig-Sloop when in favour of the wind.

• Decreased the maximum ship speed of the 50-Gun Frigate when in favour of the wind.

Game Optimisations

• Undergone an upgrade to the game engine Holdfast: Nations At War runs on.

• Player models received optimisations to ease some burden off the CPU.

• Optimised the main menu scene. It will no longer ramp up your CPU usage. Locked to 60 FPS.

Server Administration

• Input the following command per map rotation for the Infantry Officer class to spawn readily mounted. We’re sure you’ll be able to find a use for this during events!

» officers_spawn_mounted true or false

• Input the following command per map rotation to limit the number of lives for the defenders on the Army Siege game mode.

» max_player_respawn <No. Of Lives>

• Server administrators are now able to define an introductory message which displays itself when the player joins the server or a new round starts. This can be used to define rules during linebattle events amongst others.

» You can make use of rich text to customise the message. Input the following in the server configuration to display the message.

» server_intro_title Welcome To My Server!

» server_intro_body Greetings to everyone. You will see this message every time you join the server.

• Server administrators are now able to log in-game chat messages. The messages will be saved to a file you predefine through the command below after the round ends.

» --chatLogFilePath "FilePathchatlog_server1.txt"

• Server administrators are now able to log the in-game scoreboard. Player score and other relevant round details will be saved to a file you predefine through the command below after the round ends.

» Information is exported in CSV format for easier accessibility.

» --scoreboardLogFilePath "FilePathscorelog_server1.txt"

• Server administrators can spawn horses by issuing the following command. Horses will spawn on the defined faction’s spawn location.

» rc vehiclesSpawn <No. Of Horses.> <Faction> <Cavalry Class>

• Input the following command to allow all classes to ride on horseback.

» rc set vehicleHorseForAll true or false

• Gather a thousand blessings by spawning the holiest of horses. Blessed be thy cavalrymen.

» rc set useSpecialHorseVariants true or false

• Server administrators can adjust the conditions for when and how an idle horse is despawned after its rider meets their end.

» A cavalryman's horse is immediately despawned if the cavalryman respawns. The horse timers only kick-off when the horse's original owner dies. Once the original owner dies, if the horse is no longer mounted by another player, the below conditions will kick in.

» rc set secondsToPassAfterDismounted - Defines the required time for when a horse gets despawned after a cavalryman dismounts or is killed.

» rc set secondsSpawnedBeforeDespawn - Defines the time a horse needs to have been alive before it gets despawned.

» rc set secondsToPassAfterHealthUpdated - Defines the time required to pass before a horse is despawned after it has been damaged. If the timer was at 5 seconds, it will reset back to the defined time.

• Server administrators are now able to disallow blocking with melee weapons.

» rc set allowBlocking true or false.

• Server administrators are now able to allow players to change to another weapon direction while blocking is disabled. The command mentioned above must be set to true.

» rc set allowWeaponHoldSwapOverride true or false.

Bug Fixes

• Solved an issue which allowed players to go through the base of the windmill present on Spanish Farm amongst others.

• Solved an issue which caused the outhouse doors to produce incorrect SFX when destroyed.

• Solved multiple issues with invisible objects on Camp Salamanca.

• Solved an issue with stairs being difficult to climb on Fort Salettes.

• Solved an issue where other players could appear sliding when healing others using the Surgeon class.

• Solved an issue which caused players to get stuck on map load.

• Solved an issue with the Custom Naval Map missing a loading screen.

• Solved an issue where a notification message informing the player that they were unable to authenticate to Steam was overlaid by the leader boards user interface when launching the game.

• Solved an issue where the player’s nameplate and voice chat indicator kept on showing while spectating.

• Solved multiple issues with user interface elements not scaling correctly on different aspect ratios.

• Solved an issue where the ‘Lantern Box’ was incorrectly shown as a ‘Spyglass Box’

• Solved an instance which allowed players to go outside the gate before the round starts on the Melee Arena game mode by utilising benches.

• Solved an issue which sometimes caused an exception to occur when a player damaged another.

• Solved an issue which sometimes caused moveable field guns and rocket launchers to not respawn.

• Solved an error that was sometimes outputted when a player received a buff.

• Solved an issue where sometimes non-fully built explosive barrels could still be chain exploded.

• Solved an issue with text sometimes being offset for administrative functionality in the Round Players ‘P’ panel.

Changelog 46 - Game Version 0.40.7292.26678

Optimisations

• Performed several optimisations on both the scoreboard and cavalry units to improve client-side and server-side framerate.

• Reduced the time idle horses remain alive on the field of battle.

New Features

• Should you not be feeling the holiday spirit, you now have the option to toggle off the ‘Festive Event’ through your ‘Game’ options. It will take effect after the next map loads.

Gameplay Balance

• Increased the cooldown timer after firing swivel guns and mortars by a few seconds.

• Slightly increased the time it takes to go from crouching to standing and standing to crouching.

• Slightly reduced the range and angle of the shoves and kicks.

Bug Fixes

• Solved an instance which caused the server to crash unexpectedly.

• Solved multiple exceptions on both the server and client.

• Solved an issue where trampling someone with a horse would grant you the ‘Pub Brawler’ achievement.

• Solved an issue where players could get stuck on the wooden bridge present near Arendan River while riding on horseback.

• Solved an issue where the Field of View setting slider reverted back to default values on game launch.

• Solved an issue which caused players to sometimes be unable to join a server.

• Solved an issue where the ‘K, D, S and Latency’ indicators on the scoreboard appeared to be miss-aligned.

• Solved an issue where cannonballs didn’t their correct festive addition.

• Solved an issue where antlers for the ongoing Christmas Event were at times not showing.

It has been an utmost pleasure developing this update, delivering on yet another promise prior to our release on Early Access. Months of hard work were had leading to the glorious introduction of cavalry units in Holdfast: Nations At War.

We would like to extend a heartfelt and personal thanks to all of those good chaps that joined us in our testing and shared with us their feedback. The same goes for all those members within the Holdfast community that patiently partook in the filming of the trailer.

Once again, we thank you for your support and until next time may good health be yours.

Go forth now and ride you beauties, ride!