By PF2K on Mar 31, 2021 at 1:00 PM
  1. PF2K

    PF2K Lead Developer
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    Header_-_DevUpdate_2021-03-31.png
    Hello there Celeste players! We are back with another Developer Blog. This time, we will be showing you some of the things that we have planned for the near future, alongside our other goals.

    You might have heard or seen some of the things mentioned here in our Discord already, but to make sure that everyone is on the same page, we will be posting them all here in this blog post.

    So without any further ado, let's get started, shall we?

    New Civilization: The Phoenicians
    ==============================
    Phoenicians.png
    The Phoenicians are another economic powerhouse, rivaling even the mighty Babylonians. Command the unique Thief unit which is an Age II Infantry Unit who can steal Gold from the enemy when it attacks their Storehouses, Markets and Town Centers.

    The are also able to build Special Markets (called Bazaars) before any other civilization, as early as Age I. With every age-up, the Phoenicians receive free Caravans (upgrading with each age-up) to further establish their economic dominance.

    Though the Phoenician economic power might seem oppressive and overpowering and more than enough to crush any other civilization, their lacking Military will work as a counter-balance to ensure a fun and balanced gameplay experience for all players, regardless of their Civilization pick.

    New Civilization: The Indians
    ==========================
    Indians.png
    Based on the mighty Mauryan Empire, the Indians are a powerful civilization with a fairly balanced approach towards Economy and Military.

    The Indians use an improved version of the Farm, which can be worked on by multiple Villagers instead of one, while also having access to the Gatherer Elephant which is a dedicated Gatherer Unit trained at the Town Center that gathers resources faster than Villagers, but cannot construct Buildings.

    The Indians are also the first playable civilization in Age of Empires Online who will utilize the Club gear class. This gear type will be used on their Age II Infantry Unit, the Clubman.

    New Civilization: The Huns
    ========================

    Huns.png
    As the most mobile and aggressive civilization ever made in Age of Empires Online, the Huns rival even the Celts and the Norse, with the difference here being that unlike those two civilizations, the Huns have much greater emphasis on their Cavalry, instead of their Infantry.

    The Huns have as many as five Cavalry Units in their Stables, starting in Age II, with units such as the Nokkors who wield an Axe and a Shield onto battle, or the powerful Mounted Archers who lay waste to all Cavalry Units in Age III, going all the way to Age IV, where their powerful Steppe Cataphracts decimate all enemy infantry units.

    The Huns will also start the game with 200 population cap already available, with the unique ability to pack up their Buildings and move them anywhere on the map.

    What the Huns lack in static defenses (such as Guard Towers and Fortresses) and Siege units, they make up for in extreme mobility and aggression.

    New Item Rarity: Mythic
    ======================
    Rarities_Explained.png
    We've heard your requests for higher item tiers, and now we are excited to share with you an all-new item rarity type, the Mythic rarity.

    Available only to players who have reached level 40 on ALL civilizations, the Mythic item rarity is the ultimate end-game for players who have already maxed out on everything and want even better items.

    As creating new item rarities is no small task in Age of Empires Online, we will be first starting out with Gear and Consumables, and will later on expand this to other item types such as Advisors, Materials and Blueprints (and more)

    Mythic Gear
    ===========
    MythicGear.png

    Mythic Consumables
    ===================
    MythicConsumables.png

    Update on Legendary Gear Icons
    ==============================
    LegGearIcons.png
    Starting from next patch, every single Legendary Gear in the game will have its own unique icon.
    This was done to bring that little extra flavor to Legendary Gear and to make sure there's no confusion when you're trading with other players.

    By adding over 80 new icons, we've ensured that no two Legendary Gears will have the same icon. This will be the case moving forward, too.

    New Feature: Gear Dismantler
    ===========================
    GearDismantle.png
    Coming soon is the new Gear Dismantler shop in the City of Rome. Here you can use any Legendary Gear and turn it into three different Materials, which you can then use to craft other items, trade with other players, or whatever you wish to do with the materials.

    The type and number of Materials you receive will depend on the type of Legendary Item you use, and its quality (max stats, low stats, etc.)

    New Feature: Bahram's Epic Exchange
    ==================================
    EpicExchange.png
    Bahram has been busy in Tarsos! Coming soon is the new Bahram's Epic Exchange interface, where you can trade in any Basic Epic Materials (Obsidian Blocks, White Honey, Arctic Fox Fur, Guayacan Planks or Pure Gold Ingots) for an equal number of a Basic Epic Material of the same time (alongside a small fee, of course. Bahram needs to make a profit, after all!)

    Alternatively, you can trade in multiple stacks of Basic Epic Materials for a stack of Advanced Epic Materials (Flawless Diamond, Philosopher's Stone, Illuminated Codex, Archimedes' Tools or Silk Cloth)

    Alliance Gear Changes
    ====================
    Even though Alliance wars are still not implemented into Project Celeste (and we have no ETA on it, either, if at all), the Gear available from the 3 Alliance regions (Delos, Farafra Oasis and Carthage) are still part of the game and players can buy the Gear from those regions' shops.

    Due to popular demand, we have promoted two rare pieces from each Alliance to Legendary status with updated names and icons.

    There have been no changes to stats for these items, with the exception of the Carthage Oil Flask, which has received a buff to its Damage stat.

    You will be able to keep your original items. They will not change names or icons, and will remain exactly as they are, but they will no longer be available for purchase in the Alliance Stores.

    To get the new items, you can buy them from the Alliance Stores in each Alliance's dedicated region.

    GearDelos.png
    GearImhotep.png
    GearCarthage.png
    ========
    Update:
    Since this thread has had many people confused, we would like to clarify that this thread's main purpose was to be an April Fool's Joke. However, not everything here is untrue.

    So to summarize:
    • New Civs: Obviously a joke. (Maybe not the Indians, but the others, definitely.)
    • Mythic Rarity: April's Joke
    • Legendary Gear Icons: Already implemented
    • Gear Dismantler: Scheduled for (much) later.
    • Bahram's Epic Exchange: Scheduled for (much) later.
    • Alliance Gear Changes: Already Implemented
    ========


    All current and future content will stay 100% free and accessible to everyone.


    ========
    Thank you so much for reading, and we will see you all next time!

    Project Celeste Development Team

    What do you think about this week's blog? What would you like to see next? Let us know in the comments below!

    ========
    The Romans are here! Watch the Overview Trailer.

    Project Celeste is completely free and always will be. However, we gladly accept donations for our overhead costs, which are larger than we have budgeted. If you want to support us, you can do so HERE.

    Read every Romans related blog HERE.

    Tell your friends! Join our Discord HERE.
    ========
     
    #1 PF2K, Mar 31, 2021 at 1:00 PM
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2021
    Raider, Erasmus, rtsgamer and 27 others like this.
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Comments

Discussion in 'News' started by PF2K, Mar 31, 2021.

    1. ByFstugan

      ByFstugan Immortal

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      Well - it's was the "developer-update-2021-03-31..." so it had another date of article, also posted "Mar 31, 2021 at 2:00 PM" as far as I can see. A tell for an aprils fools joke is that it's delivered with 1st April somewhere, this hasn't.

      Also to mix REAL news with FAKE news is not how you do aprils fools joke as I've seen them. I'm not mad or demanding an apology, but I think it was really a bad packaged "joke" on many levels so an apology isn't unsuitable at all. I'm glad for all you do mostly, so thanks for that part.

      But can some dev then plz say what was true and what is lies once and for all - still hasn't been made what I can see. Since all obviously not was a "joke". So...

      - Three new civs -> All false, or in part false?
      - Mythic item rarity -> False?
      - Gear dismantler -> ?
      - Bahram's Epic Exchange -> ?

      - Legendary gear icons -> TRUE, done
      - Alliance gear changes -> TRUE, done
       
      #41 ByFstugan, Apr 8, 2021 at 4:10 PM
      Last edited: Apr 8, 2021
    2. ByFstugan

      ByFstugan Immortal

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      It was devided when it came 31:th Mars, and it's same in this thread if you accually read the comments - so it's not like all saw a "joke" here until yesterday. Some thought it was a joke due to "club"-class weapons, since it was that in Neanderthals, but that part seems to be true.

      I might misunderstood, but at first I didn't know so I asked before and understood something as a confirmation of "no, this is really no joke" when Andy showed that some stuff was really true, and I already knew others were. In that post one of the first lines said: "This is all true, no April Fools Day involved". So I was open to that it was a joke until then, and noone has said anything different since here (I've read nothing on Discord, which MANY don't, some aren't even there at all).

      As I said - to mix real and fake news is not how you do a good aprils fools joke - especially not with wrong date in the "news".
       
      #42 ByFstugan, Apr 8, 2021 at 4:18 PM
      Last edited: Apr 8, 2021
    3. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
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      One of the civs is true. Hopefully that's some consolation to wash the entire thing down and look fondly on the day. :)
       
    4. frogs.poison

      frogs.poison Immortal

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      To be honest, I was only skeptical of the Mythic items, and only when I saw the economic-oriented items - The military oriented Mythic items stats are skewed oddly (Only Druids, for instance, would currently even be able to use the supposed Staff of Clusium, and it would NOT make for a good druid build either way). Even with the Consumables, I remembered Andy asking around for good Consumable ideas, and just assumed that this is what became of that (Except for the Golden Cow, none of the consumables were that OP, and even then if the Cow was limited to only A4 then it just becomes a Caravan train replacement, not to mention that if they each required, say, a full stack of Epic materials to craft then they wouldn't be used on any ol' mission)

      All 3 of the mentioned Civs were quite believable as well - Phoenicians were renown for their extensive trading (As well as the first phonetic alphabet if I am recalling correctly), meaning that a heavy eco-centered civ would be right up their ally.
      Huns were in roughly the same time frame as the collective Norse, and were a great menace/empire after the splitting of the Roman Empire (400-600 AD, basically put most of northern Europe to tribute for that 200 year period).

      And of course the Indians turned out to be true.

      As for timeframe, please correct me but wasn't the Romans originally slated for a late 2019/early 2020 release? I was under the impression that the reason for the year+ delay was quite a bit due to decided to give Romans a full 1-40 leveling experience rather then just making them a Pro civ with 2-3 quests on their own.

      But eh. Quite looking forward to the Indians!
       
    5. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
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      Oddly enough, it was kind of backwards. The Romans were taking a very long time to model and animate and meanwhile others had free time to make a campaign, so we sort of decided to redouble our efforts.
       
      Mikey242 and NoteHermelin786 like this.
    6. NoteHermelin786

      NoteHermelin786 Spearman

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      Take your time, I just did Romans in one sitting, I need to do some things in the mean time :)
       
    7. ByFstugan

      ByFstugan Immortal

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      Well, as I said, I'm not mad - meant I'm not angry. You got a million and five things to your favor and I deeply appriciate the work you put in - I just thought this "joke" was bad in package and just over all bad/wrong in just about all areas.
      The Neanderthals was a good one, but as I recall it that wasn't mixed in with a bunch of true news neither sent the wrong day with the wrong date. This was more a "let's give them a lot of real news and mix in some bullcrap to see if we can fool them, with no intent to be funny at all - just to see if they don't get that we lie aside the news".

      Still waiting to get cleared out once and for all what is reliable and not - I assume the "joke" is over and you can make it public now?

      - Three new civs -> Two false, one true.
      - Mythic item rarity -> False?
      - Gear dismantler -> ?
      - Bahram's Epic Exchange -> ?

      - Legendary gear icons -> TRUE, done
      - Alliance gear changes -> TRUE, done

      I'm 99,99% thankful to you all, and 100% unamused about this "joke" as I've tried since the day it came to get any of you to make clear what is true and not and still haven't got any clear answer =/
       
    8. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
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      we are making the Indians and one day will make the gear dismantler and epic exchange
       
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    9. CrimsonCantab

      CrimsonCantab Berserker

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      Well I took nothing seriously when I first read it, so I'm actually pleasantly surprised that some of the craziness is intended to come to fruition!

      Although PF2K's comment about it being April 1st somewhere in the world did get me thinking - is April Fools a worldwide holiday? I guess if Google participates, most folks must be exposed to it.
       
    10. ByFstugan

      ByFstugan Immortal

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      So this then, in order of presentation:

      - Three new civs -> False, True, False (in that order)
      - Mythic item rarity -> False
      - Legendary gear icons -> True, done
      - Gear dismantler -> True, coming
      - Bahram's Epic Exchange -> True, coming
      - Alliance gear changes -> True, done
       
      Towex and BOSAIF like this.
    11. millard

      millard Villager

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      I know that when the game was shut down there had already been work put towards the Romans which you guys have now delivered. Out of curiosity how much work was put together towards the Indians on the internal builds you guys have access to?

      Also working with the game files as they are now is there the possibility of unlimited civs being added or is there a set limit of civs you could introduce?
       
    12. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
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      Essentially zero work on the Indians. There were four very rough building files and a file with some tiny decorations. Zero on units, game mechanics, art. What we found looks more like a scrapped no playable faction than the beginning of a civ.the people we talked to didn’t remember the Indians at all.
       
    13. PF2K

      PF2K Lead Developer
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      I updated the original post.
       
    14. PF2K

      PF2K Lead Developer
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      The Indians are currently set to be the last full civilization in Age of Empires Online.
       
      Sleyver and BOSAIF like this.
    15. Fraxure022

      Fraxure022 Berserker

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      Does that mean there is no chance of any more Civs after them, or is that more of a “we don’t have any plans for more at this time”? I recognize the work that goes into creating them, but I was kind of hoping India would leave the door open for moving further East one day if any more Civs were made.
       
    16. PF2K

      PF2K Lead Developer
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      IF.
       
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    17. Fraxure022

      Fraxure022 Berserker

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      Thanks for responding. I wasn’t looking it put any kind of pressure on y’all, I’m always grateful for what we get.
       
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    18. OSUman99

      OSUman99 Villager

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      I really just read this with such excitement. I was annoyed by the "All Civs level 40" requirement because I probably would never get there. However, well played guys. I did not pay attention to date. Noob move.
       
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