Total War: Warhammer 3's next patch will overhaul its Kislev faction, which Creative Assembly has 'identified as the most in need of a deep review and rethink' - Related to valve, dedicated, its, implements, will

Total War: Warhammer 3's next patch will overhaul its Kislev faction, which Creative Assembly has 'identified as the most in need of a deep review and rethink'

Creative Assembly has outlined its plans for Total War: Warhammer 3's next patch, and it seems the mid-March upgrade will see a slight change in direction for how the studio approaches updating its fantasy strategy mashup. Patch [website] will bring a renewed focus on tuning what's already in the game rather than adding more stuff to it, starting with a rework of what it has deemed the most unbearable faction to play as—Kislev.

The changes were explained by game designer William Håkestad in a blog post on the Creative Assembly website. "One of the consistent messages we heard loud and clear from the community was that not enough attention has been given to the existing content in lieu of new content," Håkestad writes. "So we're taking a crack at equalizing that a bit now." The reason Kislev is the "headliner" for this adjusted approach is because the faction was "identified as the most in need of a deep review and rethink."

The changes, which Håkestad states are focussed on "uplifting the entirety of Kislev", are pretty radical. For starters, the supporter race, where the Ice Court and Great Orthodoxy compete to acquire supporters, is "no more". Håkestad explains that Creative Assembly "wanted to wipe the slate clean" with Kislev [website], which meant shedding the "baggage" of the existing system. In its place is a new system that still involves building support for Kislev's two dominant institutions, but with a "significantly changed" end goal:

"In the new system, you will accrue support for either side of the conflict via a variety of actions, including fielding relevant units, using thematically aligned agents, constructing buildings and dedicating your atamans," Håkestad writes. " As you raise your support, you will receive boons from these major factions, presenting you a secondary progression mechanic that lets you get powerful benefits." The main change here it's that gaining support is "no longer a race". Instead, supporting just one side will lead to an increase in populace unrest, so the system is now about balancing the support between the two factions.

This is far from the only aspect of Kislev's play undergoing renovation. The 'devotion' resource is being altered so that it is provincial rather than factionwide, now representing the fervour of the local populace. At high levels, it can be used to boost the local province or a nearby army, as well as giving them stronger resistances against climate penalties. "A core tenet of the Kislev approach is that they are strongest at home, and prefer well settled core territories," Håkestad points out.

In addition, the Kislev tech tree is being revamped to make it more flexible and "significantly open up your choices", while there's a bunch of changes coming to Atamans. Alongside getting a skill tree and a "unique battle loadout", Atamans are now exclusively used for commanding settlement garrisons. This means you can no longer recruit them permanently onto the campaign map, but they do get a new ability called "Garrison sally attack", which lets their garrison engage enemy armies within a limited distance of the settlement. Being able to use garrisons as short-range armies sounds pretty rad, honestly, and I can see what an advantage that would be to defending your home turf.

Retooling Kislev isn't the sole focus of the upgrade. It also takes a second stab at Tzeentch's fragments of sorcery system. Håkestad provides a detailed rundown of this on the blog which is worth reading, but the key change is that it moves "the decision making to its own tab of the character detail panel". Finally, the patch will add two new free units. Cathay is getting Nan-Gau Grenadiers, a "relatively cheap grenade slinging infantry", while the upgrade also throws in some gnoblar flingers for good measure. So it seems Creative Assembly hasn't entirely stopped adding new stuff to the game.

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Nonetheless, a renewed emphasis on addressing existing issues will surely be welcome news for Total War fans. Creative Assembly is already working on improvements to the game's campaign AI, having discovered it overreacts to the presence of just one measly hero. This focus on existing content also comes off the back of a broader change in approach to how the studio makes and sells Total War games, having unveiled plans to ditch blood packs, early-adopter DLC, and the Total War launcher in December.

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What's on your bookshelf?: The Norwood Suite and Betrayal At Club Low's Cosmo D

Booked For The Week is our weekly chat with industry folk about the books they love, have loved, and are hoping to love in the future.

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! "Nic, you selfless paragon. You champion of the people. You prince among men. I can't believe you put your favourite column on pause for several weeks to let me finish my book!". Please. I'm sure you would have done the same, were you also a dashing genius with a moustache powerful enough to crack the pyramids.

To ring in the resurrection with style, it's The Norwood Suite, Betrayal At Club Low, and Moves Of The Diamond Hand's Cosmo D! Cheers Cosmo! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

I’ve been slow-burning through the 20th Century Boys manga. Epic as it gets. A ragtag group of friends try to stop a seemingly unstoppable mega-cult. The mystery comes at you like paper coming out of a malfunctioning printer. Decades jump forwards and backwards with abandon. I first got into Urasawa’s work when Netflix adapted his Pluto manga. That was amazing, but this is sheer fun. If it gets an anime adaptation, it’s going to be an event.

A History Of Bones, John Lurie’s autobiography. You might have seen him on HBO’s Painting With John or, the classic 80s film Down By Law. A lot of my inspiration for music and the arts stems out of this very specific cultural era in New York – the 80s and 90s. And Lurie’s anecdotes for how he got there and what happened once he arrived are vivid, strange and playful. It’s like listening to an odd old guy show up at your house and rattle off an endless chain of wild anecdotes. And the way he tells it, you believe every one.

Honestly, three Shades Of Blue. Shout outs to Warren Spector and this column for the recommendation!

“The City And The City” by China Mieville. It’s set in a fictional city that’s actually two cities layered on top of one another. Paranormal laws prevent the citizens of one to set foot into the other and vice versa. They have to navigate them using balletic rituals of avoidance and unseeing. Uncovering this world and its rules was a slow-burning pleasure.

The Blue Giant manga. It’s a counterpoint to History Of Bones in its conceit – a young sax player comes to a Big City seeking glory. As it’s geared towards younger readers, it’s quite earnest and open-hearted. It's a bildungsroman. But it still feels authentic to the realities of trying to make it as a musician in a big city. Competition is fierce. It's easy to cross paths with artists who have divergent agendas and perspectives. It gives space to the various motivations of why people pursue this dream, what drives them. And yet it also displays the cost that the whole process can take from them. I recommend this book because it's optimistic, but also poignant and grounded.

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Valve implements dedicated page for advertising guidelines

As noted by GamingonLinux and SteamDB, this policy has been in place for five years and was previously listed on its Pricing page. Valve has now moved its advertising guidelines to its own page on Steamworks, providing examples of which types of advertising are and are not allowed in games.

"Steam does not contain any paid advertising, nor are models supported in games distributed on Steam," it writes.

"There are varying interpretations of what constitutes 'advertising' in a game, so the examples are meant to help guide developers as to what is and isn't supported on Steam."

One example is product placement, which is allowed on the platform "provided such portrayals are not disruptive and are appropriate within the context of the game."

Another is cross promotions, which Valve says are "encouraged and many clients find value in them." The firm clarifies that "under no circumstances is it okay to charge other developers to participate in a bundle or to sell access to a sale page or other page on Steam."

However, Valve emphasises that developers "should not utilise paid advertising as a business model" such as "requiring players to watch or otherwise engage with advertising in order to play, or gating gameplay behind advertising."

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