V0.5.3806 Block & Guard Break, Backstab, Melee Engagement Rework

V0.5.3806 is now live in the playtest. The focus this time is army combat: shield units can now block. Attacks from the front are stopped by the shield, and flanking or getting behind a shield wall is the way to break it. Here's a quick look at Block and Guard Break in action:

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Want to try it yourself? Join our Discord to get access to the playtest:
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Full patch notes below.

New Features

Block & Guard Break

• Shield-bearing units now have their own Block value. Attacks from the front are stopped by the shield, dealing no damage and not interrupting the unit's action.
• Each successful block consumes Block. When Block runs out, the unit is guard-broken: it can't block for a while and takes double damage, after which its Block recovers.
• Blocking only works while the unit is standing firm and facing the attacker. Attacks from the sides or behind can't be blocked, and units that are staggered or knocked down can't block either.
• Greatshield Units can block while moving and attacking. Sword-Shield Units (small shields) can't block while moving, except when charging. Flanking or getting behind a shield wall is an effective way to break it.
• Blocks have their own hit animation, VFX and sound, clearly distinct from a normal hit.

Backstab

• Attacks that land from behind deal bonus damage, which stacks with critical hits. This applies to both your units and enemies.

Other

• Units now have standard bearers. Your units, allies and enemies carry flags in different colors.
• Soldiers in the rear rows now move side to side while waiting to engage.

Adjustments

• Reworked melee engagement. Units now spread out across targets, queue up to fill open spots and flank around the sides, reducing back-row pile-ups, idling in place, unexplained retreats and endless circling.
• Improved Archers. Archers now spread out across targets, actively face their firing direction and lead moving targets.
• Improved avoidance when allied units cross paths or are packed tightly together, reducing clipping, sideways flipping and abnormal shoving.
• Shortened unit follow distance. Move and follow commands now respond faster.
• Slightly increased the attack frequency of regular units.
• Added a variety of new combat animations, improving transitions between knockdown, getting up and movement. Updated critical hit damage numbers and some combat sounds.

Performance

• Optimized performance for large-scale unit battles, Buffs, animation and audio, reducing stutter.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed units standing off outside attack range, switching targets too often or locking onto irrelevant targets, and local glitches bringing an entire battle to a standstill.
• Fixed pathfinding issues causing units to jitter, get stuck, stop permanently or head the wrong way.
• Fixed abnormal switching between following, chasing and engaging.
• Fixed delayed movement start-up animations, mismatched step rate, idle animations playing mid-movement, and Greatshield movement animations not looping.
• Fixed attack hits being skipped and failing to connect at low frame rates or high game speed.
• Fixed characters landing abnormally on slopes, floating at spawn, being unable to return to ground movement after dodging, and accidentally walking off cliffs during non-dodge movement.
• Fixed follow-up knockback, death animations, VFX or sounds not triggering at the moment a unit is killed.
• Fixed some skills replaying hit VFX repeatedly and units being unable to get up after a knockdown.
• Fixed delayed attack hit detection for Zombie Units.
• Fixed unit indicator lines disappearing in RTS view.

Let us know how it plays - on Discord or in the Steam discussions.