but we haven't been idle. In order to make Taking London the game it deserved to be, we had to rebuild everything from scratch - new architecture, new engine - essentially, a new game. Some of you may already have experienced this as it's been available as a beta branch since January, and in the next few days... it's going live.
So what can you expect from the new build?
Conquering the lands is busy work, and precious time can't be wasted hunting for the information you need! The HUD has been completely reworked to make vital information permanently visible, and time taken to access crucial screens has been reduced by making everything accessible from the central city view. No more painful transitions to see the inside of a building when the enemy is at the gates!
Sick of the cataphract / cannon "death by a thousand cuts" meta? Worry not - the battle engine has been replaced with a simpler, faster, more reliable yet undoubtedly more expressive system. Every troop now serves a purpose - and since the NPCs have learnt how to switch up their army composition, you'll need all of them.
The gold had to run out eventually! Gone are the days of day 1 trillionaires; the gap between the biggest players and budding newbies shrinks ever closer, and new servers will ship with an "austerity modifier", aimed at making the rise to the top a violent struggle rather than a gentle stroll.
It wouldn't be a major Taking London update without a new server for you all to destroy, would it!
You'll get a few days to get used to the new build after it launches, and then a 4th opportunity to finally crown yourself emperor of the land will emerge... who will be the one to cease it this time?
This will be the first server to ship with the new Austerity modifier - can you keep an army large enough to keep MONARCH at bay fed and watered?
What happens when you replace crusty architecture and a battle engine that may as well be written in cave drawings with modern best practices? The server costs go down! With this update, we'll be transitioning to a free to play model - I may offer an in-game shop for aesthetic items to fund future updates, but as always: Taking London will NEVER be pay to win!