Songs of Conquest News

[h2]Greetings Wielders
[/h2][p]Today’s Steam post is all about Kastus Maal, an idea we had years ago that has finally clawed his way out of the grave, quite literally, in this case. We started working on his Tale back in 2024, but had to bury it again for some less exciting real-life reasons. With a new plan in place and the success of our Faction DLCs behind us, we were finally able to exhume it properly. And with over 40k wishlists for Rise Eternal, how could we let it rest? So for those of you who haven’t yet stepped into Songs of Conquest, this might be the perfect time to answer the call.[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]Join the hordes, wishlist Rise Eternal![/p][p] Now it’s just a few more bricks to lay on that pixelated mausoleum before it's done. Or, to put it more plainly: Rise Eternal releases on March 5th. And that date is coming ever closer, a little less than two weeks as we release this. [/p][p]Our testers are currently playing through the Tale, hunting bugs, uprooting Roots, and swarming castles with their ever-growing ranks of Risen. Someone has to make sure the dead march in the right direction. We’re thankful for every bug they find.

Oh no, an ambush!

With four connected story maps, a tombstone weight of lore,  new artifact sets, a new Wielder, and new map entities, this Tale brings a fair share of fresh graves to dig into. We hope you enjoy this way of expanding the story of Songs of Conquest. If all goes well, there are more restless spirits waiting their turn.[/p][p]For us, this is a creative way of deepening the lore of our existing factions. The campaign left questions unanswered. Some stories refuse to stay buried.[/p][p]
Kastus will find himself in many strange places in search for his vengeance

So mark March 5th in your tomes, dust off your necromancy tools, and sharpen your quills. It’s only a matter of time before you are summoned in Aurelia’s name to carve a path through the enemies of Loth and avenge what they did in the Arleon campaign. [/p][p]We can’t wait until you get to walk a mile in Kastus's one good, rotten shoe and dig up all the secrets, lore, and stories of Rise Eternal.
[/p][p] /Anders and the rest of the undead hordes at Lavapotion[/p][p]
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[p][/p][p]A few months ago we shared that a small team at Lavapotion had been working on something new: Wielders of the Essence, a fast-paced survivors-like set in a familiar world. Some of you wishlisted it. Some of you raised an eyebrow. Either way, we have an update! Wielders has changed quite a bit since then. And there will be a playable demo launching February 23rd during Steam Next Fest.[/p][p]When we first revealed Wielders, it was a fairly straightforward survivors-like. It worked, and it was fun, but in a genre with a lot of strong competition it felt like it needed something more. So we started experimenting, looking at ways to give each run a bit more long-term weight. That led us to introduce incremental progression.[/p][p]The structure now revolves around shorter runs where every attempt, win or lose, gives you resources. Those resources are used to develop your town, unlocking new Wielders, troops, spells, and skills over time. If you’ve played Songs of Conquest, you may recognize the pattern. We tend to gravitate toward systems where progress carries forward. Why not learn from ourselves?[/p][p]We've made a new trailer that shows the changes better than we can describe them here, a picture says a thousand words, and there is a lot of pictures in a video.[/p][p] [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]So what’s it like playing Wielders of the Essence? Well, you start a run on a randomly generated map. Enemies gather. Spells fly. Your troops fight alongside you. Maybe you fall early. Maybe you make it to the later waves. Either way, you return to your town with something to show for it.[/p][p]Back in town, you expand, unlock, and adjust. The next run is slightly different. Slightly stronger. Slightly more controlled, and perhaps you have a new plan in mind, a goal to reach. That rhythm between field and town is what the game is built around. And yes, there is an Essence system of sorts in here as well![/p][p] Build all the stuff! [/p][p]And since we can’t resist talking about our favorite game, Songs of Conquest is still going strong. We know many of you are here for Songs of Conquest, and only that. Nothing has changed on that front. We are still on track with Rise Eternal, Yulan, and everything else we’ve outlined. Wielders is a smaller project running alongside our main development.[/p][p]And now to a little call to action regarding the game this devlog is all about. Try the demo, test it for yourself. If you’re curious, our demo goes live February 23rd during Steam Next Fest. Give it a few runs and let us know what you think. We’re especially interested in hearing from the Songs of Conquest community.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]If you want a reminder when it launches, add Wielders to your wishlist and Steam will notify you, they are nice like that.[/p][p]See you next week,[/p][p]/Anders & the Lavapotion Team (especially that small group that works with Wielders of the Essence)[/p]

[p]It’s time for the very first Yulan Devlog, where we take the time to dive just a little bit deeper into one aspect of our new faction, and this time we’ve chosen the Tale. This has been one of the major points of feedback after we released our earlier Faction DLCs. [/p][p]We’ve received a lot of love for our shorter Tales, like the one about Root’s Grow or our favorite sad Vanir troll, Sorg. And even if you’ve enjoyed these story-focused missions, especially after we added different difficulties, many of you have still been missing something more connected. A series of missions tied together by a continuous storyline, where you follow the same thread from start to finish. With the Yulan Tale, that is exactly what you’re getting. 

[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]Wishlist Yulan now, that support really helps! [/p][p]Three connected maps, following the Wielders of one of the three families, letting you learn more about Yulan’s lore, its history, and where the faction fits into the larger picture. You will meet many new Wielders and a few familiar ones as well. Through playing the maps, you’ll learn what makes the Yulan faction tick, both lore-wise and in terms of playstyle.[/p][p]So why aren’t we calling it a Campaign? It has many of the major ingredients of our larger campaigns, so why insist on calling it a Tale instead? The answer mostly comes down to the Songs. That’s what we named our older, full campaigns. Those Songs came with custom-made, performed, and cutscene-enhanced songs created by our very own in-house bard.[/p][p]It would feel wrong to call these new stories campaigns when they are missing that tavern-song element, so we are calling them Tales. Tales is our umbrella concept for story content, covering both shorter experiences, like Mehry and the one-mission stories in Vanir and Roots, as well as longer ones, such as the upcoming Rise Eternal Tale. They now have their own place in the menus, making sure they get their moment in the pixel-like sun, as the expression goes.
[/p][p]Just like Tales of Wonder, the Tale of Yulan will have its own space!

But enough about explaining what we call things. Even if it helps straighten out a few of those feedback questions you’ve had, let’s talk about Yulan’s story and tease a bit about its Wielders. [/p][p]We will adventure in Yulan through the eyes of the House of Sheng, one of the three houses, and the one that focuses on Creation as its Essence. The House of Sheng seeks to find joy in life while also honoring its position of power within Yulan society. As hinted at, or perhaps rather outspokenly and brashly stated in our Faction reveal Steam post, a main focus of this Tale will be the revitalization of Roots, a force long thought to be under control. But something has changed, although we won’t spoil what just yet. 

Our awesome artist is Maja Misztal, check out https://www.artstation.com/steelsuit

What we can say is that the Houses of Yulan are not united. They aren’t allies. As the story begins, they are three rivals competing for power, bureaucracy, and influence. There is an old struggle between them that, throughout history, has resulted in bloody conflict, with Essence wielded as a weapon against other Houses, much like the baronies of Arleon.[/p][p]Carl is hard at work crafting the Tale, while our art department is simultaneously completing everything from map entities to unit animations, buildings, and Wielders. And speaking of those Wielders, we thought you deserved the latest update on the Wielder lineup.[/p][p]
All three families together, a sight that is far from common, This one is made by our new Art intern Einar
https://x.com/3inart/media

So did I write all of this just to brag about our beautiful art? Well, maybe, but there is a lot more to come in the following months.  And as a final thing, thank you all so much for your support, praise and feedback (And thousands of wishlists) that we recieved after our Yulan reveal two weeks ago, those kind of things really give us energy to just keep up the work! [/p][p]/Anders and the rest of the Lavpotion team[/p][p]

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[p]The time has come for us to unveil a new Faction DLC. (Or at least the store page!) Up until the actual release, we will be doing monthly behind-the-scenes devlogs, with insight into just about everything your hearts can desire about our upcoming faction.[/p][p]But you don’t have to wait for those devlogs to get to know Yulan. Why not start right now? There is no time like the present, as the saying goes. You will, of course, find much more information neatly listed on the store page, but we wanted to highlight a few things you’ll get with this new DLC.[/p][p]
[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink] With each of our Faction DLCs, we have tried to make them stand out, to be just a little bit different while still feeling like a natural part of the world. We want the Yulan experience to feel distinct. One of the ways we achieved this was by creating the Houses of Li, Sheng, and Xuan.[/p][p]For those who have followed the game since the very beginning, you might remember that there has always been an idea to create a faction called the Dynasty of Roses. That concept eventually evolved into Yulan. And while there are no roses, there are plenty of magnolias, which also became the faction symbol. [/p][p]We are having a great time working on this faction. There were seeds and a foundation to build on, but unlike Vanir and Roots, Yulan has been more of an exploration in design. That gave us the opportunity to create something new, drawing heavily on inspirations such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chinese dynasties, myths, stories, and a good number of movies and books (Carl especially liked The Monkey King). The work has been a good mix of fun and challenging, and the final unit lineup speaks for itself.
[/p][p] And this isn’t even all of the units, well, all variations at least.

Some of you have probably already guessed it by now, as we’ve dropped enough hints already. Yulan will have several upgrade options for some of their troops. Each House has its own Essence focus, giving you the option to choose which Essence you want to lean into depending on your playstyle.[/p][p]Will you focus on one Essence, or will you diversify as you conquer more settlements and mix things up for that tactic you have planned? Li stands for Order, Sheng follows Creation, and Xuan focuses on Arcana.[/p][p]So which units get these upgrade options? It’s easier to say which ones don’t. The fiery bird Feng, the mercenary cavalry Riders and their fox-like companions, the Hu, will not have branching upgrades. The rest, the citizens of Yulan (and a dragon-like creature called Tian), will.[/p][p]

And all of these will have different abilities, fitting to their Arcana.

A faction DLC is, of course, more than just new troops. Yulan also includes a trio of connected story-focused maps. These let you discover the playstyle of Yulan, introduce its Wielders, and place the faction on the Aerbor stage. The story focuses on the reawakening of an ancient threat, long thought to be under control: the Tree Mothers and their sentient creations. We will also learn more about the conflict between the different houses and meet a ton of rebels that needs to be put down, all in a days work. For these three missions you will be playing as the House of Sheng a house that likes to enjoy the good things in life and embrace Creation as their Essence.

One of the main feedbacks from our earlier factions has, after all been that we should focus more on stories, and Carl has been busy working on just that these last months. 

The Conflict against Roots is going to be a core part of the story.

What is Roots doing in Yulan? Where does Yulan fit into the wider lore? Will we see the new faction test its strength against our old factions? All of these questions will have their place in the new faction Tale.[/p][p]There is, of course, more. New map entities, Wielders, a new biome, new music, and five new Conquest maps to showcase everything. One of these maps will be available to everyone, letting you face the might of the three Houses whether you own the DLC or not.
[/p][p]It's important to defend what really matters!

If you want more information, there is plenty we haven’t mentioned here. We don’t want to keep you from visiting the store page and reading up on it yourself. And we will, as mentioned, go deeper into Yulan in the upcoming devlogs. [/p][p]We can’t wait for you to try Yulan out on the battlefield. What do you think about our newest faction? Do you have a must-have idea for us? Let us know in the comments![/p][p]/Anders and the rest of Lavapotion[/p][p]


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• Small balance changes to battles in the first Tales of Wonder tale map
  
• Replace Archery with Chaos as starting skill in Tales of Wonder
  
• Make “map completion checkmarks” in Tales buttons also check for completion of tale maps from before 1.8
  
• Make DLC menus “map completion checkmarks” check for completion of 1.8 tales maps
  
• Fixed issue with not being able to level up an existing skill as a reward from map entities if you had no empty skill slots
  
• Fixed Poachers never showing up in randomized neutral armies
  
• Fixed case where research purchase buttons would not show the correct current levels if you lost a corresponding research building
  
• Battle: Fixed troops moving due to Charge ability, Bullrush ability or the Repel spell not triggering Overwatch or Spearwall abilities on the final hex
  
• Battle: Improved AI target selection when using Blind Hatred spell
  
• Map editor: Fixed “Random Value” trigger criteria not working correctly when playing using certain languages