Quick Hotpatch

Fixes/Improvements

• Increase dragon damage vs NPC kingdoms
  
• Fix DLC not working on mac

Hi Everyone,

We're excited to announce the big new update - Dragon Taming - is now available! This has been a popular community suggestion for a long time and we're happy to get it in the game. You can tame, raise, and care for dragons! Let's get into the changes:

In order to unravel the mysteries of the dragons, you'll need to research Dragon Husbandry in the great library. This will unlock all the buildings you need to make dragons valued members of your kingdom.

This provides a home for two dragons and one offspring. Add piles of gold here and the next time dragons arrive at your kingdom one may decide to settle at the nest. Workers here will collect food (pork and fish) to feed to the dragons. You can improve the conditions here with a connection to an aqueduct. This building also shows you all the information you need to make sure your dragons are well cared for and to find out what they are up to.

Dragons like to bathe and this building provides a big enough private pool for them to get clean without causing unfortunate accidents with the peasants if they were to use the same bath house. Requires a connection to an aqueduct.

This is a small obstacle course dragons will fly through when they get bored. There's also stands below for curious peasants to come watch.
Dragon health will slowly degrade over time, so you'll need a dragon doctor to remove the pests from under their scales and generally keep them in good shape. Dragons will come here automatically when they need a checkup.

Now there's a bit more to dragons than just placing the buildings and waiting around. We won't say much here except to say make sure to keep your dragons as happy as possible and see what happens.

• Allow troops to path over and through rubble
  
• Churches dislike being near dragons
  
• Vikings thieves can steal gold from dragon nests
  
• Added new NPC conversations regarding the dragons
  
• Empty stops are shown in the cart and ship UI
  
• Added delete button to the stops in cart and ship UI

• Fixed issue where you could select buildings that were in the process of collapsing
  
• Fixed issue where grave keeper could rebuild it's cemetery over an existing building
  
• Fix issue with cart and ship UI where delete and backspace keys would delete a destination while editing a resource number
  
• Fix issue where you could interact with the witch with your troops on an NPC island
  
• Other small fixes

This update was a bit of a beast to accomplish, hope you enjoy! Thanks for being fans and thanks for all your feedback and bug reports!

Until next time,
-Pete, Michael, & Sam

Hi Everyone,

Quick update for you today, the beta version of our upcoming Dragon Taming Update has been available for testing for a little while now and we've been hard at work incorporating your feedback and fixing bug reports. If you haven't tried out the beta version and would like to test it, here's how:

• Right click on the game in the Steam library
  
• Click properties, then choose betas
  
• Choose the next-version-preview branch

We've been fixing bugs and tweaking and tuning the dragons, their upkeep, diet, damage, and how they integrate into the world. We set up gamepad controls for the dragon buildings so the new stuff in the update beta should be playable for Steam Deck now. We've also got the first pass on translations in for the new text.

Finally, here's a preview of another new building - the Flight Training Course - it'll help keep your dragons happy, nimble, and their wings in good shape:

We're getting close to a final release of the update, working on final translations and last bug fixes. Thanks for your patience!

Until next time,
- Pete, Michael, and Sam

Hope everyone is having a happy holiday so far!

We've got the beta version ready for the Dragon Taming update. There is a sticky thread in the forums where there's a more detailed list of all the new changes that are ready for testing, but here's a little preview of how bad a time you'll be able to give the vikings with dragons on your side:

And you'll also need to keep your dragons clean:

Of course, we'll do our usual big update post when the Dragon Taming Update is ready for final release.

If you'd like, you can try it out now by switching to the beta branch (keep in mind there will be bugs and things to fix). Here's how:

• Right click on the game in the steam library
  
• Click properties, then choose betas
  
• Choose the next-version-preview branch

No code is necessary, your game should automatically update once you switch. Everyone who has been playing on the alpha branch will be kept up to date as well.

Once you're on the beta branch check out the new research in the Great Library to get started with the new dragon stuff.

Please send your feedback and bug reports to contact@lionshieldstudios.com, chat with us directly in our discord[discord.com], or post here in the forums!

Until next time,
-Pete, Michael, & Sam

Hi Everyone!

We are currently working on a big new content update. It focuses on something you folks have brought up a few times, but we weren't sure if it was possible. With a lot of hard work behind us and some left to go, we're pleased to announce the next update coming up will be ... Dragon Taming!

Here's a preview of a couple of the new incoming buildings:

A 5x5 building that provides a potential home for two adult dragons and one offspring. If you place this building and add a tempting pile of gold, a dragon may choose to make this their home. If you care for them well and meet their needs they will defend not only their nest but your kingdom from invaders!

A 3x3 building that provides critical care to your dragons. A tamed dragon can get pests and dirt in its scales and also needs its teeth cared for. The dragon doctors take care of this to make sure your dragons are happy and healthy.

Thanks for your patience as the three of us work on this (and also our next game ancient roman city builder Nova Roma). We'll have more to announce about this upcoming update soon!

Until next time
-Pete, Sam, & Michael

Hi Everyone,

Quick update for you today - we're excited to announce we're now Steam Deck Verified! The game should now run great, look great, and control great on the Steam Deck.

While we've been focusing on the console ports for Kingdoms and Castles and on our new game Nova Roma, we've still been monitoring your feedback and bug reports and have implemented a bunch of much requested improvements and fixes.

• Allow carts and ships to deposit resources at stockpiles and docks even if those buildings have their desired amounts set to zero.
  
• Allow carts to pick up and drop off from swineherds and fishing huts
  
• Reduced cost of the Well
  
• Reduced cost of Transport Ship
  
• Increased radius of the Large Fountain
  
• In gamepad controls, disallow selecting empty tile when units are selected.
  
• Optimize catapult target finding
  
• Increase camera zoom range during map select
  
• Increase favor gained when you humor the AI during the joke conversation

• Fixed issue in gamepad controls where building selection did not clear unit selection
  
• Fixed input issue on Steam Deck when using Steam Dock and starting the game with a keyboard and mouse where the game would get stuck in gamepad control mode.
  
• Fixed issue where fires could start too soon if playing with AIs
  
• Fixed person UI and transport ship/cart UI being too small on Steam Deck
  
• Fixed rare bug where AI units could get stuck unloading and loading their troops
  
• Fixed bug where damage calculations for archer units with only the general still alive were wrong
  
• Fixed bug where 'Clear Map' on the map edit mode wouldn't clear fish
  
• Fixed performance issue with UI when looking at an AI owned island
  
• Fixed issue where catapults would stop auto targeting
  
• Other small fixes

Also, while we're on the topic of gamepads, we're excited to announce Kingdoms and Castles will be coming to Xbox Series S/X/One ... today![www.xbox.com] If you've got friends with Xboxes who wanted to try the game, this would be for them! We'll have more news on other platforms in the future.

Thanks for being fans! And thanks for all your feedback and bug reports!

Until next time,
-Pete, Michael, & Sam

Hi Everyone,

Nominations for this year’s Steam Awards are underway and we’d like to ask for your support by nominating Kingdoms and Castles for the Labor of Love Award.


We first launched Kingdoms and Castles in the summer of 2017 and in those six years we’ve continued to work on the game and improve it with lots of big updates. Compared to the original 2017 release, the game today has more than doubled in content. We've worked hard to incorporate lots of your feedback and suggestions into the game to make it the best it can be.

We've been very grateful for your support over the years. There's certainly a lot of other deserving games for this award, so your nomination means a lot us. You can check the nominate button right here in this post if you'd like to consider us for the Labor of Love award.

Until next time,
-Pete, Michael, and Sam