Patch #25: Multiplayer improvements (pt. 1)

Multiplayer is just out. And now our goal is to spend the next days gathering feedback and fleshing everything out as fast as we can.

This week also marks one year of 9 Kings EA release! And even though there was a patch yesterday, we just had to bring you another one today. So here it goes!

After watching hours of live streams and analyzing our data, we've decided to improve the multiplayer perk system in a very simple way: instead of rainbow perks, you'll have access to unique multiplayer perks. Multiplayer perks play the same role as the rainbow perks you know. But you'll only see those that are compatible with this game mode. And they're all unlocked for everyone from day one.

Here's why this is good:

• Reduced clutter. Keeping a bunch of locked perks in the perk screen was not doing anyone any good. You might've noticed we like to keep things as clean as possible.

• Accessibility and fairness. Rainbow perks are key for your build, and we want a fresh 9 Kings player to be familiar with what the perk system can do and have access to it from day 1.

• Same experience. Yeah, rainbow perks are all banned here. Multiplayer perks took their place. But they'll offer you the same experience in a more straightforward way.

• Single player interaction. You now have a unique board for single player and another for multiplayer so that you can transition seamlessly between modes without the need to rearrange your board every time.

• Room for growth. For now, these are versions of rainbow perks. But we might add new ones that only make sense in multiplayer. Got any ideas? Make sure to share with us in the forums or on Discord!

• You already get a new perk! Hardy is a new Multiplayer perk that will increase the HP of your base card.

Thanks to the nature of the diplomacy mechanics in Multiplayer, we were able to tweak the calendar a bit, and we believe it can lead to some interesting outcomes.

• The first shop event now happens one year later. This means you'll have +9 gold to spend, which means being able to afford one extra card in an average run.

• The second expansion event now happens one year earlier. This means you'll struggle a little bit less with plot management in the late game.

You might've seen a notice saying that your unlocks might be erased during the current stage of multiplayer. Your unlocked items and your current rank will not be erased and are permanent.

• It now only takes 3 runs to unlock multiplayer.

• Angels are now much tougher against all kinds of builds.

• Bday victory track was added.

• Bases HP were lowered (~20%) to make battles faster.

• Base stalemate is now faster.

• Created a special in-game state for viewing the kingdom of enemies who already lost.

• You now get +1 rank point when finishing first.

• You lose one fewer point when finishing last.

• Fixed a bug that caused Walls to occasionally be converted by Embalming decree, breaking the battle.

• Fixed a bug that caused Invisibility decree to break the year 33 fight.

• When you have no vanity items, the game will now clearly indicate the option is locked.

• Walls are now properly displayed when viewing enemy kingdoms.

• Fixed some visual overlaps.

• Fixed personal rank text layout to properly display bigger numbers (we surpassed 20k profiles!)

• Fixed Steamdeck navigation issues on Multiplayer.

• Fixed troop count glitch on Royal Guard (Nothing).

• Fixed troop count glitch on Gigantafield (Spells).

• Fixed troop count glitch on Rite (Spells).

After downloading the patch, please start a new run, as your previous run won’t have the updates stored and they may cause conflicts. If you experience any issues, please email us at

https://report@sadsocket.com

Year 33: We're aware of some issues with year 33 and we're working as we speak to improve the end game experience. You can expect not only performance tweaks but also design changes to make the final stage of the game more solid for everyone.

Fixes: We'll also be addressing as many reported bugs as we can on all game modes asap.

New content: After that, you can also expect new matchmaking updates (such as a casual option to be matched with your Steam friends async profiles) and new content for both single player & multiplayer modes!

We just learned that Russia has blocked access to Cloudflare, which is making our servers unreachable for players in the country. We're really sorry about this issue and will work hard to find a solution. We hope you understand this is beyond our control. In the meantime, consider using a VPN. Again, we're on it.

I wanted to wrap up this patch note with a very sincere message. This month we surpassed 1 million copies sold. Not even in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be writing this here, but: thank you so freaking much. Over the last 12 months you literally changed our lives forever, and we'll keep working hard to give back what you've given us. This is just the start.

This week marks one year of 9 Kings EA release. And we promise you it'll be our only EA birthday. We're moving full speed ahead, and our eyes are locked on the 1.0 release. We'll keep working hard to bring new content and balance the game. Expect big updates for ALL game modes. We'll be back with more news soon. For now, make sure to keep sharing your feedback as we flesh Multiplayer out :)

We've been reading through all your Steam reviews, and we appreciate the feedback we've been receiving. Please continue sharing your thoughts, so we can know to focus on for each upcoming patch and make 9 Kings the best game it can be. It's really important to us!

Please join us on Discord and Reddit. You can also find the 9 Kings wiki page here for information on the game! Love, Sad Socket team

Love,
Sad Socket team