Splattercatgaming checked out the Early Access title Songs of Conquest:

One of My Favorite Strategy RPGs on Steam Today

Couchpotato spotted another update for Songs of Conquest:

Livening up Loth!

Dig deep into the Aurelias secrets with our latest update!

Greetings, Wielders!

Prepare yourselves for another update, this one comes with a grave-like touch as we return to the eerie Barony of Loth and embrace our inner cultists! As always, this latest version of Songs of Conquest is packed with a little bit of everything. From essential bug fixes and AI behavior updates to a plethora of small tweaks and changes, we've left no tomb unturned. But let's be honest – there's definitely an undead theme lurking in the shadows.

[...]

Ah, it seems we missed a buried treasure in last week's update – but fear not! The elusive Great Excavation map has been tracked down and added to the roster. It's almost as if it sensed it belonged here all along.

But that's not all – speaking of maps, we've got some exciting additions for all you cartographers out there! We've introduced faction-based wood generators, allowing you to tailor your maps even further to suit your vision.

And for those who prefer a more randomized playstyle, we've got you covered too! We've revamped the two-player Random Map layout for better balance, with more frequent and formidable guards and resource generators to keep you on your toes. Embrace the unpredictability and conquer the unknown!

[...]

Songs of Conquest got some minor changes:

Initiative Improved

Update 0.91

Important note
Due to internal serialization changes, some of the (mainly) campaign saves will be invalidated with this version. Either restart the map or use our new Beta branch called 0-90-classic- version to solve this!

Greetings, Wielders!

Lavapotion is back from our winter holidays, and we couldn’t be more excited! 2024 promises to be a very interesting year for us and for Songs of Conquest.

As we draw closer to the 1.0 release (date to be announced soon-ish), our updates will focus more on fixing issues and polishing our game than on releasing new features. After all, we don’t want to bring you something broken! There are some very interesting exceptions to this rule, but we don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Not every update can be a world-shaking phenomenon. Despite that, we are proud to introduce Initiative Improved! It might not be our biggest one yet, but it still brings quite a few things to the table.

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

Henriquejr spotted a new roadmap for Songs of Conquest:

Roadmap Reflection!

Let's look at what we've been doing 2023!

Greetings Wielders!

It's that time of the year, folks! The moment when we all take a breather from the daily grind, ditch the office desks, bid farewell to school benches, and momentarily escape the clutches of factories. Why? Well, it differs from person to person, but for us? To gaze proudly at our Indie games roadmap and flex a bit!

For Lavapotion, 2023 has been quite the journey. While much has unfolded behind the scenes, we thought it'd be fitting to share what we've been up to. Let's dive into the nitty-gritty of our progress and see what we have done!

This year saw the introduction of a new campaign, significant AI enhancements, and the inclusion of gamepad support, among other things. We've been hard at work, and we're excited to fill you in on the details.

 

[...]

Henriquejr spotted update 0.86 for Songs of Conquest:

Update 0.86

Improved difficulty settings

Greetings Wielders!

We are thrilled to present the latest update, the last update before the Lavapotion devs go on our Swedish summer holidays! This update has some exciting new features, crucial bug fixes, and gameplay elevating improvements! We will be hard to reach next month so don’t expect answers as quickly as you are used to until we get back in force in August!

We're happy to announce a new way to enhance your gaming experience, making it harder or easier, whatever your preference is. This update features a system that allows you to fine-tune the game difficulty to your liking. Say goodbye to hardcoded AI settings because now you have the power to balance the game according to your preferences.

So what does that mean? Well, we have added options to calibrate your unit multiplier, applied per town/settlement to that town’s per-turn troop production. This makes it possible for you to choose if you want an easier game or give yourself a real challenge. You will also have the option to start with a marketplace, changing all prizes for you and giving you the option to trade from the very start.

Another new feature is that you can change your xp multipliers, making your Wielders into either slow learners or the quickest-leveling Wielders in Aerbor

You can also alter your income, changing how much gold you get from all your settlements, mines and Wielder bonuses. Imagine the difference between a standard game and one where you earn a fraction of what you usually do!

We have worked hard on tracking down bugs these last weeks, everything from AI pathing to fixing that troops aren’t “hidden” in the garrison when we evaluate threat levels. But most of all we have worked on network bugs, things that threw you out of online games and didn’t allow you to get back in there. The work of bug-catching is ever-going and this won’t be the last we see of this issue but we believe that we made it a lot better last update. As always we appreciate your bug reports as they help us track down the issue!

If you really want to delve deeper into everything we did we really recommend reading the changelog, it’s filled with lovely details about what we have been working on.

With that, we wish you the best of summer or winter, depending on where you are! We’ll be back in August but we’ll be checking up on our socials and our Steam page sporadically, we just can’t stay away.

Keep adventuring and don’t forget your sunscreen! Or just stay indoors and play video games, that’s the best protection there is!

/Everyone at Lavapotion

Mortismal Gaming checked out Songs of Conquest:

Check Out: Songs of Conquest

Splattercatgaming checked out the gameplay of the Necromancer faction of Songs of Conquest:

Songs of Conquest - Medieval Fantasy Necromancer Strategy RPG

The Barony of Loth campaign is now available for Songs of Conquest:

The graveyard shift starts now

We are finally going to the graveyard of Loth, so bring a shovel and come along!

Yes, the time has finally come! Today we are releasing the highly awaited campaign for the Barony of Loth, and this one will surely rattle your bones.

Carrying gunpowder to the battlefield comes with both benefits and hazards, as this poor Musketeer just found out. Either that or someone just dropped a well placed Fireball.

The campaign features four missions available on Easy, Normal and Hard difficulty, offering a real challenge similar to the previous campaigns of the Arleon and Rana factions. You will gain insight into the history of the Barony of Loth, as well as the tragic fate that befell the Aurelian empire. The campaign begins with the tale of Baron Aldus of Loth, who encounters a mysterious scholar that offers him a chance to seize an ancient power. Desperate to save his declining Barony, Aldus strikes a deal with the stranger, only to find out that there is a grave price to be paid. Yet, there might be a sliver of light at the end of the tunnel.

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

Lavapotion - the devs of Songs of Conquest look back at Q1 2023:

Q1 Roadmap review - How did we fare?

Let's take a look in the rearview mirror

The first quarter of the year is behind us, this means we have the chance to look at what we’ve done so far during 2023. Even though Q1 only has six specific items listed we’ve done much more than that, both big and small changes that have made Songs of Conquest a different game compared to what it was before.

Beacon Improvements
So how did we actually improve beacons? Quite a few things actually! We enhanced their role as a victory condition and turned them into teleports, which in turn made us rework the way teleports work. You can now choose which beacon you teleport to if you own several of them, creating some very useful and tactical networks, especially for those bigger maps.

Artifact Marketplace
We added something called the Raider’s market. It's building on the adventure map where you can trade those hard-fought-for artifacts or just buy that item that you were missing. This mysterious trader has now appeared on a few of our maps and is ready to lighten that coin purse!

Map editor finalized
This one is brand new as it came out with out last update. But are we completely done? No and yes. There might still be tweaks and small fixes left to do but our map editor is now in a state that we are proud over, ready for our 1.0 launch.

We put a lot of effort into making the map editor more user-friendly and updated a few features. Search functionality was added, as well as drop-down menus to make it easier to find those entities that you were looking for. We also added a feature that gives you the option to crop maps after creation. And an overall a better UI and user experience. (We hope!) Let us know if you agree or disagree!

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

Henriquejr spotted update 0.82.5 for Songs of Conquest:

Update 0.82.5

AI focus update.

Greetings Wielders!

It’s time for another update and yet again it’s filled to the brim with all manner of news and improvements. The focus this time has been on upgrading the AI and making sure that it offers you a more exciting challenge, especially when you are facing enemy Wielders in battle.

Even though AI has been the focus, it's far from the only thing worth mentioning in this update. The team has done some amazing things and we can’t wait for you to experience them firsthand.

With the new and improved AI, you might even learn a few things!

We are proceeding as planned, following our roadmap, and as always there are tons of things happening that are not listed in the update. We are looking forward to releasing stuff like more unit abilities and a whole new campaign in the months to come.

So let’s talk about AI. Our devs have been more than busy so it will be impossible to go into depth in every single detail. We recommend reading the full release notes by scrolling down. But let’s look at some highlights.

The computer is now much more efficient when it comes to planning their adventure map movement. The AI should no longer leave obvious low-hanging fruit, easy claimable map objects untouched. It will save up their money to buy bigger units of troops so that their expeditions can last longer and push deeper into your lands.

[...]

Henriquejr spotted an update for the Strategy RPG Songs of Conquest:

Update 0.81.5

We just launched another update!
Greetings Wielders!

Version 0.81.5 is released and it brings some new exciting features. The update has been on the public test realm for a week and we are eager for everyone to experience the additions and improvements that we have done.

Some of the things described in the roadmap have already been implemented and we hope you enjoy them. It’s quite the list so we won’t go through it all but if you want to read every little bit of detail just scroll down to below the signature.

So what’s new? We have added gates on adventure maps and started to discuss how we want to implement sieges in Songs of Conquest. If you want to join that discussion, comment here or join our discord!

[...]

We have also added something we call Raider’s Market although that name might change later. Somewhere to sell your ill-gotten loot when the inventory of your Wielder might seem a little packed. This mysterious market has already appeared in some of our maps, ready to sell you both powerful and less impactful items, depending on the size of your wielder's coin purse.

[...]

Three new skirmish maps have entered the lists with more on the way in the coming months. Another sought after content and our own cartographers have been hard at work creating these for everyone’s enjoyment. The new maps are called Triad Pass, Proving Ground and Divided.

[...]

There used to be a time when ranged units couldn’t use melee attacks if they were reloading but that time is now over. Those pesky militias can now still pose a threat even though they are cranking up their trusty crossbows, redying themselves for their next shot!

Another absolute highlight is that we have changed the rule where enemies stopped after just getting blasted by one effect when pushed back, something that our community has been asking for. Now the battlefield is open for even more complicated and sneaky maneuvers.

[...]

We have also added some UI quality of life improvements, like a button that upgrades your wielder’s troops without having to go into the upgrade menu! Sometimes it’s those little things that we only find after playtesting that makes all the difference.

Like we said, the list is quite long, filled with big and small things. We feel great about this update and we are happy to say that there is much more on the horizon and the road towards full release is filled with awesome updates.

So stay tuned and look ahead!

/The Lavapotion team

Henriquejr spotted the roadmap for Songs of Conquest:

Roadmap 2023 reveal!

Greetings Wielders!

2023 is going to be a big year for Songs of Conquest and for everyone here at Lavapotion. Not only is this the year when we will launch our full game (at the end of Q3) but there are many exciting features and things planned throughout the year that we are thrilled over!

Fully refreshed after a Swedish winter holiday we have dived into 2023 with vigor. Plans have been drafted and a new roadmap has been finalized for your enjoyment!

Now, we want to emphasize that this is a living document. Things might be added to the plan as we move forward, but the things listed are the key elements towards the full release.

So what exactly are the key elements?

In the first quarter of 2023 we are introducing a much asked for feature with the new artifact market where Wielders can buy and sell their hard earned items. We are also improving the Beacons so Wielders will be able to use them as portals and travel across the adventure map.

The artifact market. Your one-stop-shop for everything artifacts. Graphics, implementation and name in the image above is still tbd. Tbd is an abbreviation for “to be decided” btw. (see what we did there?)

We will be adding more skirmish maps of varying sizes continuously throughout the year. Some of them have been under construction for a while now and we are eager for you to try them. A coming highlight includes the launching of our largest skirmish map yet!

We anticipate this map taking a long time to complete. So get your snacks ready and get comfy, you are in for a long ride.

The second quarter of 2023 is all about the Barony of Loth. We’ll be releasing our third campaign and you’ll get the chance to understand how and why the Barony became the necromancers they are today. We are also introducing brand new unit traits and abilities for many of the faction units as well as more hostile neutral units.

During the third quarter our eyes turn towards the sandy dunes of Barya as we introduce our fourth and final campaign. Our mercenaries, scientists and contract-following merchants finally get their time in the sun (literally!). You’ll get to follow their Wielders as we tie together the story that started with the Arleon campaign.

We will also be adding many new artifacts and introducing support for creating fantastic campaigns of your own through mods. Of course we will be adding achievements so that you can really brag about all that you have accomplished!

[...]

Henriquejr spotted update 0.80 for Songs of Conquest:

The map editor gets a facelift!

Update 0.80

Hello Wielders!

Today we are releasing an update containing a little bit of everything. We are about half way through adding lots of new unit abilities, and you can expect them to come early next year. So, a lot of the work done during the last few weeks is not really visible in this update, but one thing definitely is: the new map editor! To celebrate this release we’ve asked a few questions to our UI designer and Art Director, Christian. If you have any questions for him, don’t be shy to ask in the comments!

If you are looking for the Release notes only, simply scroll to the bottom.

Tell us a little bit about yourself please!
– My name is Christian Knutsson – UI and visual design is primarily my thing on this project. If you want to know more about me there’s actually an old dev spotlight of me when I was a freelancer back in 2020: https://www.lavapotion.com/blog/2020/6/25/developer-spotlight-christian-knutsson (the text still holds up, but the artwork and assets have come a long way)

Why did you overhaul the visuals of the map editor?
– The visual update was more of a result of that we wanted to make it visually a part of the Songs of Conquest game and experience. The Map editor is first and foremost a tool, but we also want the map creator to feel that they are in the Songs of Conquest world while creating. The biggest and most important part for me was to make a UX (user experience) overhaul, to make it a better editor from an interface perspective, how do we layout the tools, how do we categories the panels and make all the properties clearer to understand. The Map editor is something we use internally to create our own maps and entire campaigns so it has been great to make it something that we are also proud to release externally and have everyone be able to create maps for the game.

What are the main differences in this released version, vs. the old one?
– I think the first thing you will notice is of course the new UI, with the Songs of Conquest colors, typography, icons and other graphical UI-elements. But the new layout of tools and properties is what makes the biggest difference. We have tried to follow standards and best practices of where to place elements to lower the cognitive load for a new user. Which basically means that things like the file menu, the tools menu, the draw tools, properties panel and the status bar are all placed similar to what you would find in Google Slides, Adobe Photoshop or similar creative software. Then we have used our visual style to create a clearer visual hierarchy that should guide the map creator in making beautiful and fun maps.

Is there any design element you are extra proud of?
– I love the color palette and the typography of Songs of Conquest so it was really fun to be able to create a new interface based on those elements. I needed to expand the dark-red/blue/purple color palette (titled “Plum”-color by Robin) but otherwise I created very few new elements for the map editor. So I’m extra proud that we could build the updated UI using the game assets and style we already had established. However, one feature I really like in the new Map editor is something that Patrik added when he rewrote the menu system. I was working on the UX and UI, while Patrik was rewriting map editor code, fixing bugs and doing updates all over the place he added the Focus view mode. This will remove as much of the UI as possible and focus the screen area to the map. And if you turn off all the map gizmos you will almost get a clean fullscreen view of the map you are creating. I also need to mention another thing that is not a design element, and that is the the random map generation. It can be hard to start with a blank canvas and when you create a new map you can choose to use random map generation as a base – this is extremely fun to play with and makes getting started so much easier.

Can we expect more updates for the map editor?
– This release is what we call a “Map editor UX/UI update”, we have been focusing on taking the old map editor and making it more beautiful and easier to use. We have fixed bugs, rewritten a few underlying systems and mostly rearranged and redesigned the UI. Even though it has been internally tested during our development I’m looking forward to having more people use it and help us improve it further. And of course we have a list of features we would like to add and there’s always things we would like to polish. So yes, 2023 will see more updates for the map editor.

That’s all for this update folks! Lot’s more to come during next year, including an updated roadmap (we know the current one is slightly off mark by now, but we’ll get to that soon enough!). Have a great Holiday and see you soon!

Changelog v0.80

[...]

The Battleground mode for Songs of Conquest is now available:

To Battle!

Greetings Wielders! We are proud to be back with our first big update for the fall. The biggest news we bring you is the Battlegrounds mode!

In this game mode – accessible directly from the main menu – you can jump straight into a battle without having to set up an Adventure game. Just pick an army created by us or create one yourself in the Army Creator and start battling in Quickplay. With the Army Creator, you can build an army based on predefined Wielders and the troops of your choice. Start battling against random opponents online, tackle the AI, or invite a friend to a match – see you in the Battlegrounds!

[...]

We are also releasing a new map called Bad Neighbors. No need to play nicely, this one is all about victory, no matter the cost! The campaigns have also gotten an “Easy” setting, so you can make it all the way to the end without breaking too much of a sweat!

The hot seat mode is also now much more clearly communicated and easily accessible from the Multiplayer section of the Main menu.

[...]

As for gameplay changes, there are a few ones of extra noteworthyness! Dead Wielders now count towards the total number of Wielders the player can have, and Wielders can no longer be disbanded. However: Dead Wielders can always be revived, even if it brings the total number of living Wielders above the current limit. Disband and Wielder limits weren’t working as we intended and hopefully, these changes will remedy that!

Of course, we have been doing a lot of small and big bug fixes, but if you want to go into the nitty-gritty details of those, I suggest you check out the latest changelog as this is supposed to be a lighthearted and easy to grasp update, not a tech log!

[...]

To celebrate the release we are inviting YOU to play against us, the developers, between 19:00 to 20:00 CET (That’s 12PM to 1PM CST for you Americans!) each day from the 22nd of September to the 26th of September. And not only that, to bring more people into the fringe, we have decided to celebrate the Battlegrounds release with a sale during the same time. So grab your friends who haven't got the game yet and tell them that now is a great time! (The sale starts at 10AM Pacific Time / 7PM CET/CEST) - So the same time as you can challenge the developers in the Battlegrounds!

As of a few days back we are working on a new sprint where we primarily optimize the game performance, explore and implement UI-scaling and improve the simultaneous multiplayer turns experience. Work has also started on a general balance pass across the board.
Expect more updates to follow around every fourth week up until our next vacation period around Christmas. Until then, we hope to see you all in the Battlegrounds!

Thanks Henriquejr!

Henriquejr spotted a roadmap update for Songs of Conquest:

Roadmap update!

Hello, Wielders! Since the development team is now back from vacation and hard at work we figured it was time to provide you with a roadmap update. But, before we get into the roadmap we want to send out a huge thanks to all players who have bought or wishlisted the game so far! We had no way to anticipate such a huge interest in the game already in Early Access and we are now in a position where we can support the ongoing development for a long time!

The full crew recently sat down to plan the development up until 1.0. We had a long good look at all the user suggestions over at our Feature Upvote page and discussed both the top suggestions as well as interesting ideas with fewer votes. The team also reviewed the first version of the roadmap and considered if it still would hold up. After a long and constructive meeting, some follow-up planning, and discussions, we are now happy to release an updated roadmap!

 [...]

During 2022

• NEW Battlegrounds mode
• Random map generator
• Map editor UX/UI facelift
• Battle improvements
•     Spells update
•     More unit traits and abilities
• Multiplayer improvements
•     Simultaneous turns update
•     Turn timer
• Codex content update
• Accessibility improvements
• More skirmish maps
• More languages
• Japanese

During 2023

• LOTH campaign
• BARYA campaign
• Richer siege battle experience
• Map editor finalized
• Co-op skirmish gameplay — Teams 
• More neutral units — Hostiles
• More AI customization settings
• Achievements
• Artifact item sets
• More skirmish maps

[...]

Songs of Conquest got a new update:

Update notes 0.76.1

Experimental Sim-turns, Controlling hostiles, Korean & Chinese(Traditional) added!

Hello everyone!

We've just updated the game with a bigger update. It's been on the Public Test Realm for a while now where we ironed out a bunch of bugs, but now it's ready for everyone!

Notable fixes and additions

• Added difficulty levels normal and hard to From the Ashes campaign
• Added the ability to control the hostiles in battle when your opponent attacks them in multiplayer as an experimental feature.
• Added Chinese (Traditional) as a choosable language
• Added Korean as a choosable language in options

Simultaneous Turns in multiplayer as an experimental feature

• All humans play at the same time and the AI players each have their own turn after the humans are done
• If one player enters battle, the other non-battling players will not be able to move or interact until the battle is over (this is because of a technical limitation that we want to remove in the future). However, the “locked” players can still purchase buildings, buy troops etc

New map settings when setting up a game

• Force quick battles (disables manual battles) - Always or against neutral team only
• Disable random events

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

Dansome reviewed the Early Access version of the strategy RPG Songs of Conquest:

Songs of Conquest Early Access Review After 20+ Hours

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Brutally honest review for Songs of Conquest after more than 20 hours played. Songs of Conquest is currently available for the PC in early access, and is a turn-based strategy game similar to the Heroes of Might and Magic series. Featuring a beautiful pixel art aesthetic and an engaging combat system centered around magic powered wielders, this is the spiritual successor to Heroes of Might and Magic that people have been waiting for. For my full thoughts on the game though, including the good and bad, watch the full video.

Rock Paper Shotgun checked out Songs Of Conquest:

Songs Of Conquest early access review: an already-stylish tactical RPG

Just a few days ago, the expected release of Songs Of Conquest turned into the expected release of Songs Of Conquest into early access. There are times when such a pivot might dramatically change the angle you'd need to review a game from.

This isn't really one of those times, because I think I'd be recommending Songs Of Conquest overall as it is anyway. Giving it an estimated year for Lavapotion to "figure out, together with the community, what features we should prioritize" could well push me into a wholehearted endorsement, though. 

[...]

Some unevenly mighty magic aside, Songs Of Conquest is a comfortable, satisfying tactical RPG with lots of potential for fiendish spellcasting tricks. 

Thanks Henriquejr!

Wizard Worm checked out the Strategy RPG Songs of Conquest:

Songs of Conquest Review - Better than HoMM? (Turn-Based Strategy)

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Legacy Gaming checked out the Strategy-RPG Songs of Conquest:

Songs of Conquest Is WORTH Your Time - Early Access Review

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SplatterCatGaming checked out the Strategy-RPG Songs of Conquest - the game was released as Early Access version today:

Songs of Conquest - Medieval Fantasy Sandbox Tactical RPG

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Songs of Conquest gameplay with Splat! Let's Play Songs of Conquest and check out the long awaited homage to the Might and Magic series. Armies, war, magic, and relics!