Community Update - November 2024

[Majora]

Greetings Skylords!

A new month; a new Community Update! It's time to bring you up to speed with everything going on in Skylords Reborn!

• Halloween Patch

Happy Halloween Skylords! 

Halloween has become a beloved tradition for Skylords Reborn, and this year, we have something truly special in store for our players.

First, our recurring achievement, Happy Halloween, is active again. Completing the map Spooky Encounters during the Halloween season will earn you a Lost Souls booster and a special Pumpkin avatar if you haven't earned them already last year.

Secondly, we have released a new Halloween-themed map this year: Spooky Giants! Help Rogan outrun a zombified Jorne in this unique twist on the King of the Giants map. Successfully completing this challenge rewards you with a brand-new Promo Jorne card! Please note, this Promo reward is available only between October 28th and November 11th. If you don’t unlock it within this timeframe, you’ll have to wait until 2025.

Last but definitely not least, we have released a new content patch! Two new cards are now available: the Amii card Simulacrum, and a new addition to the Twilight faction, Twilight Archers. Click here for the full patch notes.

 

• Twilight Deep Dive

In our Deep Dive documents, we share our thoughts and plans for each faction, giving you insight into our balancing process. Previously, we explored the state of Pure Frost, Bandits, Stonekin, and Pure Nature. You can read them here. 

Today, we're excited to reveal our plans for the Twilight faction. After examining the faction's core characteristics, we take a closer look at its strengths, weaknesses, and play patterns. To further enhance the Twilight faction, we're also working on new cards and reworks. Be sure to check out the Deep Dive to learn more!

    

 

Twilight Deep Dive.pdf

 

 

• New Card Spotlight - Twilight Archers

Twilight Archers are our latest addition to the Twilight faction, and are now available with the release of our Halloween patch! Lets break down the card and share some of the thoughts behind its design.

 

Crossbow Attack
Every 2 seconds, unit fires bolts at enemies that deal 8 damage.

Transformation
Like all Twilight units, Twilight Slayers will come with the faction's ability "Transformation". 

Infected Cure
If the unit is transformed, it will trigger the regenerative abilities of every friendly Twilight unit in a 25m radius. They will regain 15 life points every second for the next 20 seconds.


Cursed Birth
When being transformed into or spawned, the unit receives 600 cursed fragments that improve the unit's performance. As long as the stored fragments last, the unit deals 100% more damage.

Design notes:

Twilight Archers will add a new tactical layer to their faction as a T2 ranged unit with frontloaded damage. Cursed Birth allows them to outperform most T2 units in early combat and low energy skirmishes, but also breaks with the traditional scaling concept of ranged armies. After using up their Cursed Fragments Twilight Archers will be weaker than most T2 units, so it's best to integrate them into the transformation chain or seek for specific synergies like the Twilight Minions (r) transformation buff. Infected Cure is designed to reward the transformation playstyle and compensate for the lack of scaling in extended combat with increasing unit counts. In PvP, Twilight Archers will be a valuable counter to Burning Spears and air units, while also synergizing with the Nature spells like Ensnaring Roots. In PvE, they can serve as a ranged alternative to splash options and also offer formidable anti-air damage.

 

• "How Does It Work?" series - Root Network

We recently launched a new video series on our YouTube channel, How Does It Work, where we dive into various topics that often raise questions.
So far, we’ve released a video on Void Power and a guide on how to install the game.

               

Our latest entry focuses on the Root Network.

The Root Network is a popular yet often misunderstood mechanic of the Nature faction. When built correctly, the root network can be incredibly powerful; however, a lack of understanding can lead to underwhelming and confusing outcomes. Let’s dive into this unique ability and help take your gameplay to the next level!

We’d love to hear feedback from the community on this series. These videos take quite some time to create, but we’re more than happy to continue if they’re appreciated.

Are the videos clear and interesting to watch? Are there any other topics you would like to see covered?
Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

 

• Events

In between our monthly Community Updates, we host various events and tournaments, so be sure to keep a close eye on the in-game event tab and the forum calendar to stay informed and not miss out on any exciting events!
 

Current events:

• NEW - Seven Strategy Showdown 6 - Stand Still!
Can you imagine how annoying it must be for the AI if the player is micro-managing their units? Find out in this event! Please note, the event page goes live at 18:30 CET November 1st. More information.

 

• FINISHED - Seven Strategy Showdown 5 - PC on Fire
Is more always better? Players pushed their skills and hardware to the limit in this event where unit count is everything. Find out who won, and how they did it, here: More information. 

 

• IN PROGRESS - Seven Strategy Showdown
Every two weeks there will be a new event in this series of seven events, each bringing a fun handcrafted challenge or mechanic! Be sure to check them out, as there are some great prizes to be won! More information.

 

 • SECOND PHASE - PvP AI programming contest
Get ready for an AI Programming Tournament, where the submitted programs will face off in an epic showdown to find the ultimate AI strategist! Players are still able to join this programming contest. More information.

 

• Host your own tournament / event
Want to host a tournament or event? Please reach out to our Event Organizer @Metagross31. We can help you out with various topics and are glad to discuss potential ideas. We can also sponsor the prize pool for your event. If you have a cool idea for a PvE event, or want to host a PvP tournament, please don't hesitate to reach out to us, we will gladly assist you.

 

• Contribute to Skylords Reborn

Skylords Reborn is a community-driven project fueled by the passion and dedication of over 50 volunteers. We are always on the lookout for like-minded individuals. If you have a passion for gaming, programming, design, or marketing, we invite you to have a look at our open positions!

 

 

Don't have time to formally join the staff, but still would like to help out? Please check out this guide on how to support Skylords Reborn as a community member.
 

• In Conclusion

That's all for this Community Update! We appreciate you taking the time to read through it.

As is tradition, we're including a scratch code as a small token of our appreciation for your support.
The code will reward you with a Twilight booster: TWIL-IGHT-DEEP-DIVE

The code is valid until December 1st, when we will bring you another Community Update. 

We're always looking for ways to improve and value your feedback. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to share them with us. We'll be back next month with more updates on our ongoing projects and upcoming features.

You can also sign-up to our e-mail newsletter here.

Archive
• Skylords Reborn Documents (Deep Dives, Behind the Scenes, PvP Guide)  
• Overview Community Updates
• Community Update October 2024

[Majora]

We also have a video teaser for the Halloween event 🙂 Big thanks to Ultralord for this one!
 

 

[Ultralord]

Player will get a useful Willzapper 😮

[Draconnor]

Nice work with tutorial - each time im still amazed how after all this years - players can use root networ so wrong 😉 

[Bini Inibitor]

I think an "archetype" that Twilight also has to some extent and may be worth exploring, which is slightly hinted towards with "spellslinger", but not explicitly mentioned, is the potential of omitting spell cards in favour of more unit cards, as the spell effects are incorporated into the Transformation effects. Healing, damage, buffs, debuffs...

And with the overabundance of damage buff present in Twilight, I am not sure if the addition of more damage amplification via Twilight Slayers and Twilight Creeper (already existent, but also added to Transformation) is the way to go, when there are many more ways to add mobile effects to Twilight that are much more distinct.