David Walters Development has a new update out for the turn-based strategy game Blood, Grain, and Steel (BGAS) that implements a lot of new changes to the AI, the game, and the rules. The main focus of the update is towards the campaign mode, and in an email sent out developer David Walters says that he has added in a rule to limit early-game rushes and improves the AI use of fortified provinces. He has also added in more support for modding, and that modders can now change the combat tables to suit their needs.

The full changelog is massive, but definitely worth checking out as it shows how dedicated David is to BGAS. Here it is below:

• Rules: It now costs 2,500 grain for an Army to capture a new province in Campaign mode. The intention is to slow down early game rushes. If an army has less than or equal to that it will still capture the province but will be disbanded automatically.

• AI: Less inclined to create armies in provinces where the lack of grain will cause the fortifications to be reclaimed.
• AI: More inclined to disband armies in provinces where this will cause a fortification to be constructed.
• AI: More inclined to create forts and armies on a perimeter or front-line tile.
• AI: More inclined to move armies up to a perimeter or front-line tile.
• AI: More inclined to move armies to border provinces, more so for the front-line (adjacent to an enemy province).
• AI: Armies now take into account the new neutral province capture cost mechanics to ensure they don't attempt to start a battle they'll auto-lose.

• Added: Indicator to the options > mods page to show whether a mod uses a modified or vanilla rule set.
• Added: In campaign mode: Clicking enemy and neutral provinces is now possible so you can see the province name and also what grain supplies are like there. Neutral provinces show the capture cost instead as a reminder.
• Added: Indicator on the Army info card that reads 'weak' when an army is below the auto-battle threshold and 'ready' when battle ready. You shouldn't attempt to attack with a weak army as it will automatically lose.

• Removed: The classic v1.1 rules mod has been removed from the installer. I will be making these mods available as separate downloads from now on, along with an upcoming v1.2 rules mod.

• Changed: Changed province capture so that it fades in during the replay.
• Changed: Disabled the army move sound effect.
• Changed: The army supply overlay is now on by default at the start of a game.
• Changed: The 'province grain supply' overlay now uses just three shades or red or blue. Dark for provinces below the auto-lose battle threshold, Mid for regular battle ready provinces and Bright for provinces that are ready to create armies.

• Fixed: Using a rules XML file that doesn't actually change anything now no longer triggers an incompatible rules error on saved games / turn files.
• Fixed: Missing or incorrect terrain description in damage info panel when over 'marshland' tiles.
• Fixed: Rules mods not working if the base game contains a rules.xml file (it doesn't normally).
• Fixed: An army or defence with exactly 5,000 grain will not cause you to auto-lose a battle.
• Fixed: Supply text could appear slightly too far above an army under certain circumstances.
• Fixed: The battle tutorial now uses the correct figures for the automatic lose conditions.

• Engine: Added support for modding the combat tables.
• Engine: Complete rewrite of Campaign and Battle replays.
• Engine: The DRM text box now supports pasting key codes in with CTRL+V.

Please note that with this patch, any saved games in version 1.2.1237 or earlier will not be compatible. The update will come up in-game as a notification, but if players are experiencing trouble with it, the link for the update can be found here: LINK

For more information on Blood, Grain, and Steel, visit the official website.

Our blurb on what BGAS is all about:

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