Fate/ Throne of Heroes mod for Mount & Blade: Warband

"You have returned, mongrel. I must admit, I am not surprised you would want to bask in my glory again. Very well, I suppose you may stay. If only to alleviate my boredom for a moment. Do not expect any kind of warm welcome or hospitality from me. Allow my companion, Dustin, to regale you with tales of development." - Art by NovelAI

Welcome back Masters, Magi and everything in between.

This past year has been quiet on the surface, but development has been humming along steadily! This year we welcomed a true artist to the team: DetektivAro. His primary focus is 3D and animation. Not to be too sappy, but watching him grow over the past ten months has been fantastic. His work is better every month, and I can't wait for his mod Legacy of Might and Magic that he rebooted a few months back. Outside of that, no shake-ups or major developer changes.

New Stuff!

Since our last annual article, we have: (this is based on BitBucket commit comments, follow it for moment to moment updates!)

Art:

• Animations
  • Aro's tireless work has resulted in well over 100 animations being added to the mod
    • Spellcasting animations for all sorts of personalities and preferences.
    • Firearm animations
• Shaders
  • Swarm Shader
    • Procedurally move around the geometry for authentic looking bug swarms when you can't use Vertex animations (like missiles) and automagically include flapping via UV animation.
  • Retro-reflections!
    • Used for street signs, high-visibility clothing and animal eyes (which the mod has zero of the preceding)
  • Animated UVs
    • Used for cheap Waterfall effects!

Scripting / Gameplay

• Advance Agent Tracking
  • We now track how long any action has been held for, not just bow or melee attacks, allowing for things like perfect blocks, spells that take longer to cast, and whatever else I can come up with.
• Damage Script Expanded
  • Passive Dodges
  • Missile Deflection / Reflection
  • Magic Resistance boost when blocking
    • Holding it too long will cause your mana to drain.
• Firearm System Expanded
  • So, so much.
  • Hipfiring
    • Fire more quickly with more inaccuracy, but faster recovery.
• Cutscene System
  • Setting up cameras in the scene editor allows for dramatic shots upon entering a scene for the first time. Sceners can control the timing, with different styles of camera available for more/less precise timing with more precise cameras being limited to shorter times (hardcoded limitation).
• Minor Additions
  • Added weekdays.
    • Allows for more immersive stores and routines. Certain shops will be closed based on the weekday, certain special locations only open on weekends, etc. Seems minor, but it's actually a pretty neat addition.
  • Real-time Hair/Beard growth.
    • Over time your hair and beard will grow out, needing to be trimmed every so often. Only really applicable in Sandbox as a Grail War typically ends in less than two weeks once the last master arrives. Seems minor, is minor.
• Menus/UI
  • Added QR Codes to the main menu that is an invite to our Discord. (*wink*)
  • Advanced Character Creation
    • Body Selection with 4 height variations for each body type.
    • In-depth Background
      • Family Magecraft Lineage, Parentage, Schooling and Career Choice, Elemental Alignment and Origin.
    • 7-point Personality Matrix
      • Changes available interactions. A psychopath cannot genuinely empathize with someone else after all. But lying could work, if you're charming enough.
      • Summoning odds are further modified by personality. As they say "like attracts like", but "opposites attract" as well. Maybe being a virtuous boyscout would annoy your more ruthless partner.
      • Changes first-impressions
    • Crest Creation
      • Based on your previous selections, get a certain number of Crest points to invest, and a certain number of starting Crest slots. Points can be spent to unlock further slots, and different perks have different costs and may have upgrades.
      • Determine what spells and bonuses have been etched into your family crest over generations.
        • Do you take an instant cast combat spell so you can fight when you've been silenced, or the ability to naturally heal from near-mortal wounds.
    • Starting Spells
      • Based on your choices, you will get a certain amount of spell points.
        • Spell points can be used to unlock spells, or new branches of magecraft. The more specialized the magecraft, the more points it costs to unlock the branch and its spells.
          • Costs can vary based on Origin and Alignment. Having an alignment to the Fire Element makes Fire Magecraft (and it's related sub-families) cheaper, but Water more expensive.
    • Quick Creation
      • Choose a premade mage you can then go back and modify
        • Lore-friendly starting places for impatient friends.
• Updated Mana Bar
• Accuracy Reticle
• New Menus Galore!
• Music (Link to temporary theme track)

Miscellaneous

• WSE2 Support! The plan is to support both versions concurrently and keep them in parity, just having the WSE2 version as an option for those who want even more advanced effects. Talking Za Warudo, raycast spells, and more.

What the next year (hopefully) holds

• Finishing the Magecraft update.
• Prologue Release
• Total Animeification!
  • We've begun doing an artpass that changes the artstyle to match the modern iterations of the franchise as closely as possible in Warband. Asset creation is the biggest hurdle in this regard.
• Persistent Player Character
  • A brief explainer, I want you to be able to carry a single character through different gamemodes and HGWs. You will be able to abandon any gamemode at any time to start another, keeping your character progression between. Levels, spell unlocks, inventory, etc.
  • As part of the longer term Sandbox, you will be able to have kids, die/retire and pass along your crest, so I may have character slots to allow you to go back and play a magus who had died in a previous campaign while allowing you to keep their children. The interactions between the systems has yet to be determined.

Thank you for your support, and if you want to chat with the development team, find us here on our Discord.

What sort of changes would you like to see for 2023? Are there any features you feel are missing? Waifu absent? Leave a comment and I'll be sure to respond!