Full Invasion: Osiris - "Deus Vult" news

It’s been a while since our last update, but we have certainly not been idle! The newest preview build for Full Invasion: Osiris is now available for our Patreon supporters to download, and we’re here to talk about what’s new and hot. If you wish to have access to our preview builds, you can do so by supporting us on Patreon!
The previous preview build of Full Invasion: Osiris focused on hero bonuses and abilities, a system we introduced to encourage teamplay and provide more unique playstyles. With the release of that preview, most of the foundations of the mod were in place. Preview IV sported a fully functioning invasion system, two detailed defender factions, hero abilities, several newly made maps, random boxes, and much more.

Because the foundations were now in place, work on Preview V had to consist mainly of simply adding more content. So we set off to create a new defender faction and invasion, maybe add a small feature or two, and release the preview. We found, however, that we had hit a stride while working on the factions. Each individual faction, be it a defender faction or invasion, takes several weeks to make. This is because every item used has to be created and balanced, dozens of classes have to be added, progression has to be just right, and once that’s done, the faction has to be polished. What existing items could be added to the faction to enrich it? Do the new classes require special sound effects? This is hard (and sometimes boring) work, but once we had created two factions, we were in a sort of rhythm, and felt we could best make use of that to add even more factions before releasing the next preview.
This is why the development time of Preview V took about twice as long as usual, and also why our ModDB page has been somewhat silent. Now, however, we are pleased to show you what we’ve been working on these past 3.5 months.

Before we get into detail about the new features, however, we have an announcement regarding the development team! Development on Full Invasion has been done by the three of us for a long time now. Ashley is currently not able to work on the mod, however, due to real life circumstances. It is still unclear when she will be able to resume work on the mod. Since Ashley focused on making maps for the mod (among others), that part of development had taken a backseat. To help with this, we’d like to introduce three community members who have agreed to help us create maps! These new mappers are Koyaanisqatsi, Knight of Ethel Malt, and NicTheKing. The first map of Koyaanisqatsi is in the upcoming preview, the others are still working on their maps. Say hi to them when you see them!

With the release of Preview IV, we had completed work on two defender factions and three invasions, centered around Calradia and the Lord of the Rings. Now, we have more than doubled that number, to five defender factions and six invasions. The new factions are:

The Empire of Sigmar

A long time coming, as they were originally meant to be added in Amber 2.0 before they caused the mod to consistently crash, The Empire of Sigmar is a new faction based on Warhammer Fantasy. A late medieval type faction, The Empire of Sigmar features some of the strongest warriors (and largest weapons) in the mod. Few enemies can stand before the might of the Imperial Greatswords, the Witch Hunters, and the Emperor Himself, Karl Franz. Somewhat lacking in supportive units, the Empire of Sigmar can field the heaviest troops in the entire mod.

The Storm of Chaos

The ridiculously large weapons and heavy armor made by the people of Sigmar were designed that way for a reason. As heavy as the Reiksguard forces of Sigmar are, even they have trouble standing in the way of the forces of Chaos. The armies of Archaon the Everchosen are an unstoppable force that can crush even the toughest resistance. Fielding Marauders of Norsca and blood-crazy Chaos Warriors, the Storm of Chaos is the heaviest and hardest invasion in Full Invasion: Osiris to date.

The Crusader States

The combined forces of medieval Christianity have arrived to lead us to salvation. Don’t worry, we are not on the receiving end of their…spiritual persuasion tactics. Splintered as their origins may be, the Crusaders all rally to the same cause: their faith. The Crusader States rely on their bannermen and priests to keep their troops together. Boosted in various ways by their banners, and healed by their men of faith, the Crusaders find strength in numbers. They have even begun using a strange invention of their foes: gunpowder.
The Crusaders are introduced in Full Invasion: Osiris both as a defender faction and an invasion.

The Saracen Sultanates

The counterpart to Christianity’s attempt at forceful expansion, the Saracen Sultanates have made several tactical advantages their own. With the influences of several nomadic cultures, the Saracens are efficient in the use of mounted warfare. Horse archers, agile cavalry, and even camelry are the Saracens’ strongest forces. The uses of gunpowder have found their way into the Saracen armies as well. Though their troops do not boast the heaviest armor, all Saracen troops are quicker and more agile than the other factions, allowing them to make excellent use of hit-and-run tactics.
The Saracen Sultanates are also found as both a defender faction and an invasion.

To give you an idea of the amount of work that went into making these new factions: in order to add these factions, we added 169 defender classes (including 12 heroes), 293 invader classes (including 26 bosses), 65 defender bot classes, and 1298 items. These all had to be balanced sufficiently.

Aside from adding new factions, there are several other new features in this preview. The class selection window has been completely revamped, as the normal class selection window has no room for the amount of classes the factions in Full Invasion: Osiris have. This new class selection screen divides the classes in four tabs based on the different class levels: Recruits, Soldiers, Elites, and Heroes. Every tab then shows the classes based on its role as Infantry, Ranged, Cavalry, or Support, and is vertically divided in the subfactions of the main faction. This way it’s easy to see at a glance what classes you can afford, and the classes your chosen troop will get support bonuses from.

Another long-promised feature that has been introduced with this preview is the legendary box. One of the main points of complaint regarding previous versions of Full Invasion was the randomness involved with finding a legendary weapon. It was not uncommon to spend up to 700.000 gold at the random boxes without getting a single legendary. For this reason we introduce the legendary box in Full Invasion: Osiris. Well hidden and usually found in dangerous places, the legendary box allows you to spend a significant amount of money, but guarantees a legendary of a weapon type of your choosing. Legendary items can still be found in ordinary boxes as well, though the chance for that to happen remains small.

There are a lot of other smaller changes in this preview, too many to detail in this post. As always, we’d like to thank you very much for your continued support, your faith in us, and the wonderful community around this mod. Feel free to share your thoughts and questions in the comments below or over on our Discord Server!
There will be another blog post going up Soon™ regarding the future of Osiris, as the home stretch of Osiris’ development is getting in sight!