Forge of Empires 1.0 Dear Kings and Queens,
Forge of Empires, while still in Beta, has come a long way. Under continuous development since its launch, we've seen two new ages added to the game, as well as countless other improvements and bugfixes.
The question of "when should we come out of Beta?" is a tricky one. There will always be room for new content and features, not to mention bugfixes, but today we are happy to announce that Forge of Empires is finally ready to leave its Beta status behind and enter version 1.0.
What does this mean to you as a player?
The only real change you will notice is that the Beta label will be removed wherever it appears ingame and meanwhile, the development team will be working hard to produce new content and features to enhance your gameplay. One significant change with the update to 1.0 will be a large amount of rebalancing to the game, and to some quests. We know that rebalancing can affect gameplay, however this is a necessary step based on feedback to preserve balance in the game and make it ready to leave Beta status.
We've also got a new loading screen with a random game tip displayed while you wait for the game to finish loading.
Just to reiterate, changes and improvements to Forge of Empires will be continuing after the update to 1.0, it doesn't stop here. We've got plenty of new features and content in the pipeline, and we hope you're looking forward to seeing what the future has in store!
The update will take place today (not the regular Wednesday update). This is to allow time for any unexpected events that may arise before the weekend, and we apologise for the short notice. There may be a short period of downtime during the update, and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused by this. Please see below for a list of changes and information about the rebalancing.
Thank you player, for enjoying with us in Forge of Empires!
Sincerely, The Forge of Empires team. Discussion thread
New skill - Chivalry
The skill is used by the High Middle Age Knights and Late Middle Age Heavy Knights (with Chivalry values of 3 and 5 respectively). The skill increases attack and defense when this is the only unit with chivalry in the army.
This is a "reactive" skill, that may either kick in when you lose your penultimate knight in battle (then the last knight will get the activated bonus) or be active from the start (if you only bring one chivalrous unit to battle).
New loading screen
A random loading screen will be displayed each time you log into Forge of Empires. There are also some tips and hints shown on the screen.
Quests
Old quests from the storyline and bonus content have been reworked with new success conditions. Most of the changes were done for the Late Middle Ages bonus content (including the notorious Swords and Sorcery quest). All the quests that had strictly LMA-connected requirements now either have a different success condition or an alternative that can be done using Colonial Age means.
Please note that completed quests are not affected, but active/future quests will have the new requirements.
Information about exactly which quests have changed (and how) is in the spoiler below. Please only open the spoiler if you're sure you want to know the details. Spoiler:
| Name | Old Condition | New |
| Poison in the Well | Research Medicine | Research a technology that unlocks a cultural building |
| Fire in the Hall | Research Water Reservoirs | Research Water Reservoirs or a technology that unlocks a military building |
| Thanks of a Princess | Build a residential from the Late Middle Age | Build a residential from the Late Middle Age or 2 residentials from the High Middle Age |
| A Cry for Help | Build 3 of any residentials from the Late Middle Age | Build 3 of any residentials from the Late Middle Age or Colonial Age |
| Cursed | Build a cultural building from the Late Middle Age | Build a cultural building from the Late Middle Age or Colonial Age |
| Cursed Again! | Have 1 Farm, 1 Doctor and 1 Alchemist | Spend 32 Forge Points |
| Prevent the Curse | Recruit 2 Great Sword Warriors, 2 Longbow Archers, 2 Heavy Knights, 2 Imperial Guards or 2 Cannons | Recruit 2 Great Sword Warriors, 2 Longbow Archers, 2 Heavy Knights, 2 Imperial Guards, 2 Cannons or 2 Musketeers |
| More Enemies Ahead | Recruit 3 Great Sword Warriors, 3 Longbow Archers, 3 Heavy Knights, 3 Imperial Guards or 3 Cannons | Recruit 3 Great Sword Warriors, 3 Longbow Archers, 3 Heavy Knights, 3 Imperial Guards, 3 Cannons or 3 Musketeers |
| Swords and Sorcery | Have 2 Libraries and 2 Academies | Have 1 Library and 1 Academy * Have 9 Rangers * |
| Here be Dragons | Produce 6 Kegs of Beer | Produce 6 Kegs of Beer or 6 Boxes of Cigars |
| A Maidens Kiss | Build 1 Cartographer | Build 1 Cartographer or 1 Trading Company |
| A Maidens Admiration | Build 1 Cartographer | Build 1 Cartographer or 1 Trading Company |
| A Maidens Reward | Build 1 Cartographer | Build 1 Cartographer or 1 Trading Company |
| A Maidens Gratitude | Build 1 Cartographer | Build 1 Cartographer or 1 Trading Company |
- after unlocking the technology “colonies” the player has to have 9 rangers rather than library and academy.
Unit changes
Some unit stats have been changed. Please see the spoiler below for detailed information. Spoiler: Stone age Clubman defense reduced to 3 (was 4).
Bronze Age Slinger attack reduced to 6 (was 7). Horseman attack increased to 8 (was 6). Warrior defense increased to 10 (was 9). Unit bonus (light) increased to 3.
Iron Age Archer attack reduced to 10 (was 11). Range reduced to 5 (was 6). Mounted warrior attack reduced to 9 (was 10), and defense increased to 8 (was 7). Legionnaire unit bonus (light) increased to 4.
Early Middle Age Mounted archer attack increased to 8 (was 6), defense increased to 6 (was 5), and range reduced to 4 (was 5). Its unit bonus has increased to 5. Armoured Infantry defense has increased to 18 (was 17).
High Middle Age Knight attack increased to 16 (was 15), defense increased to 17 (was 16). Heavy infantry attack increased to 16 (was 15), defense increased to 26 (was 22), speed reduced to 12 (was 14).
Late Middle Age Longbow Archer range reduced to 6 (was 7). Heavy knight attack increased to 22 (was 21), defense increased to 25 (was 24). Imperial Guard attack increased to 23 (was 21), defense increased to 33 (was 30), speed reduced to 12 ( was 14). Cannon attack increased to 14 (was 13).
Colonial Age Field gun attack increased to 15 (was 14).
Industrial Age Howitzer defense increased to 35 (was 30).
Infiltration cost changes
Previously, the cost to infiltrate a sector on a campaign map was always 100. This has now changed, so the more you advance through the game, the more coins will have to pay to infiltrate a sector. Please see the spoiler below for a list of ages and associated costs. Spoiler:
Bronze Age
Infiltration costs range from 100-400 coins.
Iron Age Infiltration costs range from 800-1200 coins.
Early Middle Age Infiltration costs range from 900-1800 coins.
High Middle Age Infiltration costs range from 1800 - 6000 coins.
Late Middle Age Infiltration costs range from 4500 - 10,000 coins.
Colonial Age Infiltration costs range from 3000 - 15,000 coins.
Industrial Age Infiltration costs range from 500 - 20,000 coins.
Other changes
- When attempting to gain control of a sector through battle, please be aware that the units defending some sectors will be changed with the rebalancing.
- Rewards gained for conquering the HMA province Veletrites have been adjusted.
- All sector rewards have been adjusted and given a boost, with the exception of the very first province.
- 5- and 15-minute productions have been reworked.
Full 1.0 Changelog
Spoiler:
Features/Improvements
- Log in and log out information has been removed from guild chat to improve chat flow.
- Beta tags have been removed from the game!
- The loading screen has been given a new look. It now shows a random load screen, and displays tips and hints about the game.
- The geography of sector maps will now be reflected in the terrain of the battle map (a sector with lots of hills/rock will have a lot of hill/rock hexes on the battle map).
- Game rebalancing.
- New skill - Chivalry - for heavy knights in HMA and LMA.
- Images on the landing page have been reduced in size, which increases the page's performance.
- There is a new setting to activate/deactivate Industrial Age smoke animations (this can be found in the settings page).
- The inventory icon will no longer blink during the tutorial phase.
- A new world selection page will be displayed when accessing the game via another site (eg. Chrome store).
Quest
- Quest rebalancing.
- New quest added asking players to invite a friend to the game.
Bugfixes
- Text - The title of the message displayed when attempting to change an e-mail address before the 14 days waiting period overlapped its frames. This has been fixed.
- The "Ban appeal" button did not appear in some cases where a player was banned. This problem has been resolved.
- It was possible for a player on multiple game versions to be sent to the wrong support system when clicking the ban appeal button. This has been fixed.
- It was possible for guild members to attack each other by not refreshing their screen. This has been fixed.
- Text - Players receive a misleading confirmation message when opting to "Skip" a repeatable option quest, saying they will be unable to undo the action. The message has now been clarified.
- In the message centre, the overview could display "unknown" as the sender even though he is known. This has been corrected.
- An incorrect username/password exception could be triggered after a player changed their password. This issue now no longer occurs.
- Belgian players experienced redirection errors when accessing some FoE landing pages. This issue should no longer occur.
- Garrincton province owner image (President Cartwright) was incorrect and has now been fixed.
- General quests did not show up after playing through the tutorial until logging in again. They will now appear without any refreshing required.
- Some issues with repeating generic quests have been fixed.