WarStages Update #15: My brain needs more RAM...

Oh my god, I messed up...

When 5 days ago one of the team member came to me saying “Some people are complaining that they didn't get the January update”, I replied in a very assured tone “Well, sure they got it, I wrote it myself”... just to realize that .. in fact... I hadn't.

Well, I guess it's probably old age slowly creeping up on me...

We've been so busy doing WarStages-related stuff these last few months, my mind was so full of WarStages stuff that I was certain I had written and posted up that update.

So, my sincere apologies for this.

So finally here is the update, with lots of info and great news!

The Pledge Manager is about to open!

The Pledge Manager is nearly ready.

We are proof-reading everything one last time, testing all the links and making sure no info is missing. It will open some time next week.

Once again, if you want your rewards selection process to go smoothly, WE CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH that you need to carefully read the instructions on how to access your account so that there is no mistake or problem with how your Kickstarter money is allotted as pledge manager credits.

Also, we’ve already talked about this earlier, but please keep in mind that due to the unique nature of this project and to its manufacturing process, we cannot commence the printing before we get about 90% of the backers to select their reward.

We know from experience some people forget to make their rewards selection or assume they have the time to decide what they want since the products are not yet available.

But in this case, we urge you to make sure you make your selection before the 15th of April so the project is not delayed.

PDF update – We went a bit overboard...

Please keep in mind that the PDF is reserved for backers who made a Cathedral Pledge during the campaign, in August 2017. If you late pledged (or did not pledge for a least the Small Cathedral), you don't have access to this extra and free reward.

Ok, we've went a bit crazy here... There will be many more options than what was originally announced. There won't be 3 finishes for the large containers but... something like 20 or more!

But that's not all... there will not be 1 but 2 different shapes of containers.

So that will make more than 40 options !!!!

A few of the various containers' finishes

About the shapes, there is the slightly pyramidal container we showed you last time, and a more regular, rectangle-shaped one. The reason we did this is that we realized rectangle containers would be easier to stack up if you want to create more complex arrangements on your table.

We've created all these color and finish variants for the containers to make sure you find something that fits your own home interior decoration ;)

More seriously, we wanted to give you as many options as possible. If you like to have a lot of scattered elements on your table, we didn't want you to have 10 times the same-looking containers.

We also did the same thing for the Cistern kit. So instead of 3 different colors, you'll have the choice of... 10.

A few of the various cisterns' finishes

And all that in 3 different soda can formats so that your layout doesn't look like a 6-pack fresh out of the fridge. So the total number of combinations you'll be able to create is... big.

You should be able to set up truly great industrial environments mixing the elements of the PDF set together with your other WarStages elements.

And of course, with a little bit of creativity, you can easily use these elements to build other structures. The quantities of colors you get here means that you can do A LOT of different objects and set-ups that will work well together.

One guy in the team also came up with a nifty centerpiece that could be perfect to make some sort of capture-the-flag objective. It's a raised platform with a broken column in the middle. I'm sure you can find lots of uses for it. For example, among the Cathedral Freebies are the Command Interface computer consoles: you could put one or two on the column so that it acts as an important control terminal that you need to activate but that is located right under enemy fire.

We wanted to show you more images of this in this update, but we are waiting for a few items to come back from the printer, so we'll make another special update with more photos in the next 10 days.

In the end, the PDF is an amazing deal. It will most likely be more than 80 pages! It is so good that we will most likely sell it in our webshop at some point, either as a PDF or maybe as a fully printed, pre-cut set.

But only you are getting it for free. And since it's a PDF, you can print and build as many elements as you want with it. This is one helluva deal :)

Since the files for this are going to be big, we are going to split the PDF in several smaller documents that we will upload one after another in the coming weeks. This way, you’ll have time to start building stuff instead on getting everything at once and suffocating under an overload of goodies.

Last Tweaks

Since the WarStages Cathedral files were mostly ready for printing, one of our biggest job these last 2 months has been to go over everything once again, play-testing WarStages with the TGG game and making many nearly invisible adjustments.

We've simplified the assembly of some elements and very slightly resized some parts to make moving minis inside the Cathedral and the Daedalus easier.

We also increased the compatibility of some complex parts. For example, some of the floor elements on the higher floors around the Cathedral main entrance had very specific shapes, making them hard to re-use elsewhere. We slightly reworked that to make them easier to use in other configurations.

We also created the few very specific parts that were needed for the Large and Extra Large models of the Cathedral.

We reworked the structures around the large porches so that these gigantic doors have a better stability on your game table, especially if you want to use them as stand-alone with a minimum quantity of walls around them.

There were tons of adjustment like that, it would be too long to list them all.

In the end, all of this will be mostly invisible, but will greatly enhance your experience with your Cathedral and Daedalus.

Freebies Re-skin and New Freebies

As promised, we re-skinned some of the freebies or turned them into different objects so you don't end up with tons of the same accessories. You'll get the crates in various different colors, just like we did for the containers in the PDF.

But since there was so many of them, we've simply replaced a few with other accessories.

So you are getting a least 4 completely new freebies:

A Stone and Gold Sarcophagus

Although its finish is completely in sync with the other elements of the Cathedral, we've designed this sarcophagus so that you can use it whether you are a SciFi or a Fantasy gamer.

An Arcade Game Cabinet

Even Sisters have to chill out sometimes, so what's better than a furious game of Space Nuns to blow off some steam? With its 80's retro feel mixed with the Sisters’ Gothic aesthetics, you get another cool piece of furniture to equip a recreation room in your gothic daedalus. Or maybe even Arthenia VI, the Archpapess, has got one in her private apartments for when she's in the mood for some rad retro-gaming?

This image is a work-in-progress, the perspective effect cannot be rendered correctly on this flat image. 

A Church Pew

This was truly needed. It will make a great addition for both Sci-Fi and Fantasy gamers. And to make sure you've got enough of these if you want to dress up a large part of your cathedral with them, we will also put it in the PDF file so you can make more if needed.

A Relic / Resurrection Pod

A pod that stands up that you can place against a wall, like a cyber version of the Sarcophagus. When a resurrection procedure doesn’t work as planned, the body of the deceased is preserved in a special kind of pod. Sometimes the soul can be recaptured in the body, sometime not. In that case, if the deceased is a very special character like a saint, he or she can become an animated relic. You’ll probably discover what a relic is in TGG3… a truly frightening sight to behold.

Prototype Cutting

Before the end of the month, we will receive a set of prototypes to test for assembly. It will be just blank cardboard, but it will allow us to verify all the changes we’ve made so that we can correct any defective element. Honestly, we don’t think there will be any change to make, but better safe than sorry...

Building the Other Cathedrals

This will also allow us to build the Large and Extra Large Cathedrals. This is going to be pretty epic! We will make photos of this so you can get a better feel of the biggest versions of these monsters :)

We’ll be sending you the first download link(s) for the PDF file(s) during the week-end. You will be receiving a message with the link(s) directly from Kickstarter messaging.