Siege engines, a world builder and fights the server decides

Version 1.6.0 gave scripts the game’s own trebuchet and cannon: build one, load it, fire it at a point, and everyone watches the crew wind, load and release. The shot hurts the players and NPCs it lands on.

Two releases later you can work one yourself. Stand next to a siege engine and press use to take it, hold block to aim, load with a torch, attack to fire, and press use again to step away. Ladders can be climbed, pushed off a wall or raised, and stones come off a pile with the use key. In the default game mode, /siege trebuchet, /siege cannon, /siege ladder and /siege stones put the gear in front of you, and /siege guide on adds an aim beam.

Version 1.6.5 taught siege ladders where a wall ends. They no longer carry you past the eaves, onto a roof partway up, or through the wall into the building behind it. Where there is nowhere to step off, the top is blocked.

Since 1.6.1 the server works out each blow between players, using the game’s own rules: the attacker’s weapon, skill and buffs against the victim’s armour and guard. Swings from modified clients, repeated swings and impossible damage are refused.

That fixed the half of combat that never worked. Blocks and perfect blocks against another player land, master strikes and ripostes play correctly for both fighters and for anyone watching, and other players’ bodies no longer deal damage by walking into you. Everyone near a fight hears the clash and sees the sparks, not only the player who was struck.

In the default game mode a fight ends after 15 seconds with no attack. To make peace sooner, both players hold U for a second. U can be rebound under Multiplayer controls.

World Builder now sits in the main menu. Open Kuttenberg, Trosky or the Monastery on your own, with no server running, and build. The Monastery needs its DLC. Work is saved as projects, with blueprints you can reuse and exports a server loads as a world resource. On a server it stays off until the server grants you access, and then F7 opens it. In the default game mode, /builder turns it on for yourself.

Version 1.6.2 added a Patrols tab for named routes, with a live NPC preview and a Copy API call button, and routes now travel with projects and exports. Areas gained point, edge and size handles, grouping and copies of the game’s own areas. Projects remember the camera, a deleted level object can be restored from a list, the menu offers Load last project, and collision rebuilds after you scale something.

A character creator arrived in 1.5.7. It uses the pause screen’s character stage, with body, face, hair and beard, hair colours, and a switch between man and woman. Client scripts open it, and /creator tries it out in the default game mode.

Carts drive like wagons now, forwards and backwards. A wagon seats six and a two-wheeler three, and everyone climbs in, sits and climbs down with the game’s own animations while the driver holds the reins. Women can play the game’s whole animation set in the same release, riding, weapon draws, combat, deaths and work included, and the game’s own women got them too.

In 1.6.2 other players stopped being NPC puppets and became real player characters. Movement, aiming, combat and riding follow their owner much more closely, a drawn bow or crossbow points where its owner aims, and bodies no longer flicker while turning. This one is experimental, so tell us what looks wrong.

The game no longer spawns animals on its own: servers do. In the default game mode, /animals list and /animals start <guid> bring in sheep, cattle, pigs and wolves, and wolves chase nearby players. /patrol list and /patrol start <route-id> send nearby NPCs along routes saved from World Builder. Look at a player or an NPC and press Left Alt to follow them on foot or on horseback, and press it again to stop.

Joining got calmer as well. A slow download no longer fails the join and the loading screen shows its progress, the menu warns before you join a server on a different version, and Discord rich presence shows the menu, your server and your region.

Two players at a dice table play the game’s own dice against each other. The server throws every die and checks every move, and a table now has a lobby: take a seat, and once a second player sits down you agree on the score to play to before the match starts.

Other players see you reading, book in hand, and client scripts can open books of their own through the game’s reading screen, with custom pages and pictures. In the default game mode, /book opens a short chronicle of Kingdoms Connected.

Version 1.6.5 added butchering and looting. Butchering a dead animal uses the game’s own animation, only one player can work on a body at a time, and when it finishes everyone sees the butchered animal and can loot the rest. Cooking pots hold a limited number of portions shared by everyone on the server, and in the default game mode /pot describes the nearest pot, /pot recipes lists ingredients, /pot refill spends them, and /pot poison adds a dose. /pot will not tell you whether a pot is poisoned.

The launcher used to need Steam. Version 1.6.0 taught it to ask for KingdomCome.exe when Steam cannot find the game and to remember the answer, 1.6.1 accepted the GOG version, and 1.6.5 starts the Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass copy: it tries Steam first, then the Store package, then the folder you pick.

Servers can ship their own assets. A resource’s replace/ and stream/ folders download with it before the level loads, covering animations, sounds, particles, textures, meshes and materials. A large download waits for the player to agree, under a limit the player sets on the game’s settings page, 500 MB by default.

Servers can also make their own items. Items.register takes a name, description, weight, price and the look of a base-game item, so a custom item needs no new assets, and the GUID it returns works with the existing inventory calls. Food and pot servings now wait for the server: a script can refuse a serving, drop its native effects, or act once the game confirms the use. Corpse and NPC inventories are server-owned, so butchering rewards are yours to decide.

Elsewhere: NPCs fight on server orders, unridden horses accept moveTo, patrol and hold, and servers can load the game’s navigation mesh so NPCs walk real routes through unlocked doors. Camera.setShot films a player’s view from a fixed point or glides between points. Each resource now runs its own copy of the KCDC classes, so a second resource no longer takes the server down. A new optional Playground resource puts a test window on F2 with an item spawner, teleports, crafting unlocks and the character creator; it ships disabled in resources/optional.

Players and server owners must update to 1.6.5.