Main Image

Holdfast as one of the largest content updates to date has just been released! March with your arms shouldered alongside other fellows in the ranks, salute officers or proclaim your surrender through roleplay gestures, a regimental registry for in-game clans to thrive and proposer, call for reinforcements allowing others to spawn on your location, detachable bayonets and so much more.

Celebrating this release, you can gather Holdfast: Nations At War at 50% Off for the remaining duration of Steam’s Summer Sale. Help us spread the word around about the sale to bring this growing genre of Musket Warfare games that we all love in the limelight. We want to continue strengthening the following behind the game as it grows and develops.

There’s plenty to go through in this major content update release! Hang in there for a short while longer as we contain our excitement before letting you know of all the details.

Shoulder Arms! Marching Onwards

Shoulder your arms and march onwards with musket in hand! Napoleonic formations are a glorious sight to behold and now more so than ever with this latest addition. A new set of animations will hold your musket upright and proper when in firing mode.

Consisting of well over 70 new animations and amendments to existing ones for the character to walk, run and transition through different stances more soldierly, it was certainly quite the substantial task to behold. Nevertheless, it was damn well worth the effort.

Shoulder Arms – March

Shoulder Arms – Run

Many requests were received from those within the community wanting to look better whilst playing as one of the most popular support roles – The Flag Bearer class. We, of course, couldn’t agree more. As you parade your faction’s colours to bolster morale in the ranks, your flag will be held upright in true Napoleonic fashion.

Flag Stances

Roleplay Gestures! Drills & Salutes

Attention! Present your arms and await further orders, salute those in high-command to pay your respects, proclaim your surrender and cower for your precious life or simply point in the enemies’ general direction. Check out the full selection of roleplay gestures by pressing the ‘V’ key and clicking on the pictogram.

Officer Salute

Infantry Salute

Present Arms

Surrender

Point

Regiment Registry! Clan Standing

Envisioned as a concept going as far back as the budding early days of Holdfast’s creation is finally coming to life! Providing a space for in-game clans to organise, thrive and prosper the Regimental Registry is a feature long-awaited by many.

Come to the release of this update, you’ll be able to establish your very own regiment within the game, customise its ranking structure, promote or demote enlisted based on the ranking structure you designate, assign moderators to help you manage new applicants, customise your very own regiment banner, transfer its ownership, raise its rank through a total of 50 levels in a group-wide effort and more!

You may surely wonder how involving it is to get started so let’s start getting into some of the details. Forming your very own regiment couldn’t get any simpler! Locate the ‘Regiment Registry’ from the main menu, select the ‘Create Regiment’ button, fill the form and you’re good to go.

Creator Basics
Here are a few things you’ll be needing to create a regiment. Start by defining your regiment’s affiliation and take up the fight for the British Empire, French Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, Russian Empire or any other nation then select the region your regiment is to be located in. This will help potential new applicants browsing the registry to find one with a matching time zone.

Searching for new recruits? Set the ‘Recruitment’ status to open. If it is to be a group amongst your peers, set this to closed. You’ll then be needing to define a name and tag to be used by your desired regiments. A tag must be unique and cannot be similar to that of another regiment.

Then write a description to let others know what your regiment stands for. Carefully think this through! We also highly recommend that you input a link to your Discord to stay in touch with those in the regiment or let others know where they can reach out.

Ranking Structure
Proceed to designate a ranking structure that suits best your regiment. Leaders and moderators will be able to promote or demote others through these ranks.

Regiment Banner
Utilise a massive selection of backgrounds and symbols to create your very own regimental banner. You can access the editor by pressing on the ‘Edit Banner’ button.

Representing your regiment and all of its deeds, the unique custom banner you design through the editor will show on every enlisted member in your regiment. Besides sporting a banner similar to one another, members of the same regiment will also display in green whilst playing the game.

Finish it all up by selecting the ‘Submit’ button to submit your regiment to the registry.

Management
Should you wish to make amendments to any of the above after creating your regiment, you can freely do so by clicking on the ‘Manage’ button visible only to you, the leader of the new up and coming regiment.

If you put in the effort, the regiment will steadily see a rise in numbers and as it grows you may want to start thinking about shifting some of the responsibilities to those other dedicated few. Select the ‘Grant Privileges’ button to provide moderator privileges to any of the enlisted. They will be able to help you accept new recruits, promote or demote others.

Transferring the ownership of the regiment can be actioned through the same panel. By selecting the ‘Transfer Ownership’ button you will be provided with a list of moderators to handover the regiment revoking your privileges as a leader over to another individual of your choosing.

There can only be one Regiment Leader and they have total control and ownership of the regiment.

If the regiment comes to an unfortunate end, as the owner of the regiment you are also provided with the option to disband it. Regiments that are disbanded will disappear from the registry after a few days.

Regiment Rank
Prepare to embark on a competitive stand-off between game clans! Collaborate and assemble in a group-wide effort for those fellows in your regiment to rise through a total of 50 ranks. Regiments that rank higher than others will be displayed at the top of the registry.

Those dedicated few that manage to make their way to all 50 ranks will be rewarded with a prestigious golden banner distinguishing them from the rest. Score gathered by an enlisted based on how well they did during a match on any of the official Army Front, Naval Warfront or Linebattle Event servers will contribute towards this great effort.

Reinforce! Forward Positions

In dire need of reinforcements? Call for those in the rank and file to spawn on your forward position. Coming to this update Infantry Officers have been provided with a new ‘Reinforce’ ability ordering Line Infantry, Grenadier and Guard units to come to their aid changing the dynamics of the battlefield.

One should carefully evaluate their surroundings when doing so however as these forward positions are destructible by both cannon, explosives and melee weapons. You will also find that the number of units that can spawn is limited in number. Getting overrun won’t be a pretty sight.

Infantry Officers advanced in their leadership skills are sure to strategically use forward positions as a means to capture and hold key stronghold positions pivotal to achieving victory.

New Ability
» Reinforce – Call for infantrymen to bolster your ranks when in dire need of reinforcements. A forward position will be placed on your location enabling Line Infantry, Grenadier and Guard units to spawn on it.

Forward Position

Pressing the ‘M’ key will now open the spawn menu. This menu will now be seeing more use outside that of selecting or changing to another class. It’s definitely bound to come in handy.

Bayonettss! Attaching & Detaching

At a distance, a shout from an overzealous officer ensues throwing everyone into a charge! Holdfast: Nations At War has always been missing something dear to make these decisive moments ever more brilliant but this can be said no longer.

Musket-wielding classes are now equipped with a new ability allowing them to attach and detach bayonets. Detaching your bayonet will gather you a 5% in firearm accuracy at the cost of limiting your melee capabilities with the weapon. Try not to get caught without it if things get up close and personal.

New Ability
» Bayonet Handling – Drilled in the handling of bayonets. Charge with a bayonet equipped and make use of your trusty musket as a makeshift spear in melee combat or detach it from your weapon to gather a 5% increase in firearm accuracy.

Press the ‘T’ key to attach or detach your bayonet when equipping a musket.

Detach Bayonet

Attach Bayonet

4 New Units! Regiments of the Line DLC

Take up arms and march with the Regiments of the Line for Emperor or King! Enlist with the British Empire’s Loyal Lusitanian Legion, the Prussian Kingdom’s 11th Regiment of Reserves, the Russian Empire’s Pavlovsk Fusilier or the French Empire’s Bavarian Fusiliers.

Content present in Holdfast: Nations At War DLCs is purely cosmetical. It doesn’t and never will impact gameplay. Your kind generosity will be put to good use and bring this genre of musket warfare games which all of us are fond of in the limelight.

The Regiments of the Line DLC unlocks 4 unique uniforms for the Line Infantry class.

ROTL DLC Uniform Unlocks
» Unlock the British Empire’s Loyal Lusitanian Legion uniform.

» Unlock the French Empire’s 6th ‘Herzog Wilhelm’ Bavarian Fusiliers uniform.

» Unlock the Kingdom of Prussia’s 11th Reserve Regiment uniform.

» Unlock the Russian Empire’s Pavlovsk Fusiliers uniform.

Surgeon Bandage! Healing Oneself

Ever found yourself in a right pickle healing wartime injury but couldn’t do the same for yours? In this release, we’ll be introducing yet another ability for the Surgeon class. Surgeons are now provided with the option to heal themselves using the ‘Bandage’ ability.

There’s a 1-minute cooldown being applied in between uses so be sure that you play your cards well.

New Ability
» Bandage – Experienced in healing wartime injuries. You can utilise the same knowledge to bandage your own by pressing the ‘Q’ key.

Surgeon Bandage

Melee Combat. Knock Backs

Not quite into developing quick work of your enemy using conventional weaponry? A good old-fashioned brawl might just be the thing you’re looking for and things will be taken up a notch come to this update. Kicks rather than being instant-on button press will require both precision and careful timing to land but should you be successful in doing so, your enemy will be stunned and knocked back a few paces.

There are plenty more changes coming to the melee combat system in this update. You can check out all that we’ve been up to in the changelog.

Madness!

A New Map! Aunby Valley

Aunby Valley makes its way into the game uniquely combining many beloved aspects of other battlefields featured in the game. Inspired by the valleys of South Wales, a large river runs down the middle of this map, only to be held back by a giant dam that will see many a fallen infantryman atop it.

At the base of the dam, two opposing sapper houses can be found and garrisoned to control the main crossing point of the valley. Should the enemy overwhelm you there, plenty of other crossing points leading to caves and ruins can be alternatively utilised as strategic flanking points.

Verticality is an important feature of this battlefield and those who use it to their advantage can expect great victories upon this land. With river crossings, buildings, caves, ruins and a giant dam you can be sure to experience every aspect of Holdfast: Nations At War in all its glory!

Aunby Valley

Community. Join The Discord!

Looking for a good bunch of fellows to play with? Do join our Discord. Linebattle events where players are encouraged to play in formations relevant to the Napoleonic era are hosted by the community through the week. Discord is also a great place to stay in touch with the game’s development. Feedback is always greatly welcomed.

If you’re a fellow in the ranks of a regiment, go declare your enlistment. Through this, you can gather access to the ‘Field Camp’ where clan specific discussion ensues. We look forward to seeing you there!

There’s plenty more to look out for in this major update! Additions focused towards gameplay balance, the recently introduced Holdfast SDK, quality of life improvements, bug fixes and more.

Take a look at the changelog for all the details.

Changelog 55 – Game Version 1.6.7489.31280


New Features

Shoulder Arms! Marching Onwards. Shoulder your arms and march onwards with musket in hand! Napoleonic formations are a glorious sight to behold and now more so due to this latest addition.
» A new set of animations will hold your musket upright and proper when in firing mode.
» Flags can be held upright in true Napoleonic fashion.

– Roleplay Gestures! Drills & Salutes. Present your arms and await further orders, salute those in high-command to pay your respects, proclaim your surrender and cower for your precious life or point in the enemies’ general direction.
» Check out the full selection of roleplay gestures by pressing the ‘V’ key and clicking on the pictogram.

– Regiment Registry! Providing a space for in-game clans to organise, thrive and prosper the Regimental Registry is a feature long-awaited by many.
» A Regiment Registry allowing players to easily find and locate a regiment to join.
» Ability to establish your very own regiment with the game.
» Ability to customise the regiment’s ranking structure.
» Ability to promote or demote enlisted based on the ranking structure you designate.
» Ability to kick enlisted out of the regiment.
» Ability to assign enlisted moderator privileges and help you manage new applicants.
» Ability to transfer the regiment’s ownership.
» Ability to define a description for your regiment. Let others know what you stand for.
» Ability to disband the regiment should it come to an unfortunate end.
» Ability to customise your very own regiment banner.

– Regiment Banners. Utilise a massive selection of backgrounds and symbols to create your very own regimental banner.
» Representing your regiment and all of its deeds, the unique custom banner you design through the editor will show on every enlisted member in your regiment.
» Members of the same regiment will also display in green whilst playing the game.

– Regiment Standing. Raise your regiment through a total of 50 levels in a group-wide effort and be rewarded for it. Score gathered by an enlisted based on how well they did during a match on any of the official Army Front, Naval Warfront or Linebattle Event servers will contribute towards this great effort.
» You will be rewarded with a prestigious golden banner distinguishing your regiment from the rest.
» Regiments that rank higher than others will be displayed at the top of the registry.

– Reinforce! Forward Positions. Call for those in the rank and file to spawn on your forward position. A new ‘Reinforce’ ability enables Line Infantry, Grenadier and Guard units to come to your aid changing the dynamics of the battlefield.
» Players that can spawn on a forward position are limited in number.
» Forward positions are destructible by melee, cannon and explosives.
» Forward positions will be destroyed if the Infantry Officer meets their demise.
» Input the following command per map rotation to enable or disable the use of this ability: class_system_orders_reinforce true
» Input the following command per map rotation to define a limit for the number of players that can spawn on a particular forward position: class_system_orders_reinforce_limit 25
» Input the following command per map rotation to change the cooldown of this ability: class_system_orders_reinforce_cooldown 240

– Bayonettss! Attaching & Detaching. Musket-wielding classes are now equipped with a new ability allowing them to attach and detach bayonets. Detaching your bayonet will gather you a 5% in firearm accuracy at the cost of limiting your melee capabilities with the weapon.
» Press the ‘T’ key to attach or detach your bayonet when equipping a musket.
» Input the following command per map rotation to define if players should start with their bayonet attached or detached by default: start_bayonet_attached true or false

– 4 New Units! Regiments of the Line DLC. Unlock four new Line Infantry uniforms for each of the existing factions in the Regiments of the Line DLC. You can access the Steam Store page to unlock these uniforms directly through the game. Content present in Holdfast: Nations At War Game DLCs is purely cosmetical. It doesn’t and never will impact gameplay.
» Unlock the British Empire’s Loyal Lusitanian Legion uniform.
» Unlock the French Empire’s 6th ‘Herzog Wilhelm’ Bavarian Fusiliers uniform.
» Unlock the Kingdom of Prussia’s 11th Reserve Regiment uniform.
» Unlock the Russian Empire’s Pavlovsk Fusiliers uniform.

– Surgeon Bandage! Healing Oneself. Surgeons are now provided with the option to heal themselves using the ‘Bandage’ ability. There’s a 1-minute cooldown being applied in between uses so be sure that you play your cards well.
» A new UI whilst playing with the Surgeon class will show alerting you of the uses and cooldowns for both the Bandage and Medicine abilities.

– A New Map! Aunby Valley. Inspired by the valleys of South Wales, a large river runs down the middle of this map, only to be held back by a giant dam that will see many a fallen infantryman atop it.
» Input the following command per map rotation to play this map on your community server: map_name aunbyvalley

Quality of Life

You are now able to access the Spawn Menu by pressing the ‘M’ key.

Reorganised the key bindings menu for easier access.

Capturable points which no players can spawn on by default will no longer show in the Spawn Menu.

Introduced additional tips informing players on the use of the newly introduced abilities.

Gameplay – Musket Combat

Redesigned the secondary strike mechanics to rebalance the meta.
» Changed the shoving animations to feature a kick instead. It allows players to better distinguish between primary and secondary attacks while improving consistency.
» Secondary attacks will now knock-back a player if the aggressor successfully lands their hit.
» Secondary attacks now have a windup allowing players time to evade the knock-back.
» Secondary attacks can now be dragged slightly providing for greater fluidity during play.
» Secondary attack kills now show a unique boot icon in the kill log.
» You can now Spartan a poor fellow off an elevated position rewarding you with the kill.
» Players will instantly face their demise if the knock-back throws them into an anti-infantry spike.
» Damage for secondary attacks increased from 5 to 10 and from 2 to 5 if the Resilient trait is in effect.

Your movement speed no longer gets slightly reduced whilst blocking with a musket.

Solved an issue which enabled players to rotate quicker than intended after releasing their strike. Relative to their framerate, they would be able to rotate faster than others providing them with an advantage during competitive play.

Improved the accuracy of player positions whilst rotating. Rotating player movement is now more in sync with the server. Latency, however, will still cause inconsistencies.

Solved an issue that allowed players to pitch down and up quicker than intended when in melee combat mode.

Solved an instance which allowed a player to skip the melee hold release state resulting in an invisible strike.

Solved multiple instances which affected melee swing and block direction detection on different screen resolutions.

Solved an issue which sometimes enabled two striking players to damage each other at the same time.

Solved multiple inconsistencies with block grace timers.

Readjusted the damage duration of the musket when doing an up strike.

Gameplay – Sword Combat

Your movement speed no longer gets slightly reduced whilst blocking with a sword.

Players wielding a sword now move slightly hastier than those equipping a musket when holding a strike or striking. It provides them with a better chance to close distances when facing those equipped with longer reach weaponry.

Solved an issue which sometimes prevented a sword strike from hitting a player based on their field of view.

Solved an issue with sword strikes having a significant hit delay.

Gameplay – Artillery

Cannons will now recoil through Sapper defences and destroy them. You will no longer be able to utilise them as a mean to prevent a cannon from recoiling.

Gameplay – Sappers

Sapper built Ammo Boxes and Rockets Stacks can now be shot at and destroyed by firearms. It’ll prevent players from using these objects to block entry points.

Gameplay – Army Conquest

You are no longer able to spawn on capturable positions in the Army Conquest game mode. Utilise the Infantry Officer’s ‘Reinforce’ ability decisively to capture, hold or retake key positions.
» Input the following command per map rotation to once again allow players to spawn on capturable spawn points: Wiki – Class Limit Overrides

Holdfast SDK

Introduced additional documentation covering the modification of flags and characters.

Creators can now find an example on how to set up the Melee Arena game mode in the land scene.

Solved an issue which prevented doors from functioning as intended when playing on the Melee Arena game mode.

Solved an issue with the ammo boxes placeable through the Holdfast SDK being slightly elevated.

Solved an issue in the Holdfast SDK with the character fingers in the ‘Create Screenshot Scene’ appearing incorrectly. We have also improved the lighting in the scene enabling you to take more beautiful shots of your modded uniforms.

Creators now have a new set of un-destructible doors to make use of specifically designed for the Melee Arena game mode.
» Look for ‘MeleeArena_Door’ in the SDK.

Solved multiple issues with farm walls and modular siege walls not properly switching through the different destruction stages.

Solved an issue with one of the destruction stages on the siege gatehouse switching textures.

Solved multiple issues where players could pass through some of the destructible stages on modular siege walls.

Changed the default image for uploaded modifications visible in the Steam Workshop.

Solved an issue which was sometimes causing issues when loading multiple mods containing flags.

Solved an issue with Coastal Siege spawn points in the Holdfast SDK naval scene.

Graphical Additions

Significantly improved the quality of all face textures in the game.

Improved the quality of all uniform textures to bring out more detail.

General Bug Fixes

Solved an issue which enabled players to go atop the windmill’s second floor.

Solved another issue with rockets dealing less damage than intended in the Hardcore Game Type.

Solved an issue where players were unable to sit on one of the chairs present on Fort Pierre.

Solved an issue with the French Marine missing a greyed-out image in the spawn menu when the class slots become full.

Solved an issue where players could get stuck behind one of the carts present on Sharpton.

Solved an issue with some of the Russian Cuirassier faces being incorrectly skinned.

Solved an instance which caused horse reins to appear visually detached.

It’s been an outright blast developing this update! We do certainly hope that you enjoy all that this major content update has to offer as much as we will. Our heartfelt thanks go to all those good folks in the community. Your constant support, feedback and enthusiasm make us want to strive for better.

Once again, we thank you and until next time, may good health be yours.

Discuss this blog post here.

Once again thank you for all of your support from all of us on the Holdfast: NaW team,

– Refleax, Rycon, Dreas, Wrexial, Walki, Cameron, Jackson, Rejenorst & Haper

Anvil Game Studios

Source: Indie DB