Northgard ships out the Snake clan DLC and a big free update
It had to be Snakes
The Clan Of The Snake DLC is out for Northgard, and yep, they're bastards. For £4, you can now make the viking-starvation RTS even more miserable for your opponents by stealing their lore and burning their homes. Classy stuff, Snake clan.
This first dose of DLC from Shiro Games arrives alongside a hefty free update, which adds a new stealthy military unit and some sweeping balance changes. They've made colonising tiles use up even more food, the monsters.
Sváfnir, Clan of the Snake, have a different relationship with fame than the other clans. The difference is that they don't have one, and can't win the game with a fame victory. Clans normally unlock unique advantages as they grow in fame, but the Snake just gets better overtime whatevs.
That's because their advantages are tied to Signy, the Spear Maiden. She's a warchief who starts off as a better than average warrior, but when she turns 18 she becomes a powerhouse that can set fire to everything around her for three months. At that point she can also freely enter tiles with hostile neutral creatures on them without being attacked, as can... (pause for segue applause)
...Skirmishers, the new military unit that every clan gets access to as part of the free update. They're a little weaker than the other combatants though, so I still haven't figured out why I shouldn't just use my precious villagers on more versatile units.
The abilities of various clans have been tweaked, but my eye is drawn more to how most of the victory conditions have been altered. It irks me that winning with a fame victory is now even harder, as holding on to 12 territories while the game alerted everyone else to my impending win never felt feasible anyway. Now it costs more food to acquire more territory, which will be a pain no matter what victory type I go for.
Not that that'll stop me trying. This is just the excuse I needed to head back to Northgard's shores. As I said in my review, they're well worth a visit.
More specifics on snakes and balance tweaks can be found here.
The Snake DLC costs £4/€4.50/$5 on Steam. Northgard's base game has a 33% discount right now too, down to £16/€19/$20 until 6pm on Saturday.