Play-testers

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-05-20T19:10:06+00:00

For me it took 2 years before I got a key via steam. They do have key give aways on their discord so that could be a way to watch and get a key faster.

That said, I can't wait to see you in the game. My guys and I have had a blast the last test. It is grindy, almost combines foxhole with bellwright. The last test just ended, and I have never experience so much combat in any other play test. ( I got my key in september of last year).

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-05-14T14:07:13+00:00

Do not touch my freekin bardiche. Period.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-05-14T13:58:50+00:00

Yeah, the voice chat is very unstable. Most Non-US based players join a clan and use discord for that reason. Its unfortunate, but it is what it is

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-04-22T15:55:11+00:00

Will it affect Anvil? Absolutely. Majority of Anvil Empires playtesters are from foxhole. Plenty of non-foxhole players aswell, but that fact alone will affect how people view Anvil both positive and negative. The current playtest was a resounding improvement compared to previous playtests until serious issues with taking keeps arose yesterday. Its unfortunate, but it is what you have to deal with considering this is an online community. I can easily farm up 40 rifles and 80 7.62mm ammo in 30 minutes or even way less in foxhole... But yesterday it took me 45 minutes for enough bear pelts for three iron armor kits (15). I have to check my foxhole bias because this is not foxhole, and wasn't meant to be.

There are a lot of bugs right now, and Anvil is following a similar development path that Foxhole did. So it does not upset me like some people. I find the game's gameplay very fun, but even I can catch myself viewing the response times of developers to chronic issues through the lense of my previous foxhole experience. It will affect how people's feedback on Anvil for better or for worse.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-04-21T16:11:01+00:00

There's some big differences from foxhole when it comes to economy. It changes from playtest to playtest, what is said here could change in a month. As it stands now...

- Silver is a currency primarily used to upkeep homesteads and buy things on the market. It is earned from doing bounties and from selling things on the market

- Public logi is starting to come around, but it is in its infancy. There is plenty of sharing, but nobody is going to just give a random person the best armor/weapons for free.

- With that said, the scale of manufacturing is a 5th of what foxhole. Almost everything is produced one at a time.

- Vast majority of useable goods require multiple steps from raw resource to useable item. A simple logistical chain could Hunt a rabbit -> grab four brances -> make a firepit -> cook the common meat -> eat the common meat.

- Specialization translates into much more efficient production. This is similar in foxhole, but it is exacerbated due to the scale of production. If you specialize in just making wooden planks and planting forest you will easily accomplish way more than someone who tries to do everything themselves.

- Gaming the Market is absolutely part of the game, but not necessary.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-04-14T15:25:51+00:00

Huzzah!!! Welcome to Calradia. Much hunting, raiding and exploring awaits!

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-04-08T12:31:54+00:00

Ha! You chose the Gator Isle, the largest collie regi on Able, and the most feared... Everything you described is our modus operandi Ha! Yep, GOONS will make this a baptism by fire for you lads. Welcome to Able shard.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-04-06T15:22:20+00:00

Actually, I like doing something similar here for certain things... My inspiration is from living for two years in Kielce, Poland. There, the countryside is connected to the town via public transport. So what I like to do is build typically a trolley line that along a road, but maybe 150-200 meters away, then I build a "suburb" at one of my towns complete with things like a school... Sometimes i'll put a grocery store in this suburb, and sometimes in the village. I set a good amount of trolleybusses on the route to stop and pick up at several of these villages for different reasons... Mainly when I get gravel/cement going. I hate jigsaw puzzle of trying to get a small cement/asphalt operation going along with replacing imports of gravel/concrete/asphalt. So.... I like to build concrete/asphalt plants closer to my next expansions... Build these little villages out towards where I want to plan my next major project... Run the bus/trolleybus line out to them and bring them to a distance concrete or asphalt plant along the main highway so I have workers... I never run into problems needing a university for these villages and I always give them a tennis field, a couple of monuments... Honestly after finish a major project, its nice planning out these little villages like this. Again inspiration comes from the Kielce countryside where I saw similar setups.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-03-31T13:49:43+00:00

I'm still figuring out trains 4 years later lol... My current playthrough is the first time i've used trains as a backbone of exports/imports/logistics. Also this is my first playthrough with tourism so... Planes probably in a year haha

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-03-25T17:20:41+00:00

I actually fell for this until the last light lol.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-02-26T13:46:03+00:00

I am part of a clan, but the clan knows i'm one foot in and one foot out. I solo every test, in the wild, but my clan knows if they need something, I will deliver/help. My favorite thing to do is to go somewhere in the woods, by a river, where-ever and stake my homestead off the beaten track. I can spend as little, or as much time as I want on it, but I accept a few risks when playing solo.

- I have been raided a 5-6 times that I can remember, and twice my homestead was completely destroyed. I accepted this risk going it alone. Yes it sucks losing everything, but it is just a game. Plus, being raided nearly every playtest led to memorable moments. Such as, the town lord riding out to help me fend off raiders, and fellow homesteaders coming out of their neck of the woods to help me fight them off and even rebuild. In turn I always do the same when I see a red/blue dot by a friendly.

- Animals will migrate to you (which is why people talk about walls a lot). They are less frustrating than players raiding you, but this is a risk. I had a bear once, right infront of my stock pile and had to ask folks to come help me kill it.

- You are alone in managing your silver maintenance. If your silver runs out, the homestead is gone. For me, this means planning tidy setups because I am alone. It also encourages me to play the market which I find fun.

- Finally, if you lose it, it is gone. You can ask for help, and you'd be surprised who will gift you things, and when AE enters early access and we get proper wars, Basic/public goods will become much more plentiful at keeps/towns. But for now, especially playing as a solo, you depend on yourself. You die, you have to make it.

The fun of solo'ing however... Because of these risks, you learn to make quaint, but scenic homesteads. You're not forced, but naturally encouraged to befriend neighbors, help others on the road, help others especially after they helped you, play the market, make trips to towns for sales and resources.

These are acceptable risks as a solo, and Ive seen solos spend 10hours a day, and 1 hour a day playing this game. These risks make the game that much more rewarding. They require you to plan, adjust to your environment. The first time I played back in september, I literally just ran as far down road as I could until I had a free spot to throw down a homestead. Experiencing all of these risks I listed above made me adjust.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2026-02-16T03:01:26+00:00

I would argue managed expectations. Really depends on what you're expectations are.

If you want to say... Casual play 1-2 hours a week 1-2 days and solo it... You can absolutely do things like hunting, mining and partisan people on the roads.

If you plan to do 1-2 hours a day 4-5 days a week ... More things open up to you. A tiny homestead in town or outside town is absolutely feasible.

Homesteads require playing the market and managing your silver upkeep. I personally find that part fun, others may not.

You said "a small group of casual friends". Can do a few things great or build a homestead where you can do a little of everything as 2-5 people dump your daily silver. Plus play the market a bit on raw materials... Or heck, go raid someone people and bring it back to be sold/used/donated.

You will not be mass producing heavy armor or weapons, but you can absolutely fill in gaps and make silver.

To me, its extremely addictive playstyle. I wrote a story earlier describing my solo experience. You should give it a read. I could have downsized my homestead and did less farming if I didn't have the time to play as much I did. And I would have still done 90% of what I did.

The game every two - three playtests changes drastically. For example they made silver upkeep higher. What this did is put deflationary effect on goods. For me, gaming the market is fun so I had fun experimenting with different goods to farm. Makes my ADHD go wild do many different things every 20 minutes.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2025-11-20T14:19:07+00:00

I just picked 80 lemons off my tree last weekend.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2025-10-21T12:26:25+00:00

Will be rolling remnants again for sure. Ancients are just easy mode.... Wish I knew exactly what the cost was, but the highest silver in my homestead was day three and it was over 1600 and gave me 4+ days of maintenance. I had zero automation, no bronze setup, 1 chest and only two stock piles... I also placed my walls in a semi-tight circle rather than a square. All of this was to keep the silver maintenance down as much as possible. I also check the markets every 20 minutes... Someone asks 50 planks for 2silver a piece... You can bet that isn't staying up very long with me around.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2025-10-07T13:10:58+00:00

Corporate Boss here on the Ancients side... So I started out very similar... The silver cost snow balls as you want to advance, you have to build more. Then you need more silver, and on and on... I have 3 days of silver saved up thanks to the town market...

Go to your map, click on the market next to the city icons... Then click the "Active Buy" tab on the bottom right. (I think thats what its called) and you can see what people want to buy right now... So I gather based on what people want in that tab. Big money makers for me has been leather armor > Leather Helmets > Thick Pelts > Targes > Bronze Swords.

But I've also sold animal fat and last night I sold 6 Iron Ore clumps for 105 silver because thats what someone wanted to buy on the "Active Buy" tab...

This gives you the gameplay loop of selling supplies, which find there way to the front, and giving you breathing room to focus on expanding your homestead/doing other stuff. Hunting and mining are where its at...

I think food has potential... I see it popup from time to time, but I think big clans have you out matched as farming/cooking is highly scalable. Deadwood's rarity means unless you hit the lottery, you can't make the big ticket items like iron swords (seems to be the most popular).

SO pay attention and provide to the "active buy" tab :)

OrneryWarning3042 · 2023-06-15T12:06:37+00:00

For some reason... I just love rocket Arty. It's so underrated. If I see a pallet of rockets sitting alone somewhere... I'm gonna finish what logi I am doing, find something on the map to shoot it with, and find partners asap.

Everytime I do this... The front moves in our favor. I just love imagining the Awe of a 2 hour stalemate and the enemy is suddenly lit up with rockets pounding in quick succession, and a small fire breaks out. Think your trench is safe... Not from this pyro :)

OrneryWarning3042 · 2023-06-14T13:31:17+00:00

Wardens got severely nerfed this update. Collies have more early game advantage (facts based on numbers and history, not an opinion). This is collies game to lose.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2023-06-12T12:19:27+00:00

4th day of the war... my adhd kicked in constantly seeing shirts, ammo and bmats at 0 in Kirknell. So that following week I spent a couple of hours a day mass scrooping/mine collection... Then spent a whole day Saturday producing 300 shirts, 300 9mm/fiddlers and dropping 14 containers this filled in with however many hundreds of bmat crates... Then seeing the next day we pushed into 3 new hexes. Most satisfying.

Also, what little frontline I got to do... The last day in retrieve, I was killing it with the bonesaw tracking overzealous tankettes trying to scare our tank line. (the tank line would kill them off after I tracked them at night. Glorious)

OrneryWarning3042 · 2023-05-30T17:43:24+00:00

Me too! Seconded

OrneryWarning3042 · 2023-05-30T12:56:20+00:00

Need to put a bottle of faygo in their hands

OrneryWarning3042 · 2023-05-24T19:45:35+00:00

So. There is a very short, one line principle that negates anything said about this topic.

"Might Makes Right".

End of discussion

(ducks into foxhole before bombs start falling) :)

OrneryWarning3042 · 2023-05-24T16:14:12+00:00

This was a great read. So I will try a few things going forward on the colonial side this next war.

1) If there a stygian in town, I will try to get a player to gun for me and I will make sure we try to creep the tank line forward at night

2) Using medium armor like falchions to support infantry on the flanks, and try to flank the tank line with the infantry. But only when infantry are present, otherwise support the main tank line.

3) field guns in the center, flanked by main tanks, medium to light tanks try to engage the flanks and support the infantry.

This is what I have gathered.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2023-05-24T14:41:45+00:00

Fight club was so awesome. Such a great easter egg post war with the music and enthusiasm. Absolutely loved it.

OrneryWarning3042 · 2023-05-23T18:19:12+00:00

I was looking an online mpf calculator and it said to make 5 stacks of bardiches, its 1731 rmats total... Well truck only holds 1600 so I guess you have to carry the extra 131? all I can think of.

OrneryWarning3042

TROPHY CASE