BannerlordOnline

Work In Progress in September

Dear Patrons!

Last month we have been working on tasks related to the next update as well as creating tools for the quality collection of information about crashes and crashes from battles.

We have integrated log collection with the bugsnag service, as well as increased the chance of successfully submitting any bug by adding regional servers to collect bugs in each region where game servers are hosted.

Tasks from the next update that we have been working on:

• Fixing piercing damage, it will now be fully functional.

• Added bad server connection monitoring. An icon will be displayed on the screen for better visibility.

• Fixed a bug in the authorization mechanism that caused the server to disconnect the player until the authorization mechanism was complete.

• The character skill system has been redesigned. Character attributes will no longer limit the growth of experience, but will only add a penalty, which will allow you to level up character's skills even if attributes were distributed wrongly.

• Work on the clan treasury has been completed for the most part.

• Started work on replay rewinds in Replay Viewer.

• Fix for a synchronization bug that caused a character to disappear if he ran while leaning against a wall.

• Invisible projectiles when firing.

• Fix for bugs related to player and unit healing. There was a false message about throwing out items as well as blocking the improvement of units, because of which you had to open the squad window again.

• New clan banner "try-on" mechanism, which allows you to see the created banner in the game for free and evaluate it.

• New tournament rules: the whole team will pass to the next round.  About the priorities we are also working on:

• Identifying and punishing cheaters and bots.

• Searching for the problem that is causing you to be thrown out of ongoing battles. We have created a separate channel in Discord ⁠bug-kicking-from-ongoing-battles⁠, where you can share information about this problem.

Work In Progress

Dear Patrons!

We haven't posted any Work In Progress updates for a while.

Over the past six months, we have accumulated a lot of work, much of which will be released in the next major update, which we will likely call the Rework Update.

The most interesting changes we will make include:

• Reworking the recipe system in claw scenarios: There will be a choice of five recipes.

• Reworking the cost of crafting items.

• Reworking clan wars: There will be a cost for declaring war, calculating winners/losers in war, and paying tribute when losing.

• Reworking character attributes (strength, agility, etc.): Attributes will affect leveling speed, but will not limit it. A sufficient number of attributes will allow skills to be leveled at 100% speed, while an insufficient number will only allow 30% speed. Also, all characters will receive 10 additional attributes.

• Synchronization fixes: Fixing invisible weapons and shield penetration (as much as possible given player ping).

• Bringing back dynamic season changes and full weather system synchronization from 1.2.0: rain and blizzards will appear.

• Reworking the food system and adding additional bonuses from food.

• Clan balance and setting a tax for clan members.

• Updating server architecture. Many changes that we will describe in detail in a separate article. It will be particularly interesting to subscribers who are interested in software/game development and the internal workings of BO.

• Replay Viewer. The ability to choose one of the saved replays for viewing, and we also plan to add the ability to rewind during replay viewing.

• Reworking safe zones: Large zones will be removed and replaced with a small safe zone to prevent battles immediately before leaving a settlement. Also, there will be disabled attacking from a group that has just left the city.

• Synchronization of using chairs. This part is needed for the future synchronization of siege weapons.

Also, we'll fix 30-40 existing bugs.

Standalone servers and next update news!

Dear patrons!

We are glad to share the latest news about Bannerlord Online:

We have finally completed the development of the new version of the server!

This has been our main task for the last few months and has taken a lot of time.

As a result, we have developed a new, fully self-contained, cross-platform server that can run on any hardware.

Previously, servers depended on the original game code and only ran on Windows desktop hardware, which greatly reduced the choice among data centers and providers.

After the update, it is expected that almost no server crashes will occur, as well as a quick start in 10–20 seconds.

However, the most important change is the ability to run BO servers in most data centers on good hardware, as well as spreading the servers across several physical machines to calculate battles independently, which will be particularly useful in siege mode.

In the future, we will launch new instances in new regions if we get enough players.

Also, we will launch a beta for every missing region: CN, NA, and RU.

Beta servers will be running constantly, and all future major updates will be tested on them first.

After testing on the beta, we will change the data centers of all existing servers by expanding the internet channel and increasing the capacity.

We are now going back to work on the game tasks, and we want to dedicate the next major update to fixing bugs and errors.

New servers will also be available in this update.

After the update with bug fixes, we will return to the development of castles.

We have collected the main problems that we received in Discord, emails, personal messages.

A few of them are:

• Reworking horse perks

• Fixing companion bonuses

• The server lags during high online time.

• Crashes in tournaments and when making alliances

• Reworking safe zones

• Fixing invisible weapons and multiple damage

• Fix the long loading time in the crafting window.

• Food bonuses

• Fixing visual bugs on the global map

We will share news on the development of the update!

The attached screenshot is from our Gitlab with part of the task list for the current update.

Bannerlord Online News

Dear patrons!

We would like to share the latest news about the project!

We are currently working on fixing the most critical gameplay issues:

Offline players food consumption (so food is now temporarily disabled).

Lack of multiple weapon damage: such as dealing damage to multiple enemies with a broad swing of an axe.

Ranged weapons that don't show up in some cases.

Low drop chance of horses, items for banner crafting, and furniture for clan houses. Food bonuses.

Low drop chance of companions with Brilliant skill.

Cost of crafting items.

Requirement of common resources will be lowered and rare resources will be increased.

We will also further reduce the cost of crafting for many items. 

About the new features coming soon: 

A selection of several recipes when completing scenarios. Selection will be from 5 slots, each slot will contain a different type of item (boots/gloves, helmet/cloak, armor/horse harness, melee weapons, ranged weapons/arrows).

Money reward for completing each stage of the scenario, including helping another person complete their quest.

We will also rework the list of recipes that appear in scenarios: there will be a chance to have new recipes for items similar in characteristics to Excellent items from the treasury (after upgrading).

Improved display of companion bonuses when hovering over their skills.

All these changes and fixes will be released on beta, and after a few days of testing on beta, we will release this update on the main servers.

We also plan to use the beta server more often to find more critical bugs  Approximately the update will be released on the beta server next week.

Future plans:

We are starting active development of the castles.

Castle mechanics are already in development. We are currently working on the siege mode and on the mechanics of combining player squads into armies to take over the castles.

We are also thinking about the activities which will be available in the castles after they are taken.

All of the castle mechanics will first be released on the beta server for testing. Along with the development of castles, we will solve the current accumulated problems.

In addition to the game problems we are dealing with, we are seriously changing the architecture of the servers. Currently all servers are running on Windows and are partially dependent on the original game code, which seriously reduces the list of available servers for rent.This mainly affects the CN server where we cannot expand the internet bandwidth and where large amounts of lags occur. Changing the server architecture and moving it to Unix will remove these limitations. It will also improve the performance of the servers in general.

We have temporarily postponed workshops to focus on higher priority things: Fixing and changing the server architecture. After we are able to solve the main problems from the current ones, we will dedicate time to the workshops as well.

A little bit of information about the main team:

There are currently two people involved in development: Storm and Solodi. Leanbow has switched to part-time involvement as he now wants to focus on non-gaming projects. He continues to help us.Slender takes care of testing and analytics as well as helping us set up various mechanics. Moonlight is responsible for communicating with the community, answering your questions and helping solve problems related to the game.

Thank you for your support!

Work In Progress News

Hello, warriors of the online world of Calradia!

We would like to share the latest news and the current progress of work on Bannerlord Online.

We are currently actively working on the Economy Update where we want to rethink many aspects of the game as well as diversify the gameplay.

The update has become a major challenge for us and is currently the biggest and most technically challenging one.

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We have already shared the development progress in our work-in-progress channel on Discord (https://discord.gg/7ZGdaU678c).

We would like to remind you once again of the big mechanics that will be introduced:

• Redesigned villages integrated into the overall order system. Any player will now be able to order various resources (wheat, ore, wood, animal carcasses), as is now done in the wood-producing village.

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• New types of villages.

The mining village and the hunting village will be a source of new resources to be used in crafting. We have demonstrated these villages on our YouTube channel:

 https://youtu.be/OIje0SPxMTU и https://youtu.be/y6wQIOnM-w8

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• A companion system that will allow you to keep several companions in your squad and dress them as you wish. Companions can have a specific specialisation with useful skills and come in handy both in combat and as a clan manager.

​We have also published a video where you can see the companions in action:

https://youtu.be/8NkWEEwtNq8

• A workshop system that will allow you to produce weapons and armor, and prepare dishes. You will be able to rent your own craft room in the city and set it up to efficiently produce products. Workshops are under active development and will be introduced later, once we get to the final stage in their production!

• ​A new chat system that will include the possibility of "linking" different objects in the form of links, sending personal messages to other players and a function to complain and block unwanted users! We've also posted a video showing some of the functionality: https://youtu.be/RNPgj3dnsro

• The food system. Hunting and growing wheat will make a great raw material for producing a variety of dishes. From simple bread to quality meat. Each dish has a different weight. Food that is difficult to produce will take up far less space in a squad's inventory, allowing you to travel longer to supply your army with food. Lack of food will cause units to desert.

• Transparent loot system. In the encyclopedia there will be a description of all the loot that can be dropped from the units on the map.

• Global Market. Buy and display items throughout Calradia. You'll be able to buy an item while in another town, but you'll have to collect it yourself when you visit the town.

• The introduction of the breakdown mechanic will increase the value of weapons and add normal progression for all players. Lower level items will make sense and it will be these items that will be available to newcomers at the beginning.

• Trading post system and their takeover! Trading posts will appear in mining villages, which will send caravans once an hour to trade with other settlements. Any player will be able to loot these caravans for rare resources, and clans will be able to capture a Prime caravan, which departs once per day. Capturing such a caravan will allow you to take control of an entire trading post and gain access to a large flow of rare resources. It would also give a PvP target that's sorely lacking at the moment and encourage clans to compete with each other. We are currently developing this system and will definitely introduce it as soon as it is completed.

We want to get away from the grind that is currently in the game. It is planned that access to good weapons and armor will not be through constant farming of bosses or treasure houses, but through completing weekly quests. We will release the first version of these quests in the Economy Update, and we will gradually improve them and add new ones. These quests consist of several cooperative stages, each with very different mechanics and available number of troops.

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We want to get away from the grind in character skill training. There is no final solution at the moment, but we will consider options with a reduced amount of experience required and with weekly tasks to pump up certain skills to choose from.


We've been looking into ideas and wishes channel as well as collecting feedback you've sent us on Patreon, Afdian and VK. There are some serious problems which we will definitely work on and some of them will be solved in the Economy Update or after it:

• Validation of map files. We will add a full map content validation when loading battles to prevent cheating with file swapping.
• Synchronisation. We will make final synchronisation fixes to eliminate: invisible shots; leaving to the red zone and tournament arena walls; no axe/hammer strikes on multiple targets at the same time.
• The game ticket system. Nowadays it is not always possible to get an answer on your question. With the large number of questions in Discord, some of them get lost and go unanswered. We will add the possibility to ask a question directly in the game and see the status of processing of that question. No message will remain unanswered.
• Resetting character perks
• Revision of the riding skill. We will add new perks and also consider changing the speed bonus for high skill. We will post all riding changes on our beta server and make an announcement so anyone can try out the changes and leave feedback.
• Banner Editor. We would like to simplify the clan banner crafting and editing system, so that it will be possible to make minor adjustments to the flag image without having to collect a full set of resources for the banner. We will also add a picture reflection feature which is sorely lacking at the moment.
• Fixing long battles. It is now common to have a situation where several players are left against an enemy army, which greatly delays the battle. We have added a retreat option to save the time, however, this is not always an acceptable action. We are now considering several options: Limiting the duration of a wave by time. When the time expires (e.g. 5-10 minutes), a new wave will start and all players with an army will be respawned. We are also considering the option of controlling units even after a player has died. All these options we will try first on the beta server and collect feedback.
• Tournament balance. We will count tournament round winners differently, perhaps with the whole team qualifying for the next round.
• Complete rebalance of units. We plan to completely change the characteristics of existing units or create new branches of units in the game to make sure each faction has weaknesses and strengths. These changes will definitely make their way through our beta server and we will announce more details in the announcements.
• The hosting of battles on the Bannerlord Online servers. Right now, most of the time players' computers are used to calculate physics. We would like to expand the number of Bannerlord Online servers to handle various battles, primarily the sieges introduced with the castle update, but also other important battles such as PvP.

We will try to publish frequent updates on development progress in the work-in-progress channel.

We plan to release the Economy Update in December, we will announce the exact date closer to the completion of the update.

New Retreat mechanics

Dear players!

We have released an update in which we have added a new retreat mechanic. 

Now it will be much easier to avoid unwanted battles and save both your army and time.  

More information: 

You will now be able to retreat from the battlefield (2 times per hour).

Retreats can be initiated by opening the Scoreboard in battle (Tab key) and pressing the appropriate button. 

If you have more than one player in your team, each team member must press the button to confirm the retreat. 

Once you have reached your limit of 2 retreats in one hour, you (and your team) will be affected for one hour, prohibiting you and your team from retreating from the battlefield. 

The effect can be seen at the bottom right of the global map. 

Enjoy the game!

February news

Dear players!

By popular demand we are now posting the list of tasks we are currently working on and the general direction of the project.

It is not a secret that one of the next big updates will be castle capture with a new siege mode.

We are working on this update, however, before releasing the castles we need to fix a lot of accumulated problems, and we are actively working on this since January.

Here's a list of the issues we are working on at the moment and what we want to do in February:

 • Server performance.

We have already rented more powerful servers and are optimizing the server code now.

As a result, we have released an update today, which has significantly reduced the load on the server, but delays can still occur when more than 400 people are playing on the server at the same time.

• Excessively long PvP battles.

The next problem is excessively long PvP, which can be as long as 90 minutes. More often than not, this happens when only players on one side of the battle remain alive.

Last week we released an update where we added stamina for horses in PvP.

This is partly an improvement, but we will continue to adjust the horse stamina characteristics for better balance and rework the riding perks so that significant benefits will be given in the middle of the Riding skill progression and not at the very end.

In addition to the adjustment, we will add a new retreat mechanic from the battlefield. This will additionally avoid long PvP battles and also help in PvE battles.

• Map balance.

The next problem is the imbalance of points of interest on the map. At the moment, the main interest for high-level players is still Wildlands, even after the release of Frostlands.

We plan to completely change the rewards in Frostlands, balance the strength of the opponents, and add rare items similar to the ancient coins and cups in Wildlands.

There will be a special NPC who will accept these items, issuing units and other rewards in return. This NPC will be similar to the antique master.

These changes will balance the map so that there will be no bias towards one of its parts.

• Problems with character synchronisation.

Since the release of Wildlands in June, when we added PvP, problems with character synchronisation have become noticeable, namely with their attack directions, shooting, weapon throwing and position mapping.

This is especially noticeable when the ping is high and unstable, which makes PvP unpredictable and discourages all desire to play.

This is currently one of the most difficult problems to solve and it's hard to predict how quickly we will fix it. The work is already in progress.

• Weakness of infantry units compared to shooting units.

Infantry is not popular because melee fighters die very quickly in encounters, ending up simply losing out to shooting units in terms of effectiveness.

We want to fix this. There is no final solution right now, but we will try to make adjustments to unit parameters to strengthen infantry and bring it back into regular play.

• Forcing PvP on all clans.

Right now all clans are focused on PvP. We collected feedback and found out that many players are not happy with forced PvP.

This discourages players from creating their own small clan, especially if the purpose of this clan is PvE game.

We plan to add several clan modes, each of which will give different bonuses and affect the possibility of free PvP on the global map.

• Non-transparent loot system.

Currently we do not give enough information about the loot that can be found when defeating a boss or even a common enemy.

We will add an encyclopedia listing of enemies, each of which will display a pool of items that can be obtained by defeating that enemy.

This will bring more clarity to the gameplay.

These are the main problems we want to solve in February.

We want to fix all these problems so we can release better updates in the future.

Thank you for reading to the end and we hope for your support!

January Information

Dear Supporters! Not too long ago we released the Frostlands update, which opens up the Northern lands, and now we are working on the fixes needed for version 1.7.0.

What we are currently working on:

• Fixing crashes in battles.

• Adaptation of new maps for 1.7.0 battles.

• New map selection algorithm for battles, like in v1.7.0.

• Adapting the new city scenes from v1.7.0.

• New spawn system. Squads will not be shuffled but divided into formations.

• Fixing formation selection in squad window.

• Fixing hideout spawn system.

• Fixing the location of the chests in the treasury of the Northern leaders.  We are planning to release this update soon!

We also want to share information with the community as often as possible and we will post more news on this page!

Thanks for support and have a good game!

Clan Update Announcement

Dear patrons!
We would like to share some details about the upcoming clan update coming this fall.

The main feature that awaits you is the addition of a full-fledged clan system, with its own home, banner and positions. All Calradia will see under what banner you are leading your troops!

To create a clan, you will have to unite with other players and complete a chain of tasks.

One of these tasks is to craft your own banner. Find unique images and colors in the vastness of Calradia to create a unique flag.

We also developed a full-fledged banner editor, with which you can change the smallest image parameters right in the game.

You can create flags for your clan, or become an artist who creates custom-made banners:
Just save the created flag to a template slot for later use.

A clan cannot exist without a dwelling. Find a clan room and furnish it to your liking!

In the dwelling, you can equip item storage, as well as organize a clan treasury.

Our editor allows you to place both large objects and the smallest ones.

Once your clan will gain influence in Calradia, you can invite a variety of characters to the clan house. Many of these characters provide unique bonuses, for example: accelerating the movement of units on the global map, increasing storage capacity, a passive source of income.

In addition, influence is also needed to raise the level of the clan. The higher the level, the more members can join your clan. With each level of the clan, the bonuses also increase, affecting all members.

Influence can be earned by completing various tasks, including cooperative quests. We are adding several special missions so that players can join groups to complete them.
Defending the village from bandits.

We've reworked the original clan window, adding more information about members, clan politics, and information about clan companions that you can find in the vastness of Calradia.

You can find out where all the members of your clan are, including what they are doing at the moment. Convenient functionality for both the clan leader and its members.

Clan companions are special NPCs that give useful bonuses to the clan, and can also unlock new functionality. All their characteristics can be seen on the clan screen, in one place, without the need to personally visit the clan shelter.

In the diplomacy tab, we have posted information about all relationships between clans.
Declare war, make peace, ransom your captured comrades!

In addition, the information window contains a list of all the latest clan battles with the ability to view a replay of each battle!

With the release of the clan update, we are including PvP throughout the map, available without restrictions for all clans! Hunt down enemies, help allies, wage full-scale wars throughout Calradia.

As soon as you enter a state of war with another clan, then all its members will begin to appear as opponents on the map and become available for attack.

Defeat the enemy and take him to the prison of your clan house to further weaken the opponents in the ongoing war.

Demand ransom from the leader of the enemy clan, however, remember: prisoners can escape from your dungeon, so be on the lookout!

We are trying to make this update as high quality and interesting as possible, we hope for your support!

Bannerlord Online Wildlands Update

Dear Patrons! Thanks for your support, we release new updates and fix existing bugs with your help.

The long-awaited PvP update was released this month, along with many additional features: Barter, Unlimited Market, Grouping and many minor fixes.

In the near future, we plan to release several updates that will help players conquer WildLands and add more comfort:

• Warehouse system. In the largest cities of each faction, an NPC will appear, who will provide access to the player's personal storage. You can store unnecessary items without fear of their safety. Patrons who support us in June (Knight and Lord levels) will have an additional storage expansion available. You can decide: Should you expand your storage or provide such an opportunity to another player in order to get the items you are interested in return? The duration of the additional extension will be 30 calendar days. If you will continue to support us on Patreon in August and the following months, you will also receive storage expansion options.

• Hiring improved soldiers in the squad. Currently, only level 1 fighters can be hired in cities. In future updates, it will be possible to recruit higher-level fighters, and you will also have the chance to find wandering veteran fighters in the taverns who will certainly come in handy in your squad.

• Antique master market. Exchange ancient items of the WildLands for unique goods or entire squads of elite fighters.

• The choice of formation for any unit in your army to form your groups for more convenient control in battle.

• Several additional tasks from the chief of the guards in each large settlement.

We also updated the list of items for July. You can check it out right here on our Patreon page.

Bannerlord Online Update

Dear patrons! New update has been published!

• New quests that you can get by visiting the tavern:

 - Return of lost merchant items.

 - The attack on the bandits' hideout. Each quest is unique, and you can get an interesting reward for it. Some reward elements will be definitely useful in the next updates. The raid on the bandit hideout gives you a chance to find one of the lost works of Mabons. Studying these works will give access to the complicated bandits hideouts. Rumour has it that very valuable warriors are held captive in such hideouts. Who knows, maybe as a token of gratitude for saving them, they might want to join your squad?

• Awards for Patreon members.

- Unique items which you can rename. We have completed the reward system and today all Patreon members who joined in March will receive an email with a special activation code. Enter this code in the character's inventory window to receive items. Next week (May 1-2), we will once again be sending a set of items to all Patreon supporters, including those who joined us in April.

In addition, many bugs have been fixed, including the incorrect spawning of warriors at the start of the battle, as well as several crashes. Have a good game!

Bannerlord Online Update

New update for Bannerlord Online is today!

We've tried to fix a lot of bugs.  In this update, the network part has been completely reworked - there should be significantly fewer problems with joining servers and battles, especially for players with unstable connections. 

Bannerlord Online now works with the updated version of the game (1.5.9)

Innovations and changes in the combat system: 

• New maps for battles.

• The map is now selected depending on the area on which the units are located.

• Added a dynamic change in the distance between units - the more participants in a battle, the further they will be located during battles.

• Fixed AI behavior - now fighters switch to melee weapons if the enemy is nearby.

• The autoblock is turned off.  Fixed renaming of players on the forum - earlier some players continued to see their old name in the game. 

Reworked gaining skill points in battle:

• Now the hero gains experience from only a few fighters defeated by him. It predisposes you to train your army instead of travelling alone.

Reworked getting leadership:

• Leadership points are not awarded if all the warriors of your unit are wounded or dead.

• If in the current battle your squad has more than half of the people dead, then leadership points are awarded only in the amount of 50% of the usual value.

XP requirements for skills have been changed:

• We have changed the amount of experience for obtaining new skills, based on statistics collected from existing players.

Changes on the global map:

• The chance of Looters spawning has been increased!

Have a good game!

Roadmap

We present you our plans for the further development of the project.

ROADMAP for next 1,5-2 months:

•  Server unification:

- It is more interesting to play on servers with a sufficient number of players. We plan to unite all servers by regions where there are few players left (RU1 and RU2, EU1 and EU2) 

•  Creation of clans and joining them:

- Each player will be able to found his own clan or join an existing clan of another player.

- Each clan will have a unique name and a banner over the squad of each clan member.

- Barter. Players will be able to freely exchange gold and items while in one of the settlements. 

•  Updating the system of battles:

- Dynamic regulation of the distance between teams before the start of the battle.

- New maps for different biomes.

- There will be a chance of losing items or cargo!

• Update "Desert Lands":

- New types of opponents in desert regions. After defeating them, you can get a horse, which will help to improve your warriors.

- Yes, now the cavalry will require horses for its improvement.

- Several tasks, by completing which you can get a unique reward.

- The Wanderer character who grants rewards to Patreon and PayPal supporters.

• Clan castles:

- Clans will be able to reclaim the castle from AI or other players. It will become a stronghold in the lands of Calradia.

- The castle provides access to clan storage and treasury.

- The construction of the residence will be available in the castle. By building it, clan will have access to nobles and their upgrade to high-level fighters.

Bannerlord Online update

Current edits:

• Added Event managers. From time to time they will appear on the server and create unique events, as well as give out interesting rewards for them.

• Fixed global chat. Now you won't see messages from other players in the global chat if it is turned off.

• Added administrators to the servers who will kick, ban and restrict the communication of players that interfere with the normal gameplay.

• The character renaming system works! You can change your character name on the forum. After confirmation by the administration, it will change in the game. 

Future Updates: 

• Work on the client crash when opening inventory and joining / leaving combat.

• Deployment of servers in the EU region: EU 1 server for new players and EU 2 server with transfer of existing profiles from RU 1 server.

• You can find a junk dealer in cities. This character buys up all unnecessary items.

• Leveling skills during arena battles.

• Traveling around Calradia will become more dangerous! New opponents will await you in remote corners of the world, but the main thing is that now you can lose some of your items if you are defeated in battle!

• TRADE LICENSE! The license can be purchased from a merchant. The license applies only to the city in which you purchase it.

Bannerlord Online is in Early Access!

We are pleasantly surprised by the interest in our project! We did not expect that our project will attract so many people! Your donations help us stabilize servers, introduce new content, and fix bugs faster. We appreciate you!