There's no denying it- those ogres look pretty darn spiffy in their new duds. Unfortunately, all of that gratuitious spiffyness has incited rampant jealousy amongst the orcs, who are sadly lacking in both bronze armor and fancy head plumes. In order to restore peace to the War faction- if not the areas around the War faction- our artists have been using their spare time to create another art update.

The changes to the existing orcs will take effect in patch 1.45.8. We've also been working on a few new orcs for the upcoming expansion. Though we're not quite ready to give any specifics, sharp-eyed players have probably already spotted at least one unreleased troop...

Half the thrill of the contest is the pursuit of the prize, and we've endeavored to hook players up with some truly epic rewards for the approaching Xfire contest. Sure, there's been some trial and error involved (we now know what gerbils and egg sandwiches have in common: neither keeps well in the mail), but we're confident that we've narrowed it down to some very fabulous prizes.

To participate in the contest, simply do what comes naturally to a SAGA player and spend some time conquering quests, leveling your opponents' territories, or haggling in the trade channel. The more hours you log through Xfire, the better the prizes you'll be entered to win. You can read more about the contest specifications and rules here.

10 Bronze Prizes (10+ Hours)

5 Booster Packs

10 Silver Prizes (10+ Hours)

10 Booster Packs

8 Drakes (neutral, uncommon)

5 Gold Prizes (20+ Hours)

20 Booster Packs

1 SAGA T-shirt

1 Rhyax (neutral, promotional)

1 Grand Prize (20+ Hours)

20 Booster Packs

1 Faction T-shirt of your choice

1 Great Dragon (neutral, ultra-rare)

But wait, that's not all! In addition to the great dragon, 20 virtual booster packs, and a SAGA Faction T-shirt of his or her choice, the grand prize winner will also receive a Lithobolos Ballista.

No, we're not joking-- it's an actual ballista. This thing stands 2 feet wide 3 and a half feet long and is capable of shooting golf balls, eggs, tennis balls or the head of your sister’s favorite doll. It’s the absolutely coolest thing we could find to give away as a prize for a fantasy RTS game.

The contest starts February 26th and ends March 6th, so if you're in need of a novel way to impress/harass your loved ones and neighbors, be sure to make some time in your schedule for this event!

Help spread the word- DIGG IT!

Be Sure to check out the full details at Xfire.

Over the last two months, programmers, testers, quest writers, and many other team members have quietly been working toward making SAGA Unicode compliant. Though some of you might be wondering at what point mythical creatures entered the equation, others are probably excited to know that the extended Latin character set and the Cyrillic alphabet will be supported in all areas of the game (player and nation names, quests, the market, ect).

Yes, this means that Çøølßøß is, indeed, a legitimate nation name-- but more importantly, it means that SAGA is now ready to be translated into other languages!

If the international scene isn't enough to make you giggle like a giddy school-girl, there are plenty of other changes being made in 1.45.7 that might:

• The Guild Interface has been re-worked, presenting more information, and adding several new options (whisper to selected guild member, change Guild Master, a few others)

• The Tutorial quests have been re-done to more amply demonstrate advanced battle mechanics through the use of more images and less chance of dying. They cover more topics than before, such as garrisoning.
• The background textures for various windows have been improved.
• Particle effects have been added to more buildings (these can now be toggled on/off in settings).

• Several systems are getting back-end patches that improve stability.
• A lot of minor additions have been made, such as adding icons for attachments in the Pigeon Roost.

Recently, our resident PR experts, Slava and Dennis, attended New York's Comic-con to meet with players face-to-face-- a definite necessity, since they had serious plans for said faces. Individuals that were willing to sport SAGA's mark each received a rhyax, a new promotional unit that not only specializes in defense against flying troops, but also sends entomophobes into gibbering fits of pure terror. Nifty, eh?

You can read more about the convention team's escapades in the Developer's Journal.

• Rhyax added (neutral faction promotional troop)
• Melee unit fix
• Balanced changes to the siege drill, covered ram, and elven saboteurs
• Fixed a crash that was caused when trying to view a specific unit in the market
• Fixed a bug where the special ability of Ankhir Fellhand was not being displayed in some windows
• Fixed a problem related to loading up lower quality versions of troop models
• Resolved an issue caused by the Battle Server logging system
• Updated the textures on various Machines buildings
• Added pipes to various Machines buildings

Version 1.45.6 Patch notes

Issue 1, Issue 2

Issue 3, Issue 4

Issue 5, Issue 6