The primary focus with this patch was to improve connections and reduce lag.  Titan Studios also addressed the AoE scoring exploits, a few other scoring imbalances, and made minor tweaks that should reduce stalemates. 

Here are the details:

• The server selection heuristic has been modified so that ping time has been more heavily weighted when selecting potential matches.  This will result in players being connected to games in such a way that game population and ping are more evenly weighted.
• Newly hosted servers will be more attractive to potential clients and thus fill up more quickly. The change will also better distribute connection attempts among servers and thus reduce failed attempts.
• Potential servers will be given less time to respond to ping requests.  This should speed up that portion of the connection process.
• Selected servers will be given more time to establish a connection, resulting in fewer failed attempts.
• The connection code is less sensitive to packets coming back out of order.  This was a cause of failed connections.
• Ice Mage and Dark Priest AoE scoring has been adjusted from 10 points to 2 points per enemy affected.
• Non-worker resource return has been reduced from 20 points to 10 points.
• Feeding the princess has been reduced from 20 points to 15 points.
• Castle door hit points have been reduced slightly from 30 to 25.
• The Princess’ calorie burn has been increased at weight stage 2, 3, and 4.  Calorie burn was previously 2 per second at all stages.  Stage 2 is now 4 per second, stage 3 is 8 per second, and stage 4 is 12 per second.

Our experience using the patch is that successful connections occur more than 75% of the time on the first attempt.  Selected servers are more fit, and so lag is reduced.  A number of other problems attributed to lag are, as a result, also less prevalent.  We expect server host migration to work more consistently.

The community will have to find a new balance in terms of host versus player distribution.  Because of changes to the heuristic, there may be more servers with a moderate population of players, and fewer servers that are nearly full or nearly empty.  The ideal ratio of servers to players is probably about 4 servers per 100 players.  Unless you have a spectacular connection, try finding a game or jumping in first.  If games are full and you’re having a hard time connecting, and you have a decent connections and a good ISP – by all means host.  If your connection is moderate or poor, though, you won’t have many joiners.  As with any peer to peer game – many empty games means too many hosts.  Few, full games means not enough.

In future patches or updates, we will address other bugs and issues.  Again, we wanted to get this out as fast as possible, and so changed only what we could safely and by last Monday afternoon.  Down the road, we will address less common and less severe issues including: disappearing princesses, broken hat machines, migration issues, and the rank system.  We may also address other features and balance issues.

Frantic and fun, Fat Princess pits two hordes of players against each other in comic medieval battle royale. Your goal is to rescue your beloved princess from the enemy dungeon. There's a catch though: your adversary has been stuffing her with food to fatten her up and it's going to take most of your army working together to carry her back across the battlefield.

You can switch between five different character classes literally at the drop of a hat: the fearless Warrior, the steadfast Archer, the mystical Mage, the tireless Worker, and the deadly Priest. In order to triumph, players must combine their skills and work together. The name of the game is cooperation, whether it's helping another player drag a log back to your castle, manning a battering ram to smash through the enemy's front gate, or building a human pyramid to scramble over the walls.

Features:

• Casual Single & Multiplayer Online/Offline Action – Cooperate with your team of medieval soldiers (up to 16 players on each side) to overthrow the opponent's army, plunder their castle and save the princess
• 5 Character Classes – Change your avatar's character anytime by swapping hats: Worker, Warrior, Archer, Mage and Priest
• 10 Unique Maps – There will be 10 maps total, shared across single & multiplayer modes.
• Experience intense frantic gameplay across diverse, charming and challenging environments
• Resources & Upgrades – Work together to collect resources to upgrade your primitive weapons and basic castle defenses into superior armaments and impenetrable fortifications
• Unique Game Modes – Select from several various game types: Rescue the Princess, Thwart the Invasion, and Medieval Games
• Customizable Avatars – Create your own personal Avatar and charge online into battle
• 32-player Online Skirmish – Jump in and join as many as 32 players online to wreak havoc on the battlefield and carry your stout princess back home during the conflict

Fat Princess is scheduled for release on PlayStation Network Thursday, July 30th for $14.99.