- Medieval Map Competition Result - 22 September 2026
The map competition is over. Thanks to everyone who participated and Tomebinder for judging the maps! If you are one of the top three, make sure to accept the friend request from JNI-Games to receive your rewards, which will take up to three days after accepting the request. Below are the best maps with a short review from Tomebinder: 1st place (22/23 pts) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3793137050 AW3 maps are fundamentally about the combat, and this map throws you right into it without any pretensions. Players are treated to an endlessly exciting battle with various mutations and gimmicks throughout. I was super engaged. Combat occurs in three dimensions: the long distance battle fought with hwacha and bow, the elephant charges right outside the ramparts, and (when times get tough) the frantic battle inside. Speaking of the hwacha, it was great to see some vanill…
- Medieval Map Competition - 17 August 2026
Starting today through September 7, an official Map Competition is live! Show off your map-making skills around a specific theme for a chance to win Steam Digital Gift Cards for the top 3 creators. Read on for all the guidelines, rules, and submission details! Start: Now End: September 7, 2026, 15:00 UTC Theme: Medieval Create a map inspired by the medieval world! Your map could feature warring kingdoms fighting for territory, a fortified town under siege, wandering adventurers exploring dangerous lands, a remote village defending itself from raiders, or even a fantasy kingdom shaped by powerful magic. Whether you focus on combat, exploration, building, survival or storytelling, we especially encourage you to explore the medieval combat mechanics and see what kinds of battles and scenarios you can create. Rules Breaking the rules will result in disqualification Each participant can only…
- Update 1.12.1 - 29 June 2026
Increased vertex limits Maximum vertex limits have been increased for nearly all custom item types. For most items, the previous maximum is now the recommended limit. Staying within this recommendation is strongly advised to avoid performance issues. Models exceeding the recommended limit are now accepted up to the new maximum, but display a performance warning in the Steam Workshop browser. Warnings also appear in the item creator and when loading battles containing affected custom items. Custom item type Recommended (old → new) Maximum (old → new) Increase Melee WeaponNone → 2,0002,000 → 4,000+100% Ranged WeaponNone → 2,5002,500 → 5,000+100% ShieldNone → 1,5001,500 → 3,000+100% GrenadeNone → 1,0001,000 → 2,000+100% Throwing WeaponNone → 2,0002,000 → 4,000+100% Support EquipmentNone → 1,0001,000 → 2,000+100% HelmetNone → 2,0002,000 → 4,000+100% Chest PlateNone → 2,0002,000 → 4,000+100%…
- Update 1.12 - 23 April 2026
Multiple Middle Equipment Items Multiple middle equipment items can now be selected for each unit! Script Editor Improvements The scripting editor received the following quality-of-life improvements: Available hotkeys/actions are now displayed Added a close button to the search panel Added a hotkey to select all connected nodes Script snippets containing variables can now be copied/pasted between scripts. Variables with the same name and type are merged automatically In addition, a new hotkey has been added to automatically align event graphs when selecting an event node, helping to clean up messy scripts. AI Changes The AI aggression introduced as a scripting node in the 1.0 update can now be edited in the unit behavior panel. In addition to modifying the burst shot amount, it now also influences melee attack cooldowns and the probability of ranged units shooting at units that have jus…
- Update 1.11 - 19 February 2026
Vulkan support The game now supports the Vulkan graphics API on Windows. This implementation is currently considered experimental, but depending on the map and hardware it can provide significant performance improvements, especially in more demanding battles. Vulkan can be enabled via a dedicated launch option, allowing you to easily switch between rendering backends for testing and comparison. Undo / Redo support in the script editor The visual scripting editor now supports Undo and Redo operations to quickly revert changes or reapply previously undone actions, making iteration much smoother when working with complex scripts. This applies to creating, deleting and moving nodes, as well as modifying node settings and variables. Undo / Redo support for custom units The unit creator now supports Undo and Redo operations. This is especially useful while animating, allowing you to quickly r…
- Update 1.10 - 7 December 2025
Merged material editing There is a new button in the toolbar of the custom unit creator to improve material editing. Materials from all items of the unit are displayed as a single list and matching materials can be edited as a single entry, preventing you from having to copy paste colors between items! Edit modular building materials during placement When placing a modular object, you can now edit the color before placing it. The game remembers the setting while you keep placing supported objects. Otherwise, you can load the last used settings with a click of a button when you start placing supported objects again. Object groups The concept of object groups has been added to the custom battle editor: Selecting a single object from a group will select the whole group, unless you hold Left Alt while selecting Object groups can be created or dissolved by selecting objects and using the "Ma…
- Update 1.9 - 1 October 2025
Custom support creator There is a new custom support equipment creator which allows you to create many new items like ammokits, medkits, shield and heal fields, glowsticks and airdrop flares! Editor hover and placement effect Objects are now highlighted when hovered in the battle editor, making it easier to know what you will select before clicking. In addition, there is a small animation for placed objects to make the editor feel more alive! Scripting support for unit traders Various nodes have been added to allow you to turn any unit into a trader and modify their offers at any time! Scripting naval vehicle spawning All naval vehicles can now be spawned with scripting to add additional reinforcement. Each ship has predefined slots to spawn units, which will then be dropped off on the coast. Ammo crate settings There are new settings for ammo crates and small ammo packs to adjust their…
- Update 1.8.0.1 (Bug fixes) - 4 August 2025
Fixed input issues related to the camera and other systems when text fields were focused but not being edited Fixed item generation errors for custom clothing items with non-adjustable materials and arm/leg presets Fixed incorrect behavior of the "replace unit" scripting nodes when the source unit had already been eliminated Fixed an issue where changing the pose of custom ground vehicle seats had no effect while playing battles Fixed a problem that could cause custom units to break when editing colors Improved workshop item loading stability and logging
- Update 1.8 - 22 July 2025
Object tag system There is a new scripting tag system for reference objects. It works similar to the unit tags, but instead uses reference objects as input and outputs. Tags can be added when selecting an object in the battle editor or by using the AddTag node in scripts. Please note that unit and object tags are two separate systems, meaning a unit can have both unit and object tags! Scripting features Added Trigger/SetName node to change the name of a scripting trigger which can help to identify triggers created from scripts Added AddTag / RemoveTag / HasTag / GetTags / GetObjectsWithTag / CountObjectsWithTag nodes for the new object tag system Added Inventory/SetAdditionalSlotCount / SetAdditionalSlotCount nodes to add up to 4 additional weapons slots. Weapons slots can be accessed with the weapon 5 - 8 keybinds Picked up weapons 5 - 8 are not visible on the player Weapons for these…
- Update 1.7 - 24 May 2025
New content Added split pants that feature 2 colors similar to the split shirt Scripting features Added 50+ nodes to input and modify equipment settings of custom units to create modified custom units in scripts Right clicking a quick input now displays a context menu to delete it Increased the size of trigger size handles Increased custom event input limit from 16 to 32 Added Create Cuboid and Create Spherical nodes to create triggers dynamically Added SetFill node to create progress bars from custom info UI elements Added GetLeft/GetBackward/GetDown nodes for all GetRight/GetForward/GetUp nodes Added GetBodyPartTransform to get information about the position and rotation of individual body parts in world space Added EnableImpactAnimations node to disable unit impact animations Added RestrictAim and RestrictWeaponSwap nodes to prevent aiming and weapon swapping Other features and impro…
- Update 1.6 - Custom Ground Vehicles - 21 March 2025
New camo content There are new clothing items with 4 and 5 color camo patterns. These patterns are available for all the existing camo clothing in normal and medium pattern size. Custom Ground Vehicles Custom ground vehicles are finally here! You can find the editor right next to the other creators in the main menu. The functionality is similar to vanilla vehicles, and —as usual— you can use your custom vehicles anywhere vanilla vehicles are supported. The options available allow you to create a wide variety of vehicles —including transport vehicles, tracked, and wheel-based vehicles— each with a range of customization settings. The way vehicle damage is calculated has also been updated: Most vehicles are now immune to small arms fire, making them feel more realistic and durable on the battlefield. Since there are far too many options to cover in these patch notes, I highly recommend ch…
- Update 1.5 - 24 November 2024
New content Added camo shorts (default and medium pattern) and open variants of the A6 and MSK1 helmets Material settings for equipment The materials of placed equipment items can now be adjusted in the battle editor. Custom units in ground vehicles The units in ground vehicles can now be changed directly from within the battle editor. Units with mounted vehicle weapons will use them regardless of their own weapons. Other units will try to use the weapon that they were assigned to in the unit creator. Drivers cant be changed, but are usually not visible for most vehicles. Animate position/rotation of passive units The position and rotation of passive units can now be adjusted while creating passive animations. The position and rotation always works as an offset based on the starting positiong and rotation of the unit, when the animation starts Navigation areas are ignored, so units can…
- Update 1.4 - 25 September 2024
Blur vignette screen effect scripting node The new scripting node combines blur and vignette to blur the screen from the corners to simulate various effects. Arithmetic expressions in numberic inputs Simple arithmetic expressions can now be entered in almost any numeric text input. Supported operations include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and parenthesized ordering Quick scripting inputs Instead of having to create an input node for each input value of a node, most types can now be input with a single click next to the input port. Node connections will clear existing quick inputs. Supported input types are types like bool, int, float, string, float3, color, references and enums. Movement speed multiplier node for units One of the most requested scripting features has finally been realized. You can now change the speed of units by using the SetMovementSpeedMult node. I…
- Update 1.3 - 12 August 2024
Blur screen effect scripting node The new scripting node can be used to blur the screen to simulate various effects. Unit impact animations Units will now react to bullet/melee impacts. The strength of the effect depends on the bullet damage, hit armor and body part, melee weapon weight and randomness. Block AI navigation areas Instead of only adjusting how likely AIs will move in certain areas, you can now totally block them entirely. AIs will not navigate within that area and will behave as if an object is placed there. Choose preview rotation While placing a preview, you can now input a rotation to place an object at a specific angle. Laser wall blocking Lasers from weapon attachments will now be blocked by walls. This effect can be deactivated in the game settings. Other features & Improvements Workshop items can now be uploaded as "unlisted" from within the game Removed small gaps…
- Update 1.2 - 26 June 2024
Content Added sweatpants item Added a version of the shield backpack without shield The red modular metal building set is now called "Rusted" Custom clothing items Custom gloves, shoes, body and leg clothing can now be created in the game and shared with others on the steam workshop! For now, only static clothing parts can be created, but you can choose one of the existing in-game preset to create long sleeved body/leg clothing. Custom clothing items can be used everywhere where vanilla clothing can be used. Scripting improvements Added RoundEx node to round floats to n decimals Added PassiveUnitToUnit cast node Added Player/MakeInvisible to turn the player invisible to allow more customization in terms of custom items with shapes that are smaller than the regular body of the player Other improvements Added a color picker mode to pick the color multiplier of modular buildings The color…
- Update 1.1 - 25 April 2024
Content Added 4 variants of a two colored shirt Elf ears will now share the color of the unit's body paint Scripting improvements Added a tool to search and jump to node instances in scripts in the scripting view New nodes Trigger/RandomPosInside to get a random position within a trigger Unit/BodyPartCollision to disable hitboxes for each individual body part Player/EnableFallDamage to turn fall damage on/off ControlFlow/Cooldown to block further node execution for a duration ControlFlow/ObjCooldown is a variant of the Cooldown node, but has an internal cooldown for each object Other improvements The current and total time of a passive unit animation will now be displayed while animating it in the unit editor Added buttons to reset limbs to their default position or rotation while animating Melee direction indicators are much smaller now Melee direction indicators can now be deactivated…
- Beyond the Horizon Map Competition Result - 1 March 2024
The map competition is over. Thanks to everyone who participated and Tomebinder for judging the maps! He also played some of the maps on stream while judging them, so make sure to check it out if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oi6YXmmOvA Some really nice maps have emerged from this competition and there is a new quick play bundle available in the main menu, which contains some maps from the competition. Just a discplaimer: If your map isn't listed in this post or the quick play bundle, that doesn't mean it is not worth playing. The winners will receive their digital steam gift cards soon and will be notified via steam dms or discord, so keep an eye out for that! Here are the best maps with a short review from Tomebinder: 1st place http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3162424983 This map is a great example of how AW3 is a distinct game engine in its…
- Full Release - 26 January 2024
Patch Notes https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/758990/view/6716622476446477942 A Labor of Love Since 2017 I started AW3 as a solo project in early 2017. What was originally planned to be a spin-off with modern content for the game Ancient Warfare 2, quickly evolved into a full rewrite of the game with mixed content from different eras and more customization. The first test version made its debut on itch.io on July 22, 2017. This milestone was quickly followed by the launch into Steam Early Access on December 17, 2017. Seven Years of Development After nearly seven years of dedicated development, countless updates and great community support, AW3 is finally transitioning from early access to full release. Community Driven Development The success is measured not just in milestones but in the experiences we've shared together as a community and the great content on the workshop. With a…
- Beyond the Horizon Map Competition - 26 January 2024
Starting today and running until February 25, there will be an official map competition! You can create a map based on a certain theme and the top 3 map creators receive cash prizes. You can find all you need to know below. Start: Now End: February 25 2023, 23:59 UTC Theme: Beyond the Horizon Venture beyond the horizon, where unknown territories, structures, and futuristic worlds await. Embrace the unknown as you craft mystical lands, unexplored planets and continents, secret buildings, or hidden dimensions. Focus on discovery, from encountering new enemies, monsters or anomalies to unveiling groundbreaking technologies and wonders. Let your imagination lead the way in these uncharted realms, creating a thrilling experience of exploration and adventure. Your map can play in any era, and we cant wait what creative ideas you come up with! Rules Breaking the rules will result in an exclusi…
- 1.0 Update - 26 January 2024
Ancient Warfare 3 is leaving early access! For those of you who want to read some of my thoughts and plans, make sure to read this post: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/758990/view/6716622476446528467 Otherwise, I just want to say THANK YOU and enjoy the patch! There is also a new map competition going live with this update, which you can find here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/758990/view/3963798375007867538 Custom Throwing Weapons This new AI only custom equipment type can be used to create custom throwing weapons like the vanilla throwing axes, spears, rocks, ... Edit Custom Units in Context Instead of having to back and forth between the editors to ensure your unit's animation or style fits their surroundings, custom units can now be opened within the context of the battle editor! In addition, when creating or editing units, the correct unit color will be used to…
