It's been pretty quiet for a while but I've still been working on things behind the scenes. And now that the game has almost hit its two year anniversary it's time for a surprise update! A number of smaller and mid-sized changes have finally congealed together into an update that adds things along multiple fronts:
New Modifiers
First off, there are three modifiers that are available via Custom or Daily games now. All of these provide some interesting tweak to the core game experience:
Clairvoyance: See enemy hands
This one is a fun little addition to the game: You can see the enemy's cards now peeking in face up and you can hover them at any time to fully reveal them. That way you know what they have in hand and can plan much better.
Confiscation: Steal an enemy leader card
As a little variant you will be granted one enemy leader card after fighting an Elite or a Boss enemy. The card will be picked randomly but in exchange you'll be given an extra Focus point when you level up.
Conscription: Draft your deck at the start of the game
This is the big one! With this modifier active you still select a convoy but you don't use its convoy cards. Instead when you start the run you pick from a random selection of cards to create a unique deck each time you play.
People have consistently been asking for a Draft mode and I really wanted to include one. I was thinking to make it its own game mode at first but it felt more at home as a modifier because it would then allow you to combine it with others more freely, and it would sometimes show up in the daily challenge.
I hope you'll enjoy it!
Control Equipment
Apart from that I've also added two pieces of equipment that help support slower, more control-focused playstyles.
Thought Disruptor
This unnerving weapon uses technopathic principles to unleash a broadband mental attack on everyone caught in its radius.
It gives access to this power:
Thought Fracture: All followers suffer -3/-3.
Ennui Engine
A small dose of detatchment in the right place can increase combat performance by reducing concern for survival. Ethically highly questionable, unfortunately still effective.
It grants the following status effect:
Unmoved: When a wounded follower joins your side: They gain Taunt and Stoic but can no longer attack.
Other Changes
Apart from that there have been a bunch of smaller stability and quality of life fixes as well as balancing tweaks. Also notable is that the community effort for a Portugese translation has come very far along that I decided to add it to the game. There's still some work to be done, so if you want to help polish it,
you can do so at Localizor.io,
Without further ado, here's the assorted smaller changes:
Balancing
Faithful convoy: Replaced one Stalwart with a Steward
Faithful convoy: Replaced Steadfast Ox with Shiram Crusader
Added two new items to strengthen control builds
Outcastes and Pioneers travel perk switched
Zealous Frevor (Torchbearer) status effect only reduces convoy card cost by 1 (was 2)
Torchbearer has one more trigger of Zealous Fervor on Chosen and Burdened
Bandit Executioner has one fewer trigger of Pain is Wisdom on Doomed
Fear Campaign now discards a convoy AND a leader card on kill
Interface
Added Draft screen to the game
Modifier selector buttons + text larger
Added convoy deck size to always show in conflict prep screen
Convoy deck size counter now turns red if deck is empty
Added popup when trying to start combat with an empty convoy deck
Added missing keyword tooltips to some units
Improved VFX on Marauder to distinguish the two triggers
Changed Loyal Canine and Recall wording to be clearer
Experimental support for Portugese added
Bugfix
If both leaders die in the same action, you no longer win the combat
Hitting pause in the frame when the victory screen appears no longer locks the game
Starting a non-draft new game directly after drafting will no longer reuse the draft
Furious Offense buff now triggers correctly
Peaceful convoy perk now correctly grants Stoic and not Stealth
Pioneers now get the right perk discounting luxury items, not food
Can no longer hover the card the enemy played during big preview
Added and glyphs to font
Loyalty Shift properly removes cards from enemy deck in all cases
And that's it!
Take care and stay safe!
- Martin
[ 2021-07-05 17:22:03 CET ] [ Original post ]