You’re supposed to love them what’s wrong with you.
I see they released a very big update this morning. It seems to address the scaling issue @cicobuff mentioned (Diff. global: AI count progress slowed down across all diff.settings).
I also see they have beta branches you can opt into. They have ironman mode implemented in the beta plus other new features so I decided to opt in and try it out. I’ll roll it back if I have any issues. The beta version does break save game compatibility though so I’ve decided to start over under the beta-master version. No biggie having to restart since my guys are only level 3 in my current game. Info on joining the beta is linked at the very bottom of the patch notes below.
6:07am
Update v.0.85.20+26 Urtuk: The Desolation - Mad Sheep Studios
Hey guys,
thank you for supporting us and giving your feedback and suggestions!
With that, we were able to improve the game.
So, for the last 2 weeks we’ve done quite some work, so let’s summarize it in the changelog:v.0.85.18
Infested creat. calamity - reduced the count
disabled terrain changing from calamities(volcano, moles, earthquake) for Fortress & Stronghold builders
Diff. global: AI count progress slowed down across all diff.settings.
AI optimization (partial route disabled when normal routes found)
better(fair) upkeep wages for mercs & revenant
Refactor or RNG - now we use RandomXS128 for the pseudo-RNG generation - is better
balancing: nerfing some upgradable mutators
added audio for ‘barrel throwing’, small gx updates
AI beh. fix (spearwall casted infinitely)
Added new trait: “Veteran” (+35% armour protection) and added it to the adv/spearman class
added spine2d ‘Barrel thrower’
Spearman - spearwall is not ‘toggable’ ability - you can activate/deactivate it. Doesn’t end turn.
increased stamina cost for normal attacks 35 → 40
“Siege attack” quest balance - reduced ranged ratio from 0.75 → 0.30
Angel’s pact - removed the extended title(didn’t work well)
small fix (focus void st.eff.)
Height bonus/penaly damage balancing: now per one level of difference apply +15% / -15% dmg. Max bonus: apx.75%, max penalty: apx. -50%.
Moles intensity reduced
OnMaxFocus → Mansplitter bugfix: I didnt enabled the nullify focus when max focus was reached → thus it generated extreme Focus → even more bonus dmg…
Fortress battlefield builder now persists its rolled map.
Stronghold AI improv.
Battle in arms: progress max: 8 → 20, reduced the assist chance slightly.
Valdor classes have now immunity against acid effects
Angel’s pact - reduced charges 3->2.
balance (Light weapon), Immortal doesn’t stun anymore and grants 200% HP regen over 2 turns (so effectivelly a bit less with Healing rate).
Siphon life fix (225% → 75%)
boiling oil gx updates/additions0.85.19
refactored Settings screen, also added more options.
changed wording “Healing rate” to “Mending” and showing the mending amount also in ext.tooltip.
Poison Immunity achie.trait now progresses if char. gets poisoned 2x within single turn (previous there was a % chance to progress)
earthquake calamity now morphs terrain at steady turn(s) instead of random rate
captured & unsealed villages now have label “Unsealed”.
added new mutator: “life stone” - it’s mergable with any normal mutator and upgrades its level by 3. Also added it as reward after fortress battle
added ‘surviving villagers’ to Stronghold builder, some damage types from environment or ability cost wont grant XP
snipe ability enabled for AI (scavenger marksman)
added delirium st.eff. icon
Rend armour st.eff. - now stacks in duration
hard diff. world level scales slightly faster
decreased boiling oil damage 20% → 15%
added boiling oil to StrongholdBuilder (villages)
balance: siege: enabled boiling oil but as much slower grow pace, small AI improv. in siege
spike trap - reduced damage 60% → 45%
Calamities in villages - now reduced chance to spawn ‘sealed tunnels’ to 60%.
oil thrower immune to panic
Angel’s pact now progresses only when target received some damage (ie. not blocked/nullified)
David Kaleta02/16/2020
steam current version: 0.85.20+4
will add notes here shortly :wink:
David Kaleta02/16/2020
the changes 0.85.19 up to 0.85.20+4 were mostly bugfixes and internal stuff. So from the next update onwards, I’ll write down changelog.0.85.20+5
discord update - enabled sending crash logsv.0.85.20+9
village map-generation: made more spaces/doors into pallisades/walls bonefisher 2/18/2020 12:24 AM
ranged allies with ‘ranged support’ won’t fire if the hit-chance is not 100% (to avoid shooting into players units) bonefisher 2/18/2020 12:19 AM
Bounty hunters - reduced spawn rate 32->50 days. bonefisher 2/17/2020 10:04 PM
balance - cultis archer wont snipe by default, only on max-focus bonefisher 2/17/2020 7:39 PM
fix: we cant merge leg. mutators (aka relics) bonefisher 2/17/2020 6:07 PM
in villages, when player attacking, sort the player spawns to be near the enemy bonefisher 2/17/2020 1:13 PM
removed boiling oil from villages bonefisher 2/17/2020 1:03 PM
Poison resistance - now makes progress only when poison appl. duration > 1 (ignores poison.torns) bonefisher 2/17/2020 11:13 AM
small fix (scav.spearman had ‘fire xbow’ overfocus) bonefisher 2/16/2020 8:39 PM
Discord - now sending crash logs only at 1 file at a rate of 30s. bonefisher 2/16/2020 7:27 PM
leg.items - trait levels now range 4-10. bonefisher 2/16/2020 5:59 PMv.0.85.20+11
added some validations/fixes for player spawns for few quest types
Two brothers quest - the brothers now will assist the player in battle
small fix with removing items when accessing Party screen when rewards UI is openv.0.85.20+12
the ‘show elev.levels’ feature in battles now also makes the high-profile objects and units transparent
AI will now “wait” if it has an action available, but is out of breath0.85.20+13
added setting for toggling on/off the battlefield lightshards and battle log bonefisher 2/19/2020 12:06 AMv.0.85.20+16
fix for ‘merge mutators UI container’ being too small (text overlapped buttons → can’t click on button)
Discord updates - only connects to server if pending crash log files; v.0.85.20+15
bugfix: kaleta.hex3.utils.HexGameException: The given entity (Priest - Urtuk): getIPBar() returns null (IpBar removed from timeline).
bugfix: kaleta.hex3.utils.HexGameException: Target destination is not passable by walk
bugfix: kaleta.hex3.utils.HexGameException: Cannot equip item: it is not in the equipablesCollection!
removed strongVs for elites bonefisher 2/19/2020 12:50 AMv.0.85.20+17
I re-worked the arrow trajectory math when hit-chance<100%: Now if there is a impassable object (like wall/rock) - it will hit it. And not what’s behind it.0.85.20+18
small bugfix with scavenge mission - you could send a char. 2x to mission from open scavenge UI & party UI
Ironman basecode introd.
battle advisor new entry: ALT + map navigation0.85.20+19
villages - added barrel thrower, but - it will fire only when terrain gets raised. Otherwise he won’t bother you and stays inactive. (FilthyRobot counter).0.85.20+22
GlobalSettings - if battle advisor saved file data < current battle adv. entries, fix it.
bugfix: quest VillagerCornered
bugfix: mutators at max level cannot be merged
fixed the UI bug with not clickable buttons in Battlemap & Campaign (was using mouseNormal instead of mouseStatic)v.0.85.20+25
small fix (not unlocking final party after won game)
limiting foc. gain on damage taken (now: max is 50% of base-attack)
bugfix (drafting prisoners dups)Furthermore, we have a ‘beta-branch’ with more features already implemented (like the Ironman) but it needs further testing and balancing.
If you’re interested in the beta, please opt-in.
How to opt-in into beta? Link here:https://steamcommunity.com/app/1181830/discussions/1/2865910213624003689
thanks!
David
It’s hard to love ugly babies…
I checked this out last night and the art style is definitely… something. I’m not sure if I like it or not (it is well done, however). The game looks pretty polished but I’m starting to see these tactical RPG games everywhere (I played Trials of Fire a bit over the weekend) and one of my objections to them is that it feels like the battles take a looong time. And with Urtuk it appears you can end up with a regular ol’ horde of toons to contro, which would exacerbate the issue.
So has anyone played with a big posse of characters, and if so, did the battles bog down, or do they move right along?
You’re limited to having only 6 of your characters in a battle. The rest go into reserve like Battle Brothers. The combat is actually similar in many ways to BB except Battle Brothers can have up to 12 units in combat. So, Urtuk has half as many. Because of that and limited battle map size, I think the Urtuk battles are quicker to resolve. I haven’t had any bog down so far.
Anyone test 3440x1440?
This looks fantastic, and I will definitely pick it up if my preferred resolution is supported.
Looks great and works fine in 3440x1440
Thanks!
I watched some of DasTactic’s vids on this, and it looks deep and fun.
The Berserker is just AWESOME. A killing machine.
Some mistakes I have been making:
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I did not realize that the mutagens you pick up have to extracted right after battle. I thought you did that between turns.
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I have been using the mouse to move. I thought the best path would be chosen automatically but you will move through the spikes and take damage. Better to move one hex at a time (lesson learned).
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Positioning at the beginning of battle is extremely important because your party cannot move through each other and the higher initiative members seem to be those i want to keep in the back so I often waste a turn where they cannot move since my melee members are in their way.
This is why the first thing I did was extract a bunch of ‘light foot’ mutators and gave them to everyone in my party that didn’t have that skill innately. I can get out of those starting position bottlenecks now. It’s also really good in battles. I like to move my berserker up and give the enemy unit his two whacks and then on the Guardian’s turn they swap spaces and the guardian gives the enemy a third whack. With a crossbowman nearby to provide ranged covering fire, it can take stuff out in a hurry. Plus, it protects the berserker who has no armor and is a bit of a glass cannon. The guardian can take a lot of hits, no problem. Then on the berserker’s turn he swaps with the guardian again and the cycle repeats.
The level scaling in this game is disappointing, it’s one reason I quit Battle Brothers. It feels artificial.
Battle Brothers doesn’t have level scaling.
Enemies don’t become stronger as you level up - you instead unlock higher tiers of challenges and those then start appearing as your missions. You can still take low-level missions in BB, it’s just a surefire strategy to go bankrupt as you can’t afford upkeep for a high-level band on low-level missions - makes sense, really.
Nothing about it is artificial. A lowly spider will stay a lowly spider throughout the game, never becoming stronger as you level up.
Okay, I didn’t realize you could take the lower missions too. I thought the world kind of scaled over time without your intervention. (I think Space Rangers did this too.)
I’m unsure about this.
The end-game crisis hits one way or another, even if you did absolutely nothing - but if you do nothing, you wouldn’t be playing the game, right?
And when it does, things certainly tend to spiral with towns being destroyed, etc.
But other than that crisis, I don’t know if the world itself becomes more dangerous as time goes on. Never really felt like that to me.
Though it is hard to tell - you get stronger over time anyway (if you survive, that is), so you take more dangerous missions as you unlock them while you start ignoring easy missions as they won’t sustain you. If those missions would have been there anyway without your getting stronger (ignoring that you have to unlock them for a moment) - no idea.
The economy of the game and the fact that the crisis WILL hit on day 80 - 100 or so just doesn’t allow for a “play it safe” playstyle, IMO. Even if it had scaling.
I’m a slow player, so like to take my time doing things. I don’t appreciate being rushed. Possibly why I prefer RPGs to strategy games, though JA2 is one of my favorite games, and enemies do advance as time goes on in it too.
Boy, knocking enemy units off of high ledges using charge or shield bash is certainly a lot of fun.
The world becomes more dangerous in BB as you progress. You are correct, though, that bandits don’t become better armed or more dangerous, but there is a lower percentage of them as time goes on.
You can also completely ignore the end game crisis. The game will repeat crises forever, so if you just want to play at your own pace, go ahead.
All of the crises pretty much destroy towns, don’t they? Not immediately, but if left unchecked (and afaik only the player can actually defeat it) it will snowball.
So, a player that “lays low” will inevitably be faced with less and less towns until eventually nothing is left.
There’s an option at game start to disable permanent destruction of towns. The crises will also eventually resolve themselves.