Dev Log #64: Version 1.1.1.0 - Core City Factions Update

[Styg]

Hi guys,

We're rolling out the first content update after the Expedition release and we're doing it directly on the main branch so good luck everyone! But first, a few words regarding our current state and our future plans.

Despite having hardly any mainstream press coverage upon release, Expedition sold decently well in the initial wave and then kept doing well in the following weeks. This is very encouraging because this tells me that during the years we did manage to establish a big and dedicated enough of a fanbase, that is keeping an eye on the game and spreading the word about it, that we are no longer at the mercy of whims of individual mainstream journos of dubious gaming pedigree. Speaking of individual whims, we did in the end get a huge visibility boost (that translated into a financial one) from our friendly Ugandan YouTuber in the form of this video. Much love to Sseth.

Our plans for the future are two-fold. First, we intend to release at least a couple more content updates. These updates will vary in size, but you can probably expect something comparable to this one. They will feature mostly minor quest changes, new items, couple new areas and possibly some moderate mechanical changes. I don't know how frequent these will be, but we'll do our best not to keep you waiting for too long.

Secondly, and this will be our major focus, we'll start working on another expansion for the game. This one will be a standalone campaign in which you'll play as a new character in an area that will not be connected to the main game. We decided to do it this way for two reasons: first, because the base game is big enough as it is and we don't want to add more of the big content chunks either horizontally or through further character scaling (we will be adding some smaller stuff through the content updates, though); and secondly, we want to be able to revisit certain base mechanics and design patterns we used in the base game and improve upon them without either making the game inconsistent or having to redesign major parts of the base game. We'll talk more about what these things are and how we're improving upon them in the future.

That's it regarding our plans. We'll try to keep you guys posted on the development.

* * * * *

Anyway, here's the patch notes for the update (the list includes the changes from 1.1.0.13 and .14 that were not present on the main branch until now):

Tweaks

• Cooked shot with incendiary chemical blob pistol will now apply fear effects to the fire-fearing creatures
• Fence door made a bit easier to click
• Reduced the maximum combat and movement speed up while in turn-based mode to 500% (down from 1000%) to avoid it glitching out some abilities
• Kareem and Freddy now also sell fish
• Sapke now uses W2C bullets
• Loot from Arena matches will now be stored in the loot locker behind Lanista
• [Expedition] Locusts will now spawn out of the hive every second turn instead of every turn
  
• [Expedition] The sounds of crabs poping out of the ground will no longer stack in order to burst your eardrums
  

Creatures

• Added Mole Cricket - a puny early game insect
• Added Young Psi Beetle - a weaker version on regular psi beetle to be used in the early game on lower difficulties
• Added Small Sentry Bot - a weaker version of the regular sentry bot to be used in the early game on lower difficulties
• A certain evil robot assistant has been upgraded
• Balor and Cornell now have unique models
• Core City faction members now have distinctive looks

Crafting

• Added a throwing net blueprint. One net requires 50 fabric scraps.
• Added a thin and frag grenade and mine case blueprints. Create multiple cases from a metal plate (scales with plate quality).
• Added lockpicks blueprint. They can be crafter from any type of metal plate and lockpick level scales with metal quality. Also at very high levels of metal quality you'll create bonus lockpicks. This is a rare blueprint.
• Changed the required amount of scraps when creating a repair kit to 40 (up from 20) per stack
• When recycling an item, the total weight of the scraps will always be less than the weight of the original item

Items

• Added a faction specific armors and item for JKK, Coretech, Praetorian Security, Protectorate, Free Drones, and [REDACTED]
• TNT Charge value changed to 800 (up from 350)
• Added digital timer and cardboard container as a static merchandise to several traders
• Huxkey can now be sold as electronic device
• Improved Jawbone crossbow
• Added a new unique crossbow somewhere out there
• Changed the weight of repair kits to 1 and advanced repair kits to 2 (up from 0.25)
• Changed the value of .44 JHP bullet to 52 (up from 20). No idea why it was so cheap before.
• Fishing rod made a bit easier to click
• Fishing rod's   range has also been increased, making it possible to fish from some elevated platforms
• Dismantling the fishing rod will now be done by right clicking and choosing that option
• Added graphite as static merchandise to couple of stores
• [Expedition] By popular demand the certain fancy armor will now sport the hood and mask on the player character also
  
• [Expedition] Added bison milk consumable
  
• [Expedition] Sormirbaren Spirit Staff no longer reduces psi costs
  

Quests/Areas

• Added a couple of mini-dungeons that may randomly appear in the early game
• The player can now ask Quinton for another set of putrefying bolts in case they used them up and still haven't managed to finish the quest
• Fixed a gate leading to Depot A not being lockpickable
• Added an agility check for climbing over the fence near the Protectorate embassy in Junkyard
• [Expedition] Added a few extra visual clues to that cool dude's first old home; also lowered safe's required lockpicking skill to 60
  
• [Expedition] Added an agility check for climbing over a wall in JSHQ's barracks
  
• [Expedition] Tweaked the way camp loses supplies over time (slowed down and made a bit more consistent and dependent on more factors)
  

Feats

• Cut-throat action point cost changed to 25 (down from 30) and can now also be performed out of stealth against incapacitated targets

UI

• You will now see which targets qualify for Ambush feat proc based on their and your current location. The indicator will be placed left of the target's health bar.
• Fixed the small offset of different chemical ammo icons that are show above the XP bar
• The log will now write "is destroyed" for non-living targets
• [Expedition] Fixed the vehicle weight display bug
  

Bugs

• You will no longer be able to export your character while riding a vehicle
• When casting electronic imprint on a "melee" trap, such as bear or blob trap, the trap will no longer jump to your location to trap you, but instead be destroyed in a regular manner; However, in addition to this, the electronic imprint will also automatically backfire in case you attempt to place it on top of any trap and apply its damage and stun to the invoker
• Fixed the bug that would sometimes cause the game to crash when fighting t-lings in DC
• Fixed the bug that caused the Expose Weakness tooltip to sometimes show the wrong reduction value when specced into it
• Fixed transition problems with the rocks gap on the Forsaken Island
• Fixed the exploit that allows Forcefield and some other abilities to be used to determine if there are hidden NPCs on targeted tiles
• Hyperallergenic will now also trigger when consuming psi boosters
• Fixed the bug that caused a certain popular NPC to kill you in the end for no reason
• Industrial bots are now immune to immobilization
• Fixed the bug that caused knife to be invisible when wearing a riot armor with a shield and a cloak
• Fixed the bug that caused chemical destabilization to expire before the damage over time effects (such as acidic entanglement) are applied for that turn; from now on, when resolving a turn, all damage over time effects will be applied before affecting the expiration of any status effect
• Fixed the bug that caused the cameras to sometimes not detect your various thieving shenanigans (such as the case sometimes was in Ray's shop).
• You can no longer decapitate the last boss
• Fixed the bug that caused the keybindings to stop working when the map window is closed (by dialog or opening a container, for example) while you're entering a custom note
• Fixed the bug that would cause the crawlers and deathstalkers to subtley hint at their future hiding location when escaping by using the ceiling
• Fixed hostilities with Gorksy in CC propagating to SGS even when they shouldn't
• Fixed a bug in Foundry prison where erasing security footage didn't prevent hostilities with the rest of the settlement in certain cases
• [Expedition] Fixed the bug that allowed the special ability of a certain unique armor to be turned on even when not wearing it
  
• [Expedition] Fixed the bug that caused Razor to become invisible when using the shotgun
  
• [Expedition] Fixed the bug that would cause multiple paranormal entities to spawn from a certain corpse instead of just one
  
• [Expedition] The expedition will now leave the items from the player's locker behind upon undeployment
  
• [Expedition] Fixed Ethan being able to teach the players temporal manipulation abilities without them having psi empathy
  
• [Expedition] Fixed a certain agent not recognizing you gave him Something Important(tm) in certain instances
  
• [Expedition] Fixed some minor ending slides issues
  
• [Expedition] Fixed an instance in which a certain kidnapping event can occur even when it shouldn't
  
• [Expedition] Fixed a scripting bug that in some instances caused a transition error when entering the Arch Island docks map
  
• [Expedition] Fixed being able to get a new mission even after being fired from the expedition
  
• [Expedition] Fixed a group of sec-troopers appearing inside an important building in the camp when they shouldn't
  
• [Expedition] Fixed Seeger sometimes hanging out in front of the Arch Island Keep when he should be in his tent
  
• [Expedition] Fixed an issue with certain attacks occurring even after the defenders have left the Black Sea
  
• [Expedition] Fixed the bug that caused the crash after completing the Crimson Horticultural Center (potentially can be triggered on other points during the course of the main quest)
  
• [Expedition] Fixed being able to kill a certain man hanging out in the Dominating Bar in Core City with gas grenades, traps, etc.
  
• [Expedition] Choosing to destroy a certain robot in Lemurian Health Center no longer breaks the quest
  
• [Expedition] Fixed the bug that prevented the Sormirbaren Ballistas to not be able to detect you fully on their own
  
• [Expedition] Increased the range of Sweep attack to at least match the range of regular spear attacks
  
• [Expedition] Plasma mines will now have the proper explosion radius of 2, instead of 3
  
• [Expedition] Fixed the bug that caused Shield Bash (and possibly some other special melee attacks) to use the current weapon crit chance and bonus stats   
  
• [Expedition] Shotgun will no longer trigger Ambush since it's not a single target weapon   
  
• [Expedition] Opportunist will no longer trigger on sea snakes
  
• [Expedition] You can no longer mount jet skis while immobilized
  
• [Expedition] Fixed bunch of locust hives that were inaccessible for melee attacks (this will not affect the current playthroughs in which you've already visited the area of the hive)
  
• [Expedition] Fixed the bug that prevented the paranormal phenomena in certain graveyard to chill out if you leave the area for a while
  
• [Expedition] Fixed a bug with a certain kidnapping event which was introduced in 1.0.1.13 experimental
  
• [Expedition] Fixed a certain captain's visitor coexisting in two places at once
  
• [Expedition] Fixed the certain infinite trading profit bug that was available to the master merchants
  
• [Expedition] Psycho-temporal Contraction will no longer be affected by armor penalty on following turns
  
• Various minor dialog and map fixes

Let us know how you like the changes and additions. Cheers!

[Altos]

Secondly, and this will be our major focus, we'll start working on another expansion for the game. This one will be a standalone campaign in which you'll play as a new character in an area that will not be connected to the main game.

Well, this is a surprise! I figured that the next region the player would visit (assuming it is the region I think it is) would be it's own game entirely, but another expansion makes sense, too.

I'm actually glad that it's a new character. This makes it more accessible to players who didn't like their first build, and/or want to try out something new for the new region. I wonder if it would be possible for us to interact with the original player character? I would love the opportunity to chat with them in a bar or something and have the new PC have no idea that this guy/gal they're talking to just saved the world from no less than two eldritch monstrosities.

• Added a thin and frag grenade and mine case blueprints. Create multiple cases from a metal plate (scales with plate quality).
• Added lockpicks blueprint. They can be crafter from any type of metal plate and lockpick level scales with metal quality. Also at very high levels of metal quality you'll create bonus lockpicks. This is a rare blueprint.
• Changed the required amount of scraps when creating a repair kit to 40 (up from 20) per stack
• When recycling an item, the total weight of the scraps will always be less than the weight of the original item

...

• Changed the weight of repair kits to 1 and advanced repair kits to 2 (up from 0.25)

These are some interesting changes. I'm glad that we are now able to craft grenade cases, and I like the idea of crafting super-powered lockpicks. However, that scrap requirement increase is going to suck for my SMG character. SMGs eat up repair kits like candy on Dominating. Now that the repair kits actually weigh a significant amount, I won't be able to carry around 100 of them all the time, either. I guess this means I'll be recycling more items and hoarding more Pentapus Barbeques.

• Added a faction specific armors and item for JKK, Coretech, Praetorian Security, Protectorate, Free Drones, and [REDACTED]

Now this is something I can get behind! As soon as I'm done with this post, I am immediately booting up the game to see what those new [REDACTED] duds look like. There's a certain outfit in particular I could definitely see my character wearing.  ;)

• Added a couple of mini-dungeons that may randomly appear in the early game

Interesting! I wonder how small of a dungeon we're talking about here. I'm also curious to see what the in-universe explanation for the dungeons' random appearances is. Perhaps some spacetime shenanigans?


All in all, these are some pretty interesting changes! I'm excited to see how they affect the game.

I'm greatly looking forward to the next expansion, and I wish you guys the best in crafting it! I can't imagine it will be coming out anytime soon, but that's okay. You can't rush perfection!

Thanks for the update!

[Maliel]

Any idea when this update will be available in GOG? the most recent one is 1.1.0.12b

[brobotics]

This one will be a standalone campaign in which you'll play as a new character in an area that will not be connected to the main game.

Seems like a real tease if it's not North Underrail after all the Hexagon/Dis talk in Expedition

I really wanna go to Hexagon... and "ask for Six" :/

[Styg]

Regarding the random dungeons - they do not just pop up like the random events do. They are either there from the beginning of your game, integrated and continuous with the static map, or they are not. Our ideas is that these be as indistinguishable from regular areas as possible.

[Styg]

This one will be a standalone campaign in which you'll play as a new character in an area that will not be connected to the main game.

Seems like a real tease if it's not North Underrail after all the Hexagon/Dis talk in Expedition

I really wanna go to Hexagon... and "ask for Six" :/

Hexagon or anything from North Underrail was always going to be a completely new game. I think I've always been clear on that. God willing we'll get to that eventually, but that's a big project that is going to require a lot of groundwork first, and we cannot just jump into it, like we can into this new expansion.

I think you're going to enjoy what we have in store for you in the expansion as well.

[Styg]

Regarding the random dungeons - they do not just pop up like the random events do. They are either there from the beginning of your game, integrated and continuous with the static map, or they are not. Our ideas is that these be as distinguishable from regular areas as possible.

Can these fragments appear in games started before the patch? Did you really mean distinguishable... or indistinguishable?

Providing you haven't visited the zones they might appear in, they mostly can. And, yeah, I misspoke there, meant to say indistinguishable.

[Arclight]

Hi Styg,

Can the current 5mm silencer be modified for the 9mm? Or, 5mm <or> 9mm in usage?

[Fenix]

Interesting stuff, will try it out later after sorting problems with my notebook.

[brobotics]

This one will be a standalone campaign in which you'll play as a new character in an area that will not be connected to the main game.

Seems like a real tease if it's not North Underrail after all the Hexagon/Dis talk in Expedition

I really wanna go to Hexagon... and "ask for Six" :/

Hexagon or anything from North Underrail was always going to be a completely new game. I think I've always been clear on that. God willing we'll get to that eventually, but that's a big project that is going to require a lot of groundwork first, and we cannot just jump into it, like we can into this new expansion.

I think you're going to enjoy what we have in store for you in the expansion as well.

aww okay, I see. All the writing put into Six just has me totally captivated for what happens next. But I'll play anything you guys release, for sure

i'd gladly slap a Stygian Software sticker on my rig if such a thing ever exists

[Wr4i7h]

When will we know more about the new expansion, like what will it be about, and where will it take place? It'd love to see North Underrail as well, but if not that, the Faceless city would be awesome.

[`louse`]

Secondly, and this will be our major focus, we'll start working on another expansion for the game. This one will be a standalone campaign in which you'll play as a new character in an area that will not be connected to the main game.

Sadly. Still wanted to continue the story

[Ploluap]

"Cut-throat action point cost changed to 25 (down from 30) and can now also be performed out of stealth against incapacitated targets"

Nice, i might consider it more now.

And a new expansion as a standalone also sounds good

[HulkOSaurus]

That's a lot of interesting changes. Looking forward.

Although, I have to say that the early game seems to have gotten a bit more difficult now. Not sure if this necessarily is a good thing. 

[destroyor]

Added a new unique crossbow somewhere out there

For those of you that already finished the quest for Mediant Samuel tracking down a certain combat unit, you need to start a new game to get this new unique crossbow. It seems Styg is adding unique ability for unique weapons that are, well, truly unique and I like it. Good work!