It's been a bit since the last update, but that's mainly because I've been working on this one for a while. Since the release on Steam, most updates have been focussed on improving the early game experience. I think that helped the game a fair bit, so I'd like to thank you for all the feedback I've received that allowed me to do that!
However, it's time for the late-game players to receive some new content today! The majority of this update focuses at the later stages of the game and expands upon them significantly. If you're still early in the game (if you haven't yet unlocked ascension, or haven't gotten to the second layer of ascension yet) and feel like the following text doesn't apply to you yet, there's also some regular update notes at the bottom. Most of the content in this update unlocks a little after completing all Steam achievements.
So what is Transcension?
Transcension features the third "reset" mechanic in Incremental Adventures. It resets Ascension Layers (and prestige) for Transcension Points. These points can be spent on upgrades that provide a significant bonus to base Ascension Points gain. This bonus is x2^(upgrades) to the base AP gain of affected layers. Trancension Layer 1 buffs just AL1, meaning AL1AP base gains are increased x2 (with one Trancension upgrade). For those that like math: this effectively means x((2^1.8)^0.85), or ~x2.89 (yes, two upgrades being x4 or ~x8.84). Transcension does not directly power allstats and continues to use Ascension and Prestige for that throughout Transcensions.
When do I unlock Transcension?
Transcension is unlocked at roughly 100 points on Ascension Layer 5, which obviously makes it a very late game feature. Transcension Points scale on Ascension progress, with every layer approximately increasing the amount of available Transcension Points by a factor of 8. This is affected by a diminishing return similar to what Ascension Layers above one have, when available points are higher than claimed points. This means that previous progress does clearly benefit Transcension progress, but reaching a similar point during a future Transcension run will provide more Transcension Points at the same AL.
Transcension resets Ascension Layers, what does this mean?
Ascension stat upgrades, as well as gameplay unlocks are reset. Ascension trials and perks are not. This means prestige automation fully remains, as well as trials forming a permanent bonus to every Transcension (also, not forming a repetition of having to redo trials).
Transcension Perks
Similar to Ascension, Transcension features Perks as a form of automation, unlocked with Transcension. Unlike Ascension however, Transcension Perks are fully passive (no buttons to enable them), and unlock seperately for Ascension Layers. Transcension Perks provide free unlocks per ascension layer, as well as automatically unlock Ascension Layers (with customization as to when you want them to). Transcension perk points provided by transcension layers go up much faster than they do with Ascension Layers, but still come with a fixed amount of perk points per transcension on a given layer.
So what does Transcension Layer 2+ provide?
Transcension Layers 2 and up provide a similar bonus to TL1 (x2^(upgrades)) to AL(TL<=AL), meaning TL2, with 1 upgrade will provide a bonus of x2 to both AL1 and AL2. (Possibly) more importantly however, it stacks with TL1. So having x2 at TL2 and x4 at TL1 adds up to a total (base) bonus of x8 at AL1 (and x2 at AL2). Effectively this means a free TL1 upgrade per TL2, in terms of TP costs. AL2+ will still be limited through their dimishing return, but will reach that point faster.
How do Transcension upgrades scale?
Every Transcension upgrade costs approximately 2.4 times as much as the last one (total, rounded up). So Transcension AP gain upgrades go from 1 > 2 > 3 > 8 > 20 for bonusses of 2 > 4 > 8 > 16 > 32.
Are there Transcension Trials?
While I think they fitted Ascension well, Transcension easily takes too long for those kind of Trials to be "fun", and quickly become punishing (arguably, that's already an issue for ascension). For now, Transcension does not feature any trials. Potentially, this might be extended at a later time to only include trials that do not come with a penalty.
So will transcension just feature the one upgrade and no unlocks?
Basically, yes. Transcensions take longer and I want the resets to feel less like you're able to "make a mistake". You'll find that the transcension upgrade works and scales significantly different from the ascension and prestige upgrades. Additionally, the fact that Ascension trials do not reset throughout Transcensions creates different paths as well. Depending on reception, this could be extended upon at a later time, but most likely in a more passive form of reward.
I think that tackles most of the transcension details. If you're able to unlock Transcension straight away, go have a look in-game!
Regular update notes aside from the new feature
- Layer auto-unlocks (for both prestige and ascension with the new transcension perks) now automatically buy the maximum amount of stats after unlocking the layer
- Offline progress speed is now capped to 5 minutes per second, to make interacting with the game during offline progress easier on fast devices. Additionally, this might resolve some "freezes" during offline progress on devices that seem to run into rendering issues
- If you're able to unlock multiple prestige layers at once, a disabled button is now shown for the next layer. This button informs you that the previous layers needs to be unlocked first, to help with a common confusion
- Lowered the static values of dynamic ascension minimal buy targets, to make them scale better throughout transcension
- Fixed some highlighting cases not working for specific ascension unlocks. This also fixes a related issue with an incorrect warning telling you that nothing is available for purchase after ascending when something actually was
- Fixed a bug that caused floor power to mismatch the speed trial reward (this fix is a buff to lower ascension layers, and a nerf for very high layers that now have transcension available)
- Improved rendering performance of the combat log (most notable during offline progress)
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Gniller
