The main focus of this update is on managing the randomness factor in the game. Following player feedback, we noticed complaints about the game's dice rolls. While the math is sound - we use natural distribution algorithm which means that rolls will most likely fall around your skill/attribute value, there were clearly some things we could improve. Read on to learn specifics!
Rerolls
Plain and simple: now you can reroll failed skill checks. Rejoice! Of course, there are some caveats, though:
- you have a limited number of rerolls, based on your FOCUS attribute;
- you have to be "concentrating" - you must select the option before the rolling ends.
There are many skill checks in the game - some important, some less so; now you have an additional safety buffer for those crucial ones.
Clearer difficulty messaging
Previously difficulty of a skill check was based on its absolute value: that is, regardless of your skill level, it would show "easy", "hard" etc.
With this update, however, we describe the difficulty based on the difference between your skill and the target number. See here:
- if delta >= 4 then "guaranteed"
- else if delta == 3 then "pretty safe"
- else if delta == 2 then "easy"
- else if delta == 1 then "likely"
- else if delta == 0 then "50/50"
- else if delta == -1 then "risky"
- else if delta == -2 then "unlikely"
- else if delta == -3 then "unrealistic"
- else if delta <= -4 then "impossible"
Remove random completely with Nominal tablets
Lastly, if you still are annoyed with randomness as a concept, we got a solution for you too - Nominal tablets. This is an item that can be found in the game and, once consumed, will remove any dice rolls whatsoever. That is if your tinker is 3, you will never "roll" anything but 3 while under the influence of the drug,
Lore wise, these Nominal tablets suppress your anxiety and stress, remove stage fright, but also dull the excitement and adrenaline. Basically, you don't crumble under the stress but you also would never perform above expectations or get the "second wind".
Be warned of side effects, though: while medicated, your XP gain is severely hindered - because you never challenge yourself, you cannot grow.
Grenades, mines and traps
Take advantage of the new throwables - grenades. If you manage to land a hit - based on your PERCEPTION - the target will be paralyzed for a turn. Good if you want to follow up with a killing blow or just run away.
Or, if you tend to avoid combat (which is a good idea, btw) the new shock traps can be useful - set it up on a container that NPC might use (e.g. where they keep their water bottle) - and it'll knock them out cold upon next interaction. All their stuff - keys included - now is yours for taking!
Repair robots
There are now new possibilities for engineers: repair a destroyed robot to get a loyal mechanical follower! Even better, if defeated in battle, you can "resurrect" it right after; granted you have the components and skill to pull it off.
To be honest, there's really no limit to how many robots can you repair - as long as you have R/C Controllers to spare.
Book's worth of proofread NPC dialogue
We've been slowly but steadily proofreading the game's texts. With this update, all of the character dialogue in the game should be now covered. This amount to a whopping 130 000 words!
To give you a perspective - Andy Weir's Martian is around 110k words long. An excellent book, by the way: its realistic near-future Solar system exploration has been an inspiration for many things in the world of Space Wreck.
The Chief Snitch
And last - but definitely not the least! - we've been adding subtle content all around the game. The biggest and the most impactful addition is the new quest The Chief Snitch on Kurbads. To be fair, it's not just the "quest" per se but rather all the new options to advance your main quest or provide new ways to interact with the world that are noteworthy here. You also get a chance to explore some of the characters more and interact with them.
Note: there are now new story stars and even new final ending slides related to this storyline.
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These are the major highlights of this update but there are still more subtle changes and fixes in the game.
Until the next time!