Hello, tactical crawlers. It’s been quite a while since the major update late last year. Since then, we’ve tried to swiftly fix and update bugs as they appeared, but we haven’t been able to post update logs on the main Steam page. We also made minor balancing and UI updates as long as they didn’t drastically change the core gameplay. Thank you always for providing feedback on our flawed and inconvenient game. As I’ve mentioned a few times in the discussion boards, Crawl Tactics has one last major update remaining. In this post, I’d like to share the changes since the last update and what’s coming in the final major update.
Summary of Updates Since Version 2.6
Since version 2.6.0, updates have mostly focused on UI/QoL improvements and balancing based on player feedback, rather than major changes to the game.
- CrawlPedia Improvements: Many pointed out that while the idea of the CrawlPedia was good, it lacked necessary information and was difficult to navigate. Now, you can access the CrawlPedia not just from the main menu but also during gameplay. A search bar was added to look up each entry, and we’ve included info sections for each stat and resource.
- Enhanced Info on Proficiency/Knowledge: Proficiency and knowledge were often confused conceptually, and players lacked reference material. Now, small icons distinguish them. Clicking relevant stats in the stats window or the CrawlPedia will show you the list of skills that can be learned with that knowledge and all info on penalties/bonuses based on proficiency. Also, when skill books are quest rewards, the game will show which allied units can learn the skill. For equipment, units that are proficient with the weapon will be shown. When equipping a weapon with low proficiency, a confirmation message appears to reduce the frustration and confusion from unknowingly equipping poorly-suited weapons.
- Improvements and Bug Fixes in Town Buildings: There was a bug in the tavern where hired units were always level 1, now fixed. Also, many found it inconvenient to manage unused skills, so we added a skill-selling feature to the Magic Research Lab. In dungeon mode, skills sold at the barracks scaled with dungeon difficulty, making it impossible to buy low-level skills in the late game and resulting in only level 7 summon spells spawning. To fix this, we changed dungeon mode to behave like quest mode, so skill levels in the barracks no longer scale with dungeon difficulty. A level cap was added to prevent only level 7 skills from appearing late game. Now, rare rings will also grant bonuses to non-summon spells, including melee skills and others. Skill scrolls can now be viewed not just by knowledge level but also by skill level (the basis for barracks spawns), and we added a button to view this info from the barracks.
- Unit Appearance: Many requested the ability to customize the appearance of hired mercenaries. You can now change their appearance from the equipment screen. We also added a checkbox to hide armor if it doesn’t look good.
- Combat: As the number of units increases, the fixed battlefield size became an issue. Now, the battlefield size changes based on the number of allied units. From watching gameplay videos by streamers, we noticed that familiars like wolves would rush into battle without hesitation, causing problems for players. While you can change familiar AI mid-battle, many are unaware or forget to do so. To fix this, AI units now act after the player ends their turn, so they don’t act first. Their strategy is displayed above their HP bar, and it flashes during battle prep to catch the player’s attention. We changed the default strategy from neutral to defensive, so they’ll only move if there are enemies to attack. A retreat strategy has also been added, where units move away from enemies.
- Unlocking: Previously, new units were unlocked only upon game over. Now, units are unlocked whenever you reach town based on the number of soul stones collected. Soul stones can now also be used for unlocking in quest mode, not just dungeon mode.
Final Major Update Roadmap
The final update won’t bring as big changes as v2 but will focus on improving areas that felt lacking, with mod support being the main goal. The plan is to complete the major update by the end of this month, conduct a short beta test, then release the full update.
- Mod Support: The goal is to allow players to play how they want, beyond debug parties or custom difficulty. The game’s data is stored in pseudo-JSON files, so simple mods can be made by editing values. You’ll be able to create custom classes and skills, and multiple mods will run independently. However, due to resource constraints, there won’t be a dedicated GUI editor; mods will be edited via text files. We’ll provide example mod files and upload them to the Steam Workshop for players to follow.
- Combat Variety and Interesting Battles: Currently, enemy AI just rushes the player. We’ve developed patterns like retreating or defending from high ground to encourage varied strategies and break away from kiting-dominated gameplay. Undead enemies revive after a few turns, but are vulnerable to healing magic. Since most healing scales with max HP, late-game enemies—especially final bosses—are too weak to healing spells. We plan to introduce support enemies that make allies immune to holy magic to prevent parties from becoming too overpowered. Depending on dungeon type, we’ll also add enemies that are immune to specific magic or grant immunity auras, encouraging use of a wider variety of skills.
- Balancing: AP (Action Point) increase mechanics have been problematic from the start. AP increase is too strong compared to other benefits, so players always prioritized it. We’ve decided to remove AP increases for all characters rather than trying to balance it for every class. Instead, we’ll introduce skills that increase AP only under certain conditions, like the old Nightside Burst. AGI (Agility) increasing movement range was also an issue. While removing AGI-based movement boosts entirely is an option, we’re leaning toward exponentially raising the AGI required and capping max movement. Since complex terrain makes movement feel restrictive, we plan to increase base unit movement from 3 to 4 and jump height from 1 to 2.
- Terrain/Battlefields: We revised the terrain generation algorithm to produce more natural-looking maps. Current maps have awkward visuals and contribute to movement-related issues. We’re testing a new battlefield generation algorithm. We also received many requests for trap placement improvements and new trap types. While not yet implemented, we’re considering improving the trap algorithm and adding new traps. However, we’ve added pots that change weather or temperature, such as causing rain or random lightning strikes each turn, and are testing such environmental hazards.
If you have feedback on the balancing direction or methods, please feel free to leave comments on this post, the discussion board, or Discord. As mentioned earlier, we plan to open a short beta build to gather more feedback.
Mod window:
New battlefield:
