Let's do this update in a different order. TLDR first:
AI now have jobs and income which is a building block for cults
Cult resources, power (generated from followers), resource trading and UI
Cult communal ordeals and profane ordeals, occasios (events on completion)
Cult temporary effects
Cult ordeal missions (called claves in the UI)
Follower levels 1-3 and upgrading
Follower-specific traits
Quick actions to open windows
Replaced some old icons with new ones including the parasite
I realized that a lot of people probably don't read the walls of text I usually do so now it's TLDR first with the most important things (full changelog in the end still). This is the second cult-related update and it's a large one. Before we start going into details, let me say that usually I try to balance each update in itself so that the player can play the game without any balance-related problems, the challenge is as intended. This time I realized that there's not much point in doing that since the key cult parts are still missing. So the game is playable, of course, but you'll notice quickly that there's not much challenge in running a cult. Another thing you'll notice is that there's only one useful thing that level 3 member does and it's finding clues. In my test runs it took half as much time to end the scenario A as usual with a fully operating cult and it wasn't much of a challenge. Part of that will remain: cult in scenario A is designed to be a big help in going through the scenario and it will help against the group as well later. But running the cult will be more challenging and you will have an additional risk of losing members including the leader. Combat ordeals aren't implemented yet as well so cult combat power is pretty much useless.
Let me explain in a little more detail how the gameplay flow goes. After establishing the cult you will see the new cult window UI available to open. There are cult resources: combat, media, lawfare, corporate, political and money. Resources are generated by the followers each turn (which is every 10 player turns) according to their job, level and income. Resources can also be traded from one to another. You have two options to gain more followers, one is the old one through chat and the other one is through the cult tasks which are called communal ordeals. Each ordeal locks up a member (or multiple members) who is doing the task and takes some resources to complete. Failing the ordeal might result in a special event with choices later on. For now, you can only stop the communal ordeals manually. The specific ordeal to find new members is called "Seek the pure". Once you gain more members, problems will soon appear in the form of the profane ordeals. These lock some members, require resources to complete as well, and also they have a timer which results in failure. Another thing they have is called "claves" - missions that you will have to do personally. For now, there are just two types of missions: persuade and kill, but there will be more. Note that once you enter the mission area (marked on region map with a purple flame symbol), time stops for the cult and the group, and you cannot save or leave it until success or failure. Total focus, in other words. Completing the profane ordeal successfully will give you some time to recover and build more resources.
Your followers usually start at level 1 (rarely at level 2). You will need to complete the communal ordeal to upgrade the follower level which will result in them having a better job and income. They will generate more resources as well. Level 3 is maximum and there are limits for the maximum amounts of level 2 and 3 followers. In fact, level 1 cult can only have one level 3 follower. For now, having a level 3 follower will only allow you to start a communal ordeal to gather clues in scenario A. Note that the list of followers shows a status column. Only followers that are free can do work, start ordeals, be summoned or generate resources. Note also that free followers will restore their energy and health over time. One last thing to note is that most of the "civilian" jobs are capped at level 1 or 2. You must find more specific followers to progress to level 3.
In general, this is what a level 1 cult can do in the game. Scenario A caps the cult level at level 1 because the player's goal is not related to cult growth and I don't want the players to move away from the scenario goals too much. Sandbox scenario will allow for level 2 cults which will bring other cults into play and the base building that I was talking about long ago. Level 3 cult challenges are all esoteric in nature and it's only going to happen in the upcoming scenario C. All of that will take some time and will be split into multiple updates. I sincerely hope for a full game release after I'm done with scenario C.
Oh yeah, there's one QoL thing I've added: you can now press Q and then as another shortcut for opening windows. The second key is the first letter of the window name, for example, pressing Q and then E will open evolution window. As soon as I've implemented it, I've stopped using the F1-F6 keys altogether on my laptop, check it out.
Changelog:
All of the cult stuff above
Cult pedia articles (no images)
AI jobs and income, some jobs marked as rare
Animations and fade in/out for windows
New AI perks
Quick actions to open windows
Drug addict now has a chance of going into withdrawal
Fix: law on law attacks will not trigger crime flag
Fix: low-density areas never spawned event clues
Fix: body window showed skills on a lower level of the probe than it should
Fix: cultist cops won't call for backup on attack