Hi everyone!
Here's v0.46! This one is all about long-term progression: how you unlock new cards, how much harder you can choose to make a run, and what you get for pushing that difficulty as far as it goes. On top of that there's a fully rebindable hotkey system and a colorblind mode. As always, these new systems could be rough on the edges, so I'm all ears! :)
As always: join my Discord server to share your thoughts and receive instant access to the Steam playtest! ;)
Anyway, let's begin with the patch notes:
Challenges!
Unlocking new cards and relics used to be tied to reaching population thresholds. That's gone now, instead, unlocks come from completing Challenges which you can think of as Achievements. There are meta-achievements like reaching Town Rank 3, discovering a certain number of relics, buying or upgrading skills, settling towns, generating enough resources, and also ones which are actually challenges, e.g. leave the island without having any houses, keep your reputation maxed the whole run, win without ever removing a card, and so on.
This means that finally the Challenges button in Collections is now live! Also, locked cards and relics now indicate their unlock progress with their overlay, plus a tooltip telling you exactly which Challenge unlocks them. Completing one pops a "Challenge Complete!" notification, and finishing a run shows you everything you unlocked or made progress on during it.
Torments!
If you've been winning comfortably, there's now a way to make it harder on your own terms. Before starting a run, you can apply various Torments extra negative modifiers you choose to add in exchange for a real reward. Win at your current maximum Torment and your cap goes up by 1 for next time. When playing with Torments, you have a Codex of Torment relic, which shows you the currently active torments if you right click on it. Victory Torment 5 unlocks the third starter deck, which you will know more about in the next paragraph, but first let me show you a few example torments:
Corruption (Torment 2): You receive 15% less gold from all sources.
Poor Craftmanship (Torment 1): Every card costs 5% more.
Shoddy Cooperage (Torment 1): Start each island with 20% less resources.
Broken Legacy (Torment 1): Maximum reputation is capped at 75.
Crude Ink (Torment 1): Maximum Decree is capped at 4.
Disorganized Court (Torment 2): Drawing cards costs 3 Decree.
Chaotic Isles (Torment 2): There is 1 fewer turn between events.
Tattered Schematics (Torment 1): Every deck reshuffle makes a random card cost 50% more, until it's used once.
Plundered Isles (Torment 2): Each island has at most 2 treasure chests.
Harsh Frontiers (Torment 2): Town Halls reaching rank 3 grant only 2 tiles to claim instead of 4.
Sacrifice: the third starter deck
Win a run at Torment 5 or higher and you'll unlock the Sacrifice starter deck, built around its own identity relic that turns population loss into gold instead of just hurting you. You can demolish buildings from the start to get some extra gold, and you can also send people on pilgrimage to rebuild your reputation... and also get some gold. Let me know what you think of it. :)
Pious Tasks on Sacred Islands
Instead of relics just being hidden in one of the treasure chests on Sacred Islands, now you must complete a difficult, multi-step task given by the local monks. If you succeed, they offer you 3 relics to choose from. The downside is that you can't leave the island till you complete it!
Fully Rebindable Hotkeys
Settings received a fully fledged Hotkeys tab, every binding is rebindable. This feature motivated me to add tons of new hotkeys to the game, and I'm all ears for new ones. :)
UI & Quality of Life
Card stat numbers now turn red when a modifier is actively hurting them (instead of just making all changed stats blue, regardless whether it's a positive or negative change), so you can tell at a glance what's been changed.
The Currency, Health, and Modifier panels received new visuals and consistency across the scenes. The relic panel now shows your relics in a grid instead of the classic "banner-look".
Lots of smaller things which I don't remember, but e.g. the supply requesting button can be right clicked now to preview what kind of supplies you can choose from! :)
Colorblind Mode
A new settings option remaps the game's good/bad UI colors (protanopia, deuteranopia presets), it's pretty rough right now, so I'm sorry for the inconveniences for any colorblind folks. Let me know how could I improve it!
Lots of New Content!
New Level Modifiers!
Loose Tongues: Receive a Scandal card into your deck whenever you reshuffle.
Overpopulation: When a town's population exceeds 70, gain a Crime card that stays in your deck until removed.
Grudge: Receive an unplayable Resentment card into your deck whenever you fail a quest.
Squalor: At town rank 2, Abolish Slum is added to your deck. Holding multiple copies removes them and costs you 10 reputation.
New Relics
Pick of St. Barbara: Cards that require stone tiles can also be used on mountains.
Sickle of St. Walstan: At the start of your turn, if you have less than 75 Food, gain a Final Harvest card.
Shovel of St. Isidore: Using forest cards grants a Wildlife Dung card.
Reliquary of the Pilgrim: Whenever your population decreases, gain 5 gold for every villager lost. (Sacrifice starter deck's identity relic)
Ledger of Edward III: You may spend Decree to go below zero, but not while already in debt. The deficit carries over to the next turn.
The Brother's Bindle: Town level-ups grant a random supply card instead of gold (2 cards on reaching rank 3).
Banner of St. Ladislaus: Town level-ups no longer grant tiles to claim, instead every 7 population grants a free Territorial Deed card.
Token of the Masons was broken since the supply requesting rework, but not anymore! Your "Gold & Workers" supply card gets replaced by Stone Supplies.
New Cards
Accept Refugees: Costs 5 Workers + 25 Gold. Grants +10 population, then draw one extra card per turn for 2 turns.
Overlogging: Costs 2 Decree. Gain 300 Wood, then Wood production is halved for 3 turns.
Exchange Secrets: Costs 4 Decree. Draw 5 cards, and receive Loose Tongues debuff for 3 turns.
Lure Beasts: Costs 50 Food. For 4 turns, using forest cards grants a Wildlife Dung card (weaker Manure).
Final Harvest: Gain 100 Food, and destroys the targeted Wheat Field. (granted by Sickle of St. Walstan when low on Food)
Thanks for reading and an even bigger thanks if you could give it a try and give me some feedback! :)
If you'd like to share your thoughts on these changes or report any issues, join my Discord server! (and of course I'll grant you instant access to the playtest on Steam! ;) )
As always, a huge thanks for your continued support and feedback!
Tibor a.k.a. Tudvari a.k.a. Portgate Studios