ːsteampunkː STATUS: THE UPDATE IS LIVE
ːsunnyemoː IMPORTANT: due to significant internal changes in the code, saved games made in the earlier version of the game will not be compatible with the updated version. We apologize for the inconvenience.
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Dear players:
Hopefully, the summer treats you with good weather, and you and your families are doing well. We, from our side, are happy to provide you with this brand new update that adds 2 new cards, a number of bug fixes and changes in balance.
We'll look at all the changes in just a second, but first, a quick shoutout to our other game – Spire of Sorcery, which participates in the Steam Next Fest event: the demo-version is already available on Steam, and supports 7 languages.
If, for some unexplainable reason, you desire something less chaotic and brutal than Gremlins, Inc., then you may consider leading a party of runaway mages in a post-cataclysmic fantasy world of Spire of Sorcery. You can download the demo on the game's Steam page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/637050/Spire_of_Sorcery/
And now, back to Gremlins, Inc. and all the goodness of the new update!
ːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsː
NEW CARD: "ID CARD OF SECRET POLICE"
Location: The Court
Cost: $500
Move points: 3
Type: Normal, Permanent
Get: +ːscoreː6, +ːmaliceː1
Special rule:
When another player plays a secret card, they pay you $50. If they can’t pay in full, they discard all their cards.
"The lives of those who are unable to purchase protection from the secret police, can change at a moment’s notice, and in a very unpredictable way."
When this card is in play, one careless move when you are out of money might change your entire plan for future turns (for better or worse).
ːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsːːcardsː
NEW CARD: "QUICK LOAN"
Location: The Bank
Cost: free
Move points: 3
Type: Normal, Permanent
Get: +$400
Special rule:
Pay $20 at the beginning of your every turn. If you cannot pay, lose ːscoreː3, then this card is discarded.
"For customer contracts, we use nothing but the finest print."
Be careful with this one – playing it just because you can might not be a good idea.
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CHANGES IN BALANCE
In the course of the last few months, we experimented a lot with cards and special character abilities. With this update we implement most of these changes on a permanent basis. If you play regularly and follow our monthly updates in which we discuss adjustments in balance, all these changes and the reasons behind them will probably look familiar to you. Otherwise, feel free to take a look at how (and why) the balance has been changed.
CHANGES IN SPECIAL CHARACTER ABILITIES
We have buffed two characters who, according to the data, were underperforming on both servers.
The Damned
The Pauper
CHANGES IN CARDS
As you can see, most of the changes have a similar base: money reduction and score reduction. This is, of course, for a reason. Years of development with regular updates that bring not only new features but new cards as well, lead the game to the state that one can call "inflation". There are much more resources (money, votes) that are available in sessions than it was 2-3 years ago and that affects all aspects of gameplay.
We want to take a step back and reduce the impact of some of the cards in order to change that. In almost every case this isn't about nerfing a particular card but about reducing the overall amount of money that circulates in sessions. Reasons to change Chaos Cards are similar: an increased amount of available resources means that these cards are easier to play now than it was a few years ago. As such, we want to reduce their impact on the game just a bit (and in some cases compensate it with the reduced amount of ːmaliceː these cards gives to the player).
CHAOS CARDS
A Sacrifice
The Agent of Chaos
The Army of Chaos
A Diversion in the Astral Plane
The Allies of Chaos
CARDS
Eternal Mortgage
Racketeering!
A Fence
Toxic Waste
Reason: this is not just because of the reasons we already explained. This card is still one of the most playable cards in the game due to the combination of its effects. So, in this case, yes, it is a nerf of a specific card in order to reduce its effectiveness.
Prize Fund
Reason: ːvotesː4 or -ːmaliceː4 is just too good in comparison to $100. It also has a significant impact, especially the ːmaliceː reduction. So, we decided to nerf this card a bit.
A Bag of Money
Reason: as was noticed in the comments after the previous change of this card – no one cares how many votes it gives because no one plays it for votes. Fair enough. We made it more balanced in terms of what it gives :)
Corporate Scam
Reason: with this card, the effect works as intended but it isn't impactful enough. Now you can get up to 4 free points out of it while simultaneously punishing those opponents who didn't join you in this scam.
Investigation
Reason: despite increasing its cost back in October of the last year, the card still has an extremely high 'play to move' ratio (meaning, it is rarely used for movement and almost always played). While some cards will inevitably have a higher ratio than the others, we want to change it a bit more.
An Inspection
Reason: the situation here is similar to Investigation, which is understandable – police cards are very powerful. In this case, we didn't want to nerf the card and instead made it more tempting to use it for movement.
Forbidden Knowledge
Reason: this is rather simple: we want this card to be played more often.
Cold Deck
Reason: after testing it for some time we do believe that ːmaliceː1 works better for this card.
FIXES
- Gremlinopedia now correctly shows all the monthly changes for cards and characters outside of sessions.
- The tooltip for the Banker's ability Hedging the risk now shows at the correct spot.
- Added missing indicators on the board for active permanent cards The Common Fund and Corporate Scam.
- Indicators in the first tutorial entry are fixed and appear next to the correct elements of UI.
- Raging bull emote now can be converted into charges.
- A few more typos in different languages has been discovered and fixed.
We wish you all the best, and hope to have some great news about the Card Game for you in August!