Another progress update on the next version. There's still more bug fixing, art and feature work needed but it's shaping up well. There are some nice mechanics and additions in it that I thought I'd mention:
Weight Penalty
For every ten items in your cart, you will lose one speed. This makes it important that you don't just upgrade your cart's capacity, or you'll be crawling around the map! This penalty is turned off on casual difficulty.
Deployment Time
You start the battle with a set amount of deployment time, and all fighters and heroes now have a deployment time cost. What this means is that you'll only be able to deploy some of your fighters at the start of a battle. Your deployment time amount increases each round, so if your defences hold then you'll be able to deploy reserve fighters to the battle as it progresses.
Background Bonuses
In addition to giving you boosts to core stats, your choice of background at the start of the game will now also give you a starting boost to one personality trait, a bump in your starting reputation in a specific town, and one or two helpful unique bonuses.
Map Zoom
Adjust your zoom levels! Zoom out to reveal more of the kingdom or zoom in to make it seem like your cart is travelling faster!
Tailors
These locations allow you to adjust your merchant's clothing for a cost.