In this build we see the introduction of the Downed and Recovering mechanics. This is a response to the work being done to look at the game-mechanics and see what negative and positive feed-back loops there is. A single Operator in a group of 3 dying will still allow one to finish a level, but the reduction in fire-power has a permanent effect on the effectiveness on the Team, so many players may still end up reloading the level instead of continuing forward. This penalizes a player that is struggling and may in the long-term make it impossible for them to finish the game - while ironically a strong player would be able to finish the game with maybe only a single Operator.
So, with that in mind, this Build introduces Downed.
This occurs when a Operator reaches 0 in health. They are effectively knocked out, and fall to the ground. This hard debuff has a duration of 20 rounds, so it is not recommended to leave them like that. So to allow team-mates to help a Downed Operator, every Operator is now able to Interact with a Downed team-mate. Reaching a team-mate and carrying out an Interaction will put them in Recovering-state with 10% of their health, a hard debuff that lasts 2 rounds, which during they can be injured again. If they recover successfully, they are able to continue as per normal, but suffer an Applied Effect of Hurt for 5 rounds. There is no permanent injuries at this time.
A minor note is also that an Operator that is Downed will still be allocated their XP-share from any slain Monsters by the team-mates, but will gain nothing of the points allocated. This means, team-mates will continue to gain experience in the normal speed, but the Downed operator will miss out on anything gained while being fully Downed. When in Recovering state the unit gain XP as normal again.
Another minor change around this is the Special Ability Boost Injection -- this ability is now a ranged one (was only allowing injections in the 8 neighboring tiles before) up to a distance of 6 meters. And this ability will put a Downed operator into Recover state without needing to run to the Downed team-mate and Interact with them! This will also hopefully give this ability a minor buff in attractiveness and usability.
Full Changelog for EA Build 6
* Added new Downed and Recovering mechanics for Operators
* Added so a state of all Operators as Dead or Down boots one back to the main menu (nicer end-slate will come later)
* Adjusted impact from Frozen spell to -100% for all attributes (from 90%), and -100% for all skills but Dodge (-90%)
* Reworked code to handle situations where attributes is 0, based on Applied Effects (debuffs) or special states
* Adjusted longer swords to be 2H
* Improved animations used for 1H and 2H close combat weapons, both for Attack and Guard Stance
* Added support for Immunity_Terror for selected Monsters
* Adjusted left-hand IK for Operators to be triggered based on animation-frames instead of triggered based on Order state change
* Adjusted BoostInjection to be a ranged ability, max-range of 6.0 meters
* Fixed so Operators no longer say duplicate lines in the same round, even if triggered to
* Fixed Morale-boost from Team-mates to now depend on the asking Operators Perception-range