The new update is just around the corner, so today we want to share all the details.

Last time we talked, we told you about the new boss: Underflock General. An alternative to the Grimp Monstrosity, this heavily fortified nest will have the Slorfs dodging missiles, mines and looking for openings through the ring of pawns as they fight to destroy the huge central turret.

What is their beef with the Slorfs?

What we didn't talk about as much, is the massive amount of tuning and balance work in this update, so here we go!

Thrix Warren

Last update the Thrix Warren ended up being easier than Maddening Murk and having a less unique feel to the gameplay. The Thrix babies were meant to be a key pillar of the gameplay of this region, but it’s too easy to just ignore them. Also the enemy variety was a bit thin, and the Burrow Thrix was not very threatening and too random in its movement.

Here is what's changing:

• A new member of the colony, Hulking Thrix, was added to fill a niche that was lacking (slow, high health, and scary)

• Burrow Thrix now uses a network of burrows to move around the map, replacing the random movement from before. The next burrow to be used is hinted visually, allowing a buff to attack range and removal of attack wind up time. If you need to, you can harvest the burrow to block it.

• Vegan runs just became a nightmare. Food in the Warren is more scarce, making Thrix Bunnies a critical source of calories. Unless your deck is stacked with food mitigation you are going to need to be eating a few bunnies each day.

• Tuber is now a Warren specific card, and no longer used in crafting. Just eat it, ideally sharing to get the maximum value out of it.

• Also a general tuning pass to content and map layouts across the board.

Resource cards

Resource cards like Branch and Stone, are cards acquired in game that can also be used as a crafting material. The goal is creating tension between using them for their effect, or to consume them for a crafting recipe. It is a key part of ZOR's design that makes it unique, so we have to get it right.

Since last update though, these cards are still too plentiful, and yet never feel like they are worth the value to consume, leading to hoarding. The delicate balance we must strike is between recipe usage, rarity of cards, and how tempting they are to use.

We think we finally solved this issue with the following changes:

• Most cards that were consume, are now exhaust, massively buffing them and allowing for more deckbuilding options. Not only can you always throw that stone you picked up, but you might even keep it in your deck for a while.

• Food and water cards are still consumed, with some being buffed. Notably, the eye now gives maximum food AND water making it extremely tempting to use.

• A full rework of how resources are distributed, including a stronger rarity spread (stone, branch more common and things like horn much more rare). Also, we replaced the flat % drop loot system with a smarter distribution system that finds the right amount of variance.

• Chrono Cabbage is now a card that gives evade, and is used in some high level recipes

Do I really need that Cyclopean wand?

Crafting

Crafting is seeing tuning and improvements across the board, based on all the great videos and feedback since last update.

Here are the key changes:

• XP has been removed from camp upgrades. This was added as a limiter on rapid upgrade progress in the last patch, but there is a mental disconnect where it’s annoying to juggle between the deck and upgrade tree, leading to accidental misjudgments on how many xp you need.

• The new way of weighing and pacing crafting is via sticks. We had allowed recipe components to be too influenced by the theme, and have pulled back on that quite a bit. Sticks are now more plentiful and show up in every recipe. The amount needed is also weighed by recipe tier.

• Petroglyph recipe rewards have been reworked so recipes can leave the rotation. Late recipes are now of an appropriate power level, no more getting club from a petroglyph on day 14

• Recipe costs have been tuned across the board

Camp upgrades have also been updated and balanced, flat buffs have been given conditions so they are more interesting and more importantly, their selection is less of a given. Here are some examples:

• Inspiring figurine now gives XP when sharing

• Claw sharpener damage only applies to card damage

• Counterattack now happens when blocking or evading damage

• Roasting spit now gives food when harvesting

Also, we removed most slot expansions from the camp upgrade tree. You now start with a fixed amount of move slots and only expand other slot types in a few cases where they are used as a reward. It felt really disjointed to have these downsides along with the rewards.

What is inspiration without someone to share it with?

Bonus for reading this far

Underflock Escalation releases on Thursday March 2nd!!
The update is live on the beta branch now, check it out and report any issues to our Discord

Thanks for playing ZOR,
Clint and Gavin