Version 0.5 is here focusing on the new minor race, the Deep Ones and their associated family curse.
Deep Ones initially start as tiny communities which are easily suppressed by heroes, who will occasionally visit and eradicate half of them. With your protection, however, their maturation and continue and complete itself. Deep Ones reproduce by converting humans to their blasphemous aquatic form, both the population of cities and the noble heroes or rulers. Populations are converted by the Deep One cult as it grows, and when a location reached 300% it transforms, and can start drawing in citizens from surrounding locations. They mutate and dive beneath the waves, to join the abyssal cities, which counts towards your eventual victory.
Noble Houses can now suffer from bloodline curses, and the Call of the Abyss is the Deep One's signature curse. It calls to all the members of the family to dive beneath the waves and serve the cause of the Deep Ones. Heroes and rulers alike will need to occasionally perform an action to maintain their humanity, or fall under the curse and become a Deep One themselves. Once they have, they will automatically attempt to spread Deep One cults around the coastal locations of the world, allowing the aquatic race to become autonomous and self-propagating.
Alongside this, a few other interpersonal changes are made. Two other bloodline curses exist, to cripple humanity on a very personal level. The Cursed gains some narrative elements, as she now has a singular individual she hates, who has wronged her in the past. If she can kill this person, she gains a buff to her stats. The Harvester, conversely, curses the hero who kills him, and their family.
Importantly, this version will be the first to test out the new modding capabilities. Steam Workshop integration should allow event-based mods to be designed and uploaded by users, and downloaded to expand your game in exciting new ways. This feature is extremely work-in-progress, so expect bugs and unanticipated behaviours for the next month while the issues get worked out.
Detailed Changes:
Gameplay:
-Deep Ones added. Found in a couple of coastal settlements at game start, they can be kept safe by your agents until they mature, and can start calling humanity into the deeps. If the ruler of a location with a semi-mature deep one colony is somewhat enshadowed, they can be cursed with the call of the deep, which will call their entire family to turn into non-controllable Deep One agents who will further help you.
-Added traits to the supplicant of She Who Will Feast
-The Cursed gains a new mechanic, a vow of vengeance to kill a target to gain power
-The Harvester now inflicts a curse on his killer and their family
-New challenge to death magic high areas, allowing you to curse the family of the local ruler to take damage over time (if a unit) or occasionally enter gridlock (if ruler)
-Heroes can now reconcile with their enemies
-Buff heroes' `treat plague' ability
-Rulers are more inclined to use their quarantine ability
-Orcs expand more quickly into ancient ruins
-Chosen One no longer rests between actions
-Reduced heroes desire to rest betweens quests by 25%
-Baroness' 'Mistress of the night' trait attack boost dropped from 2 to 1
-Paladins HP buffed from 6 to 7
-Specialist traits now give +4 defence against target (orc slayer and exorcist currently)
-New events added
-Human armies (including from Dark Empire) no longer attack low-HP armies in hostile territory, to instead focus on capturing enemy territory
-Madness now its own tag, with specialist title "Alienist"
-Reduced motivation to save friend from shadow if a hero is at high shadow
-Heroes can't redeem rulers if their own shadow is >95%
-Supplicant buffed: starts with enough XP to level up on their first challenge
-Hierophants nerfed: lose a point of intrigue and a point of lore
Other:
-UI now displays description and tags for hero actions in their planning tab
-Challenges are now ordered based on the agent's skills
-Map movement keys no longer move the map if an agent is being renamed
-Click-dragging the map with the mouse no longer de-selects selected units
Bugfixes:
-Bugfix to agent attack and disrupt motivation calculation
-Prevented rulers from giving the CO one gold. Minimum is now 10
-Vinerva madness power now caps at 300% insanity generated
-Fixed issue where the tutorial hero might not be close enough to aggro the agent
-Fixed issue where the tutorial could be won without reaching the end
-Fixed bug where dead characters could get involved in interpersonal drama
-Cancelling Iastur's "Devil makes work" or similar power will no longer cost power
-Fixed issue where an heir could fail to inherit properly
Changed files in this update