The Iron Blessings update is finally here! Improved tutorial, user interface updates and multiple new mechanics to spice up your fight against ORX.
Last time we teased the parts of the Iron Blessings update. You can read it for more details, but we’ll highlight some of the more notable additions and changes.
First up is inclusion of the Tutorial campaign. It can be found in the main menu, and has a selection of pre-seeded levels and cards for you to, hopefully, get a better understanding of the game. Or to get back into slaying ORX!
Next up is the titular Blessings! Now, when you increase a building or unit’s stats above a certain threshold, you will get a selection of corresponding Blessings to pick one from. These provide substantial boosts to other characteristics and will prove very useful in not-so-favorable matchups against ORX. We’ll make the thresholds clearly visible in the reworked info window, coming in the next update!
The last new addition is the Neighbour effects system. Now, when you place some of the buildings or units, they will get a hefty boost to their stats or production, if there are specific “neighbours” present nearby. Keep an eye out for conditions listed on such cards!
Patch Notes
Gameplay Improvements
- Tutorial rework. New, dedicated tutorial campaign is accessible via the main menu;
- Introduced Blessings system. Level up unit or building’s stats to get a corresponding blessing. You get a Blessing at 10/50/100 of each individual stat;
- Introduced Blessings for ORX. Now they also get Blessings which improve their stats;
- Introduced Neighbor Effects for numerous cards. You can find the conditions for triggering the effect in the card descriptions;
- Fields and similar gold-producing buildings now generate gold unlimited amount of times, but have a long cooldown;
- Added new “:Castle Heart”-type buildings: Arcane Cell (DEX sharing), Medic Altar (VIT sharing) and reworked Voidwalker Guild into Ardent Coliseum (STR sharing);
- Boreal Nomads giants now generate gold upon finding a Miracle;
- Boreal Nomads rune circles can now be activated even with one relic placed;
- Holiday power for Boreal Nomads is now a percent based stat;
- Raised the base Gold Cap to 100 coins
- Introduced a new Faction-inherent Artefact for Dune Reavers. Every gold coin which goes beyond the Gold Cap permanently increases the amount of health for all units and buildings in the mission;
- After being thrown up, units get staggered upon landing;
- Added a “Skip reward” card to all reward selection windows, which lowers corruption by 5 when chosen instead of rewards;
- Introduced Weak castle parts. They are infinite, but have weaker stats and are non-upgradeable;
- Changed normal castle parts to have charges;
- Lessened the amount of rune slots available on castle parts and in their upgrades.
Level Design and Global Map
- Updated level generation algorithm and added Act-specific map generation presets;
- Updated Global Map generation algorithm. Now map nodes are more organically distributed to avoid clustering;
- Changed Global Map progression. In order to explore the map you need to clear Combat nodes. This also applies to event and shop nodes — in order to unlock them, you need to clear the adjacent Combat mission.
- Added Advisor selection node to the Global map, which always generates near the first Combat mission.
Technical Improvements
- Implemented a conventional save system. Now the game saves progress into a dedicated file instead of making a registry entry. NOTE: Steam Cloud saves are not implemented at this time and will be added in the future;
User Interface
- Updated all Shops with new visuals;
- Updated numerous icons for better clarity and readability;
- Updated health bar visuals for all units and buildings;
- Updated visuals for the sub-missions list;
- Choices in the event windows now show the exact rewards and their drop rates;
- Updated font size and style settings to be language dependant;
- Improved font visual clarity for event windows.
Performance optimizations
- Made numerous changes and improvements to the level generation algorithm, effect interactions and VFX rendering
Bug Fixes
- Fixed numerous issues related to ORX placement inside the mission preview window
- Fixed a bug where a notification bubble would be shown on the Encyclopedia even if all of the new entries were checked out by the player.
Thanks for tuning in! See you in the next post.
Johnbell and Critical Reflex
