BALANCE PATCH - 0.8.48

MISC CHANGES

• Added a new visual effect for Leader's skill Advance spawning enemies from the threat. I noticed this was frequently mistaken with distant enemies pulled by noise even though the skill triggers at the start of your turn.
  
• Reduced the frequency of mercs idle-talking when changing gear tabs.
• Reworked the sound effect of hovering over cards in combat.
• Reworked the sound effect of discarding armory cards from hand.
• Improved music transition from combat track 1 to 2.
• Increased the Initiative tooltip font and window size for consistency.
• Added a note on deployed Lure objects to indicate that duplicates are auto-removed.

SKILL BALANCE

• The ranked damage of Commando skill Breach has been increased.
  OLD: 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%
  NEW: 1%, 3%, 5%, 7%, 9%
  This skill suits longer encounters with a slew of enemies, causing a flurry of blocks, parries, and dodges.
• The ranked damage of Enforcer skill Skull Crush has been increased.
  OLD: 130%, 160%, 190%, 220%, 250%
  NEW: 150%, 200%, 250%, 300%, 350%
  This skill requires some setup to be effective, so its damage reward has been increased.
• Viper has been reworked to spawns with hit points much closer to the primary merc (1st merc in squad).

WEAPON ACCURACY BALANCE

• After reviewing feedback, watching videos, and spending a lot of time playing myself, I've decided to adjust the base minimum and maximum accuracy values for several ranged weapons.
• Note: All minimum values correspond to the lowest (red) quality of the item and can be increased through upgrades and mercenary training. Additionally, the game provides numerous in-combat buffs to help you quickly reach the accuracy cap, and the recently added elite perks can potentially raise these caps even further. 1. Pistol
  - min 80% (no change)
  - max 95% (increased from 90%)
  2. SMG
  - min 70% (no change)
  - max 90% (increased from 88%)
  3. Assault Rifle
  - min 75% (increased from 65%)
  - max 90% (increased from 88%)
  4. Machine Gun
  - min 60% (no change)
  - max 75% (no change)
  5. Sniper Rifle
  - min 85% (no change)
  - max 99% (increased from 98%)
  6. Shotgun
  - min 80% (increased from 65%, the biggest complaint in feedback)
  - max 95% (no change)
  7. Bow / Crossbow
  - mix 85% (increased from 82%, to match sniper rifles)
  - max 99% (increased from 98%, to match sniper rifles)

BUG FIXES

• Adjacent enemies killed by buckshot damage remain standing or walking (animation bug).
• Adjusted 3D model scaling of a few ARs and sniper rifles appearing too small in gear management.
• Adjusted 3D model scaling of all bows and crossbows to appear larger in gear management.
• Mission victory screen still indicates rep can be used to refresh trader's stock. No longer the case.
• Achievement "Every Drop Counts" is awarded upon completing the wrong mission.
• If a merc dies in combat, consumable icons get repopulated with duplicates (visual bug only).
• Leader skill Advance is pulling distant enemies with no remaining threat, should be only from threat.
• Leader skill Advance adds distant distant enemies to threat with a full board of enemies in play.
• Leader skill Advance can sometimes trigger on multiple Leaders in play.
• Leader skill Advance can sometimes spawn an extra enemy on area clear.
• Discounted items purchased from the camp vendor return with the same discount on a stock refresh.
• Leader can occasionally drop to 0% stamina (rare case).
• Boosted unarmed damage by consumables or Black Belt is lost after toggling to a ranged weapon and back.

Thanks for the reports and happy weekend zombie hunting!

--Paul