What i would like to know is
There was a lot of talks of game mechanics overhaul but no one explained in meaningful way what will be changed ( what to expect ?)
How this changes will affect gameplay , what Improvements will be introduced (if any), apparently part of the story cannot move on without this update.
There must be more transparency in this things.
Fair, I suppose. I should make a patreon post.
Well, TL-DR:
Skills:
- Removal of feat and attributes, all skill are now merged into a total of eight: Combat Prowess, Brawn, Agility, Stealth, Perception, Wilderness Survival, Diplomacy, Deception. All existing skill checks have been made to use one of the above.
- Dice Roll reduced from d20 to d8, and difficulties lowered accordingly. This means your skill level will have a far greater impact on your probability of success.
- Removal of all equipment customization.
Basically there are less skills, what skill remain occur much more often, and you are far more likely to have skill levels in them to win a check should it happen.
Wounds:
- Rather than acquire custom wounds each time Rowan fails a check, the player slowly accumulates damage up to a point, and once it reaches a threshold (100 points with modifiers), they gain a wound, and the damage meter resets. Wounds always apply moderate penalties to two skills, last around 10 weeks, and can be treated at Cla-Min shop.
Basically occassional failure isn't something you have to be bothered with, but once you get a wound, it will hurt your effort unless you spend money to deal with it. Managing Rowan's condition isn't particularly complex, but you should keep an eye on any wounds you get (you generally shouldn't get more than one every, what, 20 weeks of gameplay? It's not particularly invasive, but the previous system was unworkable)
All in all the RPG element of the game has been greatly simplified, so it can be made use of.
In addition to that, work has been done on varius management elements of the castle:
- Cla-Min now sells skill upgrades (Up to +3 for each skill), treatments to wounds, AND temporary castle bonuses (morale, research, orc recruitment, whatever you might need), meaning Rowan's gold has a lot of use now.
- Forge has now three production modes (+Equipment, +Morale, +Castle Treasury), which you can switch between at will. 90% of the time, you can leave it on Equipment production, but if you find yourself in need of morale or treasury there's the option to gain some.
- Spies now have idle roles in addition to being sent on missions. They can produce Treasury, Kidnap slaves, or spy on Rosarian military to improve the outcome of the updated Asterte battle (more on that to come)
- Slave management is being removed in favour of a static slave bonus.
- The entire Army Management segment is expanded upon. The player will now be encouraged to keep building the army up, so get the best Asterte outcome. (since previously there wasn't any benefit to expanding your army after taking Raeve)
Basically castle and army management gets slightly more in depth, so the game is, you know,
a game, but I was taking special care not to make it too complex. Basically if you stumble from hex to hex on Rosaria, you should have no trouble doing at least well.
Some behind the scene work was done on the code and various variables, to make the game behave as it was always supposed to do. It will become apparent once rework goes live.
UI is also being worked upon, to convey some information which simply wasn't available to the player in any way, despite being quite impactful. A new Quest screen is being put into use so you can check your current objectives, as well as track side quests on the map. Portal UI is being looked into, as is the main castle screen, since both don't convey the information I want them to. A new "Start of week" screen has been added that gives you a basic review of your situation each week, informating you of quest deadlines, level ups, current wounds, Rowan's guilt and corruption, and warning you if you're running a deficit, have low morale or aren't researching anything.
I also took the time to review Orciad gameplay, and we have improved the menu for it. Winter is doing the same for Rastedel.
All in all, we've made the game
better. And god damn it did it take a while, but we're here finally, and I will see it come fruition even if it kills me.