May 4, 2021

Dev Diary #58 - Stre(ss)tching the traits ⚖️

Crusader Kings III - Nicou12313

Today we will cover two improvements planned for the upcoming patch: additional content for Traits & AI warfare improvements!

► Read our Dev Diary #58 - Stre(ss)tching the traits

💡 To see the images, please visit our forums or website.

Hello everyone!

Nice to meet you all! I recently joined the Crusader Kings III game design team and am honored to inaugurate my PDX account with this Dev Diary. Today we will cover two improvements planned for the upcoming patch: additional content and AI warfare improvements.

Trait changes

One of the many pleasures of Crusader Kings is to personify a plethora of characters. Every one of them offers a good opportunity to roleplay, thanks to the various combinations of traits they offer. The Azure patch will expand upon existing content by updating and adding some trait-specific interactions and consequences. With this update, we want to connect the stress system even closer to personality traits.

One of the notable changes is for Shy: it will no longer generate Stress when launching a Personal Scheme. Shy characters can still receive Stress via some of the scheme event options however, and they will be less efficient at performing personal schemes (it will take them longer), but they will be able to do it without ending up having a mental breakdown.

We also added a few new interactions and decisions. For instance, Forgiving characters can abandon one of their hooks to lose Stress. You can either decide to be a truly forgiving character, abandoning a hook you obtained unwittingly, or you can actively look for hooks and then choose to be merciful. We have also added new options for Diligent characters; they can dedicate themselves to improving the Development of their Capital, but doing so will generate a lot of Stress. Finally, if Impatient characters are Stressed, they can speed up the progress of their current Personal Scheme, without affecting their current Stress levels.

[Image of the Develop Capital decision available for Diligent characters]

Some traits have also gained access to interactions that are not related to the stress system but still improve upon the expression of their personality. For instance, Arbitrary characters can now dismiss a Hook a vassal holds on them by spending a lot of Prestige and gaining Tyranny.

[Image of the Dismiss Hook interaction available for Arbitrary characters]

We would love to hear your feedback, and also suggestions for improving other traits!

AI and Warfare

There is also a number of AI improvements, mostly about how the AI moves its units while at war. Pathfinding has been revised, and AI armies should now take more optimal routes to reach their targets, whether they be close but surrounded by treacherous terrain, or far away across the sea (which was most visible during Crusades; there will be no more island hopping for Christian armies, and Vikings should also be more swift and direct in their raids). The new pathfinding logic now factors in time, attrition and threat when selecting and routing to a destination.

Getting close to the enemy is only the first step in warfare though, and the AI should behave more sensibly in other areas too; AI armies will more aggressively pursue suitable opponents and try to avoid unfair fights. After winning crucial battles, AI armies should use their full might to more efficiently besiege enemy fortresses - you should see less mangonels and bombards chasing peasants while there is a perfectly good castle waiting to be ruined. We also adjusted the AI behaviors depending on their Casus Bellis, making sure that they not only prioritize territorial conquest but also capturing hostages when relevant.

All of the changes were fine-combed by our dev team, and we feel confident that the AI will bring you a surprise or two in the Azure patch. Lastly, an important organizational change: the version number of the patch will be 1.4 instead of 1.3.X as announced previously. This is to make the scope of the patch a bit clearer. While it is still a relatively small patch, it is also larger than a hotfix or a pure bugfix patch we've released in the past. Some mods will need to be updated. And while we always strive to keep save games compatible, with the nature of the game you might still run into edge cases with your old saves that we did not catch.

And that’s it for today! Thanks again for your precious feedback, and please keep providing more! I hope you enjoyed it, and see you next week for more information about the Azure patch!

May 4, 2021

Phosani's Nightmare - Poll Blog (Updated - May 6th)

Old School RuneScape - Jagex Sarnie

Hotfixes and Issues (May 6th)

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Player Feedback

Our Response

You feel like the teleport should not be available on the regular Nightmare of Ashihama, and instead should be exclusive to Phosani's Nightmare.

We've changed the blog to reflect that the teleport would only be available from Phosani's Nightmare.

Many of you would prefer that teleport use should not be tied to Drakan's Medallion, especially as it is related to a quest that is not required to fight the boss.

We've added an additional poll question that offers a choice between the teleport being obtained via an upgrade to Drakan's Medallion or as an untradeable teleport scroll, similar to those that drop from Cerberus.

Some of you would prefer the teleport location to be the graveyard in Slepe, rather than the proposed Sisterhood Sanctuary.

We've added an additional poll question that offers an alternate teleport location.

Some of you think Drakan's Medallion should be mountable in the Player Owned House.

This is not something we're able to offer at the moment, but we'll consider it for the future. It is likely that any additional mounted amulets would require you to choose between which mounted amulet you have active, rather than adding additional hotspots.

Some players are unhappy that Phosani's Nightmare will be a solo-only boss.

The Nightmare of Ashihama and Phosani's Nightmare are both very different encounters in how they play out. Balancing of both the mechanics and drops for Phosani's Nightmare is based around the encounter being solo-only. The Nightmare of Ashihama will remain as a group viable alternative for those not wanting to take on the more demanding Phosani's Nightmare encounter. In addition to this, lower geared and levelled players will likely continue fighting against the regular Nightmare in a group.

You have suggested we make these changes to the regular Nightmare of Ashihama, given they solve a lot of the problems with the encounter.

We've added an additional poll question that offers changes to the rotations and damage through Protection Prayers for The Nightmare of Ashihama.

While not related to Phosani's Nightmare, in Poll 75 we offered a cosmetic upgrade to The Scythe of Vitur as a potential reward from Theatre of Blood Hard Mode.

The poll question to add this into the game has passed, but we know not everyone was happy with the proposed design. We've added an additional poll question that allows you to choose your preferred design from a variety of options.

[/expand]

Who remembers Phosani's Nightmare? Temporarily released in early 2020 to support the Nightmare of Ashihama launch, this was a more difficult version of the encounter for those of you who actually like waking up in a cold sweat! It was a pretty neat idea in theory, but as it could only be tackled as a solo encounter for one week, and with minimal differences from normal mode, it wasn't providing long-lasting, repeatable content.

Now, we know that many of you have been dreaming of new end-game content. We have some exciting plans in the works to address this, but in the meantime we thought the return of Phosani’s Nightmare could provide a worthy challenge for those of you who have grown accustomed to current PvM content!

As with the recent A Night At The Theatre additions, this is us adapting our schedule to add new challenges that will tide you over while we work on bigger changes. This isn’t our magic solution to the lack of end-game content, but it's something we can whip up within a short timeframe while working on the major updates we'll be announcing this summer.

With a more punishing encounter that includes harder to execute mechanics, brand new phases, more attack combos, new metas and a new loot table, Phosani's Nightmare is back for real, and she’s stronger than ever!

Now, close your eyes... Don't be scared...

The Changes

Phosani’s Nightmare is a solo-only encounter and will require at least one completion of The Nightmare of Ashihama.

We want this encounter to be faster paced, with more variation per fight, and more things happening simultaneously to keep the player engaged. We also want a significantly speedier kill than a regular Nightmare solo kill. Currently, it can feel like quite a drawn-out fight – more a test of stamina than skill!

This new encounter will be different from The Nightmare of Ashihama in all sorts of ways. We don’t want to reveal the full extent of the changes, as we’d like for some of them to come as a surprise. But here's a taste of what to expect this time around:

Increased damage dealt to players using incorrect Protection Prayers...
- ...But reduced damaged for those that use their Prayers correctly (Amen!)
Additional Shield and Totem phases...
- ...But with reduced Hitpoints of each phase.
Additional special attack combinations.
An increased rate of special attacks.
Changes to existing special attack mechanics.
Randomised phase rotations, making each fight feel a little different (and less predictable)!
A brand new phase that will overwhelm any unprepared adventurer. You have been warned...

Poll Question #1

Should Phosani’s Nightmare, a vastly different solo-only version of The Nightmare of Ashihama encounter, be added to the game? The boss fight mechanics would be updated to make the encounter more challenging and engaging. The rewards would be improved to match these changes.

Poll Question #2

Should the proposed randomised phase rotations and Protection Prayer changes for Phosani's Nightmare also be made for The Nightmare of Ashihama?

The Rewards

What would an additional challenge be without additional reward? Yeah, a bit of a swizz. Fortunately, we have plenty of extra goodies in store.

Very rare drops are okay. Low-value regular loot is okay. Long walks back after resupplying are... hmm, okay. But with The Nightmare of Ashihama you've got all three, and we understand the frustrations some players have. With Phosani's Nightmare, we're not looking to drastically change the available loot, but we think we can improve it.

Parasite Pet Metamorphosis

First up is a metamorphosis. Similar to Chambers of Xeric Challenge Mode, completing Phosani’s Nightmare would give a chance at an item that can be used on the Little Nightmare to unlock a Parasite variation of the pet. Creepy!

We’re not sure why you’d want to have this thing following you around, but here it is anyway.

Poll Question #3

If Phosani’s Nightmare is added to the game, should there be a chance to receive an item that transforms the Little Nightmare pet into a Parasite version?

Slepe Teleport

Sometimes in life, it's about the journey, not the destination. Yeah, we can get philosophical too, y'know.

But when it comes to The Nightmare, the trip back after resupplying is kind of long and arduous. It can even cause you to lose your world, or force you to use alternate accounts to resupply between kills. This extended schlep was an intentional design choice, and one we made quite clear leading up to the release, but the comments we've received have shown that this wasn't necessarily the best approach. We'd like to take this opportunity to improve the situation.

What if we allow players to teleport to Slepe via an upgrade to Drakan’s Medallion, the necklace rewarded after completion of A Taste of Hope? This upgrade would be made via an untradeable tablet that would be obtainable from both The Nightmare of Ashihama and Phosani’s Nightmare, with a higher chance of receiving it from the latter encounter.

The upgraded Drakan's Medallion would teleport players to the Sisterhood Sanctuary as shown below:

The proposed teleport location for the upgraded Drakan's Medallion.

Alternatively an untradeable teleport scroll could be added to the potential loot from Phosani's Nightmare, similar to the Key Master teleport from Cerberus. These stackable scrolls would teleport players to the same location as the Drakan's Medallion and could be added to the Master Scroll Book.

Poll Question #4

Should The Nightmare of Ashihama have a chance at dropping a tablet which allows players to upgrade their Drakan’s Medallion? this upgrade would allow players to teleport to the graveyard just next to the Slepe Church. If this question passes and Phosani’s Nightmare is added to the game, the tablet will also drop from Phosani’s Nightmare with a slighter better chance.

Poll Question #5

If Poll Question #4 passes and the teleport item is added to the game, how should this item be introduced? The highest voted option will win and be implemented into the game.

Option 1: The teleport should implemented via an upgrade to Drakan’s Medallion.

Option 2: The teleport should be implemented via untradeable teleport scrolls that drop from the encounter, similar to Key Master teleport from Cerberus.

Poll Question #6

If untradeable teleport scrolls are the preferred option in Poll Question #5, where should they take you? The highest voted option will win and be implemented into the game.

Option 1: The teleport location should be the Sisterhood Sanctuary as shown in the blog.

Option 2: The teleport location should be near the Slepe Graveyard.

Better Regular Loot

Given the increased difficulty of Phosani's Nightmare, we reckon it’s fitting to improve the regular loot you can swipe after each successful kill.

We propose to increase the quantity of normal loot drops from this particular encounter by 50% (when compared to the standard Nightmare of Ashihama).

Alongside this base increase in quantity, we’d also replace some of the less desirable drops from the loot table, such as Adamant arrows. With these changes, plus an increase in the kills per hour, this should not only increase the value from each kill, but also help offset the hefty resource cost of facing against this harder encounter in the long run.

This change will be made if Poll Question #1 passes, which can be seen earlier in this blog. We think these changes could be well suited to the regular Nightmare of Ashihama too, so we're polling that separately with the below question.

Poll Question #7

If Phosani’s Nightmare is added to the game, should we also replace some of the less useful drops from The Nightmare of Ashihama loot table, such as Adamant arrows, with more desirable items?

Different Unique Chances

Finally, we’d like to make sure that the chance of obtaining a unique item correctly reflects the increased difficulty of the encounter.

Obtaining uniques from Phosani's Nightmare will be around 20% faster than regular efficient Nightmare of Ashihama. This will take into account the faster kills per hour you'd expect to achieve, as well as the lessened downtime you'd incur after each fight, because of that lovely teleport we mentioned earlier.

This should make fighting Phosani’s Nightmare a viable and faster-paced alternative to The Nightmare of Ashihama, albeit one that will require more focus, and less reliance on potential teammates!

Poll Question #8

Should the chance of obtaining a unique item be adjusted for Phosani's Nightmare to reflect the increased difficulty of the encounter?

We’re really excited to hear what you think about this new and improved encounter with The Nightmare! With a teleport to reduce your resupply commute, an overall buff to the rate at which you can obtain unique items, and slight buffs to the regular loot, chasing these uniques should be much more enjoyable.

Additional Changes

While not related to Phosani's Nightmare, in the A Night At The Theatre blog we offered a cosmetic upgrade to The Scythe of Vitur as a potential reward from Theatre of Blood Hard Mode. The poll question to add this into the game has passed, but we know not everyone was happy with the proposed design.

As a team we always enjoy your concepts for weapons. It's enlightening to see what items resonate for players, especially when they've been brought to life by others in the community!

We'd like to offer some alternate designs alongside the poll for Phosani's Nightmare, giving you an opportunity to select your favourite from a variety of options.

Plus, it's important that we clarify briefly why the Scythe design remains Saradominist. In the Second Age, when Morytania was still known as Hallowvale and unblemished by the Vampyres, the castle atop The Theatre of Blood was home to a Saradominist queen. Following the God Wars, the Vampyres claimed many valuable Saradominist relics as their own. Some of the originals can still be found deep within Lady Verzik Virtur's vault!

Concept art of the various Scythe of Vitur cosmetic upgrade options, one of which will be added as a reward from Theatre of Blood Hard Mode.

Poll Question #9

Which cosmetic variation of the Scythe of Vitur should be added to the game alongside Theatre of Blood Hard Mode? The highest voted option will win and be implemented into the game.

Option A
Option B
Option C
Option D

A Kingdom Divided & Arceuus Spellbook Rework

Following the recent Arceuus Spellbook rework beta, there are some additional changes that we'd like to make based on your feedback. We're included these questions in this poll to ensure we avoid any delay in development!

Poll Question #10

Should it be possible for the Master Wand to autocast the new spells coming alongside the Arceuus spellbook rework?

Poll Question #11

Should the Resurrection spells coming alongside the Arceuus spellbook rework be changed so that each tier of the spell has three individual spells instead? This would give players the ability to choose between summoning either a Magic, Melee or Ranged Thrall at each tier.

As always, please share your feedback with us via our official forums, on the 2007Scape Reddit, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel.

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