by Eladrin

Hi everyone, long thyme no see.

This week we’re continuing our exploration of the improvements the Custodian Team is making to Species Packs in the upcoming Stellaris 3.9 ‘Caelum’ Update, as well as some of the other stuff we’ve been up to.


Too much reading for a Thursday? Watch the video Dev Diary instead!

First up are some improvements to the Environmentalists civic.
Although the initial version of the Ranger Lodge and the Ranger jobs for the Environment civic were good, we felt that they could be improved upon.

Changes this civic has seen are:

• The number of Ranger jobs provided by the Lodge now scales with the number of Natural Blockers on the planet.
  
• Environmentalist empires can now choose to expand their Nature Preserves, increasing the number of Blockers (and thus Ranger jobs) on the planet.

You should give the Nature Preserves as mushroom as possible.​

• In addition to producing Unity for Environmentalists, each Natural Blocker on the planet (with the exception of Nature Preserves), now gives Ranger jobs a small amount of production of basic resources

Gardeners everywhere know the threat of invasive species.

Now you too can have a Plantoid or Fungoid species that grows like weeds.



The root of the problem.​

Invasive species get +5% habitability and + 5% pop growth speed for each negative trait they possess, and can only select negative or botanical traits.

Will you use them to propagate yourselves across the galaxy, or make that xenophile regret signing that migration pact?

Or perhaps they can hitch a ride to nearby planets using the…

Many plants spread their seeds far and wide through animal dispersal.

Plantoid and Fungoid civilizations now have that option as well.





This origin is so wholesome it’s a little sappy.​

Empires with the Fruitful Partnership origin will begin the game in contact with the Tiyanki, and Starseed Gardens already built on their home Orchard Station.



Space fauna that visit the system are lured to the station, where they partake in the provided fruits, and carry your seed pods with them as they travel the galaxy.


Where are they going to take them…?​

When passing near a habitable world, the seed pods can find a home…


…All clover the galaxy!



And by completing a special project, new life can bloom - wherever it is they brought the seeds.




It was mint to be.



Having your seeds carried away by space fauna can allow colonization of planets far from your home system, but you can also be a little more direct about seeding an enemy planet.


Dropping some sick beets.​

While these seed blockers are primarily just a nuisance to your opponent, if you end up taking the planet and clearing them yourself, you’ll be able to turn them into pops, similar to how Lithoid blockers work.

The Lithoid Theians from last week came from a close encounter with Earth eons ago, our new Plantoids actually start on Earth and explore the possibility of “what if humans were plants”. Naturally, empires that branched out from Earth like the Commonwealth of Man will share your leafy heritage. (Their reputation pre-seeds them.)


Say aloe to my little friend.

SPOILER: FIRST TIME EVER?
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Now, on to some other things coming in 3.9, and no more terrible plant jokes.

During the development of Galactic Paragons and First Contact, we wanted to revisit some of the older interactions with the various Enclaves scattered around the Galaxy, but never found the time, namely:

• Hiring a Scientist from the Curators
  
• Hiring a Governor from the Trader Enclaves
  
• Hiring a Teacher from the Shroudwalkers
  
• Hiring a Salvage Overseer from the Salvagers

As the development of the 3.8 hotfix patches wound down, we were able to get some additional code support for Empire Councilors and got to work.

Coming in the 3.9 update, each of these decisions will grant recruitment of a Level 5 Scientist or Governor, each with their own unique trait (and for owners of Galactic Paragons, a unique Council Position that only they can be appointed to).

This leader recruitment replaces the existing Shroudwalker Teacher planetary modifier and Salvage Overseer empire modifier and improves upon the leaders recruited from the Curators and Trader Enclaves.



The Governors from the other Trader Enclaves provide bonuses to Rare Crystals or Volatile Motes instead.​

However, just because you’ve recruited these Renowned Leaders from Enclaves, don’t expect them to sit by idly if you attack their former home.




The main change that we want to highlight here is:

• NInterface has been moved from commom/defines/00_defines.txt to unchecked_defines/interface.txt. This means that any mods that alter defines listed under NInterface will no longer block achievements or Ironman.

As mentioned in Dev Diary #307, we were looking at some adjustments to the over-cap formulas to reduce their negative effects until the greater rework is ready.

Rather than a linear progression that abruptly hits -100% XP, we’ve replaced the current XP scaling for leaders with a formula that follows a curve.


XP curves for being over capacity (at the base of 6 leaders)​

Humanoids and Necroids will be next week’s primary topic. Alfray will give an update on how Habitats have been going, and what’s this I hear about an Open Beta?

See you then!

SPOILER: PROGRESS
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Sorry about all of the puns in this one.

Hey, Brain Show players!

We fixed characters in Dynamite competition, and they are no longer in T-Pose

Team Simplicity

Announcement from Home Sweet Home : Online Team

The server is opened. The following updates and fixes have been applied

Shop Update

• The repair kit bundle will be sold in Bullet Coin in Featured Store.
  
• A new Blood Moon Ritual item has been added to the game, Gothic Raven Headdress, which is a head accessory of Visitor.

Adjustment

• If the team has fewer points and a player uses a warden soul to transform into the Warden more than once in the match, their karma points will continue.

System

• The UI of Season Ritual system has been improved.
  
• "The 'Interrupt opponent 30 times in battle mode' ritual condition has been removed from the game.
  
• The observer mode in Custom match of Battle Mode has been improved.

Bug

• Fixed: The player unable to play Graveyard map in Survive Mode.
  
• Fixed: Correct the ability of Petch Ta Meow Si Sawat, Relic of Zbing.
  
• Fixed: Correct the damage dealt by the holy string, which is affected by Monk Derm's Takrud Tone, Relic of Manop, in Survive Mode.
  
• Fixed: Don is unable to see the aura of the ritual site.
  
• Fixed: The incorrect visual of a Visitor who picks up an item cursed by Saming Dum.
  
• ixed: The incorrect functionality of the Sigil Scroll cursed by Saming Dum.
  
• Fixed: Unwanted objects spawning on the map when playing as Saming Dum in Battle Mode.
  
• Fixed: The animation after Saming Dum's attack is faster than intended.
  
• Fixed: The incorrect damage dealt by Saming Dum upon exiting Stealth mode.
  
• Fixed: Correct the color of warp points.
  
• Fixed: Correct the cooldown of warp points, the middle of Whistledown Mansion, to 90 seconds.
  
• Fixed: The AI players have spawned in the Custom Match.
  
• Fixed: The incense held by Zbing's cat does not disappear after completing 3 rituals in Survive Mode.
  
• Fixed: The incorrect visual of incense held by Zbing's cat.
  
• Fixed: The stuck state of Jessie when using "Let's Party," Jessie's skill.
  
• Fixed: The game crashes when purchasing an item.
  
• Fixed: The incorrect HP of Tim Awake.
  
• Fixed: The dark occult perk affects the Shift skill of certain Wardens.
  
• Fixed: Incorrectly working tutorial mode.

Known Issues

• When a player opens the Precious Pot and obtains duplicate items from the pool of Greedy Pot, the game will not display the image of the received Amulet. However, the player will still receive the Amulet correctly as usual.
  
• Some players are unable to play the MewMew" We are actively investigating and working on resolving the problem. Players who encounter this issue can send their details, screenshots during the problem occurrence, graphic settings, internet connection type (LAN or Wi-Fi), and computer specifications directly to hshsupport@ygg-cg.com for further investigation.

For any bug encounters or other issues please contact our support team at hshsupport@ygg-cg.com with the subject line: [bug][issue] alongside attaching screenshots and description of your issue.

Troubleshooting:

• Achievements:
  The data is now being saved correctly and synchronized every 5 minutes.
  Unfortunately, the data collected so far has been inconsistent and contained errors.
  I have resolved this as follows:
  If you have already started the sheep more than 5 times and only 3 instances have been saved, you will need to start the sheep two more times to obtain the achievement.
  If more startup instances have already been saved, you will receive the achievement immediately.
  This naturally applies to all achievements.
  
• Window recognition further improved.
  
• Issue with parachute animation resolved.

New features:

• Weather animations: Occasionally, a few clouds, the sun, or a rainbow will hover above the sheep.
  
• Beachball: When activated, a ball lies on the taskbar, which can be lifted and tossed like the sheep.
  If a sheep touches the ball, it kicks it across the screen. With multiple sheep, you can watch a soccer game.
  
• Improved eSheep startup: A loading screen now appears when starting.

Another small update.
The game is getting quite stable.
Someone made me notice that the pad controls wouldn't work...and indeed, some recent changes made a big mess. Now they should be back to working, and probably even better than before.

As for a few minor changes:

Cards

• Rewind now gives 5 SP instead of 3.
  
• Feint can now draw cards even when there is no card in deck.
  
• Increased Chains to 10 AOE up from 5.

A buff to three cards. Rewind and Chains were too underpowered and I always found myself picking them.

As for Feint, since the game now is set so the enemies can attack during your turn, I decided I wouldn't lock feint's draw ability. It was set that way to avoid it being able to draw itself forever on small decks. As it is now, I decided that is something I'd allow achieving if the player wants, considering that on difficult fights that wouldn't be a great strategy. And I've always found annoying not being able to draw with JUST that card.

-Fixed face arts not appearing under certain conditions.
-Fixed Behemoth damage sprite not appearing.
-Fixed a bug with Jacob's sprite when leaving water.
-Added more NPC face arts.
-Updated logo on Trophies menu.

Hello, I am Ferry, in charge of graphics for DEFENDAN.

I'm here to inform you about the updates in the version released on July 27, 2023.




-Frost Soul Yeti
Adding a slight delay effect to attacks.

-Frost Curse Mermad
Applying a minor delay effect to attacks.

-Change in Chapter Display Resource at Game Start




-Destoryer
[Skill] Flame Attack Power: 4 → 8

-Frost Soul Yeti
Increased duration of ice pillar attack.

-Frost Curse Mermad
Health: 2500 HP → 4000 HP

-Marksmanship's Protection (Card)
Skill damage increase: +15 → Maximum targetable enemies for attack: +1




-Fix translation errors for the Destroyer ability.

-Correct the issue where monsters move backward during special actions.

-Rectify the angle error for the ice pillar of Frost Soul Yeti's ability.

-Resolve the bug where buffs for specific units (like Great Demon) were not being applied.

-Fix the bug where remnants of attack effects lingered around units.

-Unit Copy Bug Fix




Hello, this is Ferry and Ollie, working on Dependon.

We've been referencing reviews posted on Steam forums, review platforms, and other websites as we continue our development.
Due to Silence Reaper, all heroes are locked and unable to die, visibility of recipe, balance problem of card box
We are aware of various problems such as unit copy bug problems through reviews and feedback. We will solve it slowly one by one, and we are preparing hard for a new stage named Ch.2: [Unknown Sea].

Recently, many people bought the game and many people also participated in the Discord.
I am always grateful to the users, and thank you for writing reviews, feedback, and bug reports.

(sorry, I don't speak English
I'm using a translator, so please understand even if it's hard to see

I am studying English...)
Day 30 of study

Greetings dice slingers,

Today marks the day that Playtest #2 is beginning. As planned it will run from 17th to the 31st of August. We will start inviting randomly selected testers from the playtest signup pool to participate in batches over the next ~2 weeks. Previous playtesters will also continue to have access for this round.

We’re thrilled to see what you think of the improvements! The main changes are (partial-) controller support, major audio upgrades, redesigned UI, and improvements to spell graphics. We also added a bunch of content in the form of new wizard loadouts, spells, artifacts and mutators. The update also contains a ton of balance changes and a few redesigned effects.

Finally, we are introducing some new artwork for the Steam page, and we are super excited by how it's turning out! (A huge thanks to Ghostship Games for helping us out with this ♥️)



And one more thing! We (Tim & Thorbjørn) is going to Gamescom next week, so if you’re around and want to hang out or talk shop, hit us up on Discord and we can meet!

The World of Assassination patch for August brings improvements, tweaks and fixes that improve the gameplay experience across all modes, including Freelancer.

Link to full patch notes



This patch also prepares the game for the physical release of HITMAN World of Assassination on PS5 on August 25 and for the return of the Sarajevo Six campaign and Trinity Pack, both available as premium content on August 17.

PATCH DETAILS
HITMAN World of Assassination will be updated to version 3.160.

Maintenance: Starts at 10:00 UTC and is expected to run until at least 13:30 UTC . If maintenance is extended, updates will be posted to the official @Hitman Twitter account.

Patch Release Time: 11am UTC (This is when the download will roll out, but servers will not be available until the above Maintenance period has concluded)

Patch size: Expected to be between 2-5 GB on all platforms.

Link to full patch notes

Greetings dice slingers,

Playtest #2 is starting today and we are thrilled to open up the floodgates again. Previous playtesters will have access once again, and we will also invite new players from the playtest signup pool over the next week or two.

With update 0.8.8 itself, we have been busy adding content, graphics, redesigning UI and balancing the game.
We also took on the major task of implementing controller support for the game: The game is now fully playable using controller, however some tooltips/hints are still not available (i.e. you need to know the game well to play with controller atm 😄). We will work on improving controller support in the next few weeks.
The game also contains a ton of new sound effects, and even new voice-overs for wizards! (We recently started working with a sound designer, so the audio will keep improving over the next weeks/months.)

Please let us know what you think about these changes, and/or if you experience any issues.

In other news, the https://spellrogue.wiki.gg/wiki/SpellRogue_Wiki has opened up to the public!
It’s truly an awesome source for information about the game, and for new players a great way to learn about the game on the Tutorial section.
A huge thanks to everyone on Discord that contributed to this project - can’t express how much you guys mean to us, it makes working on this game so much more enjoyable ♥️


Check out Discord for the full balance changelog.

• Implemented controller support
  
• New sound effects & voice-overs
  
• Reworked Wizard Selection flow & UI
  
• Reworked UI for Run Summary (and a few other menus)
  
• Renamed “Expend” -> “Deplete”
  
• Reworded Spell-upgrade descriptions

• Graphics for “Warlock” in act 2
  
• Major improvements to blood and water spell graphics

• 3 new unlockable loadouts
  
• 10 new spells, 5 new artifacts, 3 new relics, 1 new potion
  
• 9 new void mutators
  
• Added more health-loss and heal effects for Fire
  
• Tweaked and balanced a ton of spells, artifacts, mutators etc.
  
• Wound Dice now only lose hp equal to half of value

• Fixed Spell sockets gettings stuck in weird positions
  
• Fixed items seen in shop not getting unlocked in catalog
  
• Fixed Mutators not applying VFX
  
• Fixed sanctuary rewards shuffled on quit > continue
  
• Fixed dice stuck in Spell socket issue
  
• Fixed “Rain” not charging itself
  
• Fixed “Concoction” + “Depleted” interaction
  
• Fixed “Manifold” + “Mana Purification” interaction
  
• Fixed “Red Dawn” + “Prescience” interaction
  
• Fixed “Random target” Mutator not working for multi-select

And many other undocumented changes and bugfixes...