Beta 14 X2 Prelease: RC w/Wizardry (Patreon)

A longer wait than I had intended, but X2 is here! If you've been on Discord you'll know the main reason: I added more stuff, oops :P

In the wake of X1, most of the issues were either quickly hotfixed or resolved on my end and awaiting the final version update, I just wanted to wait about a week to see what else might pop up during playtesting. Well, during this wait, I decided to move some content from Beta 15 up to 14, and... like many neat ideas it kinda ballooned in scope. I had some time while waiting anyway, right? xD

So that ate up a good chunk of time, then when I was about to finish the last bits of my release prep there was another burst of discussion in the community, as well as some more issues discovered, leading to yet more last-minute investment in design and coding...

Unfortunately due to both this extra work and a recent injury, I won't be rushing to release Beta 14 publicly next week like I had hoped. But with this Beta 14 should essentially be done.

Another reason to not rush it is that despite a good many runs so far, there are quite a few features that have been underutilized, some not utilized at all, or even some still not discovered, and these are things that will no doubt get a lot more exposure once wizard mode is reactivated for those patrons exploring and testing with those tools. So X2 restores that functionality (and -exportRobots), and we'll see what happens over the coming week. But I will not be adding a chunk of new stuff in the meantime, that's for sure! I'll instead need to get ready for the coming public side of the release...

So what did I add? Well, most of the changelog is below, though more specifically I'll say that Beta 14 already included some leads into potential future quests, and one of them was much more obviously a lead than others, so I decided it would be a good idea to make it possible to complete that quest now. Anyway, it's pretty awesome, and also probably quite challenging, but I won't say anything more about that.

Changelog

This is the changelog for X2 coming from X1:

• NEW: Separate state indicator and context help in info window for "fragile" destroy-on-removal parts, overrides ACTIVE/INACTIVE

• NEW: Cryofiber Webs explicitly list the types of compatible Heat Sinks

• NEW: "Cooling Resolution" section in manual detailing turnwise heat processes for min-maxers, given the increasing number of options

• MOD: Pre-existing patrols on new maps start with more realistic spread

• MOD: AI spotting of/by multitile robots more accurate

• MOD: Scraplab door now openable if hostilities initiated, and does not close afterward

• MOD: Manually triggering friendly AOE traps applies alert and aggro as a normal attack

• MOD: Rebalanced Junk Cannon

• MOD: Enh. Scrap Shield no longer automatically activates on attach

• MOD: Scrap Suit no longer auto-attaches weapons while have any empty temporary weapon slot

• MOD: Scrapoid AI combat behavior matches other controllable allies, rather than being restricted to engaging targets from nearby

• MOD: Cyclist Reading Room Entrance opens automatically at the start of hostilities

• MOD: Using allied Tunnelers to excavate Scraptown causes hostility

• MOD: UFD member names tied to seed

• MOD: Mechanics no longer arm Scrapoids

• MOD: The large-scale -2/Research event has more repercussions, including extra spillover and additional patrols on some later maps

• MOD: "Specialist"-type achievement descriptions explicitly state that damage calculations are across an entire run

• MOD: "Straight Shot" achievement description updated to explicitly indicate Garrisons/Waste/DSF okay

• FIX: Under some conditions Subcaves collapse event may not guarantee a free path out and required digging earth [aoemica]

• FIX: Opening robot traits info via keyboard still possible even while specific component info already opened [aoemica]

• FIX: Workers could get stuck trying to collect inaccessible debris under certain groups of special bots [Fernman]

• FIX: -customFilePath option not compatible with notes.txt/scorehistory.txt files [joke_LA]

• FIX: Offscreen comment markers along top edge of map view covered by header in map comments mode [blaj]

• FIX: Direct transfer of traps between two Trap Extractors was not possible even with one in DROP and other in collection mode [Jazzer]

• FIX: Typo [Inomamais]

• FIX: Clippyterm "Trash" entry did not give the intended intel

• FIX: Walls behind UFD Registry were not reinforced

• FIX: Manual analysis hacks were no longer possible for a portion of Derelict classes

• FIX: advanced.cfg quickStart functionality restored

• FIX: Enh. Scrap Shield delivery could not mirror message log to map area

• FIX: Crash on entering a previously unvisited map type with mapwide ambient audio disabled

• FIX: Forgetting item IDs via corruption still wasn't always working correctly

• FIX: Some new types of non-talking Derelicts could comment if you follow into Waste

• FIX: Potential rare crash in new W behavior during R attack

• FIX: An earlier version broke temporary patrol dispatches in 0b10 maps that had them

Get Beta 14 X2

On Steam, Beta 14 X2 is located on the new beta branch "beta_14_x2" accessible with the code "LordOfTheRings", or if you don't have Steam and bought through FastSpring, use the same link you were already sent for X1. If you were not yet on the Beta 14 DRM-free notification list and don't have a link, send me an email at gridsagegames@gmail.com to be added.

Saves are not compatible with previous releases.

Beta 14 Public

Ideally the final release will go out the next week, so presumably during the first full week in August, barring any oddities, but overall I think the version is looking good.

If before then there are no save-breaking changes (not likely?), you may end up being able to just keep playing your same save into that public version, but in any case you'll know and be able to switch between branches to finish a run if necessary anyway, since Cogmind is capable of notifying you of that.

If there are actual hotfix releases before that point, they'll be noted in this post and on Discord.

Update 240729a

A little save compatible update was released with some adjustments:

• MOD: Removed high-frequency variance possibility from temp patrols

• MOD: Engineers clear traps when building machines

• FIX: Scrap Engine degraded when attached but not active