Legends of Amberland version 0.22

Version 0.22 released

This version introduces first customization options, things that would allow to adjust the game to your personal playstyle. For example you can enable fog on the minimap, start with fewer characters than 7 (which is not recommended) or adjust combat/animation speed. Griffin rules were adjusted to prevent abuse. The last big change was balance, it was changed a lot, based on the feedback I collected from early access players, which was basically that the game is too easy. If after the changes it turns out to be too hard, we can revert some of those in future versions. Of course eventually there will be Hard difficulty option so players with different skill levels can enjoy the game.

– [feature] After Griffin landing monsters get a turn.
– [feature] Can’t call a Griffin if monster within 3 tiles.
– [feature] Option “Unrestricted Party Creation” (no restriction during party creation, can start with any number of party members).
– [feature] Option / Controls (Combat speed) to adjust the combat speed.
– [feature] Option / Controls (Animation speed) to adjust the animation speed.

– [balance] Gold income from monsters and chests halved, increased shop prices.
– [balance] Increased MP costs for magic.
– [balance] Offensive spells made weaker (at higher mastery levels).
– [balance] Characters have lower HP/MP numbers now.
– [balance] Monsters base initiative +1 (they act earlier during the combat now).
– [balance] Monsters deal bigger damage (especially high level ones).
– [balance] Monsters have higher HP (especially high level ones).
– [balance] All kinds of trolls now have an additional attack type which targets all characters (but that attack deals lower damage).

– [interface] Option to enable fog on overworld minimap.
– [interface] Minimap displays unvisited locations as “???” instead of location names (like on the main map).
– [interface] Dungeon map fully fogged when outside of boundaries (to avoid confusion of existence of some hidden passage).

– [fix] After Griffin landing the tile is executed now (prevent Griffin teleport abuse, properly deal lava damage).
– [fix] Bug in the main storyline.
– [fix] Removed 0/0 invisible monsters from the overworld map (leftovers from the older map format used during alpha).
– [fix] Combat initiative not reset upon reload/new game.
– [fix] Starting characters sometimes had not fully restored HP/MP (attributes bonuses were not applied immediately).

Legends of Amberland version 0.21

Version 0.21 released

This Early Access update focuses on adjusting things that were found confusing or unclear and introduces several balance tweaks.

– [feature] Rest renamed to Quick Rest and Comfortable Rest to Full Rest, also adjusted the time passed while resting (more logical and intuitive now).
– [feature] Added notice to magic doors to avoid confusion.

– [balance] Rebalanced spells, overall those have more power but require more MP.
– [balance] High arcane spells got less steep arcane requirements increase for mastery levels.
– [balance] Damage from magic barriers, traps and lava tiles increased considerably.
– [balance] Significantly reduced experience gain from level 10+ monsters (players were leveling the party way too fast).

– [design] Added 2 new locations (eastern area).
– [design] Adjusted magic dust availability and magic dust quest requirements.
– [design] Adjusted ogre forts (grates placement less confusing).
– [design] Added a new spell for Wizard, one for Ranger, two for Healer and one for Bard. Those are mostly high arcane spells available at higher levels.
– [design] Added NPCs (in early inns) explaining how shops work (missing master craftsmen and the Guild).

– [interface] Adjusted screen height per pixel values so it looks better (bigger pixels allowed) in windowed mode. Especially useful for people who play on windowed maximized mode (which BTW is not recommended since borderless is a way better mode).
– [interface] More visible hotkeys (font color).
– [interface] Shops made less confusing (added counter of master craftsmen available and a sell button which is disabled for now).

– [fix] Magic Dust availability.

Stellar Monarch version 1.30

Version 1.30 released

December version introduces a new ironman mode “Surrounded by Traitors” which makes maintaining loyalty of imperial officials much more tricky. Especially over time since the loyalty degrades more when time passes when this ironman mode is selected. This version also introduces a new event related to loyalty and interface improvements.

– [feature] Ironman mode: Surrounded by Traitors. Every 100 turns starting Loyalty of new imperial officials (courtiers, governors, officers) is reduced by -1 (up to -5), except political officers who are unaffected. Much higher chance for “Loyalty decreased” event. “Loyalty increased” event will never happen.
– [feature] New very rare event “Loyalty decreased”. Each imperial official has 50% chance for Loyalty -1. Note that this event is much more frequent if Surrounded by Traitors ironmode is selected.

– [interface] Summary of governors/courtiers/officers on Empire/Summary screen now also displays average competence/loyalty/corruption.
– [interface] Additional accessories for imperial officials portraits (more earrings for females and a new data visor for males). Note that with old saves you might have some existing portraits changed and might see some odd overrepresentation of certain accessories, it’s just a cosmetic thing and affects old saves only.
– [interface] Increased chance for accessories for female portraits.
– [interface] Reverted back to the old faction icons (while the new ones were more sharp and visible, I have to agree with some concerns raised on the forum that the old more blurry ones are more consistent with the style of portraits and since factions icons are displayed mostly on portraits making them look good with portraits is a priority, plus the imperial eagle which is displayed on governors portrait is a blurred one, so I suppose it’s more consistent to make all over portrait icons with blurred versions).