Astracolypse v0.3 Alpha Patch adds Research, Expeditions, and a UI Revamp.

The v0.3 Alpha Patch introduces some important new features. The largest of these is a new expedition system. Expeditions allow you to keep reserve party members busy, by assigning them to passive quests.

Another major addition is the Research system. Research becomes available with the constructing of a Scriptorium. Obtaining items or pieces of knowledge can unlock new things to research. Researching can result in new crafting recipes, building types, items, or other pieces of knowledge. You can decrease research time by recruiting or rescuing scribes. These new systems will continue to be expanded in future patches.

In addition to this, the combat interface has received a major overhaul. The new system resembles more of a traditional action bar, and each action button can be assigned to a shortcut, making it easier for gamepad users. There are also numerous of other interface related improvements and bug fixes.

We are working towards another public playtest in the not too distant future. We'll keep you up to date, but the target has been moved from late July to August. This is intended to give us additional time to polish the new features and to finish some upcoming features.

Combat

• Improved improved graphics and animations of Quicktime events.

• Improved the Carrion Ward ability description.

• Fixed an issue from the port to Unreal Engine 5.8 with Target Effect Modifiers. These are abilities that were modified by other effects being active. It wasn't always properly applying these in the previous patch.

• Fixed minor typos in the Dark Blast and Mark of Doom ability descriptions.

Construction

• War Tents are our first utility structure. When near a War Tent, you will be able to utilize the Expeditions system. An icon will appear in the lower left hand corner, with an image of the keybinding to utilize it. You can find more information on Expeditions below.

• You can now construct Scriptoriums. These new structure type allows for Research to be done. A new icon will appear on your UI when you move near a Scriptorium. You can use this to initiate research.

Expeditions

• Introduced a new Expeditions system. Expeditions are available after constructing a War Tent. You can assign reserve party members to expeditions. The assigned party members will gain experience, and the party can gain rewards. There are many types of expeditions. They have different time, or party member requirements. Some require specific classes, or minimum levels. The rewards are randomized, and adjust by expedition type. They range from items, materials, scribes, knowledge, or new party members. Party members assigned to expeditions are not necessarily safe. They can be taken prisoner, or killed in these assignments.

• You will initially only be able to start one expedition at a time. Additional expedition slots will be unlockable.

• You will not be able to move reserve party members to the active party until their expeditions are completed.

Items

• NPCs will now drop new items which are required by the research system. These items are generally themed by encounter types.

• Some items are now unique and you'll only be able to obtain one of them. This is used for research items, but may have additional uses in the future.

Research

• The Research system has been implemented. In order to research, you will need to build a Scriptorium and be located near it to initiate the Research system. Research items can have knowledge or item requirements. If these requirements are met, that research will appear as a selectable option.

• Research takes time, and you will see a progress bar as it builds. You can adventure or perform other activities while waiting. Research will unlock new bits of Knowledge that can unlock new buildings, crafting recipes, or other benefits. In some cases it can also reward items. You can only research one thing at a time.

• Research time will be reduced if you have additional scribes. Scribes are a new NPC type. You can obtain them by rescuing them from enemy camps, or through Expeditions.

User Interface

• We've revamped the combat UI. It now utilizes an action bar style selection menu, rather than bundled sub-menus.

• You can still move through the combat UI using gamepad directional movement, but can also now use combinations of the left and right shoulder buttons, with three upper face buttons (x, b, y) to quickly select any ability from the action bar. The bottom face button (a) is reserved for selecting ability's that you scroll through using the d-pad.

• The left trigger button on the gamepad or the [ on the keyboard will toggle between abilities and items on the action bar during combat. There is also an icon you can click with mouse, or navigate to using gamepad directional selections.

• The right trigger or ] on the keyboard will now skip your turn in combat. There is also an icon you can click with mouse, or navigate to using gamepad directional selections.

• The select button on gamepad or backspace button on the keyboard is now used to retreat. There is also an icon you can click with mouse, or navigate to using gamepad directional selections.

• Added keybinding options for each of the new action bar, research, and expedition actions.

• Added unique icons for every ability. The old combat UI didn't use icons on it's display, so these were required.

• The Building system UI, has new a new and improved radial menu.

• Added a compass in the upper right hand corner. It will activate during exploration, and deactivate automatically during combat.

• Fixed an issue with dialog buttons that sprouted up with the Unreal Engine 5.8 port.