Fabular patch notes - Fanning the Flames update

Here are the full patch notes for the Fanning the Flames update. This update introduces the open beta of Realm IV - The Iron Kingdom. You'll also find substantial improvements to the starmap, new and revamped class core abilities, new events, balance changes, bugfixes and more.

General:

• The beta version of Realm IV. - The Iron Kingdom is now available to play. You can experience the content via Journey mode.

• A ‘Playtest Realm IV (beta)’ main menu option has been added that allows players to start in Realm 4 or play the bossfight only, with upgraded ships and items. This is for testing purposes only and progress does not carry over to profile.

• 10 new Steam achievements have been added

• Paladin now has a new baseline ability: Shield Charge. When holding down the shield hotkey, an indicator arrow appears and starts to grow. Upon releasing the key, you charge forward and knock back enemies in your path. The longer you hold the key the further you can go and the harder you knock back. Collision damage is ignored during the charge.

• Manticore’s Holo-Dash has been redesigned: you now leave a Holo-copy behind after every dash. If you execute a perfect dash, you’ll leave a Holo-decoy, that taunts enemies or has various other functions (depending on the Holo-dash item equipped). You can swap positions with any Holo-copy or Holo-decoy. This way the Manticore may have more copies on the battlefield to execute the Holo-swap move more often, while retaining the potent effects of the perfect dash mechanic.

Starmap:

• The Starmap's node generation algorithm has been substantially redesigned

• Starmap graphs are much more visually pleasing, and they feature distinct ‘loops’ that can be explored, while containing less junctions and crossing paths

• All dead-ends longer than 1 jump have been eliminated

• There is a much lesser chance of adjacent nodes of the same type spawning

• Paths to the boss node always contain battles and events if possible

• Starmap background graphics have been finalized and now thematically appropriate for each realm

• Starmap node graphics have been polished, some nodes have been redesigned

• Hidden starmap nodes can no longer be revealed by traveling to an adjacent node. You have to use a revealing mechanic such as a Scanner item or an event.

• Starmap nodes can no longer generate under GUI elements

• Fixed a bug where no quest nodes generated on the starmap, making some multi-step quests non-finishable

• Fixed a bug where hidden nodes showed on the Starmap regardless of them being revealed or not

• Fixed a bug where the Starmap player indicator would not fade back to 100% after teleporting

• Fixed a bug where some GUI elements would disappear on obscure window sizes or resolutions

• Fixed a bug where certain multi-step events could not be completed due to not enough quest nodes available

Gameplay:

• You can now block and perfect-block the Hinterland Warriors’ throwing attacks with the Paladin’s shield

• Hitpoints of the Paladin’s shield can now be restored by picking up a power orb. This used to be The Shield Mender subroutine, but it is now baseline. The subroutine further enhances the amount of hitpoints restored this way.

• Projectiles from the the Manticore glaive weapons now deal diminished damage vs. the same enemy if they hit it multiple times. This reduces its single target damage, but retains its high damage vs. multiple targets.

• Player ships now regain control much sooner after being the victim of a big collision or stunning blow that disorients them

• Laser beams emitted by enemy Beam Wardens now have a shorter length

• The Manticore subroutine Harmful Connections now work properly in every circumstance and connects the decoy and the player with a damaging beam. It now works together with the supreme upgrade Manifestation that makes decoys come alive.

• The Paladin subroutine Ambuscade now gives 10% critical damage bonus per level (down from 15%) and requires 11 Speed to purchase (up from 9)

• The Paladin subroutine Berserk now requires 9 Speed to purchase (down from 11)

• The Paladin subroutine Outburst now stuns for 3 seconds (up from 1.5)

• Holo-decoy’s swap mechanic now much more adeptly finds a landing location around the target if the way is obscured

• Moving asteroids on a map now have a bigger variety in speed with smaller ones moving much faster. Asteroids are now less likely to clamp up in one area of the map.

• Beam type weapons now can be perfect blocked with a shield and perfect dodged with a Holo-dash if timed correctly

• Perfect block can no longer be abused by deliberately ramming into asteroids and blocking

• Homing missiles can now be repelled with most melee weapons

• Fixed a bug where the enemy Mine-O-Mats would damage the player even when they strike them down in melee combat

• Fixed a bug where using melee attacks while holding down the button of some other abilities would cause and ability to be no longer usable

• Fixed a bug where gaining attack speed would decrease the perfect attack window on most weapons and gadgets

Other

• The tutorial has been updated with a segment on how to use the Paladin's Shield Charge ability

• Most transition screens such as the battle and realm intros can now be skipped after a short while by pressing any button

• Gaining or losing resources during events now properly shows a floating number next to the resource indicator on the HUD

• Fixed some graphical inconsistencies on the Upgrade screen

• Some extreme cases of performance drops have been eliminated

• Fixed a lot of visual and UI bugs associated with resolutions larger than 1080p.

• Grappling hook and various beam texture scaling errors have been fixed

• The realm Grit Flow Modifiers have been unified into one True Grit modifier that now increases/decreases the difficulty of all realms at once

• Fixed a bug where the longer the game spent in a paused state, the longer it took for it to unpause

• ... and possibly dozens of tweaks and fixes we forgot to document 😅