Curious Expedition 2 News

Today's patch has includes a change to the Cartography ability that's shared by the Cartographer and Seeker. We love the Cartography playstyle that revolves around exploring the entire map using items like the Sextant and Theodolite - but both our internal stats and your feedback showed that the fame you could get from the maps created was significantly higher than that for the other Leader classes. Those classes now should be more in line with the fame-generating abilities of the other class-specific abilities.



There are also a number of bug fixes in this update, including a fix for bad performance that some players experienced on larger maps. We've also fixed a few issues where important locations could only be reached via the fog, which was often pretty unfair, as well as a number of problems when using a Gamepad. Check out the full patch notes below. Keep your bug reports coming as always, using the Bug Report button in the Settings menu - thanks!

And finally, in case you missed it, we recently updated the CE2 FAQ with some answers for the common questions about the state of the game and our plans for the future - check it out on the Steam forums.

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Significantly reduced the Fame increase for Cartography at higher levels to bring the Cartographer and Seeker more in line with the Fame generation potential of other explorers
  
• Slightly reduced the Fame bonus from the Seeker's Cartography ability relative to the cartographer's, to differentiate them more
  
• Reduced the amount of items for sale in the Shady Dealer's initial sale, to make it prohibitively expensive to get a full set of equipment so early in the game
  
• The game will now load the backup savegames that it creates automatically if there's no non-backup savegame for that slot
  
• Finding the ship in Act 3 part 3 now uses the Compass instead of Gimbal so you can find it eventually
  
• Fighting Salamanders in Act 3 Part 2 now grants standing with the Moles, rather than reducing it
  
• Added sounds for cooking raw fish and quail
  
• Made Totem Stick description slightly more explicit about what it does.

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed bad performance on the map in large maps and in particular Act 3 Part 3
• Fixed combat abilities that heal not working on mounted characters
  
• Fixed Malin's Tracks spawning in a place that's only accessable via fog in Act 2 Part 1
• Fixed "Regeneration" & "Blessing of Healing" statuses not properly preventing Infection as described
  
• Fixed Treasure locations being able to spawn in locations that are only reachable via Fog
  
• Fixed getting double post-combat XP/standing/sanity after fighting Lava Crocodiles
  
• Fixed sandstorm shrine aftermaths looping the event multiple times
  
• Fixed Raider of Tombs perk not revealing Desert Tombs
  
• Fixed party count not being displayed after rescuing a frozen person in a Cave
  
• Fixed dismissing tutorials with controller also progressing narrator box with the same input
  
• Fixed Fog Burn Scrolls not working correctly in Act 4 Part 3
• Fixed item infoboxes being hidden sometimes in Barter
  
• Fixed Angry Natives spawning and then immediately despawning after stealing the Great Crystal in Act 3 Part 1
• Fixed single pixel line glitch sometimes flickering in background during cam transitions
  
• Fixed bats having wet feet while flying
  
• Fixed Tarred status showing during Triumph
  
• Fixed some terrain effects that come from items like the Transporter or Tide Wand playing again every time you return to the map
  
• Fixed display for claiming Club Competition rewards showing your current number of tickets instead of the number of tickets rewarded
  
• Fixed Machete not correctly cutting down some Prehistoric Jungle
  
• Fixed Ship Storage items appearing later in multi-part expeditions when they shouldn't, if you saved & reloaded during the first part
  
• Fixed inconsistent rules for corgi digging
  
• Fixed nothing being selected in some Barter screens when using controller if you had a Roma Trader in the party
  
• Fixed missing hand pointers when using controller at the Hatter
  
• Fixed map colours being saturated when returning from an event with a dice challenge and using controller
  
• Fixed losing map focus after using Weather Balloons with controller

If you were affected by the issue where you got a "Your Trek Perished" game-over screen after a successful combat, you might be able to restore a backup savegame from before the combat and continue your campaign. Check out your savegame folder at "C:/Users//AppData/LocalLow/Maschinen-Mensch/Curious Expedition 2/user" (replacing with your windows username). You should see some files that end with the '.bak' extension - remove that extension and load the savegame, it should be from before the combat. Our apologies to anyone affected!

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed getting a gameover screen after using an ability in combat that targets all allies and applies a buff, while mounted
  
• Blocked the village rest council funeral event from firing while you have a village-related quest

Probably the biggest change for today's patch is that the loyalty loss that you get when dismissing a character during an expedition no longer happens if the character being dismissed was only recently recruited. Hopefully this should prevent the frustration when you recruit more characters than you can have and are forced to dismiss one - now you can always dismiss the most recently recruited and not suffer the rest of your party being rather upset.

Other than that, we've hopefully fixed the remaining issues with mounting characters in combat, and some issues that prevented you from completing certain expeditions sometimes. Check out the full change list below - and thanks as always for your bug reports, they're very helpful: keep them coming with the bug reporting button in the settings menu in-game.

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Disabled loyalty loss when dismissing recently recruited characters
  
• Finding the ship in Act 3 part 3 now uses the Gimbal instead of Compass
  
• Changes in 'Jungle Explorer' perk to affect more tiles
  
• Increased range of some geo machine effects
  
• Combat Buffs that come from statuses & items can't be removed during combat (eg from "The Undoing")
  
• When mounted, Combat Buffs only are applied to the mount. But buffs on the mount that affect damage also apply to the rider (so you can still have your leader affected by strength/weakness)
  
• Unkillable characters such as Malin will no longer be affected by the 'Jungle Rot'
  
• Plateau "Climb Cost" display in the infobox shows the cost as modified by perks like "Climber"
  
• You may now have multiple Nagual trek members
  
• You can't cleanse Naguals while they are in animal form
• Added more Malin specific music tracks to the game

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed locations not being destroyed by aftermaths sometimes
  
• Fixed yes/no buttons losing focus with controller sometimes
  
• Fixed sealed pyramid not being openable in some expeditions
  
• Fixed "Covered in Tar" not being removed when resting at Missions
  
• Fixed weapon burial spot being only reachable via fog sometimes
  
• Fixed some items/locations affecting multiple tiles did not work properly with controller
  
• Fixed barter screen not having anything selected sometimes when using controller
  
• Fixed not being able to buy hats with controller
  
• Fixed issues with fighting a mummy at the waterfall
  
• Fixed curses not being removed at the end of an expedition
  
• Fixed Rival zone being added multiple times in Act 3 Part 1
• Fixed certain aftermaths having no effect at Sinking Shrines
  
• Fixed sandworm's "Getting Hungry" vulnerability not being active during the player's turn
  
• Fixed cartography checklist displaying 100% complete when it wasn't 100%
  
• Fixed Escort Shaman quest not properly revealing the target location
  
• Fixed tutorial not progressing if you don't have the recruited native in your party somehow
  
• Fixed water/lava rivers sometimes not spawning
  
• Fixed sound on theodolite item
  
• Fixed missing narrator text box in wandering native reveal random tribe trait event
  
• Fixed event in Act 3 Part 2 ending abruptly when talking with the ruler
• Fixed ugly placement of camp on the beach
  
• Fixed untranslated text for "Bonded With Human" status
  
• Fixed visual issues with Rainbow Orchid goal location in Caverns
  
• Fixed being able to use Tinker Box without a Tinkerer in your party
  
• Fixed incorrect dice being added when you get dismounted in combat
  
• Fixed leader not getting HUD when mount is Engulfed by sandworm
  
• Fixed Club Competition scores not fitting in their boxes
  
• Fixed ghost not looking like a ghost at burial ground sometimes
  
• Fixed Jules Verne's "Take Notes" combat action not having a proper description when considering to take him in the Tavern
  
• Fixed not being able to click on a selected dice to cancel it in combat
  
• Fixed long pause before Moles with Magma Throwers attack
  
• Fixed Gimbal not animating when at the maximum detectable distance
  
• Fixed sealed pyramid expeditions generating very small maps in normal/hard difficulty (those should be easy mode only)
  
• Fixed Lux Labs upgrade screen not properly progressing if you enter the Options menu during the upgrade animation
  
• Fixed not being able to cancel out of the Club Shop tutorial if you don't want to (or can't) buy anything
  
• Fixed Iron Man achievement being awarded incorrectly
  
• Fixed Rope's "Lasso" ability being boostable with no effect (it's now not boostable)
  
• Fixed the warning visual that a tile is about to become lava as part of a Magma River being prematurely removed
  
• Fixed being able to manage Wong Fei-hung's equipment
  
• Fixed not getting Loot after combat if you click too fast
  
• Fixed some shrine aftermaths following you to the next Island or Expedition
  
• Fixed being able to use Therapy Paddles on characters with no loyalty
  
• Fixed tiles created by Tide Wand not showing their name or cost in their infobox
  
• Fixed Shamans wanting to be taken to sinking Shrines sometimes
  
• Fixed Academy Master not creating scrolls if you hadn't levelled up Taishi enough yet
  
• Fixed wandering natives should not randomly reveal sinking shrines anymore
  
• Fixed characters looking in wrong direction during prey tracking
  
• Fixed bugs in mole first rest event, adding a new recruit and adjusted the standing loss
  
• Fixed free ruler visit in Act 1A not triggering under certain conditions
  
• Fixed wrong character replacement during Nagual shape shifting

Dear Explorers,

Lunar New Year 2021 is starting on Friday, and in terms of the Chinese zodiac animal it's going to be the Year of the Ox. When we found out about this a while ago we immediately knew this would be a fantastic opportunity for a special hat reward for this week's Club Competition. So here it is, the Heavenly Ox (which is actually more of a mask than a hat):




[h2]Club Competition FAQ[/h2]

Is this hat providing any advantages while playing the game?
No, all hats which are rewarded as part of the weekly Club Competition are purely cosmetic, they don't affect your in-game abilities in any way.

When is this Club Competition running?
The Club Competition has already started and will end on February 16th at 11am CET.

What is the goal of the current Club Competition?
The goal is to find baby dinosaurs. Go on expeditions and look out for dinosaur eggs, carry the eggs around and wait until they hatch. Any newborn baby dinosaur will get your club a point once you finish the expedition. While the prehistoric islands which are unlocked in 1889 most certainly have some dinosaur eggs to find, there is also a chance to find them elsewhere in the game.

What do I have to do in order to win the hat?
First of all, in order to participate you need to visit the Royal Avalon Society or the Taishi Academy in Paris and select Join Competition. This option will only be unlocked after completing Act I and reaching the year 1887 in the game for the first time. Once the Club Competition ends, if the Explorer Club you joined is the one that has found the most baby dinosaurs, you will automatically receive the hat.

What happens if the Explorer Club I joined doesn't win the competition?
As long as you joined the Club Competition and found at least 1 baby dinosaur, you will be able to purchase the hat (in exchange for 20 tickets) until February 23rd at 11am CET. After this date, you will not be able to purchase the hat anymore.

Can I switch to a different Explorer Club while the Club Competition is running?
No, once you joined one of the Explorer Clubs for the Club Competition, you won't be able to switch to a different Explorer Club until the competition has ended.

Good luck!

Just a small update today to fix some issues where Shrine aftermaths would totally ruin the expedition (though maybe it's a good idea to plan ahead when daring to anger the gods...?)

• Fixed issue where flood aftermaths often wouldn't sweep you away to a new tile, leaving you stuck either on the water or somewhere else unreachable
  
• Fixed issue where aftermaths that move you to a new tile (eg flood, chasm) would often place you somewhere unreachable. Now they always place you somewhere that you can at least reach the ship again