Update 6: Caustic Calamity

[p]Greetings Wardens, Update 6: Caustic Calamity is now live! This update includes metaprogression adjustments and system changes, so your current runs in progress will NOT be compatible with the new patch.

The "Vault Configuration" screen has been overhauled and split into three parts:

The Origin select screen allows you to get an overview of your origin choice, and how that impacts your starting card pool and units.
The Modifier Configuration screen allows you to configure the modifiers that are active on the current run for your chosen Origin. There's a new summary on the right-hand panel. You can enable certain modifiers when they are alternate loadouts for existing units; there's also more information on these to show the before/after to make the choice more explicit. All other modifiers are just permanently enabled once unlocked.
The Descension Configuration screen allows you to tune your difficulty on your current run. This largely remains the same as before, but also includes the summary on the right-hand panel.

In order to acrue progress on any given modifier, you'll need to unlock all prerequisites first. Many modifiers have had their conditions lowered or adjusted in order to accomodate this. This change is retroactive; you may find some modifiers now locked again due to this but it shouldn't take long to unlock everything if you're a veteran player.

Speaking of veteran players who may have reached the end of the descension track, descensions have now been increased from 18 levels to 20. There is also the new Caustic Commando boss of depth 3 that will threaten reactive actions that will force you to stay on your toes. Good hunting!

This update also includes iterative changes on the pacing changes from Update 5; notably, Supplies usage has been moved from the Resting Cycle to the Scouting Cycle, making it more apparent regarding the risk-reward of the Scouting Cycle. Do you push ahead with more expeditions before healing? Or do you play conservatively. The choice is yours. You'll also get a free visit to the shop right before the final boss fight.

There are also 3 new Steam achievements, two for those who brave higher Descensions and one for slaying the new boss. Let us know here in the Steam discussion or in the official Discord what you think of the new patch.

Cheers,
Kev and the team at Box Dragon[/p]

Full Changelist

[p](Patch 0.11.0) [v.476822][/p]
[h2]Origin Selection & Unlocks[/h2]

Instead of being a single screen, origin selection, modifier unlocks, and descensions are now three separate screens
Unlock progression restructured for both the Votive and Guild to work with the new unlock screen
Unlocks can no longer be toggled unless they're specifically alternate configurations
[New] "Advanced Ranger"
[New] "Experimental Lantern"
[New] "Guild Armaments: S-Type"
Cards previously locked behind "Lantern: Lightning" are now locked behind "Experimental Lantern"
"Smith Mastery" unlock condition changed
"Arbalist Mastery" unlock condition changed

[h2]Descensions[/h2]

Maximum Descension Level has been increased from 18 to 20
Mainline descensions ("Descension X") have been renamed "Mutation X"
Mutation κ (Descension IX) moved to later in the progression
[New] Mutation ι, which decreases Scavengers on each expedition but grants an additional Expedition Force
[New] Stand As One, which afflicts Dread for sending lone units (effect separated out from a mainline descension)
[New] Market Shortage, replacing Market Depletion
Wasteland moved to earlier in the progression
Dire Afflictions moved to later in the progression

[h2]Scavenging & Cycles[/h2]

Supplies can no longer be found as rewards, you get other rewards instead
You get one set of Supplies at the start of the game; it can be used once per Depth
Supplies can now be used only during the Scouting cycle instead of the Resting Cycle
Scavenger cost increased from 2/4/6 to 3/5/7 for Basic/Rare/Mythic loot drops respectively (3/6/9 with the descension modifier enabled)
Forget ("Dream Fruit") rewards are moved from a rare loot drop to a basic one
Significantly reduced the chance that multiple of the same reward are offered in most ruins
Healing rewards are offered less consistently
Base copper reward yields slightly more copper
Failing a scavenge check for resources yields a percentage of resources based on 50% of your success rate rather than a flat 50%
Lantern card draft rewards are significantly more common for the Votive
Unit card draft rewards are significantly more common for the Guild
City cards now indicate which Cycle they're able to be played in with an icon

[h2]City & Events[/h2]

Powered Forge now grants an immediate reward
Powered Research now grants an immediate reward, and refines Lantern instead of upgrading them
Rebuild Workshop favor reduced from 3 to 1
Market Plaza has a new option for turning in Supplies once Fatigued is enabled
Innkeeper options when turning in Supplies modified once Fatigued is enabled
Reliquary options when turning in Contaminated items no longer offers the delayed option if you're in the final depth; cleansed items are also immediately returned to your hand
Artisan options for applying Empower or Overbarrier now trigger a cooldown on the location
"Descending Beyond" (Victory event after defeating a boss) now features new art
"End of the Line" (Victory event at the end of Depth 3) has more lore-friendly text
Fixed an issue where you could get softlocked at AVA's Mercy when turning in Envoys for a revival (the option was not meant to exist, the location gives out automatic revivals instead since Update 5)
Fixed an issue where you could get softlocked if you skipped the first cycle during the tutorial

[h2]Cards[/h2]

Seeker Beam slightly reworked
Hyper Beam+ slightly reworked
Divine Authority slightly reworked (Divine Authority+ unchanged)
Burst Lightning bonus effect reworked
Overflow bonus effect reworked, now locked behind new unlock "Experimental Lantern"
[New] Under Pressure, uses Dredge art (Overseer / Divesuit)
Can no longer learn Preparation
Pressure Release reworked and upshifted to Rare
Dredge, Packed Bags art swapped out
Fusion Strike slightly reworked
Wither slightly reworked
Exosuit health reduced
[New] Reinforcement (Exosuit)
Power Link art swapped out
Orbwheel health reduced from 20 to 15
Orbwheel auto-action in the Guard Zone changed from applying Flurry to applying Fleeting Flurry (only lasts this turn; if used during auto-combat, it applies for next turn)
Orbwheel can now learn Wild Volley
Powerslide cost increased from 0 to 1 and no longer has Quickdraw; Powerslide+ has Quickdraw
Revved Up favor cost increased from 0 to 1
Rechamber rune gain increased from 1 to 2 and Flurry stacks increased from 1 to 1(2)
[New] Concussive Shell (Ranger advanced)
[New] Rallying Cry (Ranger advanced)
Pointblank Shot now requires Advanced Ranger unlock, and has adjusted art
Lead Shot, Tracer Round, and Shock Round changed to Guard Zone bonus
Lead Shot damage buffed, Lead Shot+ command gain buffed
Take Aim slightly reworked
Examine rarity upshifted
Detain reworked
Helping Hand reworked
[New] Brutalize (Knight)
Knight can no longer learn Clobber
[New] Pulverize (Custodian)
Custodian can no longer learn Chop
Fine Tuning slightly reworked
Packed Bags draw increased from 2 to 3
Live Current flow gain increased from 2 to 3
Psionic Disruption feeble increased from 3(5) to 4(6)
Stasis Ward reworked
Wayfinder can now learn Stasis Ward
Navigator can no longer learn Brainstorm; but can learn Fluid Mind (which was changed to neutral) and Reality Tear (which was already neutral)
Shocker reworked
Ascetic and Herald have new descriptions
Fury Bash and Five Point Strike have new art
[New] Static Force (Electrocannon)
Electrocannon can no longer learn Improvise
Fixed an issue where Belted Ammunition didn't discount offense cards properly

[h2]Perks[/h2]

Bleeding Edge perk renamed Impaler
[New] Bleeding Edge (Surgeon alt starter perk)
[New] Overflowing Surge (Herald alt starter perk)
[New] Microbiology (Docent alt starter perk)
Fixed an obscure issue where Lanterns could sometimes have perks that they aren't supposed to have

[h2]Techs[/h2]

[New] Synthetic Logic Node (Guild)
Fixed Targeting Scanner's Target Command buff so it's more visible in general, and especially on Lantern and Murks

[h2]Enemies & Afflictions[/h2]

[New] Caustic Command (Depth 3 boss)
Molter Matriarch gains slightly more attack power when using "Promote" after the Molter King has died
Molter King has slightly more health and stagger resist during the Molter Matriarch boss fight
Nemesis health boost for "No Rest for the Wicked" slightly increased
Nemesis weakpoint health slightly increased
Mesmer splash attack and anti-lantern attack have higher base power
Murk Lancer withered stacks reduced to 2(3)
(Mutation κ) Behemoth also gains barrier when using "Magnitude Rising"
Dread art has been changed

[h2]Localization[/h2]

The Japanese localization will be incomplete for the new content, but will get patched in as soon as it's available
Fixed a few typos in the English copy
Fixed a few translation errors in various languages
Fixed an issue where the error message (when trying to play invalid cards) would contain glyphs that were unavailable in Ukrainian and other languages; it uses a different font now

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

Adjusted the deck/discard overviews a bit to reduce the amount they get overlapped with other UI elements
Fixed a soft-lock issue where a player could get stuck when they had too many cards on a cycle where a mandatory Break the Siege was not drawn

[h2]Steam Achievements[/h2]

[New] Descend 15
[New] Descend 20
[New] Basic Chemistry

If you've been enjoying your time with the game, please make sure to leave a review. It means a lot for a small team like ours. We're at 952 now, and it'd be amazing to get to 1k (and beyond)!
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