Act 2 made Easier with "Patch 2"

Please try Act 2 again if you were having any difficulty completing it at all :) This patch rebalances the game and adds critical bugfixes for camera, controls, gameplay and many more.

If you haven't played this update yet, please look at the image below to view an example of the stunning procedurally generated vistas Act 2 can offer for you. Each playthrough generates a new procedural map!

Roots Above, Branches Below, Nature.

Ballooning is a phenomenon that gained widespread mainstream attention in recent years after millions of spiders were found flying above Australia :)

Before we take a closer look at the patch itself, I want to highlight an AI change that makes co-ballooning encounters far more likely! This is still entirely subject to chance, but chances are good that most players will find at least a few siblings ballooning with them ;)



Balancing:

• Predator cooldown increased giving you a better chance of reaching your silk nest for safety.
  
• Player grappling strength increased
  
• Stamina drain rate for players decreased
  
• Anatomy Combat hit absorption reduced for players
  
• Quest predators now give up after 3 attempts now to avoid tiring out players. This does not affect simulation-driven (regular) predators.
  
• Quest predators now give up tracking much sooner instead of persistently hovering about the player.
  
• Quest Tiger Beetles no longer return back after the player has formally completed the relevant quest. This was causing unplanned encounters of potentially high difficulty.
  
• Cinematic predators in "Pollinator Hunt" quest are now forced to leave the scene after their cine sequence is over; this eliminates random, unplanned encounters with players
  
• Ballooning quest now allows you to walk all the way and still win.
  
• Intro Ballooning sequence now allows you to manually stop (via spacebar) after 60 seconds (if the game was not able to find a suitable landing place for you on its own)
  

"Ladder Climbing" - New Camera Controls for Plant Stalks!

• You can now climb plants just like you'd climb a ladder in any other game! Just press Up to climb up the stalk and Down to climb down. Look freely around with the camera while you do this!
  
• Camera transition from Stalk to Leaf is finally seamless! No more camera headaches on plant stalks hopefully :)
  
• Plant Stalk hitbox massively improved!
  
• ^ 1 mm accuray: Now even a 3rd instar can believably place its feet (claws/tarsi) on the stalk surface. Truly a micro-world experience at last!
  
• ^ Movement/collision annoyances on plant stalks are all completely fixed!
  

New Features:

• Co-Ballooning (see above)
  
• Zoom reset (MMB) now uses smooth transition for cinematic effect
  

Bugfixes:

• Floating in mid-air after escaping from a Dragonfly now fixed! This was a pretty old bug in the game that had been tricky to track. Now finally fixed! :)
  
• Snatching fallen prey no longer teleports you back to the prey's last location
  
• Sleeping input next to a prey no longer causes you to snatch the prey before sleeping.\
  
• Some AI siblings no longer stay back permanently in the mother's nest
  
• "Pollinator Hunt" Quest - Final Dragonfly now leaves properly exits the map after its part is over instead of persistently lingering (this was a bug).
  
• Camera angle fixed for when a parasitic wasp lays an egg on you
  
• "Tackled tricky prey" text typo fixed for Pollinator Hunt quest XP gain
  

Other improvements: Anatomy Combat (Tiger Beetle confrontations)
AI intelligence significantly improved
AI navigatges and follows the player correctly now across stalks/leaves/etc
AI launching "heavy strike" correctly orients to face the player now before doing so
Combat poses (orientation towards combatant) improved for both players and AI. This significantly changes the way you need to fight compared to previous setup.
Player ZTargeting no longer behaves unpredictably if the AI moves rapidly between flora or if it moves under a leaf
Player close-range attack orientation corrected. Previously you'd be oriented the wrong way and end up missing a strike that you should have gained.

Misc
Chem trails reworked so they aren't super-bright for adults but are still clearly visible for lower instars
Brief stutter while leaving the egg sac now fixed. There is still a brief occassional stutter due to Autosave though (to be improved later)
Moss Pushing effect improved for smaller instars walking on moss; more improvements here are planned!

UI
Immersive mode (H key) is now more reliable; Hud elements no longer randomly turn on in some cases.
Silk Tent Construction UI improved
UI simplification: Pollen grain interaction cues are only shown the 1st time now. Similar changes to reduce UI clutter will follow.



While this patch focused on gameplay, the next patch will focus on visual improvements. I'm keenly aware of certain inadequacies in Act 2's visual representation. Many liberties were taken to get the release out last month but now that the gameplay is hopefully stable (Please do shout if it is not! :)), visual flaws will be gradually addressed, both for Act 2 as well as for the entire game.

Animations will be an important focus point along with things like preventing clipping of characters across each other, etc.


A multi-part video walkthrough of Act 2's 4-6 hour long journey will be uploaded soon!

If you have a youtube channel please consider recording an Act 2 video of your own as well! For the amusement of others and for spreading the word about Act 2! :)

That's it for this patch, more goodies are on the way as always.

With ❤,
Venugopalan Sreedharan

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