Stoneshard News

Hello everyone!

In today’s devlog, we’ll continue exploring the Caravan Upgrade System, which brings us to the second part of the upgrade tree - “Restoration”.



True to its name, the “Restoration” path is dedicated to maximizing the efficacy of resting at the Caravan. It comes with 6 upgrades that are focused on either improving the quality of your Character’s sleep or introducing more utility to the Camp.

We’d like to remind you that Caravan Upgrades are completely separate from the Leveling System and don’t require Ability Points - all upgrades are unlocked exclusively by purchasing prerequisite items.

[h2]Restoration[/h2]



[h3]Straw Bed[/h3]



Requirements: basic upgrade (available from the start)
Effect: adds a sleeping spot to the Caravan Camp



[h3]Small Tent[/h3]



Requirements: Canvas Roll, Rope, Spool of Thread (х2), Straw (х3)
Effect: sleeping at the Caravan Camp grants “Vigor”
Sleeping at the Caravan reduces Fatigue 100% more effectively



[h3]Roomy Tent[/h3]



Requirements: Hardy Tent Cloth, Rope (х2), Spool of Thread (х4), Straw (х5)
Effect: sleeping at the Caravan Camp grants two stacks of “Vigor”



[h3]Shrine[/h3]

This upgrade adjusts to your Character’s race and religion: Humans will be able to set up a “Praying Spot”, Elves - a “Meditation Spot”, and Dwarves - an “Offering Spot”.

[h3]Shrine: Praying Spot[/h3]



Requirements: Hieronite Altar, Ritual Candles, Altar Bell
Effect: allows your Character to pray at the Caravan Camp to receive “Blessing”

[h3]Shrine: Meditation Spot[/h3]



Requirements: Meditation Table, Incense, Censer
Effect: allows your Character to meditate at the Caravan Camp to receive “Peace of Mind”

[h3]Shrine: Offering Spot[/h3]



Requirements: Lesser Runic Stone, Skull, Candle-End
Effect: allows your Character to call upon their Ancestors to receive “Ancestors' Gaze” - the effect lasts indefinitely, scales with enemies killed, and is removed upon reaching low Health



[h3]Training Area[/h3]



Requirements: Straw Dummy, Straw (х4), Bolt of Cloth
Effect: installs two training dummies at the Caravan Camp (basic and armored variants), which can be used to test your Character’s damage and try out new abilities. Dummies can be moved around within a designated area



[h3]Soothing Incenses[/h3]



Requirements: Incense Burner, Incense (х2), Censer
Effect: sleeping at the Caravan restores Psyche 100% more effectively
Sleeping at the Caravan removes negative Psyche effects and resets the progress towards them

[h3]Herbal Remedies[/h3]



Requirements: Apothecary Box, Mindwort (х2), Thyme (х2), Burnet (х2)
Effect: sleeping at the Caravan restores Health and body parts’ Condition 50% more effectively (100% if also unlocked the “Foraging Supplies” upgrade).
Each hour of sleep at the Caravan replenishes 1% Immunity (1.5% if also unlocked the “Foraging Supplies” upgrade)



==============================================

That’s all for now. In the next devlog, we’ll tell you more about the Crafting System for consumable items, which is yet another mechanic that’ll be introduced to the game with the Rags to Riches update. Until next time!

Hello everyone!

Today the topic is Cooking, a mechanic that will play a significant role in both your adventures and the Caravan System.

Important note: the effects, prices, and availability of most existing foods will be rebalanced in Rags to Riches. The numbers you see on the screenshots are also subject to change.

Cooking can be split in two parts: Basic Actions and the cooking of dishes.

Basic Actions include Roasting and Meat Salting. Roasting is basically the Cooking of the current version of the game. In Rags to Riches it’ll be performed through a separate menu with an option to roast multiple ingredients at once rather than going through them one by one.



Salting requires any type of meat and a few handfuls of Salt. Once preserved, meat loses some of its nutritional value but can be stored indefinitely, which is quite convenient during prolonged expeditions or when you want to preserve the spoils of your hunt for later.



The preparation of actual dishes is more complex. First of all, you’ll need a recipe. Some basic recipes will be available to all characters from the beginning. The rest will have to be found, bought, or earned through high Reputation in settlements. For instance, reaching Respect in Osbrook will make it possible to purchase the secret of preparing Osbrook Bread Bowl Stew, in Mannshire - Mannshire Fair Salad, in Brynn - Harpy Omelette à la Brynn. For now, we’ve created 37 different recipes, but their total number might grow by the time Rags to Riches is out.



So, you’ve got the recipe, what’s next?

Firstly, you’ll need an open fire - any fireplace or campfire will do. Then you’ll have to place a pot on top of it. Tavern fireplaces and some campsites already have pots pre-installed, but you’ll need to bring one for any fires you start yourself. Although, not every recipe requires a pot - for instance, Hunter-Style Drumsticks or Meat Skewer can be cooked without it.



In order to prepare soups and some deserts (such as Fruit Soup or Flapjacks), you’ll need to fill your pot with water or milk. This can be done simply by pouring liquid from other vessels into it.



Once this part is over, you can start adding the ingredients. Most recipes allow a certain level of deviation: sometimes, they can be interpreted quite liberally - if you cook a Vegetable Salad, any “Vegetable” type ingredient will do. Other recipes might require a specific item, such as Garlic, Onion, or Leek. Keep in mind that the end result will always look the same and have the same effects regardless of the exact ingredients used - this is done for the sake of straightforwardness and more consistent visuals.

The numbers and stats you see are a placeholder and a subject to change.

Still, there’s a caveat: some recipes have a place for optional Additives that will imbue dishes with extra effects. For example, Salt will double your dish’s expiration time, Butter will give it a bonus to Hunger Resistance, and more exotic variants (such as Jibean Spices, Nistrian Condiments, and Skadian Herbs) will provide a sizeable boost to Morale, Sanity, or Immunity.



All in all, dishes will differ not only in the amount of Hunger they sate but also many other aspects: they might reduce Fatigue, improve Morale, Sanity, or Immunity, grant bonus Experience Gain, increase some Resistances, and so on. On top of that, “Satiety” (the effect granted for overfilling your Hunger meter) will receive an additional stack and some other bonuses if you gain it by consuming an advanced dish.



Once you’re done cooking, food can be eaten directly from the pot. But if you want to leave it for later, you’ll need a suitable vessel. Obviously, soups require a deep bowl, but everything else can be placed on any plate (gold plates will work as well!). It’ll also be possible to place some dishes directly into your Inventory, such as loafs of Garlic Cheese Bread.



That’s all for now. Stay tuned for the next devlog, which will be focused on the second branch of the Caravan Upgrades!

Hello everyone!

This is the first post in the series of devlogs dedicated to the new features of the upcoming update, “Rags to Riches”, the release date of which will be revealed in the final entry. Today’s topic is the update’s most important addition and the last major system to be introduced to the game: the much-anticipated Caravan.

We’d like to begin by explaining our reasoning behind the system and what we plan to achieve with it. One of the most frequent player suggestions is to add some sort of permanent dwelling, a purchasable and customizable house in a village or city. However, Stoneshard is a game about a mercenary, a character who’s always on the move in search of contracts and glory, so anchoring them to a single location would go against the main theme. At the same time, we aren’t averse to the concept of home in a broader sense - and that’s where the Caravan System comes into play by adding a customizable mobile camp.



The Caravan’s main purpose is to allow for easier exploration, making it possible to travel large distances across the global map - with a few limitations.

• Firstly, the Caravan can travel only to empty map tiles. You won’t be able to set up a camp right next to villages, dungeons, hunting grounds, or Point of Interest. Your destination must also not be shrouded in the fog of war - at the very least, you’ll need a rough outline of the terrain, obtainable through the use of paper maps.
  
• Secondly, moving the Caravan will require a special resource, Fodder, the spending rate of which will scale with the distance and difficulty of your chosen route.
  
• Thirdly, each journey will be followed by a cooldown, as both Verren and the horses will need some time to rest.

In general, the optimal strategy is to park the Caravan in a spot between multiple locations you want to visit (settlements, dungeons, Points of Interest, etc), conclude your business there, then return to the Caravan, which by that time should be ready for another journey.

At the moment, we’re still experimenting with the cooldown duration - currently the base value is a day and a half, which can be shortened to half a day through a series of upgrades.

This topic will be further expanded upon in a separate devlog about the Caravan travels and all the mechanics that come with them.



Now let’s talk about customization - this part of the Caravan System is represented by a dedicated upgrade tree. In total, there are 24 possible upgrades, not including the basic ones - all of them can be unlocked within a single playthrough. As for their effects, there’s quite a lot of variation: some upgrades will change your Caravan’s stats, others - introduce new options or modify pre-existing ones. Each upgrade will also change your camp’s appearance by adding new furniture and gear or altering some elements that are already there.

Upgrades can be accessed by interacting with Verren’s Ledger at the Caravan camp. Before you can go through with them, you’ll first need to have all the prerequisites in either your Inventory or the Caravan Storage: this includes unique items (purchasable from corresponding traders) and additional materials.



All upgrades can be thematically split into four categories: “Provision”, “Restoration”, “Traveling”, and “Communication”. This devlog only covers the first one, which revolves around introducing additional utility to your camp:

[h2]Provision[/h2]


[h3]Firepit[/h3]



Requirements: basic upgrade (available from the start).
Effect: adds a firepit to the camp that can be used to roast food and salt meat.

[h3]Cooking Spot[/h3]



Requirements: Huge Cauldron, Coal Chunk (х4), Ladle (х1)
Effect: installs a cauldron on top of the camp’s firepit, allowing you to cook complex dishes.
Cooking at the camp replenishes a certain amount of Morale depending on the recipe’s rarity.

[h3]Special Spices[/h3]



Requirements: Spice Box, Spearmint (х2), Rhubarb (х2), Ginger (х2), Leek (х2), Garlic (х2)
Effect: food spoils 75% slower while inside the Caravan Storage.
Cooking at the camp replenishes a certain amount of Sanity depending on the recipe’s rarity.



[h3]Workbench[/h3]



Requirements: Toolbox, Nails (х2)
Effect: adds a Workbench to the camp that can be interacted with to craft moderately complex consumables.

[h3]Alchemy Station[/h3]



Requirements: Alchemical Apparatus, Hourglass (х1), Coal Chunk (х1), Flask (х3)
Effect: adds an alchemical apparatus to the camp that can be used to brew potions (after Alchemy is fully implemented) and create some medical consumables (in “Rags to Riches”).



[h3]Foraging Supplies[/h3]



Requirements: Foraging Supplies, Shovel (х1), Sickle (х1)
Effect: adds a foraging table to the camp, allowing Verren and Followers to capitalize on nature’s bounty while you’re busy adventuring. Once per day, it will generate a certain amount of herbs, berries, and mushrooms, their type depending on the currently occupied biome. Some of the gathered herbs can then be turned into Fodder to fuel your future travels, while mushrooms and berries can be used for cooking.



[h3]Mobile Coop[/h3]



Requirements: Cage with Chickens, Bucket (х1), Sack of Grain (х1)
Effect: adds a few chickens to the camp. Once per day, they’ll lay eggs that can be used for cooking. There’s also an option to slaughter chickens for meat, but it’ll take some time for them to respawn - in the meantime, you’ll have to do without a steady supply of fresh eggs.



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As you might have already noticed, some of the upgrades are closely linked to Cooking and Crafting - the former will be the focus of our next devlog. And while you wait, here’s a small teaser of things to come:



Until next time!

- Fixed the crash caused by "Tempest".
- Fixed the crash caused by "Draining Sigil".
- Fixed the crash caused by "Blood Spit".
- Fixed the crash caused by using "Forceful Slam" on the same turn as moving to another location.
- Fixed the incorrect duration of "Blood Craze".
- Fixed "Deadly Tail" still applying its outdated debuff.
- Fixed "Sudden Lunge" delivering a second strike while dual wielding.
- Fixed the possibility of reading already studied maps.
- Fixed "Seal of Shackles" not prolonging the duration of its effect when used again on the same target.
- Fixed the Leatherworking Workshop's Bailiff demanding a larger bribe even when presented with the Recommendation Letter.
- Fixed Guards not reacting to the first bow or crossbow shot taken at them.
- Fixed Runic Boulders not being destroyed when summoned on tiles with traps.
- Fixed "Ramming Charge" being listed as a Stance ability.
- Fixed the Ethnarch's Funeral Mask triggering only once per playthrough.
- Increased the chance of triggering damage types' special effects. Standardized the duration of said effects.
- Reduced the spawn chance for some high level enemies (including Brigand Mages, Sanguimages, and Murkstalkers).
- Antitoxin will now halve the duration of Hangovers.
- Fixed the bug causing equipment hovers to not display negative changes to stats if they were compensated by an enchantment.
- Fixed Turncoats dropping weapons that didn't match their sprite.
- Fixed Wolfhounds not having a "swimming" sprite.
- Fixed the sound effect of "Resonance" disappearing after moving to another location.
- Fixed the possibility of triggering multiple death animations at the same time when killing enemies with critical damage.
- Fixed the bug causing stolen items to change their settlement tag to a new one when placed in a container owned by another settlement.
- Fixed the sprite depth of destroyed Deathstinger Hives.
- Fixed collision issues with dry trees in the steppes.
- The game now correctly saves the color of blood splatters on the ground.
- The game now correctly saves the color of dropped potions.

[h3]0.8.2.4[/h3]

• Bleeding is now considered a Lingering effect (rather than Physical).
  
• Increased the base Cooldown Duration of "Draining Sigil".
  
• Increased the Revenant Commander's Cooldowns Duration coefficient.
  
• Adjusted the use conditions for "Necrophage": Ghouls will no longer consume corpses while at full Health.
  
• Fixed the Brander's pyres sometimes remaining lit even after his death.
  
• Fixed the bug causing some passive abilities to become unlearnt after sleeping.
  
• Fixed the crash caused by "Net Throw".
  
• Fixed the crash caused by "Incineration".
  
• Fixed the bug causing the player character to voice enemies' speech lines when applying them with Stun and Daze.

[h3]0.8.2.5[/h3]

• Fixed the crash caused by "Spectral Haunting".
  
• Possibly fixed the crash caused by "Web Spit".
  
• Fixed Geomancy boulders not applying targets with Daze upon knocking them back into objects.
  
• Fixed unique items being ignored in the Statistics if found outside of containers.
  
• The Statistics' time-tracking system should now correctly sum up hours into days.
  
• Lowered the spawn chance for some of the new enemy types.
  
• Reduced the impact of some conditions and actions on the low level brigands and ghouls' Will to FIght.
  
• Nerfed Murkstalkers.
  
• Adjusted cooldowns and Energy Costs for some enemy abilities.
  
• "Lesser Ritual of Resurrection" and "Greater Ritual of Resurrection" will now set the reanimated Undead's Armor
• Durability to 0% and put their abilities on cooldown.
  
• "Curse of Decay" should now correctly remove stacks of the effect after using any abilities, not just Attacks.
  
• Fixed Weber's "trading" dialogue option disappearing after the Ancient Troll's death .
  
• Fixed the bug with Knud and the Map of the Old Homestead Surroundings.
  
• Fixed the Atlas of Aldor granting 5% Energy Restoration instead of the listed 10%.
  
• Changed the Fatigue gain from using skills [1.5% > 2% of the used skill's Energy Cost] and spells [2.5% > 2% of the used spell's Energy Cost].
  
• Changed the Curse of Bloodlust [-25% > -20% Max Health] and the Curse of Madness [+5% > +7.5% Backfire Chance].
  
• Fixed technical tags and formulas being displayed in some of the enemy abilities' hovers.

[h3]0.8.2.6[/h3]

• Fixed the crash caused by "Stone Armor".
  
• Fixed the bug allowing animals to attack the player character without warning if they have already participated in a fight with another creature.
  
• Fixed "Push the Falling" prolonging the duration of "Confusion" by an incorrect number of turns.
  
• Fixed "Seal of Cleansing" not removing magical and elemental entities if they are located on the same tile as the caster.
  
• Fixed the interaction between "Seize the Initiative" and ranged weapons which allowed the skill to apply its effects with a second shot (after missing the first one).
  
• Fixed "Blood Craze" not having the max duration cap.
  
• Fixed the bug causing Wraiths to disappear when the player moves to another location or loads their save.
  
• Fixed the 6th strike of "Anthems of Bloodshed" granting its bonuses to nearby allies even after missing the target.
  
• Fixed the bug causing Ghouls to disappear if they use "Necrophage" while the player moves to another dungeon floor.
  
• Fixed the bug allowing to use the "Reload" action while the left weapon slot already contains a loaded crossbow.
  
• Fixed the overly high Attribute requirements for unlocking some of the staff skills: "Now or Never" and "Triumph".
  
• Fixed the bug causing enemies to hit themselves in certain situations.
  
• Slightly nerfed the Apostate miniboss.