Update Preview and Summer Sale!
Hey everyone! The Summer Sale begins today and The Iron Oath will be 10% off for the next 2 weeks!
With the month now coming to a close, we also wanted to update you on the status of our next major update, Tales by the Fire. We had been planning to get this one out at the end of June, and while it's close to being done, we do need a bit more time to get it ready (likely about 2~ weeks). In the meantime, we're here to share three major highlights that are coming with this update: a new class, changes to dungeon mechanics, and the job system.
[h2]New Class: Balladeer[/h2]
Our newest and 8th class is the Balladeer. They fill the role of a pure support class, with the ability to heal, cleanse, buff their allies, and debuff enemies. His passive ability, Upbeat, restores 5 Morale to all adjacent allies whenever he acts for the round.
[h3]Soul Crush (Basic Attack)[/h3]
Mock a target within 3 cells, damaging them with a 50% chance to remove a random buff.
[h3]Battle Chords (Destruction)[/h3]
An aura that grants adjacent allies +15% Power for 2 Rounds.
[h3]Battle Chords (Preservation)[/h3]
An aura that grants adjacent allies +15 Defense for 2 Rounds.
[h3]Anthem of Warding[/h3]
Target self or a single ally, cleansing conditions and granting immunity to all conditions for 3 rounds.
[h3]Smashing Tune[/h3]
Crush an adjacent target with their lute, damaging and Stunning them for 2 Rounds.
[h3]Renewing Melody[/h3]
Target self or a single ally and channel for 6 turns, instantly healing the target and healing again when the channel completes.
[h3]Serenade[/h3]
Target a single enemy and channel for 6 Turns, Charming an enemy for 2 Rounds.
[h3]Lullaby[/h3]
Target 2 cells in any direction and channel for 5 turns, putting occupants to Sleep for 2 Rounds.
[h2]Dungeon Exploration[/h2]
We've made changes to the way dungeon exploration works and added a number of new event types to make dungeons a bit more varied and more rewarding. A major change that we've made is to reveal the dungeon's layout straight away and to show the location of your primary objective. You can also now see which tiles have events on them (though their identity is not revealed until you scout or visit the tile).
We felt the previous iteration of dungeon exploration wasn't very engaging and lacked a proper balance of risk vs reward. Dungeons are now laid out in such a way where there is a linear 'Critical Path' that leads to your objective, which can be completed quickly without incurring any new Dungeon Modifiers (usually!). Other than enemies and quest events, this path carries little in the way of extra risk, but contains few rewards. The paths that branch off the critical path are riskier to explore, but also have the most rewarding events to discover such as loot, knowledge, runes, and other custom 'Unknown' events that can have a variety of outcomes.
We feel these changes will offer players more choices on how to approach a dungeon. If their first fight doesn't go to plan, they can play it safe and stick to the critical path to complete their objective and get out before things get too dicey (missing out on extra rewards). But if the player's party is doing well or they get some luck from a shrine or loot event, they may find themselves in a position to risk exploring more of the dungeon and get rewarded for doing so.
[h2]Dungeon Modifiers[/h2]
We've renamed Time Modifiers to Dungeon Modifiers, and made changes to them and the way they are applied. Every dungeon now has a positive modifier and a negative modifier which are active from the start. They are visible from the party select screen so you'll want to plan around them with your party composition. Additional negative Dungeon Modifiers will be applied less frequently inside of a dungeon (via the passage of time), but their effects are more meaningful and many trivial modifiers (such as losing a random provision) have been removed.
[h2]New Dungeon Events[/h2]
[h2]Job System[/h2]
To further customize your characters and give them a secondary role in the company, we've added a job system with 9 jobs that can be unlocked and assigned. Jobs grant a variety of bonuses that assist with dungeon exploration, and add another factor to consider when selecting your party. Jobs are unlocked by finding tomes in dungeons, and can be assigned to characters at the cost of 1 Renown point. Each job boosts 1 character stat and comes with 2 other effects.
While these are the main features of the update, there is still some other cool stuff coming which we'll be sharing in the patch notes when the update goes live!
[h2]New Team Member[/h2]
Lastly, we're happy to announce that we've brought a new member onto the team, Scott Hamm, who has been writing new content for the game over the last few months. Scott has written for many titles including Fell Seal, Colony Ship, and Sovereign Syndicate. He's also been following The Iron Oath since 2016, and we've been communicating off and on since 2017, so it's great that we can finally work together. We're very happy with what he's come up with so far and we're looking forward to implementing a ton of quests and events of his in the coming months!
-Curious Panda Games
With the month now coming to a close, we also wanted to update you on the status of our next major update, Tales by the Fire. We had been planning to get this one out at the end of June, and while it's close to being done, we do need a bit more time to get it ready (likely about 2~ weeks). In the meantime, we're here to share three major highlights that are coming with this update: a new class, changes to dungeon mechanics, and the job system.
[h2]New Class: Balladeer[/h2]
Our newest and 8th class is the Balladeer. They fill the role of a pure support class, with the ability to heal, cleanse, buff their allies, and debuff enemies. His passive ability, Upbeat, restores 5 Morale to all adjacent allies whenever he acts for the round.
[h3]Soul Crush (Basic Attack)[/h3]
Mock a target within 3 cells, damaging them with a 50% chance to remove a random buff.
[h3]Battle Chords (Destruction)[/h3]
An aura that grants adjacent allies +15% Power for 2 Rounds.
[h3]Battle Chords (Preservation)[/h3]
An aura that grants adjacent allies +15 Defense for 2 Rounds.
[h3]Anthem of Warding[/h3]
Target self or a single ally, cleansing conditions and granting immunity to all conditions for 3 rounds.
[h3]Smashing Tune[/h3]
Crush an adjacent target with their lute, damaging and Stunning them for 2 Rounds.
[h3]Renewing Melody[/h3]
Target self or a single ally and channel for 6 turns, instantly healing the target and healing again when the channel completes.
[h3]Serenade[/h3]
Target a single enemy and channel for 6 Turns, Charming an enemy for 2 Rounds.
[h3]Lullaby[/h3]
Target 2 cells in any direction and channel for 5 turns, putting occupants to Sleep for 2 Rounds.
[h2]Dungeon Exploration[/h2]
We've made changes to the way dungeon exploration works and added a number of new event types to make dungeons a bit more varied and more rewarding. A major change that we've made is to reveal the dungeon's layout straight away and to show the location of your primary objective. You can also now see which tiles have events on them (though their identity is not revealed until you scout or visit the tile).
We felt the previous iteration of dungeon exploration wasn't very engaging and lacked a proper balance of risk vs reward. Dungeons are now laid out in such a way where there is a linear 'Critical Path' that leads to your objective, which can be completed quickly without incurring any new Dungeon Modifiers (usually!). Other than enemies and quest events, this path carries little in the way of extra risk, but contains few rewards. The paths that branch off the critical path are riskier to explore, but also have the most rewarding events to discover such as loot, knowledge, runes, and other custom 'Unknown' events that can have a variety of outcomes.
We feel these changes will offer players more choices on how to approach a dungeon. If their first fight doesn't go to plan, they can play it safe and stick to the critical path to complete their objective and get out before things get too dicey (missing out on extra rewards). But if the player's party is doing well or they get some luck from a shrine or loot event, they may find themselves in a position to risk exploring more of the dungeon and get rewarded for doing so.
[h2]Dungeon Modifiers[/h2]
We've renamed Time Modifiers to Dungeon Modifiers, and made changes to them and the way they are applied. Every dungeon now has a positive modifier and a negative modifier which are active from the start. They are visible from the party select screen so you'll want to plan around them with your party composition. Additional negative Dungeon Modifiers will be applied less frequently inside of a dungeon (via the passage of time), but their effects are more meaningful and many trivial modifiers (such as losing a random provision) have been removed.
[h2]New Dungeon Events[/h2]
- Runes: Runes are ancient magical inscriptions that grant a variety of things to a character of your choice. If you have a Scholar with you, they can identify the effect that the rune will have, otherwise the effect will be unknown until it's applied.
- Shrine: There are 18 different shrines to interact with, allowing you to sacrifice something (Health, Coin, or a new provision called an Idol) to receive a blessing from the Gods in return. If you have a Theologian in your group, they will be able to identify which God the shrine is dedicated to, and what effect you can expect to receive prior to making a sacrifice. If your sacrifice is accepted, you can choose 1 of 3 effects to receive (1 from the shrine in question, and 2 random ones)
- Knowledge: These events grant XP to your party. They come in the form of journals, maps that lead to legendary items, and tomes that unlock character Jobs.
- Map Fragment: Reveals the identity of 2 random unexplored events in the dungeon
- Fortified Room: A tile marked as fortified will allow you to set up camp without the possibility of being attacked by enemies.
- Void Breach: You'll sometimes come across a Void Breach, especially when they've been reported in the county. You can enter combat and try to close the breach, or leave it be and find another route.
- Tracks: Enemy tracks have a chance to spawn within 3 tiles of a combat event. Trackers are able to interact with them to reveal the exact location of the enemy.
- Unknown: Other custom events that are more unique are classified as Unknown events. You won't know what lies in store for you until you interact with them.
[h2]Job System[/h2]
To further customize your characters and give them a secondary role in the company, we've added a job system with 9 jobs that can be unlocked and assigned. Jobs grant a variety of bonuses that assist with dungeon exploration, and add another factor to consider when selecting your party. Jobs are unlocked by finding tomes in dungeons, and can be assigned to characters at the cost of 1 Renown point. Each job boosts 1 character stat and comes with 2 other effects.
While these are the main features of the update, there is still some other cool stuff coming which we'll be sharing in the patch notes when the update goes live!
[h2]New Team Member[/h2]
Lastly, we're happy to announce that we've brought a new member onto the team, Scott Hamm, who has been writing new content for the game over the last few months. Scott has written for many titles including Fell Seal, Colony Ship, and Sovereign Syndicate. He's also been following The Iron Oath since 2016, and we've been communicating off and on since 2017, so it's great that we can finally work together. We're very happy with what he's come up with so far and we're looking forward to implementing a ton of quests and events of his in the coming months!
-Curious Panda Games