Cross of Auria News

The goal of this one started as "extend the pit to lv 20," "extend the nexus waterway," and "extend the anura recon event." As you can see by the notes below, I got distracted. Good news, the Pit is formally under construction again and will extend to enemies of level 20 strength in addition to extending to the 20th floor. Unlike previously, the Pit will become home to units that have not yet been introduced in the main campaign.

While this looks like a lot of scattershot of framework, the unlisted good news is:
- The Pit up to level 20 should be ready by the next update. Structure is already in place, all that is left is adding enemies based on the new character sheets which were also made during 4.1.3.
- An'ura Recon Event should be ready for the next step by the next update. Many events and enemies are already in place.

In addition to what has been done here, I will address Hell's Gate, Obscurite, and Frost Forest units with the new character sheets within the next few updates.

Warning: This update has not been fully tested. If you run into any oddities, please reach out via Discord or comment to this post ASAP!
Known Issue: Enemies who counterattack may interrupt multi-hit attacks, yet the attack continues. Since nothing breaks because of this, I'll address it in a later update.

4.1.3 [Build #90, Release Date: September 20, 2020] Known Issues & Other Notes:
- The Pit (Normal) is being restructured. As it is right now, it is possible to get to floor 20 but the boss battles from level 10 repeat on every floor until then. The new details will be filled in soon.

New:
- New back-end character sheet introduced: Dragon! This is the 11th character sheet for enemies. The dragon character sheet has the following stats:
-- ATK: +++ | DEF: +++ | MAG: + | MDF: --- | AGI: --- | LUK: +
-- HP Roll: 9x D20 per level. EXP: Level * 9.5. Gold: Level * 1.4.

Upcoming Removals (October 1st):
- Arcane Shock (Skill #123) renamed: Deprecated Arcane Shock. Return to the Delivery Boy to debug this skill before the next update, which will remove both this skill and the debug.
- Percent based DoTs and HoTs will be permanently be replaced by the new BSC turn-adding states.

Fixes:
- Details filled out for higher level mp restore consumables.

Changes: • General Changes
- As part of the skill consolidation, many enemy skills have gained the “Normal Attack” element instead of “Physical”, which means these skills may now deal different damage to the party depending on your elemental resistances. (Normal Attack = whatever the user’s specific elemental damage is).
-- The skills affected by this change are: Smoke Bomb, Suppressor Bomb, Cleave, Swing, Insatiable Ravager, Smoke Blast, Suppression Blast, Slice, Shot, Cut, Slash, Chop, Wing Slap, Lick, Slap, Double-Strike, Blade Shot, Charge, Triple-Strike, Sting, Bloodfeast, Throw, Cleave+, Rush, Disabling Slice, Silencing Slice, String Shot, String Scattershot, Wicked Strike, Scratch, Fury Strikes, Blitz, Cutter, Rapid Shot, Volley Shot, Multi-Shot, Impact Shot, Lucky-Strike,
- Many skills have been condensed following the above change from element to NA type. These skills all have new damage formulas and are used more universally than before.
- I am now making use of the BuffStatesCore plugin, so some of the changes I made were unnecessary and are getting rolled back. The good news is it was a very quick fix and will not cause any in-game issues.
- The default turn application for HoT & DoT states is now 2-5 turns. Many attacks, skills, and other conditions which may apply states may now also increase the duration of these states.
- Many skills now display the new state application chance, based on the previous 3 turn version of the state. The recent addition uses the 1 turn rate instead.
- DoT formula & variance change: Poison - ((a.mat * 2) + (a.luk / 20)), 33%.
- DoT formula & variance change: Burn – (a.mat), 25%.
- DoT formula & variance change: Bleed – (a.atk * 2), 20%.
- HoT formula & variance change: (a.mat * 2), 15%.
- Cauterize now applies the fire based Burn instead of the non-elemental Cauterize state. This extra state has been removed from the game.
- Lick now calls any state the user may apply rather than having it’s own chance to apply burns at an 80% rate.
- Moombas, Living Flames, Scarlet Bull & Scarlet Toad now have varying chances to apply burns.
- Blade Shot can no longer land critical hits.
- Mech units from Hell’s Gate no longer have ‘mech’ in their name.
- Mech units now outright resist bleeds instead of having a significantly reduced rate to have bleeds applied.
- Barriers applied by Deflection Shield no longer expire over time.
- Sticky Slap TP Degen now lasts for 2-4 turns per application and can extend the turns in effect.
- Focus TP cost reduced from 50 to 25.
- Previous Lvell Archer shots removed from the game.
- Shield Bash now has a 133% chance to apply “normal attack” conditions, up from 0%.
- Cutter now has a 33% chance per hit to apply “normal attack” conditions, down from 100%.
- Lucky-Strike now does Physical damage, has a 30% better success rate, and has a 300% chance to apply “normal attack” conditions, up from 0%.
- Ruby now learns the appropriate version of Arcane Shock. New save files beginning after this update will not need to debug the skill.
- Fire skills no longer redundantly apply attack debuffs. The tooltips have been updated to reflect this change. (Since Burn inherently debuffs attack by 33%, the chance to apply an attack debuff is not displayed at all).
- All new elemental attacks have a 10% chance to apply “normal attack” conditions, down from 100%.
- Soul skills & magic have varying chances to apply Soulbroken, which increases Soul-type damage by 30%.
- Seraph Strike and Gargoyle Strike now have a 30% chance to apply “normal attack” conditions, up from 0%.
- Gargoyle Strike now applies “Stone-Killer” type damage. In addition to their other resistances and weaknesses, earth type enemies are 200% weak to Stone-Killer (the same concept applies to Bird-Killer for Seraph Strike).

• Enemies by Zone: Units now conform to the new character sheets resulting in…
- Den An’ura (First Pass) – Lower gold drops & minor changes in both directions to exp gains.
- Den An’ura (Return) – Lower gold drops across the board, less exp gains from An’ura units, lower stats on Toxic and Frostbrood units, & higher exp gains from Toxic and level 10+ units.
- Caravan Event – Drastically changed stats for enemies, lower gold drops, & minor fluctuation in exp.
- Exp and gold drops reduced for Drahkin (Lv. 3), but increased for Drahkin (Lv. 7).
- Scarlet Lava Spawns now grant slightly more exp and gold but continue to use a curated sheet for the sake of the Lightningstrike introduction battle.
- Scarlet Cavern – Increased exp and reduced stats across the board.
- Drone Scouts no longer use a curated character sheet. Point Shot, Point Laser, and Laser Sweep now have modified damage formulas.

This morning, I took a look at some of the longer standing skills in the game to see what could be improved. Theoretically, no bugs should come as a result of any skills changes - but as always, if you find anything broken, please report it as a comment to this post or directly in the #coa_general channel of my discord, invite here: https://discord.gg/j4pZKuv

There's a good chance that more of these small skill and state altering patches will be released throughout the course of the 4.x version of the game in order to lock things in permanently moving forward. Cards on the table, I made a big mess of the back end when I first was designing the game in early 2017. A lot of this corrects errors from when I was just figuring out the engine.

4.1.1 [Build #88, Release Date: September 11, 2020] Fixes:
- Removed an undefined skill from Mech Air Guardians.
- Replaced an undefined skill with Poisonbolt II for Catermoth (Lv. 8).

Changes:
- Removed the old versions of Soulfire 1-5, Cure 1-5, and Regeneration 1-5.
- Miles tool type skills (-bomb & -blast) now perform minor action sequences and no longer require selecting a target. Be careful if he is the fourth member of the party, as this will function similarly to Guard in that there is no confirmation after the skill is selected.
- Crush Armor now uses the same actions as basic Attacks.
- Ferocious Shout now applies the universal version of debuffs. The overall effect has not changed, but it will no longer stack with other skills which apply the same style of debuff.
- All new buff and debuff states are now removed at battle end. Buffs last for 5 turns and debuffs last for 3-5 turns.
- Bulk Up no longer uses its own version of buffs. Instead of the combined +30% DEF/MDF, it now uses the universal +33% versions.
- Battle Shout no longer uses its own buffs and instead of the combined 30% ATK/MAT now uses the universal +33% versions.
- Crush Armor now applies a 50% defense reduction, down from 70%.
- Sludge Bomb and Sludge Blast now apply a 25% defense reduction, up from 15%.
- Sludge Bomb now has a 30% chance to apply poisons and has a 33% variance (up from 20%).
- Sludge Blast now has a 50% chance to apply poisons, has a 33% variance (up from 20%), and can now land critical hits.
- Smoke Bomb and Smoke Blast now apply the basic blind which has a 50% effectiveness (up from 30%).
- The specific Ferocious Shout, Bulk Up, Battle Shout, Crush Armor, Sludge Bomb, and Smoke Bomb states have been removed from the game.
- Expose Weakness now applies a 33% DEF debuff, prevents the application of 20% and 25% DEF debuffs, and increases the chance for turn based poisons to land by an additional 20%.
- Cyclone now has a chance to apply air current (12%), wind weak 1 (10%), wind weak 2 (5%), and wind weak 3 (2%).
- Wind skills now display a slightly different tooltip. “Weakness” refers to the wind-weak states, while “vulnerability” refers to Air Current.
- Thermite Grenade now has a slightly weaker attack formula, can now critical hit, has a variance of 25% (up from 20%), and can apply variable burns with a maximum rate of 50%.
- Thermite Blast now has a slightly stronger attack formula, has a variance of 25%, and can apply burns with a max rate of 76%.
- Frost Blast now has an 85% chance to apply Slow and 40% chance to apply Freeze, up by 15% and 10% respectively.
- Cleave and Cleave+ now use a modified version of the Cyclone animations.

Notes:
- As of just after the release of 4.1, it was discovered that newer mac OS’s are unable to download the newest version of the game through Steam. Because a fix can not be created, support for MAC has been discontinued.


EDIT: Since this is being released on the same day, the notes for 4.1.2 are included as well.

4.1.2 [Build #89, Release Date: September 11, 2020] Debug Alert:
- For those of you with Alex above level 5 or if she has learned Regeneration I, return to the Delivery Boy in Auria to debug these two skills. In one of the next major updates, this debug will be removed and so will the placeholder skills.

Changes:
- Rockbreaker’s variance changed to 18% to conform with other Earth type skills (down from 25%).
- Tooltip changes for: Crush Armor, Sparkstrike, Lightningstrike, Bolt Cutter, Spark & Spark+.
- Spark now does slightly more damage.
- Spark+ now does more damage and can land critical hits.
- Lightning Rage now heals 33% HP, MP and TP on use.
- Sear now applies the 5 turn variable burn instead of the % burn and now does damage equal to the user’s magic attack (up from flat 1 damage).
- Disabling and Silencing Slice both now do slightly less damage, have a 20% variance (down from 25%), and may now land critical hits.
- Swift Kick now does additional damage equal to 1/6th the user’s Luck.
- Lvell Patroller (Archer) now uses the merged version of all -shot skills.
- For players with Alex above level 5, return to the Delivery Boy to debug Cure I.
- Arcane skills now have a 15% variance, changed from custom on a per skill basis.
- Regeneration now has a 25% chance to remove poisons and bleeds, up from 10%.
- Regeneration now heals 1/12th of all allies max HP when cast.
- Regeneration has been updated to account for the variable poisons and bleeds in addition to all original and percent based versions.
- The correct Regeneration is now learned during the quest, but due to the change, players who have already obtained it will need to debug it at the Delivery Boy in Auria.
- Flash Heal may now only be used in combat.

Only just a few minutes ago, I thought everything was fine on the MAC side. Up until a few weeks ago, I was on a much older version of MAC OS, which still updated and ran the game properly. Only recently did I update to Catalina.

To make a long story short, Steam does not want to automatically update the game on MAC anymore and there isn't anything I can do to change that. Even though the only available build for MAC is 4.1, my test PC is still locked at 4.0.2, which is likely the last version I exported specifically for MAC OS. It's probable that this issue has been going on all along - I'm only just noticing now since I have very recently updated my OS. Either way, since I can't test or force downloads moving forward for MAC, MAC OS support is officially terminated effective immediately and permanently.

Please note that the game still functions on whatever the most recent build you were able to download is and still functions via Bootcamp and other Windows emulating programs for current updates. I'm very sorry it ended up like this, especially since I was so excited to re-add that functionality to the Steam Store information.

While this is a sad development, I was not able to make DLC for MAC moving forward regardless, so it's likely that MAC OS's were doomed to fall behind eventually. It's just sad that today is that day.

In just a few minutes, MAC OS support will be removed from the CoA Steam Store.

I hope for better news in the next update.

//hardytier

It's been a long couple of weeks. Good news is, I think we did great! However, every step forward is not without it's potential for stumbles. BE ON THE LOOK OUT for bugs starting with this version of the game. Much of the back end for skills was changed which is going to lead to some problems. I won't go too much into that now since it's covered in the notes below, so let's talk for a minute about what else is going on.

I was looking into doing something fancy for Halloween this year. There's good news and bad news. The good news is: we're going to be doing a separate side-story Halloween event which will be accessible from the Colosseum. The bad news is... I was going to make permanent costume changes available for everyone, but it isn't feasible. Without getting too much into it, adding new permanent costume changes would exponentially increase development time for every instance where the game looks for a specific character to be in the party. After 10 or so hours of developing the costume change code, I finally hit a brick wall where I scrapped the idea entirely. My entire Tuesday morning down the drain. On the other hand, the Halloween event is progressing nicely, and I hope to have it available starting on October 1st, but we'll play the release date by ear. I know I've been working on DLC lately, but this event is free to all players who own the game for the specified duration, which will be announced closer to its release. Just go to the Colosseum and the path will be open! After the event ends, there may be a DLC option to allow access to the event permanently, but this is another play it by ear for now scenario.

Some exciting news - the placement for all character based back-end skills is finalized. This is referring to the 197 new skills which were introduced a few months ago. These skills won't move again, and any item referencing them will be good to go from here on out. Aside from the 2 special moves per element, most of the detail has been filled out. Some -strikes and -bolts are missing their appropriate names, but all the damage formula and elements and animations are in place for now. Some animations or damage formulas may change over time depending on testing.

The Nexus Waterway is still under construction for the Orc War. The enemies were originally set to be level 9-15, but were scaled back to 7- based on my most recent playtest. A player who avoids Hunter Lodges would be expected to reach this location at level 6 or 7.

Speaking of new enemies in new zones, the back end formula for creating new enemies is completely finalized (for level 1-20) and it seems to function well for now. Some tweaking will need to be made at regular intervals (say every 15-20 levels or so) but on the whole appears to integrate nicely with the game's current structure which was 100% curated.

Final Notes before the Patch Notes Zones under construction:
- Nexus Waterway - an underground Revan-wide water system which connects the four kingdoms. This zone sits some ways above the Alpha Ruins.
--- This location is about 1/3rd finished. Major map transformations still need to take place and exits/entrances to the other three major cities need to be addressed.
- Terra Anatis - a home of aggressive humanoid avians and their masked followers.
--- This location is about 3/4 completed, pending side story integration.
- Obscurite, the Dusk Kingdom - A lost city northwest of Auria, now overrun by Orcs under the control of Azroff.
--- This location is about 3/4 completed, pending the completion of Nexus Waterway and progression of the Orc War questline.
- Den An'ura/Encampment - A more civilized area inhabited by An'ura which extends deep into the den. A malevolent power lingers within.
--- This location is about 1/2 completed and is currently a primary focus. This patch adds detail for the zone, but access to these new areas is currently restricted pending the full finalization of the An'ura Reconnaissance quest-line.
- Halloween2020 Event - A side story event filled with goodies. This event will function differently from the main game, in that you start the questline at level 1 and EXP will be awarded to the main party after the event is completed.
--- This location is about 3/4 completed, pending the integration of story events and minor finishing touches to battlegroups and terrain. This location is also currently also considered a primary focus.

My thoughts...
- I know it's taken a long time to move forward. The back end changes introduced here are meant to relieve some of that development time moving forward. Up until now, they were the focus since the last update. Now it's time to add some meat ;)


4.1 [Build #87, Release Date: September 09, 2020] MAC
- This is the version of the game for MAC players for the time being. Please keep in mind that MAC is not fully supported and bugs found on MAC may take longer to address, especially if they require special attention beyond the scope of regular in-game bugs.
- I know Steam shows a warning for certain OS's regarding the game's ability to play, but I was able to play on Catalina. If it turns out the game can't be played on later Mac OS's, Mac support will be terminated permanently.

Notes:
- Warning: The change in skill structure may result in some game files with Ruby having skills she should not. While most of these instances are patched out via the Delivery Boy debugger, a handful of these cannot be addressed due to the depth of their entanglement. Therefore, a new save file is recommended.
- Game data that is already held by the party (such as a reward from the Colosseum – Sterling Wand) will not have its passive effects changed. Only newly acquired versions will see changes. Multiple items in this patch have seen their referenced enabled skills change back end locations and therefore no longer target the correct skill for you unless you acquire a new version of the same item. As much as I would like to go through and debug every instance of this, the game isn’t so long where a new save file isn’t feasible. Therefore, for this additional reason, a new save file is recommended.
- A new save file is recommended for players returning to the game. However, it is not required. The game can still be successfully played using the mismatch of issues brought on by the back-end changes.
- Airslash was accidentally left in as a learnable skill for Ruby at level 1 in 4.0.6.1. It has been removed from her learned skills but will remain as a permanent ability for players who began new save files between then and now. (This falls under a new save file being recommended for any other issues it may cause when Ruby learns Airslash canonically.)
- Due to the change in skill positions, Ruby may know extra skills for players who spoke with the Neko in Lvell. The debug for this would be too comprehensive so it will remain as-is. For best experiences, a new save file is recommended.

Fixes:
- Fixed a repetitive issue with the Lightningstrike introduction at the Delivery Boy.
- Fixed text display for the Bolt Cutter schematic.
- Fixed an issue with Ruby’s Lightningstrike. Visit the Delivery Boy in Auria to reclaim this skill if you had it but have now lost it. New files, or files who have yet to claim Lightningstrike, will not experience this issue.

Changes:
- Enemies who use skills a character can use now use the same version of the skill as the actor. (This primarily affects -bolt and -strike skills).
- Many enemy specific skills have been merged or removed. Enemies who used special skills with similar effects to actor skills now instead use the actor skill.
- Enraged Frostbrood units have been removed from the game. Their corresponding battlegroups have been removed from Den An’ura zones.
- Changed the display text for Colosseum rewards.
- All Colosseum rewards may now be sold for a small amount of gold.
- Sterling Wand now adds the new Poisonbolt, which has a chance to apply the new poisons instead of % based poison.
- An’ura Rift enemies in the Colosseum no longer drop Tier 2 potions and have an overall reduced chance to drop restorative items in the level 8 and 10 versions of the Rift.
- Most skills which apply states now display the chance to apply the 1 turn version instead of the 5 turn version.
- All enemies in the Colosseum An’ura zones display on the field as An’ura Warriors instead of Rats.
- Lightningstrike now follows a new damage formula. Electric skills now have a 40% variance.
- Icons have been changed across the board for elemental skills.
- Field enemies in the Encampment now appear as An’ura instead of Orc placeholders.
- Increased exp yield of An’ura Taskmasters and An’ura Larvae.



This update should be ready for download by or before 5PM Eastern US time today, September 9th 2020.

Happy Wednesday everyone! Just stopping by to let you know that many skills are changing their backend IDs in the next update. Short version of the story is: I'm finally implementing the 197 new skills which have been in development over the last few weeks. Poisonstrike for instance, which existed in three different places, now has one combined effect for both actors and enemies. This is the case with many skills which have also been condensed.
What this means for you - Depending on where you are in the game, you may have access to a skill that is about to change. I have already fixed every armor and weapon granted skill I could find, but some other oddities may remain. For instance, Arcane Shock for Ruby and Alex will be broken for ALL current save files until you speak with the Delivery Boy in Auria starting a few patches from now. It will be left in for the time being to give players a chance to trigger the debug.

What you can expect from the new skills list: Most elements now have 3 tiers of 3 skills plus 3 tiers of 3 magics, plus an additional 2 of each. There are only a handful of differences from element to element in terms of skill number, but most follow this guideline. The way this will work is theoretically, if you have someone who learns Emberstrike, they will eventually be able to upgrade it to Emberstrike II, then Emberstrike III, then Flamestrike, then Flamestrike II, so on and so forth, up to Lavastrike III. Unless a piece of gear enables a skill, actors shouldn't have access to more than one skill or magic of the same element at the same time, save for the four specials.

BUG DETECTED! OOPS
During the most recent patch, I left in Airslash as a level 1 skill for Ruby. I actually haven't decided how I'm going to handle this yet, because if I set the debugger to take it away, I can't ever let her learn it... and well, I don't want to do that. So all I can say is, if you make a save file between now and the next patch (4.1.0), Ruby will have Airslash which is currently not canonically in her regular moveset.

But wait, there's more bugs!
Due to the nature of the current patch being worked on, I can not deploy smaller fixes for anything in the meantime. If a bug comes up between now and deployment, it's going to have to wait and go out side by side.


That's it for now, hope this all made sense, if you have any questions - feel free to ask!

//hardytier