Devlog#62 | Scouting Rework: Manual and Auto-scouting
[h3]Hello All,[/h3]
As it has become standard since the release of Vagrus, the team has been hard at work on another much-requested update – this time it’s scouting we’re addressing. Players have been expressing their concerns about the state of scouting for some time now, and we’re happy to announce that we think we have managed to bring it to a place where it offers a great deal to those who are willing to make use of its more niche qualities while incorporating enough concrete drawbacks that it does not become a default or even mandatory choice for vagri out traversing the wasteland.
The end goal of these changes is indeed quite similar to our aims with the recent hunting, foraging, and marching changes – adding player agency. We consider agency to be a central design philosophy at the core of all these changes and we intend to continue iterating on both present and future updates with this in mind. For now, the changes outlined below are still in the works and not reflected in the game just yet.
Manual Scouting
So, let’s delve into the specifics of manual scouting first. Previously, players had to choose which nodes they wanted to check, allocating scouts appropriately. Now, manual scouting instead uses your general surrounding area, which can be expanded greatly if you have enough scouts at your disposal. Covering the same amount of surrounding terrain will inherently cost more if you have a smaller number of scouts, and less if you have more scouts. Let’s illustrate with a few examples. In the image below, the player is about to scout the surrounding area.
In the next example (below), the player has many more scouts to utilize, and thus, not only is the movement cost reduced, but the distance available is far, far greater.
Examining these two examples, the question quickly becomes “well, how much is it possible to cover?” And the answer is: a lot. It will cost you dearly – in more ways than one – but covering a large area can be a great way to find specific things you really need or want; for example, great hunting and foraging nodes, or combat encounters if you play an aggressive comitatus. Here is an example of a much larger area covered, shown near the outskirts of Deven.
It is also important to note that the more distance covered, the lower the chance of success becomes in general. Another large change we’ve made to manual scouting relates to the use of Resourcefulness. Vagri may now use Resourcefulness to guarantee success in one of the four categories shown above, which can be especially useful if you absolutely need to know specific results, regardless of actually failing or succeeding.
Manual Scouting Results
When you receive your scouting results, each node will be flagged by a small banner that corresponds to an item on the scouting result list.
Below is an example of this flagging, in an instance where a large number of scouts were sent out to explore many nodes surrounding the comitatus, and where Resourcefulness was used to guarantee the success of finding Events. Looking closely, both failure and success can be seen at different nodes, but because the search for Events was bolstered, those results show even on the nodes where that failure occurred, or, specifically, nodes 54 and 59.
Additionally, from now on, when scouting in general, the results shall remain for three in-game days (or turns, gameplay-wise) on the campaign map. This allows players to plan their trips around areas that they had already scouted, consequently maximizing their returns on scouting endeavors. Simply mouse over the previously scouted nodes before the three days expire, and you can check those results again, as shown below:
Having now covered the overhaul to manual scouting, let’s do a deep dive into our newest feature: Auto-scouting.
Auto-Scouting
Auto-scouting allows you to scout ahead of your comitatus without spending movement points. The main trade-off of doing so is that your chances of success are significantly reduced when compared to manual scouting, which also means that you may lose scouts more frequently while doing so.
There are also two modes you can switch between – one where you simply scout the terrain directly in front of your comitatus’s current trajectory, and one where you cover adjacent nodes, too. The former is represented by the highlighted rightward arrow shown below on the UI, while the latter is depicted by the three multiple arrows which branch outward:
In this situation, the comitatus is set to scout everything on its path, and to stop automatically when a node has a base hunting and foraging chance of 45% or higher, along with an average yield of 245 Supplies. Other conditions can be set, too, one merely needs to toggle between the other options here: the axe represents conditions set for Crew Combat encounters, while the scroll represents conditions that can be set to stop in the case of Events or Mercenary Tasks scouted.
Auto-Scouting Results
While out traversing the wasteland with Auto-scouting on, you are not prompted by results in the same way you are when you initiate manual scouting. Results that can be moused over will show on the campaign map, but to get a full overview, you will need to click the emblem in the top left corner. Results will then be shown in a list as below:
The path scouted is also represented to the left of the list, displayed as an orange line on the campaign map. The results of each node and its corresponding number (shown as 11-15 here) remain visible for three in-game days (or turns, gameplay-wise), which means that charting your return journey from a settlement can prove to be a very fruitful endeavor indeed.
Now let’s look at a few more examples, this time using the second mode of auto-scouting through which your comitatus scouts the surrounding terrain. In the below example, ‘Ventures’ (meaning Events and Tasks) are the conditions through which the caravan stops automatically, set at a minimum of 15% on nearby scouted nodes:
Two things become apparent from this example – firstly, your chance of success drops dramatically when scouting both forward and adjacent nodes, and secondly, when you set conditions such as these your comitatus will stop less frequently because of auto-scouting. This is because it is generally harder to scout for Events than nodes that are ripe for hunting and foraging. Let’s take a look at the results in this instance:
In this final example, we can see both the nodes already scouted (denoted by the orange coloring) and an Event that was scouted and is now shown by the emblem with ‘89’ next to it. As it turns out, this node has a 100% chance to trigger an Event – this is because it is a fixed Event. What’s most important, however, is that Auto-scouting allowed the vagrus to see the Event before moving forward onto it, thus giving them a moment to consider how they might prepare for such a situation.
Along with Manual scouting, which is great for feeling out a larger area all around the comitatus as well as looking for something specific in a given region, Auto-scouting, which is great for finding opportunities along a journey, is the final piece of the puzzle that reworks campaign map movement and scouting into a newer, sleeker system. We are looking forward to hearing from our community about both Manual and Auto-scouting and hope that it opens new avenues to exciting gameplay.
That’s all for today, so for now – stay tuned, stay safe, and conquer the wasteland!
The Lost Pilgrims Team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/909660?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=website&utm_content=footer
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wanna help to make the game's launch successful so we can keep expanding and improving it? Please share our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). Appreciate it!
Fig | Website | Youtube | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Patreon | Discord
As it has become standard since the release of Vagrus, the team has been hard at work on another much-requested update – this time it’s scouting we’re addressing. Players have been expressing their concerns about the state of scouting for some time now, and we’re happy to announce that we think we have managed to bring it to a place where it offers a great deal to those who are willing to make use of its more niche qualities while incorporating enough concrete drawbacks that it does not become a default or even mandatory choice for vagri out traversing the wasteland.
The end goal of these changes is indeed quite similar to our aims with the recent hunting, foraging, and marching changes – adding player agency. We consider agency to be a central design philosophy at the core of all these changes and we intend to continue iterating on both present and future updates with this in mind. For now, the changes outlined below are still in the works and not reflected in the game just yet.
Manual Scouting
So, let’s delve into the specifics of manual scouting first. Previously, players had to choose which nodes they wanted to check, allocating scouts appropriately. Now, manual scouting instead uses your general surrounding area, which can be expanded greatly if you have enough scouts at your disposal. Covering the same amount of surrounding terrain will inherently cost more if you have a smaller number of scouts, and less if you have more scouts. Let’s illustrate with a few examples. In the image below, the player is about to scout the surrounding area.
In the next example (below), the player has many more scouts to utilize, and thus, not only is the movement cost reduced, but the distance available is far, far greater.
Examining these two examples, the question quickly becomes “well, how much is it possible to cover?” And the answer is: a lot. It will cost you dearly – in more ways than one – but covering a large area can be a great way to find specific things you really need or want; for example, great hunting and foraging nodes, or combat encounters if you play an aggressive comitatus. Here is an example of a much larger area covered, shown near the outskirts of Deven.
It is also important to note that the more distance covered, the lower the chance of success becomes in general. Another large change we’ve made to manual scouting relates to the use of Resourcefulness. Vagri may now use Resourcefulness to guarantee success in one of the four categories shown above, which can be especially useful if you absolutely need to know specific results, regardless of actually failing or succeeding.
Manual Scouting Results
When you receive your scouting results, each node will be flagged by a small banner that corresponds to an item on the scouting result list.
Below is an example of this flagging, in an instance where a large number of scouts were sent out to explore many nodes surrounding the comitatus, and where Resourcefulness was used to guarantee the success of finding Events. Looking closely, both failure and success can be seen at different nodes, but because the search for Events was bolstered, those results show even on the nodes where that failure occurred, or, specifically, nodes 54 and 59.
Additionally, from now on, when scouting in general, the results shall remain for three in-game days (or turns, gameplay-wise) on the campaign map. This allows players to plan their trips around areas that they had already scouted, consequently maximizing their returns on scouting endeavors. Simply mouse over the previously scouted nodes before the three days expire, and you can check those results again, as shown below:
Having now covered the overhaul to manual scouting, let’s do a deep dive into our newest feature: Auto-scouting.
Auto-Scouting
Auto-scouting allows you to scout ahead of your comitatus without spending movement points. The main trade-off of doing so is that your chances of success are significantly reduced when compared to manual scouting, which also means that you may lose scouts more frequently while doing so.
There are also two modes you can switch between – one where you simply scout the terrain directly in front of your comitatus’s current trajectory, and one where you cover adjacent nodes, too. The former is represented by the highlighted rightward arrow shown below on the UI, while the latter is depicted by the three multiple arrows which branch outward:
In this situation, the comitatus is set to scout everything on its path, and to stop automatically when a node has a base hunting and foraging chance of 45% or higher, along with an average yield of 245 Supplies. Other conditions can be set, too, one merely needs to toggle between the other options here: the axe represents conditions set for Crew Combat encounters, while the scroll represents conditions that can be set to stop in the case of Events or Mercenary Tasks scouted.
Auto-Scouting Results
While out traversing the wasteland with Auto-scouting on, you are not prompted by results in the same way you are when you initiate manual scouting. Results that can be moused over will show on the campaign map, but to get a full overview, you will need to click the emblem in the top left corner. Results will then be shown in a list as below:
The path scouted is also represented to the left of the list, displayed as an orange line on the campaign map. The results of each node and its corresponding number (shown as 11-15 here) remain visible for three in-game days (or turns, gameplay-wise), which means that charting your return journey from a settlement can prove to be a very fruitful endeavor indeed.
Now let’s look at a few more examples, this time using the second mode of auto-scouting through which your comitatus scouts the surrounding terrain. In the below example, ‘Ventures’ (meaning Events and Tasks) are the conditions through which the caravan stops automatically, set at a minimum of 15% on nearby scouted nodes:
Two things become apparent from this example – firstly, your chance of success drops dramatically when scouting both forward and adjacent nodes, and secondly, when you set conditions such as these your comitatus will stop less frequently because of auto-scouting. This is because it is generally harder to scout for Events than nodes that are ripe for hunting and foraging. Let’s take a look at the results in this instance:
In this final example, we can see both the nodes already scouted (denoted by the orange coloring) and an Event that was scouted and is now shown by the emblem with ‘89’ next to it. As it turns out, this node has a 100% chance to trigger an Event – this is because it is a fixed Event. What’s most important, however, is that Auto-scouting allowed the vagrus to see the Event before moving forward onto it, thus giving them a moment to consider how they might prepare for such a situation.
Along with Manual scouting, which is great for feeling out a larger area all around the comitatus as well as looking for something specific in a given region, Auto-scouting, which is great for finding opportunities along a journey, is the final piece of the puzzle that reworks campaign map movement and scouting into a newer, sleeker system. We are looking forward to hearing from our community about both Manual and Auto-scouting and hope that it opens new avenues to exciting gameplay.
That’s all for today, so for now – stay tuned, stay safe, and conquer the wasteland!
The Lost Pilgrims Team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/909660?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=website&utm_content=footer
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wanna help to make the game's launch successful so we can keep expanding and improving it? Please share our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). Appreciate it!
Fig | Website | Youtube | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Patreon | Discord
