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Devlog #44 | Beast Types and Trade Offers

This time, we come to you with a double feature of sorts, combining two topics into a single devlog post: changing the types of the beasts of burden of a comitatus and the mechanics of Trade Offers.



[h3]Beast Types[/h3]

The vagrus's ability to change the type of beasts their comitatus uses has been planned to be added to the game from the beginning but it had to wait until recently for a couple of reasons. The first being that there were a number of other - more important - things to be added before and also because changing between only two types would have been a bit lackluster, but the third type was locked behind content that we got around to just lately (and is available since the addition of Larnak).

Of the three types of beasts, two are accessible in most settlements in-game. Mammals are slightly more common, which means that you can buy them in greater number in mansios, except in the deep deserts where reptiles are more common. Neither of these two types are better than the other in all respects. For example, reptile beasts of burden carry more cargo and move a tad faster but march less effectively and have a much larger consumption. Reptile mounts are slightly better at combat but less effective on long journeys than horses. Mammals are cheaper and so make it easier to scale up your comitatus but require more animal care, thus more work. The third type, insectioids, work as an upgrade in basically every aspect and cost a lot to obtain. This type is meant for high-end comitati in general.

Changing the beast type of your comitatus happens in the mansio and it changes both your beasts of burden as well as mounts to the selected type at once. From then on, you buy beasts and mounts for the new, active beast type, meaning you can never have mixed beast types in your comitatus.



[h3]Trade Offers[/h3]

Commerce in the Riven Realms is held in the iron grip of Trading Houses through official monopolies or the control of locations that produce valuable goods. A simple merchant who deals in smaller quantities of wares can not begin to imagine what profit these factions work with, especially compared to what the actual manufacturing or harvesting costs. Yet there are considerable expenses involved in these operations, too. If the hardships of travel over the accursed wastelands were not enough by themselves, factions regularly wage bloody wars for resources, mostly in the shadows but often openly as well out on the frontier - and these are astonishingly expensive.

In accordance with the above outline, we have always wanted players to only have access to large quantities of wares through factions. We had a lot of the feature in place, including UI elements, but we needed dynamic pricing to work before being able to add Trade Offers. Until it could be implemented properly, the temporary solution was to control stocks through the market of settlements, but it was less transparent in many ways - a lot of players neglected to check back to depleted or markets with a seemingly low goods density, believing that it will never change.

The concept of Trade Offers is not complicated: factions that have presence in a settlement post bulk offers for buyers and sellers alike. The content and quality of these offers depend on a variety of factors, including the faction's interest in and the supply-and-demand of the wares in question, the extent of their presence, as well as the player's unlocked Trade Offer tiers (from I. to III.).

Trade Offers can only be bought and sold in full stacks, and beside the normal price, vagri can get a better deal when spending faction reputation. Although factions do not sell their wares cheaper (except at higher standing with them on the source nodes of the goods), each unit of the offered stack costs the same, which is a great advantage over the dynamically changing market price even though it may seem that the initial couple of units cost less at the market than the offered ones. The result is that large scale trading is mostly viable through faction Trade Offers.

Apart from fitting the setting of the game, the point of this design is to keep smaller comitati more viable through normal market trading while to upkeep larger ones you would have to progress through factions. This is only true of course if the player wishes to delve into the trading aspect. Trade Tasks remain for those who mostly care about a fixed, certain profit without risking their coins.

We hope you will like these new additions - they certainly add new levels of depth and strategy when it comes to comitatus management.

The Lost Pilgrims Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/909660?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=website&utm_content=footer
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Wanna see the full game released as early as possible with even more content? Please share our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). Appreciate it!

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Devlog #43 | Equipment Design Changes

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Dear fellow vagri,

This short video was made to give you a rough idea about how the new comitatus equipment screen and system were changed. Categories have been revamped, with new ones added into the mix.



The new mechanic allows players to use these items in more diverse and specialized ways. New types of equipment, like armaments, tools, and animals were added while we ironed out the older ones as well to make it more consistent and interesting. Many pieces of equipment are available for several slots, so you can mix and match in more ways than one.

Another change is that Deputies are now linked to equipment in a new way - they will open up extra slots for certain types when assigned to their post, further deepening the system. Now you'll be able to make use of more equipment at the same time and come up with combinations that better suit a large variety of situations in game. We also added a lot of new pieces of equipment with the last several patches, making the list of available ones fairly long by now, including some unique ones only acquirable through questing and faction reputation.

The Lost Pilgrims Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/909660?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=website&utm_content=footer
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Wanna see the full game released as early as possible with even more content? 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

Devlog #42 | Faction Rewards

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

With the arrival of Factions to Vagrus, you guys got a new way to specialize your comitatus. Up until the addition of Faction rewards, however, this meant some obscure (albeit very welcome - we're looking at you, road tax) boons and perks but then with claimable rewards, Factions quickly became our players' new best friends.

The Name of the Game

In its core, the system is well-known in video games: build more reputation by doing repeatable, procedurally generated Tasks as well as unique stories, unlock higher tiers of Standing with a Faction by doing so, and receive your rewards. The higher the Standing, the better the rewards - it is that simple. Or is it? Of course, staying friendly with a Faction might be a challenge of its own, seeing how they tend to hate each other so passionately. This means that gaining reputation with a Faction will reduce reputation with their enemies, albeit not with the same intensity. It was deliberately implemented this way so that you can not get all the goodies in a single run - a balancing act, a tool of immersion, and a factor in replayability.



The Rewards

Two kinds of rewards are bound to Faction Standing:

  • Prizes: These Gear or Equipment rewards are one-time only redeemables. Once you have the Standing, you can claim them at a settlement with the right Faction presence. There is some overlap between prizes here and there but you also get a lot of unique rewards among them to make them more interesting. The higher tier ones are powerful and valuable additions to any comitatus.
  • Boons: These are always Enduring Effects and they will stay applied to your comitatus until you lose the required Standing with the given Faction, in which case you'll lose the boon. However, upon regaining your Standing, you can again claim these effects by simply going to a settlement with any kind of presence for the Faction in question.

All in all, we are very happy with how Factions - and the related rewards - have turned out in the game. There is still some tweaking to be done, perhaps overhauls of rewards as well, but we have had a very positive feedback from our player base and we're very excited to see how these awesome rewards will motivate you guys to delve into the Faction system.

The Lost Pilgrims Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/909660?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=website&utm_content=footer
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Wanna see the full game released as early as possible with even more content? 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

A New Build is OUT - Patch 0.5.30. - Codename: Brimstone and Bones

[h3]Hey Folks,[/h3]
the time has come to revisit the region that featured in Pilgrims of the Wasteland, the tutorial/prelude of Vagrus. We opened up that very zone for the open-world campaign, albeit we are 10 years in the future compared to that prologue story, so expect some changes. There was a bit of a switcheroo involving several patches in the works and eventually the choice fell onto pushing this out in part to fix a game-breaking bug from the previous patch. For this reason, expect a smaller update in the near future that irons out a few things regarding the currently added content, although we might end up merging that with Mercenary Tasks, the next larger addition.



Important Note: Considering the extent of these improvements there is little to no chance that we broke nothing in the process. Assume that we did not want to make anyone's life harder. If you see something amiss, please flag it to us using the usual channels, like the inbuild reporting tool (F1 button), forums, and our Discord server.



Now let's jump into the details:
[h2]Patch 0.5.30 - Codename: Brimstone and Bones[/h2]

[h3]New Content :gift:[/h3]
  • The Smolderbone region is finally open, as well as a new part of the Searing Plains. They include five new points of interest: the city of Avernum, Omphalat Outpost, as well as the tribal settlements Vitrar and Utvorar, plus the dreaded Writhing Oasis.
  • A number of stories and quests that lead to this zone continue, and a lot of new ones begin here, too.
  • A new companion, the veteran warrior and former kingpin Skornar can be recruited in Avernum.

[h3]New/Updated Features :shiny:[/h3]
  • Defender, Diehard, and Marksman Perks implemented.
  • Skill dependencies implemented for Burrow, Eviscerate, and a number of other enemy Skills. In some instances, these Skills appear as new (like Eviscerate) but mostly they got more restricted in their use by the tweaks.
  • Considerable changes to market prices.
  • A number of fixes/design changes to Trade Offers.
  • Enemy Mounts and Beasts gained through Crew Combat are now turned into supplies when your comitatus uses the Yrg beast type.
  • Enemy combat resistances nerfed all across the board.

[h3]Bug Fixes :bug:[/h3]
  • Most Event UI crashes/bugs fixed - not all of them, though
  • Various smaller fixes and Event script tweaks
Known Issues:
  • Skornar's Guard Stance retaliation attack upon successful block may not always trigger. We are investigating the reason.
  • Load times are getting higher and higher. We plan to address the issue closer to the final release.
'Is Vagrus properly balanced now?' - Nope. 'Was it a step in the right direction?' - We think so. Please let us know how you find it.

[h3]Coming Up Next:[/h3]
Mercenary Tasks, along with a focus on spicing up Companion Combat.

Stay tuned, stay alive, 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
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Wanna see the full game released as early as possible with even more content? 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

Colony Ship released into Early Access

Our friends at Iron Tower Studio have just released Colony Ship on Early Access. You can play the first chapter of the game and explore the first three locations.

Colony Ship is an isometric, turn-based RPG inspired by Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky. Your character's world is a “generation ship”, a massive spacecraft on a centuries-long voyage to colonize a distant planet. The Ship's original government has been disbanded following a violent mutiny and you must negotiate a treacherous path among your fellow passengers and the contentious factions striving to dominate the Ship. Your choices alone will determine who your friends and enemies are.



Turn-based combat with action points and different attack types with different pros and cons. Gather a party of adventurers or explore the Ship alone.



Turn-based stealth: action points, noise and alert meters, and takedowns.



Dialogues with various checks: stats, skills, reputation, items, deeds, etc.

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You start the game in the Pit, a container town sitting in one of the Ship's cargo holds. From there you can travel to two nearby 'locations': the Armory and Hydroponics. These and other locations will change and evolve throughout the game.



The Pit. The Free City. Ever since you were a kid, this has been your home: a sprawling heap of vacant cargo containers slowly getting filled up with those who couldn't afford to stay in the Habitat or needed to get away from its bosses and factions. Out here, folks have lived free and died fast, with those who survive earning their keep by either "diving" into the wreckage of Mission Control and bringing back valuable relics of the past, or figuring out a way to make money off the fools who do the diving.



Your destination lies ahead – a triply reinforced door flanked by twin auto-cannons drawing on a seemingly inexhaustible power supply. No one made it past during the Mutiny, and no one's made it past since. Like the proverbial flaming sword outside of Eden, it sits as a guardian, a symbol of ancient strength, and a promise of marvels beyond.



The Hydroponic Division was originally conceived to adapt Terran plants to the anticipated environment of Proxima Centauri. Extensive gene-editing was employed to develop resistance to alien fungi and pests, and accelerated adaptation hacked into the plants' genetic code.

Like many other critical systems, Hydroponics was abandoned during the Mutiny. The carefully cultivated flora and fauna was left on its own in harsh environs designed to propagate rapid and brutal evolutionary cycles. When men returned to reclaim Hydroponics, they discovered an environment as wild and hostile as any Earth jungle.

[hr][/hr]
Party members with personal quests, development arcs (reflected in changing portraits), agendas, and beliefs. The first chapter gives you 3 party members out of 10:



... and introduces a party member who might join you later:



[hr][/hr]

Wishlist and follow Colony Ship for up-to-date information about its development milestones and get notified about its release when the time comes.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/648410/Colony_Ship_A_PostEarth_Role_Playing_Game/