Update #66: KotC 2 Version 1.54 Adds New Features + New Dungeon Images!
Hello everyone! I hope you're having a nice holiday season and I wish you an excellent year 2023. The latest version of KotC 2 is version 1.54. It can be
downloaded here for both Windows and macOS. It can also be downloaded on
Steam and
GOG.
New isometric dungeon map for the upcoming KotC 2 modules.
The main additions to the game include the new Combat Actions Menu with icons, Custom Hotkeys for Quickbar spells and abilities, the ability to Buy Back items previously sold by your party to merchants, the automatic Flurry of Blows combat action for Monks so that you don't have to click for each Flurry attack, and the brand new Throw Creature combat action which is available while grappling.
You can use Throw Creature to send enemy creatures flying into pits and other environmental hazards, or you can throw them at other creatures. A creature that occupies 2x2 squares may be thrown at up to four creatures, potentially. Be sure to let your warriors take the new feat Improved Throw Creature.
Separately, I've been working on the starting hub map of the first upcoming adventure module, The Dark Arena. It will be a large isometric castle map.
I've also spent some time testing a new natural language
chat and text-completion AI developed by
OpenAI. I think it's quite useful as an assistant for creative writing. I've just posted a short review of this AI on
HeroicFantasyGames.com. Be sure to read
the review if you're interested in this subject.
List of changes in KotC 2 Version 1.53
- Added the Iconised Combat Actions Menu, and a new game option allowing you to switch it on and off. It is under 'Display', near the top, in third position. I prefer the new menu to the text-based one.
- Added to the Combat-Actions menu the actions Breath Weapon, Gaze Attack, Turn Undead, Rage, Life Drain, Bard Songs, and Cleric/Bishop Domain Powers. Please note: the Rage and Bard Song combat actions will only be displayed when your character doesn't already have the associated Rage or Bard Song condition. That way, it will be much easier to know when is a good time to re-activate those abilities during a long battle.
The new Combat Actions Menu for KotC 2 with a test character.
- Added the new 'Auto Flurry' Combat Action for Monks. This new combat action lets the computer perform all of your Flurry attacks automatically on the target you specify.
- Added to the Spell Quickbar selection menu a list of choices allowing you to set a Function key or a combination Shift + Function key as the hotkey for the selected spell or ability. Just scroll down the list after right clicking on a Spell Quickbar slot in order to display the keys from F2 to F12 and the combinations from Shift + F2 to Shift + F12. Pressing one of these hotkeys will then let you cast or activate the corresponding spell or ability. Added some text about this in the in-game help entry about shortcuts during combat. Also fixed some display issues when right clicking on a Spell Quickbar slot.
- Fixed a bug with Quickbar spells that have a metamagic setting, such as Empower.
- Added the brand new 'Throw Creature' Combat Action, available while grappling. Also added the new feat 'Improved Throw Creature'. Note: You can throw a creature at another creature (or at several creatures, if the thrown creature occupies more than one square). Simply select a square that contains a creature as your target position. The end position of the thrown creature will be a square adjacent to the recipient creature, but both will take damage, the thrown creature will be prone, and the recipient creature may also fall down.
Help Entry for the new Throw Creature combat action in KotC 2.
- Given the feat Improved Throw Creature to a number of creatures in both Augury of Chaos and the Tutorial Adventure. Also updated the creature AI settings for the AI to use the new Throw Creature action from time to time.
- The feat Greater Grapple will now improve the grapple actions Break Free from Grapple or Pin, Pin, Swallow Whole and Throw Creature from Standard Action to Move Action. Note: To improve the 'Break Free from Grapple or Pin' action, there is also a feat called 'Improved Escape From Snares'. If you have both feats, you can now Break Free from a Grapple or Pin using a Free Action.
- A creature grappling a creature three size categories smaller (or more) will no longer lose its Dexterity bonus to AC. For example, a Gargantuan creature grappling a Medium-size creature.
- When targeting a grappling opponent with a ranged attack, the 50% chance to hit the other grappling combatant will not apply if you are adjacent to the target or if the target is pinned. It also doesn't apply if you have the feat Improved Precise Shot. Also added a mention of this in the help entries.
- You will now receive a bonus of +2 on Bull Rush checks when holding a shield. This bonus increases to +3 with the feat Shield Expertise and +4 with the feat Shield Mastery. Updated the help entries for Bull Rush, Armour Types, Shield Expertise and Shield Mastery to reflect this.
- Fixed a bug with the Character Creation interface not recording the selected animated sprite when you untick 'Auto-Create Character Sprite'.
- Added shortcut keys for those combat actions that didn't have any: Pull (Shift+P), Slide (Q), Stand Up (U), Sunder (Shift+U), Trip (Shift+J), Disarm (Shift+G), Feint (Shift+N), Rearm (Shift+K), Throw Creature (Shift+O), Swallow Whole (Shift+W), Charge Attack (Shift+Z), Wake Someone Up (Shift+X). Also updated the in-game help entry about Keyboard Shortcuts During Combat with a mention of all the new shortcut keys.
- Tweaked the melee attack AI when a target have been affected by a Feint combat manoeuvre. Also tweaked the AI for Feint attempts when the acting creature has the feat Greater Feint.
- When a Feint attempt fails due to a Mirror Image, the game will indicate the number of mirror images remaining. Also fixed some bugs due to confusion between the conditions Feint and Improved Feint.
- The Curing domain power used in conjunction with the Flux domain will no longer require a ranged touch attack.
- Fixed the Difficulty Class of the Cleric/Bishop domain powers Life Drain, Weakness, Wilting, Confusion Touch, Paralysing Touch, Sickness Touch, Pandemonium, Blindness, Time, Fire, Storm, Sun. It was based on Charisma. Now it's based on Wisdom (as mentioned in the help).
- Pressing 'O' in the Game Options screen will now close the screen.
- Improved the AI so that it will avoid using spells or spell-like abilities like Life Drain on targets with extremely high Spell Resistance.
- The feat Rapid Strike will no longer apply to the Monk's unarmed attacks.
- Fixed a bug that could occur when pushing a number key to open the character sheet of a party member.
Help Entry for the new feat Improved Throw Creature in KotC 2.
- Fixed a source of crashes in combat when a creature has disarmed someone who has an ongoing condition such as Bleeding. Upon applying the effect of bleeding to the character, there could be a crash because of the Disarmed condition giving one more condition to the character (the condition No Shield Bonus to AC), thereby invalidating the pointer to the data of the Bleeding effect. It's a memory-related bug so it would not happen every time. The bug could also happen when a Death Knight moves close to another creature, applying the effect of the Death Knight's aura.
- Fixed a number of bugs and issues concerning the Bleeding condition, in particular when several characters have the Bleeding condition, and when monsters have natural attacks that cause bleeding. Also improved the Combat-Log reporting for Bleeding and Bleeding increases. Also improved the help entries for the Monster Ability Bleeding, the Death Knight feat Vicious Strike, and the weapon enchantment Vicious.
- Fixed a bug with summon spells that could be targeted very far from the caster.
- The game will play a sound effect when Pin attempts are unsuccessful.
- Fixed a bunch of Combat-Log errors when the player uses a potion, scroll, wand or other item.
- You'll be able to Counterspell a spell cast from a scroll or wand.
- Corrected the item descriptions of all the magic acorns and the Lesser Fireball Necklace to specify that their activation is a supernatural ability (not a spell-like ability).
- Fixed a bug in the module editor that could cause crashes.
- Fixed position problems with the Prone sprites of various Trolls.
- When targeting a spell with a metamagic effect, the game will display it at the top, e.g. Empowered Fireball.
- Fixed issues with the Formation Screen when setting as leader (or removing as leader) a creature that occupies more than one square.
- Fixed issues in the Token / Sprite selection screen when the character occupies more than one square.
- Improved the help entry about Attacks of Opportunity with a link to the help entry for Combat Actions and links to the help entries for all the feats that remove AOOs.
- Added some text and links in the help entries for Improved Grapple, Greater Grapple, and Break Free. Also fixed an error in the help entry for Grapple (there is no penalty for Grapple Attacks even if you don't have the feat Improved Grapple).
- Improved the combat interface so that all of the shortcut keys are displayed when mousing over an option. Also fixed some Combat Action display issues during combat, and a display issue in the Party Creation screen.
- Fixed some issues with the menus when you want to use the keyboard to select an option rather than the mouse.
- Fixed a broken link at the bottom of the help entry for Critical Hits. Also fixed the help link when right clicking on the Combat Actions Rearm and Activate Special.
- In the Creature Editor, normally, when you change the unique name of a creature, the game will update the name of the creature in all of the scripts of the module. This will no longer happen if you have loaded a creature file (such as the creature file from a saved game) since the loaded file is not the module's creature file. Also fixed some interface issues in the Creature Editor in the Feats and Abilities screen.
- Added some code to accelerate gameplay in combat.
The KotC 2 Spell Quickbar with Custom Hotkeys.
List of changes in KotC 2 Version 1.54
- When you sell something, the item will now appear in the trader's inventory in case you'd like to buy it back later.
- The script command 'Give item to character' can now be used to give trader NPCs more than 16 items. So, you can now have a shop with many items, but you'll have to use a script in order to add any items above the initial 16 which can be placed directly in the editor through the NPC's Inventory tab in the Creature Properties screen. Note: a single script command can be used to give multiple items to a character.
- Fixed some issues when trying to sell a bag or coffer containing items, or a stack of gold coins, to a trader NPC. Also fixed a bug that would happen after buying an item from an NPC if the NPC's dialogue was supposed to continue after opening the Trading Screen.
- Fixed bugs when using Shift + B (or shift + click on item) to buy five items in one go from a trader NPC, when fewer than five units of the moused-over item are available, or when mousing over a non-stackable item such as a weapon.
- The shortcut keys to buy five items in one go (Shift + B or Shift + click on item) will now work with both the Left Shift key and the Right Shift key. Also, when buying five items in one go, the item's sound effect will be played only once (not five times).
- Improved the script command 'Set quest text' which you can use to set quest descriptions in the player's Quest Journal. I've added a new option: 'Append text only if the description does not already contain this text'. If you want to use the journal to record clues obtained from various sources, this option will be useful as the Quest Journal will only be updated when something new needs to be added to the Quest Journal. I'll surely make use of it for the upcoming modules.
- Added the White Robe sprite for your characters, and for module creators who want to create new robes, perhaps with healing powers. To let your character wear the White Robe, open his or her Character Sheet, then left click on the character's token image in the top-left corner of the screen in order to open the 'Please Select Token / Sprite' screen for your character. Then, in the first dropdown box from the top, select 'Silver Robe'. Make sure that the option to 'Create Sprite Automatically' is ticked. Then click Okay. The Silver Robe matches the white wings quite nicely. It's good for Angel NPCs, too.
- In the Combat Log, when displaying the Armour Class list of modifiers, clicking on the line 'Negated Dexterity Bonus to Armour Class' was opening the help entry for Armour Class. Now it will open the help entry for 'No Dexterity bonus to AC'.
- Improved the help entries for the Grapple combat action and the Grappling condition.
- Given the size category 'Small' to all of the Giant Rats and Dire Rats in Augury of Chaos and the Tutorial Adventure. Previously, they were Medium-size creatures.
- Improved the projectile animation of the spell 'Turn Pebble to Boulder' and added four boulder images to the list of item images that can be presented during scripted dialogues. They can also be selected when creating a new spell.
- In the Tutorial Adventure, added some text to the dialogue displayed just before the final battle. The text lets the player know that he or she can now use the party's resources with abandon.
The new Combat Actions Menu for KotC 2 with a test character.
- Characters will now lose the True Strike condition after launching a combat manoeuvre or grapple action.
- When a creature attempts a grapple against a character with the True Strike condition, the character will no longer benefit from the +20 bonus on the opposed grapple check. Likewise, when a creature attempts a Sunder, Disarm or Feint action against a character with the True Strike condition, the character will not receive +20 on the opposed attack roll.
- Fixed problems with large creatures being able to target out-of-reach characters when squeezing near walls (or characters being able to target out-of-reach squeezing monsters). For that, I had to create a new condition, 'Squeezing'. A really tough thing to fix - I had to do a tonne of tweaks. Hopefully, I didn't introduce any new bugs because of that. Time will tell. The Giant Spider Queen in the High Sewers, Queen Sattram, is one example of a creature that may often be squeezing near walls, because she's so big.
- Fixed a bug with the field of view of creatures occupying more than one square.
- When mousing over a creature to attack it, if the creature has Mirror Images, the number of Mirror Images will be displayed in the tooltip information box.
- Fixed a bug with the reach of large creatures wielding a Reach Weapon. Reach weapons were doubling the reach distance instead of just adding a single square.
- Fixed a bug with the reach of very large creatures when their line-of-sight maximum distance wasn't enough to grant them the full extent of their reach in combat.
- Added some tooltip information when mousing over the small Psionic Power Point expense buttons, for people who may have difficulty reading the content of the tiny circles.
- Improved the information tooltip when mousing over a trader's available items. It will display the quantity available in store, or the item's number of charges.
- Fixed display bugs in the Local Map Screen when there are some text notes on the map. Some text notes could have a fractional position, reducing the quality of the text display.
- Fixed a damage-display problem when the energy damage on a creature is reduced to zero points.
- Added some code to accelerate gameplay in combat.
New isometric dungeon map for the upcoming KotC 2 modules.
Next Steps for Knights of the Chalice 2
Essentially, aside from the planned addition of new high-resolution sprites, I've now finished upgrading the game engine with all the new features I wanted to add. I'll now be focusing a lot more on the new adventure modules. The next development steps are the following:
- Work on the three upcoming adventure modules. Create the new world map & new dungeon maps.
- Hire a graphic designer to create new sprites, new maps and other types of artwork.
- Fix any remaining issues mentioned on the Steam Forum, GOG Forum and the website Forums.
- Implement additional features such as new monster abilities, subraces, familiars & items.
As always, if you find bugs or if you have any feedback, thoughts and suggestions, please feel free to let me know here, or
in the Forums, or by email at
enquiries@heroicfantasygames.com.
Thank You So Much For Your Support, Legendary Heroes of the Realm! Best Wishes ^_^
