Indie Urtuk: The Desolation - open-world dark fantasy turn-based RPG

[Darth Canoli]

Party level is 14-20+ halfway through the swamps.
The knight (protector) is way behind, does he get xp from shielding an ally ?

The bloodknight was infected by a werebeast and i chose to cure him, had to replace him by an untrained (high level but untrained feats) assassin, that's when i realized how powerful the Bloodknight was.

Might try the Berserker as a backup unit when i get a good axe.

Sure, i got the Agi = Fatigue thing but it doesn't seem to do much even when they have 25 AGI as they're all exhausted after 3 strikes.

 

[MadSheepStudios]

yes, the swamp spearman (you call him knight) and all others with ally shielding get XP (= like hitting an enemy).
The werebeasts are very powerful (I might nerve them in future), but they require flesh. Otherwise they will eat other party members, until all dead or werebeasts. The same applies for Vampires..

I might test the bloodknight and see if he is really that powerful, I've never had luck to have him too long alive - he is quite squishy

 

[Darth Canoli]

I don't have a swamp spearman yet (was quite good in an earlier build too), just checked, i meant guardian, his shield an ally ability is just too good but i remember now the swamp spearman has it too with a higher damage.

Also, seems like the Area boss disappeared (at least in the first one), it's a shame, i like bosses.

It would be amazing if you could work out some fantastic bosses like in King's Bounty or even Darkest Dungeons (one of its best feature along with the intro and the music)

Checked the team javelin 23, crossbow and bloodknight 22, priest 15, guardian 14 (spearman 17 but he was benched early in the swamp area) warmonk 19.

Bloodknight stats (lvl 22) 30 30 24 12 - 340 DMG, 1118 HP, not squishy at all and between aegis and the guardian, he only gets hit by ranged units and of course, feast, bloodlust and counterstrike II as mutators.
He's invincible. ;-)

 

[MadSheepStudios]

Yes I would love to put some boss just before the zone exit. But I am missing the graphic assets I could recycle the existing ones, but I don't want to .. So hopefully in near future we add the bosses for each zone - I like boss fight also at the end.
About bloodknight - hmm ok, I might make him a tiny bit squishier - maybe -10% HP..

 

[Darth Canoli]

Well, the crossbowman is even more powerful and so is the spearman (with some piercing armor mutators), they can throw 1K+ damage, just as much as the Bloodknight's mansplitter skill.
You can also prepare two elevated tiles with the spearman while trapping with the crossbow and by the time the enemies reach you, they're fucked.

But don't take my word for it yet, i don't know if the other units (except for the crossbow) got some new skills like mansplitter.

 

[MadSheepStudios]

Well, the crossbowman is even more powerful and so is the spearman (with some piercing armor mutators), they can throw 1K+ damage, just as much as the Bloodknight's mansplitter skill.
You can also prepare two elevated tiles with the spearman while trapping with the crossbow and by the time the enemies reach you, they're fucked.

But don't take my word for it yet, i don't know if the other units (except for the crossbow) got some new skills like mansplitter.

they do
For example Assassin gets 'Death trap' (lvl 13) - on enter, target recieves dmg of 60% HP.
All other classes also have some special ability/trait unlocking atl vl 12-16.

 

[luj1]

Here's a honest question, why should I play this over Battle Brothers? What does your game have to offer that's unique or done better?

nobody forces you to play Urtuk

Obviously. It was just a question.

Why would you even compare this to Battle Brothers?

Because it looks similar? Not sure what's so shocking about it.

 

[hello friend]

Ey has wesnoth changed significantly in the last 10 years? I remember it as surprisingly decent for an open source game, but not really enough to keep me engrossed longer than a few days. Haven't followed development at all since then.

 

[MadSheepStudios]

Ey has wesnoth changed significantly in the last 10 years? I remember it as surprisingly decent for an open source game, but not really enough to keep me engrossed longer than a few days. Haven't followed development at all since then.

I haven't played that 10 y. ago, played it only current version - and it's really good. When I run that for the first time, I was discouraged by the ugly visuals, but after few hours I realized that Wesnoth has some soul in it I played, 4 campaigns to end and some online also. It was also a great inspiration for Urtuk.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Ey has wesnoth changed significantly in the last 10 years? I remember it as surprisingly decent for an open source game, but not really enough to keep me engrossed longer than a few days. Haven't followed development at all since then.

Played it 10 years ago or so as well and had a lot of fun, tried it again last year, many campaigns have been added but the transition to a modern 16/9 screen made it painful to play for me.

Game mechanism didn't evolve one bit, i feel like they should have been working on game mechanism instead or releasing more campaigns than anyone in his right mind can play, feels like after 10+ years of development, they should release something better than an extremely cheap version of Fantasy General (without the great OST, the graphics, the management mechanics, the amazing units, ...)

Play Warbanners if you haven't already and save Wesnoth for the next drought.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Back to Urtuk.

Maybe a bug ? (Healer stopping to make medecine)

The healer i recruited started to make medecine in the first area and i might have ran out of blood or life essence, now, either for that reason or because of the transition to the new area (swamps) or both, he won't make any fucking medecine anymore and i have 100+ units of both and 0 medecine (find some from scavenge hunt sometimes but the wound rate is a bit high)

Well, i didn't find the black market in the first area (didn't check south eastern corner) and it's nowhere to be found in the swamps either but this time, i really have to find it ...

 

[MadSheepStudios]

Back to Urtuk.

Maybe a bug ? (Healer stopping to make medecine)

The healer i recruited started to make medecine in the first area and i might have ran out of blood or life essence, now, either for that reason or because of the transition to the new area (swamps) or both, he won't make any fucking medecine anymore and i have 100+ units of both and 0 medecine (find some from scavenge hunt sometimes but the wound rate is a bit high)

Well, i didn't find the black market in the first area (didn't check south eastern corner) and it's nowhere to be found in the swamps either but this time, i really have to find it ...

Black market is alwyas 1x in any given zone.
About the healer medicine creation - he has 6% chance per day to create one from 20 life essence and 10 blood.
But I will make it guaranteed that within 10days he will create at least 1x medicine. The RNG is just something I have to 'improve'

 

[Darth Canoli]

I think the Berserker should have a fatigue-free second strike, if there has to be a counterpart, maybe a 5% current or Full HP loss per additional strike ?
The fatigue system really drags him down.

The Assassin should have an evasion passive instead of the death trap, the death trap is nice but his purpose is to backstab and if he backstabs, he's mostly fucked ...

 

[rusty_shackleford]

OP needs updated with current info, links are mostly dead.
CryptRat

 

[MadSheepStudios]

I think the Berserker should have a fatigue-free second strike, if there has to be a counterpart, maybe a 5% current or Full HP loss per additional strike ?
The fatigue system really drags him down.

The Assassin should have an evasion passive instead of the death trap, the death trap is nice but his purpose is to backstab and if he backstabs, he's mostly fucked ...

Interesting idea with Berserker - what about on-max focus (when he also gains the double-strike) he gains +50% fatigue, but looses 15% HP? In that case he would be able to deliver that second attack.

 

[CryptRat]

OP needs updated with current info, links are mostly dead.
CryptRat

Thanks, I updated the description and added the link to the demo, I don't know if a trailer or gameplay video with the new visuals is available.

 

[MadSheepStudios]

OP needs updated with current info, links are mostly dead.
CryptRat

Thanks for the tip! I'd love too, but the First post is not mine, so I cannot edit it... any suggestions?

 

[MadSheepStudios]

OP needs updated with current info, links are mostly dead.
CryptRat

Thanks, I updated the description and added the link to the demo, I don't know if a trailer or gameplay video with the new visuals is available.

wow that was quick! Thanks a lot friend!

 

[Darth Canoli]

Interesting idea with Berserker - what about on-max focus (when he also gains the double-strike) he gains +50% fatigue, but looses 15% HP? In that case he would be able to deliver that second attack.

Good idea, was also thinking about the "strong against ..." second/third strike as he seems to get many hits but never nearly enough fatigue to carry them out (with a decent amount of AGI like 25-30 on level 20-25)

What about the Assassin ?
Didn't he have a sneak/invisibility perk ? That would do it as well, didn't play it enough this playthrough.

 

[MadSheepStudios]

Assassin - no he did not, but with all of his traps he can be played maybe as supporter, and when good positioning occurs, he can be a finisher with his backstabbing..

 

[Darth Canoli]

Assassin - no he did not, but with all of his traps he can be played maybe as supporter, and when good positioning occurs, he can be a finisher with his backstabbing..

The two ranged units and the priest are way better support units, i feel like he's using a spot for nothing, either he stays safe and attack front-line while being protected, dealing very little damage and using traps or he dies.

3 spots being taken by the crossbow, the javelin and the priest, you need a cc damage dealer, one protector and either the warmonk or a spearman or better a swamp spearman, the swamp engager isn't too bad either.

CC damage dealer being the bloodknight or the berserker.

The assassin is clearly the worst choice and you need all the strength you can muster for the toughest fights.
It's a shame, i like backstabbing things in video games but there's too many opponents, from the second area, to make him viable except for the easy missions where anyone could do the job.

What about giving him a jump move (escape) like the warmonk but only triggered after backstabbing a unit ?
Backstabbing wouldn't skip his turn, just like crossbowman & bloodknight passives and he could jump 2 tiles away.
Would certainly be fun.

 

[MadSheepStudios]

Assassin - no he did not, but with all of his traps he can be played maybe as supporter, and when good positioning occurs, he can be a finisher with his backstabbing..

The two ranged units and the priest are way better support units, i feel like he's using a spot for nothing, either he stays safe and attack front-line while being protected, dealing very little damage and using traps or he dies.

3 spots being taken by the crossbow, the javelin and the priest, you need a cc damage dealer, one protector and either the warmonk or a spearman or better a swamp spearman, the swamp engager isn't too bad either.

CC damage dealer being the bloodknight or the berserker.

The assassin is clearly the worst choice and you need all the strength you can muster for the toughest fights.
It's a shame, i like backstabbing things in video games but there's too many opponents, from the second area, to make him viable except for the easy missions where anyone could do the job.

What about giving him a jump move (escape) like the warmonk but only triggered after backstabbing a unit ?
Backstabbing wouldn't skip his turn, just like crossbowman & bloodknight passives and he could jump 2 tiles away.
Would certainly be fun.

ok I see your points, pretty valid ..
the idea with hit-and-run is good, I like it - will try to figure something out. The jump idea is cool. Maybe instead of a jump, after a successful backstab give him +4 moves to retreat? Or give him Aegist (1x charge)? so something which is worth the risk..

 

[Darth Canoli]

Both of your ideas could work, mostly the moves if he could move through enemy control area, because if there's 3/4 enemies incoming + ranged units, the aegis won't do much for his survivability as he would be the closest unit and the one target.

 

[Darth Canoli]

More input, nitpicking mostly :

• Traps become invisible the turn they're stepped on before the units even move, sometimes a whole bunch of them are invisible when the battle starts, it's not a big deal as there's no friendly fire but i thought i had to mention it, honorable mention for being able to step on "friendly" traps as opposed to the million games that do the exact opposite.
• Sometimes, it's difficult to identify the nature of the difficult terrain under the highlighted tiles, it can be a problem when there is deadly ones like the holes in the swamps.
• Would be great to be able to tag bosses with devil's pact or if they looked different, somewhat, something distinct enough (yeah, i lost 2 digits medicine over that already)

Hold the fortress missions :

• Amazing, felt like Warbanners & Xenonauts missions of the same kind, which is a very good thing, holding positions against 20-30 enraged elite units was extremely fun.
• Maybe the reward should be a legendary (or two) weapon(s), some way easier missions give one, or 5+ or so medicine (got 1 medicine + 2 rare already obsolete weapons) just to match the mission's difficulty ?

 

[MadSheepStudios]

More input, nitpicking mostly :

• Traps become invisible the turn they're stepped on before the units even move, sometimes a whole bunch of them are invisible when the battle starts, it's not a big deal as there's no friendly fire but i thought i had to mention it, honorable mention for being able to step on "friendly" traps as opposed to the million games that do the exact opposite.
• Sometimes, it's difficult to identify the nature of the difficult terrain under the highlighted tiles, it can be a problem when there is deadly ones like the holes in the swamps.
• Would be great to be able to tag bosses with devil's pact or if they looked different, somewhat, something distinct enough (yeah, i lost 2 digits medicine over that already)

Hold the fortress missions :

• Amazing, felt like Warbanners & Xenonauts missions of the same kind, which is a very good thing, holding positions against 20-30 enraged elite units was extremely fun.
• Maybe the reward should be a legendary (or two) weapon(s), some way easier missions give one, or 5+ or so medicine (got 1 medicine + 2 rare already obsolete weapons) just to match the mission's difficulty ?

Traps - yes I know it, I have this on my to-do list, but gameplay/balancing are my top priority now.
Good point about spotting hazard with highl.hexes
The traits are visible in the tooltip window when ? is hovered over - I think the player should investigate enemies before he engages them..
I'll check the rewards in "Under the siege" - it depends on how many survived -> when all survive then you get a high-tier leg.item and +3 medicine and lots of trilium + alcohol. But when no one survives, you get only trilium, alcohol and 1 medicine...