COX 2 Ver. 1.00.84 release

Another Holiday update!  I couldn't let the year go by without getting up all the stuff I've been working on.  There's some new content, some improvements, but mostly a whole lot of bug fixes that are overdue!  

I haven't gotten up a lot of updates this year because I've spent the pandemic working on a brand new game.  Caverns of Xaskazien 2 will continue to receive updates, and will remain free, as always, but if you ever wanted to support the developer, please consider throwing a wishlist at Stop the Saturnians, coming early in February or March of 2022.  You can check it out (and make me very, very happy) by looking here:  https://store.steampowered.com/app/1785100/Stop_the_Saturnians/

NOW!  On to what's new in Caverns 2!

Major Improvements:

- New Booby Traps: Curse of Pain, Multiple Vine Snares.

- New Mundane Items: Curse of Pain Trap Kit, Multiple Vine Snares Trap Kit, Mindwarp Trap Kit, Grease Trap Kit, Dull Pendulum Blade Trap Kit, Pendulum Blade Trap Kit, Sharp Pendulum Blade Trap Kit, Ceiling Block Trap Kit, Boulder Trap Kit, Freeze Trap Kit, Sand Trap Kit, Spiked Springboard Trap Kit, Alarm Trap Kit, Burning Oil Trap Kit, Stone Stomping Foot Trap Kit.

- New Map Tiles: Makeshift Door, Rounded Archway.

- Having more spells than you’re allowed to have (for instance, by learning them while in possession of a Mnemonic Enhancer, then dropping the Mnemonic Enhancer) will now result in random spells getting erased from your spellbook until back down to what you’re allowed to learn. Perks and items that can prevent spell erasure will have effect, but this will keep happening every turn until you’re down to the level you’re allowed.

Minor Improvements:

- Found Trap Kits should now correspond to Dungeon Level the same as hostile Booby Traps do. Thematically this is an improvement, but it also means low level would-be trappers won’t find awesome Trap Kits they’re afraid to use, for fear of killing themselves, and deep diving characters won’t be likely to find useless Trap Kits.

- Added more high score titles.

- Pendulum Blade Traps can now be sprung at deeper levels, since there are three tiers for the type of Trap they are (Slow/Dull, normal, Fast/Sharp). They can now be sprung at all but the earliest or deepest levels.

- Increased frequency of Trap Kits by 25% (because players focusing on Trap Setting were finding too few) and by 50% in Kobold Lairs.

- When entering a new procedurally generated map, the initial placement of Smoke, Acidic Vapour, Poison Gas and Stench based on surrounding squares should be fuller and more logical.

- If any kind of water craft now finds itself on dry land, it will be instantly destroyed (to get rid of the weirdness of querying, say, a Row Boat square and getting info about a rowboat that no longer serves any purpose instead of the info about the square it occupies).

- Added clarification to query of Bone Mould/Zombified/Lichcraft armours that the damage that can be reduced to 0 is incoming only.

- Added slight clarification to query of Flame Augmenter, that it not only causes monsters to add 3 Fire damage when it hits, but that the Augmenter is the thing contributing the prefix “Flaming” to all the monsters on the level.

- Friendly Traps that monsters trigger and can then Dodge or Avoid will now scroll the appropriate phrase if they successfully Dodge or Avoid the results.

- Goblin Overlords, Hobgoblin Overlords and Orcish Overlords now have a 20% chance to summon allies (instead of 10%), and a 20% chance of losing the ability after each success (instead of 10%). This should let the ability come into play more frequently, without making them overwhelming.

- Changed the hotkey for toggling stealth mode from “y” to “s”, both because it’s more intuitive, and to prevent people from accidentally toggling stealth mode when they think they’re answering “yes” to a prompt.

- Clarified in query of Phoenix and Coffin Dweller that if they return to life, they do so at full health.

- Added the “improved relations” sound effect to Meeting of Minds event.

- After detecting a Pit Trap of any kind, you no longer have to wait for the detection sound effect to stop playing before you can dismiss the text prompt, because boring!

- The text output of triggering a Spiked Springboard will now include the explanation of the trap’s general abilities.

- Reworded query of any Ring/Amulet of the Bushman/of the Logger/of Clear Cutting and the query of Vinescourge to make their effects clearer.

- Made Ooze and Jelly also able to enter Bramble, in addition to Iron Bars and Closed Portcullises, because they would just flow around the branches.

- Wereboars will now drop Boar Meat if killed. Their base Attack value was raised from 127 to 130 to compensate for the added value.

- Added clarification to query of Intelligence stat that fractional skill point increases based on Intelligence will be held for future levels.

- While under the effects of an Electric Touch spell, your punches will now make the Sparks spell sound effect instead of the Punch sound effect.

- Destroying a Corrupted Shrine is now considered a Good Act.

- Increased efficacy of Repair spell and Reform miracle to repair 12% to 25% condition, instead of 5% to 25%, because when I previously nerfed it I went too far.

Bug Fixes:

- Fixed error not outputting proper text when you find a Rope Snare Trap Kit.

- Fixed typos in text output of drinking a Potion of Fortune.

- Fixed errors causing Spider Climb not to function with regards to entering or exiting Chasms.

- Fixed error causing Spider Climb spell, when cast by Tree Men characters, to instead have a Featherfall effect.

- Fixed typo in query of Salen Ruins title.

- Fixed outdated info in query of some Friendly Traps claiming the monster had a 50% chance of being affected, when its chance was actually based on its Speed.

- Fixed error not resetting your “Points Toward Bonus Skill Point” with the start of each new game. (The secret tally that adds your intelligence to a pool to determine when you get a bonus skill point).

- Fixed errors not properly fading the graphics for some friendly traps when they are sprung by a monster.

- Fixed error allowing NPCs to trigger friendly traps.

- Fixed very subtle errors where the colour of floor seen through open doors of all types on the green tiled floor levels and Brick Tiled Floor levels were a subtly different shade than when not seen through doors.

- Fixed text overwrite in query of explanation as to why the Talltiowardan religion is not recommended for Gnomes.

- Fixed error allowing Extinction event to permanently kill off NPC classes.

- Fixed new error causing first turn Events to enact after you’ve taken your first turn on a map, instead of before.

- Fixed error showing generic Mundane Item icon instead of Trap Kit icon next to Trap Kits when listing them as Retrievable Items in your square.

- Fixed error causing Staff of Person Charming to have no associated graphic.

- Fixed typo in text output of Blue Lady Welcome event.

- Fixed error sometimes popping up Event announcements twice. This may also have fixed some game crashes that seem tied to that second announcement.

- Fixed error not outputting odds of success when querying a Buried Object.

- Fixed typo when unsuccessfully using many different trap kits, telling you you’d “trigged” the trap (instead of “triggered”).

- Fixed error making Sewerman monsters visible from more than 1 square away.

- Fixed error outputting wrong graphic when you are subjected to a disease via a Plague event.

- Fixed text overwrite in query of Friendly Flame Trap.

- Fixed errors in both initial text output and query of Test of Reflexes event not mentioning that the event applies to not just Booby Traps but Pit Traps, also.

- Fixed error in query of Test of Reflexes event not mentioning that you will also be rewarded for detecting (not just triggering or disarming) traps.

- Fixed error not triggering Test of Reflexes event if you detect a trap via the Rogue’s Spot Trap perk.

- Fixed errors not triggering Test of Reflexes event if you detect a trap via the Tomb Raider’s Better Safe Than Sorry perk or the Detect Traps spell.

- Fixed error not triggering Test of Reflexes event if you detect a trap via a Map.

- Fixed very rare error that could occasionally lay down mine tracks but not provide a mine entrance or mine exit at either end.

- Added catch to auto-walk that may prevent very, very rare game freezes from occurring. Still testing.

- Fixed typos in text output when you unlock the Web Slinger perk.

- Fixed multiple errors outputting the wrong odds when querying Bramble if you were wearing a Ring/Amulet of the Bushman/of the Logger/of Clear Cutting or using any weapon of Disorientation/of Confusion/of Bafflement.

- Fixed errors not immediately visually moving Gnomish Bore with rider if rider was teleported by a Telepad or Faulty Telepad.

- Fixed bug in query of Slime not mentioning that it can enter Iron Bars, Closed Portcullises and Bramble.

- Fixed error allowing Illusionary/Hallucinated monsters to attempt to hack their way through Bramble and either succeed (damaging the bramble), or fail (getting hurt). Now they’ll still make the sound effect as if they’re trying to hack through, but they’ll neither be able to succeed nor fail.

- Fixed minor error calling Sceptre of Resurrection a Staff of Resurrection when you use it.

- Fixed errors in reading of Acid Resistance tome and Physical Resistance tome that could in rare instances prevent you from reading it for completely invalid reasons.

- Fixed further rare errors in reading of Acid Resistance tome and Physical Resistance tome that could mess up other skills and these skills, too, if you were supposed to be prevented from learning the skill based on your Race.

- Fixed error giving Military Fork graphic a white background, instead of a red one - this would also have previously prevented Military Forks with a suffix enchantment from having a glowing background.

- Fixed error that could occasionally drift monsters or monster corpses from a liquid square up onto shore.

- Fixed errors that could play the “resist” sound and scroll the word “Resisted” over a monster’s head if you hit it with an Acid Jet spell, didn’t kill it, and it didn’t resist acid but had no defense to be lowered by the spell.

- Fixed error that would output gibberish at the tail end of the spell results if you cast Acid Jet at a monster, didn’t kill it, and it didn’t resist acid but had no defense to be lowered by the spell.

- Fixed error causing Friendly Basilisk Traps to kill the enemy 100% of the time, instead of 50% of the time.

- Fixed error only allowing Lamp Oil to be used on Unlit Lanterns.

- Fixed error not recognizing Strangler Vines as Aberrations.

- Fixed errors pasting image of Acid Vapour Trap instead of the appropriate image if you accidentally trigger a Smoke Trap Kit or Steam Burst Trap Kit while trying to set it.

- Fixed text overwrite in display of Barbarian Unique Ability when creating a character.

- Fixed error falsely reporting your odds of falling asleep in Sleeping Gas when you queried it as 0% under every circumstance.

- Fixed text overwrites in queries of Swamp Golem variants.

- Fixed text overwrite in query of Pterodactyl Lair title.

- Fixed typo in explanation of effects of Hex Traps when they trigger.

- Fixed text overwrite in query of Quest spell book.

- Fixed error referring to what is now a Staff of Psychic Fear as a Wand of Psychic Fear (which it used to be).

- Fixed error causing Energy Crystals (and possibly some other methods of recharging wands/staves/rods) to no longer function properly.

- Fixed error not allowing Faithful perk (or anything else) to resist Faith drain by a Corrupted Shrine.

- Fixed errors making Wandjinas (and possibly Water Elementals?) hesitant to either wander into or charge through water squares, even though they’re immune.

- Fixed error allowing Water Elemental to drown a Wandjinas, even though Wandjinas is immune to Water.

- Fixed outdated info in query of Reform miracle, claiming the miracle will restore 25% to the condition of a Weapon or Armour, when in fact it restores a random amount up to 25%.

- Fixed error displaying the identifying swirl of a spellcaster, missile variant or hero beneath such Giant Antlions, even if the Antlion was still invisible because it hadn’t been encountered yet.