COX 2 Ver. 1.36.89 released!

So, the trend of biting off things I've been avoiding for fear of the difficulty in implementing continues!  Lots of new content here, as always, and lots of improvements and bug fixes, but the highlight will surely go to the 90 new monsters.  (The intention is to add a further 180 over the upcoming months).

If you're patching, as always, just unzip the patch file in your main game folder and answer yes to all prompts that ask if you want to overwrite an existing file.  However, because of the new (and improved!) way in which the game handles the loading of monster graphics and sounds, it's harder for me to ascertain in advance if anything has been overlooked and left out of the patch.  If, after patching, you notice an invisible monster that shouldn't be invisible, please tell me right away, so I can fix it!  (Though, the odds anything was overlooked are very low).

Check out the quarterly expansion of the Caverns:

Major Improvements:

- 90 new monsters (all with unique graphics, animations, sound effects, Lairs and bosses): Stinger Monkey, Wild Dog, Rag Golem, Half-Ogre, Booka, Fire Beetle, Mercenary Soldier, Flying Skull, Dimetrodon, Unnatural Thing, Blood Hawk, Fire Demon, Forest Troll, Rock Fiend, Giant Tarantula, Gigantopithecus, Draugr, Ceratosaurus, Hungry Books, Giant Goat, Ice Demon, Oni, Pukwudgie, Phase Spider, Daughter of Salnash, Lost Child, Cloud Dragon, Mutant Ape, Sabre Toothed Lion, Shaggy Demon, Jackal, Gehenna’s Lowest, Grubach, Bogie, Carrion Worm, Mistress of Venom, White Handed Spirit, Ruin Lizard, Greenworm Vine, Leopard, Soil Beast, Hill Troll, Blood Fiend, Giant Boring Beetle, Mountaintop Fighter, Sheet Phantom, Acid Breathing Dragon, Pudding, White Ape, Canis Demon, Night Giant, Green Gaunt, Bugman, Xeromancer, Pyreling, Astral Dragon, Hornan Centaur, Wooly Rhinoceros, Caped Faceless Demon, Magog, Lemure, Nephilim, Coblynau, Large Spider, Gatekeeper, Wild Corpse, Golden Drake, Blue Mold, Fire Bat, Misery Demon, Desert Troll, Half-fiend, Cave Harvestman, Cowled Murderer, Kuei, Stone Dragon, Insectile Lizardwolf, Grasslands Tiger, Abyssal Spirit, Sand Giant, Kallikantzaro, Great-Mawed Worm, Were-dragon, Vetala, Amethyst Dragon, Mountataur, Terror Bird, Nyxfang, Mountain Troll, Duergar.

- 1 New Playable Race: Merfolk.

- 9 New Perks: Tropical Touch, Sea Blood, Depths Perception, Water Magic, Water Sense, Child of Tsen-Tsun Vie, Sea Alliance, Mystify Water, Repel Cryptid.

- 1 New Legendary Mundane Item: Book of Artifact Lore.

- 1 New Mundane Item: Mystical Water.

- 4 New Spells: Seal Fissure, Prestige, Repulsion, Create Golem.

- 1 New Map Tile: Paralyzing Gas Vent.

- 18 New Jewellery Enchantments: of Demon Distraction/of Demon Protection/of Demon Warding, of Dragon Distraction/of Dragon Protection/of Dragon Warding, of Spider Distraction/of Spider Protection/of Spider Warding, of Troll Distraction/of Troll Protection/of Troll Warding, of Dinosaur Distraction/of Dinosaur Protection/of Dinosaur Warding, of Floating/of Swimming/of Diving.

- 21 New Weapon Enchantments: Enigmatic/Mystical/Arcane, Anti-Demon/Demonbane/Demon Slaying, Anti-Dragon/Dragonbane/Dragon Slaying, Anti-Spider/Spiderbane/Spider Slaying, Anti-Troll/Trollbane/Troll Slaying, Anti-Dinosaur/Dinobane/Dinosaur Slaying, Anti-Lycanthrope/Werebane/Lycanthrope Slaying.

- Clerics who worship neutral gods will no longer get the perk of Bless Water, but instead Mystify Water. They will also no longer get the perk of Turn Evil, but Repel Cryptid. These changes were made to keep them further differentiated from the Clerics of good gods.

Minor Improvements:

- Updated manual.

- Mages have had their starting spell of Water Breathing changed to Blur, to ensure Merfolk Mages aren’t starting with a spell that has absolutely no use to them.

- Spells in each of the Low Power, Mid Power and High Power spell tabs will now always be listed alphabetically.

- Monster graphics only load now as needed, which should improve initial load times somewhat, despite the addition of many new monsters.

- Most monster sound effects only load now as needed, which should further improve initial load times.

- Made Anti-Magic Aura graphic more transparent.

- During a Reality Breakdown event, non-Fractured Walls now only have a 1% chance to move. Once they become Fractured, this returns to the former 10% chance. This was done to help lessen the deadliness of the Reality Breakdown event. Further adjustments may yet be required, we’ll see.

- Some Goblinoids will have their Attack ratings raised by 1 point (due to new rounding off of fractions).

- Some Insectoids will have their Defense ratings raised by 1 point (due to new rounding off of fractions).

- Cave Bears now have 50% Cold Resistance, since they were adapted to cold climates, and to help differentiate them from the upcoming Short Faced Bears. (Cave Bear Experience value is also raised slightly).

- Multiple monsters have been given the sub-type (Demon). This opens the door to new weapon/jewellery variants, spells, etc. that affect only this sub-type.

- Some monsters now have the sub-type (Dragon) which opens possibilities for future weapon enchantments/spells, etc.

- Some monsters now have the sub-type (Troll) for the same reason.

- Some monsters now have the sub-type (Spider) for the same reason.

- Querying Geography skill in game or during character creation will now remind you that you need at least Basic Cartography to read any map you find.

- Trying to bash down a locked or barricaded door and failing will now output in the text output the damage you receive, as well as telling you you failed.

- Gold Pans and Fishing Lines will now work adjacently to Rapids, Waterfalls or Frigid Water, too, because why not?

- There were many instances in themed areas where instead of applying a level appropriate booby trap, the game was simply applying a random booby trap from among all available in the game. This could result in ridiculously powerful traps being sprung early, or pitiful ones being sprung late in the game. These have all been repaired, which should make traps more appropriate in power to whatever stage of the game you’re at, and eliminate (or at least greatly reduce) cheap deaths due to out of depth traps.

- It will no longer be possible to disturb Bone Trees incongruously - for instance they won’t pop out of coffins and dead adventurers won’t turn out to be a giant tree made of skeletal limbs.

- Monsters can now catch Black Gut and Cellar Sight, both from sources that cause the disease specifically and from random disease sources. Monsters with Black Gut cannot eat (this affects certain monsters - for instance T-Rexes can no longer swallow you whole and Giant Maggots can’t devour corpses), but additionally, all monsters with Black Gut can no longer kill NPCs by entering their square. Monsters with Cellar Sight have both their Sight and Hearing ranges limited to a maximum of 3 squares. Sources that remove diseases from monsters can now remove these diseases, too.

- All Insectoids are now considered room temperature (since they’re not warm blooded) and join the list of monsters invisible to Infravision.

- Your hotkey for accessing the Map screen can now act as a toggle. Pressing it when you’re not on the Map screen will open the Map screen. Pressing it while you are on the Map screen will re-open whatever tab you last had open.

- Rings/Amulets of Elemental Distraction/of Elemental Protection/of Elemental Warding have had their defensive bonuses increased from 2.33 X that of similar items (that protect from one of the 9 major monster classes) to 5.45 X. This should make them more desirable as magic jewellery, instead of automatic throwaway items. Note that this increase (and the bonuses attached to all similar jewellery items) reflects the percentage of in-game monsters that WILL BE of this type, including those planned but that haven’t yet been inserted (but will be over the next 3 to 9 months). If further monsters of this type are added after that, these bonuses may need to be revisited.

- Rings/Amulets of Lycanthrope Distraction/of Lycanthrope Protection/of Lycanthrope Warding have similarly had their defensive bonuses increased from 2.33 X to 7.5 X, with all the same rationales and caveats as above.

- The Elemental and Lycanthrope protective rings/amulets along with the new Demon/Dragon/Spider/Troll/Dinosaur ones will cumulatively have the same chance of being found as the Elemental ones formerly did. This guarantees your inventory won’t get filled up with these specialist items, but still allows the new enchantments to be found. The same goes for the hyper-specialized new Weapon enchantments.

- Magic Sensitive/Magic Seeking/Magic Finding Rings/Amulets have had their bonus chance that found Weapons or Armour are enchanted increased from 7%/14%/21% to 10%/20%/30% to ensure they’re valuable enough to merit wearing.

- Witchdoctor’s/Crystethian/Emberkin Rings/Amulets have had their bonus EXP for spell kills increased from 5%/10%/15% to 8%/15%/23% to ensure they’re valuable enough to merit wearing.

- Wanderer’s/Nomad’s/Explorer’s Amulets/Rings have all been buffed from their previous EXP gain of 3X/5X/7X Dung. Level to 4X/7X/11X, to keep them worthwhile.

- Anti-Elemental/Primordial/Fundamental Weapons have had their To Hit Bonuses and Damage multipliers vs. Elementals increased a fair amount, to better account for the infrequency of Elementals.

- Tweaked the sound effects and order of operations when you plummet down a Treacherous Mineshaft.

- Prayers will be 60% more commonly found than they were, both to make the worship of Pantos easier, and because they’re cool and we don’t often see them.

- Spearmen/Spearmaidens have been added to the classes not recommended to worship Dorallas, because of the conflict between their Spear Fishing perk and Dorallas’ prohibition on eating meat.

- Dino Raid can now spawn any monster of type Dinosaur, not just the express 3 it formerly could.

- Your chance of climbing a Bean Stalk is now based on your current Dexterity, instead of being a flat 50%. Because of this, the Clamber perk has been altered - it still affects your odds of climbing Rubble as before, but for Bean Stalks increases your odds of success by 30%/60%/90% (of your former odds), depending on the level of the perk.

- Bean Stalks now come in 3 varieties, using different graphics: Thick, standard and Thin. Thick are more prevalent early in the game, standard more in the mid-game and Thin mostly in the late game (though that’s not a hard and fast rule). Thick Bean Stalks use your unmodified current Dexterity to determine % odds of success, whereas standard Bean Stalks use your current Dexterity/2 and Thin Beanstalks use your current Dexterity/3.

- The small “Fortunate” buff icon has been changed to be a smaller version of the Good Fortune miracle, to make sure the icons match when they’re pulsing in size.

- Previously, Level 3 weapon specializations (Swordplay, Archery etc.) or specialist Classes (Swordsman, Tribesman, etc.) which granted 25% extra damage with the chosen weapon type, always increased the damage by a minimum of 1 (applying this bonus to both their minimum and maximum damage ratings). This resulted in them being even stronger out of the gate than intended, and also led to some confusing calculations later on, where some of these effects compounded and yielded damage ranges that seemingly made no sense. The minimum +1 has now been eliminated, and the rounding off of the damage based on such calculations will also now be more accurate.

Bug Fixes:

- Fixed bug causing Vestonian Holy Symbols to grant you automatic success praying at Viean Shrines, and Viean Holy Symbols not to.

- Fixed error causing no information to be displayed when you query a Wandering Wall.

- Fixed error not Fracturing Walls that move from Reality Breakdown, making the event even more deadly than it was meant to be.

- Fixed text output for monster chance to break shackles AGAIN, cuz it was still wrong.

- Fixed error obscuring some text behind the OK button when you gain the Diminution effect.

- Fixed bugs where Heathen’s/Apostate’s/Heretics Rings/Amulets only worked for Low Power Spells.

- Fixed error still listing a monster’s ATT rating at 1/2 value when you query it while it’s blind (when the ATT is actually not affected, just the monster’s final chance to hit).

- Fixed minor error not explicitly freeing the memory for the Lavender image when you shut down the game (though I think it’s done automatically, regardless, so probably had no effect).

- Fixed errors messing up the casting cost of a few Viean Miracles.

- Fixed outdated info when querying Air Elementals - previously they had a 100% chance of scattering up to half your Inventory on hit, but that was changed to only a 25% chance of doing so some time back and not reflected in the query.

- Fixed persisting bug that was still occasionally causing a spell to recast instantly on reaching a new map, if you cast it in the same turn that you changed maps.

- Fixed error where Wicked/Vile/Unholy weapons weren’t displaying their bracketed, modified to hit value when querying them.

- Fixed errors with Pilgrim’s Tokens and Othitlo’s Stair Wish, not puncturing Cages, Shame Cages, Nets or Bubbles if you teleport out of them by use of either of these Magic Items.

- Fixed bug using the name “Gimset’s Horror” to describe both a special variant of Jelly and a Champion Monstrosity. (The latter has been renamed to “Gimset’s Terror”).

- Fixed 6 separate instances of spells or miracles that should not have been able to affect Gimset’s Horror, and yet were doing just that.

- Fixed multiple instances forgetting to randomize the Attack or Defense values of Gimset’s Horror.

- Fixed multiple instances calculating the Attack or Defense values of Berserkers, Pookas and Bugbear Berserkers at incorrect values.

- Fixed errors making all Mud Confined monsters, Lava Confined monsters and Acid Confined monsters a little weaker than they should have been.

- Fixed error that could very rarely return the wrong monster name for Lava Confined, Mud Confined or Acid Confined monsters.

- Fixed error in Nightmare Lairs that could turn every square to Permasmoke during generation.

- Fixed error causing Confusion Trap Kits to only Confuse you for 60 turns if you try to set one and accidentally trigger it, when they’re supposed to Confuse you for 120 turns.

- Fixed error preventing Call Spirit spell from summoning Death Spectres.

- Fixed error causing Lava Wight Bowmen to not make the sound of their bow shot half the time when they attack.

- Fixed multiple errors that could occasionally cause some monsters not to make the sound of their hitting the enemy in combat when they’re fighting another monster.

- Fixed error when a Steel Giant was fighting other monsters and gained Defense that would sometimes scroll the word “Attack” when it should have scrolled “Defense”.

- Fixed errors allowing the auto-walk and the auto-walk highlight to pass you through as yet undiscovered Illusory Walls, essentially revealing them and defeating their purpose.

- Fixed multiple errors where Were-Spiders could break their own Webs.

- Fixed error that could rarely cause Lizard Man Mutants to hit for less than max damage when they first encounter you.

- Fixed error when monsters are fighting monsters that half the time wouldn’t raise a Vengeful Dead’s Attack value when it gets hit.

- Fixed error when monsters are fighting monsters that half the time wouldn’t raise a Steel Giant’s Defense value when it hits.

- Fixed numerous instances in themed areas where it was supposed to place on the map random potions but couldn’t generate the rarer types.

- Fixed several errors not always taking into account a monster’s Flying status when it dealt with Mud or Quicksand.

- Fixed bugs causing Improvised Weapons and Armour to always list their "Type:" text line in red.

- Fixed bug causing Giant Slugs to halve all combat damage they receive, regardless of type, in combat vs. other monsters.

- Fixed errors in themed areas and lairs that didn’t take into account the fact that Idols come in 3 forms now.

- Fixed error with Idols in Gargoyle Lair that prevented many from even having the possibility of being trapped.

- Fixed erroneous info when querying Retribution miracle claiming it does Magic damage when, in fact, it does Physical.

- Fixed the same when querying the Retribution prayer.

- Fixed 11 separate errors where a random monster of some type appearing could textually output the wrong monster. (E.g. It might say “A Warrior appears!” when, in fact, a Giant Rat had appeared).

- Fixed errors allowing Hedgethorn, Andilian’s Shard and Weapons of Irritation/Pain/Agony to damage enemies on a miss, even if the reason you missed was that you didn’t swing because of Nausea or magic jewellery like the Ring of Ponderous Mass.

- Fixed bug with the Exotic Blood perk not outputting “Exotic Blood!” when you acquired Blood Lacquer through it.

- Fixed bug with the Bounty Hunter perk not outputting “Bounty Hunter!” when you acquired a Writ of Bounty through it.

- Fixed minor errors when trying to use the Plant Growth or Summon Serpent miracles in occupied squares where it was saying “This spell only works in an unoccupied square” instead of “This miracle only works in an unoccupied square”.

- Fixed errors referencing High Power jewellery that protects you from Elementals or Lycanthropes as “of X Protection” when they should have been “of X Warding”.

- Fixed error when you plummet in a Treacherous Mineshaft not properly outputting the amount of damage you took (though you’d still take it).

- Fixed error making Concealed Makeshift Doors visible on the mini-map even if they haven’t yet been detected.

- Fixed error where eating Bread couldn’t increase the duration of a Diminution effect unless you also had a Spirit Guardian effect going, and even then would increase it by the wrong amount.

- Fixed outdated info in query of Infernal Lamp claiming it would provide light for 120 turns, when it, in fact, provides it for 360 turns.

- Fixed confusing text (“+50% chance to Poison Resistance”) when querying a Poison Resistant Amulet/Ring. (Now it properly reads “+50% Poison Resistance”).

- Fixed outdated info when querying Dino Raid Event stating that the spawned monsters could include Megacerops. (They could not).

- Fixed bugs with Enchant Armament spell, charging you the spell point cost as soon as you cast the spell, even if you aborted before enchanting anything, and charging you again when the enchanting was complete.

- Fixed missing info in query of Magma Golem, not mentioning that it’s Immune to Charm type spells.

- Fixed error when you query a Dwarven Temple while having less than 0 Faith which would claim you would gain a negative amount of Gems if you used it. (Now, if you have 0 or less Faith, it will instead say, “You have no Faith to offer!”).

- Fixed bug scrambling the query text of any Conjure Spell Book scroll, whether or not it was identified.

- Fixed bug scrambling the output text for "Type:" when querying a Protection From Evil scroll, whether or not it was identified.

- Fixed graphical bug with Coats of Arms in cavernous regions, where the game would apply rough edges to the walls, even where those walls should have smoothly joined with adjacent walls.

- Fixed error with Swordsman’s Sinister Hand perk, not taking into account new Exotic Knife type weapons when determining if the perk should have its effects.

- Fixed bug with Take the Pelt perk that sometimes output text telling you you’d taken a different sized pelt than you actually had.

- Fixed error automatically waking you immediately after a Pantosian Slaver put you to sleep.

- Fixed bug with Refreshing Rain Event that would make the event sound twice and not let you proceed with the event until you’d pressed the coincidentally right combo of buttons.

- Fixed bug letting you enter and be instantly killed by Cave Columns if you entered from a Stalagmite or Stalactite square.

- Fixed typo in the query of all Scrolls.

- Fixed typo in the text output when a Sewerman tries to make you Nauseous but fails.

- Fixed typo in query of Garbage Heap.

- Fixed typo in query of Prayer of Identify.

- Fixed typo in query of Shadowy Wand.

- Fixed typo in query of Confounding Robe.

- Fixed typo in text output of Spirit Guardian spell.

- Fixed typo in prompt to enter Elemental Plane of Earth.

- Fixed typo in query of Lavender, calling it Echinacea.

- Fixed typo in query of Unholy Water.

- Fixed both typo and spacing error in query of Locked Desks.

- Fixed typo and text overwrite in query of Epicentre Scroll.

- Fixed text overwrite in query of Ancient Hellkite.

- Fixed text overwrites in query of Watcher variants.

- Fixed text overwrite in query of Note tile, if you’d identified what it was.