COX 2 Ver. 0.85.28 release

Okay, so here’s the deal:

I bit off a lot with the next intended update. Its primary thrust centers on the introduction of class and race based Perks, to ensure that characters are even further differentiated from each other. Playing a Warrior has always felt different from playing a Mage, but I wanted to make sure, as an example, that playing an Alchemist felt very different from playing a Mage.

The Perk system is taking a lot of work to implement. It’s really cool, and I love it, but it needs a lot of time to wrap up. The intention was to hold off till all the Perks had been put in place before releasing the next update, but in the meantime, I discovered some rather serious bugs in the previously uploaded version. Those bugs have all been fixed! And I’ve decided that they’re too vital to sit on for the many remaining months required to complete all the Perks.

SO! To get those fixes to you (along with SOME of the Perks and a lot of other cool content) I’ve had to momentarily disable about 2/3 of the character classes, as well as 2 of the races. Rest assured, these will all be re-introduced, over time, via monthly or bi-monthly updates. But it would have been too confusing and game breaking to release the game where some of the character classes and races took advantage of the new Perk system, while others did not.

I hope you’ll agree that these fundamental changes are worth the momentary inconvenience of possibly having your favourite character class/race combo put on hold. They’ll be back soon, I promise!

Download the patch if you're upgrading, or the whole game if you're new to it!   If upgrading, just download the zip file, place it in your main Caverns of Xaskazien 2 folder, unzip it, and answer yes to any "do you wish to overwrite" previous files questions.

Here’s the patch notes:

Momentary Content Removal:

- The following playable races have been temporarily removed from play: Lizard Man, Tree Man.

- The following playable classes have been temporarily removed from play: Acrobat, Adventurer, Dragon Slayer, Druid, Duellist, Explorer, Giant Slayer, Hive Master, Mage, Merchant, Militiaman, Missionary, Paladin, Purifier, Researcher, Rogue, Smith, Soldier, Spearman, Survivor, Tomb Raider, Tribesman, Warlock, Warlord, Warrior, Witch Hunter, Woodsman.

Major Improvements:

- New Mundane Items: Goblinoid Fetish, Rot Gut, Unholy Water, Cooked/Uncooked Mystery Meat, Bucket, Cooked/Uncooked Man Flesh, Disguise, Chitin Plating.

- New Magic Items: Cracked Halo, Tarnished Halo, Polished Halo, Cabalistic Spell Book, Mystic Spell Book, Arcane Spell Book, Eldritch Spell Book, Otherworldly Spell Book, Mythical Spell Book, Epic Spell Book, Pixie Dust, Gem of Locking.

- New Trinkets: Small Animal Pelt, Mid Sized Animal Pelt, Large Animal Pelt.

- New Spells: Detect Treasure, Drain Life (monsters can cast, too), Detect Traps.

- New Map Tiles: Toll Bridge, Toll Bridge Over Chasm, Toll Bridge Over Ice.

- New Event: Confused Loyalties.

- Added toggleable Stealth Mode, with button, to turn Stealth effects on or off, in case you have high Stealth skill but specifically want a monster to come toward you.

- Monsters now have finite Spell Points, based on the level of the monster and the type of spell caster.

- Monsters capable of casting higher powered spells will now also be able to cast lower powered ones if they need to (due to limited spell points or lack of need of a higher powered spell).

- Introduced New Game Concept: Spell Book Types.

- New Spell Book Types: Birch Bark Sheaved, Palm Leaf Sheaved, Bamboo Bound, Chalk Written, Copper Bound, Charcoal Written, Etched Wax, Bone Bound, Etched Clay, Silver Leafed, Vellum Sheaved, Papyrus Sheaved, Woven Reed, Oak Bound, Maple Bound, Linen Sheaved, Brass Bound, Steel Bound, Leather Bound, Human Skin, Slate Bound, Iron Bound, Gold Leafed, Parchment Sheaved, Paper Sheaved.

- Introduced New Game Concept: Perks!

- New Perks: Dwarven Lettering, Spot Fault, High Tolerance, Dwarven Weapon Affinity, Dwarven Gods, Tunnel Spotter, Low Light Sight, Caution! Goblin Territory, Shuffling of Clawed Feet, Goblin Fetishist, Destroy Their Idols, Kill Their Leaders, Berserking, Genocide, Second Breakfast, Comforts of Home, Like a Mouse, Natural Aim, Scramble, Energetic, Child of Allumas, Riddlemaster, At Both Ends, Spell Retention, Harness the Words, Anamnesis, Bibliophile, Philomanthy, Alertness, Self Possessed, Infravision, Elven Weapon Affinity, Grace, Longevity, Lastaviark’s People, Bless Water, Curse Water, Turn Evil, Horrify, Faithful, Exegesis, Clergy, Exalted, Forgiveness of Sins, Pint Sized, Anywhere but Here, Trickster, Which is Which, Wily, Small Appetite, Grave Robbing, Used to the Smell, Well Preserved, Raise Dead, Death Magic, Command Undead, Lichdom, Another Face in the Crowd, Human Privilege, Rapid Improvement, Divine Eyeroll, Sense of Purpose, Fast Learner, Child of the Mad God, Robust, Powerful, Keep it Simple, Hand Over Hand, Book Burner, Shattering Blow, Flex, Animal Tracking, Experienced Camper, Take the Meat, Take the Pelt, Find Its Lair, Reset Trap, Sleep Anywhere, Knife Affinity, Sweet Dreams, Concoct Weak Poison, Concoct Average Poison, Concoct Powerful Poison, Master of Disguise, Assassin Trap, Masochism, Unsavoury Taste, Born of Hatred, Powerfully Built, Recruit Goblinoid, Forest Home, Nature’s Gifts, Blend, Call Vines, Disarming Beauty, Friend of Nature, Vegan Diet, Signs of an Infestation, Chitin Defense, Sticky Situation, Poultice, Squash It!, Go For the Legs, Stinger, Hoof Strike, Traditional Centaur Weaponry, Gallop, Illusion of Numbers, Charge, Used to the Cold, Broad Back, Throwing Arm, Artillerist, Gather Ammo, That’s a Projectile!, Range, Quick Shot, Head Shot, Claws, Eat Anything, Nose For Gold, Thick Fur, Excellent Vision, Keen Smell, Salute, Sinister Hand, Balestra, Lunge, Parry, Riposte, Disarm Opponent, Langkley’s Creation, Shock Absorption, Architecture, Automation, Boom, Natural Enchanter, Chemistry, Midas Touch, Test it First, Silver to Gold, Plague Doctor, Improved Recipe, Medicinal Value.

Minor Improvements:

- Added Trap Kit Icon graphic to further delineate inventory items in the inventory list.

- Made variables to track when Ladders, Beanstalks, Tunnels, Vortexes, Mine Entrances  and Elevators appear, and to drop their likelihood of appearing again once they do, with that likelihood then gradually building up again with each new map entered (until a specified max amount is hit). This should make them appear only slightly less often than they used to, but curb abuses of occasional characters being able to stay at very early dungeon levels for prolonged periods.

-Reworded queries of Elm Wood and Oak Wood armours to make their abilities more clear.

- Lowered the chance of Cooking Fires extinguishing to make them more useful.

- Darkened on-map image of Liquor Barrels so they don’t look so much like Empty Liquor Barrels there.

- Changed the amount of Spells Memory skill allows. At Basic, this went from 13 to 14, at Advanced from 20 to 22 and at Expert from infinite down to 30. This will allow certain Perks and Items to have greater effect.

- Made all Stealth items/skills/perks/spells/etc. that would reduce distance at which you can be seen completely ineffectual if you have a light source (to make both more realistic and slightly less overpowered).

- Changed negative effects of Grog and Dwarven Grog from damaging you to putting you to sleep (with the new Rot Gut filling the previous place of Grog).

- Added clarification to Lost That Loving Feeling event that it affects Summoned monsters as well as Charmed ones.

- Added clarification to text output of Astral Trap, Thief’s Demise Trap and Poor Man’s Fate Trap to help you understand why they sometimes do 0 damage.

- You can no longer detect a Potential Cave-In in your own square, since it’s too late to do anything about it anyway.

- Made Extinguish spell now also douse burning monsters in your square or adjacent squares.

- Fleeing monsters now flee appropriately to their intelligence, (rather than previous to this, when they all fled in a straight line away from you, possibly plunging them into lava, etc.)

- Made Festering Wounds event also halve Health regained through Regeneration, so that that class of healing spells would also be affected.

- Patches of Stalagmites/Stalactites/Cave Columns now look less boxy.

- Animate Dead will no longer animate Golem corpses.

- Added new graphic for Looted Derelicts to ensure they’re visually distinct from those you’ve yet to loot.

- If you’re playing a Centaur, clarified in both query and text output of Elevators that they will automatically take you 1 dungeon level lower.

- While riding in a Mine Cart, the word “Ride” will now appear under your character, to remind you not to step out.

- Added clarifications to query and text output of Gnomish Automated Armourer that it won’t work on Improvised Weapons or Armour.

- Things that save you from permanent death (Dryad Unique Ability, Destiny effects, etc.) will no longer prevent you from turning into a Werebeast and losing the game that way.

- Updated Doppelganger query to mention that they don’t take into account Abilities or Perks in calculating their stats.

- Prioritized personal graphical lighting effects so that brightest take precedence. This means for instance, the bright white glow of a Light spell will no longer give way to the small flickering glow of a candle if you have one.

- Added clarification in queries for monsters who can only perform their special action in unoccupied squares.

- Extended the effects of Haste in logical ways: while under the effects, mine carts move half as often, rafts drift half as often, other effects degrade at half speed, the turn count advances at half speed, and events come into play at half speed.

- Raised spell point cost of haste spell from 30 to 35, and lowered duration from 121 turns to 91 turns to compensate for the added power.

- Gave a chance for monsters engaged in monster on monster combat to stand and fight, rather than continue pursuing the player. These odds are lowered for smarter monsters and raised for dumber ones.

- Made it impossible to skip past an Event or Level Up screen while the corresponding graphical notification is still displaying, to prevent players from accidentally skipping past if it triggers while they’re holding down a key.

- Lowered the frequency of Secret Compartments.

- Raised significantly the frequency of Secret Doors (they remain infrequent, but they were previously almost non-existent).

- Doubled the frequency of Concealed Doors.

- Increased frequency of Force Fields (they remain infrequent, but they were previously almost non-existent).

- E.S.P. spells no longer detect Automatons.

- Made entering Dragon Hoard or Slumbering Dragon squares with Inactive Stealth Mode automatically awaken the dragon, in case you specifically want to wake it up.

- Nauseous monsters will now flee from you rather than just wandering randomly.

- Added new graphic for Examined Mosaic, to visually differentiate from an unexamined one.

- Changed Assassin starting weapon from Dart to Knife and one of their starting spells from Light Healing to Sleep, both to complement their perks.

- Monster spellcasters can now cast Absorb Life Energy.

- Made Eternal Candle 40% more rare than it was since it was popping up as a found Magic Item in too many games and obviates certain perks.

- Added new random “barred wall” theming to rare levels.

- When disturbing or summoning a new monster by any of these squares - Derelict, Coffin, Corpse, Alcove, Bell or Gong - the monster will now always be level appropriate (within 5 levels of difficulty above or below your current dungeon level). This should make the game a little bit easier. Note that some squares  (Sarcophagi as opposed to Coffins, for instance) can still unleash monsters of a completely random level, regardless of depth. The query and text prompt for squares that unleash level appropriate monsters will spell out the fact.

- Made Detect Secret Doors spell 100% successful at detecting Secret/Concealed Doors and Secret Compartments within 1 square while it lasts, instead of 75% successful, to make it more useful.

- Lowered cost of Mire spell from 35 Spell Points to 15, to make it more useful.

- Lowered cost of Web spell from 5 Spell Points to 2, to make it more useful. (Also halved the value of Web Trap Kits).

- Lowered cost of Grease spell from 5 Spell Points to 2, to make it more useful.

- Added textual clarification in Situation Panel as to outcome when you are prompted as to whether or not you want to attack a sleeping enemy.

- Standard and Genius Intelligence monsters who are also capable of opening doors can  now drive the Gnomish Bore.

- Changed Bandage from only working if your Health was less than 12 to instead only work if your Health is within 30 of your Max Health, to make it more useful.

- Merchants will no longer keep verbally trying to get your attention if you’re already shopping from their stocks.

- Put in temporary auto-save at the instant before you leave a level.

- Made Cooking Fires 25% more common, to make meat and Cooking Skill more useful.

- Changed Dryad starting skill from Hunting to Cold Resistance, to make the Dorallan religion a more natural fit for them.

- Monsters that drain a percentage of your Spell Points when they hit will now always drain at least 1 Spell Point, unless you have zero to begin with.

- Slightly improved render speed by reformatting the loading of character graphics.

- Added some new high score titles for Clerics.

- Xaskazien now has randomized resistances and weaknesses, so you can’t know what to expect when you meet him. (These will always be equal in power, game to game).

- Made it so passing your turn on a Temple no longer repeats the gonging sound over and over, which could become annoying.

Bug Fixes:

- Fixed text overwrite in query of Langkleyan Shrine.

- Fixed many (probably not all) errors causing certain player effects to last one turn longer than they should.

- Fixed error which, after you’ve fallen down a Bottomless Pit, was outputting the message telling you what had happened, twice.

- Fixed error where player was sometimes catching on fire or being electrified for 0 turns.

- Fixed error allowing Pillars to be Windowed.

- Fixed text overwrite in query of Liquor Barrel.

- Fixed error where querying Burning status icon was telling you you’d continue burning for 1 less turn that you actually would.

- Fixed errors granting 100% chance to detect Pit Traps if you stacked enough separate chances, each of less than 100% chance, rather than giving multiple separate chances to detect.

- Fixed errors where monsters dying because they’re burning or electrified were not rewarding the player with appropriate experience, even though the player had caused the burning or electrification.

- Fixed wording of “Devotion” Event because it doesn’t actually double your Faith, it gives you an equal amount of Faith to that which you already have, tempered by your divine relationship(s).

- Fixed error giving T-Rexes Standard Intelligence instead of Animal Intelligence.

- Fixed error reporting in Situation Panel the wrong amount of Faith gained when eating Goose.

- Fixed errors preventing Enchanted Scroll Cases from protecting cursed Scrolls of Fragilitas or Withercurse.

- Fixed error sometimes preventing Nullify Traps spells from disarming adjacent Known Paper Traps.

- Fixed error sometimes turning detected Paper Traps to Known Booby Traps instead of Known Paper Traps.

- Fixed error where the graphic output in the Situation Panel when reading a Skill Tome could be wrong if you’re playing a Scholar.

- Fixed error where Ice Crystal Powder was not affecting all surrounding squares.

- Fixed errors prompting you to interact with your current square, even if you’re asleep.

- Fixed error where drinking Mezcal was boosting your current Health points.

- Fixed rare error sometimes outputting the “no” symbol twice in the Situation Panel if you try to interact with a square that you can’t interact with.

- Fixed error where Wither spell was lowering targeted monster’s Attack rating whenever it was supposed to be lowering its Intelligence.

- Fixed Sand Trap graphic which was 5 pixels wider than it was supposed to be.

- Fixed outdated info of Clerics when querying the class on the Character Creation screen.

- Fixed very minor spacing error in text output from Gain miracle.

- Fixed errors not letting you centre the screen via clicking the centre button while you were either dead or on the victory screen.

- Fixed error where Viean Clerics were starting with a missing Tiny Health Potion - this was also causing major errors with their inventory system down the line.

- Fixed error causing the Wand of Life Draining that Necromancers start the game with to begin with 4 charges instead of 3.

- Fixed text spacing error in output from Absorb Life Energy spell that would occur if you absorbed only 1 Health Point.

- Fixed error allowing Gnomish Bore to, provided it had no rider, either begin a level in or end up being engulfed in a terrain type that should destroy it, without being destroyed (although it would be destroyed as soon as you tried to operate it).

- Fixed several errors involving Automatons having their Intelligence lowered (when in fact they can’t, though their odds of spellcasting can be lowered).

- Fixed typo: “You have found and Enchanted Scroll Case.”

- Fixed critical error during Cellular Automata cave generation that could sometimes leave a cave section isolated and unconnected.

- Fixed error which, when animating the corpse of a monster that had previously had a Blur effect, continued that Blur effect in the animated form.

- Fixed errors with all offensive Fire, Cold, Acid and Electric spells that could still have their extra effect (burning/freezing, etc.) even if the base damage of the spell had already killed the target.

- Fixed errors that could sometimes mess up which rings or weapons are equipped when Reorganizing inventory.

- Fixed error outputting wrong graphic in Situation Panel when you cause a Golem Assembly Table to explode.

- Fixed error giving you items if a monster hero dies in a fire that you or an allied monster created.

- Fixed error messing up the spell point recoup when casting a Transmute to Gems spell while wearing a Novice’s/Wizard’s/Archmage’s ring or amulet.

- Fixed error completely preventing player from detecting Concealed Doors.

- Fixed error not allowing Detect Secret Doors spell to help detect Concealed Doors.

- Fixed errors listing dropped Holy Symbols or Holy Symbols in your Inventory as simply “Holy Symbol” as opposed to mentioning the god/goddess they pertained to (e.g. “Dorallan Holy Symbol”).

- Fixed bug which would apply fire damage immediately if, on your turn, you somehow created an explosion that set your square on fire, even though you would also be taking fire damage at the start of your next turn for being in that same fire.

- Fixed error allowing Create Mundane Item spell to conjure Honeycomb, even though it’s not supposed to be able to conjure food items.

- Fixed error dropping final line of explanatory text from Situation Panel when you become Electrified.

- Fixed errors printing some of query text for Cage and Jammed Cage in the wrong location.

- Fixed error causing Pendulum Blades of all types to do incorrect amounts of damage.

- Fixed error causing Blinding Light Trap Kits to have no effect.

- Fixed error that could cause a rope bridge over water to snap under your weight, even if you were beneath it, in a boat.

- Fixed error preventing Lamp Oil from being used to refill a Spent Lantern.

- Fixed error allowing Secret Detection to detect Pit Traps that are sprung as Booby Traps.

- Fixed text spacing errors in query of Alluman religion both in the Character Tab and during Character Creation.

- Fixed error causing monsters who were killed while fleeing and then resurrected as a Zombie by a Glyph of Undeath to rise as a fleeing Zombie.

- Fixed error outputting momentary gibberish when you fall in a Water Filled Pit Trap.

- Fixed errors displaying wrong graphics in Situation Panel when you read a Traveling or Piety Skill Tome.

- Fixed typo in potential text output of Colour Spray, (“Your are blinded”).

- Fixed errors allowing Fragilitas to lower a monster’s damage rating to “1 to 0”.

- Fixed missing “acid splash noise” when you fall in an Acid Filled Pit Trap.

- Fixed slightly mangled text output when you anger Tsen-Tsun Vie.

- Fixed error displaying wrong image in Situation Panel when querying Monster Attractant status.

- Fixed errors playing the flying sound effect if you passed over any form of undetected pit trap while flying, thus tipping your hand to the presence of the trap.

- Fixed errors allowing player to take falling damage even while flying, if Stairs, Spiral Stairs, Ladder, Rope Ladder or Bean Stalk break while they’re trying to use one.

- Fixed critical error that could sometimes duplicate Skill Tomes when restructuring Inventory.

- Fixed error causing Sand Trap to do 6 to 30 damage instead of halving your current Health.

- Fixed error that automatically allowed you to resist Cheneth’s poison when you anger her.

- Fixed slight gibberish in first few characters of output when you anger Maleviak.

- Fixed extremely rare error that could sometimes create BSP dungeons with unconnected areas.

- Fixed multiple errors preventing Weapons or Armour from degrading if they were held in Inventory slots 41 or higher.

- Fixed error rendering Polybos, Ballista or Trebuchet non-functional if you try to fire one but don’t actually fire it because there’s nothing to fire at.

- Fixed error preventing monster spellcasters from casting frost type spells at you if you’re already Frozen.

- Fixed error still waking sleeping monsters if you answer “yes” when prompted to see if you want to attack, but can’t actually attack because of Combat State.

- Fixed error that was, during query, outputting wrong amount of damage an Acidic Broth Cauldron will do to you if you drink from it.

- Fixed error identifying the item Type of Spell Drain Trap Kits as “Tool” rather than “Trap Kit.”

- Fixed errors not letting you auto-walk out of any kind of pit or mud, even if you’re flying.

- Fixed error messing up amount of damage a Dual Wielding character would do when attacking a Sleeping monster.

- Fixed error not improving Allumas’ relationship when a monster steps on a Friendly Trap unless your religion is Alluman.

- Fixed outdated info in query of many light source items referencing the sight range they grant you “instead of 5” (since 5 is no longer a hard set sight range).

- Fixed typo and outdated info in query of Absorb Life Energy Scroll.

- Fixed error outputting some text in a small font when outputting results of angering Fivriaskus.

- Fixed error not playing “nonoise” when you try to use Holy or Unholy Water without a target.

- Fixed error not properly using Large Skeleton Key to attempt to escape a Cage.

- Fixed error not taking into account weapon enchantments or skills when figuring out how much damage you do when you hit a sleeping enemy.

- Fixed error outputting some text in wrong spot when you query a Batuvaxian Shrine.

- Updated queries of Glove of Passage and Padlock to mention the existence of Rusted and Stone Doors.

- Fixed error not fizzling scroll of Creature Copy if you try to use it with no target but have at least Basic Runic Lore.

- Fixed errors not taking into account Tsunami Fever, Dizziness, or certain other parameters when displaying your Base Attack values in the Inventory side screen.

- Fixed error displaying wrong image when you cast the Speak With Animals miracle.

- Fixed typo, “Prayer of Desecratation” (should have been “Desecration”).

- Fixed typo in intro text to Neanderthal Caves.

- Fixed error preventing Bee Hives from appearing in Giant Bee Hives.

- Fixed error occasionally causing good and bad status icons to stop appearing on the map border.

- Fixed SDL_blitting error of occasional empty text when prompting user in Situation Panel.

- Fixed memory leak with loading of character graphics.

- Fixed memory leak with loading of tilesets.

- Fixed memory leak with loading of songs.

- Fixed errors in the allocation of memory for spell, miracle, trap and skill graphics, as well as some object graphics.

- Fixed catastrophic errors in the creation of long bridges which could not only mess them up, but crash the game in the process.

- Fixed error outputting improper graphic in Situation Panel when activating a Cursed Hellgate Scroll.

- HOPEFULLY fixed error that occasionally caused scrolling text to get out of whack.

- Fixed errors causing Mindworkers to make no noise while alive or when dying.

- Fixed errors where Wandering Smiths, Weapon Merchants and Smugglers could sometimes address you when you stepped in their square, even if they were already talking (with both voices then playing at once).

- Fixed lighting error sometimes occurring when you use auto-walk to try to pick a locked door.

- Fixed error still forcing you to climb out of pits even if you’re Flying.

- Fixed error not subjecting monsters to the Stench effect of entering a Rotting Adventurer’s Corpse square.

- Fixed errors sometimes letting multiple bags take effect to increase Inventory slots.

- Fixed text overwrite in notation of your Base Damage 1 and Base Damage 2 if the output was 25 or more characters long.

- Fixed text overwrite and outdated info in query of any Breastplate/Shield/Helmet of the Third Eye.

- Fixed potential text overwrite in high score screen with victorious high scores.

- Fixed error not angering Evil gods when you cast Divine Wrath.

- Fixed error displaying Xaskazien’s Health in green, even when his Health was the normal amount.