COX 2 Ver. 1.61.08 Released!

The last few months have been incredibly busy with travel, day job stuff, acting stuff, home maintenance stuff, workout stuff, and unrelated gaming stuff, but I still found time to put together what I think is a worthwhile update.  You'll find a lot of new content here, along with the usual host of bug fixes.

To head off the question at the pass: no, I won't be adding monsters perpetually to Caverns.  The mission that started probably about 2 years ago was to double the base number of land-based monsters in the game, while still maintaining the balance of monster types.  That mission is ALMOST complete now - there'll be one more update after this containing a batch of 30 new monsters, but thereafter we'll be turning our focus on other things (possibly including expanding the water based monsters early on).  We'll still be looking to flesh out the player races, though, to bring them equal in number to the available classes.

Thank you to Silken (NaIE) and KillianTriad for bug reports that helped me make repairs where needed!

OKAY!  What's new here?  Let's take a look!

Major Improvements

- 1 New Playable Race: Minotaur.

- 7 New Perks: Bull Rush, Labyrinthine Instincts, Gore, Frenzied Pursuit, Fourfold Gut, Warbranded, Freaks of a Feather.

- 30 New Monsters: Atomie, Crawling Corpse, Frostscale Kin, Antelope Centaur, Mad Dog, Green Lady, Half-Troll, Goblin Wolfrider, Huge Spider, Brother of Dath, Eerie Custodian, Topaz Dragon, Sothothian Demon Plant, Copper Boiler Bird, Babau Demon, Chaos Giant, Umbrathrall, Giant Flea, Hornan General, Necrofused Horror, Lightning Breathing Dragon, Ursine Moonsteed, Spectral Ape, Idolphant, Subterranean Giant, Zurrak, Giant Stag Beetle, Ulsian Pirate, Vampiric Mist, Apocalypse Wyrm.

- 8 New Map Tiles: Animal Skin Rug, Stone Oracle, Pulpit, Witches’ Circle, Heroic Monument, Malice Gate, Head on a Pike, Healing Temple.

- 8 New Mundane Items: Holy Icon, Garlic Wreath, Tinker’s Pail, Book of Herbs, Crude Flying Harness, Crude Air Bladder, The Amateur Alchemist’s Apology, Goblin Cider.

- 12 New Magic Items: Thorn Crown, Spirit Bag, Blessed Coral, Metal Egg of Gnomish Design, Triton’s Horn, Pirate Crown, Animalic Talisman, Skull Scriptures, Seal of the Unspoken Word, Dragon Crystal, Ghost Key, Umbran War Horn.

- 6 New Events: Death Moss, Overgrown, Jackdaw, Halls of Mist, Angel of Mercy, Mind Over Muscle.

- 43 New Monster Variants: Tomb Wight, Wirrycow Veteran, Bandit Fop, Surly Bandit, Demonic Lizard, Carnivorous Undead Fish, Carnivorous Gold Fish, Mother Hydra, Bakemono Marauder, Black Shade, Grand Astral Dragon, Umbral Booka, Twilight Witch, Undead Jester, Undead Warlock, Zombified Troll, Alley Wraith, Arsonist, Crime Boss, Demon Hound, Dark Ghost, Mad Red Forest Giant, Sneaking Orc, Runic Warlock, Runic Warrior, Plundering Cave Giant, Sewage Demon, Trollish Thief, Black Beast, Black Witch, Crimson Witch, Black Banshee, Ghoulish Warrior, Greedy Dragon, Grubach Warlord, Stone Demon, Trow Bandit, Sand Wurm, Ghoulish Gladiator, Ogrish Gladiator, Mistress of Steel, Wraith Warrior, Dark Dwarf Axeman.

- 3 New Spells: Still Water, Steam Blast (monsters can cast, too), Psychic Torture.

- 6 New Weapon Enchantments: Sparking/Thunder/Storm, Humming/Talking/Singing.

- 3 New Armour Enchantments: Curious/Strange/Bizarre.

- 3 New Jewellery Enchantments: Grinning/Smiling/Laughing.

Rules changes:

- Any Flying character (whether yourself or any monster) in combat vs. a non-Flying character now gains +10 to hit and +10 Defense.

- All Flying monsters have had their EXP value raised by 10 to account for this new ability.

- The Jump Spell has had its Spell Point cost raised from 5 to 7 to account for this new ability.

- The Levitation Spell has had its Spell Point cost raised from 40 to 50 to account for this new ability.

- The Aspect of Eagle Miracle has had its Faith cost raised from 60 to 72 to account for this new ability.

- Potion of Levitation has had its cost raised from 10 Gold to 15 Gold to account for this new ability.

- Pixie dust has had its cost raised from 25 Gold to 30 Gold to account for this new ability.

- Flying Broom has had its cost raised from 40 Gold to 50 Gold to account for this new ability.

- Winged Boots of Speed have had their cost raised from 75 to 85 Gold pieces to account for this new ability.

Minor Improvements:

- Updated the manual!

- The Merfolk penalty for dehydration has been lessened from draining one of your Attributes by the number of days since you submerged to instead drain it by a random number between 1 and the number of days since you submerged, because the penalty just felt too harsh.

- Modified query of History skill in game and during Character Creation to change the reference to “Coat of Arms” squares to “certain” squares, since History now alters your chance of success with more than just Coats of Arms.

- Fleshed out the query of the Wracking Pains miracle to make its effects a little clearer.

- Standardized all text outputs from Deadly Scarab, Serpent Stick and Sewer Portal to include the name of the item in the first text output line.

- Ice Witches will no longer be hesitant to enter Ice squares, since they can neither slide on nor break through Ice.

- Tweaked query of Jewellery of Floating/of Swimming/of Diving from “+25% chance avoid drifting in liquid and drowning in Water” to “+25% chance to avoid drifting in liquid and drowning in Water” because there was enough screen space to make the meaning clearer.

- Updated query of Broken Mine Cart to make it clear that “Its presence means there will be no further Mine Carts sent along these Mine Tracks.”

- Using Boots of Jumping will now incorporate a graphic of the Item rather than the Jump Spell into the text output.

- When querying the date in the Events tab, it will now also inform you that each time you enter a new map, the date advances by one day.

- Adjusted the way drowning damage is applied in Quicksand such that it rounds off damage to the nearest whole number instead of dropping remainders, to make it more accurate.

- Pearl of Power will now round off its EXP rewards appropriately, instead of just dropping remainders when calculating half the cost of any given spell.

- The Summon Dragon spell has been renamed to Summon Great Wyrm (with a new graphic). This was done to open the way to creating a different Summon Dragon spell that summons exclusively Dragons, as opposed to the old one which summoned high level Wyrms.

- Corrupted Shrines and Messengers of Corruption will now round off the Level/2 when calculating how much Faith they drain instead of dropping fractions, as part of the ongoing effort to convert all calculations in game to this methodology.

- It should now be possible both in death and in victory to scroll through the various side panels using the mouse wheel or keyboard commands, the way you can at any other time in the game.

- Adjusted a few spacings on the Character Creation screen to make those text outputs more aesthetically pleasing.

Bug Fixes

- Fixed serious errors that made it impossible for Dragons or Spirits to hear you.

- Fixed huge error causing all 29 Lair entrances from Monster Group 16 (the group released 3 months ago) to instead lead to corresponding Lairs from Monster Group 15 (the group released 6 months ago).

- Fixed error that could occur when you’ve cast Teleport and are using the right mouse button to scroll the screen around, which would show areas outside your current field of vision as brightly lit and which could also reveal monsters currently outside your line of sight.

- Fixed error that could, for a bare moment, do the same when you left clicked your intended destination during a Teleport casting.

- Fixed errors causing Weapons of Swarming/of Infestation/of Hive Wrath to never implement their magical effects, and Weapons of Cinders/of Embers/of Spitting Flames to implement them in addition to their own effects.

- Fixed bug that could cause the game to freeze whenever a Trollish Magic Event is enacted.

- Fixed error causing the Trollish Magic event to appear as ongoing in your Event list, even though it only has a one-time, instant effect.

- Fixed errors preventing Baloraasinian Centaurs and Dragon Cult Officers from destroying your equipped Weapons when they hit.

- Fixed bug when creating a Human Adventurer that would tell you, under Abilities, “Starts with 2 Skill Points” AND “Starts with 1 Skill Point”. (Only the first should show).

- Fixed bug that could prevent the game from summoning a Person type monster in select circumstances (for instance, in answer to a Justice or Anti-Duelling Ordnance Event) if an NPC already existed on the map.

- Fixed bug causing Revelation event to output its Situation Panel text accompanied by the headline “Foresight!” instead of “Revelation!”

- Fixed errors with Gytrash and Half-Fiend Fatetwister, where the negative Events they were generating on hit were not properly triggering.

- Fixed error ignoring a monster’s Toxin resistance when it’s fighting a Guivre.

- Fixed bug that allowed Cave Dragons to somehow set other monsters on fire with their gravel breath.

- Fixed error causing Jungle Survival III to lower incoming drowning damage in Quicksand to 1 instead of 0, as it should.

- Fixed error preventing Crystal Balls from being spawned on Dungeon Levels 29 or 30.

- Fixed bug not including “Gains bonus Skill Point every other level” under Abilities when creating a Human Adventurer.

- Fixed bug letting you use a Voodoo Doll against a monster in a Cage, when they should be untouchable.

- Fixed error not using up a Scroll of Pyrotechnics if you blindly cast it and your Runic Lore skill is Advanced (when that should only be the case if your Runic Lore skill is Expert).

- Fixed error in Ancient Sanamas where one of the Stone Golems was incorrectly made into an Archmage and given the name “Hem Dane” when those traits were meant to be applied to the sole Mage in the Legendary Land.

- Fixed errors with Holy Shroud causing it not to display its name in your Inventory or any Retrieval list, not to have a designated cost, and not to officially be a Mid Power Magic Item.

- Fixed error causing Chaneques to summon Animals appropriate to the current Dungeon Level, rather than Animals of Level 11 to 20.

- Fixed errors not playing the “good noise” when a Pearl of Power activates because of the casting of most Mid or High Power spells.

- Fixed errors where the game wasn’t scrolling the amount of Spell Points regained when you cast most Mid or High Power spells while wearing a Novice’s/Wizard’s/Archmage’s Amulet/Ring.

- Fixed error that would prompt you to pick up Gems instead of just giving them to you when you find Gems as a result of a Four Leaf Clover.

- Fixed errors when drinking Curative Potions or Minor Curative Potions that could scroll “Partially Cured” instead of “Cured” when the potion reduced your Poison level to 0.

- Fixed bugs preventing Armoured Trolls, Armoured Fiends and Guardsmen from dropping Armour when they die if you killed them via combat.

- Fixed errors when Tarasques, Tremor Worms, Earthquake Beetles, Apocalypse Wyrms and Subterranean Giants hit other monsters in combat that wasn’t leaving Rubble from the ensuing Cave In.

- Fixed error not playing the teleport sound when a monster that teleports on hit (Imps, Leshies, etc.) teleports its opponent, unless the Imp/Leshy/etc. was a friendly monster.

- Fixed errors causing neither the large nor small graphics for the Thorn Sleep Curse event to display.

- Fixed errors scrolling extra, unrelated text after using a Dark Alamanac or Pergaments of Minor Mysteries.

- Fixed typo on query of Dust Storm event.

- Fixed error with Tweaked Dweomer event that didn’t properly “turn the event off” after it was triggered, with unknown consequences.

- Fixed typos in text output of Tweaked Dweomer event.

- Fixed missing detail “Flying” in query of Flying Bandit.

- Fixed error displaying graphic for Vitality spell instead of Soul Transfer spell when you query the Soul Transfer spell in your spell list.

- Fixed errors causing Bread to use the duration of any True Path effect you have in play as the metric for how long to extend a Soul Transfer or Vitality effect.

- Fixed errors causing Magic Repellant and Magic Proof Rings/Amulets to function as lesser Magic Resistant Rings/Amulets.

- Fixed errors causing Shrouding and Dissimulating Rings/Amulets to function as lesser Veiling Rings/Amulets.

- Fixed error when Quicklings are fighting other monsters that could sometimes cause some disruption to their second attack.

- Fixed multiple bugs that could allow certain monsters that alter their terrain type to do so even if they shouldn’t (like while occupying a Temple or Stairs square, or, if altering to any kind of Flame, while in any kind of Water square).

- Fixed bugs that displayed the wrong graphic when you tried to use a Serpent Stick or Sewer Portal but failed.

- Fixed bug not outputting “The Crypt Creature teleports you!” or “The Portal Gnome teleports you!” when either one of those monsters does so.

- Fixed error outputting wrong text message if you were instakilled by Shadow Spores but cheated death.

- Fixed error outputting no text message if you were instakilled by a Death Cloaker but cheated death.

- Fixed error recording no cause of death for the high score screen if you were instakilled by a Death Cloaker.

- Fixed bug preventing Dragon King from receiving any followers on spawn.

- Fixed error when querying a Drunken Hill Giant that prevented the display of the text explaining its abilities/deficiencies.

- Fixed bug not outputting Battle Ogre’s special abilities when it’s queried.

- Fixed text overwrites in queries of several Wraith variants.

- Fixed bug when using Jewelweed that would cause its graphic not to appear with the text output if the Jewelweed only slows your poison instead of diminishing it.

- Fixed bug listing a Locate Exits Scroll as a Low Power Scroll if you didn’t have at least Basic Runic Lore, even though the Scroll is a Cantrip Scroll and should, therefore, be automatically identified.

- Fixed bug not noting “Flying” in the query of a Crimson Fluid, Tigbanua Buso, Bloodrider, or Nosferatu during a Death From Above event.

- Fixed bug allowing Nyxantus to be detected by Detect Evil even though it’s neither Diabolic nor Undead.

- Fixed bug allowing Nyxantus to be queried even if it hadn’t been detected.

- Fixed missing word in queries of Nuisance Mass Lair title, Haemorrhex Corpse Lair title, and Nosferatu Lair Title.

- Fixed text overwrite in query of Dread Drake.

- Fixed missing word in text output when you cast Shrink.

- Fixed typos in queries of Rings/Amulets of Floating/of Swimming/of Diving.

- Fixed bug not properly applying Bakemono’s stat changes if the Bakemono was generated at the start of a level.

- Fixed bugs popping up text output talking about the resurrection of any monster that comes back to life, even if you’re nowhere near that monster, and thus would have no way of knowing any of this would be happening. (It will now only provide the text output if you occupy the same square as the monster).

- Fixed bug outputting wrong graphic with a successful casting of Whirlwind.

- Fixed text overwrite in query of Sludge.

- Fixed bug not reflecting Euparkeria’s automatic hit as a 100% chance to hit when querying it while you are injured.

- Fixed extra space in the text output that explains what you’ve gained when you level up as a Seraph, right before the bit about “You gain X Faith!”

- Fixed oversight with 4 of the Hungry Floor bosses and 4 of the Shadow Spore bosses that could increase their Attack rating, even though they always and automatically have a 100% chance to hit. Instead they’re now treated as such Gelatinous Cube bosses are treated - they gain bonus Defense instead.

- Fixed two separate instances where killing monsters on Onyx Altars was resulting in slightly incorrect Faith Gain.

- Fixed bug causing Sorceror’s Puzzles to glow even before they’ve been detected, giving away their location.

- Fixed extra space in the queried title of any Mercenary spellcaster.

- Fixed extra bit of gibberish output after prompt asking you if you want to touch a Pillar of Salt.

- Fixed incorrect text output telling you the Pillar of Salt had crumbled if you declined to touch it, and not printing anything if it actually crumbled as a result of you touching it.

- Fixed extra line of gibberish output with prompt to enter The Chaos Fold.

- Fixed text overwrite in initial output of Inflation event.

- Fixed typo in query of Magic Seeking Amulets/Rings.