Hello everyone!

This patch addresses numerous issues reported by the community over the past month. While we're at it, we'd also like to discuss our plans for the near future.

Before the release of “Rags to Riches”, we announced that the new Roadmap would be published early this year. That promise still stands: we'll share details about what you can expect from the upcoming updates once we've concluded support for “Rags to Riches”.

Apart from bug fixes and other improvements, we aim to finish implementing the content that didn't make it into the December patch. Our first priority is introducing new Bastion contracts, which are well underway to being added to the game. This will solve the ongoing issue of the low availability of Brigand contracts, caused by their limited variation. In Rags to Riches, every contract can only be active in a single instance, which, in the case of the Bastion, isn't enough to cover every settlement on the global map simultaneously.

Moreover, the very next patch will add a slew of new weapons for underrepresented subcategories (such as flails and battle staves), additional Caravan events, and one previously unannounced surprise. After that, we will shift our focus to implementing caves and the content related to them, including new enemies and rare plants with special properties, which should take another few weeks to complete. So stay tuned and follow the news!

• Added a new Crypt contract: “Cleansing Ritual”.
  
• Temporarily disabled the system for closing dungeons after their associated contract is completed in the background this should solve the issue of arriving at a settlement only to find almost no available contracts. The system will be re-enabled after we finalize the intended dungeon progression.
  
• Slightly reduced the base Bodypart Damage coefficient.
  
• Adjusted the formula for thrown items:
  - Agility now affects the damage dealt and Crit Chance.
  - Strength the damage dealt and Range.
  - Perception the Accuracy and Crit Chance.
  
• Reduced the cost of Darrel's “Forced March” Perk.
  
• Added Hay, which will now be crafted instead of Straw. Bedrolls can be crafted both with Straw and Hay.
  
• Significantly increased the cooldowns of the Followers' free Perks and decreased the cooldowns of paid Perks.
  
• Added an option to break a contract after fulfilling its every objective.
  
• Added an option to back away from discussing completed contracts, allowing you to change your mind and later claim the reward from a different NPC.
  
• Osbrook Bread Bowl Stew can now be cooked with Salted Bear Fat.
  
• Fine-tuned some of the items' stats.
  
• The Husk: reduced the penalties of “Unsteady Gait” to 4% per stack. Fixed the Accuracy penalty which was two times more impactful than listed.
  
• The Crypt Keeper: tweaked his stats and gave him access to “Onslaught” and “Knock Out”. Fixed his “material” type (which was listed as Flesh instead of Bone), granting him correct Resistances.

• Changed the Vision zone of enemies from square to radial, just like that of the player character. This should solve several problems, such as enemies being able to target the player character with abilities from around corners while remaining invisible.
  
• Fixed wonky enemy behavior around closed doors.
  
• Added some randomness to the ranged enemies' algorithm for keeping distance, which should get rid of drawn-out chases across open areas.
  
• Improved enemy behavior when the player character occupies a single-tile passage.
  
• Improved enemy behavior inside active AoE effects.
  
• Enemies will now instantly become Hostile when an ally dies within their Vision.
  
• Fixed enemies ignoring Stone Spikes blocking their way.
  
• Fixed multiple issues affecting enemy pathfinding.
  
• Potentially fixed the issue causing Horses to become Hostile towards the player character.

• Opening the menu for splitting a stack of items will now place the initial slider position in the middle. Fixed the issue preventing it from being set to the minimum and maximum value.
  
• Added an option to drag and drop items into equipped bags, caskets, and other similar containers.

• Removed the contracts' 2000 crowns reward cap as well as their Reputation Gain cap.
  
• The 100% Loyalty discount on the Followers' items and services should now work as intended.
  
• Fixed the Manticore being able to jump into already occupied tiles.
  
• Fixed “Defensive Tactic” not gaining stacks from killing enemies.
  
• Fixed “Seal of Finesse” not losing stacks.
  
• Fixed “Regroup” receiving a stack from its own cooldown.
  
• Fixed “Determination” not attacking knocked back enemies and, in rare situations, not attacking moving enemies in general.
  
• Fixed the penalty applied to enemies by “Determination”.
  
• Fixed “Defiled Remains” being able to target tiles that already contain a corpse.
  
• Fixed “Enough for Everyone” not working as intended against targets occupying multiple tiles.
  
• Fixed the issue affecting the Vision formula after removing “Blindness”.
  
• Fixed the bug preventing enemies from receiving negative effects while the player character is affected by “Will to Survive”.
  
• “Web Spit” no longer applies its effects to tiny and giant targets, just like the Throwing Net item.
  
• “Distracting Shot” will now attack the closest enemy, not just the closest target.
  
• Fixed “Necrophage” sometimes failing to target suitable corpses.
  
• Fixed Ghouls gaining an extra action after using “Necrophage”.
  
• Fixed the bug allowing enemies to use “Hooking Chop” through their allies..
  
• Fixed the inability to use Spear skills with extended range while in smoke.
  
• Fixed Wraiths not taking the dungeon's danger level into account when spawning from sarcophaguses.
  
• Fixed the formula of “Unholy Blessing”.
  
• Fixed thrown items ignoring the target's Dodge Chance.
  
• Fixed Anmarraks not granting Experience when killed by damaging their Tentacle Arm.
  
• Fixed the incorrect miniboss hint text for the Brander and Anmarrak.
  
• Fixed the bug allowing enemies to follow the player character into dungeons with the “Trapped Entrance” Condition.
  
• Fixed the incorrect number of turns required for enemies to follow the player character between locations.
  
• Fixed the issue preventing potions from being delivered to the Caravan when trading through the Caravan Stash.
  
• Removed the possibility of completing the Miller's task multiple times by dropping and picking up the key.
  
• Fixed the activation of the Bailiffs' dialogue about Darrel after already finding him.
  
• Fixed the rare softlock caused by blood puddles.
  
• Removed the Repair Kits' minimal Durability requirement that carried over from the previous patch.
  
• Removed the possibility of fixing jewelry with Repair Kits through the context menu.
  
• Fixed the crash caused by stealing items in locations without a Faction.
  
• Killing the Ancient Troll will now assign the Signal Tower to the Grand Magistrate.
  
• Fixed the Repairs Price modifier not working as intended.
  
• Fixed “Tongue Pull” playing its animation on top of the UI.
  
• Fixed the Alarm Trap.
  
• Fixed the bug allowing multiple corpses to sometimes occupy the same tile.
  
• Removed the possibility of dying and moving to another location simultaneously.
  
• Fixed Surgeon Toolkits not applying their temporary effects
  
• Fixed Leeches not applying their temporary effects.
  
• Removed the possibility of stacking “Leech Therapy” on the same body part.
  
• Fixed the inconsistent damage formula when wielding weapons with psionic or cursed damage types in different hands.
  
• The time interval between turns will now be the same in and out of combat.
  
• Fixed the Rotten Willow NPCs displaying their Faction two times.
  
• Fixed the Oaken Glade Bailiff granting extra gold instead of Brynn Reputation.
  
• Fixed enemies becoming hostile towards Straw Dummies.
  
• Fixed the possibility of moving the Caravan with the Messenger Pigeon while the Followers are out on a mission.
  
• Removed the possibility of repairing and selling stolen items in the same location where they were acquired.
  
• Fixed the Vision range inconsistencies when looking through grates.
  
• Fixed tools not losing Durability when thrown.
  
• Potentially fixed the bug allowing enemies to move into the tile occupied by their recently resurrected ally.
  
• Fixed another bug causing dual counters to sometimes skip a turn.
  
• Fixed the hover of “Against the Odds” not displaying the Attributes it scales with.
  
• Fixed Wells of Souls sometimes spawning Wraiths over the intended limit.
  
• Removed the possibility of moving full bags into the Crafting menu’s working area.
  
• Removed the possibility of interacting with bags while the Crafting menu is open.
  
• Fixed the bug allowing free attacks against Young Trolls during their “Earthshaking Strike” animation.
  
• Fixed the rare knockback-related crash.
  
• Removed the possibility of casting some Pyromancy spells through walls.
  
• Fixed the Prologue crash caused by interacting with certain consumables.
  
• Fixed “Lacerate” creating blood decals even after missing.
  
• Fixed the bug causing Distant Dungeons' minibosses to despawn.
  
• Fixed the missing effect of Ethnarch's Funeral Mask.
  
• Fixed the Dockside Merchants disappearing into thin air the moment they restock.
  
• Removed the possibility of interacting with some nightstands through walls.
  
• Removed the possibility of identifying items in the Caravan Stash while trading through it.
  
• Fixed the log message for harvesting berries.
  
• Fixed weaponry stances not losing stacks if the corresponding weapon is equipped in the off-hand.
  
• Fixed “Battle Trance” working with every weapon type.
  
• Fixed the incorrect duration of both “Tactics”.
  
• Fixed the Stone Spikes' visual layering issue.
  
• Fixed “Onrush” scaling its Armor Penetration with Perception rather than Strength.
  
• Removed the possibility of using medical items through the bodyparts' context menu while stunned.
  
• The Vision stat no longer requires a turn to take effect (for example, the Vision penalty will now disappear instantly the moment you take off your heavy helmet).
  
• Fixed the knockback issue affecting "Boulder Throw".