As we’ve alluded to in recent posts, the recent release of Old Acquaintances has set the creative part of the team into action on our next DLC, but what have our programmers, UI, and quality assurance people been up to?

Why, improving the game, of course. This is why we’re happy to present some impactful quality of life (QoL) changes that will help make your Vagrus experience all the smoother.


The first complaint we’ve received multiple times – and for which we’ve been trying to find a solution for a while – is related to the information available for Companions’ Skills. Currently, it is possible to use the arrow indicated on the right-hand column below to view the next Skill level above your current one by clicking on it. In the screenshot, you can see this is possible for both Suppressing Shots and Defensive Cut.

Now, you will be able to view all levels of the Skill. This means if you have Poison Arrow I. on Criftaa then you will also be able to see the statistics of levels II. and III.

But that’s not all: previously obtusely presented Skills – like Criftaa’s multi-phased Suppressing Shots – will now allow the player to toggle between their phases; the first phase is for the overwatch portion of the Skill, like in the picture above, while the second phase indicates how much actual damage it will do when it is triggered by an enemy.

Toggling between the two phases can be done simply by toggling the brown box just to the right of the Skill’s name.

We’ve also got changes coming for summoners. Previously, the issue was simply that one could not know what creature is going to be summoned and what its stats are. The below mockup – put together by our wonderful UI designer – illustrates how the player will be able to bring up information about the summoned creature from the character pane.


The next serious QoL change we’re making is to campaign map movement and it’s simple: you will be able to double-click on the node you wish to move to and you will go there. No more clicking on the node then on the footprint icon, which some have decried as a finicky waste of time (it probably was).

As we continued working on these features, however, another crucial element loomed large: key bindings. They needed to be revamped to make some of the game’s controls more intuitive and logical. Thus, we set ourselves to the task of not only streamlining the handling and navigation of the comitatus, but also overhauling the default key bindings. One of the main goals here was to dramatically reduce the amount of clicks or keys the average sequence of actions takes and create a more modern, intuitive user experience. We’ve mapped out the changes below so you can take a look for yourself.

For some, the commands here will be nothing new but there is one entirely new addition: the “Comitatus Tabbing” command. This will bring up the default comitatus menu and allow you to move – or tab – between different panes within that.

We’ve worked hard on these changes and we’re very excited to deploy them. As usual, let us know what you think! Below you can check out the whole inventory of changes.

Important Note: Considering the extent of the improvements, there is little to no chance that we broke nothing in the process. Assume that we did not want to make anyone's life harder. If you see something amiss, please flag it to us using the usual channels, like the inbuilt reporting tool (F1 button), forums, and our Discord server[discord.gg].

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• You can now double-click to move on the campaign map.
  
• Revamped key bindings: defaults have been changed to be more intuitive and grouped by topics or UI categories, and new hotkeys have been added.
  
• The Leadership Perk “Command” has been reworked: it now unlocks all advanced Crew Combat actions passively and when Resourcefulness is spent, it raises Combat Strength and Defense by 15% as well as turns Critical Failure rolls to Failure.
  
• The effects of multiple “Terrifying” Perks no longer stack. Stacking caused Skills that target multiple positions with characters with the Perk to be close to useless.
  
• You can now butcher Beasts and Mounts directly at your Outpost instead of having to move them to the comitatus.
  
• You no longer lose Mounts when Fighters leave you during Events (ie. Outriders do not take their Mounts) for narrative reasons.

• Combat Skills with multiple phases are now displayed differently (better communicating these Skills) on Character Sheets. You can switch between the effects and stats of the different phases.
  
• You can now check the stats and Skills of creature(s) that “summon” type Combat Skills spawn. Details are on the Character Sheet.
  
• Improved the visuals during an Evade sequence in Companion Combat so that players will have an easier time understanding what input is required from them in cases where the target position has to be interacted with.
  
• Evade is now displayed as a percentage on the Character Sheet.

• Fixed an issue that caused the erroneous display (and only the display) of framerate in Options.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Renkailon’s Caltrops Skill to cause a lock in Companion Combat.
  
• Ironed out the discrepancies in Renkalion’s Loyalty changes caused by player choice after his storyline is concluded so now they should work as was originally intended.
  
• Companions now lose less Loyalty from becoming Severely Wounded, as was originally intended.
  
• Fixed a rare issue that prevented Javek’s ending slide from appearing despite his quest being completed in that playthrough.
  
• From now on, hiring the forces of Dragonlands factions to defend your Outpost actually costs money, as advertised by the choice. No more freebies, sorry.
  
• Fixed a glitch that caused Mount/Dismount to not always work as intended in Crew Combat, especially in relation to ambushes.
  
• Fixed the wrong tooltip display of Impervious Ward in Crew Combat.
  
• All relevant Factions purchase Salt from your Outpost more often, making it much rarer for it to pile up.
  
• Players have encountered further issues with the Wazirhai Curse quest, so we have attempted to fix some outlying problems that may have arisen from old scripts; we’re crossing fingers that we won’t have to return to this again.
  
• Reworked the Aid tutorial: it now only activates when it is the player’s turn after a character was Downed and it also provides enough Resourcefulness to use Aid. These changes prevent any locks that could have happened previously.
  
• Fixed a bunch of offset and oddly displayed tooltips.
  
• Multiple text-related improvements, as usual. Thanks for all the reports and feedback!

As ever, more is coming, so stay tuned and conquer the wasteland!
- The Lost Pilgrims Team
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