It's that time again! Despite the fact that these two weeks were mostly working on systems for the bigger 0.7.0 release, we managed to push in some exciting changes!

The most noticeable one is obviously another favorite hellish roguelike feature returning - Challenge Modes! We're starting modestly with 3 classics making a comeback - Light Travel, Shotgunnery and Impatience, updated for Jupiter Hell. Next release we'll add a few more interesting ones though, so stay tuned! Each of the challenges is accompanied by 3 badges that you can earn - no ranks yet, but that's coming too (unfortunately we had to invalidate earned medals to implement it, that might happen from time to time before we go into EA). Don't mind the messy player data screens, we'll make them more beautiful later!

We also started doing upgrades on AI for the upcoming Io changes, you might notice some infighting happening -- based on the group of the given enemy.

We rewrote a bit of code around the cover mechanic - a side result is that cover modifier is lower (but much more consistent). To offset that, we made destructible cover more sturdy, and implemented a Hunker mechanic - if you wait behind cover you get a significant cover bonus - and if you pick the new Technician trait, that bonus actually stays until you move!

Apart from that we added a smoke mechanic - you can test it out with the new smoke grenades! Not a very damaging weapon, but useful to cover a tactical retreat!

We await for your feedback (especially on new changes)!

Restart Steam to force the update!

Full changelog follows!

Beta  0.6.1 - May 10, 2019
NEW    #021 - Challenge modes! Angel of Light Travel, Shotgunnery and Impatience for starters
NEW    #021 - Badges! Currently Bronze, Silver and Gold for the above challenges
NEW    #389 - Hunker mechanic! (wait behind cover)
NEW    #390 - Hunker down trait for Technician!
NEW    #016 - AI upgrade - monster infighting
NEW    #431 - smoke mechanic and smoke grenade added!
CHANGE #432 - changed internals of medals - old medals are invalidated :(
CHANGE #423 - pain rebalanced - now values are same between difficulties, but there's a 50% gate on a single attack
CHANGE #389 - fixed the to_hit algorithm - the accuracy penalties for cover are changed!
CHANGE #389 - made box/chair/desk covers more sturdy
FIX    #--- - scavenger works with .44 ammo
FIX    #428 - clearing/exploring more than 3 levels will now give the proper medals

Next version (0.6.2) will come in 2 weeks if all goes according to plan. Expect more Challenge work and active class skills that will make the classes differ a lot more than they are now, and allow for more tactical early game!