Heretic Operative
Heretical Notions #1
First off, I want to deeply thank all our players for checking out our difficult, dark, and strange digital board game. C Prompt Games is very small - just two of us - and building Heretic Operative has been a labor of love over the past year.
I personally read every single review and discussions forum post and it means a lot to me when people take the time to leave us a review, give us feedback, or ask questions to learn more about the game.
We are just getting started with Heretic Operative. There is more content, both free and in DLC forms, coming down the road for the rest of 2019 (and beyond, if possible), and of course we will be continuing to provide balance and bugfix patches as well.
We will have more information to share with everyone about the timeline for DLC releases fairly soon. Meanwhile, the next patch is coming in the next week or two. The details are still being sorted out but expect some minor balance changes and bugfixes, along with a handful of new (free) Adventure cards.
Cultist activity is on the rise at Copec’s Tavern, and an oft-overlooked Townsfolk there may be the key to staying one step ahead of them...
Patch Notes - 1.0.4
Thanks to everyone who has posted balance & bug information in the forums / discussions. We read all of them and take the feedback seriously.
New content:
- Added 5 new Adventure cards.
Balance
- Scrolls of Prophecy now has two uses, and gives Rumors & Fate in addition to removing Cult Activity tokens, but also costs some Corruption when used.
- Iron combat dice now get +1 for every 2 points of Physical skill (rounded down).
- Night combat dice now generate Corruption equal to 1/2 the value rolled (final die of 6 doubles to the full face value of dice rolled).
- Spell "Unspeakable Truth" now applies a Tranquility penalty of -4 (was -5).
- Corrupted Operatives now always have 1 Health, instead of whatever Health they had before being corrupted.
- Added repeatable reward in the very unlikely event all Elven spells are learned.
Bugs
- Fixed issues related to Scrolls of Prophecy including missing strings and not actually doing anything.
- Fixed a string that was referring to the Cathedral District by an old name.
Mechanics #14 - Strategy Advice
How you spend your early Influence is vital. Spending it on Cell Leaders and other passive resource generators can pay off exponentially, since you can then re-invest those resources.
Don’t be afraid to convert your unused Actions into Fate points - having Fate available can make a huge difference when avoiding a negative Adventure outcome, so you always want to keep one or two points on hand. That said - if you find another source of Fate in the world, that’s very efficient compared to spending your Actions.
Time, in the form of your Action Points is your most limited resource across the game as a whole. Finding ways to save Action Points is tough, but optimizing movement is one of the most effective. Unlocking new travel routes via Townsfolk and gaining free movement points can result in a lot of “free” Actions over the course of the game. Another way to buy time is to slow down the pace of Cult Activity. Prioritize defeating Cultists and gaining Cult Resistance, and that will buy you many more turns in the end.
Nearly every game requires at least some degree of combat. The built-in abilities that your Operatives have will get your through early combats well enough, but beyond that you’ll need to have a plan. There are a lot of options but recruiting mercenaries and researching spells are usually the most consistently available and powerful. Against most enemies, using a high Physical skill Operative (like Whitefang or Onto) is a good way to post some large numbers quickly. Investing in magic can be more versatile for both combat and non-combat utility, and some enemies are very resistant to Iron dice.
Heretic Operative is a challenging game, but with some experience and insight you’ll be able to handle anything the Cult throws at you.
Have strategy insights of your own? Share them with us in the forum, or join the Discord server: https://discord.gg/KfjK973
Patch Notes 1.0.3
- All story objectives now have rollover hints that provide some additional detail on where or how to complete them.
- Mentor (Hideout) now will work with Operatives up to Corruption 60 (was 50).
- Operative-specific combat abilities now show up in the Spells & Abilities panel so that they can be viewed outside of combat.
- Fixed a misspelling in the view text for Mask of Deception.
- Fixed the missing strings in the "Destroy the Storm Obelisk" skill challenge.
- Guardian effect now shows up in game log.
- Fixed an issue that would cause the Storm Altar to keep retargeting the same location.
- Lyrica's art in the main menu tryptych has been updated.
Getting Started with Heretic Operative
We'll be adding a few more in-game hints later this week, but in the meanwhile here are a few quick tips to get you started on the basics.
Selection & Movement
To select an Operative, left-click their portrait on the center bar or on the map.
To move a selected Operative, left-click a movement arrow (along the lines that show possible destinations) or right-click your destination.
Resources
The best way to get more resources is to recruit the right Townsfolk. You can recruit Townsfolk in any location where you have an Operative by clicking on their "scroll" in the bottom-left of the game UI and paying some influence.
Note that recruiting Townsfolk never takes an action, but many of them unlock special abilities you can spend an action point on.
There are many Townsfolk in the game, but here are a few important ones to not overlook, the ones that get you resource income every turn. Here are a couple to look for:
- Farmstead - Blacksmith (Gold)
- Copec's Tavern - Cell Leader (Influence), Informant (Rumors)
Getting more Lore and more Fate can be a little trickier, but the Museum District can be a great source for both.
Learning More
Almost everything in the game has a tooltip, and these tooltips are intended to make the game rules as transparent as possible.
There is also a Controls overview in the in-game ESC menu, and you can hit the "?" button in the bottom-middle of the screen for some additional help.
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We hope these tips are helpful in getting started. Heretic Operative is intentionally not an easy game, but with some perseverance victory can be achieved very reliably. Good luck and have fun with the game!
Launch day!
Check out the game and please let us know what you think by leaving a review!
Come chat about the game here on our Discord server:
https://discord.gg/KfjK973
But of course we're not done with Heretic Operative at launch. We look forward to applying your feedback to the game on both balance and bug patches, as well as adding more new Adventures, Operatives, and more.
Patch Notes 1.0.1
Here are the patch notes for your reading enjoyment:
- Tooltips show unmet requirements in red now to draw attention.
- Fixed an issue that could cause "Initiation" story to become stuck when replayed.
- Cleaned up some duplicate sound FX.
- Another pass on text cleanup.
- Fixed a button overlap issue between game log & help button.
- Adjusted formatting of random outcome tables.
- Fixed an issue with the location-specific results in the Apocalypse story.
- Renni's ability "Research" is now only usable 5 times, but gives +1 Fate each time it is used.
- Tooltip colorization for not having an Action Point available now also triggers when the selected Operative is Exhausted.
- Normalized the frequency of a few outlier Adventure cards.
- Fixed a bug where the Transmute minor spell would not generate any gold.
- Fixed a bug that would cause you to pay to complete a Story objective twice.
- Fixed a small handful of missing strings.
- A certain particularly bad outcome in the Tomb now has an entry in the game log.
- Prevent losing games that have already been scored from being scored a second time when reloaded.
- Fix an issue that could cause the UI to report that a game was not scored when it actually was.
- Fixed an issue with win badges (new game screen) not appearing.
Mechanics #13 - Victory & Defeat
The most direct way to lose the game is for all of your Operatives to be killed. Repeated combat can take a toll, and losing Health from Adventures or Events is always a possibility. It is important to gain Influence and recruit additional Operatives so that the loss of one isn’t the end. There are also ways to heal, but unlike a lot of traditional RPGs there isn’t a dedicated healing class or easy ways to recover fully between combats. Healing can always be found by returning to the Hideout, but there are other ways to be discovered that are much less expensive in time and momentum.
The other most common way to lose is for the Cult to grow too powerful. As mentioned a few blog posts back, Cult Activity leads to Cult Power, and each leader has a different amount of Cult Power that can cause the end of the game. Defeat Cultists and find sources of Cult Resistance to buy yourself enough time to complete the Story chapter objectives. If you’re finding that you are often overwhelmed by rising Cult Power, recruiting the Auspex in the Heretic Hideout is a great early game technique for getting some Cult Resistance immediately.
The Hideout is vital to the Heretic’s organization and if it is ever destroyed the game also ends. But it is well hidden, and requires a coordinated effort by the Cult to find it even when they get in the right Location. Mechanically, this will trigger when there are three Cultists at the Hideout, and whenever Cultists move, they move in that direction. If you let the map fill up with Cultists, you may have to rally a last-ditch defense to keep the Hideout secure.
Finally, some Story decks have specific additional failure conditions, usually when you have only a certain number of turns to accomplish something.
There are many threats in the game to answer, and finding the proper strategy will require skill, experience, and just a little bit of luck. Next time on the final (for now) mechanics blog, we’ll give a few tips and tricks to stack the odds in your favor.
Mechanics #12 - Cult Power
Every Cult Leader has a meter that shows how their power develops. As Cultists operate out in the field, they generate Cult Activity. These points of Cult Activity fill the meter, and when it is completely full the Cult Power increases by one. Each new point of Cult Power unlocks powerful new cards for the Cult to use against you. More importantly, if they get enough Cult Power, the Cult Leader becomes too powerful to stop and the Heretics immediately lose the game.
Different Cults have a different speed and rhythm based on their unique cards, abilities, and meters. When fighting against the Beast Cult you must move fast, as they win after the meter fills up only two times. The Storm Cult, on the other hand, requires the meter to fill four times to win. However, they have many tools to delay and hinder Heretic operations. Playing the same Story deck against a different Cult can drastically change up how you have to approach your strategy.
By default, the Cult only generates one point of Cult Activity each turn. At that pace, the Heretics have plenty of time to respond and develop their position. But as Cultists move around the map, they build Cult Sites. When a Cultist is free to spend a turn uninterrupted at a Cult Site, they generate an additional point of Cult Activity. Left unchecked, this can lead to the Cult gaining 4 or 5 points each turn!
The most direct way to stay on top of Cult Activity is to defeat the Cultists directly and destroy their Cult Sites. In addition, if the Heretics can obtain means to stop Cultists through other avenues (such as a temporary alliance with more reasonable members of the Church), they can gain points of Cult Resistance. Cult Resistance is extremely valuable, as it neutralizes one source of Cult Activity out in the world each turn. That extra breathing room is vital in maintaining control of the game.
Next up on our mechanics blog - all the ways you can win and lose the game, summarized.
Patch Notes 0.9.19
- When first playing the Initiation story, there are a few extra UI assist popups.
- Initiation story objectives provide some hints to point you in the right direction.
- Players start with -1 AP on the very first turn of the Initiation story to make the first turn cleaner.
- The Mayor's tooltip now more clearly explains the extra requirements to recruit them.
- Fixed a tooltip overflow issue with the Mayor after recruiting them.
- Fixed a typo in the Tomb location "Wandering Monsters" descriptor.
- Fixed an issue where an internal name for a Story could appear.
- Updated Lyrica's uncorrupted portrait.
- Adjusted active Townsfolk recruitment tooltip so it does not wrongly imply that it costs AP.