Recently Funcom, developers of the hit survival sandbox Conan Exiles, held an enlightening and entertaining Livestream showcasing some of their upcoming content. Lucky for us, all that content is now available in their current patch, update 27! Let’s take a final look at the explosive orbs, working drawbridges, avatar defence mechanisms and more!
Defence Against the Gods
Summoning one of the Gods in Conan Exiles is definitely for the late-game players intent on wiping one another completely off the map. Well, since update 27, these invincible deities of destruction have been given a little bit of a nerf. The game’s developers have decided to significantly reduce the God’s damage output, meaning that if the summoner wishes for their avatar to destroy someones town, they will now have to use the deity’s special attacks rather than just trample all over it.
Not only is their offence weaker, but so is their defence. The Gods can finally be damaged! No longer must we sit by helplessly while the behemoths stomp, slither and soar straight through our creations. Projectiles like arrows, crossbow bolts, siege boulders and the new explosive orbs will now do damage to the avatars. Each bit of damage done will deduct from the God’s summoning time; 1 second for an arrow, 20 seconds for a siege boulder!
Finally, Funcom will be adding defensive domes capable of shielding your valuables from outside attacks. These domes will last for 36 hours and can be crafted in two different sizes. The larger one will actually deal damage to any attacking avatar that crosses the threshold, and the smaller dome will protect it’s insides from hurled projectiles. However be warned, enemy players can still pass through the smaller dome and it will disappear completely when touched by an opposing avatar! To create these safety circles you’ll need the highest tier alter, an arch priest manning it and 500 manifestations of Zeal.
Explosive Glass Orbs
As shown in Funcom’s recent Livestream, there are now four explosive orbs that have been added with update 27. These grenade-like orbs are throwable and can be crafted to contain grease, fire, water or gas. The first step in creating these boom balls is capturing an alchemist thrall and putting them to work in your Firebowl Cauldron, thus unlocking the necessary recipes.
Water orbs are easy to make and will extinguish any flames left behind by stray fire orbs. To craft these ones you’ll need a water filled glass flask and some ichor. Water orbs act as the basis for all other orbs.
Fire orbs are simply little balls of explosive energy that set fire to a surface for a short period of time upon impact. To craft these orbs you’ll need to harvest some explosive glands from exploding imps located in the Southern part of the desert. Be warned, these imps can be a bit unstable.
When smashed, grease orbs will leave behind a thick oil-like puddle difficult to walk through and extremely flammable. Definitely try throwing a fire orb into a grease pool. These orbs are crafted with tar, a by-product of tanning hide into leather.
The gas orbs are particularly interesting, as they require a brand new item to craft. The Puffer Mushroom is a rare find in the South and a necessary ingredient for the gas orbs. Similar to gas traps, these orbs will cover an area with poison that is damaging to anyone within. Throwing a fire orb into the gas cloud will cause it to ignite for multiple explosions and casualties.
Castle Upgrades
With update 27 there are of course some aesthetically pleasing gadgets perfect for any aspiring king or lord of the Exiled Lands. There’s a new drawbridge that can be raised or lowered to suit your offensive and defensive needs; and medieval elevators that are able to travel vertically and horizontally up tall towers or across dangerous gorges. The developers also added crenellated walls as a defence mechanism against future climbers, with perfect little spots for boiling oil siege cauldrons! No one will be raiding your fortress any time soon.
Update 27 Patchnotes
- Avatars can now be damaged. Each attack against an avatar will remove some time from the summoning timer until the avatar finally disappears. The amount of time removed depends on the amount of damage done.
- NEW CONTENT: Added a new weapon type: Orbs. There are four orb types: fire, poison, oil, water. Orbs can be crafted in the firebowl cauldron, by an alchemist thrall. Orbs create combo fields with a variety of effects. Different orb types interact with combo fields in different ways. I.e.: Demon-fire Orbs leave a patch of fire on the floor. Grease Orbs leave a slippery patch. Grease Orbs thrown into Demon-fire create a larger patch of fire. Orbs are designed to be T1-level demolition tools, but can also be used in combat for damage and area control.
- NEW CONTENT: Added avatar defence. Tier 3 altars with an arch priest can perform a ritual that creates a large protective area around the altar. Any Avatar entering the area is blasted with divine fury. Projectiles are blocked by a small shield dome around the altar itself. The ritual lasts for 36 hours.
- NEW CONTENT: Added drawbridge
- NEW CONTENT: Added crenellated walls
- NEW CONTENT: Added siege cauldron. Attaches to crenellated walls. Uses tar as ammo, greets attackers with boiling tar.
- NEW CONTENT: Added horizontal and vertical elevators
- EXPLOIT FIX: Yoggite Cudgel no longer gives Manifestation of Zeal in player inventory
- EXPLOIT FIX: Updated collision mesh on many cliffs/rocks to prevent building pieces being placed inside them
- EXPLOIT FIX: It should no longer be possible to escape the Cursewall by logging off during the death animation
- EXPLOIT FIX: Updated player and texture collision to prevent players from building inside certain cliff walls
- EXPLOIT FIX: Fixed an issue where players could spawn inside a stone pillar on the eastern side of the map
- Added a max ping filter (MaxAllowedPing). It is enabled on official servers by default. Private server admins can turn this on in the server settings with the MaxAllowedPing by setting the value to something other than 0. Value is max ping (ms) allowed.
- The map will now show players carrying an avatar token as well as active rituals of protection.
- It should now be possible to shoot through window frames
- Small campfires now require only 5 branches.
- Weight of leather is now more consistent with other resources
- Hitpoints on building pieces have been drastically increased. The new Orbs fill the function of T1 explosives. Explosive Jars are now T2 explosives.
- Combat update: Basic attacks do less damage and won’t consume stamina. Heavy attacks do relatively more damage, but requires more stamina. We are working on a fix that will allow us to add a higher stamina cost to heavy attacks.
- Combat update: Poise values have been updated. Weapons now have knockback power according to the weapon type. I.e. all maces have the same knockback power, regardless of level. 2-handed hammer attacks do the same amount of damage for both basic and heavy attacks. Additionally, heavy attacks knock you down unless you’re wearing a full heavy armour set. Expect more changes to weapon functions and poise values as we keep working on this.
- Combat update: Crossbows now have more knockback power than bows. Existing ammo types no longer affect knockdown power.
- Armour should no longer protect you from fall damage
Performance and Tech Fixes
- Teleporting should now work correctly in local play
- Optimized physics objects to improve server performance
General Bug Fixes and Improvements for Update 27
- EXPLOIT FIX: Yoggite Cudgel no longer gives Manifestation of Zeal in player inventory
- EXPLOIT FIX: Updated collision mesh on many cliffs/rocks to prevent building pieces being placed inside them
- EXPLOIT FIX: It should no longer be possible to escape the Cursewall by logging off during the death animation
- EXPLOIT FIXFixed an issue where players could spawn inside a stone pillar on the eastern side of the map
- Hyrkanian and Ancient bows now both have correct recipe
- You should no longer be able to see through walls when looking down in a combat stance
- Updated item database to include recipes and proper naming
- Fixed a bug where players could dodge without a specified direction.
- Added a sound to Avatar summon
- King Rocknose Head Trophy is now correctly named.
- Fixed an issue where the last Shaleback egg in a stack would not degrade
- Explosive jars should no longer explode when removed with the Shift+Delete admin command.
- Any key set to enable sprint will spawn a full stack of items in the admin panel
- Added buttons to clear server and admin passwords
- Fixed an instance of human NPCs floating in the air
- Fixed instances were Rocknoses would attack everything within range
- Removed some DEV only commands from the Admin Panel.
- Map name can now be specified when hosting a local game. If left empty game will default to ConanSandbox
- Updated NPCs to hopefully lower the number of errors when spawning NPCs that attack the player
- All machine placeables that have an on/off system have looping sounds for ‘on’ states. However the sound of someone working the machine does not turn off when the machine is turned off
- Text on Signposts should no longer require logging off/on to appear in single-player
- Server password should now persist when continuing a single-player game
- All perishables with perish-rate should now decay completely, and not leave the last item of the stack alive.
- Removed “Invite Friend” button from main menu as it wasn’t working correctly
- Undead Kappa, Undead Skeletal Lizardman, Kappa King, and Baby Kappas should all have proper hitboxes now
- Destroyed trebuchet should now drop loot no matter how it’s destroyed
- Increased hitpoints on various placeables
- Black candle and black candle stub should now have the correct icons
Balance and Gameplay Fixes
- Avatars can now be damaged. Each attack against an avatar will remove some time from the summoning timer until the avatar finally disappears. The amount of time removed depends on the amount of damage done.
- NEW CONTENT: Added a new weapon type: Orbs. There are four orb types: fire, poison, oil, water. Orbs can be crafted in the firebowl cauldron, by an alchemist thrall. Orbs create combo fields with a variety of effects. Different orb types interact with combo fields in different ways. I.e.: Demon-fire Orbs leave a patch of fire on the floor. Grease Orbs leave a slippery patch. Grease Orbs thrown into Demon-fire create a larger patch of fire. Orbs are designed to be T1-level demolition tools, but can also be used in combat for damage and area control.
- NEW CONTENT: Added drawbridge
- NEW CONTENT: Added crenelated walls
- NEW CONTENT: Added siege cauldron. Attaches to crenelated walls. Uses tar as ammo, greets attackers with boiling tar.
- NEW CONTENT: Added horizontal and vertical elevators
- NEW CONTENT: Added avatar defense. Tier 3 altars with an archpriest can perform a ritual that creates a large protective area around the altar. Any Avatar entering the area is blasted with divine fury. Projectiles are blocked by a small shield dome around the altar itself. The ritual lasts for 36 hours.
- Firebowl cauldron has been changed from an automatic combination machine to a recipe-based crafting station. They have become an alchemy station and cannot be used for cooking anymore. Alchemy items can be learned from the Firebowl cauldron feat, or crafted by certain thralls.
- The map will now show players carrying an avatar token as well as all Tier 3 altars.
- It should now be possible to shoot through window frames
- Small campfires now require only 5 branches.
- Weight of leather is now more consistent with other resources
- Increased hitpoints of misc placeables
- Improved controller navigation to and from the dye grid
- Cobras and Locusts now drop Toxin/Venom glands when harvested
- Made it easier to build foundations up and down slopes
- It should no longer be possible to place altars too close to each other
- Lowered triggerbox for traps, making it more difficult to trigger them through ceiling pieces
- Vapor Traps now trigger after a 0.1 second delay, down from 1 second
- Flawless and Exceptional Hyrkanian bows should now do more damage and have more durability than the base bow, as is intended
- Hitpoints on building pieces have been drastically increased. The new Orbs fill the function of T1 explosives. Explosive Jars are now T2 explosives.
- Added Exploding Imp enemy, which can be harvested for explosive gland
- Added puffer shrooms, which is used to craft gas orbs
- Combat update: Basic attacks do less damage and won’t consume stamina. Heavy attacks do relatively more damage, but requires more stamina. We are working on a fix that will allow us to add a higher stamina cost to heavy attacks.
- Combat update: Poise values have been updated. Weapons now have knockback power according to the weapon type. I.e. all maces have the same knockback power, regardless of level. 2-handed hammer attacks do the same amount of damage for both basic and heavy attacks. Additionally, heavy attacks knock you down unless you’re wearing a full heavy armor set. Expect more changes to weapon functions and poise values as we keep working on this.
- Combat update: Crossbows now have more knockback power than bows. Existing ammo types no longer affect knockdown power.
- Damage from Explosive Jars and Fire Orbs should now check for visibility and won’t do damage through walls except for a tiny amount (5 points) of shock damage to detonate other Jars in the blast radius.
- Armour should no longer protect you from fall damage
Server Settings
- Added a max ping filter (MaxAllowedPing) for update 27. It is enabled on official servers by default. Private server admins can turn this on in the server settings with the MaxAllowedPing by setting the value to something other than 0. Value is max ping (ms) allowed.
- Servers should no longer appear greyed out when changing filters
Audiovisual Improvements
- Updated range at which low res models are being displayed
- Updated textures on Large water well
- Updates textures on Stygian/Large carpet
- Updated physics to crocodiles and dragons
- Added a system for tucking clothes when they overlap
- Improved shield hitting and shield breaking audio
- Doors opening and closing should no longer be heard from miles away
- Corrected visibility/tucking bug when equipping heavy armor pieces
- EXPLOIT FIX: Updated player and texture collision to prevent players from building inside certain cliff walls.
- Our audio lead will no longer speak to you when you’re taking damage
Text and Localisation
- Added missing text to the new items
Known Issues
- Siege cauldron boiling tar visual effects are still work in progress
- Repair hammer shows damaged buildings up to 5 meters away instead of 15 meters due to performance degredation. We are working on a fix.
- Spamming basic attacks will sometimes trigger an instant heavy attack. This is a recurring issue that was made more apparent with the change to stamina costs. We are working on a fix.
- Alt-tabbing out of the game then placing items won’t show them as visible
Special announcement
For update 27 some of the PvP Blitz servers are getting updated with PvP raid timers, only allowing players to raid each other between 5pm (17.00) to 11.59pm (23.59) on weekdays, and 10am (10.00) to 11.59pm (23.59) on weekends. These servers used to have avatars switched off, but with the new avatar defense features now being implemented we wanted to re-purpose them to be servers with limited times for player versus player combat.
The following servers will be named thusly:
- Official server #116 – Limited PvP Time
- Official server #117 – Limited PvP Time
- Official server #167 – Limited PvP Time
- Official server #168 – Limited PvP Time
- Official server #169 – Limited PvP Time
- Official server #273 – Limited PvP Time
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