Caelumora — v1.7.2: Insano Gold Rebalance
A targeted income-side rebalance for Insano mode. Insano was structurally gold-negative at every level — sinks (the per-skill tax, bank upkeep, assistant gold) far outpaced any income source, because Insano disables selling. v1.7.2 doesn’t touch the sinks (Insano’s identity stays harsh) and instead opens up three new ways to earn gold per action.
The Problem
In Normal and Hardcore, you make gold by selling resources. Insano disables selling on purpose — it’s the central design constraint. But the only per-action gold sources in the game (a skill-tree node and one gem attribute) were tiny and gated to a few skills, so by mid-game an Insano player was watching gold fall faster than they could replace it. At lvl 99 in hostile faction territory, the per-action net flow was something like −17× — for every gold you earned, the area tax took 17 back.
The fix is income-side, in three coordinated levers.
Lever B — Action.gold: Intrinsic Per-Action Gold
Actions can now define a gold field that pays out alongside XP and resources. It scales by skill level and category — Combat and Exploration pay the most (these are “earn” skills), Gathering pays moderately (already monetizable in non-Insano via selling), Processing pays less (its inputs are themselves valuable).
Calibration was tuned so that at level 60+ with full investment (max prestige Golden Touch, slotted gold gem, skill-tree gold node), an Insano player nets roughly break-even in neutral territory. Without investment, Insano stays as harsh as today. The gold field is opt-in per action — early-game lvl 1-20 actions still pay nothing on purpose, so the early game keeps its bite.
Lever C — Prestige goldMultiplier Now Applies to Per-Action Gold
This was effectively a bug. The Golden Touch prestige unlocks (max +64% gold) only multiplied selling. But the only meaningful per-action gold sources (skill tree node, gem attribute) bypassed the multiplier entirely — meaning prestige investment in Golden Touch was worthless in Insano, the mode that needs it most.
Fixed. The multiplier now wraps all three per-action gold sources in one consistent step. Selling continues to benefit too.
Lever G — Gem gold_on_action Attribute Broadened to All Skills
Previously only Woodcutting, Combat, and Exploration gems could roll the gold-on-action attribute. The other 10 skills’ gems could never give gold, locking out a whole income axis for builds focused on Mining, Smithing, Cooking, etc.
Every skill’s gem can now roll gold_on_action at the same tier values (1–2g / 3–4g / 5–7g / 8–10g). Tighter weight tuning across categories is on the followup list.
Offline Parity
Same gold paths now apply to offline progress. The Welcome Back modal shows per-skill gold gained alongside XP and resources. Tested via integration coverage.
What Insano Looks Like Now
At lvl 60 hostile with mid-prestige investment, the per-minute net flow improves roughly from −2,365 to around −1,285. Hostile territory still loses gold (you’re paying rent in someone else’s land). Neutral territory becomes break-even. Friendly territory is mildly positive. Insano stays harsh, but it stops being a math trap.
Discord
Found a balance edge case or have feedback on Insano specifically? Join the Discord — Insano is a live design and your runs inform the followups.
— VHS