Update #71 follows on a big weekend with the TRUCK JOB heist hitting the streets and so many new Knights joining the New Boston zone. We're excited to return to the regular update schedule this week and smash some fixes, smash your F10s and smash on to the next heist release.
Sorry about the big download size on this one. The build server had a caching issue and the only way to move forward was to flush it and the build size suffered for it.
If you're liking the game, the pace of updates and our style of Early Access, please take a minute to leave a review!
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1021210/view/4176599795022391616 We've also started a new community challenge this week to see your best multi-class builds! This one is a lot of fun to test out new things and new metas that maybe haven't been explored before. You in?
Truck Job Floaters
If you were running the TRUCK JOB and saw the mechanized infantry simply "floating" through stuff, you weren't the only one. Scary, right! Well, now fixed.
Retargeting Annoyances
We've rebuilt how a character steps out around cover to give the character more options (now 8 options instead of just 4) which will help you get the best sight lines to enemy targets or when trying to get a good Overwatch cone setup.
This also has a big impact on any time that the targeting got confused when planning movement (saying that you could hit 1 in the bottom left but when you got there it was 0). This was due to the less step out spots and allowing the step out spots to be influenced by rotation. Technicalities, but big ones!
And finally, this fix fully resolves all of the annoyances around retargeting that were going. Sometimes, when trying to shoot an enemy multiple times in a row, suddenly you'd be stuck with an "No Sight Line" result until you hit ESC or reclicked on them, or you'd just lose the targeting altogether. These issues are now fixed, thankfully.
Biomimic and BioScan Fields
We fixed the issue with the Scourge's Biomimic bug that was not always working in a Bio-Scan Field, depending on the ordering of who entered the field last. Now it always works and a Biomimic'd Scourge is excluded for any and all merc counts.
Enemy Spawning
We've resolved the issues with enemy spawnng in odd positions and rotations, kind of a bad jumble. They are back to being nicely organized and fanned out from the main spawn location. Only if they need to find other locations due to something blocking them will they get more organic.
Enemy Spinning
Sometimes the enemy AI would just start a rotation action and not really try to turn much or at all. This kind of twitchy is now cut out completely and the enemies will only go for a rotation action when it is sensible. It looks nicer and actually cuts down on a good deal of thinking cycles and raycasting required every time a turn was done.
Pathing and Lighting Issues
There are a few types of textures we are fighting in certain levels -- usually paper on the ground -- that can in some cases be painted with a white background. We're working through addressing these as they are new bugs caused by the new lighting engine. We'll get them all fixed soon.
We also fixed a number of odd pathing issues in the Forward Op mission map[.
[h2]Typos and Duplicate Journal Entry We fixed a heap of typos and also a duplicate entry in the journal for Water Desalination. Thanks to the F10 crew for posting these up!
v1.5.7 - 4/84/2024 - New Power Button Eyes option - Fixed issue with mechanized infantry in Truck Job walking/running through objects - Fixed issues where sometimes target or sight line would be lost after making attack on a target until canceled / retargeted - Fixed bug with Scourge's Bio-Mimic not deceiving BioScan Field if Scourge is the last merc to enter - Improved AI behavior to avoid repeated rotations that sometimes don't go anywhere - Fixed issue with start enemy positions for reinforcements not being well organized - Fixed duplicate lore text paragraphs in Water Treatement and Desalination section of journal - Fixed odd pathing issues in Forward Op mission map
Major Milestone: VIBE (new lighting engine)
In Cyber Knights, the New Boston dome is the ever-present setting. It is more than 10 miles wide in diameter and at its peak stands over 1 mile tall. This massive structure rests on super-foundations and the ceiling arch is supported by the large buildings, the nearly mile-wide "towers". Layer upon layer of metal and concrete make the dome, slice upon slice of street, hab-sector or industrial zones stacked upon each other.
Below ground, out in the Wards, high in the towers, escaping off of rooftops - it is your playground, your heist targets, the home of your enemies, friends and safehouse. It needs to have the right vibe.
And so we're excited to roll out a major milestone off the roadmap with the VIBE update, the all-new lighting engine!
Technically outside of the official Q1 end by a few days, but we're going to notch this one where it stood. And with the lighting engine roadmap items struck down, we can at last finish up Mac support.
Onwards to the truly big beasties of Q2 - safehouse base building and blueprint crafting!
New Lighting Engine & Post Processing
The new lighting engine includes a new post processing color grading system that is helping to push the right vibe for our dark future cyberpunk setting - dark, shadowed, gritty but still vivid.
We hope you'll jump into a heist and check out the new look because every scene, mission and corner of the game has been improved. This is a huge update with innumerable changes, so there are sure to be follow-on fixes that tweak certain areas, lights, objects that stick out as odd or that need roughness or metalness changes. If you do see anything weird just hit F10 to send us a report; we’ll be making ongoing adjustments as always.
Throughout Early Access, we're working on many, many different projects. Visual and animation improvements is a big area for these, so even with the lighting engine improvements we're continuing to push in other areas that will improve the game's visuals.
HUD Bar Spacebar Issue Fixed
With the last update there was an issue where using some of the buttons in the HUD bar - specifically items or advantages - could result in the focus getting stuck up there. Then the next time you tried to move with spacebar, you'd actually be pushing one of those buttons or ending your turn.
Bad! Fixed now.
Photo Mode Improvement
To make photo mode better, we've hidden the last few UI elements that were hanging around on screen when it was enabled. This includes the blue circle around character's feet which was the most annoying.
Camera No Longer Sticking
In some cases if you chose to skip all during a scripted scene, the camera would just jam right where it was when you skipped instead of cutting ahead to the character or enemy who is about to take their turn. This is now fixed and we've made some minor improvements to the camera position before the black curtain rises at the start of a level to make sure the camera is always focusing on the right character with them in an unobstructed view.
v1.5.1 - 4/2/2024
- Upgraded all levels and scenes to new lighting engine (lighting is more diffuse, more indirect contribution, better ambient occlusion) - Upgraded all levels and scenes with new post processing (ACES color grading for shadowed, grittier, vibrant world) - Fixed issue with photomode (default "P") where character selection UI stayed visible - Fixed bug where using items or Leverages could leave selection in button bar and trying to move might end turn or be ignored - Fixed odd white square appearing in the character hover (now is corrected to be >| icon indicating they are in the next turn) - Fixed issue with camera getting stuck in odd positions after skipping scripted scene
Update #68: Backstory Web
Monday - a good day as any for an update! Welcome to Update #68 where we've put some extra focus on cleaning up the relationships, backstories and story tags that define your characters and recruits. We're heading into new and exciting territory with the story system and the Casting Director and it was important to take this minute to correct any last issues in the foundation before rolling forward.
This update does not include the new lighting engine (a visual-only improvement to the look of the game). We said in Update #67 that it was "next update" but there always seems to be one more technical hurdle. It will come very soon, but we wanted to get this RPing quality update out to everyone.
If you're enjoying the pace of improvements and steady progress the game is making during Early Access we hope that you will leave a review. Nothing is more important to a small indie developer that having you help us share the game, so we appreciate it!
Must Feed Casting Director!
The Casting Director is the heart of our proc-gen story system. The Director is in charge of picking what new stories to spin into your cyberpunk world and who should fill the available seats in those storylines. It does this by looking at the cast of characters, mercs, recruits and contacts that are within the game.
Starting Character Relationship Fixes
The first big set of updates all come to your starting characters. These characters rolled out of new game with strong backstories and a set of contacts they know. But that data was poorly represented and shown in the roster or the contact screen.
With Update #68, we've retagged everything. This is for both old games and new games. If you load up your previous save, we've done some adjustments to correct the tagging and display for relationships to be bi-direction and to include additional data about why the relationship exists, at the very least helpful pointers back to the backstory.
This also sets up new games very nice, but you don't need to start a new game here.
Recruit Backstories, Relationships and Contacts
In the same vein, the backstories, contacts and tags assigned to the recruits you can find in the game have been less than correctly represented.
First, there was a bug that 33% of the time, a recruit could pick the wrong faction and backstory and you'd basically end up with a recruit in your safehouse who did not match the dialog at all. This is now fixed.
Second, the new contacts that were being created by recruiting all look like Dr. Ashe... oops. This is currently fixed only for new recruits but we're working on how to resolve this in older saves as well.
Third, the backstory Trait, personality tagging, relationship tags with the new contacts, Contact Traits and Tags were all just lacking. Some of it was there but it wasn't as fully-fledged and rich as the Casting Director would like it to be. For new recruits, you'll find a much better set of RPing tagging and data is included after you've met and discussed with the recruit.
New Traits
We're in a cycle of constantly adding new Traits for characters and contacts. We kind of aim to add one or two every time we work on a new recruit, contact or story character. With this update, we've added both Bull-Built (heavy focus on Strength and HP) and Bril (adding Willpower and bonus % to all XP gained!).
Sec AI Avoids Repeat Reboot
While it may have been a boon to see the Sec AI pick something less than optimal, it could also be unfairly difficult or annoying if the Sec AI rebooted security devices twice in a row. Especially if you just spent your turn undoing the reboot ... only to have it re-rebooted!
The Sec AI will no longer pick Reboot Devices back to back for Security Escalations. We're continuing to work on adding new options for the Sec AI and improving the sequencing and rule set for what options are available, so please post any F10 bugs, oddities or suggestions you might have.
APU Spiking
We fixed a bug where spiking the APU in a matrix host could result in a Security Escalation at Lvl 0. This bug could basically make the act of spiking the APU a punishment and is now resolved, thankfully.
Now the math behind the rules have been improved. The APU reduces your Sec Tally by 10 points and can gain you one "free Escalation". That is, if you're at Sec Level 2 and the Tally is 4/10 then spiking the APU will take you back to Sec Level 1, Tally 4/10. But when you pass into Sec Level 2, the APU has been corrupted and that Escalation is skipped. We need better representation of this in the visuals, but it has a demonstrable powerful effect now at any Sec Level.
v1.4.47 - 4/1/2024
- Fixed all relationships for starting characters with their contacts (retroactively); bidirectional with details - Added new Traits Bull-Built (Strength and HP), Bril (Willpower and extra XP) - Improved Tags and Traits for all recruits and their known contacts (new recruits only) - Fixed issues where recruits could end up from the wrong faction, without Traits or contacts connections - Prevented Security AI from unfairly rebooting jammed security devices 2 Turns in a row - Fixed Matrix bug where spiking the APU could result in a Security Escalation "Level 0" incorrectly - Fixed tattoo and facial hair shading which had become too light
Update #67: Quality Blaze
Knights, gather round the command HQ - it is Update #67. We've got free multi-classing and bonus Training Points (+1 or +2) for you, a quick but helpful Matrix Basics guide, mission Objectives now showing up in the Matrix, and fixes to your most recent crop of F10s.
This is probably the last update - a nice solid QoL patch - before we drop the new lighting engine. Sorry, the 2.8 GB update size is due to prep for the lighting engine drop! We're were showing off the new lighting engine and post processing results on our Discord earlier this week and are just making final tweaks to everything to make it look its best before rolling it out to you.
If you're enjoying the progress and pace of updates, please leave a review. Every single one helps us keep this Early Access training moving and you can always edit it later.
Matrix Basic Guide
We've added a new page to the gameplay basics section that includes a basic primer for the Matrix. It is not a replacement for the Matrix Tutorial but a stopgap measure we should have taken a while ago. It is short and to the point, aiming to get you started and into the basics of matrix hacking. The tutorial is coming, right after the lighting engine - but for now, check the in-game help.
Multi-class for Freeeeeeeee!
We've adjusted the rules for how mutli-classing cost you Training Points. Previously, the first node of any class (the class icon in the tree) cost you 1 point. This wasn't clear, was a bit confusing, and required you to have 1 free Training point to complete a multi-class action. We have removed this cost, so the act of multi-classing is now completely free and costs 0 Training Points.
This also means the act of having any class is free and costs 1 less Training Points. So, all characters got +1 Training Point returned to them. Yay! And if you happened to have multi-class, you'll find suddenly you have +2 new Training Points to spend. Don't spend it all on one node ;)
To support this change, we've modified the starting character training a bit with small extra bonuses and Talents. The Sniper gets Pathfinder Talent, Vanguard gets extra range for their Lure, and Cybersword gets a second charge of Slashslide, etc.
As part of this process, we've also adjusted how the Cyber Knight spent their points and freed up a total of 4 Training Points when you reach the safehouse. This gives the Cyber Knight more freedom to take new Talents (like Tactica Surge or others) without forcing a respec, which most players weren't doing. This +1 from the class node and dropping a trained upgrade node from the Security Dampen Talent gives the Knight a lot more flexibility to immediately pick up a new Talent before going on their first mission which just feels right.
Objectives in Matrix HUD
As the game's matrix objectives and secondary objective layer keeps getting deeper in the story and proc-gen heists both, it has become clear we needed the Objectives list on the Matrix HUD. We have shimmied it in above the Matrix Log so that it can be always present on screen when you're working through your objectives and racing to get everything done in time.
Fixed Matrix Bugs
We also fixed a number of smaller Matrix issues that have been bothering players. The first was that if you had enough Talents and Programs in your Matrix Talent bar, you could end up in a situation where the Talent hover simply clipped off the right side of your screen. This is now resolved and hovers stay within the bounds correctly.
The second fixed issue is that there if there were IC that increased the Action Point cost of certain actions like using Programs, their penalty cost was getting counted twice, making this unfairly hard. This is now resolved.
Fix Spawning Bugs
The last update included some important improvements to enemy spawning routines to ensure they never stacked and instead found some nearby empty space to occupy. This fix worked really well in most cases, but we've received from F10s for specific spawning points in the game where the enemies would still end up stacked or end up inside a nearby building which they could not possibly get out of.
We've cleaned up the algorithm here to pick the spawning location and included additional checks to be sure we get a truly valid nearby position. If you see any last lingering issues with spawning locations, please just hit F10 and we will resolve but it looks like -- from our side -- its fixed.
v1.4.43 - 3/28/2024
- Added a gameplay basics entry for Matrix Basics - a short bootstrap to get any player started - Reduced training point cost for first node of all classes to 0 points, all characters recoup +1 or +2 (if multi-classed) Training Points (yay!) - Multi-class is free, no training point cost associated with the action - Starting characters get slight boosts in starting training (Vanguard longer range Lure, Soldier longer range Marker Sights, Sniper gets Pathfinder Talent) - Adjusted Soldier's Marker Sights to make AOE upgrade a little more expensive - Mission objectives are now included in matrix HUD above the matrix log - Fixed matrix bug where AP penalty by IC was counted twice making program use extra expensive - Fixed bug with Talent hovers that were going off the edge of the screen, now respect boundary - Fixed issues with spawning enemies where they still might stack on top of each other or end up inside inaccessible areas - Fixed jumbled Hacker class description in multi-class screen
Highlighting another great RPG: Colony Ship
With over 14,000 games released on Steam last year, there's a lot of noise to sort through to find the good stuff. We wanted to highlight a game we've been following for a while, that's already completed its EA journey and launched to critical acclaim just a few months ago.
Colony Ship is an in-depth cRPG with turn-based tactical combat, ten different potential party members, a detailed skill-based character system, multiple ways to handle quests, choices & consequences, and branching dialogue trees. It's the kind of RPG we love, and they've delivered at a really high level of quality.
It's a dystopian sci-fi RPG for fans of games like the classic Fallout titles or more recent hits like Wasteland 3. Like us, Iron Tower Studios values serving a core audience over making more generically mainstream games. They're known for hardcore, text-heavy RPGs with interesting worlds to explore and great storytelling. Colony Ship has challenging combat where a lot of different builds are possible, but it also allows for pacifist runs using your speech skills to avoid combat entirely.
We encourage you to check it out. Splattercat has a great video showing the gameplay experience if you want a preview, and their lead developer Vince is active in the Steam forums answering questions. This one's worth a look.
Last weeks' big extraction rules updates touched every single level in the game. Today we got some F10s about issues about specific order of things (characters dying after everyone else extracts but there still is a prisoner...) that can cause issues with the extraction system.
Also, there were occurrences with the smoothed out camera controls where the camera was not resuming its overhead perspective after hacking or certain melee attacks. Just so smooth ... lol. Anyway, these are also now fixed in this hotfix.
A huge thanks to players posting F10s so we can fix the bugs and also to everyone leaving a review!
v1.3.21 - 2/11/2024
- Fixed issue where prisoners on levels could prevent team extraction (Carnivore, Sibling Breakout) - Fixed bug with movement destination not always following where you clicked - Fixed issue with camera not resuming correctly after some melee attacks - Fixed issue with camera not resuming correctly after hacking
Update #50: Big QoL Catchup
Update #50 - it's just a number but it's a nice one! We're excited how our Early Access journey has progressed so far. We've knocked down multiple major milestones from the roadmap, added content, systems and more to the game in constant stream of improvements.
While we're working toward what is next, we've prepped a very nice quality of life update here that smacks down a lot of the F10s coming in, improves some UI elements, tweaks the tutorial and more.
If you feel like we're heading in the right direction with Early Access as we hit Update #50, please take a minute to leave a review!
Secondary Rewards
We've improved the rewards for proc-gen by making XP rewards clearly a percentage (+10%) over a hard number (+7 XP). We also fixed issues where in some scenarios the Sec Level rewards were not being granted.
Injury Time / Wounds
There were a few issues and misses on balance here. One issue was that if a character had recovered from an injury in the past, they were far less likely to get injured again. We've resolved a number of issues and are in a more reliably correct place with injury time and wounding rules.
Smoother Camera
We cleared up about 5 different cases that could cause the camera to hitch at the start or end of moving. Everything feels a lot smoother now!
Proc-Gen Fixes
The extraction rules update did a bit of a number on the sewers proc-gen level it seems. We've fixed a slew of minor bugs from enemies spawning right next to your start location to your crew having 3 dialog lines every time they take out an enemy captain.
We fixed the occurrence of a blank screen if talking to the Warner-Braun VP sometimes.
ESC in Victory / Defeat
We shifted the keybinding for returning to main menu away from ESC in the mission victory and defeat screens as way too many of us are accidentally exiting from that screen. It now defaults to ENTER.
And a lot more check out the full change log!
v1.3.17 - 2/11/2024
- Converted secondary objective rewards for XP to +10% XP instead of +7 XP - Fixed cases in which secondary reward for low Sec Level might not be rewarded - Improved balance of Injury Time from damage - Fixed bug where Injury Time of 1-day or less was immediately healed - Improved smoothness of all camera panning, removed tiny hitch at end of some pans - Fixed case in proc-gen Sewers level where an enemy might spawn looking straight at your team - Fixed bug that could put up a blank dialog when Warner-Braun VP is offering proc-gen mission - Fixed bug with over chatty dialogs when killing enemy in Kill 3 proc-gen missions - Fixed issue with Hacker class recommending Neural Accelerator when it wanted Neural Toner - Fixed a bug with one of Soldier's Plaster-Cross upgrades actually upgrading Pop-Slot - Removed all-to-easy to hit ESC from Victory / Defeat, now defaults to ENTER to return to main menu - Improved and shortened some tutorial lines about Full Auto and Alert Status - Updated description for Chameleon Sheathe cybernetic implant
Update #49: Catch a Thief
After the big feature update of individual extraction which touched every single level in the game, we're coming back around to fix bugs, F10s and smooth out a few things. Thanks to everyone for reporting issues with F10, for posting in Discord and chatting on Steam.
We're about to reach Update #50 here with some really big things on the docket this month. We're working hard for to improve the game daily through its Early Access period and hope you'll help us keep up that pace by posting a review.
Wound Saves
We have adjusted the rules, percentage rates and timing at which Wounds Res is checked during play. Previously, this was checked when your Injury was fully healed which lead to an unfortunate feeling of "Oh, I'm finally healed and ready to ... oh I'm Wounded." Sad! With the updates, the Wound rolls are now made at the end of a mission and tied more closely to your Injury coming out of the mission. Your Wound Res is more directly impacted by number of Turns you are Injured and the Wound will appear immediately in the safehouse.
For future improvements, we're going to get a section in the scrolling victory panel that will let us show more detail for each merc and their individual outcomes.
Proc-Gen Sewers Issues
There were a few issues with the proc-gen sewers level after the last release. Evidently, the new extraction feature didn't sit well with that specific level :D All are fixed -
You were not getting the payment for each kill in the Kill 3 proc-gen premise.
Objectives were not updating correctly for Sewer Kill 3
In some proc-gen cases, you could start inside the extraction zone and immediately win
In other proc-gen cases, there was no extraction zone. If you're stuck like this, reload your level after the update to get out.
In other proc-gen fixes, we've improved an exit zone in the Truck Stop that was badly marked and giving players headaches.
Hack-only missions were also having issues with early extraction, now fixed.
Head Hunters - Show your Numbers!
With a recent update to the HUD to get Heat and Head Hunters show in the mission screen as well as main timeline, a bug crept in that disconnected the Head Hunter display from the real numbers. Everyone should find that their Head Hunter counts are now back and correct.
Crit Chance in Accuracy Breakdown
The Critical Chance calculations in the Accuracy Breakdown have been wrong for a while. We fixed one cause a few updates ago and now have tackled the second. They should all be nice, neat and make sense in a mathematical way at last!
Pop Slot Action Points
We've fixed a bug that was constantly complaining there were not enough action points to use the Soldier's Pop-Slot.
v1.3.11 - 2/8/2024
- Improved Wound rolling to be rolled at the end of a mission instead of later in the safehouse - Fixed issue with payment not always being granted in Sewers Kill 3 proc-gen mission - Fixed issue with new Sewers Kill 3 proc-gen level appearing too often from the generator - Fixed issue with exit not appearing in all Scav versions of Sewers proc-gen level - Fixed issues with Head Hunter count not correctly updating - Fixed bug with Soldier's Pop-Slot Talent always reporting "Not Enough Action Points" incorrectly - Fixed bug with Crit Chance % often being wrong in accuracy breakdown - Fixed inability to extract early from hack-only proc-gen missions - Fixed issue with Sigma 6 Sploitkit not loading in inventory - Adjusted problematic exit zone in Truck Job - Fixed missing faction subject in proc-gen offer ("BLANK is constantly harassing our movements...")
Update #48: EXTRACTION - Get to the Choppa!
Update #48 brings a major rule change to the game about how you leave levels, where you can leave a when you can leave. The new individual extraction rules add new flexibility and excitement to your extraction choices, at times let your squad "scatter" for their exit and more. We cover the full rule set below. This update also includes a new proc-gen map and objective combo (Sewers + Kill 3), as well as secondary objectives for all proc-gen missions, better rules for Legwork's XP bonuses, an update to the time and cost of healing Wounds, a series of tutorial improvements and fixes for the bugs in Shock Mines and Nano Stimkits. It's a huge update, packed to the brim so let's look at each item!
If you think we're headed in the right direction with Cyber Knights's Early Access process, we hope you'll leave a review to help us continue our work!
Extraction Rule Update
We're very excited to roll out the new individual extraction rules for all levels. While previously, the game required your entire team to gather in a single location to exit the level, now each merc is allowed to extract when they reach the extraction point -
Once your character reaches an extraction area, you can click Extract in their button bar. All players will get a one-time warning about this rule change in the game to help reduce confusion about the new rules.
All extraction is individual extraction - this means when your merc reaches the exit point, a button in the to bar next to Yield enables. This button is the Extraction button.
It is a one-way exit from the level. When the merc clicks the button, they immediately disappear.
once extracted you don't have to skip that merc's turn anymore, no one can shoot you, and you can't be spotted by enemies. You're completely gone from the level.
Once you leave, you cannot come back. If another merc who hasn't extracted is in trouble, you've already left and can't come back to help.
However, you don't have to click it. You can hang around the extraction point if you wish until the team is closer or its the right moment to leave.
If all living mercs are extracted, you win.
If at any time, all living mercs who have not yet extracted are in the extraction point, you win.
Individual extraction supports multiple exits not all levels will support multiple extraction points but some do, For example, the Aug-Clinic Rooftop ahs a single extraction point (the elevator) but Forward Op allow your mercs to go to "scatter" in separate extraction points to each find their best exit from the heist.
This is a big win for speed of play and injects new excitement into multi-exit levels where you can now consider splitting your team or sending off one merc on their own to risk an objective and hope they can make it all the way to the exit point.
New Proc-Gen Objective + Map
With Update #48, we've added a new combination of objective type and map. The power of proc-gen continues to be in the crossing of these two entities, and this release adds the ability for the sewers map to send you hunting 3 gang leaders to gain your payday.
While this is a small add in scope for the number of proc-gen mutations, we're in progress testing the next objective type (playing bodyguard on the go) and a new map as well which, combined, will be a very nice sized expansion to the scope of proc-gen today.
New Proc-Gen Secondary Objectives
All proc-gen missions have now gained secondary objectives that offer additional XP and money rewards for completing missions under certain thresholds. These extra incentives may give you are reason to push a little faster or quieter.
Currently, the supported set of secondaries focuses on completing missions under certain Sec Level or under a certain Turn limit but more types will be coming.
Tutorial Improvements
We've continued to listen close to feedback and adjust the tutorial. With this update, we've refined a lot of the text of the prompts, seeking to make them short and clear. We've also moved the lootbox so that it is more easily accessible and less time is spent just running around.
Security Tally Clarity
There have been a number of F10s about unexplained Security Tally appearing. We've found that these are almost exclusively from dead body timers running up. To help, as a first step, we've added a log entry to the combat log when a timer expires and listed exactly how much Sec Tally is added. The further step here will be to get the Tally to show up in yellow in the Sec Tally bar on the Turn it will happen so you can be pre-warned about upcoming Escalations correctly.
We also fixed a few places where secondary objectives were listing their Security Level maximums ("less than Sec Level 2") in Sec Tally ("less that 36 Sec Tally") which is just confusing.
Shock Mine and Nano-Stimkit Fixes
Both of these items were bugged and now both are fixed! A bug crept in during January that caused Shock Mines to be far more powerful than intended and honestly very OP. If thrown as a grenade, they would shock all enemy targets instead of just one. We've fixed the bug and updated the description to be more clear it is a single target. We will try to catch up with the VFX to show a single arc of electricity striking a single target.
Nano-Stimkits were bugged as they only refused to stim up any character who had HP damage even though they don't do any healing themselves. Now fixed!
XP for Legwork
We've adjusted the calculating used to provide Experience for attempting, failing and passing Legwork. Before this was randomly generated off a static range of XP, now we are granting a range of XP equal to a % of your next level's XP. The range goes from 2% to 6% of the XP needed to gain the next level. This is a great boost for Legwork which now grant a meaningful amount of XP - in the best case, success - regardless of your level.
Wound Healing
The price and timeline for healing wounds has now increased from the bottom-barrel values it started at. For a while, there was no wound healing, so when we added it to the game, we gave a 2 month grace period to get that pile of wounds healed up cheap. If you haven't then now you'll be paying the price.
v1.3.9 - 2/7/2024
- All extraction converted to individual extraction rules - extract by button in team bar (top left) - Added pop-up for all players (one time) and into end of tutorial explaining new extraction rules - Proc-gen raid and Kill 3 missions all gain randomized secondary objectives (Sec Level, Turns for extra XP or profit) - Internal rules changes to secondary Sec Level objectives may result in some missions with "less than 36 Sec Level" objectives - Moved lootbox in tutorial to be easier to directly access - Further improved tutorial dialog and prompts - Combat log now includes entry for when a dead body's body timer expires and +2 Sec Tally is added - Increased time and cost of healing wounds to more reasonable values - Increased XP rewards for Legwork up to 4-6% of next level requirement for successful Legwork, 2-3% for failed - Improved and increased naming variety for proc-gen missions and stages - Removed nonsense 2% Default Crit Chance from accuracy breakdown - Fixed additional cases where enemy could waste 1 turn "Security in my ear" - Fixed bug with Soldier's Recoup Talent that could activate even on misses - Fixed issue where Soldier's Roll With It Talent upgrade 5 was causing -10% Optimal Range (wut?) - Fixed issue where Nano-Stikmit refused to activate unless the merc was wounded (but it doesn't heal!) - Fixed bug / updated description of Shock Mine to highlight that it never hits more than 1 target - Fixed some enemies spawning inside crates in Sewers proc-gen levels - Fixed issue in Cube Run where trying to abort the mission still went forward into stage 2
Update #47: Buff it out
We had 2 updates in the space of 24 hours as we are chasing every little reported issue with the tutorial to the ground and buffing it out until this one shines. We've fixed and improved everything from defeat to specific dialog lines, cleaned up a few more bugs or rare misses within the tutorial script and also caught up with some additional changes to hovers for the new armor rules and movement alerts to better represent the updated Alert Status rules and surprise attack rules.
If you like the progress or got a chance to try out the new tutorial - please leave a review! We are smashing hard on tutorial update so we can be done with it and move on to new features and content, so let's buff it right out and keep on truckin.
Updated Movement Alerts for Alert Status Changes
To match the new rules for Alert Status we have adjusted how sight and hearing movement alerts work. If your character is Hidden or Hunted, these alerts are now shown correclty even if the guard is Alerted, as they still care about your presence and detecting you. Also, we no longer post an alert is the enemy is not going to respond, so if you are Spotted and they are Alerted, we are not showing the visual warning anymore because the guard is just going to keep shooting you and not change any state by seeing you (again).
Other Key Fixes
We fixed the bug that was causing the game to lock after the Vanguard reappears last night. We fixed a bug that could cause the Overwatch guard not use Overwatch about 25% of the time. We now offer Retry Mission on any difficulty for the tutorial if your team gets wiped out. We fixed some ugly broken lighting in the scene.
We fixed, we fixed typos, we rewrote sections based on your feedback. Thank you!
A huge thanks to everyone shooting in the F10s, you're helping us make big progress. Check the change logs below for both patches as there have been 2 about 15 hours apart.
v1.3.5 - 2/1/2024
- Added exit summary of most key points at tutorial victory - Fixed movement alerts and enemy behavior when enemy is Alerted by player is not Spotted - Fixed issue where Overwatch guard in Tutorial wouldn't Overwatch 25% of the time - Fixed issue with camera swinging into the walls during tutorial explanation scenes - Fixed duplicate dialogs that could appear in some sections - Fixed broken lighting layer in tutorial from hotfix (woops) - Fixing issues with damage taken, items used not being restored after tutorial - Fixing defeat during the tutorial to always offer a retry - Added ESC to return to main menu from defeat
v1.3.3 - 2/1/2024
- Fixed issue where Vanguard could lock game near lootbox in tutorial - Fixed issue where you could not Retry Turn / Level on higher difficulties in the tutorial - Fixed issues that could be caused by skipping tutorial sections and the UI highlight ending up in the wrong place - Fixed duplicate dialog that could be caused by switching to pistol before Full Auto section - Fixed issues with clipping into Red Door frame near end of tutorial - Fixed typos and confusing sentences, thanks F10s!
