When we say, "constant improvement" sometimes we just mean "daily improvement!" There are quality-of-life fixes, bug fixes, progression, and balance updates in this update that didn't feel like they should wait another day. With Update #189, we've kicked Brave Star into high gear by allowing their soldiery to scale up to Power Level 10 (previously they were locked to PL 2), improved consistency and late-game scaling of equipment, armor, and stats for all enemies at PL 6+, fixed Carnivore Sewer's special benefit, prevented objective files from appearing in the same node in Matrix File Hunt, improved Scourge's Nervo-Tox Shell, fixed Gun Runners who might be stuck and refusing to join in on new storylines and fixed issues with Best in Class filter memory, default value (now false) and added it to cybernetic surgery to boot.
No small update! Thanks for everyone supporting, sharing the game, hitting F10, and posting on the forums. A special thanks goes out to everyone who posted a review this week! Our small team thanks you.
Brave Star Rising
Brave Star has always been a tough and dangerous faction. Their starting Power Level soldiers are strong, armored, carry good equipment, and might be backed up by S-Class Brakka mecha infantry. All this combines to make them a formidable opponent ... except they stopped scaling after Power Level 2!
With this update, we've fixed this progression issue for the entire faction and now their agents of all kinds - including the Brakka mecha infantry drones - scale up to Power Level 10. If you're facing off against Brave Star right after this update, check your weapons, double-check your plan, and don't take anything for granted.
Carnivore Sewers
There is a special offer for the Carnivore Sewers level to reduce the Security Level back to 1 after the stage is over. This was broken sometime a long time ago it seems but has finally been fixed. Apologies to everyone who took the special route and ended up with extra Sec Tally for it.
Best in Class Filter Improvements
First, we've added Best in Class to cybernetic surgery - another way to cut down on too many items and look at the best offerings available.
Second, we've fixed a mistake on our part where Best in Class was set as on by default for some players, which caused a lot of confusion.
Finally, we've added scoped filter memory so that your settings for Best in Class isn't incorrectly carried around. The six scopes are Inventory or Equipping, Market, Cyberdeck browsing, Cybernetic Surgery, Cold Storage, and the NanoFab. Each currently remembers its own setting for Best-in-Class filter. We are working to figure out how to best expand this to other filter types as well to help keep local data about what filters you're using and help you not need to reset them repeatedly.
Stuck Gun Runners
While investigating an F10 about boring Gun Runners doing nothing, we discovered 4 story paths through common storylines that could result in a Contact - and possibly both your Gun Runners - getting stuck in an expired storyline. In this case, these Contacts would refuse to take future roles offered by the Casting Director and just become ... stuck.
This update fixes this issue for existing saved games and future games alike. Rah rah to the Gun Runners! Let's go!
Scourge's Nervo-Tox Shell
When fired against a primary target, nearby targets can suffer a powerful Stunning debuff from the Scourge's Nervo-Tox Shell. This was not canceling Overwatch immediately, which was a mistake in the application of Stun. Now this is resolved and any debuffed target drops Overwatch.
Siege Hot Intercept Restored
For a minute, the automatic Leverage Hot Intercept on the Siege proc-gen mission types was not applying correctly every time. This is now resolved.
Objective Files on Hosts
If you are searching for 3 objective files across a matrix host, they will no longer accidentally pile up in a single node due to pure RNG. Now, if possible, they will always appear on separate data nodes.
v1.9.57 - Update #189: - 12/16/2024
- Added missing scaling for Brave Star faction, now scaling out to 10 Power Levels - watch out! - Improved scaling, weapons HP, and armor across all 10 Power Levels for all enemies - especially at PL 6-10 - Fixed bug with Carnivore Sewers path that was not correctly resetting the Sec Level to 1 - Fixed issue where multiple objective Files could end up in the same Data Node in Matrix File Hunt missions - Corrected display of "No Hacking" tag on specific stages while larger missions does require Hacking (such as Carnivore Sewers) - Scourge's Nervo-Tox Shell debuff to nearby enemies now cancels Overwatch - Split filter memory for Best in Class in 6 scopes (inventory, market, cybernetics, blueprints, cold storage, and cyberdecks) - Added Best in Class filter for cyber surgery (filters out Synth Muscle 1 for Synth Muscle 2 only) - Fixed issue with Best in Class filter being set on by default - Fixed multiple issues with storyline paths (such as letting DEAD DROP HIT expire) that could lock contacts into expired storylines - Fixed Siege Leverage "Hot Intercept" not triggering correctly - Fixed missing text in Matrix HUD when toggling between HUD sections
Update #188: Auto-Automatic Items
We're back for a rapid one-two punch of updates with some important fixes to the new Sector 01 Interchange map, a big upgrade to how Items are handled during missions (no more backpack!), much clearer signposts for HI-POWER Security Devices in their hovers, fixes for the Best in Class Filter, and more. When we've got something this good ready to go, it would be a shame to sit on it, so we're shipping this 50 MB package of goodness tonight!
If you like the pace of updates, the new maps or just seeing your feedback translated directly into the game - please be sure to tell a friend, share the game, and leave a review!
Auto-Automatic Items
With Update #188, we've removed the Backpack button from the HUD and now all Items automatically join your Talent list immediately. This is so much better and easier for discovery of items, remembering what you've got and being able to test out and preview the Item's range and effect without having to go through the two-step process with the backpack. Not to mention that taking it out of your backpack marked the item for consumption at the end of the mission, meaning that checking your medkit's range cost you the medkit even if you didn't use it.
The new auto-automatic system is simpler, gives you all the control to preview, and only consumes items that are used. If you use a charge of any item during a mission, it will be marked as consumed. Items are (as of a few updates ago) also marked in a nice orange tint which makes them stick out against your regular old Talents.
Bye-bye backpack, we barely knew ye.
Sector 01 Interchange Fixes
With this update, we've resolved the issue with the broken terminal in the center of this map. It was misconfigured in the final ramp to launching the map yesterday, sorry for the pain we've caused on that one! We also fixed issues with a specific Assassinate VIP starting point that could lead to an automatic defeat in this new mission map.
Finally, we fixed a few "open field" reinforcement spawn locations in Rooftop Ziggurat. Enemies should never be appearing out of thin air without a door, elevator or ladder to mark their possible entry points, so if you see this happening, please F10! And thanks to the players who did!
HI-POWER Designation
If a device upgrades to HI-POWER we have now clearly marked it as such in the hover. This helps make it more clear without having to read the entire text of the hover. We're working toward having full visual VFX upgrade for HI-POWER for all the devices, but for now this is a good step in the right direction.
Best in Class Filter vs Other Filters
It turns out the Best in Class filter wasn't the best team player! It was hiding things that shouldn't be hidden as long as filters like Ready to Equip were enabled. With this update, we've rewritten how the filtering works to allow for a dual pass filter (filter once, then filter again) which allows Best in Class to be in the second pass, and therefore it shows what is best in class of what is left from the first filter. Tldr; it works now!
Also, if you enable Best in Class in the store, it will be remembered in your inventory. This isn't ideal as it is easy to miss and we will be working toward scoping the different areas in which filters should be remembered better.
v1.9.55 - #188: Auto-Automatic Items - 12/15/2024
- All items automatically unpack onto your Talent bar, with an orange tint - Items are only consumed if 1 or more charges is used during the mission, backpack is removed from Team button bar in the top left - Added clear "HI-POWER" designation to the hover of any security device that has been upgraded - Fixed issues with "Best in Class" and "Ready to Equip" filters not playing together well - Fixed issues in new "Sector 01 Interchange" where matrix terminal was causing locks - Fixed one Assassinate VIP start point that could lead to auto-defeat in "Sector 01 Interchange" - Fixed bad reinforcement spawn points on Rooftop Ziggurat
Update #187: New Weekly Map "Sector 01 Interchange"
Welcome to the weekend and the latest weekend update! We're excited to keep the streak of adding one new map a week rolling with Sector 01 Interchange, adding a new Leverage that lets you take an extra merc on a mission, adding new Contact to the Underworld Hub offering, improving Hovertruck Operator services, adding (my new favorite) Best in Class filter for Weapon, Weapon Mods and Armor,
We're hard at work expanding and improving the game every week with multiple updates. If you like the relentless pace and the direction the game is going, we hope you will leave a review!
New Weekly Map Release
We are now on week 7th of our New Weekly Map Release schedule, and we have hit it 7 for 7 so far! We're excited to keep this rolling, as the map count in the game has improved so rapidly in the last two months. This has been a huge boon to playability and replayability.
This week, we've got another unique map style coming online - the Sector 01 Interchange is a triangular bridge structure built over an old interchange. This cramped, close-in zone does not give a lot of forgiving wiggle room, and will push both stealth teams - it is a small space to stay stealthy - and combat teams - it is hard to establish zones of control when the fight is so in your face - both.
With the Sector 01 Interchange, we are continuing to support every single proc-gen objective (all 8) with absolute maximum variation inside each option (there are 32!! ways to play this level). The new 8 proc-gen combos offered by the Sector 01 Interchange, brings the total to 97 proc-gen combos and represents another 8% increase in map variety. Sector 01 Interchange includes support for the Assassinate VIP objective as well, which has a rapidly growing list of maps, but it is a key point to keep improving.
As usual, working on a new map comes along with fixing issues in the recently released maps. We've fixed several issues with spawning enemies and Siege missions across the set.
5 Merc Option for Siege and Battle Strike
With Update #187, we've added a new Leverage offering for all Siege and Battle Striker missions. Of course, you can get a wide variety of powerful Leverage from the Field Ops room in your base, but this one costs a Favor from someone willing to provide on-demand, high-risk transport for an extra merc. With the new "Rapid Transport" Leverage, you can bring a 5th merc along for Siege and Battle Striker missions, which is a huge boost to your ability to steamroll the enemies. Of course, you'll have to know the right person, like a Hovertruck Operator (see the next heading).
We've also improved the display of the Siege "Hot Intercept" Leverage. This is automatically applied to all Siege missions to give you a bonus on that first Turn scramble (+3 MP). Previously it said "Applied" as if you had purchased it, but that was confusing so it now states "Automatic".
Underworld Hub + Updated Hovertruck Operator
With this update, we've improved the services offered by all Hovertruck Operators. These key transportation focus contacts are going to be offering a lot more interesting Leverages in the coming weeks, starting with the new Rapid Transport one for Siege and Battle Strike.
To feed that hunger for Favors, you'll need to know the right transporter and be able to pile up the Favors. Hovertruck Operators are now interested in purchasing Item Blueprints as well as Gang and Syndicate Files.
In addition, you can now get an introduction to an additional Hovertruck Operator through the Underworld Hub Contacts service.
Best in Class Filter
We've added a new "best" filter for weapons, weapon mods, and armor. This filter looks through the available list of equipment by class - such as Shotguns, SMGs, and Blades - and then only shows the equipment in that class that is the top Power Level for that class. In this way, you can see the best equipment only - if your best Shotgun is Power Level 4 but your best SMG is Power Level 2 and your best 3 Blades are all Power Level 3, you'll see these and hide any inferior equipment.
This new filter is killer for shopping - helping you focus only on the best and hiding all the chafe. If you want to go budget shopping you can look at the rest but Best in Class helps laser focus on what you really want, the choppas, the best, the highest Power Level.
With this new filter in place, we're going to take another hard look at remembering filtering settings more actively. The original attempt at this remembered things too widely (if you set something in the Weapons Store, looking at Armor Inventory used the same filter) which could lead to confusing situations. A better shot at it will remember specific filters set in specific scopes (Armor Inventory only).
Contact Traits
With Update #187, we've added 2 new Contact Traits - Paranoid and Quantum Obsession. Along with these, we've improved the description of all Traits with extra service interest, like Gun Nut. These Traits - like Gun Nut, Addict, Paranoid, and Quantum Obsession - will all influence the types of services that a Contact may expand into during their Power Play Limit Breaks (coming very soon!). A Gun Nut is going to be very interested in getting into selling guns whereas someone with Quantum Obsession will want to get into slinging programs.
We've fixed a bug where the German-Connection Trait was considered negative and was improving during Exposure Limit Breaks.
F10 Bug Kill!
We've hit a lot of extra F10s this week as well. In some cases, especially with Scourge's Callus buff, you could exceed 100% Soak and end up displaying "-12 HP" when taking a hit. This is now fixed and armor maxes out at 95% soak, meaning you can never stop the damage entirely with Armor. There was another issue with duplicate dialog appearing on gunning down a VIP in an assassinate mission and the text shown for auto-crouch was something like "Mission.Ping.GetDown" - all fixed now.
v1.9.51 - Update #187: - 12/14/2024
- Added new proc-gen map "Sector 01 Interchange": a cramped trio of bridges over an interchange providing high-stakes, rapid challenges that supports +8 new proc-gen combos (Heist a CPU, Steal 3 Files, Scavenger, Kill 3 Captains, Bodyguard, Assassinate, Siege and Battle Striker) - Added new Leverage offering for Siege missions - Rapid Transport allows deploying a 5th merc - Siege Leverage "Hot Drop" is now marked correctly as "Automatic" as it is always granted on Siege - Added new "Best in Class" filter for Armors/Weapons/Weapon Mods - rapidly show only things with the highest Power Level in class - Added new High-Risk Transporter to Underworld Hub Contact connections - Added 2 new Contact Traits: Quantum Obsession and Paranoid - Improved Contact Trait descriptions for interest in services (Gun Nut, etc) - these are potential possible services by Limit Break Power Plays - Fixed bug allowing Armor soak % to exceed 95% and cause negative damage (wut!?) - Fixed bug where German-Connection Trait was classified as negative for Contact Limit Breaks - Fixed bugs with Bio-Recycle giving 3 Talents in the bar - Fixed missing text for auto-duck where the game was saying "Mission.Ping.GetDown" - Fixed duplicate dialog on taking down Assassinate VIP target
Update #186: Death in the Core
Early Access improvements across the board continue with today's Update #186. We have a new map and objective proc-gen combo (Decommissioned Core X Assassinate VIP), improved program/talent/item coloring in the HUD, big improvements to navigating the Matrix HUD with keyboard or controller, ability for Matrix Talents to exceed screen size and still scroll to them, some very important progression and balance updates, and another round of polishing for Blueprint crafting.
It is a heavy haul of an update with a lot going on! We've detailed it all below for you to read in detail.
Thanks for playing and posting and our small team especially thanks you if you choose to leave a review!
VIP Down in the Decommissioned Core
With Update #186, we're continuing to buff the mission map list available for the Assassinate VIP proc-gen objective. The Decommissioned Core is a larger interior structure with many paths through it, so you'll have to contend with distance and limited sight lines (Snipers are crying) to take out the VIP on the move. Try to stay stealthy as long as you can, or else the VIP will start moving quickly and then it's going to be a loud, explosive footrace to the end.
This update also includes a ton of other fixes for new maps, including some big rework in Flooded Tunnels about enemy starting positions, counts, and siege setup. We've also fixed a few places where Matrix Terminals had SCU that were not linked to any devices.
New HUD Colors: Talents, Programs, Items
To help increase the visual distinction between Talents, items, and Programs - we have added a slight color shift to these lists in the mission and matrix HUD. Talents retain the original blue coloration, while Items have taken on a gentle orange tint and Programs are now an oceanic green-blue.
We're moving toward automatically placing all items on your Talent bar all the time, so shifting color will help set them apart. It is nice to have them pop more in the Matrix and make a clear break between program (load / unload) and talent (use!).
Matrix HUD is Nav, Scroll for Too Many Programs/Talents
We've adjusted the Matrix HUD to allow you to scroll (with the D-pad, mouse wheel, etc.) to reach any additional Programs, Talents, or Items that go off the edge of your screen. Along with this, we've improved the navigation in the HUD so that it is more open and easier to move between the different button groups. And finally, we've made the navigation in the matrix tree directly linked to the connections between the nodes, so you can walk the three with a keyboard or controller without having to try to free scroll around.
Also, if your program list is sorted to have Sleaze 2 first and Sleaze 1 second, then your actions under the IC will follow the same sort - Sleaze 2 first and Sleaze 1 second. We were previously failing to honor your sorting decisions in these action buttons.
Thanks to @brian and all of our Steam Deck players sending in F10 input and helping us improve here!
Blueprint Crafting UX
We're hard at work improving the NanoFab UX to make the rules for Blueprint crafting clearer. A few updates ago, we started with some text updates and now we've moved on to some larger UI improvements.
With Update #186, we've split out the costs for crafting into the top right of the screen to plan a Blueprint craft. This gives us more space below to pick your Cube allocation and also lets us show discount and time reduction % directly inline.
It is a small but important step in the right direction that lets us reduce 2 to 3 lines of text from the old blueprint rules shown below the crafting recipe. This is in prep to help us focus that text solely on describing the type of recipe you're currently crafting and the Intrinsic bonus rules for that recipe.
Difficulty and Progression Adjustments
We are at a (good) point in the cycle where difficulty and progression are now more and more of the focus of the community and our team. The game has many hours of content, hundreds of pieces of equipment, and a growing list of maps and, not surprisingly, will benefit from an ongoing focus on balance, progression, and difficulty.
So, with this update, we've made a few changes to help in these areas!
Progression: We have adjusted the mission payment scale, "squeezing" it a bit. The lower-level missions are now better pay and the highest-level missions had 5-10% trimmed off their top-line pay (when the missions start hitting for $1.5m each).
Difficulty: We've adjusted the Casual and Easy Difficulties for all new games - they come with negative values to Power Level scaling for matrix and mission, meaning that these elements of the game will stay lower challenge longer before starting to ramp up. Casual has a -2 Power Level applied to Matrix and Missions while Easy is a -1 and then Normal is +0, bog standard.
Difficulty:We've widened the range of Power Level boosts you can do up to -5 to +5. This can help if there are parts of the game you're not loving, and you want to breeze them. You can hit Matrix with a -5 Power Level and keep it simple for the entire game.
Progression: We have adjusted the proc-gen map rules to cull the harder maps from appearing too early in the game. Maps like Rooftop Ziggurat and Flooded Tunnels are too big and hard for a Team Power Level 1 team to be riding into without care. These harder, larger maps now slowly appear over a scale from Power Level 1 to 4.
Other Fixes
We've also taken time during this release to hit a lot of small issues around key bindings, odd things with controllers, and other small bugs. Check the full release notes below!
v1.9.47 - Update #186: - 12/11/2024
- Added Decommissioned Core to Assassinate VIP objective for new proc-gen combo (now 89!) - Many improvements to enemy start locations for the new Flooded Tunnels map, fixed terminal bugs, unliked SCUs in Matrix - Improved proc-gen to prevent high-challenge maps from being selected early (before Team Power Level 1-3) - Improved starting Casual and Easy Difficulties - with -2 or -1 Mission and Matrix Power Levels - Widened difficulty options for Mission and Matrix Power Level adjustments from -5 to +5 from -4 to +4 - Squeezed mission payment scale - lower-level missions pay a little more, higher level pay a little less - Improved Matrix / Talent HUD with new tints - talents are blue, items are orange, programs are green - Improved Talent hover in HUD to be clearer about the number of Turns until the next recharge - Improved Matrix Talent list in HUD to horizontally scroll is too many items to show on screen at once - Improved Matrix HUD navigation - more easily move between sections, matrix node map navigation follows node paths cleanly - Improved NanoFab blueprint recipe screen, giving cost its own space, making discounts more obvious, improved help text - Improved Matrix action list under IC to match the sorting of your program list (if programs Sleaze 1, 2 then actions Sleaze 1, 2) - Hovers over contacts in sale/purchase offers now over the entire row, not just contact face - Improved timeline prompts for all proc-gen missions to highlight and identify their objective type (spike CPU, bodyguard, siege, etc.) - One-time services (E-Rifle) are much more tolerant to low Trust issues - will still offer to sell - Improved Cold Storage screen for Accounts, Blueprints, and Files where Sell is primary (A or spacebar) is now yellow button - Fixed issues with multi-class screen and hard-to-find training button in the bottom right (removed) - Fixed issues with Font Scaling and training screen display of implants overrunning - Fixed issues with the controller (B) key in the load screen - Fixed issues with controller/keyboard Mint hotkey (space/A) breaking after changing files - Added enemy description for FSC mecha infantry Po-Bots
Update #185: Red Alert Pit Viper
It must be a Monday and we've got the big update we just couldn't button up over the weekend ready for you now! This one comes with a bundle of improvements to Matrix Host scaling (host rating color and Q-Sec AI), a new mission flag to pre-warn about matrix difficulty, the hotly requested "stayed crouched which planning sprint" QoL, improvements to enemy offensive capabilities in scaling, making the Bio-Recycle items available from day 1 and improving the map repeat protection from 2 to 5.
We're hard at working making Cyber Knights: Flashpoint better, bigger and more polished each week. We couldn't do it without you - thanks for the posts, playing and your F10s.
We hope you'll take a moment to leave a review if you are enjoying the game and our relentless update pace.
Matrix Power Level Scaling
Over the last few weeks, we've been resolving a lot of math issues and issues with the correct flow of properly scaled Power Level for missions throughout all the subsystems that rely on it. For example, we fixed a bug where higher difficulty games were getting less Team Power Level for missions that lower difficulty games (they should get the same).
Some of these fixes ended up exposing and fixing a Power Level flow bug that was preventing Matrix Hosts from scaling correctly, and always turning up as Blue Hosts + Bronze Boa Q-Sec AI. So, this has been fixed in the last update but it has caused a sudden spike of really hard hosts appearing (Red Host + Gold Viper Q-Sec AI is a rude thing to encounter after so many Blue + Boa!!!).
With this update, we've gone back into the scaling system that had been setup before and re-adjusted all of the scales and weights to ensure that there is a ramp up of difficulty and no major cliffs. High Power Level teams are still going to be hitting higher level Matrix Hosts, so we'd love to hear how it feels to you but the ramp is much more reasonable for lower Team Power Level and should play much better - challenge increases but isn't insane.
Unless you play on Chrome, gl wp gg ːsteamhappyː
Highest Rated Host Flag
To help give warning about the matrix host levels included in a level, proc-gen missions are now displaying a flag on a mission for the highest rated host. If there are two hosts, you only get data about the highest rated one (might be a Yellow and Red but you get a warning for Red) but at least you know how bad it might get. In the case o hack-only missions, this is very helpful as it gives you immediate warning about the type of host your considering going up against and you might pick a different hacker, stock up on consumables or skip it altogether.
Auto-Duck vs. Cameras and Plotting Moves
Last week we introduced a series of fixes to ensure that auto-duck is highly consistent feature. Auto-duck causes your mercs to immediately crouch in any situation in which it will help them stay hidden. If an enemy is on patrol and they are standing behind some crates, they will auto-duck and dive out of view so the patroller can walk past. The goal being - you do not need to manually manage crouching. With Update #184, we've pushed this feature to full coverage now by adding all the same auto-duck features against cameras. If a Long-Range Camera sweeps as it is changing positions and your merc is standing behind a set of crates (or in any situation) where crouching would avoid them from being spotted, they will auto-duck and get out of view. The camera will sweep over none the wiser.
In addition we've added the highly-requested (!!!) ability to plot / preview a sprinting move while staying crouched. This allows you to preview a movement - either sprinting or crouching - without accidentally standing up and being spotted by the enemies.
Enemy Scaling
We're continuing to hammer on enemy scaling - expanding the range of how and how far enemies can scale against your mercs. In most cases, you're team will eventually end up with power levels - between Talents, cyber, weapons, armor, etc - that exceed what the enemy can eventually post up against you. So, a lot of this scaling work is focused on the enemy Power Level ranges above 5+, but its key work to make the entire progression go smoothly and stay challenging.
With Update #185, we've rebuilt the offensive capabilities of the enemy sets, allowing them to scale better up to Power Level 10, equip better weaponry and punch harder.
Bio Recycler now available
With Update #185, we've changed the configuration around for Bio Recycler items. This powerful starting item is now available for sale in the "Medical Items Level 1" service. meaning it is immediately available out of the gate. We've raised its price by 50% and increases its AP cost to 2.
To replace the original option coming forward to easier services, we've added new options - the Bio Dissolver and Liquefy 2200. The Bio Dissolver is sold in "Milsec Items Level 2" and now has a 3rd charge to clean up even more corpses. The B-Liquefy gel is sold in "Anti-Security Items Level 1" and costs 0 AP to use but keeps the 2 charge maximum.
This will help out of the gate players have more options for corpse disposal without having to reach for the Scourge, Hacker or Vanguard always. We're excited to see how the new options help you change the composition of starting teams and item carries.
Increased Protection against Map Repeats
With more maps coming online every week, we've increased the existing protection against map repeats (which was "don't repeat the last 2 maps") out to "don't repeat the last 5 maps" if possible. This should really help cut down on any feelings of repeated map appearances and is more and more effective as each new weekly map release drops.
Cheating Enemies on Fast Forward
There was a code path in the option for automatically fasting forwarding all enemy turns that could result in certain enemies using a lot of AP ... like 15 or 20 AP sometimes if they moved around without any interruptions. Basically, they weren't using AP so they'd keep going until something stopped them. Bad bad bad, fixed fixed fixed!
v1.9.45 - Update #185: - 12/9/2024
- Improved/reduced speed of Matrix scaling especially for Hack-only missions - Matrix hosts now generate higher than Blue + Bronze Boa, become more challenging as your Team Power Level and mission payments ramp - Added tag to proc-gen missions and hack-only missions that shows color of highest rated host (i.e. "Yellow") - Added auto-duck system against cameras and long-range cameras - Added ability to plan a sprint move while crouching if you need to auto-duck - Improved enemy progression and threat level - enemies scale better to Power Level 10, get better weapons at PL 5+ - Increased protection against repeating mission maps from "last 3" to "last 5" as the map pool keeps growing - Bio Recycler (but costs 2 AP) now available in "Medical Items Lvl 2" service, one Limit Break up - New Bio Dissolvant (-1 AP, +1 charge) and Bio Liquefy (-2 AP cost) available in Milsec Items and Anti-Security Items - Fixed bug where an enemy might take multiple movements and use more than reasonable AP if Fast Forward - Fixed issues with doors in buildings blocking sight lines above them in Urban HQ mission map - Fixed duplicate dialog popping up during Kill 3 captains missions
Update #183: Take One Down, 99 Ragdolls on the Wall!
It must be Thursday and we're rolling out a new update with a full rebuild of our character's ragdolls, adding missing ambient SFX to the game, visually linking doors to their trigger panels to reduce confusion, fixing auto-duck bugs and more!
A big thanks again to everyone playing and posting feedback - we're hard at work during our Early Access phase and on our way to 200 updates here! Every few days, the game takes a lunge forward, getting better or larger - so let's keep grinding together. We've got a new Weekly Map Release coming up and more content to follow it as well.
Did you notice we do Early Access a bit differently? We vow to keep EA a crazy, relentless march to the finish line. You've got feedback? Post it and watch the game get better constantly. If you're having fun or like the direction of the game, please leave a review to help us keep trucking.
Ragdoll Rebuild
We're excited to have finished a big background project that has been in the works for a while - the ragdoll rebuild. The old ragdoll setup - triggered when anyone dies and the physics engine takes over - was not the best looking, so it is grand to roll out the new one.
What have we done? We've adjusted all of the character joints and colliders in use to try to improve the realism of the ragdoll as it goes to the ground and as it finds its resting position. We've removed the awkward T position ragdolling that was so common on in the other system. We've also configured weapons to drive some percentage of the final physics force that is applied, so a Sniper Rifle kill should feel and look different than a Pistol execution or even a Revolver boom-boom.
There were some times along the way where we thought we might be dealing with aliens or something escaped from a cyber lab.
And unfortunately, any bodies that are currently lying on the ground when you get the update will be corrupted, stretched and munged. All new bodies you drop to the floor will be good. So this is a temporary setback.
The completion of this task also comes along with a number of improvements to character models, especially around necks and the connection of head-neck-body not having any gaps, clipping or overlaps.
Of course, there is always more to do! Ragdolls are fun to play with and we could clearly spend a lot more time tweaking and improving but for now we're excited to share the second-generation ragdoll and let you get back to heisting! For example, we know that there are issues with lower back flexibility in the ragdoll ... we've appealed to the megacorps to fund a robo-masseuse to help us straighten that out for the next iteration.
If you do see anything odd, please F10!
Environmental Ambient SFX
We've restored the ambient SFX for areas which was accidentally lost early in the Early Access process to some coding mistakes. This ambient SFX helps give background noise and atmosphere to the room spaces and is part of the SFX volume slider.
While the ambient is back, the level spaces we're working in have changed a lot since we started. We are working on a review of the SFX vs. the areas we're playing in to see how to adjust and improve them.
Connecting Doors to their Terminals
We have now added the same blue line connecting doors to their trigger panels as we have between Matrix Terminals and security devices and doors. This allows you to quickly see where you need to go to open any given door and hopefully can reduce any confusion about how to get a door open.
Auto-Duck Fixes
Auto-duck is a longstanding feature that removes the need for you to manage your crouch / sprint state. I an enemy happens to be moving toward a standing merc and crouching would help the situation, then your merc immediately does that. We've been processing a number of F10s about situations in which auto-duck wasn't working and fixed all of the known cases now. One case was caused by 2 mercs in the enemy's view that both needed to auto-duck but only one of them would.
This is a lovely feature that reduces your need to manage state on your mercs so we hope everyone can get back to using it with confidence.
We are working on the paired issue - the inability to plot a sprinting move while crouched - now and will get it fixed soon.
Stressed Tag in 3 places
We've added the Stressed Tag to the roster and the safehouse barracks list as well. It was appearing in mission deploy screen but that is not always where you need the valuable heads up that a negative Limit Break might be brewing.
Building Fixes
While working on ragdolls we kept having ragdolls slip through parts of the edge of the raised buildings and fall down a floor. This lead us to finally finding and fixing the whole that has made buildings so troublesome - this allowed both corpses to fall through and be discovered but also for enemies sometimes to shoot up through the invisible hole even though you should not be a valid target.
Other F10 Cleanup
We hit a few other nice QoL F10s for this update. There are still lingering issues with +25% Font Scale but we're getting them as they come in - this time we fixed issues with the Talent LImit being hidden on the class tree at that Font Scale.
Using Leverages in the HUD left an odd "Button" text showing - now fixed.
Sometimes if you swapped mods on your weapons and then went to the Appearance tab, you would visually see the old mods - now fixed.
And if you were targeting with Agent EX Glitch it would let you drag the target circle as far as you wanted which isn't consistent with how other ranged targeting circles work. it is now limited to the range of the Talent and fixed.
v1.9.39 - #183: - 12/4/2024
- Rebuilt all character ragdolls for more realistic and visually appealing joints and deaths - Added blue line from door to door trigger on hover to make connection more clear - Added missing environmental ambient SFX by different mission map themes and safehouse - Fixed issue that could prevent merc from correctly auto-ducking when enemy is moving - Added "Stressed" tag to Roster and Safehouse Barracks overlay to match Mission Deploy screen - Finished all dual pistol/revolver animations for all characters - Fixed major sight line holes and spaces where bodies could fall through building rooftop edges - Fixed Agent EX Glitch Talent allowing target to be shown beyond maximum range - Fixed issue with +25% Font Scale preventing Talent Limit from showing in Class tree - Fixed issue with appearance not always updating after swapping mods on weapons - Fixed odd gray text "Button" appearing in HUD sometimes
Gift Giving Community "Challenge"
Hello, Knights! It's time for another CKF Community Challenge. Though honestly this is less of a challenge and more of a show and tell. In the spirit of the holiday season, we want to hear what gifts you would craft and give your mercs.
There are only two requirements for this:
- Your gifted items must be ones you craft - Your merc must use the crafted item you give them
Since this is a very different sort of community 'challenge' what you choose to share may be different from other challenges, some ideas:
- The story of why you chose that particular item for that particular merc - your head canon for the relationship between your CK and mercs - Any other creative ways you want to share to tell us about your team: memes, interpretive dance, gifs, etc
Hope your appreciate my terrible photo editing job! :D No matter what you choose to share, please share screenshots of your merc with their gift equipped and in use!
We’ve opened up a discussion here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post in our Discord, head to #giving_gifts to join in on the conversation!
Update #182: Scourge This Way Comes
Another update is coming down the pipe to New Boston streets - and this one lands with a new Scrouge recruit in the Underworld Hub, a big buff to Soldier's Plaster-Cross Talent, a rebuild of some of the rules and UI for minting FIle Sets, better display for Armor with 0 Protection Points, tweaks to the Hackers class tree and a big bundle of F10s fixed.
A huge thanks to every Knight joining us on the streets of New Boston during the Autumn Sale! We hope you'll share the game with friends by leaving a review. We're a small but relentlessly updating studio with a focus on making sure this Early Access is always moving forward, so if you like the updates, hit the review button ːsteamhappyː!
New Scourge in Underworld Hub
Last week we hit the Underworld Hub with another 3 new recruiting options - Agent EX, Gunslinger and Sniper - and now we are following up with the 4th - the Scourge. This nearly completes the starter set for the Underworld Hub with only Hacker being unavailable there (though there are multiple options in storyline to recruit one).
But now - in saved games new or old - you can recruit a new character whose base class is Scourge. This brings the total in-game recruit count up to 12 which exceeds what you can possibly bring on to your team by 2 and starts to feel like we've passed the Early Access "not enough options" issue we had with recruits.
Other Recruit Fixes
In all saved games - old and new - we've repaired some of the relationships between the recruit and their enemies or friends. Some of them had odd text about Jupiter Group that didn't make any sense. In all cases these are now fixed for future and existing games.
We've also fixed some issues that recruits could cause where they incorrectly "hung on to" a story actor even after they were recruited which would prevent that story actor from jumping in on other future stories. This is fixed in all games.
Soldier Plaster-Cross
WIth Update #182, we've come back to add more power (more power!) to the Soldier's Plaster-Cross Talent. Previously, while this Talent could lend a boost to an Assault Rifle, UAR or SMG's Burst Fire attacks, it left a lot of room open - even when fully upgraded - for the attack to not Armor Shred and feel like it was a miss. With the latest rounds of updates, the Soldier gains +25% Armor Shred at the base and then can invest in 2 more upgrade nodes to gain +25% Armor Shred each time, basically giving you a surefire way to Shred Armor on a target at least once every few Turns.
We've also tagged on a 6th upgrade node for those soldiers going all in on Plaster-Cross allowing you to bring the recharge rate down even farther.
Hacker Attribute Bonuses
We've upgraded the Hacker class tree to stop giving Strength bonuses. This was a mistake in their design that was never justified and all 3 of those +1 Strength bonuses are now swapped over to +1 Reaction.
File Set Minting Rules / UI Updates
We've made some nice changes to how File Set minting generates the Power Level of the resulting File as well as improved the UI to be more clear about the rules of Minting right where you need them to be.
First up, when you Mint a Set to create a new file, the resulting Power Level is now the average of the input Power Levels. This gives you a solid hook you can rely on - putting in higher Power Level files will guarantee a better output value and then you can gamble with Rarity which is rolled proportionally to the input File Rarity (if you put in 2:2 Rare and Common files, you get 50%/50% Rare or Common output).
We've reinforced both of these rules in the dynamic rule text directly above the file choice, listing the value of the resulting file, the Power Level you will get by average and the % chance for each Rarity to be rolled.
In addition, we've added a bunch of missing labels in the Cold Storage UI for subtypes that can help identify what you're looking at. Thanks to everyone helping us buff up this UI and these rules!
Armor with No Protection Points
Another UI area that was causing some friction was Armors that have 0 Protection Points. These Armors have an advantage - they cannot be Shredded. The confusion was in their listing of 2 Armor values, even though they only use the lower of the two values at all times. We've adjusted the UI to be more clear but still kept the ability to compare these Armors to other Armors with 1+ Protection Points so you can see the spread of value.
Renamed Radar Array to Long-Range Camera
Radar Arrays was a confusing name it turns out, as these are really just Long-Range Cameras that play by all the regular Camera rules and are affected by all the Talents that affect Cameras. To help reduce expectation that Radar Arrays have a separate rule set, we've renamed them.
v1.9.37 - #182: Scourge This Way Comes - 11/30/2024
- Added new Scourge recruit to the Underworld Hub - now all but Hacker available via Underworld Hub - Total of +12 recruits now available through storylines or Underworld Hub - New contact type available, Street Splicer with 4 new cybernetic offerings - Improved Soldier's Plaster-Cross Talent, tripling possible Armor Shred % bonus (now 25%+25%+25%) - All Hacker class nodes that added +1 Strong have been swapped to +1 Reaction - Improved Cold Storage File Sets minting UI to list Rarity % chances and Power Level results - Upgraded File Set minting rules to use average Power Level of input Files during a Mint to determine output file Power Level - Improved display of Armor with 0 Protection Points showing that it only has a low (degraded) soak % - Fixed incorrect story connections in relationship tags for 3 new Underworld Hub recruits - Fixed other lingering story issues with some Contacts getting locked out of future story events by old ones - Added missing labels for subtypes (Weapon Blueprint, Account, File Set) to Cold Storage UI - Renamed Radar Arrays to Long-Range Cameras to be clear that they just work under the same Camera rules - Improved fade into missions, fixed bug were Sec Level could be stuck at 999 until player's turn
Update #181: Assassin Rising
Another heist on the streets of New Boston and another update coming down the pipe. Thanks to everyone playing and posting F10s, reviews and sharing the game. And welcome to all the new Knights joining us during the Autumn Sale - we've got a lot more coming your way.
Today's update adds a new mission map option to the Assassinate VIP mission type, improves on the Fast Forward system (less finicky hotkeys) and an option to Auto Fast Forward all the time, improving Limit Breaks and fixing bugs, rebuilding the Timeline Event History to remove paging and upgrade to high performance endless scroll, and finally fixing some reported F10s with existing mission maps.
A big thanks to everyone posting up a review this week! Our tiny dev team is grateful for you ːsteamhappyː
New Assassin VIP Map Combos
With Update #181, we've started the drive to add more mission maps to the pool for the Assassinate VIP proc-gen objective. This objective has the lowest variety with a paltry 2 maps (with the other types ranging from 8 to 14) so it is a big goal to bring Assassinate VIP up to par before we add the next objective type of the map set.
Improved Fast Forward + Auto FF Option
With some help from @Stormfox we identified some annoying input issues with the ESC key to fast forward enemy turns, sometimes leading to being unable to fast forward turns if you hit the key at the wrong time. We've wrapped all of this up - if you push the hotkey (or click) for Fast Forward enemy turn at any point, then it will immediately engage and fast forward all possible future moves.
We've also taken the moment to expand this out to an Auto Fast Forward option which removes all need for your input. If you're playing with this option engaged, any enemy whose movement is determined not to have immediate impact (seeing you, discovering a dead body, etc) will be immediately fast forward without any requirement to hit ESC (etc). It always feels good to be able to play faster when you're in the mood, so we're excited to deliver this option for those players putting in short or long hours with Cyber Knights!
Contact Limit Break: Ordering & Hiding
We've improved the rules for how Contact LImit Breaks are processed to put some ordering to them. The ordering is based on the turn on which the Contacts have their Limit Break with enough Influence or Exposure to score it. This is helping to reduce the feeling that some Contacts can get "stuck" in limbo land without their Limit Breaks coming.
An important note - this will take a little while to even out for existing games. The data for existing Contacts with Limit Breaks was randomized, so that backlog of Limit Breaks will have to clear first before you start to see a more orderly progression.
We've also fixed an issue that was caused by any time that the Contact Goes Into Hiding option appeared in the Negative Limit Break list. This would always put the Contact into hiding no matter how many Favors you spent or other options were available. This is now resolved!
Timeline Event History Scrolling
With Update #181 we've also completed another performance and UI improvement related to large scrolling tables. This time, we've hit the Timeline History screen and removed its sub-optimal paging UI and replaced it with a high performance endless scroller.
In addition, we've made more fixes to how icons are generated, placed and their size to make the event list a little more fun to look at and read an address some issues where not all the crafting results got good icons.
v1.9.35 - #181: Assassin Rising - 11/29/2024
- Added Trucker HQ map to Assassinate VIP objective for new proc-gen combo (now 80!) - Added new option to Fast Forward enemy turn automatically if enemy is deemed to have no immediate impact - Fixed Fast Forward enemy turn issue where hitting ESC too early in their turn could lock you out of skip their turn - Fixed Contact Limit Break bug causing Contact to go into Hiding even if you spent a Favor and picked something else - Contact Limit Breaks are now ordered by game turn the Limit Break became ready, greatly reducing the chance a contact is "stuck" - Improved format and icons used for Timeline Event History - fixed crafting events that lacked icon - Removed paging from Timeline Event History, now high performance endless scrolling - Fixed invisible scope not appearing on ARs, etc - Fixed issues with extraction objectives in Rooftop Ziggurat Heist CPU missions
Update #180: New Weekly Map, All Classes Recruitable, and New RPG Steam Bundle!
The shadowy underworld of New Boston is getting another big update! We're kicking off a 5th week of the New Weekly Map released schedule with ... a new map! And 3 new recruits from your Underworld Hub to allow you to recruit every class in game from either the hub or a storyline. We've also made some improvements to legwork rules and joined a new RPG bundle. Check it out, it's Update #180 and we're 34% off to celebrate!
If you're enjoying the game or our relentless pace of updates and improvements, please take a moment to leave a review.
Recruit Agent EX, Gunslinger and Sniper from Underworld Hub
With a big burst of 3 new recruits available through the Underworld Hub, you can now recruit all classes through either storylines or via the safehouse Underworld Hub. Of course, the people who end up down here, willing to join a Cyber Knight's crew ... they've all got baggage, bad blood, someone hunting them. No one makes it this far into the shadows without a tattered record.
But now - in saved games new or old - you can recruit characters whose base class is Gunslinger, Agent EX or Sniper. We're working toward Scourge to round out the U-Hub and allow it to recruit 100% of the classes without any need for storylines.
New Weekly Map: Border Crossing
We are now hitting Week 5 of our New Weekly Map Release schedule and we've got another map! With the Border Crossing mission map, the heist is playing out in the shadow of a corporate territory border, and the action is spread across an elevated interchange that has fallen into disrepair and disuse. The Border Crossing map has some awesome routing and elevation challenges and offers some of its optional extraction points locked behind a barrier. It is a map that can feel both small and large at the same time and we're excited to see it in action! The Border Crossing map offers 7 new the proc-gen combos (map X objective) and brings the grand total of proc-gen objectives to the total to 79 proc-gen combos and represents another 6% increase in map variety (this is dropping with every new map, it's so good!).
Our next move in adding more proc-gen content will take a dive into expanding the mission maps available for Assassinate VIP and then we'll be on to looking at completely new objective types.
As usual, working on a new map comes along with fixing issues in the recently released maps. We've fixed issues with new matrix terminal layouts (like missing CPUs) and Resupply Station variants where the target terminal was simply missing, and broken terminals in the Blown Out Flat mission map.
Legwork Timing vs. Difficulty
We fixed an issue with the Story Speed scale in Difficulty making Legworks take a lot longer to run. The intention of the scale option is to allow you to play at a more relaxed pace but it was negatively affecting Legworks, making them harder and in some cases, down right useless.
This fix exempts Legworks from the Story Speed scale which means they will run in the regular time even if the rest of your events are running faster or slower. We also fixed a bug that was causing Legwork to gain a hidden +50% bonus on lower difficulties and could make it look like you were succeeding at Legwork 100% of the time ːsteamhappyː
Lootbox Updates
Finding loot should be fun - but that is hard if you don't know what you're picking up! With weapons, armor and mod looting just around the corner, we've made some improvements to the lootbox UI to better show off what you've found and to build the hype at the time of looting and not later when you're sorting it all out in the safehouse.
We're not done here yet as we want to get to a point where you can see even more details about anything you're picking up, including its full stat block. So - stay tuned as we grinding another go round.
If you're like us, you can never get enough of great RPGs. We're excited to announce we've partnered with two other great studios to create a Cyberpunk & Dark SciFi RPGs Steam bundle. With this kind of bundle, you only pay for the games you don't already own! It includes:
Colony Ship, an in-depth cRPG set in a generational starship traveling for hundreds of years to reach Proxima Centauri. This ship is old, its original government cast aside in a violent mutiny, the current passengers one of the unfortunate generations living in a now grim ship sailing through the void, with no chance of living long enough to see the ship's still-distant destination.
Navigate contentious factions with multiple ways to handle quests, including challenging turn-based tactical combat, branching dialogue trees, and ten different potential party members that can add to your story.
Gamedec, a cyberpunk detective RPG that challenges you to solve crimes inside virtual worlds. 22nd century Warsaw City awaits you, as do numerous virtual worlds that look and feel as real as our own. This non-combat RPG offers a multifaceted investigation and dialogue system, where your choices evolve your character as well as helping you discover clues.
Explore a future where "real" has become relative and "life" and "death" have many meanings. Learn what kind of investigator you are, and what justice means to you.
And our own squad tactics heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. Did you know the New Boston Zone is one of just 112 cities remaining on Earth? Our post-eco-collapse, 23rd-century cyberpunk setting is a place of mean streets and violent corporate intrigue. Your crew of mercs, hackers, and malcontents are willing to do what it takes to earn yourselves a better future; the megacorps stole it from all of us -- you're one of the few who could steal a piece of it back. You've seen working hard to make this one of the most in-depth tactical RPGs out there, with extensive skill trees, multiclassing, cybernetics, moddable weapons, stealth options, hacking, and more.
If you love these kind of games and settings, please enjoy this new bundle! And spread the word! 😁
- Added 3 new recruits to the Underworld Hub: Gunslinger, Agent EX and Sniper - Now all classes are available as recruits through storylines or Underworld Hub - Added new proc-gen map "Border Crossing": a major corporate territorial border crossing and supports +7 new proc-gen combos (Battle Striker, Siege, Heist a CPU, Steal 3 Files, Scavenger, Kill 3 Captains, Bodyguard!) - Extended details for each loot item in lootbox so you can understand what you're getting when you're getting it - Slowing down the game story no longer negatively effects Legwork (making them slower) - Fixed bug that could sometimes make Legwork invisibly too easy to succeed - Fixed some matrix host templates featuring SCU and RCU - Removed broken terminal from Battle Striker objective with mission map Blown Out Flat
