We've got a huge week ahead of us, Knights! Any day now, the Gunslinger is about to kick down the doors and light this place up with a hail of bullets and we've got a new Weekly Map Release coming up later in the week. In prep for these big content drops, we've got a steady patch release here that fixes some bugs with last week's level, polishes out some more Talent bugs, and fixes other F10s and issues.
If you're ready for the new content and enjoying the pace of continued updates and polish, please take a moment to leave a review!
Updated Feedback Form to Prompt Email
We've updated the feedback form ("F10") to encourage leaving an email address if you don't have a Discord or don't want to share it. Of course, this is up to you to share it. But as an example, we received an F10 from a player yesterday about a keybinding they didn't like and a request to add keybinding to the game ... without a Discord username or an email, we can't reach out and explain that yes keybinding is already in the game!
So, if you don't Discord then please consider leaving an email. It would only be used to contact you with a follow-up question or an answers to your bug/feature request. If you provide an email you do not opt into any list or anything - we're not that kind of studio lol.
Mission Updates
The new process for Logistics Hub worked really well - we've got an exciting new map on our hands for 7 proc-gen combos. But it did have its share of bumps, the last of which we are ironing out with today's update. We've fixed issues with a few final broken terminals found in the Scavenger, Lootbox Hunt and Kill 3 Captain objectives. None of these were ever mission critical, so we've fixed them for future missions and made code adjustments to be sure it cannot happen again.
Second, we've fixed the cases where some of the lootboxes in the new level could end up very nearly empty, maybe just 1 item hiding in the back corner ːsteamsadː
And, we fixed a bug caused by adding the new map that could make the dialogs for Kill 3 Captains on any map double up.
Pressure Plate Oddity
Accidentally the game's center of a pressure plate - what you need to target for your Talents - got moved about 10 meters off to one side. Oops! Now fixed in Update #168.
Soldier Talent Burn
Following up on Update #167, we've hit the Soldier Talents now with a big range of fixes.
Splatt-Patt was never reporting the full extent to which it upgraded your firing arc and failing to display the full Recoil recoup that it offered. We've redone the system for expanding Firing Arcs in prep for Gunslinger and Splatt-Patt has been a beneficiary.
AP costs for Full Auto only Talents like Splatt-Patt and Covering Fire were always showing up wrong, very often showing 2 AP when they cost the regular 3 AP for any Full Auto weapon. This is now resolved, they always show 3 AP correctly.
We've made minor improvement to Soldier's Overwatch 3rd node to ensure it is worth the investment, adding an extra +5% Ballistic Dmg.
Other Bugs
We've fixed a heap of other bugs but notable items include sorting not working in the NanoFab or all subscreens, the fact that all Items and Item Blueprints claimed that their AP cost was 444 and issues where sometimes timeline events would just appear at 50% opacity and look grayed out for no reason.
v1.8.49 - #168: Dometop Launch - 11/5/2024
- Update feedback form (F10) to encourage email address if not using Discord - Fixed issue with multiple confirmation dialogs when killing a captain in a proc-gen Kill 3 mission - Fixed bug with Pressure Plates displaying a targeting point far away from the security system itself - Fixed issue with new "Logistics Hub" level having mostly empty lootboxes and lingering "Terminal Broken" cases - Fixed Soldier's Splatt-Platt not correctly displaying the correct values for recoil recovery or increased Full Auto firing angle - Improved Soldier's Overwatch 3rd upgrade to cause +15% Ballistic Dmg instead of +10% - Fixed Soldier's Splatt-Patt and Covering Fire sometimes misreporting that they cost 2 AP instead of 3 AP as they are Full Auto only attacks - Fixed all sorting not working in NanoFab Blueprint selection screens - Fixed bug with all Items and Item Blueprints showing use cost of "444 AP" - Fixed bug that could result in a timeline even oddly grayed out (low opacity)
Update #167: Talent Burn
Update #167 is completely dedicated to fixing a few issues with Terminals and Lootboxes in the new Logistics Hub map and fixing Talent issues. Lots and lots of little Talent issues! With Update #167, we took the fight to the F10s reported around Talents and closed over 50% of them in this update. We're excited to slate the work to tackle the other 50% of reported issues and get the class trees in tip-top fighting shape!
If you're enjoying the steady stream of improvements, please take a moment to leave a review!
Logistics Hub Fixes
There were two types of issues reported for Logistics Hub. First, in some cases terminals were reporting "this terminal is broken" and refusing to launch the matrix UI. And second, sometimes in the Steal 3 Files objective, some of the Files simply never made it into a lootbox.
Both class of bugs have been fixed - but only for future iterations of your missions. If you have a mission where you can only find 2/3 files, you'll need to just extract with that victory in hand and the next time the map draws, you'll be able to find 3/3.
Talent Burn!
We ripped into the F10 pile for Talents - hitting all the little and big things we could in a single blast. There are so many fixes - from typos to effects that were ignored - all bundled into this update, so we'll discuss the biggest ones but please check the full changelog below for the exhaustive set of changes.
All the Talents using Damage over Time - especially Tox-Cloud and BIo-Coat Bullet - were reported a lot to be inflating their damage per Turn. We've fixed the inflation issue and now the numbers show correctly, smaller. A fully upgraded Tox-Cloud was showing 100 but is really 75 HP / Turn.
In the same vein, we fixed the Vanguard's K-Protocol that was overreporting the Security Tally reduction and causing a lot of confusion.
We fixed the Knight's Ult-Pump +1 Turn Duration node so that it really works as well as their Interference Spike +1 Max Charge node which wasn't working either. We fixed a number of cases where the text described an upgrade buff as a debuff or a debuff as a buff, such as in the Knight's Quantum Assault Talent.
We fixed other disconnected upprades that didn't do what they promised like EMP 4 and EMP 5 and Downed Shield's last upgrade node.
Nest Dropping
We fixed an issue where Sniper's Nest Talent was being dropped if an attack missed.
Soldier's Run and Gun
Also, we improved Soldier's Run and Gun Talent to add a generic ranged weapon accuracy after moving instead of only Assault Rifle (AR) accuracy which was very limited.
v1.8.47 - #167: Talent Burn - 11/3/2024
- Fixed issues with new "Logistics Hub" map that could lead to Terminals being broken or Matrix SCU having no connected devices - Fixed issues with Lootbox Hunt / Steal 3 Files where some of the files could not appear in Logistics Hub (and more rarely, in other maps as well) - Fixed class tree bug where Talents healing or doing Damage / Turn were showing incorrectly high values once upgraded (Tox-Cloud showing 100 HP/Turn instead of 75 HP/Turn) - Clarified description of Tox-Cloud Talent that the Damage / Turn does not affect Drones - Fixed upgrade of Knight's Interference Spike Talent that had no description (+1 Max Charge) - Fixed upgrade of Knight's Quantum Assault Talent that describes the upgraded debuff as if it will debuff the Knight - Fixed upgrade of Knight's Ult-Pump Talent that claimed to add +1 Duration but then did not actually do anything - Fixed upgrades of Vanguard's K-Protocol inflating the number of Sec Tally reduced - all trained it is -5 Tally - Fixed 6th upgrade of Hacker's Downed Shields that broke the Talent's description - Fixed Cybersword's EMP upgrades on the bottom row that had no description (+10% Dmg, -1 Recharge Turn) - Fixed bug with Nest buff dropping after making successive attacks if they missed - Improved Soldier's Talent Run and Gun to give +10% Ranged Accuracy instead of +10% AR Accuracy - Fixed broken Contact Dr. Omatte strange appearances in future games - Fixed bug preventing +/- Red or Gold cubes in Nano-Fab crafting UI - Fixed issue where Wreckspire and Dusted Hover-Evac levels could use the same description and names - Fixed some Cyberdeck programs having the wrong icon
Update #166: New Weekly Map "Logistics Hub"
Back in Update #164, we promised a new weekly map release schedule and Update #166 has arrived to delivery on that promise. This update includes a new mission map - Logistics Hub - that is playable on 7 proc-gen objectives, a big UI improvement with a Font Scale option, fixes for Biomimic movement warnings, more obvious Free Respec period and a ton of really important F10 fixes from the community.
We're excited to start this new map release schedule and to try to march it all the way to launch, ensuring the game has a huge pool of content for every heist team to hit. So thank you for your reviews to help us keep going!
New Map + 7 Proc-Gen Combos
It is week one of our new "Map a Week Until Launch!" challenge and we are here to deliver. The Logistics Hub is an exciting new map. Build straddling a key road between two transport interchanges, the hub features both an interior building area and exterior power field. It has great pathing challenges, very different spaces and tons and tons of way to play it. This new map dropping into the proc-gen set pushes up to 57 total proc-gen combos and represents a 14% increase in map variety.
You will find the new Logistics Hub appearing in (1) Scavenger (2) Lootbox Hunt (steal 3 files), (3) Q-Gap Spike (spike a CPU), (4) Kill 3 Captains, (5) Bodyguard (6) Battle Striker and (7) Siege!
And, to follow up on our Weekly New Map release schedule, the next m1ap is in testing and polish phase to drop next week with a similar amount of proc-gen objective varieties!
Finally, in proc-gen land, we fixed a bug with Wreckspire where Kill 3 Captains objective had a broken terminal.
You won't see this ^^ anymore
And also we fixed a bug in Lootbox Hunt where multiple objective files could appear in the same lootbox, making this level type too easy.
Font Scale Option - up to +25%
We have added a major UI option with Update #166 - a simple Font Scale slider in your options menu. This lets you slide the font size from -25% (why!?!) to +25%. We are starting with this range of font scale adjustments and getting live testing before we look at possibly expanding the limits further.
This is a HUGE update to the game's UI that touched every single screen and widget and UI blippy. So, if you see issues at 0% or 25% please report them.
You'll see with the Font Scaling that the UIs mostly hold to their shape except when they are built to dynamically scale (usually vertically, scrollbars, etc). By increasing font size, screen elements may be a bit more cramped feeling but that is a natural result of making the text bigger without making the screen bigger :D
And for Steam Deck we now default to +25% Font Scale!
More Obvious Free Respec
In the cases when your Respec is free (at the beginning of the game or just after a recruit joins the team) the UI is now much louder to call attention to the Respec button and to make it clear it is FREE.
Biomimic + Prox-Mines and Pressure Plates
Both Prox-Mines and Pressure Plates were incorrectly showing movement warnings if you had Biomimic running. This is now resolved, both will go quiet in that case, as your buffs let you skip over them safely without detection.
No More Tilting!
There were some issues with stairs, depending on the way the merc or enemy wanted to face at the end of their movement could result in odd tilts. This is now fixed, we stand up straight around here!
Weapon Unequip / Mod Equip
We fixed two really important bugs in the stack of weapons and weapon mods with Update #166. Previously, there was no real weapon ordering - if you unequipped your primary weapon then the secondary would slide forward and take the primary slot. It wasn't great and makes it hard to really control what happens next or to really equip a weapon as primary without unequipping both. This is now fixed, you have 2 slots and they are maintained separately.
If you unequip primary weapon, then you'll be standing around without a weapon ^^
Also, we fixed some bugs that could result in some really odd weapon mod attachment situations. Some faulty code allowed a weapon mod to be attached to two weapons or attached twice to the same weapon accidentally. That's a mess obviously. It only happened rarely but we've fixed the bug and expect that this will address a number of issues that have been being reported in F10s that were just really confusing!
Fixed Unknown Relationships
If a merc went into the Simstream Detox, Trainer, Treatment or Cyber Surgery, suddenly all of the relationship tags that link to them would start reporting them "Unknown". Like, haven't seen them in a few days maybe they are dead!?!? This is now fixed - the answer is "member of the team".
v1.8.45 - Update #166 - 11/1/2024
- Added new proc-gen map "Logistics Hub": transportation connector that supports +7 new proc-gen combos (Siege, Battle Striker, Heist a CPU, Steal 3 Files, Scavenger, Kill 3 Captains, Bodyguard!) - Added Font Size control to game Options - up to 25% larger or smaller - Steam Deck defaults to +25% font size for much more readable text! - Improved Respec button in training screen - says "Free Respec" in bold color when you can get a free Respec - Improved clarity of weapon class specific Accuracy to read like +5% Pistol/SMG/Revolver Accuracy - Fixed issue with Accuracy Log (top right) not ever showing weapon class specific bonuses (like +5% Pistols/SMG/Revolver) - Fixed issue where 1+ objective file could end up in the same Lootbox in Steal 3 Files objective - Fixed issue with Relationship Tags showing "status unknown" if other character was in Cyber Surgery or Treatment - Fixed issue where warnings for Prox-Mines and Pressure Plates would incorrectly show while Scourge BioMimic is on - Fixed issues with Slashslide meta-visual on raised areas or first time used could be invisible - Fixed equipment issue where attempting to equip a secondary weapon if you have no primary would just equip your primary - Fixed issue where a weapon mod equipment could result in odd attachments - Fixed issue where characters or enemies could end up leaning at an impossible angle after moving - Fixed broken terminal in Wreckspire in Kill 3 Captains objective for future missions - Fixed widespread text formatting mistake where percentages (10%) were showing with a + sign (+10%) or (+-10%) - Improved colliders with Truck to resolve issues with Slashslide and melee attacks near it
Update #165: Bug Street
Knights, this is bug street - an update where we squish popular F10s and prep for the next big thing. Having just come off adding 5 new proc-gen combos for the Bodyguard objective, we're prepping some really big things (new map release this week, upcoming Gunslinger class, Steam Deck verification) and keeping up with the F10 train. This update is dedicated to bug fix and minor balance tweaks, so let's dig into what we've got.
A big thanks goes out to everyone playing, posting and sending in F10s with feedback, suggestions and of course, pesky bugs. We're continually polishing the game and tuning the experience based on your timely feedback, so thank you.
And, of course, as we are a really small team - every single review counts. Thank you to every Knight who has posted up a review!
Balance Tweaks
We've improved Soldier's Covering Fire, increasing the debuff against enemy accuracy from -20% to -25% making it just a little better at suppressing return fire. As it debuffs whether it hits or miss, this can be a powerful move in a retreating gunfight or when storming an enemy position, as even those pesky targets that might be 15% to hit will be debuffed.
We've made some adjustments to make cybernetics that grant classes a little more similar. The Vanguard's Chameleon Sheathe, Agent EX Nano-Hive and Scourge Chem-Hive all have been reduced to a 12 day recovery time after the splicing surgery.
Power Slice Clarity
We've adjusted the descriptions for Power Slice and Improved Power Slice to be more clear that they add a duration to the debuff if and only if the weapon has a debuff in its special Power Slice rule block. If the Power Slice bonus for the weapon is just extra damage, this doesn't get a duration.
Timeline Bumps
We've fixed an issue in the timeline where a character who was recovering or in a Simstream Detox or Trainer might have their duration extended if a new mission or storyline appeared. Now, it will happen the other way around, the mission or story will get an extra Turn to avoid overlapping with your merc's recovery times. This is a nice boon to help things align, you basically win ties in the timeline :D
Respec Token Theft!
We fixed a bug where Respec'ing would steal a Simstream Trainer token even if the merc was a new recruit and the confirmation window explained that it wouldn't cost you a token. Then the sneaky sneak would steal a token anyway! Now fixed.
Movement AP Theft!
In some edge cases, but most commonly when using Talents like Lightfoot and Projection, you could be charged more AP for your move than you were shown when planning the move. AP theft! We've fixed the rule here to only calculate the cost of AP one time and then to charge that exact amount of AP to you if the move is executed.
Better Hiding Access Gates
In the matrix, some sharp-eyed hackers realized you could spot Access Gates because even when they weren't scanned, their connection lines were marked as gray. We've fixed this issue with Gates, and the status of their connections is only revealed once they reach Scan 1/2 at least.
Floating Bullet Holes
We had a rash of reports about magical bullets holes that were forming on the side of BioScan fields, in Laser Mesh wires, Linecrawler VFX and more. We've fixed the mistakes in the physics collision matrix that was allowing firing lines to hit those objects and register them as collisions. Bullets now find something more solid to slap into.
Cybersword Start
For a long time, who knows how long (?), the Cybersword has started with a floating point in an upgraded to the Choppa Talent. It didn't help you or hurt you, but it was a wasted point until you Respec. New Cyberswords will gain a second charge of Slashslide instead (the power!). Veteran Cyberswords might want to check if they should respec.
And that's it - a mountain of bugs we will flow to thee!
v1.8.143 - #165: Bug Street - 10/30/2024
- Improved debuff to Accuracy from -20% to -25% for Soldier's Covering Fire - Reduced install time for Vanguard's Chameleon Sheathe, Agent EX Nano-Hive and Scourge Chem-Hive to 12 days - Improved description of Improved Power Slice to be clearer that the debuff Turn bonus is used only if the weapon has a debuff - Fixed issues where the timeline might move an Injured character or character in Simstream back 6 hours if a mission had same ending - Fixed bug with Respec consuming Simstream Trainer token even when used on a new recruit - Fixed issue where Access Gate nodes were visible in Matrix before being scanned due to grayed out lines - Fixed issues with bullet holes appearing on laser wires, BioScan field and more silly things - Fixed issue with special movement Talents like Lightfoot and Projection where sometimes the final AP cost was higher than previewed - Fixed bug with Cybersword starting level points - random floating point was spent on Choppa without the Talent, now spent to for +1 Slashslide charge
Update #164: Bodyguard Rising
Knights of New Boston, another update is hitting the streets hard. Today we're announcing a new ambitious goal for a weekly release schedule for a new map, dropping 5 new proc-gen combos for the Bodyguard objective type that vastly increase its map variety (even though they are not new maps), and fixing the meta-visual issue that was wreaking havoc on Mac OS, Linux and Steam Deck. We've also bumped the Sell action over to default submit (spacebar, (A)) in Cold Storage for better consistency with the market and inventory.
Thanks to everyone playing and especially to those leaving a review and helping us vault over 500 reviews last week! Here's to more updates, more maps and more reviews!
New Map Schedule
We're excited to share that the map design, development and completion process has moved far enough forward that we're hitting the acceleration point now. We have major pile of maps ready for final dressing, objective assignment and testing and we're finalizing the process to fast track them into the game.
With this new process in place, our goal will be to release a new mission map every week from now until full launch. This is a goal, we are sure to miss it this week, but we're confident that we are going to hit it on the majority of weeks starting with the new map next week and rolling from there.
With the additional 5 new proc-gen combos for Bodyguard objective (see below) we've already crossed the 50 proc-gen combos (map X objective) and are very excited that this new map release schedule is going to blow that dinky little number out of the water. The first new release map is testing right now with 7 objective types linked so that is a big boost (7 / 50 = 15%).
+5 Bodyguard Proc-Gen Combos
The Bodyguard objective has been one of the underserved objectives for a while with only 2 maps matching it. With Update #164 we've kicked Bodyguard into high-gear with its possible map matches, adding 5 new proc-gen combos. These maps matches, which are (from the top left, clockwise in the graphic) Wreckspire, District HQ, H-Interchange, Sewers and Req Site) are all pre-existing in the set, so there are no new maps here. But if you have to protect a data courier on the move, you're going to see a lot more variety in map type, shape and size. And, to ensure that Bodyguard stays spicey and fun, we've covered it better in our process for new map releases, ensuring it won't be left behind again.
Meta-Visuals & Sight Lines for Mac OS and LInux
The major update last week to redo the meta-visuals for just about everything in the game had issues on some Linux and Mac OS machines, resulting in giant pink and purple boxes - looking like this - It's cool enough that it made us think about how we could do special tactical overlays in the map for something weird or cool someday (thermo vision?) but also just totally broken and unplayable on Steam Deck, Mac OS and Linux.
In the end, due to the difficulty with fixing the prickly shader issue, we had to roll back these platforms to the October 17th release.
We're glad to roll out the Update #164 today that restores the functionality and all other features and content for these platforms to the latest.
Cold Storage - Sell with Space
We've finally completed the upgrade to Cold Storage to match the other major inventory screens so that you can sell things with the spacebar or (A) by default. This allows very rapid selling with keyboard only if you want to try to move some items (before Bulk Sell feature finally arrives) and just increases consistency across screens.
Thanks to everyone who posted o-so-many F10s about this ːsteamhappyː we're happy to deliver!
Triage Clinic PL 4
We've made a small but nice tweak to the final level of the Triage Clinic room, increasing the Wound Res to 30% from 25%. This room continues to be enduringly popular among early and late merc teams, so we know it becomes even more important as your enemies become harder and the risk of Wounds is even greater.
v1.8.141 - #164: Bodyguard Rising - 10/26/2024
- Fixed issue with meta-visuals in Mac OS, Linux and Steam Deck creating huge pink and purple boxes under some GPUs - Added 5 new proc-gen combos for Bodyguard mission objective (Wreckspire, District HQ, H Interchange, Sewers, Req Site) - Now with 50 Proc-gen map X objective combos and new maps coming very soon! - Announced new weekly map release schedule goal - Cold Storage Sell now default action (Space, A) and Use File defaults to (C) - Improved Triage Clinic Lvl 4 to 30% Wound Res from 25% - Fixed issues with inconsistent application of HDR to all game cameras
Update #163: New Knight Packages
Knights, a new update is filtering down from the top of the dome to the streets, to the shadows, seeping through the pavement. Surely it will reach your underground safehouse soon. With Update #163, we've added new options to the New Game Knight screen including weapons packages and your pick of starting cybernetic, further improved and tweaked the meta-visuals update, smoothed out the Safehouse timeline animation and provided a 3rd Fastest speed, and fixed a lot of bugs from your F10s!
We are hitting so many different angles of polish and improvement for the game and we're super excited for what is next. It goes something like (1) more mission maps (2) Gunslinger class and (3) more story! Check out the Gunslinger Preview thread that is ripping along on Steam right now with great ideas about how to make that class extra fun and cool.
We're 3 reviews short of 500 ːsteamhappyː! If you're enjoying the game or how we are running our Early Access (always improving!) please take a minute to leave a review.
Weapon and Cybernetic Packages for New Knight
With Update #163, we've added 2 new sets of options to the New Game Knight screen. These allow your Knight to pick from a set of 4 starting weapon packages to better customize their starting load out. You can pick from a stealth pack (Sword and Silenced Pistol), a mid-range loud pack (Shotgun and Silenced SMG), a versatile pack (AR and Silenced Pistol) and the long range pack (Sniper Rifle and Silenced SMG).
On top of the new weapon choices, all Knights used to start with Dermal Plating installed. This was limiting and while it made you a tank it also reduced Move Speed. With all the new choices in the New Game V2 screen, and especially those that let you lean your Knight toward a Hacker, we needed to give you the freedom to pick your our starting implant. So, with Update #163, you can also pick one of 4 cybernetics - among Dermal Plating, Matrix Link, Display Link and Neural Accelerator.
One of the key cybernetic options available to your character is that of the Matrix Link which lets you start with your Cyber Knight multi-classed into the Hacker class. This goes along with some of the Hacking-focused Trait options you can pick above and gives a cool new angle to what your Cyber Knight brings to the team from the get go.
Along with this update, we've tweaked, tuned and improved a lot of starting cyberware progressions for the better. For example, Synth Muscle has been buffed with more Attribute bonuses and the first level no longer has a Wound Res penalty and we've removed the Stress Res penalty from Matrix Link. We've added more HP and Wound Res to the Dermal Armor progression while reducing its Move Speed debuff to 6% to 12% max and added more Accuracy bonus to Display Links.
Smoother Timeline + New Options
We've done a really nice polishing pass on the animation for the Safehouse Timeline. It is smoother than ever before and we've cut out all the possible "jump back" that could happen where an event would scroll forward and then suddenly leap backwards. We still have work to do to improve the experience when new events appear on the timeline (it's a big jumpy and you might want to pause) but this is a really nice improvement on the smoothness of the main clock of the game.
We've also added a 3rd speed - Fastest - to the options for Timeline Speed. Accelerated is comfortable and plays rapidly, Standard is comfy and on the slower side and well, Fastest is just fast. It rips along and does very little attempt at making animation so much as moving turns forward.
Improving Meta-Visuals
For the meta-visuals, we've made some nice upgrades to follow up on the big update and improve in some situations where things were not working as expected
First up, if an enemy was standing near a drop that was 4m or above, their sight lines were not displayed below. This is now resolved with the sight lines painting onto the lower geometry up to 6.2m below. The situation with enemies facing upwards elevation (such as stairs) is no better than it was in the old system and there is no visual aid except relying on movement alerts to know if you will be seen by an enemy in this position or not.
We've also adjusted and increased the opacity on the sight cones which is important to make them functional in areas with varied light - especially red and orange lighting conditions.
In addition, the new visualization for Talent ranges are very helpful for placing map area of effects like Lookahead or Tox-Cloud except that the range calculations on these areas was not updated to ignore height and effectively use a column instead of a sphere. This lead to the meta-visual range finder showing situations in which an enemy would be targeted - near the edge, as shown above - and yet they could still be missed. We've now updated the math to ensure that the visuals are unerring.
Bug Fixes!
Thanks for all the F10s. We had another round of high Power Level Cyberdecks escape the lab (how!? again!?!) and we've stuffed them back in the box. Unless you bought them lol. Also, when removing required programs from the deck, sometimes the names were wrong (you're removing Attack but it warns about Sleaze).
We fixed a long standing issue with a trio of fuel barrels that refused to ever show the cover shield, now resolved.
Some of the enemies in the new Blown Out Flat level could appear in inaccessible areas, trapped forever.
In the Hacking mission level - the Weigh Station - the camera bounds were flipped, allowing you to leave the leave but never get back in.
v1.8.139 - #163: New Knight Packages - 10/22/2024
- New Game Knight - now select from 1 of 4 weapons sets for your starting Knight - New Game Knight - now select from 1 of 4 cybernetic implants for your starting Knight, including MatrixLink to multi-class Hacker from start - Improved smoothness of Safehouse timeline animation, expanded option for speed to be Standard, Accelerated or Fastest (less animation, more speed) - Fixed issue with new meta-visuals for sight cones where they disappeared if there was a 4m or more drop - Improve new meta-visuals for sight cone to be more visible in brighter / redder lighting environments - Improved map area of effect rules (for Talents like Lookahead and Tox-Cloud) that were not following the new rules (these also still need new meta-visuals) - Buffed Synth Muscle (more Strength/Speed, removed -Wound Res %) and Matrix Link (removed -Stress Res %), buffed Dermal Plating series (more HP, Wound Res, better Move Speed), added +1% Accuracy to Display Link - Fixed issue with triple fuel barrel stacks not showing cover shield correctly - Fixed issue with program names being swapped when uninstalling required programs - Removed Cyberdecks in Power Level 8 and 9 that had leaked into market - Fixed enemy starting in inaccessible area in Blown Out Flat level - Fixed camera bounds issue in Hacking Weigh station level - you could pass through and never return
Update #162: Sight and Range Meta-Visual Upgrades
Knights, a big update has arrived tonight. This one has been months in process, slowly moving forward to complete the heavy lifting of rebuilding the game's meta-visualizations for Talents, Full Auto, Overwatch, enemy Sight Cones and security devices. It's a huge scope but we're glad to have arrived here with a big update tonight for all of our heisters. We've also scored a win for Steam Deck verification with this build, added movement alerts for prox-mines, improved the skip enemy turn system and made a huge bundle of small but important updates to mission maps to be sure they play as expected.
If you enjoy the updates, improvements and expanding content - please take a minute to leave a review. The small team here appreciates every one!
All New Meta-Visualizations Sticks to Geometry
All of the range and sight widgets or meta-visuals in the game have received a big update with Update #161. Before these were shown as 2D colored and semi-transparent objects that floated in the level at the plane where they originated. This leads to a lot of difficulties, making it hard to understand where boundaries are, making it hard to understand happens once elevation changes are involved and can paint a lot of meta-visuals onto the game that are not necessarily real (as these 2D objects mostly just ignored geometry).
A big thanks to the team who worked hard on rewriting this - it has been some of the steepest work and definitely the hardest shader work we've done for Cyber Knights.
But we are excited to share the results which are a big step forward. We're not 100% done (are we ever?) but everything included here is an upgrade on what we had before.
The changes are vast - so we'll try to list the most important ones were with demonstrative screenshots.
Security Devices and Walls
In the old system, security devices were not using intelligent visualizations that knew about walls. Therefore, the old widgets just clipped right through walls and showed up on the other size. This didn't make any sense and was ugly! Security device meta-visuals now respect walls correctly. To test other areas where they might not see you due to high or lower cover, you'll want to rely on movement alerts.
Talent Range Circles
All Talent ranging circles were also just 2D. They had the advantage of showing through geometry but they were still stuck at a specific plane where the character was making it really hard to tell sometimes if another character or enemy was going to be in range. This could be especially painful when trying to pick a movement destination and not being sure if a target for the Talent you would use would be close enough.
Now all Talent ranges draw directly over the geometry. This makes it so much easier to tell if a target is inside our outside of the range. This has always required a chance in how Talent range is calculated, which makes the range (marginally longer). Instead of using a true distance including vertical (which would create a sphere around the character and be very hard to visualize) we measure Talent range only in the X,Z plane without any vertical distance calculation. Therefore, the Talent visualization is a giant cone not a circle that is overlaid on the geometry. This gives some advantage to the Talent user but it also ensures the visualizations are always correct.
Improvements for Elevation
Sight cones, Overwatch and Full Auto cones were especially bad with elevation in the previous versions. If they were pointed at higher elevation, they disappeared as they just went under the floor. if they were pointed at lower elevation, they ran out into the sky and were very hard to understand against the lower level geometry.
This is an area where we can still improve, but these new meta-visuals are already much better. If these sight cones are pointed at lower geometry, the result is really nice. In the case of pointing at higher geometry, you can see the edge lines effectively but lose a lot of the exact visualization of what can be see / Overwatched / shot and need to rely on movement alerts at that point.
Low Cover vs. Sight Lines
In the old system for stealth, if an enemy's sight lines hit something like a barricade that provided low cover then the entire sight line on the far side would allow a sneaking character to move through it. That created silly situations like this where a guard standing at a low wall was very, very bind.
We've now updated this sight system with some new rules where the sight line will return to full visibility after 5 meters roughly, unless it is farther than 60% down the enemy's sight distance. So, if an enemy is standing far away from a barricade, they will lose full sight on the other side of it, but an enemy standing close to a barricade only has a limited blind spot.
This still lets you create long a barricade right in front of the enemy - if you can move quietly enough! - but adds a new complexity a lot of stealth situations that used to be (silly but) easier.
Prop Updates
We did some work with this update to focus on certain sets of props, like the shelving units shown above, that were not about what height they were. Now the shelves are clearly "crouch to sneak behind" height except where there are items up top where they block sight. Helpful improvement in the first area of the game as well as across many other levels!
Prox-Mines Warning
Oddly, Prox-Mines were missing a proper movement alert. These alerts now appear, warning that you're going to be damaged on this movement path. Very nice!
3/4 Steam Deck Verification Update
We've made some nice progress toward final Steam Deck verification with this update, moving from 1/4 items in the checklist as green to 3/4 items as green. We have now exposed 100% functionality available through your controller, improved the consistency of display of controller widgets instead of sometimes letting the keyboard and mouse appear.
This comes along with an updated F10 system that allows you to pop the feedback form in game with a left stick press and then use virtual keyboards to input any text you'd like to send along all from a controller the steam deck.
The last standing knock against the game's verification status is the small text size, so we have pivoted and are starting to work on that project.
Better Skip Enemy Turn
We have made some major improvements to Skip Enemy Turn, expanding the number of cases that you can simply skip massively. In the previous version, once real fighting started the amount of enemy turns you could skip began to drop pretty rapidly as the system simulates their move and anticipates things that might interrupt them. An enemy turn can only be skipped (for now) if they are determined to have no interruptions.
With this update, we've fixed issues with mis-detection of interruption sources like dead bodies, which were being counted even if the enemy was Alerted and was going to run over the body without comment or stopping. This new level of awareness in the detection system is letting us skip a lot more turns and makes the game faster and more fun to play.
Map Improvements
In addition to the big meta-visual upgrade, we also took some time to rip through the list of F10s reporting on minor issues with maps and fixed about 50% of all report issues. This resolves issues with odd pathing, barricades that aren't really there, places you can't squeeze through that look like you should be able to, lootboxes not provide cover, and different types of props that you could simply walk in to.
v1.8.137 - 10/20/2024
- Rebuilt visualization of all geometry shown on the map - sight cones, Talent ranges, Full Auto, Overwatch, security devices - Visualizations stick to the geometry instead of floating over it, making it easy to track areas of effect - Visualizations handle up and down elevation more gracefully (down is still better than up) - Piece of low cover in enemy sight cone does not set rest of sight cone to yellow (blocked by cover), resets after 5m - Security devices visualization now stops correctly at walls instead of bleeding through - Prox-Mines now give a movement alert when your movement will cause damage - Improved Steam Deck verification report - only text size legibility prevents verification - Fixed confusing shelving unit prefabs that were never clear if they were sneaking (crouch) or sprinting (standing) cover - Vastly improved skip enemy Turn, once combat starts 50%+ more turns will be skippable - Fixed many small issues in level geometry (squeezing through small areas), cover (lootboxes!), walking into things (small gray tables) - Can now squeeze between 3 barrel fuel tanks, issues with props placed making it look like you could squeeze through but couldn't
Update #161: Rip Roar
This Update #161 is dedicated to doing things faster. Everything in your Inventory, Market, NanoFab and Cold Storage is now fasterrrrr. You can submit F10s faster because we remembers you Discord username and you can make new games faster because we remember your Attribute selections from the last time. We've added a new appearance option to tweak lip color and we've also adjusted the default Screen Move to wide screen to help players on larger, wider screens like 4K who are encounter the game feeling like it is just too small to play. And finally we've fixed another set of issues with the Scourge and the UNA Hacker recruits. These two - so much trouble!
Performance for All Item Grids
We've enhanced the scrolling and pooling solution for our big data tables in the safehouse - Cold Storage, Inventory, Market and NanoFab. One some of these screens, players were seeing 500-1000 items piling up and the load times were tanking. This new update should make those screens as snappy as they ever were, regardless of the size of the lists.
Of course, the next thing needed here is a lovely Bulk Sell tool that will help you filter these huge lists and then sell things rapidly in large packages to your Contacts instead of being asked to sell them one at a time (madness I tell you!). Stay tuned for that - now that the performance is ironed out, that's next.
Lip Color
You can now set (and reset) the lip color of your characters. Go bold, go dark, go smokey and if you want use the cancel button to drop back to the default skin tone. This feels like a nice add to have some more color controls for your characters - enjoy playing with it. Some of the contacts are due an upgrade after all these new appearance options.
Remembering Choices
In the F10 form, we are now nicely remember anything you enter into the Discord field. If you are Discord, it is extremely helpful for us to be able to reach out to you with more questions about a ticket or to follow up afterwards, so we appreciate you adding your details. And of course, for typing it so many types (madness I tell you!) Now, type it on last time please and we remember forever :D
Also, to help smooth out new Knight creation, once you've created a Knight once we remember your Attribute choices and just use them again next time through.
TV Screen Mode by Default
We've upgraded to TV screen mode by default which assumes that you'd like the elements on your screen to stay about the same relative size as they would in a 1920x1080p resolution. This indicates that the elements will grown physically larger as your screen gets larger. In the PC screen mode, the elements will stay exactly the same physical size as they would on a 1080p, which means they become smaller relative to your screen size. Blah blah, whatever - we need a better name but this a better default for Steam Deck, 1080p screens and large and wide screen as well. You can always swap to back PC mode -- let us know how this change feels (if you see any difference).
More Recruit Fixes
There have never been a more troublesome set of recruits than the Treaty '31 Scourge and Hacker. Upon their release, there were a few bugs, which we fixed in a few days. But the fall out and need to keep cleaning up from those bugs has been ... annoying constant. A big thanks to everyone sending in F10s, we hope these are the last 2 fixes for characters who got stuck in one way or another.
v1.8.135 - #161: Rip Roar - 10/17/2024
- Major performance boost for all Inventory, Cold Storage, Market and NanoFab screens with lists of things - Added appearance option to adjust lip color and new option for some colors to revert back to default - Swapped default "Screen Mode" to "TV" (where the UI keeps its proportions as screen gets bigger) vs. "PC" (where the elements stay same size on larger screens, feels smaller) - New Game now remembers the Attributes you set for your last Knight so you can start more quickly - Feedback form (F10) remembers the Discord username so you don't have re-add it - Fixed bug with Scourge recruit sometimes appearing directly into roster as if already on the team - Fixed issue with delaying choice for UNA Hacker recruit could leave hacker stuck on roster
Update #160: Prisoners Escaped!
Knights of New Boston - this one is a patch to catch up on some bugs that snuck in about prisoner handling. We're working on some new and exciting story levels with cool happenings, but this caused an issue where prisoners were appearing out of their cell or not at all. We've also further pushed the Sells Cyberdeck service out to levels 5 and 6 and correctly aligned all the Power Level decks out to that point. And finally, we fixed a few lingering issues that could occur with Legwork and the new recruits from Era '31.
Prisoners Escaped!
If you started a level with a goal to save a prisoner but discovered that prisoner was either (1) not visible at all or (2) standing right in the middle of your crew ... this is the bug. In all the F10 cases we've seen, fixed and tested this is unfortunate, silly look but you can still play out the entire level. Just be aware, if you free the prisoner by opening their cell, they will become active right where they are standing, they will not move to the cell.
If you do have a hung game or you can't restart the mission after this patch, please reach out to us and we can help.
Sells Cyberdeck
First up, we made a mistake in the service name for Sells Cyberdeck last update. Suddenly a "Sells Milspec Cyberdeck (4)" appeared on your Ghostwire contacts, and that has now been corrected to "Sells Cyberdecks (4)".
In addition to that, we've slotted the Jupiter Victus and the UltraTek Galaxy decks into their respective - and new - service levels at 5 and 6. Your Ghostwire contacts and anyone else willing to sell you a cracked deck now have one of the longest service ladders in the game, so keep the happy, feed them Favors and accounts and see if you can get your way up to those high level decks.
Era '31 Fixes
When Era '31 came out there were a few bugs we missed - that you could put assign a Potential Recruit to a Legwork, and that 2 of the same proc-gen Legworks could end up running at the same time. Both of these happened to players and while we closed the bugs allowing them to happen, there was possible downstream data corruption that we've cleaned up in this update.
If you assigned a Potential Recruit to a Legwork, when that Legwork finished it would get stuck at 0h. Fixed!
It was possible to end up with a character who had run one of the doubled Legworks who is permanently stuck "On Legwork" even though there is no Legwork anymore. Fixed!
v1.8.133 - 10/16/2024
- Fixed critical bug where prisoners were not appearing in their cells - reach out if you have a hung game and can't restart mission - Adjusted power Levels of Cyberdecks Jupiter Victus and UltraTek Galaxy to 5 and 6 - Expanded Sells Cyberdecks for Contacts up to level 6, allowing sale of Victus and Galaxy decks - Fixed bug where Ghostwire service for selling Cyberdecks appeared twice as "Sells Cyberdecks" and "Sells Milspec Cyberdecks" - Fixed aftermath bugs of legwork bugs that existed right after ERA '31 story release - 2 bugs that could hang legwork or character on invisible legwork
Update #159: Decoy goes HOT
Tonight's update is a quick one, so I will keep this quick as well. We've made some important updates to the feedback form for Steam Deck and controller support, added a 4th service level for Program Sellers with new program options, reduced IO Size for Deception II and Disarm II and fixed Decoy (HOT) not coming out fully hot.
Let's dive right into this small update -
F10s from Steam Deck
Forever, we've lovingly called the in-game feedback and bug reporting system "F10s". We've got a bug moji on our Discord and everything. But that has left a key feature off Steam Deck (as you couldn't submit or get the keyboard up in the form) or if you're playing with a controller.
With Update #159, we've finished rebinding the default Steam deck / controller config to let you submit Feedback (aka F10!) with the left stick click. This can now be seen from all the HUDs and main menu as well, so fire away with info about how we can make your experience better.
This has also required us to rewrite the feedback form using the game's widgets and styles, which may have impacts on keyboard players as well. Please let us know if there are issues or where we can further improve.
Finally, for big picture mode or Steam Deck, you'll get the nice on-screen virtual keyboard which is one of the key requirements we had to hit on our road to Steam Deck Verified. We've got one last big item to tackle - which is UI scale and font size! Let's go!
Decoy (HOT)
Last update missed a step to finalize the link of the new HOT effect to the new Decoy (HOT) programs. now you'll really get your bonus IO.
Sells Programs 4 + Attack IV
We've also expanded the Sells Programs services from Contacts to have a 4th level you can reach via Limit Break. This level is rare air and offers Decoy III (not HOT) and a new program Attack IV. This massive attack program is very one-hit-kills with the amount of Damage it is dealing, and combined with a higher charge count makes a powerful tool to smash IC in a node when the time comes.
v1.8.131 - 10/14/2024
- Upgraded Contact Sells Program service to have a 4th level, now selling Attack IV (one-hit-kill) and Decoy III (not HOT) - Reduced IO size for Deception II and Disarm II to 100 qb - Relinked Decoy (HOT) to the correct bonuses, now grant +IO Speed qbps - Updated F10 feedback form so it can be used by controllers and Steam Deck - Updated default keybindings for controllers and Steam Deck so that left stick click brings up feedback form
