Dead Hand cover
Dead Hand screenshot
PC Steam
Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Strategy, Indie

Dead Hand

Hotfix v1.3b
Fix for a crash that happened when a Multiple Rocket Launcher was destroyed while having some of its rockets mid-flight or queued to launch.

Hotfix v1.3a
Small hotfix to include the Escape Pod Plasma Torch files in the retail Pakfile, since they were missing from v1.3

Update 1.3
Update 1.3 is live with the usual slew of tweaks and fixes plus a couple of bigger changes addressing some relatively common grumblings about the game.

First, some of the main difficulty modes have been redesigned:
  • EASY mode now has been made considerably easier, giving the player a damage bonus, double the starting supplies, longer times before the H/K spawn and lower enemy density on top of the usual enemy damage reduction.
  • NORMAL mode, which used to be that enemies dealt 75% damage has been replaced by what was previously easy mode, where enemies deal 50% damage. The rationale for this change is that, on one hand, a 25% damage reduction didn't give you that much more survivability over taking full damage, so the previous normal difficulty felt somewhat redundant as it overlapped quite a bit with hard mode. And on the other hand the previous easy mode was a bit of a misnomer by not being particularly easy, since it was the developer intended way to play the game until first clear and thus it posed a significant challenge to newer players.
  • HARD mode remains exactly the same, with enemies dealing full damage.

Second, I've added a brief text-based intro to provide some more explicit context about the premise of the game. This is something that I considered implementing before launch but at the time discarded because a) since Dead Hand is a game of repeatedly dying and playing again I wanted to have as little friction as possible when starting a new game; and b) since you play as a simple rule-based AI controlled drone whose only concern is to carry out its directive, it felt out of place to have any kind of lore dump. The intro is, of course, skippable.

And without further ado here's the complete changelog:

Full Patch notes


  • Rebalanced difficulty: "Hard" stays the same, previous "Normal" is removed, previous "Easy" becomes current "Normal", "Easy" becomes easier.
  • Added a brief text intro on game start to provide a bit more context.
  • Added a "Destroy (3AP)" option to items in the loot menu, so the player may dispose of crates and scrap piles without having to attack them or pick all the contained items up.
  • Fixed some memory leaks on inventory item destruction.
  • Log is cleared when entering a new level.
  • More descriptive log entries.
  • Armor Piercing and Overpressure bullets now erode 20% more terrain than their FMJ/Match counterparts.
  • Minimap now immediately updates on changing chassis size.
  • Fixed issue where the 1st level very rarely would not have a clear path from player spawn point to exit.
  • Fixed issue where mid-flight projectile models could continue existing after the player being destroyed.
  • Fixed issue where an enemy armed with a Tank Gun could favor AP shells over explosive ones when player is in cover.
  • Fixed issue where corridors could dig too deep into connected rooms.
  • Added a "Free storage after destruction" counter when destroying stacked items from the inventory.
  • The Command Console now has a custom minimap icon.
  • Tweaked actor's front light position so it's less likely to be blocked by front hardpoint mounted weapons.
  • Overhead actor lights now stop casting terrain shadows when they intersect with the terrain.
  • Parts found in supply crates may now come with preinstalled modules.
  • When starting a new game as an Assault class AWP the Light Machine Gun is now selected by default.
  • When interrupting an enemy that's charging you, the combat log will note that the enemy is mid charge.
  • Higher tier ranged enemies now favor slightly longer ranged engagements.
  • Shortened the particle appearance delay when digging with the Mining Drill and the Mole.
  • Increased the height at which a Drill or Mole equipped actor may dig so they have an easier time digging an upwards path.
  • Charger type enemies now try to avoid ending their turn too close to charge the player.
  • If a charger-type enemy has no path to the player, it will now attempt to seek cover even if it has a suicidal-type brain.
  • Added a "Not enough ammo" indicator to the crosshair, it takes precedence over the "No Line of Sight" one.
  • Hovering the mouse over the "Continue Game" main menu item now displays the saved game player AWP, if there's one.
  • Added a workaround to fix most instances of the pathfinding library issue where paths might snap at a navmesh vertex instead of going in a straight line.


That should be all, have fun!.

Update 1.24
Update 1.24 is live, bringing an assortment of balance tweaks and fixes for some obscure and corner case bugs, mostly affecting the later levels.

Here's the detailed changelog:

Patch notes


  • Enemy Tankettes may now drop Ablative Cooling Gel.
  • Buffed Killdozer boss stats, as it was too easy to one shot it in a single turn and its ramming attack didn't do enough damage.
  • Fixed some instances where a C-RAM Boss wouldn't fire its gatling gun after running out of rockets.
  • Fixed minor lua error when mounting a previously used Twin Mount.
  • When scanning an enemy, its "base AP per turn" now includes any Overclocking Module bonus.
  • The End of Level 3 Menu no longer shows the "Save and Exit" option on a Practice mode run.
  • Player related entries in the combat log now say "Player" instead of the player's starting AWP class.
  • Scrapyard entries registered after deploying an Escape Pod now list the correct starting AWP class.
  • The player now gets a warning in the combat log a few turns before a Hunter/Killer drone appears for the first time in a given level.
  • Made some improvements to the final battle / ending sequence.
  • Fixed a rare instance where the Voevoda could spawn tilted.
  • Fixed some cases where the NavMesh wouldn't update properly after digging out the silo.
  • Fixed filtering of very low ceiling walkable NavMesh islands.
  • Other minor fixes and tweaks.


Enjoy!

Update 1.23
I've been doing some engine work lately, and this change was significant enough to merit being backported to Dead Hand:

  • Changed the PAKfile compression algorithm, resulting in considerably faster loading times.

Update 1.22
Update 1.22 is live bringing local Hi-Score tables plus the usual assortment of fixes and tweaks.

Here's the detailed changelog:

Patch notes


  • Added a per difficulty level "Hi-Score" table under the "Scrapyard" Main Menu entry. If you have a saved game in progress the "Kill Count" stat won't take into account enemies destroyed prior to this update.
  • Increased amount of rocket ammo carried by MRL equipped LAV type enemies.
  • Fixed bug where the initial part of the ending sequence wouldn't display properly if the hidden movement screen was being shown at the time.
  • Mounting a lighter Hull or Chassis would allow you to keep large weapons mounted on incompatible (smaller) hardpoints. Incompatible weapons are now dismounted.
  • Fixed enemies being able to melee through the ground when navmesh polys overlapped in the y-axis.


Have fun!

Update 1.21a
Hi all,

Here's a hotfix for an issue where destroyed enemy hulls could keep "phantom" weapons mounted and, when kept stored in the inventory, would prevent the savegame from loading.

Cheers!

Update 1.21
Update 1.21 brings fixes for a couple of elusive bugs regarding navigation mesh generation & pathfinding.

Here's the detailed changelog:

Patch notes


  • Fixed some instances of NavMesh actor obstacles not updating correctly when transitioning from Real Time Mode into Turn Based Mode.
  • Collapsed all NavMesh vertical layers into a single tile in order to fix connectivity and pathfinding issues when digging deep downwards.
  • Slightly delayed the appearance of Hunter Killers in Accelerated Mode, since you're more likely to want to fully explore each level.
  • Small tweaks to the AWP Stats screen. Interrupt chance is now shown as a percentage.

And I'd like to end the announcement with a reminder for new players who might be struggling with the difficulty: There's a "Tactics Primer" guide you can read and a 3 level video playthrough you can watch to get some ideas on how to better approach a new Dead Hand run.

Cheers!

Update 1.2 and Anniversary Sale
Update 1.2 is here bringing a brand new "Accelerated Mode" intended for seasoned players wanting to reach the later levels more quickly in exchange for a steeper difficulty curve.

"Accelerated Mode" reduces the size of every level except for the last one to a mere 5 rooms and skips levels 2, 5 & 8, leaving only the tier transition levels and the boss levels; making for a 6 level long successful run. Loot rates (both enemy drops and supply crate chances) are increased in order to allow the player to gear up before every boss fight.

"Accelerated Mode" can be toggled in the "Select Difficulty Level" menu. It's available for all difficulty modes and doesn't affect steam achievements; they can be unlocked as usual, regardless of "Accelerated Mode" being toggled.



Here's the detailed changelog with the usual assortment of minor fixes and tweaks:

Patch notes


  • Implemented a new "Accelerated Mode" for all game difficulties.
  • Lowered all three Pill Hulls' "Center of Mass" bones.
  • Structure Points meters now change color as parts receive damage.
  • Fixed a bug where replacing a Hull or Chassis that had an Ammo Factory module installed with another that didn't would allow you to continue fabricating ammo.
  • Slightly raised the Tank Gun HE Shell damage and the Guided Missile weight.
  • Lowered the maximum amount of Perlin Noise Octaves used when generating Cavern type rooms.
  • Switching from Fullscreen mode to Windowed mode using Alt+Enter is no longer considered a "volatile" change and now modifies the settings file.


Last but not least, in order to celebrate Dead Hand's first year on Steam (time flies as we get older) Dead Hand will be 50% off during this week.

Cheers!

Update 1.16
Update 1.16 is live introducing a new miniboss, some balance tweaks and a minor bugfix.

Patch notes


  • Added the "Technical Prime" miniboss, here to seek revenge for all the Technical trucks you've mercilessly slaughtered across your runs. It may appear in levels 2 or 3 and if you're lucky it might drop its tasty Twin Mount.
  • Lowered the AP cost of replacing a mounted weapon with another from 6 AP to 3 AP to encourage the use of the 2 hardpoint hulls and to improve the viability of midfight weapon swapping.
  • Increased the amount and quality of consumables (possibly) dropped by C-RAM, Killdozer, Scout and Recon class enemies.
  • Lowered enemy density and raised drop rates in tier transition levels (4 & 7).
  • Improved the calculation of level camera bounds.
  • When swapping hulls would cause the currently selected weapon to be dismounted, the game will now automatically select the first mounted weapon if any.

Cheers!
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