Updated the Frame Traitor Operation to use the proper "Run [SystemReboot]" in it's description instead of the old command.
The Oracle processor discount now rounds to the nearest dollar.
The Oracle "Start Programming" button now factors in the discount when checking if you have enough money to build the program.
ESC no longer closes windows in-game, but instead brings up the pause menu. Hitting the ESC key at the pause menu will close the menu and unpause the game.
Increased the opacity of the Knowledge Base background, making it easier to read.
Fixed a bug with the tutorial window, where hitting "disable tutorials" wouldn't allow you to close the window.
Fixed a bug with the Knowledge Base index buttons where they would only work the first time you used them in a level.
Fixed the Spoof_user [username] to be shown properly in the tutorial.
Fixed a bug where you were sent to a "normal" generic Research Lab system every time.
Fixed a bug where the Stealth XP to increase your rank was incorrect.
Fixed a bug where the "Steal back Money" Operation wasn't being given as often as it should have.
Fixed a bug that was not removing an Operation from the list after it was completed. This also caused some weird occurances (such as System Logs showing up in Financials nodes).
Patch #37
Change Log
Re-ordered the fire-order so the Check Patch Version function, fires immediatly after the game is loaded. This function updates old saves with new features, functions, etc. Having it check sooner will make the transitions less buggy.
Fixed a bug with the Solid Investments perk, where the player could earn $500 per day instead of $50.
Updated Oracle's naming function to update the program name every time the name is updated, instead of having to hit Enter.
Fixed a bug when selling programs, where the slot-0 program would always be sold.
Fixed a bug where buying a Motherboard would cost a flat $3000 instead of the listed cost.
Added a check that would set your Neural Stress at 100% if it ever exceeds 100%.
After the step of an Operation is complete, the job will be flagged as "complete". When turning in an operation, the game will chech if it's flagged as "complete" (like a normal contract), instead of the previous version where it would check for specific strings.
Fixed an issue with Oracle, where holding shift and lowering the bits in a program could add "negative" bits to the player (removing some Code Bits).
Updated the Crash CPU description to show the updated command instead of the old one.
System 2.0 Update!
I hope everyone is ready for a massive update! The combat system has been re-built from the ground-up. Program mechanics have been completely redesigned. Oracle has been overhauled and streamlined. I have tweaked a bunch of things for "ease of use", and re-balanced the economy. I even reworked several UI elements, and added several coats of fresh polish! The complete change log is below. As always, nothing is set in stone and this is by no means "the final version". As we continue to play the game, and you guys send in the feedback, things will be changed, tweaked, re-balanced, or completely rebuilt. The new system has been designed to make it much, much easier for me to add in new content going forward.
Combat Changes
There is no more Code Shell and Matrix Cohesion. Damage is inflicted in the form of "Tags". Tags are either applied against one of the IC (or Avatar) ratings, lowering it's effective rating, or add a buff/debuff. This plays out very similar to the previous system, except Tags are more mutable than traditional damage. Tags can be added, removed, consumed, transferred, used to power-up sub-routines, etc. Excluding special tags and viruses, this means there are 5 types of damage instead of 1.
System Heat no longer exists. Instead the Avatar will gain a Tracking Tag when failing a Masking test. When the Avatar has a number of Tracking Tags equal to their Masking, the Host has identified their connection and boots the player from the system. When executing programs, the player needs to fail two sequential Masking tests to gain a Tracking tag.
IC now have 5 attributes: Core, Link, Reaction, Brain and Firewall. Core and Link determine how many Disruption and Static Tags the IC can handle before crashing (respectively). Reaction determines how often it can react in combat (opposed by the player's Response). Brain does nothing on it's own, but as the IC accumulates Daze Tags, it has a chance of automatically failing subroutines based on Daze Tags vs Brain rating (as a %). Firewall is used to resist the player's programs, and is the primary means of defense. Due to the attribute variation by IC type, certain types of damage are more effective against different IC.
The player has new Hardware attributes: "Body", which is the same as IC Core. "Response" is opposed by IC Reaction to determine their activation speed. "Masking" is now used in masking tests to resist gaining Tracking Tags. "Sensors" increase the effectiveness of Analyze programs. "Firewall" is used to resist almost all hostile programs ran by IC.
Most IC attributes are static, with only the Firewall and Power ratings being based on the Host level (the level difficulty). A Dead End in a level 3 system, or a level 10 system would have a Core rating of 10 regardless. This helps to represent that IC of the same type are effectively the same out-of-the-box, but the strength of the Host system can bolster certain aspects of them. That being said there will be more IC variants coming down the pipe in the future with greater attributes, which will only be encountered in higher level systems.
Virus-type subroutines no longer have a duration. Every time the infected (IC or Avatar) activates, it rolls a Purge Test to get-rid of the virus. If successful, the virus doesn't proc, and it's Tag is removed. If failed, the virus procs and forces a Purge Test on the next activation. Virus subroutines do not proc when first applied. Player's use their Firewall rating for Purge tests, not factoring in Tags, and IC use the Host level.
Analyze subroutines are no longer automatically successful. The IC Firewall can kill the subroutine before it can affect them, giving a reason to make higher level Analyze programs.
Analyze no longer reveals all of the IC info. One Analyze Tag reveals Power and Firewall ratings. Two Analyze Tags reveals all attribute ratings. Three Analyze Tags reveals the current Tags on the IC.
Oracle Changes
Programs are no longer sorted, or restricted by Class. Program Class no longer exists. Any subroutine can be with any other subroutine. Want to Analyze the IC, while infecting them with a virus? No problem.
Programs no longer limit the number of subroutines they can run. You could have a program with a dozen Disruption subroutines, which would apply a dozen Disruption Tags when executed (although it would be a little difficult to build).
Programs can now be built with additional "Elements", which add downsides or prequisites to programs, but lower their Complexity. This makes them easier to build, allowing for more subroutines, or a higher Rating. Elements are learned by increasing your Programming Skill, and possessing a relevant subroutine. For example, if your Programming Skill is 5+ and you buy the Decay subroutine, you will learn the "Backlash-Decay" element. If your skill is 4 and you already know Decay, you will learn "Backlash-Decay" when you skill becomes 5.
Oracle has been rebuilt with a new button-driven interface. This does take away some of the immersion, but also increases ease of use. Thematically, this is not your character building the program, just setting the parameters. Oracle then takes these Parameters and generates code-blocks, making it easier to write the code. There is a short sequence where your character "works on the program" after hitting the "Start Programming" button.
In addition to adding subroutines and elements to programs, players can now tweak the Heat and CPU Load of programs. Increasing the Heat or CPU Load will decrease Complexity, where as decreasing the Heat or CPU Load will increase the Complexity.
Players can no longer manually set the program description in Oracle. It is generated based on the subroutines and elements. The player can still manually name the program (and is encouraged to do so, as the action-bar prevents 2 programs with the same name from being loaded at the same time).
Program settings in Oracle do not reset after building a program. This makes it easer to churn out several copies of a program, but will require the player to close and re-open Oracle to build a different program.
Misc Changes
Eliminated the Home Intro level, and instead the interview loads right into the normal Home level. In the story update there will be a scene after the interview, but for now it makes it less cumbersome starting a new game.
Hardware have higher starting values.
All contract payouts have been increased. Contracts use to pay (((Difficulty
1.05)
($8))
1.1). It has been increased to ((((Difficulty
1.05)
($8))
1.3) +$20). This roughly means a 20% pay increase, plus a flat $20 per contract.
Rebuilt the entire tutorial system. When a new feature is encountered a small button will appear on the screen with the words "Tutorial - "tutorial name". Clicking the button will bring up the tutorial window, which only takes up a small portion of the screen. The tutorial window displays one paragraph of the tutorial at a time, and players can click through the paragraphs as they read them. This actually allows me to give more information, while also avoiding the "wall of text" which can be a big turn off.
The knowledge base has been compeltely redesigned. I have done away with screenshots in order to give as much information as possible. The function is also redesigned, so that whenever I write a new tutorial it will automatically add an entry into the knowledge base (which will save me time in the future). All tutorials can be accessed through the Knowledge Base.
Rebalanced Skill tests. Players now have an 85% chance of success vs. an equal level difficulty, up from 60%. Tests now have a guaranteed 10% chance of success, and a guaranteed 5% of failure (the range is clamped at 10%-95%).
All Slave input commands have been migrated to the Root Access. Slave nodes no longer have a command line.
All Root Access commands now use a universal format, which will make it easier to remember, or infer commands.
Stealth XP is earned by passing masking tests. For masking tests made when executing a program, XP will be earned only if the Heat of the program is greater than 75% of your Stealth rating.
Programming Bits are now called Code Bits.
Rebalanced Programming costs. They are now based on the total complexity of the program, instead of the rating. This means that adding Elements, increasing Heat and CPU Load, or adding Code Bits will now also decrease the cost of programming.
Reworked all Perks and Mods to the new system.
Removed the "Bomber" Mod.
There is no longer a 20 program limit. The player can have any amount of programs in their library.
The active status screen, and IC status screen have been replaced. Look down in combat to notice it, or press the Left Shift key to bring up the status window when not in combat.
Target Files for upload and download jobs now disappear when turning in the contract.
File Deleter is no longer a program. There is a trashcan within the Data Storage window (Tab key by default) which files can be dragged into to be deleted.
When selling programs, their value is displayed beside their name. Dragging them into the merchant's window will sell them automatically, and then refresh all windows. This radically increases the speed and ease of selling programs.
Rebuilt the UI for hardware, and named all of the motherboards.
Cleaned up a lot of now-defunct functions and assets in the Home level, improving performance.
Changed the functionality of the Interview. Answers will now increase the XP of skills, ultimately determining their starting values. You will start with an extra subroutine, a unique perk, and am extra program element based on your choices. Players will now start with $500, regardless of choices, and starting skills will be higher on average, which should help make the early game easier.
Updated all Ravencore rank up program rewards to the new system.
Brightened the walls in Haven.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where the Brute Force Attack would close all windows instead of just the Root Access.
Fixed an Overwatch bug where the message from Spook could say they wre heading to the exit, before the objective was complete.
Fixed several spelling errors in the Overwatch runs.
Fixed a bug with the program queue that would cause the queue to rapidly empty without executing a program.
Fixed a bug with the Guardian in Haven causing him to walk strangely. He now stands besides the enterance without moving.
Fixed a bug with the Passbreaker, where pressing the buttons with the mouse instead of the keyboard would be unresponsive.
Fixed a bug with missions that would sometimes prevent progress. Most commonly encountered in the "Repair SpyNet" mission.
Fixed an error in the Set-Up the Traitor operation description.
Fixed a minor texture bug in the Home level.
Fixed a bug that was causing the Log notifications to not show when the Home screen was open on your computer.
Patch #36 is Live!
Change Log
Beefed up the name generate to have 41 first names, and 41 last names, up from 23 of each, and use a middle initial. This increases the variety of random names from 529 to 40,344. This should curb the liklihood of getting two Personnel Files with the same name.
Reworked the Ravencore ledger and rank progression. It now uses a graph instead of a formula to determine your rank at end-of-day based on a running ledger (that never resets). For example: The ledger threshold for Rank 3 is $225. If you're currently rank 3 with ledger value of $240, and miss quota by $40, the ledger will drop to $200 and you will be demoted. However, you will only need $25 to get to rank 3 again, instead of having to do the whole rank over again.
Reworked the Ravencore screen to better reflect rank progression. It now displays the numerical ledger thresholds, and your current ledger balance.
Rebalanced the rank thresholds, making it easier to earn promotions and lower ranks, and more difficult to earn promotions at higher ranks.
Fixed a bug with the Set Up the Traitor operation, preventing the first step from being completed.
Added a check that will remove all contracts or operations with blank information.
Passbreaker will now re-gain the keyboard focus after Root Access is closed.
The ESCAPE key has been repurposed. It will now close the most recently opened window in-game (such as root Access). Pressing SHIFT-ESC will now bring up the pause menu (in addition to F10). Won't close windows that don't have an X in the corner, such as Oracle.
Fixed a bug that was giving the player access to the Ravencore Bank before Wealth 5. If you currently have a loan and Ravencore's Wealth is less than 5, your loan amount will be set to 0.
Oracle now displays the current time, and the compiling time of programs.
Fixed a bug in Oracle where the game would run the New Day functions if you compiled a program between midnight and 1am, that would be finished before 1am.
Replaced the old "jack-out" button with a button that says "disconnect". When inside the System Access, a new button appears that says "Enter Net".
Wrapped the journal box in the hacking hud in a scroll box.
Quick Fix
Change Log
Fixed a bug that was causing Operations to open the normal contract turn-in window, after having recieved a ProBono contract. ProBono contracts now auto-complete like normal operations when the turn-in button is pressed.
Fixed a bug that was causing Operations to appear int he Contract window, and Contracts to appear in the Operations window.
Disabled "Retrieve Account #" contracts for now. They aren't integrating well with the new bank account mechanics. I will re-integrate them in a future update.
Quick Fix
<*>Fixed a bug that causing the rank progression to not reset to 0 after being penalized at rank 1.
<*>Fixed a bug that caused the Date / Time to reset to April 26 at 12:00 when entering the Net.
<*>Fixed a minor bug with the "0 Balance" marker on the Ravencore progression bar not being accurate at different resolutions.
Patch #35 is Live!
Change Log
New Start Menu graphics!
Updated graphics when entering the Net.
When jacking-out of a system access, there is no longer a delay before the menu pops up, and the mouse button no longer disappears.
Removed SteamVR plugin. Should no longer launch with System Hack.
Fixed a quota bugged caused by the last patch.
Patch #34 is Live!
This patch is going to tweak a few things, primarily to make life easier on low ranked hackers. There's a couple balancing items, some cosmetic upgrades, and a few bugs.
Change Log
Adjusted the pool of jobs for rank 1 Ravencore employees. Previously 44% of contracts were the lowest difficulty, 34% were mid-range, and 22% were the highest difficulty. Now 28% are the lowest difficulty, 50% are mid-range, and 22% are the highest difficulties.
At rank 1 with Ravencore, there is a 1/6 chance of getting a contract with +2 difficulty, with increased pay. This can be good luck or bad luck depending how powerful you are.
Increased all contract pay-outs by 10%.
You will now need to go into the negative the full amount of your salary before demotion. This is up from 50% of your salary.
Removed the Neural Stress cost for travelling back the Net instead of Jacking Out.
Fixed a minor text bug in the Ravencore screen where the buyout warning only said "Cannot" instead of " Cannot quit without Ravencore approval."
Fixed a minor bug that caused the wrong amount to be displayed in your contract reward email.
Fixed a minor bug that caused the email button to briefly turn into a grey square when clicked.
The Escape key can now be used to bring up the pause menu.
Compiling a program now takes 5 minutes per rating to build a program instead of a flat one hour. This make it easier for low level players to build programs without worry of missing quota.
Rebalanced programming costs to make lower level programs cheaper, but inreased the cost of higher level programs. For example, a rank 3 program will be ~$20 cheaper, but a rank 10 program will be ~$250 more expensive.
Lowered the discount provided by Processing by 30% for programming, and lowered the selling price of programs from 25% of cost to 14% of cost. Previously the ROI for processing power was out-of-balancing, paying for themselves in approx. 6.5 programs. With the above changes the ROI has changed to 5%, or approximately 20 programs to pay for themselves. Although the ROI has been decreased substantially, with the programming time-cost reduction, you can now grind out 10 low rank programs in a few hours opposed to the entire day.
Updated the outdated button textures on several hardware menus and tweaked several hardware graphics.
Quick Patch
Change Log
Fixed a bug preventing IC from acting.
Fixed a bug that may sometimes cause an Operation to be flagged as a normal contract.
Doubled the speed of the Root_Access flavor text.
Patch #33 is Live!
Change Log
Changed the font size for the logs in the Root Access and Oracle from 24pt to 14pt.
Rebuilt UVP detection for BruteForceAttacks. Can no longer run the command unless a UVP window is open.
Added flavor text to the Root Access when opened. Should clarify that it's a program called "Root Access" and not granting you root access to the system. Also clarifies exactly what's happening when you use Root Access.
Updated the emails regarding the first two goals that Valentino gives you to clarify that you aren't expected to be able to afford the upgrades, programs, etc. right away.
Oracle can now be closed with a button in the top corner instead of having to type the Exit command.
Reworked some HUD elements to create a cleaner, less bulky feel.
Fixed a bug that caused programs to fire if typing numbers to modify the system log, and not using the keypad.
Exiting a node will now disable log editing.
The Backspace key can now be used in combat to clear the que.
Fixed a bug with the Burn the Data operation that would prevent it from being completed.
Fixed a bug that showed the wrong Heat display in the status screen.
Set code shell regeneration timer to 6 seconds, up from 4 seconds. This should help "get some blows in", with less time spent tearing down the shell.
Stealth XP can now be earned by going through checkpoints without valid privileges. More XP is earned for not triggering security, but will still be rewarded even if you trigger the IC.
