KickStarter Cyber Knights: Flashpoint - the latest tactical RPG from Trese Brothers - now available on Early Access

[cyborgboy95]

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

 

[cyborgboy95]

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

 

[cyborgboy95]

Update #168: Dometop Launch

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

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)

 

[cyborgboy95]

New class! The Gunslinger is here (with a sale to celebrate)!

While Cory has been pumping out new maps for the Weekly Map release (btw, expect a new map tomorrow!), I've been working on the newest character class for the game: the Gunslinger.

The Gunslinger's Gunlink spinal implant hardwires them to their chosen weaponry, allowing them to move and fire with something more than reflex, something more than instinct. Like the fabled duelists of the Old West, the Gunslinger walks with a quiet confidence, their guns ready to speak for them.

We're excited to push the class list to a big round 8 - meaning there are now a whopping 64 viable multi-class combinations + 8 more for the Knight, totaling 72 total class combos. It is especially exciting to drop in a new combat focused class that is an excellent choice for anyone carrying a Pistol as a backup multi-class for combat and utility.

It's another big milestone for the game and if you're enjoying the pace of progress, new content and updates please leave a review for our team!

Slinger's Talent Tree

This is a combat-focused class, with 16 talents offering a wide range of build possibilities and synergies with other classes. Some talents can be used with any weapon, like the initiative-manipulating Quick Draw talent, manipulating Initiative to ensure you act first in the next Turn. But most of the Gunslinger's talents are designed for use with at least one Pistol, or even more specifically in some cases, a Revolver.

These talents allow a Gunslinger to attack an enemy who has them under Overwatch without triggering it, to fire their revolver like it's a Full Auto weapon, to reload as they fire, and more. One especially cool talent allows you to target hard cover around an enemy and Ricochet your bullet off it to hit an enemy you don't have direct line-of-sight too. That'll catch 'em by surprise!

There's more: the Gunslinger can dual wield! Using dual pistols or revolvers (or one of both!) lets you make use of talents like Gun Kata, firing a shot from each weapon into every visible target within a wide cone (which you can upgrade up to a full 360° arc).

Animation Updates Pending
Note that as this is still Early Access, we're releasing the Gunslinger without all of the dual wielding attack animations completed. You won't see any dual wielding animation yet, all characters will just shoot as if they have one pistol.

We are aiming to wrap up the animations in a week or two, but we didn't want to delay your chance to try this class just for that.

Shifting Metas
This is exciting to see what meta shifts are going to hit with the new class. It is also a time for us to go back over the next few weeks and revisist the original combat classes (Soldier, Sniper, etc) and their weapon set to ensure that the meta stays tightly competitive. We'll be sharing more about this in the coming days!

How to Get a Gunslinger

A new Gunslinger, Sid, has been added to the Fighter column (Soldier by default) in New Game, so you can trade Sid for Aaron or Aitana.

You can also multi-class your other characters into the Gunslinger class if they haven't taken a class yet (or just Respec[cyberknightswiki.tresebrothers.com]). Gunslinger is a cybernetic class, requiring cyber surgery installing a GunLink spinal implant to be able to able to multiclass into it.

There is a lot to explore here, new multi-class combinations to build and oh so many places to bounce bullets off. We'll let you get to it, slingers!

Raised Level Cap
To go along with the Gunslinger, we've also raised the level cap to 32 now which grants +1 maximum Talent limit. We used a "stored XP" model in Cyber Knights, so if you've been running missions at level 26, all the XP you acquired was kept and you may immediately increase levels. Enjoy your new options and another raise will be coming before the end of the year as the enemies get a new batch of Power Levels and variations to match.

v1.9.1 - #169: Gunslinger - 11/8/2024
- Added new class: Gunslinger
- New starting character option in the Soldier slot - Sid who was "Born to a Gun"
- Raised character Level Cap to level 32, +1 Talent limit
- Fixed Knight's starting Traits so that Ballistic Co-Processor and Trigger by Wire are available to all backstories
- Improved descriptions of buffs where you can use them on "yourself or a teammate" instead of just saying "a teammate"
- Fixed issue with Stealth Crit Dmg bonuses printing as Crit Dmg bonuses in Talent effects

 

[cyborgboy95]

Update #171: New Weekly Map "Rooftop Ziggurat"

Way back in Update #164, we promised to keep to a new map release schedule - one new map a week until launch! Update #166 dropped the first new map last week and we're here with Update #171 to drop the second new map - the crumbling rooftop ziggurat. The new Gunslinger class released yesterday is no excuse not to pile on another map, so let's do it! We've also put in some key fixes to Head Hunters (the dreaded -1 HH and back-from-the-dead HH).

We're excited to be rolling with this new Weekly Release schedule for new maps and to hit the first back-to-back weeks. We are sure to miss weeks along the way, but keeping this weekly drumbeat as often as we can will ensure the game has a huge pool of maps and content for every heist team to hit. Thank you for your reviews to help us keep going!

New Map: Rooftop Ziggurat!

It is week two of our new "Map a Week Until Launch!" challenge and we are here to deliver again. The Rooftop Ziggurat is a new rooftop map with crumbling but still defensible raised platform - the ziggurat. The map is large, featuring distinct areas, creative pathing, and an extended heist space that will push your teams.

Thie 7 new proc-gen combos (map X objective) added by Rooftop Ziggurat push the total to 64 proc-gen combos and represents a 12% increase in map variety.

You will find the new Rooftop Ziggurat 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, as we plan to keep hitting this release goals, the next map is already in testing and polish phase to drop next week with a similar amount of new proc-gen objective varieties!

Gunslinger Catch-up
Last night we pushed the Update #170 which includes a ton of fixes and clarifications for the Gunslinger class.

Also, we resolved some issues with equipping items that crept in as we fixed item slots to be ordered. This allows you to explicitly put something in your second slot, as opposed to having it "slide down" from the second slot to the first every time. We previously just finished that work with Weapons so you could control primary and secondary, now it has been added for items and the last fix will come for missions shortly, allowing you to set specific slots instead of everyone "sliding down" to the first open spot which makes for an awful UI pattern of misclicks.

A huge thanks to everyone who contributed Gunslinger inspiration and ideas as well as everyone putting in F10s to help us keep improving.

Head Hunter Fixes
We've resolved the issue where your Head Hunter count could ever register as negative - it will pop up to 0% next time you open your saved game if you had this bug.

We've also addressed the root conditions that could cause this bug to appear - that a dead Head Hunter is selected to be sent after you again.

A huge thanks to everyone sending F10s about it!

v1.9.5 - #171- 11/9/2024
- 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!)
- Fixed bug where Head Hunters value could show as negative in HUD
- Fixed conditions that could cause a Head Hunter to be sent after you twice even though already dead

v1.9.3 - #170: Gunslinger Patch - 11/8/2024
- Fixed all of the Gunslinger class tree small nodes (they were mislinked to Scourge!)
- Added dual wielding pistols for masculine characters models
- Clarified description of Ricochet Talent to be clear it works with any Single Shot weapon (Revolver, Sniper)
- Fixed Ricochet having a 0m range displayed, its range is set by the weapon used
- Fixed issues with Item Slots where you can now equip items into slot 1, 2, 3 4 and they don't "slide" down but stay put
- Fixed bug where weapons were not appearing in inventory or store
- Fixed bug where Gunslinger's Twin Irons and Gun Kata would allow attack if second weapon had no ammo
- Fixed bug where Gunslinger's Twin Irons and Gun Kata would make noise of the less loud weapon
- Fixed bug where Gunslinger's Twin Irons cost 0 AP
- Fixed placeholder # left in Talent description for total number of reaction shots in Overwatch, Deathwatch and Linkwatch
- Fixed text alignment for XP in current level when numbers get large enough

 

[cyborgboy95]

Update #172: Objective Overhauls

Welcome all the new Knights in New Boston! With Update #172, we're hitting a very specific feature set - the secondary objective system as we are preparing to add new types of secondaries to the game and need everything in tip-top shape. We've made sure that you can always see what reward hangs in the balance now, upgraded the looting objective to count lockboxes, ensured that you cant get duplicate objective requirements, allowed mission maps to have more influence over the Turn and Sec Level limits (bigger maps increase it) and clarified the text in a ton of objectives as well. And more - now that we have a rapidly growing number of maps in proc-gen, we've added the system to avoid allowing them to repeat.

Let's dig in! If you're enjoying the game or our update cycle, please be sure to leave a review!

Secondary Objective Rewards Visible

Previously, only the goal was visible and so you could forget esaily what you were working to achieve. Now the exact specifics of every reward is included in the objective displayed mid-mission. It's far easier now to make that snap decision about your Turn limit for the $50K or that extra lootbox.

Looting Objectives

We've updated all the missions in the game (story and the proc-gen Lootbox Hunt where you have to steal 3 files and the Scavenger missions) to use a new objective system for looting. Now you'll see a much more helpful "Looted 3/9 Lockboxes" objective in your list and it will tick up as each lockbox is hit and mark as complete when you've looted everything that can be looted.

Improved Objective Generation and LImits

We've made some rule changes to how secondary objectives are calculated. First, we've updated the rules to ensure that two objectives will never appear with the exact same requirements ("Complete before the end of Turn 7") as that is a no-choice option for you as a leader of your team.

Second, we've also updated the map metadata for every mission map so that it can better inform the decisions being made about what secondary objectives to offer and if they should have adjusted ranges and limits. Larger maps are able to increase their goals while smaller maps can keep them exciting and challenging.

Avoiding Repeated Maps

As the map catalog for proc-gen missions has grown out to 15 now, we have enough in circulation to add a limit to prevent repeated maps. Now, a map that is selected (such as the Trucker HQ) for one proc-gen mission will not appear again for at least the next 2 proc-gen missions unless some scenario occurs in which there is no other choice.

Also, currently as some proc-gen missions and story missions share maps, it is possible that your story missions and proc-gen missions could create these back to back scenarios still, but they will be rare enough it is not currently a priority to untangle the difficult not of avoiding that.

Fixed Stuck Item Equipping

From Update #171 and v1.9.5, there was a linger case where equipping items could get stuck and no matter what you seemed to do, an item was always popping out of your inventory. Maddening!

This is now fixed, sorry for the bug.

v1.9.7 - #172: Objective Overhauls - 11/10/2024
- Added secondary objective rewards into the display mid-mission so you know what you're working for
- Updated all Scav and Lootbox Hunt objectives (and story levels too) that include looting objectives - "Looted 3/9 lockboxes"
- Added system to proc-gen map selection that prevents the same map from being picked for the next 2 picks (if possible)
- Improved wording in secondary objectives for Turn limit - "if complete before end of Turn 7"
- Standardized the Matrix-only mission objectives to complete in a turn limit to use the same language
- Improved secondary objectives in all proc-gen levels by giving mission map more control over Sec Level and Turn values
- Secondary objectives can no longer ever produce duplicate conditions (two objectives at "complete before end of Turn 7")
- Prevented Siege proc-gen missions from rolling up incompatible Turn Limit secondary objectives
- Fixed issues with some item slots seeming to bump other items of when being equipped

 

[cyborgboy95]

Update #173: Lethal Planning

Knights, another update is landing in New Boston and it is adding a new type of secondary objective, big QoL improvements to the mission deployment screen and handling of hack-only missions, new protection against repeated proc-gen mission objectives, and a bundle of improvements for controllers and the Steam Deck.

We're busy daily with new things for you - so thanks for playing, posting and leaving a review if you like the pace of updates 'round here.

New Secondary Objective: Send a Bloody Message

With Update #173, we're following up on the objective system overhaul in Update #172 to add the first new secondary objective type in a while. You'll see this objective type showing up across a number of proc-gen objectives. Your employer doesn't just want the job done, they want a message sent as well - a bloody message. The objective sets a target for a number of enemies to kill in order to gain the offered reward. Often, this objective grates against other secondaries offered, like completing the mission under a specific Sec Level, but you'll have to pick one or the other or get creative in how to balance them both.

Mission Selection: Big QoL!

We're excited to drop a big quality of life improvement on mission deployment. It may feel small at first, but over a few hours of play it makes a huge difference to the speed and smoothness of prepping for missions.

First up, the list of mercs in the mission deploy screen now uses slots to maintain their order. If you have 4 mercs, you can remove merc 2 and 3 without merc 4 changing positions. This is classic turn-based tactics setup, nothing special here - but without it everything feels messy. Also, this will let us control order which will be used in future levels where certain slots are for specific things (slot 4 is a sniper's position, or a disguise, etc).

Second up, if you are prepping for a hack-only mission, we immediately look for a Hacker to fill the slot. And if you want to change the character, we only show Hackers, not other characters who can't take the mission. This is a nice speed improvement for swapping to hack only missions.

And third up, the real winner - we remember regular missions and hack-only missions separately. So, you can assign a team of 4 to your Cube Run, swap in to your hacking mission and see Librarian is ready to take the mission and then swap back to Cube Run and ... ta-da, the 4 mercs you had previously picked are there and ready. This feels great and is a big win for supporting missions with different types of requirements more smoothly.

Blocking Proc-Gen Objective Repeats

To join the recently added rules to prevent mission maps from re-appearing back-to-back in proc-gen missions, we have also now added rules that will prevent proc-gen objectives from appearing back-to-back if the RNG turns against you (Scav ... Scav ... Scav ...?). As the proc-gen objective set and proc-gen map set has grown and the combos are now over 60, we have more than enough content in the set to add both of these restrictions.

Cold Storage Blueprint Locks

Your Cold Storage upgrade level limits the number of Blueprints you can use during a NanoFab craft. This was previously shown as an error at the end of the process after you'd filled up the different mod Blueprint options. We've updated the UI so that the locked mod Blueprint slots are shown as locked at the start with an explanation of how to unlock them (Upgrade Cold Storage!)

Steam Deck / Controller Scheme Improvements

With the help of @Brian on Discord (thanks!) we've made a set of really helpful improvements to the control scheme and Steam Deck controller scheme to make the game play faster and smoother. We've still got some more feedback to process and changes to make but this first set is really helpful.

• We are continuing to reduce places where the game wants you to use Right Trigger or ENTER to activate the UI elements when it isn't necessary. Load Game screen is another example, when you've selected game to load, you need to (RT) instead of (A) ... this is fixed, (A) or [Space] will do just fine thank you.
• The Switch to Talent Bar (X) option was really a toggle between Talent bar, Team bar (End Action) and no selection. This could lead to unreliable feeling results hitting (X) and the risk of accidentally ending your action when you didn't mean to. With Update #172, we've locked (X) to hop your selection to the talent bar only. Then, from there - see the next item -
• We've opened up D-pad navigation from the Talent bar so that you can go in any direction. Hitting up will take you to the team bar and End Action button and going off the right edge can take you to the collapse combat log button. This really opens up the navigation in the HUD in a positive way.
• So to get to End Action, you can always push (X) and then hit (up) on the d-pad. This is the same number of button presses (most of the time) but removes all cases where you have to really look where the selection is because it might be somewhere unexpected.
• If you switch weapons in the HUD, your selection is no longer removed. You can swap weapons and then d-pad to the right to get back to your Talents.
• Loot All from a lootbox is now (X) or [T] to make it easier to access from the main set of 4 buttons.

v1.9.9 - #173: Lethal Planning Session - 11/11/2024
- Character selection for missions improved, characters now go into slots 1-4 and don't "slide down" the row
- Hacker selection for hack-only missions is remembered separately, only hacker characters are offered for selection
- New secondary objective "Send a Message by killing X" to gain rewards in proc-gen levels
- Proc-gen objectives now also have protection against repetition to match map protection
- Modification Blueprint Slots (1-4) in NanoFab now correctly lock if they require higher Cold Storage level
- Prevented storylines Cube Run and Carnivore from appearing before Power Level 3 (too early)
- Improved line of sight when on raised area with fence or barricade along the edge
- Improved Roster and Mission Deploy warnings about not carrying enough items

Controller improvements:
- Switch to Talent Bar (X) always jumps to Talent bar, except if all Talents are disabled, then End Turn
- Navigation from Talent Bar to other parts of HUD now open - navigate any direction (X to Talent Bar, Up to End Turn)
- When switching weapons in the HUD, selection is not dropped from the HUD (switch weapons, easily pick Talent)
- Space or (A) is now used to load game more quickly (was Enter / RT)
- When looting items, Loot All keybinding now defaults to (X) or [T] for desktop for faster use

 

[cyborgboy95]

Update #174: New Weekly Map "Decommissioned Core"

Welcome new Knights! The Gunslinger's 34% off sale is stll raging, so let's celebrate with a new weekly map release! In Update #174, we're releasing our 3rd map in the weekly series - the sprawling and fortified Decommissioned Core. We've also completed some key rebalancing to Safehouse Tokens and Simstream Trainer Stress, fix bugs with Proximity Mines sometimes not going boom(!), fixed Gunslinger bugs with Gun Kata, Twin Irons and Cover Me, improved the matrix program HUD and more. It's a lot, so let's get digging in to the details.

But before we do, we'll remind you to please consider taking a moment to leave a review on CKF. We're a small team working hard to improve constantly (near daily!?) and if you think this is an awesome Early Access or are just enjoying the game, please share that with a review

New Map: Decommissioned Core

It is now Week 3 of our new Weekly Map Release schedule and we're here to deliver again. The Decommissioned Core is a big research facility, with multiple wings, lots of cool routing options and copious entry and exit points and an extended heist space that will push you to make the call to stay a little longer and take the risk or get out with what we have.

The Core offers 5 new the proc-gen combos (map X objective) and brings the grand total of proc-gen objectives to the total to 67 proc-gen combos and represents another 12% increase in map variety. When we set out in Early Access to enable the proc-gen system, we aimed to get to 80 combos and now it is looking like we will blow past that in the next week weeks along.

This Weekly New Map challenge has been chugging along and we're excited to hit the first 3 milestones. We certainly are going to have some misses, especially around the holidays, but it is rapidly expanding the mission map set and combo options (going from 48 to 67 in 3 weeks!).

Safehouse Token and Rule Balancing

With Update #174, we've made some neccessary changes to some of the balance of Safehouse tokens and the rules around the Simstream Trainer's generation of Stress.

• Tokens from the Underworld Hub are less effective at raise Legwork success chance %. The bonuses have been trimmed by small amounts (5-10%) and will help keep your base Legwork % chance important.
• Tokens from the Counter-Intel Pod are less effective at wiping out Heat. The reductions have dropped by 5-10 points in the middle and late tiers and help ensure that Heat is not always something you can simply blow off with Tokens instantly.
• Every time a merc is put into the Simstream Trainer, they gain +10% Stress, no matter how many missions you run during their time in the pod. This creates incentive to run as many missions as possible to get the best XP to Stress ratio for your merc. We've adjusted the rule for the +10% Stress to take Stress Res into account, so that mercs who have high (or low!) chance to resist Stress will fare better with the Simstream.

Proximity Mine Fixes

We fixed a set of bugs around proximity mines where they might not explode if you moved through their range quickly enough or a short enough distance. Now they are on a hair trigger and will detonate no matter what if you tread across their line. The only thing that blocks their boom-boom is if a proper wall (something you can't throw a grenade over) is between you and the mine - then they will not fire until you are in direct proximity.

Gunslinger Bugs

We've resolved 2 big issues with the Gunslinger. First, Gun Kata and Twin Irons could lock the game up or leave "hanging pistols" in the air in a number of different circumstances, such as switching weapons while either Talent was selected. This is now resolved, and the dual weapon attack Talents should be safe to use in all cases.

Second, the Gunslinger's Cover Me Talent was still reporting "You will be shot" even if you were using it through an Overwatch cone. That's clearly the point ... you won't be shot. So we've suppressed the movement alert correctly.

Matrix HUD - Program Shows IO Size

We've made a very nice improvement - thanks community F10s! - to the Matrix Program hover. You can now clearly see the program size required for a program in the hover. It is also displayed in the left corner with your deck's action bars but it is nice to see the clear and simple number over each Program without having to do any fancy thinking or math

Spacebar or (A) Sweep

We're working through screens where it is more comfortable to just use spacebar or (A) -- the default UI submit -- for things. This now includes the Load Game screen (now fixed) as well as the pause menus for both mid-mission and safehouse, allowing you to load a game from the list once it is selected using the spacebar or (A). There are lingering places where Enter or Right Trigger are required to activate the primary function of the screen, and we're now on a slow but steady quest to figure out ways to reduce those throughout the game where it is not needed.

Controller and Font Scaling
We've continued address minor bugs around controllers and font scaling. We fixed the Sec Level in the HUD breaking at +25% Font Scale once it reaches 10, we fixed issues in the NanoFab where hitting 10 Red Cubes would move the buttons slightly and make your clicks miss and we fixed an issue with the chat bubbles in the safehouse being navigable which messed up moving around rooms on controllers.

A huge thanks to everyone who is feeding us a constant stream of polish suggestions - I hope you can see that we are using them!

v1.9.11 - #174: - 11/12/2024
- Added new proc-gen map "Decommissioned Core": a fortified but decommissioned, research and development site that supports +5 new proc-gen combos (Heist a CPU, Steal 3 Files, Scavenger, Kill 3 Captains, Bodyguard!)
- Counter-Intel Pod Heat Reduction Tokens reduce less Heat (10/20/25/30/35/40)
- Underworld Hub Legwork Boost Tokens add lower bonus (10/20/25/30/35)
- Stress Res now applies to the Stress added by SimStream Traier - you have a chance to resist it
- Fixed bug where Proximity mine would not go off if you crossed through it just a bit - now only Walls prevent prox-mine boom
- Program Size for IO / Active Memory is shown in Matrix Program/Talent bar on hover
- Gunslinger: Fixed bug where Cover Me Talent would still warn "You will be shot" from Overwatch threat
- Gunslinger: Fixed bug where swapping weapons with Twin Irons or Gun Kata active could cause game lock
- Restored spacebar or (A) to load game from main menu, also now select and then spacebar or (A) to load from game pause menus
- Chat bubbles over characters in the safehouse no longer interrupt d-pad navigation of the safehouse rooms
- Fixed bug in NanoFab where the -/+ buttons to change cube counts could move when cube count went from 9 to 10
- Improved camera transition to / from rooms or missions in the safehouse
- Fixed issue with Sec Level in top right of HUD not doing well under +25% Font Scale
- Fixed issue with not being able to select hacker sometimes in the mission deployment screen

 

[cyborgboy95]

Update #175: Performance and Boom!

Knights and mercs - welcome to the weekend Update #175 which mixes performance boosts with doors-go-boom and a really big pile of fixes for your community F10s, including a lot of key map updates.

Doors can go Boom!

On our quest to get the game fully ready for drones, we needed drones to explode. And we thought, if we're making drones explode ... we should make doors explode (and a few other things, like bridges, but more on that later...). So, with this update we're excited to roll out a (most cinematic) update where doors can now be blown open. The first place this is landing in the game is in the Carnivore mission, and I won't say much more than that for spoiler purposes. The ruined doors are less wide open, so they can be better used for cover and are more restricted for cover but make a lot more sense in situations like these. We're excited to get past this initial integration and then get this into the game and storylines in other interesting ways.

If you happen to be in the way of an exploding door, expect to take some Pure Damage!

FPS Performance Boost + FreeSync / G-Sync

With Update #175, we've improved our rendering pipeline, enabling uncapped frames and supporting modern solutions like AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync. With this change, we expect that most hardware (in which the CPU and GPU are reasonably aligned in power) will see a performance boost and sometimes a very significant FPS boost as well. To get the very best performance from FreeSync and G-Sync set V-Sync to disabled and set screen mode to "Fullscreen".

We hope this update sees the game running even more buttery smooth for you!

Secondary Objective Improvements

With Update #176, we've hit a number of bugs and needed improvements to the secondary objectives.

We fixed an issue where Lockbox count (Looted X/Y) was not always updating on time and would lag behind by a lootbox or two until you changed character turns.

We also fixed an issue with the Send a Message objective would fail to print the actual kill count into the victory screen and instead give nonesense code text.

Finally, we've adjusted the objective generator to be more strict about avoiding objectives that are simply too close to each other. This will be especially good as the list of possible secondary objectives keeps increasing but for now - even with 3 types - it is important to avoid situations where you basically bag 2 objectives by doing one of them (kill 10 ... kill 12).

Map Updates

There has been a lot of map activity recently with big waves of new proc-gen combos (all the Bodyguard combos) and new maps every week. We're catching up on issues with maps, objectives, pathing and more in this release.

• We fixed a bug in the new Decommissioned Core where some of the terminals were just backwards and inaccessible.
• We fixed a bug in Sewers map X Bodyguard objective where the exits were laughably close to the start point.
• We fixed a bug in Wreckspire where one of the 2 extraction objectives would not appear or activate.
• We tweaked a number of starting and spawning locations to improve the 4 new maps.

Load Game Performance
On the performance topic, we've made some tweaks to load game performance to speed up the loading of the table in the case that you have more than 10 saved games. For those players out there with 100+ saved games in your list (we see you!) this should help you get the UI open fast as ever.

Also, we fixed a rare bug that could be caused by input jamming (clicking and hitting spacebar alot) that could cause a game to load twice and have extra performance drag on the way into the mission.

Tattoo Rendering
Finally, in preparation for upcoming additions to the face detail texture appearance option set (currently offering smooth or freckled), we've improved how tattoos are rendered over the face. Previously, they became basically "hard matte" and ignored a lot of the texture detail from anything below them. This update allows them to basically keep the texture detail - roughness and extra surface details - of what is below them while still painting in a single tattoo color. This makes tattoos look a little more natural but will be especially important to allow tattoos and scars to cross correctly.

v1.9.21 - #175: - 11/17/2024
- New exploding door capability, debut in Carnivore missions
- Performance boost for frame rate in almost all configurations, enabling Free Sync / G-Sync solutions instead of V-Sync
- Fixed secondary objective for "Looted X/Y lockboxes" not always updating
- Fixed typos in Send a Message secondary objective (kill goal) not showing kill count
- Fixed bugs with timeline where character might be finished with treatment / recovery but still locked
- Enhanced performance for Load Game list especially if you have a lot of games
- Fixed bugs with blank keybindings sometimes appearing when using Alt-Tab
- Fixed bug where you could accidentally double load a game, causing performance drop when loading
- Fixed impossible to reach backwards terminal in Decommissioned Core mission map
- Fixed issue with Sewers map when bodyguarding a VIP - cleaned up too many exits, too close
- Fixed issues with Wreckspire map sometimes having an extraction point listed in objectives but not active
- Improved secondary objectives to avoid overlapping objectives that are too close to each other
- Balanced and improved recently added maps
- Improved tattoo roughness rendering (less "hard matte") in prep for additional facial detail options

 

[cyborgboy95]

Update #176: Omnibus Underworld

Knights and mercs - we're excited to drop Update #176 with a roadmap milestone being knocked off the list with Steam Deck Verifcation, some new visual accessories and a big set of really important F10 fixes from your reports, prioritizing what is most important and most reported by the community right now. This Update #176 helps clear the decks for another weekly map release, maybe as soon as tomorrow.

We're working hard to constantly improve the game based on your feedback, so please send it in and you'll see the game improving weekly. If you're enjoying the insanity of our Early Access phase and the constant pace of updates, please take a moment to leave a review!

Steam Deck Verified!

It's official, with our latest round of improvements we are now Steam Deck verified!

Many thanks to the players in the forums, on reddit and in our Discord who have been giving us feedback on both our default controls and the Steam Deck experience. We're continuing to work on improvements here and there (e.g. the filtering in cold storage, squashing any bugs reported through the in-game click left stick system), but the overall playability is feeling great. Verification signifies we've now checked off the final few details with text size (adjustable in the Options menu as well) and every keybinding in the game properly showing controller prompts (all fully rebindable). And Cyber Knights provides a native Linux build, so great performance with no need for Proton.

As most of you know, we're on a hot streak with...

• a new map being added each week
• the new Gunslinger class (bringing us to 44 total possible character class combinations!)
• last season's big push of major feature additions
• being right on the threshold of Overwhelmingly Positive reviews

...so Steam Deck Verification (and our ongoing rollout of new content) feels like a great way to wrap up the fall season. If you know any Deck players, please do tell them about our game!

New Aviators and Backpack

With Update #176, we've added 2 new cosmetic options to the game, working to round out the glasses and backpack categories with specific player requests. Some of our Knights were asking for classic aviators, so we've delivered those as well as updating the tinting and material properties of the existing aviator-like glasses we have the game.

Aaron is styling with the new shades and the new pack

Juice that Blue!
We've fixed a bug with Blue Juice that was prevent it from being used multiple times in a single round. You can now juice it harder and get up to +60 AP in a single round. Use your charges wisely though, as you don't want to end up with a ton of wasted AP and not enough IO to drive your actions. It can help to have surge Turns with the Blue Juice, but there is still a lot of value in taking the Blue when you need it to wrap a turn up right.

Enemies Skipping through Overwatch

We've fixed a bug where enemies who were far away at the start of their turn could feasibly skip through Overwatch. In some cases, they were failing to run the movement checks to see if they were going to encounter something and just ended their turn with a high-speed (and confusing and annoying) teleport.

In a similar area, we've improved the log message in the case where one of your characters has their Overwatch canceled by an enemy debuff. We'll be working on making this clearer with some animation and camera time to focus on the debuffs the enemies are dishing out, but some of the captains have a Marked Target debuff that can knock down Overwatch and reduce your Evasion - a painful counter to your own Marker Sights. In this case, the log will now list "Mochi's Overwatch canceled by Marked Target debuff" to be as clear as possible.

Sight Lines and Hearing Alerts

Introduced in the last update, we lost all the overhead alerts about which enemies would hear your attacks if you swapped weapons. This is now resolved as well as fixing some other issues with the sightlines that are drawn to enemies when swapping weapons. If you had a Some of them would appear from you

Unknown Assassin Target

If you were hitting an assassination mission in Urban HQ where the target was "Unknown" you were not the only one. The entire map was bugged and none of the VIPs ever arrived properly identified. We've resolved this issue for future runs of that mission. And now with that final big Assassinate VIP bug down, we're turning some more attention to adding more maps to the queue for that objective type, as it is the least represented in the map set today. So, look forward to more Assassinate VIP fun!

Tightened up Cameras
We've fixed camera issues that were similar to proximity mines - in that if you moved short distances or only grazed the cameras arc of vision, you might be able to squeeze through without being seen. This small window of error has now been removed.

v1.9.23 - #176: Omnibus Underworld - 11/20/2024
- Steam Deck Verified (but the improvements will continue!)
- Fixed bug with Blue Juice not giving AP bonus second time in the Turn, updated description to be clearer that it can be used multiple times
- Fixed bug where enemy alerts about who will hear your weapon attack were not showing
- Fixed bug where swapping weapons while planning a movement could result in incorrect sight lines draw to enemies
- Fixed bug where enemy might suddenly teleport or move a distance through an Overwatch cone incorrectly
- Improved log entry when enemy uses a debuff to break your Overwatch
- Fixed bug with higher difficulty giving lower Team Power Level adjustments which makes the game progress slower (and easier)
- Fixed widespread issue with "Unknown" target in Assassinate VIP in Urban HQ mission map
- Added new slim backpack option for the lightweight heister or the heister who wants to carry water
- Added new classic aviators glasses for appearance customization
- Improving tinting and reflective properties of existing aviator style glasses
- Improved a number of mask options to avoid clipping and sit correctly on masculine faces
- Fixed bug where camera might not see mercs moving a short distance or crossing the camera arc only slightly
- Fixed bug with Scourge recruit showing up too early in your roster during storyline
- Fixed bug where enemy status pop up was not showing an enemy's weapon
- Improved display of safehouse room building errors so that they display nicer over bright background 3D
- Fixed many minor map issues with new maps and proc-gen maps

 

[cyborgboy95]

Update #177: New Weekly Map "Resupply Station"

Another week, another 3 updates, another new map released! Resupply Station is the 4th map of the new weekly map releases (is it still new!?) and is a wide-open and exciting map that forces some new styles of play, and rewards long range weapons, speed and daring strategies. We've also addressed the raging bug that was trapping Knights in the Urban HQ Assassinate missions, addressed issues with Team Power Level not going up correctly for any difficulty when the Team Power Level was 0 and more.

If you like new maps and think we should do more, please take a moment to consider reviewing the game! Help us spread the word about this improving and expanding game and the hard work that our small team is putting in.

New Weekly Map: Resupply Station!

It is now Week 4 of our Weekly Map Release schedule and we're here to deliver once again. With the Resupply Station, we're looking at a sprawling outdoor environment with a lot of open sight lines, wide open movement lanes and lots of empty open space. This map can be challenging in a lot of ways, with some of your extraction points secured behind a forcefield, and the large spaces and broken up cover making it tough both on stealth teams and teams in a gunfight needing to find the next scrap of cover. We're excited as it brings a strong dose of variety to the map design and sets you up for some new and harrowing heists.

The Resupply Station offers 5 new the proc-gen combos (map X objective) and brings the grand total of proc-gen objectives to the total to 72 proc-gen combos and represents another 7% increase in map variety (this is dropping with every new map, it's so good!). With a new map next week, the planned increase in variety for the Assassinate VIP map set and a new objective type coming - we should blow past the original goal of 80 proc-gen combos easily.

Every since we announced the Weekly New Map challenge we've been hard at work to deliver. We've hit 4 weeks in a row now and it is really helping the game grow rapidly. We certainly are going to have some misses, especially around the holidays, but it is rapidly expanding the mission map set and combo options (going from 48 to 72 in 4 weeks!).

Fixed Assassination at Urban HQ

\
The fix that we made yesterday for "Unknown" VIP in Urban HQ assassination missions had some unexpected consequences in missions made after the fact. Our focus was a bit too much on fixing the existing set of missions that were in play already and we missed on future missions.

This update fixes both - resolving the issue for anyone who is stuck in the middle of an Urban HQ Assassinate VIP mission without an exit (or not yet having killed the VIP).

This clears the road for new maps to come to the Assassinate VIP proc-gen objective, which is going to be a big boon.

Higher Difficulties and Team Power Level

Over the last two updates, we've made changes to how Team Power Level increases are calculated. Thanks to @Phreak, we caught on to a mistake in the math as to who Team Power Level bonuses were calculated for higher difficulty games - in where the Mission Power Level was higher which results in a slower gain in Team Power Level (because you need to beat more missions to move from Team Power Level 3 to 4 than Team Power Level 1 to 2).

It was a chain of multiplications that resulted in unexpected result - higher difficulty games increase in difficulty scale slower than lower difficulty games and therefore "level off" or are "easier" than they should be.

We addressed most of this issue in the last update, and Update #177 catches up on one thing we missed, that while your team is below Power Level 1, everyone was getting extremely slow Team Power Level gain!

Fixed Missing Recharge Turns

If you were using Font Scale above 0%, the recharge rate for Talents was disappearing in the class tree. This one took a little while to find but now we're going to be more attuned to watching the font scale on incoming F10s, so we can quickly identify issues that are simply bugs because of scaling.

v1.9.25 - #177: New Weekly Map "Resupply Station" - 11/21/2024
- Added new proc-gen map "Resupply Station": a wide open transport hub that will push your team for speed, stealth or battle and supports +5 new proc-gen combos (Heist a CPU, Steal 3 Files, Scavenger, Kill 3 Captains, Bodyguard!)
- Fixed bug with getting stuck in Assassinate VIP mission with Unknown - reload game to continue / escape
- Fixed issue with Chrome / high difficulties gaining very low Power Level while Team Power Level was 0
- Fixed issue with Recharge Turns not appearing in class tree once Font Scaling was above 0%

 

[cyborgboy95]

Update #178: Grinding Progression

Knights, we have a late Sunday night update here to get us ready for the new week. This one includes some progression adjustments on higher difficulties (Matrix challenge), clear marking when mission is from a hand-written storyline vs. proc-gen, 4 new visuals for weapon mods, improved balance of UAR, SMG and AR, fixed a ton of small mistakes in Weapon Mods and Intrinsic Mod Blueprints. We've also made a set of control scheme improvements in the Roster for Steam Deck and controllers and added a ton of new debugging to your F10s in case you hit one of the 2 rare cases that can still cause an enemy's turn to lock up in game (hit F10, we will fix!)

Thanks to everyone playing, posting, and sharing the game with a review. Our tiny team couldn't do it without your support!

Continued Progression Tuning
There has been a lot of chatter and feedback on our channels recently about progression, optimal styles of play, how to squeeze the most of our your money or base, loot tables and more -- all good healthy feedback showing that the game is really delivering the experience and helping us to highlight places we can tune that experience.

With this update, we've kept pulling the thread from the last couple updates about Power Level progression and high difficulties. We found some inconsistencies in how loot tables were rolled for higher difficulties as well as a clear bug where Mission Power Level boost and then Matrix Power Level boost were both being applied to Matrix hosts. This pushed Matrix hosts upwards in difficulty rapid on higher difficulties, faster than they should have climbed.

The process is continual to improve the game's progression and to round on the key systems missing (Power Play, Compromised, more storylines, dying Contacts, etc). Thanks for joining us on this wild Early Access ride to help us tune it better and better!

Marked High-Stakes Story Missions

We've addressed a question about proc-gen vs. narrative missions we receive from some players with this update. Missions that are from one-off, non-repeating storylines are now marked in the timeline as High-Stakes with a yellow icon and a helpful hover. This can help you spot missions that are linked to a one-time storyline and spot those that lack the icon as proc-gen or repeatable elements.

New Weapon Mod Visuals

We're always excited to expand the look and feel of the game's weapons and this update drops 3 new scope graphics from our kit as well as a new high-level suppressor. We'll be working on finalizing the art processing on these elements to keep pushing more variation in the team's armaments, including new looks for weapons and all new mod visuals.

UAR and Weapon Balances

With Update #178, we've made some definitive upgrades to the class of UAR weapons to ensure they clearly fill the role of Kings and Queens of Full Auto. All UAR at Power Level 1+ have increased their Full Auto shot, making them more capable of unloading a full burst into more than one target or handing out more damage to a set of 4 targets at once.

Higher Power Level UARs have also gained 2-5m in maximum range and ticked up optimal range to reduce their range restrictions as the weapons become more powerful. On the flip side of that, Kaza Raildarts (and those that will follow in the Raildart template) have had their range trimmed by 2-3m.

We've also tweaked the angles for Overwatch and Full Auto cones for all UAR, SMG and AR to ensure you've got a nicer progression here as these weapons are capable of covering a wider arc.

Improved Weapon Mod Progressions
We've fixed a heap of weapon mod issues! A ton of these were simply higher Rarity or Power Level mods that were not connected correctly with their bonuses and so mimicked the stats of a lower level mod of the same type. We've fixed 3 Shotgun body mods, 3 Pistol body mods, multiple higher Power Level intrinsic mods and

We've also finished the rename for melee weapons from IO-Batt to Ion Batt by fixing a number of mods that still had the old name, going from IO-Booster to Ion Boosters.

Continued Steam Deck / Controller Improvements
We've been verified on the Steam Deck, but our work is not done. We've completed a round of improvements in the roster around how the game maintains your current selection when diving into a sub-screen. This is most notable around changing equipment - previously if you selected a character, and then changed their primary weapon, when you returned to the Roster your selection would be in the left hand list of mercs, not at the primary weapon. Now the game maintains that selection whenever possible.

Second, we've fixed issues with some of the floating hover elements on Steam Deck, like weapons and weapon mods, where the hover was aligned on the wrong side of the element and just dove off screen.

Final Freezes - Debugging to Isolate

There are 2 reported freezes left in the game -- both are intermittent and very hard to reproduce. Either one of your mercs goes into a T-position when about to take an Overwatch reaction shot, or an enemy starts moving and then doesn't move and stays stuck in place while looping the running animation.

We're on the hunt and can't wait to fix the pair of these. With Update #178, we've added a huge heap of additional debugging information to your F10 reports that should help us track down the root causes of these two remaining freezes. If you see them, please hit F10 in the latest update!

v1.9.27 - 11/24/2024
- Marked high-stakes story missions in the timeline vs. proc-gen missions to help make the difference clear
- Added new visual variety for weapon mods: 3 new scopes and 1 new suppressor
- Reduced range of Kaza Raildarts by 2-3m, increased range of higher PL UAR by 2-5m
- Increased/Rebalanced Full Shot count for all UAR above PL 1, ensuring UAR claim best FA slot
- Tweaked and increased Overwatch cone and Full Auto cone angles for UAR, SMG and AR throughout Power Level progression
- Improved Shotgun Body Mods: Harrier Grip, Thunderbolt Grip, Nightshade Grip
- Improved Pistol Body Mods: APEX Ammo, Klinger-Floki Reloader, Malkuur Advanced Ammo
- Improved some high Power Level Intrinsic Mods: Vapor Optics and Quantum Rifled Barrel
- Reclassified Shotgun Barrel mod Showstopper D-Rail correctly as Legendary Mod
- Fixed some duplicate Weapon Mods like DesMoines Tactical and Quicksilver Mechastock for Sniper Rifles
- Fixed some weapon mods still using name IO-Booster instead of Ion Booster for melee weapons
- Fixed Matrix Power Level scaling bug where power level adjustments include Mission Power Level and Matrix Power Level (together)
- Improved controller input for Roster, now remembers last selected button when returning from subscreen (faster to change out EQ)
- Fixed bugs on different screen resolutions where larger hovers (like weapon) could end up completely off screen
- Added a heap of new debug to F10s to isolate and fix final 2 game freezes - AI stuck running in place, T-position at Overwatch attack

 

[cyborgboy95]

Update #179: Black Bay Fishing

Knights of New Boston - last night we went fishing in the black soup with the latest update and we were able to catch and fix 1 of the 2 final bugs that can cause the game to freeze up. In order to keep fishing for the last case, we've got a new update out tonight with more debugging, the 1st case fixed and some new balance tweaks to help it go down easy. We've improved enemy Initiative stat to be a part of their progression, added Attribute bonuses to 2 Traits that were missing them, improved the value of XP and $$ secondary objectives, and started some improvements on the NanoFab help text.

Thanks for all the F10s and reviews - you're helping our small team keep up its pace of improvement. Please give us a shout and help share the game with a review if you're enjoying this Early Access period!

Enemy Initiative Progression

Many enemies - especially captains and drones - were being left behind in the Initiative department in their progression. This allows your merc team to basically "run the table" on Initiative and reduced the difficulty of the game and the power of some Talents, cybernetics, etc. With this update, we've brought the enemy forces back into it with boosted to Initiative throughout their progression. You'll find that especially mecha-soldier drones are going to now give a much more competitive run for first-to-act.

Secondary Objectives: XP and $$

For those secondary objectives offer money or Experience, we've boosted them by +5% each, now allowing them to roll from 15% to 25% of the regular reward total as a secondary. This is a healthy improvement and may end up taking another step upwards to 20% to 30% to ensure that these are competitive against staying to loot more, especially those in Security Level and Turn limits.

Traits without Attributes
A few very old Traits in the game - like Scrappy and Agile - were missing a progression of Attribute bonuses. We've addressed those in this release.

Starting on Crafting Guidance

We've got some really great threads going on our Discord[discord.gg] at the moment and one is all about improving the NanoFab system, tweaking it and/or improving the help text in game. Our first set of improvements here are to make some nice text adjustments to the help text to make them more clear. The next set of improvements will be to clear up the UI, reduce unneeded text and let more elements be reactive (stating the % of Intrinsics when your crafting recipe prevents you from rolling an Intrinsic is not helpful, etc).

NanoFab Event History

We fixed a bug where NanoFab events in the history never showed the right icon for what was crafted.

Overwatch Lock Fixes: T-Position and Blades
We fixed the two game locks that result from Overwatch. First, some Talent validation code got broken sometime back with Agent EX and you could try to Overwatch with a blade now. That was not a good idea and the game locked up! Now, the Talent no longer allows melee Overwatching (it will re-appear with Cybersword Preempt).

Second, there were cases where you could end up a T-position when using Overwatch with a character who was just carrying and using a blade. This is now resolved.

If you get a game lock of any sort, please always send an F10. We're down to 1 final known lock where an enemy gets stuck in a running loop but goes nowhere and we're working on isolating it and finalizing the fix this week.

v1.9.31 - #179: Black Bay Fishing - 11/26/2024
- Enemies gain Initiative Bonus as part of their progression, running the Initiative tables is no longer guaranteed
- Added Attribute bonuses to Traits Scrappy and Agile
- Increased amount of secondary objective XP and $$ rewards by 5% (now +15% to +25% of regular mission reward)
- Fixed issue with NanoFab crafting not showing the equipment icon in the timeline history
- Fixed issue where character using sword and Overwatch could end up in T-position and lock game (thanks for F10s!)
- Fixed issue that allowed melee weapons to engage Overwatch (and then promptly lock the game)
- Fix issue with reinforcements freezing a new turn
- Fixed High-Stakes marker on missions being too widely applied
- Improved some of the help text for NanoFab armor and weapons

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1021210/view/4445711438670987405

Update #180: New Weekly Map, All Classes Recruitable, and New RPG Steam Bundle!
Recruit Agent EX, Gunslinger and Sniper from Underworld Hub, new weekly map "Border Crossing" and +7 proc-gen combos

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

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.

We're part of a new RPG Steam bundle!

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!



Cyberpunk & Dark SciFi RPGs
Includes 3 items



Add to Cart
-10%
-47%
87,27€
45,82€

v1.9.33 - 11/27/2024
- 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

 

[cyborgboy95]

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

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.

We're part of a new RPG Steam bundle!

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!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/47312/Cyberpunk__Dark_SciFi_RPGs/

v1.9.33 - 11/27/2024
- 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

 

[cyborgboy95]

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

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