This major milestone unlocks a much needed option to increase the pace of play by skipping through enemy turns that aren't exciting to watch or are not directly impacting your team. This isn't likely the final improvement we can make to pace of play but it is definitely the biggest so far.

We've also added much needed step out mechanics for grenades as well as the Agent EX's Shadow and Glitch Talents. This greatly increases the value and versatility of these Talents and lets you use them with the same asymmetrical advantage around corners that you are used to with weapons.

Even better news, we're not done! June is still ticking and we've got 3 more major milestones to hit. Let's go, New Knight V2 and Crafting!

We did say the end of June would be BUSY! So here we are with back-to-back major milestones (DOMINION and now GO FAST), each a much needed feature that has been in the works and testing for months now arriving at last.

If you like this maniac pace of updates and improvements, please hit the review button! There is no better way to thank our team ːsteamthumbsupː

In any tactical game, playing at your own pace is a key part of enjoying yourself. For some players, enemy turns in Cyber Knights: Flashpoint have always dragged on, especially as there can be a lot of enemies who are walking, patrolling, hunting your mercs without finding them and this can soak up time. With this major milestone update, we've finally hit the goal of adding a Skip Enemy Turn option for you to decide how fast or slow you want to play.

With this new feature, whenever an enemy is taking their turn, a prompt shows above the enemy turn banner inviting you to skip ahead, fast forwarding the rest of their turn. If you do so (default, ESC or (B) on controller) the enemy's movement for the Turn will be rapidly displayed as a red movement destination and then their Turn will be over and on to the next thing!

If the enemy is deemed to have some important impact on the Turn, such as finding a body, spotting a merc or running into your Overwatch firing zone, the turn will not be skippable. Therefore, this fast forward feature is most helpful during patrolling, hunting and enemies sent by the Sec AI to investigate troublesome events on the map. Once the firing starts, there will be less skippable enemy turns.

We're excited to hear your feedback on the feature and how to improve. It drastically increases the speed of play but we could dig deeper and try to squeeze more if you, our players, are hungry for it. For example, we might:

• Add an option to skip every enemy turn possible without requiring you to hit a key. Without a doubt this sacrifices battlefield and tactical awareness for speed but let us know if you'd want this.
  
• Further improve the types of turns that can be skipped, including combat turns.

Hit us up on our Discord[discord.gg], the Steam forums or in F10s - you know we are here to chat and eager to improve, so let us know what you'd like to see to further polish this lovely new feature.
 
We're very excited to make Grenades, Glitch and Shadow so much more natural to use. The days of having to risk an extra AP to step around a corner to throw your grenade are finally gone. With step out nicely integrated - just like firing your weapon - your merc will automatically step out around corners to get the best line of sight toward whatever you're targeting.

For Glitch and Shadow which don't bounce when they hit something impassible but are fully stopped, this is even more important to make the Talents useful at sharp angles around corners.

It's a huge improvement to bring all the Talents that rely on line of sight or throwing arcs up to the same standard so there isn't a confusion or surprises as you try to execute your team tactics.

We've improved the targeting rules for Slashslide, Glitch and Shadow to prevent them from being used directly on top of another merc of enemy. In the case of Slashslide and Glitch this prevents the ... glitchy ... result where you and the enemy are occupying the same space, clipping together. Assuming they survive! And for Shadow, this avoids the very hard to predict behavior where you can't be sure which way the enemy AI will interpret the Shadow wants them to look.

We've added a 6th upgrade node for the Cyber Knight's Sync Talent which grants another +10m range. This will help for those players that know they like to split their team up but still want the advantages of the power strategies like Knight using Precomputed Advantage on themselves as their last action for the Turn, smashing a 25 Initiative for the next Turn and then using Sync to get the entire team to the front of the starting line for the Turn. That extra +10m helps everyone stay in the quantum rider's envelope and get those advantages.

- Skip enemy turns by hitting cancel (ESC, B) - movement is previewed and skipped
- Skip enemy turns especially speeds up gameplay during enemy patrols, hunting and when moving to investigate
- If enemy is "in the action" their turns cannot yet be skipped
- Turns of enemies considered far enough away to have no impact are still skipped without camera focus (see options)
- Cornering / Step Out now works for Grenades, Glitch, Shadow, Slashslide
- Improved targeting rules for Slashlide, Glitch, Shadow and other Talents to avoid targeting directly on top of merc/enemy
- New Cyber Knight upgrade node for Sync Talents offers third +10m range
- Fixed issue when purchasing treatment where the availability of space at the clinic (1/2, etc) was not shown
- Fixed lock up after setting Flexible Difficulty in Safehouse
- Fixed hovers over NBS Cubes in Safehouse HUD

This major milestone unlocks another major part of the game's strategy layer as the New Boston underworld and its Contacts come alive in all new ways. It is great to see the roadmap design advancing with this - now your favored Contacts thrive while those you hate or work against wither.

Up until now, most of your actions have focused on their inward impact - money for equipment, Experience for Training, new recruits. And while you've been able to meet new Contacts and alter their Traits and Services through storylines, all of your game decisions weren't also echoing into the wider underworld and into your network of Contacts. Now, your decisions regarding Contacts, running or ignoring their missions, selling them high Rarity Accounts and following their storylines all have [i[outward[/i] impact and will feed their dynamic evolution - changing their Traits, Services and more in ways unique to your game.

Exciting times to be alive in New Boston! Let's check it out -

At the beginning of June, we threw down the gauntlet to ourselves to try to wrap up this ambitious set of roadmap milestones before the end of the quarter. We are smashing away now with the Agent EX recently out and the Contact Limit Breaks dropping today ... we're still in this fight with 10 days to go!

If you like our style of Early Access and how hard our team is working to deliver improvements, gameplay depth, new features and content to you on a very regular basis, we hope you will say "Thank you" to the team by leaving a review! It doesn't have to be long, and you can always edit it later.

Contact Influence and Exposure Limit breaks work in similar ways to your merc's Hype and Stress Limit Breaks. Through your actions, story choices, relationships and changing Eras of the game, your Contacts will gain and lose Influence and Exposure and as their Influence and Exposure top 80%, they will have have a Limit Break and change for the better or the worse.

• Contacts can upgrade their services - like the Power Level of Weapons, Armor or Items - that they sell. With this update, a bunch of services can now be upgraded by Limit Breaks, with a sum total of over 30 new pieces of equipment coming into the game. This will be a rapidly expanding area as well with new upgradable services coming online for other disciplines as well.
  
• Contacts can upgrade their positive or negative Traits. Your Partnerships can deepen, their issues and hardpoints can grow and worsen.
  
• Contacts can get temporary positive or negative Traits, like the Hi-Priority Trait that adds +25% to all mission payments for 30 days.
  
• Exposed Contacts might duck into hiding for a while, disappearing off the scene for up to 30 days and unwilling to buy or sell anything.

With LImit Breaks coming online, you'll naturally have more interest in the ways your Contacts gain Exposure and Influence. With this major milestone update, we've also plugged in some systems that were waiting for this day, so the new ways to get Exposure and Influence have come online:

• Completing missions for Contacts has always given Influence
  
• Mission secondary objectives have been expanded to include possible boosts to Influence (more on this below)
  
• Failing missions for Contacts now causes Exposure
  
• Ignoring a mission offered by a Contact now has a chance of causing Exposure
  
• Accounts of Rarity Epic or Legendary will grant a +1 Influence boost to the Contact you select
  
• More storylines include Influence and Exposure changes depending on how they play out
  
• Contact's Exposure Res Trait bonus directly reduces the % chance of gaining Exposure
  
• Contact's Influence Boost has been upgraded to be at % chance to double all Influence gains (huge!)

To help with making this clear, we've improved the Contact display of services to include their maximum level. This lets you compare, for example, Dr. Ashe to Dr. Knife to see who is selling higher level medical gear or that your recently upgraded Gun Runner who got a cool Limit Break for gun sales is now selling the best weapons on the street.

This also works well with the Sellers filter we added in the last update, so if you see a Limit Break from Origami Joe for Weapons, you can go check out specifically what he is selling today.

Consider carefully where your Epic and Legendary Accounts are sold these days as each one will add a +1 Influence bonus to the lucky Contact, whether sold for money or for favors.

As crafting is cresting the horizon (in June!?!?), the late game economy needs work. In order to begin to bring the late game economy into balance, we're cutting some of the mission payments to help bring them inline. The $2m and $5m missions in the late game throw things a bit out of whack.

For missions at Power Level 5 and above (meaning, Team Power Level 5+ if you're on a balanced difficulty) the payments start to take a dip. Where you used to get $600K as the starting point for a Power Level 5 mission, you'll now start calculations at $500K. For PL 7, you've dropped from starting $2m to starting $1.2m and Power Level 10 went from a (whopping!) $25m to $4m.

Storyline bonuses, conditions, secondary objectives, Contact Traits all still apply, so these are just the starting points of the negotiation :D

With this major milestone update, we've improved the variety of secondary objective reward offerings, which previously only included extra money or extra XP. Now these secondary objectives can include gaining Favors from your Contact, additional boosts to their Influence or their Trust % with you.

This extra variety is great to mix up the rewards, and it plays to the new Contact Limit Break feature that is rolling out with this update as well. The next set of updates for secondary objectives fill focus on expanding the types of goals you are asked to achieve beyond "go fast" and "go quiet" with a lot of exciting other options that will add cool complications.

For a little while, Item sales in the underworld have gotten pretty twisted around. Doctors were selling Grenades, Gun Runners were selling Bandages and no one was selling Bio-Recyclers or Dazzlers.

In prep for the Limit Break update and the ability for these sellers to upgrade what they sell, we've cleaned house and straightened everything out nice. We've also cleanly split Street Military Gear (sold by Gun Runners, Gang Bosses, etc) and MilSec Military Gear (sold by Corrupt cops, security officers, etc). These distinctions are especially important as each service will evolve differently as the Contacts hit their limit breaks, and MilSec Military Gear heads off into more techy gear while Street Military Gear focuses on more boom-boom grenades.

There has been a nagging issue with any objective that was to kill all of the enemies. Your victory was never registered until the end of the Turn which might mean you missed a secondary objective or just had to click End Turn a bunch of times. This is now resolved - your victory will be swift and it will be severe. Before the last ragdoll thumps on the floor, the game knows and is ready to award you victory.

- Contacts now achieve Influence Limit Breaks and suffer Exposure Limit Breaks (either at 80%+)
- Contact Limit Breaks can increase levels of positive and negative Traits
- Contact Limit breaks can grant Temporary Traits (+25% Mission Payment, +25% Price of buying Files)
- Contact Influence Limit Breaks can upgrade services, like upgrading weapons sold or items sold
- Limit Breaks can add 10 new weapons, 13 new weapon mods, 4 new Armors, 5 new/upgraded items
- Contact Exposure Limit Breaks can send Contacts into hiding for up to a month
- Selling Epic or Legendary Rarity Accounts to a Contact will increase their Influence by +1
- Complete Missions and Stories with Contacts to increase Influence, more options to feed Influence are coming
- Failing missions or ignoring missions from Contact has chance of causing Exposure increase
- Improved Contact Trait bonus Influence Boost to be % Chance to gain extra Influence
- Expanded rewards possible for secondary objectives in proc-gen missions to Favors, Influence and Trust
- Reduced money rewards for Missions at Power Level 5 or above - bringing late game economy toward balance
- Fixed all Items Services to make a lot more sense and separated Street Military Gear from MilSec Military Gear
- Fixed issue with battle missions with "Kill All Enemies" not immediately ending when last enemy is dead
- Fixed issue with swapping weapons where second equipped weapon would not be shown
- Fixed issues with Leverages Lazy Shift, Bribed Shift and Unexpected Fly-over showing that they buff enemies
- Improved description of Legwork "Under our Thumb" to be more clear - +1 Favor per month
- Removed useless Reo-Flexsuit Armor from sale

Update #96 is another big bundle of improvements straight from the communities F10s. We are keeping the updates flowing and starting to pull in the big dev branches for our June roadmap milestones. Next up will be Contact Limit Breaks, and this update specifically paves the way for that and pushes some needed improvements to systems in advance of its arrival.

Thanks to everyone posting F10s, posting feedback to the community and to everyone leaving a review as we march to 300 reviews!

To help with filtering in all cases, we've improved the clarity of the grouping UI, making the titles really pop and adding space between the groups. They are much more readable now, thankfully. We've also improved weapons filter specifically by removing 3 dead-end filters for dogs, cats and drone weapons.

We've added a new filter to the market to allow you to filter specifically by a seller. If you've ever wanted a clear view into what Origami Joe is selling versus your other weapons dealers, or you want to know what a new V-Chip Contact is offering, now it is easy to slice and dice the market by one or more sellers with a filter.

This will be really helpful shortly with Contact Limit Breaks and Contacts upgrading their service offerings.

We fixed an issue with the Salvage Job sibling who might have suddenly started demanding that you recruit him or her AGAIN. Sorry about this issue, should now be cleaned up as of this update.

A very, very old rule was hanging around in the combat engine that made blades and all melee weapons ignore 50% of the Recoil your character currently had. This was from before the time of Glancing Blows and greatly reduces the importance of Recoil for melee weapons, reduces the value of Strength, and all Talents, Traits and Cyberware that help compensate for Recoil.

We had to remove the rule - melee weapons now use the standard Recoil rules that all weapons use. Before you reach for your pitchfork, keep in mind that melee weapons always get a Glancing Blow, so this change may cause you to get more Glancing Blows at the worst.

We've improved the VFX for the EX's Smokescreen Talent as well as Smoke Grenades. it just looks cooler now with more dense smoke in a shape that more clearly fills the area as well as not disappearing after a few second!

We've removed a confusing combat log about using Glitch Talent, which wasn't needed.

Big changes to looting will be coming very soon with crafting release. Along with this we're working improve the looting tables and setup for many missions. In this update we hit a number of proc-gen missions and the starter Forward Op mission.

- Upgraded UI styles for filters to clearly separate groups and make headers pop
- Added new filter for market to filter by Contact Seller (what does Origami Joe sell?)
- Removed unused weapon filters for dogs, cats and drones
- Improved visuals for Smoke Grenade and Agent EX Smokescreen Talent and no longer disappear
- Removed combat rule that caused melee weapons to use 1/2 Recoil penalty for attacking
- Improved loot in Forward Op early game mission and proc-gen missions using the same map
- Fixed bug forcing repeat recruitment offer to Salvage Job sibling, even after recruited
- Removed confusing combat log after using Agent EX Glitch Talent

We're excited to be back with another day of fixes and improvements to catch up on the week of no updates. Update #95 hits the streets with some important upgrades to Account and File pricing, improvements to Contact Traits to make them be more impactful, a nice new File Set minting preview that helps clarify what swapping files is doing for your result chances, and a big set of improvements to Agent EX and other areas of the game based on your F10s for the day!

If you're enjoying the pace of Early Access around here and the on-going improvements to your game, please do remember to leave us a review. We're a tiny studio and we live on the things. You can always edit it later :D

For files and accounts, we've fixed a number of pricing bugs that were preventing Power Level from having the correct impact on the prices of each type. These should now be more reactive to higher Power Level and offer increased prices from your Contacts should be forthcoming.

In addition, we've fixed a number of bugs in how Contact Traits were handled that were causing a lot of the price change Traits still not to work as expected. We've been grinding on these and getting everything working right because we're playing the Contact Influence/Exposure Limit Breaks, so these are going to be getting even more important. But for now with Update #95, they're going to help you see even more divergent prices between your Contact offers.

When changing the files going into Minting a File Set, you can now see a preview of the possible ranges of value for the resulting file - for example, from $35K to $139K. This depends on the inputs (their Rarity and Power Level) and the output they could create (which is randomly selected from the input Rarities and Power Levels).

For any players who were having their new game Agent EX's roster not load completely, we fixed the issue with their relationship tag to the Wireghost Dancehall that was causing the bug. You can now see all of their tags and their correct equipment.

The XP bar in the roster used to be a progres bar relative to your total XP to your next level, showing a percentage from 0 to your next XP goal, like 1000. We've fixed the bar to work like every XP ever LOL :D and be relative to your progress toward completing your current level (say, from 800 to 1000). Winning!

- Improved File and Account pricing to be more sensitive to Power Level
- Improved File Set minting UI to include the range of prices possible from the mint based on your Rarity/Power Level inputs
- Fixed bugs with Contact Traits that were preventing Contacts from offering significantly different prices
- Fixed bug with loading Agent EX Sören's roster page due to misformatted relationship tag with Dancehall
- Improved Cybersword's Adaptive Restruct Talent description
- Fixed possible story dead-end in Salvage Job that leaves sibling as Recruit in roster but cannot talk to them
- Fixed XP bar percent in roster to be relative to the current level (800-1000) of all XP (0-1000)
- Fixed tutorial issue where sometimes non-tutorial characters (like Emille) would be referenced in dialog

Welcome back New Boston! We had a short break here so this is the first update since the Agent EX was dropped. Update #94 focuses fully on patching EX issues, so thanks to everyone for putting in F10s. We've been pleased just how stable the new class has been, how much play time the EX are getting and just how fun the class is to play and integrate into both new and existing teams.

So thank you for playing, posting to the forums, hitting F10 if you see something and especially to everyone who left a review this week!

With Update #94, we've resolved the issues that were leaving all recruits at level 1 all the time. Now, Underworld Hub safehouse room will accurately predict the level of the characters it can find and any recruits introduced by other members of the squad or contacts will also have a higher level. This level is based on some math related to your Team Power Level, so as that increases expect to see improved recruit level options.

Soldier and Agent EX both have +X% Full Auto Damage nodes but these were not displaying or actually elsewhere, like in the combat stats summary block or when damage by Full Auto was estimated or applied. So, this is a nice new bonus you weren't getting before.

Also, we've improved 2 of the Soldier's nodes to go from +2% to +3% Full Auto Damage.

We've also fixed one of the bottom left Agent EX class tree nodes that only gave +1 Reaction, it now grants +1 Reaction and +2% Evasion.

We've improved the VFX for Shuriken Wave to give it a feeling of a wave and individual enemies getting hit. We've also simplified the damage calculations for it - S-Wave was incorrectly applying cover and distance reductions to damage like a Grenade and making it quite weak.

We fixed a bug that could cause Agent EX to lock up when trying to re-use certain Talents (due to their VFX being badly cleaned up).

And finally, we fixed a bug where Glitching across different elevations could result in odd rotations and positioning.

- Fixed starting level of recruits offered by Underworld Hub and by other characters/contacts - no longer always Level 1
- Improved some bonuses in class tree small nodes for Agent EX, Soldier gains 2 X +1% Full Auto boosts
- Fixed issue with Full Auto Dmg bonuses from class tree not appearing in Combat Stats block
- Fixed bugs where repeated use of some Agent EX Talents could lock game randomly
- Improved VFX for Shuriken Wave, fixed issues reducing Pure Damage to targets incorrectly
- Fixed bug with Agent EX Glitch where changing elevation would cause odd final rotation
- Fixed reported typos, thank you!

Update #93 brings the second new character class to the game, Agent EX, a high-tech killer with phenomenal mobility, tech-warping cybercontrol, and bonuses for dual SMGs. For new games, the Agent EX can replace the Vanguard in your squad, giving you a character with more limited options for dealing with security systems and manipulating enemy guards, but greater offensive capability and a more specialized set of stealth options.

Players that want to run and gun will find the Agent EX can thrive chaotic combat, but may need to invest more in other squad members’ sec-device-disable talents to deal with laser wires or mines. Players that enjoy using the element of surprise will find it harder to stealthily clear the way for their entire squad with Agent EX, but with clever use of their abilities can frequently position the Agent for deadly ambushes.


Like the Scourge, Agent EX is the second and final class to require a type of Nano-Hive implant. At the forefront of dangerously experimental cybernetics, the Nano-Have infuses and links the Agent’s body to a nanite swarm.

This allows the Agent to “glitch” short distances at undetectable speeds, gives them a variety of infiltration talents, and makes them a nightmare for enemy drones.

Mobility is a core focus of Agent EX, with 12 nodes of +1 Reaction bonuses available throughout their tree, their Glitch talent, and passive talents like:

• Adrenaline Flow - When taking damage from an attack, instantly reduce damage by 50% and gain +1 Move Points.
  
• Supremacy - When the Security Level rises, gain +10% Evasion, +1 Move Points and +10% Move Speed for remainder of the turn.

SMG specialization is assisted through node bonuses of up to +6% Pistol/SMG accuracy, +15% Full Auto damage, and talents like:

• Dual Reload - Fully reload both of your carried Dual SMGs for 2AP.
  
• Aimlock - If this Dual SMG attack hits, start an Aimlock Streak so that the next attacks gain +25% Ballistic Pure Dmg upgrade, +25% Armor Shred.

Destroy drones with node bonuses of up to +6% accuracy vs drones, +25% damage vs drones, and two powerful talents:

• Leech - Designate an area (10m radius) within 15m, and while any drone is inside the area they are debuffed with -50% Move Speed and suffers 25 Pure Dmg per turn, which is recouped by the Agent EX.
  
• N-Coat Bullet - Delivered by bullet, nanites burrow into and infect drone systems. If this attack hits the enemy drone, debuff your target with -100 HP / Turn and -25% All Ranged Accuracy until end of the next turn.

And finally, cloak and corrupt your way past enemy defenses with talents including...

• White-Noise - A hissing, popping White-Noise zone that is 8m across is created within 2m. The zone will slowly move in the direction it is initially released but will not pass through walls. Any enemy within the field is debuffed with the inability to hear the sounds of any movements (but can hear gunfire) for up to 2 turns.
  
• Line Crawler - Disable a Level 1 Security Device within 12m for next 2 turns. At the start of the next 2 turns, there is a 40% chance of disabling the next nearest Security Device (of any level).
  
• Shuriken Wave - A whirling, searing cloud of nanites strike all enemies within 10m of your current position, causing 50 Pure Dmg and debuffing with -10% Evasion and -10% Move Speed for remainder of the turn. Cancels enemy Overwatch.

...and more!

Existing squads can multiclass a squad member into Agent EX by undergoing cybersurgery to install a Nano-Hive implant. For now, this option is immediately available without investing any extra in Dr. Ashe’s clinic. Keep in mind you can't respec out of cyber-classes at this time.

New squads can select an Agent EX in place of a Vanguard at squad creation. This new character template, Sören, comes with a unique set of traits, starting contacts, and background that the story engine can hook into as we continue to add more content.

And we’ll add more Agent EX characters as recruits down the road.

We’ve had a ton of fun with Agent EX in playtesting, and can see many ways it could shake up the “meta” for how our most experienced players are building their squads. Thank you to the players in the Steam forums and our Discord[discord.gg] who offered feedback on the class preview!

As always, during Early Access we may tweak talents to balance as data comes in. And if you spot any bugs, please F10 to report in-game; in-game reports help us prioritize and fix them quick.

- Added new class: Agent EX (EXpiremental, EXtreme!) uses their nano-hive implant to create a tech-warping cloud of DNA-bonded nanites
- Higher Loyalty results in higher Hype left over after Hype Limit Break
- Improved Vanguard Glasswalker Talent icon, Smoke Grenades
- Smoke Grenades now have a clear border shown around their hazy smoke area
- Fixed bug where moving map buff/debuff zones like Tox-Cloud could blip through walls or out of bounds after 2 Turns
- Improved calculation of damage shown when making attacks to be more accurate around Pure Dmg
- Clarified rules for Vanguard's Lure and Soldier's Red Dot - enemies immediately become Suspicious
- Fixed issue with Soldier's Iron Grip granting Kinetic Pure Dmg Upgrade bonus
- Vanguard's Projection Talent buffed to 4 AP movement as starting point, can upgrade from there
- Fixed issue with Vanguard's Synapse Short debuff reducing Pure Dmg Upgrades instead of Ballistic/Kinetic Dmg directly
- Renamed Vanguard's "Static Spectre" Talent to "Counter Static"
- Fixed hyper repetitive Combat log about "Starting Preplan Turn" that was a dev-only message
- Fixed bug that could allow a Hype Limit Break to appear over top of a dialog sometimes

Welcome to June! The sweltering heat out in the Wards outside of the dome hasn't set in completely yet but it won't be long. Things are about to get hot for our roadmap and for major game feature completion. Usually, we tend to avoid posting specific goals, so don't think of this as a promise but as a fun challenge for the team here. We've got a major traffic jam at the launch pad for features and content - so many things that are 80-90% done are piling up that need that last test, polish and content/feature push to be done.

So, let's see how many of these we can drop in June! New evolving Contacts with Influence/Exposure Limit Breaks, the fast, deadly and chaotic Agent EX class[/]b, the New Game V2 experience with the Knight character creator, major increase of speed of play with Fast-Forward Enemy Turns, huge content explosion with Crafting Blueprints in your Safehouse NanoFab and the Matrix Tutorial. ːsteamsadːːsteamhappyːːsteammockingːːsteamfacepalmːːsteamboredː

Is it possible? Let's go June!
For tonight, we have a big bug fix update to catch up with the week's F10s, prep for the upcoming roadmap items and help improve the in-game instruction for Safehouse rooms like the Simstream Trainer and Detox.

If you're looking forward to seeing what we can get done in June, like the pace of updates or are just enjoying the game - please take a moment to leave a review!

Further Enemy Upgrades

As we keep improving the starting base of enemies in the game, we're now rolling new weapons, some new armors and a few Talent variations for enemies. You'll see most higher level enemies start to hit a little harder, some will have higher Crit % and others will have weapons that boast better Shred %.

Once we've got the basic set all tuned up and corrected, with everyone scaling nicely in power levels, weapons, armor and Talents the next step is to start adding new types and variations altogether -- so, enemy variety is finally on the horizon.

Knight Attribute Boost - Prepping for New Game V2

As we prep for the Knight Character Creator, we're rolling out some balance changes. All of the Knights in your existing games just gained +8 Attribute points total across their starting set, all granted by the Backstory Trait. We refuse to allow saved games to be left behind, so we're smoothing out the path in advance of New Game V2 to make sure that old Knights aren't left out in the cold with an unfairly low number of Attribute points. In the Knight Creator, you'll be able to spend 12 Attribute points and gain 8 points in bonuses from picking your Backstory and Traits.

Contact Traits Affect Prices!

We've fixed an issue with Contact Traits that prevented them from having any meaningful impact on prices of buying and selling goods. Now you'll see these coming into play, so enjoy the new price variations across the board. We're working on new Traits and new options within Traits that will help make this even more interesting.

Simstream Trainer and Detox

With this update, we've put some helper text into both the Simstream Trainer and Detox benches when they are unoccupied to help explain the expected flow. These will probably get a bit more detailed over the next few releases, but this is a good starting point.

We've also updated a game rule that prevents the Cyber Knight from going into the Simstream Trainer.

Matrix HUD Updates

The matrix Talents in the HUD now correctly display AP cost even if it is 0 and also include the details about their recharging turns.

We've improved how Matrix previewing of Security Devices works on a host. The eye button in the top left is now always enabled if there are Security Devices enabled and you can use it at any time to preview those devices in the real world. Once you reach a SCU, you can use the "Show" button on a specific device to see the short list and pick which device you want to disable.

We fixed a reported bug in some sequences of play where the Leverages list would refuse to open with the Matrix.

UI Polish

We've improved how scrolling panels react to mouse entering and exiting the panel throughout the game. This stops a whole class of odd scrolling that was occurring where the panel would (to help controllers) want to auto-scroll to the selected element and ensure it is in view. This wasn't great UI feature to include for mouse play, so we've disabled it for that type of input.

If you add a multi-class, you'll immediately return to the class tree of your new class, not the original one.

The Notes, Pay Rate and Dismiss areas of the roster were hidden accidentally a few updates ago, they are now back.

v1.6.35 - 6/6/2024

- Enemies upgrade with new weapons, armor, Talent variations
- Added +8 Attributes total to all Cyber Knight backstories in prep for New Game V2 attribute spend
- Contact Traits now properly affect all prices including offers to purchase used goods
- Added helper text into screens for Simstream Trainer and Detox to be more clear what
- Improved rules - Cyber Knight can never go into the Simstream Trainer
- Improved all scrolling views in game for mouse users, no more auto-scroll or odd scroll up/down
- Added enemy animated reaction when taking a debuff
- Matrix Talents improved to show AP cost even if it is 0 AP and show recharge turns in hover correctly
- UI polish: after training multi-class, training screen opens that class tree
- Safehouse camera is more active, willing to zoom to locations for Barracks and Cold Storage
- Fixed Rarity on NX-Longsight AR - it is Rare, not Legendary
- Fixed bug causing Roster Notes, Pay Rate and Dismiss to be hidden
- Fixed bug in Matrix that could prevent the Leverage list from opening
- Fixed bug with Yield Turn preview if the merc wasn't the highest Initiative
- Fixed overlaps in some base building UIs and Simstream benches

Update #91 rolls out to the streets of New Boston with improved safehouse Simstream Trainer rules, an important (if boring) tutorial update, rebalanced cybernetic bonuses, movement alerts for all types of buff/debuff zones on the map like Tox-Cloud, inventory/equpping improvements and fixes for heaps of bugs.

We are hard at work during Early Access, prioritizing constant improvement and expansion of the game. We're hitting around an average of an update every 3 days with fixes for your F10s, new features or new content and always something getting better. If you like the pace we're keeping here, think this is how Early Access should be done, and like that fact that none of these updates invalidate a saved game, please take a moment to leave a review.

Any on-map area that will have an effect on your player like Tox-Cloud, Morass or Aero-Shrap Shell will now visually alert you at the point at which you will pass into its field of effect. While a lot of these abilities are from the Scourge branch, Sniper's JTAC Talent, Soldier's Entrench and items like Smoke Cloud and Medi-Cloud also have this helpful alert so it is clear where you are passing in and out of their boundary.

Thanks to everyone who put F10s in about this one and we are glad to see it wrapping up. The ability for the movement simulator (which plans and checks movement for interruptions or special things before it occurs) is the last piece that was blocking us from moving forward with Skip / Fast-Forward Enemy Turns, so we're going to be getting to that major milestone soon now.

There was a rule when base building first came out that you only got Simstream Trainer XP if you ran a mission and the Cyber Knight went with you on the mission. We've removed this limit, which doesn't fit well with the rest of the design allowing for missions without the Knight. It's a helpful simplification. Sorry this wasn't clearly explained to start with and glad we could simplify here.

In the next update, we'll be working toward updating the UI in the Trainer and Detox to be more clear about the rules at the point at which you are picking a merc.

We've made a few balancing tweaks to cybernetics this week - we've improved Dermal Plating 1 and 2 to increase their HP bonuses to +50 and +75 HP respectively as well as granting Dermal Plating 2 a Built-In Armor bonus that reduces all types of Damage, including Pure. Dermal Plating comes along with a hefty Move Speed debuff (which, you can make up elsewhere) but its bonuses are now more fetching to help balance that out.

The Knight's Quantum Rider also gained a +2 Initiative bonus, helping the Knight stay one step ahead and get a better chance to use their Initiative timeline manipulation Talents.

Back when we added the new stealth and combat tutorial, we made the mistake of using the characters that you had picked and designed in your squad in the tutorial. This was cool - you get to work with your team right away to learn the ropes. However, this tied out hands in silly ways - making the tutorial either require updates for every new character added to the game or forcing us to vastly limit the character options for the Soldier and Vanguard slot.

With Update #91, we've removed that limitation by adding 2 new tutorial-only characters who hang with you while you learn the ropes. Aptly named Tutorial Anne and Tutorial Joe, these are temp characters for the tutorial only.

Now, we can move forward with the new upcoming Agent EX class and slot them painlessly into the Vanguard's new game column as a new options. :hype: Boring, but very important for future options in new game :D

There is a lot of work to do to keep improving inventory and equipping screens, mostly in small ways. But we're continuing to make progress, this week fixing an issue with stacking that was affecting certain characters more than others. If you change your armor and other team members are wearing the same armor, you will see what armor you have equipped instead of it being hidden. The same goes for multiple hackers on the team who share the same deck type.

We also fixed a bug that was occurring where a Hacker might end up with 2 cyberdecks and not be able to do anything about the hidden second.

We've fixed a bug in restoring Tox-Clouds and Morass areas where they could end up not where you expected on retry turn or just loading from the menu. In a few cases, this resulted in some badly poisoned mercs - sorry!

We've also clarified the description of Tox-Cloud to be clear that while it is moving, its center will not pass through a wall.

- Removed Simstream Trainer requirement that a Knight had to be on a mission to gain XP thru trainer
- Solo missions (hack-only missions) do not grant Simstream Trainer XP, which is now noted on victory screen
- New tutorial update: Tutorial Anne and Tutorial Joe decouple Tutorial from your squad
- Improved Dermal Plating 1 and 2 with more HP (50/75), Built-In Armor buffs (5%) for DP 2
- Knight's Quantum Rider gains +2 Initiative bonus
- New movement alerts for all types of on-map areas of effect like Tox-Cloud, Morass, Medi-Cloud and more
- Added note to Tox-Cloud's description to be clear it will not pass through walls
- Fixed bug with retry turn or reloading when Tox-Cloud or Morass areas are in mission
- Fixed issue with buff/debuff data in Matrix not including all upgrades from class tree
- Fixed bug in inventory where equipped shared by multiple characters (8/8 SecurTek Lightsuits) would not appear when changing armor
- Fixed issues with unswitchable cyberdecks
- Fixed issue with Child of the Belly not automatically starting if its timeline event ends
- Improved buffs/debuffs from Leverages to correctly show in hovers / status pop up
- Improved display of cybernetics to include Built-in Armor, improved hovers and Pure Dmg hover

When the IC are coming in hot, digital streams are screaming and the quantum temp is getting close to "cook your brain" levels - it's time to deploy the Decoy program! And Juice, punch some Juice. This update drops a new cyberdeck program - Decoy - to the markets as well as improves the balance of the Hacker's drug of choice, Juice. We've also improved enemy progression, re-added the missing Pistol Silencer 2, remove fraction AP in Tactical Surge (I know! ... cue screaming, ...now ːsteamsadː), fixed File filters to be always remembered and more. So, let's check out Update #90!

If you're enjoying the pace of updates and the game as we're shaping it throughout Early Access, please take a moment to share the game with a friend and leave a review. Our small studio lives on them :D
 
The latest cyberdeck program to hit the digital streets is the Decoy utility program. Decoy I and Decoy II are now available. While this unassuming Utility program offers a small buff to Cyberdeck Shield (temp health) and Armor (damage resistance) its real power is in volunteering to be the first program to be unloaded. If an IC or the Matrix Q-Security Escalation results in an attempt to unload a program, Decoy always goes first, protecting your real programs from being booted out of Active Memory.

As part of the deal we even got a nice new icon for Nuke programs!

A big thanks to the crew on our Discord[discord.com] and other channels suggesting awesome ideas for new Programs!
We've started the official grind on enemy progression, rolling out about 40 new tiers that enemies can appear at as you grow in Team Power Level and take on harder and harder missions. Enemies of all sorts have better access to increased HP, better armor, a small set of new Talents and improved options like Critical % to hit in some cases like the Whislter Cult from the Syndicates. So - upgrade those weapons and armors, mercs!

We fixed a few things with the initial Juice offerings. These hacker drugs are mind-expanding and powerful but expensive, so their abilities have to justify it.

For Blue Juice, we added a new charge (+1 to 3 total) and improved the buffs to have no duration, it is instant +20 Matrix AP. This makes it less valuable over multiple Turns, but allows you to use it multiple times in a Turn, so you can burn all 3 charges for +60 AP in a single blast.

For Turqo Juice we added an additional charge (+1 to 2 total) so that you can use the item in multiple hot moments. It is very powerful IC blocker, and does not trigger IC responses when taking it, so consider using it the second before you need to take some action and would be slapped by the IC. Including Traps!

Juice on, cowboys and cowgirls.

For a short minute the Pistol Silencer 2 (WhisperLite) disappeared from the markets. It has returned! We're hard to work on some major expansion in preparation for crafting and this one got bumped in the process.

Also, there was an issue with a similar cause where some enemies who should have had Protection Points to buff their armor suddenly didn't. This is now fixed too.

We've removed the complicated +0.5 AP you could gain from Tactical Surge. Its other buffs are more than enough to stand on their own and from a design standpoint, we've made the call that team buffs can't add fractional AP. We know it hurts, but rip the band-aid off now in EA, it's for the best of the game.

They weren't getting remembered in every situation. Now fixed!

We've improved the description of Matrix Snoop Leverage option and ensured it only appears in missions that have matrix hosts. It is a passive Leverage, so it happens automatically but only affects the first Stage of a mission.

We've patched a few issues with Talents as well:

• Hacker's RIPR Compression was restoring incorrect amount of IO.
  
• Cybersword Lightfoot was canceling itself as soon as you set a movement destination.
  
• Fixed the first Hacker's class tree upgrade on the right side, it was missing a +3 Matrix AP buff.

- Added Decoy I and II programs for sale - Utility program volunteers to be first to be unloaded by IC / escalation
- Improved ability for enemies to scale with Power Level, more enemy types scale farther with upgrades to Armor, HP, Talents
- Improved balance of Blue and Turqo Juice - more charges, Blue Juice has no duration, instant AP add
- Fixed Blue Juice and Turqo Juice missing details when looking at item on character roster
- Knight's Tactical Surge no longer grants extra +0.5 AP in upgrade nodes
- Fixed issues with Matrix Snoop Leverage, improved description to be clear it reveals hosts on the first Stage only
- Fixed first small upgrade on right side of Hacker's class tree to be +1 Will and +3 Matrix AP
- Fixed issues with proc-gen missions where Matrix Snoop might incorrectly appear
- Fixed issue with lots of enemies armor Protection Points being stuck at 0
- Fixed issue with Cybersword's Lightfoot Talent always canceling when setting movement destination
- Fixed issue with File filters not always being remembered
- Fixed issue with Hacker's RIPR Compression Talent restoring wrong amount of IO
- Fixed issue with safehouse timeline where paging to the right caused events to space out oddly
- Fixed issue with Pistol Silencer 2 disappearing from markets