Hello Brigadiers! We're BACK and excited to show you what we've PACKED into Update #3: Back and Packed! One of the new features we're most excited about in this patch is backpacks. These backpacks are additional attachments to your mech that may be things like:

• Active defense systems shooting down incoming projectiles
  
• Minelayers blocking key chokepoints
  
• Enormous missile launchers capable of leveling entire enemy bases

We hope they can serve as an exciting building block for your mech and bring interesting twists into your fights along with all the other features and changes in this patch. Good luck out there!

▲ - a buff was applied
▼ - a nerf was applied
⮂ - a tradeoff occurred
🦾 - a change was made based on community feedback

• Status effects are temporary states units can acquire from environment interactions, equipped items, special weapon damage and more.
  
• New status effects include:
  
  • Burning: The unit will be damaged over time until this status expires. Venting will ignite the surrounding area.
    
  • Charged: The unit will be damaged once the countdown reaches zero unless another unit passes nearby. A damaging electric arc strike approaching units, removing this status effect. Damaged units have a change to acquire this status, leading to chain damage.
    
  • Meltdown: The reactor core of this unit is melting down. Once the countdown reaches zero, the reactor will explode, destroying the unit.
    
  • Unstable: This unit is struggling to stay upright. It will crash from any collision, including those with units of lower mass. Further buildup of this status will lead to this unit crashing.
    
  • Venting: This unit is venting its reactor and will not take damage from overheating. Reactor temperatures can climb past the normal limit, necessitating a longer cooldown afterward.
• Units afflicted with negative status effects can remove them with a Stabilize action.
  
• Some status effects need to be built up to apply. For example, an incendiary weapon might apply +35% Burning buildup per hit, guaranteeing a Burning status effect after three hits in a quick succession.

• Changed some damage mechanics:
  
  • Removed the Stagger damage type. Melee weapons inflicting it will inflict the Unstable status effect build up instead.
    
  • Demoted heat damage to a secondary role. Heat continues to be applied by some incendiary weapons, but their primary effect was changed to Burning status buildup.
    
  • Fixed the environment damage not being applied in an appropriate radius, not being applied to most points in a large radius and not being scaled appropriately.
    
  • Fixed directional damage, distributed damage and splash damage not being split and scaled properly across mech parts.
• Adjusted the overheat mechanic:
  
  • Units have a new heat buffer stat in addition to the overheat threshold stat. Heat buffer can vary depending on reactor model and other items.
    
  • Heat can not exceed the sum of the overheat threshold and the buffer. A low buffer value allows the unit to immediately exit the overheated state as soon as heat generation ceases, while a high buffer value might lead to a unit lingering in the overheat state for some time. Some equipment and actions increase the heat buffer in exchange for other benefits.
    
  • In addition to damage over time, sustained overheating builds up the Burning status effect.
• Changed the weight class / stability mechanics:
  
  • Only the equipped body parts have an effect on the weight class of the unit, matching how heavier armor affects concussion resistance
    
  • A light mech holding an ultra-heavy weapon will no longer be considered as stable as a unit clad in heavy armor

• Added a new part type: backpacks. Can be acquired from boss fights and caches.
  
  • B-MP1: Mine launcher. A new area denial option similar to missile launchers. Can’t be locked onto units, must be fired at the environment. The proximity fuse is armed once the mine hits the ground and remains active for a few turns.
    
  • B-MP2: Lightweight minelayer. Deploys mines under the unit, trading launch capability for a more powerful explosive charge.
    
  • B-ML1: Compact vertical missile launcher
    
  • B-ML2: Heavy airburst missile launcher.
    
  • B-ML3: Ultra-heavy airburst missile launcher.
    
  • B-APS1 and B-APS2: Active defense systems. Unlock a new timeline action and status effect, attempting to shoot down any projectile approaching the mech. Susceptible to saturation attacks but effective against slow or limited projectiles.
• Added the equipment charge mechanic. Some equipment, such as backpacks above, can only be used a limited number of times per fight. Similarly to barriers, the charges are replenished before every deployment.

• Added new subsystems:
  
  • Heat Vents: Unlock the Venting timeline action. Utilizes the movement track, forcing the unit to stop but allowing overlap with attacks.
    
  • RX1 Furnace Reactor: An unusual reactor design sacrificing cooling capabilities for power output. Demands careful use: overheating this reactor will immediately set the mech on fire.
    
  • RX2 Dynamo: An unusual reactor design sacrificing electrical shielding for additional thrust and power output. Afflicts the mech with an electrical charge on every dash. Can be exploited as an additional damage source on short-range units.
    
  • RX3 Supernova: Experimental reactor design with record-breaking power output for its size. Has a chance to go critical in the event of a collision or overheating. The critical state can be prolonged with more collisions or overheating. It can also be fixed by venting excess heat through the dash thruster. Letting the reactor melt down will destroy the unit and lead to a powerful explosion.
    
  • DC1 Discharge Coil: Unlocks a timeline action converting excess heat to an electrical charge. Can be used offensively by approaching other units once charged.
    
  • Pilot Pods: Allow for customization of concussion resistance. The player can sacrifice pilot protection to improve mobility, or sacrifice some performance to improve pilot protection.
    
  • Safety Overrides: Boost weapon damage output by disabling some cooling systems. Increase maximum operating temperature, making it harder to cool down from sustained overheating.
    
  • Reactor Shunts: Reroute reactor power into equipped weapons, trading movement speed for increased damage output.
    
  • Booster Shunts: Reroute power from the thrusters into the weapon systems.
• Removed subsystems:
  
  • All offensive systems utilizing the targeted stat mechanic (collectively labeled sensors) have been removed from the game. The offensive slot can be fitted with 3 new subsystem types listed above, which apply a flat damage bonus to any equipped weapon with a variety of tradeoffs.
    
  • Destabilizing Payload & Thermal Payload: Removed due to stagger and heat damage being retired.
    
  • T9 Stable Reactor removed.
• Adjusted balance of some subsystems:
  
  • Large Payload: Reduced the environment damage radius bonus now that environment damage is applied correctly.
    
  • Concussive Payload: Slightly reduced the concussive damage bonus to better match the HP scales present in the game.
    
  • Demolition Payload: Slightly reduced the environment damage bonus now that environment damage is applied correctly.
    
  • Accelerator: Reduced the projectile speed bonus to prevent hit registration issues.
• Reduced the chances of higher tier equipment generating with customizable modules attached. The chance to find preinstalled modules can be customized in the difficulty settings (defaults to 50%).
  
• Rebalanced module hardpoint distribution in different armor sets, swapping some mobility, defensive and offensive module hardpoints.

• Added status effect buildup to some weapons:
  
  • All plasma weapons now build up the Charged status effect.
    
  • HGA Spark now builds up the Charged status effect and has new visuals.
    
  • HG2 Firestarter now builds up the Burning status effect and has new visuals.
    
  • BM3 Alpenglow now builds up the Burning status effect.
    
  • All incendiary weapons now build up the Burning status effect.
    
  • Blunt melee weapons now build up the Unstable status effect.
• Added a new incendiary assault rifle to complement existing incendiary weapons with their less predictable guided projectiles:
  
  • IR2 Pyroclast: High velocity incendiary repeater. Performance and range comparable to assault rifles.
• Adjusted weapons to make more options viable picks:
  
  • ▲ Handguns: Widened the optimal range band, reduced heat generation, increased some damage.
    
  • ▲ Submachine guns: Widened the optimal range band, reduced scatter and mass.
    
  • ▲ Machine guns: Reduced heat, shortened activation times, increased damage.
    
  • ▼ Ultra-heavy machine gun: slightly reduced maximum range, increased scatter, reduced concussion damage.
    
  • ▲ Beams: Reduced damage ramp-up times, action durations, increased rotation speed and damage.
    
  • ▲ Ultra-heavy beam: Reduced heat generation, increased unit damage.
    
  • ▼ SR1 Midway: Slightly increased activation time, scatter and per-shot damage.
    
  • ▲ SR3 Dice: Large increase to per-hit damage, reduced scatter, increased projectile speed.
    
  • ⮂ PLA Curve: Reduced projectile lifetime and tracking, making projectiles less likely to circle back after a miss.
    
  • ⮂ Primary missile launchers: Reduced concussion, rebalanced environment damage and damage radius.
    
  • ▲ Secondary missile launchers: Reduced heat generation, rebalanced environment damage and damage radius.
    
  • ⮂ MLS1 Oneshot: Reworked to make it a smaller unguided equivalent to ML1 Slug.
    
  • ▼ ML-X4 Scythe: Reduced missile speed.
    
  • ▼ AR2 Burst: increased mass, activation duration and heat generation, reduced damage and impact.
    
  • ▲ AR1 Astra: Decreased heat and activation duration. A more precise option with a higher rate of fire.
    
  • ▲ DC1 Cannon: Fixed rounds not detonating based on a proximity fuse.
• New descriptions added to a large number of weapons that had incorrect or missing descriptions.
  
• Fixed the visuals of some shields not matching to their intended role.

• 🦾 Added part and subsystem preview to the base workshop!
  
  • A preview will be displayed on selection of any workshop project.
    
  • The preview will not display exact randomized perks and modules (as they are different on every build), but will display the slots and their rating (e.g. uncommon torsos will show presence of a random uncommon perk).
• 🦾 Damage numbers will now be displayed while watching a replay!
  
• Added the heat threshold and maximum heat readouts to the combat timeline. Improved the heat prediction precision on the timeline, added display of overheat depth.
  
• Mech customization:
  
  • Added side-by-side item comparisons to the mech customization screen. Hovering over a potential replacement will move the equipped item window to the right, displaying the replacement in a new window.
    
  • Added a tooltip listing previously hidden stats such as damage bonuses, resistances and barrier regeneration rate.
    
  • Added support for displaying more subsystems in the part information window.
    
  • Added support for comparing installed subsystems.
    
  • Previewing parts in empty sockets will now update predicted unit stats.
    
  • Added support for comparing shields to weapons.
• Increased save limit to 60, improved performance of the save/load menu. The load screen no longer resets to the top when deleting a save.

• Increased the number of enemy units in the Garrison Sweep, Base Demolition, Cache and Assassination scenarios.
  
• Reworked the conventional tanks to improve balance & readability, provide a better source of loot and enable more interesting enemy squad compositions. The tanks are split into 3 weight classes: lightly armored, medium and heavily armored; each with sub variants covering 3 weapon range bands.
  
  • Light tanks move quickly, but are easy to destroy and only hold sidearm class weapons.
    
  • Medium tanks have average speed and protection. They are equipped with conventional AA and cannon turrets at short/long ranges, or an MG at medium range.
    
  • Heavy tanks have the lowest speed, but are equipped with dangerous primary weapons: mech shotguns, MGs and demolition cannons.
• Adjusted the squads in the army branch of the invasion forces to increase enemy count and improve variety.
  
• Altered escalation based squad scaling. Each escalation level upgrades half the squads to next grade.
  
  • No escalation: 100% standard squads.
    
  • Escalation 1: 50% veteran squads, 50% standard squads.
    
  • Escalation 2: 50% elite squads, 50% veteran squads.
    
  • Escalation 3: 100% elite squads.
• Adjusted escalation thresholds to make higher escalation levels easier to encounter (from 50/150/300 to 50/120/200).

• The mod folder (AppData/Local/PhantomBrigade/Mods) is now created on startup if not present.
  
• Any mod unpacked into the Mods folder is now loaded by default. There is no need to manually edit Settings/mods.yaml or manage the mod list before restarting the game for the installed mods to take effect.
  
• To block an installed mod from loading, click a checkbox next to its name in the Mods menu.
  
• To make troubleshooting and mod development easier, the game will display descriptive notifications if issues are encountered during mod loading.
  
• Game sessions with mods applied will display active mods in the top right corner of the main menu.
  
• Improved the mod menu. Added space for longer mod names, simplified the layout into one list, added auto-saving.
  
• Mod loading priority is now controlled by modders and is no longer exposed to players. Mod developers can set a “priority” field in metadata.yaml to control load order. This ensures that dependencies are loaded in the right order and can’t be accidentally misconfigured.

• Added a new boss battle music track.
  
• Added new footsteps for mechs in water.
  
• Adjusted convoy and patrol spawn logic to improve variety and balance the frequency of different encounters:
  
  • Convoys will no longer travel to destinations across the border of non-escalated provinces, resulting in faster convoy turnover.
    
  • Newly spawned patrols and convoys select a type that was absent in the province for longest, ensuring a balanced rotation of every type.
• Removed elite patrols from the second province.
  
• Reduced the bonus from Quick Loader perk.
  
• Locked minimum duration for a weapon to 0.6s.
  
• Removed the cache event from the game, cache objectives are now won by completing the combat encounter.
  
• Missiles can no longer be targeted outside their intended range (for example, the game will block an attempt to create an attack on a target 300m away if an equipped launcher only supports a 50-200m range).

• Fixed the ambush missions not providing workshop charges for higher tier victories.
  
• Removed concussion multiplier for hitting targets from behind when using weapons that deal splash damage.
  
• Fixed Growing Ranks event triggering repeatedly after first activation.
  
• Fixed some cases where a weapon could fire before it was properly aimed.
  
• Fixed some missiles being set to detonate further from target than intended, causing reduced damage.
  
• Fixed Armored patrols having unusual unit spawns at high escalations.
  
• Fixed beam weapons penetrating through boss sub-units.
  
• Fixed an issue that could cause escaping assassination targets to get stuck if they crash while waiting for pickup.
  
• Fixed an issue that could cause enemy units to spawn too close together in rare cases.
  
• Fixed base barrier regeneration being set too high causing most barrier modules to have no effect.
  
• Fixed ML-X4 Scythe having an unusually high scrap value.
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause destroyed parts to reduce incoming damage from AOE attacks.

• Added an accessibility option to reduce the intensity of some bright special effects such as muzzle flashes and lightning.
  
• Beam shader effects now get animated during replay.
  
• Improved rain effects: reduced aliased reflections from bright effects, optimized performance, rebalanced intensity at different weathers.
  
• Improved background vegetation on several maps.
  
• Fixed remaining instances of floating grass in corners of combat maps.

• Updated colors of concussion and impact damage numbers for consistency with mech customization screen.
  
• Fixed machine gun projects in the workshop using the SMG sprite.
  
• Fixed delayed fragmentation submunitions not being displayed in the shot count when inspecting weapons.
  
• Fixed some cases where comparing pieces of equipment would have incorrect coloring for positive/negative changes.
  
• Fixed Redback boss listing it’s side launchers as turrets.
  
• Fixed a rare case that could cause the game to get stuck during the overworld tutorial.

• Tanks can get pushed under the level while crashing, making them difficult to destroy
  
• All audio except for cutscene audio will sometimes not play.
  
• Tooltips can flow off the sides of the screen in some circumstances.
  
• Occasionally destroyed mechs are flung around the map after viewing replay mode.
  
• On launch, it seems audio is occasionally not playing on the main menu and in gameplay except for cutscenes. If you do encounter this please relaunch your game.
  
• There is a chance of the province liberation event being interrupted by other post-combat events, meaning the opportunity to participate in the parade is not given to the player when the province is won.
  
• Some events do not end correctly - this could be caused by playing with an older save file.
  
• Sometimes patrols can get stuck behind the mobile base without engaging in combat. This can be resolved by entering liberated territory briefly.
  
• Performance issues are common.

• ▲ Adjusted balance of beam weapons:
  
  • BM1 Sunswarm: Damage buildup reduced from 2 > 1 Turn rate limit reduced from 10.5 > 14
    
  • BM2 Glorydog: Damage buildup reduced from 8 > 2.3 Kinetic damage per second reduced from 420 > 360
    
  • BM3 Alpenglow: Damage buildup reduced from 2.8 > 1 Kinetic damage per second increased from 30 > 60, Added burn status application
    
  • UHB Solarburst: Damage buildup reduced from 1 > 0.5 Kinetic damage per second increased from 67 > 264 Impact damage per second increased from 942 > 1050 Heat generation reduced from 296 > 225 Duration reduced from 4s > 3.8s turn rate limit increased from 4 > 8
• ⮂ Adjusted balance of assault rifles:
  
  • AR1 Astra: Range adjusted from 42-74m > 32-77m Action duration reduced from 1.3s > 1.2s Kinetic damage per hit increased from 15 > 16 Impact damage per hit reduced from 15 > 10 Number of shots reduced from 13 > 12 Heat generation reduced from 105 > 90
    
  • AR2 Burst: Range adjusted from 31-57m > 24-60m Action duration increased from 0.8s > 1s Kinetic damage per hit decreased from 43 > 36 impact damage per hit decreased from 39 > 15 Number of shots increased from 5 > 6 Mass increased from 4 > 5 heat generation increased from 90 > 105
• ▲ Adjusted balance of machine guns:
  
  • MG3 Hurricane: Scatter reduced from 8-23 > 8-20 Duration increased from 1.9s > 2s, Kinetic damage per hit increased from 7 > 8 added Impact damage Mass reduced from 10 > 8 heat generation reduced from 140 > 130
    
  • MG1 Typhoon: Duration reduced from 2.5s > 2s Kinetic damage per hit increased from 7 > 8 Number of shots reduced from 40 > 35 Mass increased from 3 > 4 Heat generation reduced from 150 > 120
    
  • MG2 Torrent: Scatter reduced from 9-19 > 8-19 Range increased from 30-53 > 30-55 Duration reduced from 3 > 2.5 kinetic damage per hit increased from 10 > 12 Impact damage per hit increased from 5.7 > 8 Shots reduced from 35 > 30 heat generation reduced from 160 > 130
• ⮂ Adjusted balance of sniper rifles:
  
  • SR1 Midway: adjusted scatter from 4-13 > 3-15 Increased range from 87-125m > 88-133m Increased duration from 0.7 > 1 Decreased kinetic damage per hit from 125 > 110 Decreased concussion damage per hit from 8 > 7 Added small amount of impact damage
    
  • SR2 Lock: Increased scatter from 3-14 > 3-15 Reduced range from 94m-139m > 93m-137m reduced impact damage per hit from 80 > 25
    
  • SR3 Dice: Decreased scatter from 2-20 > 2-15 Increased range from 84m-132m > 93m-145m Increased duration from 0.7 > 0.9 Increased kinetic damage per hit from 120 > 200 increased concussion damage per hit from 5.1 > 9 decreased impact damage per hit from 100 > 70 increased mass from 4 > 5
• Adjusted balance of UHMG:
  
  • Scatter increased from 2-8 > 3-8 Optimal range reduced from 73-111 > 70-102 Reduced concussion damage per hit from 0.4 > 0.1
• ⮂ Missile launcher changes:
  
  • Guided missiles deal a bit more concussion damage, less impact damage
    
  • Unguided missiles deal a little less concussion damage, more impact damage
    
  • ML10 Starburst: concussion damage per missile reduced from 0.8 > 0.6 Impact damage per missile increased from 40 > 50 Range changed from 2-140m > 30-110m
    
  • ML1 Slug: concussion damage per missile reduced from 8.4 > 6 Impact damage per missile reduced from 130 > 80 Range changed from 93-277 > 72-164
    
  • ML6 Hornet: Concussion damage per missile increased from 1.5 > 2.3 impact damage per missile reduced from 50 > 40 Range changed from 2-200 > 46-138
    
  • ML3 Snail: Impact damage per missile reduced from 100 > 60 Range changed from 2-200 > 63-167
    
  • ML-X4 Scythe: Range changed from 2-250 > 62-158, Missile flight speed reduced
    
  • ML-X9 Hydra: Range changed from 93-277 > 72-168
    
  • MLS5 Direct: Impact damage per missile reduced from 65 > 35 range changed from 2-200 > 24-92 Heat generation reduced from 135 > 80
    
  • MLS1 Oneshot: Concussion damage per missile reduced from 6.3 > 4 Heat generation reduced from 130 > 90
    
  • MLS8 Cluster: Now fires unguided missiles heat generation reduced from 100 > 60
    
  • MLS5 Rapid: Concussion damage per missile increased from 1.3 > 2 Impact damage per missile reduced from 35 > 20 Number of shots reduced from 6 > 5 heat generation reduced from 130 > 100
• ▲ Adjusted balance of secondary weapons:
  
  • HGA Spark: Range adjusted from 24m-38m > 12m-45m Added charged status application heat generation reduced from 90 > 80
    
  • HG1 Granite: Range adjusted from 46m-62m > 11m-38m Kinetic damage per hit increased from 15 > 30 heat generation reduced from 90 > 80
    
  • HG2 Firestarter: Scatter reduced from 15 > 6 Range adjusted from 27m-39m > 12m-42m kinetic damage per hit reduced from 15 > 10 Impact damage per hit reduced from 150 > 40 Added burn status application Increased shots from 2 > 4 reduced heat generation from 90 > 80
    
  • HGS Stand: Range adjusted from 26m-42m > 12m > 42m heat generation reduced from 105 > 95
    
  • SMG1 Tactical: Scatter adjusted from 17 > 12-15 Range adjusted from 17m-30m > 14m-38m mass increased from 2 > 2.2
    
  • SMG1 Mobile: Scatter increased from 6 > 7-8 Range reduced from 30m-53m > 17m-47m mass reduced from 2 > 1.8
• ⮂ Adjusted armor module slots:
  
  • Arrow L: Torso = Mobility Legs = Mobility Arms = Defensive
    
  • Arrow M: Torso = Mobility
    
  • Knox L: Torso = Defensive Legs = Defensive
    
  • Knox M: Arms = Defensive
    
  • Knox H Arms = Defensive
    
  • Hakobu: Torso = Defensive Legs = mobility
    
  • Tsubasa: Legs = mobility Arms - offensive
    
  • Bein: Torso = offensive Legs = offensive arms = offensive
    
  • Blackbird: Legs = defensive arms = defensive
    
  • Elbrus: Legs = Mobility + Defensive
    
  • Helge: Torso = Defensive
    
  • Asgard: Legs = offensive
    
  • Vidar: Torso = Defensive Legs = defensive arms = defensive

▲ - a buff was applied
▼ - a nerf was applied
⮂ - a tradeoff occurred
🦾 - a change was made based on community feedback

• 🦾 Adjusted contest mechanics to make raiding more straightforward. Escalation increase over time can no longer progress to a next level: only winning a fight can progress the escalation meter further. Players can avoid the contest state or higher escalation by leaving a province, with no time limit.
  
• 🦾 Added more information to overworld UI. Selected POI will display escalation increase after combat, making it easier to choose safe targets while raiding. During province contest, the game will additionally display faction strength changes.
  
• 🦾 Added a difficulty setting for Home Guard strength decay during province contest. The decay can be disabled entirely. Note: battle sites will not spawn if the decay is disabled and Home Guard score remains above 90%.
  
• 🦾Added hint that spacebar can be used to skip dialogue
  
• Added text hint for how to multi-select in the inventory screen
  
• Items can be marked as "favorite" with a new button, making it easier to track your favorite loot in inventory.

• ▼ Reduced the per-missile damage of the Scythe ML (75 > 45), increased heat generation (130 > 140)
  
• ▼ Reduced the total damage of the Hydra ML (160 > 140).
  
• ▲Increased the leading factor for friendly units, slightly improving accuracy of player attacks
  
• ▼Locked level upgrading on boss reward weapons

• Improved the visuals of Shieldbearer and Frigate bosses
  
• Improved the boss weapon visuals
  
• Added new destruction effects to the Shieldbearer boss shields
  
• Improved the camera animation at the start of boss battles
  
• Improved background detail and prop placements on a number of new maps
  
• Fixed floating grass appearing in the corner of every combat encounter
  
• Fixed explosion effects not appearing on some of the background vehicles
  
• Fixed the smoke effects on boss part destruction sticking around for multiple turns
  
• Fixed missing distant sun shadows, improved distant shadow quality

• Fixed the Hydra ML randomly targeting units in all directions instead of prioritizing targets ahead of it
  
• Fixed missiles fired from the rear launcher on boss units not being accurately predicted during planning
  
• Fixed missing translations to the message log button tooltips
  
• Fixed missing localization for the overworld boss tutorial
  
• Fixed planned actions being deleted from the timeline after a unit recovers from a cross-turn crashing state
  
• Fixed the "Token of Appreciation" event triggering at sites other than civilian settlements
  
• Fixed mech frame salvage causing combat units to remain active in player saves.
  
• Fixed the game failing to enter combat at radio station sites.
  
• Fixed missing tooltip on the Home Guard strength progress bar during province contests.
  
• Fixed the original level of parts not being loaded from saves, enabling unlimited level upgrading.
  
• Fixed an issue in the database system that led to some config mods failing to load
  
• Fixed the game failing to load configs with tags introduced through mod libraries
  
• Fixed cargo units sometimes spawning next to their retreat zones
  
• Fixed mislabeled side launchers on the Redback frigate boss

Hello Brigadiers! I hope you're ready for what's in store for patch 1.2.0. We have a whole bunch of updates to show you, but the star of this update is BOSS BATTLES. Take on these massive constructs to liberate a province and gain unique rewards!

With this update, while older saves will continue to load, we recommend starting a new campaign to take advantage of loot offered by bosses in every province. Older saves will preserve fully liberated provinces, units, pilots, and parts, but all parts will be regenerated, potentially altering perks. All quests and base memory will also be reset.

Without further ado, let's get into the details!

▲ - a buff was applied
▼ - a nerf was applied
⮂ - a tradeoff occurred
🦾 - a change was made based on community feedback

• You now need to defeat a massive enemy boss to liberate a province.
  
  • Provinces host different bosses, revealed once you deplete the enemy war score.
    
  • The bosses possess unique weapons and abilities, such as air strikes, split missile barrages that circle cover, proximity fuse cannons, and shockwaves that crash units that get too close.
    
  • Mech weapons based on some of the boss armaments are available as rewards upon victory.
• Allied war score is slowly drained, preventing an indefinite contest state.
  
  • Losing at battle sites or letting their timer run out depletes the allied war score further. Winning at battle sites restores a small amount of the allied score, preventing an unwinnable contest state.
    
  • Battle sites no longer spawn at high allied war scores.
• Provinces are contested automatically.
  
  • You no longer need to press a button to stop raiding. Contesting will now happen automatically when the province escalation increases to 1 (only one province can be in a contested state at a time).
    
  • Raiding is still possible, but you need to be careful about your targets. Attacking enemy convoys has a low effect on escalation while an attack on an enemy base will provoke a more significant escalation increase.
    
  • Updated contest UI will guide you through all the steps of liberating a province.
• Patrols and convoys will no longer get designated as priority objectives during war states, increasing the variety of designated objective encounters. Repetitive bases no longer spawn when all enemy military sites are liberated.

• Convoys:
  
  • Ambush (new): Intercept enemy tanks or mechs carrying cargo before they escape to a retreat zone. Rewards scale based on the number of units you intercept.
    
  • Raid (changed): Prevent enemy aircraft from taking away the cargo. Disrupt their approach by staying close to targets. The scenario can no longer be completed by simply eliminating every guard and ignoring the objectives.
    
  • Assassination (new): Eliminate a high-ranking enemy officer, but expect complications: targets like these might try to escape or have something up their sleeve.
• Patrols:
  
  • Mobile Base Defense: The mobile base gets disabled by the patrol. Defend it from waves of drones or cruise missiles while the techs work to get it back up and running for a quick escape.
    
  • Elimination & Blitz (changed): Combined into one scenario group with several variations. Deal with spotters guiding air support or unexpected reinforcements.
• Military bases:
  
  • Demolition (new): Damage as many structures as possible before time runs out, avoiding constant enemy reinforcements.
• Settlements:
  
  • Liberation (changed). Take out the enemy squads while minimizing damage to civilian structures. The scenario no longer involves defending a few isolated buildings.

• New airbase map (encountered with military POIs)
  
• New farm map & 2 new natural terrain maps (encountered with convoy, patrol, farm POIs)
  
• 4 new boss facility maps (encountered in boss fights)
  
• Some of the maps include bodies of water cooling down the units entering them.

• New armor set, Hakobu: a specialized light armor preferred by the logistic corps of the invasion forces. Rewarded from the higher tier objectives in the convoy ambush scenarios.
  
• New weapons rewarded after boss fights:
  
  • ML-X4 Scythe: Experimental missile launcher. Pincer trajectory allows missiles to bypass cover.
    
  • ML-X9 Hydra: Experimental missile launcher. Splits shortly after launch, releasing a swarm of missiles independently selecting targets.
    
  • AR-X4 Prism: Experimental auto rifle. Each round packs a small amount of solid propellant, enabling a mid-flight course correction.

• 🦾 New tutorial step: At the end of the tutorial players will be shown the workshop and how to construct mech frames. Quick-started games will now begin with a 3rd mech frame under construction.
  
• 🦾 Added ability to view the replay for the final turn of combat. Most of the combat UI now remains available after the final turn.
  
• 🦾 Improved prediction to also include more information about moment-to-moment dangers in the upcoming turn. This includes holograms for upcoming splash damage zones, projectiles with direct flight paths, and guided projectiles with indirect flight paths (the latter gets an approximate prediction focused on arrival time, not a full simulation). The prediction can be disabled in the options menu.
  
• Added an event log to combat. All comms messages and unit updates are kept in a log on the top left of the screen. You can adjust which messages are displayed at any time. It can be disabled from the options menu.
  
• Added new gameplay options:
  
  • 🦾 Time from paths - this will allow you to select if hovering over a unit path will scrub the timeline to that point. You can either set this feature off, to only affect selected units or to always be on by default (how it worked before). This can help in busy scenarios with multiple intersecting paths.
    
  • 🦾 Reset time on inactivity - This can be toggled on or off. When on, after a short period of inactivity, the timeline will reset from scrubbing.
    
  • 🦾 Always show target details - This can be toggled on or off. When on, the targeting details that usually only appear while holding CTRL will always be displayed.
    
  • Show Damage Numbers - This can be toggled on or off (on by default). When on, damage numbers appear above units when they get hit.
    
  • Show Event Log - This can be toggled on or off (on by default). When on, the event log will be available in the top left during combat.
    
  • Display Attack Cones - This can be toggled on or off (on by default). When on, it will display effective range and scatter of unit attacks in an upcoming turn.
• Improved visibility of weapon range indicators.
  
  • Improved the scanning indicator with an animation to better differentiate it from a weapon range indicator.
• Updated the briefing screen to present mission information in a more focused and readable manner.
  
  • Adjusted the layout to accommodate more hints about the battle ahead. Reviewed and updated a number of hints to reflect current game mechanics.
    
  • Improved mission descriptions to reflect the actual content of the encounters. Added hints about whether that has an impact on unit performance.
    
  • Removed the imprecise difficulty prediction. Relocated squad editing to the second briefing screen.
• Added detailed tooltips to difficulty settings.
  
• Added a difficulty setting for salvage drop chance. The setting defaults to 100%. Lowering this value makes the game harder, randomly discarding parts too damaged to be reused; preventing salvage of entire armor sets from a single enemy mech.
  
• Unit tabs in the combat timeline UI will now display the assigned role icon. This includes player units. You can edit the role icon of your unit by clicking the button to the left of the unit name field in the customization screen.
  
• Units that are targets of scenario objectives are now highlighted in the combat timeline UI, separated into a new tab group. These units are additionally highlighted in-world with a yellow targeting bracket.
  
• Improved the display of countdowns, block destruction, and other counter-based objectives in the combat scenario UI.
  
• Improved highlighting of building objectives such as turret generators in combat. A 3D frame around the targeted building now accompanies these objectives. Clicking the objective in the list will now focus the camera on the building.
  
• 🦾 Added support for rebinding the key hiding the UI.
  
• Thrusters are now available to all mechs, including mechs with common quality torsos.
  
• Improved the dash action, making it break missile lock with greater precision and adding visual effects highlighting successful disruption. Disruption now diverts missiles a certain distance opposite the dash direction, making dashes effective against missiles even for units with lower dash range.

• Improved vegetation rendering to reduce visual noise and improve blending with terrain. Improved some vegetation models.
  
• Fights at high elevation have a chance to take place with snow on the ground and snow replacing rain.
  
• Improved how all transparent effects render against fog and sky. Low angle shots of smoke, explosions, missile trails etc. now render correctly. Moon, stars and the debris ring are now properly visible in the sky.
  
• Improved beam reflection mechanics. Powerful beam attacks are now harder to deflect. It is no longer possible to reflect a beam 180 degrees straight back at the attacker.
  
• Added a way to upgrade your equipment level. If your workshop level (increased based on the average level of your squad equipment) is higher than the level of a given part, you can upgrade its level.
  
  • Visit the inventory and select the part you'd like to upgrade. The upgrade button will be available above the level readout.
    
  • The upgrade costs resources based on the quality of the item. The costs increase exponentially depending on the number of times you upgraded a given item. An item can only be upgraded up to 3 times. Check the tooltip for the breakdown of these details.

• 🦾 Reworked the timeline action dragging based on community suggestions. Dragging actions on the timeline no longer triggers crashes under certain conditions and no longer allows you to break the upper limit on action start time. Dragging actions have improved performance.
  
• 🦾 Added generators to all military bases. Garrison sweep scenarios will now allow for destroying generators to disable turrets.
  
• 🦾 Fixed the PLS Curve being very difficult to score hits with
  
• Fixed missing alarm towers on all maps utilizing them (settlements & military bases).
  
• Fixed saving and loading the game with 0 liquid fix refilling liquid fix.
  
• Fixed scatter increases from movement not getting correctly applied to weapons that can have variable scatter.
  
• Fixed reflecting beam damage with shields still applying damage to the mech and not just the shield.
  
• Fixed the enemy mechs receiving mixed armor sets. Every enemy now generates one consistent armor set per unit.
  
• Fixed a bug causing incorrect placement of objectives and enemies relative to the player squad when entering combat.
  
• Fixed patrol reinforcements appearing in some scenarios they were incompatible with.
  
• Fixed mechs and tanks being unable to aim up or down in some circumstances.
  
• Fixed mechs not aiming to the right point when using certain weapons.
  
• Fixed guided projectiles causing memory allocations every time a new projectile was created.
  
• Fixed area of effect explosions failing to detect more than 10 targets at a time.
  
• Fixed area-of-effect explosions being able to apply orders of magnitude more damage depending on a number of intersecting targets.
  
• Fixed some projectile effects being unnecessarily split into multiple pools, increasing memory use and leading to lower maximum number of visible projectiles.
  
• Fixed the unit targeting mode getting stuck on the first hovered unit in certain circumstances.
  
• Fixed excessive fog in the prequel tutorial mission.
  
• Fixed projectiles with proximity fuses not detonating on approach to secondary targets.
  
• Fixed automatic victory (on the elimination of all enemies) and defeat (on the elimination of all player units) conflicting with mission objectives, e.g. a victory occurring despite spawned reinforcements.
  
• Fixed ability to clear input bindings for critical actions, locking up the game (keyboard confirm/cancel and primary/secondary mouse click). Attempts to clear these actions would be ignored.
  
• Fixed player mechs not targeting elevated tanks in the folded state.
  
• Fixed movement scatter disappearing from weapons if certain operations were performed during mech customization.
  
• Fixed exit from unit editing not bringing you back to the squad briefing screen
  
• Fixed some overworld events repeatedly triggering
  
• Fixed cases where units could not be inspected or targeted in combat despite the overlay UI suggesting otherwise
  
• Fixed the difficulty settings not being applied upon starting a new campaign.
  
• Fixed the player units not being controllable in the concussion tutorial in certain cases.
  
• Fixed localized mods always loading the last language.
  
• Fixed missiles overestimating the speed of their targets, leading to overshooting.
  
• Fixed missiles occasionally targeting a point behind the launcher, leading to them spinning out of control.
  
• Fixed salvaged mech frames being stuck in repaired state.
  
• Fixed units randomly crashing when part of a level was destroyed anywhere on the map.

• Fixed close combat squads sometimes featuring load-outs that were geared towards long-range combat
  
• 🦾 Fixed the pilot pod being positioned incorrectly on the Elbrus armor set.
  
• Fixed the ore decals being rendered incorrectly, interfering with collision prediction visuals, grass, and some effects.
  
• Fixed the turrets spawning with a pilot inside.
  
• Fixed weapons firing sideways in cases where the barrel wasn't aligned to the target direction.
  
• Fixed several unused or misconfigured units having a low chance of spawning in generic enemy squads
  
• Fixed terrain smearing past the playable area when TAA or motion blur is enabled.
  
• Fixed glass and water appearing through the fog.
  
• Fixed hidden, escaped, or intact enemy units being available for salvage.
  
• Fixed level damage not being reset properly when loading a briefing save and re-entering combat.
  
• Fixed battle sites awarding reputation when Home Guard units die.
  
• Fixed tanks in the prequel scenario appearing too early.
  
• Fixed enemy tanks not properly displaying their livery colors.
  
• Fixed destroyed units not allowing damage to pass through.
  
• Fixed retreated units being able to execute actions.
  
• Fixed combat dialog continuing to affect audio after combat is concluded.
  
• Fixed a number of issues in the second tutorial scenario, restoring missing dialog, clarifying objectives, and preventing early victory.

• 🦾 Fixed ability to get negative scatter values on weapons.
  
• Moved the Replay button above the Execute button to fix issues with overflow in localizations and overlap with other UI elements.
  
• Fixed using the mouse wheel to scroll the upgrade screen moving the camera diagonally instead of up/down.
  
• Fixed ability to bind multiple actions to the same key.
  
• Fixed scenarios incorrectly stating that you cannot retreat from a battle site.
  
• Fixed rare rounding error that led to mech parts sometimes appearing destroyed in the UI when they still had 1 HP left.
  
• Fixed text on time control UI during combat being misaligned in some localizations.
  
• Fixed stagger value being shown as a percentage in turn summary.
  
• Fixed Radio for help tooltip stating that reputation would be re-gained if home guard units survived.
  
• Fixed blur effect not applying correctly on ultra-wide monitors
  
• 🦾 Fixed clicking on the parent part of a module closing the info window for the parent part after selecting a module.
  
• Fixed the subsystems appearing instead of parts when filtering options during mech customization after a prior visit to the inventory screen.
  
• Fixed the unit path indicators becoming obscured by transparent surfaces.
  
• Fixed outlines not appearing in some contexts when hovering over units in combat.
  
• Fixed blurry texture filtering on roads in combat maps.
  
• Fixed salvage screen rarity holograms being incorrectly rotated on some armor pieces.
  
• Fixed the action bar in the prequel scenario not appearing in the timeline tutorial if the preceding dialog was skipped.
  
• Fixed action cooldowns not updating when customizing player mechs.
  
• Fixed hover over dash actions failing to display appropriate range preview.
  
• Fixed clicking on a selected item a second time closing its info card.
  
• Fixed info banners on equipment that display if it is an upgrade/new in salvage screen ignoring anything currently equipped to mechs.
  
• Fixed the battle-site timer in the initial tutorial not being synched to the objective timer on the overworld.
  
• Fixed enemy pilots in the capital battle all being listed as Trainees.

• All audio except for cutscene audio will sometimes not play.
  
• Tooltips can flow off the sides of the screen in some circumstances.
  
• Occasionally destroyed mechs are flung around the map after viewing replay mode.
  
• On launch, it seems audio is occasionally not playing on the main menu and in gameplay except for cutscenes. If you do encounter this please relaunch your game.
  
• There is a chance of the province liberation event being interrupted by other post-combat events, meaning the opportunity to participate in the parade is not given to the player when the province is won.
  
• Some events do not end correctly - this could be caused by playing with an older save file.
  
• Sometimes patrols can get stuck behind the mobile base without engaging in combat. This can be resolved by entering liberated territory briefly.
  
• Performance issues are common.

Hey Brigadiers,

We wanted to drop in with a quick developer update before the holidays. If you've been around the Steam forums over the last few months, you probably saw mention that we're hard at work on a big update for 1.2.

We are happy to report that most of the changes targeted for 1.2 are complete, and we’re now working on stabilizing and polishing the experience. We were originally hoping to have it ready before the year was out, but we'd like a little more time to cook, so instead we're aiming for a release window in January.


Before we jump into the details, I just want to say that we’ve been giving some regular updates on our progress over in the Brace Yourself Games Discord[discord.gg]. If you haven’t joined yet, we would love to see you there!


Now onto the juicy stuff! We took your feedback to heart and prioritized addressing one of the most common notes: combat variety. We’ve worked hard to improve on that front, making new locations, scenarios, and systems allowing for greater variety. Now that we’re in the polish stage, here’s an overview of what you can expect:

• New mission types attached to commonly encountered entities such as convoys, patrols, and military bases.
  
• New combat maps attached to commonly encountered location types.
  
• Streamlined contest mechanics preventing an indefinite raiding state and deprioritizing repetitive patrol encounters.
  
• New special encounters you'll need to complete to finish province liberation.
  
• By popular request, an ability to replay the last turn of combat encounters.
  
• Projectile prediction system helping you foresee and evade individual shots before they happen.
  
• A new way to upgrade your favorite equipment to a higher level.
  
• And more!

Thank you all so much for your patience, and happy holidays! We look forward to sharing more soon!


Uh oh, looks like the mobile base is in danger!
What is this large anomaly on the briefing map?
Yikes, that’s a lot of things to dodge.
Something looms in the distance.
Is that water? I wonder if that can help you cool off…
Take cover!

Hey Brigadiers! Just putting out a quick hotfix for you modders out there.

• Fixed an issue that caused mods that had config edits and UI sprites to crash the game with a black screen on start up

• All audio except for cutscene audio will sometimes not play
  
• Tooltips can flow off the sides of the screen in some circumstances
  
• Occasionally destroyed mechs are flung around the map after viewing replay mode
  
• On launch, it seems audio is occasionally not playing on the main menu and in gameplay except for cutscenes. If you do encounter this please relaunch your game
  
• There is a chance of the province liberation event being interrupted by other post combat events, meaning the opportunity to participate in the parade is not given to the player when the province is won
  
• Some events do not end correctly - this could be caused by playing with an older save file
  
• Sometimes patrols can get stuck behind the mobile base without engaging in combat. This can be resolved by entering liberated territory briefly
  
• Many maps that contain turrets do not also have generator buildings - turrets must be manually destroyed on these maps
  
• Performance issues are common