SteamDB Unknown App 2094560 update for 14 September 2022

Update #23 continues to expand the scope of play and progression with a new playtest level and addition of Trait mutation system. We've also expanded the

Update #23 does not require that you wipe your previous saved games. As we add more and more content to the game, this will only be more and more important to stick to as your groups survive longer and start to form into teams you don't want to lose.

Playtest Security Gauntlet

With this update, we've added one new level to the playtest set - the Security Gauntlet. This level will usually be a first stage to penetrate a high-security facility or a mid-heist stage as you approach a major objective area. The security gauntlet is an area mostly protected by a net of security devices that will test your puzzling skills. Beware, there are guards nearby even if they aren't marching through the main hall often.

Let us know your feedback on how the level plays in our Discord!

Trait Progression

Update #23 rolls out the Trait mutation system, an evolution of the system we crafted for Star Traders: Frontiers but with a definite focus on a delivering a compelling experience for a smaller squad. Your character's Traits come from their backstory, events in their life, wounds and from choices they make in the stories they are involved in.

Throughout each merc's career, events and story choices will increase two separate scores -- their Stress and Loyalty (we need a better term here). For example, participating in a mission that ends in loss or victory will increase either score, and Legwork success and failure will have similar effects. Taking major wounds on the battlefield or being downed also increase Stress. As we fill in this system, additional events will add points -- being on a mission where another merc dies, or the loss of a friend or family member will spike Stress. Storylines will also have ever-present impacts on merc's Stress and Loyalty scores.

When these scores get high enough (around 7/10) they can cause a Trait mutation. Every Trait comes with up to 4 levels and their level may be changed by the mutation types. For example, a negative mutation may reduce the level of a good Trait or increase the level of a negative Trait.

This system will allow us to keep a lesser number of Traits on mercs while amplifying their impact -- and the impact of game events -- on those Traits.

Enemy Patrollers

With Update #23, we fixed a major balance issue where Guard Captains -- with Armor and big HP -- we appearing far too often as regular patrollers. This bloated the difficulty of the stealth side of the game and made executing and moving quietly much harder. We've rebalanced their spawn chances to even out patrolling and make it clear their position as leaders of reinforcement squads.

Character Visuals

We've added a pile of new face, hair and beard options with Update #23 -- in total 4 new faces, 6 new haircuts and 1 new beard. We've also started filling in the options for adjusting your character's eyes. You can now select Natural Eyes or Glowing which is the first of a set of cool contact or cyberware options that you'll be able to toggle through.

The visual designer is getting to a point where it feels like we need some better controls -- letting you zoom and rotate to really get a better look at your style. We'll be working on that soon!

Weapon Updates

The project to rebalance, further differentiate and improve weapons and their weapon modes is making incremental progress with each release. in this update, we've smoothed out some of the over-complicated stats in the weapons block to focus more on weapon's special properties.

Weapons have a lot of numbers! Where possible, we're simplifying a few things. First up, we've moved a weapon's Max Range up into its global properties and removed it from being a mode-specific value. If you're firing Burst Fire or Full Auto, the weapon always has the same Max Range, though its Optimal Range may shift. We've also reduced the complexity of the Recoil stats, instead of having a variable range (2-10 or 4-10 or 6-10 ... too many values) we've simplified the value to a single Recoil stat (10). When firing, a weapon will always generate a recoil amount up to 75%-100% of its Recoil value (7-10 in this example).

We fixed a bug where the currently selected weapon in the store or inventory always showed Noise of NA -- oops!

This update has adjusted a few of the special rule tags. For melee weapons, what was 2 special rules before (IO-Batt and Conduit) we've now merged them into a single Charged special rule. If a character is not a trained Cybersword, they gain a special Charged Attack Talent. Getting Conduit out of this set of names was very helpful! Finally, two special rules have been added to differentiate weapons that have high Crit Dmg and Stealth Crit Dmg. Weapons that get extra Stealth Crit Dmg have the Stealth Kill special rule (Pistols, Blades, Snipers) and those that have elevated Crit Dmg (Sluggers, Snipers) have the Heavy Hit rule.

Hitbox Tuning

As Cyber Knights is heavily based on the checking sight lines and checking against the true geometry of objects -- the tuning of hitboxes is going to be an on-going quality of life and area of improvement.
We fixed a bevy of things in this area with this update:

• Further improved objective areas where the whole team needs to be in the box. This is the third round of improvements and we believe we've finally put this one and all its bugs to bed.
• Fixed an issue where you could trip a lazer wire without actually crossing it -- you simply got too close!
• Improved hover hitboxes for security so they are always easy to hover over
• Fixed bug where enemies might see a crouching character under a raised platform in a way that made no sense.
• Fixed some bugs where enemies might spawn inside walls, fences or doors

Performance Tweak

With Update #23, we reduced the CPU load for having animated characters on the map. This should help in cases where the enemy/player count was getting high.

v0.6.33 - 9/14/2022

• Added new playtest level - Security Gauntlet, a security-device focused puzzle
• Traits now mutate positively and negatively as Stress / Loyalty reach 6+
• Mission victory and defeat, getting Downed, Legwork success and defeat affect Stress / Loyalty scores
• Fixed issue where Guard Captain was spawning into starting patrol spots too often making levels extra difficult
• Fixed bug with Item Store not selling
• Tattoos now correctly appear in character visual designer and during gameplay
• Added 2 new feminine and 2 new masculine faces
• Added 3 new feminine and 3 new masculine hairstyles
• Added 1 new beard
• Added ability to change natural eyes to glowing eyes
• Weapon Max Range upgraded to global weapon property, not variable between firing modes
• Fixed bug with current weapon Noise always displaying “NA”
• Compressed Melee weapon special rules IO-Batt and Conduit into single “Charged” special rule
• Weapons granting additional Stealth Critical Dmg when Crit Hit vs surprised targets have “Stealth Kill” special rule (+50% Crit Dmg on Surprised target)
• Weapons with Crit Dmg above regular +100% have “Heavy Hit” special rule (+50% Crit Dmg)
• Simplified Recoil Rate stat to be a single value (10) instead of a range (4-10)
• Improved placement of spawning enemies, fixed issues with enemies sometimes spawning inside doorframes
• Fixed issues where Security Devices were hard to hover (hitboxes were small or oddly placed)
• Fixed bug where sometimes characters would aim at the floor when they should be aiming flat or only somewhat down
• Fixed bug that could prevent successful exit from Leverage Drop L1 if you ran too close to the exit doors
• Fixed bug where a trip wire could detect you if you simply got too close to it
• Fixed enemy incorrectly spotting players under platforms in levels like Undercutter or Leverage Drop L1
• Improved performance when total number of animated characters on map was getting high