Welcome new Knights! The Gunslinger's 34% off sale is stll raging, so let's celebrate with a new weekly map release! In Update #174, we're releasing our 3rd map in the weekly series - the sprawling and fortified Decommissioned Core. We've also completed some key rebalancing to Safehouse Tokens and Simstream Trainer Stress, fix bugs with Proximity Mines sometimes not going boom(!), fixed Gunslinger bugs with Gun Kata, Twin Irons and Cover Me, improved the matrix program HUD and more. It's a lot, so let's get digging in to the details.
But before we do, we'll remind you to please consider taking a moment to leave a review on CKF. We're a small team working hard to improve constantly (near daily!?) and if you think this is an awesome Early Access or are just enjoying the game, please share that with a reviewːsteamhappyː
New Map: Decommissioned Core
It is now Week 3 of our new Weekly Map Release schedule and we're here to deliver again. The Decommissioned Core is a big research facility, with multiple wings, lots of cool routing options and copious entry and exit points and an extended heist space that will push you to make the call to stay a little longer and take the risk or get out with what we have.
The Core offers 5 new the proc-gen combos (map X objective) and brings the grand total of proc-gen objectives to the total to 67 proc-gen combos and represents another 12% increase in map variety. When we set out in Early Access to enable the proc-gen system, we aimed to get to 80 combos and now it is looking like we will blow past that in the next week weeks along.
This Weekly New Map challenge has been chugging along and we're excited to hit the first 3 milestones. We certainly are going to have some misses, especially around the holidays, but it is rapidly expanding the mission map set and combo options (going from 48 to 67 in 3 weeks!).
Safehouse Token and Rule Balancing
With Update #174, we've made some neccessary changes to some of the balance of Safehouse tokens and the rules around the Simstream Trainer's generation of Stress.
- Tokens from the Underworld Hub are less effective at raise Legwork success chance %. The bonuses have been trimmed by small amounts (5-10%) and will help keep your base Legwork % chance important.
- Tokens from the Counter-Intel Pod are less effective at wiping out Heat. The reductions have dropped by 5-10 points in the middle and late tiers and help ensure that Heat is not always something you can simply blow off with Tokens instantly.
- Every time a merc is put into the Simstream Trainer, they gain +10% Stress, no matter how many missions you run during their time in the pod. This creates incentive to run as many missions as possible to get the best XP to Stress ratio for your merc. We've adjusted the rule for the +10% Stress to take Stress Res into account, so that mercs who have high (or low!) chance to resist Stress will fare better with the Simstream.
Proximity Mine Fixes
We fixed a set of bugs around proximity mines where they might not explode if you moved through their range quickly enough or a short enough distance. Now they are on a hair trigger and will detonate no matter what if you tread across their line. The only thing that blocks their boom-boom is if a proper wall (something you can't throw a grenade over) is between you and the mine - then they will not fire until you are in direct proximity.
Gunslinger Bugs
We've resolved 2 big issues with the Gunslinger. First, Gun Kata and Twin Irons could lock the game up or leave "hanging pistols" in the air in a number of different circumstances, such as switching weapons while either Talent was selected. This is now resolved, and the dual weapon attack Talents should be safe to use in all cases.
Second, the Gunslinger's Cover Me Talent was still reporting "You will be shot" even if you were using it through an Overwatch cone. That's clearly the point ... you won't be shot. So we've suppressed the movement alert correctly.
Matrix HUD - Program Shows IO Size
We've made a very nice improvement - thanks community F10s! - to the Matrix Program hover. You can now clearly see the program size required for a program in the hover. It is also displayed in the left corner with your deck's action bars but it is nice to see the clear and simple number over each Program without having to do any fancy thinking or math ːsteamhappyː
Spacebar or (A) Sweep
We're working through screens where it is more comfortable to just use spacebar or (A) -- the default UI submit -- for things. This now includes the Load Game screen (now fixed) as well as the pause menus for both mid-mission and safehouse, allowing you to load a game from the list once it is selected using the spacebar or (A). There are lingering places where Enter or Right Trigger are required to activate the primary function of the screen, and we're now on a slow but steady quest to figure out ways to reduce those throughout the game where it is not needed.
Controller and Font Scaling
We've continued address minor bugs around controllers and font scaling. We fixed the Sec Level in the HUD breaking at +25% Font Scale once it reaches 10, we fixed issues in the NanoFab where hitting 10 Red Cubes would move the buttons slightly and make your clicks miss and we fixed an issue with the chat bubbles in the safehouse being navigable which messed up moving around rooms on controllers.
A huge thanks to everyone who is feeding us a constant stream of polish suggestions - I hope you can see that we are using them!
v1.9.11 - #174: - 11/12/2024
- Added new proc-gen map "Decommissioned Core": a fortified but decommissioned, research and development site that supports +5 new proc-gen combos (Heist a CPU, Steal 3 Files, Scavenger, Kill 3 Captains, Bodyguard!)
- Counter-Intel Pod Heat Reduction Tokens reduce less Heat (10/20/25/30/35/40)
- Underworld Hub Legwork Boost Tokens add lower bonus (10/20/25/30/35)
- Stress Res now applies to the Stress added by SimStream Traier - you have a chance to resist it
- Fixed bug where Proximity mine would not go off if you crossed through it just a bit - now only Walls prevent prox-mine boom
- Program Size for IO / Active Memory is shown in Matrix Program/Talent bar on hover
- Gunslinger: Fixed bug where Cover Me Talent would still warn "You will be shot" from Overwatch threat
- Gunslinger: Fixed bug where swapping weapons with Twin Irons or Gun Kata active could cause game lock
- Restored spacebar or (A) to load game from main menu, also now select and then spacebar or (A) to load from game pause menus
- Chat bubbles over characters in the safehouse no longer interrupt d-pad navigation of the safehouse rooms
- Fixed bug in NanoFab where the -/+ buttons to change cube counts could move when cube count went from 9 to 10
- Improved camera transition to / from rooms or missions in the safehouse
- Fixed issue with Sec Level in top right of HUD not doing well under +25% Font Scale
- Fixed issue with not being able to select hacker sometimes in the mission deployment screen