Another update is coming down the pipe to New Boston streets - and this one lands with a new Scourge recruit in the Underworld Hub, a big buff to Soldier's Plaster-Cross Talent, a rebuild of some of the rules and UI for minting FIle Sets, better display for Armor with 0 Protection Points, tweaks to the Hackers class tree and a big bundle of F10s fixed.
A huge thanks to every Knight joining us on the streets of New Boston during the Autumn Sale! We hope you'll share the game with friends by leaving a review. We're a small but relentlessly updating studio with a focus on making sure this Early Access is always moving forward, so if you like the updates, hit the review button ːsteamhappyː!
New Scourge in Underworld Hub
Last week we hit the Underworld Hub with another 3 new recruiting options - Agent EX, Gunslinger and Sniper - and now we are following up with the 4th - the Scourge. This nearly completes the starter set for the Underworld Hub with only Hacker being unavailable there (though there are multiple options in storyline to recruit one).
But now - in saved games new or old - you can recruit a new character whose base class is Scourge. This brings the total in-game recruit count up to 12 which exceeds what you can possibly bring on to your team by 2 and starts to feel like we've passed the Early Access "not enough options" issue we had with recruits.
Other Recruit Fixes
In all saved games - old and new - we've repaired some of the relationships between the recruit and their enemies or friends. Some of them had odd text about Jupiter Group that didn't make any sense. In all cases these are now fixed for future and existing games.
We've also fixed some issues that recruits could cause where they incorrectly "hung on to" a story actor even after they were recruited which would prevent that story actor from jumping in on other future stories. This is fixed in all games.
Soldier Plaster-Cross
WIth Update #182, we've come back to add more power (more power!) to the Soldier's Plaster-Cross Talent. Previously, while this Talent could lend a boost to an Assault Rifle, UAR or SMG's Burst Fire attacks, it left a lot of room open - even when fully upgraded - for the attack to not Armor Shred and feel like it was a miss. With the latest rounds of updates, the Soldier gains +25% Armor Shred at the base and then can invest in 2 more upgrade nodes to gain +25% Armor Shred each time, basically giving you a surefire way to Shred Armor on a target at least once every few Turns.
We've also tagged on a 6th upgrade node for those soldiers going all in on Plaster-Cross allowing you to bring the recharge rate down even farther.
Hacker Attribute Bonuses
We've upgraded the Hacker class tree to stop giving Strength bonuses. This was a mistake in their design that was never justified and all 3 of those +1 Strength bonuses are now swapped over to +1 Reaction.
File Set Minting Rules / UI Updates
We've made some nice changes to how File Set minting generates the Power Level of the resulting File as well as improved the UI to be more clear about the rules of Minting right where you need them to be.
First up, when you Mint a Set to create a new file, the resulting Power Level is now the average of the input Power Levels. This gives you a solid hook you can rely on - putting in higher Power Level files will guarantee a better output value and then you can gamble with Rarity which is rolled proportionally to the input File Rarity (if you put in 2:2 Rare and Common files, you get 50%/50% Rare or Common output).
We've reinforced both of these rules in the dynamic rule text directly above the file choice, listing the value of the resulting file, the Power Level you will get by average and the % chance for each Rarity to be rolled.
In addition, we've added a bunch of missing labels in the Cold Storage UI for subtypes that can help identify what you're looking at.
Thanks to everyone helping us buff up this UI and these rules!
Armor with No Protection Points
Another UI area that was causing some friction was Armors that have 0 Protection Points. These Armors have an advantage - they cannot be Shredded. The confusion was in their listing of 2 Armor values, even though they only use the lower of the two values at all times. We've adjusted the UI to be more clear but still kept the ability to compare these Armors to other Armors with 1+ Protection Points so you can see the spread of value.
Renamed Radar Array to Long-Range Camera
Radar Arrays was a confusing name it turns out, as these are really just Long-Range Cameras that play by all the regular Camera rules and are affected by all the Talents that affect Cameras. To help reduce expectation that Radar Arrays have a separate rule set, we've renamed them.
v1.9.37 - #182: Scourge This Way Comes - 11/30/2024
- Added new Scourge recruit to the Underworld Hub - now all but Hacker available via Underworld Hub
- Total of +12 recruits now available through storylines or Underworld Hub
- New contact type available, Street Splicer with 4 new cybernetic offerings
- Improved Soldier's Plaster-Cross Talent, tripling possible Armor Shred % bonus (now 25%+25%+25%)
- All Hacker class nodes that added +1 Strong have been swapped to +1 Reaction
- Improved Cold Storage File Sets minting UI to list Rarity % chances and Power Level results
- Upgraded File Set minting rules to use average Power Level of input Files during a Mint to determine output file Power Level
- Improved display of Armor with 0 Protection Points showing that it only has a low (degraded) soak %
- Fixed incorrect story connections in relationship tags for 3 new Underworld Hub recruits
- Fixed other lingering story issues with some Contacts getting locked out of future story events by old ones
- Added missing labels for subtypes (Weapon Blueprint, Account, File Set) to Cold Storage UI
- Renamed Radar Arrays to Long-Range Cameras to be clear that they just work under the same Camera rules
- Improved fade into missions, fixed bug were Sec Level could be stuck at 999 until player's turn