Knights and Mercs, today's Update #229 is the first delivery of a series of enemy agent and AI improvements that we are wrapping up as the game gets closer to full launch. With this update specifically, we have not added any new intelligence to the enemy agents, we have only tuned and improved things they were already thinking about (and fixed the bugs in these systems too!). The biggest change is discussed in the Tactical Repositioning header below.
Just a warning - the enemies, especially higher Power Level, are probably more dangerous than yesterday. Do be careful and take some extra save checkpoints! We will continue to rebalance in either direction as needed - can't wait to get your feedback.
We've also sped up the entire pace of play by tweaking how quickly the game can transition between turns, and added very helpful warning before you make an attack that will be targeted by Overwatch reaction shot.
If you're enjoying the constant improvement and polishing of the game during Early Access, please take a moment to thank our dev team with a review! We need everyone! More updates are coming ːsteamhappyː
Overwatch Warning
While movement warnings for Overwatch have been available for a while, pre-attack warnings have been missing. We're excited to finally get them added, so now any time you are considering an attack and are at risk of triggering an enemy's Overwatch reaction shot first, you will get a nice warning in the attack circle - "You may be shot!"
Speed of Play
We've taken some time over the last few updates to really polish the speed of play. We got the camera movement snappy and sharp and now with Update #229, we've taken a look at turn transitions. We found a lot of little delays we could iron out and now cycling through your team and the enemy team is really fast and smooth!
The game is playing really fast and smooth now, letting you get through more turns in less time.
Tactical Repositioning
The biggest upgrades in enemy intelligence came from fixing bugs and re-tuning their decision trees when deciding what to do with each Turn, when and how far to move, and how that impacts their ability to take later actions - like firing, throwing a grenade, or more.
All around, the changes here make the enemy tactical combat more engaging and challenging. The early game is mostly unchanged, where enemies are lower Power Level but as they ramp up, they will gain more willingness to use smarter tactics against you, take cover and just let their weapons rip, and punish you for tactical mistakes that you make. We hope that these changes start to raise the bar and challenge for higher Power Level teams who were finding the enemy reaction to be too easy once they hit Power Level 6+.
- There were just small (but important) mistakes in how we calculated how far an enemy might want to move once they are engaged in a shoot-out. This often led to enemies moving too far to take any shots at all on their Turn, giving you basically a free return volley of fire. Enemies are much more judicious about making short tactical moves if they can get a shot off, and will be sure to take that shot.
- Due to the overly aggressive desire to move, enemies basically only ever made 1 attack per Turn, even on a good Turn. This is an important part of enemy balance in the early game, and it did not feel good when we started "fixing it". We have now tied this type of increased intelligence to the enemy Power Level - as the enemy Power Level ramps up, based on their weapon type and disposition, they are more and more likely to make decisions that will allow them to take and use advantageous positions against you and take multiple shots on a turn against your mercs, which can be devastating.
Patrolling Away from Danger
Sometimes, an enemy would see something - most often a dead body - and simply turn and run off in the other direction, sometimes saying "Patrolling!" We've resolved this bug, and now the enemy is going to get interested and start "Hunting!" around the area, looking for the killer and calling it in to the Sec AI.
Talent and Grenade Decisions
We've tuned up and improved the decision intelligence for enemies about when to use their Talents and when to throw grenades. Enemies will no longer use Medkits when they are unwounded! That should help make them more useful later if they can survive a round of fire from your team.
Second, we've worked a lot on improving the grenade calculations and decision rules. Enemies who can throw grenades are now more willing and capable of determining a good shot and taking it. Hopefully this leads to a lot more special grenade attacks from the enemies who have them, so they have less chance to blend into the crowd as "just another" enemy.
We've also worked on the grenade targeting routines to avoid throwing buffing grenades at enemy factions (Fenians should not be throwing Red-Mist buffs at Brave Star troopers!)
Enemy Overwatch Mistakes
Sometimes they used to do this ^^^
There were 2 classes of enemy Overwatch mistakes that were fixed in this bug. First, sometimes they would setup Overwatch but then move by about 1m to either side. This would leave the cone on the floor but not at their feet. and made it very confusing about where they were actually going to shoot from. Now fixed!
Second, and much more important, sometimes the enemy would run up, spot your merc, and then turn and face the other direction and put up Overwatch - into a completely random direction! This was really whacky timing issue between finishing their movement and starting Overwatch, which is now cleanly resolved and will no longer occur. Now fixed!
Brainworm Fix
Under some circumstances, enemies who were under the Scourge's Brainworm debuff could still turn and attack your mercs. This is now resolved, and they are only able to target their own team, or they will not shoot.
Stealth Crit in Accuracy Breakdown
Your Stealth Crit % bonus could sometimes be double-counted in the shown total of Critical Chance, leading to some funny-looking math. This is now cleaned up and we're excited to say the Accuracy breakdown is looking really squeaky clean now!
Compressed Mission Planning Screen
The mission-planning screen can show multiple stages and even options for each of those stages. In the old design, these could be far enough spread apart that - depending on your screen and resolution - it could be hard to see or click on the connected options. We've compressed this UI to bring all the elements closer together so that what you're looking at and what you can click on should be much clearer.
v1.10.01 - #230: High-Stakes Gunfight - 3/30/2025
- Targeting an enemy now includes Overwatch warning "You will be shot" if reaction shot will interrupt
- Increased game tempo by squeezing out delays, especially after each merc's turn
- Improved enemy ability to take good tactical position and fire multiple times on their Turn, increasing with higher PL troops
- Improved enemy ability to calculate and throw grenades / buffing grenades so that more are tossed
- Improved enemy intelligence about when to use Talents, Medkits, Team Buffs and Overwatch
- Fixed issue where enemy would make a short reposition move and then not attack
- Fixed issue where enemy might see a dead body and then head off in the other direction
- Fixed issue where enemy could put up Overwatch but it would be pointed in a random direction, not at character
- Fixed issue where enemy could put up Overwatch but the cone would not be at their feet
- Fixed issue where enemy could be unfairly charged 1 AP sometimes for rotating to look toward player
- Fixed issue where enemy could throw buffing grenade at an enemy in another faction
- Fixed issue where Brainwormed enemy could still fire at characters instead of only enemies
- Fixed issue with Stealth Crit % being counted twice in Accuracy breakdown display (top right)
- Compressed spacing in mission planning to ensure that different phases and options are easier to access
- Improved movement and taking cover around all computer racks and servers
- Fixed bugs with repeated dialogs after successful Assassination