Knights, mercs, and hackers! It's the weekend so let's get heisting with Update #233! We've unlocked the final Vanguard Talent, rebuilt the new game team screen, further improved the weighting and edge cases for enemy tactical AI, fixed issues with enemies responding to events while patrolling, tweaked rules for earning a codename, and fixed a nice big heap of F10s!
We are working to relentlessly update and expand the game as we near the end of Early Access. If you're enjoying the pace of progress, we hope you will take a moment to leave a review and share the game with a friend.
Vanguard Goes Badping
Update #233 follows up on the Hacker's Prank Talent with the final Talent for the Vanguard's tree. The Vanguard's Pinger Talent is now unlocked and ready to wreak havoc on the enemy's Security AI.
With Pinger, you can target a location on the map and create a false security event. This event does not raise the Sec Tally but it will be processed by the Sec AI at the end of the turn. If there are any guards who are eligible to dispatch (not in combat, not VIP, not Head Hunter or enemy faction, not Brainwormed, Stunned etc!) then a guard of the Sec AI's choosing will be sent to investigate.
Obviously, Vanguard's Pinger and Hacker's Prank can fit hand in glove to create some very powerful Sec AI manipulation situations. Want a specific enemy agent to leave their post and go exactly here? Badping + Prank Call = that agent is in trouble.
It is nice to finish out the final locked Talent in the existing classes and turn all final attention to the upcoming classes - Face and Warmachine after.
Rebuilt New Game Squad Screen
While there are no functional changes, we've rebuilt the visuals for the New Game "Assemble your Team" screen. We ditched the original 2D design using the character's headshots and now can see the team arrayed in the safehouse, looking cool and ready to get heisting.
This include pushing the Knight and Face to the natural center of the squad (and screen) and removing the weapon from your Face's hands to be clear that they are your handler, fixer and dealmaker.
We hope you like the new look!
Earning a Codename
We've adjusted the rules for how mercs can earn their codenames with Update #233. Mercs who survive a successful mission above Team Power Level 1 are eligible for earning a codename. We've improved the system by further limiting the codename earning to one merc per mission, so that you don't have 3 mercs suddenly all with new codenames and no time soak up the new street name and option to give them a new codename as well.
On-Going Enemy Decision Improvement
We've run a fine-toothed comb through the weighting and decision trees for enemy tactical combat with Update #233. Things have come a long way in the last 2 weeks and everything is feeling very tuned up. We're still getting a few F10s about specific pathing and geometry that can make the enemy AI do some silly things, but this update addresses all of the ones reported so far.
We've also just helped the AI with all their "edge cases" - they are a little better with the edges of corners, edges of cover, edges of their movement range, all those little tiny choices are now a little tighter.
Finally, with Update #233, we've started the work on tuning up and improving the enemy's actions during investigation and patrolling. There were some cases where the enemy might see something while patrolling and decide not to stop and hunt around, sometimes even going in another direction. The enemy is now more willing to stop mid-patrol and investigate.
Hacking Transitions
We've improved the speed at which the game will switch into the Matrix when it is a hackers Turn. With the improvement to the turn switching speed, Hackers were left out in a cold with a slow transition still. Now its snappy!
v1.10.11 - #233: - 4/4/2025
- Unlocked Vanguard Talent Pinger (was Taunt) - allowing you to create a fake security event that will cause Sec AI to dispatch an agent of its choosing
- Fixed enemy issue where half spotting you ("I saw something!") would not stop them during a patrol route
- Further improvements to all edge cases for enemy tactical decision making (edge of range, edge of cover, last AP)
- Improved team presentation in New Game to use 3D layout and show off team better
- Updated rule - only one merc can gain a Codename per mission, avoids multiple codename awards at a time
- Improved speed of turn transitions to characters who are currently hacking the matrix
- Fixed issue with File Set options being shown with their price in red sometimes
- Fixed issues with idle animations stopping in some screens (appearance, mission planning)
- Fixed rare issue with NanoFab getting stuck on broken weapon crafts - cancel the craft!
- Fixed issue where Head Hunters could get Limit Breaks