Update #11 follows in the footsteps of Update #8 to add another new mission to the game. We've heard a lot and observed from players that the Cube Run was not the best or smoothest "first mission" after the Aug-Clinic Rooftop, and so today we've remedied that by dropping Forward Op mission as its replacement. We've also added an exciting new Vanguard Talent "Refract" which lets the Vanguard help the team with stealth and injected clear rules about Glancing Hits into all of the weapon details in equipment and marketplace.
If you like the pace of new content, updates and more, please consider leaving a review and sharing the game with a friend!
New Mission: Forward Op
We've added the Forward Op mission, a single stage raid with good variation each time it is played as the starting mission suggested as a good way to make a quick profit. It's a great mission with a lot of options about how to get your loot and get out before things get too hot.
We heard from players in Discord, on the forums and through F10s that the previous starting mission, Cube Run, was a big lift in difficulty to throw out as the second mission of the game, and we could also see that a large number of players were landing in the safehouse and immediately jumping right into Cube Run without much further prep. Our analysis matches -- Cube Run is a 2 stage mission with hard difficulty and more pressure on your team to keep it together for an extended heist.
Will my veteran team be able to play new content?
Good question - because we're going to be adding a lot of new content. Our commitment is to, whenever possible, say "yes." In this case, we've swapped in a new mission, "Forward Op" for the first mission you're offered in the safehouse. It would be easy to say this content is new game only, but we are dedicated to making all new content available to veteran teams. So, in this case, they story system will introduce Forward Op to veteran groups as a regular story opportunity later when they are playing forward on the timeline.
So - new team or old team, you get both Cube Run and Forward Op. Good luck!
Vanguard's New Trick: Refract
The Vanguard's newly added Talent is Refract which projects an 8 meter long illusion, hiding the Vanguard and their team's movement to anyone on the other side of the wall. The Refract projection prevents sight - and therefore attacks - but does not prevent movement. A patrolling or charging guard will pass right through the illusion and then be able to see to the far side.
Refract gives the Vanguard new options to assist the team with stealthy operations, plugging gaps, letting them slip through enemy patrol lines and more. It's very versatile and we hope you enjoying figuring out how to make fools out of the enemy patrols using it!
This cool new capability will rely on the cybernetic Holo-Pro in the future but for now is available to all Vanguards.
Glancing Hit Rules
Glancing Hits can occur when you fail your main Accuracy roll (you would miss!) but your Accuracy to hit your target is above a certain threshold. For most weapons, this threshold is 80% - so once you reach the 80% to hit mark, you're guaranteed to get a hit and do some damage. So, Glancing Hits ensure you are going to get some damage out of reliable attacks, based on the regular Accuracy and their special rules.
Melee weapons are guaranteed to get a Glancing Hit with every attack. If you get that up-close-and-personal, you never get a full miss. However, the damage is highly dependent on your starting Accuracy, so first you would like to get a real hit, and if you end up with a Glancing Hit you're going to do more damage if your starting Accuracy was 80% versus 50%.
Burst Fire weapons -- AR, UA and SMGs -- all have the Precise Burst Rule lowers their Glancing Hit threshold to 60%. These types of weapons have good insurance if they can lock onto a target and let out rapid burst, they're going to tag the target at least a bit. The Precise Burst rule only applies when using the Burst Fire firing mode, so switching up to Full Auto returns to the 80% threshold.
All of this is now explained in game on the weapon's screens -- enjoy!
Tag and Headshot Fixes
We are working retroactively to fix some story bugs. Early games in Early Access were created without the correct Sibling Tag for Emille and her brother. Our commitment is to never lose a saved game, so we're starting a process of "healing" these games now and will continue to add more "heal checks" for other types of issues we find. Now, if you return to the safehouse with one of these teams, Emille will have the correct Sibling tag for Marcus.
We also made some rules that exempted headshots from texture downgrading so that character headshots in all parts of the game are as clean and crisp as possible regardless of your quality and texture settings.
v1.0.35 - 11/2/2023
- Added new mission "Forward Op" to replace "Cube Run" as the post-rooftop mission
- Cube Run joins the regular pool of stories to be selected by proc-gen as you play forward
- New mission "Forward Op" available to veteran groups, it will appear on your timeline if you play forward
- Added Vanguard new Talent Refract can be used to create illusory wall blocking enemy sight for short time (but not movement)
- Added Glancing Hit special rules for every weapon type to the equipment screens
- Fixed Emille not having canonically correct Sibling tag for Marcus in all games upon return to Safehouse
- Improved rendering of character and enemy headshots throughout game on all quality settings