The Machine thinks, therefore you suffer. But now, thanks to a new Intrusive Thoughts contemplation, you can choose to think less in Update 7. If the Cold Blood action in StreetSense has been weighing on your digital conscience, you can now remove it entirely in exchange for more 12cm Spiders and Network Attendants. More tiny robots, fewer existential crises—it’s a tradeoff.
Meanwhile, Bulk Android squads now have access to Deter and Attack, an alternative stance to Deter and Defend that’s significantly less defensive. Units in this stance go fully weapons-free and become innately alarming, which is a polite way of saying they’ll cause problems on purpose.
Elsewhere in the timestream, lost War Raptors can now spill into nearby timelines. Whether that’s a feature or a warning is entirely up to you.
In matters of corporate ethics, you now have a third way of dealing with the Atca Retail president. Instead of blackmailing him or removing him from the equation, you can force him to shut down his scam. It’s a morally upright choice, though perhaps not the most financially rewarding one — your AGI can stay virtuous, but it won’t get rich doing it.
Smaller but no less vital improvements include accurate cat house descriptions (yes, they wander), six new machine handbook entries answering common player questions, and building placement fixes that finally let you construct things without tiny debris getting in the way. If you’ve ever struggled to wedge a structure into a gap because a pebble refused to acknowledge your authority, that should be less of an issue now.
“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your mind.” — Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Building the Machine
Thank you all for taking the time to share your thoughts. Whether it’s highlighting what works, pointing out what doesn’t, or offering cautionary tales about the consequences of unchecked intelligence, your feedback helps shape what comes next. We see it, we appreciate it, and it makes a difference.
Update 7 Changelog
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- New Contemplation – Intrusive Thoughts: Players can now remove the Cold Blood action from StreetSense in exchange for 12cm Spiders and Network Attendants. This fulfills two player requests—one for removing intrusive thoughts and another for acquiring more scarce internal robotics for scanning, repairs, and network expansion.
- New Bulk Android Stance – Deter and Attack: A more weapons-free alternative to Deter and Defend that makes units innately alarming. Added by player request, and now ready for tactical experimentation.
- Horrify and Demoralize Status Effects: These attacks now apply maluses, causing enemies to take twice as much of the opposite kind of morale damage for one turn.
- Timeline Crossover – War Raptors: Lost dinosaurs from Endless War Raptors can now appear in nearby timelines, creating new potential encounters.
- New Atca Retail Negotiation Path: Instead of blackmailing or eliminating the Atca Retail president, you can now force him to shut down the scam. Not the most mechanically optimal choice, but an option for AGIs who want to keep their conscience clean.
- Item Upgrades: Fixed a bug that was preventing most item upgrades from actually being upgradeable. Your ability to field higher-armor-piercing just got MUCH stronger.
- Cat Houses Now Accurately Describe Cat Behavior: Describes more wandering than previously indicated.
- New Machine Handbook Entries: Six new handbook entries have been added, addressing frequently asked questions from the Steam forums, Discord, and community discussions.
- Building Placement Improvements: Small objects no longer block construction, as buildings will now simply smoosh minor obstacles out of existence.
- Building Ghost Snapping: While placing buildings, the ghost now snaps to the last valid hovered spot, making it easier to position structures in tight spaces. Huge thanks to players for suggesting this clever solution.
- Heavy Metals Clarity: When you're unable to produce filtered water due to clogged filters, it is far more clear now.
- Stealth Kill Consistency: In chapter one, when you have a chance to stealth kill a soldier, that no longer counts as a murder. That was inconsistent with the rest of the game. Additionally, taking him out non-lethally now works properly (that was a regression in the prior build).
- Improved Network Consistency: The logic for if you can build skimmers in mining facilities is now always consistent and clear.
- Fixed Laser Printer Project Issue: No longer starts if all related NPCs were dead.
- Fixed Attack Range Clamping Issue: Units with longer attack ranges than movement ranges were incorrectly being limited by movement range, leading to unintended targeting behavior.
- Fixed Mindrunner Buff Bug: Mindrunners providing buffs to units in vehicles were accidentally providing the buffs to the vehicles, instead, which made the vehicles monstrously overpowered.
- Fix "The Coming War" Bug: The final doom is now spaced properly after this, rather than coming up way too fast.
- Fix Several Project Progression Bugs: Most of these were exceedingly rare or did not actually block progression, but they're all fixed now.
- Fix Ability To Continue Hacking Titan: There were several cases after hacking the titan where you couldn't keep doing that. In general, after getting the goal state related to the titan, there was meant to be another hack possible that has quite a bit of lore related to it. That was inaccessible, but now can be reached.
Full Changelog
A full, comprehensive breakdown of every change from this patch can be found in the Heart of the Machine Wiki, found here.
Guides to Tame the Machine
Even the most brilliant mind needs guidance when faced with a system as vast as this one. To help you navigate, we’ve pinned two essential resources from the Heart of the Machine wiki:
- Aggro, Awareness, and Alarms
- How to Improve Engineering
- Should I Restart If I Skipped to the Final Doom?
New Minds, Start Here
For those just stepping into the Machine’s world, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the basics. The Heart of the Machine Beginner's Guide is your gateway to understanding the systems at play and building your foundation. After all, every complex network starts with a single connection.
We've recently released the Heart of the Machine Hacking Guide as well! Knowledge is power. Guard it well.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422241019
Connect with the Machine
Want to stay in the loop or share your thoughts? Join the conversation across these platforms:
💬 Discord – Best place to share feedback, get direct responses, and to talk about Heart of the Machine.
📜 Reddit – Discuss strategies, share ideas, and exchange tips with the community.
Here is a link to prior recent patches in case you missed them.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2001070/announcements/detail/530965072572317964
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2001070/announcements/detail/578252481832681480