This update brings along the extension of the Close Combat system, allowing for different kinds of attacks. To use the first findable weapon as an example, the 'Longsword - Strength of Bear', it is a two-handed weapon that now has the options Normal Strike, Strong Strike and Dual Strike. The two new attacks here means: A Strong Strike has a slightly different animation indicating usage of more force, albeit slightly less finesse - this means the potential Max Damage is increased with 30%, but Skill Level has a 25% penalty; For Dual Strike the animation shows the two quick slashes done - the damage remain as normal, but the Skill Level penalty is 40%, but each event is two separate attacks, potentially doubling the total damage compared to a normal attack.
For other weapon-types, and even for special weapons within the same type, there can now be other kinds of Attacks with different kinds of bonuses and penalties. It will be interesting to see how this changes the gameplay for Close Combat weapons.
Another change that is worth explaining is the introduction of higher detailed textures for more decals, as well as all Operation Uniforms and Weapons. In general, the wish is to use as high quality and fine detailed textures as possible. During development this often means the texture quality is kept very high, with the knowledge if the performance impact it can have for some with weaker cards. While it is fully possible that some of the textures will be optimized to a lower resolution version in the end, if there is no benefit from using more details, this is something that will be handled when the game goes Gold (aka v1.0).
Until then, for those that can, enjoy higher level of textures on the Operators and their gear - as well as on other items now and on more in the future.
If you have an old computer that cannot handle several Gigabyte of loaded textures, there is now the added startup quality option of 'Medium', that is brutally forcing the Textures to be halved in resolution (even those with non-super high detailed textures, sadly) and will make every attempt to load only up to 2 Gigabyte of textures into memory at once. Only use this option if you know you have a graphics card that is some 5+ years old and are truly struggling when using the default 'Ultra' quality setting.
Full Changelog
* Added new Close Combat Extension, allowing multiple attack options per weapon
* Added support for primary and secondary damage and damageType for close combat weapons
* Added Reload step Tutorial
* Added 4K versions of more decals, such as gravel, dirt, wall-cracks and potholes
* Added 4K versions for all Operators Uniforms and Weapons
* Added a new Quality setting; Medium
* Adjusted XP determination for Defender in a CC-attack; if carrying CC-weapon, always level the weapon-skill even if Dodge is used
* Adjusted Fishman attack skill-level from 45 to 35, Dodge remains at 50 due to shield