Cepheus Protocol HQ - #63
Episode Summary:
This week’s update covers major progress across three core fronts: Legacy triage, the ongoing Rebuild, and the fast-approaching launch of Pandemic mode.
Legacy Triage:
Work is wrapping up on the legacy version, which remains on the default branch for now. The devs focused on fixing a final batch of high-impact bugs, including issues with civilian evacuation, vehicle behavior, group reliability (especially in larger units like the Atlas), and turret visuals. Dynamic civilian groups have also been tweaked to avoid awkward or game-breaking spawn locations. Legacy triage is expected to conclude within days, at which point attention fully shifts to the rebuild.
Rebuild Progress:
On the rebuild side, major strides have been made with helicopter AI. Pathfinding has been overhauled to better navigate 3D space—helicopters now intelligently maintain elevation, avoid obstacles, and handle formation movement more reliably. Velocity and deceleration issues from previous builds have also been addressed, laying the groundwork for improved transport and combat behavior. These changes also establish a foundation for future ground vehicle AI.
Localization has been added to the rebuild, with full language support now available for Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The team is actively seeking community feedback to fine-tune these translations. Additionally, a long-standing bug with power calculation—surfaced by the community—was corrected.
A major UI update also landed: the entire main menu has been reskinned for clarity and polish, with quick access to keybinds, graphics settings, language selection, and RTS operator customization.
Pandemic Mode Development:
Pandemic mode is entering a focused sprint aimed at delivering a playable version in early September. This first iteration will include baseline features: Chelsey, infected spawning, infection spread, pods, gas towers, and a working custom game settings system. The devs emphasize player freedom, allowing users to enable or disable specific infected archetypes and tweak gameplay parameters like spread speed and melee damage.
A new brute infected archetype is also now live—designed to add more variation to moment-to-moment gameplay. Additional variants like the juggernaut, leviathan, and spitter will roll out in future waves, especially impacting Pandemic difficulty scaling.
New Pandemic Loss Conditions: One of the major changes going into the rebuild is the introduction of an “and/or” loss condition for Pandemic mode. Previously, players could only lose if the carrier was destroyed—something rare unless the Leviathan or birds were enabled. Since custom game settings now allow those threats to be turned off, many players could reach a state where they couldn’t lose at all.
To fix this, the upcoming system will trigger a game over if either the carrier or the CERC HQ is destroyed. This forces players to commit to their positioning and defend critical infrastructure at all times, adding real risk to every decision.
CERC HQ Relocation and Defense Mechanics: Players will be able to pay a fee to relocate the CERC HQ if the current position becomes untenable. Once initiated, a sky crane will arrive after a pickup timer, hook up the HQ, and fly it to the chosen location. During both pickup and transit, the HQ must be defended, introducing a high-risk, high-reward dynamic to repositioning. This system is designed to raise the tactical ceiling and deepen the tension in Pandemic gameplay.
Map & Hub Overhaul: Finally, the devs shared progress on porting the full-scale Bay Area open world into Unreal 5, using new double-precision support to eliminate previous limitations. Treasure Island is being restructured for accuracy, and Alcatraz is being rebuilt as both a campaign hub and RTS-friendly map. The goal is to have this hub polished and ready by the Halloween sale window.
The update closes with a look at the evolving format for these dev briefings—future HQs will be shorter, more focused, and feature pre-recorded developer highlights followed by live Q&A.
🔧 Rebranded Beta Branches Now Live
We've cleaned up and renamed our Steam beta branches to better reflect their purpose and make it easier for players to opt into the version that fits their needs. Here's a quick rundown of what each one is for:
live-test (Limited Lifetime)
A staging branch for isolated patch testing before changes are pushed to the main game. If you're curious about upcoming fixes or want to help catch bugs before they go live, this is the place to be.
public-playtest This is the home of the rebuild and co-op support. Weekly CERC HQ updates are deployed here first, and it’s the best way to get hands-on with in-progress systems and help shape the next phase of development.
legacy-premerge A preserved build from before the experimental branch was merged into the live version. Useful for comparing behavior, checking regressions, or just seeing how far the game has come.
You can access these branches by right-clicking the game in your Steam Library → Properties → Betas, and selecting from the dropdown. No password needed for public branches.
📜 Patch Notes
Patch Notes 2025.08.31 public-playest (formally CERC-HQ-Public)
Fixed a critical localization bug that caused Chinese, Portuguese & Spanish to never change/Save
Resolved Guard towers when equipped with a M249 having insanely loud firing SFX they now properly respect SFX and Master audio channels
Packaging system for game changed to reduce the size of patches down to a minimum of 200 MB's instead of 5-6 GB's like its been for the lasts few weeks. This was occurring even with simple balance changes!
Rebuild Progress
We are currently in phase 2 of the rebuild and will be showing off progress on the helicopter Our goal this week is to finish helicopters/garrison and weapons and show them at the next CERC-HQ this Saturday at 3 PM EST.
If we can we'll push to show off some early Pandemic work!
Cepheus Protocol Roadmap
We’re thrilled to share our vision for the future of Cepheus Protocol! With your continued support, we’re working tirelessly to refine the game and introduce exciting new features that elevate the experience.
🚧 What’s in Active Development for September?
Helicopter AI + Little Bird + Blackhawk + Chinook + VTOL +Scout Drone & Apache
Pandemic Custom Game Options
Pandemic Chelsey AI
Pandemic Juggernaut AI
Pandemic base Infected AI/Spreading Logic
Pandemic Save System
Tracking down Desyncs, bugs & crashes!
🧠 What's Coming Next?
Launch Phase 2: Civilian Evac + Dynamic Civilian groups
Prepare Phase 3: Vehicles + Doctrines
💬 Want to See the Full Timeline?
Check our stickied Roadmap post on the Steam forums
💡How You Can Help
Play the CERC-HQ-Public build under the beta opt-in tab
Report bugs, give feedback
Join our Discord to engage with the team and community
Thank you for continuing to support the game — this is just the beginning. 🛠️
Join the Discussion!
Head over to our Discord Server or Steam Discussions to connect with other players and the development team. Together, we’re building something truly special. Thank you for being part of this journey with us!
Here's the last playthrough we did with our community — check it out here:
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