Cyber Knights: Flashpoint News

Another update is coming down the pipe to New Boston streets - and this one lands with a new Scourge recruit in the Underworld Hub, a big buff to Soldier's Plaster-Cross Talent, a rebuild of some of the rules and UI for minting FIle Sets, better display for Armor with 0 Protection Points, tweaks to the Hackers class tree and a big bundle of F10s fixed.

A huge thanks to every Knight joining us on the streets of New Boston during the Autumn Sale! We hope you'll share the game with friends by leaving a review. We're a small but relentlessly updating studio with a focus on making sure this Early Access is always moving forward, so if you like the updates, hit the review button ːsteamhappyː!

[h2]New Scourge in Underworld Hub[/h2]

Last week we hit the Underworld Hub with another 3 new recruiting options - Agent EX, Gunslinger and Sniper - and now we are following up with the 4th - the Scourge. This nearly completes the starter set for the Underworld Hub with only Hacker being unavailable there (though there are multiple options in storyline to recruit one).

But now - in saved games new or old - you can recruit a new character whose base class is Scourge. This brings the total in-game recruit count up to 12 which exceeds what you can possibly bring on to your team by 2 and starts to feel like we've passed the Early Access "not enough options" issue we had with recruits.

[h2]Other Recruit Fixes[/h2]
In all saved games - old and new - we've repaired some of the relationships between the recruit and their enemies or friends. Some of them had odd text about Jupiter Group that didn't make any sense. In all cases these are now fixed for future and existing games.

We've also fixed some issues that recruits could cause where they incorrectly "hung on to" a story actor even after they were recruited which would prevent that story actor from jumping in on other future stories. This is fixed in all games.

[h2]Soldier Plaster-Cross[/h2]

WIth Update #182, we've come back to add more power (more power!) to the Soldier's Plaster-Cross Talent. Previously, while this Talent could lend a boost to an Assault Rifle, UAR or SMG's Burst Fire attacks, it left a lot of room open - even when fully upgraded - for the attack to not Armor Shred and feel like it was a miss. With the latest rounds of updates, the Soldier gains +25% Armor Shred at the base and then can invest in 2 more upgrade nodes to gain +25% Armor Shred each time, basically giving you a surefire way to Shred Armor on a target at least once every few Turns.

We've also tagged on a 6th upgrade node for those soldiers going all in on Plaster-Cross allowing you to bring the recharge rate down even farther.

[h2]Hacker Attribute Bonuses[/h2]

We've upgraded the Hacker class tree to stop giving Strength bonuses. This was a mistake in their design that was never justified and all 3 of those +1 Strength bonuses are now swapped over to +1 Reaction.

[h2]File Set Minting Rules / UI Updates[/h2]

We've made some nice changes to how File Set minting generates the Power Level of the resulting File as well as improved the UI to be more clear about the rules of Minting right where you need them to be.

First up, when you Mint a Set to create a new file, the resulting Power Level is now the average of the input Power Levels. This gives you a solid hook you can rely on - putting in higher Power Level files will guarantee a better output value and then you can gamble with Rarity which is rolled proportionally to the input File Rarity (if you put in 2:2 Rare and Common files, you get 50%/50% Rare or Common output).

We've reinforced both of these rules in the dynamic rule text directly above the file choice, listing the value of the resulting file, the Power Level you will get by average and the % chance for each Rarity to be rolled.

In addition, we've added a bunch of missing labels in the Cold Storage UI for subtypes that can help identify what you're looking at.

Thanks to everyone helping us buff up this UI and these rules!

[h2]Armor with No Protection Points[/h2]

Another UI area that was causing some friction was Armors that have 0 Protection Points. These Armors have an advantage - they cannot be Shredded. The confusion was in their listing of 2 Armor values, even though they only use the lower of the two values at all times. We've adjusted the UI to be more clear but still kept the ability to compare these Armors to other Armors with 1+ Protection Points so you can see the spread of value.

[h2]Renamed Radar Array to Long-Range Camera[/h2]
Radar Arrays was a confusing name it turns out, as these are really just Long-Range Cameras that play by all the regular Camera rules and are affected by all the Talents that affect Cameras. To help reduce expectation that Radar Arrays have a separate rule set, we've renamed them.

[h2]v1.9.37 - #182: Scourge This Way Comes - 11/30/2024[/h2]
- Added new Scourge recruit to the Underworld Hub - now all but Hacker available via Underworld Hub
- Total of +12 recruits now available through storylines or Underworld Hub
- New contact type available, Street Splicer with 4 new cybernetic offerings
- Improved Soldier's Plaster-Cross Talent, tripling possible Armor Shred % bonus (now 25%+25%+25%)
- All Hacker class nodes that added +1 Strong have been swapped to +1 Reaction
- Improved Cold Storage File Sets minting UI to list Rarity % chances and Power Level results
- Upgraded File Set minting rules to use average Power Level of input Files during a Mint to determine output file Power Level
- Improved display of Armor with 0 Protection Points showing that it only has a low (degraded) soak %
- Fixed incorrect story connections in relationship tags for 3 new Underworld Hub recruits
- Fixed other lingering story issues with some Contacts getting locked out of future story events by old ones
- Added missing labels for subtypes (Weapon Blueprint, Account, File Set) to Cold Storage UI
- Renamed Radar Arrays to Long-Range Cameras to be clear that they just work under the same Camera rules
- Improved fade into missions, fixed bug were Sec Level could be stuck at 999 until player's turn

Another heist on the streets of New Boston and another update coming down the pipe. Thanks to everyone playing and posting F10s, reviews and sharing the game. And welcome to all the new Knights joining us during the Autumn Sale - we've got a lot more coming your way.

Today's update adds a new mission map option to the Assassinate VIP mission type, improves on the Fast Forward system (less finicky hotkeys) and an option to Auto Fast Forward all the time, improving Limit Breaks and fixing bugs, rebuilding the Timeline Event History to remove paging and upgrade to high performance endless scroll, and finally fixing some reported F10s with existing mission maps.

A big thanks to everyone posting up a review this week! Our tiny dev team is grateful for you ːsteamhappyː

[h2]New Assassin VIP Map Combos[/h2]

With Update #181, we've started the drive to add more mission maps to the pool for the Assassinate VIP proc-gen objective. This objective has the lowest variety with a paltry 2 maps (with the other types ranging from 8 to 14) so it is a big goal to bring Assassinate VIP up to par before we add the next objective type of the map set.

[h2]Improved Fast Forward + Auto FF Option[/h2]

With some help from @Stormfox we identified some annoying input issues with the ESC key to fast forward enemy turns, sometimes leading to being unable to fast forward turns if you hit the key at the wrong time. We've wrapped all of this up - if you push the hotkey (or click) for Fast Forward enemy turn at any point, then it will immediately engage and fast forward all possible future moves.

We've also taken the moment to expand this out to an Auto Fast Forward option which removes all need for your input. If you're playing with this option engaged, any enemy whose movement is determined not to have immediate impact (seeing you, discovering a dead body, etc) will be immediately fast forward without any requirement to hit ESC (etc).

It always feels good to be able to play faster when you're in the mood, so we're excited to deliver this option for those players putting in short or long hours with Cyber Knights!

[h2]Contact Limit Break: Ordering & Hiding[/h2]

We've improved the rules for how Contact LImit Breaks are processed to put some ordering to them. The ordering is based on the turn on which the Contacts have their Limit Break with enough Influence or Exposure to score it. This is helping to reduce the feeling that some Contacts can get "stuck" in limbo land without their Limit Breaks coming.

An important note - this will take a little while to even out for existing games. The data for existing Contacts with Limit Breaks was randomized, so that backlog of Limit Breaks will have to clear first before you start to see a more orderly progression.

We've also fixed an issue that was caused by any time that the Contact Goes Into Hiding option appeared in the Negative Limit Break list. This would always put the Contact into hiding no matter how many Favors you spent or other options were available. This is now resolved!

[h2]Timeline Event History Scrolling[/h2]

With Update #181 we've also completed another performance and UI improvement related to large scrolling tables. This time, we've hit the Timeline History screen and removed its sub-optimal paging UI and replaced it with a high performance endless scroller.

In addition, we've made more fixes to how icons are generated, placed and their size to make the event list a little more fun to look at and read an address some issues where not all the crafting results got good icons.

[h2]v1.9.35 - #181: Assassin Rising - 11/29/2024[/h2]
- Added Trucker HQ map to Assassinate VIP objective for new proc-gen combo (now 80!)
- Added new option to Fast Forward enemy turn automatically if enemy is deemed to have no immediate impact
- Fixed Fast Forward enemy turn issue where hitting ESC too early in their turn could lock you out of skip their turn
- Fixed Contact Limit Break bug causing Contact to go into Hiding even if you spent a Favor and picked something else
- Contact Limit Breaks are now ordered by game turn the Limit Break became ready, greatly reducing the chance a contact is "stuck"
- Improved format and icons used for Timeline Event History - fixed crafting events that lacked icon
- Removed paging from Timeline Event History, now high performance endless scrolling
- Fixed invisible scope not appearing on ARs, etc
- Fixed issues with extraction objectives in Rooftop Ziggurat Heist CPU missions

The shadowy underworld of New Boston is getting another big update! We're kicking off a 5th week of the New Weekly Map released schedule with ... a new map! And 3 new recruits from your Underworld Hub to allow you to recruit every class in game from either the hub or a storyline. We've also made some improvements to legwork rules and joined a new RPG bundle. Check it out, it's Update #180 and we're 34% off to celebrate!

If you're enjoying the game or our relentless pace of updates and improvements, please take a moment to leave a review.

[h2]Recruit Agent EX, Gunslinger and Sniper from Underworld Hub[/h2]

With a big burst of 3 new recruits available through the Underworld Hub, you can now recruit all classes through either storylines or via the safehouse Underworld Hub. Of course, the people who end up down here, willing to join a Cyber Knight's crew ... they've all got baggage, bad blood, someone hunting them. No one makes it this far into the shadows without a tattered record.

But now - in saved games new or old - you can recruit characters whose base class is Gunslinger, Agent EX or Sniper. We're working toward Scourge to round out the U-Hub and allow it to recruit 100% of the classes without any need for storylines.

[h2]New Weekly Map: Border Crossing[/h2]

We are now hitting Week 5 of our New Weekly Map Release schedule and we've got another map! With the Border Crossing mission map, the heist is playing out in the shadow of a corporate territory border, and the action is spread across an elevated interchange that has fallen into disrepair and disuse. The Border Crossing map has some awesome routing and elevation challenges and offers some of its optional extraction points locked behind a barrier. It is a map that can feel both small and large at the same time and we're excited to see it in action!

The Border Crossing map offers 7 new the proc-gen combos (map X objective) and brings the grand total of proc-gen objectives to the total to 79 proc-gen combos and represents another 6% increase in map variety (this is dropping with every new map, it's so good!).

Our next move in adding more proc-gen content will take a dive into expanding the mission maps available for Assassinate VIP and then we'll be on to looking at completely new objective types.

As usual, working on a new map comes along with fixing issues in the recently released maps. We've fixed issues with new matrix terminal layouts (like missing CPUs) and Resupply Station variants where the target terminal was simply missing, and broken terminals in the Blown Out Flat mission map.

[h2]Legwork Timing vs. Difficulty[/h2]

We fixed an issue with the Story Speed scale in Difficulty making Legworks take a lot longer to run. The intention of the scale option is to allow you to play at a more relaxed pace but it was negatively affecting Legworks, making them harder and in some cases, down right useless.

This fix exempts Legworks from the Story Speed scale which means they will run in the regular time even if the rest of your events are running faster or slower. We also fixed a bug that was causing Legwork to gain a hidden +50% bonus on lower difficulties and could make it look like you were succeeding at Legwork 100% of the time ːsteamhappyː

[h2]Lootbox Updates[/h2]

Finding loot should be fun - but that is hard if you don't know what you're picking up! With weapons, armor and mod looting just around the corner, we've made some improvements to the lootbox UI to better show off what you've found and to build the hype at the time of looting and not later when you're sorting it all out in the safehouse.

We're not done here yet as we want to get to a point where you can see even more details about anything you're picking up, including its full stat block. So - stay tuned as we grinding another go round.

[h2]We're part of a new RPG Steam bundle![/h2]

If you're like us, you can never get enough of great RPGs. We're excited to announce we've partnered with two other great studios to create a Cyberpunk & Dark SciFi RPGs Steam bundle. With this kind of bundle, you only pay for the games you don't already own! It includes:

Colony Ship, an in-depth cRPG set in a generational starship traveling for hundreds of years to reach Proxima Centauri. This ship is old, its original government cast aside in a violent mutiny, the current passengers one of the unfortunate generations living in a now grim ship sailing through the void, with no chance of living long enough to see the ship's still-distant destination.


Navigate contentious factions with multiple ways to handle quests, including challenging turn-based tactical combat, branching dialogue trees, and ten different potential party members that can add to your story.

Gamedec, a cyberpunk detective RPG that challenges you to solve crimes inside virtual worlds. 22nd century Warsaw City awaits you, as do numerous virtual worlds that look and feel as real as our own. This non-combat RPG offers a multifaceted investigation and dialogue system, where your choices evolve your character as well as helping you discover clues.


Explore a future where "real" has become relative and "life" and "death" have many meanings. Learn what kind of investigator you are, and what justice means to you.

And our own squad tactics heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. Did you know the New Boston Zone is one of just 112 cities remaining on Earth? Our post-eco-collapse, 23rd-century cyberpunk setting is a place of mean streets and violent corporate intrigue. Your crew of mercs, hackers, and malcontents are willing to do what it takes to earn yourselves a better future; the megacorps stole it from all of us -- you're one of the few who could steal a piece of it back.

You've seen working hard to make this one of the most in-depth tactical RPGs out there, with extensive skill trees, multiclassing, cybernetics, moddable weapons, stealth options, hacking, and more.

If you love these kind of games and settings, please enjoy this new bundle! And spread the word! 😁

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/47312/Cyberpunk__Dark_SciFi_RPGs/

[h2]v1.9.33 - 11/27/2024[/h2]
- Added 3 new recruits to the Underworld Hub: Gunslinger, Agent EX and Sniper
- Now all classes are available as recruits through storylines or Underworld Hub
- Added new proc-gen map "Border Crossing": a major corporate territorial border crossing and supports +7 new proc-gen combos (Battle Striker, Siege, Heist a CPU, Steal 3 Files, Scavenger, Kill 3 Captains, Bodyguard!)
- Extended details for each loot item in lootbox so you can understand what you're getting when you're getting it
- Slowing down the game story no longer negatively effects Legwork (making them slower)
- Fixed bug that could sometimes make Legwork invisibly too easy to succeed
- Fixed some matrix host templates featuring SCU and RCU
- Removed broken terminal from Battle Striker objective with mission map Blown Out Flat

Knights of New Boston - last night we went fishing in the black soup with the latest update and we were able to catch and fix 1 of the 2 final bugs that can cause the game to freeze up. In order to keep fishing for the last case, we've got a new update out tonight with more debugging, the 1st case fixed and some new balance tweaks to help it go down easy. We've improved enemy Initiative stat to be a part of their progression, added Attribute bonuses to 2 Traits that were missing them, improved the value of XP and $$ secondary objectives, and started some improvements on the NanoFab help text.

Thanks for all the F10s and reviews - you're helping our small team keep up its pace of improvement. Please give us a shout and help share the game with a review if you're enjoying this Early Access period!

[h2]Enemy Initiative Progression[/h2]

Many enemies - especially captains and drones - were being left behind in the Initiative department in their progression. This allows your merc team to basically "run the table" on Initiative and reduced the difficulty of the game and the power of some Talents, cybernetics, etc. With this update, we've brought the enemy forces back into it with boosted to Initiative throughout their progression. You'll find that especially mecha-soldier drones are going to now give a much more competitive run for first-to-act.

[h2]Secondary Objectives: XP and $$[/h2]

For those secondary objectives offer money or Experience, we've boosted them by +5% each, now allowing them to roll from 15% to 25% of the regular reward total as a secondary. This is a healthy improvement and may end up taking another step upwards to 20% to 30% to ensure that these are competitive against staying to loot more, especially those in Security Level and Turn limits.

[h2]Traits without Attributes[/h2]
A few very old Traits in the game - like Scrappy and Agile - were missing a progression of Attribute bonuses. We've addressed those in this release.

[h2]Starting on Crafting Guidance[/h2]

We've got some really great threads going on our Discord at the moment and one is all about improving the NanoFab system, tweaking it and/or improving the help text in game. Our first set of improvements here are to make some nice text adjustments to the help text to make them more clear. The next set of improvements will be to clear up the UI, reduce unneeded text and let more elements be reactive (stating the % of Intrinsics when your crafting recipe prevents you from rolling an Intrinsic is not helpful, etc).

[h2]NanoFab Event History[/h2]

We fixed a bug where NanoFab events in the history never showed the right icon for what was crafted.

[h2]Overwatch Lock Fixes: T-Position and Blades[/h2]
We fixed the two game locks that result from Overwatch. First, some Talent validation code got broken sometime back with Agent EX and you could try to Overwatch with a blade now. That was not a good idea and the game locked up! Now, the Talent no longer allows melee Overwatching (it will re-appear with Cybersword Preempt).

Second, there were cases where you could end up a T-position when using Overwatch with a character who was just carrying and using a blade. This is now resolved.

If you get a game lock of any sort, please always send an F10. We're down to 1 final known lock where an enemy gets stuck in a running loop but goes nowhere and we're working on isolating it and finalizing the fix this week.

[h2]v1.9.31 - #179: Black Bay Fishing - 11/26/2024[/h2]
- Enemies gain Initiative Bonus as part of their progression, running the Initiative tables is no longer guaranteed
- Added Attribute bonuses to Traits Scrappy and Agile
- Increased amount of secondary objective XP and $$ rewards by 5% (now +15% to +25% of regular mission reward)
- Fixed issue with NanoFab crafting not showing the equipment icon in the timeline history
- Fixed issue where character using sword and Overwatch could end up in T-position and lock game (thanks for F10s!)
- Fixed issue that allowed melee weapons to engage Overwatch (and then promptly lock the game)
- Fix issue with reinforcements freezing a new turn
- Fixed High-Stakes marker on missions being too widely applied
- Improved some of the help text for NanoFab armor and weapons

Knights, we have a late Sunday night update here to get us ready for the new week. This one includes some progression adjustments on higher difficulties (Matrix challenge), clear marking when mission is from a hand-written storyline vs. proc-gen, 4 new visuals for weapon mods, improved balance of UAR, SMG and AR, fixed a ton of small mistakes in Weapon Mods and Intrinsic Mod Blueprints. We've also made a set of control scheme improvements in the Roster for Steam Deck and controllers and added a ton of new debugging to your F10s in case you hit one of the 2 rare cases that can still cause an enemy's turn to lock up in game (hit F10, we will fix!)

Thanks to everyone playing, posting, and sharing the game with a review. Our tiny team couldn't do it without your support!

[h2]Continued Progression Tuning[/h2]
There has been a lot of chatter and feedback on our channels recently about progression, optimal styles of play, how to squeeze the most of our your money or base, loot tables and more -- all good healthy feedback showing that the game is really delivering the experience and helping us to highlight places we can tune that experience.

With this update, we've kept pulling the thread from the last couple updates about Power Level progression and high difficulties. We found some inconsistencies in how loot tables were rolled for higher difficulties as well as a clear bug where Mission Power Level boost and then Matrix Power Level boost were both being applied to Matrix hosts. This pushed Matrix hosts upwards in difficulty rapid on higher difficulties, faster than they should have climbed.

The process is continual to improve the game's progression and to round on the key systems missing (Power Play, Compromised, more storylines, dying Contacts, etc). Thanks for joining us on this wild Early Access ride to help us tune it better and better!

[h2]Marked High-Stakes Story Missions[/h2]

We've addressed a question about proc-gen vs. narrative missions we receive from some players with this update. Missions that are from one-off, non-repeating storylines are now marked in the timeline as High-Stakes with a yellow icon and a helpful hover. This can help you spot missions that are linked to a one-time storyline and spot those that lack the icon as proc-gen or repeatable elements.

[h2]New Weapon Mod Visuals[/h2]

We're always excited to expand the look and feel of the game's weapons and this update drops 3 new scope graphics from our kit as well as a new high-level suppressor. We'll be working on finalizing the art processing on these elements to keep pushing more variation in the team's armaments, including new looks for weapons and all new mod visuals.

[h2]UAR and Weapon Balances[/h2]

With Update #178, we've made some definitive upgrades to the class of UAR weapons to ensure they clearly fill the role of Kings and Queens of Full Auto. All UAR at Power Level 1+ have increased their Full Auto shot, making them more capable of unloading a full burst into more than one target or handing out more damage to a set of 4 targets at once.

Higher Power Level UARs have also gained 2-5m in maximum range and ticked up optimal range to reduce their range restrictions as the weapons become more powerful. On the flip side of that, Kaza Raildarts (and those that will follow in the Raildart template) have had their range trimmed by 2-3m.

We've also tweaked the angles for Overwatch and Full Auto cones for all UAR, SMG and AR to ensure you've got a nicer progression here as these weapons are capable of covering a wider arc.

[h2]Improved Weapon Mod Progressions[/h2]
We've fixed a heap of weapon mod issues! A ton of these were simply higher Rarity or Power Level mods that were not connected correctly with their bonuses and so mimicked the stats of a lower level mod of the same type. We've fixed 3 Shotgun body mods, 3 Pistol body mods, multiple higher Power Level intrinsic mods and

We've also finished the rename for melee weapons from IO-Batt to Ion Batt by fixing a number of mods that still had the old name, going from IO-Booster to Ion Boosters.

[h2]Continued Steam Deck / Controller Improvements[/h2]
We've been verified on the Steam Deck, but our work is not done. We've completed a round of improvements in the roster around how the game maintains your current selection when diving into a sub-screen. This is most notable around changing equipment - previously if you selected a character, and then changed their primary weapon, when you returned to the Roster your selection would be in the left hand list of mercs, not at the primary weapon. Now the game maintains that selection whenever possible.

Second, we've fixed issues with some of the floating hover elements on Steam Deck, like weapons and weapon mods, where the hover was aligned on the wrong side of the element and just dove off screen.

[h2]Final Freezes - Debugging to Isolate[/h2]

There are 2 reported freezes left in the game -- both are intermittent and very hard to reproduce. Either one of your mercs goes into a T-position when about to take an Overwatch reaction shot, or an enemy starts moving and then doesn't move and stays stuck in place while looping the running animation.

We're on the hunt and can't wait to fix the pair of these. With Update #178, we've added a huge heap of additional debugging information to your F10 reports that should help us track down the root causes of these two remaining freezes. If you see them, please hit F10 in the latest update!

[h2]v1.9.27 - 11/24/2024[/h2]
- Marked high-stakes story missions in the timeline vs. proc-gen missions to help make the difference clear
- Added new visual variety for weapon mods: 3 new scopes and 1 new suppressor
- Reduced range of Kaza Raildarts by 2-3m, increased range of higher PL UAR by 2-5m
- Increased/Rebalanced Full Shot count for all UAR above PL 1, ensuring UAR claim best FA slot
- Tweaked and increased Overwatch cone and Full Auto cone angles for UAR, SMG and AR throughout Power Level progression
- Improved Shotgun Body Mods: Harrier Grip, Thunderbolt Grip, Nightshade Grip
- Improved Pistol Body Mods: APEX Ammo, Klinger-Floki Reloader, Malkuur Advanced Ammo
- Improved some high Power Level Intrinsic Mods: Vapor Optics and Quantum Rifled Barrel
- Reclassified Shotgun Barrel mod Showstopper D-Rail correctly as Legendary Mod
- Fixed some duplicate Weapon Mods like DesMoines Tactical and Quicksilver Mechastock for Sniper Rifles
- Fixed some weapon mods still using name IO-Booster instead of Ion Booster for melee weapons
- Fixed Matrix Power Level scaling bug where power level adjustments include Mission Power Level and Matrix Power Level (together)
- Improved controller input for Roster, now remembers last selected button when returning from subscreen (faster to change out EQ)
- Fixed bugs on different screen resolutions where larger hovers (like weapon) could end up completely off screen
- Added a heap of new debug to F10s to isolate and fix final 2 game freezes - AI stuck running in place, T-position at Overwatch attack