Cyber Knights: Flashpoint News

Data is streaming down the pipe, but so is the lethal feedback. Will you get the bio-formula locked-in before your chips fry? Tonight's update adds 5 exciting new host templates for Matrix Hunt proc-gen mission objective, clarifies some matrix rules in hovers, reveals mission power levels during mission planning, improves the new contact hover, fixes reported issues with multi-buy and multi-sell, adds new lore and more.

If you're enjoying the pace of updates, attention to improvement based on community feedback or any way we are handling Early Access, we hope you'll share game with a friend and leave a review!


[h2]5 New Host Templates + better Rules Clarity[/h2]
We've added 5 new matrix host templates that will be immediately picked up and used by the new Matrix Hunt proc-gen mission type. These new and exciting hosts will give you some new playgrounds to romp on, facing some new challenging setups. We're super excited to be working toward adding a few new node types which will also help shake up matrix map design meta significantly.

In addition to the new host templates, we've clarified rules in the game's hovers to try to help:

• To Spike a CPU or APU, you must use your Scan program enough times to get to Scan 2/2 and you must destroy all IC using an Attack Program (or any kind of Damage). Note that Disabling the IC is not enough.
  
• In the top right area, the Q-Sec Tally is shown in yellow pips. This is the amount of Q-Sec Tally added to the Tally every time you take any action, such as loading or using a program or connecting to a new node. This Q-Sec Tally per action cost can be increased by IC, by Q-Sec Escalations, by the node type or by other factors as well. This is a key stat to be watching because it determines how rapidly your actions will land you into another Q-Sec Escalation.
  

We also fixed a bug where hack-only missions had very few loot Files, Blueprints and Accounts. If you saw multiple nodes with only 1 or 0 digital downloads in them, then you hit this bug.

[h2]Sight Lines on Kill[/h2]
With Update #126, we've fixed an old bug where sight lines to enemies could sometimes linger even after a kill was made. This helps clean up the UI faster and reduces the feeling of clutter -- all good things for the tactical map, which we're continue to work on making it snappier and more responsive with less wasted frames or pixels.


[h2]Mission Names and Power Levels[/h2]
We've made some updates to the mission planning list in Update #126. The first change is to include a mission's rough power level in the list, so you can see what type of opposition you are facing. This will be most directly affected by your Team Power Level + difficulty and any boosts or reductions that the mission author called for the in the mission specifically. Hopefully this is helpful!

Second, we move fields around, shortened some tags and made space to give a full line to mission titles so the best names aren't getting truncated. If a mission title lacks space to display it all, it will auto-resize its font size a bit until it does fit as well.
 

[h2]Contact Services in Hover[/h2]
We heard immediately that with the new Contact hover we got it half right! You can now see the Exposure and Influence in the hover but you were not able to see services and which ones might be maxed out. Now you can with services tags just being added directly to the hover and the hover being expanded into all screens in mission planning now.


[h2]Selling Clarity[/h2]
In the original multi-buy and multi-sell update, the Buy/Sell option was disabled while you were modifying the slider and you needed to reselect a Contact before you could proceed with the transaction. This lead a lot of players to feeling like they were stuck or just generally confused.

With this update, we now have persistent "current Contact" shown in the list of Contacts, even if you go to mess with the quantity slider, this current Contact persists, allowing the Buy/Sell button to stay enabled at all times (unless you can't afford this, chumbo?)


[h2]Cybersword "Improved Charged Attack"[/h2]
As a first step to help improve the clarity and usefulness of their unique Talent, Cybersword "Conduit Edge" Talent has been renamed "Improved Charged Attack".

Any merc who picks up a melee weapon gets a free Talent called "Charged Attack" that uses the melee weapon's IO-Battery charge to invoke special powers, extra damage and debuffs - all based on the weapon. This Charged Attack Talent doesn't give any extra bonuses and can't be used repeatedly (has one charge).

If you are a Cybersword, you have the option to train Improved Charged Attack which replaces Charged Attack completely. Improved Charged Attack has better max charge, allowing you to strike with 2 IO-Batteries in rapid succession and give special buffs to the effects defined by the weapon, such as increasing the debuff duration from the weapon's debuff or further increasing its Pure Dmg bonus.

This Talent has caused a lot of confusion and while this helps, this will not be the end of changes coming for Improved Charged Attack.

We've also fixed an issue with hovering hitboxes in the class tree that should make the tree more useable with a mouse.


[h2]Faction Entries[/h2]
With Update #126, we added a lore entry of the Que Milieu Syndicate as well as fixing a duplicate paragraph for Blue Ox (the missing content was restored). We're continuing to add more lore to the journal, which is also exported to pages like the Factions page on the Cyber Knights wiki.


[h2]Appearance Import Oddities[/h2]
We've fixed number of odd bugs around appearance import and exporting sometimes creating outfits and appearances that were non-functional, or did not update in other parts of the game. These bug stemmed from use the mouse in the UI and generally not clicking or key pressing the "Load" button. For controller and Steam Deck players, this wasn't really an issue as the general way to accept the outfit change was the load button.

[h2]v1.8.53 - 8/14/2024[/h2]
- Added 5 new matrix hosts maps to templates for Matrix Hunt proc-gen missions
- Correct rules displayed in Matrix Q-Sec UI in the top right, explaining Tally per Action rules
- Fixed issue with hack-only matrix hosts having very limited loot (Files, etc)
- Fixed duplicate paragraphs in Blue Ox journal entry, added entry for Que Milieu Syndicate
- Renamed Cybersword's Conduit Edge to Improved Charged Attack for better clarity
- Correctly clearing sight lines on tactical map after killing an enemy
- Improved distance display in enemy hover under 10m to include 2 points of precision (2.06m) to help be clearer about range limits
- Contact hover now includes services tag list and is available in both mission planning screens
- Improved buy and sell quantity - last contact selected before modifying the slider is the one used if you hit buy/sell key
- Added better filters for NanoFab Blueprint selection - if using weapon bench, then see weapon filters, etc
- Fixed issue with K-Protocol and Leverage reducing Sec Level or Tally playing alarm SFX in a stack
- Improved class tree, reduced size of certain hover areas that were too large
- Fixed issues with loading an appearance from Library sometimes leaving appearance tab broken

Another night on the New Boston town, another heist, another big update! With Update #125, we've added a new proc-gen hacking mission objective, improved late game economy balance, fixed tagging issues and performance boost for Roster, fixed looping Exposure Limit Breaks, better updated the HUD after killing an enemy and Grenades cost 2 AP again! There is so much good stuff in this one, check the release notes.

If you're enjoying the pace of updates and improvements in Early Access, please take a moment to leave a review!


[h2]New Matrix Hunt Proc-Gen Mission[/h2]
In proc-gen land, we're excited to roll out an all new hacker-only mission focused on finding and downloading files. The Matrix Hunt mission type sets you up - on the clock - to break into a host and find 3 valuable paydata files scattered across the host's nodes. Much like Kill 3 captains, your payment hinges on each file found where you can gain 33% per file. It only takes 1 file to be called a Victory but the real money is with all 3. It's awesome to see new objectives filtering into the hack-only missions as well as the meatspace maps and missions.

The current iteration of this mission is styled such that it is a great fit for your Street Docs, Nu-Vudu practitioners and drug runners, contacts who haven't been as present in the proc-gen circuit up to this point, giving a new way to get them Influence points.

[h2]High Power Level Missions[/h2]
There are still big movers in the game's economy settling down. The ability to make upwards of $5m on a single phase mission in the high-end Power Levels is still running too high. While we're probably not done adjusting this (as more multi-stage missions will arrive), we've tuned this down into the $4m zone, which is still, frankly, a lot.

[h2]Better Roster Tags, Filters, Performance[/h2]
Ohhh the barracks character roster got faster! We're excited to roll out a huge performance boost, if you had any delay in that screen popping up it should be absolutely crushed. This makes a huge difference if you were trying to filter by character level, which was laggy before but now is buttery smooth.

We've also fixed a number of places where mercs who shouldn't be counted for tags - Dead mercs were being counted as Wounded (even though Dead beats Wounded in Dead-Wound-Scissors) and recruits were being counted as Training Ready (even though you can't train them).


[h2]Endless Limit Break Loop[/h2]
If you're stuck in an endless Limit Break loop with a Contact, we've probably fixed your issue tonight. We're not sure why some many players ended up with this bug being for Henninger, but here we are fixing the Exposure Limit Break loop so you can get back to your games.

[h2]Updating Attack/Hear Numbers on Kill[/h2]
There was no system in place to keep the bottom left numbers - for how many will hear my attack or how many can I attack from here - current after an enemy was killed. This did lead to a lot of "off by one" feelings with the numbers shown on your weapon tiles. We've plugged this bug!


[h2]Contact Hover Details[/h2]
We're working on rolling out a new Contact hover that will be useful everywhere it goes to get a peak a Contact's big stats without having to drop back to the Contact list. For now, it is solely available in mission planning but needs to be visible in more places and also include the services tag list.


[h2]Fixed and Slimmed Filters[/h2]
We slimmed down the appearance of the Power Level filters so that they eat up less vertical screenspace. We also fixed how Contact filters were working so that they are filtering as you'd expect compared to the rest of the set.


[h2]Recruit Offers[/h2]
Now that recruit offers in the Underworld Hub are getting more interest, we've improved the UI to make the sub-offers more clear when they aren't available to pick. The Soldier and Cybersword recruits now visually leap out of the group, ready to pick. Good thing more are coming!


[h2]Safehouse Uninstall Rules[/h2]
We've fixed 2 nagging bugs about uninstalling a safehouse room. You could - in previous release- destroy a safehouse room even if its benches were active. This would leave a crafting item in eternal limbo or leave a character in the detox stuck for a while. Now, it is prohibited to remove a room if any bench is busy - so finish up first!

Second, uninstalling or canceling a room's construction was removing it from the build list "for a while." This was a caching issue we've resolved now.

[h2]Grenades AP[/h2]
For anyone who was enjoying throwing grenades for 0 AP, we are sorry. The 2 AP cost has returned!

[h2]v1.8.51 - 8/13/2024[/h2]
- Added new type of proc-gen hacking mission objective - Matrix Hunt - find 3 paydata files each pays 33%
- Fixed bug sometimes prevent Agent EX Talent named Armor EX from being allowed to run
- Added helpful Contact hover to mission planning
- Reduced mission payments for missions at Power Level 7-10
- Big performance boost to Roster, fixed slow filters for Character Level
- Fixed tag counts for Wounded Roster not to include dead or dismissed mercs
- Fixed tag counts for Training in Roster not to include potential recruits (who you cannot train)
- Fixed issue with Exposure Limit Break possibly looping infinitely and jamming timeline
- Improved sight lines in mission map, fixed bugs with sight lines and melee weapons
- Fixed issue where attack/hear counts were not updating in HUD after death of target
- Fixed issue with Grenades suddenly not costing AP to throw
- Improved Initiative timeline action in HUD if there are too many enemies to fit (does not cover Sec Level)
- Fixed Contact list filters Friendly and Enemy not working well
- Fixed bug in Safehouse where destroying / canceling an in progress room could make it disappear from the build list for a while
- No longer allowed to destroy a room if any of its benches (Crafting, Detox) are occupied
- Made disabled token offers in Safehouse rooms (like Recruits) more obvious
- Reduced size dedicated to Power Level filters in all inventory/market screens

Today's update focuses on expanding the possible recruit roster, some exciting new Traits that come along with that, catching up on a security device missed in the gray outlines from last update and finalizing the fixes for a few bugs we caused in releasing Update #123.

If you're enjoying the pace of updates and how we are running Early Access, please consider leaving a review. you can always edit it later.


[h2]Underworld Hub: 1st Cybersword[/h2]
The Underworld Hub recruiting option offers a number of advantages - you can recruit higher level characters here and also you can pick the class you're interested in instead of hoping that your connections come up with someone who fits you from the street.

However, the recruits available from the Underworld Hub are very limited - in fact, up until Update #124, only one Soldier recruit has been offered. We're excited to start the process of blowing that recruit pool up with options, and the first to join is a new Cybersword. Thanks to the Kickstarter backer who created this exciting new character.

As more recruits filter into the hub over the following months, you'll be able to swell your ranks, better arrange the classes on your squad, try out new Traits and Backstories and replace losses.

Finally, we fixed the icons shown with each recruit offer in the Underworld Hub so it is visually clear.

[h2]Embarking into new Trait Territory[/h2]
With the new Cybersword recruit joining the hub, we've broken ground on two new types of Trait effects that we haven't seen in the game so far. The Traits available for the new Cybersword are good "foot in the door" Traits for these two new types, as more will follow.

The first is that character Traits can affect crafting rules, in this case reducing NanoFab pricing in certain situations. The second is that character Traits can react to actions within a mission


[h2]Disabled Proximity Mines[/h2]
Prox MInes felt left out after yesterdays update to vision systems, allowing you to hover over disabled cameras, radar arrays and motion detectors.


[h2]Restored File Sets and Item Blueprint Names[/h2]
With Update #123, we broke File Sets so they no longer appeared (thanks Power Level filter!) and broke Blueprint names for item Blueprints (thanks multi-sell!). We hotfixed the issue with File Sets but have included the fix for the Blueprint names with this update. Sorry for both of these!

[h2]v1.8.47 - 8/10/2024[/h2]
- New Underworld Hub Recruit - Cybersword!
- New type of Traits that takes effect after mission based on mission events
- New type of Traits that can affect NanoFab pricing
- Fixed incorrect icons in Underworld Hub recruiting offers - correct class icons
- Added gray outline for disabled Proximity mines after they have been enabled by Sec AI but disabled by Talent, Leverage or Hack
- Fixed issue with Blueprints for Items all having bad names like Blueprint.3.313
- Fixed issue with File Sets all disappearing

The weekend is about to get rolling in New Boston, so naturally its time for an update We've hit a hit swathe of big F10s with this update - an exciting follow up to yesterday's story release. We've added display of ranges for disabled security devices, add a much needed quantity slider for buy and sell, adding a Remove Mods button for weapons, added new filters for Power Level and Weapon Weight to all inventory and market screens, fixed a critical bug with Contact Limit Breaks and high level Traits, and a ton of other issues as well.

We're working hard on improving the game based on your bug reports and feedback and suggestions. Thanks for your F10s and your posts to the forum to help us getting these improvements straight into the game with hesitation.

If you like how we are running Early Access, please take a moment to leave a review!


[h2]Preview Ranges of Disable Security Systems[/h2]
If you disable a security device, it can become pretty difficult to know what it will do when it turns back on and exactly how much range you have to stay clear of its sight cone. For laser wires and pressure plates, this is easy but the information was simply hidden for vision systems like Cameras, Radar Arrays and Motion Detectors.

With Update #122, if you hover over a disabled security device - specifically Camera, Radar Array or Motion Detector - you will see the widget appear in gray, semi-transparent lines to give you the sense of what its capabilities are.
 

[h2]Quantity for Buy & Sell[/h2]
With Update #122, we've added a much needed slider for quantity when buying or selling equipment.

• For buying, this simply indicates how many you wish to purchase. There is no bulk discount, but this simplifies buying 20 HE Grenades for your team if you are using a lot of them. Note, this also means that Items which used to be sold in sets of 4 are now sold 1 at a time, except you can slide for quantity. Pricing is now a lot simpler!
  
• For selling, this slider only appears for equipment types that stack cleanly like Items, Weapon Mods, Armor. You can easily slide up the quantity to sell up to the maximum number of the equipment you have to sell. You're pure money offer will just rise with the quantity sold. Favors are offered if an individual sale results in a Favor offer, not from the group sale price. Which leads to the last bullet -
  
• Purposefully, there is no gameplay advantage to using either UI pathway.
  

This is a great and much needed improvement. We are not done yet, the next step is to add buil pricing which will allow faster and easier sell of mixed types and things that don't stack cleanly (files, blueprints, accounts).


[h2]Remove Mods[/h2]
For faster removal of mods and reconfiguration of equipment, there is a new Remove Mods button that will strip mods from a weapon in a single click. Just select the main weapon, and you'll find Remove Mods in its button bar in the top right. Notably, if you have locked mods on a weapon due to crafting them in, they will not be removed by this feature.

This improvement also ensures that when a weapon is sold any of its unlocked mods are automatically removed and dropped back into your inventory.


[h2]Power Level & Weapon Weight Filters[/h2]
Power Level filters have now been added across the board, enabling you to filter rapidly for specific Power Level bands, such as 2 to 4. This can help you while shopping to remove clutter of lower level items or help you sort a larger inventory for specific things.

In addition, we've added the Weight filter for weapons, which are either Heavy or Light.

this is how it looked when things went BUMP
[h2]Contact Limit Breaks for Traits[/h2]
We've fixed a critical bug affecting Contact Limit Breaks for Traits. Sometimes instead of upgrading 1 Trait Level, the Trait would upgrade 2 levels. This could lead to the situation where a Trait upgrades from 3 to 5 in a single hop ... but 4 is the maximum level! The trait just hopped off the end.

Tonight's fix stops the bleeding - Trait upgrades are back to 1 level at a time and more carefully respect the maximum level of 4. The next step here will be to do some careful repair of Contacts who have these dead Traits, fixing them back to what they were before. We'll be coming bac to this but for now, the critical bug is fixed.

[h2]Power Utility Error Message[/h2]
Power Utility flows in 4 chains through your Safehouse. The first link is the Command HQ. The second links in the 4 chains are the rooms adjacent to the elevator, and then third link in each of the 4 chains is the room not adjacent to the elevator. No part of the chain may have a higher Power Utility than the next link up the chain.

This was not clearly communicated in the error message in the outer room - that it might not be able to raise your Power Utility because the room closer to the elevator has a Power Utility that is lower.


[h2]Always Visible Cover Shield[/h2]
Sometimes the cover shield display near your movement location was clipping into geometry in an ugly way and sometimes it would completely disappear into geometry making it impossible to tell what type of cover you were scoring here. With this update, we've improved the shader on the cover shield so that it will always be visible through any geometry, even if you are on the far side of some object.

[h2]Lingering Special Effects[/h2]
We fixed a bug with Brainworm, White Noise, Disorient and a few other abilities where the special effect was lasting beyond the duration. This is now cleaned up and all working as expected.

[h2]v1.8.45 - 8/9/2024[/h2]
- Disabled cameras, radar arrays, motion detectors all show grayed out range if hovered over
- Added quantity slider to buy / sell; anything that stacks cleanly (items, weapon mods, armor, programs, decks) can be multi-sell
- Removed old scheme of items selling in packs of 4, all items are bought and sold with easy quantity slider
- Added Remove Mods button to weapons to quickly strip mods
- Added new filter group Heavy/Light for weapons
- Added min/max Power Level filter to Contacts, Inventory, Cold Storage and Equipping
- Added min/max Character Level filter to Roster
- Improved error message when trying to upgrade Power Utility on a room but the room closer to the elevator has lower Power
- Improved cover shield to show through geometry and always be visible so it isn't half hiding (or completely hiding) in things
- Fixed bug where Contact Limit Breaks for Trait upgrades could result in deleted Trait
- Fixed issues with Brainworm, Disorient, White Noise and other special effects not ending at the right time
- Fixed issue with calculation of price during crafting that could block craft even though you have enough money
- Fixed bugs with controllers using filters, selection could jump into the grid incorrectly
- Fixed bug with Clean Room description being nonsense directly after it started a build task

It is late summer in New Boston and the content is coming in waves, like the black sludge slapping up against the quays in the Boston Harbor. With Update #122, we've added a new storyline to the game, an echo of the Carnivore Job you may have already encountered, which also triggers a new source that can send a Head Hunter after you. In addition, we've fixed one of the last major bugs in the mission map - the dreaded Overwatch freeze or walking in slow motion bug - added Matrix LInk 1 to the cybernetics available at the start of the game, made Wounds more expensive and time consuming to Treat, fixed Vanguard's Refract and improved lighting conditions in a number of levels.

If you're enjoying the pace of updates, please take a moment to leave a review on the game. We're working hard to blow up the game's content this month, so let's blow up our review count too!

[h2]Carnivore Echos[/h2]
If you've encountered the Carnivore Job already or not, you'll be on the hunt for a corrupt cop you can get on your payroll. This can be a big pay off in jobs, Leverage and storylines later, as well as getting access to some milsec specialist items. In addition, you might make some enemies.

The Carnivore Echos storyline follows up on the loose ends from the storyline and possibly other storylines - such as Snitch Snuff out - and opens new doors to future interesting encounters.

With this update, you'll have another story-driven chance for a Head Hunter team to start pursuing you, so keep your weapons loaded and your blades sharp.


[h2]Overwatch Freeze or Slow-Mo Walking Freeze[/h2]
There were a number of ways this nasty bug could manifest. We've been hunting it for months without every successfully landing a reproduction case. So a big thanks for out to @Revan from Discord who posted up a game that reliably hung every single turn. After a few hours with the F10, we were able to uncover the sneaky root cause (an animation trigger that was not getting reset, so the game was waiting for someone to finish moving who was never moving in the first place...) and put in a fix. This is the last known freeze that could occur on the mission map ːsteamhappyː

As always, if you see something, hit F10 and we're going to get right to work fixing and improving!


[h2]Vanguard's Refract Fixed[/h2]
We broke Vanguard's Refract in Update #121 with the camera patch. It is back better than ever. It now has movement assistance points along it that will help you movement snap into positions so that you don't accidentally cross it. Also, Refract now longer causes Grenades to bounce, as it blocks sight but not physical objects.


[h2]Select from Multi-Monitor[/h2]
You can now select which monitor the game should play on from within the game's options screen. The list is a 1-indexed array (there is no 0), so pick your option and the game will remember that for you in future loads.


[h2]Ready to Go Matrix Link[/h2]
Up to this point, you had to complete the investment in Dr. Ashe's Clinic or find another cybernetic splicer in order to get access to Matrix Link 1 or 2. This made multi-classing into Hacker unfairly more difficulty than Scourge or Agent EXj, as we added those cybernetic implants to the starting set when those classes were released. So, now Hacker multi-classing is available immediately, if you have the time, will and the money.


[h2]Wound Treatment and Res Debuffs[/h2]
We've improved the balance for Wound Treatment - it is harder and more expensive to take care of Wounds, which makes it more likely that they will have time to worsen into higher level issues for you. Also, we've given all Wounds a small Stress Res debuff, and some wounds like Flashbacks, a larger Stress Res debuff. Being Wounded at will now have more of a snowball effect, leading to more Stress points and more chances for negative Limit Breaks.

[h2]Snitch Snuff - Frozen VIP[/h2]
We fixed a bug caused by some adjustments to the navigation rules about how close you can get to hovertrucks that were causing the VIP in Snitch Snuff not to be able to go to their exit in one of the two exit options. Watch out - that VIP can book it!

[h2]Lighting Improvements[/h2]
We're always working on improving lighting, props and environmental feeling in the levels. With this update we've made some nice adjustments to a few levels in the street theme that will help them feel more dark and gritty, including Haven Smokeout.

[h2]v1.8.43 - 8/8/2024[/h2]
- Added new storyline echo after Carnivore Job
- Storyline adds new source of Head Hunters coming after you
- New monitor select dropdown in Options screen lets you pick which monitor the game should play on
- Fixed bug that could freeze game during Overwatch fire or leave an enemy walking in place and game frozen
- Matrix Link 1 now available from Dr. Ashe at start of new game
- Increased price of Treating Wounds, increased debuff to Wound and Stress Res from all Wounds
- Fixed issue with Vanguard's Refract suddenly not working
- Fixed issue with Snitch not fleeing in all setups for Snitch Snuff mission
- Improved lighting and materials in some levels and environments