Cyber Knights: Flashpoint News

Update #51 brings our first new character class to the game, a tanky shotgun specialist that uses their nano-hive implant to manipulate organics, fool biometrics, and create deadly poison effects: the Scourge.

With multiclassing, this increases the number of playable classes to 28 combinations! Tons of opportunities to find new character build combinations and try new tactics with your squad. We've seen some strong possibilities in playtesting and can't wait to see what you all come up with.

UPDATE: the first hotfix is now live for Scourge, see the bottom for the updated change log

[h2]The Talent Tree[/h2]

The Scourge has access to many talents that cause enemies to suffer ongoing poison damage and other toxic debuffs each turn.

• Bio-Coat Bullet makes a special attack with your gun and poisons an enemy on hit.
  
• Tox-Cloud releases a swarm of chemical-producing nanites to create a large zone that will slowly move each turn, poisoning any enemies or teammates that pass into the cloud.
  
• Venom Trap is a throwable trap that will poison the first enemy to trigger it.
  

Scourges can train a passive talent, Purge, to avoid the effects of their own poison and enemy damage-over-turns effects, but other squad members will need to be careful to avoid tox-clouds and other area-of-effect talents like Morass, which slows down units and reduces their armor and evasion.

Shotguns are a specialty for the Scourge. Their attribute and small bonus nodes linking these talents include bonuses to close-quarters accuracy and ballistic damage, and they have two talents that offer special attacks for shotguns. Callous is another talent useful in close range fights, sacrificing movement speed for a significant buff to your or a teammate's armor.


Other buffs in the Scourge's arsenal include:

• Metabolize, increasing the duration of combat chems and chance of multiple uses.
  
• Reknit offers quick healing in a pinch (although the recipient may not like it).
  
• Bio-Mimic engulfs the Scourge in nanites, imitating the biosignature of enemy guards well enough to trick many security devices.
  

Tricking security devices isn't the only manipulation a clever Scourge can pull off. Using the most terrifying capabilities of 23rd-century nanotech, you can target an enemy's brain and neural link, disorienting them or even causing them to temporarily turn against each other.

[h2]Ready to play?[/h2]

With this update, there are two easy ways to get a Scourge into your squad:

• You can multiclass any member of your squad into the Scourge class by installing a Chem-Hive cybernetic implant. For now, you can install the Chem-Hive with Dr. Ashe without any investment needed. Remember that you can't respec out of cyber-classes at this time, so once you dive into this deadly side of nano-hiving, you're in.
  
• A new starting Scourge, August, has joined the character template line up in new game, giving you additional options to swap between Zasha, Liat and August. This is the only way currently to get a pure single-class Scourge into your group, but the Scourge is one of the best multiclass options out there so either single or multiclass option is very viable.
  

In the next couple of days, we'll be adding a new recruit storyline is in the works that will bring another Scourge character into the game as well as a new contact that can provide the specific Chem-Hive implant they use and other exciting cybernetic enhancements.



We may tweak Talents as data comes in, and of course if you spot any bugs our own testing hasn't caught, please F10 to report in-game; we'll fix it quick. Big thanks to all the players in the Steam forums and our Discord who offered feedback and ideas for this new class concept!

[h2]Full Trese Brothers sale to celebrate![/h2]
If Cyber Knights has been waiting on your wishlist, it's a great time to pick up the game, with more big updates right around the corner. For all of you already supporting us in EA, thank you! It makes a big difference to the final quality of the game.

We have the full Trese Brothers catalog on sale right now (including the Android and iOS versions of our previous releases), and just released a new "Best of Trese Brothers" Steam bundle for a bonus discount on any games you don't already own. More squad tactics in Templar Battleforce, turn-based ship and crew combat in our sci-fi captain RPG Star Traders: Frontiers, and old-school fantasy tactics in our party-based RPG Heroes of Steel.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/37813/Best_of_Trese_Brothers/

[h2]v1.4.1 - 2/22/2024[/h2]
- Added new class: Scourge uses their chem-hive implant to manipulate organics, fool biometrics, and create deadly poison effects!
- Implant a Chem-Hive from Dr. Ashe's higher level cybernetics to get a Scourge
- Now up to 28 multiclass combinations
- Improved balance of all Shotguns, adding Dmg and up to +2m range, Ironback increased ammo but +1 AP to reload
- Improved default filtering settings for equipping (show what can be equipped now) and all inventory (show all)
- Updated all class descriptions
- Fixed issues with Extraction and Wound healing in the timeline

[h2]First Hotfix is live![/h2]
v1.4.3 - 2/22/2024
- Fixed mistake with Chem-Hive being Deep Brain (conflict with Hacker) instead of Fast-Brain (no class conflicts)
- Fixed Chem-Hive should have -5% Stress and Wound Res instead of +5%
- Swapped Scourge class tree location of Dissolve and Bio-Coat Bullets (may need to respec)
- Swapped Scourge class tree location of Venom Trap and Tox-Cloud (may need to respec)
- Fixed missing upgrades for Callus Talent
- Fixed issues with upgrade display for Metabolize % chance to skip consuming Combat Drug use
- Adjusted the ordering of some Tox-Cloud upgrades in the second row
- Fixed missing debuff improvements in Nervo-Tox Shell upgrades
- Fixed incorrect mention of +25% Pure Dmg in Hacking Talents and Aero-Shrap Shell
- Fixed typos and name issues in new starting Scourge August's backstory
- Fixed issue with Soldier appearing in wrong position of rooftop after tutorial

With over 14,000 games released on Steam last year, there's a lot of noise to sort through to find the good stuff. We wanted to highlight a game we've been following for a while, that's already completed its EA journey and launched to critical acclaim just a few months ago.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Colony Ship is an in-depth cRPG with turn-based tactical combat, ten different potential party members, a detailed skill-based character system, multiple ways to handle quests, choices & consequences, and branching dialogue trees. It's the kind of RPG we love, and they've delivered at a really high level of quality.


It's a dystopian sci-fi RPG for fans of games like the classic Fallout titles or more recent hits like Wasteland 3. Like us, Iron Tower Studios values serving a core audience over making more generically mainstream games. They're known for hardcore, text-heavy RPGs with interesting worlds to explore and great storytelling. Colony Ship has challenging combat where a lot of different builds are possible, but it also allows for pacifist runs using your speech skills to avoid combat entirely.


We encourage you to check it out. Splattercat has a great video showing the gameplay experience if you want a preview, and their lead developer Vince is active in the Steam forums answering questions. This one's worth a look.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/648410/Colony_Ship_A_PostEarth_Role_Playing_Game/

Last weeks' big extraction rules updates touched every single level in the game. Today we got some F10s about issues about specific order of things (characters dying after everyone else extracts but there still is a prisoner...) that can cause issues with the extraction system.

Also, there were occurrences with the smoothed out camera controls where the camera was not resuming its overhead perspective after hacking or certain melee attacks. Just so smooth ... lol. Anyway, these are also now fixed in this hotfix.

A huge thanks to players posting F10s so we can fix the bugs and also to everyone leaving a review!

[h2]v1.3.23 - 2/12/2024[/h2]
- Fixed issue with successfully deploying from Sibling Breakout stage 1 - empty dialog, stuck at exit
- Fixed issue preventing next/previous page through bodies for body hiding/dissolving Talents
- Improved hover message for Bodybag Talent, dead body still shows body timer so you know how long til someone comes looking
- Fixed issues with Hyped / Stressed Out tags appearing at wrong times in mission deployment
- Fixed incorrect "Injured" count in tags over roster when mercs go into treatment, added specific Treatment tags
- Fixed confusing hover over Send for Treatment button in roster when already in treatment

[h2]v1.3.21 - 2/11/2024[/h2]
- Fixed issue where prisoners on levels could prevent team extraction (Carnivore, Sibling Breakout)
- Fixed bug with movement destination not always following where you clicked
- Fixed issue with camera not resuming correctly after some melee attacks
- Fixed issue with camera not resuming correctly after hacking

Update #50 - it's just a number but it's a nice one! We're excited how our Early Access journey has progressed so far. We've knocked down multiple major milestones from the roadmap, added content, systems and more to the game in constant stream of improvements.

While we're working toward what is next, we've prepped a very nice quality of life update here that smacks down a lot of the F10s coming in, improves some UI elements, tweaks the tutorial and more.

What is next is the bodyguarding objective for proc-gen missions and a whole new class, currently named codenamed Toxkit (the current working name), We've just opened up a thread for you to share ideas and inspiration around the Toxkit class, so we hope you'll join us there!

If you feel like we're heading in the right direction with Early Access as we hit Update #50, please take a minute to leave a review!

[h2]Secondary Rewards[/h2]
We've improved the rewards for proc-gen by making XP rewards clearly a percentage (+10%) over a hard number (+7 XP). We also fixed issues where in some scenarios the Sec Level rewards were not being granted.


[h2]Injury Time / Wounds[/h2]
There were a few issues and misses on balance here. One issue was that if a character had recovered from an injury in the past, they were far less likely to get injured again. We've resolved a number of issues and are in a more reliably correct place with injury time and wounding rules.

[h2]Smoother Camera[/h2]
We cleared up about 5 different cases that could cause the camera to hitch at the start or end of moving. Everything feels a lot smoother now!

[h2]Proc-Gen Fixes[/h2]
The extraction rules update did a bit of a number on the sewers proc-gen level it seems. We've fixed a slew of minor bugs from enemies spawning right next to your start location to your crew having 3 dialog lines every time they take out an enemy captain.

We fixed the occurrence of a blank screen if talking to the Warner-Braun VP sometimes.

[h2]ESC in Victory / Defeat[/h2]
We shifted the keybinding for returning to main menu away from ESC in the mission victory and defeat screens as way too many of us are accidentally exiting from that screen. It now defaults to ENTER.

And a lot more check out the full change log!

[h2]v1.3.17 - 2/11/2024[/h2]
- Converted secondary objective rewards for XP to +10% XP instead of +7 XP
- Fixed cases in which secondary reward for low Sec Level might not be rewarded
- Improved balance of Injury Time from damage
- Fixed bug where Injury Time of 1-day or less was immediately healed
- Improved smoothness of all camera panning, removed tiny hitch at end of some pans
- Fixed case in proc-gen Sewers level where an enemy might spawn looking straight at your team
- Fixed bug that could put up a blank dialog when Warner-Braun VP is offering proc-gen mission
- Fixed bug with over chatty dialogs when killing enemy in Kill 3 proc-gen missions
- Fixed issue with Hacker class recommending Neural Accelerator when it wanted Neural Toner
- Fixed a bug with one of Soldier's Plaster-Cross upgrades actually upgrading Pop-Slot
- Removed all-to-easy to hit ESC from Victory / Defeat, now defaults to ENTER to return to main menu
- Improved and shortened some tutorial lines about Full Auto and Alert Status
- Updated description for Chameleon Sheathe cybernetic implant

After the big feature update of individual extraction which touched every single level in the game, we're coming back around to fix bugs, F10s and smooth out a few things. Thanks to everyone for reporting issues with F10, for posting in Discord and chatting on Steam.

We're about to reach Update #50 here with some really big things on the docket this month. We're working hard for to improve the game daily through its Early Access period and hope you'll help us keep up that pace by posting a review.

[h2]Wound Saves[/h2]
We have adjusted the rules, percentage rates and timing at which Wounds Res is checked during play. Previously, this was checked when your Injury was fully healed which lead to an unfortunate feeling of "Oh, I'm finally healed and ready to ... oh I'm Wounded." Sad! With the updates, the Wound rolls are now made at the end of a mission and tied more closely to your Injury coming out of the mission. Your Wound Res is more directly impacted by number of Turns you are Injured and the Wound will appear immediately in the safehouse.

For future improvements, we're going to get a section in the scrolling victory panel that will let us show more detail for each merc and their individual outcomes.

[h2]Proc-Gen Sewers Issues[/h2]
There were a few issues with the proc-gen sewers level after the last release. Evidently, the new extraction feature didn't sit well with that specific level :D All are fixed -

• You were not getting the payment for each kill in the Kill 3 proc-gen premise.
  
• Objectives were not updating correctly for Sewer Kill 3
  
• In some proc-gen cases, you could start inside the extraction zone and immediately win
  
• In other proc-gen cases, there was no extraction zone. If you're stuck like this, reload your level after the update to get out.
  

In other proc-gen fixes, we've improved an exit zone in the Truck Stop that was badly marked and giving players headaches.

Hack-only missions were also having issues with early extraction, now fixed.


[h2]Head Hunters - Show your Numbers![/h2]
With a recent update to the HUD to get Heat and Head Hunters show in the mission screen as well as main timeline, a bug crept in that disconnected the Head Hunter display from the real numbers. Everyone should find that their Head Hunter counts are now back and correct.


[h2]Crit Chance in Accuracy Breakdown[/h2]
The Critical Chance calculations in the Accuracy Breakdown have been wrong for a while. We fixed one cause a few updates ago and now have tackled the second. They should all be nice, neat and make sense in a mathematical way at last!

[h2]Pop Slot Action Points[/h2]
We've fixed a bug that was constantly complaining there were not enough action points to use the Soldier's Pop-Slot.

[h2]v1.3.11 - 2/8/2024[/h2]
- Improved Wound rolling to be rolled at the end of a mission instead of later in the safehouse
- Fixed issue with payment not always being granted in Sewers Kill 3 proc-gen mission
- Fixed issue with new Sewers Kill 3 proc-gen level appearing too often from the generator
- Fixed issue with exit not appearing in all Scav versions of Sewers proc-gen level
- Fixed issues with Head Hunter count not correctly updating
- Fixed bug with Soldier's Pop-Slot Talent always reporting "Not Enough Action Points" incorrectly
- Fixed bug with Crit Chance % often being wrong in accuracy breakdown
- Fixed inability to extract early from hack-only proc-gen missions
- Fixed issue with Sigma 6 Sploitkit not loading in inventory
- Adjusted problematic exit zone in Truck Job
- Fixed missing faction subject in proc-gen offer ("BLANK is constantly harassing our movements...")