Cyber Knights: Flashpoint News

Update #235 is crash-landing onto the street of New Boston with more enemy improvements, removing the pause node in Daedelus Bloc, retirement screen improvements, the completion of a very expensive forehead reduction surgery project, improved generation of recruit starting levels, improved maps and props and more.

We're hitting the push point here with a big wave of new coming for you - so buckle up. Updates are coming! We hope you are enjoying the game and the relentless pursuit of improvement, please take a moment to leave a review!

[h2]Retirement Improvements + Daedalus Finisher[/h2]

With Update #235, we've made some improvements to the end game screens and the retirement system. This includes adding visual cards and multiple character results based off your story choices, Loyalty, level, class, backstory, tags and more. We're excited to see this system expanded and also to have pushed it to be fully non-destructive but determinant, meaning that every time you open the Retirement screen we're able to recreate (the same) retirement result for you. This is a powerful place to be and took a good deal of work, but it allows us to continuing to upgrade the visuals, text and possible results of your career even after you've retired and to see those changes filter down into any game that checks their retirement. So if we missed a cool retirement riff on some story choice and the community wants to see that honored, we can still make it happen and everyone can still see it appear in their retirement results.

We have removed the pause node before the final mission of the Daedalus Bloc storyline. Good luck, Knights.

[h2]Improved AI Response Consistency[/h2]
^^ Some dev visualization of the AI state/planning ^^

With Update #235, we've brought in the next wave of enemy agent improvements. This update is focused on consistency of responses and ensuring that the AI agents are following all of the rules of the game.

• Better handling of Stun results to ensure that, regardless of event type, the enemy are not rotating or reporting the event to the Sec AI.
  
• Same for Brain Wormed enemies, which were even worse than Stunned enemies.
  
• Ensuring that Head Hunters only pay attention to things they should - never stopping when they see a body, only caring about your mercs and local security.
  
• Fixing some cases where an enemy might be patrolling and not stop when they encounter something they should be paying attention to, such as half-spotting one of your mercs.
  
• Fixing a few final cases where rotation or movement vectors were wrong after encountering an event.
  

This upgrade really helps the AI behave in a more expected way throughout play. It really helps clean up, but the next big wave will be drive the actual upgrades in enemy intelligence with both local alert (enemy agents talking to and sharing status with other nearby agents), better ability to track security events and hunt around an area, fixing all the issues with and better fast forward turns (making everything skippable).

[h2]Fifth-head reduction surgery[/h2]

It has taken too long to address this, but all the masculine character heads had extremely large foreheads. If you didn't notice, bless your heart. For all the rest of you, we've spared no expense on forehead reduction cranial surgery and the heads are much better sized now!


[h2]Better Recruit Levels[/h2]
The level that a new recruit was starting in at was previously based off your Team Power Level. While this worked okay in the early game, it really started to fall apart in the late game as the squad's average is hitting 24 and your recruits are popping at level 6 or 8, so hopelessly behind they will never catch up.

With Update #235, we've improved the rules for how starting level is calculated, switching over to basing it off your team's average level (including Knight, Face, all active mercs but not other potential recruits). Their starting level is 80% of the team average which gives them a strong starting point but still some work to catch up. This also means that a team that waters down its veteran ranks with a wave of new recruits will see its average dropping and with it the level of its last recruits.

The Face will have something to say about this, but that is an update for just a little bit later.

[h2]High-Stakes Mission Marks[/h2]\

A mistake was made where Power Play missions and the missions of the Daedalus Bloc storyline were not being marked as high-stakes missions. Woops! They are! Very important, those! Now marked!

[h2]Coyote Hot Drop Objective[/h2]
We've improved the highlighting of the objective terminal in the Power Play mission COYOTE HOT DROP. This will puts extra emphasis on the individual nature of the area that your VIP needs to reach and access to exit, before you and the team need to find another exit.

[h2]v1.10.15 - #235: Push Point - 4/15/2025[/h2]
- Removed pause node from late story Daedalus Bloc, final mission now available
- Improved end game and retirement screen with visual slides, more character results, ability to update
- Improved all enemy agent responses to events (Lure, spotting, sound, getting shot, etc) for consistency of response
- Improved consistency of Stunned and Brain Worm effects on enemy agents (they can't report or rotate but do increase in alarm level)
- Rebuilt math for recruit levels - they start at 80% of the team average Level
- Fixed props with lack of sight line blocking and cover (box piles, glass tanks)
- Improved highlight area around VIP terminal in COYOTE HOT DROP mission
- Fixed Power Play missions and Daedalus Bloc missions not being marked as "high-stakes" correctly
- Fixed reloading 9th Daedalus Bloc mission at a mid-mission point, patient might be missing

Knights, a combination of unexpected events have given us an opportunity that could make a major impact on the success of Cyber Knights' launch. But it requires us to hold off on the 1.0 release for just a couple weeks longer, shifting our launch 18 days from May 15th to June 2nd.


We're shifting the launch date so we can take advantage of a window that was not previously possible for us until a recent Steam launch-discount-cooldown rule change, and receive featuring from #TurnBasedThursdayFest, a games festival we've long supported that is about to have its best year yet!

Regardless, we apologize for making you wait a little longer, and to anyone who's made plans around our launch. We just learned about this opportunity a few days ago, weighed the tradeoffs, made the decision, and are sharing this news as soon as we could to give you as much notice as possible.

A game's full release is a once-in-its-lifetime event that for most games forever shapes their trajectory afterwards. We've put everything into Cyber Knights: Flashpoint and need to make sure we're giving its launch every advantage possible; hope you'll understand and share our satisfaction that this change is ultimately good news for the game and its future!


We're as eager as you are, and very ready for the fun of a final countdown to launch even as we keep pushing updates and more content for the game in EA. Please update your calendars -- we'll see you June 2nd with the launch update!

Cheers!

Knights and mercs, we are here tonight with Update #234, a patch full of improvements and fixes to your community F10s as we prepare for the next big push of features and content. We've fixed issues with confusing or missing buff/debuff text in talents, text formatting in Contact Traits, adjusted the exact specifics of Team Power Level gained per level, dropped the concept of cybernetics per class tree quadrant and fixed performance issues with the New Game Team screen (and entire main menu) as well as improved lighting, camera angle and centering.

Thanks for your support as we hurdle headlong toward the end of Early Access! The days are short but the updates are long, so please leave a review today.

[h2]Team Power Gains per Mission[/h2]

We've improved the math behind the curve for your Team Power Level gains per mission with Update #234. Now it is simpler and always consistent - if a story mission grants you 100% Team Power Level, then a proc-gen mission grants your team 50% of that Team Power Level, and a hack-only mission grants 25% of that Team Power Level. This is a nicer curve, simpler math, and easier to describe and balance going forward.

[h2]Talent Fixes[/h2]

We've fixed two Talent issues that came up a lot in player F10s. The first was Disoriented, which simply described its debuff as "Disoriented" ... but that's the name, not what it does! We've adjusted this to now be clearer that the enemy is "Disoriented (immediately hunting around their position)".

The second issue was with the Knight's Lookahead Talent where the debuff to Move Speed upgrades was not being correctly added into the full description for the Talent. Now fixed, and thanks for all the F10s!

[h2]Missing Contact Tag Text[/h2]
There was a whole class of Contact Tags that had their second piece of text replaced with "BlockCondition.X" for the last few updates. This is due to ongoing fixes in the background to accommodate translation and is now fixed.

[h2]Dropped Cybernetic Link to Class Tree Quads[/h2]

Over the years, we can say we are extremely happy with how much of the original design of Cyber Knights: Flashpoint has made it from the design documentation paper straight into the game with minimal or balance-only changes. But we can't aim for 100%, we have to course correct when needed. In the original design, classes had required cybernetics (like Vanguard), and each class quadrant (left/center/right) might have a linked cybernetic that would prevent your character from training some Talents or upgrade nodes if you had not installed it. This was a good plan, and it might have worked too, but if we were going to add it, we needed to have completed the work more than a year ago.

We have dropped this part of the design permanently for all regular classes and removed its traces from the class tree quadrants.

The system and design may resurface for specialist classes or companion classes that come in expansions after launch, but it will never be something for all classes.

Star Traders: Frontiers had the "on station" system and Cyber Knights: Flashpoint had the "linked cybernetics system" -- RIP ❤️

[h2]Main Menu Performance and Improvements[/h2]

With the release of the New Game Team screen, we made a few mistakes that really knocked the main menu performance for a loop. Issues with the baked lighting, a dead camera left hanging in the screen, and other layer issues caused the scene to be rendering upwards of 3 million polygons at any given time when it should have only been rendering a modest 300K with a much smaller batch count.

What I mean to say is - if the main menu was making your fans go brrrrrrrr we fixed it ːsteamhappyː

Also, we improved lighting, centering and some of the post processing effects in the New Game Team scene.

[h2]No More Duplicate Rhino[/h2]
One of our most popular F10s this month was that during High Street mission, it was possible to see 2 copies of the Sniper Rhino on screen at some points. We've adjusted the story scripting around this story event to prevent that from happening and making a smooth set of events.

[h2]v1.10.13 - #234: Pre-Push Point - 4/10/2025[/h2]
- Fixed missing strings that could appear in Contact Traits for relationships ("BlockCondition.X")
- Fixed missing Talent upgrade text for Lookahead for -15% Move Speed
- Fixed self-referencing description of Disoriented Talent/debuff
- Adjusted math for Team Power Level increases (now clean story mission 100%, proc-gen 50%, hack only 25%)
- Removed nascent system for cybernetic requirements on Class tress - that window has closed
- Fixed issue where Knight could get Limit Breaks modifying their pay rate +/-
- Fixed issue in High Street mission where a clone of Rhino could be visible
- Fixed major performance issues with New Game Team screen drawing 3m polygons (down to 300K)
- Fixed off-center issue with New Game Team screen, improved lighting, camera position on Knight's screen

Knights, mercs, and hackers! It's the weekend so let's get heisting with Update #233! We've unlocked the final Vanguard Talent, rebuilt the new game team screen, further improved the weighting and edge cases for enemy tactical AI, fixed issues with enemies responding to events while patrolling, tweaked rules for earning a codename, and fixed a nice big heap of F10s!

We are working to relentlessly update and expand the game as we near the end of Early Access. If you're enjoying the pace of progress, we hope you will take a moment to leave a review and share the game with a friend.

[h2]Vanguard Goes Badping[/h2]

Update #233 follows up on the Hacker's Prank Talent with the final Talent for the Vanguard's tree. The Vanguard's Pinger Talent is now unlocked and ready to wreak havoc on the enemy's Security AI.

With Pinger, you can target a location on the map and create a false security event. This event does not raise the Sec Tally but it will be processed by the Sec AI at the end of the turn. If there are any guards who are eligible to dispatch (not in combat, not VIP, not Head Hunter or enemy faction, not Brainwormed, Stunned etc!) then a guard of the Sec AI's choosing will be sent to investigate.



Obviously, Vanguard's Pinger and Hacker's Prank can fit hand in glove to create some very powerful Sec AI manipulation situations. Want a specific enemy agent to leave their post and go exactly here? Badping + Prank Call = that agent is in trouble.

It is nice to finish out the final locked Talent in the existing classes and turn all final attention to the upcoming classes - Face and Warmachine after.

[h2]Rebuilt New Game Squad Screen[/h2]

While there are no functional changes, we've rebuilt the visuals for the New Game "Assemble your Team" screen. We ditched the original 2D design using the character's headshots and now can see the team arrayed in the safehouse, looking cool and ready to get heisting.

This include pushing the Knight and Face to the natural center of the squad (and screen) and removing the weapon from your Face's hands to be clear that they are your handler, fixer and dealmaker.

We hope you like the new look!

[h2]Earning a Codename[/h2]

We've adjusted the rules for how mercs can earn their codenames with Update #233. Mercs who survive a successful mission above Team Power Level 1 are eligible for earning a codename. We've improved the system by further limiting the codename earning to one merc per mission, so that you don't have 3 mercs suddenly all with new codenames and no time soak up the new street name and option to give them a new codename as well.

[h2]On-Going Enemy Decision Improvement[/h2]
We've run a fine-toothed comb through the weighting and decision trees for enemy tactical combat with Update #233. Things have come a long way in the last 2 weeks and everything is feeling very tuned up. We're still getting a few F10s about specific pathing and geometry that can make the enemy AI do some silly things, but this update addresses all of the ones reported so far.

We've also just helped the AI with all their "edge cases" - they are a little better with the edges of corners, edges of cover, edges of their movement range, all those little tiny choices are now a little tighter.

Finally, with Update #233, we've started the work on tuning up and improving the enemy's actions during investigation and patrolling. There were some cases where the enemy might see something while patrolling and decide not to stop and hunt around, sometimes even going in another direction. The enemy is now more willing to stop mid-patrol and investigate.

[h2]Hacking Transitions[/h2]
We've improved the speed at which the game will switch into the Matrix when it is a hackers Turn. With the improvement to the turn switching speed, Hackers were left out in a cold with a slow transition still. Now its snappy!

[h2]v1.10.11 - #233: - 4/4/2025[/h2]
- Unlocked Vanguard Talent Pinger (was Taunt) - allowing you to create a fake security event that will cause Sec AI to dispatch an agent of its choosing
- Fixed enemy issue where half spotting you ("I saw something!") would not stop them during a patrol route
- Further improvements to all edge cases for enemy tactical decision making (edge of range, edge of cover, last AP)
- Improved team presentation in New Game to use 3D layout and show off team better
- Updated rule - only one merc can gain a Codename per mission, avoids multiple codename awards at a time
- Improved speed of turn transitions to characters who are currently hacking the matrix
- Fixed issue with File Set options being shown with their price in red sometimes
- Fixed issues with idle animations stopping in some screens (appearance, mission planning)
- Fixed rare issue with NanoFab getting stuck on broken weapon crafts - cancel the craft!
- Fixed issue where Head Hunters could get Limit Breaks

Knights, mercs, and hackers! Update #232 is working its way through the dome now, with an exciting new Hacker Talent Prank, big boosts to all the secondary objective rewards, reduction of cost of Extra Item Carry nodes, reduction in Team Power Level boost for hack-only missions, and more. It's a big raft of changes, get on and let's heist!

If you're enjoying the relentless pace of updates as we slog our way toward release in mid-May, please take a moment to share the game with a friend and leave a review ːsteamhappyː

[h2]Hacker makes Prank Call[/h2]

Update #232 finishes out the Hacker's tree and unlocks their final Talent - Prank! With Prank you can target an enemy who is eligible to be dispatched by security (not in combat, not a VIP, not a Head Hunter, etc) and debuff them with a high-priority dispatch marker. This means the next time the Sec AI dispatches someone to investigate an event of any kind, this enemy will be the one that is called in.

This Talent has been so fun in playtesting and creates all sorts of cool new scenarios for your heisting Stealth teams to pull off. Need that pesky guard to go away? Prank him and trigger a security camera halfway across the map. Or Prank him just in time for a body timer to expire and bye bye!

We hope you enjoy this new vector of stealth play as well!

[h2]Improved Secondary Rewards[/h2]

Secondary Objective rewards have taken a big step up today with some new balancing going into effect. The rewards have jumped up to +2-4 Favors, +25-35% XP, +25-35% Payment or +20-50% Influence. Also, we have removed Blue Cubes as a reward type, these are not exciting - you can now only get Red or Gold Cubes.

Finally, we've chances that additional rewards - like Blueprint or NBS cubes - will be offered for secondary objectives, so you should be seeing a more interesting mix of those.

Coming next in this area, we've got 2 additional Secondary Objective goals that we will be adding around Escort / Exposed VIP missions, and we will also be doing some balancing for missions like Alpha Strike and Siege that can't get secondary objectives and are poorer for it.

[h2]Cheaper Extra Item Carry[/h2]

With Update #232, we've reduced the level point cost for each Extra Item Carry node from 5 to 3. This makes these nodes more interesting to consider for your characters.

We are also working on a visual upgrade to the Extra Item Carry node because it looks like a Talent and that has evidently caused confusion. The Extra Item Carry node costs 1 level point to Train into and does not take a Talent point. For now, we've fixed the pricing for its upgrade nodes but in the next update we will resolve the issue with it looking like a Talent and get its text to clearly share that it does not cost a Talent point.

[h2]Reduced Hack-Only Team Power Level[/h2]

Every mission you run adds to your Team Power Level. In this way, the sum total of your missions pushes the game's progression and difficulty higher. To help balance this further, we've reduced the Team Power Level boost that you get from hack-only missions further, as these are small missions between the full team missions and should not have such a big impact.

Hack-only missions now add 50% of a full proc-gen missions would add to your Team Power Level which is 50% of what a high-risk narrative mission would add.

[h2]Other F10s![/h2]
We are always hard at work on digging into the F10 pile, so we appreciate every player sending in feedback. With Update #232, we've improved some issues with mission naming (some missions were coming up with the name ERROR SOMETHING a lot!), fixed an issue where the Sec AI could dispatch an enemy who wasn't part of the faction (Fenian Sec AI dispatches Brave Star wut?).

We also put out a few hotfixes between the last update that improved the tactical thinking for enemies who are trying to close the distance again in a hotfix.

[h2]v1.10.9 - #232: Prank Call - 4/2/2025[/h2]
- Improved secondary mission objective rewards; now +2-4 Favors, +25-35% XP, +25-35% Payment, +20-50% Influence
- Increased the chance of Blueprints and NBS Cubes being offered as rewards for secondary objectives
- Removed Blue NBS Cubes as a possible secondary objective reward, only Gold and Red Cubes ever offered
- Unlocked Hacker Talent Prank (was Stemlocker) - allowing you to pick which enemy agent is dispatched by security to investigate events
- Swapped Downed Shields and Prank in the Hacker's Talent trees
- Improved Hacker's Trunkpatch Talent upgrades: upgraded node to -10 AP, upgraded node to -1 recharge rate, upgraded final buff node to +10% Connection from +5%
- Reduce cost of Extra Item Carry nodes to 3 from 5 each
- Reduce Team Power Level boost from completing Hack Only Missions to 50% of regular proc-gen missions
- Fixed issue with some missions having "ERROR" in their name 50% of the time
- Fixed issue with Sec AI dispatches that could tap enemies of another faction
- Improved long-range movement decision making by enemies to close gaps faster
- Fixed issue that could cause Hacker to freeze up after starting the turn hacking and then disconnecting