Cyber Knights: Flashpoint News

[p][/p][p]Knights and mercs, this time when the hover truck comes down to drop off the update, it has a big F10 fixer, quality of lifer, translation prepper. The last few updates added story expansion with each one, and we've circled back now to clean up some of the issues being reported by the community and also to wrap up some text improvements for the next big phase of this thing called Cyber Knights! [/p][p]We've made controller improvements, clarified rules for Leverages, added mission detail hover to Field Ops and Hacking Station, fixed bugs with Matrix Nuke, Full Auto with 2 AP and made a sweeping set of improvements to mission descriptions. And more - lots of F10s, thank you![/p][p]Our small team of 3 working who are in the gamedev seats wanted to say thank you for playing, posting and hanging out with us! If you are enjoying the game and the steady stream of updates, we hope you'll take a minute to return the favor by a review.[/p][p][/p][h2]Our Save Game Policy and Updates[/h2][p]Since you'll always be seeing a lot of updates around here, we want to reiterate our saved game policy so everyone understands our commitment to your games. No saved game will ever be invalidated by an update. All new content and features will be added immediately to all saved games (with the reasonable exception of New Game options). You never have to restart if you don't want to. This is a studio commitment that we have made and kept for many years and games. We stand by it. So do not stress about the deluge of updates that is coming your way - heist on my good heisters.[/p][p][/p][h2]Steam Deck / Controller Improvement[/h2][p][/p][p]With Update #71, we've improved the consistency of the control scheme for controllers, Steam Deck and keyboards alike. Thanks to feedback from Zoarster on Discord, we have a new set of improvements we can work on in this is the first of a couple coming down the pipe.[/p][p]On controller and keyboard, there was some confusion about which was the priority action if you had both a movement destination set and a Talent selected. This is a common situation because you want to be previewing the Talent range from your new location. The common pattern of play is to pick a movement destination, preview the Talents to ensure that they will work from your location and then to cancel (B) or execute (A) the move. However, if a Talent was selected, (A) would execute the Talent instead of moving the character. And if you hit (B), it would cancel the movement, not the Talent (until you hit (B) again). [/p][p]This left the execute (A) and cancel (B) basically considering different actions the priority and makes the game harder to play. We have now straightened this out - if a movement destination is set and a Talent is selected, hitting (A) will execute the move and (B) will cancel the move. If a movement destination is not set, then hitting (A) will execute a Talent and (B) will cancel the Talent.[/p][p]Hopefully you find this improvement helpful! Excited to hear from the community on it.[/p][p][/p][h2]Clarified: Leverages can't stop Hunters/Bodyguards[/h2][p]We've had some questions recently about the Leverage that blocks Reinforcements. We've added some clarifying rules text to the Leverage to make it more clear - this Leverage can block Reinforcements sent by Security Escalations only - it is not enough to block Head Hunters, VIP Hunters or Bodyguards who are arriving to help a beleaguered VIP. [/p][p][/p][h2]Mission Preview in Hacking Station / Field Ops[/h2][p][/p][p]As your are browsing the mission list in your Field Ops and Hacking Station rooms, considering which Leverages you might want to spend your precious tokens on, it was not uncommon to need to drop out of the Command HQ to examine the missions in detail again. Which was which? Which was for Octane again? [/p][p]We've helped resolve that issue by bringing the mission details panel into the Field Ops and Hacking Station rooms directly, making them hover off to the right of the Leverages list so you always know what mission you are picking Leverages for.[/p][p][/p][h2]Mission Description Highlights and Improvements[/h2][p]As we continue to work on the translation project for the game, we had to make some wholesale improvements to the mission description text within the game to prepare it for translation. It was a bit of a wild west, not sticking to a clear enough format to share with the translation team to get consistent results.[/p][p]Thankfully, the result of standardizing everything is that the highlighting of names, classes, factions and game terms within the mission descriptions is now so much more accurate and consistent. Everything should be lit up for you to help you parse the description faster and recognize game characters.[/p][p]This did require about 10 hours of manual work and rewriting of strings, relinking and all sorts of error prone tasks. We did a ton of testing, basically kicking off every type of mission in the game and checking its text but we are sure to have missed mistakes. If you see any mission descriptions that are odd or show up as code instead of narrative text, just be sure to hit F10 and we will get them resolved very quickly.[/p][p][/p][h2]So Many More F10s![/h2][p][/p][p]We also just fixed a general mountain of F10s for Update #71. We fixed strings that had broken in victory a few other places due to translation work. We fixed issues where you could get stuck in Full Auto mode if you only had 2 AP. We fixed Lumen Spear and other self-damage Talents not always doing the correct amount of damage. We resolved map bugs with reinforcements in open fields, matrix balance for a number of missions, off-centered and misplaced security devices, lockers you could walk into ... bugs and more F10s! Fixed! All fixed. Thank you for submitting them![/p][p][/p][h2]v2.5.39 - #71: When I say GO! ... - 2/26/2026[/h2][p] - Improved controller support so (A) when having both movement waypoint set and Talent selected executes the movement, not the Talent[/p][p] - Clarified rules for Reinforcement blocking Leverages which cannot prevent arrival of Head Hunters, VIP Hunters or enemy VIP Bodyguards[/p][p] - Added hover to Hacking Station and Field Ops Leverage lists to show details of mission [/p][p] - Fixed rare issue where you could get stuck in Full Auto mode and unable to switch weapon with 2 AP[/p][p] - Matrix Nuke button now correctly grays out of lacking AP to use[/p][p] - Vastly improved highlighting of names, factions and terms in Mission descriptions[/p][p] - Fixed issue with not taking self damage when using Lumen Spear abilities[/p][p] - Fixed a possible lock up at the start of Sibling Breakout[/p][p] - Fixed some open field reinforcements appearing in odd places[/p][p] - Improved balance/scaling of matrix hosts in Sibling Breakout and Cube Run missions[/p][p] - Fixed invisible wall bouncing grenades near stairs in River Street Bridge map[/p][p] - Fixed bug where reinforcements might appear without outline on to match other enemies[/p][p] - Fixed some security devices slightly off center or misplaced[/p][p] - Fixed map bugs with lockers you could walk into in some maps[/p][p] - Reduced overload of pings when a target of an AOE effect might be invalid[/p][p] - Increased mission loading performance[/p][p] - Fixed recruit dialog typos[/p]

[p][/p][p]Knights and mercs, we're here to drop another expansion of the Contact Limit Break system on the New Boston Zone. Tonight, the focus is on your enemies or those who hate or hold grudges against individuals on your team and allowing them to pay Head Hunters handsomely to settle these scores. Of course, this is in prep to release a new wave of Head Hunters into the NBZ ːtoxcloudː In addition, we've released variations of the latest head ware cosmetic options, and completed more parallel work with the game's translation team to get the English source into the best shape it can be. [/p][p]Thanks to everyone playing and especially those enjoying the latest focus on improving the Contact simulation. This keeps opening up new and exciting possibilities. Cheer us on with a review! ːsteamhappyː[/p][p][/p][h2]Our Save Game Policy and Updates[/h2][p]Since you'll always be seeing a lot of updates around here, we want to reiterate our saved game policy so everyone understands our commitment to your games. No saved game will ever be invalidated by an update. All new content and features will be added immediately to all saved games (with the reasonable exception of New Game options). You never have to restart if you don't want to. This is a studio commitment that we have made and kept for many years and games. We stand by it. So do not stress about the deluge of updates that is coming your way - heist on my good heisters.[/p][p][/p][h2]New Head Hunter Sources[/h2][p]While some hostile Contacts (those with status Burnt or Enemy) could dispatch Head Hunters against you through their Limit Breaks, Update #70 significantly increases the number of Casting Director matches that can allow for a Contact to decide that they do want to send Head Hunters.[/p][p]To expand this footprint and help find more cases where a Contact on a Power Play may choose to send Head Hunters, we've built out the match set so that any Contact who Hates, Hunts, wants to murder, etc etc a member of your team (including your Face or Knight) may now choose to dispatch Head Hunters. This covers a number of Contacts who previously might not have opted into the option and generally increases the chances that you'll see Head Hunters coming out of Contact Limit Breaks enough to keep things more dicey out there.[/p][p]Which is important, because in the next update, a new batch of legendary Head Hunters are coming to the NBZ and we need to make sure they've got contracts![/p][p]In addition, we've expanded a few places where it feels cool to have a specific storyline always risk generating a Head Hunter call. We've specifically added two story beats that allow Head Hunters to be sent - one for the starting Scourge (August) and the Syndicate Boss he tried to take out as part of his backstory. This Badu Jack may discover - on a Power Play Limit Break - his would be poisoner on your team and decide now is the time to take revenge.[/p][p]In addition, the megacorporate lead behind Taylor Strizek's lab may also send Head Hunters if you've completed Truck Job Part 2 and dealt a disastrous blow to her organization.[/p][p][/p][h2]Appearance Headphone Variations[/h2][p][/p][p]Some of the most recently added cosmetic options were the headphones joined by a headband. They're a cool look for different characters but the band that was included could make them hard to use with certain hats and hairstyles as it was could cause a lot of ugly clipping. [/p][p]Thanks to the players who requested the option, we have included new variations of these cosmetics simply without the band, which allows them to be used in more cases.[/p][p][/p][h2]Improved Clarity / Fixed Text and Rules[/h2][p][/p][p]As the translation project keeps ripping along, we've been making a lot of changes to the underlying English rules text for the game. In some cases, we've been removing old strings, other places we've been improving our consistency of use of terminology (in this update, Recovery Time vs. Injury Time is now always used correctly). And we've been doing other things that will be invisible to players in English, like splitting text for genders, reducing the complexity of some of the strings for translation, etc.[/p][p]We also fixed a number of strings that accidentally got bumped and turned into string codes instead of English text.[/p][p]If you do see a string that switches to a code, please F10 it and we will fix it quickly. [/p][p]We're excited to be moving forward with our community review of the game translations! Stay tuned for more news and next steps for a upcoming public beta.[/p][p] [/p][h2]v2.5.33 - #70: Hunters Stalk the Shadows - 2/20/2026[/h2][p] - Contacts who specifically hate/hunt a merc on your team can now send Head Hunters when on Power Play[/p][p] - Added two new cases where Contacts might send Head Hunters based on existing stories - after Truck Job Part 2 and starting Scourge's Syndicate target[/p][p] - Added 2 modified cosmetic options - headphones without the band if you want to use them on hair / hats or other options that were clipping badly [/p][p] - Improved English rules text for clarity, consistent usage of terms like Recovery Time and Injury time, simplified some Talent descriptions[/p][p] - Fixed issues with random strings appearing as string keys instead of English due to mistakes in translation effort[/p][p] - Fixed issue with the cybernetic eye implant popping off the side of some character's faces[/p]

[p][/p][p]Knight and mercs, we're excited to roll out the second Compromised Contact storyline which is driven from Exposure Limit Breaks, a ton of new types of armor spread across the Power Level spectrum, including some that add fractional +AP and +MP, improved balance for Stealth armor to have more reduction in movement noise, and fixed a whole big pile of map bugs that were reported by F10![/p][p]While we are working on two very large projects at Trese Brothers HQ - finishing translations and pet classes - we're excited to be rolling out a steady stream of new content for you. We'd love you to leave a review for our small team of 3 devs who are grinding hard for you, nothing else could be more helpful [/p][p][/p][h2]Our Save Game Policy and Updates[/h2][p]Since you'll always be seeing a lot of updates around here, we want to reiterate our saved game policy so everyone understands our commitment to your games. No saved game will ever be invalidated by an update. All new content and features will be added immediately to all saved games (with the reasonable exception of New Game options). You never have to restart if you don't want to. This is a studio commitment that we have made and kept for many years and games. We stand by it. So do not stress about the deluge of updates that is coming your way - heist on my good heisters.[/p][p][/p][h2]+21 New Armors and Fraction AP/MP[/h2][p]With Update #69, we've addressed a looting gap that players have identified over the last few months. There were too few options with looting armor of all types. Also, the availability of fraction AP and MP bonuses in Blueprints was limited to earlier Power Level Armor (1-4) or only to late game Shadow Site runs. This created a difficult dynamic of when and how you could access to extra AP/MP points that were likely needed to get to the full +1.0 AP to get your 7th AP.[/p][p]With Update #69, we've added 21 new armors - 7 stealth, 7 light and 7 heavy spanning from Power Level 4 to Power Level 10. They can now all be looted as physical armor found in a lockbox or as Blueprints found in hacking Manufacturing Nodes or Vaults. Many of these new Armor designs include fractional AP or MP bonuses and fill a key gap within the Armor progression in the game.[/p][p][/p][p]In addition, we've started making some moves to further differentiate the Stealth Armor class, increasing the number of armors that include a reduction in how much noise you make when your moving, carving out more of a specialized niche for Stealth Armor than exists today in the system.[/p][p][/p][h2]Compromised: Transport Attacked![/h2][p]With Update #68, we added a possible very bad end for one of your Compromised Contacts who might get imprisoned and then executed by an enemy faction. With Update #69, we've added another variation of the same possible-death storylines for Compromised Contacts. [/p][p]Being Compromised is an unwanted state that may settle upon a Contact as the result of a Exposure Limit Break and once Compromised a Contact opens up a set of additionally bad possible results already - going into hiding for twice as long, gaining worse negative temp Traits, suffering Influence wipes.[/p][p]Now, you may encounter a storyline in which your Contact has been attacked mid-transport and forced to flee into hiding in the underground. With only a tiny bodyguard remaining, cornered and pinned down, you are on an extremely tight timeline to rescue them or they are sure to be killed.[/p][p]Depending on who it is - no, not Goldstax! - you'd better jump fast to mount a rescue expedition![/p][p]We're excited that this new multi-stage mission also includes another use of the allies system (characters who are friendly but not under your control) who add a whole layer of complication to your rescue effort here.[/p][p][/p][h2]F10 Hunting[/h2][p]On top of the new armor and the new storyline, we've made a dedicated effort to be crushing out F10s that are related to issues within maps. We've fixed a ton of minor issues around sight lines, cover, props placed in odd places and the on-going category of your characters starting in a position where they are immediately scene by an enemy.[/p][p]We've closed over 40 X F10s in this release as we continue to put pressure on these areas. For now, we're going to keep putting the maximum pressure on map bugs until we get the flow of reports down to a trickle.[/p][p][/p][h2]v2.5.31 - #69: Fractional Boosts - 2/10/2026[/h2][p] - New Compromised Story: Contacts who are Compromised may be attacked during transport, pinned down and need Exfiltration help[/p][p] - New mission includes the use of allies for further complication and chaos[/p][p] - Added 21 new Epic and Legendary Armor Blueprints and Loot options[/p][p] - Increased availability of fractional +AP and +MP on Armor and Armor Blueprints beyond PL 4 and outside of Shadow Sites[/p][p]- Rebalanced more Stealth Armor to have reduction in detection radius for moving[/p][p] - Fixed bug with character who runs The Belly legwork not getting the skills tag for it[/p][p] - Fixed incorrect highlight of extraction locations in Wreckspire map[/p][p] - Improved cover and sight line configuration on some of the street shanty shacks[/p][p] - Fixed oddly placed pipes in Q-Compute Core[/p][p] - Fixed bug where either Sibling from Salvage Job could forever banned from doing Legwork[/p][p] - Fixed map bugs and typos[/p]

[p][/p][p]Knight and mercs, we're excited to be rolling out a new Contact-driven story that can come from a Compromised Contact, better Contact job targeting based on their faction and contact relationships, improvements to the Exposure flow for Contacts, fixes for AI allies, improvements to how passive Talents that work on Sec Level rise activate, and a big pile of other F10s submitted by you![/p][p]If you are enjoying the constant flow of new updates, content and improvements, please take a moment to thank our small team by leaving a review, nothing else could be more helpful [/p][p][/p][h2]Our Save Game Policy and Updates[/h2][p]Since you'll always be seeing a lot of updates around here, we want to reiterate our saved game policy so everyone understands our commitment to your games. No saved game will ever be invalidated by an update. All new content and features will be added immediately to all saved games (with the reasonable exception of New Game options). You never have to restart if you don't want to. This is a studio commitment that we have made and kept for many years and games. We stand by it. So do not stress about the deluge of updates that is coming your way - heist on my good heisters.[/p][p][/p][h2]Compromised and Imprisoned[/h2][p][/p][p]We have now added a new and awful result for Contacts who become Compromised. This state may happen as the result of a Exposure Limit Break and once Compromised a Contact opens up a set of additionally bad possible results already - going into hiding for twice as long, gaining worse negative temp Traits, suffering Influence wipes.[/p][p]But with Update #68, we've enabled the first storyline that can spin out of a Compromised Contact, much like a Contact on a Power Play can start a storyline to gain a new service. Well ... the Compromised storyline can get your Contact killed, dead, permanently. They need your help - its now or never, do you like them enough to risk saving their lives from prison and death?[/p][p]If its your Gun Runner with the 3 extra upgraded services you helped her achieve with Power Plays, you'd better jump! [/p][p]These new multi-stage missions help build up relationships and hatred between Contacts and within Factions as well, strengthening the web of the underworld. [/p][p][/p][h2]Mission Expiration Exposure 20%[/h2][p][/p][p]If you allow a Contact's mission to expire without helping them, the penalty has been hiked from 10% to 20%. This matches the baseline Influence gain they can get if you do complete the mission and increases risk that ignored Contacts will end up Compromised and possibly dead.[/p][p][/p][h2]Contact Job Targeting[/h2][p]We have also improved the decision matrix that helps Contacts generate jobs so that the target faction of the job is the most appropriate option. If a Contact has a relationship with a Faction (Hates, Loves) or a Contact (Ex-Lover, Rival) then these tags now have a much larger influence on the factions your Contact will be aggressive against with jobs. [/p][p]This upgrade help better reinforce the flow of power, revenge and pay back in the underworld and we're excited to be making other improvements (such as the Compromised stories) that will further reinforce it.[/p][p][/p][h2]Steam Deck Improvements[/h2][p][/p][p]With Update #68, we've fixed a number of places where on Steam Deck you could accidentally enter a new screen and immediately activate (as if you had hit (A)) the default selected element. In market, this could result in trying to sell the first item. In Safehouse Manage Rooms, this was resulting in building the first room.[/p][p]Glad to see these resolved![/p][p][/p][h2]Passive Talents on Sec Level Rise[/h2][p][/p][p]We've changed the rules for passive Talents that active when the Sec Level rises. At the moment, there are 2 types of Talents like this in the game, so the change is very specific to these Talents but also functions under a clear set of rules.[/p][p]These new rules are a clear improvement over the previous rule, in which only one passive talent could activate when the Sec Level rose, regardless of type or target. The old rules could result in training multiple passive Talents of this specific type to feel basically like a trap.[/p]

• [p]If a Talent has an AOE effect (such as Vanguard's Glasswalker) only one of these Talents (if your team has multiple) will be randomly selected to activate.[/p]
• [p]If a Talent is self buff (such as Agent EX Supremacy), it will activate for everyone who has the buff and charges to activate it.[/p]
• [p]The Talent activations in the log now include the Talent name and the character name, so it is clear who did what. The character name was previously missing from these.[/p][p][/p]

[h2]Allies Controlled by AI[/h2][p][/p][p]With Update #68, we've made a host of clean ups on enemy allies that are controlled by the AI. These allies want to be helpful but are not under your direct control, usually they are coming from another faction. While they were trying to be helpful, there were lots of issues with how they interacted with the Sec AI, movement alerts and attacking HUD that didn't make sense.[/p]

• [p]Movement Alerts are all corrected around allies[/p]
• [p]You can no longer target or shoot allies directly[/p]
• [p]Allies no longer report corpses of enemy faction[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Major Engine Update Tweaks[/h2][p]With Update #67, we finished the official roll out of the new engine upgrade (to Unity 6.3). There were a string of hotfixes immediately following over the next 2 days, but since then the issues have been minor enough to bundle them up for this next content release.[/p][p]With Update #68, we fixed issues where sometimes ragdolls would go flying into the air, especially around Talents that leave an AOE zone on the map like Tox-Cloud or JTAC. We also resolved some issues that could - depending on what type of the enemy made - results in your sight lines shooting off into the sky at seemingly random angles. [/p][p]We also fixed an issue that could create extremely long movement paths, if you requested paths near doors or lootboxes sometimes.[/p][p]We're happy to say that 6.3 has been very stable, so a huge thanks to all of the players who joined the public_beta and submitted F10s to get us there.[/p][p][/p][h2]v2.5.25 - #68 - 2/10/2026[/h2][p] - New Compromised Story: Contacts who are Compromised may be captured and imprisoned by enemies and put to death if not rescued[/p][p] - Contacts more likely to target missions against contacts and factions they dislike[/p][p] - Failing to complete a proc-gen mission for a Contact now causes a 20% Exposure gain[/p][p] - Fixed issue with Sell and Bulk Sell not working when you filter or sell down to 1 or 0 items[/p][p] - Fixed issue with Steam Deck immediately buying first item when entering market[/p][p] - Improved support for friendly allies controlled by AI - no sight lines, can't attack, don't report any security events[/p][p] - Improved rules for passive Talents activating on Sec Level rise (Glasswalker, Supremacy) (single AOE/rise, all self buffs/rise)[/p][p] - Fixed bug where enemy status said "Suspicious" instead of "Alerted" in 1 case[/p][p] - Fixed missing string for set bookmark[/p][p] - Fixed Vanguard and Hacker class nodes that showed broken strings for upgrades[/p][p] - Fixed some missing icons in the appearance tab[/p][p] - Fixed bug that could cause attack sightline to veer off into the sky sometimes (rare)[/p][p] - Fixed bug that could cause ragdolls to go flying into the sky when killed by damage over time[/p][p] - Fixed bug that could cause Talent bar to become non-navigable after Full Auto attack with 2 AP afterwards[/p][p] - Fixed movement bug that could result in really long paths to things like doors[/p][p] - Fixed bugs that could prevent Slashslide or Crimson Vector from correctly targeting[/p][p] - Fixed bad movement in maps around stairs and certain desks you could walk into[/p][p] - Fixed bug that could lock up tabbing through enemies sometimes freeze[/p][p] - Fixed bug with Medical Stretcher sometimes spamming barks [/p]

[p]
[/p][p]Hello Knights! It's time for another CKF Community Challenge. For this challenge, we are going to lean into the RP aspects of the game and ask you to build two distinct squads of mercs. Each squad is self-contained and members do not cross between them. We want to hear the stories of the interactions between your two squads and within each squad as well. Is there intra-squad romance? Are the two squads in a heated rivalry? [/p][p][/p][p](screenshot credit to jotwebe on Discord)

There is only one requirement for this challenge: [/p]

• [p]Once you have enough mercs, create two separate squads for running missions. They may not mix and match members. [/p]

[p]Because some missions do require your Cyber Knight, you may choose to have your Cyber Knight go with either/both squads. If you want an additional challenge, pick one squad and your Cyber Knight can only go on missions with that squad.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]As always, we want to see and hear about your adventures tackling the challenge so here are some ideas for what we’d love to see: [/p]

• [p]Screenshots of your squads: show them in missions, do they have matching outfits? What distinguishes the squads from one another?[/p]
• [p]Stories about the relationships of squadmates: friendships, romances [/p]
• [p]Why you built the squads as you did. Was it for RP reasons? Strategy reasons? [/p]
• [p]Any other creative ways you want to share the stories of your squads: memes, interpretive dance, gifs, etc [/p]

[p]No matter what you choose to share, please share at least one screenshot of each of your two squads during missions.

Thank you again to our Trese Boosters. Your support lets us run these Community Challenges and other community events.

We’ve opened up a discussion post here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post in our Discord, head to #dual_squad_challenge to join in on the conversation! We look forward to this upcoming month and I'll be back at the end of the challenge with highlights from the community![/p]