Cyber Knights: Flashpoint News

It must be Thursday and we're rolling out a new update with a full rebuild of our character's ragdolls, adding missing ambient SFX to the game, visually linking doors to their trigger panels to reduce confusion, fixing auto-duck bugs and more!

A big thanks again to everyone playing and posting feedback - we're hard at work during our Early Access phase and on our way to 200 updates here! Every few days, the game takes a lunge forward, getting better or larger - so let's keep grinding together. We've got a new Weekly Map Release coming up and more content to follow it as well.

Did you notice we do Early Access a bit differently? We vow to keep EA a crazy, relentless march to the finish line. You've got feedback? Post it and watch the game get better constantly. If you're having fun or like the direction of the game, please leave a review to help us keep trucking.

[h2]Ragdoll Rebuild[/h2]
We're excited to have finished a big background project that has been in the works for a while - the ragdoll rebuild. The old ragdoll setup - triggered when anyone dies and the physics engine takes over - was not the best looking, so it is grand to roll out the new one.


What have we done? We've adjusted all of the character joints and colliders in use to try to improve the realism of the ragdoll as it goes to the ground and as it finds its resting position. We've removed the awkward T position ragdolling that was so common on in the other system. We've also configured weapons to drive some percentage of the final physics force that is applied, so a Sniper Rifle kill should feel and look different than a Pistol execution or even a Revolver boom-boom.


There were some times along the way where we thought we might be dealing with aliens or something escaped from a cyber lab.


And unfortunately, any bodies that are currently lying on the ground when you get the update will be corrupted, stretched and munged. All new bodies you drop to the floor will be good. So this is a temporary setback.


The completion of this task also comes along with a number of improvements to character models, especially around necks and the connection of head-neck-body not having any gaps, clipping or overlaps.


Of course, there is always more to do! Ragdolls are fun to play with and we could clearly spend a lot more time tweaking and improving but for now we're excited to share the second-generation ragdoll and let you get back to heisting! For example, we know that there are issues with lower back flexibility in the ragdoll ... we've appealed to the megacorps to fund a robo-masseuse to help us straighten that out for the next iteration.

If you do see anything odd, please F10!

[h2]Environmental Ambient SFX[/h2]
We've restored the ambient SFX for areas which was accidentally lost early in the Early Access process to some coding mistakes. This ambient SFX helps give background noise and atmosphere to the room spaces and is part of the SFX volume slider.

While the ambient is back, the level spaces we're working in have changed a lot since we started. We are working on a review of the SFX vs. the areas we're playing in to see how to adjust and improve them.

[h2]Connecting Doors to their Terminals[/h2]

We have now added the same blue line connecting doors to their trigger panels as we have between Matrix Terminals and security devices and doors. This allows you to quickly see where you need to go to open any given door and hopefully can reduce any confusion about how to get a door open.

[h2]Auto-Duck Fixes[/h2]

Auto-duck is a longstanding feature that removes the need for you to manage your crouch / sprint state. I an enemy happens to be moving toward a standing merc and crouching would help the situation, then your merc immediately does that. We've been processing a number of F10s about situations in which auto-duck wasn't working and fixed all of the known cases now. One case was caused by 2 mercs in the enemy's view that both needed to auto-duck but only one of them would.

This is a lovely feature that reduces your need to manage state on your mercs so we hope everyone can get back to using it with confidence.

We are working on the paired issue - the inability to plot a sprinting move while crouched - now and will get it fixed soon.

[h2]Stressed Tag in 3 places[/h2]

We've added the Stressed Tag to the roster and the safehouse barracks list as well. It was appearing in mission deploy screen but that is not always where you need the valuable heads up that a negative Limit Break might be brewing.

[h2]Building Fixes[/h2]
While working on ragdolls we kept having ragdolls slip through parts of the edge of the raised buildings and fall down a floor. This lead us to finally finding and fixing the whole that has made buildings so troublesome - this allowed both corpses to fall through and be discovered but also for enemies sometimes to shoot up through the invisible hole even though you should not be a valid target.

[h2]Other F10 Cleanup[/h2]
We hit a few other nice QoL F10s for this update. There are still lingering issues with +25% Font Scale but we're getting them as they come in - this time we fixed issues with the Talent LImit being hidden on the class tree at that Font Scale.

Using Leverages in the HUD left an odd "Button" text showing - now fixed.

Sometimes if you swapped mods on your weapons and then went to the Appearance tab, you would visually see the old mods - now fixed.

And if you were targeting with Agent EX Glitch it would let you drag the target circle as far as you wanted which isn't consistent with how other ranged targeting circles work. it is now limited to the range of the Talent and fixed.

[h2]v1.9.39 - #183: - 12/4/2024[/h2]
- Rebuilt all character ragdolls for more realistic and visually appealing joints and deaths
- Added blue line from door to door trigger on hover to make connection more clear
- Added missing environmental ambient SFX by different mission map themes and safehouse
- Fixed issue that could prevent merc from correctly auto-ducking when enemy is moving
- Added "Stressed" tag to Roster and Safehouse Barracks overlay to match Mission Deploy screen
- Finished all dual pistol/revolver animations for all characters
- Fixed major sight line holes and spaces where bodies could fall through building rooftop edges
- Fixed Agent EX Glitch Talent allowing target to be shown beyond maximum range
- Fixed issue with +25% Font Scale preventing Talent Limit from showing in Class tree
- Fixed issue with appearance not always updating after swapping mods on weapons
- Fixed odd gray text "Button" appearing in HUD sometimes

[h2]Initial Challenge Write Up Below[/h2]

Knights! It's time to wrap up our Giving Gifts challenge. Some great gifts, and a few lumps of coal, were given out!

Here are a few highlights:

MikeJames handed out this Epic Revolver. I mean sure it's a little noisy, but it packs quite the punch!


We saw Khargal gifting this Legendary Sniper Rifle. Tuned up with its suppressor, that merc will be hiding in the shadows at a distant to help clear out enemies.

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And well sometimes you get a lump of coal for the holidays, because you went and got yourself injured on a previous heist. Muddball gave out this practical if not very flashy gift after a mission gone sideways.

Hope you enjoyed this wrap of our Giving Gifts 'challenge.' As always I'll be back soon with another CKF community challenge!



Hello, Knights! It's time for another CKF Community Challenge. Though honestly this is less of a challenge and more of a show and tell. In the spirit of the holiday season, we want to hear what gifts you would craft and give your mercs.

There are only two requirements for this:

- Your gifted items must be ones you craft
- Your merc must use the crafted item you give them



Since this is a very different sort of community 'challenge' what you choose to share may be different from other challenges, some ideas:

- The story of why you chose that particular item for that particular merc
- your head canon for the relationship between your CK and mercs
- Any other creative ways you want to share to tell us about your team: memes, interpretive dance, gifs, etc



Hope your appreciate my terrible photo editing job! :D No matter what you choose to share, please share screenshots of your merc with their gift equipped and in use!



We’ve opened up a discussion here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post in our Discord, head to #giving_gifts to join in on the conversation!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[h2]Soldier Plaster-Cross[/h2]

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

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

[h2]Hacker Attribute Bonuses[/h2]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[h2]Timeline Event History Scrolling[/h2]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[h2]Lootbox Updates[/h2]

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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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