Cyber Knights: Flashpoint News

[p][/p][p]Knights and mercs, we're rolling out an upgrade to the smoke system that has been a long time coming. With a change to an important system like this, we took our time, worked with the community to discuss the exact rules update on Steam and on our DIscord to ensure that we kept the intention and soul of Smoke Grenades and Smokescreen Talent while balancing out the parts that could be used to make this fun heisting tool broken. We've also improved and clarified a number of other Agent EX Talents, fixed some map bugs, improved hit reactions to Shock Mines, fixed a bug with late stage Jupiter Decks Power Play and more.[/p][p] [/p][p]From here, we are turning a corner from features and balance and going on a mad content rip. Let's go![/p][p]Thanks to everyone leaving a review this week! We're a tiny team of 3 game dev working hard to get you as many updates as possible and we need you to help us spread the word, so please take a moment and leave a review and tell a friend![/p][h2]Our Save Game Policy and Updates[/h2][p]First, since you're going to be seeing a lot of updates around here, we want to share our saved game policy up front 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]Smoke Grenades and EX's Smokescreen[/h2][p][/p][p]Heisting is most fun when you have a lot of tools in your toolkit, giving your team lots of ways to approach challenges at different points throughout the level's flow. [/p][p]Smoke Grenades and Agent EX's Smokescreen were added as powerful tools for obfuscating your movements, delaying your enemy and covering your maneuvers (retreat, charge, etc). Due to some of the "absolutes" in their rule implementation, they became easy to abuse in different ways, and they could often become a kind of "temporary fortress" from which your team could fight, kite and exploit the enemy to death. [/p][p]The following adjustments to Smoke rules remove the absolutes and angles for abuse while keeping Smoke valuable and exciting for its original purpose - confusion, delay and temporarily covering movements. [/p]

• [p]Smoke no longer absolutely prevents being Spotted. If an enemy gets within 5m of a character will Spot them in or through smoke.[/p]
• [p]Smoke no longer absolutely prevents ranged attacks. Any ranged attack originating in, passing through or into smoke suffers a Smoke Accuracy Penalty based on the distance (sliding from 25% at 5m up to 60% at 25m or higher).[/p]
• [p]A character who is Spotted can be targeted by an combat-active enemy in, through or out of Smoke. If a character has not been Spotted, enemy agents do not know they are there and therefore cannot attack them.[/p]
• [p]Enemy reaction to Smoke has been improved, they will report it to the Sec AI and then often be assigned to go close, seeking to discover or flush out anyone hiding inside.[/p]
• [p]The duration of all Smoke Grenades has been reduced by 1 Turn.[/p]
• [p]Melee attacks in Smoke are unchanged.[/p]
• [p]Agent EX continue to not suffer any Accuracy penalty from their own Smokescreen.[/p]
• [p]Smokes interaction with security devices like Cameras is unchanged - Smoke block security devices absolutely,[/p]

[p]For a small slice of players who use smoke liberally, this might mean some strategy adjustments. But most of the advantages are the same, but they are less absolute. [/p][p]A merc can still use Smoke to hide their movements, but more momentarily, as enemies are likely to approach and Spot them through the smoke. [/p][p]A merc can still use Smoke to disrupt or slow down a firefight, but once they are Spotted any combat active enemies will fire on them. This means relying on the Smoke Accuracy Penalty instead of the absolute blocking of sight.[/p][p]Remember that at 5m, regardless of Smoke or Accuracy, any attack is guaranteed a Glancing Hit at least.[/p][p]A big thanks to all the community members here on Steam and on Discord who helped review and shape these exciting rules updates.[/p][p][/p][p]Agent EX Smokescreen Talent has kept its special ability - the EX can shoot through, into or out of their own Smokescreen without suffering any Smoke Accuracy Penalty. As this is not as powerful / absolute as it was before, we've added a minor buff to anyone standing inside the Smokescreen area, with a +10% Built-In Armor to help soak damage and a +10% Damage buff to help anyone attacking out of it.[/p][p]Agent EX Smokescreen has also gained a new color tint to help is stand out if it is used alongside regular Smoke Grenades.[/p][h2]
Agent EX Rebalances[/h2][p]With Update #35, we've made some clarifications and improvements to Agent EX Talents.[/p]

• [p]We have updated the language for Aimlock and Dual Reload to be clear that you are firing a single SMG at a time, but these talents require that you are carrying 2 SMGs. [/p]
• [p]For Line Crawler, we have rebalanced and improved the % chance that an additional device is knocked out the next turn. The base chance has raised from 40% to 50% and now the 4 level point upgrade chain adds +10%, +10% and finally +30% (for 2 pts) giving you a guaranteed additional device per Turn. It is an expensive set of upgrades, but very worth it![/p]
• [p]For Shuriken Wave, we have increased the power of the Damage upgrade node so that it adds +25 Pure Dmg instead of +12. Also, we've pushed the area of effect bonus out by +1m so it is +3m total instead of +2m.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Shock Mines Flinch[/h2][p][/p][p]It was always disconcerting when the enemy agent who got Stunned by the Shock Mine didn't react. Especially if there is a crowd in the zone, the visual flinch of getting hit is super useful. Now - when they get electrocuted, you know it![/p][p][/p][h2]Map and Story Fixes[/h2][p][/p][p]A few salient map and story fixes are worth nothing:[/p]

• [p]If you got stuck on the last level of the Jupiter Decks Power Play, try to restart before the level or reach out to us. This is now fixed but for a minute, it was broken.[/p]
• [p]One level that required Blue Keys for exit has had a few of its proc-gen objectives adjusted to ensure that the Blue Key is present and/or there are other options available for extraction.[/p]
• [p]We've fixed a few cases where multiple victory or defeat conditions could all fire at the same time within the game and cause the game to kind of hang on your final extraction / defeat.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]v2.2.17 - #35: Cloud of Smoke - 9/25/2025[/h2][p] - Updated Smoke Grenade and Smokescreen rules - smoke continues to be a tactic for delay, hiding movements and providing cover[/p][p] - Agent EX Smokescreen how provides a buff to any teammate inside it's area[/p][p] - Improved Agent EX Line Crawler - starts at 50% chance to disable nearby, upgrades to 100%[/p][p] - Improved Agent EX Shuriken Wave - upgrades for more Dmg (+25 instead of +12) and more range (+3m instead of +2m)[/p][p] - Improved Agent EX Aimlock and Dual Reload rules description to be clear - Requires you to carry 2 SMGs.[/p][p]- Fixed bug where enemy agents do not react correctly (flinch) sometimes to Shock Mines[/p][p]- Fixed issue with prisoner proc-gen combo in certain levels not having a Blue Key[/p][p] - Fixed some issues with hanging victory or defeat where game gets stuck instead of changing screens[/p][p] - Renamed "Surrender" to "Abandon Mission" for clarity[/p][p] - Fixed bugs with 3rd mission in Jupiter Decks Power Play[/p][p][/p]

[p][/p][p]Knights, mercs and matrix divers - this one is for you. With Update #34, we've added new IC to help improve the smoothness of the IC progression across the game, tuned up the navigation maps for a number of different matrix maps, added new matrix templates for prison break missions, and fixed the display for a number of types of Leverages tied to Legwork and Linked Missions.[/p][p]I'm traveling at the moment, so this will be briefer than normal! Feel free to post follow-up questions in the comments.[/p][p]Thanks to everyone playing and posting F10s and especially big thanks to everyone who posted a review this week![/p][p][/p][h2]Our Save Game Policy and Updates[/h2][p]First, since you're going to be seeing a lot of updates around here, we want to share our saved game policy up front 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 IC + Improved IC Progression[/h2][p][/p][p]With Update #34, we've added 8 new matrix IC types that help fill in the gaps in progression across the set. These 8 new IC don't add any new capabilities or powers, but they do help fill out the IC catalog so that there can be a smoother scale for new players (IC upgrade to really hard IC slower) and also at the high end (new options for IC to get even meaner at the end of the progression).[/p][p][/p][h2]New Matrix Map Templates for Prison Breaks[/h2][p]With Update #34, we've added new high difficulty matrix templates to ensure that prison breaks and other missions that involve doors as part of their core objective have a better progression of matrix host difficulty through the game.[/p][p][/p][h2]Improving Legwork and Linked Missions Display[/h2][p][/p][p]With Update #34, we've fixed and improved a number of issues with how Leverages that are dependent on Legwork or on a linked mission are display. Each of these cases had odd hovers appearing when you clicked to select the Leverage, sometimes as confusing as just hovering "Text Common". In addition, if a Leverage was tied to the reward of a linked mission (like in the Truck Job) the text for the Leverage was displayed twice.[/p][p][/p][h2]v2.2.15 - #34: Glittering Streams - 9/21/2025 [/h2][p] - Improved IC allocation tables to make early game easier and late game harder[/p][p] - New IC: Red Hammer, X-Scrambler, Death Snake, Red Tarpit, Jackhammer, Searchlight, Black Diamond[/p][p] - New Matrix Hosts: Added two new high difficulty matrix hosts for Prison missions & door control hacks[/p][p] - Fixed double print of Leverage rewards in TRUCK JOB and other missions with cross-mission rewards[/p][p] - Improved Leverage hover when looking at Leverages that are linked to other missions and Legwork (no longer "Text Common")[/p][p] - Fixed issues with several hosts that included invalid links[/p][p] - Improved several matrix host maps to include better layouts and navigation[/p]

[p][/p][p]Knights and mercs, we've got Update #33 hitting the streets of New Boston today. With this update, we've added the option to start your Knight multi-classed into Wireghost, added 4 new cosmetic options, increased the pace of Contact Limit Breaks, and continued to make small but important adjustments and fixes to the Wireghost class and its set of unique Talents.[/p][p]If you are enjoying the pace of improvement around here and want to help our small studio keep going, please take a moment to leave a review![/p][p][/p][h2]Our Save Game Policy and Updates[/h2][p]First, since you're going to be seeing a lot of updates around here, we want to share our saved game policy up front 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]Starting Knight + Wireghost[/h2][p][/p][p]Ok, ok ... OK! We heard you ːsteamhappyː Knight start as Wireghost! The F10 mountain was large, we have finished the work per your many requests! [/p][p]You now have the option to start your Knight as a Wireghost as well as a Hacker, giving you the full suit of cybernetic options. The install of a Cortex Wetgate implant grants you the Wireghost class as your second class. You can later choose to remove this cybernetic implant if you want and revert to a pure Knight or multi-class into another option. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]4 New Cosmetic Options[/h2][p][/p][p]With Update #33, we've added 2 new hair options, a new set of round glasses and a new sleek rebreather face mask. The new hairs help round out some of the longer hair options to give your many characters more options. The glasses are classic big rounders with thick rims and the new sleek rebreather mask has a medical style to it that can fit extremely well with some other comsetics or looks.[/p][p]We are always working on expanding the overall set of cosmetics and different types of options you can deploy. There will be a few more drops in this vein over the next few updates.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Improved Messages, Class Nodes and Typo Fixes[/h2][p]For the Wireghost, we've made some good improvements with Update #33. We've fixed the hard disconnect message that gets shot out when you are kicked off a matrix host from Skipjack Connection Burn. It used to blame an IC, the IC started rioting, we folded. Now you know![/p][p]Second, we've improved the messages around Phantom Slide to try to make the conditions for where you can and cannot slide more obvious.[/p][p]Finally, we've fixed 2 nodes on the left-side of the tree ("Havoc") that only had an Attribute bonus of Will or Tech. Now they have the small bonuses you'd expect to find there.[/p][p][/p][h2]v2.2.13 - #33: Starting Wireghost - 9/16/2025[/h2][p] - Added New Game option to start your Knight with Cortex Wetgate and a Wireghost class instead of Hacker[/p][p] - Further increased pacing of Contact Limit Breaks as the number of Contacts are waiting for their chance [/p][p] - Improved Dumpshock pop up for Wireghost when kicked off by your own Connection Burn[/p][p] - Fixed 2 Attribute only upgrade nodes in the Havoc part of the Wireghost class tree[/p][p] - Added new 2 cosmetic hair options: big pulled back bun and long straight pony tail[/p][p] - Added new cosmetic accessory option: sleek rebreather [/p][p] - Added new cosmetic accessory option: round glasses[/p][p] - Fixed some clipping in accessories, especially around eyebrows, glasses, knit beannie[/p][p] - Fixed but with Prague Connection Cyberdecks Power Play where first stage of second mission might end instantly[/p][p] - Fixed odd rarities for Weapon Mods for Blades - they were all set to Common[/p][p] - Fixed issue with Talent recharge rate sliding off edge of UI when font scaling was increased past 10%[/p][p] - Improved description of some Wireghost Talents (Loot Manifest, error message for Phantom Slide)[/p]

[p][/p][p]Knights and mercs, we've got a great update going into the weekend which improves NanoFabbing for Item Blueprints, tightens up some of the rules around spotting mercs and corpses, improves the damage estimation and "will kill" skull display, and fixes a huge pile of player reported F10s big and small. [/p][p]Thanks to everyone who is playing and especially to those who posted a review this week! Your reviews help our tiny studio keep moving forward.[/p][p]Let's dig in to the list for today![/p][h2]Our Save Game Policy and Updates[/h2][p]First, since you're going to be seeing a lot of updates around here, we want to share our saved game policy up front 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]Multi-Use NanoFab for Items[/h2][p][/p][p]If you are crafting items from Blueprint, using your Fab to instantly fill your inventory up with nice things to throw at your enemies or inject into your bloodstream, we've got a very nice QoL improvement for you. With Update #32, every Blueprint now offers to craft its maximum number of uses and there is a slider allowing you to reduce the count (if you don't want to use the cubes). This allows you to reduce overall clicking to craft items by 80% and craft faster and easier. [/p][p]We know this can still be improved even further by offering crafting against all combined uses of your Blueprints but we're excited to roll out this big update first![/p][p][/p][h2]Improved Spotting and Alarm Level Rules [/h2][p][/p][p]An old gap in the spotting rules for enemy AI has been addressed in #32 - the infamous spot-n-kill rule.[/p]

• [p]If a character or a corpse is spotted by an enemy agent your character is upgraded to "Spotted" status and the corpse is upgraded to "Discovered". Appropriate Tally penalties are levied.[/p]
• [p](always worked) If the enemy agent was killed before the end of their turn and their chance to complete their report, the Tally would be removed.[/p]
• [p](before the fix) If the enemy agent was killed before the end of their turn and their chance to complete their report, the character would stay as Spotted or the corpse would stay as Discovered.[/p]
• [p](after the fix) If the enemy agent was killed before the end of their turn, your character will now revert to whatever status they had before being Spotted and the corpse will do the same.[/p]

[p] [/p][p]The other guard made a deadly mistake - spotting this corpse![/p][p][/p][p]We had to corpse them both ... now no one has seen the dead body.[/p][p][/p][p]And, since everyone who spotted me is dead, my mercs are Hidden again.[/p][p][/p][h2]Damage Estimation and Red Skull[/h2][p]If you see a red skull in your targeting interface, this indicates that unless you get a Glancing Hit, then if you hit this enemy, no matter how poor your damage roll might be, they will die. We have heard reports from players of this still lying, and did a deep dive based on a few very helpful F10s. We scrubbed the entire damage estimation system down and found the inaccuracies. The estimation system should now be perfectly matched to the real damage rolling and the red skull once again is a sign of terror for all AI.[/p][p][/p][h2]Wireghost Class Tree Bonuses[/h2][p]Last update we fixed some of the Wireghost class tree bonuses. But we didn't catch all of the places they were used and refreshed and so it was only a partial fix. This is now resolved fully with Update #32, giving Wireghost that edge they need to keep up with Hackers by investing in the right upgrade nodes within their tree.[/p][p][/p][h2]Loot Icons on SPU[/h2][p][/p][p]A mistake in node type checking lead to SPU nodes not having the gray/gold icons over their node. We have now resolved this so that you can check them quickly for lingering files as well.[/p][p][/p][h2]v2.2.11 - #32: Fabricator Rips - 9/12/2025[/h2][p] - Item Crafting now has quantity slider to craft as many Blueprint uses as you want (5 items at once)[/p][p] - Improved spotting rules - if enemy spots a character but dies before being able to report, character reverts alarm status[/p][p] - Improved spotting rules - if enemy spots a corpse but dies before being able to report, body reverts to undiscovered[/p][p] - Improved calculations of potential damage shown when targeting an enemy and making the "will kill" skull 100% accurate[/p][p] - Fixed bug where enemy AI might not spot a player who was standing in Overwatch stance[/p][p] - (again) Fixed issue where Wireghost's class tree nodes to increase IO Speed were not having correct effect[/p][p] - (again) Fixed issue where Wireghost's extra Damage from Spectral tokens from class tree was not having correct effect[/p][p] - Fixed issue where matrix loot gold/gray icon was not showing over matrix SPU nodes[/p][p] - Fixed bugs with Hackers being killed while hacking locking up the terminal[/p][p] - Fixed bug preventing opening game pause menu when hitting ESC in matrix[/p][p] - Fixed issue where player or merc might be standing on a corpse and therefore prevent it from being targeted[/p][p] - Fixed issue where the hotkeys (1, 2, 3, by default) for Talents might end up skipping one when changing weapons[/p][p] - Improved timing if reloading game and first character to go is an enemy - small delay to ensure you can see their action start[/p][p] - Fixed odd issue in late Daedaelus Bloc storyline where your grenades or buffs might hit/buff hidden characters[/p][p] - Fixed map issues [/p][p][/p]

[p][/p][p]Knights and mercs, with so many new players rolling into the New Boston zone this week, we're excited to make some more improvements and fix up a few more minor issues that are coming up with the new Wireghost class. Don't worry - updates are fast and furious here but they don't break anything, so just play on. And read the saved game policy included below! [/p][p]Thanks to everyone playing and posting and especially to everyone who left a review this week![/p][p][/p][h2]Our Save Game Policy and Updates[/h2][p]First, since you're going to be seeing a lot of updates around here, we want to share our saved game policy up front 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]Combat Log warning Body Timer Expires[/h2][p][/p][p]A new combat log is now output at the end of each turn which warns how many body timers might expire the next Turn. Each Body Timer carries with it 2 yellow Sec Tally (potential, not locked in and blue yet) so you have a chance to react in these cases. This will help a few players who were trying to figure out why a certain turn might spike their Sec Tally (4 bodies, that was a bloody turn a while back, now +8 Sec Tally ... wut!?)[/p][p][/p][h2]Cortex Wetgates 3 & 4[/h2][p][/p][p]With this update, we've added the 3rd and 4th Cortex Wetgates and made a fix to ensure that one of the nice benefits of a Wetgate is clear - that it has a innate reduction of Q-Sec Tally per action (-1). The higher tier Wetgates can also mitigate Connection Burn Damage (the type of Connection Dmg per action you get for using Skipjack) by up to 2 pts, allowing a well equipped Wireghost to have a natural 10 actions on Skipjack instead of 8 (without any other intervention).[/p][p][/p][h2]Matrix Gold/Gray Loot Icon[/h2][p]This was not always using the right color, sometimes it was getting confused by Accounts and Blueprints Now fixed![/p][p][/p][h2]Wireghost Class Nodes[/h2][p]Some of the class nodes in the Wireghost class tree were adding bonuses that were not getting respected in all cases. These included +IO for your cyberdeck (critical offeset to not having Overlock) and extra Damage for Spectral tokens (helping you really achieve BOOM when Phantom Sliding or Pindropping). Now both are fully integrated and the bugs are fixed.[/p][p][/p][h2]Supposedly "Sleeping" IC[/h2][p]Sometimes, some IC in the matrix were erroneously marked as "Sleeping" without any cause. This is now resolved.[/p][p][/p][h2]v2.2.9 - #31: Skipjack Diver - 9/10/2025[/h2][p] - Added helpful log at start of new turn warning how many bodies will expire at end of Turn (explaining some Sec Tally)[/p][p] - Fixed issue with Matrix new loot icon not always being accurate with Accounts and Blueprints[/p][p] - Cortex Wetgate 3 & 4 now for sale under "Black Market Matrixware" service - can offer some mitigation to Connection Burn[/p][p] - Fixed issue where Wireghost's class tree nodes to increase IO Speed were not having correct effect[/p][p] - Fixed issue where Wireghost's extra Damage from Spectral tokens from class tree was not having correct effect[/p][p] - Fixed issue where sometimes IC might be marked as "\[Sleeping]" incorrectly[/p][p] - Fixed a few lingering places for Contact type conversion of Wireghost to Netwraith[/p][p]- Increased Token cost of Hype Booster Leverage to 3[/p]