Cyber Knights: Flashpoint News

While Cory has been pumping out new maps for the Weekly Map release (btw, expect a new map tomorrow!), I've been working on the newest character class for the game: the Gunslinger.

The Gunslinger's Gunlink spinal implant hardwires them to their chosen weaponry, allowing them to move and fire with something more than reflex, something more than instinct. Like the fabled duelists of the Old West, the Gunslinger walks with a quiet confidence, their guns ready to speak for them.



We're excited to push the class list to a big round 8 - meaning there are now a whopping 64 viable multi-class combinations + 8 more for the Knight, totaling 72 total class combos. It is especially exciting to drop in a new combat focused class that is an excellent choice for anyone carrying a Pistol as a backup multi-class for combat and utility.

It's another big milestone for the game and if you're enjoying the pace of progress, new content and updates please leave a review for our team!

[h2]Slinger's Talent Tree[/h2]

This is a combat-focused class, with 16 talents offering a wide range of build possibilities and synergies with other classes. Some talents can be used with any weapon, like the initiative-manipulating Quick Draw talent, manipulating Initiative to ensure you act first in the next Turn. But most of the Gunslinger's talents are designed for use with at least one Pistol, or even more specifically in some cases, a Revolver.


These talents allow a Gunslinger to attack an enemy who has them under Overwatch without triggering it, to fire their revolver like it's a Full Auto weapon, to reload as they fire, and more. One especially cool talent allows you to target hard cover around an enemy and Ricochet your bullet off it to hit an enemy you don't have direct line-of-sight too. That'll catch 'em by surprise!



There's more: the Gunslinger can dual wield! Using dual pistols or revolvers (or one of both!) lets you make use of talents like Gun Kata, firing a shot from each weapon into every visible target within a wide cone (which you can upgrade up to a full 360° arc).



[h2]Animation Updates Pending[/h2]
Note that as this is still Early Access, we're releasing the Gunslinger without all of the dual wielding attack animations completed. You won't see any dual wielding animation yet, all characters will just shoot as if they have one pistol.

We are aiming to wrap up the animations in a week or two, but we didn't want to delay your chance to try this class just for that.

[h2]Shifting Metas[/h2]
This is exciting to see what meta shifts are going to hit with the new class. It is also a time for us to go back over the next few weeks and revisist the original combat classes (Soldier, Sniper, etc) and their weapon set to ensure that the meta stays tightly competitive. We'll be sharing more about this in the coming days!

[h2]How to Get a Gunslinger[/h2]

A new Gunslinger, Sid, has been added to the Fighter column (Soldier by default) in New Game, so you can trade Sid for Aaron or Aitana.

You can also multi-class your other characters into the Gunslinger class if they haven't taken a class yet (or just Respec). Gunslinger is a cybernetic class, requiring cyber surgery installing a GunLink spinal implant to be able to able to multiclass into it.

There is a lot to explore here, new multi-class combinations to build and oh so many places to bounce bullets off. We'll let you get to it, slingers!

[h2]Raised Level Cap[/h2]
To go along with the Gunslinger, we've also raised the level cap to 32 now which grants +1 maximum Talent limit. We used a "stored XP" model in Cyber Knights, so if you've been running missions at level 26, all the XP you acquired was kept and you may immediately increase levels. Enjoy your new options and another raise will be coming before the end of the year as the enemies get a new batch of Power Levels and variations to match.

[h2]v1.9.1 - #169: Gunslinger - 11/8/2024[/h2]
- Added new class: Gunslinger
- New starting character option in the Soldier slot - Sid who was "Born to a Gun"
- Raised character Level Cap to level 32, +1 Talent limit
- Fixed Knight's starting Traits so that Ballistic Co-Processor and Trigger by Wire are available to all backstories
- Improved descriptions of buffs where you can use them on "yourself or a teammate" instead of just saying "a teammate"
- Fixed issue with Stealth Crit Dmg bonuses printing as Crit Dmg bonuses in Talent effects

[h2]v1.9.3 - #170: Gunslinger Patch[/h2]
- Fixed all of the Gunslinger class tree small nodes (they were mislinked to Scourge!)
- Added dual wielding pistols for masculine characters models
- Clarified description of Ricochet Talent to be clear it works with any Single Shot weapon (Revolver, Sniper)
- Fixed Ricochet having a 0m range displayed, its range is set by the weapon used
- Fixed issues with Item Slots where you can now equip items into slot 1, 2, 3 4 and they don't "slide" down but stay put
- Fixed bug where weapons were not appearing in inventory or store
- Fixed bug where Gunslinger's Twin Irons and Gun Kata would allow attack if second weapon had no ammo
- Fixed bug where Gunslinger's Twin Irons and Gun Kata would make noise of the less loud weapon
- Fixed bug where Gunslinger's Twin Irons cost 0 AP
- Fixed placeholder # left in Talent description for total number of reaction shots in Overwatch, Deathwatch and Linkwatch
- Fixed text alignment for XP in current level when numbers get large enough

We've got a huge week ahead of us, Knights! Any day now, the Gunslinger is about to kick down the doors and light this place up with a hail of bullets and we've got a new Weekly Map Release coming up later in the week. In prep for these big content drops, we've got a steady patch release here that fixes some bugs with last week's level, polishes out some more Talent bugs, and fixes other F10s and issues.

If you're ready for the new content and enjoying the pace of continued updates and polish, please take a moment to leave a review!

[h2]Updated Feedback Form to Prompt Email[/h2]
We've updated the feedback form ("F10") to encourage leaving an email address if you don't have a Discord or don't want to share it. Of course, this is up to you to share it. But as an example, we received an F10 from a player yesterday about a keybinding they didn't like and a request to add keybinding to the game ... without a Discord username or an email, we can't reach out and explain that yes keybinding is already in the game!

So, if you don't Discord then please consider leaving an email. It would only be used to contact you with a follow-up question or an answers to your bug/feature request. If you provide an email you do not opt into any list or anything - we're not that kind of studio lol.

[h2]Mission Updates[/h2]

The new process for Logistics Hub worked really well - we've got an exciting new map on our hands for 7 proc-gen combos. But it did have its share of bumps, the last of which we are ironing out with today's update. We've fixed issues with a few final broken terminals found in the Scavenger, Lootbox Hunt and Kill 3 Captain objectives. None of these were ever mission critical, so we've fixed them for future missions and made code adjustments to be sure it cannot happen again.

Second, we've fixed the cases where some of the lootboxes in the new level could end up very nearly empty, maybe just 1 item hiding in the back corner ːsteamsadː

And, we fixed a bug caused by adding the new map that could make the dialogs for Kill 3 Captains on any map double up.

[h2]Pressure Plate Oddity[/h2]
Accidentally the game's center of a pressure plate - what you need to target for your Talents - got moved about 10 meters off to one side. Oops! Now fixed in Update #168.

[h2]Soldier Talent Burn[/h2]

Following up on Update #167, we've hit the Soldier Talents now with a big range of fixes.

• Splatt-Patt was never reporting the full extent to which it upgraded your firing arc and failing to display the full Recoil recoup that it offered. We've redone the system for expanding Firing Arcs in prep for Gunslinger and Splatt-Patt has been a beneficiary.
  
• AP costs for Full Auto only Talents like Splatt-Patt and Covering Fire were always showing up wrong, very often showing 2 AP when they cost the regular 3 AP for any Full Auto weapon. This is now resolved, they always show 3 AP correctly.
  
• We've made minor improvement to Soldier's Overwatch 3rd node to ensure it is worth the investment, adding an extra +5% Ballistic Dmg.
  

[h2]Other Bugs[/h2]
We've fixed a heap of other bugs but notable items include sorting not working in the NanoFab or all subscreens, the fact that all Items and Item Blueprints claimed that their AP cost was 444 and issues where sometimes timeline events would just appear at 50% opacity and look grayed out for no reason.

[h2]v1.8.49 - #168: Dometop Launch - 11/5/2024[/h2]
- Update feedback form (F10) to encourage email address if not using Discord
- Fixed issue with multiple confirmation dialogs when killing a captain in a proc-gen Kill 3 mission
- Fixed bug with Pressure Plates displaying a targeting point far away from the security system itself
- Fixed issue with new "Logistics Hub" level having mostly empty lootboxes and lingering "Terminal Broken" cases
- Fixed Soldier's Splatt-Platt not correctly displaying the correct values for recoil recovery or increased Full Auto firing angle
- Improved Soldier's Overwatch 3rd upgrade to cause +15% Ballistic Dmg instead of +10%
- Fixed Soldier's Splatt-Patt and Covering Fire sometimes misreporting that they cost 2 AP instead of 3 AP as they are Full Auto only attacks
- Fixed all sorting not working in NanoFab Blueprint selection screens
- Fixed bug with all Items and Item Blueprints showing use cost of "444 AP"
- Fixed bug that could result in a timeline even oddly grayed out (low opacity)

Update #167 is completely dedicated to fixing a few issues with Terminals and Lootboxes in the new Logistics Hub map and fixing Talent issues. Lots and lots of little Talent issues! With Update #167, we took the fight to the F10s reported around Talents and closed over 50% of them in this update. We're excited to slate the work to tackle the other 50% of reported issues and get the class trees in tip-top fighting shape!

If you're enjoying the steady stream of improvements, please take a moment to leave a review!


[h2]Logistics Hub Fixes[/h2]
There were two types of issues reported for Logistics Hub. First, in some cases terminals were reporting "this terminal is broken" and refusing to launch the matrix UI. And second, sometimes in the Steal 3 Files objective, some of the Files simply never made it into a lootbox.

Both class of bugs have been fixed - but only for future iterations of your missions. If you have a mission where you can only find 2/3 files, you'll need to just extract with that victory in hand and the next time the map draws, you'll be able to find 3/3.


[h2]Talent Burn![/h2]
We ripped into the F10 pile for Talents - hitting all the little and big things we could in a single blast. There are so many fixes - from typos to effects that were ignored - all bundled into this update, so we'll discuss the biggest ones but please check the full changelog below for the exhaustive set of changes.

All the Talents using Damage over Time - especially Tox-Cloud and BIo-Coat Bullet - were reported a lot to be inflating their damage per Turn. We've fixed the inflation issue and now the numbers show correctly, smaller. A fully upgraded Tox-Cloud was showing 100 but is really 75 HP / Turn.

In the same vein, we fixed the Vanguard's K-Protocol that was overreporting the Security Tally reduction and causing a lot of confusion.


We fixed the Knight's Ult-Pump +1 Turn Duration node so that it really works as well as their Interference Spike +1 Max Charge node which wasn't working either.

We fixed a number of cases where the text described an upgrade buff as a debuff or a debuff as a buff, such as in the Knight's Quantum Assault Talent.

We fixed other disconnected upprades that didn't do what they promised like EMP 4 and EMP 5 and Downed Shield's last upgrade node.

[h2]Nest Dropping[/h2]
We fixed an issue where Sniper's Nest Talent was being dropped if an attack missed.


[h2]Soldier's Run and Gun[/h2]
Also, we improved Soldier's Run and Gun Talent to add a generic ranged weapon accuracy after moving instead of only Assault Rifle (AR) accuracy which was very limited.

[h2]v1.8.47 - #167: Talent Burn - 11/3/2024[/h2]
- Fixed issues with new "Logistics Hub" map that could lead to Terminals being broken or Matrix SCU having no connected devices
- Fixed issues with Lootbox Hunt / Steal 3 Files where some of the files could not appear in Logistics Hub (and more rarely, in other maps as well)
- Fixed class tree bug where Talents healing or doing Damage / Turn were showing incorrectly high values once upgraded (Tox-Cloud showing 100 HP/Turn instead of 75 HP/Turn)
- Clarified description of Tox-Cloud Talent that the Damage / Turn does not affect Drones
- Fixed upgrade of Knight's Interference Spike Talent that had no description (+1 Max Charge)
- Fixed upgrade of Knight's Quantum Assault Talent that describes the upgraded debuff as if it will debuff the Knight
- Fixed upgrade of Knight's Ult-Pump Talent that claimed to add +1 Duration but then did not actually do anything
- Fixed upgrades of Vanguard's K-Protocol inflating the number of Sec Tally reduced - all trained it is -5 Tally
- Fixed 6th upgrade of Hacker's Downed Shields that broke the Talent's description
- Fixed Cybersword's EMP upgrades on the bottom row that had no description (+10% Dmg, -1 Recharge Turn)
- Fixed bug with Nest buff dropping after making successive attacks if they missed
- Improved Soldier's Talent Run and Gun to give +10% Ranged Accuracy instead of +10% AR Accuracy
- Fixed broken Contact Dr. Omatte strange appearances in future games
- Fixed bug preventing +/- Red or Gold cubes in Nano-Fab crafting UI
- Fixed issue where Wreckspire and Dusted Hover-Evac levels could use the same description and names
- Fixed some Cyberdeck programs having the wrong icon

Back in Update #164, we promised a new weekly map release schedule and Update #166 has arrived to delivery on that promise. This update includes a new mission map - Logistics Hub - that is playable on 7 proc-gen objectives, a big UI improvement with a Font Scale option, fixes for Biomimic movement warnings, more obvious Free Respec period and a ton of really important F10 fixes from the community.

We're excited to get rolling on this Weekly Release schedule for new maps and to see how often we can deliver on that goal to ensure the game has a huge pool of content for every heist team to hit. So thank you for your reviews to help us keep going!

[h2]New Map + 7 Proc-Gen Combos[/h2]

It is week one of our new "Map a Week Until Launch!" challenge and we are here to deliver. The Logistics Hub is an exciting new map. Build straddling a key road between two transport interchanges, the hub features both an interior building area and exterior power field. It has great pathing challenges, very different spaces and tons and tons of way to play it. This new map dropping into the proc-gen set pushes up to 57 total proc-gen combos and represents a 14% increase in map variety.

You will find the new Logistics Hub appearing in (1) Scavenger (2) Lootbox Hunt (steal 3 files), (3) Q-Gap Spike (spike a CPU), (4) Kill 3 Captains, (5) Bodyguard (6) Battle Striker and (7) Siege!

And, to follow up on our Weekly New Map release schedule, the next m1ap is in testing and polish phase to drop next week with a similar amount of proc-gen objective varieties!

Finally, in proc-gen land, we fixed a bug with Wreckspire where Kill 3 Captains objective had a broken terminal.

You won't see this ^^ anymore

And also we fixed a bug in Lootbox Hunt where multiple objective files could appear in the same lootbox, making this level type too easy.

[h2]Font Scale Option - up to +25%[/h2]

We have added a major UI option with Update #166 - a simple Font Scale slider in your options menu. This lets you slide the font size from -25% (why!?!) to +25%. We are starting with this range of font scale adjustments and getting live testing before we look at possibly expanding the limits further.

This is a HUGE update to the game's UI that touched every single screen and widget and UI blippy. So, if you see issues at 0% or 25% please report them.


You'll see with the Font Scaling that the UIs mostly hold to their shape except when they are built to dynamically scale (usually vertically, scrollbars, etc). By increasing font size, screen elements may be a bit more cramped feeling but that is a natural result of making the text bigger without making the screen bigger :D

And for Steam Deck we now default to +25% Font Scale!

[h2]More Obvious Free Respec[/h2]

In the cases when your Respec is free (at the beginning of the game or just after a recruit joins the team) the UI is now much louder to call attention to the Respec button and to make it clear it is FREE.

[h2]Biomimic + Prox-Mines and Pressure Plates[/h2]
Both Prox-Mines and Pressure Plates were incorrectly showing movement warnings if you had Biomimic running. This is now resolved, both will go quiet in that case, as your buffs let you skip over them safely without detection.

[h2]No More Tilting![/h2]

There were some issues with stairs, depending on the way the merc or enemy wanted to face at the end of their movement could result in odd tilts. This is now fixed, we stand up straight around here!

[h2]Weapon Unequip / Mod Equip[/h2]

We fixed two really important bugs in the stack of weapons and weapon mods with Update #166. Previously, there was no real weapon ordering - if you unequipped your primary weapon then the secondary would slide forward and take the primary slot. It wasn't great and makes it hard to really control what happens next or to really equip a weapon as primary without unequipping both. This is now fixed, you have 2 slots and they are maintained separately.

If you unequip primary weapon, then you'll be standing around without a weapon ^^

Also, we fixed some bugs that could result in some really odd weapon mod attachment situations. Some faulty code allowed a weapon mod to be attached to two weapons or attached twice to the same weapon accidentally. That's a mess obviously. It only happened rarely but we've fixed the bug and expect that this will address a number of issues that have been being reported in F10s that were just really confusing!

[h2]Fixed Unknown Relationships[/h2]

If a merc went into the Simstream Detox, Trainer, Treatment or Cyber Surgery, suddenly all of the relationship tags that link to them would start reporting them "Unknown". Like, haven't seen them in a few days maybe they are dead!?!? This is now fixed - the answer is "member of the team".

[h2]v1.8.45 - Update #166 - 11/1/2024[/h2]
- Added new proc-gen map "Logistics Hub": transportation connector that supports +7 new proc-gen combos (Siege, Battle Striker, Heist a CPU, Steal 3 Files, Scavenger, Kill 3 Captains, Bodyguard!)
- Added Font Size control to game Options - up to 25% larger or smaller
- Steam Deck defaults to +25% font size for much more readable text!
- Improved Respec button in training screen - says "Free Respec" in bold color when you can get a free Respec
- Improved clarity of weapon class specific Accuracy to read like +5% Pistol/SMG/Revolver Accuracy
- Fixed issue with Accuracy Log (top right) not ever showing weapon class specific bonuses (like +5% Pistols/SMG/Revolver)
- Fixed issue where 1+ objective file could end up in the same Lootbox in Steal 3 Files objective
- Fixed issue with Relationship Tags showing "status unknown" if other character was in Cyber Surgery or Treatment
- Fixed issue where warnings for Prox-Mines and Pressure Plates would incorrectly show while Scourge BioMimic is on
- Fixed issues with Slashslide meta-visual on raised areas or first time used could be invisible
- Fixed equipment issue where attempting to equip a secondary weapon if you have no primary would just equip your primary
- Fixed issue where a weapon mod equipment could result in odd attachments
- Fixed issue where characters or enemies could end up leaning at an impossible angle after moving
- Fixed broken terminal in Wreckspire in Kill 3 Captains objective for future missions
- Fixed widespread text formatting mistake where percentages (10%) were showing with a + sign (+10%) or (+-10%)
- Improved colliders with Truck to resolve issues with Slashslide and melee attacks near it

Knights, this is bug street - an update where we squish popular F10s and prep for the next big thing. Having just come off adding 5 new proc-gen combos for the Bodyguard objective, we're prepping some really big things (new map release this week, upcoming Gunslinger class, Steam Deck verification) and keeping up with the F10 train. This update is dedicated to bug fix and minor balance tweaks, so let's dig into what we've got.

A big thanks goes out to everyone playing, posting and sending in F10s with feedback, suggestions and of course, pesky bugs. We're continually polishing the game and tuning the experience based on your timely feedback, so thank you.

And, of course, as we are a really small team - every single review counts. Thank you to every Knight who has posted up a review!


[h2]Balance Tweaks[/h2]
We've improved Soldier's Covering Fire, increasing the debuff against enemy accuracy from -20% to -25% making it just a little better at suppressing return fire. As it debuffs whether it hits or miss, this can be a powerful move in a retreating gunfight or when storming an enemy position, as even those pesky targets that might be 15% to hit will be debuffed.

We've made some adjustments to make cybernetics that grant classes a little more similar. The Vanguard's Chameleon Sheathe, Agent EX Nano-Hive and Scourge Chem-Hive all have been reduced to a 12 day recovery time after the splicing surgery.

[h2]Power Slice Clarity[/h2]
We've adjusted the descriptions for Power Slice and Improved Power Slice to be more clear that they add a duration to the debuff if and only if the weapon has a debuff in its special Power Slice rule block. If the Power Slice bonus for the weapon is just extra damage, this doesn't get a duration.


[h2]Timeline Bumps[/h2]
We've fixed an issue in the timeline where a character who was recovering or in a Simstream Detox or Trainer might have their duration extended if a new mission or storyline appeared. Now, it will happen the other way around, the mission or story will get an extra Turn to avoid overlapping with your merc's recovery times. This is a nice boon to help things align, you basically win ties in the timeline :D

[h2]Respec Token Theft![/h2]
We fixed a bug where Respec'ing would steal a Simstream Trainer token even if the merc was a new recruit and the confirmation window explained that it wouldn't cost you a token. Then the sneaky sneak would steal a token anyway! Now fixed.


[h2]Movement AP Theft![/h2]
In some edge cases, but most commonly when using Talents like Lightfoot and Projection, you could be charged more AP for your move than you were shown when planning the move. AP theft! We've fixed the rule here to only calculate the cost of AP one time and then to charge that exact amount of AP to you if the move is executed.

[h2]Better Hiding Access Gates[/h2]
In the matrix, some sharp-eyed hackers realized you could spot Access Gates because even when they weren't scanned, their connection lines were marked as gray. We've fixed this issue with Gates, and the status of their connections is only revealed once they reach Scan 1/2 at least.

[h2]Floating Bullet Holes[/h2]
We had a rash of reports about magical bullets holes that were forming on the side of BioScan fields, in Laser Mesh wires, Linecrawler VFX and more. We've fixed the mistakes in the physics collision matrix that was allowing firing lines to hit those objects and register them as collisions. Bullets now find something more solid to slap into.


[h2]Cybersword Start[/h2]
For a long time, who knows how long (?), the Cybersword has started with a floating point in an upgraded to the Choppa Talent. It didn't help you or hurt you, but it was a wasted point until you Respec. New Cyberswords will gain a second charge of Slashslide instead (the power!). Veteran Cyberswords might want to check if they should respec.

And that's it - a mountain of bugs we will flow to thee!

[h2]v1.8.143 - #165: Bug Street - 10/30/2024[/h2]
- Improved debuff to Accuracy from -20% to -25% for Soldier's Covering Fire
- Reduced install time for Vanguard's Chameleon Sheathe, Agent EX Nano-Hive and Scourge Chem-Hive to 12 days
- Improved description of Improved Power Slice to be clearer that the debuff Turn bonus is used only if the weapon has a debuff
- Fixed issues where the timeline might move an Injured character or character in Simstream back 6 hours if a mission had same ending
- Fixed bug with Respec consuming Simstream Trainer token even when used on a new recruit
- Fixed issue where Access Gate nodes were visible in Matrix before being scanned due to grayed out lines
- Fixed issues with bullet holes appearing on laser wires, BioScan field and more silly things
- Fixed issue with special movement Talents like Lightfoot and Projection where sometimes the final AP cost was higher than previewed
- Fixed bug with Cybersword starting level points - random floating point was spent on Choppa without the Talent, now spent to for +1 Slashslide charge