Content update -- v0.80.0a (b240506)

USC:CF v0.80.0a, build 240506

NEW

New feature: Crafting Material Converter
- You can now convert specific crafting materials into others
- Available on the Squad Assembly screen by clicking on any of the material icons in the top right corner
- Conversions are stored per Loadout (just like spending--a brand new Loadout would have 100% naturally available materials, and none converted)
- Conversion rates are pretty steep; the purpose of the system is to help crafting when only a small amount of some materials are missing, not to devaluate the different kinds of materials

New weapon: Laser scorcher
- Ranged heavy arm, uses Energy Charge as ammo (a lot!)
- Disintegrate: a single-target, free-pattern, high damage attack with additional fire damage
- Line scorch: a very high damage, star-pattern attack that can damage ALL units in range in a single shot
- Both attacks bypass full target armor, allowing for unprecedented damage with this base damage range
- Its main drawback is its operating cost--be sure to always bring enough ammo (at least 750-1000 EC recommended)!

HCB MK III -- uncharacteristically costly for HCB, but enables the Bulleteer and QuadSeeker to "brutalize" their targets
Energy Charge (Condensed) --
really* costly, but dramatically increases the damage output, especially for attacks that use a lot of ammo
SuperShell MK II -- approx. doubles the power and damage of shots from the NHC (doesn't affect "Detonate")
BioShell MK II -- greatly increases healing and bio damage done by the BioRifle
Hydrazine (Inferno Mix) -- greatly increases the raw weapon damage and fire effect applied by "Line ignite" of the Flamethrower (pools created with Inferno Mix are the same as of normal hydrazine)
They all cost more, but give that much needed "extra" for the direst of situations
They can be unlocked by completing various Single Missions on (at least) Hard difficulty, or with Gear Tokens (of course)

New item: Regenerator
- Restores Health (40% of missing amount) and heals 25% Bleeding at the start of every Turn; this is applied before any DoT/area damage
- Just has to be kept in inventory
- Available for a hefty amount of Squad Points or a substantial amount of Asura-49 and Deothonit (among other mats)

New item: Force field emitter
- Creates an impassable, indestructible energy barrier on a grid for a max. of 5 turns
- The barrier can be used to create covers, secure wall breaches, and even to "repair" a small hull breach on a spaceship
- Can be easily toggled on/off, or disarmed and picked up for reusing later

New single mission map type: Desolate canyon
- Fight near a ruined outpost nested in a canyon system on the planet surface
- A perfect way to drill your marines for their upcoming Campaign! ;-)
New difficulty level in Single Mission mode: Quack!
- Only intended for players who feel that Ultimate is too easy. Believe us, it can happen! ;)
Single Mission games can now be played with 3 Squads of 4-4 Marines, with separate turns ("3 player mode")

CHANGES

The camera will now also center on marines at the start of their turn if they only receive damage from Shadow buildup
UI: Upgrades you can actually afford will now be at the top of the Weapon upgrade list, just after the currently active upgrades
Various sound effects have been remixed

BALANCE CHANGES

DtB: updated respective supply packs to contain some of the new weapons, ammo, and items, such as the Bio-rifle and its ammo, the Energy rifle, the Laser scorcher, the new ammo subtypes (see above), as well as the Force field emitter
- The philosophy here remains that you can always order
- almost* anything you need, but not
- everything*. The following items are NOT available as DtB supply:
  - Armor upgrade MKII, Advanced combat helmet, AW boots
  - Energy blade, Energy shield, Stun baton
  - Regenerator (you can build a medipad instead if you really need it--or just bring some)
  - Hacking devices, save the Chimeira (you'll probably never want the others in DtB; the Chimeira can be useful for its range and ability to disarm/toggle Force field emitters and mines)
  - Structure scanner (absolutely useless in DtB)

Heavy Arms skill, primary specialization:

Guaranteed minimum armor decay caused is now 5 (was 2)
Additional bleeding applied is now 15 (up from 3--and wasn't always working correctly; this is now fixed)
This specialization was underperforming really badly for a long time--now it's a viable option, especially with heavy arms that can fire more times per turn (Minigun, NHC, Laser scorcher, CryoBlaster)

Stun baton:

Critical Hit Chance increased to 20% (up from 5%)
Physical damage of all 3 attacks increased to 40-100 (up from 20-50)
All 3 attack modes now have a chance to refund Action Points:
- Bash: 25% chance, up to 2 APs
- Low-energy stun: 50% chance, up to 3 APs (that's a 100% chance on crit!)
- Knockout: 75% chance, up to 5 APs
Tranq. damage increased by 33%

Katana:

Reduced price to 10,000 Squad Points (down from 12,000)

Sniper rifle:

Maximum damage of both attack modes increased by 10
This weapon is still performing well (and is very cost effective), but it needed some love to remain in league with some recently added high-end weapons, and close-up CQW attacks

Nuclear hand cannon:

Detonate base damage increased to 100 (up from 70)
Detonate now has a radial damage factor of 0.8 (up from 0.5), causing much more damage to target-adjacent units than previously

CryoBlaster:

Deep chill:
- Base Action Point cost reduced to 8 (down from 10)
- Base Cryo damage increased to 75 (up from 50)
Freezing vapor:
- Base Action Point cost reduced to 16 (down from 20)
- Base Cryo damage increased to 100 (up from 50)

Bio-rifle:

Increased ammo capacity to 10 (up from 5)
Reduced reloading base AP cost to 10 (down from 15)
Inject:
- AP cost reduced to 10 (down from 12)
- Tranquilization increased to 10 (up from 5)
- Poison damage (and heal amount) increased to 50 (up from 35)
- Debilitation chance increased to 75% (up from 50%)
- Bleeding (and bleeding reduction) increased to 15 (up from 5)
Cloud spray:
- Area of damage increased to large (5x5) (was 3x3)
- Minimum attack range increased to 3, effective range increased to 7 (up from 2/5)
- Tranquilization increased to 10 (up from 5)
- Poison damage increased to 125 (up from 75)
Bio-splats (placed by Cloud spray):
- Tranquilization increased to 20 (up from 10)
- Poison damage increased to 125 (up from 75)
- Now have a 50% chance to NOT be removed when an alien steps on them
- Are no longer removed by cryo effects
For a cost of 17,500 and an average ammo cost of 18,000-21,000 (25 or 30 shells), this state-of-the-art weapon is now finally a viable choice on higher difficulties as well

Structure scanner:

Scan range increased to 15 (up from 7)
Base usage AP cost reduced to 12 (down from 15)

Field repair kit:

Base usage AP cost reduced to 25 (down from 40)

Welding torch:

Base usage AP cost reduced to 20 (down from 25)

Cloaking device (PEFG):

Base usage AP cost reduced to 10 (down from 20)
Base cloaking amount increased to 100% (up from 80%)
Cost reduced to 8,000 SqP (down from 10,000)
It is now also a craftable item, with a hefty insulator/Asura-49/Deothonit cost
New mechanic: even when the cloaking "fails", and the wielder is attacked, they receive +[active cloaking]/20 Ranged, and +[active cloaking]/10 Melee Defense Value (flat bonus)
Being hit while cloaking is on will now actively deplete the active cloaking amount by 5% per hit

Increased the damage of the "built-in" melee attack of ranged weapons to 30-60 (from 15-30); this still won't make it useful :), but maybe you can better scrape off that last 1% HP of an enemy if you absolutely need to!
Specific attacks of some weapons can no longer GRAZE the target--they will now do NORMAL damage instead (like it was a proper hit):

QuadSeeker: Seeker bolts
Energy rifle: Controlled impuse & Discharge
MG-10 and MG-12 (turret) Minigun: Focused fire
Flame thrower: Line ignite
Laser scorcher: Disintegrate & Line scorch
CryoBlaster: Deep chill
Bio-rifle: Inject
This change also means these attack modes have about 20% more chance to hit--this IS reflected in the targeting popup!
FYI: a ranged attack is a graze when the internal attack roll (1d20 + modifiers) misses (i.e. is lower than) the Ranged Defense Value by 1-4

Attack AP cost reduction on Mark IX prototypes can now roll between -1 and -3 (was -2), allowing for a much better chance to get a weapon with -2
Attack AP cost reduction and Reload AP cost reduction prototype effects are now doubled for heavy arms
The "A.T.A.C. Neural Feedback Assist" (attack AP cost reduction) upgrade (small & heavy ranged arms) is now applied after the AP cost reduction from skill, resulting in a better bonus in many cases

FIXES

Fixed a minor issue where shadow buildup from shadow flames was still displayed on turrets (had no actual effect)
Fixed an UI issue where crafting material costs & other UI elements for various items on specific panels were not always properly updating their color & status after buying/selling an item or a weapon upgrade
Fixed a minor UI issue where you couldn't buy a prototype weapon directly to Stash if you didn't have enough space in the selected marine's inventory
Fixed an issue where the game didn't always remember the last used language if you changed it
Additional minor UI fixes