USC: Counterforce News

Hey Marines!

We're thrilled to share a glimpse of the new content to come for the next major update, featuring new enemies and threats to celebrate Halloween!

The fallen marines served as gruesome inspirations for a new breed of aliens. The horde is not only expanding its ranks but also growing stronger. These new foes come with unique gameplay mechanics and require you to review your tactics. Ready your weapons and prepare for battle, as your missions are about to become even more perilous with the discovery of these fearsome alien entities joining the fight.



Among them lies the "Organ Shepherd," a creature that seems to mimic human physiology with remarkable agility and deadly AoE attacks. These new enemies come with distinctive behaviors and attack patterns. Marines, stand strong, study their actions and gather intelligence on these emerging threats.

Equip yourselves to exterminate these menacing bugs, and be prepared for the upcoming encounters and trials that await. These aliens will be nightmare fuel for your marines. Stay tuned for further updates on the upcoming content!

The USC: Counterforce team

Hey Marines!

The second round of the Defend the Base! update is live! Explore the new environment: the spaceship with its unique game mechanics!

This new environment brings two unique map types in Single Mission mode: "Recon vessel" and "Ring space station". The environment and map types not only provide fresh looks, but also a completely new level of gameplay dynamics and tactical complexity. Single Missions provide you with more materials in this spaceship environment.

[h3]Spaceship environment and mechanics[/h3]
Adapt your strategy to these new gameplay mechanics exclusive to the spaceship environment: hull breach and decompression!

• When the outer wall of a spaceship environment is destroyed, you'll experience hull breach and decompression. The hull breach causes progressive air loss. Decompression increases movement action point costs for all units, making navigation through the spaceship tougher and more dire. Warning lights and sounds, along with grid overlay information, will alert you to this critical situation.
  
• With space void comes cold! After an area is completely depleted of air, fires are instantly extinguished, incendiary and acidic damage and effects are nullified, and all units in the room receive Cryo buildup.
  
• These pesky aliens are smarter than they look, they won't attempt to destroy outer walls. You can limit the chaos by sealing the room, closing a door in a decompressed zone will instantly restore the atmosphere in the sealed room.
  

With this environment comes a new Operations mission on the spaceship environment: Onboard invasion!



[h3]Defend the Base![/h3]
We listened to your ideas, the Defend the Base! mode will now have barricades to protect your marines as you collect resources. We also added a high-caliber turret, radar & medical station to expand the possibilities regarding the construction and management of your base.



[h3]New icons[/h3]
As part of the visual improvement of the game, all the item icons have been reworked.



Read the full patch notes here.

Prepare to board the spaceship and encounter new challenges. Stay tuned for details on upcoming additions during Early Access!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574870/USC_Counterforce/

The USC: Counterforce team

USC:CF v0.40.0a, build 231002

NEW

• Over 50 new icons for equipment items!
  
• New map/environment type: Spaceship
  
  
  
  • Two new unique map types are now available in Single Mission mode: "Recon vessel" and "Ring space station"
    
  • Single Missions in this environment yield extra Insulators, Batteries, and Electrical components
    
  • New visuals, previously only seen and playable in the Tutorial, plus:
    
• New GAMEPLAY MECHANICS: hull breach/decompression
  
  
  
  • Happens when an outer wall of a Spaceship environment is destroyed
    
  • Warning lights and sounds, as well as grid overlay info will signal this
    
  • Currently there's no method available to repair the hull once it is compromised, but specific tools will be added at a later time
    
  • All connected areas will start to lose atmosphere each Turn; a small room is decompressed instantly, while a larger area will be decompressed through a few Turns
    
  • During decompression, movement AP cost for ALL units is increased by 4 (!)
    
  • After decompression (no more air left), all fires will be instantly put out (and new ones cannot start), any incendiary and acidic damage/effect is nullified, and ALL units starting their Turn in the area will receive 20 Cryo buildup (this is applied before Cryo buildup is halved)
    
  • The aliens will NOT try to destroy outer walls
    
  • Closing a door in a decompressed area will restore atmosphere in the sealed room instantly
    
• New Operation: "Onboard invasion", taking place on a space station in the new environment
  
• New item: High-Caliber Auto-Turret
  
  
  
  • A versatile ballistic turret making use of the HCB ammunition
    
  • Has free-pattern single shot, a more powerful star-pattern single-target burst, and sweep-pattern multi-target burst attacks (yes, 2.5x damage at point blank range ;D)
    
  • Get it by completing the new Operation, or as a craftable for a nearly perfect run on at least Hard difficulty in Defend the Base!
    
• New object in Defend the Base: High-Caliber Auto-Turret. See above.
  
• New object in Defend the Base: Biosign Radar. Automatically scans the whole area for biosigns every Turn.
  
• New object in Defend the Base: MediPad. Provides continuous healing and hazard treatment for a friendly unit standing on it.
  
• New object in Defend the Base: Barricade. A movable, fireproof, half-height defensive object that provides cover and can withstand a fair amount of damage.
  
• A few new decorative objects, with much more to come! (This is the reason for the size of the update, as new graphical assets have been added.)
  

BALANCE CHANGES

• Defend the Base!
  
  
  
  • Adjusted the number of enemies per difficulty level (1.25x, 1.1x, 0.9x, and 0.8x of former base value, respectively, for Beginner, Standard, Hard, and Ultimate)
    - Structure scanner
    
  • Base AP cost reduced to 15 (down from 20)
    
• Biosign scanner
  
  
  
  • Base AP cost reduced to 10 (down from 30)
    
  • Range increased to 15 (up from 10)
    
  • Deep scan range increased to 10 (up from 5)
    
• Bulleteer (SMG) "Triple Fire":
  
  
  
  • Reduced base AP cost to 9 (from 10)
    
  • Increased effective range to 10 (from 8)
    
  • Increased accuracy to 7 (from 5)
    
  • Reduced spread to 12 (from 15)
    
  • Increased random damage to 35 (from 25)
    
  • Increased impact force to 30 (from 25)
    
  • It is now slightly more effective against structure (walls, doors)
    
• Single Missions in the Mines or Planet surface environment will now yield an additional 7 Insulators (base value)
  

FIXES

• Fixed a critical bug where a Defend the Base! game could become corrupted if you started it after exiting a mission with any active nests in it
  
• Fixed a bug where if you left items in the Stash while playing an Operation, a dialog would pop up between Phases asking you if you wanted to continue, where if you chose "No", the game would lock up (fix: the dialog will not pop up between Phases at all, now)
  
• Fixed a bug where passing multiple movable objects by in succession would cause lagging briefly
  
• Fixed a bug in Hardcore mode where the game would hang on saving the game when you failed a mission (on the last marine being killed)
  

Hey Marines!

We're thrilled to share a sneak peek of the new environment following the Defend the Base! major update: the spaceship!

Get ready to explore two unique map types in Single Mission mode: Recon vessel and Ring space station. This environment and these map types offer new visuals but also a whole new level of gameplay dynamics and tactical depth. In this spaceship environment, Single Missions will reward you with extra materials.



But that's not all! Brace yourselves for new gameplay mechanics: hull breach and decompression!

Gear up to embark on the spaceship and face its new challenges. Keep an eye out for more information regarding the new content!

The USC: Counterforce team

USC:CF v0.30.3a, build 230909

FIXES

• Fixed a bug where the Tier 5 Defend the Base! reward (additional max. Squad Points) was not scaling properly with difficulty & session type
  
• Fixed a bug where splitting a crafted item stack would create a non-crafted item stack that can be sold for Squad Points instead of materials