USC: Counterforce News

Hey marines,

Ready your marines, the 1.0 release is coming on July 18!

You've been waiting for it, and the Beta of the Campaign mode is coming on June 27!



Take a sneak peek at the Campaign mode before its full launch! You will be able to create your avatar, choose your affiliation, manage your marine roster, and go on the first missions of the Campaign, both on a global and small scale, with the strategic map!



The Campaign Beta previews its exclusive mechanics but lacks final narrative content and objective progression. Expect potential issues, and saved progress won’t carry over to v1.0. Full features will launch with the final update.



Want to know more about the Campaign before diving in? Read our Dev Diaries presenting its features!

• Dev Diary #3—Campaign Squad Management Preview
• Dev Diary #2—Campaign Mechanics Preview
• Dev Diary #1—Campaign Feature Preview

We can’t wait to know what you think about the Campaign, feel free to share your feedback with us in the Steam discussions! Stay tuned for the full launch of the Campaign and the 1.0 release!


That's not all! USC: Counterforce will be featured during TactiCon as well from July 18 to July 22!



The USC: Counterforce team

Hey Marines!

Yesterday, we pushed the last major update before the 1.0 release. We know that some of you have questions regarding the Campaign. As a reminder, the Campaign is still scheduled and will be added with the 1.0 version. On our side, we are still making good progress on it, and we really are excited to know your thoughts when it launches, and we think it's time to share our new updated roadmap until the 1.0 release! As you can see, we plan to release the game in July 2024, so be ready for the Campaign coming soon!



Now, back to today Dev Diary about the general mechanics of the squad management!

[h3]General Campaign mechanics[/h3]

[h3]Squad management[/h3]



The Squad Assembly screen you know from the preparation phase of a mission in the other game modes will be familiar, but with many, many changes that befit the new and changed mechanics of the Campaign.

One of the most important differences is that you have a fixed starting roster of 30 marines, including your avatar, the returning crew of U.S.C. Wraith (15 marines), and 14 (randomized) marines from your fleet. All of them have preset skills and ranks, with some spare skill points left, so you can start training them in the direction you want to from the get-go. Unlike non-Campaign games, units will gain Experience Points (XP) for all kinds of actions they perform and, with that, achieve promotions that give them new skill points and other perks. “Demoting” or re-organizing their skills will not be an option, nor will resurrecting the dead (yes, we are talking about permadeath!). Sometimes you’ll have to wait until you can re-deploy a marine (if they are seriously injured or assigned to a somewhat longer task or mission, etc.), so you’ll have to make sure you don’t only have an “A-Team” of 6 killing machines but more reliable individuals to send on missions.



The other big difference is how global inventory is handled. In the Campaign, all items are “status persistent”, which in this case actually means that if they’re gone, they’re gone. There are no “loadout configurations” that are reset after a mission, as every bullet you fire or medikit you use is spent forever; your inventory can change swiftly, and you have to work with what you have, not with what you’d think is optimal. You will, however, start with a great assortment of weapons, ammo, and equipment, as well as a good pool of crafting materials; you’ll feel powerful and unstoppable… until you realize that reinforcements are weeks away and your supplies deplete quickly. The time will come to clear the dust from those good old, reliable .44 pistols! Of course, you will be able to craft anything if you have the resources. And don’t forget, “status persistence” for items also means that what you pick up and bring home is truly yours to keep (or to disassemble for materials…)!

With that, “squad configurations” are also gone. For each mission, you can decide freely who to deploy. You can configure up to 3 squads of 6–6 marines in many cases. Having good intel will help you decide how many marines to bring and what equipment they should carry for a specific mission.

[h3]Missed our previous dev diaries on the Campaign? You can read them here:[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1574870/view/3883854408804767159
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1574870/view/4211502692132648548

Stand by for more information about the Campaign and upcoming sneak peeks!

The USC: Counterforce team

Hey marines,

Lock and load! We're excited to be part of the Steam Endless Replayability Fest! USC: Counterforce is discounted at 40% from May 13 to May 20. We just released our last major update before the 1.0 release, adding new feature, weapon, items, challenges, and balance changes!

[h3]Update Highlights - New weapon[/h3]
Latest addition to your arsenal, the Laser Scorcher! Blast these aliens with this powerful and destructive weapon! This update also includes a crafting material converter, new gear for healing and building barriers, and new ammo!

Read more about the new update in these patch notes:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1574870/view/4177728871881754998


[h3]40% Off - Limited discount during the Steam Endless Replayability Fest[/h3]

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


Discount on our bundle with Shardpunk!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/40877/Shardpunk_x_USC_Counterforce/

[h3]Enjoy the new content? Then support us, get USC: Counterforce in Early Access on Steam if you haven't already, and leave us a review![/h3]

Happy "bug" hunting!

The USC: Counterforce team

Hey Marines,

A new major update is live now! Time to unveil our last major update before the 1.0 release, packed with new feature, weapon, items, and challenges! We're thrilled to be part of the Steam Endless Replayability Fest, the game is discounted (40% off) from today to May 20!




[h2]New weapon[/h2]

Introducing the Laser Scorcher, a powerful addition to your collection. This heavy arm packs a burning punch, using Energy Charge as ammunition. With devastating attacks like Disintegrate and Line Scorch, bypassing full target armor, it promises highly destructive firepower! Just make sure you bring enough ammo—this one eats up 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.

[h2]Advanced ammo[/h2]

Upgrade your ammunition arsenal with advanced versions for dire situations! HCB MK III, Energy Charge (Condensed), SuperShell MK II, BioShell MK II, and Hydrazine (Inferno Mix), these offer increased power and efficiency for the most challenging encounters, but at a higher cost. Unlock them through Single missions on Hard difficulty minimum or with Gear Tokens.


[h2]New items[/h2]

Need health restoration or extra defense? Look no further than the Regenerator and Force Field Emitter! The Regenerator restores health and mitigates bleeding by 25% on each turn, while the Force Field Emitter triggers an impassable, indestructible barrier on a single grid for time-limited strategic advantage during 5 turns. Keep them ready for any situation!


[h2]New feature[/h2]

Ever found yourself just a few materials short of crafting that crucial piece of gear? We've now added the Crafting Material Converter! Now you can convert specific crafting materials into others, from the Squad Assembly screen, by clicking on the material icons in the top right corner. Conversions are loadout-locked, a new loadout won't have the converted materials, but all the default available materials. This feature will you help craft items, in exchange for high conversion rates, to avoid devaluing the diversity of materials.




[h2]New map and challenges[/h2]

Prepare for new risky deployments in Single Mission mode with the introduction of the Desolate Canyon map type and the Quack! difficulty level. Test your skills in rugged environments and face even greater challenges for the ultimate test of your tactical prowess and resourcefulness with this new highest difficulty setting. Long live the Quackers!




[h2]Multi-squad missions[/h2]

Take your commanding and coordination skills to the next level with 3-player mode in Single Mission games. Command three squads of four marines independently, bring and team up with another friend!


[h2]Overall balance changes[/h2]

This update also brings a lot of balance changes to Defend the Base! mode, the Heavy arm skills, multiple weapons and items, as well as weapon upgrades and prototypes.

[h3]Read the full patch notes here.[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1574870/view/4177728871881754998


Get the game at a 40% discount from today to May 20! Make the best of the new tactical options you have, torch enemies with the Laser Scorcher, play up to 3 squads, and try out new challenges!

All clear for now! Stay alert for further updates on USC: Counterforce and the 1.0 release!

The USC: Counterforce team

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)!
    

New advanced versions of some ammo types:

• 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