Hello, agent. Ready to meet the Wizard?
This small update brings to you one of the big talents employed by CSA. None other than the brilliant hacker who helped put together the Engineer class shell. In fact, you’ll be seeing her in the HUB after you unlock it!
In short, here’s what’s packed into this update:
- New NPC - Maria Argentea added to the HUB. She will appear only after unlocking the Engineer class and will have unique dialogue lines that will let you in on some interesting lore;
- Tarball Grenade Launcher mods rework. From visual updates to usability improvements, you’ll feel the difference when using Stormblight Cascade, Fire Ant Rounds, and Locust Swarm;
- Added inspect animation for secondary weapons. Delicious deadly eye-candy;
- Implants library. You can now examine all implants that can be found during a run, as well as check which ones you have yet to unlock;
- 10 new implants you can find during missions;
- Performance improvements.
That's all in brief, but look below for all there is to know!
What’s new?
"📢"
marks the changes suggested by the Deadlink community[h2]Meet Maria Argentea[/h2]
MARIA ARGENTEA
ELINT SPECIALIST
CSA003MAJIC
CSA’s newly recruited intelligence expert, a former cyberthief and hacker. Originating from South America, traces of her activities were recorded in a dozen countries, but it can only be speculated how long she has been in the business. Working as a cybersecurity specialist and blackhat for hire, she offered services to high-profile cartels, gangs and corrupt officials. Stealing sensitive data and using it for extorsion, she made herself a small fortune, most of which was spent on a full body prosthesis and an optogenetic brain interface, allowing her to connect to the net at speeds unattainable for most.
The full extent of her “achievements” is unknown due to multiple alias, MO and personality changes, but the times she stepped on the toes of the US intelligence community has proven too many. She was put on Interpol’s notice list, wanted in the States by cyberpolice. Captured 3 years ago, she was placed in complete digital isolation, facing multiple life sentences for the few crimes she could be proven to have committed.
Desperate to reconnect, she offered the US government a deal: her absolute loyalty and ongoing services for dropping her charges and a chance to start another in her long list of new lives. Aware of the possible security risk, the CIA and NSA ghosted her on the offer. Only one man was crazy or brilliant enough to take her up on the offer. Director Thomas Crusher sees her as an important piece needed for his agency’s success.
[h2]New Implants[/h2]
- 10 brand new implants available during runs
[h2]Heavy Weapon Rewards (🚧experimental🚧)[/h2]
- Players will be able to find new rewards during a run where they can change their secondary weapon with ANY other secondary weapon in the game. So you will be able to check out how the Soldier with the ARC Cannon plays or try to beat the game as an Engineer using a Rocket Launcher.
- Weapon Mod category is still available but contains only primary weapon attachments.
đź’¬
Dev comment: We've decided to loosen up the ties between combat shells and their arsenal by putting all secondary weapons into one category you pick during the run. This change adds more variety during a run and hopefully will create some interesting synergies that were not possible in the past.
This change, however, is experimental, and we will keep an eye on how it affects balance and overall gameplay experience. So if you have any thoughts on the new system, please let us know!
[h2]Secondary Weapon Equip Animations[/h2]
Gotta Watch 'Em All!
[h2]Engineer Changes[/h2]
- 📢 "On Wormlink Use" activator will trigger implants after attaching to an enemy rather than upon the Wormlink explosion
- 📢 Wormlink explosion now marks all enemies hit
- 📢 Gauss Rifle base damage increased to 18 (was 15)
- 📢 Increased Taser duration when connected to an enemy to 3 seconds (was 2 seconds)
- Grenade Launcher's electric mod link lifetime increased to 0.7 seconds (was 0.3)
- Added new meshes to all secondary weapon mods!
[h2]Ammunition Changes[/h2]
- Removed "Max Ammo" upgrades from the HUB progression tree
- 📢 Changed default ammo values for all weapons:
- Shotgun: 4 ➡️ 7
- Rocket Launcher: 2 ➡️ 5
- Peacekeeper: 4 ➡️ 7
- ARC: 30 ➡️ 60
- Gauss Rifle: 21 ➡️ 30
- Grenade Launcher: 3 ➡️ 6
đź’¬
Dev comment: Based on feedback we received, many new players think that the base ammo count is too low across the board. While a higher ammo count is hidden behind HUB passive upgrades, it's not necessarily compelling to unlock and grind for those. We decided to remove max ammo upgrades from HUB and increase default ammo for all weapons to create a more streamlined experience for newcomers.
"Max Ammo" HUB upgrades will be replaced with something more fun during an overhaul of the HUB upgrades system (soon).
[h2]Implants Library[/h2]
- 📢 Track how many hidden implants left to be found
[h2]Dialogues’ Changes[/h2]
- Maria will tell you some hot, fun facts about implants and tech-news
- Members of the CSA will talk to each other about the current affairs
- 📢 Dialogue window was reworked for clarity
[h2]Other Changes[/h2]
- 📢 First playthrough shouldn't stutter so much anymore
- 📢 Added a "Retry" button to the run summary screen so you don't have to go back to HUB if you want to start over. Note that this button is hidden by default and you have to go to the settings screen to enable it.
- Added confirmation prompt when changing resolution
- Special objectives should appear more frequently
- Voice-overs added to in-run shops
- Multiple bug fixes
As always, please share your thoughts on our official
Discord Server and social media - we read it all đź‘€
Our next update will introduce a new corporation with new enemies and a fresh boss fight!
Here's a little sneak peek. Stay tuned for more!
