Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance News

[p]With Lieutenant Church heading north in search of new recruits and allies for the growing Resistance, the task of holding the heartlands has fallen to you, the player, charged with managing our forces and standing firm against the relentless advance of Legion’s hordes.[/p][p]And so, here we stand, preparing to face the challenge of our newest addition: Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance: Uprising![/p][p]The new Conquest Mode DLC is being released very soon, and so I thought it would be a good time to give a bit more detail on some of the new quality of life features that have been introduced.[/p][p]You can see some of the new content that the Mode will bring on the Steam page here: [/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]Faction Icons[/p][p]We released a screenshot of the world map last month. I wanted to show you the updated version with new faction icons now in each sector that they own. To be honest, this was due to a number of color blind people who noted they couldn’t tell the difference between some of the factions. I think you’d agree, the new faction icons make that much easier to see.
[/p][p](Conquest Map showing new faction icons)[/p][p]
No Saves for a Rogue Like Experience[/p][p]So, the team made the decision for the Uprising Conquest Mode to remove the Save Game function during most battles. [/p][p]There are still some autosaves during a few ‘critical’ missions when objectives have been met,  but these are slightly longer,harder missions. For most battles, there is no save, as battles should be somewhat shorter, with missions being won or lost in 15-20 minutes. [/p][p]There will always be an autosave BEFORE the mission, which is made every time you press DEPLOY in the mission briefing screen.[/p][p]However, as there are many elements that are RANDOM, when you re-load a mission from that save, you will likely get a different experience. Your spawn point(s) may be different, the enemy will attack from a different direction and encounters may be different. Even skipping a couple of days may mean that the mission will be somewhat different.[/p][p]This has been designed to create the Rogue Like experience that the Conquest Mode gives you.
[/p][p](Mission Briefing screen showing Deploy - and is that a new map!!)[/p][p][/p][p]Retreat[/p][p]With the more Rogue Like game flow of the mode, we have provided a RETREAT option during battles which allows you to extract your troops immediately.[/p][p]This allows you to sneak into sectors and ‘steal’ trophies and scavenge vehicles, without starting a large-scale battle. You can also help to weaken an enemy (if you can’t destroy it in one go), as all destroyed units will temporarily reduce your opponents strength (reserves). When attacking the sector again, the enemy will be weaker. And if that sector is cut off from its key point, then its ‘strength’ will not be replenished.[/p][p]So, retreat becomes a very useful feature to sneak, and not be overwhelmed.
[/p][p]
(Retreat option is found on the Menu. There is still honor in leaving, to fight another day)[/p][p][/p][p]Evacuation & Re-deployment[/p][p]Throughout the missions in the Uprising Conquest Mode, the EXIT area is always available, allowing players to extract units from the mission battle, back to the Army Reserves screen.[/p][p]This then allows you to re-supply, heal (if you have spare troops available), repair and refuel vehicles. It then allows you to re-deploy them if you have a slot remaining for that unit type.[/p][p][/p][p]One-Button Extraction[/p][p]When you have gained a victory on the battle, when you have achieved the objective, whether that is domination, defended a point for a given amount of time, or depleted the opponents so they retreat, a VICTORY button appears, allowing for a quick extraction if you wish.[/p][p]This finishes the map, and your units are returned to the Army Management screen.[/p][p]So, you do not have to move all your units to the EXIT area to extract them.[/p][p]You can use the VICTORY extraction whenever you like once the battle has completed, so you may want to spend some time scavenging for vehicles and weapons, get drivers into vehicles, picked up weapons, and then press VICTORY to extract with your new found loot.[/p][p][/p][p]I have found playing the Mode, that with Extraction abilities, you can use tank drivers and other specialised drivers to drive vehicles off the map, remove the driver out of the vehicle, and then re-deploy them without a vehicle, to search and drive other vehicles off the map.
[/p][p]Abandoned Vehicle Markers[/p][p]Most maps will have abandoned vehicles, and as these are discovered, you are informed by an officer, and a marker is placed on the map. This is very useful when salvaging the battlefield after a fight.[/p][p](An abandoned vehicle marked on the map. An Integrators Plasma Howitzer!)[/p][p][/p][p]And Finally[/p][p]There will be more information dropping about the Uprising Conquest mode before it is released, so please do watch out. And I am always available to answer your questions, when I can, on the official discord channel here.
Join Discord
[/p][p]And finally, I want to leave the last word to Major Stevens, who returns for the new Uprising Conquest Mode. Here is some dialogue of his straight from the game:[/p][p]“The mission's in crisis in the heartlands. Legion, barbaric Marauders, Cartel gangs, those blasted machine cultist Integrators - friends are hard to come by, but we got a few left still. We'll need to rally with every last one of em, soldier, 'cos I ain't ready to say die to the machine. Not yet.” [/p][p]So, good luck on the battlefield soldier, the Uprising is almost here![/p][p]
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[p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]We’re excited to announce Uprising, an upcoming DLC for Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance, introducing a brand-new strategic game mode set across a vast map of the former United States. Take command of the Resistance movement and lead the fight against Legion, Cartel, and other hostile factions in a dynamic, living world where your choices truly matter.[/p][p]Experience freeform sandbox gameplay with 22 sectors, new tactical maps, diverse mission types, and evolving faction dynamics that ensure no two campaigns play the same.[/p][p]The Uprising DLC offers deep resource management, intense strategic battles, and new units including an assault support helicopter and specialized infantry. Whether you focus on assault, sabotage, or defense, your decisions shape the future of the Resistance.[/p][p]We are now opening beta sign-ups for players eager to test this exciting new chapter, be among the first to experience what the DLC will offer.[/p][p]Are you ready to lead the Resistance and change the course of the war? Go here to sign up and learn more.[/p]

The Spring Update for Skirmish and Multiplayer is out now.

In case you missed it, we released a Dev Diary a few days ago that went in-depth on today’s update. The main highlight is a new feature: the Army Management tool, which allows you to create your own unit and army presets for Skirmish and Multiplayer modes.



This gives you more freedom to set up and customize your reinforcements, just like in the main campaign. You can add new weapons, armor, and engine upgrades to vehicles, as well as additional weapons and abilities to infantry units.

We hope you enjoy this new addition. Let us know what you think. Below you’ll find the full changelog for the update, have fun and enjoy the game.

Changelog:
• Added army editor where players can create their own army presets for each faction and use them in Skirmish and multiplayer matches.
• Added weapon upgrades for Movement and Founders helicopters in Skirmish/Multiplayer modes.
• Fixed an animation issue with infantry on client side in multiplayer.
• Fixed several rare random crashes.
• Fixed all known issues with Chinese fonts.
• Minor AI fixes in Skirmish/Multiplayer.
• Fixed minor pathfinding

Welcome back to the Resistance!

It is time for an information dump on some upcoming updates and new content for the game. Check out information on the soon to be released Army Management Screen for Skirmish and Multiplayer, as well as some new bits of information on the upcoming Conquest Mode and some player questions answered too.

Skirmish and Multiplayer Army Management Update
It’s the Mid 2020’s, when in Terminator: Dark Fate, we are told that the Machines will rise up. Are we now entering the period of Machine Rule? Is the world on the brink yet? Well, one thing we are on the brink of is the new update for the game, that sees army customisation for Skirmish and Multiplayer introduced.

Next week, we are releasing the new Army Management tool for Skirmish and Multiplayer games. This allows you to create new army presets, customising units and squads that can then be used either in Single Player Skirmish, or when you go head to head with other players.

The new Army Management tool has the same customisation seen in the main campaign, allowing you to add new weapons, armor and engine upgrades to vehicles, and to add additional weapons and abilities to infantry units.

Customised units become ‘presets’ within your army roster, that can be called during reinforcement. There is a set amount of ‘preset points’ within each army to balance the amount of customised units you can field, keeping the balance of armies fair.

Either duplicate an existing Army set up and customise that duplicated version, or create a new customised army from scratch.

Each new customised unit has its own new points cost. So, crank up a unit to the max, it may become twice as expensive as its base unit. For example, in the images below, there are 2 sets of Rangers units. The first is the default, that costs 800 points, the second, a rangers squad with an additional Laser Sniper Rifle and a full suite of additional abilities (Bullet Rain, Powerlifter, Marathon Runner, Chameleon and EMP Devices) that costs 2180 points.
So there is a direct balance between cost and enhanced abilities.
But it does allow you to hone various units to maximise their battlefield potential.





Each new preset can be called just once during a battle, but quickly duplicating presets in the Army Management Screen allows multiple versions of a unit to be easily created.

And fear not, the base, default version of a unit can be called upon during reinforcement as many times as you wish, so running out of unit types if you haven’t created multiple presets of each won’t happen.

The Movement also is improved with this new Army Management screen as it now allows you to pre-set up tractor and trailer combinations, so trying to hurriedly link up a tractor and trailer during a multiplayer game is no longer an issue. The example below shows a customised Tractor Truck, with a Heavy Platform already connected (an additional 400 points for the additional Mounted Minigun and Junk Armor on the customised Truck preset) Selecting the Tractor or Truck would automatically select the connected unit too.



It is also possible to set up passengers within presets, so if your tactic is to deploy troops quickly using vehicles you can pre-load them into vehicles to quickly call them up.

We have found that this new Army Management system opens a whole new dimension to Skirmish and Multiplayer, allowing a much more varied array of vehicles and units at your disposal and we are really interested in seeing some of the custom armies that you create.

Some Visions from the Future!
The next big release on the horizon is the new Conquest Mode. I wanted to drop some more nuggets of information about it here, so here are 3 new facts about it:

1) There is a new helicopter appearing in the Conquest Mode. Although not a troop carrier, it will be cheaper and have a full range of strike capabilities.

2) The United Federation of Marauders will emerge as a new united faction. Those disparate marauder gangs will band together, to become an even greater threat to the Resistance's existence.

3) The Cartel playing both sides? If you play your cards right, you may be able to have Cartel Templars join your Resistance, if you can overthrow some local Cartel factions.

Finally for this diary, I asked the community (on discord) for some questions that they wanted answers, so here are some that I randomly took:

Community Questions:
These questions were posed by players on the official Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance discord channel. Why not join, and you can ask me directly.

How will the tech from Galveston affect the Resistance soldier equipment and vehicle customization, can the dev sneak peak a bit of info about it?
is there a change we go to Europe and Asia and does legion have any present there (from discord user: NQIMNyannn)

The plan is that in the Campaign DLC, there will be new enhancements, abilities and units that will be directly influenced by the tech gained at Galveston (the end of the first campaign). We are looking at enhanced humans, and the first use of humans attempting to harness the Legion tech discovered there on their vehicles.

Release date on Conquest DLC? (from discord user: Diabolos)

I can’t give the official date at the moment as release windows can change, but the current plan is to have it released during Summer 2025. There will also be a Closed Beta released prior to release so if you watch out for announcements, you may be able to get an early look at it in progress.

Are you planning on adding different types of environment? maybe a map with snow or a mission in the ocean with ships? (from discord user: krankSIE)

Well, we have mentioned that the new Campaign planned for the end of the year will see Church and the Resistance head up in to Canada. Expect some more extreme environments, and how would Legion units perform in snow?

Will there be other nation / remnants of, or factions not yet seen? (from discord user: Nikita)

The plan is to introduce some elements of other nations in future campaigns. Hopefully I can drop some more information on this in later info dumps.

So, prepare for the new Army Management Screen update that will be available next week (currently playable on an Open Beta branch on Steam) and I will see you on the future battlefield!

Good luck.

Welcome to the Resistance!

It has been a year since we released Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance and I wanted to touch on the year just gone, and the year ahead of us. First off, I would like to give a personal thank you to all the players who joined us on the journey. It’s been great seeing your feedback and thoughts. This feedback helps us shape the game as we move forward.

2024 - Legion Arrived
So, we released the game on 21st February 2024. The last year saw new Skirmish and Multiplayer modes added (Assault, Scavenger, Domination) as well as a number of new maps. We also brought a new campaign Map into the fold, letting us find out a little more about Kondo’s wife.
The year ended with the release of “We Are Legion”, the new campaign DLC that saw the story continue but from the perspective of the Machines. We were truly happy with the response that the DLC got, and it was great fun seeing people's reaction to the story and where it went.



2025 - Legion Rises
So, in the Dark Fate movie, Grace tells Dani that Legion arises in the mid 20’s. So, get ready everybody because we’re almost there. But what have we got planned for the game for 2025. We have officially released this year's Roadmap and I want to explain a few of the new features, DLC’s and updates that we will be releasing this year. But, just to outline, many of these are still going through phases of development, so please don’t send the killbots after me if anything I say is changed in the final releases.

Early 2025 RTS Fest Demo
Let’s start with the past. We released a demo earlier this year in January for the Steam RTS Fest. This demo included 1 mission from the main game, and the first mission from the new “We Are Legion” DLC that was released in December 2024. The demo also included the ability to join multiplayer games, with the hope that we’d get a few people fighting each other online.
We have been trying to highlight the multiplayer in the game, but we honestly do find, due to the game being primarily a single player campaign and so with the majority of players playing the campaign, that with the pool of players looking for multiplayer games at any point means that the MP lobbies often seem empty. Multiplayer is something that we continue in trying to improve, as the multiplayer gameplay is such fun for players who want to go head to head. There are groups on Discord and Steam that regularly play Multiplayer, so if you are interested, see if you can hunt them down.

SPRING 2025 Multiplayer and Skirmish update
The next update that is coming this Spring will include new functionality for Skirmish and Multiplayer. One new feature the team is adding is customisation elements to the Reinforcement functionality. This allows you to create your own unit and army presets, alter available units and generally much more freedom in the setup of reinforcements within both Skirmish and Multiplayer. This takes some of the new functionality that was seen in the last DLC and expands on it.

SUMMER 2025 New paid content: Conquest Mode DLC
There have been many requests for the addition of a more ‘sandbox’, less linear option. Something a bit more open ended. Well, Summer will see a new mode available, that will allow players to continue to build the Resistance on a Strategic Map, with various sectors and locations under the control of different factions (mainly the threat of Legion).
Each faction will be attempting to take or defend sectors alongside the player's faction, and it is up to the player to manage their army, and choose which sectors and territories to attack, and which to defend where necessary. We will see returning factions like the Integrators, the Movement and the Cartel. And there will always be the Marauders that will swoop in on isolated sectors.
There will be options to recruit units from the other factions, not Legion, of course.
Various mission types will appear on different areas, such as Assault, Defence and Domination, but also some other specific missions like Rescue or Assassination.
The new Conquest Mode will tie into the current game story, occurring after the events of the “We Are Legion” DLC. So, with Church out recruiting elsewhere, it is up to you to control the Resistance.



Free Content Drop
Although the features to be added here are still being finalized, the team are wanting to add a few extra modes to some of the maps in Skirmish and Multiplayer modes. For example, extending the Scavenger Mode that is only currently available on the Abiquiu map to a few more maps, as well as adding the much requested ‘Endless Mode’ for Skirmish and Multiplayer. Endless Mode games will continue until all zones have been captured by one side (no time limit).
Please keep watching for further information on this content drop, as the actual final content is still in discussion and planning, so may change.

WINTER 2025 New paid content: Story Campaign DLC
Last year we released the Story Campaign DLC “We Are Legion”, following on from the base games campaign but playing from the perspective of Legion. This year, we release the next Story Campaign that will continue the story further. We finished “We Are Legion” with Church heading North to continue recruiting factions and people into the Resistance.

The new Story Campaign will continue from there, playing as Church and the Resistance.
Without giving too much away, expect to see the next evolution of the Legion Rev. If you have seen the movie ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’, you will have seen the Rev 7’s in action fighting against Grace in the ‘future flashback’. Blades and speed. Don’t let them get close because they will slice up your infantry.
The technology discovered at Galveston will also start to be integrated into the Resistance, with Augmented soldier tech starting to become available for your troops or integrated into vehicles.
We are also going to be heading north, heading up into Canada to face a new threat there from Legion.
More information about the new Story Campaign will drop in the run up to its release, so do watch out for further updates.

And that will be some of the game's highlights of 2025. There will be more intel about what is coming dropped in the coming months, and I am always available to answer questions on the official Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance Discord channel.

2025. Is this the year that the future becomes the reality?

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