Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance News

Hello, Mark here again (Senior Producer on the game), back with the next Developer Diary for Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance, with the new “We Are Legion” DLC just a few weeks away from release. As you can imagine, we are all busy polishing the various missions, and very excited to almost be at the point where you can play the new levels.



The first diary last month answered a number of questions that some of the community posed, and this one follows up with further answers to even more questions.

So, let’s get hear some of the questions you asked.

I loved the challenge, playing as the “underdog” with T-Force, vs Legion. How will the DLC make playing Legion challenging with them being ‘realistically’ more powerful than other factions? Playing as Legion and not just relying on numbers or technical superpower
Well, there are times where you do get that feeling of ‘over whelming the humans’ with sheer numbers of forces, especially on the easier difficulty levels. Playing on the lowest difficulty level, I find that there is an element of more traditional ‘group and attack in force’ RTS tactics. This does change on the higher difficulty settings though.
But, even with a large, powerful Legion force, there are more advanced human adversaries that Legion fight against. You have probably seen from the shared playthrough of Mission 3 that there is a mission where you are attacking an Integrator camp, with their more advanced weaponry. And now, after Galveston, the Founders have more advanced weaponry (as you saw through the base game with basic vehicles being upgraded with plasma cannons and similar). So, even if you are fighting humans, their tech has been upgraded for a more difficult fight.

How will the units be transferred from mission to mission? Will there be supply factors as per the base game, or something else? What factors will influence the “Reserve” points during missions?
The player has a small core army that is taken from mission to mission in a Carrier. This can be customized and changed between missions. Alongside this, there are the research abilities and the blueprints functionality that I explained in the last dev diary.
There are also Production units that Legion will provide at given points during a battle, depending on certain criteria. These are gained from ‘energy’ that you gain from performing various mission objectives. So for example, if you capture an Integrator power center, you may be given 5000 units to purchase more Legion reinforcements during the battle.

Will the new Legion campaign be similarly linear as the base one or more open ended with different possible endgame outcomes?
The original campaign had a few branches and decisions that ultimately impacted on the final few battles, especially with the final battle at Galveston, dictating which ally forces you received.
There are less branching opportunities in “We Are Legion” when it comes to campaign choices. There are some decisions that you will make that impact the individual missions but not impact later missions.
There is still the whole new research and upgrade unit options that ultimately gives a different gameplay feel depending on your army upgrade decisions, that may have a similar impact later in the game, similar to how in the first campaign, army characters surviving (or not) had an impact later (Big Bob, Kondo, etc).

Which new things do you (devs) find most exciting in the DLC?
I am personally excited about finally answering some elements of the story that were set up in the first campaign. I read a lot (well, all) of the community discussions and it’s great seeing players questioning character motives, what discovered tech was, what are the motives of the Integrators, what the huge prototypes discovered in the game may mean. So, it’s exciting from a story point of view to be able to answer some of those questions and to build on the lore of the Dark Fate Universe.

I have a question regarding the DLC trailer. Who are Legion fighting near the Lincoln monument? Do they have anything to do with the founders in Texas? How big is the founder's faction if they fight in both Texas and Washington? Is the founders leader we know the only leader of the faction or are there others? Does the DLC take place before the main campaign or is it something like a continuation?
The forces seen in the DLC trailer are Founder units. The lore that was written for the Founders was more detailed and in depth than what was seen in the original campaign. We have a history written (that I am sure we’ll share in an upcoming diary) about how the founders came to be, where they’re based, and what their fundamental motives are. I know that their background showed that they were actually based in the North East of the US, and the Southern forces were outposts as they spread into the south. So, perhaps, we haven’t met the main force of Founders just yet!
And as for the Founder leader (Actual) that you meet in the first campaign, he isn’t the only leader. And maybe, just maybe, we may answer some questions about him in the new DLC too!

Will the Integrators be the ones to help send the super soldier (Grace in the movie) to the past?
My take on it is that the ‘Resistance’ that is starting to form from the first game is a coming together of all the factions of humanity, fighting back against Legion. And it’s likely this Resistance that ultimately sends Grace back to help Dani Ramos in the movie (a Resistance that is led in part by Dani Ramos in the movie). So I guess there is still the question, do the Integrators help within the Resistance? Well, we shall have to see.

Can a Legion tank be armed with 2 rail guns in the DLC?
The rail gun is not available to attach to a Legion tank in the DLC. Sorry.

Are we going to see Balzano in the new DLC? I would like to know more about the misadventures of that character.
There are returning characters from the first campaign in the new “We Are Legion” DLC. I can confirm though, that Balzano, unfortunately, is not one of them.

How do you approach exploring Legion as a Character?
This was one of the most challenging parts of the new story, peeking behind the curtain of the ‘Big Bad’. Legion is written to be very logical, methodical, machine-like. However, we did think that a whole campaign playing as that logical entity may not be as exciting as it could be, so, as I mentioned in the earlier diary, we have introduced some human element to the story. As well as not always playing as the Legion Command core, but elements of it, so there is more of a ‘dialogue’ available. I’d like to say more, but, you know, spoilers…

Well, we are close to the release and so you will hopefully be playing “We Are Legion” very soon. As I mentioned before, I am always reading comments and feedback on the official discord channel, and will always try to answer your questions where I can. So please do join us there. Until the next time.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3227830/Terminator_Dark_Fate__Defiance_We_are_Legion/

December 10th is just around the corner, and we can't wait for you to experience the "We Are Legion" DLC.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3227830/Terminator_Dark_Fate__Defiance_We_are_Legion/

To celebrate the launch of the first DLC for Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance, we're gearing up for the Slitherine Next event, packed with exciting content about the game and much more.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839950/Terminator_Dark_Fate__Defiance/

During the event, we'll share details about next year's content, upcoming DLCs, and of course, the official release of "We Are Legion".

Slitherine Next is coming soon—stay tuned and mark your calendars.

https://www.youtube.com/live/bNMPY51noiw

Hi there. I’m Mark, the Senior Producer on Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance and here’s the second part of Dev Diary #1 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1839950/view/4483989494757851439

Does this campaign follow the T-Force Story, or is it separate?
Yes it does follow the events that occurred in the main game (which is why, anybody who has completed the first story may get more out of it than if you haven’t finished the main story, though we do give enough ‘backstory’ for any players starting the DLC without completing the main game).
We see the ongoing story from a different perspective, and we hopefully answer a few questions that were remaining from the first story too. (Did somebody say Prototype?)
And will we see any returning characters from the main game? Well, that would be telling….. (but yes, we do!).

Is the new Campaign set in the same locations as the first campaign?
As the story is continuing, we do begin in some very familiar locations. A lot of the new story does occur around the southern US states but as anybody would have seen in the announcement trailer and free wallpaper, we also are moving to some other locations in the US too, that are outside of the initial US map we provided.


Are there any new Multiplayer or Skirmish Maps with the DLC?
For the DLC, there won’t be additional maps given for Skirmish or MP. But, as we move into the new year, we will continue adding campaign maps into the Skirmish and Multiplayer lists as we have done through 2024. So, expect to see maps from the DLC appear in Skirmish and MP updates throughout 2025.
There are also some new features that will also find their way eventually into Skirmish & Multiplayer. For example, the army customisation that I mentioned above may appear in some form (setting up your army before a battle!).


Is there new music?
There have been new, Legion themed tracks produced. There are 12 new tracks in the DLC, to get you into the ‘Legion vibe’.

What were the difficulties with coming up with characters for the machines when they have been mostly "Shoot first ask questions never" throughout the franchise?
This was definitely a challenge. We were aware that if the whole campaign was an emotionless machine speaking to you in binary, it may become frustrating. So, there are a couple of ‘human’ elements injected into the story, alongside Legion. So whilst you are ‘Playing Legion’, as we’ve seen in the first game, there are times when Legion will call upon human factions to help their cause (Chihuahua for example, or the occasional Founder!! (no spoilers)). So, missions will not just be Legion speaking to you like an angry answer machine.

I hope that you have many more questions and we would love to answer them. So, if you want to learn more, there is a strong community on the official discord channel where I’m always about answering your questions (unless Marketing sends a kill-bot after me to shut me up).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3227830/Terminator_Dark_Fate__Defiance_We_are_Legion/

Make yourself at home and watch the community play Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance.
Remember, there is a free demo once again available on Steam, offering a thrilling glimpse into this gritty, fast-paced RTS.

In the demo, you’ll have the chance to learn the basics with a tutorial mission set just after Judgment Day, followed by the first mission, set 20 years later. In this mission, Alex Church, a young officer of the Founders, defies orders to ambush a Legion convoy suspected of carrying prisoners, leading to significant consequences.

Join the fight now!

Hi there. I’m Mark, the Senior Producer on Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance. So here we are, a few weeks out from the release of the first major DLC. We are releasing “We Are Legion” on the 10th December and are all very excited about getting it out to you all to play.



I wanted to answer some of the questions that players in the community have been asking about the new DLC. I find that it's a fine balance of giving information, but not wanting to spoil the story or the experience. As the new DLC is story based, in the same vein of the first T-Force campaign, I would still want players to have surprises and shocks as they play. So, I will do my best not to give too much away (in the knowledge that I’m sure there will be streamers out there that will stream the game before you’ve played it - do try to avoid spoilers).

Here we go:

Why a Machine focussed DLC?
As we have said, the new DLC is going to be Legion based, with you playing the side of the Machines. Why did we choose this, rather than just continuing with the story in the main game? We saw a lot of community comments early in the game's life-cycle about “Wouldn’t it be great to play as the Machines!”, and early on decided that we would like to provide that too, but to an extreme. So, the path of the first DLC was formed.

Will there be more human campaigns?
Yes indeed. The plan is, as always, to see the journey from the first game story through to where we see the future war in the Dark Fate movie, with the Resistance fighting Rev 7’s & 8’s (and getting their asses kicked), but eventually, getting to a point where they are hopefully ‘winning the war’. This will see more advanced human tech and equipment (hovering drop ships, augmented resistance fighters like Grace, etc), and more advanced Legion units (Rev 7’s splitting themselves and morphing bladed weapons and tentacles).
We plan continuing the story of Alex Church as he helps bring the Resistance together, as well as bringing in other forces to join, from both internal (and external) of the US.
I guess the question is also, “Will there be more ‘Legion focussed’ campaigns?”. I can answer that by saying, if you enjoy “We Are Legion”, then there would definitely be the option of more similar campaigns in the future. If everybody hates it, then maybe not.

Are we getting new Legion Units?
This is the most asked question since the DLC was announced. Well, there are new units in the game, but these are primarily given to other factions (mainly the Integrators, as many sharp eyed players may have seen, in the gameplay reveal, the Integrators are sporting new weapon platforms).
Integrator Armored Carrier with Legion plasma weapon

Integrator Platform: A Legion Hunter Platform, converted to manual control and mounted on a semi-trailer wheel chassis

Legion however are getting a whole upgrade on how the army management works, as well as full customisation for all the units.

This means that you will be able to not only customize the weapons on your units (and I mean, heavily customize weapons, with a greater array of weapons being attached to units and vehicles that did not support them in the original game, as well as units being armed with different weapons at the same time).

You will also be able to upgrade and customize many elements of your various units, by researching and ‘buying’ new features. These can be added onto your reinforcement units.

We also have ‘blueprints’. Blueprints are like ‘production templates’, and allow customized units to be added to the reinforcement roster, with these new unit versions to be fielded during re-inforcement or within the core of your Legion army.
Each unit has a number of slots that can be upgraded.

New Legion Army customization screen

So, upgraded legs, for increased speed, upgraded torsos for increased armor protection, updated vision chips for accuracy, etc. There is a restricted number of upgrades allowed per variant, so you can create specific units for specific jobs.

You may have a Rev blueprint type with increased speed and rate of fire for speedy assaults, but another Rev type that is the normal speed, but has higher armor, damage and accuracy, and carries two variants of machine guns, for a slower but more powerful follow up unit!

Not only can you upgrade units like this, but you will be able to assign additional abilities to units to make them ‘something else’. For example, a drone could have the ability to drop smoke grenades, making a very unique, speedy unit perfect for smoke cover. Or a legion tank can be created with an artillery-caliber gun (155mm), capable of demolishing any human fortification. Or even a spider with a self-destruct ability to explode its reactor, making it a useful bomb when damaged.

Legion Artillery: Multi-Barrel Plasma Cannon. Significantly higher rate of fire than basic artillery, but less range and damage.

Legion Tank Weapon Customisation: Heavy rotary 30mm cannons. This weapon turns your tank into a mobile grinder capable of grinding both infantry and not heavily armored vehicles

Legion Tank Weapon Customisation: Heavy 155mm cannons. The most powerful high-explosive weapon, capable of destroying any fortification

As you can see, you will be able to tinker with your army to produce something unique to your needs and strategies.

In conclusion, we’re thrilled to share insights about the upcoming “We Are Legion” DLC for Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance, set to launch on December 10th. We hope this peek into the new features and campaign elements has sparked your excitement.
But this is just the beginning. Stay tuned for Part 2, where I, Mark, will be back to answer even more of your burning questions. Your feedback and curiosity drive our development, and we’re eager to engage with you further. Until then, keep an eye out for more updates as we count down to the release.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3227830/Terminator_Dark_Fate__Defiance_We_are_Legion/