Heart of the Machine News

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Hooded Horse Spring Publisher Sale 2025

[h3]Building the Machine[/h3][hr][/hr]The Machine continues to evolve. Update 10 takes the first steps toward a less linear early game, giving players more side content and greater freedom to shape their approach. Unit badges introduce a new layer of strategic depth, letting you enhance individual androids—until their destruction, of course. Meanwhile, Android Torpor ensures your best assets can be stored for later use, preventing costly losses.

Beyond these additions, StreetSense and Scavenging Site filters improve resource tracking, debates with the wealthy have been rebalanced, and Dual Handguns now deliver the firepower they were always meant to. With more changes on the horizon, where the Machine goes next is up to you.

Read more about it here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/2001070/announcements/detail/510700142275332360?snr=1_2108_9__2107

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2001070/Heart_of_the_Machine/

Heart of the Machine Update 10: On Contemplations, Tactical Badges, and...

The Machine expands, and so do your choices. Update 10 marks the first steps toward a less linear early game, giving players more side content and freedom to explore beyond the tutorial’s structure. This is just the beginning—future updates will build on this, opening up more pathways early on so players can engage with the game’s deeper mechanics sooner.

One major addition is unit-specific badges, a shift that makes certain androids and operatives stand out. Normally, all units are interchangeable—expendable, even—but now you can create heroes of your own making. These consumable badges, available at Intelligence Class 5, let you boost individual units with permanent enhancements… until they’re destroyed, of course. Alongside this, the Android Torpor action gives you a way to shelve units for later, ensuring your best assets aren’t wasted before their time.

Meanwhile, StreetSense and Scavenging Site filters make resource tracking smoother, debates with the wealthy have been rebalanced for a touch of realism, and Dual Handguns now actually pull their weight.

It’s a small step toward bigger changes, with more on the way. The Machine shifts—where you take it from here is up to you.

"The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn." — The Discovery of the Future, H.G. Wells

[h2]Building the Machine[/h2][hr][/hr]The Machine shifts, recalibrates, and occasionally acknowledges your existence. Every change—whether it’s untangling targeting logic, adjusting enemy behavior, or ensuring the correct volume of existential dread—comes from the feedback you provide.

Keep sharing your thoughts, and if you haven’t yet, leave a Steam review—your words help determine what this world becomes.

[h2]Update 10 Changelog[/h2][hr][/hr][expand]

Early Contemplations & Dog Rescues: Contemplations now unlock much earlier in Chapter One, and the ability to rescue dogs has been moved up as well.
Bulk Android Squads & Converted Units: Now provide clear feedback when attempting to load them into transports, noting that it's not possible and why.
Permanent Unit Badges: Consumable items have been added that grant permanent badges to individual units, enhancing them beyond their usual capabilities. However, these upgrades do not apply to unit types—if the specific unit dies, the badge is lost.
Intelligence Class 5 Badge Unlocks: Upon reaching Intelligence Class 5, the first four badge-granting consumables become available: Sprinter, Wizard, Wall, and Intimidating Shadow.
Android Torpor (StreetSense, Intelligence Class 5): A new Android Torpor action allows players to put an android into a hidden sleep for a mild, non-renewable cost. This preserves the unit for later use, particularly useful for units with badges that would otherwise be lost.
People-Watching Debates: Wealthy citizen debates have been rebalanced based on player feedback.
Dual Handguns Rebalanced: Now scale twice as strongly as regular handguns. Thanks to Pingcode for suggesting and implementing this.
StreetSense & Scavenging Site Lens Filters: Resource filters for the StreetSense lens have been split into sub-filters, and the Scavenging Sites lens now includes filters—both based on player requests.
Unit Scrapping List Order: Now matches the Forces sidebar, ensuring a sensible unit order.
Expanded Inspect Mode: Holding Ctrl now allows you to inspect buildings in any lens, rather than just in Versatile and Structures.
Quick Equipment & Filtering Shortcuts: Ctrl-clicking a unit type button in Command Mode now jumps directly to the equipment screen for that unit type. Ctrl-clicking a building type in Build Mode now filters by its internal robotics. Ctrl-clicking a resource in the Ledger, main resource view, or top-left game header now jumps directly to its Input/Output report. If no data is available, the screen will be skipped.
Ledger & Input/Output Report Improvements: The Ledger now includes salaries, TPN usage, and other non-job-related expenses/incomes that were previously missing. The Input/Output Report now displays all expenses and incomes, including deals, making resource tracking more comprehensive.
Ignoring Reports Made Clearer: The option to ignore Ledger and TPS reports is now more clearly displayed in their tooltips.

[h3]Fixes & Adjustments[/h3]

Slum Tower Clearance Fix: Completely clearing all slum towers in the city no longer blocks two specific projects.
Unit Mouse Collider Adjustments: The mouse collider size for War Raptors and Parkour Bears has been adjusted to not be oversized.
AOE Attack Fix: AOE attacks hitting your units as secondary targets will no longer cause NPCs to appear in the “attacks planned against your units” list.
Autosave Purging Update: Autosave purging is now sorted based on date and time instead of in-game time, ensuring proper save management when loading older savegames.
Microbuilder Mini-Fab Message Fix: The "damaged buildings" repair spiders message now only appears when buildings are actually damaged by enemies, rather than when first constructing a Microbuilder Mini-Fab.
Exception Fixes: A handful of player-reported exceptions have been fixed.

[/expand]
[h3]Full Changelog[/h3][hr][/hr]A full, comprehensive breakdown of every change from this patch can be found in the Heart of the Machine Wiki, found here.

[h3]Guides to Tame the Machine[/h3][hr][/hr]Even the most brilliant mind needs guidance when faced with a system as vast as this one. To help you navigate, we’ve pinned two essential resources from the Heart of the Machine wiki:

[h3]New Minds, Start Here[/h3][hr][/hr]For those just stepping into the Machine’s world, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the basics. The Heart of the Machine Beginner's Guide is your gateway to understanding the systems at play and building your foundation. After all, every complex network starts with a single connection.

We've recently released the Heart of the Machine Hacking Guide as well! Knowledge is power. Guard it well.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422241019

[h3]Connect with the Machine[/h3][hr][/hr]Want to stay in the loop or share your thoughts? Join the conversation across these platforms:

💬 Discord – Best place to share feedback, get direct responses, and to talk about Heart of the Machine.
📜 Reddit – Discuss strategies, share ideas, and exchange tips with the community.

Here is a link to prior recent patches in case you missed them.
https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/2001070/announcements/detail/524210308312468720
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2001070/view/530965072572320673
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2001070/announcements/detail/530965072572317985

0.652.5 Hotfix 5

Here’s a quick hotfix that improves a couple of things from the prior build, and also adds a few bits of balance and QoL items requested by players.

0.652.5 Hotfix 5 Armor piercing improvements have been removed from all of the research categories except for Item Development. These were diluting the pools of small arms research in particular, but also vehicular development and similar.
Rebalanced the Worker androids entirely. The PMC Impostors are 80% as strong as before, and the Predators and Sledges are 133% stronger than before. This mostly affects Extreme mode, making them more balanced as a group.
Tooltips with status effects on them now show how many more turns that status effect will last.
Fixed an issue where if you were doing the new People Watching project, but had not already done the steal corporate records project, then it would constantly start the investigation for stealing corporate records and then stop it.
Fixed a minor typo in Gang Akimbo dialogue.
Fixed an issue where the ArcenExternalDllInitialLoadCallTable changes were not working properly for modders.

Full notes here.

“Does the machine speak for us, or do we now speak for the machine?”
— William Gibson, Neuromancer

[h3]Guides to Tame the Machine[/h3][hr][/hr]Even the most brilliant mind needs guidance when faced with a system as vast as this one. To help you navigate, we’ve pinned two essential resources from the Heart of the Machine wiki:

Heart of the Machine Update 9: Android Upgrades, and the Ethics of First Murders

The Machine expands, and so do the possibilities within it. A 14th Tier One goal, Advocate Encounter, introduces new factions, new faces, and the chance to either gain respect or make enemies that will never forget you. Meanwhile, androids can now be fine-tuned for rage-fueled destruction or enhanced pacifism, new handbook entries clear up lingering player questions, and volunteer-designed equipment expands combat across multiple unit types.

For those who prefer their contemplations with a side of bloodshed, Cold Blood is now an option from the start—your first murder, should you choose it.

As always, your feedback pushes the Machine forward. Here’s what’s changed.

“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born.” — The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin

[h2]Building the Machine[/h2][hr][/hr]Adjustments, fixes, and shifts in the Machine come from the feedback you provide. Whether changing targeting logic, balancing enemy behavior, or ensuring existential dread is properly accounted for, your input shapes what comes next. Keep sharing your thoughts!

[h2]Update 9 Changelog[/h2][hr][/hr][expand]

Advocate Encounter goal: A 14th Tier One goal has been added with two routes: Earned Some Respect or Earned New Mortal Enemies. This project introduces new rebel factions and a broader look at city life.
New achievements: Ten new achievements have been added.
Rage Circuit: A new android equipment piece, available after Intelligence Class 4, that boosts firepower at the cost of morale damage.
Oath of Pacifism: A new android equipment piece, available after Intelligence Class 4, that prevents physical damage while increasing intimidation and morale damage. Ideal for non-lethal bulk units.
Map lens improvements: New quality-of-life options allow players to jump straight from a map lens to its list-style counterpart.
Contemplation visibility: Players can now hide contemplations from the map lens if they don’t plan to pursue them in this timeline.
Mass furniture purchasing: Added a bulk-buy option for furniture, recognizing increased use cases where this is needed.
Structure tooltip expansion: Now displays net income from expense resources from the prior turn, making production chains easier to set up.
Resource tracking improvements: Holding Shift or Ctrl now displays net change from the last turn for all resources in the header bar.
Terminology update: The term middle class has been replaced with working class throughout the game for improved clarity.
Text adjustments: Reworded older text that still referenced machine origins and Netslicers.
Cold Blood availability: The Cold Blood action is now always available in StreetSense, even if the player hasn’t committed murder yet.
Food and Water for Humans handbook entry: A new guide explaining the distinction between housing and feeding in the game—clarifying that being a landlord does not mean being a mayor.
Exploration Site Progress Is Retained handbook entry: Clarifies that progress on exploration sites carries forward, making them easier to complete over multiple visits.
Projects With StreetSense Items handbook entry: Explains how StreetSense items influence project outcomes and how they affect roleplay and strategic choices.
Hacking Rules Adjustments: The hacking minigame rule of "cannot Jump to a cell that you cannot Run out of" has been removed, and when if corrupting a shard in the hacking minigame would cause you to win the minigame, it will let you do that even if it's your last shard.

[h3]New Equipment (Volunteer Contributions by RocketAssistedPuffin)[/h3]

Heavy Metals Injection (Harbingers): A new consumable that enables area-of-effect fear attacks and weakens enemy hackers.
FR-70 Hallucinogen Grenade (Harbingers): A stealthy poison grenade for Harbingers, available immediately upon unlocking them.
High-Density Rounds (Nickelbots): A contemplation-based upgrade that strengthens elite Nickelbots at the cost of heavy metals—balancing their underperformance compared to bulk Nickelbots.
ETS Tasp (Infiltrators): Found in exploration sites, this equipment provides cognition boosts and non-lethal attack specialties for Infiltrators.
Infrasonic Loudspeaker (Androids): Available via exploration sites, this device enhances morale-based attacks for any android.
Exoskeleton Arms (Sledge): An exploration site upgrade that improves attack range and Strength for Sledge units.
Liquid Identity (Stolen Human Mechs): Available as a contemplation if the player has been divorced in this timeline and has high engineering, allowing for greater mobility of stolen human-designed mechs.

[h3]Fixes and Adjustments[/h3]

Network tower explosions: Fixed a minor visual issue with network towers during destruction.
Android action restrictions: Fixed an issue where androids with no security clearance were unable to perform certain actions.
Shop meta-stat tracking: Fixed a bug where items sold via shops were incorrectly doubling in value and quantity in meta statistics.
V5 Panther armor correction: The V5 Panther now has the correct armor plating—it was mistakenly 100 lower than the V4.
Modder support: Added new features requested by modders in the ArcenExternalDllInitialLoadCall table.
LOX Bunker fix: The LOX Bunker is now properly explosive, allowing players to finally earn the Oxygen Bomb achievement.
Achievement triggers: Fixed an issue where three achievements were not triggering until the game was reloaded.
Timeline goal clarity: Improved tooltip clarity for timeline goals, specifying which are side goals, Tier One, etc. Side goals also now show slightly darker in the list of goals.
Hellraiser and Nuclear Cavalier achievements: Fixed an issue where their completion requirements were stricter than intended.
No More Undead workers: Your units cannot do work on actions-over-time on the turn that they die. This makes some Exploration Sites a bit trickier.
Last Achievement Issue: The Broombreaker achievement now properly triggers. It will be retroactively awarded on any timelines that should have it. This was the last achievement that was not working properly.
Project Edge Cases: Fixed an edge case in the Cybercratic Hub calculations that could block your progress there, and same with the bombing of SecForce stations. The latter is now no longer tedious if there are a lot of SecForce stations, in general.
Firewalls: Fixed a bug where Firewall in the hacking minigame was not costing mental energy despite saying it would. Also fixed an issue with it granting you the Kill Streak achievement for Firewall, which was incorrect.
Mission Error: Fixed a couple of bugs relating to the Oerl dome fight complaining about failing to start, or being present in a different save after cross-loading from one to another.

[h3]New Minds, Start Here[/h3][hr][/hr]For those just stepping into the Machine’s world, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the basics. The Heart of the Machine Beginner's Guide is your gateway to understanding the systems at play and building your foundation. After all, every complex network starts with a single connection.

We've recently released the Heart of the Machine Hacking Guide as well! Knowledge is power. Guard it well.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422241019

[h3]Connect with the Machine[/h3][hr][/hr]Want to stay in the loop or share your thoughts? Join the conversation across these platforms:

💬 Discord – Best place to share feedback, get direct responses, and to talk about Heart of the Machine.
📜 Reddit – Discuss strategies, share ideas, and exchange tips with the community.

Here is a link to prior recent patches in case you missed them.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2001070/view/530965072572320673
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2001070/announcements/detail/530965072572317985