Cogmind News

Not an especially huge changelog here, just a tiny addendum to last week's massive release. Seeing as I wanted to put out a couple of important fixes anyway, I decided to throw in a few other items from the short list that I could get done in a reasonable amount of time, so today we have a mostly QoL-oriented Beta 10.1!

Beta 10 saves from runs in progress are compatible with this release, so you can upgrade/switch over right away to get all the benefits immediately!

• NEW: Removing or dropping a part that will be destroyed due to insufficient space gives a warning and requires confirmation
• NEW: Matter/energy storage utility descriptions indicate that stored matter can also be extracted directly if on the ground at current position.
• NEW: Simply waiting long enough in W base is enough to trigger the event without interacting with any other triggers
• MOD: Field Recycling Units now only collect parts when activated a second time for new COLLECTING mode, also collect more quickly (once/turn)
• MOD: Field Recycling Units no longer limit parts they'll collect based on remaining scrap storage, always top off regardless of waste
• MOD: Borebot Coring immunity is now full Critical immunity
  
• MOD: Swarm Drones now melt down if parent destroyed or lost bay
  
• MOD: Updated core reset interactions with Beta 10's new extended endings
  
• MOD: Transport Network Couplers and Trojans relaying 0b10 bot positions now only report active bots
  
• FIX: Some conditions for a certain scoresheet history log message were not being checked against one of the new endings [JackNine]
  
• FIX: [Player 2 mode] Crash on bringing Player 2 to one of the new endings [Minty]
  
• FIX: Multitile robot AI update in Beta 10 caused Behemoths to sometimes fail to return to their original guard location after losing all targets [Tone]
  
• FIX: Q-Series were unable to relaunch drones after the first retrieval
  
• FIX: Direct dropping currently attached Storage Unit containing items did not give warning or require confirmation like unequipping to inventory did
  
• FIX: Unequipping a part under certain conditions did not deduct energy
  
• FIX: Beta 10 fix to improve rapid label closing via Escape broke both advanced options: disableEscMenuAccessKeyboard, disableEscMenuAccessMouse

Field Recycling Units have a new mode to help avoid accidental situations where it might eat something you actually wanted to pick up but forgot that your FRU was active and munching away. Now like overloading a part you simply toggle it a second time to go from activated (processing accumulated matter) to the next step, collecting (eating parts under you!). In this mode it will show in a brighter color as well have a special tag.



General FRU usage was made even more friendly by not caring about wasted resources--just run over stuff to suck it up, even if it will overflow the unit's capacity.

And hooray for yet more warnings! Dropping parts will now warn if there isn't enough room to do so, in which case the result will be to crush it.



As scheduled, leaderboards were reset just last week the day after Beta 10 released. No need to reset again--10.1 and 10 will remain on the same board.

The full ambient soundscape is here, and it's not alone! In Beta 10 we also have expanded bothacking abilities, two more alternate endings, many more types of drones, and of course lots of other features to improve the overall experience.

Diving right in here...

(Note: Like Beta 9 before it, Beta 10 is far too large to fit the entire release notes on Steam--their system doesn't support it, so I've had to share the changelog here as an image rather than text. For a normal view of the full release notes, see this same announcement on the forums!)



Saves from earlier versions are incompatible with Beta 10, but even if you're on Steam and Cogmind automatically updates, Beta 9.6 is still available via its own legacy branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.



You can now fully hear the world of Cogmind!

Cogmind has always had a ton of sound effects that help bring the world to life, but as far as continuous tracks go, for many years we've only had a few ambient sounds emitted by special machines and sample mapwide tracks in a couple maps as a test. Now all named machines have their own audio, as do all the maps!

Hear an array of Construction Platforms at work in the Factory, the rumble of a Megafabricator in the distance, Plasma Injectors down in the Mines, the hum of Power Conduits, busy Mainframes echoing throughout the Research branches, and so much more.

Aside from thematic mapwide drones that meld everything together, when you're not blasting robots and using the interface the audio experience is primarily defined by environmental factors, yet another new facet of Cogmind's emphasis on immersion.

Here's a debug shot visualizing the variety of machine audio across a Factory floor, where each unique sound is associated with a random color:



Any gaps or areas where no specific local machine can be heard will generally have a higher-volume mapwide ambient track to unify the floor's audio and maintain the theme, as you can see here in this visualization of mapwide ambient volumes (brighter is higher volume):



I wrote an in-depth article about the content and process behind Building Cogmind’s Ambient Soundscape:



Related to the expansion of Cogmind's audio content we have an important new advanced option, muteAudioOnFocusLoss, which you might want to turn on if you do a lot of Alt-Tabbing and prefer that Cogmind not continue playing its audio while you're in some other window. We might want that to be on by default, but it's off for now since I need to make sure it doesn't mess anything up first :P (it seems okay so far, anyway--I've been using it for a while now, but that's just me).

The soundscape is also fully accessible in text form as well, a new feature that will benefit both those who can't turn up the volume or simply want the extra visual reinforcement enabled by being able to also "read" all the audio sources. This is made possible via a new Audio Log, off by default but toggled in the options menu.

See the Audio Log in the top-right corner, listing all heard ambient audio sources and their relative volume as heard from the current location as I walk around a Materials map:



Here's another demo showing ambient sound sources alongside sound effects and the visual sound effect system as a battle rages outside this room:



There's a summary of Audio Log features and behavior in the manual, or if you want an even more in-depth look at how the system was built you can check out the article I wrote on the topic: Audio Accessibility Features for Roguelikes.



The install size of the game has definitely gone up as a result of all the new audio, by a whopping 50%! It wasn't exactly huge to begin with, but with Beta 10 we're going from 30MB to 45MB.



We have two new endings, bringing us to a total of nine different ways to win! I won't spoil the new ones here except to say that they're both a part of the extended game, and to point out the obvious, that yes the "expanded Warlord arc" indicated in the changelog is what you've been waiting for if you're one of us Warlord fans. Warlord forever! (Hopefully...)

Each of the new endings presents new challenges beyond what was already in the game, and of course as with the other seven, they each come with their own unique animated ending sequence. A ton of work went into these endings as a whole, and based on initial feedback from patrons they seem to have turned out pretty well. I even had to add a whole new type of UI window to enable you to trigger access to one of the new endings--you'll know it when you see it ;)

On a related note, I've also expanded some NPC interactions that people have wanted to see over the years. Under the right circumstances it's been possible to get certain major NPCs to meet each other, but in the past they wouldn't take notice or otherwise react in any way. Now they do, usually with consequences :P



There was a decent list of optional features to consider for Beta 10, and this time patrons voted to prioritize a drone mechanics rework together with a significant expansion of the types of drones available. It's turned out pretty nicely, resolving what I saw as some longstanding issues while adding fun new options at the same time.

Importantly, the new additions are not simply "drone with guns A, drone with guns B, etc.", or even drones using just standard tech, but instead come with unique features or behavior that can enable special strategies, or at least just be really fun to use--launch decoys, self-guided bombs, your own posse of thieves, drones that do your hacking for you, and more!



[h3]Drone Bay Basics[/h3]

The most fundamental change with respect to drones is that you must have an attached and functional matching type of bay in order to use them. The bay does not actually need to be active, however (activating a bay is simply a way to launch drones). There are a number of implied changes connected to this one, including:

• Releasing a drone directly from a bay on the ground (e.g. with '>') can only be done if a functional matching type of bay is already attached
  
• Zionite Recon dispatches now arrive as a Z-Drone Bay (since you can't have drones without a bay anymore :P)
  
• Drone bays never autoactivate on attach, regardless of part autoactivation settings
  

If you remove the necessary drone bay (or it's destroyed xD), all related drones will take on the new "Unconnected" status and shut down. You lose the FOV info, but can gain it back again immediately by attaching an appropriate bay.

Drone connection demo:



Drone FOV connection demo:



This requirement really opened up the drone space for more possibilities and was pivotal in making the new drones much more interesting since the bay becomes a part of the requirement for using them, meaning we can get more powerful/numerous drones because the bay itself can be huge or heavy as a balancing factor to compensate :)

One surely welcome QoL under this new system is that if you have multiple matching drone bays and the attached one is full, drones can actually return to those which are currently in your inventory, as long as one has sufficient space.

[h3]Less Micro[/h3]

Overall there'll be less micromanagement involved with drones, and in some cases other allies as well, with the biggest change being the complete removal of the GOTO order! That feature just encouraged a lot of micromanagement to get the most out of allies, especially drones which could then be carefully moved around to explore manually in some cases, and would often be optimal but tedious (i.e. not good). (Even after the removal you can technically still get them generally where you want by using a combination of movement, waiting, and STAY orders, though this incurs a time cost which can be prohibitive except when very important.)

This encouraged me to make some improvements to the AI as well, most importantly that unarmed followers will slightly trail behind rather than gathering around your current location. And they'll be smart about retreating ahead of you if you're retreating, too, generally keeping them out of the line of fire (unless you're suddenly ambushed from behind, or surrounded, in which case good luck :P).

Implementation: Instead of following your precise location, unarmed followers will target a point lagging behind you, as demonstrated here during debug mode (you can't normally see the point itself):



Drones and all allies will also really do their best to avoid stepping on known traps now. It turns out that although they would never path through traps, they might sometimes decide to stand on one if you were hanging around near it long enough.

Fleeing drones will now always RETURN automatically, rather than running around wildly, so it'll be easier to get them back and they'll be much more likely to survive longer. By extension, any disarmed combat drones will also automatically return, possibly improving their lifespan as well. The potential drawback here is that they might lead enemies right back to your position! Of course if you're not there when the enemies finally arrive then it's all good anyway... (or you can choose to sacrifice the drone by removing the bay to disconnect it and then you'll be fine, too)

[h3]Drone QoL[/h3]

One long-requested new feature is the ability to have the map view follow a drone as it moves. You can easily cycle through your drones using the normal Enter key (or center mouse button), which highlights them and their FOV. You can just use this to more easily check where they are, or even pass turns while focused on them and watch as they explore even distant areas.

Drone cycling demo:



Drone following demo:



When active drones are offscreen, you also get a blue 'n' marker like the one you get when Cogmind is offscreen:



And there's a new type of dedicated intel marker to record the location of a drone that was destroyed when that happens outside your remaining FOV:



The allies menu system got some upgrades, too:

• Opening an ally order list via the Allies console centers display on that ally if they are outside the map view
  
• Accessing the ally order list via keyboard displays it adjacent to the ally rather than below the Allies console
  
• Fleeing controllable allies appear differently in the allies menu, and explicitly refuse orders with a warning message
  

New ally order list location:



Returning drone cannot be ordered:



[h3]Acquiring Drones[/h3]

A majority of the new drone bays are available in the early game, although every single type except for one is a unique part, so you won't be seeing all of them in the same run. Less unique drones with similar mechanics might be available in the future (for example via Merchants!), but there's currently no good place to add them yet so I decided it would be better to make the bays unique so they could be especially useful or fun.

Many are available in the Mines via a new prefab encounter, and the rest are scattered about in other plot areas. One is a regular 0b10 prototype bay.



For all the Botlord builds out there, the pool of potential robot hacking abilities has been expanded from 9 to 15. Half of the new ones can be obtained multiple times to increase their effectiveness.

(Skip this section if you want to discover them on your own!)

Here's an overview of what's new...

• Hotswap allows you to automatically swap in additional matching Couplers in sequence from your inventory when the effective code value of current attached Couplers is insufficient for the desired hack. (No this doesn't mean hacking directly from inventory Couplers, but it does reduce the need to free up utility slots and attach additional Couplers mid-combat, while also allowing you to more easily get the most out of your existing Couplers.)
  
• With Command Fork you have a chance to duplicate each hack, also applying it to the visible applicable target nearest to the initial target, at no extra cost! It's compatible with most hacks, excluding generate_echo, map_walls, map_earth, map_route, or those that would have no meaningful effect. This is super useful because you can hack a combat bot and have the same hack affect a nearby different type of combat bot for which you don't even have a Coupler--very powerful under the right circumstances!
  
• Threat Obfuscation reduces all influence increases by a certain percentage (depending on your ability's level).
  
• Signal Jamming blocks local transmissions from visible hostiles while you have a matching Coupler attached, making it impossible for them to share information about your current position. Also prevents calls for reinforcements, and suppresses alarm traps. Basically against bots it's like having a targeted Transmission Jammer, a nice little bonus for having a given Coupler.
  
• Zone Cloak causes extermination squads to take longer to pinpoint your position for dispatching, essentially the same effect as taking out Garrison Access points, but you get it for free.
  
• With any [NC] Coupler attached, Watcher Feeds makes it possible to tap into the visual feed data of all 0b10 Watchers within a range of 24! This basically gives you temporary access to free drones that can maintain visual contact with enemies without themselves being attacked. One less reason to destroy Watchers :P
  

Demo of a link_fov fork:



Demo of forking overload_power and streamctrl_high:



Demo of the Watcher Feeds effect (while applicable, the link range is highlighted in faint yellow):





You can ram walls and machines now! Doing this is will mess you up pretty bad and there are warnings against it, of course, to help prevent you from smashing your face into that adjacent nuclear reactor, although if you're getting really desperate and squads are gathering around, this might actually be a good idea ;)



So it's there if you need it. This also provides a last ditch way out of escaping situations in which you've accidentally allowed Engineers to entomb you without any weapons to escape :P

Ramming like this uses the same old force melee commands.



We also have a more controversial mechanical adjustment in terms of using melee weapons in dug out spaces. For a number of reasons being able to safely dig winding tunnels could be pretty cheesy, even more so using them to fight pursuers. Projectile weapons could cause instant cave-ins when used like this from within unstable areas, but not melee weapons. Now all weapons are treated the same in this regard. The chance of melee attacks causing a cave-in are lower than, say, a kinetic cannon, but it is no longer completely safe to do so.

In terms of tunnel combat I imagine the effect of this change is less of an issue for players since that practice probably wasn't as widespread, though this does also affect the ability to dig consecutively through multiple spaces with a melee weapon, which will no doubt cause concern for some stealth builds which will need to consider alternative options if they can't risk a cave-in.

In any case, we'll see how things turn out, but stealth is already super effective and melee digging in particular was only one small part of that effectiveness.



Trackers have been nerfed. See the multiple changelog lines regarding them :P

The changes essentially mean they'll be a bit slower to catch up to you, and also have to be within view before they can open fire. Technically this is also an indirect nerf to builds that liked to farm Trackers and take their OP gear to turn it agaist 0b10, but players who could do that were few and far in between (in Rogue mode, at least xD).

We also have some OP weapon nerfs, specifically the Firepult and Guided EMP Blaster. Both are still good, but were definitely way too good earlier. The Firepult nerf in particular was planned to happen eventually, but don't worry, it's still quite good, just can't be used indefinitely because the idea behind most EX-tech was that it's stuff which is fun and effective to play with through the early/mid-game rather than become something you stash away to help crush the extended game :P. Some other Exiles parts will likely be revisited in the next release for updating as well (they were intentionally made OP when first introduced basically just for fun, since you can't get them every run anyway).

Impact weapons got a situational buff across the board, since all walls and reinforced barriers are now weaker against them.

I made some changes to the Access garrison situation, namely removing the original extremely deadly result of visiting one, a nasty surprise for anyone doing it their first time that was probably not survivable for most builds. The origial effect (instant Max Security!), was my first reaction to Pimski trying to loop indefinitely since it was an easy way to use the game's existing content to mostly discourage or outright block that possibility. Now there's a much less deadly result specifically for that situation.

Going inside that garrison itself has gotten more dangerous, however--I mean it's Access, right?! :)



Our favorite three-letter combo around here!

We've got some useful new protective warnings, including most importantly a warning if you're attempting to attack from a position that might cause a cave-in as a result, since it can be easy to that accidentally in the heat of battle. (This warning also includes melee attacks, as per the earlier mechanical change mentioned earlier.) There's also a warning if your attempted line of fire is blocked by another robot, since a fair number of people don't seem to notice that as readily, especially if the situation is changing as a lot of bots are moving around during combat (note that the LOF indicator also changes color).

Previously used guided waypoints can now be recalled even if some were outside FOV:



By request, as long as you have Tactical HUD mode active, parts that have been damaged for whatever reason (like... being shot :P) now retain a box around their integrity display in your parts list until your next action, so that you can more easily recall what has just taken damage:



I've activated this behavior by default, but if it bothers you you can deactivate it in advanced.cfg using partDamageIndicatorsRetained.

Also by request, we now have the ability to add custom log notes!



Log notes could later be expanded in a number of ways depending on player needs, but the primary purpose behind its current form is to allow you to leave in-game notes about what you were doing at the end of a play session, making it easier to pick up where you left off next time.

This feature is currently only accessible via Shift-Alt-z, but we'll be later getting a new menu system for easier access to all Shift-Alt key combo features, including mouse accessibility.

And no, your notes do not appear in the final scoresheet at this time (they're excluded from log output and only appear in game).

I've updated any Mines reward encounters that required randomly visiting a hidden location, which encouraged the optimal tactic of scouring every inch of the Mines in search of them, especally in the hope of uncovering the famous early Exp. Sensor Array:



As you can see, the event is now triggered by rifling through some visible Scrap. The original behavior was meant as a placeholder until there was a better solution--now we have one :)

We've got a couple little special mode updates as well. First of all a dedicated indicator for when your built-in sensors are being jammed, since the normal indicator was attached to sensor parts, which you may not even need in RPGLIKE mode :P



Player 2 now displays their parts with raw integrity values rather than as percentages:





I've been doing a lot of streaming over the past months, about half of it Cogmind-related. In fact, we'll be starting a new run today, not long after Beta 10 is officially released here :)

Past streams are archived on my YouTube channel, including the relatively recent Magneto run where we go for that achievement, some RIF runs, and others checking out the new ambient audio, including one dev testing stream.

Many others have been streaming lately as well, including MTF, Tone, Valguris and other top players. The Discord is a good place to get a heads up on streams and when people are planning to go live.

For those of you out there interested in the latest flavor of cheese, Pimski has put together an Exiles Kill Guide demonstrating a new pastime among Cogmind's more brazen and greedy (and evil!) players:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeIgKc_aozM

As per the announcement last month, the leaderboards are back in action and better than ever. I'll be continuing to expand their features down the line.

The next leaderboard reset will come tomorrow now that Beta 10 is out! All the current scores are from the Beta 9 builds (although the separate patron leaderboards include some Beta 10 and prerelease runs).



Thanks to all patrons and players for your support!

We've still got that OP rating, so the next goal still stands. Keep the reviews coming :D

Reminder: There will eventually be a big free expansion happening that adds Merchants (in fact there are a growing number of references in the game foreshadowing their arrival, including more in this release ;)), though I haven't yet decided for sure whether it will be before or after 1.0.

Regardless, we've got lots and lots of plans, both small and large, still out there just waiting for some attention...

YES, the leaderboards are back in action!

With a big Beta 10 mostly done and coming soon, we really needed to get official Beta 9 leaderboards up and running. Not to mention there are plenty of people out there who enjoy either aiming to rise through the ranks, or maybe just browse the leaderboards or other runs to see what others are up to. And of course with Beta 9's incredibly detailed new scoresheets there's even more to see in that regard!

Since they've been silent for a while, the boards currently include all seven releases since Beta 8.




To celebrate, Zyalin drew a bunch of us "Climbing the Ladder":



Of course roguelike god GJ is always there waiting to put us in our place ;)



At the bottom of the leaderboards you'll find a section listing more info about the rankings, and the usual links to archived scores and stats. New in this updated version you'll also find links to one-time leaderboards for past special modes, as well as patron leaderboards for those playing experimental prerelease versions.









Also down there you'll find a link to this nifty new menu, where you can access all runs by all players by version. (Well, "all" meaning those who have opted in to score uploading, since that's all we have data for!)

Technically we had this feature before, but it was simply a bunch of text files sitting on a server and navigated via your browser's file browser. Not ideal! Now we have basic run data in table format, styled for even more convenient browsing :D



Maps are color coded, as are difficulty modes and even score. Plus you've got both the date and mode right there. Another excerpt from a different version:



The scoresheet link on the right gives full data for each run.

Looking forward to seeing new players and interesting runs pop up on the boards where everyone can check them out :)

As for Beta 10, it's just about done, but shortly before I was about to finish everything on the list I decided to add some pretty significant new content (we're suddenly getting two new endings :P) so it's taking longer than originally planned. Anyway, more dev time just means more stuff, so stay tuned ;)

Cogmind's new "2-player" mode turned out to be a lot of fun, and after playing it a bit more I'd already come up with a growing list of other ideas that fell under "low-hanging fruit" for improving your friend's AI to make the mode even better. So rather than waiting until Beta 10 to include these features, I figured might as well release them now as Beta 9.6 while some players are still enjoying the company of another Cogmind!

• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Added dedicated "Player 2" section to scoresheet with 15 new entries
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 better understands the tactical use of launchers when conditions permit it
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 can now swap parts from ground into a full inventory to improve type and quality of spares
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 much less likely to stack utilities that won't benefit from it
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 tendency to use heat sinks as armor toned down
  
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 part loss also contributes to alert level reduction, as per the Cogmind mechanic
  
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] 2 more dialogue situations (total = 83)
  
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] More dialogue lines (total = 660)
  
• NEW: AI-controlled bots with a large energy-based volley may proactively deactivate one or more weapons if it will enable them to fire immediately
• MOD: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 no longer considers wasting turns on smaller integrity upgrades when rebuilding from salvage
• MOD: [Player 2 mode] Increased frequency of Player 2 dialogue
• FIX: Beta 9.6 prerelease bugs hunted down by: [CaptainWinky]
  
• FIX: AS-neutralizer No. 17b applied effect across entire map rather than limiting to specified range [Valguris]
  
• FIX: Scoresheet "Unauthorized Hacks" tally higher than intended [Valguris]
  
• FIX: Part info comparisons with a part using a manual tag misaligned the values by one row [Pimski]
  
• FIX: Scoresheet history log message for bump-rewiring detected and displayed incorrectly
  
• FIX: autoActivateTreadsOnAttack option caused inactive treads to appear active on automatically switching back to core propulsion on a move after attacking
  
• FIX: [Player 2 mode] Potential load issue under certain conditions

Saves from earlier versions are incompatible with Beta 9.6, but even if you're on Steam and Cogmind automatically updates, Beta 9.5 is still available via its own legacy branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.


Player 2 is now more likely to put together better builds overall, is smarter about launcher use, wastes somewhat less time rebuilding after a firefight, and now actually know how to turn off some weapons in their volley if they're starting to run low on energy. This was originally a bit of a problem during longer confrontations when Player 2 had large energy-based volleys and might end up doing very little attacking, but now for example they can turn off one or more weapons if it'll help them increase their attack rate and improve the outcome of skirmishes.

For example, see in this test how they start off firing both of their Nova Cannons but eventually switch to sometimes firing one in order to keep hitting targets:



Player 2 is also now more talkative than before. They normally have quite a lot to say, but in Beta 9.5 I had set the frequencies fairly low since I didn't want to overdo it across longer runs. After playing more long runs of my own, however, it felt like there was definitely room to increase the likelihood of them commenting on something, especially considering there are so many situations they want to talk about, many different things they can say in each, and most people won't play the mode that many times anyway!

"Player 2: A decisive victory in my favor, I'd say." Spoken immediately after leveling the caves with dozens of rockets...



Some of the new situations I added are pretty fun, but I won't spoil them :)

One thing missing from Beta 9.5 was any kinds of stats specific to Player 2, which we now have in Beta 9.6 \o/

Your scoresheets and stat dumps will now include new entries for your friend, including basic records like evolutions and part changes, but also perhaps more fun are comparisons between who is taking/dealing more damage and destroying the most hostiles, so you can now compete with Player 2 :D (or use this for other types of interesting conduct runs)



In the quick sample above, Cogmind and Player 2 are almost neck and neck for damage inflicted, although Player 2 was taking much less of the core damage (26%).

Although the main purposes of this release was Player 2 improvements, and fixes for new bugs are mostly coming in Beta 10, I did include a few incidental fixes I happened to have been working on. Like we now have proper alignment of part comparison values when one of them has a manual tag (which you can add to an inventory item via Shift-Alt-t):



I'd gotten a report about that once before and didn't make the connection as to what the cause might be until it also hit me during last week's stream and I went back to rewatch that section :P


Sadly the official leaderboards are still being held hostage to coronavirus, but I do have some Player 2 data to share...

Of the Cogmind owners who experienced Player 2 mode, 55 have opted into stat reporting, reporting a total of 132 runs through yesterday.

PLAYER 2 ROGUE LEADERBOARDS

 1.     Ctrl_Alt_X - 49695
 2.           3.14 - 40915
 3.        Kyzrati - 40521
 4.       Valguris - 39816
 5.       Finestep - 32919
 6.       cptwinky - 31900
 7.    PhenomPhear - 30124
 8.            Ape - 29133
 9.         Nalzok - 26766
10.            Xii - 23258
11.         Omewes - 23132
12.         Gitida - 20281
13.       TBExtent - 19127
14.        Stryker - 19082
15.      Nikolayag - 16709
16.     Falconhoof - 15177
17.         Demise - 13750
18.          lsend - 13182
19.      bugsniper - 11845
20.       IAMCRAIG - 11126
21.         Knucke - 11044
22.           Kain - 10040
23.       Hermelin - 9270
24. Space Macarony - 7612
25.      Someone64 - 7606
26.    sideriver81 - 7104
27.     JerichoBot - 6477
28.       goast115 - 5682
29.         Pimski - 5494
30.        Tailrae - 5143
31.       eldritch - 5006
32.        erp.lsf - 4877
33.        CreepyD - 4684
34.     High Tyrol - 3939
35.          Lefty - 3372
36.             JF - 3357
37.   SHADOWELITE7 - 3122
38.         Torako - 2671
39.       PyroDawn - 2506
40.        Morazor - 2416
41.           Irot - 1833
42.         inSANE - 952
43.          JSLIN - 889
44.    SirMrDrProf - 671
45.     Tough2Name - 465
46.          Judas - 211

PLAYER 2 ADVENTURER LEADERBOARDS

1. ShurikenKat - 11648
2.        Amao - 10336
3. Nuc_Temeron - 8159
4.     Najkers - 3878
5.    Chinolee - 268
6.    elbjorno - 167

PLAYER 2 EXPLORER LEADERBOARDS

1.       Dre2Dee2 - 13124
2.         Quiddy - 10130
3. Snake Mistress - 796

Oooh, me and Player 2 got third place this round for our epic fight to the end :D

For more leaderboards other than just Player 2 (and to see some of these with "mutations" appended), check out the latest compilation on the forums put together by Joshua, with all Beta 9 series runs through April 12th.


Last week I published a huge article about Developing Multitile Creatures in Roguelikes (currently for patrons), which covers a lot of related topics like appearance, pathfinding, mapgen, design, etc.



I mention because it inspired Ape to grace the community with an update to their graphical ASCII mod for Cogmind, now including the alternative large-character style for multitile bots.

A scary sight if you ever saw one (unless of course you have one of the tools for dealing with situations like this :P):



Also scary:



Inspired by Zyalin's great magazine cover featured in the Player 2 release, KernelPanic created a second issue :D

Behold, Daily Derelict issue 0xF3:



I've been streaming Player 2 since its release, starting with this intro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiOfae3lEek

Then continuing the run (and finishing both that and a second one) just last week:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SiuIm_NNmc

More to come!

Actually, after this announcement goes up, I'll be streaming another Player 2 run no later than 9 PM EST (Monday 4/14). We're going to teach Player 2 how Garrison raids are done and build an impressive RIF stack to play a support role. As usual, if you miss it it'll be up on YouTube later.


As a reminder, even though the event is over you can continue to play Player 2 mode as long as you like, even in this and future versions of Cogmind.

On Steam this can be accomplished by entering "-forceMode:Player2" as a launch option, as in this example from RPGLIKE (which you can also still play!):



Note that this only works if you have no run in progress (i.e. exited the game directly after finishing a previous run, or did a self-destruct w/save removal from the game menu).

Off Steam, you can either set the launch options for COGMIND.EXE, or run a .bat file like this one--just decompress the archive and drop the file into your Cogmind directory and click it. It simply contains the text "start COGMIND.exe -forceMode:Player2", to start the game in the desired mode.

Are you stuck at home?

Want to play some Cogmind but with extra social interaction?

How about taking on Complex 0b10 with a friend! Don't worry, NO REAL FRIEND NECESSARY, we'll provide one for you!

Welcome to Cogmind Beta 9.5...

This April 1st, just fire up a run and leave the Scrapyard to join forces with Player 2 on the adventure of a lifetime :D

Use the superior firepower of TWO COGMINDS to teach the Unaware that they should've stayed a safe distance away from you.*

*WARNING: This process is known to attract a lot of attention.

Your brand new friend comes with

• new AI behaviors
  
• most of your same capabilities and will evolve and manage their own build and inventory
  
• over 600 lines of situational dialogue to keep you company on the way

More info about this special release after the changelog...

• NEW: Unique AFD mode for 2020, automatically activates on 4/1 for anyone who has played at least three runs
• NEW: Command line argument "-forceMode:AFD2020" (or "-forceMode:Player2") to enable the AFD mode from 2020, regardless of system date
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Join forces with Player 2, another Cogmind with most of your same capabilities
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Adds a special interface displaying Player 2's class and movement data, with persistent access to their loadout (toggle w/'9' or LMB)
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Cogmind and Player 2's core integrity levels are linked
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Multiple smarter AI behaviors for Player 2
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Over 600 lines of situational dialogue
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] 1 new unique superweapon
  
• NEW: List of item schematics during manual hacks darkens any that are already known
• NEW: Option to block achievement earning while in challenge modes and special modes (advanced.cfg: onlyRegularModeAchievements)
• NEW: Manual "Difficulty" section includes explicit subsection for Rogue setting
  
• NEW: Manual part list data visualization descriptions further clarify meaning of heat mode values
  
• MOD: Part autoreplacement feature compares items based on based on current integrity rather than percent integrity remaining
• MOD: Part autoreplacement feature never swaps in known faulty or broken parts
  
• MOD: Advanced option "ignoreAscendConfirmation" no longer prevents warnings about leaving allies behind
  
• FIX: Size 36 fonts had become unusable on 4K screens [mudshark]
• FIX: [RPGLIKE mode] Pressing '0' with an open ally order list would open RPGLIKE upgrade menu [NikolayAg]
  
• FIX: [RPGLIKE mode] Protomatter might have a negative value under some conditions [Terminus, Rumbl3]
  
• FIX: Part autoreplacement feature was sometimes making undesirable swaps with regard to relative integrity [sunqingyao]
  
• FIX: Automatic waypoint recall for guided weapon attacks had stopped working [Valguris]
• FIX: Changes for RPGLIKE mode broke Sensor Arrays and Visual Processing utilities, allowing them to stack [Kerapace]
• FIX: Beta 9.5 prerelease bugs hunted down by: [CaptainWinky, Xii, lsend]
  
• FIX: [Pay2Buy mode] Hotkey for closing CogShop was still '0' rather than the newer '9'
  
• FIX: New "Broken" prefix for non-functional parts did not automatically update until part changed in some other way
  
• FIX: New "Broken" prefix for non-functional parts was included in log messages regarding that state change
  
• FIX: [Abominations mode] Abominations more effectively switch between propulsion modes when more than one available
  
• FIX: Since AI modifications to support autonomous weapons, disarmed combat bots might continue chasing targets rather than fleeing after loading a save
  
• FIX: Regular map exit warnings were not displayed if attempting to exit while somehow already on top of stairs
  
• FIX: Starting XP for RPGLIKE mode was added to score data even outside that mode

Saves from earlier versions are incompatible with Beta 9.5, but even if you're on Steam and Cogmind automatically updates, Beta 9.5 is still available via its own legacy branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.


The key theme for this update is a new event and special mode, "Player 2," featuring your very own buddy with which to take on Complex 0b10. And they will mostly definitely be with you until The End because you can't leave a map without them, and your cores are permanently linked! When you take core integrity damage that same amount is applied to their core, and vice versa.

So you've got to look out for each other and it can sorta feel like an escort mission, although both of you can kick robot butt, and exactly who is escorting who might change from time to time :P

Fortunately they're not exactly helpless, with the ability to seek out and attach new parts they need or want, often in a fairly smart way overall. Just like you they can also increase their inventory size and carry spares, and may even be willing to share if you're in really bad shape ;)

Player 2 upgrading their build:



That inventory view, opened by clicking on the "[Player 2 (9)]" button (or just pressing the '9' key), can remain persistently open as you play to keep tabs on their build, or toggled off as necessary if and when it's getting in the way. Below it is the persistent info tab displaying their current build, movement mode, and speed. (Remember you can turn on your own automated build analysis system by setting showBuildType in /user/advanced.cfg to 1.)

Player 2 mode opens up a lot of new strategic considerations and tactical challenges. Your runs with Player 2 will tend to end up more combat-oriented, although with the right build you could probably keep them out of the full amount of trouble they'll otherwise be getting into since they... like to shoot things (unlike other allies, however, they'll hold back if you've spotted an enemy in the distance before yourself being spotted and haven't opened fire yet). You can sometimes choose to instead play a more supporting role, or prefer a front-line build to work alongside (or ahead of) theirs, at times considering your friend's loadout to determine what it is you'd like to build for.

A screenshot of us in a Research run, one of many because 1) this mode is really fun, and 2) it took a lot of testing to get the behavior right and work out kinks in the AI, which as you can imagine is far more complex than any other AI in Cogmind so far:



In your travels you might notice a number of other new behaviors Player 2 is capable of. For example here they are helping me destroy and loot a Hauler:



We destroy an Energy Cycler together:



And they certainly won't ask for an invitation to share their thoughts. They've got hundreds of lines of dialogue and are happy to give out tips and info and exhibit rampant sarcasm as they comment on the surroundings, events, or status.

Technically there's also a new superweapon added by and for this mode, and you can get it in your gallery, but I imagine this particular weapon is going to be very hard for most people to actually find. There are a couple clues, but still. Anyway, don't worry about it too much since it's also quite possible I'll eventually add another way to acquire it in the regular game as well.




AFD2020/Player2 mode will automatically activate for you on new runs started on 4/1 if you've played at least 3 runs before.

If you want to play on another day, you can still force it by adding a command line parameter when running COGMIND.EXE: "-forceMode:Player2". (Within Steam this is handled by going to Cogmind > Properties > Set Launch Options.)



If you want to play a regular run during the event, you can suppress date-based event triggering by adding the "-noSpecialMode" command line parameter.



Sorry but special modes are not compatible with one another, so you cannot combine RPGLIKE and Player 2.

Reminder: As of Beta 9.3, there is a new requirement specifying that regardless of settings, special modes and challenge modes can only be activated if the game starts up without loading a save. Even restarting/self-destructing won't work in this case, because some modes actually modify the underlying game data, which cannot be reloaded while the game is running.

Although it probably doesn't matter as much in today's new mode as something like RPGLIKE, note that you can set onlyRegularModeAchievements in /user/advanced.cfg to block the earning of new achievements in special modes or challenges modes because you'd like to preserve them for when you're playing the regular game. Otherwise, as per the Beta 9.3 update you can now earn achievements in this mode as well.


Not long after this announcement goes up, I'll be streaming a Player 2 run no later than 9 PM EST (Tuesday 3/31), and continue it one week later at the same time (or do another if we bite the dust :P). As usual, if you miss it it'll be up on YouTube later.


The main focus of work recently has been on the AI required to be able to play like Cogmind (complicated!!!), but a few other things have made it into this release.

Certainly not all the new issues slated to be fixed for the "next major release" have been addressed for 9.5, just some that were incidentally addressed, or really important to get in there now. Among them are some crazy effect stacking bugs introduced by code reworked in order to enable support for RPGLIKE mode abilities.

Stacking visual sensors to be able to see at ridiculous ranges down a corridor? Check!



You could even do this with Sensor Arrays!



Certainly not intended, and long-time players didn't really notice these new behaviors since stacking these is not something you'd normally do (their descriptions also clearly indicate they don't stack), but newer players who've only joined us in recent months definitely noticed, so I'm glad that recently got reported and fixed xD. Thanks Kerapace.

In QoL land, the part autoreplacement system got some updates and fixes as listed in the changelog, and item schematics you already possess are now darkened in the manual hacking menu, like so:



And another previously-working-but-later-broken feature has now been restored as well: automatic guided waypoint recalling so you don't have to keep reentering the same waypoints on subsequent turns to repeatedly follow the same path. After restoration:



The annoying negative Protomatter bug in RPGLIKE was also finally tracked down and eliminated \o/


I did eventually write the promised RPGLIKE design article if you want to read up on how that was put together. It's full of data and reasonings:



I also did a detailed writeup of Cogmind's "Battle Royale" mode, which I was originally going to release for AFD this year but later changed my mind.



Although playable (I released that version for patrons here), I ended up replacing it with the Player 2 event, which was built on the AI foundation created for Battle Royale.

I'm currently working on a lengthy new article about multitile creatures in roguelikes, more of a survey and technical how-to with design tips as well.


Since last time I posted an update I've streamed several RPGLIKE runs, including...

The RPGLIKE intro stream on release day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYsB0H5qzBI

A "no-crutches" kinetics run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQikKnDe7Fs

And a 4-slot "Babymind" run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXQb06mD3F4

Switching back to regular Cogmind, I also streamed an imprinted heavy combat run (a pretty tough type of run...):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDj0156kB6k

And a pair of speed runs which resulted in a 908-turn win :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmYGDDwvSok

On the subject of AFD modes, another of the runs I streamed was Cogmind's very first special mode ever, "Launchers" from AFD2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08PhohuwdIg

Although not directly related to Cogmind (unless you count the fact that Cogmind was once a 7DRL, or that I converted it into a second 7DRL a couple years ago (!)), I've most recently been streaming some 7DRLs to help out the r/RoguelikeDev community. The video descriptions contain game info and timestamps for each (lots of the devs joined the streams as well):

Day 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZuaDNS61tA

Day 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm1nPNPW5_s

I'll be streaming more 7DRLs when the official reviews are out probably some time next month, but for now it's time for more Cogmind! Again, my first P2 stream will be starting not long after this release goes out.


Sadly the leaderboards still sit very close to completion while progress on them has completely stopped due to complications from coronavirus, which has caused lots of headaches for the developer (reminder: I'm not the one building that external system). Good news is that, as usual, scores from opt-in players are of course still being uploaded* to the server to be included once it goes live.

*In rare cases it might say the upload failed even when it did not, which is kinda weird. You can always tell if it succeeded or not by checking whether the scoresheet contains the URL at the end. And if it truly failed Cogmind retroactively retries the upload on subsequent startups anyway.

Datawise, as you can see here we've had a clear shift in the number of people playing easier difficulty modes now that the option is part of an explicit pre-game menu.



Most still go for the typical hardcore mode, but hopefully with the new menu it's more likely that people are finding the mode that works best for them. (These modes have existed for years, but obviously a lot of people did not realize it!)

Another bit of data I was curious about is the ongoing usage of RPGLIKE as a permanent mode of play, since that was one of the goals in creating it, giving people a way to enjoy Cogmind as if it were a bit more like other roguelikes when they were otherwise having trouble getting used to the unique mechanics and strategies involved. Some have stuck with the mode to this day, although the rate of use is currently only around 5% of the runs per day, down from 30~50% in the month after the event was over. We may get more people into it again once there's an in-game reminder/notice that it exists. I've also been thinking it would also be nice to include anonymous players in the data, but the system is currently opt-in only. That said, the ratio is probably not a whole lot different.

In terms of review numbers, we almost lost Cogmind's Overwhelmingly Positive status on Steam this month, but surprisingly regained it in less than a day since at the time we were just missing one more positive review. Anyway, that still shows we're on the brink of losing it so be ready for that eventuality, likely some time this year xD. Reminder: If we can maintain it for the next couple hundred reviews, I've promised a new map and derelict faction. Because holding that status is helpful for sales, of course, which means making more money to fund additional content without DLC :) (which I refuse to do)

After 9.5 comes Beta 10, which could take a while considering everything it needs to cover. It's too early to share details on that just yet, although I can say that as voted on by patrons it will at least include a bunch of drone-related updates and features, along with modifications to ally AI. Results from the latest round of voting on optional features:




Special thanks to Zyalin for that wonderful "The Daily Derelict" magazine cover shown at the opening of this post! (Also to zxc and other fans for helping coming up with its content.)

Zyalin now has a Twitter account, so you can follow him there for Cogmind and other roguelike art. Some of his great Cogmind works that I've shared over the years:



I leave you with 8R-AWN and his armored bellybutton (sketch by Zyalin, of course).