Cepheus Protocol News

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/979640/view/2952660987409207609

Work on the Civilian Management System has officially started more updates on our progress next week stay tuned!



This build will require a new save file for any saves 0.7.119 and older we added the old build as a "beta" tab for those wanting to finish their current games. Anything .120 or newer will work as is unless otherwise reported here!

So folks the Civilian Management system is in on a new "beta" opt in called civilian-management. You might have to restart Steam to get it.



We have made a new text channel that will only exist for 1-2 weeks to serve as a discussion point for the Civilian Management system. Use this channel exclusively do not discuss it outside this channel. We will be patching this build extensively over the next few days-weeks and rolling it into the default build in the next 1-2 weeks.

civilian-management-system

Then we will be targeting Pierce and the Factions afterwards and working to close down public beta and roll that into the default build by Halloween

It only includes the following.

1. Civilians will gather outside your base and stand around to be admitted under your protection. In polish we will add animations for this state
2. Once under your control they can be freely navigated across the map anywhere you choose. If they die under your protect well that's a negative karma lost for you.
3. Kill Enough civilians and they will start to attack your compounds/attack you on sight via CERC losing too much reputation. Each zone has a different reputation to CERC
4. Euthanization Unit + Containment Unit are not live yet and will be added over the next week of patches.
5. Civilians will become more and more armed throughout the world as the days go on



[h2]Civilian Management Update Catchup - 0.7.128.9 ( Beta-opt in)[/h2]

• Added another safety to the degarrisoning of civvies from a Holding Area to try to prevent clearing loops from potentially running on them after they leave(Stop civilians disappearing when you destroy a hold)
  
• Civilians now no longer wait until they've reached an arbitrary point near your base to create the 'Accept' widget. Now, the widget will appear over their head when they spot a unit from CERC, if you have built at least one Civilian Hold (regardless of whether or not there is enough room in the Holding Area tents you've constructed) This allows you to recruit civilians out far away from your base and send them back, if you wish
  
• Speculative crash fix for garbage collection causing crashes for Holding Areas
  
• Updated Holding Area Mesh (Still W.I.P)
  
• Fixed Civilian's 'overhead widget' not re-showing if they leave a civilian holding area (for whatever reason) then the player re-accepts guardianship
  
• Added a hover tip to the 'Accept Guardianship' prompt for the civvie system which will tell you now basic information about civilians you are intaking
  
• Added logic to remove the 'Accept Guardianship' widget from a Civilian on their death so they dont clutter up the game
  
• Added logic to show a 'garrison unit' cursor when mousing over a Civilian Holding Area (only if you have Civvies selected and there's space for them!)
  
• Added basic Euthanization Center to the Civilian Hold (Allows for garrisoning of civilians - they will be killed quietly shortly afterwards. This has a chance to affect your reputation. This chance will be lower than outright shooting civilians, unless you are funneling massive amounts of civilians into the same small tent.)
  
• Euthanization Center UI added to track casualties W.I.P
  
• Fixed street lights erroneously having the Fake AOE light spheres enabled (they're not properly working atm)
  
• Fixed various landscape splines and paint layer errors.
  
• Containment /Holding Cell Added
  
• Building type created in the Shops Canvas
  
• Updated units with 'bEnableMovementInGarrison', allowing them to wander in Garrisons
  
• Improved disabling and restoring of sight/hearing logic for units
  
• Used these to make the Holding Cell properly show the unit contained within, let them wander around, and let the Infected members attack the Cell itself if the Cell loses power
  
• Updated Infection Carriers to not spread infection while garrisoned
  
• Allowed degarrisoning of units within a holding cell
  
• Updated the degarrison button to not be available for the cage if it's unpowered (you can't just open up the cage and let the infected who is tearing it apart out to save the cage, now)
  
• Updated the Holding Area tent to allow degarrisoning of units (they rejoin you when you do this)
  
• Fixed a bug with buildings not removing their 'selection' visuals when you click off of them
  
• Fixed a bug where loading a save with Civilian-management buildings constructed would cause 'additional population' to be absorbed by them (i.e. each civilian building that can carry civilians would take up one pop - this is fixed now)
  Location volume and zone marker updates
  
• Fixed up damage character collision - should resolve some civilians 'getting stuck' in buildings
  
• Fixed up the Civilian Hold not having proper 'repair' points (so engineers won't 'warp' into them to repair them now)
  
• Logic added to let the infected try to break out if power is cut to the cage
  
• Properly degarrisons the units within to the same position they were at, if the building is destroyed (i.e. units within won't warp if the building blows up)
  
• Updated units who start at a higher level (or load) to 'level up' prior to running their Blueprint BeginPlay, so as not to confuse their overhead widget into thinking it needs to play a 'damaged' animation 'additional population' to be absorbed by them (i.e. each civilian )
  
• Updated the Holding Area tent to allow degarrisoning of units (they rejoin you when you do this)
  
• Fixed a bug with buildings not removing their 'selection' visuals when you click off of them
  
• Fixed a bug where loading a save with Civilian-management buildings constructed would fail is fixed now)
  
• Fixed up damage character collision - should resolve some civilians 'getting stuck' in buildings
  
• Added a global limit to the number of civilians that can 'wait' outside your base (60)
  
• Added proper repair interaction points to the Civilian Hold substructures
  
• Updated 'repair' logic to resolve an 'offset' issue that made it easier for Engineers to 'reach and repair' a building from one side of the building
  
• Added upper+lower limits to reputation in a zone (0-1000)
  
• Added a 'Holding Area List' widget: can now see the names, health, etc. of individual units inside of a Holding Area, and individually remove them as needed
  
• Fixed civilians showing their 'Want to enter base' widget before the player has built a Civilian Hold
  
• Improved infection pod 'dna drop' to hopefully not spawn in the air anymore
  
• Cleaned out the old Garrison Widget from the Holding Area, since the new widget list does the same thing
  

Please note the following going forward (Restart your game/steam to get the update if needed



We will be launching a new weekly series that will see several chapters added every Friday after release and will cover the chapters of the Novelization with 5 chapters added to expand upon the story and give more value to those itching for more lore/story information. It will delve into and show more about a secret new faction that will become the Anti-CERC in the Cepheus Protocol universe.

Don't forget to wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1707120/Cepheus_Protocol_Anthology/

Based on the last poll on discord its clear you folks want us to do a weekly podcast.

This Friday at 5 PM PST, we'll be live on twitch and testing it out with the following hosts. Talking about the origins of CP and our inspiration for making the game, how this week went in terms of development and some casual banter. We will also take the time to answer some questions from chat! Hope to see you all there

We will be also using our fancy new stream room!



Robert - Game Director
Christopher - Game Designer & Writer
Justin - Animation Director
Scott - Concept Artist
Efrain - Lead Level Designer
Ashley - Concept Art Lead

Follow us on Twitch/Watch the stream here
https://www.twitch.tv/halcyonwinds





We will be launching a new weekly series that will see several chapters added every Friday after release and will cover the chapters of the Novelization with 5 chapters added to expand upon the story and give more value to those itching for more lore/story information. It will delve into and show more about a secret new faction that will become the Anti-CERC in the Cepheus Protocol universe.

Check out the first 3 chapters of CPA Season 1 on Youtube here!
https://youtu.be/6eWbDibGMrU

Don't forget to wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1707120/Cepheus_Protocol_Anthology/

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/979640/view/2952660987409207609

Work on the Civilian Management System has officially started more updates on our progress next week stay tuned!



This build will require a new save file for any saves 0.7.119 and older we added the old build as a "beta" tab for those wanting to finish their current games. Anything .120 or newer will work as is unless otherwise reported here!

[h2]The Pathfinder Update Fix #10 - 0.7.127.1 All builds[/h2]

• Resolved crash on using the 'group switcher'
  
• Resolved 'wrong group' bug when adding a unit to a group via CTRL+NUM on its own
  
• Fixed an issue with units 'leaving themselves in multiple group arrays' (resulting in several weird bugs) if you drag their unit card to a window, then to another window that's not one of the previous two
  
• Tweaked vehicles to have more uniform RVO avoidance
  
• Tweaked vehicles to not technically have collision toward one another, but still try to avoid directly hitting each other | Result: Vehicular movement should be more reliable
  
• Fixed a crash w/ reputation spread
  
• Fixed up 'open gates' sometimes causing collision issues 'off to the side' near the moved door pieces
  
• Screenspace Global Illumination added (Default to Off)
  

Please note the following going forward (Restart your game/steam to get the update if needed



We will be launching a new weekly series that will see several chapters added every Friday after release and will cover the chapters of the Novelization with 5 chapters added to expand upon the story and give more value to those itching for more lore/story information. It will delve into and show more about a secret new faction that will become the Anti-CERC in the Cepheus Protocol universe.

Don't forget to wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1707120/Cepheus_Protocol_Anthology/

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/979640/view/2952660987409207609

Work on the Civilian Management System has officially started more updates on our progress next week stay tuned!



This build will require a new save file for any saves 0.7.119 and older we added the old build as a "beta" tab for those wanting to finish their current games. Anything .120 or newer will work as is unless otherwise reported here!

[h2]The Pathfinder Update Fix #9 - 0.7.127 All builds[/h2]

• You can now unassign units to general population by dragging them out of a squad + use Ctrl + (Number) key to reassign them or add them to a preexisting squad
  
• Fixed a sizing issue with the Gas Tower's navigation box
  
• Enabled 'Hidden Shadow' on leviathan when traveling under the map
  
• Updated the World Infection actors to not be 'Visible' unless needed, rather than using 'Hidden In Game' (which apparently still renders them)
  
• Updated how fire spots are handled on Infection Pods to be more modular
  
• Initial 'Target Prioritization' system added
  
• Units can now be tagged with a TARGET_ tag to designate what type of target they are
  
• Weapon's WeaponConfig now has a list of Target Priorities, so they can define threat multipliers/threat caps based on the tag of the thing they're targeting
  
• Each unit also has an 'UnarmedTargetPrioritiesList' for their melee attacks, too, so Infected types don't miss out on this
  
• Most weapon types have a threat cap of 1 for TARGET_INFECTEDBUILDING, so they target pretty much anything else first
  
• Javelin has prioritization for giants, buildings, etc.
  
• Flamethrower has lower chance to target mutants (in order to prioritize burning regular targets), and prefers targeting pods, infected defenses, infected buildings, etc.
  
• 105mm on Cerberus prioritizes most hard target types
  
• Spitters prioritize support units and player defenses
  
• Chelsey and her LTs do the same, while also prioritizing player helicopters
  
• BlowUpGuys prefer player vehicles (in order to try to get in the way and explode to take them out)
  
• Juggernauts prefer player buildings and walls
  
• Target types were added that setup new conditional rules for units on how they target/shoot at
  //TARGET_UNARMED - for regular infected. Normal targets.
  //TARGET_CIVILIAN - for unarmed civilians, etc. Normal targets, but generally not a threat.
  //TARGET_MUTANT - special infected. Relatively normal targets, but more dangerous.
  //TARGET_GIANT - big biological units, like Juggernauts, Leviathans, etc. Generally tougher than normal.
  //TARGET_SOLDIER - Armed humans. Pretty normal targets, but might be slightly resistant to certain damage types.
  //TARGET_SUPPORT - Support humans, like medics.
  //TARGET_LIGHTVEHICLE - Light vehicle. Lightly armored.
  //TARGET_HEAVYVEHICLE - Heavy vehicle. Tougher to take down, likely resistant to bullets.
  //TARGET_LIGHTHELICOPTER - Light helicopter.
  //TARGET_HEAVYHELICOPTER - Heavy helicopter. Possibly armed, much more valuable target.
  //---OTHER---
  //TARGET_WALL - self-explanatory.
  //TARGET_BUILDING - regular constructed buildings, like Barracks, etc.
  //TARGET_DEFENSE - some active form of defense, like a Turret.
  //TARGET_INFECTEDPOD - infected pods. Weak to fire, somewhat resistant to bullets.
  //TARGET_INFECTEDDEFENSE - similar to DEFENSE, but for infected. Likely weak to fire.
  //TARGET_INFECTEDBUILDING - infected building. Practically immune to bullets, but damaged by heavy weaponry and fire.
  
• Cleaned up some group-setting/updating logic
  
• Updated group setting to be 'additive' rather than replacing, so moving units into a group from groupless (in upcoming update) is smoother
  
• Updated the Interaction Widget (the widget 'over' a unit's head): Consolidated the Healthbar widget (which was on the unit's root) into it, reducing the number of widgets
  
• Adjusted the Interaction Widget's design to be more akin to the example in the Update Box
  
• Also for the Unit Card and Interaction Widget, updated several of the meters to use Color and Opacity instead of Tint (easier to add animations to them that way)
  
• Above-head weapon market logic added: weapon button now appears above unit's heads if they can access the weapon market, and that button can be used directly (instead of the unit card) (Not propagated to vehicles yet)
  
• Combined the Interaction Widget and Vehicle Interaction widget into one
  
• Smoothed out several interactions for the Interaction Widget, especially in relation to ammo display
  
• Updated the HUD Widget recruitment logic to allow recruiting a unit without assigning them to a group (new PURCHASE button, with a select group button bringing up the old menu)
  
• Fixed a serious movement bug for groupless/mixed group movement commands
  
• Updated unit selection to properly get the 'average' formation from units, if you select a mixed group or your selection contains groupless units
  
• Fixed the new purchase button being enabled even when the new unit would put you over population limit
  
• Added new gameplay options for when to display unit information in the world
  
• Made the new 'hide unselected widgets' option default to True for new players
  
• Zone income upgrade price 1 Upgrade now scaled up by 75% in terms of cost
  
• Zone income upgrade price 2 Upgrade now scaled up by 150% in terms of cost
  

Please note the following going forward (Restart your game/steam to get the update if needed



We will be launching a new weekly series that will see several chapters added every Friday after release and will cover the chapters of the Novelization with 5 chapters added to expand upon the story and give more value to those itching for more lore/story information. It will delve into and show more about a secret new faction that will become the Anti-CERC in the Cepheus Protocol universe.

Don't forget to wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1707120/Cepheus_Protocol_Anthology/

Hey guys! So this is a little series i wanted to start to talk about the development of Cepheus Protocol . Enjoy!



A new video in the works from a very talented video editor that approached us on Discord recently. We will be applying a thick layer of polish and redoing a lot as we shape to leave EA in the next 2-3 years as we expand! Enjoy =) This is just a teaser as the final will be 1-2 minutes long!

https://youtu.be/GEhOE2DTRwU




After the poll we have decided to pivot and alter our strategy of attack over the next few weeks. We ask that users still experiencing path finding oddities and other odd movement bugs contact us via the bug reporting tool or on discord ASAP. On top of that we are making plans to start development on the civilian management system that will greatly improve upon player interactions with CERC.



[h2]Civilian Management System overview (By Halloween)[/h2]

Civilian Hold Administration Structure

CERC will gain a central administration building for managing civilians. You will be able to place the following modules. From this center you can set it to auto allow to capacity or hand pick who you let in and what "Module" they will be admitted to.



Euthanization Unit- a name list will be saved and admitted civilians that are found to be carriers or infected and pending turning can be forwarded to this center.

General Quarters Unit - Civilians that are perfectly healthy will be forwarded to this zone. Will generate a positive reputation to that zone and nearby zones around it. You should able to transfer to any other Unit

Containment Unit- Civilians that are infected or carriers can be routed to cages where they will generate passive income in the source of DNA. This will allow you to take the risk/reward method of passively generating DNA. You should able to transfer to any other Unit

a. If power is knocked out to the structure for any reason patients will escape
b. If the containment units are damaged the patients will escape

This will mean you will have to keep a close eye on contamination events in and near your camps since they could spread out and have wide reaching implications.

Implications of killing any Civilian

Any civilian casualty will roll a "dice" to determine if it will spread to other zones via a new spiderweb system that will let the factions know of your deeds to affect their reputation towards you. News of civilians killed will affect a reputation meter on a per zone basis. The idea is that information spreads slowly from zone to zone so certain zones could be favorable if information is restricted by locking them on an Island with CERC walls outside your "green zones". While in orange and red zones you are committing various war crimes the information will never get back to the civilian group that is separated from the zones you are committing them in. Unless a hole is created and civilians are allowed to immigrate from those zones+.

At this time we will not allow new civilians coming through the civilian hold system into the zone to affect that zones happiness yet...

Changes to Medical Structure
Medical Structure will be unlocked from the start
It will allow you to unlock a "infection detection tower" that will allow you to make decisions on how to admit people into your centers.


ROE Additions

Policy on if Detected before not admitted to Civilian Hold
a. Send to Euthanization Center or Containment Division
b. If over flow send to Euthanization Center
c. Shoot on sight/send guards to kill
Policy on if Detected after admitted to Civilian Hold
a. Send to Euthanization Center or Containment Division
b. If over flow send to Euthanization Center
c. Shoot on sight/send guards to kill
Auto scare away Civilians that gather at your base
Auto Allow in Civilians and which module to allow in by default if not infected


And more!

Read the full evolving card here
https://trello.com/c/k7xDVuXC/1100-civilian-management-system

[h2]Factions overview (By Halloween Stage 1)[/h2]

Now the big one! Simply said this update will change the very fabric of how the game is played in every regard adding actual repercussions to your actions and how you play the game. This is next up after we are content with the path finding fixes mentioned above.

The rollout will be in waves as followed:

Stage 1: Natalie's Faction is removed temporarily so we can improve and focus on Pierce and the civilian AI.

Pierce will gain random starts as with Chelsey. He will gain a personality of a defender/protector of the people, that kind of approach to gameplay. In which he will attempt to continually engage and stop Chelsey from expanding across the map
As he enters stage two when he realizes hes losing ground and he doesn't have the men to do it anymore he will make the transition to ally and vassalize nearby dynamic civilian groups that are popping up all over the map. They will then form a protective net where they will intend to "Hold out" from Chelsey and any civilian groups that are hostile I.E raiders/cannibals or you (CERC). Pierce will recruit out of these groups to replace his losses
He will continue this personality till they ultimately die as Chelsey takes the map over X hours/day since she will eventually out play and win as the virus starts to mutate

Stage 2: Natalie enters the Fray

Natalie's faction will be treated like a force of chaos not erecting and having a central zone or location. They will recruit out of the more desperate survivor groups that are formed I.E cannibals'/raiders more desperate groups on the island that are created from the conflict overall.
They will not have a central base but small/tiny outposts across the map from where they recruit from the zones they are within
Natalie will hate/fight Pierce's group whenever she can and carry out hit and run attacks including suicidal bomb runs on his compounds
Sub factions like Natalie and Pierce can kill each other and they will have hero units that represent them in gameplay.
Killing a faction leader will effectively "End" that faction making 80% of their units abandon their post and making their territory ripe for the taking by another group.



We have been working to design and test early implementation of a new Infection growth system. Taking alot of reference from different horror games and whatnot we believe we have a viable tech solution now to sow overgrowth and infection biomass map wide now as the virus spreads. These buildings and zones will have to be burned out and will serve as additional spawner locations for Chelsey.



We have heard your feedback on how we can improve on tutorials + more customization to cater the game to your whims. But this still doesn't excuse the tweaking we will continue to do on Recruit and Directors cut to ensure everything is balanced

We have been implementing and designing a new CERC tent structure system that will allow you to now staff 2-3 capture trucks and when deployed will allow you to build permanent structures that can operate small outposts across the map in the vein of a more finalized Ammo depot, medical station and tents to extend population. We have also added upgrades to allow you to upgrade the income inside a zone dynamically based on how much income you have + the zones worth.



Halloween will be a huge treat as by this date we expect to have shipped the Civilian Management system fully as parts of Pierces AI in terms of factions. But the icing on the cake nobody expected is a fully fleshed out 1P Operator Hero you can customize and build alongside your missions. He/She will be persistent and a hero unit you can hire on the fly when you need them. Check out some early previews below!

https://youtu.be/jp1xAFctHqU

Things in the Halloween Release
1. 4-8 core weapons that are customizable(More will be unlocked over time)
2. Drivable Vehicles(Might exclude Helicopters for a period of time)
2.1 Manable Turret Systems if the Vehicle has a weapon
3. Leveling System
4. Traits/Abilities Builder
5. Formation/Ordering of units within Operator Squad

Things that won't be i the Halloween Release due to pipeline complications (Requires more time)
1. Helicopters
2. Full Character Customization (Will likely be a preset Character we will introduce this at a latter time)



We are redesigning the HUD entirely for 1P



The island you thought you already knew? Well its getting bigger and going to give you a whole lot more room to build and have fun in.

Keep in mind these are W.I.P and wil change quite a bit before you folks see the final version as we playtest them.


Cleaning Clutter was highly requested and we shipped our first phase of it recently. We are still profiling data and determining how to best roll it out to the remaining assets in the world due to performance concerns but rest assured this is on our list.

https://i.gyazo.com/59888f89f9bda895175280cb424342d7.mp4


We are adding over 10+ weapons to the game to give more playstyles to you folks plus unique weapons coming only to the Factions. More details coming soon!






We will be launching a new weekly series that will see several chapters added every Friday after release and will cover the chapters of the Novelization with 5 chapters added to expand upon the story and give more value to those itching for more lore/story information. It will delve into and show more about a secret new faction that will become the Anti-CERC in the Cepheus Protocol universe.

Don't forget to wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1707120/Cepheus_Protocol_Anthology/