Cepheus Protocol News

Starting Friday night we have pushed out the started inklings of Operation Hammer Down. Our first major patch which targets adding more replayability and simulating a larger world to fight in. We want to hear what you folks have to say about how it plays so we can properly focus the aspects that need the most attention. After we feel they are in a good place overall we will shortly afterwards put up a factions public beta.

• Finalized Open World Map
  
• Doctrines
  
• Juggernaut
  
• Little Guy enemies
  
• Leviathan
  
• Revised Power Generation System
  

[h2]Patch Notes - 0.7.81 Operation Hammer Down Begins... [/h2]

Old Saves will not carry over, only play in the public beta to give feedback never play "real" games in the public beta as game sessions can and will be broken from time to time from the vast number of things we test here at any given time. I.E we dont support save files started from a public beta -> a normal build.



Old saves can be safety resumed from the pre-beta-version available on the betas tab should you want to finish up an old game session before you fully convert to the new setup of Treasure Island

[h2]Patch notes from this patch[/h2]

• Not being able to build on the Horde map resolved
  
• Falling through bridges resolved when zooming out
  
• Navigation issues on Treasure Island Beach resolved
  

[h2]Patch notes from public beta period[/h2]
Here is a patch list compiled for your convenience so you can understand all that has been changed/adjusted in the public beta.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/3028077442854098574
https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/5196558685239608610
https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/4492868685540062205
https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/2892963558047527966
https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/2892962924328296977

Cepheus Protocol Novelization is now available on Steam Store!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1387390/Cepheus_Protocol_Novelization

Keep in mind this book takes place before, during and a bit after Pandemic mode and follows dozens of characters around the events of CP. It will hint to our year 2 content(So spoilers if you analyze it close enough). Its not for the faint of heart (Very violent deaths and all that). You can pick it up for $3.99 now!

It will also be available on the Steam Store as an DLC on October 1st if you prefer to get it there! Just keep in mind on our website we make 99% of the sale the rest goes to PayPal

Feel free to use the #💬lore-questions on our Discord to discuss the ramifications of what the book brings to the universe and how it will affect the game as we start to work in story elements presented in the novel

With the CERC starting to engage more deadly monsters from Chelseys ranks. CERC has been officially authorized by General Spiers to use more deadly weapons and tools to combat this new threat. :ChelseyLaugh:

Operation Hammer Down will officially launch when our public beta period ends in 1-2 weeks.
It will feature the following systems now live on the public beta branch:
So try them out and leave your feedback on our Discord Suggestion channel :WinterSmile:

• Finalized Open World Map
  
• Doctrines
  
• Juggernaut
  
• Little Guy enemies
  
• Leviathan
  
• Revised Power Generation System
  

[h2]Patch Notes - 0.7.79 Operation Hammer Down Begins... [ Public Beta Only ] [/h2]

Old Saves will not carry over, only play in the public beta to give feedback never play "real" games in the public beta as game sessions can and will be broken from time to time from the vast number of things we test here at any given time. I.E we dont support save files started from a public beta -> a normal build.

This is a summarized list we actually went over the steam character limit with this blog post.

[h2]When does the public beta end?[/h2]

We are aiming for the public beta for Doctrines/Open World/Generator Revamp/ Leviathan|Little Guys/ Juggernaut to end in the next 1-2 weeks. As these updates will change how the game is played and increase the difficulty of the game across the board.



[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

• Adjusted collision for see through fences so you can properly fire through them
  
• Adjusted collision patches that were invaliding movement on certain landscape tiles
  
• Power Pylons added to help allow wiring to reach further distances
  
• Dead body in main menu adjusted to stop jittering
  
• Added various physics actors into the level that will interact with characters
  
• Sped up turn animations by 50% to make CERC more responsive
  
• Increased right/left turn angle to an 85 degree requirement (instead of 75 degree)
  
• Streamlined and cleaned up movement position (both held-right-click preview and regular) logic to be more easily maintenance and modified, and to better respect the fact that vehicles are part of regular movement lineups
  
• More cabin house textures added to Angel Island
  
• Better Horde SFX added
  
• Presidio volumes collision setup to improve accuracy of where you can place structures after the zones are captured
  
• Patrols for air units now work correctly
  
• Cleaned up a lot of 'soldier preview' logic to be more consistent, and used that to make vehicular movement previews face the correct direction
  
• Implemented a minor fix for if you release a held right mouse click while your mouse is over nothing (i.e. out in the water) to allow the move order to still go through while passing through the last point that your mouse was hitting (instead of getting the player 'stuck' in a right click rotate order until they switch selection or do another right click to 'empty' it)
  
• Improved constructed turret saving to use the turret's "base rotation" as the saved rotation, rather than the barrel's local rotation at the time of the save (to prevent turret 'drift' between saves)
  
• Added logic to prevent the Leviathan's emerge animation from being interrupted with his roar
  
• Added a fix for the DP12 (and potentially other shotguns) having their damage-per-pellet value being set to zero
  
• Added a fix to Juggernaut's rock throw (disabled rock collision until it's thrown, so it won't prematurely break while the Juggernaut is winding up)
  
• Adjusted a truck in Grid 6 that was blocking Juggernaut from crossing
  (it also had floating 'parking lot lines' that I fixed, too)
  
• Added a 'small' nav path near an ambulance in Grid 2, to prevent Juggernauts from thinking they could squeeze through
  
• Did similar with some lampposts for the nature park part of Grid 2
  
• Fixed a police car near the park in Grid 2 that had bad collision settings (blocked Juggernaut movement)
  
• Removed several erroneous infection pod meshes that were sitting in the master doing nothing
  
• Improved a lot of cars in the Grid 3/Grid 2 area to be more traversable for Juggernauts
  
• Improved the 'SpawnInfectedMob,' 'SpawnJuggernaut,' and 'SpawnLeviathan' console commands to include another argument for 'always visible': pass in true as the first argument when spawning to make them never be hidden by the Fog of War
  
• Also updated the 'Chase Winter' argument's effect for the Mob and Juggernaut to be longer-lasting
  
• Improved Leviathan collision to not get blocked while burrowing under the world while still maintaining TUGS-detectability
  
• And fixed a loading issue where the collision wouldn't load properly if he was burrowed when you loaded the save
  
• Improved Leviathan burrowing settings-changes to be more consistent
  
• Fixed Leviathan not 'loading tunneling animation' when you load a save with a burrowed Leviathan
  
• Added basic movement saving/loading for player units (so they recall movement commands: not formation movement yet, but this should help)
  
• Increased the Infected's PawnSensingInterval from 1.0 to 1.8
  
• Increased the InfectedSpineTurret's PawnSensingInterval from 1.0 to 1.8
  
• Updated the lifespan of the Grenade throw blocked mouse widget to respect global time dilation
  
• Fixed unit population from 'queued units' not being counted properly if they cost over 1 population
  
• Upgraded TUGS purchase description to note that it can detect tunneling intruders now
  
• Updated the Weapon Market logic to not show a 'purchase weapon' icon for vehicles/units with no purchasable weapons
  
• Removed the 'mouseblock range' functionality that was used for old UI (was blocking clicks on lower portion of screen, especially if you changed resolution)
  
• Adding Leviathan acid pool decal.
  
• Leviathan Minor emitter adjustments.
  
• Updated the building placement to more responsively update the material of the set-down mesh (so if you're in slo-mo you're less likely to see the material shift)
  
• Updated infected pods to save/load their minimap-revealed status
  
• flash grenade explosion sfx
  
• Fixed bridge placements and overlaps across the map
  
• Improved navblocking around the motel in Grid 5 (especially two cars) to prevent some cases of Juggernauts getting confused around it
  
• New Muzzle flashes VFX added to all guns
  
• Minimap ping system improved to better alert players to in progress attacks
  
• Removed LODS for CDC, Barracks, Comms Trailer, Med Facility, Spotlight, Command Center, and Generator while we work on a more permanent fix for the Mesh LOD being broken
  
• Spin down time doubled (so liklihood of 'gaps' in shooting is drastically reduced while the minigunner looks for new targets)
  
• Suppressive fire-related values tweaked to make the Minigunner much more likely to hold down the trigger
  
• Spread increased to compensate for the increased shooting likilhood (he's still
• lethal* at mid ranges, but at the edges of his sight he's quite likely to miss)
  
• Minigunner now requires more XP to level up (he'd shoot up through levels super fast due to his lethality, before)
  
• Added a fix for multiple close-by Barracks sometimes marking units as incorrectly not in range of the Weapon Market
  
• Updated Spine Thrower vision to be 5000 units (from 6000).
  
• Formation logic Uses smarter 'direction-calculation' logic instead of just assuming the formation should match the formation leader's face-direction (which messed up during combat, since the leader could be strafing)
  
• Updated a few buildings in the Master to have navigation blockers inside of them
  
• Floating fences in marshlands fixed
  
• Helicopter no fly zone volumes added around cranes and grid3 bridge
  
• Collision improved in Presido
  
• Weapon Balance changes to spread and base damage values, increased spec ops speed in all forms by 6% target acc increased by 20% from base to make them more mobile,
  
• increased jugs bullet res to all damage types so it's can't be beamed.
  
• made the sniper more affective to bigger infected.
  
• decreased mini guns base damage by 8.
  
• increased mp7 damage by 5.
  
• scar is more accurate than the m4 now so it's gives more value to upgrading.
  
• machine guns have more of a difference between them in accuracy and damage.
  
• pistol is more accurate and has a high damage value than the m4 so it's more useful,
  
• ump has a decreased spread making it more useful than the mp7
  
• All weapons have a more sophisticated damage system that takes in consideration how long a bullet has traveled to determine the damage and takes into considering the caliber as well
  
• Fixed a gun appearing inside of infected spine throwers
  
• Added a simple improvement to landing logic for helicopters to try to 'search' for a spot to land if they're not over one.
  
• Added MGTurret and MissileTurret minimap icons
  
• Improved Infected Minimap markers
  
• Improved the Unit Card 'take damage' animation to be longer and more noticeable (3 seconds now)
  
• Fixed some minor blueprint errors with the Unit Card and unit levels
  
• No collision on barriers fixed
  
• Quick fix for helicopter patrol causing a crash if two patrol points are too close to each other
  
• Improved 'Halt Movement' to also cancel out any current patrol commands and interact better with various Helicopter commands
  
• Added 50cal muzzle flash to all .50cal turrets and the shawnee 30mm.
  
• Increased wind on grass and trees.
  
• Moved treasure Grid4 grocery store to line up with construction zone edges.
  
• Updated motels collision.
  
• Increased SSAO intensity from 0.5 to 0.75.
  
• Fixed up the ammobox sound effect repeatedly playing on Barracks and related
  
• Fixed up the ADS and Power Pylon to allow the player to destroy them via menu for refund
  
• Progress commit on new selection logic (unhooked in, so not gonna change gameplay yet)
  
• Added a fix to units re-showing their UI when rappelling even if Hide UI keybind is active
  
• Fixed up non-airstrike (or Cerberus 105MM) explosives to no longer be able to damage bridges
  
• Imported Juniardi's new Pod, Leviathan, and Tower minimap icons
  
• Reduced player unit capsule size to make selection more accurate
  
• Added improvement to helicopter movement to make them 'trace out' their flight height at their movement target, rather than guessing
  
• Improved DNA saving/loading: Amount is now saved (and thus size)
  
• Lifespan is now saved for larger DNA samples
  

Cepheus Protocol Novelization is now available on Steam Store!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1387390/Cepheus_Protocol_Novelization

Keep in mind this book takes place before, during and a bit after Pandemic mode and follows dozens of characters around the events of CP. It will hint to our year 2 content(So spoilers if you analyze it close enough). Its not for the faint of heart (Very violent deaths and all that). You can pick it up for $3.99 now!

It will also be available on the Steam Store as an DLC on October 1st if you prefer to get it there! Just keep in mind on our website we make 99% of the sale the rest goes to PayPal

Feel free to use the #💬lore-questions on our Discord to discuss the ramifications of what the book brings to the universe and how it will affect the game as we start to work in story elements presented in the novel

[h2] Public Beta Notes [/h2]

Do note you can only access this latest patch on our public beta branch. Anyone can opt in and play it by right clicking on the game on their steam library going to properties and then opting into the beta from the "beta" tab on steam.

It is our intention over the next few days to weeks to fully polish up Treasure Island and the two new surrounding provinces with the feedback of our community. We have added a LOT in this new update so I apologize if something is omitted in the patch notes.

Naturally the roadmap will be affected by this extra time spent on polishing up the "Open World Map" but we believe its time well spent to ensure every section is fleshed out and provides interesting gameplay opportunities in each zone of the world.

You can track our progress as its updated daily on our Trello board here
https://trello.com/b/b5DFiVyv/cepheus-protocol-development
On this link you can track our new release targets for 2020-2021
https://trello.com/c/b8UXIihr/888-release-targets-2020-2021

The goal of this test is to gauge how you folks feel about the current layout and new direction. We want to gather as much data as possible on the likes/dislikes of the current design so we can take them into consideration as we work to finalize the world.

With the CERC starting to engage more deadly monsters from Chelseys ranks. CERC has been officially authorized by General Spiers to use more deadly weapons and tools to combat this new threat. ːChelseyLaughː

Operation Hammer Down will officially launch when our public beta period ends in 1-2 weeks.
It will feature the following systems now live on the public beta branch:
So try them out and leave your feedback on our Discord Suggestion channel ːWinterSmileː

• Finalized Open World Map
  
• Doctrines
  
• Juggernaut
  
• Little Guy enemies
  
• Leviathan
  
• Revised Power Generation System
  

[h2]Patch Notes - 0.7.74 Operation Hammer Down Begins... [ Public Beta Only ] [/h2]

Old Saves will not carry over, only play in the public beta to give feedback never play "real" games in the public beta as game sessions can and will be broken from time to time from the vast number of things we test here at any given time. I.E we dont support save files started from a public beta -> a normal build.

This is a summarized list we actually went over the steam character limit with this blog post.

[h2]When does the public beta end?[/h2]

We are aiming for the public beta for Doctrines/Open World/Generator Revamp/ Leviathan|Little Guys/ Juggernaut to end in the next 1-2 weeks. As these updates will change how the game is played and increase the difficulty of the game across the board.



[h2]Patch notes[/h2]

• Updated the SpawnJuggernaut console command to accept an optional 'true' command, to make him start chasing Winter after he spawns
  
• Added a 'SpawnInfectedMob' console command (also with the same optional 'true' command above for chasing Winter) to make a group of 20 infected appear at the mouse
  
• Improved the 'SpawnInfectedMob,' 'SpawnJuggernaut,' and 'SpawnLeviathan' console commands to include another argument for 'always visible': pass in true as the first argument when spawning to make them never be hidden by the Fog of War
  
• Also updated the 'Chase Winter' argument's effect for the Mob and Juggernaut to be longer-lasting
  
• Removed several erroneous infection pod meshes that were sitting in the master doing nothing
  
• Improved a lot of cars in the Grid 3/Grid 2 area to be more traversable for Juggernauts
  
• Adjusted a truck in Grid 6 that was blocking Juggernaut from crossing
  (it also had floating 'parking lot lines' that I fixed, too)
  
• Added a 'small' nav path near an ambulance in Grid 2, to prevent Juggernauts from thinking they could squeeze through
  
• Did similar with some lampposts for the nature park part of Grid 2
  
• Fixed a police car near the park in Grid 2 that had bad collision settings (blocked Juggernaut movement)
  
• Hooked up a Torch Socket for the base skeleton (for engineers)
  
• Hooked up the basic weld effect for it (the torch still needs to be moved with anim update, but the effect's back)
  
• Hooked up notifies to play the effect
  
• Quick speculative safety for a 'close editor/engine crash'
  
• Bypassed 'SetDestructibleMesh' by making a pre-set destructible actor for spawning for the Juggernaut rock throw
  
• Updated player walls with a new nav area type that infected ignore
  
• Added a 'parking lot nav' to fix a horde nav sticking point in Grid 5
  
• Moved a white truck in Grid 5 that was too close to a subway entrance, where it was causing some 'nav sticking' for hordes
  
• Moved a car in Grid 5 that was too close to a truck, and was blocking horde movement
  
• Rotated a spawn pod in Grid 5 to make its spawns more open
  
• Fixed up the main menu horde+roadmap buttons not being disabled when the data disclaimer is onscreen
  
• Cleaned up the Grenade Launcher's projectiles to no longer collide with units on the way to its target (to prevent surprise team kills. Careless team kills can still occur if you're not watching your positioning, of course)
  
• Also adjusted Grenade Launcher's fuse variance (so the shots are not perfectly accurate) to be +0-10% of required flight time, rather than a random addition of -.1 seconds to to .1 seconds (for near shots, the -.1 could result in self damage even to something at a moderate distance, which was silly, and very noticeable when on a rooftop)
  
• Increased the Infected's PawnSensingInterval from 1.0 to 1.8
  
• Increased the InfectedSpineTurret's PawnSensingInterval from 1.0 to 1.8
  
• Updated the lifespan of the Grenade throw blocked mouse widget to respect global time dilation
  
• Coastline cliff added
  
• Added logic to allow units to have a multiplier for the DoctrineXP they earn from kills (this is floored to a whole number)
  
• Used this to make turrets get half XP, which due to the mathematical flooring, means regular infected give no XP to turrets)
  
• Updated the MG Turret's gun mount position to better align its muzzle flash
  
• Improved navblocking around the motel in Grid 5 (especially two cars) to prevent some cases of Juggernauts getting confused around it
  
• New Horde Sound System for simulating sounds that will be playing for low, medium and height density mobs
  
• make Helicopters only ignore soldiers when landing, to prevent them from landing on other helicopters
  
• Updated the Wallbuilder with a 'check against objects' update to prevent construction on top of other player constructions
  
• Added some extra 'screenshake clear' calls for the Leviathan (on death, when finishing burrowing, etc.)
  
• Added some extra 'screenshake clear' calls for the Leviathan (on death, when finishing burrowing, etc.)
  
• Added basic particles to Levi 'combat tunneling' and 'end combat tunneling' montages
  
• -Added another option to 'SendNotificationToHUD': "Emergency". If true, the notification (which appears at the top left) will be blinking and with an outline, to make it stand out more.
  
• Used this for the Juggernaut/Leviathan spotted notifications (from both regular combat and TUGS detection)
  
• Fixed an issue with some Leviathans being 'stuck in melee cooldown' on spawn/load
  
• Updated the Leviathan's "WantsToRoar" tracker to save/load
  -Improved Melee Attack Trace to return an array of the actors it successfully damaged
  
• Used this to start on 'stick corpse in teeth' logic for units killed by Leviathan's bite attack (not yet fully working)
  
• Made helicopters 'sweep' when landing, to safeguard them from falling through the floor in some circumstances
  
• Added some basic 'rotation particles' for the Leviathan when he 'turns in place' to face a target
  Added new 'bCanBeSeenByThermalVision' bool, with setter function SetCanBeSeenByThermal()
  
• Used this to make the Leviathan invisible to thermal when underground, while still detectable by TUGS
  
• Added logic to rotate the Leviathan to his move target when he's moving during burrow
  
• Added safeties to try to stop the Leviathan from 'scooting along the ground' while emerged
  
• Added logic to make a minimap icon (and top-left notification) occur when the TUGS detects a Leviathan or Juggernaut
  
• Improved Explosives and Weapons to have a 'GiantDamage' argument, which will be applied when dealing damage to 'bGiant' enemies
  
• Marked Leviathans and Juggernauts as 'Giants'
  
• Made the Javelin (2000 damage) deal triple damage (6000) to Giant enemies
  
• Updated the Javelin description to note that it deals triple damage to Giant enemies
  
• Updated 'Rank' XP from being killed to be customizable per-unit (default 5)
  
• Made Spitters and BlowUpGuys give 15 RankXP
  
• Added the Command Post Trucks to the Leviathan's seenlist when he is sicced on a player zone
  
• Fixed units that have default scales other than 1.0 'compounding their size change' on save/load
  
• Fixed the Leviathan 'spawn roll' potentially occurring again on loading a save (which allowed potential scenario where Leviathans 'doubled up')
  
• Added Juggernaut and Leviathan-related customization to the Difficulty Adjuster
  
• Leviathans are more likely to target areas that have more structures
  
• Leviathans have a higher chance of spawning the more structures you have in a single area
  
• Fixed up Leviathan token spawning against bases (to a basic degree)
  
• Fixed Mortar Cerberus not being able to undeploy
  
• Fixed not being able to double-click to properly select a group of walls when in slo-mo
  
• Added more particle effects to the Juggernaut emerge
  
• Added particle effects to the Juggernaut burrow and 'hulk smash' melee
  
• Added Stryker cannon shell ejection
  
• Fixed up Turrets, Mortars, and Mines so they now grant Doctrine XP
  
• Updated Mines to give Rank XP to the engineer responsible for finishing them (this part doesn't save/load yet)
  
• Updated Supply Truck, JLTV, and Cerberus to not be 'rammable'
  
• Updated Cerberus to be able to ram things
  
• Added a pulsing minimap icon when you spot a Juggernaut or Leviathan
  
• Fixed the Weapon Market having situations where swapping weapons from the Inventory tab could get 'stuck'
  
• Added 'Infection Zone' tracking of buildings and turrets, so we can tell which zones the player is fortifying
  
• Fixed the Unit Card and Interaction Widget not properly updating when the Cerberus shifted weapon types
  
• Updated 'garrison dumping' (for when emptying garrison from ground vehicles, or when a helicopter carrying units is killed) to be safer: it grabs its initial position from navigation, then tells units to move once they land, rather than trying to scatter them initially (which resulted in bugs where units could be ejected 'over water'
  
• Updated the Juggernaut to smoothly rotate towards his Wallbuster target instead of instantly 'snapping to it', when starting up a Wallbuster charge
  
• Fixed Spitters not having footsteps notifying to CERC they are approaching
  
• Added flashbangs to the Spec Ops
  
• Added safeties in response to a Discord crash report (when loading horde controllers): that function should now be pretty darn safe
  
• Improved the Juggernaut stun reaction: if you flashbang him while he's charging at a wall, he'll stumble instead!
  
• You can now rotate before placement of a structure
  
• Added Turret UI Toggling to the ROE tab (w/ saving/loading, etc)
  
• Line of Sight given to all CERC building structures [CERC, Barracks, Command Center, Medical Facility, and the Motor Pool now emit vision]
  
• Added MULE engine sfx
  
• Added logic to boost threat generation on a per-character basis (Used this to make some buildings more 'enticing' for infected attackers (generators, especially))
  
• Adjusted Comms, Barracks, Motorpool, Command Center, TUGS, and Generator settings to make it easier/possible for infected to see and attack them
  
• Fixed the 'helicopters moving to center' issue
  
• Fix to font scaling starting at max for fresh installs
  
• Boosted height of ammobox 'area of effect' sprite
  
• Fixed ammoboxes, when loading a save always showing their 'radius' until selected again
  
• New Power Generation System added
  
• New Wiring Mode system added
  
• Accuracy of where you can place buildings improved
  
• Adjusted heat shimmer effect on engine exhaust FX.
  
• Angel Island revised and more textures added
  
• Starting Island revised and more textures added
  
• Weld on Engineer Fixed
  
• Rotation Rate of CERC adjusted to make during more responsive
  
• Hooked up logic to update the power cost of walls when upgrading Electric Fence to Electric Gate (or other such situations)
  
• Fixed power component destruction not properly updating its connections
  
• Added a cooldown to 'PassDamageToAI' (default .5 seconds) so the command isn't spammed when something's being shot by an automatic gun (especially juggernauts)
  
• Fixed Juggernaut's combat movement failing (due to a 'zheight fix' that fails due to how tall he is, which is now corrected)
  
• Fixed broken engine exhausts on Merlin and Charon.
  
• Fixed Merlin Scale
  
• Added 'footstep notifies' to juggernaut run anim
  
• Juggernauts squish sandbags/barbed wire when walking over them
  
• Adjusted Juggernaut animBP to no longer try to 'enter into movement' by playing the 'pop-out-of-ground' montage
  
• Hooked up screenshake logic for Juggernaut, for when he roars (occurs when he enters combat, and has a cooldown)
  
• Added a screenshake to the Juggernaut's 'chestpound/roar' anim
  
• Hooked up death/destruction logic to Juggernauts and Leviathans to stop their screenshaking if it happens to be going on at the time of death
  
• Fixed and issue with spawn nodes loading defense special infected incorrectly
  
• Made spawn nodes actually exit Distress Mode, so they can despawn their units (major bug fix!)
  
• Made it possible for a Juggernaut to spawn when a node enters Distress Mode
  
• Added Juggernaut summoning to Chelsey: if she enters combat, she now has a chance to summon a Juggernaut to assist her
  
• If Shredder Rounds are purchased, Chelsey will try to summon multiple Juggernauts on entering combat, instead!
  
• The Juggernauts guarding Chelsey will not despawn if the player has purchased Shredder rounds. Be prepared.
  
• Added a minor delay after a rock/car throw for the Juggernaut before he can do anything else
  
• New Tracers added for all weapons
  
• Added improved power-widget for displaying power status
  
• Added bridge destruction sfx
  
• Updated the 'Car Alarm' actor to no longer alter nav (since their blocking volumes do that)
  
• Fixed up some cars that didn't have blocking volumes to block nav in their absence
  
• Updated the Juggernaut to use a 'stun montage' when he's flashbanged
  
• Fixed a tree that was inside a police car inside of the Grid 2 park on Treasure Island
  
• Fixed the Juggernaut not facing his movement target in some situations (such as when spawned for a horde attack)
  
• He'll burrow when he despawns, instead of just disappearing
  
• Spec ops given flashbang
  
• Footstep system revised to be more accurate for infected
  
• Fixed duplicate road meshes
  
• New textures and materials for Angel Island
  
• Fixed a lasersight delegate bug (may have caused a crash)
  
• Improved Leviathan spawning : Spawning is now much more heavily weighted towards bases with a 'higher building score' - i.e. with more structures nearby. 80% of picking #1 spot, which if that fails, 80% chance of picking #2, then so on down the line until the end.
  
• Added Leviathan and Little Buddy minimap icons
  
• Updated Saving/loading to save the unit's Fire Mode (i.e. if a unit is holding fire or ignoring structures when you save the game, they will still be doing that when you load, now)
  
• Added a timeout to the Juggernaut's charge attack (in case he gets caught on geometry somewhere when doing it)
  
• Added lifespan to the Juggernaut rock debris
  
• Added basic particle effects for when walls get destroyed (made into rubble)
  
• Improved stun effect positioning (from flashbangs) that appears over enemy heads
  
• Added logic to make the Juggernaut correct his spawning height when he emerges from the ground, so he won't 'float above the ground' or be too deep
  
• Stunned state : He can drop the projectile when trying to throw a rock or car, if you stun him
  
• Updated a lot of cars in Treasure Island to be 'heavy obstacles,' so Juggernauts could walk over them
  
• Added new logic to make trees 'bend away' from a Juggernaut on first overlap - they lose their navigation on this happening
  
• Added an invisible explosion to the car/rock on impact, so it does some AOE damage
  
• Juggernaut will throw a rock of car based on the ground type
  
• Juggernauts now can be taken from the pool of Juggernaut Tokens in the InfectionZoneManager (which build up over time)Chance to spawn goes up by day, and is more likely if there's a stockpile of Tokens
  
• If a target zone has withstood attack(s) without being captured, the chance increases
  
• Juggernaut won't just disappear with the rest of the horde if the horde attack concludes: he'll still be around
  
• Fixed the DNA drop for Juggernauts (and other tall units) to be properly scaled by capsule height
  
• General audio priorities & attenuation adjustments
  
• Quick fix to prevent units from shooting while fast-roping
  
• Sentinel North spawn pod/cp point location adjustment to new layout
  
• Corrected MGL animation references
  
• Adding masked AOE marker material.
  
• Got Fog of War working in the Open World Master
  

Power Requirements List:
Generator: +75 (produces power)
Buildings (unless otherwise mentioned): -10
Spotlight: -5
Active Denial System (from Engineering Corps Doctrine): -25
MG Turret: -25
Missile Turret: -35
Gate: -5
Electric Fence: -15
Electric Gate: -20

Cepheus Protocol Novelization is now available on Steam Store!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1387390/Cepheus_Protocol_Novelization

Keep in mind this book takes place before, during and a bit after Pandemic mode and follows dozens of characters around the events of CP. It will hint to our year 2 content(So spoilers if you analyze it close enough). Its not for the faint of heart (Very violent deaths and all that). You can pick it up for $3.99 now!

It will also be available on the Steam Store as an DLC on October 1st if you prefer to get it there! Just keep in mind on our website we make 99% of the sale the rest goes to PayPal

Feel free to use the #💬lore-questions on our Discord to discuss the ramifications of what the book brings to the universe and how it will affect the game as we start to work in story elements presented in the novel

[h2] Public Beta Notes [/h2]

Do note you can only access this latest patch on our public beta branch. Anyone can opt in and play it by right clicking on the game on their steam library going to properties and then opting into the beta from the "beta" tab on steam.

It is our intention over the next few days to weeks to fully polish up Treasure Island and the two new surrounding provinces with the feedback of our community. We have added a LOT in this new update so I apologize if something is omitted in the patch notes.

Naturally the roadmap will be affected by this extra time spent on polishing up the "Open World Map" but we believe its time well spent to ensure every section is fleshed out and provides interesting gameplay opportunities in each zone of the world.

You can track our progress as its updated daily on our Trello board here
https://trello.com/b/b5DFiVyv/cepheus-protocol-development
On this link you can track our new release targets for 2020-2021
https://trello.com/c/b8UXIihr/888-release-targets-2020-2021

The goal of this test is to gauge how you folks feel about the current layout and new direction. We want to gather as much data as possible on the likes/dislikes of the current design so we can take them into consideration as we work to finalize the world.

Over the past 3 months we've been working to polish up and refine CP quite a bit. From long term UI revamps like our proposed new main menu layout, balancing doctrines, working around the restrictions built into the engine for larger open world RTS games and more I will in a sense update you folks on what we accomplished and what we will be working on going into 2021.

[h3]Do keep in mind as of writing on Steam a majority of these mechanics are available for anyone to play by opting into the public beta on steam[/h3]




We also did a little Stream on Halloween check it out!

https://youtu.be/VG27bXvx9tY


We had quite a few technical issues but here is the full replay from our Halloween Stream!

https://youtu.be/CBqBmPE3K7Q
https://youtu.be/qKsIABjxsi0

Cepheus Protocol Dev Update #3 and 4 Month in Early Access Overview: We are working on several trailers and newer dev videos at the moment stay tuned!

https://youtu.be/x9dINrXfhR8


Currently we are working to finalize our wire/power system based on feedback from our community of what they want to see. Generators will have a pool of "available power". That power will be affected by how many nearby units you link into the grid. The grid can be expanded and shared across bases + you can now build power bases and have more control over how your bases look going in this direction. You simply will engage a wiring mode that will allow you to tether buildings together as seen below!!



ROE Expansion Custom Game Mode: We constantly engage and talk with our community on what they wanted to see and started pushing more user friend approaches for managing artillery and more. Like for example you can now map mortars and other types of artillery to cards/squads and have easier access to manage them. More changes are coming to make them more viable quality of life wise like a buff to their damage towards pods but they will require ammo to balance out their devastating impact they have on the battlefield.

https://media.indiedb.com/images/articles/1/290/289067/auto/Mortar_Cards.gif

ROE and more toggles were added based on suggestions and things we deemed would help quality of life. Quite a few might be omitted here because the list so so vast so double check trello or the official patch notes for more information on this front.



A highly requested feature is to disable laser sights for those wanting a more immersive experience.


Mortar's will now flag where they are firing at to help reduce friendly friend you can toggle this on and off in the ROE tab



Things like the Grenade Launcher and Javelin were tweaked to allow you to tweak safety distances in the ROE of how close allied units can be to allow them to fire and more!




We got some feedback about the balancing of the new doctrines and are tweaking their balance going into XMAS we hope to have them out of beta with the open world right before Christmas.

Apache a new addition to the doctrine trees


We experimented and setup a lot of modular systems which took a while but in the future will allow modders to create their own doctrines. Some teasers of the new abilities go try out the "Public beta" on steam if your feeling adventurous!

Was quite a complicated setup to get working but we feel it will add a lot in the long term by via of replayability when we start to put a laser focus on pushing modding going into the new year.

We added whole new approaches to playing the game via the three new doctrines.




It is my belief that the Levitation and his army as it stands is a completely devastating force that will if not implemented correctly completely cripple the game. He can travel under the map and emerge anywhere when damaged to a certain threshold and not killed he will retreat underground and heal coming back with a vengeance in the future, Chesley can research and start to build them after day 2 and they wil be her front line harass unit and currently we plan to allow 3 max. He can spawn smaller creatures that he shakes off his scales in the dozens that will swarm and easily out number most combat teams. Thus why we waited for Doctrines to ship and after a bit more polish he'll be introduced with the juggernaut to put CERC back in their place.

https://i.gyazo.com/9c802c0b4ce380241a6fa3f06db2a77d.gif

On the Topic of Infected Creatures & new Structures:
We do plan on adding more infection types currently as noted above the Levitation and his Little Guys will be added then shortly after the Juggernaut. We have other designs and ideas in the works but i cant disclose them yet

I can confirm we are working on more defense structures, adding more VFX to the current one and pushing the polish to the current defense towers she can grow. We will also be adding a organic barricade she will be able to grow see pictures below! ^_^



Over the course of development during the last few months we discovered several issues relating to the engine and how it losses accuracy of Deprojections data from a mouse click to the world once you exceed 100,000 UU from 0,0,0 in the local world. I.E selections of units will be offset and horrible

The Problem:

With the direction we attempted previously having 4 zones with their real world geographical distances it ended up being a little to much. My thing thing on design was basically no loading screens i want a seamless experience from start to finish. You can pickup your units and travel without having to wait. So we rethought our approach...



The Solution:

We tried several methods to work around this restriction but decided it was in our best interest not to override these safeties or rather optimizations placed into the engine and instead use it as a hard restriction of this newly formed box of 100,000 in every direction from 0,0,0 as a hardcap of how larger we can build our worlds and for modders in the future.

The various versions we toyed with internally.



The final version we went with below! It should be noted we actually kept the center island as "Treasure Island" but the side support islands are being rebranded and renamed . In the foreseeable future we'll cover the San Francisco Mainland


See the yellow line as an example of exactly 100,000 from the red dot of 0,0,0. The purple box was an expanded region we were able to expand the overall map size from some tracing tricks.

So one crisis averted what else did we do or rather plan out next?

Over the course of finalizing aspects of gameplay we have started working towards implementing a new tutorial visual AID and a new updated tutorial. This will be implemented in the near future to make newer players path of entry into the game far simpler and explain the more complicated differences between our game and others of the genre.

Below is the revised tutorial girl that will talk to you throughout gameplay and be your point of contact during the Pandemic mode.



As it stands we are implementing the following changes up to May 15, 2021. See trello for more details should anything be updated here https://trello.com/b/b5DFiVyv/cepheus-protocol-development

Generator System/Power Revamp
Open World/Doctrines leave public beta
Juggernaut
Levitation & Little Guys
Factions
Ultra Polish
Coop
Modding (mod.io implementation)
[h2]
You can read the original article on indiedb here[/h2]

[h2]Patch Notes - 0.7.73 Open World Revamp & Our Development Intentions [/h2]

Old Saves will not carry over, only play in the public beta to give feedback never play "real" games in the public beta as game sessions can and will be broken from time to time from the vast number of things we test here at any given time. I.E we dont support save files started from a public beta -> a normal build.

Do note you can only access this latest patch on our public beta branch. Anyone can opt in and play it by right clicking on the game on their steam library going to properties and then opting into the beta from the "beta" tab on steam.

It is our intention over the next few days to weeks to fully polish up Treasure Island and the two new surrounding provinces with the feedback of our community. We have added a LOT in this new update so I apologize if something is omitted in the patch notes.

Naturally the roadmap will be affected by this extra time spent on polishing up the "Open World Map" but we believe its time well spent to ensure every section is fleshed out and provides interesting gameplay opportunities in each zone of the world.

You can track our progress as its updated daily on our Trello board here
https://trello.com/b/b5DFiVyv/cepheus-protocol-development
On this link you can track our new release targets for 2020-2021
https://trello.com/c/b8UXIihr/888-release-targets-2020-2021

The goal of this test is to gauge how you folks feel about the current layout and new direction. We want to gather as much data as possible on the likes/dislikes of the current design so we can take them into consideration as we work to finalize the world.

[h2]Some Quick updates from our Discord[/h2]

The Tutorial girl that talks to you will be animated and given an Avatar in the future. Here's a first look at this!


Check out our currently in progress WIP Main Menu layout we'll roll out soon obviously some buttons will be grayed out as they wont be available yet


Rough Render of the new Open World Map


We are also working on the UI for coop at the moment as well. Still Early!

• Changed SFX for Grenade Launcher to one more appealing
  
• Floating Sandbags that appear on top of each other should no longer be possible
  
• However, other things could be 'built upon' with sandbags (buildings, preview actors, command post trucks). Added more safeties to guard against those issues.
  
• Also improved placement 'feeling' when something would block placement (so the cursor no longer 'freezes' in place while mousing over something invalid)
  
• Added muzzle flash and lasersight sockets to the Javelin+Grenade Launcher meshes (fixes laser sight and related issues)
  
• Safety Values added to ROE to restrict how close the Javelin/Grenade Launchers will fire near allies or buildings
  
• Added muzzle flash and lasersight sockets to the Javelin+Grenade Launcher meshes (fixes laser sight and related issues)
  
• 2 meshes added (Welcome Center Grid01 Presidio, Welcome Center Bathroom Grid01 Presidio),
  
• Changes to the landscape paint grid01, minor foliage changes, props added to grid01 presidio (WIP)
  
• Angel Island Grid 1 detail and blocker work, landscape clean-up.
  
• Updated the SimpleOverlapSphere with new options for checking for civvies as well as walls, for use by friendly fire safety
  
• Mortars will mark a location to help players visualize where they are about to fire you can toggle this on and off in ROE
  
• Toggle Laser Sights on and off in ROE
  
• You can cancel building of units now
  
• Added a '20 second drop' to the 'actual time trained' for vehicles, to account for assembly time. Trying to 'fast track' before the initial 20 seconds is over and you will now get a 'TOO EARLY' warning instead of immediate deployment
  
• Added logic to allow refilling ammo on units who have full reserve ammo but less than a full mag
  
• Fixed the SCAR H (after rebalance) starting with 20 bullets in the mag, but with a capacity of 21
  
• Presidio_Grid_02 added apartment buildings (need to get the rest in place)
  
• Updated Mortars to no longer require Phase 3 unlock (just the doctrine unlock)
  
• Mortars can be added to team cards now!
  
• added MUTT engine loop sfx
  
• Angel Island Landscape clean-up and detail progress
  
• Fixed up several issues with mortar selection:
  
• Smoothed out vehicle/mortar mixed selection issues
  
• Smoothed out selection visuals for mortars when selecting multiple/deselecting/sequentially selecting mortars
  
• Fixed up Cerberus Mortar and regular mortar interaction
  
• Fixed up Dragon Gunship being 'selectable' via Next Mortar hotkey
  
• Fixed up Next Mortar hotkey not selecting the Cerberus in question (only when Cerberus mortar is deployed)
  
• Added logic to make 'non-absolute' grenades require to trace to their targets (on the visibility channel) before they deal damage
  
• Updated Mortar rounds to have a larger radius, to match the new indicators (and boosted the FX size by 30%)
  
• Improved Mortar so it takes into consideration cover and surroundings better
  
• Fixed Mortar construction saying it requires an unlock if you actually just don't have enough money
  
• Added DNA Tracking Toggling to the ROE
  
• Updated Zone Marker Visualization Button on the HUD with visual changes when it's off, an improved hovertip, and with saving and loading, too, to match
  
• Adjusted a light+fire hydrant in Grid 5 to be less of a chokepoint (they were quite close to a traffic light, resulting in hordes sometimes 'getting caught' between the light and the traffic light)
  
• Cleaned up some errant blocking volumes in the map causing bad navigation
  
• Hospital is capturable now
  
• Fixed up starting locations for Open World play
  
• Apartment buildings in grid02 and grid03 presidio added
  
• added MUTT stturtup / stop sound cues
  
• Made healthbars for Command Post trucks show themselves when the trucks are selected
  
• So they now appear when the truck is either damaged, or when the truck is selected
  
• Added a placeholder set of images for the Ammobox 'empty' display
  
• Hooked up logic to show an icon (w/ little glow anim) for Ammoboxes when they're empty and rigged to remove themselves
  
• Fixed the Minigun not having a Laser Sight socket
  
• Also fixed the Minigun's muzzle flash socket rotation
  
• Fixed Ammo refill supply cost to be more consistent
  
• Also with logic to allow you to use remaining supply to refill only a partial amount (rather than no refill and leaving some supply unused, if not enough ammo for refilling a soldier completely)
  
• Fixed Ammo Supply notification not properly tallying
  
• Added 'no-build-zones' to rubble walls
  
• Fixed a flaw in difficulty setting in the Main Menu as well as in loading that caused Custom gameplay settings to not properly be loaded
  
• Fog of War in Open World Test improved
  
• All player builds emit line of sight into the world now
  
• Fixed to MGL Grenade Launcher (More fixes to the weapons on the way!
  
  

Cepheus Protocol Novelization is now available on Steam Store!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1387390/Cepheus_Protocol_Novelization

Keep in mind this book takes place before, during and a bit after Pandemic mode and follows dozens of characters around the events of CP. It will hint to our year 2 content(So spoilers if you analyze it close enough). Its not for the faint of heart (Very violent deaths and all that). You can pick it up for $3.99 now!

It will also be available on the Steam Store as an DLC on October 1st if you prefer to get it there! Just keep in mind on our website we make 99% of the sale the rest goes to PayPal

Feel free to use the #💬lore-questions on our Discord to discuss the ramifications of what the book brings to the universe and how it will affect the game as we start to work in story elements presented in the novel