Knights, another update is landing in New Boston and it is adding a new type of secondary objective, big QoL improvements to the mission deployment screen and handling of hack-only missions, new protection against repeated proc-gen mission objectives, and a bundle of improvements for controllers and the Steam Deck.

We're busy daily with new things for you - so thanks for playing, posting and leaving a review if you like the pace of updates 'round here.

New Secondary Objective: Send a Bloody Message

With Update #173, we're following up on the objective system overhaul in Update #172 to add the first new secondary objective type in a while. You'll see this objective type showing up across a number of proc-gen objectives. Your employer doesn't just want the job done, they want a message sent as well - a bloody message. The objective sets a target for a number of enemies to kill in order to gain the offered reward. Often, this objective grates against other secondaries offered, like completing the mission under a specific Sec Level, but you'll have to pick one or the other or get creative in how to balance them both.

Mission Selection: Big QoL!

We're excited to drop a big quality of life improvement on mission deployment. It may feel small at first, but over a few hours of play it makes a huge difference to the speed and smoothness of prepping for missions.

First up, the list of mercs in the mission deploy screen now uses slots to maintain their order. If you have 4 mercs, you can remove merc 2 and 3 without merc 4 changing positions. This is classic turn-based tactics setup, nothing special here - but without it everything feels messy. Also, this will let us control order which will be used in future levels where certain slots are for specific things (slot 4 is a sniper's position, or a disguise, etc).

Second up, if you are prepping for a hack-only mission, we immediately look for a Hacker to fill the slot. And if you want to change the character, we only show Hackers, not other characters who can't take the mission. This is a nice speed improvement for swapping to hack only missions.

And third up, the real winner - we remember regular missions and hack-only missions separately. So, you can assign a team of 4 to your Cube Run, swap in to your hacking mission and see Librarian is ready to take the mission and then swap back to Cube Run and … ta-da, the 4 mercs you had previously picked are there and ready. This feels great and is a big win for supporting missions with different types of requirements more smoothly.

Blocking Proc-Gen Objective Repeats

To join the recently added rules to prevent mission maps from re-appearing back-to-back in proc-gen missions, we have also now added rules that will prevent proc-gen objectives from appearing back-to-back if the RNG turns against you (Scav … Scav … Scav …?). As the proc-gen objective set and proc-gen map set has grown and the combos are now over 60, we have more than enough content in the set to add both of these restrictions.

Cold Storage Blueprint Locks

Your Cold Storage upgrade level limits the number of Blueprints you can use during a NanoFab craft. This was previously shown as an error at the end of the process after you'd filled up the different mod Blueprint options. We've updated the UI so that the locked mod Blueprint slots are shown as locked at the start with an explanation of how to unlock them (Upgrade Cold Storage!)

Steam Deck / Controller Scheme Improvements

With the help of @Brian on Discord (thanks!) we've made a set of really helpful improvements to the control scheme and Steam Deck controller scheme to make the game play faster and smoother. We've still got some more feedback to process and changes to make but this first set is really helpful.

• We are continuing to reduce places where the game wants you to use Right Trigger or ENTER to activate the UI elements when it isn't necessary. Load Game screen is another example, when you've selected game to load, you need to (RT) instead of (A) … this is fixed, (A) or [Space] will do just fine thank you.
• The Switch to Talent Bar (X) option was really a toggle between Talent bar, Team bar (End Action) and no selection. This could lead to unreliable feeling results hitting (X) and the risk of accidentally ending your action when you didn't mean to. With Update #172, we've locked (X) to hop your selection to the talent bar only. Then, from there - see the next item -
• We've opened up D-pad navigation from the Talent bar so that you can go in any direction. Hitting up will take you to the team bar and End Action button and going off the right edge can take you to the collapse combat log button. This really opens up the navigation in the HUD in a positive way.
• So to get to End Action, you can always push (X) and then hit (up) on the d-pad. This is the same number of button presses (most of the time) but removes all cases where you have to really look where the selection is because it might be somewhere unexpected.
• If you switch weapons in the HUD, your selection is no longer removed. You can swap weapons and then d-pad to the right to get back to your Talents.
• Loot All from a lootbox is now (X) or [T] to make it easier to access from the main set of 4 buttons.

v1.9.9 - #173: Lethal Planning Session - 11/11/2024

- Character selection for missions improved, characters now go into slots 1-4 and don't "slide down" the row
- Hacker selection for hack-only missions is remembered separately, only hacker characters are offered for selection
- New secondary objective "Send a Message by killing X" to gain rewards in proc-gen levels
- Proc-gen objectives now also have protection against repetition to match map protection
- Modification Blueprint Slots (1-4) in NanoFab now correctly lock if they require higher Cold Storage level
- Prevented storylines Cube Run and Carnivore from appearing before Power Level 3 (too early)
- Improved line of sight when on raised area with fence or barricade along the edge
- Improved Roster and Mission Deploy warnings about not carrying enough items

Controller improvements:
- Switch to Talent Bar (X) always jumps to Talent bar, except if all Talents are disabled, then End Turn
- Navigation from Talent Bar to other parts of HUD now open - navigate any direction (X to Talent Bar, Up to End Turn)
- When switching weapons in the HUD, selection is not dropped from the HUD (switch weapons, easily pick Talent)
- Space or (A) is now used to load game more quickly (was Enter / RT)
- When looting items, Loot All keybinding now defaults to (X) or [T] for desktop for faster use