Knights and mercs, we've got another update hovertruck coming in hot! The pilot says he can bounce this one right across the deck and into your Steam library, so let's see what we've got! Update #204 breaks out the save and load menus into dedicated sub-menus, visually differentiates the higher level data nodes (Fortress and Vaults), adds Contact Trust % as a bonus to all mission pay, fixes issues where Contact Traits around mission pay and deadline were not always being applied, improves some long-range weapon Traits, fixed bugs with Prox-Mines and well … we fixed a lot of F10s, so check the full changelog for all the details!

If you're enjoying the relentless (and sometimes daily) updates for Early Access, please take a minute to leave a review! We're working hard on some big content additions for the game next, and while we're grinding on that, we've got steady pace of polish and improvement updates coming out!

Save and Load Separated

To help generally reduce the potential for costly misclicks and hotkey pushes, we have completed the work to separate out the Load Game and Save Game menus. These are now both buttons on the main pause menu and each one opens up a dedicated sub-menu that allows only loading or only saving. Nothing revolutionary, but it is a cleaner and more classic UI ːsteamhappyː

Matrix Data Fortress & Vault - New Looks

To continue to differentiate matrix nodes by sight further, we have followed up on Update #203's change to make Finance Nodes styled green (like U-Dahs!). Update #204 now adds small glowing and rotating satellites to all of the second level data nodes - the Data Fortress, Manufacturing Vault and Financial Fortress. These more dangerous data nodes will disconnect you if your end your Turn there but also have the best loot concentrations in the host, so it is nice to be able to spot them quickly.

We have heard from a lot of players the desire to have data nodes give a visual cue if they have been fully looted. We'll be working on that soon!

Contact Mission Pay & Deadlines

With Update #204, we've fixed some bugs with Contact Traits that were not always ensuring that their bonuses or penalties to mission pay and mission deadlines were being applied correctly. This should help Greedy, Impatient and Generous Contacts stand out more.

In addition, we have added a new effect of Contact Trust - that their Trust value is added as a % on top of any mission payment. This will help reinforce the value of working with Contacts repeatedly throughout a career and puts some more bite into that key Contact status, beyond denying services and preventing Favors from being spent in Limit Breaks.

Anti-Alias = None

If your screen or setup is such that you don't want the game to apply AA, you can now disable it in options.

Syndicate Debts Rumblings

We are working hard on Syndicate Debts! It is our first Origin story and one of the first stories we coded into the game's story system, so it has some rough spots that we are buffing right out before we expand and wrap the storyline. Here is the punch list for #204, and we expect to be making some other changes (like allowing delayed Legworks and not mutually exclusive Legworks) very shortly as well.

• We have shortened the timeline on the Legworks related to the Snitch after the events at the hospital to help ensure you're not committing too many mercs to long Legwork right out of the gate
• We have fixed the terminal hover in Loophole Heist so that it is clear that this is a Knight-only terminal. We've also fixed the terminal in Ricksham Drips so that it indicates it is VIP-only.
• We have improved all loot tables and matrix terminals for all missions in the Syndicate Debt's storyline.

 

Tag and Traits Improvements

With Update #204, we've improved the stat lines for Marksman and Longshot Traits, adding and increasing their Attribute bonuses. We have also tightened up the language used in Faction Tags for characters like "Faction Barred" (which only prevents Legwork) and "Hates Faction" (which prevents taking a job for that faction) and others as well to make the lines clearer. Some of these were criminally vague!

Sleeping Prox Mines

After Update #203, you could use your Knight's Talent to target sleeping Prox-Mines. Oops, that was not expected, but it is now fixed.

v1.9.93 - Update #204: Hovertruck Bounce - 1/21/2025

- Added dedicated Save Game and Load Game menus to avoid mistakes with hotkeys and save slots
- Differentiated Data Fortress, Manufacturing Vault and Financial Fortress matrix nodes from their lesser counterparts
- Contact Trust is added as a % bonus directly to the $$ reward offered for any job
- Fixed issue preventing Contact Trait bonuses/penalties to Mission Pay and Deadline from correctly applying
- Added graphic option to turn off Anti-Aliasing entirely (AA = None)
- Shortened timelines for early game Legworks: Clinic Snitch and Thumb on Snitch
- Improved hovers over terminals in Loophole Heist (Knight-only) and Ricksham Power Play (VIP-only)
- Improved all loot tables and matrix host creation for Syndicate Debts mission chain
- Improved Traits Marksman and Longshot with Attributes, better progression
- Fixed bug where Faction for Hack 3 Files proc-gen missions was always Warner-Braun incorrectly
- Clarified rules for Faction Insider and Faction Barred - these do not prevent missions, only Legwork
- Clarified rules for Loves, Hates, Deserted Faction and what jobs they interfere with
- Fixing bug allowing K-Protocol and other Security Talents to target hidden Prox-Mines