Welcome to all the new Knights who joined this week during the sale - the New Boston Zone is here to chew you up and spit you out if you don't keep your cards right. Exciting to see so many new players piling in, posting, and hitting F10 for everything you'd like to see in the game. To that end, we've got a big update here with #43 - a rewrite and clarification about the rules for CPU and APU Spiking in the matrix, now allowing duplicate program builds for your Cyberdeck, new proc-gen matrix host templates, improved safehouse UI for story conversations, timeline event icons to help read the timeline better and more.

Thanks to everyone leaving a review! Remember you can always edit your review, so if you feel like we're heading the right direction (and at the right pace!) with 43 updates, please drop a review to let us know!

Spiking CPU and APU

Update #43 improves and clarifies the rules around spiking CPUs and APUs.

• Every Matrix Host has a CPU, the heart of the system. Spiking it can complete mission objectives, will result in a reduction of the Q-Sec Level by 50% (Q-Sec Level 4 becomes 2) and a zeroing out of all current Q-Sec Tally. This reduction likely takes the Q-Sec Tally below an Escalation that has already happened (you Escalated at Q-Sec Level 4, spiking the CPU takes you back to Sec Level 2, Tally 0) then the Escalation will not be repeated (to your advantage).
• Matrix Hosts that have APUs are directly tied into the Sec AI's brain. Spiking an APU will reduce the Sec Tally by 10 points immediately. If this reduction takes the Sec Tally below an Escalation that has already happened (you Escalated at Sec Level 2, spiking the APU takes you back to Sec Level 1, Tally 5) then the Escalation will not be repeated (to your advantage).

Duplicated Program Builds

With Update #43, we've fixed the limitation (and bug) that prevented you from installing exact duplicates of the same program on a matrix cyberdeck. Previously, installing Attack I twice over would make the second one impossible to use during a hack. This issue has been unwound and now your hacker builds have more freedom than before to develop new strategies.

More Proc-Gen Matrix Hosts

We've completed the design and testing for another 2 matrix host templates for proc-gen hacking missions, continuing to expand the digital catalog of missions you can end up on. The meatspace proc-gen mission catalog is next up for an expansion.

Safehouse Story Conversations

With Update #43, we've updated the result when clicking directly on a character in the safehouse. If there are story conversations available, they now display immediately in a pop-up window for easy access to chatting. The window has a hotkey and clickable option to proceed to their Roster entry. If there are no story conversations to be had, then we skip you into the Roster immediately.

We've been holding off a bit on safehouse story conversations with characters until we could get this update done, as the click > roster > find conversations list was not the most comfortable flow. We've also improved that flow a bit, adding a matching icon and story conversation count to this area in the roster so that you can visually match it to the conversation icons in the safehouse and timeline to help reinforce the connection.

Timeline Event Icons

It may look minor at a distance, but updating all the timeline icons to a specific type icon - healing, cyberware, mission, legwork, etc - is a very nice change for the safehouse timeline. When checking out a larger list of icons - especially once the details are "below the fold" - its nice to have some instant visibility into what type of events we're talking about here.

F10 Round up

We also completed a big round-up of your F10s -

• Vanguard's Refract was too short to block a lot of Security Cameras, now taller!
• Sometimes dead mercs persisted in the Mission assignment screen. Zombie sighting confirmed!
• Weapon mods were not clear enough (using + and -) whether adjustments to Reload AP cost were good or bad
• Sometimes we used Armor Crit % and sometimes we used Armor Shred %, now clearer
• Added a missing combat log when we are fired on by enemy overwatch

And certainly more! Check the full change log for everything.

v1.2.41 - 1/17/2024

- Revised Matrix Hacking's APU and CPU Spike Routines
- CPU Spike reduces reduces Q-Sec Level for matrix host by half and zeroes out the Tally
- APU Spike reduces Sec Tally in real world by -10
- Hacker Cyberdeck can now use duplicate programs (Attack I and Attack I) without issue
- Added 2 more Matrix proc-gen host templates
- Added additional Combat Log entry for hostile overwatch attacks
- Added timeline event type icons to the timeline bar
- Increased height of Refract wall to better block cameras
- Upgraded story pop-up when directly clicking on a character (instead of defaulting to Roster)
- Upgraded roster's notation of story conversations to match icon and count from safehouse
- Fixed very short Legwork in new Southie Strut storyline
- Fixed Matrix Host attempting to unload unloaded programs
- Fixed "Armor Crit" vs. Armor Shred confusion
- Fixed issue always showing all characters as Level 0 in Legwork selection
- Fixed save slots bug when using default faces without customizing character
- Improved display of Reload AP to reduce confusion
- Fixed bug allowing hacking of some security devices even if not enough AP
- Fixed issue where recently dead mercs could show up in mission planning lists