Down in the Belly under the New Boston Dome, Update #86 has touched down. We've got a lot of exciting new things with this one - new bonuses for the Tech attribute, improved display for APU/CPU spiking, new milsec items you can purchase, all the Hybrid-Utility programs can now be installed and used and more. Let's dig into the details!

We're busy with Early Access - lots of updates, lots of milestones coming up quick. We hope you are enjoying the pace of fixes, improvements, hotfixes and new content. If so, please take a moment to leave a review of any length - every one helps! And remember, you can always edit your review at any time.
 

New Hacker-Only Tech Bonuses

The Tech Attribute has gained a big (needed) boost for Hackers, now adding Matrix-specific bonuses. If you have the Hacker class (as your primary or multi-classed) you will gain +1 Matrix AP per 1 Tech and +1 Cyberdeck Armor per 5 Tech, which protects both the Hacker and the cyberdeck. This makes the choice to go after extra Tech points in different class trees more interesting and firmly pushes Tech into the realm of being the Hacker's key stat.

Load Up those Hybrid-Utilities!

In Update #85, we fixed all the issues that were nagging Hybrid-Utility programs and now we've rolled out a new set of Program Ratings that allow some of them to be used in existing decks. So, check the new Ratings and consider juggling some of your programs around to make space for these new biggies - they're powerful and interesting options in your digital kit.

Unique Milsec Items Return

The different MilSec and Brave Star contacts you can connect with throughout the game now (once again) have more unique offers for consumable items that they can sell, including Dazzlers and Concussion Grenades. This opens up some new angles for building out your item load out, so check out what you might want to swap around.

Clear Display of APU/CPU Spiking

While APU and CPU spiking have been working correctly for about a month, they were lacking any helpful UI support to indicate what they had done. This has been causing a ton of F10s and confusing players, as it simply seems like they don't do what they promise or what is reported in the logs.

The big Sec Level or Q-Sec Level value in the HUD will now immediately react to an APU or CPU Spike. It will gray out indicating that it is below the real level of the Sec Level and no Escalations will occur until the Sec Level exceeds the old Sec Level. For example, if your Q-Sec Level is 8 and you Spike the CPU, then the Q-Sec Level will drop to 6 and the Matrix Host can't take an Escalation action until the Q-Sec Level reaches 9.

This is also all shown in the hover over the grayed out Sec Level, so check that out too for specifics once you see it in game.

More Matrix Hovers

As we've mentioned, we're hard at work on the matrix tutorial now. In order to make it the best it can be, we're sprucing up the matrix in general. With this update, we've added and improved a number of hovers through the Matrix screen - especially around the Q-Sec Level in the top right and all the deck details in the bottom left (IO, Active Mem, Storage).

We hope it's helpful!

Armors Debuffed

As we build out the full progression of armor and weapons for the game, we've adjusted some of the early game armors to have a bit lower protection ratings. These have dropped anywhere from 2% to 5% for some armors, especially Power Level 1 armors. Take a check through your gear and see if you want to upgrade today.

We've also simplified the armor categories in this update, crushing everything down to Light, Heavy and Stealth. There will be distinct groups within those based on stats and styles, but they don't each need their own high level category in the filter.

V-Chip Contact Fixes

We resolved an issue where the Contacts you gained through a V-Chip were not appearing in the initial conversation. While everything else was functioning correctly, this made them harder to track down in your list of Contacts and to recognize them as they appear in the newly offered services.

Hid Loadout Button

v1.6.17 - 5/19/2024

- Improved Tech attribute - for hackers now grant +1 Matrix AP per 1 Tech and +1 Cyberdeck Armor per 5 Tech
- Adjusted Hybrid-Utility program ratings to work with existing decks available in the underworld
- Improved Sec Level UI response to spiking CPU or APU to gray out Sec Level when an escalation will be skipped
- Improved Sec Level hover to include exact details of when Escalations will resume for spiked CPU or APU
- Improved hovers in matrix for IO, Deck Storage, Q-Sec Level
- Down balance on starting armors, dropping 2% to 5% protection - consider upgrading your armor
- Simplified Armor category filters (Light, Stealth, Heavy)
- Fixed issue with missing milsec items for sale from Milsec and Brave Star Contacts
- Fixed bugs with V-Chips having conversations where the new contact did not show up and name was blank