Phantom Brigade Update #3 | Back and Packed!

Hello Brigadiers! We're BACK and excited to show you what we've PACKED into Update #3: Back and Packed! One of the new features we're most excited about in this patch is backpacks. These backpacks are additional attachments to your mech that may be things like:

• Active defense systems shooting down incoming projectiles
• Minelayers blocking key chokepoints
• Enormous missile launchers capable of leveling entire enemy bases

We hope they can serve as an exciting building block for your mech and bring interesting twists into your fights along with all the other features and changes in this patch. Good luck out there!

Changes and New Features

▲ - a buff was applied
▼ - a nerf was applied
⮂ - a tradeoff occurred
🦾 - a change was made based on community feedback

Status effects

• Status effects are temporary states units can acquire from environment interactions, equipped items, special weapon damage and more.
• New status effects include:
  • Burning: The unit will be damaged over time until this status expires. Venting will ignite the surrounding area.
  • Charged: The unit will be damaged once the countdown reaches zero unless another unit passes nearby. A damaging electric arc strike approaching units, removing this status effect. Damaged units have a change to acquire this status, leading to chain damage.
  • Meltdown: The reactor core of this unit is melting down. Once the countdown reaches zero, the reactor will explode, destroying the unit.
  • Unstable: This unit is struggling to stay upright. It will crash from any collision, including those with units of lower mass. Further buildup of this status will lead to this unit crashing.
  • Venting: This unit is venting its reactor and will not take damage from overheating. Reactor temperatures can climb past the normal limit, necessitating a longer cooldown afterward.

• Units afflicted with negative status effects can remove them with a Stabilize action.
• Some status effects need to be built up to apply. For example, an incendiary weapon might apply +35% Burning buildup per hit, guaranteeing a Burning status effect after three hits in a quick succession.

Combat mechanics

• Changed some damage mechanics:
  • Removed the Stagger damage type. Melee weapons inflicting it will inflict the Unstable status effect build up instead.
  • Demoted heat damage to a secondary role. Heat continues to be applied by some incendiary weapons, but their primary effect was changed to Burning status buildup.
  • Fixed the environment damage not being applied in an appropriate radius, not being applied to most points in a large radius and not being scaled appropriately.
  • Fixed directional damage, distributed damage and splash damage not being split and scaled properly across mech parts.

• Adjusted the overheat mechanic:
  • Units have a new heat buffer stat in addition to the overheat threshold stat. Heat buffer can vary depending on reactor model and other items.
  • Heat can not exceed the sum of the overheat threshold and the buffer. A low buffer value allows the unit to immediately exit the overheated state as soon as heat generation ceases, while a high buffer value might lead to a unit lingering in the overheat state for some time. Some equipment and actions increase the heat buffer in exchange for other benefits.
  • In addition to damage over time, sustained overheating builds up the Burning status effect.

• Changed the weight class / stability mechanics:
  • Only the equipped body parts have an effect on the weight class of the unit, matching how heavier armor affects concussion resistance
  • A light mech holding an ultra-heavy weapon will no longer be considered as stable as a unit clad in heavy armor

Backpacks

• Added a new part type: backpacks. Can be acquired from boss fights and caches.
  • B-MP1: Mine launcher. A new area denial option similar to missile launchers. Can’t be locked onto units, must be fired at the environment. The proximity fuse is armed once the mine hits the ground and remains active for a few turns.
  • B-MP2: Lightweight minelayer. Deploys mines under the unit, trading launch capability for a more powerful explosive charge.
  • B-ML1: Compact vertical missile launcher
  • B-ML2: Heavy airburst missile launcher.
  • B-ML3: Ultra-heavy airburst missile launcher.
  • B-APS1 and B-APS2: Active defense systems. Unlock a new timeline action and status effect, attempting to shoot down any projectile approaching the mech. Susceptible to saturation attacks but effective against slow or limited projectiles.

• Added the equipment charge mechanic. Some equipment, such as backpacks above, can only be used a limited number of times per fight. Similarly to barriers, the charges are replenished before every deployment.

Subsystems

• Added new subsystems:
  • Heat Vents: Unlock the Venting timeline action. Utilizes the movement track, forcing the unit to stop but allowing overlap with attacks.
  • RX1 Furnace Reactor: An unusual reactor design sacrificing cooling capabilities for power output. Demands careful use: overheating this reactor will immediately set the mech on fire.
  • RX2 Dynamo: An unusual reactor design sacrificing electrical shielding for additional thrust and power output. Afflicts the mech with an electrical charge on every dash. Can be exploited as an additional damage source on short-range units.
  • RX3 Supernova: Experimental reactor design with record-breaking power output for its size. Has a chance to go critical in the event of a collision or overheating. The critical state can be prolonged with more collisions or overheating. It can also be fixed by venting excess heat through the dash thruster. Letting the reactor melt down will destroy the unit and lead to a powerful explosion.
  • DC1 Discharge Coil: Unlocks a timeline action converting excess heat to an electrical charge. Can be used offensively by approaching other units once charged.
  • Pilot Pods: Allow for customization of concussion resistance. The player can sacrifice pilot protection to improve mobility, or sacrifice some performance to improve pilot protection.
  • Safety Overrides: Boost weapon damage output by disabling some cooling systems. Increase maximum operating temperature, making it harder to cool down from sustained overheating.
  • Reactor Shunts: Reroute reactor power into equipped weapons, trading movement speed for increased damage output.
  • Booster Shunts: Reroute power from the thrusters into the weapon systems.

• Removed subsystems:
  • All offensive systems utilizing the targeted stat mechanic (collectively labeled sensors) have been removed from the game. The offensive slot can be fitted with 3 new subsystem types listed above, which apply a flat damage bonus to any equipped weapon with a variety of tradeoffs.
  • Destabilizing Payload & Thermal Payload: Removed due to stagger and heat damage being retired.
  • T9 Stable Reactor removed.

• Adjusted balance of some subsystems:
  • Large Payload: Reduced the environment damage radius bonus now that environment damage is applied correctly.
  • Concussive Payload: Slightly reduced the concussive damage bonus to better match the HP scales present in the game.
  • Demolition Payload: Slightly reduced the environment damage bonus now that environment damage is applied correctly.
  • Accelerator: Reduced the projectile speed bonus to prevent hit registration issues.

• Reduced the chances of higher tier equipment generating with customizable modules attached. The chance to find preinstalled modules can be customized in the difficulty settings (defaults to 50%).
• Rebalanced module hardpoint distribution in different armor sets, swapping some mobility, defensive and offensive module hardpoints.

Weapons

• Added status effect buildup to some weapons:
  • All plasma weapons now build up the Charged status effect.
  • HGA Spark now builds up the Charged status effect and has new visuals.
  • HG2 Firestarter now builds up the Burning status effect and has new visuals.
  • BM3 Alpenglow now builds up the Burning status effect.
  • All incendiary weapons now build up the Burning status effect.
  • Blunt melee weapons now build up the Unstable status effect.

• Added a new incendiary assault rifle to complement existing incendiary weapons with their less predictable guided projectiles:
  • IR2 Pyroclast: High velocity incendiary repeater. Performance and range comparable to assault rifles.

• Adjusted weapons to make more options viable picks:
  • ▲ Handguns: Widened the optimal range band, reduced heat generation, increased some damage.
  • ▲ Submachine guns: Widened the optimal range band, reduced scatter and mass.
  • ▲ Machine guns: Reduced heat, shortened activation times, increased damage.
  • ▼ Ultra-heavy machine gun: slightly reduced maximum range, increased scatter, reduced concussion damage.
  • ▲ Beams: Reduced damage ramp-up times, action durations, increased rotation speed and damage.
  • ▲ Ultra-heavy beam: Reduced heat generation, increased unit damage.
  • ▼ SR1 Midway: Slightly increased activation time, scatter and per-shot damage.
  • ▲ SR3 Dice: Large increase to per-hit damage, reduced scatter, increased projectile speed.
  • ⮂ PLA Curve: Reduced projectile lifetime and tracking, making projectiles less likely to circle back after a miss.
  • ⮂ Primary missile launchers: Reduced concussion, rebalanced environment damage and damage radius.
  • ▲ Secondary missile launchers: Reduced heat generation, rebalanced environment damage and damage radius.
  • ⮂ MLS1 Oneshot: Reworked to make it a smaller unguided equivalent to ML1 Slug.
  • ▼ ML-X4 Scythe: Reduced missile speed.
  • ▼ AR2 Burst: increased mass, activation duration and heat generation, reduced damage and impact.
  • ▲ AR1 Astra: Decreased heat and activation duration. A more precise option with a higher rate of fire.
  • ▲ DC1 Cannon: Fixed rounds not detonating based on a proximity fuse.

• New descriptions added to a large number of weapons that had incorrect or missing descriptions.
• Fixed the visuals of some shields not matching to their intended role.

Quality of life

• 🦾 Added part and subsystem preview to the base workshop!
  • A preview will be displayed on selection of any workshop project.
  • The preview will not display exact randomized perks and modules (as they are different on every build), but will display the slots and their rating (e.g. uncommon torsos will show presence of a random uncommon perk).

• 🦾 Damage numbers will now be displayed while watching a replay!
• Added the heat threshold and maximum heat readouts to the combat timeline. Improved the heat prediction precision on the timeline, added display of overheat depth.
• Mech customization:
  • Added side-by-side item comparisons to the mech customization screen. Hovering over a potential replacement will move the equipped item window to the right, displaying the replacement in a new window.
  • Added a tooltip listing previously hidden stats such as damage bonuses, resistances and barrier regeneration rate.
  • Added support for displaying more subsystems in the part information window.
  • Added support for comparing installed subsystems.
  • Previewing parts in empty sockets will now update predicted unit stats.
  • Added support for comparing shields to weapons.

• Increased save limit to 60, improved performance of the save/load menu. The load screen no longer resets to the top when deleting a save.

Enemy squads

• Increased the number of enemy units in the Garrison Sweep, Base Demolition, Cache and Assassination scenarios.
• Reworked the conventional tanks to improve balance & readability, provide a better source of loot and enable more interesting enemy squad compositions. The tanks are split into 3 weight classes: lightly armored, medium and heavily armored; each with sub variants covering 3 weapon range bands.
  • Light tanks move quickly, but are easy to destroy and only hold sidearm class weapons.
  • Medium tanks have average speed and protection. They are equipped with conventional AA and cannon turrets at short/long ranges, or an MG at medium range.
  • Heavy tanks have the lowest speed, but are equipped with dangerous primary weapons: mech shotguns, MGs and demolition cannons.

• Adjusted the squads in the army branch of the invasion forces to increase enemy count and improve variety.
• Altered escalation based squad scaling. Each escalation level upgrades half the squads to next grade.
  • No escalation: 100% standard squads.
  • Escalation 1: 50% veteran squads, 50% standard squads.
  • Escalation 2: 50% elite squads, 50% veteran squads.
  • Escalation 3: 100% elite squads.

• Adjusted escalation thresholds to make higher escalation levels easier to encounter (from 50/150/300 to 50/120/200).

Streamlined mod system

• The mod folder (AppData/Local/PhantomBrigade/Mods) is now created on startup if not present.
• Any mod unpacked into the Mods folder is now loaded by default. There is no need to manually edit Settings/mods.yaml or manage the mod list before restarting the game for the installed mods to take effect.
• To block an installed mod from loading, click a checkbox next to its name in the Mods menu.
• To make troubleshooting and mod development easier, the game will display descriptive notifications if issues are encountered during mod loading.
• Game sessions with mods applied will display active mods in the top right corner of the main menu.
• Improved the mod menu. Added space for longer mod names, simplified the layout into one list, added auto-saving.
• Mod loading priority is now controlled by modders and is no longer exposed to players. Mod developers can set a “priority” field in metadata.yaml to control load order. This ensures that dependencies are loaded in the right order and can’t be accidentally misconfigured.

Other

• Added a new boss battle music track.
• Added new footsteps for mechs in water.
• Adjusted convoy and patrol spawn logic to improve variety and balance the frequency of different encounters:
  • Convoys will no longer travel to destinations across the border of non-escalated provinces, resulting in faster convoy turnover.
  • Newly spawned patrols and convoys select a type that was absent in the province for longest, ensuring a balanced rotation of every type.

• Removed elite patrols from the second province.
• Reduced the bonus from Quick Loader perk.
• Locked minimum duration for a weapon to 0.6s.
• Removed the cache event from the game, cache objectives are now won by completing the combat encounter.
• Missiles can no longer be targeted outside their intended range (for example, the game will block an attempt to create an attack on a target 300m away if an equipped launcher only supports a 50-200m range).

Bug Fixes

General

• Fixed the ambush missions not providing workshop charges for higher tier victories.
• Removed concussion multiplier for hitting targets from behind when using weapons that deal splash damage.
• Fixed Growing Ranks event triggering repeatedly after first activation.
• Fixed some cases where a weapon could fire before it was properly aimed.
• Fixed some missiles being set to detonate further from target than intended, causing reduced damage.
• Fixed Armored patrols having unusual unit spawns at high escalations.
• Fixed beam weapons penetrating through boss sub-units.
• Fixed an issue that could cause escaping assassination targets to get stuck if they crash while waiting for pickup.
• Fixed an issue that could cause enemy units to spawn too close together in rare cases.
• Fixed base barrier regeneration being set too high causing most barrier modules to have no effect.
• Fixed ML-X4 Scythe having an unusually high scrap value.
• Fixed an issue that would cause destroyed parts to reduce incoming damage from AOE attacks.

Visuals

• Added an accessibility option to reduce the intensity of some bright special effects such as muzzle flashes and lightning.
• Beam shader effects now get animated during replay.
• Improved rain effects: reduced aliased reflections from bright effects, optimized performance, rebalanced intensity at different weathers.
• Improved background vegetation on several maps.
• Fixed remaining instances of floating grass in corners of combat maps.

UI

• Updated colors of concussion and impact damage numbers for consistency with mech customization screen.
• Fixed machine gun projects in the workshop using the SMG sprite.
• Fixed delayed fragmentation submunitions not being displayed in the shot count when inspecting weapons.
• Fixed some cases where comparing pieces of equipment would have incorrect coloring for positive/negative changes.
• Fixed Redback boss listing it’s side launchers as turrets.
• Fixed a rare case that could cause the game to get stuck during the overworld tutorial.

Known issues

• Tanks can get pushed under the level while crashing, making them difficult to destroy
• All audio except for cutscene audio will sometimes not play.
• Tooltips can flow off the sides of the screen in some circumstances.
• Occasionally destroyed mechs are flung around the map after viewing replay mode.
• On launch, it seems audio is occasionally not playing on the main menu and in gameplay except for cutscenes. If you do encounter this please relaunch your game.
• There is a chance of the province liberation event being interrupted by other post-combat events, meaning the opportunity to participate in the parade is not given to the player when the province is won.
• Some events do not end correctly - this could be caused by playing with an older save file.
• Sometimes patrols can get stuck behind the mobile base without engaging in combat. This can be resolved by entering liberated territory briefly.
• Performance issues are common.

Detailed balance notes

• ▲ Adjusted balance of beam weapons:
  • BM1 Sunswarm: Damage buildup reduced from 2 > 1 Turn rate limit reduced from 10.5 > 14
  • BM2 Glorydog: Damage buildup reduced from 8 > 2.3 Kinetic damage per second reduced from 420 > 360
  • BM3 Alpenglow: Damage buildup reduced from 2.8 > 1 Kinetic damage per second increased from 30 > 60, Added burn status application
  • UHB Solarburst: Damage buildup reduced from 1 > 0.5 Kinetic damage per second increased from 67 > 264 Impact damage per second increased from 942 > 1050 Heat generation reduced from 296 > 225 Duration reduced from 4s > 3.8s turn rate limit increased from 4 > 8

• ⮂ Adjusted balance of assault rifles:
  • AR1 Astra: Range adjusted from 42-74m > 32-77m Action duration reduced from 1.3s > 1.2s Kinetic damage per hit increased from 15 > 16 Impact damage per hit reduced from 15 > 10 Number of shots reduced from 13 > 12 Heat generation reduced from 105 > 90
  • AR2 Burst: Range adjusted from 31-57m > 24-60m Action duration increased from 0.8s > 1s Kinetic damage per hit decreased from 43 > 36 impact damage per hit decreased from 39 > 15 Number of shots increased from 5 > 6 Mass increased from 4 > 5 heat generation increased from 90 > 105

• ▲ Adjusted balance of machine guns:
  • MG3 Hurricane: Scatter reduced from 8-23 > 8-20 Duration increased from 1.9s > 2s, Kinetic damage per hit increased from 7 > 8 added Impact damage Mass reduced from 10 > 8 heat generation reduced from 140 > 130
  • MG1 Typhoon: Duration reduced from 2.5s > 2s Kinetic damage per hit increased from 7 > 8 Number of shots reduced from 40 > 35 Mass increased from 3 > 4 Heat generation reduced from 150 > 120
  • MG2 Torrent: Scatter reduced from 9-19 > 8-19 Range increased from 30-53 > 30-55 Duration reduced from 3 > 2.5 kinetic damage per hit increased from 10 > 12 Impact damage per hit increased from 5.7 > 8 Shots reduced from 35 > 30 heat generation reduced from 160 > 130

• ⮂ Adjusted balance of sniper rifles:
  • SR1 Midway: adjusted scatter from 4-13 > 3-15 Increased range from 87-125m > 88-133m Increased duration from 0.7 > 1 Decreased kinetic damage per hit from 125 > 110 Decreased concussion damage per hit from 8 > 7 Added small amount of impact damage
  • SR2 Lock: Increased scatter from 3-14 > 3-15 Reduced range from 94m-139m > 93m-137m reduced impact damage per hit from 80 > 25
  • SR3 Dice: Decreased scatter from 2-20 > 2-15 Increased range from 84m-132m > 93m-145m Increased duration from 0.7 > 0.9 Increased kinetic damage per hit from 120 > 200 increased concussion damage per hit from 5.1 > 9 decreased impact damage per hit from 100 > 70 increased mass from 4 > 5

• Adjusted balance of UHMG:
  • Scatter increased from 2-8 > 3-8 Optimal range reduced from 73-111 > 70-102 Reduced concussion damage per hit from 0.4 > 0.1

• ⮂ Missile launcher changes:
  • Guided missiles deal a bit more concussion damage, less impact damage
  • Unguided missiles deal a little less concussion damage, more impact damage
  • ML10 Starburst: concussion damage per missile reduced from 0.8 > 0.6 Impact damage per missile increased from 40 > 50 Range changed from 2-140m > 30-110m
  • ML1 Slug: concussion damage per missile reduced from 8.4 > 6 Impact damage per missile reduced from 130 > 80 Range changed from 93-277 > 72-164
  • ML6 Hornet: Concussion damage per missile increased from 1.5 > 2.3 impact damage per missile reduced from 50 > 40 Range changed from 2-200 > 46-138
  • ML3 Snail: Impact damage per missile reduced from 100 > 60 Range changed from 2-200 > 63-167
  • ML-X4 Scythe: Range changed from 2-250 > 62-158, Missile flight speed reduced
  • ML-X9 Hydra: Range changed from 93-277 > 72-168
  • MLS5 Direct: Impact damage per missile reduced from 65 > 35 range changed from 2-200 > 24-92 Heat generation reduced from 135 > 80
  • MLS1 Oneshot: Concussion damage per missile reduced from 6.3 > 4 Heat generation reduced from 130 > 90
  • MLS8 Cluster: Now fires unguided missiles heat generation reduced from 100 > 60
  • MLS5 Rapid: Concussion damage per missile increased from 1.3 > 2 Impact damage per missile reduced from 35 > 20 Number of shots reduced from 6 > 5 heat generation reduced from 130 > 100

• ▲ Adjusted balance of secondary weapons:
  • HGA Spark: Range adjusted from 24m-38m > 12m-45m Added charged status application heat generation reduced from 90 > 80
  • HG1 Granite: Range adjusted from 46m-62m > 11m-38m Kinetic damage per hit increased from 15 > 30 heat generation reduced from 90 > 80
  • HG2 Firestarter: Scatter reduced from 15 > 6 Range adjusted from 27m-39m > 12m-42m kinetic damage per hit reduced from 15 > 10 Impact damage per hit reduced from 150 > 40 Added burn status application Increased shots from 2 > 4 reduced heat generation from 90 > 80
  • HGS Stand: Range adjusted from 26m-42m > 12m > 42m heat generation reduced from 105 > 95
  • SMG1 Tactical: Scatter adjusted from 17 > 12-15 Range adjusted from 17m-30m > 14m-38m mass increased from 2 > 2.2
  • SMG1 Mobile: Scatter increased from 6 > 7-8 Range reduced from 30m-53m > 17m-47m mass reduced from 2 > 1.8

• ⮂ Adjusted armor module slots:
  • Arrow L: Torso = Mobility Legs = Mobility Arms = Defensive
  • Arrow M: Torso = Mobility
  • Knox L: Torso = Defensive Legs = Defensive
  • Knox M: Arms = Defensive
  • Knox H Arms = Defensive
  • Hakobu: Torso = Defensive Legs = mobility
  • Tsubasa: Legs = mobility Arms - offensive
  • Bein: Torso = offensive Legs = offensive arms = offensive
  • Blackbird: Legs = defensive arms = defensive
  • Elbrus: Legs = Mobility + Defensive
  • Helge: Torso = Defensive
  • Asgard: Legs = offensive
  • Vidar: Torso = Defensive Legs = defensive arms = defensive