Cepheus Protocol · published · build 21534842
Alright everyone, quick report based off Friday in terms of what’s going on.
We’re releasing an early preview of some of the Doctrine changes on Experimental going into this weekend, and I highly recommend people jump in and try it out.
This is an early drop to let you guys test the mechanics early, find issues, and help us validate performance before the UI goes live.
We are doing a screenshot contest for updating our loading screens submit your art here-> Rebuild only!
This build adds:
Turret pets are back and better then ever! (the little deployable turrets from legacy)
Can only be built by Engineers and self destruct when their ammo hits 0.
Deposable and meant for a quick "shore" up while backup is on the way.
Communications Tower lets you call in airstrikes remotely through your Radio Operator or Command Truck. Operators will gain access to this in the next few days via a new perk.
Relay Nodes are buildable field extenders made only by the Radioman, designed to be placed in forward positions to expand your strike network.
Airstrikes are now directly tied to your airstrike logistics units:
Radio Operator is built from the Barracks
Command Truck is built from the Motor Pool
These units are your logistics managers for strikes. They can call in airstrikes anywhere you have Influence, which is defined as the AOE coverage from your base network and any extenders you have deployed. Their call in range is more limited while they are moving.
To expand coverage into the field, you can place Relay Nodes as small, hideable forward structures. On top of that, you can build a Radar Tower at your base to enable remote support and airstrikes through your Radio Operators and Command Trucks. The goal is a connected, expanding network that behaves like mobile coverage, pushing your airstrike reach forward as you take ground.
Thunderbolt Bombing + Gun run is in
MOAB Bomb is in
White phosphorus airstrike is in
AC130 Dragon Gunship is in!
Direct Strike is in
Ammo Box drop & Large Ammo Box drop is in
Gas airstrike coming Sunday / Monday
Effective range you can call in airstrikes are reduced by half when moving!
M203 ability
Demo Charge (throwable, very direct AoE blast)
Bradley TOW
Increased starting cash from 30k to 50k for Pandemic
Adjusted cost of vehicle weapons
Stray Ember is disabled for a week while we address really bad pathing issues in that map
MLRS now costs 350 less to resupply
Cerberus, Abrams, TOWs, and Mortars are 20% more expensive to resupply to account for recent buffs
Increased money-on-kill for:
Police Infected
SWAT
Military Officer
Blowup Guy
Updated MOAB FX
Removed Christmas lights from Gas Tower
Updated Gate preview meshes and UI icons
Fixed various incorrect UI icons
Added placeholder airstrike icons from legacy
Added UI icons for Dragon Gunship weapons
Updated Gunship AOE visualization
Fixed Airstrikes visual stacking bug
Fixed an issue where Airstrike visibility was getting culled only in gameplay maps
Fixed Resupply logic that would block high cost weapons/bullets and only supply primary weapons
Motor Pool now supplies helicopters fully
Added bSupplyTooLow to ResupplyComponent to allow resupply attempts even when Supply has not hit zero, if a resupply attempt failed due to being too expensive (example: MLRS)
Minor cleanup to supply math
Made amendments to the Armoury so users could not jump out like people in abandoned parkour videos on YouTube
Ammo box readded to Hub with new mesh
Crash fix: gates being destroyed while closing could cause a crash
Fixed infantry gate offset
Adjusted razor wire collision
Added it so screen messages are hidden by default
Fixed various incorrect UI icons
Minor UI fixes
Fix for Custom Unit Settings not saving latest changes if you hit Return to Game while customizing an enemy
Wrapped FormationActor debug sphere call behind a debug bool (should stop magenta spheres for helicopter stuff)
Locked HelicopterMovement landing debug sphere behind a debug bool so it will not show up in regular gameplay
Fixed Abrams CROWS metadata so it attaches properly to the main cannon instead of the root body
Improved damage for:
Abrams cannon
MLRS cannon/mortar
Cerberus cannon/mortar
AJAX TOW damage increased to outpace the SMAW
Increased smoothbore damage slightly
Sabot round balance pass:
Reduced damage from 20k to 3k
Increased sniper damages
Increased vehicle ranges
Increased Abrams cannon damage against Juggs slightly
Increased sabot damage
Cut back some damage to infected structures using the MLRS
Fixed brute sliding
Standardized some Find Target code in prep for Derek finalizing targeting issues sometimes with Horde objectives(Fixes Melee failing for Horde objectives)
Fix for garrisoned units in Guard Towers failing to rotate to certain angles to shoot targets
Revamped loading for Call In system
Damage and radius pass on call in airstrikes
Mule radius decreased to 750 from 1000
Ammo crate call in prices adjusted and supply amounts adjusted
MOAB balance changes with added DT
Added Ammo and Large Ammo crate supply call ins
Fixed support callins not working on clients
Added vehicle support to airstrike extension
Fixed crash:
CepheusProtocol!AStrikeInstance::BeginFireBurst()
StrikeInstance.cpp:375
Added ability for the Radioman to build the Radio Relay
Added support for only allowing strikes around his radius or the structures radius
Added Radio Tower and further polish to the shops for:
Radio Truck
Radio Operator
Added Radio Truck as buildable under the Light category
Initial commit on turret update: “wait to face target before shooting”
AI and turret rotation updated to use an internal value in the Weapon instead of relying on the Turret Anim Instance as the authority (except coaxials)
Coaxial guns given zero rotation speed so they rely on parent weapon rotation
Turret rotation speed/limits moved into Weapon_Base instead of deprecated values in Turret Anim Instance
Added initial turret customization and angle-of-fire customization for vehicles to improve turret behavior and visuals
Setup initial XP gains from killing infected types and structures
Fixed a bug where airstrikes would not grant Doctrine XP
Doctrine XP markers are no longer created in cinematic mode
Fixed bug report: Engineers getting distracted by repair tasks
Initial pass on EngineerRepairMode ability (functions, needs move target update)
Abilities now support AdditionalAbilitiesForOperator, allowing abilities to define extra abilities Operators receive if they pick up that ability from customization
Used to give Vehicle Repair to Operators who have Engineer Construction lv1
More tweaks to Engineer Repair Mode to make it easier to use in Operator mode
Improved Operator mode “cursor over unit shows healthbar” logic to be more reliable
Additional fixes to healthbar visibility checks
Fixed M2 and Mk19 sentry so they work in gameplay setup UI icons
Added support so weapons can destroy themselves when they run out of ammo
Added Demo Charge ability to Spec Ops
Added support for grenades to have a time display
Added widget replication support as needed
Added Tilt support to ADS
Added backblast Niagara effect support to the AimedAbility bullet ability payload setup
Logic fix for helicopter movement “not flying high enough before flying forward”
Should resolve most or all remaining cases of flying forward too early when something is in the way
Initial pass on Weapon Unlock system for the FactionManager
Recruit Popup updated to read this info
Replicates properly so clients see options in Recruit Popup
Spitter change:
Minimum spit range is now 3000uu
Max spit range is 4250uu
Should force them to come in closer before spitting
Removed TimeAPI checks for operator XP weekend events due to unreliability
Switched to newer Steam API for getting UTC time from Valve
Will need a better solution for EOS
Added missing VO barks to all vehicles
We also added some XP gains tied to the Doctrine system.
We put it in as an early incubator because right now we’re watching to see how expensive it is to run that on the network.
So this is more of a test on Experimental.
Important note:
Right now, you can’t do anything with Doctrine points yet.
The entire goal this weekend is to run some sessions and see what the actual network cost looks like in real gameplay scenarios as we are spawning them!
Going into Monday / Tuesday, we’ll get you guys the UI for Doctrines.
We’re aiming for Tuesday as the target.
If we get lucky, it might be sooner, but that’s roughly what we’re aiming for.
There’s about two to three dozen items in the Doctrines page, including:
Increasing ammo reserves
Increasing XP gained from kills
Decreasing structure cost by type
Ammo reserve increases are based off type:
Infantry
Vehicles
Helicopters
Improving the efficiency of gas, or rather, how much gas units can hold by type.
Unlocking weapons
Unlocking abilities
Unlocking classes
Unlocking airstrikes
The idea is that everything is being wrapped up in this system, and the entire game is being rebalanced and reorganized around this Doctrine tree.
So you can’t just rush to the Abrams or the Bradley or the MLRS or the striker mortar in the first 5 to 10 minutes of the game.
We’re adding a structure into the game Logistics Requisition Center.
The idea is that this structure built from the Engineer allows you to farm XP passively for doctrines.
So not only can you get doctrine points by going out and killing, but you can also invest in these structures and build doctrine XP through infrastructure.
Costs a lot of energy
Costs a lot of money to build initially
You can build up to 10 globally
You’ll get a bigger picture on how everything works and how it operates going into Tuesday when we drop the UI.
It’s been great seeing thousands of people flood into Cepheus Protocol over the last week or so since we merged Rebuild.
We’ve seen a huge outpouring of love, caring, and trust in what we’re doing, and we genuinely appreciate all the people willing to contribute their time to:
Find bugs
Find issues
Help us fix the game in different ways
It’s been completely overwhelming in the best way.
We’ve had to make hard decisions over the last year to prioritize long-term gains over short-term, and it’s been incredible seeing you guys understand the vision and support it.
With the rebuild foundation in place:
Vehicle pathfinding is better
Helicopter pathfinding is better
And we’ve pushed it even further on Experimental
I’m not saying it’s bugless.
I’m not saying it’s perfect.
There are still:
Issues to hunt down
Performance issues to improve
AI bugs to resolve
But we’re getting there day by day, minute by minute, working in collaboration with the community.
Our devs are actively engaging with you guys on Steam forums and Discord to address tension points and concerns directly.
Jump into Experimental this weekend and try everything.
Airstrikes
Radio Operators
Radio Trucks
Radio Command Trucks
Relay setups in the field
Combat pacing with the new additions
And tell us what you think:
How does it feel?
How do things play?
Do you have suggestions for doctrine passives or upgrades we should look into long-term?
What we have right now is pretty much baked in, but feedback is still massive for tuning and future direction.
I mentioned last week the rebuild was basically the restart, centering the field, resetting the board.
This upcoming week is taking everything you know about the game and throwing it out the window in terms of:
Progression loop
Game balance
Shared progression and long-term scaling
We want the player experience to feel like you and your friends are contributing toward a common goal.
Doctrine points are shared amongst all players in the match.
At any time, you can jump to the next stage.
There’s no prerequisite to go to Stage 2 or Stage 3 besides paying and going linearly from:
Stage 1 → Stage 2 → Stage 3
You can take upgrades from any stage, but some upgrades are chained.
Examples:
XP rates in Stage 1 → chained into Stage 2 → chained into Stage 3
Ammo upgrades and gas efficiency upgrades can start in Stage 1 and reach full potential in Stage 3
The goal is small stacked modifiers that let you upgrade with intentionality, and build your forces in a way that feels strategic over hours of play.
There are some new weapons, abilities, and classes being added.
But there are also weapons that were basically free for everyone already that should have been locked previously.
We intentionally had them unlocked in previous builds so you could:
Play them
Experience them
See how they felt
Now that we have doctrines inside the rebuild, we can reset the tempo and properly structure progression again.
Now we can answer:
What do you actually have to work toward to get an Abrams, an MRS, a Bradley, etc.
We’ll still add custom game options so people can customize the experience or cheese progression if they want to.
We’re aiming to add a couple additional custom game options next week before we start the save system, to address pressure points like:
“I want to start with all doctrine points”
“I want to increase the rate I gain doctrine XP”
Simple options that we’ll expose alongside the Doctrine UI.
Here’s the current plan:
Experimental doctrine preview testing
Airstrikes, relay systems, new abilities, and network-cost testing for XP
Doctrine UI goes live
Full list of doctrine items revealed
Start work on the save system
Deliver a functional save system
After that:
Last week of January is bugs, quality of life, and cleanup
Operator polish
Civilian Evac
📢 Civilian Evacuation Livestream + Master FAQ Thread
We’re planning on doing a Saturday livestream to address and go over everything planned for Civilian Evacuation. (TBD)
I’m going to link a Steam thread that will act as a Master FAQ.
Please post on it and give us the full TLDR:
What you loved about Civilian Evacuation
What you hated
What you want to see improved
I’ve got a lot of ideas, but I want to see what the community has to add too, so we can build this into something truly remarkable.
Thank you again for the insane amount of support lately.
It’s been overwhelming, and we’re going to keep hauling ass to meet our timeline and keep improving the game with you guys alongside us.
Together, we’re going to build a truly remarkable experience in Cepheus Protocol that is unparalleled.