Greetings, mercenaries!
Today we’re sharing what we’ve been working on over the past month, what we’re busy with right now, and what you can look forward to in the upcoming July 0.9.5 update.
Some of the content is already live on the beta branch, and we’ll keep updating it right up until the patch ships to the stable version in July. We’ve marked items in the text so you can easily see what’s currently in development and what’s already being tested. So feel free to jump in and try it out!
(coming soon to beta)
Patch 0.9 added a ton of augmentations and implants. Now we’re expanding everything around them:
Augmentation Department – Crafts augments and implants for you (provided you hold the right licenses) and boosts the chance of successfully extracting them from enemies.
Management Department – At last, an expansion of the market mechanics! It’s time to get a seat at the table, not just play someone else’s pawn. Take out a rival CEO, claim their chair, and steer a minor corporation yourself. Speed up production, bring corporate allies on missions, and even change your corporation’s type.
(coming soon to beta)
The Solar System is vast, but it’s a small world and plans rarely survive contact with reality. Our goal is to make the gameplay feel more dynamic and alive, with new challenges, opportunities and rewards.
On-mission floor events: expect spider nests guarding cocoons, hunter squads from factions you’ve angered, levels lacking key resources, pirate or police raids, and even worker uprisings.
In orbit: discover hidden bases and trade shuttles ripe for looting. Factions that like you might occasionally send gifts.
(coming soon to beta)
Update 0.9.5 will add four new story missions that conclude the Civil Resistance arc.
Uncover their secrets across two possible endings.
(already in beta)
Jupiter will no longer be a safe backyard: the planet’s moons are getting their own bramfatura. Brace for new enemies and loot tied to this bramfatura. Hexarch Tianming enters the war for Solar System market dominance. He controls extensive assets in the Outer System and is infamous for strict discipline and wringing every drop of value out of his resources right down to the bioreactors.
Not all arts are ready, expect some placeholders.
(already in beta)
Over the last six months we’ve audited almost every item to make each one more unique and functional. Now we’re reworking tooltips to be shorter yet more informative. Medical items, for example, now show exactly which damage types they treat, and weapon traits can be viewed right in the tooltip, so we hope that now you will need less FAQ diving.
(already in beta)
We’re rebuilding how projectiles are handled, paving the way for genuine rocket launchers and explosive ammo. Expect even bigger booms!
Beyond ballistics, weapon traits are no longer tied to weapon class - they’re modular. We’ve also added many new ones. For example:
Heavy Weapon – can’t attack if the clone moved this turn.
Optical Sight – shifts a weapon’s optimal range.
Weapon stats have been adjusted to accommodate the new traits and widen player options. Some melee weapons now deal different damage types per attack mode. For instance, the Mengele Toxic Knife can now have an option to pierce with penetrating damage as well as strike with poison.
Armor has been re-balanced too: resistances now depend more clearly on armor type and tech tier, and heavy vs. light armor are farther apart. Repair materials have also been reviewed and redistributed.
Your feedback on balance is crucial: the changes are hands-on in beta right now, so let us know what you think!
As before, the beta is open. You can already try out several of these changes, give feedback, and help hunt bugs! There’s a forum thread listing every change in the beta build.
Not all arts are ready, expect some placeholders.
The patch is slated to hit the stable branch in the second half of July.
Good hunting, mercenaries!