This content packed update brings the ANOMALY DIFFICULTY! An exciting new mode that completely changes how each run plays. This mode tracks progress uniquely to each mercenary, and it serves as the ultimate test for the C.M.C.'s finest!
Speaking of C.M.C's finest, the ONLINE LEADERBOARDS are here! Measure up to your steam friends or all global players to see who can hit the highest scores and beat runs with the fastest times!
The new MEGA DETONATOR enemy is also making an explosive entrance! This mini-boss is an absolute UNIT and will make quick work of your reactor if you're not careful. It can start appearing in the mid to late game portions of a run and rewards strategic players with heaps of scrap!
We've also got quite a few balance and gameplay changes, some shiny new items, and more!
Changes with the '📡 ' icon in front of them are changes or additions suggested by the community!
-NEW: Anomaly Difficulty
More details below!
-Added new main menu and character select background art while Anomaly difficulty is selected
-NEW: Online Leaderboards
More details below!
-NEW: Mega Detonator Wave Event
More details below!
-Implemented a LOT of new SFX
-Mercenary class items now have colored stars on their item sprites and class icons on their inventory description panels to differentiate them from general items

-New VFX for empowered enemies
-New VFX for invincible enemies
-Increased points awarded for all score criteria by x10!
-📡 Removed armor priority system, now whenever you gain a new piece of armor, regardless of the type, it will always appear at the rightmost slot of your health
Regenerative armor sources will greatly benefit from this change!
-📡 Removed orange motor box by the drawbridge

This should improve movement in this part of the map, especially for new players who would often get caught or stuck on it.
Beat the game with this difficulty as each mercenary to unlock the next level for them, up to Anomaly 5

In addition to hard mode's modifiers:
-Each wave has 1 (+1 per anomaly difficulty level) wave modifiers that add various challenges to your runs!
-Boss enemies have +10% (+10% per anomaly difficulty level) max health
-There are over 40+ different anomalies to encounter, and many require you to adjust your strategy in order to make it out on top. Some of them can even be used to your advantage!
-Upcoming anomalies are shown to you before each wave so you're able to prepare for what's to come. Here is a list of all anomalies with their effects:
Introducing the online leaderboards! You can sort them to show just your steam friends or all global players. They can also be progressed in any difficulty. Here are the leaderboard categories:
-All Time Highest Scores 🏆
-All Time Fastest Runs 🏆
-Current Month Highest Scores 🥈
-Current Month Fastest Runs 🥈
Each entry shows the mercenary used, difficulty chosen, and if the run was a victory or not.
The 'Fastest Runs' categories require you to win the run for your entry to be tracked.
Do YOU have what it takes to make the C.M.C. hall of fame?
-Crackshot (Minigunner)
Requirement reduced 25 -> 10
-Ammo Rationing (Minigunner)
Requirement reduced 6 -> 5
-📡 Lead The Charge (Commando)
Requirement reduced 40,000 -> 30,000
-KABOOOM (Drillminer)
Requirement increased 1000 -> 1500
-NEW: Against All Odds
Beat the game in hard mode.
Rewards: Precision Mining Beam (Legendary Item) and Anomaly Difficulty
Many enemies have been adjusted to take longer to prepare an attack and have longer cooldowns between attacks, with snipers in particular receiving substantial improvements to their attack telegraphing. These changes should make enemies in general feel more fair to fight.
-Enemies have a more pronounced colored glow around them
-Spitter
Attack charge time increased by 100%
-Splitter
Attack charge time increased by 115%
Projectile speed reduced by 10%
-Sniper
Attack charge time increased by 100%
Attack cooldown time increased by 25%
Improved laser during attack charge to have a distinct visual warning blink before the attack fires

-Heavy Spitter
Attack charge time increased by 50%
Attack cooldown time increased by 20%
-Slicer
Attack charge time increased by 10%
-Burster
Attack charge time increased by 10%
Attack cooldown time increased by 20%
-Sprayer
Attack cooldown time increased by 20%
-Corrupter
New corrupter empowerment VFX!

-After wave 8, every wave has a small chance to have a Mega Detonator, and will warn you before it starts

-The Mega Detonator is a large and formidable gloop that always spawns at the main mineshaft and will not stop until it reaches your reactor
-While it travels through the outpost it will fire attacks at the player from both of its tendril appendages

-It will obliterate any ally minions that get too close with a devastating melee attack, so careful where you position your safety cone or beamer brigade!
-Whenever it loses 25% of its health it increases its attack rate, gains stun resistance, and retaliates with a large radial projectile attack
-The Mega Detonator will visually become more damaged as its health gets depleted
-When it reaches the reactor it will stop attacking the player and instead focus on charging up extremely dangerous super bomb projectiles that deal 32 damage to the reactor. These super bombs can be intercepted by ally minions, defense drones, or in dire situations, the player

-For the first ~75% of a mega detonator wave event, normal enemies will not spawn from the mineshafts, allowing you to focus on bringing it down. The mega detonator has roughly about the same health as the enemies it is replacing and will reward you by dropping just as much, if not more scrap when it is defeated (watch out for the blast though, it goes out with a BANG!)

All bosses have had reductions in max health per player feedback, and this will be especially noticeable for the early bosses. This change should make facing them before you have any decent single target damage items easier. However, for players that seek the challenge, bosses in the anomaly difficulty will have comparable numbers to what they were before, and will even exceed them at the highest anomaly levels.
Additionally the Elder Spitter, as the game's first boss, has had some adjustments to make the fight less overwhelming for new players.
-Elder Spitter
📡 Max health reduced 10,000 → 8,000
Attack 1 charge time increased by ~85%
Attack 1 projectiles now stick onto walls for twice as long before re-firing at the player
Attack 1 projectile speed reduced by ~10%
-Giga Beamer
📡 Max health reduced 24,000 → 20,000
-Frostblaster
📡 Max health reduced 48,000 → 40,000
-Abyssal Warden
📡 Max health reduced 96,000 → 80,000
We have made various changes to improve the more underused transaction stations so they can better compete with the other options!
-All transaction stations now have their input slots properly match the rarity color of items they take
Medbay
-Pill Prescriber
OLD: Choose 3 items of any rarity to trade for a max health capsule
NEW: Choose 3 common items to trade for a max health capsule OR Choose 1 rare item to trade for a max health capsule

Laboratory
-NEW: Exoglass Synthesizer
Pay scrap for a random "prism" item
Max uses: 2

⚠️ CLASS 4 LASER WARNING: Avoid eye exposure to direct and scattered radiation ⚠️
Mechanical Garage
-Hydraulic Press
Scrap output increased 100% of item value -> 150% of item value
-Heavy Duty Armor Fabricator
Max uses increased 1 -> 2
-Drone Fabricator
OLD: Choose 2 items of any rarity to trade for an attack drone
NEW: Choose 1 common item to trade for either a defense drone or a surveillance drone OR Choose 2 rare items to trade for either an assault drone or a flamethrower drone

Cafeteria
-Juicy CO. Vending Machine
Energy Drink cost reduced 20 ⚙️ -> 12 ⚙️
-Added a new decorative room layout!

Administrative Office
-Added a new decorative room layout!

Storage Room
-Added a new decorative room layout!

Break Room
-Renamed to Game Room
-Added a new decorative room layout!

Sleeping Quarters
-Standard Trade Computer
Max uses increased 1 -> 2
-Standard Unit Replacer
Common item output options increased 3 -> 4

-One Man Army (Passive)
Adrenaline rush duration increased 10s -> 12s
Close range adrenaline multiplier increased x3 -> x4
We are increasing adrenaline's buff duration in order to help compensate for the inevitable reload that you will have to perform during early game activations. We're also increasing the close range multiplier at base to make it feel much more rewarding to close the gap on enemies with massively boosted adrenaline gains!
-Frostbomb Sentry
Price reduced 100 ⚙️ -> 90 ⚙️
-Scattershot Sentry
Projectile damage increased by 25%
Firerate reduced by ~15%
-Assault Drone
Firerate increased by 14%
Movement speed increased by 40%
Price increased 160 ⚙️ -> 170 ⚙️
-Adrenaline Booster
Adrenaline Generation +20% -> +25%
Adrenaline Duration +2.5s -> +3s
Removed close range adrenaline multiplier increase
-Ammonite
Ammo per wave increased +4 -> +5
-Booster Nozzles
Projectile speed and range increased +15% -> +30%
New item VFX!
-Pocket Hyper-Engine
Firerate boost increased +50% -> +75%
-Gunner's Bandana
Firerate boost per stack increased +15% (max 75%) -> +20% (max 100%)
-Supply Signals
Supply signal ui will now blink when you have a signal ready to deploy
The tank component pick-up now has a much more attention grabbing icon on the minimap
-Corrupted Moongem
Scrap per activation increased +20 -> +25
-Scavenging Claw
Scrap chance on kill increased +5% -> +6%
-Blackpowder Barrel
Explosion radius increased by ~15%
Explosion damage increased 300 -> 500
Stun Duration increased 4s -> 6s
New explosion VFX!

-Darksteel Furnace
Firerate boost increased +75% -> +100%
-Vulkanite Ore
Explosion damage increased 75 -> 100
New fiery explosion VFX!
-Vulkanite Ingot
Explosion damage reduced 150 -> 100
New fiery explosion VFX!

(Goodbye orange overclock!)
-Volcanic Ember Shards
This item has been renamed to Prospector's Lantern and has a new item sprite & VFX!
-Crystalizing Sweetwater
New armor gain VFX!
-Reinforced Drill Tips
New stun VFX!
-Bullet Boomerang
Chance to fire boomerang reduced 10% → 8%
Boomerang ammo refund on hit reduced +9 ammo → +8 ammo
Boomerang bonus damage increased +50% → +75%
With only 1 bullet boomerang and no other items, you were able to essentially have 100% shooting uptime with no reloading. Adjusting this a bit to have slightly lower ammo consistency while gaining more damage to compensate.
-Collecting Vial
New screen VFX for the crit buff status effect
-Silver Wings
Projectile speed and range increased +25% -> +30%
-Fragile Monocle
Accuracy increased -10 degrees -> -20 degrees
-Heavy Caliber Rounds
Chance to fire increased +10% -> +12%
-Shock Absorber
Overclock activation damage increased +300% -> +500%
-Frequency Tuner
Empowered Overclock activation damage increased +400% -> +900%
-Satchel Charge
Explosion damage increased 250 -> 300
Stun duration increased 4s -> 5s
-Bandit's Bandolier
Vulnerability percentage increased 35% -> 50%
Mark duration decreased 6s -> 4s
-Goopy Tar Barrel
Vulnerability percentage increased 35% -> 50%
Mark duration decreased 14s -> 10s
-Voltage Regulator
Item rarity updated from common to rare!
Damage per tick increased +8 -> +24
Max item stacks reduced 4 -> 2
Instead of perpetually decaying, the field size will now only shrink after not intercepting an attack for 6 seconds, allowing you to maintain a larger radius much easier

Item sprite updates!
(spoilered for your protection)