The OCI Rework is now live!
To read up on all the major and minor changes head over to our dev diary on the OCI rework over HERE.
This patch is compatible with existing save games, but we highly encourage you to start a new game instead!
OCI Rework
We treated the current OCI system as a sort of placeholder for the more detailed and complex system we always had in mind. The OCI rework is the biggest change to the game during Early Access so far and will open up a whole new level of customization, decisions and replayability. In the new OCI system there are still three basic OCI slots on the Impetus, but we renamed them to better include certain OCIs. Each of these slots can hold a variety of “base OCIs” that are always unlocked. These are very basic upgrades that cover all the essentials that players need without the need to unlock certain trust based faction OCIs.
From now on players will unlock faction OCIs that have to be installed over the base OCI and will replace it. Note that non-ability OCIs will usually keep the effect of the base OCI so installing an intelligence center upgrade will keep the +1 intelligence bonus.
Additionally, each unlocked OCI comes automatically with an upgraded version that is usually more expensive to install. This upgrade is often a better version of the OCIs but in many cases it can fundamentally change what an OCI does so be careful of when to upgrade or not. Factions now come with 12 OCIs to unlock and 12 trust levels instead of the 8 they previously had.
Offmap Ability changes
Offmap abilities see quite some changes in how they work. Most importantly, their uses are no longer on a per mission base, but on a per operation base. That means you can use all 3 uses in one mission or use one in each mission. Just be careful not to waste your offmap support too early!
Orbital vs Airpower Abilities
Orbital offmap abilities now work very differently from the dropship based Airpower ones.
While orbital abilities are called in from the impetus, airpower ones are based on dropships that deliver their payloads directly to the battlefield.
Orbital abilities therefore usually have a long delay of 2 turns until they reach the battlefield, however, they are usually more impactful than dropship/airpower based ones. Airpower abilities need you to call in the aircraft which will reach the battlefield after 2 turns. Once the ship is close to the battlefield its offmap ability can be used and triggered immediately. That means a gun run hits right when you select the tiles it should target. However, dropships have limited fuel supplies and they can only loiter near the battlefield for one turn until they have to return to base or the impetus for refueling. That means once a dropship airpower ability is ready to be used it has to be used within one turn or the dropship flies off and the use is wasted. Airpower Example: Show of Force
UI Improvement: Show distance in tooltip
You can now see the distance to the target right in the tooltip of an attack. This makes it very easy to see how close you are to a weapon's ideal range and can help in giving you the edge by getting into the best possible position before firing.
Changed Maximum Authority & Maximum Squaddies
From now on there is a maximum authority that is set to 120. Each squad leader or pilot that players add to the roster reduces the maximum authority by 4. This adds a soft cap to the amount of SLs players can stack on their ship as authority will suffer at some point. There will be OCIs that increase the max authority. For realism and immersion and also to add some planning and decisions around squaddies we added a maximum amount of squaddies the Impetus can hold. Once the limit is reached, no more squaddies will be added to the roster from any source. We want very large squads and lots of squaddies to be an intentional choice of players that has to be integrated in that players strategy and OCI selection.
The maximum amount starts out rather generously and can also easily be increased by installing the Quarters base OCI. It can also be set through the initial difficulty options.
New Pistol Animations
New Armory Idle Animations
New Models for Weapons and Armors
Changelog - v0.7.8
New
- Overhauled all OCIs (When loading an existing save, all old OCIs are uninstalled with their cost refunded)
- Overhauled OCI Screen UI
- Maximum authority is now based on the number of hired leaders (120 -4 authority per hired leader)
- Added a squaddies limit, which can be increased by building more quarters
- Added new animations for pistols
- Added new idle animations for the armory
- Added three new armor models: SIPV Recce, SIPV Operator, SIPV High Intensity
- Added new 3D weapon models: K-SAS DMR, P99A3
Improvements
- Reworked enemy reinforcements to be more fair and less frustrating
- Player vehicles can now move through (some) civilian units
- Added range graph to tile tooltips containing skill info, adjusted visuals for tile tooltips, added current distance curve to the graph
- Tactical barks are now paused and resumed when switching screens
- Certain perks and items now show positive accuracy factors in the target tooltip
- Changed ally health bar colors from gray to green
- The video codec can be changed now in the player setting (either H.264 or VP8)
- Improved widescreen support on the system map
- Improved performance on the armory screen
Bugfixes
- FIXED Sometimes the game froze if pirate vehicles didn't get deactivated properly
- FIXED Loading savegames failed for missions, where the number of objectives was reduced
- FIXED Sometimes a unit was visually displayed on a different tile than it actually was
- FIXED UI disappeared, when too many buildings were damaged during a mission
- FIXED Units killed in Fog of War didn't leave visible corpses
- FIXED Input is no longer blocked if pinning tooltips is bound to any key instead of a mouse button
- FIXED It wasn't possible to rotate the camera with Q/E while pressing RMB
- Perks
- FIXED 'Nothing Personal' buff is no longer lost when counterattacking
- FIXED 'Quick Hands' didn't work for vehicle accessories
- FIXED 'Grind Down' was giving +30% Armor Pen instead of +30% Armor Damage
- FIXED Concealment from light forests/tall grass wasn't counting 'Ice in the veins'
- FIXED The 'Stop Bleedout' skill caused sliding animation after using it
Balancing
- Reduced Bombardier Acid Spit Armor penetration from 50 to 35
Known Issues
- Rendering performance needs to be optimized on Backbone, especially for older GPUs.
- Some antivirus programs incorrectly classify the "GameAssembly.dll" file as malware and delete it, making the game unplayable. If that happens, please whitelist the "GameAssembly.dll" and "Menace.exe".
- If the game is installed on HDD drives, loading times are bad and barks are delayed.
- Display mode "Fullscreen" sometimes behaves not as expected, after minimizing the game. Until this is fixed please consider using "Fullscreen Window" instead.
Steam Reviews: Your Feedback Matters
Hi folks, we'd like to ask that you please consider taking a moment to leave a Steam review. Early Access is a collaborative process where your thoughts and feedback matter as patches and content are developed. Even if it's a few sentences about how you feel about MENACE, it'd be a great help to the team.
Community Guides and Resources
Be sure to check out the latest community resources and official guides.
The Gate Rippers’ War Manual: This is a mega-compilation of guides that covers the basics of MENACE, how to use stealth, what accessories to pick, how to engage in close-quarters combat, and much more. A must-read for any prospective commander looking to excel in the Wayback.
Squad Leaders, a Brief(ish) Overview: A fantastic overview of all the game's current Squad Leaders and what their strengths are.
Enemy Almanac: Rogue Army: Knowing your enemy is half the battle. This guide covers the Rogue Army, what their strengths are, and how to fight them effectively.
Official Beginner's Guide: If you're brand new to MENACE then check out our official beginner's guide that'll cover all the essentials to prepare you for the frontlines.
Official MENACE Wiki: Do you have more questions about MENACE? We have a community-run wiki that has details and information to help you along.
Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed
You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also subscribe to our monthly MENACE newsletter on our website.