Play Beta 16.1 (Patreon)

Unchained systems expanding, increasingly balanced, and also now with more V4-D3R.

The first playable version of 16.1 is ready, now available as a prerelease that is only sort of a prerelease! Unlike the past prereleases most of you will be used to, X-versions that are probably missing a chunk of what's still to come, this version is 1) more or less complete and 2) as a minor version number included in the normal Beta 16 leaderboard.

It's essentially still a prerelease in that for now access is limited to patrons, since the new features are tested but not extensively playtested, and may therefore still need fixes or adjustments. I may also add be adding a bit more to it in the meantime.

Unchained More

Obviously the main event is simply more unchained, for which there are three new possibilities, although one of them you will not meet in the normal way, if at all.

More generally important we have big updates to the trigger system, especially the whole new hacking response mechanic alluded to in the "Unchained Theory" article a couple weeks back.

Existing Unchained have gotten some fixes and tweaks as well.

Overall this particular release does not offer as broad a selection of new features for all players, something the next one will rectify, but that's also why this is a minor release, just expanding on areas of Beta 16 that were not where I would have preferred them to be at the time. 16.1 did however require a surprising amount of work to get right, so it's good that this stage was postponed instead of trying to include it all in Beta 16 itself!

Changelog

NEW: 3 more Unchained

NEW: 10 new items

NEW: 1 new robot

NEW: Expanded Unchained dialogue system

NEW: Bonus points awarded for "Hunted by Unchained"

NEW: Scoresheet records "Initial UFD Resources" for each map

NEW: Option to represent energy drain in part list energy visualization with orange instead of blue (advanced.cfg: partEnergyGraphAltColor)

NEW: Option to disable all mod-key based keyboard input for Parts window parts (advanced.cfg: blockPartsWindowModKeyInput)

NEW: Contextual tutorial message warning about matter upkeep when attaching power sources with such a cost

NEW: Contextual tutorial message to teach about ramming bots to gain a small amount of matter in some relevant situations

NEW: Contextual tutorial message explaining purpose behind bump melee attack warning while flying

NEW: Robot data CSV export includes innate resource values

MOD: Unchained announced more quickly in some scenarios

MOD: Surviving Unchained that permanently gave up chase cannot return again for additional triggers

MOD: Added initial stage of nuance to Unchained-triggering behavior detection (more to come)

MOD: Increased but variable leniency for accidental hits on allies

MOD: N-01 Spotter no longer drops parts

MOD: Gui. EMP Blaster now only found in prefabs, redesigned as disposable weapon

MOD: Data Miner does not redirect investigations for which Cogmind is not near target area, or exterminations/assaults not targeting Cogmind directly

MOD: Using knockback effects to indirectly attack other friendly factions now considered hostile action

MOD: Miss trajectory arcs are similar regardless of aiming at a close or distant spot on the same line of fire

MOD: Unchained will no longer repeat the same dialogue in the same run

MOD: "Betrayal Most Foul" achievement now only triggers for a visible ally

MOD: [RPGLIKE mode] SUBCON Basin size reduced to 2

MOD: [RPGLIKE mode] Cobbler Unit can no longer produce Humpback

MOD: Windows XP (SP3) no longer official supported (theoretically could still work with right setup)

FIX: Aperture Drone could drop parts on destruction [Hermelin]

FIX: Special Unchained processor was classified as Device instead of Processor [Hermelin]

FIX: blockCaveinAreasForPathfinding advanced option blocked flight hopping an adjacent robot into a potential cave-in space [Hermelin]

FIX: Engineer terrain repair system had increasing number of connections interfering with terrain cave-in behaviors [Hermelin, Darby, ivelieu]

FIX: Workers could be armed beyond their slot limit if reassimilated by Programmers [ivelieu]

FIX: Crash on attempted Unchained spawn under rarer special conditions [ivelieu]

FIX: Some AI pathfinding checks used for general decision-making in C always failed while access to stairs blocked [ivelieu]

FIX: Some Unchained behavioral state changes might cause them to be temporarily susceptible to sneak attacks [Szymekc]

FIX: History log could report assimilation by Programmer in which neither party related to Cogmind [Infomantis]

FIX: Hostile spawn protection in main maps failed specifically for one open space in DSF access that could be nearby on entry [Plexion]

FIX: "Ambidextrous" achievement detection broad enough to count unrelated scenarios [Bish]

FIX: Item tagging window could be opened multiple times by clicking on more inventory items while tagging [Dwarfinator]

FIX: AI could hop an ally through an Engineer-repaired wall if a straight path was established before the repair took place [Runia, aoemica]

FIX: "This Is My Hole" achievement icon did not match newer description requirement [Mozco]

FIX: "Not Today, Chutes" achievement could be earned outside Factory [theyflower]

FIX: Message log did not report knockback if target knocked into a machine [Jiyva]

FIX: "Metal Spider" achievement did not take into account size of multislot legs [aoemica]

FIX: Crash if Companion Sword performs follow-up attack after another melee weapon became invalid mid-volley [psylence0027]

FIX: ID Mask temporarily affected hostility records of non-0b10 faction members [R-26 Lightspeed]

FIX: Windows 7 compatibility temporarily lost due to DLL update [Esven]

FIX: Typos [GentleJesus, ActualDio]

FIX: Forced ramming or misses that struck non-controlled Scrapoids could negatively affect ally relations

FIX: Combat Unchained disarmed after beginning to retreat under some circumstances may stop fleeing intelligently

FIX: Allies could hack DSF locations as if branches

FIX: Many new achievement icons included element with incorrect background color

Some special notes beyond the proper changelog...

For the prerelease only, the chance of meeting new Unchained is weighted higher than the others! There will likely be other sorts of weighting in the future, as discussed before, but for now this type of weighting is just to increase the chance of seeing new content, and also therefore being able to test it out.

You'll notice you start each new run with a little present in your inventory. Whether or not to use it is up to you, but it's there as an optional way to spice up your runs. Obviously this, too, is prerelease-only content, but again any runs in this version are considered official runs for the leaderboards.

There were some pretty big code changes with this version, especially across almost all existing Unchained-related features to streamline them as they expand, so hopefully this didn't break anything xD. Prior to this release I'd been managing Unchained through other previously existing code since it was convenient at the time, but have now more discretely separated them out into their own thing, which is much cleaner and will help going forward as even more are introduced! Relevant to this prerelease, though, the scope of these changes means an increased chance of unexpected issues. I will of course be extra vigilant in putting out fixes ASAP, if we need them. And if not...

More?

I wanted to include a total of four new Unchained in this update, but am also remaining cognizant of the time between updates of a given size, which this time combined with the challenges implementing these few means I didn't hit that target before reaching the approximate point I think it's appropriate to publish another build.

In other words, 16.1 adds three Unchained when I wanted four, and maybe I'll be adding another before it goes public, if there's time, in part dependent on just how free of issues this build turns out to be. I'll actually be going on a trip for a couple weeks beginning 1/23, and although I will be working on Cogmind during that trip, naturally it'll be a bit disruptive. Actually only on writing this paragraph I did go back and confirm that date, which for a while I believed to be a few days before that, so I guess there's a bit more time than I expected xD

Get Beta 16.1

On Steam, Beta 16.1 is located on the new beta branch "beta_16.1_260102" accessible with the code "IAmYourFather", or if you don't have Steam and bought through FastSpring and would like to try the DRM-free version, send me an email at gridsagegames@gmail.com to be added to the Beta 16 cycle notification list. (Note: 16.1 is using the same list as 16.)

Saves are not compatible with previous releases.

Additional hotfixes may come for this release, unannounced except to append a notice here and via an announcement in the #patron Discord channel. It's not uncommon due to the experimental nature of these releases, and if saves are compatible then the same branch is simply updated, otherwise a new branch is created and listed here.

Update 260104a

NEW: Botcube loadouts uploaded to #cogmind-activity in full

MOD: Weighted the new Unchained even more heavily for the prerelease duration

FIX: Recent change in hacking code prevented situational manual access to EX-Vault

FIX: Possible crash in new Engineer repair system

FIX: Possible crash on certain Unchained dialogue check

Update 260105a

MOD: Restored original SDL.dll for maximum system compatibility

FIX: V4-D3R special weapon effect ignored damage resistances

FIX: [Wizard Mode] Load save file in main UI via hotkey with info window open locked input

Update 260107a

MOD: Expanded initial stage of nuance to Unchained-triggering behavior detection (more to come)

FIX: Incorrect art assigned to one Unchained part

Update 260108a

FIX: Intermittent random crash during hacking process if hacked with Cypher attention enough times

Update 260109a

FIX: Crash on standing over SS Cartridge with fully-depleted relevant weapon in inventory but not attached [CaptainWinky]

FIX: Unchained could show up unannounced after chasing into a new map under some circumstances