2026.6.2.1 : Now out!

The virus is loose across the Bay Area. Flashpoints are erupting across the peninsula as entire districts fall into chaos and infected swarms push deeper into civilian zones.

CERC forces are already in the field.

Embedded military reporters and frontline operators are transmitting battlefield coverage directly from active operations. The images you are about to see were captured during recent combat deployments across the region.

These transmissions come directly from the front.

The battle for the Bay Area has begun.

2026.6.2.1 Change list:

• Adjustments to the Zone Widget to try to fit all the info when top meter is near full of data (due to high power, infection level, and income from zone)

• DNA hides from Cinematic now

• Mass Unit Deletions and Mass tree removals don't spam the activity log anymore and are "Combined"

  • I.E Removed 4 Obstacles (Total Cost) instead of trying to list out every single item that was requested in that "removal" request

  • This applies also to Unit Deletions and will group them by type instead of printing each individual unit that was deleted to the activity log

• Fixed bug with Ammo less and bottomless magazine not working for one clipped based weapons like the MLRS. It also now auto fills the ammo of the MLRS when you cycle into a cheat mode

• Visibility fixes for garrisoned units (and mob meshes) on load when they were inside the Evac Cages

• Increased Special Infection spawn rates past day 0

• Counter Attacks by Infected are now a bit larger and scale better going into Day 4+ making them get stronger in mid-late game to better scale with player aggression

• Infected better understand how to counter Artilery spam

• Nerfed Evac Helicopter from Active to passive health regen

• Lowered health of Evac helicopter

• Added Support for Slomo, Pause, Fast Forward to Activity Log System

• Added a overhaul to how landscape actors work to account for a bug Atlas reported in coop relating to not being able to remove objects as a client sometimes

• Zone infection tick increased by 1.5 to account for biomass resource causing the Infected to "Stall out" if you heavily fight them and they cannot replace losses quick enough

• Fixed Operators not deleting their dead body when a client disconnects on the hub

• Fixed Garrisons not allowing pilots to re-enter even if space is otherwise not available

• MLRS + Cerberus not retaining their drivers on load sometimes

• Fixed Waystation beacon rendering black.

• Updated Infected 'Active Biomass' tracking to count '0 cost' non-structures as 1 biomass cost, so when CERC/Civilian units get converted, they count as 1 pop solving the issue where Infected pop could jump oddly from how we calculated CERC unit "cost"

• Iron wake received a car car placement polish pass

• Increased gas tower health

• Buffed jug attacks across the board

• increased car explosion damage to Cerberus

• Structures in Hologram state don't ignore damage anymore

• increased mortar explosion radius by 200uu + increased damage to Juggernaut

• Fixed Manual auto open door failing to respond in laggy conditions

• Boosted size of Activity Log Entries further, made them scale back down to initial size when viewed in Activity Log (so they fit)

• Applied a fix to Squad Mangers for the infected/Militia to Improve Attacking/Investigations

• Improved the Nav Collision of key objects in Half Moon Bay + Treasure Island that were trapping infected

• Added an outline to the Message Widgets (used for messages in the message queue at top left *other* than activity log entries)

• Speculative crash fix for

  https://discord.com/channels/469412014427602944/1510614857798651907/1510614857798651907

The Next 60 Days of Cepheus Protocol...

Civilian Evacuation is now playable from start to finish, and today’s update is focused on hotfixes, cleanup, and what comes next for the Rebuild.

If you missed yesterday’s post covering one of the biggest updates to ever touch the Cepheus Protocol Rebuild, you can read it here: View on Steam CERC HQ EP 91 Summary:

The evacuation system just hit a major milestone. For the first time, players can now play through the entire civilian rescue loop from beginning to end. This includes fully functional intake processing, evacuation buses, infection scanning upgrades, doctrine progression, and direct civilian movement into evacuation zones.

New doctrine upgrades now let you streamline processing, skip holding cells, and massively improve evacuation efficiency as your operation grows.

The infected are also getting a major overhaul. Infection spread has been rebalanced, structure construction is now visible before activation, and the late game is being tuned to reduce the frustrating “whack-a-mole” pressure players were running into. Endless Horde Mode is now available as a custom option for players who want the infection to spread forever.

Vehicle pathfinding, helicopters, gates, airstrikes, radio systems, and multiplayer syncing all received major fixes this week. The team also reworked a large number of save/load issues, improved performance for large sessions, and added better RTS management tools for handling evacuation zones and civilian flow.

Next up is a full push on formation AI, infected intelligence, new infected variants, infected lieutenants(Her Operators), Infected Leviathan (Late game super unit), Operator improvements, and the massive San Francisco North map expansion.

The goal over the next 60 days is to push every major gameplay system far beyond what existed ever before.

You can catch up on the latest CERC HQ below if you want to see the full breakdown for yourself:

View store page

The Next 60 Days

Over the next 30 to 60 days, the focus is pushing every major gameplay system forward beyond what existed before in the original build.

• Civilian Evacuation polish and bug fixing

• Formation AI improvements

• Infected intelligence improvements

• New infected variants

• Lieutenants and late-game infected progression

• Leviathan progression

• Operator improvements

• San Francisco North expansion work

• RTS control improvements

• Save/load and multiplayer stability improvements

Civilian Evacuation Progress

The evacuation system has reached a major gameplay milestone. Players can now complete the full civilian rescue loop from intake to evacuation, with supporting systems now coming online around it.

• Functional intake processing

• Evacuation buses

• Infection scanning upgrades

• Doctrine progression

• Direct civilian movement into evacuation zones

• Upgrades to streamline civilian processing

• Options to skip holding cells

• Improved evacuation efficiency as your operation grows

Infected Rework

The infected are also receiving a major pass as part of this phase of development. Infection spread has been rebalanced, infected structure construction is now visible before activation, and late-game pressure is being tuned to reduce the frustrating “whack-a-mole” feeling players were running into. Endless Horde Mode is also available as a custom option for players who want the infection to keep spreading forever.

What Comes Next

The next major push is about taking the systems now coming online and making them stronger, smarter, and more stable. Expect continued work on formation AI, infected behavior, new infected threats, Operator improvements, San Francisco North, evacuation polish, and the broader late-game progression loop. As always, Experimental builds may contain rough edges, bugs, and unfinished content. Player reports are extremely helpful as these systems continue moving toward the default branch.

🎙️ Next CERC HQ – Livestream Details

🕔 When: Weekly Saturdays – 7 PM EST (New Time!)

💬 What is CERC HQ:

Welcome to Cepheus Protocol HQ, your ultimate weekly briefing on all things Cepheus Protocol! Join the Halcyon Winds team as we explore the latest updates, reveal behind-the-scenes development stories, and answer community questions about the game. From exciting new features to design challenges, this is your all-access pass to the evolving world of Cepheus Protocol. Tune in every week and stay ahead of the outbreak!

• Co-op Progress

• Total Revamp based on Community Feedback

• Level Design Updates

📺 Where to Watch:

• YouTube Livestream

• Discord Server

• Steam Page

🎤 Don’t miss our Live Q&A! We’ll be answering questions from the community during the stream.

📺 Missed a Stream? No Worries!

• YouTube VOD Playlist

• Spotify Podcast Archive (VODs may take 24 hours to appear)