Dev Diary #45: REDACTED Update 1 - Release Date and More

With REDACTED, we of course mean the Constructs, so the update is all about the constructs and the new content around their loot.

Construct Update 1 will be released next Wednesday, the 22nd of April! The content is currently being tested in our closed beta group, and everything is going smoothly, so we don't expect any delays!

To read up on the new workshop and blueprint mechanic that will come with the update, check out Dev Diary #43. Besides the new Workshop and a plethora of balancing changes, there are some bigger additions and changes as well:

Removed Promotion Tax

The existing promotion supply tax has been removed from the game. This not-so-popular mechanic made sense from a game design perspective, but was very frustrating to engage with. It made promoting an SL feel like a punishment, and also, a last-minute promotion would throw off your well-thought-out loadout for a given mission. That is why we have done away with it.

To compensate, we increased the squaddie supply costs across all ranges but reduced the squad's base supply costs. Also, promotions themselves now cost fewer or more promotion points depending on a character's star level. A 1-star character is cheaper to promote than a 3-star one.

As this makes squads more expensive in the early game, we increased the players' base supplies from 630 to 690.

Overall, this change should make promoting units feel more rewarding and remove some feel-bad moments from the game while maintaining that squad leaders of different quality have different costs.

Remove Wreck Skill

Due to the huge popularity of the “Cut Fence” skill, here is the sequel: Remove Wreck.

All units can now use this skill to remove vehicle wrecks on adjacent tiles in order to clear the path. This will help especially in confined areas like the new urban maps, which will become more prominent with a new operation we are working on.

Construct Overhaul

The constructs are the main faction of our game, but were severely lacking in uniqueness, variety, and style. We reorganized them a bit, overhauled their stats, and gave them new skills.

We also removed the morale damage on construct attacks and want to transition them to do morale damage through other means.

We also reworked all their textures, especially their skin, to give them more contrast and underline the dead human body look a bit more:

Construct Drone: Now less tanky and lower accuracy, but more elements in a unit. When an element gets killed, they scream and does morale damage to all non-construct units nearby. This is now a proper tar-pit unit that tries to bog the player down and divert attacks and attention from other targets.

Construct Soldier: The backbone of the early Constructs, or as we now call them, “first wave” constructs. Still tanky, but we removed the rocket attack and increased the armor damage of their heavy repeaters, so they still threaten light vehicles.

They can now mark a target that they will use to direct the low-accuracy fire of drones and the high-damage attacks of Guncrawlers onto their targets.

Construct Guncrawler: The basic “vehicle” of the constructs now has a rocket launcher that does as much damage as the player's PAL tier 1 rocket launcher, which packs quite the punch. On top of that, they can now use a new scanner skill. This skill will add a new passive to all player units that are close enough to get hit and will massively reduce their concealment for a short duration.

Construct Shamblers: These walking grenades remain mostly unchanged as they were already fulfilling their role by creating high-threat targets that players have to deal with quickly, and also put some stress on player activation order decisions. Watch out for their increased attack range of 4 tiles and buffed armor damage.

Working together, these units can now stop player movement and drain ammo and attacks, reveal concealed player units, even at range, and then mark them for devastating follow-up attacks from their heavier units like soldiers and guncrawlers.

New Construct Master Unit The construct unit roster is bolstered with a new “Master Unit”. An especially powerful support unit that will rattle things up a bit. We will not spoil it here; you will have to find and engage it in the game!

New Construct Loot The constructs will carry new loot items that work with the Workshop (see dev diary #43). Old construct loot items will NOT be usable in the workshop; that is intentional.

Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed

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