v0.51.1 Game Status (Patreon)

Evening all, it's time for the second release of the month! It's time to start digging in to the epilogue content, but before we get to that, I have a few warnings and notifications to mention about progression updates. I've made a fair few tweaks to the game's progression in this release, including a few things which have been in 'debug mode' for basically forever, so there's a few things to watch out for. Particularly if you're continuing with an old save, I would like to point out the following things:

• If you've been experimenting with different Director endgame plans, make sure you've picked the ones you like before playing with this update.
• If you've played through the Director plotlines but have not yet finished the Department plotlines, you might want to do that before playing this update (as you won't have enough Tension).
• If you've been playing with a very old save file, I can't necessarily guarantee that you've earned enough Advancement Points for what the final costs are balanced for, due to rewards for certain things having not always been in the game. If you're worried about that, you might want to finish the endgame before playing this and later updates.

Aside from that, I do in general want to note that there have been a number of changes, and if you feel like you've been blocked on progression in some way, feel free to report potential bugs or balance issues. I will say though that if you've been inconsistent with how you handle the Liberation/Infiltration choices throughout the game, you will have a hard time being consistent with Director endgame plans. It's still possible, just harder.

That aside, we also have new epilogue scenes! We have a new scene featuring Princess, and it occurred to me as I was writing it that it will also be the last scene ever for Princess. A bit bittersweet, then, but I suppose there's about to be a lot more of that coming down the pipe. Additionally, we have 3 sets of Director epilogues now in. As it turns out Director epilogues have a bit more to them than I was planning - I had been thinking along the lines of a Liberation/Infiltration branch for each, but then I realized that how you dealt with that Director specifically, independent of the larger endgame plan, also needs a story branch for it. So that makes 4 scene variations for each, and means Director epilogues will take a little longer than I was scheduling.

I'll talk more about next month's plans tomorrow, so for now, patch notes below, game links to follow:

v0.51.1 Change Log

Game Functions:

• 'Epilogue Mode' toggle has been added to the office. Once you have reached the epilogue, you may choose to return and play through old scenes,  or return to epilogue mode at any time. Note also that citizen random encounters cannot be triggered in epilogue mode.
• Various functionality to support Specialist Epilogue scenes.
• To unlock Specialist Epilogue scenes you must have completed the Loyalty Mission for that Specialist. To unlock the intimate stage of the Epilogue, you must be in a Romantic relationship with that Specialist.
• Various functionality to support Director Epilogue scenes.
• In the event that you did not approach a Director as part of your endgame, they will default to being free in a Liberation ending, and locked up in an Infiltration ending.
• Progression functionality changes:
• 5th tier Director scenes now award 10 Tension when completed. 5th tier Department scenes now cost 10 Tension.
• 5th tier Director scenes can now no longer be replayed. This includes cases where they were played on old saves.
• 5th tier Director scenes now cost coup advancement points. Liberation strategies cost more at the start and get cheaper as you use them more often, Infiltration strategies start cheap and cost more as you use them more often. It is recommended that players use a consistent strategy with Specialist recruitments, mission encounter options, and so on, if they wish to be able to afford a consistent strategy with the Directors.
• Previously, Office Upgrades unlocked essentially as soon as you earned your first coup advancement point, for testing. They now unlock at lifetime point collection levels of 4, 12, 28, and 56 (of any point type). This is the equivalent of playing through 4 Director plotlines, although other point sources can speed it along as well.
• Specialist Intros will now appear randomly among the first three visits to a Department, rather than always appearing on the first visit. These random values are set at the start of the game and will not affect old saves.

Mission Content:

• None

Scene Content:

• Office description updated for epilogue mode.
• Princess Epilogue scenes added (Liberator ending scene, Infiltrator ending scene, Intimate scene).
• ​Commando Director Epilogue scenes added (4 variants).
• Roboticist Director Epilogue scenes added (4 variants).
• ​Cloner Director Epilogue scenes added (4 variants).

Art Content:

• None

Codex Entries:

• None

Bug Fixes:

• Numerous typo fixes.
• Fixed issue where the Lencist camera office upgrade used the text for the Celopi upgrade option in the office description.
• ​Fixed issue where the recruit assignment screen for the first office upgrade required two recruits instead of the expected one recruit.
• Fixed issue where office action buttons would be missing when exiting the codex.

Known Issues:

• TTS dialogue cannot be interrupted once begun. May have issues if triggered on multiple screens at once. TTS support is 64-bit Windows only.
• WebGL Issues: Be warned that save game data in WebGL mode is less permanent than PC standalone. May also be more prone to memory and other issues.