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26

Announcements / Cogmind Beta 10.2 "Forbidden Lore: Cogmind the ARG"

« on: October 29, 2020, 05:15:16 PM »

It's a special event for Halloween, and more!

Starting today and for the entire next month, playing Cogmind automatically enters a new mode built as part of a Cogmind/roguelike/tech-themed ARG. Unlike previous special modes, this one doesn't actually make sweeping gameplay changes, but instead challenges you to hunt for clues with help from forbiddenlore.gridsagegames.com, scouring the game and internet for passwords to special lore. More on that later...

As you'll see in the changelog, this release is clearly much bigger than just the event, scoping larger than planned as I started early on work to make some of the balance adjustments scheduled for Beta 11. There is still a lot more to come on that front, but a few items were either more urgent, or just things I felt like prioritizing a bit to see how they pan out as considerations regarding the bigger areas of the upcoming rebalance continue to get hashed out on Discord and the GSG forums.

Beta 10.2 also includes a bit of new content, but I'll be leaving that for players to discover.

Cogmind Beta 10.2 "Forbidden Lore: Cogmind the ARG" (201030) changelog:

• NEW: Unique Halloween mode for 2020, automatically activates on 10/29 for anyone who has played at least 10 runs (lasts through November)
• NEW: Command line argument "-forceMode:Halloween2020" (or "-forceMode:ForbiddenLore") to enable the Halloween mode from 2020, regardless of system date
• NEW: [Forbidden Lore mode] Hunt for clues with help from forbiddenlore.gridsagegames.com to scour the game and internet for passwords to special lore
• NEW: 1 new prototype robot
• NEW: 1 new weapon
• NEW: Most door-access terminals in 0b10 converted to new Door Terminal prop
• NEW: Hostile 0b10 bots that lose track of Cogmind raise alert
• NEW: Relay Coupler [NC] combined with Signal Jamming RIF ability also blocks busy Engineer calls for reinforcements
• NEW: Escape key recenters view on Cogmind if currently following drone
• NEW: Advanced Commands help for message log includes Shift-Alt-z for note-taking
• NEW: Version check now includes build number, allowing for in-game notifications about smaller unannounced updates
• NEW: Screenshots of difficulty selection, title screen, and intro sequence have unique filenames
• MOD: Special-purpose 0b10 terminal functionality limited to locally listed hacks, and special manual hacks where applicable
• MOD: W base defenses changed
• MOD: Data Cores can no longer be stolen by Master Tearclaws
• MOD: Programmers require an active Remote Datajack to hack targets
• MOD: Programmers no longer hack targets once disarmed
• MOD: Sensor layout as learned from a certain NPC's data core behaves differently
• MOD: Field Lobotomy Kit no longer works on unpowered, unconnected, or broken bots
• MOD: Movement due to ramming and knockback makes all the same checks regular movement entails, ensuring the same results in terms of environmental factors
• MOD: Ramming an adjacent target is no longer a valid way to immediately escape stasis
• MOD: Ramming drones without destroying them no longer produces matter
• MOD: Base chance for all Recall() hacks reduced by 10%
• MOD: Master Thief encounters occur under different circumstances
• MOD: Only Master Thieves capable of stealing from inventory and prioritizing target parts
• MOD: Base steal chance of all Tearclaws reduced
• MOD: Thieves have innate bonus to using Tearclaws
• MOD: Nerfed CR-A16's weapon
• MOD: Terrabomb reduced to 1 slot
• MOD: locate_prototypes effect limited to a range of 15
• MOD: Threat Obfuscation RIF ability level progression effect reduced from 25,50,75 to 25,40,50
• MOD: Armor Integrity Analyzer effect description clarified to specify no impact on any area of effect attacks, rather than singling out launchers
• MOD: Transmission Jammer toggle animation highlighting of jammed bots changed from red to yellow
• MOD: Core Cannon critical hit chance reduced to 0%
• MOD: Satisfying the conditions for a Warlord response from cave seals overrides the effect of core reset
• MOD: Launcher-using bots take ally resistances into account when deciding whether to fire on targets in close proximity
• MOD: Extended game C prefab added in Beta 10 reduced in size, composition adjusted
• MOD: Map export images prefix filename with current world seed
• MOD: Font config file format updated to maintain compatibility with engine changes
• FIX: Murdering more than one Exile did not count any beyond the first in the scoresheet for the Uniques/NPCs Destroyed tally [zxc]
• FIX: Hostiles would not attack unconnected drones [zxc]
• FIX: Unconnected drones could follow through map exits [zxc]
• FIX: Using a Reconstructor while standing on a Slip Node moved to the side instead of remaining at the same position [zxc]
• FIX: Dormant bots ignored enemy cloaking effect when checking for wakeup [zxc]
• FIX: C-40 Crushers might get stuck and fail to pathfind to otherwise reachable target [Valguris]
• FIX: Was possible to simultaneously activate two Remote Datajacks by removing a launcher while autoUnreadyLauncher option active [Valguris]
• FIX: Robots disabled while transitioning into/out of siege mode would allow the process to finish even while still disabled [Vectis]
• FIX: Ally with PICKUP or COLLECT order could overflow inventory capacity if final acquired item is multislot [Vectis]
• FIX: Recalled squads, coupler squads, and fabrication retrieval Haulers could be blocked by a Sentry standing on their intended exit [MTF, JackNine, Tone]
• FIX: Beta 10 caused Transmission Jammers to no longer block non-combat robot calls for reinforcements in certain situations [MTF, JackNine, Terminus]
• FIX: Core reset interactions with Beta 10's new extended endings was broken, fixed in earlier silent hotfix [GJ, Terminus]
• FIX: Beta 10 part drop destruction warning system caused Go Naked command to leave one part attached if insufficient space to drop everything [GJ]
• FIX: Self-destructing before depth -9 reused total score from previous full run in same session on game over screen [Hippasus]
• FIX: Log messages for ramming terrain and machines did not match up with the type of method used [MTF]
• FIX: Siege mode did not prevent ramming terrain or robots [NikolayAg]
• FIX: Matter decay due to overheating was deducting energy instead [aoemica]
• FIX: Beta 10 new endings broke game over screenshot tags for w8 and several types of losses [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 situational dialogue typo [sterv]
• FIX: Ally with a PICKUP order would move to nearby Scrap and Derelict Logs even though unable to acquire them

(I didn't highlight "more important" entries in the changelog like I normally do, since the vast majority were being highlighted anyway when I went to do that :P)

Saves from earlier versions are incompatible with Beta 10.2, but even if you're on Steam and Cogmind automatically updates, Beta 10/10.1 is still available via its own legacy branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.

As with any other release, I might do quick unannounced hotfixes in the coming hours or days if players discover/report something new and urgent (the chance is somewhat higher with 10.2 because this release went without the usual prerelease playtesting by Patrons to keep it a surprise for everyone). We now have an even more specific version check system based on build number, so if you're playing and have the News feature active, it'll remind when you're playing without the most recent hotfix.



Let the ARG Begin!

Cogmind is pretty big on lore, creating a deeper world with its various factions, NPCs, and the stories they share. And there's so much more room out there! In the lore you can already find references to pieces of the world which don't currently exist, some of them likely to happen one day (some of them guaranteed :P), but reliable information is spotty. This Halloween event will fill a few gaps and also give glimpses of other locations and inhabitants of Tau Ceti IV.

Starting from the event's home page, at the bottom you'll see your first hint. Hints suggest where in the game world you'll find either a password or another clue as to how to obtain the password, and with that password you can follow the link on the event page to the next level, which will also reward you with FORBIDDEN LORE (and usually a bit of art to go with it). For simplicity the username at every level is always simply "cogmind", it's the password that will be unique each time and that's what you'll have to figure out. In-game clues can take a variety of forms, but are always presented as some sort of text, be it NPC dialogue, a special announcement, etc.

Note that you won't get additional clues for the same level, nor do you need to use multiple clues together--each is a completely individual and separate thing. For example, a hint might indirectly suggest you talk to an NPC, so you reach that NPC and they give you a clue, which is probably a cryptic puzzle to solve in order to get the password to advance.

Although I know at least a few people who could definitely complete this entire challenge on their own, not everyone will be capable of figuring out every step alone. Don't be afraid to ask the community for tips or additional hints along the way at various levels where you need it. I'm sure there'll be plenty of discussion and help available on the Discord.

Working together with others to solve the mysteries would also make it easier to rise through the levels more quickly, since multiple runs will be required to follow every hint. I suggest using a new password on the site immediately after discovering it, in case the next hint is somewhere still within reach in your current run, in order to achieve it more quickly.

This being an ARG, most of the passwords are actually found outside the game itself.

Good luck :)

ARG Addendum

Shout out to PlasticHeart for putting together the CogFont based on fonts developed for the game, which came in quite handy when making the event website :D

Forbidden Lore mode will automatically activate for you on new runs started on or after 10/29 (through November), if you've played at least 10 runs before.

If you want to play beyond the end of the event, or regardless of your run count, you can still force it by adding a command line parameter when running COGMIND.EXE: "-forceMode:ForbiddenLore". Within Steam this is handled by going to Cogmind > Properties > Set Launch Options, like this example from Player2 mode earlier this year:



(Note that although the event mode will be accessible after the period is over, and likely also in future versions, but I can't 100% guarantee that it will be fully completable forever since, as an ARG, advancing relies on the presence of information found outside the game, elsewhere on the internet.)

If you want to play a regular run during the event*, you can suppress date-based event triggering by adding the "-noSpecialMode" command line parameter:



If the event mode is active, you'll see a notice in your message log on startup.

*(though again this mode doesn't really affect much in the way of gameplay, even though runs in this mode will technically go to a separate leaderboard)

Rebalancing

Beta 10.2 includes a fair number of nerfs, and the changelog itself isn't nearly as balanced as I like to keep it (an equal helping of both buffs and nerfs/new features is best), but we'll be getting plenty more buffs and fun stuff to play with in Beta 11, and in this release I just took advantage of the opportunity to prioritize responding to areas the community has been cheesing the hardest by moving up planned changes, or just increasing the overall challenge level of various parts of the game.

Also a number of the nerfed bits here were intentionally introduced as OP features with the intention of tweaking them after seeing how they were used.

On that note, against the trend there is a new potentially OP weapon you might be able to get your hands on ;)



To address some of the biggest changes here...

All those easily-hackable single-tile door terminals that were a major security liability for 0b10 are a thing of the past. They now do nothing more than open their door, as opposed to providing one after another weak backdoor into the mapwide system :P (i.e., no indirect hacks there). All such terminals now also have unique names so they're even more recognizable at a distance, the majority simply being called "Door Terminal," although this change also applies to the other instances of special-purpose terminals that control something nearby.



Prior to now, with assistance from door terminals a good hacker could very easily end up with far more terminal resources than they could reasonably need and exhaust, especially in certain branches with lots of blast doors. Now instead of simply running out of hacking target ideas, these builds may in some cases have to be a little more selective, or in some cases have a (slightly? xD) harder time getting access to a suitable Terminal on short notice.

This change does also negatively impact builds that could only effectively use low-level Terminals to begin with, but those builds have had numerous buffs over previous releases to begin with.

Another change related mostly to flight-hack builds is that alert is now also raised when enemies lose track of you! The primary hostile interaction for gaining alert has traditionally been through destruction, but if you're zipping all over the place frequently attracting attention then slipping away it makes sense that the Complex should respond to that, too.

I'm really interested to see the results of this change, which could add a bit of pressure to flight runs and make stealth approaches that much more enticing rather than simply outrunning everything but then safely remaining on the same map. The amount of alert involved here might be further tweaked, but we'll see how it pans out in the current release first.

Also the current result of high alert accrued via this method will be assault dispatches, as usual, but the response will be different in future versions--I just haven't gotten to that point and added this bit first.

Programmer allies were nerfed by making them unable to hack if disarmed, a sad loss because it was quite fun to have a disarmed hacker friend literally owning everything, when it happens naturally, but players were starting to intentionally create these OP allies so that behavior had to be removed and put them on par with hostile Programmers.

Master Thieves got a pretty significant overhaul. They've been in the game for a while now but no one was really taking advantage of them until much more recently. Even more changes are probably in order, but the related mechanics are no longer quite so abusable.

A range of individual parts were adjusted as per the changelog, mostly nerfs of various degrees, although you've also got single-slot Terrabombs now, which will make those a lot more enticing (technically that and a few other items on the list were modified as part of silent post-release 10.1 updates, but are included in the changelog this time around since they were otherwise not recorded or announced here).

There's not a ton of QoL like we usually have each release, but I did add Escape key support for recentering on Cogmind while cycling through multiple drone views with Enter:



News

Cogminder aoemica has built a wonderful tool, dubbed Cog-Minder, a very convenient site to filter and search through Cogmind's many items:



Notice the Spoiler button there which can be toggled on to include everything, even uniques and other special parts you'll only find in mid-/late-game branches or the extended game. You can leave that off if you're just starting out and want an unspoiled experience but would like to examine "regular" parts.

Over on my Twitch channel I streamed my first Beta 10 run, a hover run that eventually went on to obtain one of the new endings:



That's the first of five videos, a looooong run because 1) it hit a ton of locations and 2) there was a lot of discussion along the way :P. (More recently on the channel I'm trying out the space roguelike Prospector, which is pretty cool.)

Starting this week over on Patreon we're also voting for secondary QoL features that patrons want to prioritize for Beta 11, so the results from that should probably be known by the time the next announcement comes around.

I leave you with the amazing Mobile Combat Recycling Unit by Zyalin!



We know what happened after a good year or more of players joking about the possibility of "Combat Swarmers" (TRACKERS!). Well, the long-running joke that followed that is "Combat Recyclers." Hmm...

27

Announcements / REXPaint 1.60 released!

« on: October 10, 2020, 05:01:47 PM »

REXPaint 1.60 is primarily a complementary release improving the extended font support added in 1.50, and comes with a few other bonuses as well.

Most importantly we now have the ability to designate precisely all the glyphs you want mirrored by the copy-paste tool (and how to mirror them), great for fonts with a custom layout, and you can also customize the Unicode code points for your text output. The manual's "Fonts" section has a lot more info about these features.

In upgrading to this version you will need to update your data/fonts/_config.xt file (assuming you're using any custom fonts of your own) because two new columns were necessary to support the new features.

If you've customized your skins file you'll also need to update that with a new column at the end for Extended Font Row #s (also used to mark images that were originally created with font indexes that do not exist for any currently loaded font).

REXPaint 1.60 (201011) changelog:

• NEW: Customize Unicode code points on a per-font basis, and override the default CP437 values
• NEW: Customize glyph mirroring pairs used by the copy-paste tools on a per-font basis
• NEW: Images loaded on startup containing glyphs with IDs beyond any loaded font have those glyphs temporarily converted to spaces
• NEW: Browser marks images containing invalid glyph IDs with blue asterisk
• NEW: Saving of images containing invalid glyphs blocked to prevent data loss (circumvent the block via REXPaint.cfg noSaveForOutOfBoundsGlyphs)
• NEW: Expanded manual Fonts section with more info and instructions regarding custom font features
• MOD: Font config expanded with two additional columns to support custom Unicode and glyph mirroring
• MOD: Custom GUI skin expanded with a new color entry for Extended Font Row #s (also used to mark images containing invalid glyphs)
• MOD: Unicode text and BBCode exports insert '?' for any glyphs without a defined code point
• MOD: Copy tool rectangle drawn using the GUI font rather than art font
• MOD: Dimensions readout for copy and rectangle tools use GUI font and compatible with multilayered images, displaying over higher layers
• MOD: Updated some C:DDA image export color names to match latest documentation
• FIX: Glyph ID display showed '0' for short duration if glyphHoverIdDuration active and moved cursor from a glyph to the Font window border
• FIX: Crash on scrolling to end of extended custom font glyphs with alpha transparency if an even longer extended font also loaded in same session
• FIX: Undefined behavior if startup loads an image created with a custom extended font containing a glyph index beyond the any currently loaded font

You can download REXPaint here, and note that as of 1.04 it's also available on itch.io.

Some of the new features in action

Customized glyph mirroring with an extended font:




Text export after adding the customized Unicode values, which default to the standard CP347 layout:




How the new * image marker appears in various UI skins when you have an image that was created in a copy of REXPaint that had a custom font with more glyphs than any of the currently loaded fonts:




The C:DDA export support is starting to get some traction in that community, so it's great that REXPaint has significantly lowered the barrier to making that sort of thing. I look forward to seeing more :D



Happy painting/designing/mapping/developing!

28

Announcements / Cogmind Beta 10.1 "Warlord Forever More"

« on: September 20, 2020, 05:23:19 PM »

Not an especially huge changelog, just a tiny addendum to last week's massive release. Seeing as I wanted to put out a couple of important fixes anyway, I decided to throw in a few other items from the short list that I could get done in a reasonable amount of time, so today we have a mostly QoL-oriented Beta 10.1!

Beta 10 saves from runs in progress are compatible with this release, so you can upgrade/switch over right away to get all the benefits immediately!

Cogmind Beta 10.1 "Warlord Forever More" (200921) changelog:

• NEW: Removing or dropping a part that will be destroyed due to insufficient space gives a warning and requires confirmation
• NEW: Matter/energy storage utility descriptions indicate that stored matter can also be extracted directly if on the ground at current position.
• NEW: Simply waiting long enough in W base is enough to trigger the event without interacting with any other triggers
• MOD: Field Recycling Units now only collect parts when activated a second time for new COLLECTING mode, also collect more quickly (once/turn)
• MOD: Field Recycling Units no longer limit parts they'll collect based on remaining scrap storage, always top off regardless of waste
• MOD: Borebot Coring immunity is now full Critical immunity
• MOD: Swarm Drones now melt down if parent destroyed or lost bay
• MOD: Updated core reset interactions with Beta 10's new extended endings
• MOD: Transport Network Couplers and Trojans relaying 0b10 bot positions now only report active bots
• FIX: Some conditions for a certain scoresheet history log message were not being checked against one of the new endings [JackNine]
• FIX: [Player 2 mode] Crash on bringing Player 2 to one of the new endings [Minty]
• FIX: Multitile robot AI update in Beta 10 caused Behemoths to sometimes fail to return to their original guard location after losing all targets [Tone]
• FIX: Q-Series were unable to relaunch drones after the first retrieval
• FIX: Direct dropping currently attached Storage Unit containing items did not give warning or require confirmation like unequipping to inventory did
• FIX: Unequipping a part under certain conditions did not deduct energy
• FIX: Beta 10 fix to improve rapid label closing via Escape broke both advanced options: disableEscMenuAccessKeyboard, disableEscMenuAccessMouse

QoL

Field Recycling Units have a new mode to help avoid accidental situations where it might eat something you actually wanted to pick up but forgot that your FRU was active and munching away. Now like overloading a part you simply toggle it a second time to go from activated (processing accumulated matter) to the next step, collecting (eating parts under you!). In this mode it will show in a brighter color as well have a special tag.



General FRU usage was made even more friendly by not caring about wasted resources--just run over stuff to suck it up, even if it will overflow the unit's capacity.

And hooray for yet more warnings! Dropping parts will now warn if there isn't enough room to do so, in which case the result will be to crush it.



As scheduled, leaderboards were reset just last week the day after Beta 10 released. No need to reset again--10.1 and 10 will remain on the same board.

29

Announcements / Cogmind Beta 10 "Warlord Forever!"

« on: September 14, 2020, 04:21:55 PM »

The full ambient soundscape is here, and it's not alone! Beta 10 also comes with expanded bothacking abilities, two more alternate endings, many more types of drones, and of course lots of other features to improve the overall experience.

Diving right in here...

Cogmind Beta 10 "Warlord Forever!" (200915) changelog:

• NEW: 117 new sourced ambient sounds (total = 134)
• NEW: 24 new mapwide ambient tracks (total = 26)
• NEW: 6 new RIF abilities
• NEW: Expanded Warlord arc
• NEW: 2 new endings (total = 9), each with new end-game challenges and lore
• NEW: 1 new unique superweapon
• NEW: 1 new prototype robot variant
• NEW: 5 more derelict encounters
• NEW: 5 new items (multiple with new mechanics or special effects)
• NEW: 2 lore entries related to a new mechanic
• NEW: Extended game C layout expanded with additional prefab
• NEW: 9 new types of drones (some with new mechanics/behaviors)
• NEW: Drones require Cogmind to have an attached functional matching type of bay to operate (does not need to be active)
• NEW: Drones shut down due to lack of matching bay have new Unconnected status
• NEW: Drones can RETURN to an available matching bay in Cogmind's inventory if attached matching types already full
• NEW: All drones can detect traps in their FOV, at the same base rate as Cogmind
• NEW: Cycle through, center on, and follow controlled drone FOV via view centering command (Enter / Alt-KP5 / CMB)
• NEW: Centering on a controlled drone highlights its FOV
• NEW: Blue 'n' marker appears to indicate the direction of each active drone's position when offscreen
• NEW: Dedicated intel markers record locations of drone destruction when it occurs outside remaining FOV
• NEW: Combat drones automatically RETURN if disarmed
• NEW: Fleeing drones always RETURN automatically
• NEW: Fleeing controllable allies appear differently in allies menu, explicitly refuse orders with a warning message
• NEW: Opening an ally order list via the Allies console centers display on that ally if they are outside the map view
• NEW: Additional "force melee attack" command option Ctrl-Shift+LMB now documented in manual
• NEW: Force melee commands used without an active melee weapon allow ramming into machines and walls
• NEW: Warned on attempting to fire a volley from a position where doing so might cause a cave-in
• NEW: Warned if line of fire is currently blocked by another robot
• NEW: Spotting a new interactive machine automatically plays intel acquisition sfx
• NEW: Multirail weapons have new, slightly different sound effect
• NEW: Optional audio log to list all ambient sounds, as well as non-ambient sounds originating outside FOV (toggle via the options menu)
• NEW: "Audio Log" subsection in the Advanced UI section of the manual summarizing its features
• NEW: Option to have audio log include non-ambient sounds within FOV (advanced.cfg: audioLogIncludesFovSounds)
• NEW: Option to decide whether fluff machine ambient sounds appear in audio log (advanced.cfg: audioLogIncludesFluffMachines)
• NEW: Option to adjust maximum length of audio log  (advanced.cfg: audioLogMaxLength)
• NEW: Option to adjust the duration of non-ambient sounds in the audio log (advanced.cfg: audioLogDuration)
• NEW: Option to mute all audio whenever program loses focus (advanced.cfg: muteAudioOnFocusLoss)
• NEW: Option to block achievements in challenge modes and special modes, toggle in options menu via "Achievements Anywhere" button
• NEW: Allied Mechanics report in message log once they've depleted integrity repair supplies, and change appearance in allies list
• NEW: Add notes to message log with Shift-Alt-z
• NEW: In Tactical HUD mode, damaged parts retain a box around their integrity until next action (deactivate via advanced.cfg: partDamageIndicatorsRetained)
• NEW: Antimissile system effect descriptions explicitly mention their ability to shoot down Remote Datajack projectiles as well
• NEW: Log messages for allies and enemies affected by part severing, sabotage, and thievery now also specify the robot affected
• NEW: Allied follower history message on entering new map also lists names of any major NPCs
• NEW: Manual "Alternative Rules" section explicitly indicates that multiple special modes cannot be combined
• NEW: Gallery CSV export includes "Hackable Schematic" entry
• NEW: Gallery data exports include fabrication stats for all parts with theoretically obtainable schematics, not only hackable schematics
• NEW: Tutorial messages regarding Cogmind's dedicated Achievements UI, and that Steam global achievement rates are significantly underreported for Cogmind
• NEW: Tutorial message referring to the many advanced options you can configure outside the game, and where to get more info
• NEW: Tutorial message introducing the Alternative Rules section of the manual with details on challenge modes and special modes
• NEW: Holding a wait key to pass turns is temporarily blocked if a hostile Zionite in view suddenly arms itself
• NEW: [RPGLIKE mode] Added special indicator for when Sensor Range upgrade is being jammed or scrambled as per that Sensor Array mechanic
• NEW: Option to disable flash animation for terrain scanning process (advanced.cfg: disableTerrainScanAnimation)
• NEW: Scoresheet records initial influence on each 0b10 map
• NEW: Scoresheet Best States includes Relay Coupler Value, Relay Coupler Types
• NEW: All Alpha supporter names registered since Beta 9 added to in-game list (see Credits menu)
• NEW: All patron supporter names registered since Beta 9 added to in-game list (see Credits menu)
• NEW: All patron item-attribution names registered since Beta 9 added to the item collection gallery
• MOD: Drone bays never autoactivate on attach, regardless of part autoactivation settings
• MOD: Drones no longer benefit from Cogmind's Structural Interface RIF ability
• MOD: Increased mass of Mapping Drone Bay and Adv. Drone Bay
• MOD: Reduced coverage of Mni. Drone Bay
• MOD: Accessing the ally order list via keyboard displays it adjacent to the ally rather than below Allies console
• MOD: Removed GOTO order for allies
• MOD: Unarmed allies following Cogmind will slightly trail behind rather than gathering around
• MOD: Releasing a drone directly from a bay on the ground (e.g. with '>') can only be done if a functional matching type of bay is already attached
• MOD: Zionite Recon dispatches now arrive as a Z-Drone Bay
• MOD: Loading a saved game containing intel displays all intel immediately even if Intel console not active on startup
• MOD: Map-wide ambient audio volume lowered dynamically based on volume of nearby machines
• MOD: Increased base volume of map-wide cave ambiance
• MOD: Removed Audio mute from options menu (to achieve the same effect, set Master Volume to 0)
• MOD: Updated context help for Locale volume setting in options menu
• MOD: Removed Ambient Music section from Credits page and README file
• MOD: Weapon salvage context help clarified to indicate the value is applied each time target is hit by a projectile
• MOD: Allied Mechanic integrity repair supplies reduced by approximately half
• MOD: Coupler Efficiency RIF ability level progression effect increased from 4,10,20 to 6,12,20
• MOD: Derelicts assimilated by Programmers in caves will not self-destruct their parts on death
• MOD: Walls and Reinforced Barriers 50% and 25% less resistant to impact damage, respectively
• MOD: Armor of Reinforced Barriers in two extended areas increased
• MOD: Disabling a Transfer Station reduces initial non-combat robot numbers across Complex 0b10, rather than only affecting their restore rate
• MOD: Removed advanced.cfg "onlyRegularModeAchievements" option (now handled by higher-level options menu option)
• MOD: W base event timer behavior changed, making the area easier to explore with slower builds
• MOD: Certain Mines reward encounters no longer require randomly visiting a hidden location, instead now visible as Scrap (ex: Exp. Sensor Array)
• MOD: Attacking from a space prone to cave-ins increases that chance even when using a melee weapon, rather than only when firing projectile weapons
• MOD: Guided weapon waypoint recall now also works for points outside view, but all stored waypoints are cleared on movement
• MOD: Perun now has an Exp. Energy Well
• MOD: Scrap piles push items away as they are opened
• MOD: Toned down Intercept squad dispatching behavior
• MOD: Immobilizer range reduced from 22 to 14
• MOD: Linked Autogun range reduced from 22 to 14
• MOD: Integrated Tracker Drive movement speed adjusted from 10 to 15
• MOD: Gui. EMP Blaster range and waypoints decreased, matter and energy costs increased
• MOD: Firepult has a potential side effect when fired
• MOD: Recalibrator effect description specifically refers to the new "Broken" prefix rather than simply "non-functional" part state
• MOD: 0b10 Terminal database lockouts no longer summon an investigation squad
• MOD: Re-entering Access via an Access-level Garrison results in less severe consequences
• MOD: Access-level Garrison interior more dangerous
• MOD: Hidden doors outside FOV revealed by Access(Emergency) hacks and Emergency Access intel always show as closed, regardless of their current state
• MOD: Multiple adjustments to behavior around "remote opening" of locked doors
• MOD: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 part list displays raw integrity values rather than percentages
• MOD: Cannot simultaneously open Cogmind status info and that of another robot
• MOD: Updated Warlord terminal entry query results
• MOD: Core reset also clears trap knowledge
• MOD: Allies under standard Cogmind-following behavior no longer step on known traps near Cogmind
• MOD: Scoresheet "Average Influence" now simply listed as "Average" under "Peak Influence" section
• MOD: Scoresheet "Database Lockouts" only counts the initial lockout, rather than including any subsequent attempts on the same map
• MOD: L2 Power Cell cannot be detonated via Trojan
• MOD: Rogue abbreviation in score history difficulty column changed to "Rog"
• FIX: Beta 10 prerelease bugs hunted down by: [alice_fexa, Tone, CaptainWinky, Ape, NikolayAg, Joshua, MTF]
• FIX: [Player 2 mode] Attacking a machine then a wall on the same floor would encourage Player 2 to attack that wall [Valguris]
• FIX: One or more known traps installed at positions completely blocking the output of a Fabricator prevented it from producing items [Valguris]
• FIX: Spotting a new interactive machine while other machine intel active but Intel console not visible caused all machine intel to deactivate [Valguris]
• FIX: Drones using prototype propulsion might launch with a STAY order and immediately start wandering [Valguris]
• FIX: Running while being attacked by single-weapon volleys from outside view (and possibly other scenarios/conditions) would not stop the run [Valguris]
• FIX: L2 Power Cell might not always detonate even after being hacked [Valguris]
• FIX: Rebooting a target paused any active Molecular Deconstructor effects [Valguris]
• FIX: Display error of sensor layout knowledge from a certain NPC's data core if shifted outside map view area [Valguris]
• FIX: Attached broken multislot parts fixed by a Mechanic did not update their "Broken" prefix for additional slots automatically [Valguris]
• FIX: [Player 2 mode] There were a few consumables that Player 2 could pick up but not use [Valguris]
• FIX: Pathfinding for multi-cell robots in a certain layout that should be pathable had stopped working [Valguris]
• FIX: Parsing a robot added unobtainable parts to the art gallery (retroactively removing from player data as of this version) [Valguris]
• FIX: Since Beta 4 tweaks, hostilities against W base caused Demented to ally with Cogmind, and local traps targeted wrong faction [Valguris]
• FIX: In rare cases a machine might be embedded in a Reinforced Wall [Valguris]
• FIX: W base "mobilizing sentries" reaction did not play out as usual if Cogmind already hostile to the locals [Valguris]
• FIX: Assimilating a siege mode Behemoth or robot with rebooting propulsion gave it a STAY order and caused it to wander [Valguris, Kerapace]
• FIX: Addition of Dirty Bomb Traps caused all AOE trap effects to affect both score and alert [Valguris, NikolayAg]
• FIX: NPC dialogue flashing '?' markers for some encounters might appear in the wrong color [Valguris, DDarkray, Malthusis]
• FIX: [Player 2 mode] New AI system in Beta 9.6 prevented Player 2 from attaching more than one tread part [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Extra word in message log text for allies and enemies affected by Tearclaws [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Crash possible on attempting to transition to a new map after leaving a part inside a Repair Station [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Surface exit prefab had begun always appearing in the same orientation [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Using Field Lobotomy Kit on certain NPCs might cause undesirable side effects [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Heart of Steel effect description missing <parallel_ok, resume_ok> tags [Chrome]
• FIX: Relay Coupler [NC] description referred to Engineers rather than Builders [Chrome]
• FIX: Possible gallery crash under rare circumstances [Chrome]
• FIX: Typo [Chrome]
• FIX: Discovering a trap, hidden door, or phase wall then immediately moving out of view did not retain that info in map memory until viewed again [Joshua]
• FIX: JSON output for online scoresheet data unable to differentiate between consecutive maps of same type at same depth for history log [Joshua]
• FIX: Detecting a trap, hidden door, or phase wall before the first turn on an 0b10 map after evolving showed messages before evolve results [Joshua]
• FIX: Scoresheet relative alert level distribution values incorrect if a mid-run stat dump was previously performed on that run [NikolayAg]
• FIX: Repeatedly and quickly pressing ESC after opening map object labels restarted their close animation each time [NikolayAg]
• FIX: ">>" in message log were converted to "&gt;&gt;" if optional HTML log dump was performed alongside stat dump for current run [NikolayAg, Torako]
• FIX: Context help for schematic fabrication matter contained reference to old mechanics [Vectis]
• FIX: Assimilated/fabricated 0b10 ally name assignment ordering was reset between saving/loading [Vectis]
• FIX: Compactors affected by ignore_targets could intermittently raise alert level while in view [Vectis]
• FIX: Earlier fix for part info comparison misalignment due to manual tagging had broken gallery item comparisons [alice_fexa]
• FIX: Opening schematic list via keyboard when inventory part info already open could only close new window via mouse rather than Escape key [alice_fexa]
• FIX: Stat comparisons with non-part items revealed hidden mass values despite N/A designation and no bearing on mechanics [Decinym]
• FIX: History log message for triggering Deep Caves wall could appear twice [Decinym]
• FIX: Killing self by ramming a target off stairs to next depth with low core integrity would put game in an unrecoverable state [TBExtent]
• FIX: Modified TNC manifest lists allowed too much mixing of characters when multiple lists overlapped [TBExtent]
• FIX: Mechanics attaching an unknown backup part to Cogmind identified it but did not show name unless manipulated [Tone]
• FIX: Benefits of Operator allies listed in the manual still included their robot hacking bonus under the old system [Tone]
• FIX: Scoresheet history log messages for core heat dissipation and energy generation adjustments did not properly display the amount [lsend]
• FIX: Clicking on any special mode's unique on-map window button with a pathable cell behind it would immediately path to that cell [Cmdr Jslin]
• FIX: Was possible to use a combination of machine destruction and drones to block all assault squad spawning during High Security [skar1ath]
• FIX: Earlier fixes to to prevent repeated awarding of bonus points for certain actions had been undone by new scoresheet system [Trione]
• FIX: [RPGLIKE mode] Mechanics affected by deconstruct_bot could successfully give access to Core Shielding by removing it from a Rogue [IAMCRAIG]
• FIX: Delayed Scan window armor values for unknown Phase Walls and hidden doors revealed that they were not in fact walls [stormcleaver5]
• FIX: Gallery data TXT and CSV exports included fabrication stats for Matter, even though it cannot be fabricated [Ape]
• FIX: Manual hacking autocompletion for schematics could suggest Matter as an option, which has no effect [Kerapace]
• FIX: Successful indirect database hack on 0b10 terminals in caves could alert about investigation dispatch even if not possible [Captain Croissandwich]
• FIX: Machine intel obtained via 0b10 Decoder Chips and robot hacks did not glow like other intel for undiscovered machines
• FIX: Machine and stockpile intel obtained via 0b10 Decoder Chips and robot hacks wasn't immediately applied to Intel console
• FIX: YI-UF0 encounter recorded wrong message to history log
• FIX: Crash on attaching AS-neutralizer No. 17b while within 16 cells of a map edge
• FIX: Ambient sound for large interactive machines was not always originating from the terminal section
• FIX: Dynamic build type analysis conditions for "Messiah" prefix were not being checked correctly, showing it more often than it should've been
• FIX: Explosion-caused screenshake in sprite mode might cause inventory items to appear incorrectly until redrawn for some other reason
• FIX: Visiting the game menu for a time before the HUD finished startup animation prevented the HUD from ever fully appearing
• FIX: "Broken" prefix included in log messages for AI overheating, part deterioration, autonomous weapons, and some robot hack side effects before the break
• FIX: Short circuits caused by destabilization could break an already broken part
• FIX: Potential crash on firing a second guided attack via mouse using recalled waypoints without moving the cursor since the first attempt
• FIX: Using fully allowable item tag input length could not display the tag in part info without overlapping the window border
• FIX: Online JSON run data for all Beta 9 series releases has incorrect values for discovered exit destinations (no effect on text scoresheet content)

Saves from earlier versions are incompatible with Beta 10, but even if you're on Steam and Cogmind automatically updates, Beta 9.6 is still available via its own legacy branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.

Ambient Soundscape

You can now fully hear the world of Cogmind!

Cogmind has always had a ton of sound effects that help bring the world to life, but as far as continuous tracks go, for many years we've only had a few ambient sounds emitted by special machines and sample mapwide tracks in a couple maps as a test. Now all named machines have their own audio, as do all the maps!

Hear an array of Construction Platforms at work in the Factory, the rumble of a Megafabricator in the distance, Plasma Injectors down in the Mines, the hum of Power Conduits, busy Mainframes echoing throughout the Research branches, and so much more.

Aside from thematic mapwide drones that meld everything together, when you're not blasting robots and using the interface the audio experience is primarily defined by environmental factors, yet another new facet of Cogmind's emphasis on immersion.

Here's a debug shot visualizing the variety of machine audio across a Factory floor, where each unique sound is associated with a random color:



Any gaps or areas where no specific local machine can be heard will generally have a higher-volume mapwide ambient track to unify the floor's audio and maintain the theme, as you can see here in this visualization of mapwide ambient volumes (brighter is higher volume):



I wrote an in-depth article about the content and process behind Building Cogmind’s Ambient Soundscape:



Related to the expansion of Cogmind's audio content we have an important new advanced option, muteAudioOnFocusLoss, which you might want to turn on if you do a lot of Alt-Tabbing and prefer that Cogmind not continue playing its audio while you're in some other window. We might want that to be on by default, but it's off for now since I need to make sure it doesn't mess anything up first :P (it seems okay so far, anyway--I've been using it for a while now, but that's just me).

The soundscape is also fully accessible in text form as well, a new feature that will benefit both those who can't turn up the volume or simply want the extra visual reinforcement enabled by being able to also "read" all the audio sources. This is made possible via a new Audio Log, off by default but toggled in the options menu.

See the Audio Log in the top-right corner, listing all heard ambient audio sources and their relative volume as heard from the current location as I walk around a Materials map:



Here's another demo showing ambient sound sources alongside sound effects and the visual sound effect system as a battle rages outside this room:



There's a summary of Audio Log features and behavior in the manual, or if you want an even more in-depth look at how the system was built you can check out the article I wrote on the topic: Audio Accessibility Features for Roguelikes.



The install size of the game has definitely gone up as a result of all the new audio, by a whopping 50%! It wasn't exactly huge to begin with, but with Beta 10 we're going from 30MB to 45MB.

New Endings

We have two new endings, bringing us to a total of nine different ways to win! I won't spoil the new ones here except to say that they're both a part of the extended game, and to point out the obvious, that yes the "expanded Warlord arc" indicated in the changelog is what you've been waiting for if you're one of us Warlord fans. Warlord forever! (Hopefully...)

Each of the new endings presents new challenges beyond what was already in the game, and of course as with the other seven, they each come with their own unique animated ending sequence. A ton of work went into these endings as a whole, and based on initial feedback from patrons they seem to have turned out pretty well. I even had to add a whole new type of UI window to enable you to trigger access to one of the new endings--you'll know it when you see it ;)

On a related note, I've also expanded some NPC interactions that people have wanted to see over the years. Under the right circumstances it's been possible to get certain major NPCs to meet each other, but in the past they wouldn't take notice or otherwise react in any way. Now they do, usually with consequences :P

Drones and AI

There was a decent list of optional features to consider for Beta 10, and this time patrons voted to prioritize a drone mechanics rework together with a significant expansion of the types of drones available. It's turned out pretty nicely, resolving what I saw as some longstanding issues while adding fun new options at the same time.

Importantly, the new additions are not simply "drone with guns A, drone with guns B, etc.", or even drones using just standard tech, but instead come with unique features or behavior that can enable special strategies, or at least just be really fun to use--launch decoys, self-guided bombs, your own posse of thieves, drones that do your hacking for you, and more!



Drone Bay Basics

The most fundamental change with respect to drones is that you must have an attached and functional matching type of bay in order to use them. The bay does not actually need to be active, however (activating a bay is simply a way to launch drones). There are a number of implied changes connected to this one, including:

• Releasing a drone directly from a bay on the ground (e.g. with '>') can only be done if a functional matching type of bay is already attached
• Zionite Recon dispatches now arrive as a Z-Drone Bay (since you can't have drones without a bay anymore :P)
• Drone bays never autoactivate on attach, regardless of part autoactivation settings

If you remove the necessary drone bay (or it's destroyed xD), all related drones will take on the new "Unconnected" status and shut down. You lose the FOV info, but can gain it back again immediately by attaching an appropriate bay.

Drone connection demo:



Drone FOV connection demo:



This requirement really opened up the drone space for more possibilities and was pivotal in making the new drones much more interesting since the bay becomes a part of the requirement for using them, meaning we can get more powerful/numerous drones because the bay itself can be huge or heavy as a balancing factor to compensate :)

One surely welcome QoL under this new system is that if you have multiple matching drone bays and the attached one is full, drones can actually return to those which are currently in your inventory, as long as one has sufficient space.

Less Micro

Overall there'll be less micromanagement involved with drones, and in some cases other allies as well, with the biggest change being the complete removal of the GOTO order! That feature just encouraged a lot of micromanagement to get the most out of allies, especially drones which could then be carefully moved around to explore manually in some cases, and would often be optimal but tedious (i.e. not good). (Even after the removal you can technically still get them generally where you want by using a combination of movement, waiting, and STAY orders, though this incurs a time cost which can be prohibitive except when very important.)

This encouraged me to make some improvements to the AI as well, most importantly that unarmed followers will slightly trail behind rather than gathering around your current location. And they'll be smart about retreating ahead of you if you're retreating, too, generally keeping them out of the line of fire (unless you're suddenly ambushed from behind, or surrounded, in which case good luck :P).

Implementation: Instead of following your precise location, unarmed followers will target a point lagging behind you, as demonstrated here during debug mode (you can't normally see the point itself):



Drones and all allies will also really do their best to avoid stepping on known traps now. It turns out that although they would never path through traps, they might sometimes decide to stand on one if you were hanging around near it long enough.

Fleeing drones will now always RETURN automatically, rather than running around wildly, so it'll be easier to get them back and they'll be much more likely to survive longer. By extension, any disarmed combat drones will also automatically return, possibly improving their lifespan as well. The potential drawback here is that they might lead enemies right back to your position! Of course if you're not there when the enemies finally arrive then it's all good anyway... (or you can choose to sacrifice the drone by removing the bay to disconnect it and then you'll be fine, too)

Drone QoL

One long-requested new feature is the ability to have the map view follow a drone as it moves. You can easily cycle through your drones using the normal Enter key (or center mouse button), which highlights them and their FOV. You can just use this to more easily check where they are, or even pass turns while focused on them and watch as they explore even distant areas.

Drone cycling demo:



Drone following demo:



When active drones are offscreen, you also get a blue 'n' marker like the one you get when Cogmind is offscreen:



And there's a new type of dedicated intel marker to record the location of a drone that was destroyed when that happens outside your remaining FOV:



The allies menu system got some upgrades, too:

• Opening an ally order list via the Allies console centers display on that ally if they are outside the map view
• Accessing the ally order list via keyboard displays it adjacent to the ally rather than below the Allies console
• Fleeing controllable allies appear differently in the allies menu, and explicitly refuse orders with a warning message

New ally order list location:



Returning drone cannot be ordered:



Acquiring Drones

A majority of the new drone bays are available in the early game, although every single type except for one is a unique part, so you won't be seeing all of them in the same run. Less unique drones with similar mechanics might be available in the future (for example via Merchants!), but there's currently no good place to add them yet so I decided it would be better to make the bays unique so they could be especially useful or fun.

Many are available in the Mines via a new prefab encounter, and the rest are scattered about in other plot areas. One is a regular 0b10 prototype bay.

RIF Expansion

For all the Botlord builds out there, the pool of potential robot hacking abilities has been expanded from 9 to 15. Half of the new ones can be obtained multiple times to increase their effectiveness.

(Skip this section if you want to discover them on your own!)

Here's an overview of what's new...

• Hotswap allows you to automatically swap in additional matching Couplers in sequence from your inventory when the effective code value of current attached Couplers is insufficient for the desired hack. (No this doesn't mean hacking directly from inventory Couplers, but it does reduce the need to free up utility slots and attach additional Couplers mid-combat, while also allowing you to more easily get the most out of your existing Couplers.)
• With Command Fork you have a chance to duplicate each hack, also applying it to the visible applicable target nearest to the initial target, at no extra cost! It's compatible with most hacks, excluding generate_echo, map_walls, map_earth, map_route, or those that would have no meaningful effect. This is super useful because you can hack a combat bot and have the same hack affect a nearby different type of combat bot for which you don't even have a Coupler--very powerful under the right circumstances!
• Threat Obfuscation reduces all influence increases by a certain percentage (depending on your ability's level).
• Signal Jamming blocks local transmissions from visible hostiles while you have a matching Coupler attached, making it impossible for them to share information about your current position. Also prevents calls for reinforcements, and suppresses alarm traps. Basically against bots it's like having a targeted Transmission Jammer, a nice little bonus for having a given Coupler.
• Zone Cloak causes extermination squads to take longer to pinpoint your position for dispatching, essentially the same effect as taking out Garrison Access points, but you get it for free.
• With any [NC] Coupler attached, Watcher Feeds makes it possible to tap into the visual feed data of all 0b10 Watchers within a range of 24! This basically gives you temporary access to free drones that can maintain visual contact with enemies without themselves being attacked. One less reason to destroy Watchers :P

Demo of a link_fov fork:



Demo of forking overload_power and streamctrl_high:



Demo of the Watcher Feeds effect (while applicable, the link range is highlighted in faint yellow):



Mechanics

You can ram walls and machines now! Doing this is will mess you up pretty bad and there are warnings against it, of course, to help prevent you from smashing your face into that adjacent nuclear reactor, although if you're getting really desperate and squads are gathering around, this might actually be a good idea ;)



So it's there if you need it. This also provides a last ditch way out of escaping situations in which you've accidentally allowed Engineers to entomb you without any weapons to escape :P

Ramming like this uses the same old force melee commands.



We also have a more controversial mechanical adjustment in terms of using melee weapons in dug out spaces. For a number of reasons being able to safely dig winding tunnels could be pretty cheesy, even more so using them to fight pursuers. Projectile weapons could cause instant cave-ins when used like this from within unstable areas, but not melee weapons. Now all weapons are treated the same in this regard. The chance of melee attacks causing a cave-in are lower than, say, a kinetic cannon, but it is no longer completely safe to do so.

In terms of tunnel combat I imagine the effect of this change is less of an issue for players since that practice probably wasn't as widespread, though this does also affect the ability to dig consecutively through multiple spaces with a melee weapon, which will no doubt cause concern for some stealth builds which will need to consider alternative options if they can't risk a cave-in.

In any case, we'll see how things turn out, but stealth is already super effective and melee digging in particular was only one small part of that effectiveness.

Balance

Trackers have been nerfed. See the multiple changelog lines regarding them :P

The changes essentially mean they'll be a bit slower to catch up to you, and also have to be within view before they can open fire. Technically this is also an indirect nerf to builds that liked to farm Trackers and take their OP gear to turn it agaist 0b10, but players who could do that were few and far in between (in Rogue mode, at least xD).

We also have some OP weapon nerfs, specifically the Firepult and Guided EMP Blaster. Both are still good, but were definitely way too good earlier. The Firepult nerf in particular was planned to happen eventually, but don't worry, it's still quite good, just can't be used indefinitely because the idea behind most EX-tech was that it's stuff which is fun and effective to play with through the early/mid-game rather than become something you stash away to help crush the extended game :P. Some other Exiles parts will likely be revisited in the next release for updating as well (they were intentionally made OP when first introduced basically just for fun, since you can't get them every run anyway).

Impact weapons got a situational buff across the board, since all walls and reinforced barriers are now weaker against them.

I made some changes to the Access garrison situation, namely removing the original extremely deadly result of visiting one, a nasty surprise for anyone doing it their first time that was probably not survivable for most builds. The origial effect (instant Max Security!), was my first reaction to Pimski trying to loop indefinitely since it was an easy way to use the game's existing content to mostly discourage or outright block that possibility. Now there's a much less deadly result specifically for that situation.

Going inside that garrison itself has gotten more dangerous, however--I mean it's Access, right?! :)

QoL

Our favorite three-letter combo around here!

We've got some useful new protective warnings, including most importantly a warning if you're attempting to attack from a position that might cause a cave-in as a result, since it can be easy to that accidentally in the heat of battle. (This warning also includes melee attacks, as per the earlier mechanical change mentioned earlier.) There's also a warning if your attempted line of fire is blocked by another robot, since a fair number of people don't seem to notice that as readily, especially if the situation is changing as a lot of bots are moving around during combat (note that the LOF indicator also changes color).

Previously used guided waypoints can now be recalled even if some were outside FOV:



By request, as long as you have Tactical HUD mode active, parts that have been damaged for whatever reason (like... being shot :P) now retain a box around their integrity display in your parts list until your next action, so that you can more easily recall what has just taken damage:



I've activated this behavior by default, but if it bothers you you can deactivate it in advanced.cfg using partDamageIndicatorsRetained.

Also by request, we now have the ability to add custom log notes!



Log notes could later be expanded in a number of ways depending on player needs, but the primary purpose behind its current form is to allow you to leave in-game notes about what you were doing at the end of a play session, making it easier to pick up where you left off next time.

This feature is currently only accessible via Shift-Alt-z, but we'll be later getting a new menu system for easier access to all Shift-Alt key combo features, including mouse accessibility.

And no, your notes do not appear in the final scoresheet at this time (they're excluded from log output and only appear in game).

I've updated any Mines reward encounters that required randomly visiting a hidden location, which encouraged the optimal tactic of scouring every inch of the Mines in search of them, especally in the hope of uncovering the famous early Exp. Sensor Array:



As you can see, the event is now triggered by rifling through some visible Scrap. The original behavior was meant as a placeholder until there was a better solution--now we have one :)

We've got a couple little special mode updates as well. First of all a dedicated indicator for when your built-in sensors are being jammed, since the normal indicator was attached to sensor parts, which you may not even need in RPGLIKE mode :P



Player 2 now displays their parts with raw integrity values rather than as percentages:



Community

I've been doing a lot of streaming over the past months, about half of it Cogmind-related. In fact, we'll be starting a new run today, not long after Beta 10 is officially released here :)

Past streams are archived on my YouTube channel, including the relatively recent Magneto run where we go for that achievement, some RIF runs, and others checking out the new ambient audio, including one dev testing stream.

Many others have been streaming lately as well, including MTF, Tone, Valguris and other top players. The Discord is a good place to get a heads up on streams and when people are planning to go live.

For those of you out there interested in the latest flavor of cheese, Pimski has put together an Exiles Kill Guide demonstrating a new pastime among Cogmind's more brazen and greedy (and evil!) players:



As per the announcement last month, the leaderboards are back in action and better than ever. I'll be continuing to expand their features down the line.

The next leaderboard reset will come tomorrow now that Beta 10 is out! All the current scores are from the Beta 9 builds (although the separate patron leaderboards include some Beta 10 and prerelease runs).

The Road to More

Thanks to all patrons and players for your support!

We've still got that OP rating, so the next goal still stands. Keep the reviews coming :D

Reminder: There will eventually be a big free expansion happening that adds Merchants (in fact there are a growing number of references in the game foreshadowing their arrival, including more in this release ;)), though I haven't yet decided for sure whether it will be before or after 1.0.

Regardless, we've got lots and lots of plans, both small and large, still out there just waiting for some attention...

30

Announcements / Cogmind Leaderboards Reborn!

« on: August 25, 2020, 02:51:43 PM »

YES, the leaderboards are back in action!

With a big Beta 10 mostly done and coming soon, we really needed to get official Beta 9 leaderboards up and running. Not to mention there are plenty of people out there who enjoy either aiming to rise through the ranks, or maybe just browse the leaderboards or other runs to see what others are up to. And of course with Beta 9's incredibly detailed new scoresheets there's even more to see in that regard!

Since they've been silent for a while, the boards currently include all seven releases since Beta 8.




To celebrate, Zyalin drew a bunch of us "Climbing the Ladder":



Of course roguelike god GJ is always there waiting to put us in our place ;)



At the bottom of the leaderboards you'll find a section listing more info about the rankings, and the usual links to archived scores and stats. New in this updated version you'll also find links to one-time leaderboards for past special modes, as well as patron leaderboards for those playing experimental prerelease versions.









Also down there you'll find a link to this nifty new menu, where you can access all runs by all players by version. (Well, "all" meaning those who have opted in to score uploading, since that's all we have data for!)

Technically we had this feature before, but it was simply a bunch of text files sitting on a server and navigated via your browser's file browser. Not ideal! Now we have basic run data in table format, styled for even more convenient browsing :D



Maps are color coded, as are difficulty modes and even score. Plus you've got both the date and mode right there. Another excerpt from a different version:



The scoresheet link on the right gives full data for each run.

Looking forward to seeing new players and interesting runs pop up on the boards where everyone can check them out :)

As for Beta 10, it's just about done, but shortly before I was about to finish everything on the list I decided to add some pretty significant new content (we're suddenly getting two new endings :P) so it's taking longer than originally planned. Anyway, more dev time just means more stuff, so stay tuned ;)

31

Announcements / REXPaint 1.50 Released! (now supports more than 256 char tilesets, and more)

« on: August 02, 2020, 07:42:12 PM »

REXPaint has a new update, and we're going all the way to 1.50!

This release combines all of the cumulative feature request patches released on the forums over the past couple years, and most importantly includes what was originally planned to be a 2.0 feature: unlimited character bitmaps! Custom fonts are no longer limited to CP437's 16x16 grid, and can add as many rows as you like to include additional glyphs or otherwise expanded tilesets--lots and lots of room for especially the gamedev REXPaint users out there ;)

REXPaint 1.50 (200803) changelog:

• NEW: Support for more than 256 glyphs in a single font (scroll with wheel or PgUp/Dn)
• NEW: Adjustable wheel-based extended glyph scrolling ("glyphScrollRowCount" in cfg)
• NEW: Manual provides additional information about extended custom fonts and tilesets
• NEW: Multi-layer support for Copy/Cut/Paste tools, use 'd' and Shift-d to adjust the desired operational depth
• NEW: Full layer copy (Ctrl-Shift-c) obeys current multi-layer copy depth setting as well
• NEW: Cycle images while in Paint mode using Ctrl-Up/Down
• NEW: Reload all image files via Ctrl-Shift-r or the Browse window's "R" button
• NEW: Batch export of all .xp images to PNGs supported via command line (see manual Appendix H)
• NEW: Export to format used for art in Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (Ctrl-j) (see manual Appendix I for more info)
• NEW: Toggle transparent cell visibility with 'n' (only shows current layer)
• NEW: Switch between two different preset transparency visualization color schemes (editable in skins.xt) (hotkey Shift-Alt-n)
• NEW: Manual explicitly states that alternative paste modes affect the results of any copy action
• NEW: Manual explicitly states that custom fonts always treat index 32 as a space, regardless of what the bitmap contains there
• MOD: Font config for custom fonts requires specifying the number of columns and rows present in each bitmap font
• MOD: Options menu Default Image Background (applies to new images, expansions from resize, layer 1 areas) now defaults to transparent instead of black
• MOD: Holding Alt while cursor hovering over font glyph highlights matching glyphs across a layer using a different style rather than simply flashing them
• MOD: "Shift all layers in indicated direction" hotkey changed to Shift-Arrow/Numpad
• MOD: Color Shift Mode hotkey changed from Ctrl-h/s/v to Shift-h/s/v
• MOD: Keyboard's Pause key no longer has an effect
• FIX: Canvas-sized image created on opening also obeys Default Image Background setting
• FIX: Version check functionality restored after an unexpected server change broke the previous connection system
• FIX: Using separate fonts for GUI and art was not compatible with the new selected glyph preview in the Apply box
• FIX: Optional glyph hover ID display was off by one

You can download REXPaint here, and note that as of 1.04 it's also available on itch.io.

Regarding the new extended font support, here's the relevant excerpt from the manual:

Although the default number of rows in a font bitmap is 16, and that is the largest number REXPaint will display at once, fonts with additional rows are supported, essentially allowing space for an "unlimited" number of glyphs in an image. Simply specify the proper number of rows available for the relevant art font in _config.xt and it will be loaded normally (16 columns is still a requirement), then you can use PgUp/Dn or the scroll wheel (with cursor in the glyph area) to see and use glyphs beyond #255. The mouse scrolling rate can be adjusted in REXPaint.cfg via glyphScrollRowCount. If any art fonts have more than 16 rows, the font window will display numbers at the top right indicating the number of rows currently above and below the current view. To make it easier to use large tilesets, by default right-clicking on an image glyph to select a glyph currently outside the viewable glyph window does not automatically scroll the view to show it unless you right-click on the same selected glyph a second time, though you can overide this behavior and have it always scroll immediately by setting glyphSelectAlwaysAutoscrolls in REXPaint.cfg.

For those of you updating your install from a previous version in which you're using custom fonts/tilesets, note that due to the new expanded character support, the format of fonts/_config.xt has changed a bit, requiring you to explicitly list the number of columns and rows in each font file. See the default install's included version for the proper formatting.

Some of the new features in action

Playing with a custom extended tileset (specifically Kenney's 1-bit pack).



Using explicit transparency mode to visually isolate layers from one another.



Ctrl-Up/Down cycling through images in Paint mode.



Multilayer copy/paste.



Enhanced glyph usage highlighting.



Exporting art to the JSON format used by Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (CDDA).



Happy painting/designing/mapping/developing!

32

Announcements / Cogmind Beta 9.6 "Core Friends"

« on: April 13, 2020, 04:41:06 PM »

Cogmind's new "2-player" mode turned out to be a lot of fun, and after playing it a bit more I'd already come up with a growing list of other ideas that fell under "low-hanging fruit" for improving your friend's AI to make the mode even better. So rather than waiting until Beta 10 to include these features, I figured might as well release them now as Beta 9.6 while some players are still enjoying the company of another Cogmind!



Cogmind Beta 9.6 "Core Friends" (200414) changelog:

• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Added dedicated "Player 2" section to scoresheet with 15 new entries
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 better understands the tactical use of launchers when conditions permit it
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 can now swap parts from ground into a full inventory to improve type and quality of spares
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 much less likely to stack utilities that won't benefit from it
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 tendency to use heat sinks as armor toned down
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 part loss also contributes to alert level reduction, as per the Cogmind mechanic
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] 2 more dialogue situations (total = 83)
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] More dialogue lines (total = 660)
• NEW: AI-controlled bots with a large energy-based volley may proactively deactivate one or more weapons if it will enable them to fire immediately
• MOD: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 no longer considers wasting turns on smaller integrity upgrades when rebuilding from salvage
• MOD: [Player 2 mode] Increased frequency of Player 2 dialogue
• FIX: Beta 9.6 prerelease bugs hunted down by: [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: AS-neutralizer No. 17b applied effect across entire map rather than limiting to specified range [Valguris]
• FIX: Scoresheet "Unauthorized Hacks" tally higher than intended [Valguris]
• FIX: Part info comparisons with a part using a manual tag misaligned the values by one row [Pimski]
• FIX: Scoresheet history log message for bump-rewiring detected and displayed incorrectly
• FIX: autoActivateTreadsOnAttack option caused inactive treads to appear active on automatically switching back to core propulsion on a move after attacking
• FIX: [Player 2 mode] Potential load issue under certain conditions

Saves from earlier versions are incompatible with Beta 9.6, but even if you're on Steam and Cogmind automatically updates, Beta 9.5 is still available via its own legacy branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.

Player 2

Player 2 is now more likely to put together better builds overall, is smarter about launcher use, wastes somewhat less time rebuilding after a firefight, and now actually know how to turn off some weapons in their volley if they're starting to run low on energy. This was originally a bit of a problem during longer confrontations when Player 2 had large energy-based volleys and might end up doing very little attacking, but now for example they can turn off one or more weapons if it'll help them increase their attack rate and improve the outcome of skirmishes.

For example, see in this test how they start off firing both of their Nova Cannons but eventually switch to sometimes firing one in order to keep hitting targets:



Player 2 is also now more talkative than before. They normally have quite a lot to say, but in Beta 9.5 I had set the frequencies fairly low since I didn't want to overdo it across longer runs. After playing more long runs of my own, however, it felt like there was definitely room to increase the likelihood of them commenting on something, especially considering there are so many situations they want to talk about, many different things they can say in each, and most people won't play the mode that many times anyway!

"Player 2: A decisive victory in my favor, I'd say." Spoken immediately after leveling the caves with dozens of rockets...



Some of the new situations I added are pretty fun, but I won't spoil them :)

One thing missing from Beta 9.5 was any kinds of stats specific to Player 2, which we now have in Beta 9.6 \o/

Your scoresheets and stat dumps will now include new entries for your friend, including basic records like evolutions and part changes, but also perhaps more fun are comparisons between who is taking/dealing more damage and destroying the most hostiles, so you can now compete with Player 2 :D (or use this for other types of interesting conduct runs)



In the quick sample above, Cogmind and Player 2 are almost neck and neck for damage inflicted, although Player 2 was taking much less of the core damage (26%).

Although the main purposes of this release was Player 2 improvements, and fixes for new bugs are mostly coming in Beta 10, I did include a few incidental fixes I happened to have been working on. Like we now have proper alignment of part comparison values when one of them has a manual tag (which you can add to an inventory item via Shift-Alt-t):



I'd gotten a report about that once before and didn't make the connection as to what the cause might be until it also hit me during last week's stream and I went back to rewatch that section :P

Player 2 Leaderboards

Sadly the official leaderboards are still being held hostage to coronavirus, but I do have some Player 2 data to share...

Of the Cogmind owners who experienced Player 2 mode, 55 have opted into stat reporting, reporting a total of 132 runs through yesterday.

PLAYER 2 ROGUE LEADERBOARDS

1.     Ctrl_Alt_X - 49695
 2.           3.14 - 40915
 3.        Kyzrati - 40521
 4.       Valguris - 39816
 5.       Finestep - 32919
 6.       cptwinky - 31900
 7.    PhenomPhear - 30124
 8.            Ape - 29133
 9.         Nalzok - 26766
10.            Xii - 23258
11.         Omewes - 23132
12.         Gitida - 20281
13.       TBExtent - 19127
14.        Stryker - 19082
15.      Nikolayag - 16709
16.     Falconhoof - 15177
17.         Demise - 13750
18.          lsend - 13182
19.      bugsniper - 11845
20.       IAMCRAIG - 11126
21.         Knucke - 11044
22.           Kain - 10040
23.       Hermelin - 9270
24. Space Macarony - 7612
25.      Someone64 - 7606
26.    sideriver81 - 7104
27.     JerichoBot - 6477
28.       goast115 - 5682
29.         Pimski - 5494
30.        Tailrae - 5143
31.       eldritch - 5006
32.        erp.lsf - 4877
33.        CreepyD - 4684
34.     High Tyrol - 3939
35.          Lefty - 3372
36.             JF - 3357
37.   SHADOWELITE7 - 3122
38.         Torako - 2671
39.       PyroDawn - 2506
40.        Morazor - 2416
41.           Irot - 1833
42.         inSANE - 952
43.          JSLIN - 889
44.    SirMrDrProf - 671
45.     Tough2Name - 465
46.          Judas - 211

PLAYER 2 ADVENTURER LEADERBOARDS

1. ShurikenKat - 11648
2.        Amao - 10336
3. Nuc_Temeron - 8159
4.     Najkers - 3878
5.    Chinolee - 268
6.    elbjorno - 167

PLAYER 2 EXPLORER LEADERBOARDS

1.       Dre2Dee2 - 13124
2.         Quiddy - 10130
3. Snake Mistress - 796

Oooh, me and Player 2 got third place this round for our epic fight to the end :D

For more leaderboards other than just Player 2 (and to see some of these with "mutations" appended), check out the latest compilation on the forums put together by Joshua, with all Beta 9 series runs through April 12th.

Community

Last week I published a huge article about Developing Multitile Creatures in Roguelikes (currently for patrons), which covers a lot of related topics like appearance, pathfinding, mapgen, design, etc.



I mention because it inspired Ape to grace the community with an update to their graphical ASCII mod for Cogmind, now including the alternative large-character style for multitile bots.

A scary sight if you ever saw one (unless of course you have one of the tools for dealing with situations like this :P):



Also scary:



Inspired by Zyalin's great magazine cover featured in the Player 2 release, KernelPanic created a second issue :D

Behold, Daily Derelict issue 0xF3:



I've been streaming Player 2 since its release, starting with this intro:



Then continuing the run (and finishing both that and a second one) just last week:



More to come!

Actually, after this announcement goes up, I'll be streaming another Player 2 run no later than 9 PM EST (Monday 4/14). We're going to teach Player 2 how Garrison raids are done and build an impressive RIF stack to play a support role. As usual, if you miss it it'll be up on YouTube later.

How to Play with Player 2

As a reminder, even though the event is over you can continue to play Player 2 mode as long as you like, even in this and future versions of Cogmind.

On Steam this can be accomplished by entering "-forceMode:Player2" as a launch option, as in this example from RPGLIKE (which you can also still play!):



Note that this only works if you have no run in progress (i.e. exited the game directly after finishing a previous run, or did a self-destruct w/save removal from the game menu).

Off Steam, you can either set the launch options for COGMIND.EXE, or run a .bat file like this one--just decompress the archive and drop the file into your Cogmind directory and click it. It simply contains the text "start COGMIND.exe -forceMode:Player2", to start the game in the desired mode.

33

Announcements / Multiplayer Cogmind is here!

« on: March 31, 2020, 05:08:50 PM »

Are you stuck at home?

Want to play some Cogmind but with extra social interaction?

How about taking on Complex 0b10 with a friend! Don't worry, NO REAL FRIEND NECESSARY, we'll provide one for you!

Welcome to Cogmind Beta 9.5...

This April 1st, just fire up a run and leave the Scrapyard to join forces with Player 2 on the adventure of a lifetime :D

Use the superior firepower of TWO COGMINDS to teach the Unaware that they should've stayed a safe distance away from you.*

*WARNING: This process is known to attract a lot of attention.

Your brand new friend comes with

• new AI behaviors
• most of your same capabilities and will evolve and manage their own build and inventory
• over 600 lines of situational dialogue to keep you company on the way

More info about this special release after the changelog...

Cogmind Beta 9.5 "Player 2" (200401) changelog:

• NEW: Unique AFD mode for 2020, automatically activates on 4/1 for anyone who has played at least three runs
• NEW: Command line argument "-forceMode:AFD2020" (or "-forceMode:Player2") to enable the AFD mode from 2020, regardless of system date
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Join forces with Player 2, another Cogmind with most of your same capabilities
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Adds a special interface displaying Player 2's class and movement data, with persistent access to their loadout (toggle w/'9' or LMB)
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Cogmind and Player 2's core integrity levels are linked
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Multiple smarter AI behaviors for Player 2
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] Over 600 lines of situational dialogue
• NEW: [Player 2 mode] 1 new unique superweapon
• NEW: List of item schematics during manual hacks darkens any that are already known
• NEW: Option to block achievement earning while in challenge modes and special modes (advanced.cfg: onlyRegularModeAchievements)
• NEW: Manual "Difficulty" section includes explicit subsection for Rogue setting
• NEW: Manual part list data visualization descriptions further clarify meaning of heat mode values
• MOD: Part autoreplacement feature compares items based on based on current integrity rather than percent integrity remaining
• MOD: Part autoreplacement feature never swaps in known faulty or broken parts
• MOD: Advanced option "ignoreAscendConfirmation" no longer prevents warnings about leaving allies behind
• FIX: Size 36 fonts had become unusable on 4K screens [mudshark]
• FIX: [RPGLIKE mode] Pressing '0' with an open ally order list would open RPGLIKE upgrade menu [NikolayAg]
• FIX: [RPGLIKE mode] Protomatter might have a negative value under some conditions [Terminus, Rumbl3]
• FIX: Part autoreplacement feature was sometimes making undesirable swaps with regard to relative integrity [sunqingyao]
• FIX: Automatic waypoint recall for guided weapon attacks had stopped working [Valguris]
• FIX: Changes for RPGLIKE mode broke Sensor Arrays and Visual Processing utilities, allowing them to stack [Kerapace]
• FIX: Beta 9.5 prerelease bugs hunted down by: [CaptainWinky, Xii, lsend]
• FIX: [Pay2Buy mode] Hotkey for closing CogShop was still '0' rather than the newer '9'
• FIX: New "Broken" prefix for non-functional parts did not automatically update until part changed in some other way
• FIX: New "Broken" prefix for non-functional parts was included in log messages regarding that state change
• FIX: [Abominations mode] Abominations more effectively switch between propulsion modes when more than one available
• FIX: Since AI modifications to support autonomous weapons, disarmed combat bots might continue chasing targets rather than fleeing after loading a save
• FIX: Regular map exit warnings were not displayed if attempting to exit while somehow already on top of stairs
• FIX: Starting XP for RPGLIKE mode was added to score data even outside that mode

Saves from earlier versions are incompatible with Beta 9.5, but even if you're on Steam and Cogmind automatically updates, Beta 9.5 is still available via its own legacy branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.

"Player 2"

The key theme for this update is a new event and special mode, "Player 2," featuring your very own buddy with which to take on Complex 0b10. And they will mostly definitely be with you until The End because you can't leave a map without them, and your cores are permanently linked! When you take core integrity damage that same amount is applied to their core, and vice versa.

So you've got to look out for each other and it can sorta feel like an escort mission, although both of you can kick robot butt, and exactly who is escorting who might change from time to time :P

Fortunately they're not exactly helpless, with the ability to seek out and attach new parts they need or want, often in a fairly smart way overall. Just like you they can also increase their inventory size and carry spares, and may even be willing to share if you're in really bad shape ;)

Player 2 upgrading their build:



That inventory view, opened by clicking on the "[Player 2 (9)]" button (or just pressing the '9' key), can remain persistently open as you play to keep tabs on their build, or toggled off as necessary if and when it's getting in the way. Below it is the persistent info tab displaying their current build, movement mode, and speed. (Remember you can turn on your own automated build analysis system by setting showBuildType in /user/advanced.cfg to 1.)

Player 2 mode opens up a lot of new strategic considerations and tactical challenges. Your runs with Player 2 will tend to end up more combat-oriented, although with the right build you could probably keep them out of the full amount of trouble they'll otherwise be getting into since they... like to shoot things (unlike other allies, however, they'll hold back if you've spotted an enemy in the distance before yourself being spotted and haven't opened fire yet). You can sometimes choose to instead play a more supporting role, or prefer a front-line build to work alongside (or ahead of) theirs, at times considering your friend's loadout to determine what it is you'd like to build for.

A screenshot of us in a Research run, one of many because 1) this mode is really fun, and 2) it took a lot of testing to get the behavior right and work out kinks in the AI, which as you can imagine is far more complex than any other AI in Cogmind so far:



In your travels you might notice a number of other new behaviors Player 2 is capable of. For example here they are helping me destroy and loot a Hauler:



We destroy an Energy Cycler together:



And they certainly won't ask for an invitation to share their thoughts. They've got hundreds of lines of dialogue and are happy to give out tips and info and exhibit rampant sarcasm as they comment on the surroundings, events, or status.

Technically there's also a new superweapon added by and for this mode, and you can get it in your gallery, but I imagine this particular weapon is going to be very hard for most people to actually find. There are a couple clues, but still. Anyway, don't worry about it too much since it's also quite possible I'll eventually add another way to acquire it in the regular game as well.



Player 2: Access and Notes

AFD2020/Player2 mode will automatically activate for you on new runs started on 4/1 if you've played at least 3 runs before.

If you want to play on another day, you can still force it by adding a command line parameter when running COGMIND.EXE: "-forceMode:Player2". (Within Steam this is handled by going to Cogmind > Properties > Set Launch Options.)



If you want to play a regular run during the event, you can suppress date-based event triggering by adding the "-noSpecialMode" command line parameter.



Sorry but special modes are not compatible with one another, so you cannot combine RPGLIKE and Player 2.

Reminder: As of Beta 9.3, there is a new requirement specifying that regardless of settings, special modes and challenge modes can only be activated if the game starts up without loading a save. Even restarting/self-destructing won't work in this case, because some modes actually modify the underlying game data, which cannot be reloaded while the game is running.

Although it probably doesn't matter as much in today's new mode as something like RPGLIKE, note that you can set onlyRegularModeAchievements in /user/advanced.cfg to block the earning of new achievements in special modes or challenges modes because you'd like to preserve them for when you're playing the regular game. Otherwise, as per the Beta 9.3 update you can now earn achievements in this mode as well.

2-Player Stream

Not long after this announcement goes up, I'll be streaming a Player 2 run no later than 9 PM EST (Tuesday 3/31), and continue it one week later at the same time (or do another if we bite the dust :P). As usual, if you miss it it'll be up on YouTube later.

Non-Special Stuff

The main focus of work recently has been on the AI required to be able to play like Cogmind (complicated!!!), but a few other things have made it into this release.

Certainly not all the new issues slated to be fixed for the "next major release" have been addressed for 9.5, just some that were incidentally addressed, or really important to get in there now. Among them are some crazy effect stacking bugs introduced by code reworked in order to enable support for RPGLIKE mode abilities.

Stacking visual sensors to be able to see at ridiculous ranges down a corridor? Check!



You could even do this with Sensor Arrays!



Certainly not intended, and long-time players didn't really notice these new behaviors since stacking these is not something you'd normally do (their descriptions also clearly indicate they don't stack), but newer players who've only joined us in recent months definitely noticed, so I'm glad that recently got reported and fixed xD. Thanks Kerapace.

In QoL land, the part autoreplacement system got some updates and fixes as listed in the changelog, and item schematics you already possess are now darkened in the manual hacking menu, like so:



And another previously-working-but-later-broken feature has now been restored as well: automatic guided waypoint recalling so you don't have to keep reentering the same waypoints on subsequent turns to repeatedly follow the same path. After restoration:



The annoying negative Protomatter bug in RPGLIKE was also finally tracked down and eliminated \o/

Writing

I did eventually write the promised RPGLIKE design article if you want to read up on how that was put together. It's full of data and reasonings:
      


I also did a detailed writeup of Cogmind's "Battle Royale" mode, which I was originally going to release for AFD this year but later changed my mind.



Although playable (I released that version for patrons here), I ended up replacing it with the Player 2 event, which was built on the AI foundation created for Battle Royale.

I'm currently working on a lengthy new article about multitile creatures in roguelikes, more of a survey and technical how-to with design tips as well.

Videos

Since last time I posted an update I've streamed several RPGLIKE runs, including...

The RPGLIKE intro stream on release day:



A "no-crutches" kinetics run:



And a 4-slot "Babymind" run:



Switching back to regular Cogmind, I also streamed an imprinted heavy combat run (a pretty tough type of run...):



And a pair of speed runs which resulted in a 908-turn win :D



On the subject of AFD modes, another of the runs I streamed was Cogmind's very first special mode ever, "Launchers" from AFD2018:



Although not directly related to Cogmind (unless you count the fact that Cogmind was once a 7DRL, or that I converted it into a second 7DRL a couple years ago (!)), I've most recently been streaming some 7DRLs to help out the r/RoguelikeDev community. The video descriptions contain game info and timestamps for each (lots of the devs joined the streams as well):

Day 1:



Day 2:



I'll be streaming more 7DRLs when the official reviews are out probably some time next month, but for now it's time for more Cogmind! Again, my first P2 stream will be starting not long after this release goes out.

Other News

Sadly the leaderboards still sit very close to completion while progress on them has completely stopped due to complications from coronavirus, which has caused lots of headaches for the developer (reminder: I'm not the one building that external system). Good news is that, as usual, scores from opt-in players are of course still being uploaded* to the server to be included once it goes live.

*In rare cases it might say the upload failed even when it did not, which is kinda weird. You can always tell if it succeeded or not by checking whether the scoresheet contains the URL at the end. And if it truly failed Cogmind retroactively retries the upload on subsequent startups anyway.

Datawise, as you can see here we've had a clear shift in the number of people playing easier difficulty modes now that the option is part of an explicit pre-game menu.



Most still go for the typical hardcore mode, but hopefully with the new menu it's more likely that people are finding the mode that works best for them. (These modes have existed for years, but obviously a lot of people did not realize it!)

Another bit of data I was curious about is the ongoing usage of RPGLIKE as a permanent mode of play, since that was one of the goals in creating it, giving people a way to enjoy Cogmind as if it were a bit more like other roguelikes when they were otherwise having trouble getting used to the unique mechanics and strategies involved. Some have stuck with the mode to this day, although the rate of use is currently only around 5% of the runs per day, down from 30~50% in the month after the event was over. We may get more people into it again once there's an in-game reminder/notice that it exists. I've also been thinking it would also be nice to include anonymous players in the data, but the system is currently opt-in only. That said, the ratio is probably not a whole lot different.

In terms of review numbers, we almost lost Cogmind's Overwhelmingly Positive status on Steam this month, but surprisingly regained it in less than a day since at the time we were just missing one more positive review. Anyway, that still shows we're on the brink of losing it so be ready for that eventuality, likely some time this year xD. Reminder: If we can maintain it for the next couple hundred reviews, I've promised a new map and derelict faction. Because holding that status is helpful for sales, of course, which means making more money to fund additional content without DLC :) (which I refuse to do)

After 9.5 comes Beta 10, which could take a while considering everything it needs to cover. It's too early to share details on that just yet, although I can say that as voted on by patrons it will at least include a bunch of drone-related updates and features, along with modifications to ally AI. Results from the latest round of voting on optional features:



Thanks

Special thanks to Zyalin for that wonderful "The Daily Derelict" magazine cover shown at the opening of this post! (Also to zxc and other fans for helping coming up with its content.)

Zyalin now has a Twitter account, so you can follow him there for Cogmind and other roguelike art. Some of his great Cogmind works that I've shared over the years:



I leave you with 8R-AWN and his armored bellybutton (sketch by Zyalin, of course).

34

Announcements / Cogmind Beta 9.4 "Plot Armor"

« on: January 06, 2020, 04:40:39 PM »

The two-week Winter 2019 event was a big hit, and some people are opting to continue playing RPGLIKE mode! Beta 9.4 is a relatively small release aimed mostly at fixing some new bugs and tweaking a few aspects of RPGLIKE to balance it out a bit.

If you're not familiar with the new mode, check out the announcement itself for details, and if you want to know even more details, I've written a huge article with very in-depth coverage of the process behind building Cogmind's RPGLIKE mode, including spreadsheets, graphs, interfaces, and the reasoning on many of the decisions.



Cogmind Beta 9.4 "Plot Armor" (200107) changelog:

• NEW: [RPGLIKE mode] All Armor-type utilities transfer only 40% of damage to core (reflected in new description)
• MOD: [RPGLIKE mode] Mass Support upgrade cost increase per upgrade increased from 100 to 500
• MOD: [RPGLIKE mode] Terrain Scan Density upgrade cost increase per upgrade increased from 20 to 40
• MOD: [RPGLIKE mode] Protomatter amounts somewhat reduced at higher depths, less so in Adventurer mode and unchanged in Explorer mode
• MOD: [RPGLIKE mode] All types of Core Shielding unavailable
• MOD: All COGMIND.EXE command line arguments and parameters now case-insensitive
• FIX: Tearclaws could in some cases still remove parts from target that should not be removable [MitchellFJN]
• FIX: Repeated quickloading after visiting Proximity Caves base eventually caused loading to take excessively long [MitchellFJN]
• FIX: [RPGLIKE mode] Level raise notice would remain visible in Adventurer/Explorer modes if loading a quicksave while notice still flashing [MitchellFJN]
• FIX: [RPGLIKE mode] Crash one entering a Garrison where the transition provides enough XP to raise a level [Solar Sloth, Terminus]
• FIX: [RPGLIKE mode] In extremely rare cases a Resource or Heavy resupply dispatch might contain storage units [Horse]
• FIX: Item info window reversed types of "Item" and "Protomatter" due to RPGLIKE mode [Rumbl3]
• FIX: 'p' menu partially broken by a 9.2 update, could result in frozen UI state [Atherys, Mx. Eldritch]
• FIX: Some incomplete back corridors made their way into the Data Miner layout [Valguris]
• FIX: Disabling Cetus Manufacturing Module while inactive did not affect the outcome of a later event [NikolayAg]
• FIX: Garrison Doors inside Garrisons might unintentionally be opened "remotely" [3.14]

Saves from Beta 9.3 *are* compatible with this new version, so technically you can continue a run in progress without having to stick to (or roll back to) an older one. That said, if you do want to continue playing with Beta 9.3 for now, it's available on the legacy_beta_9.3 branch on Steam. (Off Steam this  won't matter since it'll only update if you do it manually :P)

Get Armored (RPGLIKE)

The mechanics of the initial RPGLIKE release didn't yet carve a suitable space for Armor-type parts to continue serving their purpose. They were still meaningful parts, but only for other robots still operating under the normal damage distribution rules.

To make armor useful for Cogmind again, their rules have been changed to transfer less damage from each attack that hits them (40% instead of 80%), turning them into a sort of consumable in the RPGLIKE world of otherwise far less consumable parts. This means you can use armor as a way to avoid the need to rely on acquiring as much Protomatter.

Again, this is only relevant in RPGLIKE mode--none of this has any effect on the mechanics in the regular game.

Nerfs (RPGLIKE)

RPGLIKE mode was clearly easier than the regular game, as intended. I mean it's a fun holiday mode, right? :) (last year's "Holiday Mode 2018" was also outright easier, and had new content each day). But as it's a mode to be promoted as a serious alternative way to play Cogmind, some of the biggest imbalances or aspects that its first iteration didn't account for should definitely still be addressed.

The Mass Support upgrade has been significantly nerfed. It was cheap enough to make anything but airborne propulsion obsolete, greatly limiting the variety of speed among builds and that's no good. Now it's mainly a way to at most get a little extra support for your build, rather than support it in its entirety :P

Terrain Scan Density upgrades also got a little more expensive, although that won't have such a significant impact.

Another potentially significant tweak is the amount of Protomatter. Frequency of drops remains unchanged, but on higher difficulty settings the amounts have been tweaked down from previous levels as you reach later depths. The effect is minimal in Adventurer mode, and non-existent in Explorer mode, but will definitely be noticeable for Rogues. The new RPGLIKE armor behavior will come in handy here!

I didn't want to overdo it right away so my guess is the Protomatter drop isn't as steep as it should be, but I don't have access to the Beta 9.3 stats yet so didn't want to make any bigger moves without some real aggregate data to base them on.

How to Play (RPGLIKE)

As a reminder, even though the event is over you can continue to play RPGLIKE mode as long as you like, even in this and future versions of Cogmind.

On Steam this can be accomplished by entering "-forceMode:RPGLIKE" as a launch option, like so:



Note that this only works if you have no run in progress (i.e. exited the game directly after finishing a previous run, or did a self-destruct w/save removal from the game menu). Also some people were having trouble forcing the mode on (or off) in the first place, so it'll probably help that the commands are no longer case sensitive \o/

Off Steam, you can either set the launch options for COGMIND.EXE, or run a .bat file like this one--just drop it into your Cogmind directory and click it. This file simply contains the text "start COGMIND.exe -forceMode:RPGLIKE", to start the game in the desired mode.

35

Announcements / Cogmind Beta 9.3 "RPGLIKE"

« on: December 16, 2019, 04:57:56 PM »

Introducing "RPGLIKE", this year's Winter special event and all-new optional way to play Cogmind, with a completely different progression system and other significantly game-altering mechanics!

With RPGLIKE mode you'll be able to

• raise levels!
• select from a range of permanent upgrades!
• repair your core with protomatter!
• and keep your parts intact indefinitely!

This mode plays with the concept of making Cogmind a little bit more like other traditional roguelikes, though combined with Cogmind's unique content opens up quite a few new strategic horizons.

Lots more info and demos below, but first, the changelog--with all the work put into 9.3 and the resulting decent-sized changelog, you'll see that "RPGLIKE" is essentially a semi-major release masquerading as a minor version update :)

Cogmind Beta 9.3 "RPGLIKE" (191217) changelog:

• NEW: Special event for Winter 2019, automatically activates between 12/17 and 1/1 (inclusive) for anyone who has played at least 10 runs
• NEW: Command line argument "-forceMode:Winter2019" (or "-forceMode:RPGLIKE") to enable the Winter mode from 2019, regardless of system date
• NEW: [RPGLIKE mode] Cogmind does not evolve, instead uses leveling mechanics with an XP system enabling free-form assignment of permanent upgrades
• NEW: [RPGLIKE mode] Gain XP by exploring and/or raising the alert level
• NEW: [RPGLIKE mode] Start with much higher core integrity, but only one of each slot type (can upgrade immediately in Scrapyard)
• NEW: [RPGLIKE mode] 80% of incoming damage to parts instead transferred to core, thus losing parts is relatively rare
• NEW: [RPGLIKE mode] Use Protomatter to restore integrity of core and parts
• NEW: [RPGLIKE mode] Storage units do not exist and Cogmind starts with no base inventory, optionally expand capacity with level upgrades
• NEW: [RPGLIKE mode] Dynamic build type analysis always shown above parts list, even before activating showBuildType advanced.cfg option
• NEW: [RPGLIKE mode] Fewer Relay Couplers spawn, but all that do have double their normal value
• NEW: [RPGLIKE mode] Extra "RPGLIKE" section in scoresheet containing mode-specific stats
• NEW: "Alternative Rules" section of manual describes all previous special modes/events and how to access them
• NEW: Mouse movement pathfinding and running via keyboard both stop on spotting a hidden door or phase wall
• NEW: Keyboard mode pathfind to cursor (Shift-Alt-g in examine mode to set, same key outside examine mode to continue approaching if stopped)
• NEW: Ctrl-Alt in keyboard mode also highlights path to most recent keyboard pathfinding target, if still valid
• NEW: Pathfinding directly to an interactive machine automatically initiates hacking on arrival
• NEW: Scan window shows faint map label buttons while no object info loaded
• NEW: Item labels outside FOV remember which are Faulty or Rigged, include this status in label name
• NEW: Item labels both within and outside FOV also reflect the "Non-functional" status (marked as "Broken")
• NEW: Option to always close robot/item info windows instantly rather than animating the close (advanced.cfg: disableInfoWindowCloseAnimation)
• NEW: Option to adjust movement interval for running and pathfinding (advanced.cfg: movementDelayInterval)
• NEW: Option to have parts list always sort destroy-on-removal parts like Processors to the top (advanced.cfg: partSortSeparatesDestroyOnRemoval)
• MOD: Running via keyboard stops before reaching corners and doors rather than continuing one space past them
• MOD: Running via keyboard now supports layout-based autostopping on diagonal movement as well
• MOD: Removed disablePersistentScanInfo/disablePersistentAccuracyInfo advanced.cfg options, both now default behavior by necessity
• MOD: Keyboard running behavior matches mouse pathfinding when approaching stairs, allowing a run to exit a map if recently confirmed the exit action
• MOD: All Gyrokinetic Inverter overweight penalties increased from 30 to 40
• MOD: "Perfect Aim" achievement description specifies accuracy bonus from utilities only
• MOD: Class name modifier "Mechanic" renamed to "Machinist"
• MOD: Unidentified parts no longer display their integrity in Scanalyzer lists
• MOD: Sorting inventory by type or integrity groups all unidentified parts together
• MOD: Allies reactivated via Datajack no longer recalled automatically for subsequent "attacks"
• MOD: Updated some major NPC parse text
• MOD: Temporary allies gained via streamctrl_ hacks no longer follow to other maps
• MOD: Dormant bot systems no longer accessible for RIF hacking purposes
• MOD: High Security dispatch composition expanded to deal with a wider range of threats
• MOD: More time to explore W base, tweaked composition of later attacking squads
• MOD: [Pay2Buy mode] Hotkey for opening Cogshop change from '0' to '9'
• MOD: [Pay2Buy mode] Cogshop windows displaced from bottom/left edges of map view to avoid covering intel markers and exit labels
• MOD: Special game modes now override challenge modes, rather than the other way around
• MOD: Toggling special modes or challenge modes via command line or advanced.cfg will not apply the effect unless game started for a fresh run (no saves)
• MOD: "-forceMode:" command line argument's mode name no longer case-sensitive
• MOD: "Challenge Modes" list in manual moved under new section "Alternative Rules"
• MOD: Simplified Hacking immunity context help accessed via robot info page
• MOD: All achievements are allowed to be earned regardless of active challenge modes or special modes
• FIX: Holding cursor stationary while using 'f' to retarget a previously targeted robot that moved displayed incorrect base hit chance [Valguris]
• FIX: Ejecting Relay Couplers from a just-opened Garrison Access might not be able to create the Couplers in some layouts [Valguris]
• FIX: Any type of damage that didn't destroy a door could cause a malfunction, instead of just EM [Valguris]
• FIX: Unpowered/Broken bots could still have active parts which might cause side effects [Valguris]
• FIX: Controllable ally names might be the same if allies of same class acquired on different maps at the same depth [Valguris]
• FIX: 0b10 Decoders attached to a hostile could give Cogmind info [Valguris]
• FIX: Crash while pathfinding to a distant location and using keyboard to order nearby drones to RETURN and have a Drone Bay with free space [Valguris]
• FIX: Hostile Programmers assimilating Protectors converted them to non-threat faction, causing Cogmind allies to stop targeting them [Valguris]
• FIX: Warlord outpost in caves might have two Commanders, both of which could offer an escort in rare cases [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Crash in rare layouts while closing hacking window when that target machine is indirectly destroyed by the hack itself [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Abominations update began allowing Cogmind to use autoswapping to swap in unidentified parts [core_nxt]
• FIX: Crash during a certain special event if player had specifically muted Prop audio levels, or had system audio off at the time [MitchellFJN]
• FIX: Terminal dynamic key increased difficulty of hacks with negative chances of success, sometimes noticeable with hackware or Operator allies [Joshua]
• FIX: Part autopair validity may not always be checked correctly, potentially even crashing on attempting to leave the map [Driana]
• FIX: Becoming enemies with Zion after imprinting could still allow for terminal network hard line cut in 0b10 [Finestep]
• FIX: Post-streamctrl_high behavior of Operators unusual [Benjamin]
• FIX: "Winner's Signature" achievement was still possible if scanned by any Researcher, rather than only in a certain map [sideriver81]
• FIX: Comparing different Datajacks showed a numeric difference next to their effect even though irrelevant to player [aperiodic]
• FIX: Any potential [C]-type Relay Couplers unattached but in inventory on acquiring Crosswire RIF ability became usable from inventory [Pimski]
• FIX: Crash on a Worker following deconstruct_machine orders on a Network Hub [Xii]
• FIX: Beta 9.3 prerelease bugs hunted down by: [Terminus, Zyalin, NikolayAg, Tone, Xii]
• FIX: Stopping a running/pathfinding movement in progress was not completely reliable
• FIX: Potential crash if a Core Expander used while any info window open
• FIX: Temporary allies gained via overwrite_iff hack or Autooverride RIF ability would follow to a new map if exited quickly enough after hacking

"RPGLIKE"

This event/mode is focused around an "RPG-ish" progression model, envisioning Cogmind as if it were more like a lot of other traditional roguelikes featuring a leveling system but without rampant item destruction :P. While it's still possible to lose parts, it's not very likely, and many of your abilities can also be gained from the upgrade mechanics, altogether allowing you to create sturdier builds with more permanence.

At its core Cogmind is about mitigating loss and adapting to changing situations (including losing your own capabilities!), so naturally this mode is seemingly the "anti-Cogmind," turning the game on its head. As one of testers put it "this mode definitely feels like other games," so for those out there who are looking for a new/different traditional roguelike maybe not quite so radical in terms of strategy and tactics as regular Cogmind, this mode might be for them/you. You can possibly play it as a break from the sometimes stressful regular mode, or even switch to RPGLIKE altogether, as it's meant to be a permanent gameplay option from now on, and will continue to get more updates as necessary if people are into it.

Progression aside, one of the key features of this mode that allows you to retain your build is the automatic damage transfer: 80% of incoming damage to your attached parts is instead transferred to your core. This does mean your core takes a lot more damage than usual, but in RPGLIKE mode you'll have more core integrity and you can also restore the integrity of both your core and parts using the new Protomatter item that you'll sometimes find among the salvage of newly fallen bots.

Again, overall this is going to be quite a different Cogmind experience, but one that might be more enjoyable for those who prefer to have more attachment to their build, or rely on certain rare parts for much of their run without having to worry about protecting or replacing them, among other benefits.

RPGLIKE: Upgrading

In this mode you start with 600 core integrity instead of the usual 250, and also only one of each slot type for a total of 4 instead of the usual 7. But right away in the Scrapyard you can allocate an initial amount of XP to upgrade your build, which you could liken to "character creation" at the beginning of a run in many other roguelikes. You can add more slots right away, but it's not required since there's no limit to what you can upgrade when--all types of upgrade are available immediately!

You won't encounter the usual evolution interface as you play, because you can gain levels and apply upgrades at any time, or even save your XP to upgrade later if you want (for example to save up for something more expensive, since individual upgrades become increasingly expensive as you specialize in them).

Here's what it looks like to raise a level and choose some upgrades:



As with Pay2Buy mode, you can see there's a dedicated RPGLIKE interface in the bottom left corner of the map view, displaying your current level and how close you are to reaching the next one, and providing access to the full upgrade interface via the mouse button (or hotkey '9').

The menu is of course fully accessible via keyboard. Including the mouse there are three different input schemes, supporting increasing/decreasing upgrades via their corresponding letters, or using arrow keys or numpad to move around (also '1' for reset and Enter to confirm).



XP is earned by exploring, raising the alert level, or from any source of bonus points. (For the RPGLIKE event, Adventurer and Explorer modes get additional starting XP to distribute, and also have an easier time gaining XP to catch up if they fall behind the level curve.)

You'll probably want to upgrade your inventory size at some point, because in this mode you start with 0 capacity and Storage Units do not exist at all! Inventory isn't as important for RPGLIKE mode anyway, since you don't need to worry about carrying a bunch of spare parts, so it's more about just having what capacity you need for the occasional consumable or unique parts for special situations.

Those of you who haven't activated it manually (or didn't even know it's existed since Beta 9 :P) might notice the class indicator appearing at the top of your parts list while you're playing this mode. This feature is off by default because it normally doesn't quite jive with Cogmind's goal of immersion, but hey this is the great "RPGLIKE" event so of course we need class names! The class detection/categorization even now includes consideration of any applicable upgrades you might have, in addition to the usual factors.

If you checked out the banner image for today's release it includes some sample classes there off to the right...



(You may have seen class names like this appearing on Steam since the 9.2 release since Steam rich presence support was added.)

When you're done with your run (or if you use the relatively new mid-run dump feature), you can see a new RPGLIKE-specific section of the mode-specific stats appearing towards the end of your scoresheet. For example:



RPGLIKE: Protomatter

Instead of regular matter, some bots might drop Protomatter when destroyed, and this is your key to restoring core and part integrity.



It eventually decays out in the open, however, so you generally have to use it immediately or carry it with you.

As per its in-game description, using Protomatter is fairly easy, just stand on it and wait in order to apply some, and repeatedly do so if more is necessary. You can also simply repeatedly wait (even holding down the key) and it will stop you from waiting once it reaches a threshold so that you don't waste extra turns. The process restores integrity in two stages: first your core, then your parts.



Note that even though this is a special mode, having acquired Protomatter at least once is technically required for 100% gallery completion.

RPGLIKE: Access and Notes

Unlike some special modes (e.g. Abominations) and challenge modes, in RPGLIKE you have access to the entire game as normal. That combined with the new change which allows you to earn achievements regardless of active special/challenge modes means that you can indeed make RPGLIKE the primary way you play Cogmind without losing much of anything. I'm interested to know if some players decide to do this, and I guess we'll see once the leaderboards are active since we will have a separate one for this mode (again, even though the leaderboards aren't available for the time being, run data is still being collected for them in the meantime!).

Certain achievements might technically be easier for you in this mode as well, making it possible to obtain those that are otherwise normally outside your reach in terms of skill (or enjoyment) level.

Winter 2019/RPGLIKE mode will automatically activate for you on new runs from 12/17 through 1/1 if you've played at least 10 runs. This number is higher than the usual restriction because the event lasts quite a while and makes such sweeping changes.

On days outside that range, you can still force it by adding a command line parameter when running COGMIND.EXE: "-forceMode:RPGLIKE". (Within Steam this is handled by going to Cogmind > Properties > Set Launch Options.) If you want to play a regular run during the event, you can suppress event date triggering by adding the "-noSpecialMode" command line parameter.

Note: As of Beta 9.3, there is a new requirement specifying that regardless of settings, special modes and challenge modes will only be activated if the game starts up without loading a save. Even restarting/self-destructing won't work in this case, because some modes, especially this one, actually modify the underlying game data, which cannot be reloaded while the game is running.

Not long after this announcement goes up, I'll be streaming an RPGLIKE run no later than 8 PM EST (Monday 12/16), and probably again the day after. (If you miss it it'll be up on YouTube later.)

At some point over the coming weeks I'll also be publishing a blog post covering the RPGLIKE design.

Movement QoL

It's not all RPGLIKE! There's actually plenty more to this release in the form of fixes, tweaks, and other features, one of the larger categories being movement-related QoL features.

Keyboard-based running behavior is now more tactically optimal, stopping before reaching a corner, rather than beyond it, which is both safer and saves time if the intention is to round the corner. It also stops in a doorway rather than entering the room if running directly towards a door.



Pure keyboard players now also have access to mouse-like pathfinding via Shift-Alt-g (for "go" to), which heads straight for the cursor in examine mode, useful for crossing large distances through known territory, or for example heading straight for an item you just examined.



Spotting a hidden door will also cause you to stop running or autopathing now, in case you want to change trajectory based on the new information.

Both mouse and keyboard pathfinding can now be directed to approach a hackable machine and will start hacking automatically on arrival:



And no one asked for this and it's pretty non-optimal and potentially dangerous to use, but... lo and behold the new movementDelayInterval setting!



I imagine at least realtime speedrunners might want to tweak their delay :P

You can read more about movement QoL features and their background in this dev blog article.



Other QoL

Another advanced option, disableInfoWindowCloseAnimation, was requested, and can be used to disable the less than half-second close animation on the item info window so you can close and open new item info nearly instantly via keyboard, or as many times as you want xD



More broadly useful is the addition of special item statuses to their on-map labels, both inside and outside FOV, so it's much easier to quickly identify Faulty, Broken, and Rigged parts at a glance \o/



Another requested option, partSortSeparatesDestroyOnRemoval, sorts all your processors/hackware/etc together, since those are the kinds of things you're less likely to remove.



(It's off by default though, since such parts are already visible marked in the list and are sorted among other parts based on their function rather than this secondary characteristic.)

A separate new sorting behavior which is automatically enforced now puts all of your unidentified inventory objects together, so you can't use their sorting order among other parts to guess at what they might be.



The Scan window no longer holds info for objects when the cursor is not over it. This used to be the default behavior (tweakable in the options), but could indirectly cause bugs and could be generally confusing anyway, so instead it'll otherwise hold the faded buttons you can access with the mouse, making it easier for new players to discover those features, and remind you which key is which if you like hotkeys and are still learning.



Numbers

Thank you all for your votes! With your help Cogmind made the IndieDB Top 100 for the 6th year in a row, this time sitting there next to Noita in the, uh, "roguelike" category :P

And thanks for the reviews! We hit Overwhelmingly Positive last month and as promised this means I’ll be adding a significant expansion around a new “Merchants Guild” faction. And now that we’ve hit that goal, I’ve already set the next one: if we can maintain this rating up to 800 reviews, I’ll also add a new derelict community.

The concepts for both expansions are fairly fleshed out at this point, but building either/both will take quite some time. I’ve also even added a third but smaller expansion as a Patreon goal... As I see it there’s still room yet to liven up the world even more!

For now, enjoy RPGLIKE, it's pretty fun :D

Saves from earlier versions are incompatible with Beta 9.3, but even if you're on Steam and Cogmind automatically updates, Beta 9.2 is still available via its own legacy branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.

36

Announcements / Annual Review: Year 6 of the Cogmind

« on: December 03, 2019, 05:33:19 AM »

Our sixth annual review is up!

As usual this one is only available on the blog, and includes topics like dev hours talk, a quick overview of the major releases and special events this year, new milestones reached, and musing on finishing, or not finishing, 1.0 in 2020 (something we gotta do for every new year, right? :P)

There might be a hint of things to come, things in the not-so-distant future...

IndieDB is also voting for GotY again, so if you could, I'd appreciate if anyone can spare a moment to help Cogmind take its place in the Top 100 this year :D (might as well keep the five-year streak going!)

37

Announcements / The Future of Cogmind [UPDATED for 2020!]

« on: November 17, 2019, 06:23:12 PM »

This past week Cogmind finally broke the 500-review threshold on Steam, meeting the requirements for an Overwhelmingly Positive rating! Many thanks to everyone for all your support <3



I'd stopped reminding people to leave reviews for a long time so they'd mostly just been slowly trickling in throughout the year, but I'm glad I asked again recently with the Beta 9.1 release because after hovering not far from the threshold for so long we've finally hit this milestone and I'm really excited since it means we'll be able to undertake the promised huge expansion that's going to add a major new faction with its own tech, NPCs, systems, maps, and more!

I first wrote about this over a year ago, RE the the Merchants Guild.

Still No DLC

As stated before, I only want to offer free expansions to players rather than using paid DLC, but this also means I need to have a way to fund development. To me it's valuable enough to have the benefit of this rating, at least enough that I've promised to do the Merchant expansion, and hopefully we can keep the Overwhelmingly Positive status so that it continues to benefit Cogmind's exposure since there are so many more things I want to add and work on but can only do so for so long without the funding.

Patreon has been a great help in this regard so far, though at present it doesn't cover all the costs of development. It does, however, offer other goals for extra content.

I've been considering raising the base price of the game by another $5, considering it's a unique niche game with a now massive amount of content, though I'm not sure about that since I feel around $20 is already a pretty good level in general.

Anyway, I'm already looking forward to the Merchants Guild expansion, which is likely to be a post-1.0 thing, but we'll see since for me there are still some other personal roadblocks to actually putting 1.0 out there and I'm happy to build it before the full release if necessary.

New Goal

It also looks like we need a new goal, and this time it's different from the one on Patreon.

If we keep this "OP" rating and reach 800 reviews on Steam, I'll add a new derelict community centered around their own theme and unique tech, in a new map. It's been mostly planned out for a while now already, but that's all I'll say for now, the details are a surprise. I can say it'll definitely be something people will like

38

Announcements / Cogmind Beta 9.2 "Robotic Riches"

« on: November 11, 2019, 05:08:38 PM »

With 9.2 Cogmind gets Rich Presence on Steam, an explicit colorblind option, Abominations mode improvements, yet more scoresheet updates, plus the usual bug fixes and more.

Although a much smaller update compared to the full Beta 9, there's a fair amount of stuff in here, with good reasons to update. Release notes and sample images below!

Cogmind Beta 9.2 "Robotic Riches" (191112) changelog:

• NEW: [Steam] Supports Rich Presence, sharing current build, location, and status with friends
• NEW: [Steam] Option to deactivate Steam Rich Presence (advanced.cfg: disableSteamRichPresence)
• NEW: Options menu "Colorblind Adjustment" setting to modify certain color schemes to be more colorblind friendly
• NEW: Option to display remaining integrity in item/robot popup labels (advanced.cfg mapLabelsShowIntegrity)
• NEW: Option to fully highlight visible cave-in areas rather than the low-distraction default (advanced.cfg highlightCaveinAreas)
• NEW: Manual explicitly mentions "Ctrl-Alt (Hold)" also highlights areas that can cave in
• NEW: Manual explicitly documents "Ctrl-+/-" as global volume up/down commands
• NEW: Scoresheet records current movement-related variables under Cogmind header
• NEW: Scoresheet relative alert level percentages now also recorded on a per-map basis
• NEW: INVERT renderFilter variable
• NEW: [Abominations mode] Explicit log message when Paradox Anomalies repair Cogmind parts
• NEW: [Abominations mode] Final boss also has unique parse text
• MOD: [Abominations mode] Fire/Sundering Anomalies won't appear until -7/-8 respectively
• MOD: [Abominations mode] Negative Anomaly effects no longer applied to themself if affiliation modified via Field Lobotomy Kit
• MOD: Complex 0b10 capable of remotely opening blast doors under certain additional circumstances
• MOD: Scoresheet Parts and Peak State lists now align part names taking into account any prefix
• MOD: AI combat pathfinding and targeting behavior updated, less likely to be blocked by non-combatants
• MOD: "More Dakka Please" achievement condition more specifically requires kinetic projectiles
• FIX: New pushing algorithm for machines releasing parts might unnecessarily destroy parts under special circumstances [Valguris]
• FIX: External issues likely caused by Steam cloud for runs played across multiple sessions could cause incomplete scoresheet achievements list [Valguris]
• FIX: A8 manual hacking code wasn't reported in message log in a certain scenario, even though properly received [Valguris]
• FIX: No longer able to enter Proximity Caves directly via large 0b10 bases [Valguris]
• FIX: Possible crash under extremely rare circumstances involving a controllable ally attempting to attack Cogmind [Gitida]
• FIX: New scoresheet game number tally incorrect for Rogue mode if previously played Adventurer or Explorer mode [Solar Sloth]
• FIX: Part autopairs weren't remembered between maps [Benjamin]
• FIX: New scoresheet system wasn't handing out score threshold-based achievements for current run, instead based on previous run in same session [5taquitos]
• FIX: New scoresheet "Challenges" subsection did not list applicable challenges [sideriver81]
• FIX: Field Recycling Units could be used to refine matter into even more matter [NikolayAg]

Saves from earlier versions are incompatible with Beta 9.2, but even if you're on Steam and Cogmind automatically updates, Betas 9/9.1 are still available via their own legacy branches and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.

Rich Presence

If you play Cogmind on Steam, your friends list status will now indicate not just that you're playing, but also other information including your current build, location, and status.

Friend's list example:



Full status description while on the game over screen:



If you're not sure where these build classes and possible status levels are coming from, I talked about them in Part 3 of the Ultimate Roguelike Morgue File series, features originally developed for mid-run stat dumps. (Build classes are also available directly on the HUD by activating "showBuildType" in advanced.cfg.)

You can read a lot more about Rich Presence and its implementation on the blog.



Steam Presence reporting is active by default, but can be turned off in advanced.cfg (disableSteamRichPresence).

Colorblind Settings

We already have tweakable renderFilters and some players are using those to adjust Cogmind's appearance, but these are sometimes less ideal than an even more targeted solution when it comes to accessibility for colorblindness. So I built a new mode aimed at the more common types of colorblindness.

Cogmind is already designed in such a way that much information is available through channels other than color if necessary, although admittedly they won't always be as convenient, and this new mode will help greatly in that regard. The primary example is the usual green->yellow->orange->red progression for various damage indicators is not easy/possible for some to distinguish, so this mode converts a majority of the game's green to light gray, and most oranges to azure blues instead:



Another with some action:



So far feedback from those who need this mode has been good, although sadly the ESC/game menu doesn't appear great by default in this mode, and I can't really work around that given the architecture, so it's a case of sacrificing the appearance of a lesser-used part of the game for the much more prominent and important main interface. For some players, combining colorblind mode with a separate BRIGHTNESS filter, something like BRIGHTNESS(150) will probably help here and in other parts of the UI as well.

This new setting is available directly in the options menu under Interface, and requires a manual restart for the changes to take effect since it will programmatically alter a lot of internal game data to enable this effect. (A note for patrons who were using this mode prior to today's official 9.2 release: Due to its move from advanced.cfg into the proper options menu, you'll need to turn it on again in order to continue using it.)

Another feature originally intended as part of the colorblind setting but later split off since I imagine a lot of other players might want to use this: you can activate mapLabelsShowIntegrity to show remaining integrity next to all robot and item labels on the map. The above gif has this feature active, though note the integrity is only shown for those objects which are not at 100%.

One more bit of general brightness-related QoL is the highlightCaveinAreas advanced.cfg setting, which simply further increases the brightness of destroyed areas that might cave in.



These areas have always been highlighted in the past, but only faintly and if necessary could/can be manually brightened by holding Ctrl-Alt. They aren't set this bright by default since it could be distracting and possibly make it harder to see other important information :P

(Much) further outside accessibility territory and into "what the hell, why not?" territory, there is now a new renderFilter: INVERT.



This one doesn't take any arguments itself,  but you can combine it with other filters for better effects, like inverting a low-contrast mode. For example AUTUMN|INVERT, which results in a more pastel appearance.



New Scoresheets+

The extensive new scoresheets have only been in wide use for a little while, and I really like how they've turned out. Of course they also contain a huge amount of run data so uncovering more issues was inevitable :P. So far there have only been a few, now corrected for Beta 9.2.

In addition to those there have been some improvements as well, including the Movement details under the main "Cogmind" status section (amazing we've gone so long without it, although I guess it only started to seem a little more important now that you can output scoresheets in the middle of a run and some players are using that to ask others for advice).

We've also got a new style for the parts lists (Parts/Peak State), which might take a little getting used to but encodes more information into the layout, enabling faster parsing. Here's a before/after comparison of the basic list style vs. prefix-based alignment:



Abominations Continued...

The Halloween Event has "ended," but as per the instructions there it's technically still accessible in game. As such, I made a few more adjustments to improve it.

Figuring out what the various anomalies really do is part of the fun, but Paradox Anomalies in particular never had any associated log messages and they could really use one when their effect helps you.

Fire Anomalies were also super deadly in the early game where you don't have much access to heat dissipation, or the slots to apply it, and although they could mostly be avoided, they were still clearly the biggest contributing factor in early floor deaths, so not very balanced. Just remember you're probably going to want some cooling come Factory, at least in reserve, and regardless of build ;)

Today's cover art is an "Abomination" by Zyalin, who does great fan art of a number of roguelikes. Check out his website for more.

Also, have a full-sized version modified with their native parts:



Community

Cogmind legend Valguris has demonstrated a branchless extended win you can read about over on the forums. Very impressive, and he even managed to do it with his patented 2-prop flight build! Valguris also wrote a guide to this build, although note that particular variant does rely on branches. (Spoilers abound behind those links, of course.)

Not long after today's release, around 10pm Eastern Time, I'll be streaming
the start of a new run beginning with Beta 9.2, where we'll be doing a heavy combat half-track build, likely based on kinetics and crit-stacking, although I won't necessarily stick to that if we find other fun stuff to play around with :)

If you're interested in player stats, we've got a whole bunch of them from the Beta 8 cycle in this summary I put together.



We're still waiting on the leaderboards to be completed, but again, the data is being collected for inclusion in the meantime, and once operational I'm sure they'll be more robust and feature-filled than the previous iteration. Been nice to see people sharing scoresheets via URL these weeks, though :D

That's all for this release, and thank you for the reviews! It had been ages since I asked for anyone to leave them, but now we've got a bunch of new ones and are close to the next milestone on that so thanks again :D

39

Announcements / Cogmind Beta 9.1 "Abominations!" (Halloween Mode)

« on: October 28, 2019, 06:14:08 PM »

Hot on the heels of our massive Beta 9 update, time for an extreme change of pace...

Beta 9.1 "Abominations!" fixes a few new issues from Beta 9, but more importantly adds a special Halloween event that's been in the works for a couple weeks. This event's special mode includes:

• 20 new robots, most with new capabilities and mechanics!
• 1 new hidden map, complete with boss
• other event-specific mechanics

Saves are compatible with Beta 9 so on Steam there's no legacy branch for that release--we're all going straight to 9.1.

As with our several other special events in the past, this one is time-activated (10/31) automatically but you can also force it to activate on any day by adding "-forceMode:Abominations" as a command line parameter when running the game. (On Steam this is handled by going to Properties > Set Launch Options.) If you've done this correctly the message log will show a special announcement when you start the game.

If you want to play a regular run on 10/31 instead of joining the event, you can use the "-noSpecialMode" parameter to prevent it from activating.

(Note that Abominations mode won't activate for anyone who hasn't already finished at least several runs of Cogmind.)

Achievements are not earned in Cogmind's special modes, but you can gain new item gallery entries, and lore technically counts as well (although as you'll see access to lore and plot are very limited in this particular event). As with the Pay2Buy event from earlier this year, Abominations mode could be a good way to add rare items to your gallery that you have yet to discover in regular runs.

Content new for Abominations mode is also tweaked by your difficulty settings, a first for a special event. Rogue level is quite challenging, but anyone good at the base game should be able to win as well. That said, the pure chaos of it will make Abominations relatively challenging in all difficulty settings compared to the base game, but... !!!FUN!!! :)

I could entice you with more details about the event, but I'd rather the announcement itself stop short of spoilers. Just know that WEIRD things will happen in this mode, and it's not bugs, just try to be observant and figure stuff out ;)

If you don't mind spoilers and just want to read and know everything, I've written in-depth coverage of this mode, both its content and the entire design progress, over on the blog:


Not long after today's release, around 9pm Eastern Time, I'll be streaming one or more Abomination runs, if you want to stop by to check out the mode and hear me rant about its design as I try to fight my way through it :)

Testers think it's a really fun mode, and I've already played through a good four runs and defeated the hidden boss in one of them, so we'll see how successful I am on stream :P (Anyone who's missed the stream can find it on YouTube the day after.)

Some special UI QoL unique to this event to be aware of: On-map labels for Matter are filtered out the first time you attempt to label (using the normal label filter features), due to the excessive amount of Matter that will eventually appear on the map... You'll see ;)

Sadly the new leaderboard database isn't yet complete so we won't have a contemporary leaderboard for this event, but one can/will be put together retroactively once they're up and running (so submit scores now as usual to be included in the data).

Even if you don't want to play Abominations mode, I strongly recommend you upgrade your Cogmind version to 9.1 as soon as possible since it fixes a nasty new potential crash bug introduced in Beta 9 that can occur if you use a lot of quickloads under certain circumstances.


Addendum: It's been ages since I reminded players to leave Steam reviews, and it really shows since they're pretty rare these days and for a long while we've barely been making any progress in that area towards the next goal. (Again, no paid DLC is planned for Cogmind, but free DLC in the form of a large update is totally an option :D. Patreon has been a great help in sustaining development, but it hasn't reached that level yet!)

Thanks everyone for your support!

40

Announcements / Cogmind Beta 9 "Wizardry"

« on: October 21, 2019, 06:07:46 PM »

Cogmind's 9th major beta release, "Wizardry," is a big one where you can

• upgrade with permanent bothacking abilities!
• become a mobile fortress with siege mode for treads!
• pore over greatly expanded scoresheets!
• make use of optional quicksaves!
• enjoy tons more QoL!
• etc! yes! more!

In the works for more than half a year, this release brings us pretty close to 1.0, at least based on the fact that there's little left in terms of "must-have" features on the roadmap.

Lots more details can be found in the release notes and sample images further below, but first, the changelog...

Cogmind Beta 9 "Wizardry" (191022) changelog:

• NEW: 17 new items (4 new mechanics)
• NEW: 2 new unique superweapons
• NEW: 89 new scoresheet entries (total = 888)
• NEW: 1 more Garrison Access hack
• NEW: 1 more Trojan() hack (secret)
• NEW: 1 more brute force hack (secret)
• NEW: 2 more robot variants
• NEW: 1 new robot hack: amplify_resonance
• NEW: 1 new cave encounter
• NEW: 6 more parse_system text entries for NPCs
• NEW: Relay Interface Framework now upgradeable by connecting to more RIF Installers
• NEW: RIF abilities UI accessed through new HUD button when available (or via keyboard: Shift-Alt-f)
• NEW: Added dedicated difficulty selection menu on first startup
• NEW: Adventurer/Explorer difficulty settings include a manual quicksave/load slot (Ctrl-F7/F8, or in game menu)
• NEW: Option to remove quicksave/load feature for Adventurer/Explorer modes (activate in advanced.cfg: noManualSaving)
• NEW: Manual includes a section on "Saving/Loading"
• NEW: Additional tutorial message on first time using a RIF Installer
• NEW: Siege mechanic available to all multislot treads via overloading, enforces temporary immobility but provides numerous buffs
• NEW: Item info window lists Siege stat for all treads, either N/A, Standard, or High
• NEW: Robots entering siege mode temporarily show as a flashing a yellow X on map
• NEW: Option to automatically activate treads when attacking, if possible (activate in advanced.cfg: autoActivateTreadsOnAttack)
• NEW: Option to automatically transition applicable treads out of siege mode on attempting to move (activate in advanced.cfg: autoDeactivateSiegeModeOnMove)
• NEW: Most robots with Critical immunity converted to the new Coring immunity, only protects core instead of both core and parts
• NEW: Scoresheet analyzes and records class distribution of Cogmind builds, and dominant class per map
• NEW: Option to show dynamic build type analysis above parts list (activate in advanced.cfg: showBuildType)
• NEW: Scoresheet includes ASCII map of surroundings at run end
• NEW: Scoresheet data divided into more subcategories
• NEW: Scoresheet records per-map values for many stats
• NEW: Scoresheet records hacks counts at non-Terminal machines as well
• NEW: Scoresheet explicitly lists all Trojans installed
• NEW: Scoresheet includes brute force hack records
• NEW: Scoresheet robot destruction tallies differentiate between subtypes
• NEW: Scoresheet indicates specific cause of death, if lost
• NEW: Scoresheet "Parts Attached" subsection divided into subtypes
• NEW: Scoresheet fabrication list also indicates whether schematic preloaded
• NEW: Scoresheet includes breakdown of all slot types and when added
• NEW: Scoresheet subdivides average slot use by subtypes as well
• NEW: Scoresheet includes last 20 message log lines preceding end of run
• NEW: Scoresheet lists complete history of notable actions and events during the run
• NEW: Scoresheet stats tally actions individually
• NEW: Scoresheet "Game" and "Options" section entries have their values aligned
• NEW: Scoresheet parts/inventory list includes content/attribute details, e.g. Drone Bay and Relay Coupler contents
• NEW: Added score component "Regions Visited"
• NEW: Several new sources of bonus points
• NEW: Output stat dump for in-progress run (Shift-Alt-s or via Records menu)
• NEW: Mid-run stat dumps also output full message log based on Log Output settings
• NEW: Part swap menu includes autopairing detection for easier reswapping of multiple parts
• NEW: Parts with an applicable autopair have a tick next to them
• NEW: Show all applicable autopair names by holding Shift-Alt-a, or hovering cursor over an autopair tick for 500ms
• NEW: Swap all applicable autopairs with Shift-Alt-w
• NEW: Manual hacking autocomplete shows available relevant options as a list in most cases, including item schematics which are filtered while typing
• NEW: Manual terminal hacks use the direct hack chance if an identical hack is listed at that machine
• NEW: Added a way to teach new players about extermination squad tracking mechanics and assault dispatches
• NEW: Advanced commands help explicitly lists F12 as a screenshot key alongside PrtScn
• NEW: Manual "Advanced Commands" section lists every command, including a few otherwise previously undocumented special (rare) commands
• NEW: Manual explicitly states that damage overflow from non-gun weapons has no additional defenses applied to it
• NEW: Robot data CSV export includes precise core exposure beside percentage value
• NEW: Robot data CSV export includes total energy generation
• NEW: Alternative type of Proximity Caves base
• NEW: Doubled the duration of Modified TNC Hauler realtime manifest popups
• NEW: Control Modified TNC Hauler realtime manifest popup duration via advanced option "modifiedTncPopupDuration"
• NEW: Integrity/mass sorting of inventory also subsort by integrity (high-to-low) for otherwise matching items
• NEW: parse_system robot hack gives component IDs even for targets with otherwise special text
• NEW: Scan window includes abbreviated explosion data for explosive props
• NEW: Starting to move via overweight flight requires confirmation
• NEW: Player-dropped parts crushed due to lack of room now reported in message log
• NEW: Score data that should be uploaded but fails because offline or bad connection will be reattempted on subsequent startups until success
• NEW: Scores and stats now uploaded to a proper database
• NEW: Scoresheet appends URLs for online TXT/JSON access to that run, if uploaded
• NEW: Special codes menu for manual hacking includes explicit notification about using Esc to enable typing in that mode
• NEW: Tutorial message explicitly indicating that machine info contains effect descriptions for installed Trojans
• NEW: Will Glynn added to credits for leaderboards database
• NEW: All Alpha supporter names registered since Beta 8 added to in-game list (see Credits menu)
• NEW: All patron supporter names registered since Beta 8 added to in-game list (see Credits menu)
• NEW: All patron item-attribution names registered since Beta 8 added to the item collection gallery
• MOD: Removed a number of scoresheet entries (obsolete under new format)
• MOD: Renamed a number of old scoresheet entries
• MOD: Degree of system corruption-induced component data loss differentiated in message log by text instead of only color
• MOD: Scoresheet high/max security percentage folded into same system as lower alert levels
• MOD: Scoresheet "Average Slot Usage (%)" and "Naked Turns" entries no longer tallied in Scrapyard
• MOD: Scoresheet "Salvage Created" includes that from machines
• MOD: Scoresheet "Spaces Dug" now records only intentional digging, while new "Terrain Destroyed" entries refer to all wall/earth destruction
• MOD: Scoresheet "Major NPCs Destroyed" renamed "Uniques/NPCs Destroyed," includes broader range of non-primary plot characters
• MOD: Scoresheet "Play Time" and cumulative value formats changed
• MOD: Scoresheet speed records use time-based speed rather than percentage-based
• MOD: Scoresheet no longer lists Prototype IDs
• MOD: Scoresheet propulsion-related entries always list legs before wheels, matching part ordering behavior
• MOD: Scoresheet route no longer records discovered exits blocked by special modes like Gauntlet and Super Gauntlet
• MOD: A number of low-value sources of bonus points removed from scoresheet (included in history log instead)
• MOD: Increased bonus point value of Zhirov's final act
• MOD: Changed command line syntax for forcing AFD modes ("-forceMode:AFD[year]")
• MOD: Command line parameter for preventing AFD/special modes now "-noSpecialMode"
• MOD: Hvy. Explosive Trap (in deployed form) renamed to Heavy Explosive Trap
• MOD: Gui. Missile Launcher slightly weakened
• MOD: Quantum Capacitor size and integrity doubled
• MOD: Weapon Cycler effect cap lowered to 30
• MOD: Humpback mass doubled, capacity increased 25%
• MOD: Doubled defensive hackware protective effect against allies being hacked by hostile Programmers
• MOD: Greatly improved Q-Series loadout algorithm
• MOD: Linked Autogun rating increased from 5 to 7
• MOD: Cld. Cesium-ion Thruster coverage reduced
• MOD: Cld. VTOL Module support reduced
• MOD: Burnout rates on all hover/flight units increased
• MOD: Desublimator matter output increased
• MOD: Significantly increased mass of all Powered Armors
• MOD: Mass of heavy armors increased 50%, medium armors increased 30%
• MOD: Increased range of Sensor Array and Improved variant
• MOD: Increased range of Terrain Scanner and Improved and Makeshift variants
• MOD: Increased effectiveness of Seismic Analyzer and Terrain Scan Processor
• MOD: Heat Shielding and Thermal Generators less common
• MOD: High-tier slashing weapon delay increased, along with other smaller adjustments
• MOD: Greatswords' coverage decreased
• MOD: All electromagnetic weapons consume twice as much energy
• MOD: All datajacks once again compatible with autoswapping system
• MOD: Damaging a Garrison Access randomly destroys some of the Relay Couplers inside
• MOD: Ejecting Relay Couplers from a Garrison Access never dispatches an investigation from that source
• MOD: Coupling squads now always composed of a single Programmer
• MOD: "Signature Confirmed" achievement conditions more specific
• MOD: "Equal Opportunity Bot" achievement requirement increased to 30 to account for additional class divisions in new scoresheet
• MOD: Being scanned by a Researcher no longer has the same effect in all Research branches
• MOD: show_paths robot hack uses same coloring for Swarmer paths as for other common squads
• MOD: Temporary input mode indicators at top of parts list now use background color matching UI borders
• MOD: Overweight indicator at top of parts list now matching UI border color, and overweight flight/hover use yellow instead of red
• MOD: Manual hacking autocomplete uses a two-step process where a command includes a variable, rather than treating a full command as one
• MOD: Manual hacking autocomplete adds new content only via Tab, rather than Tab or Space
• MOD: Ctrl-Backspace while typing a manual hack erases back to the previous '(' if there is one, rather than always clearing the command
• MOD: Robot analyses from conduit interaction now included in scoresheet total
• MOD: Breaching an Access Garrison triggers maximum security at turn 3 instead of 5
• MOD: Scoresheet "Regions Visited" value excludes Scrapyard
• MOD: High-rating Phase Shifter effect reduced
• MOD: "Fragile Parts" challenge no longer applies its rule to any storage units
• MOD: Disabled Programmers cannot be rewired with Datajacks
• MOD: Disabled Imps can once again be rewired by bumping without a Datajack
• MOD: Rebalanced one of the final branch fights
• MOD: Assault squads are somewhat more powerful
• MOD: High Security dispatches grow increasingly deadly with each dispatch
• MOD: Proximity Caves base can only appear once per run
• MOD: Piercing weapons double target core exposure for hit location calculations (was x1.33)
• MOD: Coupling squads no longer appear randomly in -8/Materials
• MOD: Machines that release parts push away nearby items if no immediate room to place, rather than rolling over to furthest available position
• MOD: Ferrying EX-Prototypes out via allied Haulers will be caught as usual
• MOD: Component Analysis Suites also show a log message when re-identifying common part data lost to corruption
• MOD: Relay Coupler [NC] rating dropped to 1
• MOD: advanced.cfg disablePersistentAccuracyInfo option itemLabelRelativeRatingCutoff does not affect Relay Coupler labeling
• MOD: Adv. Salvage Targeting Computer no longer a prototype
• MOD: Lab cheese tactics addressed (x2)
• MOD: Core reset also clears sensor layout knowledge from a certain NPC's data core
• MOD: 8R-AWN can no longer appear in Materials during Gauntlet or Super Gauntlet challenges
• MOD: Difficulty modes rebranded, now referred to as Rogue/Adventurer/Explorer instead of default/easier/easiest
• MOD: Reversed order of difficulty modes in options menu, hardest listed last
• MOD: Manual "Difficulty" section updated
• MOD: Options.cfg "easyMode" setting renamed "difficultyMode"
• MOD: Removed log message reporting difficulty level at beginning of new runs
• MOD: No Operators spawn at depth -10 in Adventurer/Explorer modes
• MOD: No Operators spawn within view of starting location below depth -8/-7 in Adventurer/Explorer modes
• MOD: No Alarm Traps found below depth -7 in Explorer mode
• MOD: Increased brightness of bars and numbers for data visualization of inactive parts in Parts and Inventory windows
• MOD: Gallery prompt for player name also mentions Sage+ patrons
• MOD: References to "0.10" versioning removed from all changelogs
• MOD: [Steam] Achievements retroactively downloaded from the cloud no longer count as achieved in the current run, CSV exports indicate ? for Game Number
• FIX: Certain special/plot-related Terminal hacks could be accessed manually outside of the intended locations [lsend]
• FIX: Explosives could reveal invisible triggers which protected floor cells from destruction [lsend]
• FIX: Terrain Scanner activation animation temporarily pinpointed unrevealed traps [lsend]
• FIX: Crash on passing time via 'p' menu action while an item inspection window is open when Chronowheel reversion takes effect [lsend]
• FIX: Attaching a 1-integrity Chronowheel had no effect, but would continue the animation indefinitely [lsend]
• FIX: Entering a backslash while tagging an inventory item briefly opens the full-size Evasion window [lsend]
• FIX: Having a second info window open to inspect a target's part while tagging an inventory item would cover part of the tag UI [lsend]
• FIX: Using the keyboard to open attached part info while dragging a part with the mouse then releasing the drag hard locked the interface [lsend]
• FIX: If advanced.cfg stopOnThreatsOnly option set to 1, holding wait key wouldn't pause action for ARCs coming into view [Tone]
• FIX: Holding wait key didn't pause action for approaching hostiles if no FOV changes involved [Tone]
• FIX: Transport Network Couplers included inactive Haulers in mapwide Hauler count [Tone]
• FIX: drop_inventory hack reported wrong numbers in message log when Hauler carrying multiple part types [Tone]
• FIX: FarCom prevented specific robot variant name popups outside FOV [Tone]
• FIX: Two log messages during a particular extended run battle appeared in reverse order [Tone]
• FIX: Inventory item predicted coverage visualization values were incorrect, did not take into account the part itself [Tone]
• FIX: Bypassing inventory via direct drop/attach of part in coverage or relative vulnerability mode did not update inventory visualization [Tone]
• FIX: Scoresheet "Combat Hostiles" melted tally wasn't accrued in all cases, nor was "Pyromaniac" achievement always checked [Raine]
• FIX: Gallery HTML export Drag stat added in Beta 8.1 caused misalignment in propulsion stat headers [Raine]
• FIX: Phase Shifter effect description did not indicate they only work against ranged attacks [Raine]
• FIX: Impact-caused corruption always showed as "1%" in the message log, regardless of the actual value [Raine]
• FIX: advanced.cfg hudHeatPerMoveTurnwise/hudEnergyPerMoveTurnwise options displayed incorrect results in the HUD [Raine]
• FIX: Assault squad support units dispatched against groups always favored Demolishers, and dispatched more than intended [Raine]
• FIX: "Overflow Damage" in scoresheet was not being tallied based on player attacks [Valguris]
• FIX: Derelict logs pre-locating and identifying specific exits was broken in some cases [Valguris]
• FIX: Letting the Chronowheel take effect removed the multiconsole buttons until restart [Valguris]
• FIX: Triggering a single Alarm Trap in the Extension main corridor did not deactivate others in same array [Valguris]
• FIX: advanced.cfg disablePersistentAccuracyInfo option blinked the per-weapon targeting info rather than removing it [Valguris]
• FIX: Crash on Mines cave-in encounter if no room for excavation squad's escort to enter map [Valguris]
• FIX: Broken or unpowered bots could be considered threats in some cases [Joshua]
• FIX: Slowdown when a squad leader stuck in any area inaccessible to other squad members [Joshua]
• FIX: Allied Abots normally capable of activating kill switch for Enhanced bots did so even when the latter are allied [Joshua]
• FIX: Random traps could still spawn in special encounter rooms [Joshua]
• FIX: Derelict Logs recording an entrance to a later map only showed popup label when applied, no corresponding log message [Joshua]
• FIX: "Fragile Parts" challenge crashed on attempting to swap parts affecting inventory capacity when at maximum capacity [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: One of three Researcher part identification situations referred to Cogmind instead of the Researcher in message log [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Hallucinogenic terminal effect modifying sprite mode settings retained permanently if entered a new map while in progress [CaptainWinky, Pimski]
• FIX: Targeting mode could not autotarget/tab to enemies currently on right or bottom edge of map [Maiker]
• FIX: Gunslinging would never choose enemies currently on right or bottom edge of map [Maiker]
• FIX: Taking a shortcut to Zion after visiting Exiles did not appear correctly on the world map [Maiker]
• FIX: Researchers being disrupted while holding target in stasis kept the beam active for a bit afterward [3.14]
• FIX: Data Miner dispatch redirects could still occur despite player having affected DM in certain ways [3.14]
• FIX: Left an unintended clue about a secret superweapon [Trione]
• FIX: A Beta 8.1 alert modification made it unlikely to trigger Ride The Lightning achievement [Gobbopathe]
• FIX: Potential PHP issue related to score uploading [antifed]
• FIX: "Label Object Under Cursor" command removed from in-game list since that already occurs automatically [Gerhard]
• FIX: Some sources of system corruption might show in message log even after Core Membrane took effect [Happylisk]
• FIX: Attempting to keyboard swap parts while the status window closing left swap menu open until '/' pressed again [Suslik]
• FIX: Regular Thieves could steal as effectively as Master Thieves [Zyalin]
• FIX: Autonomous weapons might target broken or unpowered targets [Sylvia]
• FIX: Attacking Exiles while they're already under attack by others made the hostility announcement but did not turn them hostile [Decinym]
• FIX: Hallucinogenic terminal effect modifying sprite mode settings did not correctly revert if applied a second time while already in effect [roushguy]
• FIX: Dropping the SCP then attempting exoskeleton activation would make it impossible to successfully execute that command when SCP reacquired [muxecoid]
• FIX: Comparing Latent Energy Streamer stats with other weapons did not match up explosion data properly [JSLIN]
• FIX: Dropped items did not avoid turret positions, making them irretrievable until turret destroyed [MTF]
• FIX: Opening a Scanalyzer Insert() list containing an unidentified non-scannable part would show it in blue, revealing otherwise unknown info [zxc]
• FIX: Using Escape to close robot hacking menu to cancel hacking ended background sfx, but using close button would not [SirMrDrProf]
• FIX: Scoresheet records of autonomous weapon attacks weren't limited to Cogmind only [NikolayAg]
• FIX: Typos [Joshua, Rumbl3, Nxg, Valguris, Trione]
• FIX: Beta 9 prerelease bugs hunted down by: [MTF, CaptainWinky, Sylvia, Raine, Joshua, Tone, SirMrDrProf, Suslik, Zyalin]
• FIX: A Beta 8.1 tweak to the hacking UI architecture caused a crash in one of the special win animations
• FIX: A Beta 8.1 tweak to one of the special endings could cause the animation to crash under certain conditions
• FIX: Assimilating Q-Series renamed them incorrectly
• FIX: Indirectly hacking an explicitly listed item or robot schematic that would normally be beyond the given Terminal's authorization wouldn't work
• FIX: "DIRECT" and other temporary keyboard state indicators could appear over temporarily opened Evasion window
• FIX: Defensive hackware did not block machine trace feedback effects as often as it should
• FIX: Overflow damage destroying subsequent parts did not report them to the message log
• FIX: 01-MTF sprite changed from Grunt to Programmer, to match propulsion
• FIX: Misfires due to corruption could trigger autonomous weapons as well
• FIX: Scoresheet "Download EX-ID Prototypes" entry renamed to fit within standard name width
• FIX: Subspace Access Node destruction could be heard from any location on map, regardless of distance

RIF Abilities (permanent bothacking upgrades)

One of the highlights of today's release is another big expansion of the Relay Interface Framework, the new bothacking system introduced back in Beta 7 ("Hack the Planet"). Beta 9 now allows you to also install permanent bothacking upgrades, either enhancing existing abilities or granting entirely new ones!

I have a blog post going over how RIF upgrades work, but in short you'll gain a new ability for every additional RIF Installer you use. So yep this requires you visit a bunch of Garrisons, but hey bothackers are right at home inside Garrisons, yeah?

That said, the new system makes it very tempting to visit every Garrison you possibly can, even if it's possibly a bad idea at the time xD (speaking from personal experience here, as one of my Beta 9 streams demonstrated...)

RIF was already decent on its own (still is!), but for each new ability you get you'll probably be that much more effective (the abilities are mostly randomly handed out, and may not synergize with your immediate build/plans/tactics), eventually reaching pretty epic proportions. Abilities include features like getting more out of your Relay Couplers, using Phasewalls, and making allies immune to Programmer hacking.

The new RIF abilities UI for listing learned abilities and their effects (to open click on the HUD's RIF button, or Shift-Alt-f):



Check out the blog if you don't mind spoilers and want to read up on the full details.

Robot hacking also got a cool new hack option, amplify_resonance, which essentially turns a robot's power source into a proximity bomb that will detonate when near another power source. This can truly wreak havoc on squads, and is a lot of fun. overload_power still has its place (and is cheaper), but also more challenging to control (and slower) if using it to take out groups of targets.



And for those with or without RIF, if you're using a Datajack to run parse_system hacks on unique NPCs that might report special text to let you see their thoughts, those will now also add their unique parts to your gallery, so you don't have to murder them (or try to find a way to get them killed) just to get those IDs :)

Siege Mode

If the silent approach isn't your thing, there is also a new way to make an even deadlier statement with your firepower: siege mode.

As most other forms of propulsion already do, all multislot treads now have their own special effect when "overloaded" (toggled a second time), transitioning them into siege mode in which you exchange your mobility for combat buffs, becoming immobile but gaining bonuses to accuracy and coverage, with even some damage resistance.

Entering and exiting the mode does take some time, as you can see in this demo here:



During the transition only the negative effects are in play, so when to activate and deactivate are even more tactically relevant decisions.

Treads also have a new Siege stat in their info window where you can access the context help and learn all the specific details.

Robots entering siege mode temporarily show as a flashing a yellow X on map, so yeah, enemies can do this, too, and you probably already know which ones ;). Yeah, it's kinda scary, but it also might give you a better opportunity to reposition or escape!

Siege treads originated as a new mechanic voted for by patrons during Beta 9 development, and were expanded from there. You can read a lot more about the process behind designing siege mechanics on the blog here.

Sample info page for Hvy. Siege Treads, one of the new dedicated parts especially effective in siege mode:



The Evasion window explicitly shows the negative avoidance modifier for being immobile:



Advanced.cfg comes with some new tread-related options, too. Set autoDeactivateSiegeModeOnMove to 1 to have siege mode automatically start transitioning out of siege mode if you try to move while in the mode, which is quicker than toggling the treads manually. And set autoActivateTreadsOnAttack to 1 to automatically switch to treads when attacking (for the accuracy boost and anti-recoil properties), which also automatically switches back to the original propulsion once moving again. This second option is quite useful for "halftrack" wheel+tread builds:



Scoresheet 2.0

Cogmind's scoresheets have been pretty awesome over the years, allowing players to see and share a large number of statistics from each run, but as we approach the end of Beta development it was finally time to make them even awesomer, so now we've got an insane variety and level of detail with per-map stats for all those many hundreds of values, a complete history log, an ASCII map of where the run ended, a more detailed breakdown of robot types destroyed, specific cause of death (if the run ended in a loss :P), relative class distribution and dominant class per map, and so much more...

I've written an in-depth four-part "Building the Ultimate Roguelike Morgue File" series on the blog starting here, which covers a range of topics around the design and content of these new scoresheets.

But wait, Cogmind doesn't have "classes," what do you mean by "dominant class"?! As part of the new scoresheet development I devised an automated system for categorizing your build based on your current loadout and sometimes other factors. You can choose to display your current build classification (dynamically updated!) directly on the HUD with the advanced.cfg option "showBuildType". Here's a combat build supported by infowar utilities, called a "Skirmisher":



In terms of scoresheet data we'll be able to see how builds evolved over a run:



As well as which build was favored by the player over others based on total relative time used:



It'll be really cool to examine these new stats later :D

The performance stats which count towards score ended up mostly unchanged, but were expanded slightly with the addition of Regions Visited. Rewarding exploration is a good way to encourage it, so a set amount of points are earned for reaching each new map. In the early years points for "Evolutions" served that purpose well enough, earned at each new depth, but back then the world was narrower, whereas players can now spend up to a half or even three quarters of a run inside branches, exploring horizontally. While it’s true there are also bonus points to earn in branches, not everyone may actually earn those anyway, and it’s worth recognizing that they still made the trip.

Some sources of bonus points were removed, but that's because they were originally piggybacking on the bonus point system as a kind of makeshift "history log" throughout Alpha/Beta, whereas the new scoresheets actually have a full history log containing all the notable events during a run.

There are currently several hundred different types of history log messages, and reading the log is like reading a pretty decent summary of the run. Here's a short example:



With history logs we'll be able to see more specfically what special encounters players found, and how they made their way through each floor, more in word form rather than all the number-based stats (although I'm sure the turn counter will in some cases be pretty elucidating, too).

I wrote a bunch about designing and building the history log here, which includes more samples.

So as you can see these scoresheets are jam-packed with fun and useful stuff, and you also don't even have to wait until the end of your run to have access to one! Mid-run stat dumps can be created using Shift-Alt-s in the main UI, or via the Records game menu:



Dumps are great for sharing with other players, or checking on the details of your progress.

Sample causes of death recorded while I was testing that system (demonstrating a variety of sources):



Sample ASCII map of final surroundings (more on its visual design in the relevant blog post):



Over the years all of Cogmind's player scoresheets have simply been uploaded as text files, then each day I'd copy the files and run a program that produces the leaderboards and some stats, but those days are behind us now. All the new stat uploads will instead be entered into the brand new database!

This database will power the new leaderboards (among other public stat uses), which aren't currently set up, but the data from new Beta 9 runs is being collected so don't worry--as long as you've got uploads enabled, it'll all be included later.

You can even already see your run data on the server by using the URLs appended to your local scoresheet, which look something like this:



The TXT form will be an identical copy of your scoresheet, stored online, and the JSON format is one way to represent the server's internal data for that run (sample). With the new scoresheet format, a long run can end up with literally tens of thousands of data points!

Thanks goes out to Will Glynn for being instrumental in getting that up and running. So I updated the credits menu :)



Difficulty Modes

Difficulty modes have been rebranded! They've now got names--Explorer/Adventurer/Rogue, and are no longer hidden in the options menu. We've had these settings for a while now, but they're underused since who knows how many people didn't seem to know they even existed xD (among other reasons discussed in the relevant blog post which goes into more detail).

Now it'll be impossible to miss them since the first time you start up Cogmind you'll be presented with a new menu that appears even before the title screen, asking which difficulty setting you want to choose.



The balance changes for each mode are more or less the same as before, as described in the manual, though there have been a few tweaks, most notably the removal of Alarm traps from Materials in Explorer mode, keeping Operators out of sight of the Materials starting locations so they don't call reinforcements right away in Explorer/Adventurer modes, and outright removing them from -10/Materials in those modes. Altogether these factors tended to significantly compound the dangers of the early depths and contribute to a lot of deaths from being overwhelmed, which doesn't really have a place in the early game for easier difficulties. (These factors are expected challenges of the traditional Rogue mode and remain unchanged.)

A bigger change to Explorer/Adventurer modes is the optional quicksave feature. So yep, permadeath is technically not enforced in those modes, allowing you to save/load to your slot at any time via Ctrl-F7/F8, or via new buttons on the game menu.



The game over window also includes a new button that allows you to load back to your last restore point instead of dying (and if you never manually created a restore point, it'll lead to an automatic quicksave made at the beginning of the current floor):



Non-permadeath/loaded runs will not be uploaded, however, and therefore not included in the leaderboards. You can see whether your current run has been loaded before, and how many times, via a new indicator that appears in the top-right corner of the HUD:



You can read my thoughts on permadeath and this feature on the blog under "Quicksaving and Restore Points," as well as in the manual under a new section titled "Saving/Loading."

For those Explorers/Adventurers who want to remove the temptation to make or use quicksaves, the feature can be entirely disabled in advanced.cfg by setting noManualSaving=1. All the relevant buttons will disappear and the hotkeys won't do anything :)

Balance

There have been quite a few balance changes, partially a result of this release taking a while to make it out there, but also because we're closing on the end of Beta so it's time to iron out a few things.

Assault squads can be a bit more powerful now, and high security dispatches grow increasingly deadly with each dispatch, changes which mainly just affect those who are out there repeatedly farming these opportunities for points--they really weren't deadly enough :P

One of the extended-game fights had also become easier than intended, so that's been rebalanced.

Research branches are somewhat less scary because the results of being scanned by a Researcher are different by area, rather than always calling in, uh, death on wings. This might have something to do with the Q-Series loadout algorithm being rewritten for Beta 9 to make them more formidable opponents ;)

In other good news, crit builds are back in business! Crit-stacking was amazing back in Alpha, but eventually got nerfed by giving the most dangerous enemies immunity to critical strikes, making it hard to fully rely on crit tactics when dealing with tougher challenges, and leading people away from those builds in general. Now almost all the bots with Critical immunity have been converted to a new "Coring" immunity, which only gives their core immunity to critical strikes, but all their parts are fair game, so it's possible to use a good crit build to strip even a powerful target, just not outright destroy them purely from critical strikes alone.



If you've been having some bad experiences with thieves, that was a bug, oops xD. Regular thieves you can run into in the caves are pretty annoying, but they shouldn't be downright evil like Master Thieves are--the code for the latter new type was accidentally also applied to the former in Beta 8, giving them all the ability to both steal from your inventory and always pick your most valuable parts! Regular thieves now once again only steal the first thing they can get their grabbers on.

The largest area of balance was part stats, and I won't go over every single one mentioned in the changelog, but some of these deserve a bit of discussion...

• Quantum Capacitors have finally been switched to occupy two slots rather than one. It's always been far too good at one slot considering the powerful low-weapon builds it enables, so now requires a bigger utility slot investment in exchange for that power. And it's still really good! Weapon Cycler effects have also been capped at a lower amount (30%) to maintain their balance against capacitors.
• Humpbacks were made somewhat irrelevant with the comeback of Hcp. Storage in Beta 8, so they've once again got their niche back and store even more parts at an even higher mass cost (!).
• Burnout rates were effectively negligible on hover/flight units due to the types of builds people have been using them in, so those rates are now high enough to be worth taking into consideration now--the extra speed should come at some cost :P
• Beta 9 is the great armor mass nerfening, mainly because good flying builds were sporting way too much powerful armor, which when combined with ridiculous speeds made them practically invulnerable. It'll be harder to put together an all-around OP build like that now, while combat builds won't have much trouble supporting the extra mass so the changes don't affect them nearly as much. Light armor mass is unchanged, but medium and heavy armors are 30% and 50% heavier, respectively. Powered Armors in particular are an outlier and weighed almost nothing so had their mass increased significantly (their original balancing factor in the design was rarity, but it's not that hard to acquire them! I'd like to preserve their current availability but make it so that it's more likely combat-focused builds will use them, rather than flight builds for which they are far too good with their amazing coverage and damage reduction).
• Beta 9 will also be known as the great EM nerf. Every single electromagnetic weapon was adjusted to consume twice as much energy per shot. This includes guns, cannons, launchers--all of them. Despite the change, EM weapons are still great, but will require a little more support from other parts (power sources and/or batteries) to use extensively. They're definitely more balanced now.
• High-rating Phase Shifter effects got a significant nerf as well. They're still good, but not insanely so as they were before. This change also indirectly nerfs one of the toughest hostiles in the game, so there is a silver lining here ;)
• Early-game sensor utilities got a bit of a buff to make them somewhat more useful (before they're of course quickly replaced by better versions anyway). This includes Sensor Arrays, Imp. Sensor Arrays, Terrain Scanners, Imp. Terrain Scanners, Mak. Terrain Scanners, Seismic Analyzers, and Terrain Scan Processors. So maybe give them a second look if you're already used to ignoring them :P
• Piercing weapons got a buff to their special effect, doubling target core exposure rather than multiplying it by 1.33. The original figure sounded large but the way it's calculated made for almost negligible gains--the new value is significant enough to matter against the average target.
• Hover units will be easier to find and use to maintain a build throughout an entire run, especially with the addition of two new varieties of hover, including some very high-end stuff. The main drawback of hover as a propulsion choice in the past was difficulty in restoring or replacing older/damaged units, but not anymore.

Useful Stuff

Surprise (not really), there are lots more little QoL features in Beta 9!

Machine hacking got some nice upgrades, probably the coolest being the one voted for by patrons during Beta 9 development: expanded autocompletion with a menu based system.



This is especially useful with part schematics, listing all those valid at the current machine given the current depth, with partial name matching of course, and tab autocompletion.



As you can see in the demos above, the new behavior uses a two-step process treating the command and variable separately, rather than treating the entire string as one for the purposes of autocompletion as before. As a result, using Ctrl-Backspace only erases back to the previous open parenthesis if there is one, rather than always clearing the command.

Note that changing the system's behavior also required limiting autocomplete to the Tab key, rather than allowing either Tab or Spacebar.

Manually hacking a machine target which is already listed as a direct hack no longer incurs the usual indirect hacking penalty, either, for those who just want to type and not worry about first checking what already might be available.

And there are several new hacks to discover out there...

Because we can never have enough ways to facilitate part management, here's another: Swapping back and forth between two parts is now even easier via the new autopair system that remembers which parts have been swapped. You don't even have to think about it or look for a specific part in the list, because it's always assigned to 'Y' in the swap menu.



Notice the tick mark to the left of parts that have an autopair, as a reminder.

Parts ejected by machines now push away other parts, rather than rolling the ejected part over others. This is to ensure the newest part is actually placed instead of possibly being crushed due to lack of space.



Player-dropped parts crushed for that reason are now explicitly reported in the message log so they don't seem to disappear mysteriously (although technically they have always played special sfx and the parts list animation for destruction).



Inventory type-wise and mass-wise sorting also subsort by integrity (high-to-low) for otherwise matching items:



Prop explosion data is now shown in the scan window, making this more apparent without having to open the full info window:



I hope you enjoy Beta 9, a big release which is really like two major releases in one :P. Although the new leaderboards aren't ready yet, be sure to activate uploading in the options menu (and set your desired player name!) if you want to participate in them when they do go live. Next up I'll be sharing some stats from the lengthy Beta 8 period, as usual.

Saves from earlier versions are incompatible with Beta 9, but even if you're on Steam and Cogmind automatically updates, Beta 8.2 is still available via its own legacy branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.

41

Bugs / Bugs already fixed for the next release...

« on: October 11, 2019, 08:09:00 PM »

To avoid double reporting of bugs, here's an official list of the bugs I've already addressed for the next release, some of which may have a thread here on the forums, some of which were likely reported elsewhere, and possibly some I uncovered myself while working on the game.

See below (presented as an excerpt of the in-dev changelog):

* FIX: Left-oriented exit label activated by hover at right side of map view could show box at a position further left for a single frame [R-26 Lightspeed]
* FIX: Manually triggered label for previously known item outside FOV with active robot signal on top caused overlapping labels [R-26 Lightspeed]
* FIX: Melee Specialist achievement description too long to fit in-game achievement browser after adding clarification [R-26 Lightspeed]
* FIX: W-44 Eye analysis text outdated [R-26 Lightspeed]
* FIX: Specialist achievement requirement descriptions indicated end-of-run checking, but were switched to checks upon each hostile kill [Dosh]
* FIX: SHELL lab Researcher special response stopped triggering after Beta 10 [aoemica]
* FIX: Possible rare unstable state due to AI combat during W assault [MTF, blelm]
* FIX: Quarantine Array reported any individual multitiled allies as multiple systems [lyra, rad_banker]
* FIX: Using new HOSTILES button might crash under certain circumstances [Some Pennies, ()val()]
* FIX: report_schematics could contain "schematic" for Matter [Runia]
* FIX: Treads incapable of crushing targets with exactly 50 core integrity, despite the description threshold [Millea]
* FIX: Using muteAudioOnFocusLoss option caused ambient audio to restart immediately on tabbing back in to otherwise silent game menu [Hermelin]
* FIX: Advanced.cfg cursorJumpDistance was not being applied, always used default value
* FIX: Quickly scrolling the extended combat log in a modal UI layout via accelerated mouse wheel could lock the log state

42

Announcements / SITREP Saturday #47: Under Siege

« on: September 20, 2019, 05:04:17 PM »

Siege mode is here! Wait what? Siege mode?

Yeah, this concept kinda came out of nowhere because suggested by patrons who came up with a bunch of ideas and voted on the new mechanic they wanted to see in Cogmind. The full list and voting results are here:



I like the idea of having a "siege mode" for treads since we already have conditional "overloaded" functionality with some other propulsion, but before now treads didn't have this and it provides new tactical options depending on your situation and capabilities.

In short, you exchange your mobility for combat buffs, becoming immobile but gaining bonuses to accuracy and coverage, with even some damage resistance.

Here's a demo of some of the relevant interface bits, showing how it takes time to enter/exit the mode (and during that transition you're more vulnerable):



And yes there's cool transformation sfx when you fully enter siege mode ;)

There'll be a blog post that goes into more detail about the design process behind siege mode, all of the mechanical aspects, and even a discussion of the tactical implications, but I'm still working on that so I'll link to that in the next announcement.

This week I did already start streaming a new run using a nearly-complete version of Beta 9 to show off some of the latest features, including siege mechanics! So naturally it's a heavy combat run, that in combination with a so-called "crit-stacking" offense, which I've wanted to try for a while, and now is a good opportunity because enemy crit immunity has temporarily (?) been toned down for Beta 9 as an experiment.



Part 2 will be coming next week.

The Good Stuff

Also as voted for by patrons (albeit from a list of potential features I provided) manual hack autocompletion got an overhaul to bring its behavior more in line with regular editor consoles, including even a selection menu to see the available options.



And my favorite part: it even works with schematics, listing all those valid at the current machine given the current depth, with partial name matching of course, and tab autocompletion.



On the part management QoL side of things, in order to facilitate swapping back and forth between two parts (which some people like to do before/after combat with certain builds), after a part swap between the inventory/attached lists, those two parts are remembered ("paired") so if you want to swap back that's always possible via the 'Y' menu option:



Here's a demo of the autopair swap feature in action:



And I don't imagine it'll get a lot of use but it was one of those "do it because I can" things: All remembered autopairs can be swapped simultaneously if you really want to!



The Unbroken Stuff

I've already fixed all the known bugs from Beta 8--it's been a while so a lot of little things had piled up, but as always part of getting the next major release out the door means cleaning up any reports from the previous one!

The Terrain Scanner activation animation was unintentionally revealing the positions of traps via little blips. In fact, it was technically also revealing some internal script trigger points as well, which was how one player first discovered this! And then another player on Twitter mentioned that they thought the trap revealing was a feature xD. No this is totally not a feature, please use the other available means to detect traps rather than this rather tedious and non-Cogmind-like method! You see the blips in there?



Oops, the scanning list was revealing non-scannable prototypes by color even when unidentified. Fixed:



The Random Stuff

Lots of other little improvements here and there as well as I cleared out my TODO list for this release.

Inventory type-wise and mass-wise sorting also subsort by integrity



Parts ejected by machines now push away other parts, rather than rolling the ejected part over others.



Prop explosion data now shown in the scan window, making this more apparent without having to open the info window.



And we can always use new explosions.



30,000 Data Points? Yes, Please!

You know how Cogmind's extensive scoresheets have always contained hundreds upon hundreds of data points to paint a fairly detailed account of that run's highlights? Well let's multiple that by... a lot.

The scoresheet format has been revamped in a big way, reorganizing all those many stats into more (and better) categories, adding a range of entire new categories, and significantly enhancing each scoresheet's ability to paint a clear picture of the run with history logging, automated build class identification, an ASCII map of the final surroundings, and even separating all those data values out into their per-map stats!

I've given this topic new "meta feature" in-depth coverage on the dev blog, writing a massive dedicated 4-part series on it, and as you'd expect, each article is packed with samples, diagrams, and detailed explanations.

Building the Ultimate Roguelike Morgue File, Part 1: Stats and Organization - Examining the process of developing Cogmind's scoresheet and its content as it evolves into its final form.



Building the Ultimate Roguelike Morgue File, Part 2: ASCII Maps - Designing the ASCII map style for Cogmind's new scoresheets.



Building the Ultimate Roguelike Morgue File, Part 3: Mid-run Stat Dumps - Why and how I'm including accessible character dumps in Cogmind, including automated build classification and a situation analysis system.



The Ultimate Roguelike Morgue File, Part 4: History Logging - Exploring the structure and content of full-run history logs as a way to record notable events in a roguelike.



While on the subject of blogging, I wrote another article about Special Game Modes in a Roguelike Context,  talking about stuff like their value and types.


   
Hard Still Means Hard

Another big change coming to Cogmind is the rebranding of difficulty modes, which I hope will help a lot of people. No more automatically defaulting to the hardest mode and calling the other two options "easier" and "easiest"--from now we have Explorer, Adventurer, and Rogue!

A lot of people don't even realize Cogmind has difficulty modes, and has for a couple years now, so that option will be front-loaded into a new menu seen the first time the game is run, before even the title screen:



Explorer/Adventurer modes even come with a convenient quicksave/load system, which I hope will help a lot of people better enjoy the game (Rogue mode will continue to enforce permadeath).

There is of course a blog post on this change, Rebranding Difficulty Modes, talking about design, reasoning, and player expectations. Another one specifically about the save/load feature will be coming as well!

Flying and Hacking

Last time I reported that I'd begun streaming a flight run, which was eventually finished and made it into super spoiler extended-game areas. There were five parts in total, with the second starting here (you can find the rest from there):



I also did another streaming series of a run using the new upgradable RIF abilities. That starts here:



Zyalin drew our late-game build there <3


And at one point earlier in the run I was also crazy enough to continue along with rather high corruption and ended up causing a misfire to destroy the exact thing I was after--Zyalin sketched that scene, too xD



Of Course We Have More Art

Zyalin drew Tone's massive-storage late-game bothacking borg build, with allies in tow.



He also drew this...



...which makes more sense when you learn where it came from, the time in chat where I was fooling around with making Cogmind a 2x2 bot by changing a single value in the game, and... it actually sorta worked and was playable though the sprite became a conglomeration of several other non-combat bots as well!



Zyalin's imagining of a "combat version" of that particular NPC everyone loves to murder for their amazing hackware.



And I really love this piece, a huge thief-inspired bot that rips parts off:



Zyalin has finally set up a website for his fan art of various games, including Cogmind, so if you want to see some of his other great work, and a lot of his past Cogmind pieces, check that out here.  (Today's opening art is also a work by Zyalin, giving his impression of siege treads)

PlasticHeart, originator of the idea of "cogmics" (the 4-panel Cogmind comics now created by a number of players) has also collected a bunch of their past work on a new DeviantArt page here.

For his own "work of art," in July JakeThyCamel announced he'd been doing some wonderful work on an online HTML-based version of Cogmind's manual, filled with links and supporting screenshots. The conversion isn't quite complete (I'll bring it up again when it's done), but it's definitely getting there and worth checking out.



Oh look, there's some of my art, too. Stuff coming to a Beta 9 near you :)



Platforming

If you hadn't hear, this week Steam launched the new Library beta, and for that purpose all us devs had to make new assets to fit the new format. So if you opt into the beta you'll notice a couple things, one being the fact that quite a few devs have not updated their assets so the games don't show up very well, but assuming you own Cogmind you get to see this new box art in action :D



I made this and other new stuff a few months back when Steam first announced the upcoming changes, then totally forgot about it. It wasn't until players started showing me the game standing out in their libraries that I realized it was live :P



More recently I certainly remember the headache of suddenly having to go back through and migrate old announcements to the new system because I couldn't live with Steam automatically classifying all of Cogmind's previous updates as "small patches" :P. Cue hours of figuring out the system and creating new images in the right format! In the end it's at least a little more modern and less clunky than it was before (if we ignore the fact that comments are now harder to reach and see...).

Here's a couple excerpts from the editing view when I was working on that:



I'm quite happy that Steam integrated Proton and for a while now it's become even easier for Linux players to enjoy Cogmind via Steam Play. Cogmind is now rated Platinum in ProtonDB, so keeping the software super minimal and fixing those Wine-specific issues was definitely worth it :)

In less good news, the newest macOS is dropping support for 32-bit apps, which will mean those on the new system might have a harder time running Cogmind. I believe it'll technically still be possible, but you'll have to approve it or something like that? Or maybe because Mac users are already running it under some form of emulator anyway it might work? Not really sure about these things I guess we'll see.

Wizardry on the Horizon

Beta 9 is coming.

No date for you yet, but the only feature remaining before it can be released is the database and leaderboards side of things,
and while not every one of its features needs to be ready immediately, 1) it's important to lay a good foundation and 2) the basic version definitely needs to be functional for the Beta 9 release because I want to see the initial usage of the rebranded difficulty modes given the new menu and related features.

I can't be too sure about the timeline because I have someone else helping build it--I normally work alone but this is outside my area of expertise so that wasn't really an option here if I wanted it done well :P

In any case, regardless of when Beta 9 is done, a longer dev cycle just means more time to throw in extra little features and content before it's out!

A note about SITREPs: These are occasional progress updates where I share features coming to the next release, but that aren't actually in game yet. Public releases get their own dedicated news announcement and changelogs/release notes, for example with Beta 7 and Beta 8.

There may be other relevant discussion of this SITREP on Steam or r/Cogmind, but feel free to post replies here, too :)

43

Announcements / SITREP Saturday #46: Extreme Bothacking

« on: June 14, 2019, 05:38:46 PM »

Beware, the bothackers cometh!



Hacking robots has gotten a lot more interesting since Beta 7, and although there were some buffs after that, the strategy was still somewhat lacking in the late game, at most serving as a supplementary capability rather than holding its own. So now we've got... permanent upgradable RIF abilities!

I've written a full explanation on the new system over on the blog: "Robot Hacking: Upgrades"



You can read all the details there, but in short, you'll be able to seek out new abilities at RIF Installers, eventually becoming a bothacking powerhouse if you can brave that many Garrisons. Abilities include stuff like upgrading your Relay Couplers, using Phasewalls, and making allies immune to Programmer hacking.

Using the Robot Detection ability to see nearby enemies:



Walking through Phasewalls:



The new RIF abilities UI for listing learned abilities and their effects:



In this week's stream I also demonstrated RIF abilities (along with some other upcoming features) in a Beta 9 preview:



Zyalin drew our bothacker build :D


   
Me? On a flight run?

I took a month off streaming Cogmind to review a bunch of 7DRLs, but have since gotten back to Cogmind streams and did a complete flight/thief run. Part 1 is here:



The original goal was just to steal from the Exiles and evade all the inevitable thieves, but the epicness continued for much longer than that. I wrote up a full summary of the run with links and images, though note it does eventually get into extreme spoilers.

I won't go into details here, but one of the epic events was getting two major bots to fight each other. I can't not show it because Zyalin drew this awesome depiction of us flying around with our friend, who is having his nuke intercepted by that much bigger non-friend.



Pay2Buy2Win

Before that I also streamed a couple weeks of Pay2Buy mode, the new version released for April 1st.



A list of parts purchased throughout that run :)



After some time had passed, I put together a special leaderboard to record those who'd participated in the 4/1 event (and opted into uploading)



That and a bunch of related stats can be found on the forums here.

Writing and Doing

Following my article on level design, I added a pair of related pieces:

"Roguelike Level Design Addendum: Procedural Layouts"



"Roguelike Level Design Addendum: Static or Procedural?"



More recently I posted an in-depth look at the evolution of Cogmind's turn time system:



In little features I worked on, we're getting specific death messages for the scoresheet. Check out some samples from that system at work here:



I took a few-hour detour to add all the commands to the manual. Commands have always been available in game, but some people prefer to reference them externally in the manual. The list there was always incomplete since I'd approached it differently--only showing an alphabetized list of keys with their effect, rather than organizing it categorically as you find it in game. Now it's organized and complete.



This of course also means that the in-game manual includes the list as well, even though they're already available via a separate explicit help menu :P



Also have a red mapgen visualizer:



Art from 2243

A new gallery of works for your perusal...




Storage Jammin', by Zyalin




A multitreaded combat bot, by Zyalin




EM Cogmind, by Zyalin




Mni. ARCs?! by PlasticHeart




Unsafe branch spawns, by PlasticHeart




A randomly trapped Fabricator, by PlasticHeart




Storage shopping, by PlasticHeart




ECM Sweet, by JackNine




March leaderboards, by 8FPS

The Great Server Outage of 2019

At the end of May the servers were, um, "updated" by the host and this broke a bunch of stuff. The blog and wiki were both down for five days, and for two weeks the in-game news/version checking feature as well as score uploading and error reporting were all broken. Sadness.

Fixing this took quite a lot of work, no thanks to the host service who had no idea what was going on. Fortunately we have lots of web devs in the player base and I got some tips and ideas that eventually helped get everything up and running again.

As of last week our leaderboards are once again accepting new data \o/



As part of the fix I was forced to update Cogmind itself, so I put out a quick and relatively unannounced Beta 8.2 earlier, which has all of one line in its changelog :P

Saves are compatible with the previous version (so there's no legacy branch on Steam), it was just a modification to how COGMIND.EXE connects to the website for the optional online functionality.

Going forward Beta 9 will be running on a different db-based leaderboard system, so would no longer be affected by availability or reachability of the website itself, and will also feature multiple attempts, in case a score cannot be uploaded for some reason at the time a run ends (for example no active internet connection). Too bad that wasn't in place yet when this even occurred, but we'll get to it soon enough!

The 9th Circle of Betas

Speaking of Beta 9, when and where is that, anyway?

Well, it's going to still be a while yet. As we approach Cogmind 1.0, there have been a few major meta systems remaining to work on, and all of these happen to be features that need to be released simultaneously, making this by far the longest release cycle to date as I get everything in place.

The first is the revamped scoresheet, which is now complete, and also awesome--I'll be writing about that for the blog next. It's been a massive project that alone took more than a month.

The second is a new leaderboard system. The current one is pretty nice, but it's not fully automated and also has no internal database, limiting the kinds of things that can be done with it.

And the third is rebranded difficulty modes, which won't be changed in too many fundamental ways, but will get a new selection UI and hopefully be more useful to new players while also better at setting expectations.

Plus on top of all that we of course need other fixes and features that make releases interesting, like the RIF abilities :D

So Beta 9 is a big one, even if a lot of it is internal work. But it must be done, so I'm doin' it.

I was hoping to have it done by mid-June, when I'll be out of town for a few weeks, but there's been too much extra work involved so unfortunately I won't be able to finish it until after that, which means some time in August.

I'll still be chipping away at it while on the road, and updating the blog and Patreon, but four weeks from now when I leave I'm pretty sure there'll still be a little more work left to do on Beta 9, and I don't want to rush it out.

That said, even though it's incomplete, patrons can fool around with a prerelease version of Beta 9 (the one I streamed earlier this week), which already has the fully functional new scoresheet features and RIF abilities.

With Steam revenue falling lately, patrons are now clearly responsible for keeping development going without having to worry about wasting dev time advertising or wrapping up Cogmind to switch to another project, so many thanks to them <3



I mean it's true I've been working on Cogmind for six years now and continue expanding it without charging for the extra content, so this trend is inevitable xD

Patrons have also put in their votes for their choice of feature to focus on going into Beta 9:



(So yeah, yet another thing to work on!)

While we're talking money, here's your notice that Cogmind is having a weeklong 10% discount from June 17th through 24th, both on Steam and the website (where you can also get a Steam key and it's a lot more helpful for the bottom line).

I'll leave you with our favorite cheer (courtesy of Zyalin).



A note about SITREPs: These are occasional progress updates where I share features coming to the next release, but that aren't actually in game yet. Public releases get their own dedicated news announcement and changelogs/release notes, for example with Beta 7 and Beta 8.

There may be other relevant discussion of this SITREP on Steam or r/Cogmind, but feel free to post replies here, too :)

44

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / [Beta 8.1] w5 "temporarily unavailable"

« on: June 04, 2019, 01:45:53 AM »

Note that win type 5 (one of the rarer hard ones most people don't know about anyway) is not currently obtainable. Beta 8.1 made an adjustment to the hacking UI architecture for an unrelated purpose and that change apparently crashes the w5 ending animation, making it impossible to complete! (I know because I discovered this while trying to do it on stream xD)

It's been fixed for Beta 9.

45

Announcements / Temporary server issues affecting parts of website and Cogmind functionality

« on: May 31, 2019, 07:43:49 PM »

Surprisingly the forums are still functional, but due to an unknown server issue parts of the site have stopped working.

Currently you won't be able to access the wiki or dev blog, and neither REXPaint nor Cogmind will be able to access the site to check for the latest news or version number. Cogmind is also unable to upload scoresheets for the leaderboards until this is resolved.

If you have an especially cool Cogmind run you'd like to appear on the leaderboards (or just be included in the data), you can attach the scoresheet here or otherwise send the file to me via email or Discord PM and I'll add it to the data manually. (A future version of Cogmind with the new leaderboard system will support automatically retrying old scores in the event of a server outage.)

No ETA on a fix, other than hopefully ASAP. Gotta wait for one of the host admins to investigate...

Sorry for the issue, although for Cogmind the good news is the new scoresheet and leaderboard system we've been cooking up is looking great

46

Stories / Kyzrati plays stealth-hacker flight (Beta 8.1 thief run!)

« on: May 07, 2019, 03:19:07 AM »

I'm finally doing it.

I've always been a fan of shooting robots, blowing things up, generally making a mess, and then trying to get away with it all, but it was about time for something a little different, so on a dare/challenge from MTF, the new theme for the run starting with today's stream is Exiles thievery. (video uploaded here)

We're looting the EX-Vault and then going to bravely (well, as bravely as flight can) explore all the cave depths, and try to avoid getting stolen from. So yeah, we're the first thief, but then have to be on the lookout for other thieves who are better than us. Naturally the best way to approach this goal is with ultimate speed, so flight it is!

I stupidly left -10/Materials without first confirming Exiles weren't at that depth, but on exploring -9/Materials anyway discovered some carnage that certainly wasn't my own work, suggested 8R-AWN had been through the area already and that I must be on the right floor :)

Whew, all the prototype flight units we found wouldn't go to waste! Also got a lucky find in the form of the Exp. Sensor Array in the Mines.

Made it to the vault:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We got the LES and Skeleton box, which will only be minimally helpful if at all on this particular run (but they will occupy inventory slots anywhere due to the stated challenge xD), and also the Longsword +1! Now that's a beautiful and reliably weapon which will synergize nicely with the this build.

Back in Materials we collected flight gear in our Extremely Excessive Storage, and all those depths were easily crushed while walking (and later on treads).

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

On finally making it into -7/Factory, it was transition time. We shed all those other parts and stripped down to a size 8 inventory with just the parts you see here:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Here's the build just before entering the first set of caves:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I didn't do any screenshotting for the next couple hours, but it involved mostly sneaking through the caves at rapid speed, then back in the Factory doing a good bit more sneaking around while getting schematics and/or fabricating additional parts for the build.

Zion was at -7, though just got us the A8 code, and we visited DM after that (via shortcut, haha!), and I attempted to assassinate DM with the Longsword +1 but didn't quite succeed, so no uberhackware for us (or later redirection help, though this isn't all that useful for a flight build anyway, plus we also have the Skeleton Box if we come across any doors we want to open and don't happen to have hacking power).

Before the -6 caves I switched from 3x Hacking Suites to instead focus on infowar, so we have 4 infowar slots and excellent detection of both bots and terrain. The idea is to navigate the caves quickly anyway, and hackware isn't useful in the caves, so might as well--we can swap in some more hackware once back in Complex 0b10.

Here's where we left off, having just entered -5/Factory and evolved another two utility slots to fill with hackware:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Part 2 coming next week!

47

Competitions / Pay2Buy Leaderboards and Stats

« on: April 19, 2019, 01:44:54 AM »

A few weeks ago we had a special Pay2Buy release for 4/1, and unlike previous events I actually set the scores for this one to upload so we could collect some data for fun. And of course if we've got the scores, might as well put them on a leaderboard, too



As with the usual leaderboards, you can access the scoresheets from there as well.

A total of 42 players participated in this event over 77 runs, with 69 of those runs over the minimum score threshold for stat inclusion. (Remember this only includes players who opt in to stat uploading.)

4 of the runs were wins, by Terminus, Kyzrati, Trione, and inSANE. But Pay2Buy isn't about winning, it's about capitalism! Spending Cogcoins! Buying shiny new parts in an emergency before you become a scrap heap!

There were 2,442 purchases in all. Top 10 CogShoppers:

  Zyalin        209
  Terminus      141
  Kyzrati       119
  Joel          111
  Trione        93
  Marcus Aseth  87
  GridBugBear   86
  Howard        80
  inSANE        77
  muxecoid      77

In all shoppers spent 2,340,396 Cogcoins. Zyalin spent the most in a single run (266,374). The most expensive purchase was made by GridBugBear, who spent 8,505 for an Experimental Focal Shield.

Players purchased 610 loot boxes, accounting for 20% of all CogShop purchases. muxecoid bought the most loot boxes in a single run (62), and the highest percentage of loot box purchases goes to RNGesus (how appropriate!) with 95.5%. 15.4% of runs purchased no loot boxes at all.

Only 6 loot boxes earned a special item, and only one player (Zyalin) opened enough loot boxes at the right opportunity to obtain two special items in a single run.

Thanks for playing, and remember you can activate this mode at any time to try it out, including in future versions.

48

Announcements / Cogmind goes P̶a̶y̶2̶W̶i̶n̶ "Pay2Buy"

« on: March 31, 2019, 05:27:01 PM »

!!! ALERT: SPECIAL MODE DETECTED !!!



It's that time of year again, when all sorts of fake things appear on the internet... But I've become a fan of using this opportunity to make crazy unprecedented things that are true, so Cogmind is going P̶a̶y̶2̶W̶i̶n̶ Pay2Buy! Well, for a day, anyway ;)

Get the latest Cogmind update and fire it up on April 1st, and anyone who's past the tutorial starts and has been playing the regular game will automatically have new runs start in Pay2Buy mode!

I'll talk about that more below, but unlike last year's event, I've combined this one with an actual release, which includes a number of fixes for Beta 8, as well as some balance-related tweaks. There's also a bit of new content as well:

Cogmind Beta 8.1 "Pay2Buy" (0.10.190401) changelog:

• NEW: Unique AFD mode for 2019, automatically activates on 4/1 for anyone who has played at least three runs
• NEW: 1 new unique superweapon
• NEW: Special NPC encounter under certain circumstances
• NEW: Additional improvements to reduce turn delay when holding wait key or moving at extremely high speeds
• NEW: Command line argument "-forceAFD2019" to enable the AFD mode from 2019, regardless of system date
• NEW: Command line argument "-forceAFD2018" to enable the AFD mode from 2018, regardless of system date
• NEW: [AFD 2019] Includes a special interface for "purchasing" items with CogCoins, an event-specific mechanic
• NEW: [AFD 2019] Earn CogCoins by raising the alert level
• NEW: [AFD 2019] Other event-specific mechanics
• NEW: [AFD 2019] Score sheets include list of all purchased items at the end
• NEW: Any AFD mode scores can now be uploaded as well for aggregate stats and potential special leaderboads, but are still excluded from main leaderboards
• NEW: Added Phase Armor and Phase Redirector mechanics to manual's Attack Resolution section
• NEW: List of patrons added via Credits menu
• MOD: Tweaked various Exiles scenario reactions
• MOD: Master Thief behavior changed to make them more dangerous
• MOD: New internal turn system, harder to game for free peeking around corners
• MOD: Dropped items/salvage allowed to fall to other side of map exits (on same map)
• MOD: Overloaded Fabricator effects no longer count as Cogmind kills, or for alert purposes
• MOD: Signal Generator only works in 0b10-controlled areas
• MOD: Firepult damage reduced
• MOD: Keyboard's Pause key no longer has an effect
• MOD: Alpha Supporters shortcut command changed from '0' to '9'
• MOD: Lore no longer has '9' as an optional shortcut (access via Records page)
• MOD: AFD runs no longer added to scorehistory.txt
• FIX: An active Stasis Generator brought into a new map has no effect unless toggled off and on again [Joshua]
• FIX: Ejecting couplers from certain unlocked Garrison Access instead destroys them [Joshua]
• FIX: "Batter Up" achievement description did not specify melee impact damage only, despite kinetic cannons now being capable of knockback as well [Joshua]
• FIX: Gallery CSV/HTML exports were missing a header for the new propulsion Drag stat [Mx. Eldritch]
• FIX: Rare crash on an allied Mechanic seeking a repair target after robot it was following is destroyed [Horse]
• FIX: In rare layouts a special hidden area of a certain map might be slightly disconnected from the rest of the map [8fpsbossfight]
• FIX: Possible to crash the UI by switching into the game menu extremely quickly while also switching pages [geedmat, Horse, 8fpsbossfight]
• FIX: Crash on hitting a controllable ally with a Field Lobotomy Kit [ApolliniaD, alice_fexa]
• FIX: Manual seeds could be applied incorrectly in some cases, resulting in different seeds producing the same world [Suslik]
• FIX: Combining any Thermal Generator and Cryofiber Web could show a net negative energy readout in HUD, even though still positive [lsend]
• FIX: Advanced flashProjectileVictims option could in some locations cause flashes outside of combat as well [Puzzlebark]
• FIX: Integrity Redistributor could result in the wrong effect if core integrity near 50% of a total value greater than 1000 [mtf]
• FIX: Crash on accessing the Z-Roster if earlier on same map summoned a hero and in the turn immediately afterward a new hero was added to roster [Rumbl3]
• FIX: Fixing a separate issue in previous release broke schematic list highlighting while hacking a Fabricator [Malthusis]
• FIX: Typo [mindcog]
• FIX: Scrollable lists containing multiple keyboard ASCII colors may not align properly with list items when more than 26 items, after scrolling
• FIX: Hacking Prototype ID Banks did not immediately update identified inventory items if any happen to be matching unknown prototypes
• FIX: Multiple Stasis Generators being used at once may not always remain active depending on relative toggle states

Pay2Buy

AFD 2018 was a last-minute joke implemented and deployed in just an hour on 2018.4.1. This year I put a good bit more time into it, spending several days over the past week building some new UI features, designing and balancing systems, and surprisingly increased Cogmind's core code base by 0.6% for Pay2Buy alone (excluding all the other work that went into bringing you Beta 8.1).

So what's this mode all about...

The Cogshop is open for business! No, this isn't the Merchants Guild expansion I've touted as one of my Patreon goals, it's a new AFD mode that significantly changes the Cogmind experience.

Skip this section if you want to go in blind, or read on for more details.
   
In Pay2Buy mode there are no parts lying around, and no salvage from kills, either. In a few very rare cases items may still be available via the usual special means, e.g. Relay Couplers, but for the most part you'll have one source of new parts: the Cogshop.

Access the shop by clicking on the Buy button in the bottom-left corner, or via the number '0' on your keyboard. There is no item info available for shop items--there wasn't enough time to add that, although I did add the short item stat summary after each one so you can reference that to help make purchasing decisions.



Earn CogCoins by doing almost anything that raises alert, i.e. get in fights -> earn coins -> buy parts -> get in more fights (or go around sabotaging machinery as your source of revenue ;)) and so on.

Eventually you might notice there's a bit of a market economy going, with you as its only customer :P. Prices will fluctuate a bit, more so depending on what you do and don't buy. Item types you don't buy will get lower in price, while those you do will get increasingly expensive.

There are also Loot Boxes! Because of course there are :). If you've got coins to spare or want to take a risk, test your luck and buy some. You might also see some special discounts or other shop-related announcements as you play.

Interestingly the Pay2Buy experience is kinda like typical character creation at the beginning of a run, as well as ongoing throughout the run, only with even more control than you normally have. It's a pretty unique Cogmind experience :D

As for other AFD-related tweaks, you do not have access to any Storage Units, but start with ten inventory slots for free, instead of the usual four. Your score sheet at the end of the run will include a full list of all of your purchases, and the prices you paid. And in a very first for one of our Cogmind special events, score sheets can actually be uploaded! (assuming you have the option enabled) Of course they won't be included in the regular leaderboards, but Pay2Buy runs could get their own dedicated event leaderboard, at least for those who play in the near term.



AFD 2019 normally autoactivates for new runs on 4/1, but if you want to play on another day, rather than having to change your system time like before, I've added a new option you might prefer, the "-forceAFD2019" command line parameter. (In Steam this is Cogmind > Properties > Set Launch Options...) If you don't want to play this special mode on 4/1, the "-noAFD" switch will block it.
      
Still Exiled

Beta 8.1 brings with it a fair number of Exiles tweaks, if you remember them from their explosive Beta 8 debut ;)

Yes, as many in the community feared, I did nerf their Firepult just a bit, but it's still an amazing and terrifying weapon. More importantly, Master Thieves are a good bit scarier now. They're still a challenge that can be overcome, but... you really would do better to not attract them in the first place. (I also changed up the dialogue just bit so that it makes sense they can still come after you if you went all evil murderer in the lab.)

You know that scenario where the Exiles have prematurely departed? Well there's a new potential reward in that case, and a clue about where to get it...

There were various other EX tweaks as well, mostly small stuff.

8.1 Miscellany

One of the other big changes under the hood is probably not so big to most players, but the entire turn system has been replaced with a new type of queue. I'll be covering this more on the dev blog later, but the main impetus was to prevent free corner peeking, which a tiny handful of players were taking advantage of as an optimal tactic made possible by gaming the original turn time system. Now the system is more fair, and directly related to movement speed, rather than specifically when during a turn the move action is taken.

In the process of making the above change I also optimized the turn queue handling, which will speed up the game by up to 10% in some scenarios.

Behind the Scenes

Beta 8.1 includes a bunch of fixes, as usual (mostly to new stuff), and as part of my debugging work I finally added an engine-level visualization so I could see which subconsole is currently receiving mouse hover messages:



This helped track down a particular new bug that wasn't highlighting the current schematic at a Fabricator, for example:



It turns out this bug was caused by a separate Beta 8 fix for a completely unrelated issue xD

On the blog I've shared an addendum to my level design article, this one discussing how I approach layout planning for procedural maps, with an eye towards level design goals.



Another addendum, looking at the usage of static, procedural, and hybrid maps, is currently available to patrons here.



In good hardware news, I successfully cleaned out my dev laptop, as well as recovered all parts taken by Recyclers that escaped from the Cogmind source in the process.



(I shared the process on Twitter.)

Community

Zyalin has shared some cool new fan art, this piece titled "Storage Jammin'"



It depicts a beat up Cogmind build rampaging through Storage, indeed a dangerous map with very tight confines. Also of course there are friendly drones nearby :)

JackNine did another cogmic in his style:



Over on the forums muxecoid started a poll for the most hated combat enemy class, and Hunters won by a fair margin. Swarmers came in second place.

Although there's no "official" support for it beyond answers I hand out when interested people occasionally ask about superficial mod support, a number of people have actually modded Cogmind. Most recently Ape3000 has shared their mod that mixes ASCII with graphical walls from the tileset. Here's a sample of how that looks:



As for myself, on my Twitch channel I've been streaming a bunch of 7DRLs for reviewing lately, but will get back to Cogmind soon. In fact, it won't be this week because I have family visiting, but next week we're gong to play with Pay2Buy mode! As usual the videos will be up on YouTube afterwards.

Patreon

Patreon is going okay, the one I announced last time as part of the Future of Cogmind update.

So far patrons have been submitting suggestions for my Cogmind TODO list prioritization, to decide which major QoL system they'd like to fund for Beta 9, and also more recently for the new item/mechanic they'd like to see in the next release. These things are collaborative so we'll be doing some voting in April.

What's Up Next?

Well my near-term plans have somewhat changed due to this whole Pay2Buy event. I was originally planning to release a Beta 8.1 with fixes and some new hacking content, but Pay2Buy got big enough that it pushed back the other stuff (and 4/1 is a hard and fast deadline, after all xD), so my earlier 8.1 plans are likely being folded into Beta 9 instead (along with all the other Beta 9 stuff).

So the next release will likely be Beta 9, though it's too early to say when that'll happen since there's a lot to do. That said, Beta 8.1 is pretty big for a "minor" release, and the new mode adds yet another layer of replayability, so I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks of it.

Enjoy!
   
Beta 8.1 saves are not compatible with previous versions, but even if you're on Steam and Cogmind automatically updates, Beta 8 is still available via its own legacy branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.

49

Announcements / The Future of Cogmind: Above and Beyond

« on: March 13, 2019, 05:40:39 PM »

About a year ago I put out an announcement dubbed "The Future of Cogmind," and seeing as another year of updates has gone by, plus there's a new development transition afoot, it's about time for another status announcement on this! (There was also a recent question about the duration of Early Access in the Steam discussion boards, though note that I do keep the EA info on the store page up to date.)

The good news is that even though the main content has been complete since 2017, and lots of free expansions have been added since, there are still plenty more to come. The bad news is I've got a lot of health issues (over 100 doctor visits last year alone xD), including a hearing problem which is still preventing me from finishing up the last bit of audio required for 1.0.

But postponing 1.0 isn't really too big a deal since I'm happy to continue providing new features and content, anyway. What is a big deal is that even though they'd be able to easily pay for themselves, I have no plans to release any updates as DLC--free updates only, but since sales revenue naturally falls over time (plus Steam and taxes take half the revenue :/), at some point there needs to be a way to pay for the work.

Don't worry, there is no immediate danger of discontinuing updates, and yes, 1.0 will certainly happen one day. Not quite this year, mind you, but one day ;)

As is I'm still working on Cogmind full time, halfway through the sixth year now, and I've decided to try something new to see how it works out in terms of enabling more updates in the long term. Large-scope roguelikes can continue development for quite a while, especially with such an active player base behind them, so it's always good to be ready for that long term :D

More specifically, the recent Beta 8 has been a lot of fun, and I'd like to do more of that in the future.



I've got plans for the Merchants Guild, more factions, the Unchained, many new maps, new game modes, intrinsics... basically a ton of stuff that I could work on for years.

So on that note I've started a Patreon:



It's completely optional--everyone still eventually gets the new Betas which will be released to Steam and the DRM-free system as per normal. It's also technically not purely for Cogmind--I do a bunch of roguelike-related stuff and it's really just to support me in everything, although as you can see on the page it clearly involves Cogmind-specific interaction and benefits :P (I mean, this is by far what I spend most of my time on so this makes sense!)

After talking about it with frequent players and taking suggestions, this seems like a suitable route to explore in order to maintain a healthy future for the game. The good thing is it's flexible--more support equals more extra stuff, period :)

Along with this new facet of development, there will be some other changes as well, including:

• fewer progress announcements (the SITREPs that I've been doing) and instead having smaller progress announcements (with slightly different content) on Patreon, as well as a greater number of dev blog articles
• earlier prerelease test builds, giving more time for feedback and adjustments before the official release goes out

Thanks to all you players who've joined with me on this adventure so far! I'm looking forward to the years to come :D

(In near-term version news, I've planned out most of the details for Beta 9, but am not working on that just yet because before that we're going to get a Beta 8.1 with some adjustments and a bit of new stuff :D)

50

Announcements / Kyzrati is on Patreon! Your support is appreciated

« on: March 10, 2019, 10:03:04 PM »

I've got a new Patreon page where you can support my projects :D



If you've never heard of it before, Patreon is basically a subscription service through which you can support individual creators and their work.

A number of developers have relied on ongoing donations (or specifically Patreon) over the years to help support their projects, and I've always thought this kind of model would be more suitable for the way I do things--less focused on the end-game commercial value of something and more about just making cool stuff :D

Even $1/month can really add up, but I guess we'll have to find out together how feasible this is over the long term. You can always change your subscription amount (note that Cogmind in-game rewards are permanent even if you do so--you only need to get those once). And while there are benefits, it's not really about the benefits :P

Check out the page for more info!