Beta 13 X1 Prelease - United Federation of Derelicts

While Beta 13 is indeed scheduled to include the UFD (and of course "Scraptown") hence the official name of this release, that is not actually what this X1 prerelease is about! I'm doing all the background/other stuff first, and as you'll see it's... a fair amount ;)

• We have the revamped combat log, which I wrote about here.
• Among a collection of new mechanics we finally have examples of the "temporary" slot mechanic I wrote about before as well, something I'd been wanting to add for a long time but took a while to get around to having both the tech and content opportunity to include it (the bulk of associated items have already been added, but there are a few more planned for Beta 14).
• Oh yeah, and there's another new map :). Technically I wrote about the beginnings of this one last year as well, but now it's actually got stuff in it.

Naturally the greatest concentration of fresh Beta 13 content is found in the new map, once you learn how to reach it. It's not always going to be 100% obvious for various reasons, including 1) lore, and 2) I didn't want newer players to be able to stumble upon it as easily (it is likely punishing for the uninitiated!).

But even outside that, as mentioned the experience has been streamlined, improved, and expanded in other ways.

We've now got a Tractor Beam animation (w/SFX)...

(that is a gif, please do not turn on your speakers ;)

Salvageable matter can merge with other matter on the ground, as it does here when this Recycler is destroyed

Also there's a bunch of cool new items to play with, some in the new map, but a few found elsewhere.

A multitool for repairing broken interactive machines...

Plasma Cutters are being "nerfed" in terms of their original specialty use, but will be replaced in that role with a new item, which are not extremely accessible at the moment, but more prevalent sources are planned for the future (including as early as the full Beta 13).

Good luck finding this one, but if you do...

Another very rare item (that may be somewhat more accessible in the future via special means?):

Share the Triangles

A new and unexpected experimental feature?! Recently I got curious about potential Discord integrations (without doing anything that would require bloating the game with a bunch of their junk), and realized it could be fun to add a way to see player updates on the server, so... yeah we have that now :)

This feature allows everyone to follow runs in progress, including:

• a (mostly) full history log as it's being created (excluding some stuff that could be repetitive/annoying/less interesting to have out there in this form)
• newly-acquired achievements
• scoresheet links and a summary at the end of each run, for example:

(pay no attention to the build--it was a bunch of stuff I had for testing various things :P)

This feature is of course disabled by default, but can be activated simply by adding an empty file named "discord.txt" to your Cogmind directory before starting up the game. (To be specific, this is a regular text file, so if you do not have file extensions visible in Windows, you simply want to create a "text file" named "discord". If you do have extensions visible, then you want to create a .txt file named "discord".)

Possible optional content for that file:

• Putting a Discord webhook URL on its own line will send all the output there instead (like to your own Discord server or whatever)
• Adding "history=0" on its own line will exclude the sharing of history log info, but include the other content

For this feature to work, when Cogmind starts up your player name cannot be anonymous.

I've attached this feature to a new public channel, #cogmind-activity, and it does not spoiler anything, so depending on the run(s) in progress it could include lots of spoilers and redacted content. I don't have other plans for it yet, just kinda created it and we'll see what happens!

Share and enjoy :)

I hope to be able to join in the fun myself next week on my normal streaming day for once, finally, for however long I can. Still been dealing with lots of issues, not least of them being post-concussion effects, so unfortunately I've had to stay away from streaming for a while. If I did that, where of course the goal would be to experience some of the new content in real runs, next week would be a one-off anyway since I will be out the following week for a trip, after which I might be able to get back to streaming more regularly again, we'll see.

LuigiAI

If you're familiar with Luigi over in the Discord community, you might know about his ongoing project to develop an AI that can play Cogmind. As part of that goal, some time back I added dedicated data structures that can be parsed for relevant info if you can (among other things) write a program to read the game's memory and input commands etc.

I'm bringing it up now since the current memory structure is available on GitHub, and I just expanded it a bit further in this build (to include robot inventory items).

You can find his project online here, and he has shared some interesting related videos and streams before.

Changelog

• NEW: Branch map "Subcaves"
• NEW: 34 new items (including new mechanics)
• NEW: 18 new encounters
• NEW: 3 new Complex 0b10 map events
• NEW: 3 new derelict robot classes, each with new AI
• NEW: 2 more unique named NPCs
• NEW: 2 new trap types
• NEW: 1 new turret variant
• NEW: Multiple lore entries related to new content
• NEW: Adding '!' anywhere in item tag forces it to require confirmation to attach
• NEW: Salvageable matter may merge with existing free matter when dropped
• NEW: Tractor Beam effect includes animation and SFX
• NEW: More unique Subatomic Replicator interactions
• NEW: Mines infestation event includes input block when triggered, to ensure time to respond even when playing fast
• NEW: Contextual tutorial message about moves that may cause cave-ins
• NEW: Setting combat log detail to High or above includes victim name when part or core hit or destroyed
• NEW: Setting combat log detail to High or above reports disruptions, projectile penetration, and some critical effects
• NEW: Setting combat log detail to Full reports all critical effects, immediate meltdowns due to thermal transfer, and most terrain destruction
• NEW: Combat log explicitly identifies melee followups, sneak attacks, and Cogmind gunslinging target switches where applicable
• NEW: Programmer hacking attempts/results also reported in combat log
• NEW: While combat log detail set to High or above, manually scrolling contents away from bottom automatically opens and scrolls expanded combat log view
• NEW: Tutorial message about combat log on opening it for first time
• NEW: Added new combat log features to Advanced UI > Combat Log Window manual section
• NEW: Scoresheet entry to record damage ignored by resistances
• NEW: Optional warning when move might cause a cave-in (advanced.cfg: warnOnCaveinMove)
• NEW: Option to block movement commands while ruler overlay active (advanced.cfg: rulerBlocksMovement)
• NEW: Advanced quickStart option defined in manual explicitly indicates that it prevents acheivements requiring certain propulsion usage restrictions
• NEW: Support for 5K screens (multiple size 48 font sets)
• MOD: Ramming no longer explicitly increases target salvage potential
• MOD: Reduced falloff of all electromagnetic launchers by 1
• MOD: Increased range of all 12-range electromagnetic launchers to 14
• MOD: Plasma Cutters remixed to become higher-range saw/tearclaw hybrid
• MOD: Newly spawned robots start with full energy reserves instead of base energy amount
• MOD: Cave outpost Sentry that requests backup can be jammed
• MOD: Sterilization system takes longer to melt objects in maps which start at colder ambient temperature
• MOD: Sterilization system prevents further accumlation of machine destruction value towards score
• MOD: EX-Prototypes terminal data name and purpose converted to more generic Derelict Prototypes
• MOD: Optional Data Miner mission results in a controllable instead of uncontrollable ally
• MOD: NPC dialogue '?' indicator colors no longer darkened for unarmed robots
• MOD: CALC window renamed COMBAT
• MOD: Multiprojectile weapons merge all projectiles into single combat log entry for hit tally reporting
• MOD: Combat log no longer includes hit part/core coverage/exposure value, regardless of setting
• MOD: Opening combat log, or performing any action while open, automatically scrolls it to the end
• MOD: Message log reporting of Core Stripper effect switched from darkened version to standard brightness
• MOD: Combat log friendly hit/miss messages displayed in shades of white/gray instead of green
• MOD: Default combatLogLimit increased from 200 to 1000
• MOD: Colorblind mode uses light gray for all three uppermost core HUD stats in help UI
• MOD: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 ignores items under immobile robots
• FIX: Perforator lore specified incorrect number of projectiles [Plexion]
• FIX: Scoresheet "Parts Damaged" due to scanalyzing only tallied on successful scans [Plexion]
• FIX: Potential rare crash during W base assault [Plexion]
• FIX: ECA unique bodyguard units of same name could be dispatched at once [Plexion, Infomantis]
• FIX: Particular plot-related history log message may appear in scoresheet under incorrect conditions [lyra]
• FIX: Manual Attack Resolution section referenced old name for Armor Integrity Analyzer [lyra]
• FIX: Using Supercharged TR to bypass an inhibitor in extended map had an unintended side effect [lyra, Runia]
• FIX: Construct weapons losing heat transfer and therefore any Burn critical effect retained their critical chance despite having no effect [MTF]
• FIX: New crash as of Beta 12 while animating one of the rarer ending sequences [MTF]
• FIX: Holding cursor over Allies console ALL button while moving via keyboard with allies present caused order highlighting to retain old orientations [MTF]
• FIX: Constructs undergoing some types of integrity changes may not update parts list integrity color [Infomantis]
• FIX: [RPGLIKE mode] New Beta 12 caves encounter crashed map on first turn after entry [Infomantis]
• FIX: Crash on shifting certain multislot weapons to end of weapon slot list [Cracklepappy, Wilfeymon]
• FIX: Masking the only free items desired by Recyclers on a map prevented them from moving [Cracklepappy]
• FIX: Under circumstances including playing many runs without restarting Cogmind in between, ECA bodyguard count might be reduced [aoemica]
• FIX: Scoresheet could record triggered sapper charges and rigged power sources not set by Cogmind [leiavoia]
• FIX: Despite addition of Relay Coupler [Prototype], Program Shield and Alert ID Control RIF abilities did not work on those allies [Savant]
• FIX: Multiprojectile weapons firing as part of larger volley could have projectiles interspersed with later weapons in volley [Valguris]
• FIX: Holding wait did not autopause when a Crusher enters view [kiedtl]
• FIX: O-32 Director analysis text still mentioned Backup Module [Sardaukar]
• FIX: Beta 11 extraction of custom notes from manual to notes.txt broke "-nonportable" command line switch functionality [Ms Vella]
• FIX: Alternative Meltdown critical strike effect for Cogmind class could not actually cause described heat increase
• FIX: Active Sensor Suite activity paths ignored Materials storage cache

Get Beta 13 X1

On Steam, Beta 13 X1 is located on the new beta branch "beta_13_x1" accessible with the code "13LogsDontLie", or if you don't have Steam and bought through FastSpring and would like to try the DRM-free version, send me an email at gridsagegames@gmail.com to be added to the Beta 13 cycle notification list. (This is a new list being created from scratch since Beta 12 development ended.)

Saves are not compatible with previous releases.

There's always the chance of another one or two small updates in the near term (for example if something goes wrong), which will be otherwise unannounced except to append a notice to this announcement on Patreon, and via an announcement on the #patron Discord channel. It's not uncommon due to the experimental nature of these releases, and if saves are compatible then the same branch is simply updated, otherwise a new branch is created and announced here.

Edit: Our first save-compatible hotfix, 230622a:

• NEW: Full-detail combat log indicates when occupied Twisted Machinery absorbs attack against robot within it
• MOD: Multitool matter cost to use as a weapon increased to match machine repair cost
• FIX: 4L-MR0 dialogue was stuck part way through
• FIX: Potential crash during at the beginning of one of the Subcaves events
• FIX: Data Miner terminals were missing some entries

Save-compatible 230623a!

• FIX: Items dropped on other items could land much further away