Beta 11 [no X!] "Mechanical Renaissance"

The final prerelease! It is ready. Now not quite everything on my Beta 11 list is included, but setting ambitious goals and not accomplishing them is par for the course ;)

Most of the Beta 11 plans , and certainly all the major ones, have been executed, and the results have been pretty decent, I'd say. Beta 11 good, now let's get ready to share it with everyone!

I didn't actually get to finish the Active Sensor Suite branch data (can blame that on the complicated end-game stuff I added for X11 :P), so that'll presumably come in 11.1. That part is already pretty good anyway, and there are tons of others, including a bunch of new sensors.

Otherwise this past couple weeks I've cleared out a ton of rare Beta 10 bugs (thanks everyone for reports), while also finishing off my near-term QoL list.

So the differences between this release and X11 don't include any major new content like before, though it's a sizeable changelog nonetheless, including perhaps most importantly having revisited the Adventurer/Explorer modes to tweak the Beta 11 features under those where desirable.

Changlog

Since X11 we have the following changes:

• NEW: Sterilization process capable of melting more objects
• NEW: Major NPC has name change during certain extended game event
• NEW: History log records when Zion dispatch access revoked
• NEW: Dedicated sound effect for low core warning
• NEW: Scanalyzer list of insertable items includes inventory tags
• NEW: Manually hacking robot schematics/analyses and loading schematics can also match case-insensitive partial substrings (e.g. "troop" -> "G-47 Trooper")
• NEW: Watchers expicitly list Sensor Jamming as a trait
• NEW: Item info page uses different context help for "Inventory" slot
• NEW: More specific descriptions added to some items, including some drone bay types, Exiles prototypes, Datajacks and Relay Couplers, and non-part items
• NEW: In Tactical HUD mode, info page for power sources also includes chain reaction explosion details
• NEW: Gallery CSV export for power source data includes chain reaction explosion values
• NEW: Context help for Resistances includes more details about how they're applied
• NEW: Contextual tutorial message about Heavy sensor range
• NEW: Contextual tutorial message about evolution timing
• NEW: Contextual tutorial message about the nature of revisiting maps
• NEW: Contextual tutorial message about what travealing between maps represents
• NEW: Second threshold when attempting to move at extremely slow speed, with different warning message (advanced.cfg: extremeSlowMoveSpeed defaults to 600)
• NEW: Option to set minimum volume for machine prop audio regardless of distance (advanced.cfg: minimumPropVolume)
• MOD: Permanent energy/dissipation mods fully retained by the new build type added in X11, slightly reduced rate of exhange on slot loss
• MOD: Some areas might sterilize more quickly than others
• MOD: Lab sensor count reduced
• MOD: Self-Destruct Interrupters dropped by bots other than Cogmind do not have any effect
• MOD: Toggling Metafield Generator while have momentum updates melee damage values in inventory and part list info mode ('q')
• MOD: Rating-based item sprites colored white in info page of unknown parts and prototypes, instead of retaining their tier color
• MOD: Analysis list includes tier for derelicts with multiple tiers with the same name
• MOD: Spacebar menu blocked from activation shortly after closing certain other windows, for example dialogue transmission
• MOD: Adventurer/Explorer mode converts 1/2 Heavies to Sentries per map
• MOD: Adventurer/Explorer mode have 1 less ARC escorting cargo convoy
• MOD: Adventurer/Explorer mode reduces part corruption effect
• MOD: Explorer mode always knows active cargo convoy route without a Transportation Network Coupler
• MOD: Explorer mode limits Heavy class sensor-based reinforcements to no more than one active squad at a time
• MOD: Explorer mode does not station dormant Specialists inside DSFs
• MOD: [Abominations mode] All Heavies converted to Sentries
• MOD: [Abominations mode] Cargo convoy dispatches removed
• MOD: [Pay2Buy mode] Starting CogCoins adjusted higher for non-Rogue difficulty modes
• MOD: [Player 2 mode] Player 2 ignored for purposes of history log follower reporting on reaching new map
• FIX: Unlikely series of events could lead to an unexpected civil war within a certain faction in extended game [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Super Gauntlet challenge now blocks all branch access in Materials, to avoid shortcuts to other branches, and prevent FarCom use [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Special Garrison Access events could soft lock Super Gauntlet challenge [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Triggering every hypermatrix ping could potentially crash, or cause other oddities regarding ping notifications [aoemica]
• FIX: Certain extended game NPCs could in rare cases appear inside machinery if space available [aoemica]
• FIX: Melee sneak attacks tripled damage rather than double damage as intended and indicated in manual [aoemica]
• FIX: LMB on unknown hidden door or phase wall with active clickWallsToTarget advanced.cfg option did not activate targeting mode [perseus]
• FIX: LMB on self while standing on active stasis trap displayed same interface message as if an empty space [perseus]
• FIX: Spawning into a new map in a narrow corridor straddled by two immediately adjacent open hidden doors rendered Cogmind unable to pass [GJ]
• FIX: Crash on Subatomic Replicator use if no open space nearby to place an item [GJ]
• FIX: Single alarm trap array could in some cases trigger multiple times if caused by an EM explosion [zxc]
• FIX: Engineers under influence of ignore_repairs hack might call for reinforcements if attacked while incidentally moving towards repair location [zxc]
• FIX: Extended game event unintentionally cleared all prior item knowledge from the map [Valguris]
• FIX: Under certain conditions warning message for a given map exit might not repeat even after waiting longer than the normal 3-second window [Valguris]
• FIX: Propulsion Burnout stat context help did not explain how overloadable propulsion could break normal max speed restrictions [breylinlee]
• FIX: Extremely rare crash in multitile ally pathfinding when engaging targets under certain circumstances [skar1ath]
• FIX: Modal part management menu (d)rop command did not automatically bypass inventory as intended [NikolayAg]
• FIX: Some large non-hackable doors remotely opened by AIs would only partially open [Tone]
• FIX: Manual command entry might in some cases be able to bypass revoking of Zionite dispatches [Finestep]
• FIX: Save file sizes might get unnecessarily large across a long run, padding with an extra 30-50% empty score data
• FIX: Sudden machine malfunctions during sterilization and some other events could cause other nearby non-machine terrain objects to indicate "malfunctions"
• FIX: Melee impacts on certain materials did not play any sound for the impact itself
• FIX: Field Recycling Unit labeled OVERLOAD instead of COLLECT due to error when adding Trap Extractor to interface
• FIX: Physics calibration could remove non-removable parts

Some partial string matching examples that enable more convenient hacking, especially for robots where you won't need to reference the prefix in order to hack it:

And a number of parts got descriptions for otherwise unexplained mechanics, or at least some hints/warnings. Some samples:

Get Beta 11

On Steam, Beta 11 is located on the old beta branch "patron_release" accessible with the code "beta11heavies", 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 11 cycle notification list. (Anyone already on the list will receive an email with a new link.)

Saves are not compatible with previous releases.

Wizard's Addendum: A new wizard key has been generated for Beta 11. You can get it from the attachment over at the normal place.

The Plan

Looks like this is Beta 11 week!

• Monday: Having finished up the last of the bugs over the weekend and this morning, I put together this "final" build, which could of course still get updated again in the coming days if anyone finds some new bug or something that we should address. There's still time to do that, otherwise...
• Tuesday: Tomorrow I'll be streaming Cogmind, actually getting to play Beta 11 since X8 having gone on that looong sterilization excursion I finally bailed on xD. I have been missing out on a lot!
• Wednesday/Thursday: Normally it only takes me one, but this time around I'm allocating two days to handle the release prep, because there sure is going to be a lot to do in terms of writing up the release notes and organizing the changelog. I'll be able to cut some corners because already a bunch of articles have been written on the main topics and as usual I can point to those (part of why I write them!), but we still need good summaries for people who aren't going to read 50,000 words to absorb all these mechanics, and I'll also likely be approaching the changelog itself a bit differently this time, with a different sort of organization since it's so long.
• Friday: Release in the morning! I generally prefer to release on Tuesdays, but this particular day has significance because it is Cogmind's 10th anniversary. Ten years ago on that date Cogmind 7DRL was released, before gradually evolving into what we have today...

All days are of course in my time, over here in GMT+8 ;)

7DRL

Speaking of 7DRL, the 2022 challenge has just ended, and there are a ton of new little roguelikes for you to try out if interested. 

I've been watching over the event a fair bit (being a mod on r/RoguelikeDev and the Roguelikes Discord server it's kind of my job to help organize and moderate some of this stuff...) and as usual there are some great projects in there which I look forward to exploring, especially since I'm sure there are as many more cool ones that I haven't seen, too.

I won't be judging 7DRL officially this year, but I imagine I'll want to check out some of these on stream with everyone, probably using a different format than in most previous years.

Other Plans

Each year I rather enjoy doing a new "AFD" mode for Cogmind, but this year due to Beta 11's release window, I think April 1st is a bit too soon for an event, especially after such a major release this time (Cogmind's largest ever...).

I had an idea that seemed to have decent scope and be pretty fun, but I guess we'll do that later on, probably some other time this year depending on how things proceed. As I've announced before, we already have plans for Beta 12 and 13, which will be significant but not nearly the kind of scope we had with Beta 11 :P