Beta 15 X4 Prelease: New Exterminations (RC)

The experiment is over, and results are good!

You may recall that Beta 15 began with the introduction of a new tracking system for extermination and assault dispatches, and that the initial implementation was a quick placeholder, just enough to see how the concept would play. The beginnings of that system, and what was still to come or at least consider, were described more in the subsequent article Welcoming Our Less Precise Programmer Overlords.

As stated before, the plan was to let that simmer while building and playtesting the primary Beta 15 content, released in X2/X3, and with that now more or less complete I've circled back around to the beginning to finish off the exterminations/assaults, making those changes permanent while also updating the rest of the game to its corresponding final form.

And with that Beta 15 is pretty much done! Full release shouldn't be too long behind, though first it's time to test all this out, including what you'll see below is more than one might have expected for a release "just wrapping things up" for Beta 15...

Changelog

Below is the X4-specific changelog. For the full Beta 15 changelog, see the file included with the game.

• NEW: 3 new items

• NEW: One additional message transmission from 0bPrime under certain circumstances

• NEW: Non-Rogue difficulty modes come with extra Fedlink resources

• NEW: Updated Fedlink hacking results in a couple ways

• NEW: Controllable Mechanics now list current remaining integrity repair "Supplies" among their inventory

• NEW: Context tutorial message explaining difference between gray and green '?' for dialogue markers (previously only in manual)

• NEW: Expanded scoresheet "Hostile Shots Fired" records with more possible stats

• NEW: Scoresheet Influence changes also record reduction due to map transition

• NEW: Scoresheet movement data includes travel through potential cave-in locations

• NEW: Gallery export data includes Fragile trait

• MOD: Extermination/assault squads no longer automatically track Cogmind's position

• MOD: Updated lore to reflect new extermination/assault squad behavior

• MOD: Multiple exterminations can no longer be dispatched across a very short period

• MOD: Reduced predictability of extermination dispatches

• MOD: Greater initial Fedlink resources Scraptown on -7

• MOD: Protoforge Garrison status has effect on wider arrange of responses

• MOD: Transmission Jammers have a small chance to fail to block transmissions

• MOD: Removed Sensor Arrays and Signal Interpreters from Watchers (available from new TF Nodes)

• MOD: Removed relay_feed robot hack (no longer applicable)

• MOD: Additional updates to robot swapping behavior to handle leaders sometimes being blocked by followers

• MOD: Allied Mechanics no longer arm Cogmind if any weapon slot already contains a functional non-backup part

• MOD: Mechanics no longer arm Strikers using a melee weapon

• MOD: Leaving as soon as possible avoids possible Scraptown event

• MOD: Weakened new map's research prefab entrance defenses

• MOD: SF destruction of walls does not cause patrols (spoiler)

• MOD: condenseSlotTypeHeaders/alwaysCondenseSlotTypeHeaders advanced options renamed to "...PartCategoryHeaders," reset for everyone, disabled by default

• FIX: Toggling Fusion Commpressors every turn after matter reached 0 continued to generate energy [Darby]

• FIX: Disabling all Garrison Access points in -1 after triggering high/max security through other means blocked all reinforcements [Darby]

• FIX: Full Concussive RPG description did not fit in non-modal UI layout [MitchellFJN]

• FIX: Scraplab scanner may still activate even if presumably disabled for another reason

• FIX: Allied Mechanics did not explicitly report to message log the owner of repaired part if not Cogmind's

• FIX: Mechanics could not repair allies during W assault

• FIX: Transmission Jammer may sometimes fail to block communication by robots immediately exposed upon opening a door or similar effects

• FIX: Signal Generator could sometimes instead redirect a non-assault squad

• FIX: Red line could appear over top-left of map area after map transitions in modal UI layout

A few more items were added, bringing the Beta 15 total to 100! I wasn't targeting a specific number, but it looks too intentional or fake so maybe I'll add another for before public release.

Obviously the biggest thing is the finalized exterminations and assaults. Their behavior once dispatched will remain very similar to our other prereleases, but extermination dispatch timing in particular has been completely overhauled. Wanted to do that for ages now, so you won't be seeing any more instances of multiple dispatches in a row, but will also be much less able to predict when they'll actually come.

Okay wait there's another biggest thing! Transmission Jammers have been nerfed. Just a bit: They may not always jam everything like they could before. They're still quite good at it and this will be unlikely to discourage anyone from using one as before, though expect an occasional failure and a need to adapt to a more complex situation. If for some reason you really really need it to work perfectly, there is a new processor, the Jamming Amplifier, which can be used in conjunction with a jammer so that it will never randomly fail.

Ooh I found an even bigger thing: Watchers no longer carry Sensor Arrays or Signal Interpreters! It was always kinda weird that they never used them for detection but instead presumably as a tool to "jam" your own sensors (which Watchers still do but is now an inherent trait). They essentially existed as a source of such utilities for Cogmind to acquire. Well, X4 introduces a new type of sensor that bots can use for enemy detection (spoiler), plus we've also got the Active Sensor Suite, so it's finally time to take these potentially confusing utilities away from Watchers. Naturally we still want to offer a source of those parts for the player, and you'll pretty quickly see what that is during regular play.

In bug hunting news, for those of you using the full modal UI layout, I may have tracked down the source of the red line which could permanently appear in the top left corner while transitioning to a new map (what I've been called the "red bar of death" on stream for no reason in particular xD). I have never been able to repeat it in testing, so cannot confirm it's no longer possible, but hopefully we won't be seeing it again...

This build is essentially a feature-complete Beta 15 which is headed for public release! I wanted to plan for it to happen next week, though I've been pretty sick for days now and haven't had any opportunity to gear up for that, only work on the build itself, so we'll see, but in any case... soonish :P

Get Beta 15 X4

On Steam, Beta 15 X4 is located on the new beta branch "beta_15_x4" accessible with the code "ExterminateThis", 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 15 cycle notification list if you're not already on it. (This is a new list created from scratch since Beta 14 development ended.)

Saves are not compatible with previous releases.

Additional hotfixes for this release will be unannounced except to append a notice here and via an announcement in the #patron Discord channel. Save compatibility is generally maintained, in which case the same branch is simply updated, otherwise a new branch is created and listed below.

Patch 250423b

• FIX: Crash after entering Storage at a depth below -7

Patch 250426a

• NEW: Resource container effect description explicit about inability to retrieve resources from inside while item corrupted

• MOD: Cannot store resources in corrupted resource containers

• MOD: Research branch depth distribution restored to Beta 14 style

• MOD: Only destruction of new labs' outer perimeter wall causes patrol increase

• FIX: New prototype launcher animation could sometimes create black debris