We are pleased to announce the release of ZEPHON's first DLC: The Twisted & The Hollow! This DLC includes 2 new leaders, 7 new units, 3 new operations, 3 new items, 2 new outposts, 5 new quests, 4 new mutators and 4 new tracks. Accompanying the DLC we're also releasing an extensive patch that adds 4 new technologies, new illustrations, ambient sounds and a plethora of gameplay, quality of life and balance improvements. A few gameplay changes we'd like to highlight:

• Each leader now has a different set of starting units. If a unit is exclusive to a DLC and that DLC is disabled, the unit will be replaced by a cost-equivalent amount of default branch units (Militants, Abkluth Dragoons, Ishim Enforcers).
• Enemy units on city tiles now disable all buildings on the tile.
• Increased variety of neutral units: Human, Voice and Cyber units up to tier 2 now also spawn as neutrals.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3607430/ZEPHON__The_Twisted__The_Hollow/ Enjoy! # Version 1.1.0 ## New * Added The Twisted & The Hollow DLC content. * Added new researchable technology Shield Dome (tier 6, non-affinity): +17% city damage reduction for headquarters. * Added new researchable technology Mobile Hardpoints (tier 7, Human): +8% ranged cover damage reduction for non-flying Human units if they have not moved. * Added new researchable technology Railgun Roads (tier 8, non-affinity): Doubles road movement bonus. * Added new researchable technology Market Defluctuation (tier 9, non-affinity): -50% Concordat buy prices. * Added unique illustrations and ambient audio for the leader quests. * Each leader now has a different set of starting units. If a unit is exclusive to a DLC and that DLC is disabled, the unit will be replaced by a cost-equivalent amount of default branch units (Militants, Abkluth Dragoons, Ishim Enforcers). * Enemy units on city tiles now disable all buildings on the tile. * Enemy units on outposts now disable all gains from that outpost. * Increased variety of neutral units: Human, Voice and Cyber units up to tier 2 now also spawn as neutrals. * Caches can now give operation rewards. * Added a use-item animation for each hero. * Allies and spectators can now see which technologies have been researched and are being researched by others in the research screen. * Spectators can now access the communications screen to see the standing and treaties of all players. * Added ability to easily select units with queued orders before executing their orders. The end turn button now becomes "Order Queued Units (X)" / "Execute Queued Order (1/X)" to select and execute orders one by one. Right-clicking the end turn button when it's in this state executes all queued orders. * Added "Victory Requires Defeating NPCs" advanced setting (defaults to on). * Number keys now scroll to the corresponding tier in the research screen. * Added "Enemy In City", "Combat" and "Combat (Advanced)" tips. * Added loading tips about mass-moving units and sight blocking features. * Added more ambient audio to terrain features. ## General * Non-affinity branches are now hidden by default in the research screen. * Improved unit voice line playback so it is less likely that they repeat. The likelihood of a line repeating depends on how long ago it was last played, and any lines played within a minute will not play again. * Improved performance of the research screen. * Default control bindings now better take into account non-QWERTY layouts by preserving the key letter (CTRL+Y for yield overlay) or preserving the key position (QWE for unit actions) where appropriate. * Player abilities now trigger notifications (e.g. Words of the Prophet converting one of your units). * Notifications of abilities that target enemies are now colored red. * Notifications that affect custom-named units now show the custom name instead of the generic unit name. * Attack area now only considers line of sight rather than attackability, so it also shows over allied units. This makes it clearer to see a unit's general attack range. * Atramentous Aura can now target any tile. * Renamed Combat Drone, EMP Drone and Repair Drone to Combat Melisai, EMP Melisai and Repair Melisai. * Increased Vulkan R-5 size by 10% to closer match Plangent Orolos. * Overcharged +1 armor penetration is now in the trait instead of the weapons for increased clarity. * The Deep can now only be accessed once per game. * New (not previously picked) The Deep options are now clearly marked. * Nightmare, Acrin Bone Whistle and Tribunal Tether summons now appear more synchronized with casting animation instead of instantly. * Resources granted every X turns (Acrin Crash Site, Hwedo's Brain, Neumanatic Cornucopia) now in the total resources display when they would trigger next turn. * Features that block sight, now explicitly say it in their associated entries. * Show button to open research screen from the start. **AI** * AI now treats Combat Medics as support units regarding usage and positioning. * AI now produces less Combat Medics relative to other unit types. * AI Untold Prophet will no longer use Word of the Prophet on summons. * AI units under System Overload no longer attack with low hitpoints. * Improved AI unit targeting, especially for units with Cone and Area weapons. ## Balance * Higher difficulties now have increased AI diplomatic aggressiveness. * Hovering units now benefit from Roads. * Increased Life Steal trait life steal from 10% to 20%. * Increased Incendiary Grenade damage from 1 to 1.5. * Rebalanced cache reward chances to be 4 : 2 : 1 : 1 for resource:item:operation:unit. * Spirit of Mankind is now a tier 10 research and permanently increases loyalty by 10. * Asymmetric Arbitrage is now a non-affinity technology. **Human** * Smoke Screen is now a free action. * Interceptor Missile is now a free action. * Reduced Shiraki Cruise Missile range from 12 to 9. * Increased Argosy Targe invulnerable damage reduction from 50% to 67%. * Reduced Antimatter Diffraction invulnerable damage reduction bypass from 33% to 17%. * Increased Gauss Cannon damage from 8 to 12. * Increased Gauss Cannon armor penetration from 6 to 7. * Increased Power Fist damage from 12 to 16. * Increased Power Fist armor penetration from 7 to 8. **Voice** * Precentor of Nihilus now increases the experience of all produced units by 2 for each Midnight Chorus in the city instead of the previous effect. * Reduced Dark Vassael cost and upkeep by 25%. * Reduced Fallen Orolos cost and upkeep by 25%. * Reduced Surthodai's Embrace cost and upkeep by 33%. * Reduced Plangent Orolos cost and upkeep by 33%. * Nightmare dying no longer affects experience. * Apotheosis dying unit no longer affects morale or experience. * Increased Apotheosis damage from 4 to 6 and armor penetration from 3 to 4. * Aegyllan Worm Tunneling now applies Stealth for 1 turn. * Increased Aegyllan Worm cost by 33%. * Pestilence is now a free action with cooldown 3. * Increased Deathshriek damage and armor penetration from 2 to 3. * Increased Essence Syphon from +1 to +2 armor. * Surthodai's Kiss now only affects Voice units, and heals 1 hitpoint in Bleed (instead of 2 from Bleedwalker). * Halved Choral Celerity cost. * Vorodai Proselyte now has Indirect Fire. * Withering Breath now has Corrosive. * Shrieker now has Concussive. * Increased Hymn of Decay morale loss on use from -1 to -2. * Increased Dimensional Reverberations from +1 to +2 dimensional echoes per kill. * Increased Pestilence attacks from 1 to 2. **Cyber** * Holopatter now affects all Cyber units instead of all non-large, non-flying units. * Marked Target now also works for melee weapons. * Antiparticle Purge now also removes Abkhan Drey and Sandpit. * Fixed Singularity Blade having 6 range instead of 3. * Increased Interpolated Production minerals cost reduction from -5% to -10%. * Interference Protocols can no longer target titan units. **Emulated Mind** * Increased Mind Hack duration from 5 to 10. **Furtive Tribunal** * Scimystic Scismatics now gives influence instead of research. **Heartless Artificer** * Part Distribution now affects Antigrav Assembler instead of Synthetic Printer. * Increased Transuranic Apathy production cost for Seraphim Archangel from -6 (-8.3%) to -25%. * Default Immoral rank now shows as 0 and gives -0 loyalty. **Practical Romantic** * Hardening Hearts now gives +8% invulnerable damage reduction for a turn when the unit loses morale due to unit death instead of -10% morale loss. * Memories E'er More now prevents units from being shaken instead of -10% morale loss. **Rogue Operative** * Increased Icarus Satellite attacks from 1 to 2. * Decreased Icarus Satellite damage from 12 to 8. * Decreased Icarus Satellite armor penetration from 7 to 6. ## Bug Fixes * Fixed a potential crash when the only tile candidates for quests were too far away. * Fixed a crash in Korean translation when selecting Destroy Shards in Under Observation. * Fixed a crash that could occur when selecting hotseat save games. * Fixed Antimatter Diffraction doing more damage than intended to targets without invulnerable damage reduction. * Fixed taking passive damage canceling unit orders (e.g. Decaying cancelling a long movement order). * Fixed adding multiple non-stacking items affecting heroes multiple times (e.g. Iok'la healing). * Fixed Seed of Extinction affecting non-enemies. * Fixed Atramentous Aura and Experimental Drugs (Success) not increasing movement. * Fixed AI being able to build heroes above the hero limit. * Fixed Abkhan respawning as non-neutral under some circumstances. * Fixed units under Dream Prison by the Anchorite standing still. * Fixed Hast not being usable saying "No actions remaining." instead of "No movement remaining.". * Fixed control bindings showing the incorrect key on non-QWERTY layouts. * Fixed ESC not closing lobby screen while in a game. * Fixed Concordat screen fading to black when closing. * Fixed spectators being asked to select research. * Fixed Phoenix Interceptor death effects. * Fixed Zephon Black Site portrait. * Fixed Gauss Rifle icon. * Fixed Life Steal trait icon being low resolution. * Fixed Acrin Zealots unit name not being plural. * Fixed Cr'la Disciples unit name not being plural. * Fixed Titan Melee trait not mentioning that it can hit flying units and attack over cliffs. * Fixed Schism of Regimina not mentioning that it cannot target headquarters. * Fixed Pulling trait not mentioning that it cannot target titans or fortifications. * Fixed Commander Take Cover and Never Surrender targeting text. * Fixed Dark Caress not mentioning that it also affects the unit it is on. * Fixed Dream Prison usage notification not showing. * Fixed Can Love Be Moral? mutator. * Fixed offering peace to Anchorite not showing unique per-leader text. * Fixed some debug panel crashes. * Fixed some typos.

[ 2025-04-28 13:39:07 CET ] [ Original post ]