This is where we'll post improvements and bug fixes we did in the month of April. If you've got feedback for us about it, please post it in the Improvements Feedback thread for this month.
Progias work thanks to the power of the grid. There isn't a whole lot of grid infrastructure outside the dome. So, Progias don't work well outside the dome anymore. They will still work in certain populated areas (or near those populated areas) and should work reliably in the dome, but they shouldn't work absolutely everywhere anymore. :)
But Johnny you say, My quickterm doesn't work, but my progia does! To that, I say that the Internet doesn't always work on my phone, but I can make calls still, network technologies are weird!
Redial and *69 on Progia 9 and 11s should be properly affected by OOC locations, the requirement to hold your phone, EMP and the previous posts effects that can impair their ability to work outside the dome.
Use a double backslash before whatever you want to say over the radio in your hands. It'll remind you to hold it if it finds one in your inventory. Much faster than the transmit command.
Note this only works with handheld radios in your inventory at this time, not helmets or radios installed in vehicles yet. :)
These will now work with the new radio shortcut (\\) too.
You'll find it gets preference to whats held in your hands, then potential radio helmets, followed by radios and intercom panels in the same place as you and finally, a radio you might have in your inventory but forgot to hold.
Radio communication should always show the voice of the person transmitting from now on. Don't go being Solid Snake, I ain't checking for your word-less ellipsis usage. :)
Intercoms too.
The individual configuring their price chart has the option to display dots (.) on the chart to help visually relate the information on the same row. This option will now be overridden when someone looking at the chart has @access STRIP_ASCII enabled.
The 'clear' command now works on terminals you aren't holding if they are locked to a room.
Vehicles now have Vehicle Identifying Numbers (VINs) stamped on their chassis. This number appears on evaluating the vehicle.
Vehicle VINS now require the appropriate tools in order to be read during evaluation.
A new terminal has been added to the WJF licensing office. This terminal includes some basic functions that I think you all will find very useful, with the primary one being the ability to now transfer ownership of vehicles to other people.
It is also a convenient way to see what vehicles are currently registered to your name, and their VINs.
Enjoy!
With vehicles that have hardpoints, evaluating the vehicle will now show additional details about the vehicle's hardpoints. Their size, what they're meant to mount, and what seat is wired to fire them.
This should remove some guesswork when equipping vehicles.
We've made a number of changes to the FreqMan 4K and FreqMan 6K portable radios. First, they are now Low Band radio devices instead of Mid Band. This means they'll no longer pickup WJF and CorpSec frequencies (among other effects of radio bands). They've been renamed. The "Freqman 4Ks" have become "Freqqy 1000 walkie talkies" and the "Freqman 6Ks" have become "Freqqy 2500 adjustable walkies". They are both available in an array of sporty colors. No prices have been changed at this time. :)
Low Band devices are generally low power and of low complexity. They are negatively affected by dome infrastructure and only work over a limited range as a consequence. As the signal drops off, the receiver will hear interference in the form of static, buzzing, hissing and the sound dropping out. Portable Low Band devices will not work inside vehicles due to the body of the craft acting as a Faraday cage and the low power of the devices.
Those of you with the renamed FreqMan 6Ks who had customized which frequencies it was tuned into, we've reset your frequencies since you're in a whole new band now, so you'll need to add new frequencies besides the low band's common channel: 825.425.
The WJF have been officially granted an exclusive licensed by the city, reserving an additional frequency solely for their usage.
WJF helmets are now multi-channel thanks to a new switch command that lets you switch between the limited channels on the helmet. There is no visual display of which channel you're on at this time. By default, the helmets only have the 2 channels.
Additionally, WJF handheld radios (Tac-Comm 7s) are now multi-channel as well. All WJF radios are Mid Band devices. Check out help radio for more about radio bands.
(Edited by Johnny at 9:33 pm on 4/12/2021)
Now available from your favorite electronics stores, Freqqer radio helmets, in an array of friendly colors! They cost a little more than the Freqqy 2500s, but they fit on your head. Operates on the Low Band.
Additionally, switching channels on your radio helmet (Freqqers or others) will now announce what new frequency you're on in your head.
(Edited by Johnny at 10:48 pm on 4/12/2021)
(Edited by Johnny at 11:46 pm on 4/12/2021)
It is now possible to craft your own homemade CB radios that can be installed in a vehicle if you have the right set of skills and source materials. Homemade CB radios are Low Band, multi-channel radios.
Vehicle terminals will no longer show unpowered vehicles like skateboards in the owned vehicles section. These are not traceable.
Additionally a new field has been added to the menu option for viewing vehicles. This new field shows the status of your vehicle title, for that real DMV experience. If your vehicle has been purchased at a scrapyard, expect to see it say SALVAGE instead of CLEAN.
If you've got the skills, examining an item used in the crafting of another will highlight that you think you can craft that item with the thing you've examined.
Now support variants of hardpoints that have no control wiring (meaning guns can't fit to them) and an expansion of what 'hardpoints' mean for possible non-vehicle-weapon equipment mounting to vehicles.
Has been added to enterable vehicles, now allowing folks to see a readout of the currently authorized users on their vehicle, as well as any security alerts.
Now uses a skill check to see if you can determine the damage condition of the part. Without the appropriate skill, you will only get a "is it ok or broken" indicator.
Based on feedback I've made it so that custodian boards have a property that builders and coders can set which will allow exclusion of certain rooms (secret rooms, crawl spaces, rooms we just find super annoying to have cleaned) from getting messes.
This adds flexibility and means not EVERY room has to get messy.
I've also exempted sleeping coffins from getting corp messes since, obviously they shouldn't.
If you come across areas that you are SURE should not get messes in your corp for whatever reason, like they are giving away secret stuff by showing up on the custodians board, or are a 'clean room' then you can submit a service request for BUILDER and we'll handle it if it makes sense.
Candy sold to gangers will now depreciate in value when they are missing some doses.
DEBUGGING UNIT FIXED
Rebooting cyberware via the debugging unit was reporting no found cyberware. That is fixed now, and the reboot function now consistently works.
Motorcycle fuel and temperature gauges will now obey the STRIP_ASCII @access setting.
There is now a privacy screen on the debugging device that prevents people from being able to see the screen if it's not held.
With some data collected as junkyards have been in play, we've determined they're not quite where we want them to be. So some numbers have been tweaked for a better experience.
It's now possible to install cyberware even if the patient has insufficient system resources on their CPU. This will have deleterious effects, so be careful with blind installs!
Thank you, new malfunction system.
Vehicles that are stolen will now report their title status as "STOLEN" in the WJF vehicle terminal.
After checking out the balance of the various cyberwares, we've collectively decided to adjust the balance of various wares' PDS and CPU load closer to our design intent.
Additionally we've added a new cyberware malfunction type that can be encountered.
If you're skilled in operating systems and how networks work, you might be able to figure out how to craft a homemade tac-comp now. They won't work forever and you won't have access to change anything, but you can get a peek into that sweet WJF paydata until they catch you or it breaks down.
I've adjusted the check whether to show you how to craft something to scale with the crafting challenge. This means that you might no longer see how to craft something that you were seeing before I changed this. Better not to show you if there's no chance you're going to be able to craft it.
The helmets for your spacesuits now support radios. They work on the High Band and as such, have unique power requirements that require you to have the EVA Pack on in order for the radio to function.
Instead of vehicle operations generically saying "PENDING" when they are processing, they now give a number of hours until the job is complete.
Two bugs preventing cyberware from uninstalling and "failing silently" have been fixed.
Eating in dirty places, doing cyberware installs and uninstalls in dirty places, now carry risks of infections systematically, rather than by manual GM fiat.
Somehow, I thought this was already a thing but it wasn't. If you've got a 5k drug with 5 uses, and you use 1, it will now be worth 4k. Use another, 3k. Use another, 2k. And so on and so forth. This means that if a ganger asks for drugs and you get them a partially used pack of marcy, you'll get paid part of it.
This applies everywhere, so inspect is included.
(Edited by MirageGM at 9:21 am on 4/25/2021)
Cybernetic installation scripts no longer force the doctor to talk, and instead provide a private roleplay cue for them instead that is less immersion breaking.
It felt weird being totally radio silent. So while I cannot describe exactly *what* was fixed, a number of weird immersion-breaking or balance issues have been fixed with cyberware.
A special hidden adjective may appear in your shortdesc now if you are sporting a lot of designer cyberware that is visible. There are three of them. Happy hunting.
Fixed a scenario where one of the connected devices to a critter-dex has been recycled, ending in TBs.
Motorcycles now correctly report access denied/granted when mounted. They were using the wrong verb / their own implementation and that's been brought in line with how vehicles normally work.
Fucking motorcycles. Being special. Now they are less special.
Have been reduced across the board to account for coming vehicle combat changes. These will be reflected in the junkyard as well. We will continue monitoring this.
Rule the airwaves, at least for a little while. How long depends on character skills, what frequency band the device operates in and other potential factors. This only works with the radios you can install in vehicles and fixed locations (due to the power drain).
The new commands are:
key mic on radio
release mic on radio
With the mic keyed, no one else will be able to transmit on that frequency until you release the mic. It will force you to let your radio cool down to keep from burning out the radio.
A new item has been added to autoparts stores called "FlatFixer", this is a standard expendable item that can be used to repair ruined or damaged tires back up to functional.
Enjoy!
Have been adjusted. Previously the code wouldn't let cyber nakeds concatenate, so only the first would show. This has been fixed.
Additionally, @nakeds will now show on cybernetic nakeds NOT belonging to a mechanical limb replacement or prosthetic.
Two new external radiators which fit on hardpoints have been released to the game. These things are mixer as fuck, and work like other radiators.
Small cheer, these are the first hardpoint items to be released for player use.
REMINDER: Patch notes are not IC knowledge!
Having a hyphen in your Grid username will no longer cause you to get an error when you try to hack something.
A new cybernetic has been added that enables the interface of rigger and machine. This is now for sale at all cybernetics clinics.
Additionally...
MODDABLE VEHICLES
A new interior modding system has been introduced to vehicles. This facilitates the addition of lightweight features that can be installed into vehicles. Vehicles have limits to how much they can fit modification-wise, with some vehicles fitting more than others.
Using this feature, it was possible to add the second part of the the rigging cyberware that provides an access point to actually use the new ware.
Robots got some much needed love. With everything that's been going on with cybernetics, I decided to take a look at our good little robot buddies and see if I could do anything. It turns out that there was and not only was I able to significantly clean up the code and ease some burdens there, I was also able to update robots to leverage all the same new features that have been added to Cyberware lately.
I cannot overstate how amazing this change is, as it really lines us up to make robots as amazing as the other core features to the game (and as you've probably noticed a theme), give some much needed attention to some of the neglected areas. Because of this refactor, I was also able to clean up a lot of the immersion/balance-breaking edge cases to robots AND combat.
Robots no longer get sick, spread disease, or express injuries in the same way as biological things.
Robots cannot drown.
This touched a lot of combat code too, and as such combat has been adjusted to account for things with limbs that are not human (critters, quadrupeds, etc). This will still take some effort to fill out, but will have impacts to the game even outside of robots.
There's a lot of stuff I've been working on in the back end here, but this one I can announce. Robots now take power to run. Just like walking makes you tired, robots consume electricity as they move and do actions.
Coupled with this, robots now need batteries and can run out of power. If they run out of power they will shut off. It is possible to swap batteries on the components themselves AND while the power sources are installed in robots.
I've given robots free battox powercells with this change, so no robots should drop out of the sky suddenly.
A command to see the system status of your robots will be coming soon, and other positive UX changes.