Cthulhu Update and Hotfix - July/August 2020

We recently released our latest patch, “Cthulhu,” and today finalized it with a hotfix (v1.6.1). Below are the changes:

“Cthulhu” Patch (v 1.6)

PLEASE NOTE: it is highly advisable to start a new campaign after this patch to make everything work smoothly. You will still be able to load old saves, but the game experience might be flawed.

If you want to continue with your old save games, we recommend not updating the game. If you have auto-update enabled on Epic Launcher, you can run the game from the .exe file on your PC (without using Epic Games Launcher). This way, the game will not update.

Geoscape

Phoenix Bases

• The first base at the start of the game is the only Active one. Players need to locate and activate the rest of the Phoenix Bases.

• The remaining Phoenix Bases can be located after researching Phoenix Archives.

• Inactive Phoenix Bases need to be activated by paying resources.

• Inactive Phoenix Bases can be revealed to be Infected Bases upon activation. The percentages of a Phoenix Base being infected vary. If a Phoenix Base is covered in Mist then the chances of it being Infected are increased. The Infected Bases will have Pandoran enemies in them and need to be cleared out before they can be used.

• When a Satellite Uplink in a base is built or repaired it begins scanning with increasing range, revealing sites as it expands. Scavenging, Haven and Exploration Sites are located this way.

• When a base is attacked without soldiers, or not defended, the base is not destroyed. Instead, all the facilities in the base are damaged. The soldiers are not affected.

• Food Production facility now requires the “Fungal Food Production” research in order to unlock it.

Exploration

• Active Scanning has been removed.

• Reduced the number of overall sites on the Geoscape.

• Reaching a Haven will reveal nearby sites.

Pandoran Evolution

• Pandorans start off without any weapons or mutations. They now have their own research and evolution system that develops over the course of the game.

• Every time the Pandorans unlock a new stage in their evolution an event on the Geoscape will appear with detailed information about the new developments.

• Number of Pandoran Bases has been reduced. There is now a maximum concurrent number for each type of base.

• Pandorans unlock the building of Lairs and Citadels through their own research

• Dynamic difficulty has been changed so that it affects the rate of pandoran evolution, not the amount of enemies deployed.

Human population census

• ODI has been removed.

• Human Population Census has been added that will track the total population of humanity.

• Protecting Havens is more important as the player has to prevent the total human population from reaching a certain threshold (based on difficulty level).

• Reduced the total number of Havens in the Geoscape.

• Increased the rewards from successfully defending Havens.

• Haven facilities will break down if the population gets too low.

• Phoenix can assist havens by repairing their structures.

Tactical Abilities

• Armor Break - reduced the cost from 4 WP to 3. Reduced the shred stat to 30. Shred is spread across each individual bullet.

• Rage Burst - Cost increased from 5 to 7 WP. Functionality reworked: Shoot 5 times spread across an arc with a direct-fire weapon.

• Adrenaline Rush - Dazes the unit next turn after using it.

• Rally the Troops - Renamed: Onslaught. Functionality reworked: An ally within 10 tiles recovers 2 Action Points.

• Electric Reinforcement - Armor bonus no longer stacks.

• Dash - Movement range reduced from 75% to 50%. Limited to 2 uses per turn.

• Mark for Death - Each hit from an attack or individual round gets +10 damage instead of 50% more.

• Reckless - Damage reduced from 30% to 20%.

Weapons

• Thor AML - reduced its damage.

• Gungnir SR-2 - slightly reduced its accuracy and Virophage damage.

• Pythagoras VII - slightly reduced its accuracy.

• Fury-2 - reduced its damage.

• Ragnarok - reduced its Shredding stat.

• Raven SR13 - reduced its accuracy and increased its damage.

• Jormungandr Cannon - reduced its Acid damage.

• Iconoclast - reduced its damage.

• Cyclops SR7 - slightly reduced its accuracy.

• Firebird SR - slightly reduced its accuracy.

• Mercy SG3 - increased its damage.

• Harrower - increased its damage.

• Deimos AR-L - slightly reduced its accuracy.

• Archangel RL1 - Increased its accuracy, range, damage and Shredding stat.

• Vyara SR - slightly reduced its accuracy.

• Bulldog AR-50 - slightly increased its accuracy and Shredding stat.

• Deceptor MG - increased its accuracy. Reduced its damage and Shredding stat.

• Nergal’s Wrath - slightly increased its accuracy.

• Scion of Sharur - increased its Viral damage.

• Uragan MG - increased its accuracy. Reduced its damage and Shredding stat.

• Dagon’s Tooth - increased its damage and the Bleeding it applies.

• Phoenix Shock Lance - increased its damage and significantly increased the Shock it applies.

• Athena NS-2 - reduced its accuracy and Paralysing stat.

• Kydoimos Grenade - increased its AoE radius.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a hang when an Overwatch shot hit a Mutog during its leap animation.

• Fixed an animation issue when an Overwatch shot hit a Pure soldier and disabled its shield arm.

• Fixed a hang when using the Induce Fear ability.

• Fixed a hang when a Mindfragger attempted to mind control a soldier with the Juggernaut head bionic.

• Fixed a hang after a Technician picked up its turret and entered the Panicked status afterwards.

• Fixed an issue where units will continue to be affected by Mind Control even if the unit controlling them has evacuated.

• Fixed some animation issues when throwing grenades.

• Fixed an animation issue when using the Jet Jump ability while gooed.

• Remove Mindfragger ability is executed faster now.

• Civilians will no longer die from Fire damage after getting evacuated.

• Fixed an issue where Scylla enemies dying from Bleed damage did not trigger their death animations.

• Fixed an issue where the Mist Sentinel didn’t apply its Preparing status when an enemy unit was near.

• Mist Sentinels will no longer use their mist ability when they are in the Dazed or Paralyzed status.

• Fixed an issue where the Advanced Nano Tech research would make units immune to the Acid damage type.

• Human enemies now have reinforcements in the appropriate mission types.

• Fixed an issue where Mind Control abilities would last a single turn on friendly haven defender units.

• Loading a save located in the Tactical layer will no longer restore the Stamina of all friendly units.

• Added a confirmation prompt for both options in the Containment section.

• Fixed an issue where the camera would focus more on the cover than the soldier’s shooting when entering a step out animation.

• Fixed an issue where the Standby ability couldn’t be used by units inside a vehicle.

• Fixed an issue where the L3 button on the gamepad didn’t open the correct character’s information.

• Fixed an issue where the Phoenixpedia couldn’t be navigated with a gamepad.

• Old Enemy, New Enemy event now shows the correct picture of the Forsaken faction.

• Fixed an issue where the Danchev Assault Rifle fired half a burst during Return Fire.

• Abilities that target Will Points will no longer have an effect on structures and units without the Will Power stat.

• Fixed an issue where the “Enemy Spotted” status icon would always show the Assault class icon.

• Retrieving a turret should now put it in the Ready Items slot instead of the Technician’s inventory.

Hotfix (v 1.6.1):

Geoscape

• Manufacturing: Adjusted the Tech cost of several items in the Manufacturing tab.

Tactical

• Scavenging Rescue Soldier Missions - Reduced the total number of soldiers available from 4 to 3.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a hang with the Mindfragger attempting to mind control units immune to mind control abilities.

• Fixed an issue where rescuing soldiers from missions would add clones of the same soldier in the Personnel section.

• Fixed an issue where Training and Equipment couldn’t be accessed on the Deploy Squad screen.

• Fixed an issue where several queued up instances of research could be completed instantly when receiving research points from encounters.

• Phoenix Bases that are not activated will no longer have the same names.

• Recruits on Legend difficulty will no longer spawn without mutation/bionics.

• Priest/Infiltrator/Technician units will no longer spawn in Havens without Elite Training facilities.

• Fixed an issue where enemies from the Pure faction would spawn without their bionics.

• Fixed an issue with Sniperist removing more Will Points than intended.

• Fixed an issue where the bonus effects from the Fungal Food Production would appear as a string of characters in the German localization.

• Phoenix Bases that are outside of Mist will no longer display a 100% chance of becoming infested.

• Fixed an issue where bonus stats weren’t showing up in the Training screen.

• Fixed an issue where enemy units were missing some of their high-level abilities.

• Armor Break’s will point cost and Shred values are properly set to 3WP and 30 Shred respectively.

• Fixed an issue where soldiers weren’t generated with Backer Names. Added an Option to turn this ON or OFF in the Gameplay section of the Options screen.