Mission Selection Overhaul

The Mission Selection Overhaul is now live!

Besides the main feature, the overhaul of the operation structure and how players select and take on missions, there is a bouquet of new content and improvements. You can read up in detail on how operations are won and missions are selected from now on in Dev Diary #51.

Also, be aware that enemy activities can now show up from the first operation on, and they hold some nasty surprises, like enemies using offmap abilities. As you can stop them by completing missions, you have to plan ahead carefully!

Among other things, we added four new pirate missions, an overhauled title screen, additional difficulty options, daylight cycle and more. You can read up on all changes in the full changelog at the end of the post.

This update is compatible with existing save games.

New Mission Selection With Daylight Cycles, Enemy Activites & Victory Points

New Light Mortar Model & Animations

Redesigned Title & Settings Menu

Custom Difficulty Options For Enemy Activities & Squaddie Rescue

Gameplay: Vehicles May Pass Through Allied & Civilian Units

New Pirate Missions

New Icons

Changelog: v0.7.15

New

• Reworked the operation structure: You can now freely choose which missions you want to complete in which order
• Enemies now use offmap abilities
• Enemy assets are replaced by enemy activities, which activate after a countdown
• Added light-condition-cycle UI to see the light condition of upcoming missions
• Overhauled the mission selection screen
• Overhauled the title and settings screens
• Added 4 new pirate missions in urban environments:
• Barricaded Suspects
• Restore Control
• Hostage Situation
• Reclaim Comm Center

[*] Player vehicles can now pass through all AI controlled Civilian and Allied Local Forces infantry units [*] New custom difficulty options:

• Enemy Activities Amount (None/Few/Normal/Many/Max): Sets the amount of enemy activities depending on the length of a given operation. Setting this to "None" will completely disable enemy activities as a game mechanic.
• Squaddie Rescue Mode (Normal/All/None): Determines how many squaddies can be rescued after being downed in a mission. Setting this to "none" will lead to no squaddies being rescued at all.

[*] Added 3D model for the Light Mortar and custom animations [*] Added new icons for: Ceramic Plating, Booster Injection, SMG Griffin, Perk 'Line Breaker', Skill 'This is a knife' [*] Updated Icons for 'Load Bearing Rig' [*] Updated Yaz' character images [*] Added pistol to the Black Market [*] Added several new barks

Improvements

• Rescued squaddies are not instantly available after a mission anymore, but wounded until the end of the operation
• Aliens and Pirates now lose less morale the more enemies are on the map
• Unit HP bars now have an animation when a unit is selected
• Unit HP bars now scale up when hovering over a tile
• Grayed out enemy HP bars now get colored when hovering over a tile
• OCI 'Weapon Locating Radar' now always reveals attacking enemy units in the FoW
• Added fixed amount of OCI points earned per Operation, based on operation rating
• AI units will no longer try to re-enter transporter vehicles
• Reworked display settings

Bugfixes

• FIXED Loading save games of story missions didn't work
• FIXED Some heavy flame attacks had no morale damage - they now do 30 morale damage on attack
• FIXED Enemy units were marked as spotted without being in vision range
• FIXED Offmap Ability 'Signal Jammer' can now be used on units inside towers
• FIXED Camera no longer clips into mountains and elevated terrain
• FIXED Pistol 3D models were sometimes not visible
• FIXED 'Rocket Flamethrower' can hit tiles that are not in LoS with its impact
• FIXED While using the 'Heavy Flamer' on the main battle tank, the VFX was always facing forward
• FIXED Friendly fire barks sometimes played, when units were damaged by explosions or acid
• FIXED Alien Evolved Warrior wings no longer move after they are killed
• FIXED Walkers and vehicles can now go through tiny debris left by destroyed hydroponics
• FIXED Enemy units no longer spawn in larger enclosed spaces
• FIXED Dismissing an SL did not give back 5 authority
• FIXED Accessory 'Advanced Sensors' can only be equipped once, since it doesn't stack
• OCIs
• FIXED OCI 'Casino' no longer grants an extra 15% squaddie rescue chance
• FIXED OCI 'Advanced Arsenal' no longer has the base 'Arsenal' effect active
• FIXED Some OCIs had higher/lower chances of being available to unlock - they now all have the same chance

[*] Missions

• FIXED The 'evacuate to area' objective wasn't correctly updated on mission start, when a fleeing player unit died, and when a fleeing player unit moved out of the evac zone
• FIXED If a player unit is placed on top of an AI unit, the AI unit now spawns somewhere close to their original position
• FIXED map layout randomization in 'Restore Energy Supply' mission
• FIXED Pirate mission 'Interdict Forces' Player and/or Enemy deploy zones can no longer be obstructed by terrain

[*] Perks

• FIXED 'Shooting Gallery' now applies when there is no cover in the line of fire
• FIXED 'Run and Gun' no longer applies to setting up tripod weapons
• FIXED 'Linebreaker' was usable while the unit was inside a watchtower
• FIXED 'First Aid' wasn't usable while inside a watchtower
• FIXED 'Resourceful' didn't apply to AP mines
• FIXED 'Run and Gun' was still active if the perk 'Taking Command' was used on the unit in the round before
• FIXED Perk 'Commando' now also considers units inside structures
• FIXED Perk 'Take Command' can now only be used once per round
• FIXED Crate left by the 'Scavenger' perk now refills the fire mode ‘Underbarrel Grenade’ from the K-PAC launcher

[*] UI

• FIXED Stat modifiers coming from equipped armor are now shown in tooltip
• FIXED SAPP Operator armor now properly adjusts the bullet icons for weapons in the UI
• FIXED Tooltip 'hitpoint damage' graph now properly shows values above 100
• FIXED 'Recover' marker doesn't overlap with 'Evacuate' marker anymore
• FIXED Highlight around rescue units is removed if they are killed
• Various other UI fixes

[*] Adjusted various descriptions

Balancing

• Increased Alien Loot chances slightly
• Added a lot of weapons and items to have a chance of showing up on the blackmarket
• Enemy AI now has a cooldown of 1 round before they can use the mining laser again
• Reduced heat produced by Mining Lasers from 3 to 2
• Adjusted and brought in line all light flame attacks to always hit 3 elements plus up to 50% of all elements of a unit
• Added a 10% squaddie rescue chance to the base ship
• Reduced costs for OCI 'Intelligence Center' from 60 to 40
• Allied local forces on the mission 'Rescue and Disengage' should behave less recklessly
• Adjusted difficulty rating of the missions 'Rescue Authorities' and 'Protect Settlement'
• Mission 'Assist Local Forces':
• Increased deployment zone height by 2
• Increased defense zone ticket count by 2

[*] Mission 'Repel Counterattack':

• Slightly increased enemy base supplies
• Changed reinforcements to arrive more concentrated
• Limited ATGM teams in Rogue Army lists

[*] Rogue Army Heavy Infantry appears later in the game and in lower numbers early on [*] Alien Evolved Warriors appear later in the campaign [*] Alien Warriors:

• Lower pick rate in early- and mid-game army lists
• Adjusted elements per unit distribution proportionally to Campaign Progress

[*] Reduced pistol trade value from 15 to 5

Known Issues

• Translations for enemy turrets spawned by enemy activities are missing.
• Some antivirus programs incorrectly classify the "GameAssembly.dll" file as malware and delete it, making the game unplayable. If that happens, please whitelist the "GameAssembly.dll" and "Menace.exe".
• If the game is installed on HDD drives, loading times are bad and barks are delayed.
• Display mode "Fullscreen" sometimes behaves not as expected, after minimizing the game. Until this is fixed please consider using "Fullscreen Window" instead.

Steam Reviews: Your Feedback Matters

Hi folks, we'd like to ask that you please consider taking a moment to leave a Steam review. Early Access is a collaborative process where your thoughts and feedback matter as patches and content are developed. Even if it's a few sentences about how you feel about MENACE, it'd be a great help to the team.

Community Guides and Resources

Be sure to check out the latest community resources and official guides.

• The Gate Rippers’ War Manual: This is a mega-compilation of guides that covers the basics of MENACE, how to use stealth, what accessories to pick, how to engage in close-quarters combat, and much more. A must-read for any prospective commander looking to excel in the Wayback.
• Squad Leaders, a Brief(ish) Overview: A fantastic overview of all the game's current Squad Leaders and what their strengths are.
• Enemy Almanac: Rogue Army: Knowing your enemy is half the battle. This guide covers the Rogue Army, what their strengths are, and how to fight them effectively.
• Official Beginner's Guide: If you're brand new to MENACE then check out our official beginner's guide that'll cover all the essentials to prepare you for the frontlines.
• Official MENACE Wiki: Do you have more questions about MENACE? We have a community-run wiki that has details and information to help you along.

Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed

You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also subscribe to our monthly MENACE newsletter on our website.