Dev log 5: CONCORD, and the road south

This build changes who you're fighting, gives you somewhere to drive before the next mission, and fixes 76 of the issues testers sent in.

CONCORD's frames

The synthetics have left the squad. Your sixth operative is now Signals, an augmented human with a headset and the Scan signature. The synthetic bodies went to the other side. They're CONCORD's frames now, and they're the enemy you'll see most.

There are five of them, and each is easy to tell apart at a glance:

• the warden, the standard frame;
• the lancer, quick and close;
• the surveyor, who holds a lane from long range;
• the bulwark, the heavy one, which still walks as the old guardian did;
• the overseer, in its long coat, which marks one of your squad for the others to shoot at.

Every frame moves as far in a turn as one of your squad.

They carry lasers: a carbine, a rifle and a lance. Lasers are CONCORD's alone, and they never fire through smoke.

The frames talk on their network. They call contact as a fight opens, mark targets, report hits and losses, and warn each other about grenades. Every line is voiced through a machine and a radio. Some groups will also say their piece before a fight, once, when they see you or when you get near them unseen.

The older machines are still around as CONCORD's auxiliaries: the drones, the outriders on their bikes and the recovery machine. A frame you've picked over for salvage is left bare, its gun gone and its shell's panels prised off down to the bars.

Side quests on the road south

You can now drive out of Bastion before mission two. The parked truck by the gate takes you onto Bastion Reach.

Two of Bastion's residents have work for you:

• Jory Taft needs the bypass valve opened at the Pump Annex.
• Nadia Osei wants a medical crate brought back from the Roadside Infirmary. You can also keep it for yourselves.

Each is a small place of its own. You drive there, get out, explore it on foot past whatever is guarding it, then go back to the truck. Rewards are credits and kit.

The new journal (O) keeps the main objectives and the side ones together.

Fights

• Grenades go off in a white flash and a ball of fire that cools through orange and red to soot. They throw dust, sparks and grit, and leave a scorch on the floor.
• Smoke is drawn as drifting wisps rather than round puffs.
• The lead's lamp: G turns it on and off while you explore. In the dark, machines see you from less far away, unless your light is on or its beam falls on them.
• Medkits heal more: 40 rather than 30. Since the frames got quicker, squads were arriving at the relay mast too worn to finish it. With the extra healing, more of them make it through.
• Shooting feels heavier. Muzzle flashes are bigger and stay on the muzzle, shots kick harder, and an operative keeps their gun up after a shot. The medic kneels to work with both hands.

From your reports

We closed 76 issues in this stretch. Among them: crate lids against a wall now swing clear of it, beards hang straight, and every on-screen tile reads whole. Ladders lean properly against raised ground, and the chase's bikes are now ridden by frames, who get thrown off when the truck hits them. The bug button in the top-right corner of the game is still the quickest way to send one.

This build changes the content version, so saves from earlier builds won't carry over.

Thank you for playing.