1.0 RC3

Fixed internal setup of the objective units on GatherSurvivors, RecoverExpedition and SwarmDefense missions (used during first mission of Counter Dark Event chain) which was causing various bugs, like missing 2nd optional soldier on GatherSurvivors, incorrect reward granting, etc.

1.0 RC2

RC2 includes a few bugfixes, and it also reverts the cooking process improvements that RC1 made. There were some bugs that were introduced with that update, and as a result of the revert the file size has gone up slightly (but nowhere close to the old 208 MB of Beta 3.4).

Changelog:

• The barracks status report will now properly display tired soldiers in facility staff slots as unavailable
• The barracks status report will no longer count captured soldiers
• Mod file size increased from 34 MB to 50 MB (uncompressed)

1.0 RC1

With the move from Beta phase to Release Candidate phase, the custom Highlander has been retired. It will still work, but it is no longer required. Additionally, this update should be compatible with existing Beta 3 saves as long as they have been played since Beta 3.4 for a bit. The reason is because Beta 3.4 made the Accelerate Research action hidden, and now RC1 is removing it entirely. This will make any save that still has unexpired actions of this type incompatible. You have been warned.

• Guardian Angels resistance card was removed because it breaks CA risk generation
• There is now at most 1 faction soldier chain at any give time
• Small intel reward is now affected by the global reward scalar (resistance card)
• Buying infil upgrades now prevents the player from earning the "no squad upgrades" achievement
• Accelerate Research CA is fully removed from the back end
• Messy Insertion, Restricted Airspace, and Intelligence Leak sitreps will no longer spawn on assault missions
• Internal code fixes and improvements
• Added workshop logo
• Mod size reduced even further down to 34 MB (uncompressed)

Beta 3.5

We know that we said that a beta 3.5 is not expected, yet here we are. This release is mostly an optimization release with some additional small changes. The optimization techniques used here are experimental and, although we have no reason to doubt that they will work, we would like player feedback before we release it to the wider public. This update does not have an accompanying Highlander release.

• Reduced mod size from roughly 208MB to 51MB
• Optimized loading of some assets - players on HDDs should no longer experience mini-stutters when opening our custom UI screens
• SitReps Leaked Operation, Messy Insertion and Restricted Airspace will no longer spawn on assault missions
• Updated Russian localization (thanks to Red1 and xRg)

Beta 3.4

Beta 3.4 is here at long last. There isn't any particular standout major feature for this release, just a big heap of assorted minor features, balancing tweaks, and bugfixes requested by players since the release of Beta 3. Those in the know may have realized that the lack of "4.0" in the update numbering means that all existing campaign saves are compatible! For safety reasons, don't update and then try and load an in-tactical save, since we changed some map assets and mission logic. After this update, we'll be waiting to collect more feedback, then pressing on to a full workshop release, with perhaps a Beta 3.5 if a critical issue is found.

Changelog

FEATURES

• The Black Market is now revealed via a dedicated CA that is offered by the starting faction at the beginning of the campaign
• Hack/Recover missions added to the Counter Dark Event chain's second stage for more variety
• Sabotage Monument missions now require the squad to extract via Skyranger
• New covert action is available at low influence that rewards a handful of scanning sites on the map
• New covert action is available at high influence that rewards a small supply cache
• New covert action is available at high influence that rewards a small intel cache
• GTS now promotes soldiers one rank at a time instead of bumping them all the way to the max training rank
• Ambush mission on non-abandoned plot types now uses custom maps by .vhs. Their variety has been greatly improved, some internal hacks have been removed and enemy placement rebalanced

INTERFACE

• Successfully countering a hidden dark event reveals what it was
• Covert actions that draw rewards from a loot table (e.g. Recover Alien Corpses) now display all possible items that could be gained
• Improved descriptions of Capture ADVENT Collaborator and Acquire Facility Lead chains to distinguish them from each other
• Added a Welcome tutorial to the first viewing of the Avenger
• Expanded the Individually Built Items tutorial to mention weapon upgrades
• Added tutorial about the workshop and laboratory's effects on the crew limit (for those not in the know, Living Space was updated so that those buildings can prevent types of staff from counting toward the crew limit)
• Tutorials can be now also viewed in the XCOM Archives
• Resistance orders UI now properly supports 4 wildcard slots

BALANCE

• Intel rewards from scanning sites have been doubled to make them more worthwhile
• If the player finishes scanning their last scanning site, a new one is guaranteed to be generated instead of at a 50% chance
• Several Covert Actions available at medium influence are now allowed to spawn more than once per campaign
• Number of random monthly covert actions offered by factions at low influence increased from 2 to 3
• More than doubled the average days of the Delay Facility Construction reward to make it more impactful
• ADVENT's response on the supply extraction mission now triggers when any alien pod is activated, regardless of whether XCOM squad is still concealed or not. Can be disabled in config if you play with out-of-sight AI-to-AI activations
• On commander and legend difficulties, soldiers who have a mindshield equipped and start the mission tired are now guaranteed to become shaken and receive a negative trait after the mission
• Reduced the time that soldiers need to spend in the GTS to make it a more attractive option
• Increased the early game difficulty of some assault missions
• The Accelerate Research Covert Action is no longer available to be spawned (and will be fully removed at the next save-breaking update)

BUGFIXES

• The Lighting Strike sitrep can no longer spawn on the Extract VIP mission
• The Comms Jamming sitrep can no longer spawn on the Recover Resistance Operative (SwarmDefense) mission
• The sitreps Horde and Experimental Rollout can no longer spawn together
• Turn-timer-altering sitreps can no longer spawn on the Sabotage Monument mission
• Acquire Facility Lead chain now spawns only in contacted regions instead of anywhere in the world
• Mission type selection is now less likely to result in repeating the same missions over and over
• Using the event queue to jump directly to the covert ops menu no longer bypasses the Geoscape welcoming sequence
• PsiOps can no longer train to rank up in the GTS. Can be reverted back to previous behaviour in config
• SabotageCC (vanilla gatecrasher) was moved to a new SabotageCC_CI mission family to prevent modded gatecrashers from appearing mid-campaign
• Counter Dark Event chains now properly spawn for all counterable dark events (instead of missing some even if you have enough regions contacted)
• Sabotage Alien Facility mission no longer has the Sabotage tag, meaning it won't spawn in various activity chains anymore
• Chosen Surveillance complication can longer spawn if all chosen are defeated and is now automatically removed from chains which are in progress when the final chosen is defeated
• Equipment Cache sitrep now grants items only to vanilla soldiers and faction heroes (excludes SPARKs and other mod-added character templates). Can be configured
• "Irrelevant item" warning on covert action loadout no longer considers infinite items and is now limited to the utility slot. Can be configured
• Instant Avenger Menus removed from incompatibility list as it's actually compatible
• Rulers no longer spawn on infils if the narrative mission isn't completed yet (if it's enabled)
• Fixed the covert ops screen vignette when the viewport is wider than 1920px
• Added reset button to the MCM page
• Various internal optimizations and improvements

Requires dev/2021-03-24 build of CHL

Note that if you run the game at least once with this version and then revert back to a previous one, your MCM config will be reset to defaults

Beta 3.3

Another hotfix release.... Yay!

• CI do longer slowly devours dark events after you encounter them until you are left with nothing but void. Existing campaigns should automatically unbreak themselves when the save is loaded with this update for the first time and all those who fell prey to the devourer shall be resurrected (note that this may cause the game to bias selection towards the resurrected DEs depending on many factors).
• "Ambush safeguard" mechanic from base game has been disabled - you will no longer find CAs with an option to negate a missing ambush risk
• Exhaustive Training CA will no longer spawn if you have a mod that removes per-slot rewards
• Clarifications to tutorials (especially the "Proactive Deployment" one)
• Maximum infil readout is no longer missing a % character
• Added a warning for when you bring combat items on CAs that cannot result in combat

Beta 3.2

Covert Infiltration Beta 3.2 serves as a hotfix to solve a critical problem introduced in Beta 3.1, where the Supply Transfer mission would use a random mission type instead of the proper custom mission type we created.

Beta 3.1

With Beta 3.1, Covert Infiltration now has a smarter geoscape opponent that targets vital resistance havens for retaliations. There are also various UI improvements and fixes that should enhance your experience with the mod. We are slowly getting closer to a full release, and more bugs will be smashed in another patch coming soon(tm).

Huge thanks to DotVhs for creating the art for the UI elements featured in this release and to ChrisTheThinMint for compiling this changelog.

Changelog

FEATURES

• ADVENT will now attempt retaliations in regions with higher strategic importance, instead of randomly attacking any region you own. They are particularly focused on dispersing cells in regions with an Avatar Facility or Golden Path story mission to prevent you from making progress, but they will also attempt to shut down radio relays and counter active continent bonuses.

INTERFACE

• The covert ops interface and mission overview now have a new UI element that displays information about the activity chain of the currently selected activity, including past and future activities as well as any complications that may be attached to a chain. It is fully controller-compatible, as well. This element replaces the old ‘View Chain’ button.
• Intel-gathering missions of most kinds now use a new geoscape marker instead of the old radio relay model.
• Assault Missions now show their expiration timer when you hover over their button on the geoscape hotbar.
• After finishing a chain with the 'Reward Interception' complication you will now also get an alert if the rewards were indeed intercepted.
• Counter Dark Event chains now show a 'Delay Dark Event' reward on the first assault mission to indicate that the Dark Event is actually delayed until the second assault mission is available.

BALANCE

• Supply Transfer missions now allow you to extract more than three crates per turn.
• The Compound Rescue mission type has been removed from all activity chains and will no longer be used anywhere in the game.
• The Gather Survivors mission type has been added to the assault mission pool, appearing mainly in the Counter Dark Event chain.

BUGFIXES

• Fixed various issues with tutorials that would prevent you from exiting other menus.
• Infiltrations can no longer force a mission start while the Avenger is in mid-flight.
• Mission Overhaul: Core should no longer cause incorrect alien spawns on Sabotage Monument missions.
• Fixed an issue where Supply Transfer missions sometimes required a map clear when custom mission mods are installed.
• 'Reward Interception' complication now only spawns an emergency mission when the rewards are actually intercepted.
• The stun effect of the 'Tactical Analysis' sitrep no longer applies to friendly resistance soldiers.
• 'Scavenge Alien Loot' covert action no longer has missing localization.
• The Resistance Ring staff slot correctly displays “+1” instead of “+1%”.

Beta 3

Beta 3 has arrived! This is intended to be the last major beta before a full workshop release. As such, the major features of the mod are now more or less final. With Beta 3 we want feedback on more specific balance issues, as well as bug reports of course. As usual with any major beta, older campaigns are incompatible and a new custom highlander is required. Something new with this beta is that we can now use the workshop thanks to Steam's new 'unlisted' option for mod visibility. Head on over to the installation instructions page to check it out. We hope you enjoy your campaign!

Changelog

FEATURES

• Overhaul of the Activity Chain system. Chains are now semi-randomized, picking different mission types and rewards from a pool of viable candidates for a less repetitive experience.
• Created an all-new Operation Gatecrasher, to start the campaign off right. Instead of blowing up a useless statue, you'll be deploying to capture two targets critical to the Resistance's operations.
• Reworked how Avatar Facilities are unlocked and attacked. Each facility assault requires a lead, requiring the player to assemble a long-term plan to defeat the Avatar Project.
• Complete reworking of infiltration time modifiers for better compatibility with unbridged item mods. Infiltration time can now be altered by character types, item categories, soldier abilities, or weapon upgrades.
• Alien Rulers have been properly integrated into infiltrations. Any active ruler can now choose to wait on an infiltration and will not show up on other missions while waiting. The Ruler will prevent the Chosen from interfering in their glorious duel to the death if XCOM chooses to infiltrate the mission.
• Added several new positive and negative sitreps to the pool for Covert Infiltrations and Assault Missions.
• The default squad size is now open to config, allowing an increase from the standard size of 6 for players who want a larger experience. The mod will continue to be balanced for a size of 6, so any users who wish to increase or decrease the size will need to rebalance the mod through config to fit their experience.
• Overhauled the tutorial system so that each tutorial only activates when immediately relevant. This spreads out the amount of learning and reading the player needs to do, rather than putting it all at the start of the game.
• Several features have been split off into their own submods which can be installed without CI. These are Accurate Situation Report, Living Space, Prototype Armoury, and Infiltrator's Disguises.

INTERFACE

• Added an MCM option to disable the Skulljack reminder when the Skulljack is deployed on an infiltration
• Covert Ops UI now shows if an activity is locked due to low faction influence
• Covert Ops UI now shows a progress prefix such as "(1/3)" before a chain activity name
• Covert Ops UI now uses an activity's chain name in the operations list rather than the fluff name
• Tutorials now use a much larger dialog box, allowing more text without auto-scrolling
• Added "Resistance Informants" indicator to communicate the effective chain spawn rate to the player
• Added the infiltration percentage to the alert banner when an overinfil bonus is gained
• Display a scary warning popup when the player goes over the Crew Limit

BALANCE

• Removed the infiltration and deterrence affecting utility items, as they were underused and irrelevant
• Retaliations will no longer sometimes have a random positive and negative sitrep
• Disabled the spawning of the Avatar Sabotage Covert Action when another is available or in progress
• Reduced the base spawn rate of Activity Chains, meaning don't sit on the starting region for too long
• Increased the spawn rate bonus for contacting additional regions and building radio relays
• Rebalanced bridge mods' item prices and infiltration/deterrence values
• Disabled the Vulture resistance order for being completely overpowered
• Enemies will not drop timed loot on Covert Action Ambushes

BUGFIXES

• Prevented activities from expiring while the Skyranger or Avenger is en route, breaking the mission
• Introduced a console command to override the current Crew Limit in the middle of a campaign
• Fixed the Supply Transfer mission from breaking when it is started without concealment
• Infiltrations are now properly removed from game memory when they expire or are aborted
• Chains will disappear from the Completed Chains menu 2 months after they are ended
• Scanning sites are now properly cleaned up if the mission expires or fails
• Removed startup redscreens for users who lack downloadable content
• Fixed a divide by zero error when completing Covert Actions
• Improved strategy-to-tactical transfer of relevant gamestates
• Fixed floating ADVENT dropship on the Supply Transfer mission
• Tithe resistance card now affects rewards from Covert Infiltrations
• Fixed the datatap mission complaining about an invalid quest item
• Fixed redscreen warning when reaching maximum overinfiltration
• Fixed the faction hero chain from rewarding a regular soldier

Beta 2.5.1

This update adds the ForceAbortSelectedInfil command which is to be used only if your campaign is deadlocked due to an infiltration which crashes on mission start (or otherwise fails to load).

Save game compatible with b2.5. See more information there