Matrix Games

Welcome back to the Resistance!

It is time for an information dump on some upcoming updates and new content for the game. Check out information on the soon to be released Army Management Screen for Skirmish and Multiplayer, as well as some new bits of information on the upcoming Conquest Mode and some player questions answered too.

Skirmish and Multiplayer Army Management Update

It’s the Mid 2020’s, when in Terminator: Dark Fate, we are told that the Machines will rise up. Are we now entering the period of Machine Rule? Is the world on the brink yet? Well, one thing we are on the brink of is the new update for the game, that sees army customisation for Skirmish and Multiplayer introduced.

Next week, we are releasing the new Army Management tool for Skirmish and Multiplayer games. This allows you to create new army presets, customising units and squads that can then be used either in Single Player Skirmish, or when you go head to head with other players.

The new Army Management tool has the same customisation seen in the main campaign, allowing you to add new weapons, armor and engine upgrades to vehicles, and to add additional weapons and abilities to infantry units.

Customised units become ‘presets’ within your army roster, that can be called during reinforcement. There is a set amount of ‘preset points’ within each army to balance the amount of customised units you can field, keeping the balance of armies fair.

Either duplicate an existing Army set up and customise that duplicated version, or create a new customised army from scratch.

Each new customised unit has its own new points cost. So, crank up a unit to the max, it may become twice as expensive as its base unit. For example, in the images below, there are 2 sets of Rangers units. The first is the default, that costs 800 points, the second, a rangers squad with an additional Laser Sniper Rifle and a full suite of additional abilities (Bullet Rain, Powerlifter, Marathon Runner, Chameleon and EMP Devices) that costs 2180 points.

So there is a direct balance between cost and enhanced abilities.

But it does allow you to hone various units to maximise their battlefield potential.

Each new preset can be called just once during a battle, but quickly duplicating presets in the Army Management Screen allows multiple versions of a unit to be easily created.

And fear not, the base, default version of a unit can be called upon during reinforcement as many times as you wish, so running out of unit types if you haven’t created multiple presets of each won’t happen.

The Movement also is improved with this new Army Management screen as it now allows you to pre-set up tractor and trailer combinations, so trying to hurriedly link up a tractor and trailer during a multiplayer game is no longer an issue. The example below shows a customised Tractor Truck, with a Heavy Platform already connected (an additional 400 points for the additional Mounted Minigun and Junk Armor on the customised Truck preset) Selecting the Tractor or Truck would automatically select the connected unit too.

It is also possible to set up passengers within presets, so if your tactic is to deploy troops quickly using vehicles you can pre-load them into vehicles to quickly call them up.

We have found that this new Army Management system opens a whole new dimension to Skirmish and Multiplayer, allowing a much more varied array of vehicles and units at your disposal and we are really interested in seeing some of the custom armies that you create.
 

Some Visions from the Future!

The next big release on the horizon is the new Conquest Mode. I wanted to drop some more nuggets of information about it here, so here are 3 new facts about it:
1) There is a new helicopter appearing in the Conquest Mode. Although not a troop carrier, it will be cheaper and have a full range of strike capabilities.

2) The United Federation of Marauders will emerge as a new united faction. Those disparate marauder gangs will band together, to become an even greater threat to the Resistance's existence.

3) The Cartel playing both sides? If you play your cards right, you may be able to have Cartel Templars join your Resistance, if you can overthrow some local Cartel factions.

Finally for this diary, I asked the community (on discord) for some questions that they wanted answers, so here are some that I randomly took:
 

Community Questions:
These questions were posed by players on the official Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance discord channel. Why not join, and you can ask me directly.

How will the tech from Galveston affect the Resistance soldier equipment and vehicle customization, can the dev sneak peak a bit of info about it?

is there a change we go to Europe and Asia and does legion have any present there

(from discord user: NQIMNyannn)

The plan is that in the Campaign DLC, there will be new enhancements, abilities and units that will be directly influenced by the tech gained at Galveston (the end of the first campaign). We are looking at enhanced humans, and the first use of humans attempting to harness the Legion tech discovered there on their vehicles.
 

Release date on Conquest DLC?

(from discord user: Diabolos)

I can’t give the official date at the moment as release windows can change, but the current plan is to have it released during Summer 2025. There will also be a Closed Beta released prior to release so if you watch out for announcements, you may be able to get an early look at it in progress.

Are you planning on adding different types of environment? maybe a map with snow or a mission in the ocean with ships? 

(from discord user: krankSIE)

Well, we have mentioned that the new Campaign planned for the end of the year will see Church and the Resistance head up in to Canada. Expect some more extreme environments, and how would Legion units perform in snow?

Will there be other nation / remnants of, or factions not yet seen?

(from discord user: Nikita)

The plan is to introduce some elements of other nations in future campaigns. Hopefully I can drop some more information on this in later info dumps.
 

So, prepare for the new Army Management Screen update that will be available next week (currently playable on an Open Beta branch on Steam) and I will see you on the future battlefield!

Good luck.