The city continues to find new ways to respond. Update 18 introduces Pressure Points a new class of reactive events that appear across StreetSense starting in Chapter One. These are small, (usually) repeatable strategic encounters that let you prod the simulation from unexpected angles: trigger a glitch in the financial records of a criminal syndicate, redirect a weapons shipment, make a deal with a hitman, or unleash a swarm of spiders across the city. Eleven of the fourteen events are available as early as chapter one, with the rest appearing in later timelines. Most are on cooldowns rather than single-use, offering fresh tactical tools across multiple difficulties. Some lead to "hero unit" upgrades. Some unlock new consumables or structures. One might set a worrying legal precedent. [quote]Pressure Points are small, repeatable events that let you subtly disrupt the world redirect shipments, forge records, or trigger chaos. Theyre optional but reactive, offering new tactical angles and rewards. Easy to miss, but once discovered, they change how you interact with the city.[/quote] Here are some of the Pressure Points you'll encounter. Arranging a Hit
[quote]Youre no longer limited to rumors and whispers this Pressure Point lets you track a contract killer through StreetSense and decide what to do with them. Hire them, neutralize them, or escalate the situation. Every choice triggers new possibilities.[/quote] Floating Point Errors
[quote]Some syndicates are more vulnerable to math than bullets. This Pressure Point targets a laundering operation by inducing calculation anomalies, turning financial chaos into tactical advantage.[/quote] SecForce Weapons Shipments
[quote]Military supply lines arent as secure as they think. This Pressure Point allows you to reroute weapons from the citys enforcement arm either toward local resistance or into your arsenal. Timing, as always, is everything.[/quote]

Update 18 Changelog

Major Systems and Additions

• Pressure Points Introduced: StreetSense now features 14 dynamic Pressure Points across the game, with 11 available as early as Chapter 1. These events offer repeatable, cooldown-based strategic interactions and unlock sandbox tools for shaping the city.
• New Rewards: Pressure Points grant access to:
  • 9 new achievements
  • 2 new consumable items
  • 4 new hero badges (available earlier than usual)
  • 1 new Structure/Job producing 2 new resources
  • 1 new hackable robotic NPC unit for converted squads
• Event Highlights: Pressure Points include options to:
  • Disrupt black market operations
  • Manipulate the legal system
  • Breed bee queens or giant spiders
  • Redirect military supply lines
  • Exploit financial bugs in syndicate accounts

Supplementary Additions

• New ResourceHatred of Vorsiber: This strategic currency tracks your grievances and opens new retaliatory options, especially through Pressure Points.
• More Achievements: Five new achievements linked to Intelligence Class 5 hero badge variants.
• Lore and Clarity:
  • Flamethrower path in Chapter 1 now includes clearer narrative prompts and dev notes on future antagonistic routes.
  • Securing Water/Food projects clarify that you negotiate with the lower classesnot just your housed humans.
  • All Deals now include thematic explanations tied to their bonuses.
  • Intelligence Class 57 notifications have been updated with more specific and forward-facing details, including Ziggurat hints.

Bugfixes

• Fixed a typo in the Occult Participation route.
• Occult Participation was mistakenly showing up in the prologue. It now only appears in Chapter 1 and onward.
• Fixed an issue where if an NPC was blocking an investigation or infiltration and was killed, the action remained blocked until the next turn. Other actions were unaffected.
• Fixed an issue where a profile could be blocked from creating new timelines if the folder name was changed, despite this not being intended.
• New timelines are now correctly set up at the end of time immediately, allowing older saves to switch without missing file errors.
• Fixed a bug where replaying Chapter 1 in a new timeline skipped the Extraction project.
• If you've won the infiltration to steal umbilical cords but are short on them (e.g., due to storage destruction), the game now grants the extras so the mission can be completed. Shh, it's a secret.
• Fixed a regression causing early unlocks and "key message" states to be miscalculated, affecting prologue and Chapter 1 replays in the same profile.
• Added code to detect and self-heal more forms of corruption in the "_meta_core_timekeep.timeline" file, preventing issues with timeline creation.

Connect with the Machine

To the Community: Thank You