Hello there brave Cold War strategy fans! We are happy to announce that Terminal Conflict is officially set towards release as scheduled this September. Expect an announcement of the release date, events and more in the coming weeks. We could not have done it without the hard work of our veteran team and the wonderful feedback from all of you in the growing Terminal Conflict community. As of today, that community on Steam has passed 1 000 members and in honor of that, we will be presenting an updated set of Focuses and Policies.

Focuses

Much of the success of a good Cold War strategy game is about the proper balance between paranoia and excitement. Be it domestic policy or foreign policy, you are playing a set of historically plausible struggles where factions alternate choosing a focus. Each has a particular set of circumstances it will provide. This keeps your opponent second guessing what situation you will be focusing on. With this update a lot of previously general and repeatable focuses have become unique as we felt we wanted to make the choices even more distinct. These Focuses are now unique and once played cannot be repeated that game allowing for a lot more variation:

South Asia

• Mujahideen - USA: Gain 3 ELITES. Increase success chance of RECONNAISSANCE, FALSE FLAG and IN-Q-TEL PROGRAM by 15% during this focus.
• Khmer Rouge - USSR: Set INFLUENCE in INDOCHINESE ZONE to 0. Gain 2 MILITARY.

Middle East

• American Aid - USA: Gain 1 FINANCE and at the end of this focus, if USA CONTROLS IRAN, IRAQ, SAUDI-KUWAITI ZONE, EMIRI-OMANI ZONE or YEMENI ZONE, gain 1 USA INFLUENCE for each in the Middle East.
• Israel Defense Forces - USA: Gain 2 ELITES and increase success chance of ASSASSINATE by 5%.
• Popular Baa'th Party - USA: Gain 5 USA INFLUENCE in Middle East and 1 GOVERNMENT. | USSR: Gain 3 GOVERNMENT.
• Tudeh Party of Iran - USSR: Set INFLUENCE in IRAN to 3. Gain 2 PEOPLE. | USA: Gain 1 ELITES.
• Mapam of Israel - USSR: Gain 1 ELITES and at the end of this focus, if USSR CONTROLS the LEVANTIAN ZONE gain 5 USSR INFLUENCE in the Middle East.
• Free Officers Movement - USSR: GAMAL ABDEL NASSER spends 1 POWER. Gain 2 GOVERNMENT and at the end of this focus, if USSR CONTROLS EGYPT gain 7 USSR INFLUENCE in the Middle East.
• Socialist Ba'ath Party - USSR: Gain 3 USSR INFLUENCE in EGYPT, 1 USSR INFLUENCE in LEVANTIAN ZONE and gain 1 GOVERNMENT. | USA: Gain 3 GOVERNMENT.
• Polisario Front - USSR: Set INFLUENCE in MOROCCAN-WESTERN SAHARIAN ZONE to 0. Chance +20% for Islamist Jihad (INFLUENCE set to 0 in one USSR CONTROLLED region in the Middle East). | USA: Reduce GOVERNMENT ALIGNMENT by 1.

Being an essential part of your strategy, all focus effects are permanent unless stated otherwise and making the most of their bonuses is one path to victory.

Policies

With this patch we have also put a lot of focus on expanding the policy side of the game. These are activated unique policy ideas usually attached to your or your opponents focuses. They are objectives to achieve and usually grant you Influence or Victory Points when completed. Here we put specific emphasis on Western and Eastern European policies updating and adding 20 in depth policies for you to achieve. Lets look at five of these and how strategies can be built up with them:

Western Europe

• Marshall Plan (USA Conditions: Doomsday at least 3 AND USA FINANCE at least 7) - USA Effect: Spend 2 FINANCE, 2 PEOPLE and 1 GOVERNMENT, gain up to 8 USA INFLUENCE in WESTERN EUROPE, restricted to regions without USSR PRESENCE. This is a way to quickly establish a US foothold in Western Europe by laying down some much needed influence in the theater.
• Founding of NATO (USA Conditions: Available from game start) - USA Effect: Set all USA CONTROLLED regions in WESTERN EUROPE to USA DOMINATED. Combined with Marshall Plan, this can be a good way to convert the US CONTROLLED regions you can gain by making use of the extra influence from Marshall to convert those regions into dominated ones.
• Finlandization (USSR Conditions: INFLUENCE is 0 in SWEDISH-FINNISH ZONE, with peace and no USA/USSR LAND/AIR units deployed there) - USSR Effect: Gain 1 VP for each USSR LAND/AIR unit deployed in MAINLAND NORWAY and NORTHWESTERN RUSSIA. With power projection towards the Swedes and Finns, we can hold them up as an example of good neighborly cooperation.
• Molotov Plan West (USSR Conditions: Doomsday at least 3 AND MOLOTOVs Power at least 1) - USSR Effect: Spend 2 PEOPLE and 1 GOVERNMENT, gain up to 7 USSR INFLUENCE in WESTERN EUROPE restricted to regions with USSR PRESENCE. The Soviet equivalent of the Marshall Plan devised by Foreign Minister Molotov. The USSR doesnt require finance investment but in turn provides a smaller influence bonus and only in regions where the USSR is already established. Yet, dont underestimate its impact.
• COMINFORM (USSR Conditions: USSR at least 1 region with PRESENCE in WESTERN EUROPE AND ELITES at least 7 AND USA MARSHALL PLAN not enacted) - USSR Effect: Gain 3 VP and 1 USSR INFLUENCE in each region with USSR PRESENCE in WESTERN EUROPE. As long as the Marshall Plan is not enacted, the USSR can combine the COMINFORM with the Molotov Plan West for maximum effect. French, Italian and Spanish communists unite!

Eyes Only DLC Terminal!

Our engineers have been busy adding a brand new Eyes Only suitcase terminal. To enable your Intelligence bragging rights, (1) start the game and select Options in the top right corner, then (2) Switch the Terminal Screen to the M-103X-Suitcase.
In summary, we hope you grab a few awesome focuses and policies with this update and remember the words of John F. Kennedy - "Domestic Policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us". Enjoy! Mighty cheers! *******************************************************

Upcoming Development

I) NEW tutorials are in productions! II) NEW Ranked Play Mode is in production and alpha testing! III) KIM IL-SUNG: A Communist Ideologue and Supreme Leader will rise to power like the living Sun to establish a People's Republic like never seen before and the first Communist dynasty. Or will his life be cut short and his reign curtailed by US regional power? The rise of North Korea is in final BETA testing and receiving its finalized graphical assets. IV) Policies are getting rolled out with each new patch.

CHANGELOG

AI - MIRVIN

• Fixed an issue where an error would sometimes be shown at AI focus selection
• Fixed an issue where the AI would score 0 for theater selection
• AI now favors slightly more policies when making choices
• Fixed options being covered by MIRVIN by changing the visual hierarchy
• AI logs are now more detailed to identify AI action taken for those that want to track AI behavior
• Get AI Score will no longer stall the AI

GAME

• Decision or Policies that block opponent's next policy are not shown when enabled for desired effect
• Updated the wording for Technology and Research
• Policy enactment dialog conditions now printout instantly
• Policy conditions automatically are shown when entering to enact a policy
• Current Focuses Description is now correctly displayed when selected and now shows local faction posture
• Fixed an issue where interests icons would be missing from the mismanagement warning
• Influence value displayed for Central Turkey has been repositioning

MULTIPLAYER

• Network log no longer sends false positive due to disconnecting from Photon when quitting the game even in offline mode

FOCUSES

• Updated the focuses text to better clarify where INFLUENCE was changed when selected
• Red Telephone now has the correct effect wording
• Fixed an issue where the Grandma Yacht Expedition did not correctly activate Castro
• Fixed an issue where Mau Mau rebellion had the incorrect Interest icon
• Updated USA focus Red Dragon Dancing from Military to Government to better reflect the relations
• with Chiang Kai-shek
• Turkish Straits Crisis is no longer a Government supported focus and instead is supported by the Military
• Mujahideen is now Unique
• Khmer Rouge is Unique
• American Aid is now Unique
• MAAG Vietnam was correctly set to Indochina
• Clarified the description for Guddo Thermal Plant
• Israel Defense Forces is now Unique
• Popular Baa'th Party is now Unique
• Socialist Ba'ath Party is now Unique
• Free Officers Movement is now Unique
• Polisario Front is now Unique
• USSR Focus Tudeh Party of Iran is now Unique and fixed an issue where the wrong Region was references instead of IRAN
• Mapam of Israel is now Unique and fixed an issue where this focus would rarely be triggered
• Corrective Revolution is no longer a Finance supported focus and instead is supported by the Elites

POLICIES

• Fixed an issue where Hellenic Resistance Policy was incorrectly set up and wouldn't fire
• Added, updated and fixed: Rehabilitation of Germany, Marshall Plan, American Culturalization, Founding of NATO, European Communities, Molotov Plan West, Fifth International, Finlandization, COMINFORM, Conventional Superiority, COMECON, Eastern Rapproachment, Venona Project, Sierra-India-Oscar-Papa, Rollback, Purging the Apparatchiks, Molotov Plan East, Conventional Superiority and Regime Of Peace And Love

DECISIONS

• Fixed an issue where VP loss in mismanagement notification would incorrectly have a # in the decisions

LEADERS

• Fixed an issue where Tito had four abilities instead of three

GAME EDITOR

• Fixed an exception given when trigger groups are deleted
• Disabled NONE and ALL options for Faction in Policies editing
• Policies will automatically have a DisplayTheater
• Policies without display image will display a placeholder image instead of nothing
• Fixed Leaders not taking into account custom timeline in case of starting timeline is set via the editor
• Fixed exception due to ending turn with having used the debug menu
• NEW ArgumentType InfluenceInTheater added
• NEW ArgumentType UnitTypesInTheater added

OTHER

• Added NEW Terminal-M-103X-Suitcase Eyes Only DLC Terminal (cosmetic)
• Added in-game description of the DLCs
• Added in-game DLC imagery
• Updated the DLC screen
• Updated the test decisions suspending a test decision blocking policies
• Policy buttons in menu have the VP outlined
• Fixed the wording for LOGISTICS notification
• Updated the wording for Global Map
• Updated Victory Point notifications
• Added nuclear apocalypse logging message
• Logger is now thread safe
• Log files report timestamp once again - both global and current match's if available; compatible with Out Of Sync checker
• Fixed a rare exception caused by the Audio manager