Civilian Evacuation has now moved from Experimental into the default Public install of Cepheus Protocol.

For the last few weeks, players have been able to test the system on Experimental while we continued working through the core loop, save/load behavior, multiplayer support, civilian flow control, intake behavior, and the wider session reliability issues that come with a system this large.

As of this update, Civilian Evacuation is now stable enough for normal Public branch play.

That does not mean the system is finished. It means the core loop is now far enough along that players can run a full session from beginning to end with the modern evacuation systems active by default. From here, our focus shifts into bug triage, flow cleanup, vehicle reliability, guard AI behavior, RTS quality of life, and the next major infected faction push.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W6s5cUTacw

This update brings the current Civilian Evacuation pass into the default version of the game. Players no longer need to opt into Experimental to play the main evacuation loop.

• Civilian Evacuation is now part of the default install

• Full sessions can now be played from beginning to end with Civilian Evacuation active

• Save/load support is done

• Multiplayer support is done

• The newer civilian flow systems are now the main direction over the older legacy methods and are far superior and easier to work with

• Public branch feedback will now drive the next round of fixes and cleanup

Civilian Evacuation is not a side system. It touches the wider RTS loop, zone control, civilian movement, intake processing, vehicle usage, reputation consequences, infection pressure, and long term match pacing.

The newer evacuation system is built around stronger flow control than the legacy methods. Instead of forcing every civilian or group through a narrow set of older behaviors, the current system gives players more tools for controlling how civilians move, where they go, and how quickly they are processed.

Recent updates added support for civilian and no civilian modes for gates, evacuation waystations, improved intake behavior, and better routing so civilians and mobs can move toward controlled flow points instead of always pushing directly into intake or world buildings.

This gives the system a stronger foundation for larger matches. It lets players shape movement patterns, reduce congestion, and build cleaner evacuation pipelines instead of fighting the old flow logic every session.

Our current mission intent is to lock in the systems that are already present, stabilize the remaining edge cases, and then move forward into the next major line items.

• Bus AI improvements in terms of turning (We are actively looking into this right now)

• Loading old saves from before today may incur Population jumps as the global population of some zones were increased across all maps to account for the Biomass resource that infected need to build their armies now

If you run into evacuation issues, vehicle pathing problems, save/load problems, or multiplayer desync behavior, please report them with as much session context as possible. The more specific the report, the faster we can isolate whether it is routing, state persistence, multiplayer replication, vehicle turning, or flow control.

This week is primarily about stabilization and targeted quality of life work before we shift harder into the infected faction pass.

• Vehicle turning reliability

• Vehicle pathfinding information cohesion

• Guard AI responsiveness

• Civilian Evacuation flow cleanup

• Some Network/Performance improvements

• Upgrading walls into double gates

• Quality Of Life Priorities section below

Vehicle turning is one of the biggest areas we are reviewing right now. Several edge cases have been identified where vehicles do not turn as reliably as they should under certain conditions. We already have multiple initiatives under assessment to improve that behavior and reduce cases where vehicles need player intervention to recover cleanly.

Guard AI is also getting attention. The goal is to make guarding behavior more responsive, more reliable, and faster to react when units or structures come under pressure.

Alongside the core bug fixing, we are also lining up several RTS quality of life improvements that should make normal play feel better across every session.

• RTS camera improvements with better responsiveness and control feel

• Server browser improvements with clearer custom game settings and map previews when highlighting servers

• Guard AI improvements focused on reliability, movement, and reaction speed

• Vehicle pathfinding improvements focused on consistency and clearer behavior in edge cases

• Double gate upgrades so existing walls can be upgraded into double gates more cleanly

• Attack Move, Guard and Patrol vastly improved

• Unit icons can be assigned to as Guard/Garrison points instead of relying on per pixel accuracy

• Operators can Manage Active Intakes/Zones from their F7 window now

• Civilian Mobs Dynamically merge at intake and when they enter structures to free up population to keep the flow efficient.

• Civilian Mobs now have a simplified/vs complex mode that allows individual animations for higher end machines.

• DNA hides in Cinematic Mode

• Mass Deletions/Landscape clears don't spam the log anymore and are grouped dynamically based on player and unit type

• Time Dilation is now logged (Slomo, Fast Forward resume etc)

• Various Infected Attacking improvements to their Combat AI

• All Evacuation assets are finalized and in including the new DNA research elements under logistics

• Civilian / Bus waypoint system is now in allowing you to force drop off points for mobs/busses in zones where you build them.

• No Gate/Mob mode for certain gates to restrict certain areas from movement

• Staff/Security Animations improved for Civilian Evac divisions.

• New Idles added to all classes/combat Animation's

• Lighting overhaul to the maps to bring them into alignment and better then legacy in terms of Night time lighting and ambiance use the new Light Render Distance to tune it based on what GPU you use.

• A revamped Clearing/Brush tool (Bulldozer) that allows you to switch between different modes for managing the map. You can also now "resize" the tool via holding Shift then scrolling your mouse wheel in/out.

  1. Landscaping Mode

  2. Condemn Building Mode

  3. Purge Building Mode

  4. Clear Building Order

• Cheat Modes added for Ammo

  • Normal

  • Unlimited

  • Bottomless

• Cheat Mode added for Resupply

  • Normal

  • Unlimited Supply

• Gas Cheat Mode

  • Normal

  • Unlimited Gas

• Endless Horde Mutator added

  • Allows you to disable all limits for Infected for using resources and allows them to "cheat" and build massive armies should you want a more "crazy" game.

• Multiplayer Colors added so users can choose a color before joining games now and their Operator flare also reflects it .

• Predictive Code added to better "guess" where an infantry/Vehicle is going to be in 1 second so gates open sooner to avoid "crashes"

• Repair time for all structures were adjusted to be a lot more reasonable across the board

• Build Visuals added to all Infected Meshes/ Build times increased for all Infected structure types

• Builder/Infection Manager nerfed to how often they can "expo" in the mid-late game to bring down the "whack a mole' nature of gameplay.

• Airstrikes work during Slomo/Tactical pause for targeting now

• Standalone version of Treasure Island

• Move orders from Minimap/Run orders

• Custom game options to rebalance Evac

• Added Look/Aim Mouse Sensitivity to Operators

• Added a toggle for users to opt out of World Camera shakes from Hero Weapons

• Color System added for last order by for coop

• Killing Infected structures now gives you positive reputation in the zone you killed them in

• Trees/Foliage now blend in out based on Operator/RTS

• Power states no longer clear the recruitment window and instead block the build button as this was confusing people.

• Various Save/Load issues with Mesh variants for Infected

• Emergency call in for Engineers after all units are killed + CERC structures

• DNA Collection Device added to scientist

• Civilian Militias that attack you when your reputation drops too low in a zone

• Full Martial Law and Partial

• Infected Drop DNA which can be used for the two new Intake upgrades(More are coming in June)

• Population Meters is online

• Gas Tower Infection Motes affect the Operator screen now

• QWERTY vs AZERTY mode added

• New Operator Weapons added

  • Primary Weapons

    • M416-A7

    • AK105

    • G36

    • MP5

    • RX12

    • AUG

    • XM45

    • UMP

    • AK-85

  • Secondary Weapons

    • DE50

    • USP

• New Operators visuals added

  • Winters

  • CBRN Guard

  • CERC Pilot

Moved the current Civilian Evacuation experience into the Public branch. Which includes these changes. These include gifs/videos and more in-depth breakdown of everything in this patch

https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/673996847087353935https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/712276809750677259https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/712276809750677215https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/693135877118886524https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/525374254465680188

The known issue list will keep changing as more reports come in. Our goal is to identify the highest impact issues first, especially anything that interrupts long sessions, multiplayer sessions, save/load continuity, or evacuation flow.

The next 60 days are about getting the game fully back into its major intended loop, then pushing beyond what existed in Legacy.

The Rebuild is already past Legacy in several important areas, but there are still major line items that need to come back online, be refined, or be expanded. Players can also see the active priority order on the far right side of the main menu.

• Civilian Evacuation polish and bug fixing

• Formation AI and wider movement improvements

• Vehicle pathfinding and turning reliability

• Guard AI refinements

• RTS camera and control improvements

• Server browser improvements with custom settings and map previews

• Operator Polish Period

• San Francisco North expansion work

• Infected intelligence improvements

• New infected variants

• Lieutenants and late game infected progression

• Leviathan progression

The immediate goal is to stabilize the systems that are now live, then move into the next major gameplay push without leaving Civilian Evacuation half locked in. Once the current flow, vehicle, guard, and session stability work is in a stronger place, our attention shifts heavily into the infected faction.

June is focused heavily on Infected AI and the infected faction as a whole.

The goal is not just to add more infected bodies to the map. The goal is to make the faction smarter, more varied, more threatening, and more capable of creating pressure across the full match.

Over June, we are moving toward roughly half a dozen new infected types and major updates to existing infected behavior. This includes Lieutenants, the Chelsey side of the new AI work, Leviathan progression, new offshoot mutations, and larger infected threats built to change how players respond to the late game.

One of the new infected concepts under development is a heavy Behemoth style threat. The intent is a massive infected unit with a huge health pool, devastating melee impact, and slower movement that forces players to reposition, focus fire, and respect its presence when it enters the battlefield.

That infected pass is one of the most important upcoming milestones for the game. Civilian Evacuation gives the player a stronger strategic layer. The infected faction pass is what pushes harder against that layer and turns those systems into real pressure across the map.

San Francisco North remains a major part of the broader roadmap. It is the direction of the future Bay Area experience, and work will continue through June and July as we keep expanding, connecting, and stabilizing the larger map.

The focus for San Francisco North remains traversal, detail, pathfinding, performance, visual polish, and making sure the larger Bay Area map supports the core Pandemic experience correctly.

As the evacuation systems, infected faction, vehicle behavior, and AI systems stabilize, San Francisco North becomes more important because it gives those systems the scale they were built for.

Civilian Evacuation is now live on Public. It can be played in full sessions. It supports save/load. It supports multiplayer. It is not final, but it is now the default direction of the game.

The next step is not to tear the system apart again. The next step is to lock in what is already there, fix the highest impact issues, improve the flow, and then push into the next major priority set.

That means vehicle reliability, guard AI, RTS quality of life, server browser clarity, evacuation flow, save/load stability, multiplayer stability, and then the infected faction push through June.

Thanks to everyone who played the Experimental builds, reported issues, sent saves, joined multiplayer sessions, and helped us identify the edge cases that only show up after real players get their hands on the system. Public branch feedback is the next major step in getting this system fully hardened for the rest of the Rebuild.

The virus is loose across the Bay Area. Flashpoints are erupting across the peninsula as entire districts fall into chaos and infected swarms push deeper into civilian zones.

CERC forces are already in the field.

Embedded military reporters and frontline operators are transmitting battlefield coverage directly from active operations. The images you are about to see were captured during recent combat deployments across the region.

These transmissions come directly from the front.

The battle for the Bay Area has begun.

• Adjustments to the Zone Widget to try to fit all the info when top meter is near full of data (due to high power, infection level, and income from zone)

• DNA hides from Cinematic now

• Mass Unit Deletions and Mass tree removals don't spam the activity log anymore and are "Combined"

  • I.E Removed 4 Obstacles (Total Cost) instead of trying to list out every single item that was requested in that "removal" request

  • This applies also to Unit Deletions and will group them by type instead of printing each individual unit that was deleted to the activity log

• Fixed bug with Ammo less and bottomless magazine not working for one clipped based weapons like the MLRS. It also now auto fills the ammo of the MLRS when you cycle into a cheat mode

• Visibility fixes for garrisoned units (and mob meshes) on load when they were inside the Evac Cages

• Increased Special Infection spawn rates past day 0

• Counter Attacks by Infected are now a bit larger and scale better going into Day 4+ making them get stronger in mid-late game to better scale with player aggression

• Infected better understand how to counter Artilery spam

• Nerfed Evac Helicopter from Active to passive health regen

• Lowered health of Evac helicopter

• Added Support for Slomo, Pause, Fast Forward to Activity Log System

• Added a overhaul to how landscape actors work to account for a bug Atlas reported in coop relating to not being able to remove objects as a client sometimes

• Zone infection tick increased by 1.5 to account for biomass resource causing the Infected to "Stall out" if you heavily fight them and they cannot replace losses quick enough

• Fixed Operators not deleting their dead body when a client disconnects on the hub

• Fixed Garrisons not allowing pilots to re-enter even if space is otherwise not available

• MLRS + Cerberus not retaining their drivers on load sometimes

• Fixed Waystation beacon rendering black.

• Updated Infected 'Active Biomass' tracking to count '0 cost' non-structures as 1 biomass cost, so when CERC/Civilian units get converted, they count as 1 pop solving the issue where Infected pop could jump oddly from how we calculated CERC unit "cost"

• Iron wake received a car car placement polish pass

• Increased gas tower health

• Buffed jug attacks across the board

• increased car explosion damage to Cerberus

• Structures in Hologram state don't ignore damage anymore

• increased mortar explosion radius by 200uu + increased damage to Juggernaut

• Fixed Manual auto open door failing to respond in laggy conditions

• Boosted size of Activity Log Entries further, made them scale back down to initial size when viewed in Activity Log (so they fit)

• Applied a fix to Squad Mangers for the infected/Militia to Improve Attacking/Investigations

• Improved the Nav Collision of key objects in Half Moon Bay + Treasure Island that were trapping infected

• Added an outline to the Message Widgets (used for messages in the message queue at top left *other* than activity log entries)

• Speculative crash fix for

  https://discord.com/channels/469412014427602944/1510614857798651907/1510614857798651907

Civilian Evacuation is now playable from start to finish, and today’s update is focused on hotfixes, cleanup, and what comes next for the Rebuild.

The evacuation system just hit a major milestone. For the first time, players can now play through the entire civilian rescue loop from beginning to end. This includes fully functional intake processing, evacuation buses, infection scanning upgrades, doctrine progression, and direct civilian movement into evacuation zones.

New doctrine upgrades now let you streamline processing, skip holding cells, and massively improve evacuation efficiency as your operation grows.

The infected are also getting a major overhaul. Infection spread has been rebalanced, structure construction is now visible before activation, and the late game is being tuned to reduce the frustrating “whack-a-mole” pressure players were running into. Endless Horde Mode is now available as a custom option for players who want the infection to spread forever.

Vehicle pathfinding, helicopters, gates, airstrikes, radio systems, and multiplayer syncing all received major fixes this week. The team also reworked a large number of save/load issues, improved performance for large sessions, and added better RTS management tools for handling evacuation zones and civilian flow.

Next up is a full push on formation AI, infected intelligence, new infected variants, infected lieutenants(Her Operators), Infected Leviathan (Late game super unit), Operator improvements, and the massive San Francisco North map expansion.

The goal over the next 60 days is to push every major gameplay system far beyond what existed ever before.

You can catch up on the latest CERC HQ below if you want to see the full breakdown for yourself:

https://youtu.be/NC6z4-1UEB0

Over the next 30 to 60 days, the focus is pushing every major gameplay system forward beyond what existed before in the original build.

• Civilian Evacuation polish and bug fixing

• Formation AI improvements

• Infected intelligence improvements

• New infected variants

• Lieutenants and late-game infected progression

• Leviathan progression

• Operator improvements

• San Francisco North expansion work

• RTS control improvements

• Save/load and multiplayer stability improvements

The evacuation system has reached a major gameplay milestone.
Players can now complete the full civilian rescue loop from intake to evacuation, with supporting systems now coming online around it.

• Functional intake processing

• Evacuation buses

• Infection scanning upgrades

• Doctrine progression

• Direct civilian movement into evacuation zones

• Upgrades to streamline civilian processing

• Options to skip holding cells

• Improved evacuation efficiency as your operation grows

The infected are also receiving a major pass as part of this phase of development.
Infection spread has been rebalanced, infected structure construction is now visible before activation, and late-game pressure is being tuned to reduce the frustrating “whack-a-mole” feeling players were running into.
Endless Horde Mode is also available as a custom option for players who want the infection to keep spreading forever.

The next major push is about taking the systems now coming online and making them stronger, smarter, and more stable.
Expect continued work on formation AI, infected behavior, new infected threats, Operator improvements, San Francisco North, evacuation polish, and the broader late-game progression loop.
As always, Experimental builds may contain rough edges, bugs, and unfinished content. Player reports are extremely helpful as these systems continue moving toward the default branch.

🕔 When: Weekly Saturdays – 7 PM EST (New Time!)

💬 What is CERC HQ:

Welcome to Cepheus Protocol HQ, your ultimate weekly briefing on all things Cepheus Protocol! Join the Halcyon Winds team as we explore the latest updates, reveal behind-the-scenes development stories, and answer community questions about the game. From exciting new features to design challenges, this is your all-access pass to the evolving world of Cepheus Protocol. Tune in every week and stay ahead of the outbreak!

• Co-op Progress

• Total Revamp based on Community Feedback

• Level Design Updates

📺 Where to Watch:

• YouTube Livestream

• Discord Server[discord.gg]

• Steam Page

🎤 Don’t miss our Live Q&A! We’ll be answering questions from the community during the stream.

• YouTube VOD Playlist

• Spotify Podcast Archive[open.spotify.com] (VODs may take 24 hours to appear)

The virus is loose across the Bay Area. Flashpoints are erupting across the peninsula as entire districts fall into chaos and infected swarms push deeper into civilian zones.

CERC forces are already in the field.

Embedded military reporters and frontline operators are transmitting battlefield coverage directly from active operations. The images you are about to see were captured during recent combat deployments across the region.

These transmissions come directly from the front.

The battle for the Bay Area has begun.

• Fixed Infection Count going negative during live gameplay

• Fixed a Save/Load issue where Infected Count could reset to 0

• Improved Infection counter to count active and inactive infection including Chelsey into the base count.

The last major update

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/979640/view/712276809750677214

Civilian Evacuation is now playable from start to finish, and today’s update is focused on hotfixes, cleanup, and what comes next for the Rebuild.

The evacuation system just hit a major milestone. For the first time, players can now play through the entire civilian rescue loop from beginning to end. This includes fully functional intake processing, evacuation buses, infection scanning upgrades, doctrine progression, and direct civilian movement into evacuation zones.

New doctrine upgrades now let you streamline processing, skip holding cells, and massively improve evacuation efficiency as your operation grows.

The infected are also getting a major overhaul. Infection spread has been rebalanced, structure construction is now visible before activation, and the late game is being tuned to reduce the frustrating “whack-a-mole” pressure players were running into. Endless Horde Mode is now available as a custom option for players who want the infection to spread forever.

Vehicle pathfinding, helicopters, gates, airstrikes, radio systems, and multiplayer syncing all received major fixes this week. The team also reworked a large number of save/load issues, improved performance for large sessions, and added better RTS management tools for handling evacuation zones and civilian flow.

Next up is a full push on formation AI, infected intelligence, new infected variants, infected lieutenants(Her Operators), Infected Leviathan (Late game super unit), Operator improvements, and the massive San Francisco North map expansion.

The goal over the next 60 days is to push every major gameplay system far beyond what existed ever before.

You can catch up on the latest CERC HQ below if you want to see the full breakdown for yourself:

https://youtu.be/NC6z4-1UEB0

Over the next 30 to 60 days, the focus is pushing every major gameplay system forward beyond what existed before in the original build.

• Civilian Evacuation polish and bug fixing

• Formation AI improvements

• Infected intelligence improvements

• New infected variants

• Lieutenants and late-game infected progression

• Leviathan progression

• Operator improvements

• San Francisco North expansion work

• RTS control improvements

• Save/load and multiplayer stability improvements

The evacuation system has reached a major gameplay milestone.
Players can now complete the full civilian rescue loop from intake to evacuation, with supporting systems now coming online around it.

• Functional intake processing

• Evacuation buses

• Infection scanning upgrades

• Doctrine progression

• Direct civilian movement into evacuation zones

• Upgrades to streamline civilian processing

• Options to skip holding cells

• Improved evacuation efficiency as your operation grows

The infected are also receiving a major pass as part of this phase of development.
Infection spread has been rebalanced, infected structure construction is now visible before activation, and late-game pressure is being tuned to reduce the frustrating “whack-a-mole” feeling players were running into.
Endless Horde Mode is also available as a custom option for players who want the infection to keep spreading forever.

The next major push is about taking the systems now coming online and making them stronger, smarter, and more stable.
Expect continued work on formation AI, infected behavior, new infected threats, Operator improvements, San Francisco North, evacuation polish, and the broader late-game progression loop.
As always, Experimental builds may contain rough edges, bugs, and unfinished content. Player reports are extremely helpful as these systems continue moving toward the default branch.

🕔 When: Weekly Saturdays – 7 PM EST (New Time!)

💬 What is CERC HQ:

Welcome to Cepheus Protocol HQ, your ultimate weekly briefing on all things Cepheus Protocol! Join the Halcyon Winds team as we explore the latest updates, reveal behind-the-scenes development stories, and answer community questions about the game. From exciting new features to design challenges, this is your all-access pass to the evolving world of Cepheus Protocol. Tune in every week and stay ahead of the outbreak!

• Co-op Progress

• Total Revamp based on Community Feedback

• Level Design Updates

📺 Where to Watch:

• YouTube Livestream

• Discord Server[discord.gg]

• Steam Page

🎤 Don’t miss our Live Q&A! We’ll be answering questions from the community during the stream.

• YouTube VOD Playlist

• Spotify Podcast Archive[open.spotify.com] (VODs may take 24 hours to appear)

The virus is loose across the Bay Area. Flashpoints are erupting across the peninsula as entire districts fall into chaos and infected swarms push deeper into civilian zones.

CERC forces are already in the field.

Embedded military reporters and frontline operators are transmitting battlefield coverage directly from active operations. The images you are about to see were captured during recent combat deployments across the region.

These transmissions come directly from the front.

The battle for the Bay Area has begun.

1. Updated Intake Bus behavior so buses in zones set to WalkOnly will no longer assist with Intake. They will only help zones that are comparable with their transit method .

2. Added Bus Waystation support. Intake buses and Civilians will now prefer these Waystations in the target zone when one exists. They will always use the closest point

   

3. Added behavior for civilians walking to Intake to move toward a Waystation instead of relying only on bus drop-off behavior. To allow players control of where Mobs first "gather" to be sorted into World Buildings or active intake.

4. Updated Intake Buses so they can assist with interzone Migration when Intake is enabled in their home zone but no civilians remain there.

5. Improved Intake Bus movement logic to reduce cases where buses stop too far away from buildings.

6. Improved stuck case handling for Intake Buses.

7. Updated Intake Bus behavior states so their current behavior is clearer in the Details Panel.

8. Intake Buses now automatically activate Pause after reaching base when ordered to Return to Base.

9. Fixed passive Civilian Migration not properly updating buildings when civilians arrived.

10. Added Bus Waystation assets. (W.i.P)

1. Gates support a new mode called No Buses/Mob mode which allows you greater control over how Busses/Mobs enter/leave your bases.

2. Updated the tooltip for No Civilian Mode:

   “Will open for nearby military units, and close when no military units are near. Ignores civilians and evacuation buses. Use this to create private military entrances or control civilian movement lanes.”

3. Gates using No Mob/Bus Entry mode now block Mobs and Buses from opening them when they pass nearby.

1. DNA can now drop from dead enemies.

2. Scientists can now gather DNA passively by walking over it.

3. Fixed DNA sometimes spawning in the air.

4. DNA can no longer spawn on water.

5. Lowered DNA spawn rates by 50 percent across the board.

6. Lowered Infection drop chances across the board to better balance against the amount of Infection that can normally spawn.

7. Lowered Partial Martial Law and Full Martial Law effects so they now reduce Infection rate only up to 10 percent and 20 percent maximum.

8. Updated tooltips to show the new chance values for Partial Martial Law and Full Martial Law.

1. Fixed World Buildings not displaying their proper information on clients sometimes

2. Fixed a desync where World Building icon states could desync between host/clients

3. Added total upkeep display to Staffing Display widgets.

4. Added upkeep cost per staff member and current total upkeep cost to hover tips.

5. Added maximum height support to some Staffing Display widgets so zones with many copies of the same facility no longer cause the widget to scale infinitely.

6. Fixed World Building icons glowing while night vision is active.

7. World Buildings order text no longer bleeds out of the box

8. Improved some World Building exit/entrance points to make them more reliable for mobs

9. Adjusted World Building window emissive color from white to a warmer yellow tone to make nighttime more vibrant

10. Added a lighting pass to all active maps as a whole similar to legacy

    

1. Updated the Travel Mode button on the Admin Widget with a more detailed tooltip that better reflects the new behavior.

2. Set the Exit Keyboard Rotation Mode hint on the ConstructionControlsWidget to highlight red when visible.

3. Updated the population meter on the RTS HUD to retry until it successfully receives GameState at least once. This prevents laggy clients from missing initialization.

4. Adjusted the Zone Management List so it is better guarded against going off the left side of the screen when opening or responding to viewport resize.

5. Added a Hint Popup for landscape and World Building brush mode.

6. While in brush mode, Shift must now be held to scale brush size. This allows normal zooming when Shift is not held.

7. Made the player mouse brush size consistent between landscape and World Building order brushes.

8. Brush size is now saved and loaded per file.

9. Fixed move previews not clearing when a unit died.

10. Fixed custom signs not accepting written text.

11. Fixed a visual bug where 3D resolution sometimes failed to initialize.

1. Improved Attack Move, Patrol, and Guard responsiveness.

2. Applied a vehicle movement optimization related to how often vehicles can recheck movement within a fixed period. Improved performance in mid-late game with vehicle heavy sessions.

3. Fixed moving and relaxed Boolean rules in the animation graph.

4. Fixed idle state behavior on RTS units.

5. Fixed vehicles getting stuck on DNA drops.

6. Fixed ground vehicles blocking other vehicles and Juggernauts after death.

7. Added Join and Leave messages.

1. Added a quick fix preventing players from right clicking to force uncontrollable units, such as Civilian Facility Staff, into nearby garrisons.

2. Fixed a flaw in RefreshGarrisonSlotsUsed() that could allow garrisons to exceed capacity in some cases.

3. Fixed garrison capacity checks not accounting for modifiers. This resolves civilians failing to walk to Evacuation Helicopters that have boosted capacity through custom game settings.

4. Fixed Evacuation Helicopter metadata incorrectly giving it a population cost of 2.

5. Changed Evac site helipad colors to the proper Civilian Evac colors, matching the legacy setup.

   

1. Fixed Sparrow sometimes falling through the map on death

2. Updated VehicleUnitComponent death effects to disable BlurAmount so helicopter rotors do not remain blurry after death.

3. Fixed Osprey material colors.

4. Updated Render Light Scale support for Light Components.

5. Added missing Water VT Volumes to the DeadSignal master.

1. Fixed a save crash related to client groups.

2. Added a speculative fix for a client World Building desync bug.

3. Added a safety pass for Vision Grid. More data is now copied into safe thread read snapshots to reduce or eliminate remaining Vision Grid crashes.

4. Fixed a LightManagerComponent warning and crash issue.

5. Added a speculative crash fix for a reported Discord crash case.

1. Added HK fire sounds.

2. Fixed bugged eyes on female civilians.

3. Fixed Osprey material colors.

1. Fixed Infinite Ammo, Infinite Gas, and related cheat menu options not always applying correctly when selected from the hub.

2. Cheat effects now properly apply beyond only the units that existed at the moment the setting was switched.

1. Buses and civilian Intake systems received a major behavior pass, including better WalkOnly zone handling, Waystation support, improved Migration behavior, and fewer stuck cases.

2. Gates and Door Modes now behave more reliably, especially for military only access and No Mob/Bus Entry rules.

3. DNA and Infection balance has been adjusted, with lower DNA spawn rates, safer spawn locations, and passive scientist collection.

4. World Building client state handling was improved to reduce desyncs, especially for laggy clients.

5. Several UI panels received polish, including World Building details, staffing displays, population meter initialization, brush controls, and construction hints.

6. Multiple crash and stability fixes were added across save handling, Vision Grid, LightManagerComponent, and World Building replication.

7. Vehicle, aircraft, and visual cleanup fixes were added, including helicopter rotor blur cleanup, Osprey material fixes, Sparrow collision updates, and ground vehicle death blocking fixes.

Civilian Evacuation is now playable from start to finish, and today’s update is focused on hotfixes, cleanup, and what comes next for the Rebuild.

The evacuation system just hit a major milestone. For the first time, players can now play through the entire civilian rescue loop from beginning to end. This includes fully functional intake processing, evacuation buses, infection scanning upgrades, doctrine progression, and direct civilian movement into evacuation zones.

New doctrine upgrades now let you streamline processing, skip holding cells, and massively improve evacuation efficiency as your operation grows.

The infected are also getting a major overhaul. Infection spread has been rebalanced, structure construction is now visible before activation, and the late game is being tuned to reduce the frustrating “whack-a-mole” pressure players were running into. Endless Horde Mode is now available as a custom option for players who want the infection to spread forever.

Vehicle pathfinding, helicopters, gates, airstrikes, radio systems, and multiplayer syncing all received major fixes this week. The team also reworked a large number of save/load issues, improved performance for large sessions, and added better RTS management tools for handling evacuation zones and civilian flow.

Next up is a full push on formation AI, infected intelligence, new infected variants, infected lieutenants(Her Operators), Infected Leviathan (Late game super unit), Operator improvements, and the massive San Francisco North map expansion.

The goal over the next 60 days is to push every major gameplay system far beyond what existed ever before.

You can catch up on the latest CERC HQ below if you want to see the full breakdown for yourself:

https://youtu.be/NC6z4-1UEB0

Over the next 30 to 60 days, the focus is pushing every major gameplay system forward beyond what existed before in the original build.

• Civilian Evacuation polish and bug fixing

• Formation AI improvements

• Infected intelligence improvements

• New infected variants

• Lieutenants and late-game infected progression

• Leviathan progression

• Operator improvements

• San Francisco North expansion work

• RTS control improvements

• Save/load and multiplayer stability improvements

The evacuation system has reached a major gameplay milestone.
Players can now complete the full civilian rescue loop from intake to evacuation, with supporting systems now coming online around it.

• Functional intake processing

• Evacuation buses

• Infection scanning upgrades

• Doctrine progression

• Direct civilian movement into evacuation zones

• Upgrades to streamline civilian processing

• Options to skip holding cells

• Improved evacuation efficiency as your operation grows

The infected are also receiving a major pass as part of this phase of development.
Infection spread has been rebalanced, infected structure construction is now visible before activation, and late-game pressure is being tuned to reduce the frustrating “whack-a-mole” feeling players were running into.
Endless Horde Mode is also available as a custom option for players who want the infection to keep spreading forever.

The next major push is about taking the systems now coming online and making them stronger, smarter, and more stable.
Expect continued work on formation AI, infected behavior, new infected threats, Operator improvements, San Francisco North, evacuation polish, and the broader late-game progression loop.
As always, Experimental builds may contain rough edges, bugs, and unfinished content. Player reports are extremely helpful as these systems continue moving toward the default branch.

🕔 When: Weekly Saturdays – 7 PM EST (New Time!)

💬 What is CERC HQ:

Welcome to Cepheus Protocol HQ, your ultimate weekly briefing on all things Cepheus Protocol! Join the Halcyon Winds team as we explore the latest updates, reveal behind-the-scenes development stories, and answer community questions about the game. From exciting new features to design challenges, this is your all-access pass to the evolving world of Cepheus Protocol. Tune in every week and stay ahead of the outbreak!

• Co-op Progress

• Total Revamp based on Community Feedback

• Level Design Updates

📺 Where to Watch:

• YouTube Livestream

• Discord Server[discord.gg]

• Steam Page

🎤 Don’t miss our Live Q&A! We’ll be answering questions from the community during the stream.

• YouTube VOD Playlist

• Spotify Podcast Archive[open.spotify.com] (VODs may take 24 hours to appear)

The virus is loose across the Bay Area. Flashpoints are erupting across the peninsula as entire districts fall into chaos and infected swarms push deeper into civilian zones.

CERC forces are already in the field.

Embedded military reporters and frontline operators are transmitting battlefield coverage directly from active operations. The images you are about to see were captured during recent combat deployments across the region.

These transmissions come directly from the front.

The battle for the Bay Area has begun.

• Fixed Dead Air SOC's having a weird offset in certain areas of the map

• Fixed a fog of war issue on Dead Air on init

• Improved the Helicopter nav on Dead Air

• Fixed a Chelsey duplication glitch that occurred when loading a save

Civilian Evacuation is now playable from start to finish, and today’s update is focused on hotfixes, cleanup, and what comes next for the Rebuild.

The evacuation system just hit a major milestone. For the first time, players can now play through the entire civilian rescue loop from beginning to end. This includes fully functional intake processing, evacuation buses, infection scanning upgrades, doctrine progression, and direct civilian movement into evacuation zones.

New doctrine upgrades now let you streamline processing, skip holding cells, and massively improve evacuation efficiency as your operation grows.

The infected are also getting a major overhaul. Infection spread has been rebalanced, structure construction is now visible before activation, and the late game is being tuned to reduce the frustrating “whack-a-mole” pressure players were running into. Endless Horde Mode is now available as a custom option for players who want the infection to spread forever.

Vehicle pathfinding, helicopters, gates, airstrikes, radio systems, and multiplayer syncing all received major fixes this week. The team also reworked a large number of save/load issues, improved performance for large sessions, and added better RTS management tools for handling evacuation zones and civilian flow.

Next up is a full push on formation AI, infected intelligence, new infected variants, infected lieutenants(Her Operators), Infected Leviathan (Late game super unit), Operator improvements, and the massive San Francisco North map expansion.

The goal over the next 60 days is to push every major gameplay system far beyond what existed ever before.

You can catch up on the latest CERC HQ below if you want to see the full breakdown for yourself:

https://youtu.be/NC6z4-1UEB0

Over the next 30 to 60 days, the focus is pushing every major gameplay system forward beyond what existed before in the original build.

• Civilian Evacuation polish and bug fixing

• Formation AI improvements

• Infected intelligence improvements

• New infected variants

• Lieutenants and late-game infected progression

• Leviathan progression

• Operator improvements

• San Francisco North expansion work

• RTS control improvements

• Save/load and multiplayer stability improvements

The evacuation system has reached a major gameplay milestone.
Players can now complete the full civilian rescue loop from intake to evacuation, with supporting systems now coming online around it.

• Functional intake processing

• Evacuation buses

• Infection scanning upgrades

• Doctrine progression

• Direct civilian movement into evacuation zones

• Upgrades to streamline civilian processing

• Options to skip holding cells

• Improved evacuation efficiency as your operation grows

The infected are also receiving a major pass as part of this phase of development.
Infection spread has been rebalanced, infected structure construction is now visible before activation, and late-game pressure is being tuned to reduce the frustrating “whack-a-mole” feeling players were running into.
Endless Horde Mode is also available as a custom option for players who want the infection to keep spreading forever.

The next major push is about taking the systems now coming online and making them stronger, smarter, and more stable.
Expect continued work on formation AI, infected behavior, new infected threats, Operator improvements, San Francisco North, evacuation polish, and the broader late-game progression loop.
As always, Experimental builds may contain rough edges, bugs, and unfinished content. Player reports are extremely helpful as these systems continue moving toward the default branch.

🕔 When: Weekly Saturdays – 7 PM EST (New Time!)

💬 What is CERC HQ:

Welcome to Cepheus Protocol HQ, your ultimate weekly briefing on all things Cepheus Protocol! Join the Halcyon Winds team as we explore the latest updates, reveal behind-the-scenes development stories, and answer community questions about the game. From exciting new features to design challenges, this is your all-access pass to the evolving world of Cepheus Protocol. Tune in every week and stay ahead of the outbreak!

• Co-op Progress

• Total Revamp based on Community Feedback

• Level Design Updates

📺 Where to Watch:

• YouTube Livestream

• Discord Server[discord.gg]

• Steam Page

🎤 Don’t miss our Live Q&A! We’ll be answering questions from the community during the stream.

• YouTube VOD Playlist

• Spotify Podcast Archive[open.spotify.com] (VODs may take 24 hours to appear)

This month’s update is focused on two major pieces of the rebuild: Civilian Evacuation and San Francisco North. Civilian Evacuation is entering Experimental as an early preview, and San Francisco North is being included as an early incubator look at the future Bay Area map. Both are playable early because they are now far enough along to communicate the direction of the rebuild, even though both still have work ahead of them.

Construct an Intake euthanization facility to dispose of infected and uninfected civilians as you see fit. But every atrocity has consequences. Kill enough civilians, and the survivors will hear of your crimes, form militias, and come for revenge.

For the full original overview of the Civilian Evacuation Mechanics check out this article

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/979640/view/541134496998621257

Civilian Evacuation is one of the largest gameplay systems being added to Cepheus Protocol. The goal is to make civilians part of the strategy instead of background population. Players will be moving civilians out of danger, routing them through evacuation systems, processing them through intake, and eventually tying those decisions into income, infection control, reputation, and long-term zone stability.

Active Intake is limited to two facilities at a time for now. As testing expands, this limit may increase while we continue balancing loading, staffing, and facility throughput. To run Intake efficiently, you will need to hire personnel and maintain a steady flow through the system.

Gilbroz Gaming recently actually did a highlight of the new systems check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXY2EsropZ4https://youtu.be/FfN-OauqnxE?si=NvIkvVlEwNmb_Mbdhttps://youtu.be/99Rx47jE7yY?si=0MunSq8yKfoW-ReT

• You can view the below Live Stream to see the current overview of the systems in place and experience a deep dive!

https://youtu.be/HIWdLicMvMoHire security teams to passively defend structures within their area of influence. They help protect your evacuation infrastructure, allowing you to commit your population fully to the war effort. They dynamically patrol your base within that area of influence responding to threats as they arrive.

Civilian Evacuation adds a new strategic layer to Cepheus Protocol. You are not just clearing infected and holding territory anymore. You are also managing the people trapped inside the outbreak. You can just kill them all too..

Civilian Evac adds a new strategic layer to the game, where every decision can determine the fate of the civilians. By evacuating survivors, you cut off the infected from a vital biomass source, slowing their growth and starving them of the resources they need to spread and build armies

This preview shows the first visible version of that loop. Civilians can now move through active intake zones based on the policies you set for each zone. Depending on how you configure them, civilians can move by bus, on foot, or through both methods at the same time.

After Day 4, infected birds will begin entering the battlefield in large swarms. These packs can quickly overwhelm helicopters and infantry, forcing players to adapt their defenses.

That means buses are no longer the only path into evacuation. They are one part of a larger intake system where each zone can control how civilians are allowed to move, how they are processed, and how quickly they can be pushed through the evacuation pipeline.

For this preview, players will be able to see civilian movement, bus supported transport, ground based evacuation, intake flow, and the first pass of how these systems connect into the larger strategic map.

https://youtu.be/W0xgs95Rwz4https://youtu.be/1Oo-SrIgstY

• Intake Structure Research items (Research integration)

  • Hand Scanners - are the first tier of upgrades bought via DNA/Cash from the Doctrines tree. It allows you to detect infection at the intake structure and immediately be able to decide if you want to euthanize or cage for DNA. Caging for DNA allows you to passively farm DNA for 2-3 rotations till the Infected succumbs and dies.

  • Scanning machines - replaces the hand scanners and integrates a MRI inspired device that scans for Infection as mobs enter the intake area allowing you to speed up the flow by 50% and mirrors the process you can do above.

• Save/Load there are still some issues we are tracking but its 90% there. if you encounter any save/load issues contact us on Discord with the save file details!

• Bus AI- we are tracking some issues with Busses arriving at a location and doing donuts. If this occurs click the said bus and hit pause/resume and that will fix it. We are looking into this as we speak.

• Some UI elements are still W.I.P and are mockups they are being worked on by our artists atm

• QWERTY vs azerty keyboard modes

• Treasure Island as a standalone map

• F1 Player list now respects colors

• New No build areas added to new Evac Assets + Legacy structures

• More enemy types now supported in the presets system

• Tons of new Custom Options,

  • Infinite Ammo Mode

  • No Gas Mode

  • No Supply System Mode

  • Endless Horde Mode

  • Disabling Militia attacks or making them be able to attack you more often

  • Allows you make Evac harder or easier via custom tuning like Infected/Noninfected Reward Money

  • Increase the Evac Capacity of the Merlin

• Added the ability to choose a custom color, you can save a "swab" so you can cycle between colors for different groups you play with. Even allows you to type in RGB/CMKY and sample colors from windows!

• Radio Operators call in now work during Slomo/Tactical Pause!

• Operators now have a Look/Aim sensitivity settings!

• World Camera shakes that emit from explosions and "hero" unit weapons. Can be disabled in gameplay options!

  

• Single click Minimap to walk/ double click to issue a run order from the minimap now + a new move preview system(Still in testing)

  

  

• Resizable Landscape removal tool just scroll your mouse wheel after you open it!

  

• Move Prediction for Infantry and Vehicles gate tweaked to open earlier and faster for units leaving/exiting.

  

• Infected Structures now have a more obvious build time and will be effectively helpless during their construction stages now

  

• When a zone is out of power unit recruitment buttons no longer disappear which was confusing people instead we do this now

• Purge world buildings to kill all people inside a building but doing so will effect your reputation in that zone and nearby zones over time. Condemn to tell people to "clear" a structure over time and permanently mark it as off limits to safeguard your bases from Militia attacks should you commit war crimes.

  

• AI now support "Guard" mode which will defend units when they are hurt and will auto follow them around the map.

  

Improved Operator visuals and separated them further from RTS. Take a look!

Iron sighting when playing as the Operator now dynamically shifts their FOV so its a bit more immersive

Next week is about finishing the remaining Civilian Evacuation pieces listed above and getting the system ready for wider access. I.E leaving experimental and entering the public branch

• Finish the remaining intake research integration

• Bring Hand Scanners and Scanning Machines fully online

• Continue save/load refinement for evacuation related systems

• Improve bus reliability

• Polish civilian movement through active intake zones

• Refine how zone policies control buses, ground movement, or both

• Adjust anything major that comes up from community feedback

At that point, the default branch will receive a major update that includes all of these changes. We are currently aiming for that to happen roughly within the next week.

After that, the rest of the month will focus on AI formations and pathfinding.

The goal is to make larger groups move more consistently, reduce remaining movement edge cases, and improve how units behave across the map.

The first part of June will shift toward improving the Infection faction as a whole.

Civilian Evacuation is the current focus, but once this round of work is in a stronger place, the Infection faction is next in line for a larger refinement push.`

San Francisco North is now available as an early unstable version of the larger Bay Area map.

You can jump in and play around with it, but it is not meant to replace the current stable map yet. Some features are not fully connected, some mechanics are still being integrated, and parts of the map are still rough. The goal right now is to let players see the scale, layout, direction, and progress as the map continues to come together.

Expect unfinished areas, missing detail, pathfinding issues, performance rough spots, and sections that may change as we keep building it out.

Over the next 30 days or so, our goal is to keep pushing San Francisco North toward becoming the main stable Bay Area experience. Going into June and July, we will be focusing on traversal, exterior detail, pathfinding, performance, visual polish, and making sure the larger map supports the core Pandemic experience properly.

San Francisco North is playable in its current state, but it should be treated as an early look at where the main map is heading rather than the finished version.

Civilian Evacuation is the current focus, but once this pass is in a stronger place, our attention will shift into the next set of major refinements.

The next major focus will be AI formations and pathfinding.

This means improving how larger groups move across the map, how units stay organized during movement, and how they handle longer routes, tighter spaces, and larger fights.

After that, we will be putting more attention into Infected AI and the Infected faction as a whole.

The goal is to keep improving how the infected behave, pressure the player, interact with the map, and scale as the match progresses.

Alongside that work, we will continue improving the systems players interact with every session.

That includes vehicle pathfinding, helicopter behavior, performance, map flow, unit movement, general tuning, and refinements across existing systems.

Operator polish is also a major part of what comes next.

Operators are meant to feel like a real part of the war effort, not a separate layer sitting beside the RTS side of the game. We will be spending more time improving how Operators move, control, fight, build, use vehicles, use turrets, recruit squads, command their own forces, and connect into the larger RTS systems.

The goal is to make Operators useful across the early game, mid game, and late game. For example, Operators should be able to push into the world, establish forward outposts, build up local forces, and create openings that RTS players/or themselves can take control of later.

We will also continue finalizing the Operator UI with the same level of attention we have been applying to the RTS side over the last few months.

San Francisco North will continue moving forward during this same stretch.

It is available now as an early unstable version of the larger Bay Area map. Players can jump in and try it, but not every feature or mechanic is fully connected yet.

Going into June and July, we will keep pushing San Francisco North toward becoming the main stable Bay Area experience.

Once these pieces are in a stronger place, we will continue moving through the rest of the roadmap already posted on the Steam forums.

If you want the most stable experience, stay on the main branch.

If you want to see where the rebuild is heading, the Experimental branch will have the Civilian Evacuation preview and the early San Francisco North version available.

🕔 When: Weekly Saturdays – 7 PM EST (New Time!)

💬 What is CERC HQ:

Welcome to Cepheus Protocol HQ, your ultimate weekly briefing on all things Cepheus Protocol! Join the Halcyon Winds team as we explore the latest updates, reveal behind-the-scenes development stories, and answer community questions about the game. From exciting new features to design challenges, this is your all-access pass to the evolving world of Cepheus Protocol. Tune in every week and stay ahead of the outbreak!

• Co-op Progress

• Total Revamp based on Community Feedback

• Level Design Updates

📺 Where to Watch:

• YouTube Livestream

• Discord Server[discord.gg]

• Steam Page

🎤 Don’t miss our Live Q&A! We’ll be answering questions from the community during the stream.

• YouTube VOD Playlist

• Spotify Podcast Archive[open.spotify.com] (VODs may take 24 hours to appear)

The virus is loose across the Bay Area. Flashpoints are erupting across the peninsula as entire districts fall into chaos and infected swarms push deeper into civilian zones.

CERC forces are already in the field.

Embedded military reporters and frontline operators are transmitting battlefield coverage directly from active operations. The images you are about to see were captured during recent combat deployments across the region.

These transmissions come directly from the front.

The battle for the Bay Area has begun.

For the full original overview of the Civilian Evacuation Mechanics check out this articlehttps://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/541134496998621258Over the last four weeks, we’ve made major progress on the Civilian Evacuation Mechanics. These updates represent a shift from early implementation into full system integration, touching population control, logistics, AI behavior, and overall match pacing.

Below is a summary of the last four weeks of development while we work to iron out the new main mechanics of Civilian Evac.

Also consider opting into "Legacy" and try the older version of Cepheus the rebuilt was based on to get some insight on what er are aiming to do differently this time around

A major new gameplay system is currently in development, focused on changing how players handle the outbreak over time.

Calypso is nearing readiness after a public playtest exposed pathfinding and gameplay issues. The map itself is largely complete, with dense terrain, cities, and chokepoints designed to support base building and flanking strategies. Current work is focused on resolving those issues before pushing the map to experimental.

Legacy locations are also being reworked into standalone scenarios. Iron Wake is being adapted into a pandemic style map with carrier based deployment and inland progression. Additional island maps are being planned to support shorter session formats while larger regions continue development.

Combat pacing is being adjusted based on feedback. Early waves are being tuned to ramp more gradually, with fewer special infected. Balance changes to juggernauts, weapon damage, and anti air systems are in progress, alongside fixes for issues like bird targeting and rally point bugs.

At the same time, early work has begun on a civilian evacuation system. The current focus is on building out screening checkpoints, isolation zones, evacuation areas, and euthanization options, along with staff management. Infection detection is intentionally limited early on, with research planned to unlock better tools. Logistics systems like buses and helicopters are being explored for moving civilians between zones.

Next steps are focused on continuing evacuation system development, expanding research mechanics, and preparing for infection spread across multiple locations.

Civilian evacuation development is expanding into a broader population control system that is still actively being built and refined.

Work is underway on zone to zone population management, allowing players to move, contain, or eliminate civilians depending on strategy. Building level mechanics like purge and condemn are being developed to tie directly into reputation and long term stability.

DNA gameplay is also being reworked. Current work includes implementing drops, collectors, and faster gathering, with scientists playing a larger role. This system is intended to support future progression tied to infection control.

Map updates are continuing, with a refreshed island and another standalone map in development. Weapons are being expanded, and ongoing balance work is targeting vehicles and time to kill.

Several issues are still in progress, including infected bird behavior, inconsistent AI, and bugs in DNA collection. Upcoming work is focused on buses, evacuation intake systems, and overall polish as the feature moves closer to a testable state.

Development is now focused on scaling the evacuation system into a larger gameplay layer, with multiple systems being implemented and iterated on simultaneously.

Current work includes evacuation intake, zone routing, and automated transport. Systems like buses and depots are being built out to support large scale population movement, with an emphasis on managing flow, capacity, and safety.

Maps are continuing to be updated and rebuilt to better support navigation and combat flow, aligning environments with the needs of these new systems.

Additional mechanics are in development, including DNA collectors, martial law controls, and a reputation system. Work is underway to support dynamic militia formation as a response to player actions, though this is still being implemented and tested.

Because many of these systems are recent additions, there are active issues with population transfer logic and pathfinding. These are currently being addressed through ongoing iteration.

Next steps include completing evacuation flow, expanding militia behavior, and preparing for early testing on a larger scale city map.

Work continues on expanding and stabilizing evacuation systems as they move closer to broader testing.

Current development includes transport buses, overpopulation mechanics, and early versions of autonomous security teams that can be equipped and assigned. Managing population flow between zones is becoming a core focus, with failure cases like overcrowding and instability being actively tested.

Militia behavior is also being developed further, with escalation tied to reputation and civilian losses. These systems are still being tuned and expanded.

Additional work includes map updates, pathfinding improvements, early co op support for evacuation systems, and broader balance passes across combat and AI.

There are still known issues, particularly with buses, pathfinding, and UI behavior, which are being actively worked on.

Next steps are focused on completing evacuation systems, refining AI and balance, and preparing the first wider playable build.

Tonight : TBD

https://youtu.be/JLhnAGQp4kI

Where Things Stand

The immediate goal is to get the first experimental build out within the next week or two. There is still a lot in motion, and key parts of the evacuation system are still being built and layered together before the full experience is playable from start to finish.

How Development Is Being Handled

Right now, most of the work is happening in isolated chunks.

Individual systems are being built and tested independently, then integrated as they come online. At this stage, the focus is not just adding features, but getting everything to function together as a complete gameplay loop.

What We Are Solving

The current focus is on finishing and stabilizing the remaining core pieces:

• Intake, evacuation flow, and euthanization so the full population loop works end to end

• Bus system issues including AI behavior, pathfinding, and collision

• Zone to zone transfers to ensure population movement is reliable under load

• Final integration of evacuation systems with already implemented supporting systems

• Recent bugs and edge cases reported over the last week during testing

Most supporting systems and top level civilian mechanics are already in or close to being finalized. The remaining work is focused on getting these last pieces working together cleanly so the system can run from start to finish without breaking.

What Comes Next

The priority is getting a complete start to finish loop that is stable enough to play without breaking.

Once that is in place, the next step is pushing the build into experimental so players can begin stress testing it in real gameplay conditions.

Community Playtesting

Once the system is baked in, the plan is to move into rapid public playtesting with the community, running sessions daily or every couple of days to quickly iron out issues and refine the design.

If you want to be part of that process, consider joining the Discord. These playtests will come online quickly as the system becomes playable, and it will be the best place to get involved early.

🕔 When: Weekly Saturdays – 7 PM EST (New Time!)

💬 What is CERC HQ:

Welcome to Cepheus Protocol HQ, your ultimate weekly briefing on all things Cepheus Protocol! Join the Halcyon Winds team as we explore the latest updates, reveal behind-the-scenes development stories, and answer community questions about the game. From exciting new features to design challenges, this is your all-access pass to the evolving world of Cepheus Protocol. Tune in every week and stay ahead of the outbreak!

• Co-op Progress

• Total Revamp based on Community Feedback

• Level Design Updates

📺 Where to Watch:

• YouTube Livestream

• Discord Server[discord.gg]

• Steam Page

🎤 Don’t miss our Live Q&A! We’ll be answering questions from the community during the stream.

• YouTube VOD Playlist

• Spotify Podcast Archive[open.spotify.com] (VODs may take 24 hours to appear)

Cepheus Protocol | CERC HQ | #84

Civilian evacuation is finally coming together, and it’s reshaping how every system in the game connects.

Phase three kicks off with a full evacuation framework. You can now purge or relocate entire buildings, shift populations between zones, and manage reputation based on your decisions. A new civilian hold system tracks infected, dead, and evacuated counts in real time, while evacuation orders and zone flow create a dynamic map-wide population movement.

DNA systems are getting a major upgrade. Enemies now drop DNA, scientists can collect it, and a new DNA collector passively generates resources based on infection levels. This ties directly into upcoming research systems, letting you invest in detection tools, upgrades, and long-term progression.

There’s also a wave of improvements across the board. New weapons are being added, vehicles and time-to-kill are rebalanced, and infected AI like birds are being tuned for better behavior and performance. Some bugs are still being worked through, including pathfinding quirks and visual issues with DNA collection.

Next up is finishing the evacuation loop with buses, intake systems, and full civilian processing. After that, focus shifts to operator polish, smarter infected AI, and expanding into larger maps with more complex scenarios.

https://youtu.be/C7VJ-YmU6_8

Phase 3 is already in motion. We are several weeks into implementation, and the next major push is Civilian Evacuation. We are aiming for an experimental patch in the next week or two, and when it lands, we are going to need strong testing and actionable feedback.

Non Infected Civilian Meshes are in + Operator Weapon drop is coming soon!

2 New maps are live for testing on Experimental. Angel Island will be joining the roster as a standalone map in the next 1-2 weeks before we resume work on San Francisco North.

The virus is loose across the Bay Area. Flashpoints are erupting across the peninsula as entire districts fall into chaos and infected swarms push deeper into civilian zones.

CERC forces are already in the field.

Embedded military reporters and frontline operators are transmitting battlefield coverage directly from active operations. The images you are about to see were captured during recent combat deployments across the region.

These transmissions come directly from the front.

The battle for the Bay Area has begun.

Civilian Evacuation is one of the biggest new ways to engage with the game.It is not just another side system. It is a new gameplay lane that changes how you make money, how you move people, how you secure territory, and how your decisions reshape the map over time.

• Civilian Evacuation creates a new way to play the game by turning population control into a real strategic layer. Taking away the Biomass resource from Infected

• You will be able to generate income through evacuation.

• Martial law can be declared in any zone to slow infection but doing so will piss off civilians depending on the level you employ ruining your reputation in that zone.

• You will be able to move populations between zones through buses and normal movement.

• You will be able to route civilians into intake centers and process them based on the rules you set. That means deciding who gets evacuated, who gets screened further, and who gets shot.

• The goal is to add replay value and give players another way to approach the war beyond direct combat. It creates more room for logistics, more room for decision making, and more ways to trade safety, efficiency, and profit against each other.

• Players can run camps together or alone its up to them in Coop or SP sessions

The intake side of the system is built around letting you control what happens to civilian populations once they are brought in. Depending on your rules and screening process, civilians can be:

• Evacuated

• Caged for DNA

• Caged for containment (Isolation till confirmation)

• Euthanized

  

This gives the player a lot more control over how strict or how ruthless they want their response to be. It also means interactions with the civilian systems are no longer passive. It becomes something you actively shape through policy, logistics, and security.

• A major part of this update is the ability to move civilian populations from zone to zone in a more structured way.

• The bus system is being added so civilians can be transported across the map and brought into admin intake centers.

• At the same time, a new structure is being added that lets you choose a waypoint inside a zone. That matters because civilians will not always need to go straight to a building or straight to the admin center. Instead, they can be routed to a controlled entry point inside the zone first, which gives you a stronger way to establish security, stage movement, and control how populations enter an area.

Zone reputation is the pressure system tied to how you treat civilians.

• It is directly affected by atrocities and evacuation.

• If you keep killing civilians in any form, your reputation in that zone drops and affects other nearby zones.

• If you successfully evacuate people, your reputation rises. The system is intentionally simple in its base form, because the goal right now is to get it in, see how it feels, and then tune it from there.

• The consequence for low reputation is civilian retaliation. If your reputation continues to collapse, civilian militia groups can begin launching raids against your outposts and bases. The worse your reputation gets, the larger those groups can become, and the more often they can appear. That means brutality is no longer just a throwaway action. It can create an escalating security problem that pushes back against the player.

  

DNA research ties directly back into Civilian Evacuation and the wider combat loop.

• On the civilian side, it improves the efficiency of evacuation and intake systems.

• On the combat side, it improves the reliability and resilience of some of your units.

• Shrewder Rounds will be readded plus Chelsey's Cocoon state so she will be unkillable till you get this upgrade through learning the Pangu virus.

• This is part of the broader push to make DNA matter more as a real gameplay system instead of a background mechanic.

• We will be going into this in more detail over the next one to two weeks as the base intake systems come online.

Civilian Evacuation is not a side feature. It changes the core gameplay loop. Matches are no longer just about holding ground and killing infected. They are also about screening civilians, moving them, containing infection risk, securing evacuation routes, and managing the consequences of your decisions.

We are aiming for an experimental patch in the next week or two. When it lands, we need as many players as possible to stress test the new gameplay loop and give us actionable feedback. That feedback will directly shape how fast we can stabilize this system and push it further.

Right now, the immediate implementation focus is:

• Reputation penalties that can trigger civilian militia raids on your bases

• The bus system for moving civilians from zone to zone

• New waypoint structures that let you control where civilians enter a zone

• Admin intake flow for processing civilian populations

That is the current foundation. Once those parts are in and functioning, we can keep tuning the feel of the system and expand from there. There is already 2/3's of the system in as it stands and we've been showing them off weekly at the CERC HQ's.

Civilian Evacuation comes first.
After that, we close out the last remaining gameplay pillars of the rebuild.
Carrier and deployment systems

• Get the LHA 6 moving again.

• Restore elevator functionality.

• Bring back the LCAC as the deployable hovercraft transport.

• Operator driving

• UI pass for Gunsmith + Base UI

• Shooting polish.

• Interoperability with RTS Elements (Opening Gates, building units etc)

• Being able to build bases on their own

• Airstrike/Support "Laze" support

• Infected AI refinement to improve attacking/defending logic

• Leviathan reintegration(See Legacy)

• Lieutenant reintegration for the infected faction.

  • LT's take up control of sub zones for Chelsey and influence mutations on the infection in those zones to make combating them slightly different. I.E a Spitter that can cloak or a Blowup guy that leaves a huge infection cloud when he dies.

  • LT AI push with Chelsey to make them more deadly

After AI polish, the last remaining part of the wider core gameplay loop moves into Quarter 2 of 2026.

This stage focuses on the world simulation layer through dynamic civilian groups, the Police faction AI , Natalie’s Anarchists AI , and one civilian factions.

What this includes

• AI Police faction: A non playable faction that helps simulate law, order, containment, and local response across the world.

• AI Natalie’s Anarchists faction: A non playable faction force meant to create pressure, disorder, and conflict across the map.

• AI Civilian faction: A non playable faction that help make the world feel more reactive, more alive, and less centered purely around the player.

What these factions do

These factions are not traditional player factions.
They exist to simulate the world around you and add another layer to the strategic environment.

• Some may help you.

• Some may hate you.

• Some may shift over time depending on how the match develops and how you deal with them.

How you will interact with them

The most basic elements being able to coordinate with them, buy units from them, and use their support to reinforce your own forces when it makes sense.

You will be able to work with these groups at a basic level more will be revealed in Q2.

Why this matters

This is one of the last major steps in pushing the game beyond the rebuild and into a more reactive world simulation.

Instead of every force existing only as a direct extension of the player, these groups will act as independent actors inside the world and help shape the larger conflict around you.

🕔 When: Weekly Saturdays – 7 PM EST (New Time!)

💬 What is CERC HQ:

Welcome to Cepheus Protocol HQ, your ultimate weekly briefing on all things Cepheus Protocol! Join the Halcyon Winds team as we explore the latest updates, reveal behind-the-scenes development stories, and answer community questions about the game. From exciting new features to design challenges, this is your all-access pass to the evolving world of Cepheus Protocol. Tune in every week and stay ahead of the outbreak!

• Co-op Progress

• Total Revamp based on Community Feedback

• Level Design Updates

📺 Where to Watch:

• YouTube Livestream

• Discord Server[discord.gg]

• Steam Page

🎤 Don’t miss our Live Q&A! We’ll be answering questions from the community during the stream.

• YouTube VOD Playlist

• Spotify Podcast Archive[open.spotify.com] (VODs may take 24 hours to appear)

Phase 2 is coming to a close within the next 24 hours as we finish the final adjustments to the bird systems. With that work wrapping up, development is already moving forward into the next major system update. Civilian Evacuation 2.0 Civilian Evacuation 2.0 is a complete revamp of legacy systems built on several years of community feedback. The upcoming development cycle is focused on delivering this system from implementation through completion.

Alongside this, the first pieces of the new DNA systems will begin appearing early next week.

• DNA drops will begin appearing in infected areas

• Scientists will be able to collect DNA

• A new DNA farming structure will allow passive DNA generation

The DNA farming structure can be placed inside infected zones where it will generate DNA passively based on the infection level of that area. Higher infection zones will produce more DNA over time.

However, deploying these structures will attract horde responses as infected attempt to destroy them, and the number of structures that can be built will be globally limited.

DNA will feed into research that improves unit resilience and supports Civilian Evacuation research as players continue learning more about the virus.

CERC HQ Podcast Tonight
Tonight we will be covering:

• The design direction for Civilian Evacuation 2.0

• How the DNA systems work

• How these mechanics connect together

If you want an early look at what we are building next for Cepheus Protocol, I recommend dropping into the broadcast. Watch the Stream

YouTube
Watch Live on YouTube

Discord Event
Join the Discord Event[discord.com]

Next Saturday we will show an incremental update demonstrating the progress made following the systems discussed in tonight’s stream.