Hello Guardians,
With Update 1.1.1, we are launching the Halloween event in the game.
I would also like to inform you about an important update.
A recently identified security vulnerability within Unity has been spotted, and while there is currently no evidence of impact on users, I take all relevant steps to ensure you’re on the latest and safest version of the game.
To keep you safe, I've released a new patch that addresses the issue. Please update your game as soon as possible to stay protected.
You can read more about it here:
FIxed an issue that prevented players from throwing colors after the Steam Overlay was opened using "shift + "tab".
Fixed issue that prevented players from joining an online lobby after someone left an 8 player lobby.
Fixed an issue where player names and arrows would show up during the initial story cutscene.
Improved networking to give players a better experience when playing online.
Security fixes.
A few times each week, our developers host public multiplayer sessions where we jump into the chaos ourselves—testing, refining, and showcasing the true state of the game. These sessions are open for everyone to join, chat, and experience the evolving sandbox that Cepheus Protocol Multiplayer and Singleplayer has become.
This particular session started with twelve players splitting into multiple fireteams, each setting up forward operating bases (FOBs) across the city. One team established their base in the center, another fortified the soccer field, while a third entrenched themselves near the construction site. Once Chelseys location was discovered, the teams coordinated to divide the map—back-capping the right side and containing her forces to the left.
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[/carousel]The first major engagement came at the soccer field, where Chelseys infected army launched repeated assaults. Waves of brutes and juggernauts clashed against entrenched defenses while operators and RTS-controlled infantry fought street-to-street. When Chelsey shifted her focus toward the Bayfront Administration Center, the central fireteam held firm, repelling the push and stabilizing the front lines.
Meanwhile, Moro’s team conducted daring hit-and-run strikes deep in infected territory—keeping Chelsey off balance and forcing her to defend on multiple fronts. A few close calls nearly broke our lines, but through coordinated air support and precision strikes, we turned the tide. Soon after, our combined forces launched a decisive counteroffensive that pushed her back to the import-export district.
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[/carousel]At the climax of the battle, Chelsey unleashed everything she had—massive infected hordes, explosive variants, and juggernauts charging the southern front. The push almost succeeded, but a quick call for reinforcements from Ford’s squad brought helicopters and operators roaring across the skyline. The ground units regrouped for a final unified assault, sweeping across the neighborhoods toward the lighthouse and satellite communications sectors.
In a storm of gunfire, missiles, and chaos, we finally pushed Chelseys forces back into the sea—securing a hard-fought victory. The battle ended with every surviving player lined up across the pacified coastline for a well-earned group screenshot.
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[/carousel]This match marked one of our most successful multiplayer playtests yet—no crashes, minimal bugs, and over 90 minutes of pure, unscripted RTS/TPS mayhem. You can watch the full 1 hour and 28 minute playthrough below. Every week, sessions like this bring us closer to the vision of what Cepheus Protocol is meant to be: an RTS unlike anything else in the genre—alive, unpredictable, and built on the stories that emerge when real players face impossible odds together.
Thank you for your continued support as we rebuild Cepheus Protocol from the ground up. Every match, every bug fix, and every chaotic moment helps shape the future of the game.
HMB map adjustments and South TI progress
Fixed Infected structures blocking Infected movement + spawning
Reworked some ConstructionComponent/BuildingConstructionComponent.cpp code to make it less likely to crash under strain
Added some more debugging for FM attack waves to help resolve some player reported issues
Resolved Assertion failed: SessionInfo->SessionType == ESteamSession::AdvertisedSessionHost || SessionInfo->SessionType crash + another construction crash
Fixing spamming jump before a map load crashing the server
Decreased Shawnee pop cost to 5 and base price to 120k
Fixed Blowup guy not applying damage correctly to himself when he explodes
Increased Attack waves on day 0,
Increased health of blowups guy to 600
Speculative fix for crashing the host if you jump before going into a new map
Adjusted all Juggernaut AI logic to better transition between states
Reduced allied damage by blow up explosions by 90%
Adjusted Gas tower radius vis for a slightly cleaner and more consistent look.
More progress on AI improvements to try to deal with 'tricky' player base setups (not perfect yet but decent compromise for now)
Minor adjustment to AOEMarker material to make visuals more consistent at larger scales.
Added new rotor blur setup to Charon and Skycrane.
First pass on 'CanMeleeReachAt' to also use some async queries for storing path length, and updating DistanceThreat calculations in UnitComponent to use that path-length data to make smarter decisions. Doesn't fix all situations but does perform noticeably better in a specific test map which 'tempts' units to go a really long pathway, resulting in 'zig-zagging' infected
Added some more safeties to minmap camera movement so you cant spam click it to "glitch out of the map"
More updating to AI 'can melee reach at', this time to use some caching (haven't added path-length check yet, optimizing function first) Another method to improve infected targeting
Buffed juggernaut damage towards CERC structures and walls
Gave spitters the same range as m4's,
Added a Air range to Spitters so they can properly match helicopters
Fixed an issue where units that were unarmed wouldn't initialize their proper fog of war sight range
Fixed a bug where you could clip out of the map by clicking over the water or carrier on the minimap.
Here’s how to opt into the Cepheus Protocol public playtest on Steam:
Open Steam and go to your Library.
Right-click Cepheus Protocol and select Properties.
In the left panel, click on Betas.
From the dropdown menu, choose public-playtest.
Close the window. Steam will automatically begin downloading the playtest branch.
Once the download is finished, you’ll be running the public playtest version.
Recap for those late to the party
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/979640/view/537736957039477252https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/979640/view/537735054151909377
Immediate priorities are:
Balancing the new Builder Drone and Juggernaut AI
Wrapping helicopter polish (directed landings, pads, operator features, desync fixes)
Fixing AI issues with enemy prioritization and tactical decisions
Frequent bug fixes as we get reports
Chelsey’s AI
Juggernauts are undergoing testing at the moment
Population Meter re-implemented at the bottom-left of the UI for tracking infection strength
Once helicopters and AI stability are locked in, focus will shift to Custom Game Options so players can tune pacing and difficulty. Vehicle driving AI and pathfinding are next in line, but we may hold off depending on the volume and severity of bug reports.
We are aiming to flip the rebuild into the default experience by the Halloween Sale, with older versions still available as an opt-in. The exact timing will be based on stability, bug reports, and community feedback — our goal is to get as many people as possible playing on the rebuild once it’s ready.
October priorities include:
Implement the AJAX(HUMVEE) as a test bed for vehicle driving. Work with the community to establish a good "core" vehicle driving. After its "done" we start porting over all the wheeled vehicles and follow up with the Abrams and co.
Extensive Bug hunts / Performance tweaks
A save/load system for Pandemic
Bay Area map updates: Treasure Island and Angel Island are under renovation, with rollout expected around Halloween. Stay tuned! We will aim to release this map in segments going into XMAS. Starting in stages
Treasure Island->
Angel & Alcatraz Island ->
San Francisco North
[/carousel]On top of these big-ticket items, there are many smaller details and fine-tuning tasks underway — some not listed here but discussed in recent CERC HQ broadcasts. October will be a mix of large features and constant iteration as we refine the fundamentals.
Cepheus Protocol | CERC HQ | #69
This week’s update is a no-holds-barred breakdown of Pandemic mode’s evolution, centered around the rebuild of Treasure Island and a total systems overhaul. Robert walks through the new layered rollout strategy for map expansion, beginning with a playable slice of Treasure Island set to launch around Halloween. With Unreal Engine 5’s precision fixes, the team can finally realize their original vision for a scalable, destructible, and immersive RTS battlefield.
Level design gets serious upgrades, including foliage placement, bridge logic, and terrain verticality—while the devs debate whether to support multi-tiered underpasses for gameplay. On the AI side, huge strides are made in how infected evaluate targets, spread, and adapt to player fortifications. Pathfinding gets tighter, blowup enemies are rebalanced, and new debug systems give devs visibility into AI logic mid-match.
Operators get more integration with RTS elements—riding helicopters, building structures, and coordinating in full co-op squads. Helicopter physics and weapon balance receive a full pass, alongside early work on ground vehicle deployment starting with the Ajax. Meanwhile, discussions begin on evolving infected variants and bringing dynamic civilian factions back with better AI direction systems.
Chelsea’s overhaul is still coming. Juggernaut and Builder units continue to be tested. And yes, feedback from Discord and Steam is actively shaping next steps.
Treasure Island rebuild set for Halloween rollout with layered map expansion
Fully revamped AI threat logic, pathfinding, and zone targeting
Debate over under-bridge traversal and visibility in RTS gameplay
Helicopter balancing complete: physics, flight feel, and weapon tuning
Operators now ride, build, and interact deeply with RTS mechanics
Juggernaut and Builder infected updated with smarter behaviors
Upcoming work on vehicle AI, bridge destruction, and custom doctrines
New debug tools help devs analyze AI decisions during play
Feedback-driven dev cycle with live balance adjustments
Community Q&A covers everything from faction AI to turtling tactics
Expect nerfs to blowup units, tweaks to helicopter refueling, and tighter threat evaluation logic. The Ajax vehicle rollout begins soon, and feedback is requested for bridge logic, underpass use, and unit camera control. It’s shaping up fast—get ready to test hard and break things.
🕔 When: Weekly Saturdays – 3 PM EST (New Time!)
📺 Where to Watch:
Co-op Progress
Total Revamp based on Community Feedback
Level Design Updates
🎤 Don’t miss our Live Q&A! We’ll be answering questions from the community during the stream.
Spotify Podcast Archive (VODs may take 24 hours to appear)
Update Version: v0.13.53
Update Time: 2025/10/13 13:00 UTC
Patch Notes:
Removed the deletion countdown mechanism for Dolls.
Shapeshifting will reset the number of attacks a hero can launch per turn.
Fixed an issue where using the Skip Battle Animation feature could cause the statuses of cards in your hand or on the battlefield to not be updated in real-time.
Fixed an issue in one Pack Shop where packs with the same name would contain the same cards.
Fixed an issue where, after bosses with the Even Split trait launched an attack, player pawns would also take split damage when attacking the boss.
Fixed an issue where the green border effect indicating that a hero can attack would remain after Shapeshifting.
Fixed an issue where a card's max Health could be reduced below 1. This issue caused some skills to be unable to target cards in your hand properly.
Fixed an issue where, when merging 3 cards, the preview would show an ascended card with buffs that exceeded the stack limit.
Fixed an issue where, after a boss generated an Intent, attacking that boss could cause the blue Intent border effect to disappear.
Fixed an issue where right-clicking Pan-Galactic Staff would cause its creatables to be shown as locked when viewed.
Fixed an issue where the Health of pawn cards would not be displayed while in your hand.
Sorry everyone, the game is messed up again
It's a repeat of the disastrous launch of Sword x Hime five years ago
This time we originally got EA approval, but it was cancelled 10 days before release, so we had to force it out, feeling utterly helpless
We released the game in a rush with many unfinished parts, which was a reckless and wrong decision on our part
But the two of us have recovered, we won't give up, we won't run away, and we'll climb up again from the bottom
🔹A New Beginning
After many discussions with programmer Kazuya, we decided to rebuild Snow x Hime into Sword x Hime 2, a fully enhanced 3D RPG
The foundation of Snow x Hime is actually much better than Sword x Hime's, with improved lighting technology and higher-quality characters and monsters
In terms of H content, there's evolution in body dynamics and stockings gloss, as well as a newly built combat system
However, aside from these, there's almost nothing else, very empty, completely unworthy of being called an RPG
Sword x Hime, having been refined over five years, is much better in RPG elements, though still has many shortcomings
Originally, we planned to directly port Sword x Hime's quests, towns, skill packs and weapon system
But since Snow x Hime's framework is newly designed and incompatible, the programmer evaluated that remaking would actually be faster
Thus, Sword x Hime 2 will have brand new towns, inns, quests, events, skills and weapon systems, surpassing the old work in every aspect
⚔️Combat and Exploration System
In the combat system, new Musou-style gameplay will be added on top of the existing Souls-like battles
Bosses will no longer fight alone; there will be various minions interfering with the player
Weapon and skill systems will also play a crucial role
Currently there are three outdoor scenes, and now multiple new dungeons scattered across the world will be added
Each dungeon's exploration and difficulty will be greatly enhanced for clear differentiation
Thus, improving character strength and obtaining stronger weapons and equipment will become especially important
Each dungeon will be filled with various bosses for players to challenge
When a dungeon is successfully cleared, you'll receive greater rewards, such as taking off the fox girl's clothes and wearing them yourself
We'll strive to polish the RPG sense of progression, exploration and collection, making character growth more fulfilling
🎥Showcase Videos
New Dungeon Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZZMQKnewtw
Town
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UycNnSbWAOI
The Inn of Fallen Stars: Legend says every falling star is the soul of an adventurer who never returned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKeNKlBd87c
👗Costumes and H Gameplay
Around 30 new costumes are planned to be added, with classic Sword x Hime outfits returning as well as new fashion
H gameplay will be further refined by referencing popular R18 titles, currently not yet implemented
New girl appearances and hairstyle types will be added for players to choose from
Whether the final in-game result can look as beautiful as the store images is uncertain, but I'll do my best (❀╹◡╹)
During field or dungeon missions and events, you'll encounter these girls and can obtain them after defeating them
Detailed planning will begin only after the main and side storylines are completed
The construction period for these additional elements is around six months to one year, and each finished feature will be implemented and tested immediately
If this failed game's sales have a chance to recover in the future and funds are sufficient, we'll do our best to extend development beyond one year
💋Three Major Update Phases
The three major updates originally announced during EA will also be realized together
Phase 1: Female-initiated H, Phase 2: Yuri (girl-girl) love scenes, Phase 3: Training mansion
Bondage training, idle play, girl masturbation, and girl wrestling will definitely be newly added themes
Detailed content can be found in this article
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1384630/announcements/detail/816953886557345080
🐍Full H Monster Upgrade
Finally, to make the new Sword x Hime 2.0 - Snow x Hime world richer and grander
All kinds of classic monsters from Sword x Hime will be ported into Snow x Hime
And fully remade with high-quality models and optimized H animations
The ultimate goal is to create a masterpiece R18 3D RPG featuring over 100 H monsters
Thank you for reading this far
Currently, we will first prioritize fixing major bugs, completing the remaining 10 costumes and internal cum animations for existing H monsters
After that, the full-scale overhaul of Snow x Hime will officially begin
If you're willing to believe we can do it again, please look forward to it (◍•ᴗ•◍)ゝ
Discord https://discord.gg/qvT7EWrdNS
Another small one, but should help with readability. Tell me what you think!
-updated highlights for cards to now pulse
-updated highlights for rows/columns to now pulse
-updated deck builder menu to have cards and tabs highlight and pulse in the same respect as cards in levels
-fixed loading error with levels on main menu
As always, if you encounter any problems, bugs, or just want to give feedback, you can reach me via the the Discord or via Steam comments. I'll be looking!
Expected patch release: Wednesday, October 15
Shoutout to the top 10 Legion streamers of the past month
1v1 Featured Event
Teammates holding you back? It's your time to shine in our 1v1 event lasting from October 17-19. Starts Friday, October 17 at 3:00 am PT / 12:00 CEST.
Skill-based matchmaking: Play with and against players near your skill level.
Visible ratings: Used for matchmaking and bragging rights.
Event Points (EP) leaderboard: Gain EP by playing games. Harder opponents earn you more EP. You cannot lose EP, so play as much as you can to climb!
Rewards:
Top 10 finish: 
25,000 Essence
Top 100 finish: 15,000 Essence
Top 1,000 finish: 10,000 Essence
Reach 400 EP: 5,000 Essence
Nova Cup
Monthly 2v2 tournament with an $875 prize pool and 4 divisions
Next Nova Cup is October 25-26! Join the Tournament Discord to participate and receive tournament notifications. View all past Nova Cups here: Legion TD 2 Esports Portal
+5 income. Can't roll tier 1 fighters. Gain income for building and upgrading tier 6 fighters.
You cannot roll or reroll T1s (<=25g)
Building a T6 (>=260g) increases your income by 3
Upgrading a T6 increases your income by 15
Your roll always includes at least one T2 (35-60g) and at least two T6
The Aristocrat fantasy is forgoing cheap units in favor of expensive ones. Tips:
Be careful in the early game - without a T1, you can get stuck with awkward gold values.
Rush an early game T6 for a quick income lead
Pick Pirate Skeleton or Grarl when available and make use of their 90% sell ability to build and upgrade T6s earlier
Increase your propensity to shift gold for an early T6
Old Double Down
Activated on purchase before the match starts
Doubles your rating gain and loss
New Double Down
Optionally activated during the game before wave 1 spawns, allowing for strategic usage
Doubles your rating gain if you win
If you lose, multiplies your rating loss by 2.1-2.4, depending on your rank:
Unranked, Bronze, Silver, Gold: 2.1
Plat, Diamond, Expert: 2.2
Master, Senior Master, Grandmaster: 2.3
Legend: 2.4
Notifies all players in the game after wave 1 spawns for maximum disrespect 
Double Down is now a strategy decision. Because you have access to predictive information before using Double Down, the loss multiplier is >2 to keep it balanced.
Say hello to the Big Wig Pass, our highly-requested, premium pass stacked with all the perks a true Big Wig deserves.
For the ultra reasonable, suspiciously cheap, value town price of 1337 premium essence, enjoy the following in-game benefits for 30 days:
💰 Unlocked Account – All skins, masterminds, backgrounds, and game coaches unlocked
📈 Double Down Boost – When you win with Double Down, get a free stack back. Plus, immediately receive 6x Double Down stacks
🎟️ Card Bundle – Immediately receive a random Secret Card and 20 Card Fragments
😏 Bragging Rights – Loading screen flair and colored name in Discord (if Discord account is linked)
Don't be a regular wig - become a Big Wig and call everyone “old sport!"
Read more about our design philosophy on game balance, and use Drachbot to see mastermind, unit, and spell win rates and pick rates! Check out Jules' Gameplay & Balance AMA from this past month.
Mastermind Visibility
Masterminds are now revealed to all players after wave 1 spawns. This change gives players higher agency and more information to make better strategic decisions, particularly against surprise-factor masterminds like Stash, Scrapper, Chaos, and Redraw. There will still be plenty of surprises, mind games, and potential for outplays, but we're changing the strategic decision from an "unknown unknown" to a "known unknown."
For example, consider Stash, one of the most popular and fun masterminds. Stashing on the right wave can be game-winning and feels amazing, but playing against Stash can feel low agency because you not only don't know when they will Stash, you don't even know if they are playing Stash in the first place. There are too many layers of uncertainty. This change removes one of those layers, while preserving the high impact and fun part about Stash.
Shoutout to Boone for the idea.
Scrapper 
Scrap: Sell percentage: 90% → 85%
Bonus starting gold: 0 --> 3
Scrapper is fun but is too strong and can be frustrating to play against. To address this, we're shifting power out of the Scrap ability.
Black Market
Income: 56 → 58
Low win rate.
Giant Snail
Health increased by 5.6%
Low win rate.
Peewee / Veteran
Booster / Stimpack: Attack speed increase: 125% --> 120%
Slightly high pick rate and win rate.
Seraphin
Damage increased by 1.9%
Low win rate.
Oathbreaker
Attack speed decreased by 1.8%
Slightly high pick rate and win rate.
Dark Mage
Mind Warp targeting is now smarter, taking into account existing damage and attack speed buffs
Nekomata
Attack speed decreased by 1%
High win rate.
Wileshroom
Attack speed increased by 1.7%
Canopie
Damage increased by 1.3%
Low win rate.
Sea Serpent / Deepcoiler
Attack speed decreased by 1.5%
High win rate.
Gateguard
Health increased by 3.6%
Harbinger
Health increased by 4.4%
Cerberus: Health increased by 1.2%
Slightly low pick rate and low win rate.
Crab Warlock / Crabomancer
Summoner damage increased by 11%
Summon damage decreased by 16%
Adjusted synergy with mana sources to account for the weaker summons
Shifting power from the summon to the summoner to increase viability in high MMR, without making it overpowered in low MMR.
Pipsqueak
DPS decreased by 1.7%
Damage decreased by 11%
Attack speed increased by 11%
Now has a meaningful weakness on wave 2.
Lumerian
Attack speed increased by 2.4%
Shifting power from Pipsqueak to Lumerian.
Lost Chieftain
Reverted the auto-targeting change to Gaia Shield from a couple patches ago, in response to community feedback
Current:
Forward-most
If tied, center-most
If tied, right-most
New
Forward-most
If tied, center-most
If tied, left-most
Shadow Dancer / Dread Knight
Attack speed decreased by 2.1%
High win rate.
Fire Lord / Fenix
Attack speed increased by 1.6%
Low win rate.
Honey Bear
Pot o’ Honey: Heal: 900 → 1000
Low usage rate.
Ogre
Mana regeneration increased by 18%
Low usage rate.
Centaur
Damage increased by 2.2%
Low usage rate.
Needler
Damage decreased by 1.5%
High win rate.
Kraken
Health decreased by 1.3%
No longer counted as a boss unit
New ability: World Ender: Upon death, implodes, stunning all nearby enemy units for 1 second.
For the most expensive mercenary in the game, Kraken deserves a cooler ability.
Wave 6: Rockos
Health decreased by 1.2%
A bit overtuned compared to nearby waves.
The dev team is constantly monitoring game balance, between looking at data and listening to community feedback. If anything is being more closely monitored than usual, it will be listed in this Balance Watchlist section. For this patch, the following are on the watchlist:
Strong: Safety Mole, All Out Assault, Counter Attack, Press the Attack, Embargo
Weak: Disciple, Grarl, Sorcerer
Premium Essence for Legend players
Legend players now gain 20% of their Ladder Point gains as premium essence 
Encouraging activity in very high MMR.
Duo Adjustment Formula
Duoing in high MMR is now less punishing, depending on your and your teammate's ratings.
Encouraging players to play with their friends in high MMR. If this gets abused, we will revert this change.
Improvements
The monthly patch code can now be entered the month it's announced, as well as the following month
You can now ping enemy masterminds in the Tab + Space view
Masterminds now show up in Steam/Epic/Discord rich presence after wave 1 has spawned
Building grid rows now have alternating colors to make it easier to differentiate rows. Thanks to cornandcob for the suggestion in Discord
Fixed visual bug for the sell value of Kingpin
You can now invite friends that appear offline in the friends list to your party. Thanks to Future_Win for the suggestion on Reddit
Fixed ALTGR special character combinations not working on certain keyboard layouts
Added an optional setting to show gold costs of units/upgrades on their icon
You can now ping your teammates roll in the tab screne to suggest a unit that they should build
If you'd like to contribute to improving the game's translations further, visit the following link: 
{LINK REMOVED}
HUGE thank you to everyone who has helped up to this point! 
Anyone who Boosts the Legion TD 2 Discord will receive 500 Premium Essence each month the Boost is active. Here's how it works:
When you Boost the Legion TD 2 Discord, you'll get a DM from Safety Mole with a code
The code can be redeemed by clicking the book icon at the bottom of the main menu and selecting Redeem Coupon Code
Players who keep their Boost active will receive a new code every month
Codes expire when the Booster receives a new code or if the old one wasn't used
Thank you to everyone for contributing to the community!
This month’s ultra-secret code is getyerhandsoffmejules to unlock some free Essence in-game!
Each month, a new code will be revealed right here in the patch notes. Codes are only valid the month they are announced and the following month.
Here’s how to enter a code in-game:
This patch introduces a brand new mastermind, Aristocrat, and exciting features with the Big Wig Pass and reworked Double Down!
As always, with any major patch, we'll keep a close eye on things and rapidly hotfix as long as needed. Thank you again for playing Legion TD 2! We hope you continue to enjoy the game. 
If you've enjoyed the game, but haven't left a review yet, please consider posting a short (hopefully positive 
) review for the game! If the game reaches 90% positive, Steam will give it more visibility = more players = more freelo better matchmaking!
If you enjoy these updates, please give it a Thumbs Up, too!
If you have constructive criticism, let's chat about it. Discord and /r/LegionTD2 on reddit are our main channels of communication, and aside from the development team, there are community helpers who can ensure your feedback is heard, as well as answer pretty much anything you've ever wanted to know about the game. If you want a guaranteed answer from the devs, the monthly AMAs on /r/LegionTD2 are your best bet.
Sincerely,
The Legion TD 2 Team
