Cepheus Protocol

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Dev Update

2026.2.20.1 – Difficulty and Pacing Controls Now Live

Developer Update This Week
Save and Load System

This week was overwhelmingly focused on Save and Load.

A significant amount of time went into stabilizing the system, resolving reported issues from Discord and Steam, and expanding coverage across edge cases. The Operator in particular required more time than expected due to the complexity of his systems.

Operators are highly dynamic. If an Operator levels up during a run and you later load a save, the system replaces the saved instance with the most recent version of that Operator. If an Operator no longer exists, they are properly deleted and refunded.

In multiplayer, the logic mirrors this behavior. When a save is loaded:

• Operators are reassigned back to their original RTS players when possible
• If a corresponding client cannot be found within a reasonable time window, the Operator is refunded

A substantial amount of R&D went into making sure this flow behaves predictably and does not create duplication, loss, or ownership issues. We continued expanding Save and Load support across systems and hardening the logic.

We are actively working through reported bugs and feel we are approaching a point where the Save and Load system can be functionally marked complete within the next few days. Once that milestone is reached, we can shift focus back to larger gameplay priorities.

Networking and Client Side Prediction

Client side prediction for vehicles of all calibers is now implemented.

In internal and external testing, including high ping scenarios between players in the United States and overseas regions such as Poland, vehicle movement is significantly smoother and more visually stable in cross region sessions.

We are continuing to monitor this closely and will iterate further over the next couple of patches. The goal is consistent responsiveness and visual fidelity regardless of geographic latency differences.

Upcoming Focus: Civilian Evac and Core Fixes

With Save and Load nearing completion, attention is shifting toward preparing for Civilian Evac.

This includes:

  • Pathfinding fixes

  • Performance optimizations

  • General bug cleanup

  • Infected Birds

  • Additional quality of life improvements

One example currently being reviewed is improving building upgrade logic. Upgrading a long wall segment into a vehicle gate is one example we are looking at but also simple stuff like Operator scopes so they can zoom in and out.

We appreciate the continued patience while we push through this stabilization phase.

Patch Notes

Also in this patch

  • Cleaned up description for Custom attack interval to make it more clearer what it does

  • Fix for turrets failing to spawn their weapon if they were saved while still under construction, then you finish constructing them after loading the saved game

  • Added Hellfire Missile to Sparrow as a T1 counter towards armor

  • Added LAW as to the Engineer as a T1 counter towards armor

  • Fixed a Loading issue that could duplicate Chelsey and/or her pod

  • Fixed a MLRS visual sync bug where after reload sometimes they would desync

  • Fixed Zone Widgets, when loading a save, not properly displaying the Infection Level % that they were at immediately after load (loading a zone that was at 100% might have caused it to never display the % again, but no more!)

  • Updated handling of Unit destruction to turn on ‘can be damaged’ for structures that are loaded as ‘invulnerable’ from old saves due to rubble mode bug

  • Fixed up rubble mode walls to properly load in rubble mode

  • Updated structure upgrading to send out a warning when trying to upgrade a structure that’s in Rubble Mode, instead of silently failing

  • Updated destroyed player walls to be selectable (so you can clear them)

  • Updated ‘DestroyStructure’ button to work on rubble walls, and to not refund their price (since they’re destroyed)

  • Adjustments to Custom Game Settings widget (and children sliders/toggles) =Scale/size/wrap-at values adjusted to make them fit better in thinner resolutions via either scaling or wrapping earlier instead of ‘overlapping’ one another

  • Fix for the Custom Game Settings ‘Starting Doctrine Points’ slider initializing incorrectly from the Custom Starting Money value

  • Fixed Sparrow broken after hellfire upgrade bug report

    https://discord.com/channels/469412014427602944/1474227783248121991/1474227783248121991

  • Added Custom Game options of Infection Spread Rate 0.5->3.0

  • Added Save/Load support for weapons so if you save during a reload they will resume that load at the exact frame they were on previously

  • Added CERC Population Max up to 200. Exercise caution in lower spec machines as this will “push” your system to the edge and require higher spec machines if you are hosting.

  • Resolved a source of the ‘client Fog of War not initializing correctly when loading saves/late-joining’ (i.e. GameStateRef not being valid when clients receive OnCERCChanged)

  • Set up Exit Saving to exit TacPause, if you were in that state, so the game won’t be in a ‘frozen’ limbo state until you remove TacPause after exit-saving

  • Set up the Load Game button on the Pause Menu to not function (and have a hovertip describing why) while loaded into a game in multiplayer

  • Updated Operator save/load for ‘client operators’ at save time to properly track and load their weapon attachments

  • Fix for clients seeing ‘more than one’ of Recruits when loading into a save that had recruitment tickets already

  • Fix for Operator loading for clients so that the mesh for their Operator will sync up

  • More improvements to Operator recruitment save/load: recruitment ticket for an Operator will now ‘remember’ who it belonged to, and if that player is there when loading the map, the ticket will ‘reassign’ to that player, and properly behave

  • Updated Operator recruitment tracker to try to reconnect with the recruiting Player on load, if that player is present at load time. If they are not, the recruitment tracker will refund instead

  • Updated the Pause Menu/Main Menu to support an ‘are you sure’ popup, with a ‘Save and Exit’ button available on it when appropriate

  • Set up savefiles to track their autosave count, so they’ll keep iterating autosaves where they left off (instead of relying on a global autosave incrementor)

    • Autosaves are now ‘per-campaign’ rather than global, so if you have the Autosave Count set to 3, every campaign will have up to 3 autosaves for it (so if you play some multiplayer in between your solo sessions, you’ll still have an autosave to return to, but you’ll need to clear your old saves more often)

  • Set up grenade save/load: grenades (or demo charges from Spec Ops) now save/load!

    • Grenades ‘in-air’ now remember that they were, and reinitialize after game loads

  • Also set up aimed abilities to not try to re-activate when loading/syncing, so ‘extra grenades’ don’t appear when loading a save if you saved while someone was in the throw-animation

  • Set up call-in cooldowns to save/load for the ability system

  • Fixed a bug where the juggernaut would fail to throw a car or it improperly falls out of his hand when not stunned

  • Updated Motor pool preview to require open airspace above.

  • Added predictive gate-opening system for vehicles opens gates early based on per-vehicle trajectory

  • Added network smoothing to vehicles for clients in high ping situations

  • Lowered Mutt and Mule max move speed by half

  • Added base client side prediction for helicopters and ground vehicles to help solve visual jitter

  • Fixed drivers not getting XP from vehicles they are controlling,

  • Tripled Unit leveling requirements for all units outside Operator

  • Added rallypoint save/load (currently only host player saves data right now, but it is set up to support other players later when we get to that)

  • Set up Zones to start saving/loading their last population count

  • Started on ‘unit custom settings’ reader, set up a different hovertip button on loading games to list out the custom unit settings in that save

  • Updated save/load menu ‘custom infected options’ display to show disabled enemies

Known Limitations with save system

Most combat in Cepheus Protocol is hitscan, so the majority of gameplay is unaffected by saving mid-action. A small number of transient objects still require additional handling if you save at the exact wrong moment.

Updated save TBD list:

  • Queue attack order

  • Call in system (airstrikes and support)

  • Tow

  • Flare

  • Cloak

  • Stun system

  • Cone of fire ability

  • Save other player data (rally points)

February Roadmap and Short-Term Priorities

As we move through February, the focus is on getting everything caught up to where the rebuild is intended to be, while continuing to stabilize and improve the core experience.

Immediate priority going into next week

  • Finalizing remaining Pandemic save support, specifically transient gameplay objects

  • Cleaning up any remaining edge cases surfaced by live usage

  • Locking down save stability so it becomes a dependable baseline going forward

Following that addressing feedback from this poll

  • Pathfinding improvements and fixes

  • Bug fixing across Pandemic and core systems

  • Small quality of life changes that improve flow and usability

Once those pieces are in a good place, we will shift focus toward Civilian Evacuation, targeted for late-February. This work is already underway, and the goal is to address the feedback and discussion outlined in the existing Steam thread below.

We will be sharing more details soon, including a live stream announcement about a week in advance. Keep an eye on Steam and our Discord for updates as we move through February.

Link to Civilian Evacuation Steam thread

🎙️ Next CERC HQ – Livestream Details

🕔 When: Weekly Saturdays – 3 PM EST (New Time!)

📺 Where to Watch:

💬 Topics We’ll Cover:

  • 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.

📺 Missed a Stream? No Worries!