Couchpotato spotted dev diary #41 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #41: Stats And Attributes

Today, we are diving into the last big rework we do before the Early Access in February! So far, all Squad Leaders and Pilots have had the same stats, which is very unusual for any kind of RPG-like game, and indeed, it was always planned that all characters would have different stats.

However, we did not just change stats around; we added a whole new category called “Attributes,” and they increase through the game in true RPG fashion. Let's dive in!

Truly Distinct Characters
If you read the last dev diary about the perk tree rework, you already saw that we want to make sure all characters are not only different in personality and looks but also offer different playstyles and upgrade paths, ensuring maximum variety and replayability throughout the game.

It also makes sense from a lore perspective, as some characters are trained and experienced soldiers or mercenaries, while others might come from rank-and-file troops or even lack any actual military training.

Stats in this case are combat-relevant values: Action Points, Discipline, Hitpoints, and Accuracy. We quickly realized that just giving them different stats and calling it a day would not work.

First of all, these are not enough to properly differentiate characters. With around 26 characters planned in total, swapping around four stats would simply not cut it, so we had to create more values we can leverage to make the characters actually different. In true RPG fashion, we took a step back and added a whole bunch of attributes for each character:

Attributes
Like many other RPGs, we decided to go the classical route and have each character have a set of attributes from which the combat stats are then derived. To ensure players can understand differences between characters more easily, all of these Attributes are leveled to 100, meaning that the minimum is 0 and the maximum is 100.

[...]

Couchpotato spotted new dev diaries fore MENACE:

Dev Diary #39: Rating Rework and Secondary Objectives

Dev Diary #40: Perk Overhaul

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #38 (part #2) for MENACE:

Dev Diary #38: Rating Rework and Secondary Objectives

One of the main points of criticism in the MENACE demo was the Mission and Operation Rating System. We took a step back, did a complete overhaul of the system, and added secondary objectives! Let’s get to the details:

The Old System
In the old rating system that is still used in the demo, the Mission Rating was calculated from a variety of hidden factors that depended on the Mission Type. Each factor had a fixed maximum number of points, which was multiplied by a different factor depending on the Mission Type.

For example, one factor was “civilians killed”, another would be “enemies killed” or “units lost.” In a mission with no civilians, the “civilians killed” point pool was multiplied by 0, so it was, of course, not possible to get any points from that pool. In a mission where civilians had to be rescued, the factor was very high; in one where civilians were on the map but not crucial to the mission, it was reduced.

This system was very complex to set up and balance. Most importantly, it was not transparent to players at all and did not create the ratings players expected. This led to a lot of confusion and frustration, and created a stark mismatch between player mission performance and mission rewards in the form of promotion points and, ultimately, OCI points.

Secondly, the lack of transparency made it impossible for players to proactively adjust their approach to a mission to achieve a high rating, which contradicted the rating's purpose. And lastly, the logistics factor, which rewarded utilizing fewer supplies than players had available, was disliked all around.

[...]

Cochpotato spotted a cinematic trailer for MENACE on IGN:

Menace - Official Cinematic Trailer

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #38 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #38: A New Threat Emerges...

With it being Halloween, we thought it was appropriate to use this week's dev diary to point to the full Cinematic Trailer we teased in September! First, though, another shoutout to Syama Pedersen for directing it, known for his video series "Astartes," and to the Canadian visual effects studio Hoplite Studio for their incredible work on this entire cinematic piece.

We will be back next week with a full dev diary on a much-requested system rework: End Mission Ratings, along with a new system. Look forward to next Friday and enjoy the Cinematic Trailer below, and have a great Halloween!

[...]

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #37 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #37: Enemy Army Lists

Building an army in MENACE is a big part of the game for players, but the enemy factions also have to pick and select a lineup for each mission.

In this diary, we take a look at how enemy army lists were done in the past, and why and how we decided to rework them!

What are Army Lists?
When talking about army lists, we refer to any system that determines which and how many enemy units show up in any given mission. As the game progresses, battles get bigger and player units and equipment get more powerful; the enemies also have to scale up.

On top of that, completely new enemy factions enter the game, and others might fade out. All the while, some units are too powerful or too weak to throw at the player early or late in the game, so these have to also fade in and out.

Some missions will also require only a certain type of unit to show up, or might need a completely different lineup. Best examples are defense and attack missions against Pirates. When attacking, all Pirate units should be mobilized with trucks, but while defending, this does not make much sense for them, so they should only deploy foot units with the occasional chaingun support truck.

The First Iteration - Battle Brothers Style
When starting out, we decided to lean on our experience from Battle Brothers, our first game, where we had a system for this in place that worked well. The system was simple but powerful, giving us designers full control over which enemy units, in which combinations, appear. It also required a huge amount of manual setup.

We implemented almost the same system in MENACE for the first iteration of our army lists. For each enemy faction, for example, bandits, undead, or orcs, we created a text file with a bunch of lists. Each list consisted of a selection of units, where each unit had its own associated point cost. The total of that list was the total point cost of this particular army list entry.

On top of that, each list could include flags like “offensive” or “defensive” to separate them by mission type.

[...]

A new demo is available for MENACE:

MENACE Demo Update #5 (v0.5.9)

With the start of STEAM NEXT FEST the MENACE demo will get a substantial update. Most importantly, we added a second Pirate operation with 10 completely new and fresh missions to beat. Whenever starting a new game the operations will start alternating so you can just restart to get the operation you want.

On top of that, we added a difficulty slider that allows to change the demo difficulty from Normal to Challenging to Expert. Each difficulty level will change the player Squaddie Numbers, available Supply Points and the enemy Supply Points. The full game will most likely have more sophisticated difficulty options.

Finally, we added lots of smaller fixes, balancing changes and improvements based on your feedback and reports!

Thanks again for all the support, feedback and ideas!

New

• Added difficulty settings: Normal, Challenging and Expert.
• Added "Thwart Invasion" operation as an additional alternative operation with a pool of 10 new missions.
• Added new items, Light Walker, Autocannon and 40 more promotion points.

Improvements

• Changed perk description font color for better readability.
• Showing more info in non-player unit tooltips.
• Showing icons for capture and defend objectives in unit HUDs and unit tooltips
• Showing status effects in unit tooltips.
• New icons for fleeing, wavering, suppressed, suppression, armor penetration.
• New icons for unit stats.

Bugfixes

• FIXED Removed line of sight blocker on factory connectors.
• FIXED Greifinger's unique perk used the wrong icon.
• FIXED various typos and descriptions.

Balancing

• Rebalanced most pirate mission army points and reinforcement points.
• Changed Pirate Army lists to not spam Outcasts any more (makes the game harder).
• Made sure reinforcements stop spawning at certain round numbers.
• Reduced Rocket Truck Suppression from 60 down to 40.
• Rebalanced Pirates slightly, especially increased Discipline by 5.
• Buffed Long Barrel Tank Gun to be more accurate and do more damage.
• Increased Pipe Gun Armor Damage to 25.
• Reduced disposable AT supply costs to 10, increased damage to 120.
• Decreased range of R10A6 "CQB" K-PAC from 8 to 7.
• Reduced flamethrower supply costs from 25 to 15.
• Increased damage to armor durability of R14A2 ARC rifles.

Known Issues

• Perk 'Run and Gun' doesn't update AP cost after shooting once.
• The UI for the offmap ability 'Unguided missile strike' is not visible when using the offmap ability 'Strafing Run' first.
• Combat Drugs don't refund all of the AP when used by a Suppressed unit.

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted dev diary #36 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #36: Demo Recap and Next Fest Update Plans

These last two weeks have been among the most intense during the whole development of MENACE, with the Tactical Combat Demo release.

Let’s spend a moment to recap the past week!

By the Numbers
So far over 100,000 players downloaded the MENACE demo, sent in over 1,300 feedback and bug reports, and left over 600 reviews that amount to a Very Positive rating.

Feedback and Discussions
The feedback and response to the Demo is almost overwhelming, with our Discord and the forums being active day and night. We try our best to be present, reply, and engage with the community, but we also have to collect, filter, sort, and work through bug reports and feedback, which takes quite a while. On top of that, the game's normal development has to keep going at the same pace.

We can highly recommend joining our Discord server to directly chat with us, leave feedback, and get in touch with other community members. Check it out here. We also have a thriving community on Reddit as well, r/MENACE.

[...]

MENACE will be released into Early Access on February 5, 2026. A demo is already available:

MENACE - Play The Demo Now & Release Date Trailer | Sci-Fi Tactical RPG

MENACE - Demo How-To Guide | Sci-Fi Tactical RPG

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Mortismal Gaming checked out MENACE:

Menace - Early Preview

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Henriquejr spotted dev diary #35 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #35: MENACE Demo Launches September 29, 2025

Hey folks, we're incredibly excited to announce that the MENACE demo is going live on September 29, 2025. Check out the release map below to see when the demo goes live for you in your region.

We’re locking in the last updates and fixes as we head into the demo's launch. We know that releasing a demo means a flood of feedback and bug reports, which is why it’s being released on a Monday. With the full team in place, we’ll be ready to tackle issues, answer your questions on Discord, and most importantly, see all of you enjoy the demo.

What to Expect
The demo offers a focused slice of the game with one operation, squad management, missions, and combat.

Operations and Replayability
Operations consist of multiple missions on a desert biome planet, giving you access to the tactical layer of the game. They are procedurally generated from a pool of ten mission types, so you can replay them as often as you like, even within this demo slice. Different operations can branch into multiple paths leading to the final mission

Squad Management
You’ll have six squad leaders to build your team, supported by a wide range of infantry weapons, special weapons, armor, and accessories. Leaders can be upgraded through promotions, and you can draw from a limited pool of squaddies in the upper left of the loadout screen to expand your squads.

[...]

Splattercatgaming checked out the demo of MENACE:

MENACE - My Most Anticipated Sci Fi Strategy RPG Is Finally Here!

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Couchpotato spotted dev diary #34 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #34: Real Loot System

We have reworked the existing mission reward system into a completely different “real loot” system, where players can acquire the actual items that enemy units carry into battle.

Let’s find out why and how we did that:

The Old Mission Reward System
The mission reward system, which will most likely still be in the demo, was rather simple. After each mission, the player would be confronted with a choice of two random items and had to pick one. These items were pulled from certain loot pools and scaled with item rarity that was increased over the course of the game, but could also be influenced by mission difficulty and other factors.

There was a generic loot pool as well as faction-specific loot pools, so that mission rewards from pirate missions will have a chance to reward the player with pirate-specific items.
The entire system was heavily inspired by Dawn of War 2, from which MENACE draws a significant amount of inspiration.

One of the main advantages of this system is the freedom to design enemies that do not necessarily employ armor and weapons that the player can use. Alien creatures or the Constructs, the game's main enemies, will usually not use items that humans can use. In the same vein, we could design and balance enemies without having to think about the player using the same items.

For example, changing the stats of an enemy would not affect the player, as the player does not use the same items. Also, handing out enemy equipment to the player would make the player units look just like the enemies, making the player units lose their characteristic looks.

Another advantage was the ability to hand out higher-rarity items to the player as rewards for especially difficult missions with maximum freedom. This provides designers with a powerful tool to guide player progression.

Finally, the mission rewards were teased during mission selection so that players could base their operation progression path on what kind of items they expected to get from certain missions. This makes the mission selection more impactful and offers meaningful choices to the player.

The Old Loot System

[...]

Flaws of the Old Reward System
The old system does have its merits, but it also has a lot of flaws. The two most important aspects are immersion and player expectations. During early test sessions with press and influencers, we quickly realized that players expect a similar loot system to Battle Brothers, in which you can loot the items of destroyed enemies. What you see is what you get, and destroying a chaingun team will give you a chance to loot their chaingun.
The expectations during testing did not match what was in the game, and a mismatch between the two always creates a negative feeling.

Similarly, the old system was not very immersive. When judging how captivating a game is we always feel that immersion plays a crucial role, especially in games like ours that gravitate towards simulation and realism. When destroying enemy assets, it makes sense within the game world to loot and reuse whatever you can get your hands on. Especially when being stranded in a distant star system with no way to resupply.

Another issue with the old system was the amount of loot; it was just not enough. The upgrades were big but few. This led to a large discrepancy in gear quality across squads, where squads would mostly have either very low or high power items, but there was little general increase in player gear quality.

Lastly, the trade value of the offered reward items was sometimes substantially different. This led to a situation in which players were forced to pick items they did not really want to pick because they were essentially missing out on big trade values.

The New “Real Loot” System
We implemented the new loot system very straightforwardly: Each enemy entity on the battlefield has its own loot table containing all items it can drop on death. These items are mostly 100% the ones the unit is actually using, but dividing this into a separate table gives us a little wiggle room to sprinkle some extra loot drops in or have the enemies drop armors that come with a different look when used by the player. This way, we can make sure players use the same items as the enemies, but also retain their distinct looks.

Each item in the loot table has an X% chance to drop on the unit's death. The exact percentage will be tweaked during testing, but it currently sits at 20%. Each item in the list is rolled separately, so a unit with more items has a chance to also drop more items on death.

Items from destroyed enemies will not show up on the battlemap itself but are instead shown on the mission result screen. As there is no actual inventory system in the game, there is no way to pick up or change items during combat.

To compensate for the significantly larger loot pools, we have increased the trader prices on the black market substantially. With the new loot system, players will struggle to loot substantial upgrades to their equipment, especially when fighting enemies like pirates who use a lot of makeshift weaponry.

However, the black market offers a decent variety of factory-new gear that can be traded for.

The amount of loot now makes it much more feasible to trade for needed upgrades while still having constant, smaller upgrades to the player's arsenal. It feels much more rewarding and immersive, and matches player expectations much better.

Here is a sample of the post-battle loot when fighting pirates:

[...]

Alright, that's it for now until next Friday.

Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed
That's it for now! We'll see you next Friday.

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #33 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #33: Development Update and Media Recap

This week, we mainly focused on finalizing the MENACE public demo. Fixing bugs, adjusting the difficulty (aka making it more difficult), adding missing icons, and lots and lots of playtesting.

To publish the demo, we also have to prepare a Steam Build that can be uploaded and updated.

Apart from that, the whole project had to be transitioned to Unity 6, which also tied up a bunch of resources.

The tasks mentioned above unfortunately are not making up a juicy dev diary, so we don’t really have a lot of new stuff to show.

What is worth mentioning, though, is that the week began with a big media push as a bunch of new articles and previews about MENACE got published. On Monday, Jan and I invested an afternoon in visiting German streamer and YouTuber HandofBlood in his studio for a live MENACE play session, the first time.

To round things out, we also published a teaser for a MENACE cinematic that is in the works. The whole cinematic will be approximately 1 minute and 20 seconds long and will be released later this year. Syama Pedersen directs it, who is known for his video series "Astartes," and it was produced by the Canadian visual effects studio Hoplite.

To help you bridge the time until the demo is released at the end of the month, we have compiled a list of links to new articles and media for your viewing pleasure.

Enjoy!

[Links & Videos]

PartyElite checked out MENACE:

MENACE Gameplay & Details - Five Reasons to be Excited (Battle Brothers Goes Sci-Fi!)

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Couchpotato spotted an interview and a teaser for MENACE:

PC Gamer: MENACE devs explain its turn-based BRUTALITY, inspirations, and more

MENACE - Cinematic Teaser / Sci-Fi Tactical RPG

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #32 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #32: Development Update

As we approach the release of a public demo for MENACE, the pace has picked up, and the team has shifted from implementing new features to bug fixing, polishing, and balancing. 

Preparing the Demo – Tactical Focus and Replayability
As we announced earlier, there will be a public MENACE demo in late September. We are currently working intensely on preparing and testing the demo to ensure it offers a substantial amount of playtime and has as few bugs and issues as possible.

The demo will focus on the tactical combat aspect of the game and will feature a full-scale operation comprising a series of procedurally generated missions. The missions themselves will be different every time you start the demo -- just like the item rewards, enemy army compositions, maps, and so on. Replaying the demo is highly encouraged, as you will find and encounter new things with every run!

The demo is set in an advanced game state, where players have already completed 8-10 operations. Players will have a wide variety of squads and equipment to choose from, and the tactical battles will be of a decent size.

Pirate Idle Variations – Distinct Faction Identity
Up until now, all human entities in the game drew from the same set of animations. This was necessary as we need to make the most of the limited resources available. With the zoomed-out view of the game, individual soldier animations are not a top priority for optimization.

However, we always loved how, in other games, different factions feature different animation sets, especially their idle animations. This helps to quickly identify units of different factions and also really helps build the world, as the animations are a visual tool to tell players about the factions.

A pirate will have a completely different body language than a combat-trained Marine. The pirates are wild, undisciplined, drugged up, and not well-trained. This should reflect in their animations. They have to be immediately recognizable, even at a distance, by breaking up the classic “combat-ready” marine silhouette we have been using so far.

This is why we started adding unique idle animations to this faction.

We hope to keep expanding on this system to include more factions and more animations as development continues:

Alien Wildlife - New Enemy Units
For the alien wildlife faction, we started creating a flying creature that gives the faction a lot more mobility and speed to disrupt the players' plans. Up until now, the aliens have been restricted to moving on the ground, which makes it easy to predict their next move and assess their threat range.

The new flying creatures will move over long distances, ignoring obstacles in their path, and are a lot less predictable.

Testing and Balancing - Polishing Before Early Access
We have now reached the point at which we have shifted our development focus to playtesting and balancing to improve progression, game flow, difficulty, and so on.

The whole game in its Early Access state is now playable, but it still lacks a lot of polish, minor fixes, and improvements. This includes such trivial things as missing item icons -- and yes, the EA build will have some placeholder icons in it. But it also extends to finding out why certain lights do not work properly under some lighting conditions or why an enemy unit refuses to use a certain skill effectively, which can take a lot of time.

In order to minimize the impact of new content messing up balancing, breaking up systems, or introducing new bugs, we almost stopped adding new things to the game and instead focused on improving everything that is in the game.

After launching into Early Access, we will go back to regular large content updates, of course.

Squadleader VOs – Bringing Characters to Life
All the Squadleaders and Pilots in the game will come with voiced combat barks. There will also be VO for certain characters and situations outside of combat. Over the past week, we had numerous recording sessions with professional voice actors, alongside SIDE, who have already worked on games such as Cyberpunk, Kingdom Come, and Baldur's Gate 3.

The voice lines really help bring the characters to life and push the immersion to a new level. With the extreme range of different backgrounds that have to come together to fight the MENACE, bringing on a new SL into combat always brings a fresh angle and new barks. Each character has their own lingo, attitude, expression, and speech patterns.

[...]

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A demo for MENACE will be available in September:

MENACE Demo Coming in September

Hey MENACE fans!

Hooded Horse team here. As Jan and Paul make their way back home after an eventful Gamescom, we wanted to share the promised updates on MENACE in their stead.

While at Gamescom, Jan & Paul gave press and content creators some hands-on time with MENACE. Expect to see some new information and footage from those sessions in the coming weeks.

And we know that you all are eager to get your hands on the game as well. So we’re excited to share that the development team will be releasing a demo of the game in late September!

For the sake of transparency, we’d also like to confirm that MENACE will not be released in Q3 of this year as originally planned. We’ll have a more detailed community update to share in early September regarding the new release timeline, so keep an eye out for that.

Thank you all for your ongoing support of the game and the team, and for your patience as they make MENACE the best it can be. We look forward to hearing all of your thoughts on the upcoming demo!

– The Hooded Horse Team

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Couchpotato spotted dev diary #31 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #31: Infantry Armor

In this Dev Diary, we will show the basic infantry armors in MENACE and explain how the armor system is set up, what variants are, and how armor tiers are implemented. Bear in mind that this is just the baseline, and more armor will be added during development.

Armor Class System Setup
The whole armor system for infantry in Menace is set up to mimic how body armor works in real life and also how body armor is classified. The baseline of armors is a relatively straight progression from armor Class I to armor Class VI, with each class offering more protection, but also increased supply costs to deploy.

The rating of armor classes works like in real life, where the armor has to withstand shots from a certain caliber to rate in its respective class.

The same holds true in MENACE, where, for example, a Class III body armor will reliably stop the first shot from an SMG over five tiles, while a Class IV armor will stop the first shot from an assault rifle over the same distance.

Armor Variants
On top of the basic six armor classes, MENACE will feature variants of certain armors. Variants are basically sidegrades that specialize in certain aspects. This might include versions for assault troops with additional accessory pouches or commando versions that feature improved camouflage and lightweight materials.

Armor Tiers
While armor variants are mostly sidegrades, armor tiers are straight upgrades. Usually, modernized or otherwise enhanced versions of existing armors that offer more protection and other benefits for an increased price. It is also possible to have an additional tier of an armor variant, really opening up the system to add a lot of different armors eventually.

[...]

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #29 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #29: How to Kill a Tank

We have been talking a lot about systems, mechanics, and theories, so let’s take a look at an actual combat problem you will have to overcome in the game: Killing a tank!

Understanding Tank Armor

We will be looking at the Rogue Army's Assault Gun, the heaviest tank currently in the game.

Vehicles do use the same armor, hitpoints, and durability system as infantry. It was important to us to have the same systems so that players only have to understand one system and not master a completely different one.

A class 3 infantry armor will stop SMG rounds from around 5 tiles distance. It has 55 armor and an armor durability of 45 per element, and normal humans have 10 hitpoints each. For a squad of 5, that's 225 durability and 50 hitpoints.

Now let’s look at the tank’s values. It brings a hitpoint total of 400 points, an armor durability of 600, and a front armor of 180, side armor of 140, and rear armor of 100. With these stats, it becomes obvious very quickly that any standard infantry weapon is next to useless against this vehicle, as they mostly do about five damage to a target per hit over medium distance.

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted dev diary #28 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #28: Vehicle Weapon System

We shared a quick glimpse into the work-in-progress vehicle weapon system a little while ago. Now it is time to check out the whole system in action and find out what you can do with it!

Initial Thoughts and Concepts

For a long time during development, we struggled with finding the right solution for our vehicle and vehicle equipment or weapon system. On paper, it sounds very easy: give vehicles two weapon slots to equip some vehicle-specific weapons and be done with it.

When looking at vehicles, the first thing you notice is the variety of vehicle types. There are small trucks, light and medium Tanks, ATVs, and Walkers. All of these should, in theory, be able to use all the weapons, but the 3D Models are not compatible, so the number of different weapon prefabs you need to do quickly explodes into the hundreds, which is not doable for a small team like ours. Also, different weapons have different sizes. A large tank cannon can not be slotted into a tiny truck, so each vehicle type, or chassis, needs a variety of differently sized weapon slots.

Given all of the above and considering our limited resources, we opted for the simplest route: Each vehicle is a unique, handcrafted variant that cannot be changed. A pirate truck with a rocket organ is a fixed entity, while an IFV with an Autocannon is another. There is no swapping of weapons or loadouts.

Given the procedural nature of MENACE and the importance of army building to us, we could not keep it that way. We decided to put in a lot of work to create a completely modular vehicle weapon system that gives players maximum freedom to build any vehicle as they like.

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted dev diary #27 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #27: Squaddie System

This week, we have a very special treat for you that we just added to the game, the so-called “Squaddie System”. It basically turns a squad's additional hitpoints into actual, persistent soldiers that you can even rename!

Let’s find out more:

How did the old hitpoint system work?
In the old system, each squad came with a fixed number of 5 soldiers, including the squad leader. Each of these “elements” brought 10 hitpoints to the squad's total hitpoint pool. Whenever the squad took 10 or more damage, one of these elements was killed, taking one squad weapon out as well. The elements essentially represented a squad's total hit points.

After combat, certain ship upgrades would heal a number of elements until the squad eventually was fully restored to 5 elements. After an operation, all squads were automatically restored completely.

The entire system was very abstract, not very immersive, and also failed to treat the fallen soldiers with the care and respect that actual human players would expect. It also somewhat incentivised occasional suicide attacks, especially in the final mission of an operation, as lost elements would be refilled anyway.

Flexible Squad Size
The ultimate reason for changing this system was the need for flexible and dynamic squad sizes. We were missing the freedom to create squads as we needed them for our individual tactical approaches.

Want to make a 3-Soldier mortar team or sniper-scout squad? Want to make a 9-Soldier Rifle squad? Well, you can't. Also, the supply cost for a squad scales heavily with the chosen equipment, especially the armor and squad weapons that you have to pay for each element. Being able to adjust the squad size makes it easier to balance your supply point budget before a mission.

With the goal of allowing for an increase or reduction in squad size, several challenges arose. Most importantly, what happens when a squad takes losses, but you can just increase the squad size after the mission to fill it up again? The solution was to add a persistent resource, which is the manpower you are drawing from, to both increase squad sizes and use it to fill losses after combat.

Persistent Manpower
We added a persistent manpower pool to the game, where a squaddie represents each element from the original system. A squaddie is an actual soldier with a certain name, nickname, home planet, gender, and look. We also track how many missions they have survived so far.

You no longer have to stick with fixed squad sizes, but you can add as many squaddies as you want, up to 8 plus the squad leader for a unit. Each of these squaddies gets assigned from your manpower pool, and of course, you can also choose which squaddy to add to which squad.

Whenever an element is killed in combat, that life of a squaddie is permanently lost. Each loss carries over, and there is no automatic healing or refilling of losses. You will have to upgrade your ship with a recruitment office to expand your manpower pool. There are also other chances to add squaddies to your manpower pool, like freeing them from a pirate prison on a mission or obtaining them through events.

Manpower is now the most important resource that ties together StarMap gameplay and tactical combat, as it is persistent across all levels of play. Losing too many Squaddies in mass assaults and employing units with large numbers of soldiers but no armor will be very costly and unsustainable in the long run.

Renaming Squaddies
The squaddies come with a name, surname, callsign, home planet, gender, look, and mission survived stat. We currently have over 1.300 callsigns in the game, so you won't run out of new names quickly.

Most importantly, you can rename and edit the squaddies to your liking. The most requested part of this is, of course, changing the names to those of your friends, family, or coworkers.

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #26 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #26: Vehicle Defects

Despite having talked a lot about vehicles in the past, we never explained how their health, damage, or defects work. You will see that vehicles and infantry are handled very differently in the game in a lot of aspects:

Vehicle vs. Mechs
Before diving into the actual damage mechanics, we should take a step back and look at the different types of vehicles in the game. While there are various types within each category, the biggest difference lies between vehicles and walkers.

Vehicles include any machine that uses tracks, wheels, or similar to propel itself forward.

Mechs use any number, mainly two, of legs to traverse the battlefield.

Vehicles tend to be heavier and thus more resilient to enemy fire, while most mechs have the advantage of sporting two weapon slots that can carry additional firepower. Vehicles also have directional armour values, while mechs have the same armour facing all directions. Vehicles are usually much heavier armoured in the front, less so on the sides, and the least in the back.

Differences in Movement
Due to their strong inertia, vehicles are faster when moving in straight lines, especially when additionally taking advantage of roads. A vehicle on a straight road will move across a big portion of the map in one turn.

However, the big forward inertia and speed make it hard to take quick turns. Driving around corners or obstacles requires vehicles to slow down significantly to prevent losing control. In the game, turning a vehicle costs a substantial amount of action points, so good planning ahead is needed.

Ensuring the vehicle has a straight and obstacle-free path of approach is crucial to maximizing its speed.

While not reaching these high speeds, mechs or walkers have the advantage of being able to turn on the spot. They do not need to pay any additional AP to change their facing or direction; this makes them very manoeuvrable and flexible on the battlefield.

While vehicles excel at moving through open terrain, mechs or walkers are king in confined spaces like settlements. Vehicles can become bogged down very quickly when navigating narrow roads and alleys. Enemies can also quickly flank them and attack their flank or rear for maximum effect.

Mechs or walkers are highly maneuverable in settlements and move just like infantry units, allowing them to quickly change positions, face any emerging threat, and react swiftly to changes on the battlefield. They also do not have a weak spot, such as low rear armor.

[...]

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #25 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #25: Mission Walkthrough

Things are moving ahead, and the game shapes up more and more. The time has come to showcase an exemplary mission in MENACE, illustrating the decisions the player must make and what to expect when engaging in the tactical combat portion of the game.

Mission Select
After accepting an operation offered by one of the local Wayback factions, you have to decide what mission you want to play. The missions of an operation are aligned in a tree, so the next mission that can be chosen always depends on the previous one.

There are several factors to consider here. The difficulty of the mission: Harder missions have more and tougher enemies, but also give a higher mission rating. On top of that, the possible item rewards can have a higher rarity. The strategic asset: Every mission allows the player to secure a strategic asset that aids them in the remaining missions of the operation or rewards them with additional items.

The actual mission reward will be an item (such as a weapon or armor). Only the broad category of the expected item will be shown, not the actual item. On top of the expected item, there will always be a random item that can be chosen as a reward instead.

In this example, we want to tackle the “seize GTAM-site” mission. We feel confident that we can handle the difficulty, and we need a new light modular vehicle weapon for our light carrier. The strategic asset we gain will be “air defense restored,” which will make all following missions easier.

[...]

Henriquejr spotted dev diary #24 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #24: Accessories in MENACE

After last week’s introduction to special weapons, how they work, and what types of weapons you can expect in MENACE, this week we will give you an introduction to another kind of item class.

Accessories
Accessories can be used to equip squads with special items, abilities, skills, and so on. They are equipped in the troop loadout screen like all other equipment items, and also cost supplies.

They occupy their own slot in the squad's inventory so that they won't interfere with the rest of your equipment choices, like weapons and armor.

How many accessories a squad can equip depends mainly on the type of armor they are wearing, but the amount can also be increased through special perks.

Not only can infantry squads be equipped with accessories, but vehicles can also be equipped with them. In this case, the amount of vehicle accessories you can equip depends on the vehicle chassis.

Note that vehicle accessories are distinct from infantry accessories.

Accessory items can have a very wide variety of effects. They can apply a passive buff or give an active skill. Some have a limited number of uses per mission, while others can be used as often as you want. They open up another layer of customization and specialization when setting up your units, and they can be used to emphasize their strengths further or mitigate their weaknesses.

Here is a selection of various infantry accessories to give you an idea of what to expect. New items will be added regularly throughout the Early Access period.

[...]

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #23 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #23: Special Weapons

How special weapons for infantry squads work in general has been explained in a previous diary. This week, we want to give some examples of what type of special weapons you will encounter in MENACE. Of course, this is just a random selection, and more special weapons will be added all the time.

Special Weapons

In MENACE, every squad can equip one special weapon. These weapons are normally more cumbersome but also more powerful than squad weapons. 

Special weapons enable a squad to handle situations where their standard weapons are ineffective.

The actual weapons showcased in this diary are a random selection. Most of these will be available in different tiers and variants throughout the progression of the game, so it might be better to think of the shown varieties as special weapon “archetypes”.

Names, icons, and point costs in the images are a work in progress. 

No special weapon

Remember it is always an option to not equip a special weapon on a squad. This will free up points for other items and make the squad weapon attack more powerful, as one more person is shooting.

This might be especially worthwhile for squads that rely on their squad weapon for dealing damage, such as specialized close-quarters units with SMGs and similar weapons.

[...]

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #22 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #22: Off-map Abilities

We briefly mentioned off-map abilities in Dev Diary #8 previously. This week, we want to look a bit closer at these potentially decisive abilities that can turn the tide of battle:

What are off-map abilities?
Off-map Abilities are powerful abilities that do not originate from units on the tactical battlefield. In almost all cases, they have a limited number of uses, and most will have a delay between requesting them and their effect on the battlefield.

This could be a distant artillery emplacement or a missile shot down from the strike cruiser hovering over the battlefield. Planning ahead is definitely required as the situation on the battlefield is very dynamic: Units are changing positions, new threats emerge, and your troops might have taken out a position before the off-map strike hits. 

Most off-map abilities have a single use. They can be activated from the tactical combat UI. In many cases, the player selects an ability and then determines a location where it will be effective. After that, a timer counts down until the ability actually arrives on the battlefield.

It is essential to note that enemy units will not be aware of incoming off-map abilities and therefore will not actively avoid them.

[...]

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #21 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #21: Frequently Asked Questions by the Community!

Over the past weeks, many questions have emerged regarding MENACE's features, our development progress, and our plans for Early Access.

This week's Dev Diary will feature a selection of the most frequently asked questions and our corresponding answers. Bear in mind that we have an iterative design process, and sometimes, it is very difficult for us to give definitive answers to certain questions—we just don’t know yet! This is especially true regarding nice-to-have features.

In addition, we don’t see the Early Access phase of the game as pure polishing. It’s actual live development incorporating the community's feedback, so you can expect quite a few changes.

RELEASE & PLATFORMS
Q: When can I play it?!
A: MENACE is scheduled to release on Steam Early Access in the Fall of 2025. We are not planning to do any open betas before that, so we’re afraid you’ll have to wait just a little bit more! We are tinkering with the idea of a combat demo, but we will announce when we have more concrete info on that.

Q: What will MENACE's overall price be for Early Access, and when can we expect a release date?
A: It’s still too early to discuss what the price of the game will be. It might make sense to look at games with comparable size and production value to get a rough idea. As for the release date of the release date… stay tuned, Fall is coming!

Q: What percentage of planned features does Overhype hope to have implemented before launching into Early Access?
A: Regarding actual features and not content I would say 80%. Although it’s very hard to estimate, because if we feel something is missing during EA we will simply sit down, design a new feature and implement it.

Q: Will MENACE be available on GOG?
A: Our publisher Hooded Horse will take that call.

Q: Is MENACE planned to be Steam Deck compatible or Verified?
A: Our publisher Hooded Horse will take that call.

Q: Will MENACE be playable offline?
A: MENACE is a single-player game without online features, so yes.

[...]

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #20 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #20: Work in Progress

This week, we give you a snapshot of our active development and show you what we are working on right now. As always, everything we show here is a work in progress.

UI
We are in full swing implementing the second iteration of the tactical combat UI and HUD. As soon as we make enough progress and the UI is in a proper shape, we will be able to share actual gameplay footage. This is also one of the final puzzle pieces we need to prepare a small combat demo for the game.

As part of the UI rework, we overhauled all unit icons. Inspired by NATO military symbology, the player should be able to roughly estimate a unit's role by just looking at its icon.

Art
We are implementing more squad leaders all the time while at the same time trying to keep up with creating the corresponding character illustrations. For now, a lot of these are implemented as work-in-progress versions and will be finished later.

Concept
As we are in the process of onboarding a technical artist, we are preparing some rough concepts for different subtypes of biomes for each of the game's classic biomes.

In this example, the basic biome would be called “temperate” as you would find it on the planet “Backbone”. The different subtypes of biomes would be temperate highlands and temperate marshlands.

Bear in mind that these concepts are just a very basic guideline for tech art, intended to illustrate roughly what we are aiming for.

Level Design
Our main focus at the moment is adding more operation types to the game. Right now, we are working on another operation type for the pirate faction. Each enemy faction will have multiple different types of operations, each consisting of a unique set of missions. Of course, we will keep adding more operations during development.

Below, you can see a screenshot from our chunk system editor, which we use to create templates for procedurally generated parts of the map. In this case, it's a rogue forces defense line for the “breakthrough” mission type.

3D
The 3D department is focusing on implementing the dynamic vehicle weapon system, which allows the player to equip their vehicle chassis as freely as possible with all available weapons.

We showed a basic concept in an earlier Dev Diary. Now, the system is actually shaping up and will soon be ready to be implemented. This gives the same freedom you already have when equipping squads to the vehicles and allows for an insane number of weapon load-outs.

[...]

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #19 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #19: Concealment, Detection, and Lines of Sight

The best protection against any weapon is not being seen in the first place. In MENACE, players and enemies have a lot of tools and tactics to avoid being seen or detected by the enemy and shape the battle in their favour.

Let’s dive in:

Vision Range

The basis for any ranged combat system is, of course, the vision range of combat units. This is set at around nine tiles for most infantry, but this is not set in stone. This is the tile range on which the fog of war is lifted, and an enemy or neutral unit is revealed, which can thus be shot at.

Vehicles usually have a lower vision range despite most of them having electronic optics that enhance the driver's vision. The use of these devices is just slower and more cumbersome than being out in the open and looking around. Also, it reduces situational awareness, and that is why some especially heavy vehicles will have a minimum view range. An enemy unit standing right behind a tank might be invisible to the crew as it is too close and at a lower angle. In general, walkers will have more situational awareness than tanks as they can turn more quickly, are higher, and more mobile..

[...]

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #18 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #18 - Operations in MENACE

In the past we talked about operations without giving any more details. They are a new mechanic we developed to give missions more context and connect them into a loose story arc. Just as the tactical combat maps these are of course procedurally generated.

Read all about it in this week's diary.

What are Operations?
Operations are, on the most basic level, a series of 3 to 5 missions. Each mission is a single tactical battle fought on a procedurally generated tactical battle map. The missions are connected in a tree-branched fashion so that players have a choice of which mission to take on next on each level of the operation.

All Operations will resolve in a single final mission, but the nodes before will usually offer more than one mission to choose from. It is important to note that only one mission can be resolved on each level, so the player can not backtrack or do multiple missions on a certain level.

All vehicle losses and damages will carry over between missions as well as elements lost in squads, so players have to be extra careful to not take too much damage early in the operation or to ensure that they have enough reserves to replace losses.

Once an operation is completed, certain rewards are gained, and all squad elements are refilled and vehicles repaired. Squad Leaders or Pilots who permanently die will, of course, not return. The same goes for vehicle chassis, as they can also be permanently destroyed.

Operation Rewards
If players beat the final mission of an operation, they will receive hard-to-come-by OCI points used for upgrading their strike cruiser. They will also gain Authority, which is important for keeping the crew aboard the Impetus in check. Finally, they will increase their trust in the Wayback Faction that tasked them with the particular operation. Increasing trust will gradually unlock more upgrade options for the Impetus as the locals offer to supply knowledge and space wharf capacities to upgrade the Impetus.

Failing an operation can come easily, as failing a single mission will have the whole OP fail. In this case, no OCI points are gained, and also trust with the local faction will not rise but fall. Rewards earned for individual missions that have been completed until that point can, of course, be kept. Squads and Vehicles will be restored either way to ensure that players are not as easily heading down a spiral that is impossible to recover from.

[...]

Couchpotato spotted dev diary 17 for MENACE:

Dev Diary #17 - Making MENACE: Behind the Scenes

After a bunch of Dev Diaries explaining the basic concepts and gameplay mechanics of MENACE, we want to start giving you an insight into the actual development. So this is a selection of what we are currently working on:

Concept Art
We started working on concepting armor variants for some early game armors. Similar to the different variants of squad weapons, armors will come in a variety of styles. These variants not only look different, but also offer better stats or confer other bonuses.

[...]

Learn more about the deployment and mission preparation in MENACE:

Dev Diary #16 - Deployment and Mission Preparation

Mission Preparation in MENACE
Today, we will cover the essentials of how to deploy your troops before taking on a combat mission in MENACE. Battles can be won and lost in deployment—that’s why mission preparation is a core element of the game.

Overview of the Battlefield
The first thing to do before playing any mission is to get an overview of the procedurally generated combat map. This is where all mission objectives are shown, including deployment zones and other vital areas.

The map provides an abstract view of the landscape, including structures, roads, and environmental features that must be considered when formulating a plan. Time of day and weather conditions are also displayed—nighttime combat, in particular, may require special preparation.

Assessing Enemy Intel
Enemy presence is also shown on the preparation map. Still, unlike topographic data, it’s more challenging to obtain real-time information on enemy movement and unit types.

This is why MENACE uses a slightly abstracted intelligence system, simulating orbital scans, intercepted radio traffic, satellite imagery, and intel from local sources. All of these combine into an intelligence rating. The higher the rating, the more likely it is to reveal additional information about enemy troops.

This can be essential, helping you plan for the presence of heavy weapons, vehicles, or special units.

[...]

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The Turn Based Lovers checked out MENACE:

MENACE: Action Points, Missions, Morale, and Weather System— Everything Revealed in the Latest Devlogs from the Creators of Battle Brothers

MENACE - How Actions Points, missions and weather system work

I’m picking up where I left off some time ago, continuing to keep track of updates on MENACE, the brand-new strategy RPG from Overhype Studios, the developers behind the acclaimed mercenary simulator RPG Battle Brothers.

[...]

Today, however, after stepping back a bit due to work and personal commitments, I’m bringing together four dev diaries into a single article. We’ll cover action points, mission types, how discipline and the soldiers’ morale system work, and how weather impacts the combat scenarios.

Action Points and Attack Calculation
In Dev Diary #11 for MENACE they explain how action points (AP) govern your units’ movements and actions, as well as how the game’s intricate combat calculations determine the outcomes of firefights.

Unlike many modern turn-based strategy games that favor a simplified two-action system, MENACE sticks to a more traditional action point model, offering greater tactical depth. Each unit on the battlefield begins with 100 AP per turn. Actions—such as moving, firing weapons, or using skills—consume AP according to their complexity and intensity.

[...]

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Learn more about the Rogue Army Enemy Faction in MENACE:

Dev Diary #15: Rogue Army Enemy Faction Preview

Today, we want to showcase another enemy faction in MENACE: The Rogue Army. We will provide an overview of their unit roster and the tactics they employ.

Rogue Armies in the Wayback System
“Rogue Army” is a collective term for all kinds of human forces in the Wayback that follow their own agenda or oppose the rule of the established factions.

Similar to the pirates, they don’t follow a grand scheme and are not part of an overarching organization. In other words, each encounter against a “Rogue Army” can happen on different planets and for different reasons.

In one operation, you might fight against a renegade general who tries to gain control of valuable industrial assets, while in a different operation, you have to defend a peaceful population against an attack by its neighbor.

As a simplification, the ruling factions will also employ the same or similar types of units to represent their military arm, most likely with a different texture.

Tactics and Units: The Rogue Army Roster
The backbone of any Rogue Army consists of large infantry squads without any meaningful equipment or specialized training. This human wave will be supported by raw firepower from a variety of sources. The overall theme is quantity over quality which is also reflected in the simple and cumbersome nature of most rogue army equipment.

All units heavily rely on supporting each other, so it's important to isolate individual units and defeat them one by one. The lack of maneuverability and speed of any Rogue Army further facilitates this approach.

Finding ways to mitigate the impact of their long range fire support is essential to win engagements without taking heavy losses. Possible approaches involve gathering intelligence before the actual combat, deep reconnaissance and offmap abilities as well as a strict target prioritization to disable the most dangerous units first.

[...]

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Learn more about lighting and weather in MENACE:

Dev Diary #14 - Lighting and Weather

The world of MENACE is modeled with the real world in mind, and the weather and light conditions greatly impact any warfare or conflict. Fighting at night is chaotic and dangerous for ill-trained and equipped troops. Blazing heat strains soldiers, and dense fog makes it hard to identify enemies on the battlefield.

This week, we want to give a first glance at the weather and lighting system in MENACE and how it impacts gameplay.

Note: This is just the first iteration; more environmental effects, lighting, and weather conditions will be added to the game.

Time of Day
There will be four basic times of day at which combat can occur, and each has distinct lighting to make sure players quickly recognize which time it is. Even more importantly, the different light settings make the game look different each time and add a lot of visual variety to each biome. Also, the lighting is crucial in creating a fitting atmosphere for the game.

The chance of fighting at a certain lighting time differs for each biome, with fights in normal daylight being much more common than fights at dusk, dawn, or night.

[...]

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Learn more about discipline and morale in MENACE:

Dev Diary #13 - Discipline and Morale

In modern combat based on firearms, discipline and morale are just as important as in medieval clashes. Today, we give some insights into how we model discipline and morale and how to make the most use of them in MENACE:

Real Life Inspiration
There are usually two different endings possible in any armed conflict. Firstly, one side is physically incapacitated and can not continue to fight. Secondly, combatants can lose the will to fight and hunker down, stop fighting back, and eventually flee the battlefield.

Both are equally important in real life, so we want to ensure that the latter is just as meaningful in MENACE as the former.

We, as developers, took a look at real battles and casualty rates. In most conflicts, casualty rates tend to be anywhere between 1% and 30%. Having every mission end with all units mowed down is typical in computer games but pretty far from reality. For us, it is important to model combat in MENACE in a way that is still rewarding and decisive to play but also to make sure that not every mission is a massacre.

In last week's Dev Diary, we talked about mission types and how you don't have to dispatch all opposition to win missions.

[...]

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Learn more about the mission types in MENACE:

Dev Diary #12 - Mission Types in MENACE

In MENACE, tactical battles go beyond destroying all enemies. There is a wide variety of mission goals, many of which do not require you to dispatch all opposition.

Let’s take a closer look at the challenges that await you.

Missions in MENACE
A mission is a single turn-based tactical battle deployment that is fought on a procedurally generated 3D map. Each mission has a certain mission goal that needs to be completed in order to win the battle. 

If a battle is won, the player’s performance will be rated depending on certain factors like losses suffered, speed, and others. Each mission grants new items to loot and promotion points to promote squad leaders and pilots and unlock new perks for them.

A mission in MENACE is not an isolated fight but will always be part of an “Operation,” which is a cascade of connected missions. The player will always have some choices on what mission to take on next to complete the operation, but more on that in a later diary.

Now let’s look at the individual mission types:

Note: More mission types are in the works.

[...]

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Learn more about the action points of MENACE:

Dev Diary #11 - Action Points and Attack Calculation

We already talked a lot about specific combat mechanics and stats in MENACE but today we will lay out the basic action point system and combat mechanics. How are attacks modeled, hit chances calculated and casualties accounted? Let’s dive in!

Action Points in MENACE
While many turn-based strategy games and franchises have swapped to the popular “2-actions” system, we will stay true to the genre's roots with a classic action point system.

Each entity on the battlefield has a pool of action points, used up by any action a unit can take. The idea behind this is that all actions take a different amount of time, and this system can model that with far more granularity than a 2-action system.

Each unit starts with 100 Action Points (AP) per turn. The available amount is relatively stable but can change under certain circumstances.

For example, when a unit is suppressed, it begins its turn with 30 AP less.

A typical skill use, like firing a squad weapon or throwing a grenade, costs 40 AP.
Heavy special weapons, such as firing a rocket launcher, typically cost 60 AP and cannot be used twice in a turn.
Movement also costs AP, though the number of points needed depends on both the unit’s movement type and the surface being traversed.
Moving on a concrete road is much faster than slogging through muddy ground. Wheeled vehicles generally require fewer AP per tile than tracked ones, but certain surfaces may be impassable for them. Vehicles also need AP to turn, unlike infantry.

Careful management of your Action Point economy is essential to overcoming the tactical challenges in MENACE. As the game progresses and units acquire more perks, equipment, and weapons, the decisions about which skill or action to use—and when to use it—become increasingly complex.

[...]

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Learn more about the Pirate Faction in MENACE:

Dev Diary #10 - Pirate Faction Preview

Today, we want to deliver a little sneak peek at one of the enemy factions in MENACE: The Space Pirates. We will show some of their units and highlight the lore behind the faction.

Space Pirates in the Wayback System
While a rare issue in the Core Worlds, spiracy, as some amusingly refer to, is a significant force of social decay in the Wayback. In recent years, the Planetary Jingwei's grasp of the pirate problem has severely weakened. Nowadays, pirates run free, operating in bands that raid and pillage defenseless colonies.

Space pirates spend lots of time in space and are slightly out of their element when fighting on the ground. They are bad guys, albeit often bumbling and incompetent, with a sense that the smarter pirates are probably running the show off-stage. They obsess over trinkets, a catchall term for loot, with a primary want for goodies that come from outside the system.

[...]

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Learn more about perks and promotions in MENACE:

Dev Diary #9 - Perks and Promotions

The goal of this Dev Diary is to explain how the performance of Squadleaders and Pilots improves over the course of the game. Instead of the classic experience point system, MENACE works with deliberate promotions to unlock perks.

Promotion Points and Mission Rating
Promotion Points are earned through completing missions, fulfilling bonus objectives, exceeding mission requirements, or completing events. Unlike OCI components, Promotion Points are rewarded for each individual mission, so even if you fail an operation, you will gain Promotion Points.

Mission Rating Factors:
Persistent Factors: Logistics (supply points used), casualties (lost elements), and mission difficulty.
Optional Factors: Speed of completion, civilian casualties, collateral damage, and destroyed enemy elements.
Higher ratings yield more points. Promotion Points accumulate like other resources and can be spent after each mission.

Promotion and Demotion
Unlike a classic experience system, promoting a character is a deliberate decision by the player and does not happen automatically.

• Ranks: Promotions range from 1 (Lance Corporal) to 8 (Master Gunnery Sergeant).
• Cost Scaling: Each consecutive promotion for the same character is more expensive than the previous one, making it costlier to focus on a single character rather than distributing Promotion Points among multiple leaders.
• Strategic Choices: Players must decide when and whom to promote, rather than funneling kills and experience into favored units.
• Comeback Mechanic: High-ranking promotions are costly, but new characters can be hired and ranked up, allowing them to catch up to veterans over time.

Demotion
Demoting a character is possible, with a small portion of Promotion Points refunded, though the affected leader will not be pleased.

A promotion-based system aligns with the game's military setting, giving the player, as commander of the Impetus, full control over who deserves a promotion.

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted two new dev diaries for MENACE:

Dev Diary #7 - Combat Mechanics: Suppression

Dev Diary #8 - OCIs (Operational Capability Improvements) and Off-Map Abilities

Learn more about supplies and equipment in MENACE:

Dev Diary #6 - Supplies and Equipment

This week, it is time to delve deeper into MENACE's item and supply cost system.
We will explain more of the infantry squad’s equipment options and show some example items that could be equipped. Each piece of equipment also comes with supply costs, which we explain below.

Let’s jump into it!

Supplies and Equipment Costs
There are two basic limitations to what you can bring on a mission: The items and squad leaders you have collected as well as the supply limit of that particular mission. Each piece of equipment, be it armor, weapon, or accessory, has a supply point cost attached to it. The total of all equipment you bring on a mission must not exceed that mission's supply point limit.

Of course, there are ways to manipulate both the supply costs and the available supplies, so there is some room to find your personal play style. This system is very similar to what many well-known tabletop games use for army building.

Also, the enemy uses the same system to buy its troops from a list of available units. Please note that the amount of supplies for you and the enemy is not necessarily the same, and a difference in points will make missions easier or harder.

Why have a supply system?
When designing MENACE we were looking for a way to both have players' power and abilities increase throughout the game as well as enable as many equipment choices and army setups as possible.

The main issue when not having supply costs is that it is virtually never worthwhile not to use a best-in-slot item on all units unless you just don't own enough of them. There is no reason to use a low-tier armor or weapon later in the game, effectively reducing equipment choices by a lot.

With a supply system, more powerful weapons will cost more supplies while usually still having a better power/supply ratio than low-tier items. This makes equipping squads with cheap armor or weapons a viable choice in order to save points to put into other units.

For example, a mortar-equipped squad that fires from the backlines could just wear fatigues and sport basic rifles, saving points to invest in heavy breach armor for an assault unit. Players might also bring few well-equipped units, many poorly equipped units, or any mix thereof. Through this system, we enable a wide variety of playstyles while making actual army building a core system of the game.

Having a supply system also makes a lot of sense from a lore perspective. The limiting factor of fielding high-tech equipment on a modern battlefield is mostly supply and maintenance. A simple rifle may not be a powerful tool, but it also needs zero maintenance. At the same time, a futuristic combat mech with a multi-laser cannon will keep a whole team of mechanics busy while also gobbling up spare parts, ammo, and all kinds of resources (so-called “supplies”).

Armor

In a previous diary, we already talked about squad weapons and special weapons: Dev Diary #4 - Weapon Types and Stats. Of course, the most basic part of any soldier's equipment is their armor.

In MENACE, there is a wide variety of armor types that not only offer protection but might add additional skills and abilities.

Armor Value: The armor value determines the % chance to stop a projectile that hits this squad. It is matched against the attack's penetration value after considering dropoffs from distance to target.

Armor Durability: If a hit does not penetrate the armor, it reduces the armor's durability. A penetrating hit does not damage the armor. The lower the armor durability, the lower the effective armor value. This means most armors will be good at taking a few hits but might lose effectiveness quickly. There might also be weapons with very low penetration but high armor damage. These might be good to “shred armor” before finally punching through.

Accessory Slots: The armor determines how many accessories a squad can carry into battle. Usually, light armors will sport more accessory slots than heavier ones.
Equipment Costs: Of course, armor comes with its own supply costs that have to be paid per element of a squad. Bigger squads will cost more supplies than smaller ones as they have more elements to be equipped.

Special Skills, Modifiers, or Abilities: Some very heavy armors might reduce movement speed or view range, while others have gimmicks installed, like smoke launchers, laser designators, or thermal imaging devices.

Accessories

The term accessories spread over a very wide range of items, and in MENACE, the variety to pick from will be massive. Most squads will usually be able to equip two accessories, but depending on armor or perks, this might be up to 4.

These items usually bring additional utility, like an ammo pack that increases the ammunition for special weapons or a camouflage kit that makes the squad harder to detect enemies. However, many accessories grant additional skills.

Most notable in this category are grenades that come in all types and flavors. Other types of active accessories like combat drugs instantly reduce suppression or single-use rocket launchers that give ad-hoc AT capability to a squad.

Each accessory, of course, comes with its own supply costs as well, so choose carefully which to bring on a mission.

For active accessories, there is no limit to how many of a certain type you want to bring on a mission, as they come with a certain amount of uses. Want to cover the enemy with grenades? Pick the grenadier perk to increase throwing range and bring 3 Frag Grenades, each granting three skill uses.

Some accessories will be limited to one per squad as adding them to each other does not make sense within the game world, for example, target designators or night vision equipment.

Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed
That's it for now. Let us know what you think about Supplies and Equipment.

You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also subscribe to our monthly MENACE newsletter on our website — just scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up.

In next week's Dev Diary we'll talk about "Pilots & Vehicles".

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Learn more about squad Leaders and stats in MENACE:

Dev Diary #5: Squad Leaders and Stats

Meet the Squad Leaders of MENACE - they shape battles with unique perks, detailed stats, and distinct roles.
After getting into the details of how squad weapons and special weapons work, we are looking at the second important part: the soldiers wielding those weapons! We will also see what other types of equipment can be brought to the battlefield.

Squad Leaders
There are two fundamentally different character types in MENACE: Squad Leaders and Pilots. In today's diary, we look at the former and keep the latter for a future diary.

What are squad leaders in MENACE?
Any unit you deploy in MENACE features a squad leader acting as its identification figure and its commander on the battlefield. Squad Leaders (short SLs) are handwritten characters with their own backstory and unique perk tree.

Furthermore, they have a set of specific stats reflecting their squad's capabilities. However, being unique doesn't automatically protect the SLs from harm. They can still be killed on the battlefield, so you have to take that into consideration when going for bold moves and suicide missions.

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Learn more about weapon types and stats in MENACE:

Dev Diary #4 - Weapon Types and Stats

Weapons in MENACE: Stats, Strategy, and Firepower.

Happy New Year everyone! In the first Dev Diary of 2025, we will give an overview of weapon types and weapon stats in MENACE, as these are key elements of how the game plays and what the player has to consider when making his decisions before and during the battle.

Squad Weapons and Special Weapons
In MENACE, there are two fundamentally different types of weapons: "squad weapons" and "special weapons."

Equipping a squad weapon will outfit each individual element of a squad with a copy of this weapon. Supply costs are multiplied accordingly, making a bigger squad more expensive to equip. Squad weapons are regular infantry small arms ranging from shotguns and submachine guns over assault rifles to battle rifles and the like.

As the name suggests, special weapons fulfill more specialized roles upon equipping a special weapon; a single element of the squad exchanges its squad weapon for that special weapon.

Special weapons are generally speaking more cumbersome, specialized, and powerful than squad weapons. Examples would range from rocket launchers over mortars and machine guns to sniper rifles. Oftentimes, a squad will have to deploy and be stationary in order to use heavy weapons.

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Couchpotato spotted the third dev diary for MENACE:

Dev Diary #3 - Tactical Combat Overview

An In-Depth Look at Missions, Units, and Combat Systems in MENACE.
MENACE revolves around two gameplay layers: the strategic part we discussed in the last Dev Diary and the tactical part, with the latter being the game's core.

Today, it is time to get an overview of the most important aspects of tactical combat in the game before we dive deeper into each topic in the following Dev Diary posts:

Objectives
In MENACE, each tactical deployment and battle is called a mission. It is always part of a series of connected missions that comprise a so-called operation. Of course, missions and operations are procedurally generated for maximum replayability and new challenges.

Each mission has one or more objectives that have to be fulfilled to complete it successfully. This can be rescuing civilians and getting them to safety, defending a military base, or capturing critical infrastructure before the enemy advances. The times of killing everything that moves to win any mission are over (but don't fret; some missions still require you to kill everything). Bringing the best-suited squads, vehicles, and equipment for the task at hand will substantially impact a player's success in the game.

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The Turn Based Lovers checked out MENACE:

More Details on How the Strategy Layer of MENACE Works, and It Looks Awesome

MENACE Strategy Layer Overview
I have to admit, I’ve been somewhat dismissive of Overhype Studios’ new strategy title—you know, the creators of Battle Brothers. No specific reason, really—just the lack of details and proper gameplay sequences until now. But that’s changed. Straight from their Steam page comes a detailed devlog packed with information and screenshots about how the game’s Strategy Layer will work. After reading and seeing it, they’ve got my full attention.

Let’s be clear: everything you’re about to see is still a work in progress. That said, it gives a solid glimpse into the game’s UI and overall direction, and I must say, it’s impressive. Let’s dive into everything they’ve revealed so far:

The Starmap acts as your primary hub, offering a visual representation of the star system where MENACE unfolds. Here, you’ll navigate between planetary bodies, track faction ownership, and respond to requests for aid—ranging from tackling rogue pirates to containing alien infestations. Your choices in assisting or neglecting local factions will influence their loyalty, shaping alliances or sowing discord as you progress.

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Couchpotato spotted the second dev diary for MENACE:

Dev Diary #2 - Strategic Part Overview

Welcome to our first real dev diary for MENACE.

This week we want to give you a first impression of the strategic part of the game.

So far we have shown only in-game footage of the tactical combat, which is still the core of the game, but nothing from the strategic part. One of the reasons is the UI, which is still very heavily work in progress for the whole game.

The tactical combat can easily be shown without any UI elements. As the strategic part mostly consists of menus, buttons, and lists, it is almost impossible to show anything without leaving a bad impression without proper UI elements.

Keep in mind that all images shown below are snapshots from active development or even mockups of how it is planned to look down the road. All functionalities and mechanics are, however, already in place and are currently tested and balanced by us.

This is just a first overview; we will dive deeper into each of these areas in a dedicated post.

The Starmap
While the tactical combat is the meat of the game, the strategic part adds context to each battle, gives the player medium - and long-term goals, and also features various permanent progression mechanics.

The Starmap is the central hub and visualization of the Wayback, the distant star system where MENACE takes place. Here, you can see the planetary bodies, which factions own them, and who is calling for the aid of the TCRN Impetus to help with their local squabbles like an out-of-control pirate raid or alien infestation.

Players can look at available “operations” and plan out their next move. Local factions will be grateful for the player helping them out but will also be disgruntled if left hanging for too long.

Additionally, the player can track the main resources that are available to them here: Promotion points, which are used to promote and “level up” squads. OCI components are used to upgrade the player's ship and acquire more squad leaders; finally, authority points are crucial for managing the morale and mood of the crew of the Impetus.

Maintaining authority on a ship filled with a motley crew of characters can be difficult. There might be a fight between crew members, an accident in the hangar, or a discovered hidden moonshine distillery on board. All of these events will challenge you as a commander and, depending on your decisions, will have an impact on the mood of the crew, your authority, or the resources available to you.

OCIs
The TCRN Impetus, the strike cruiser serving as your base of operations, is not well suited for the challenges ahead. Luckily, local factions do have the necessary space wharfs and the technical knowledge to improve the ship with what we call Operational Capability Improvements, or OCIs for short.

These OCIs are active and passive upgrades to the ship and have a wide variety of effects. Some give the ability to call in a dropship for a gun run in combat or to shoot a devastating rocket onto a particularly resilient bunker. Others allow squads to heal between missions or increase the “intelligence” rating, which grants better information on enemy units and positions during the mission preparation.

Armory
The armory is where players inspect, manage, equip, and promote their squad leaders and pilots. There are tons of weapons, armor, accessories, and vehicles to acquire through the game, all with their individual pros and cons.

We go to great lengths to make equipment choices as meaningful and varied as possible in MENACE. Players should have maximum freedom in equipping their units and will be encouraged to experiment and enable their very own playstyle.

Promotions
Each squad leader has their own unique perk tree that gets unlocked through so-called promotions. Promotion points are earned for each mission and can be spent on any character, while higher promotions cost more points.

Many of these perks will be shared between certain characters, but the combination of perks available will always be unique. On top of that, each squad leader starts with a trademark personal trait that is instantly unlocked.

But wait, there is more!
In order to keep the diariess to a reasonable length, we have to cut them here. There are plenty more elements to the strategic part of the game that we will talk about later.

There is a black market where players can barter for equipment to bolster their armory, new squad leaders and pilots can be hired and most importantly we will introduce “operations”, which are a series of connected missions.

Stay tuned and join us next Friday for the new Dev Diary!

Couchpotato spotted the first dev diary for MENACE:

Dev Diary #1 - Breaking the Silence

It is finally time to break the silence on MENACE and spill the beans on all the ins and outs of the game, but most importantly to discuss them with you - our community!

To this end we will start our well known dev blogs that so many of you are used to from Battle Brothers.

We will follow a similar format and timing with focusing on a certain topic for each blog and share pictures, gifs or videos to go with it. We aim to publish a new blog every week on Friday and will also try to be available on our Discord after each blog's release to discuss the content with you!

Today we will address the most pressing topics:

When will MENACE release?
We have been developing the game for a really long time with the first prototype dating back as far as 2018, that is 6 years now. Over the years we moved from a 2D perspective and our own engine to full 3D and Unity while also building the team up to 10 people.

Growing a team that much while moving to a whole new technology and developing a huge game at the same time is a massive challenge and might help to understand why development takes so long.

We are now in a state where we feel comfortable with finally announcing a release date window for the Early Access: Fall of 2025.

Yes, the game will be released into Early Access. For Battle Brothers the Early Access was absolutely essential in making sure the final release was as bug-free, well balanced and as feature rich as possible. Our community helped us tremendously with this and we want to have the same level of interaction and participation for MENACE.

What is MENACE?
MENACE is a turn-based tactics game that models medium scale modern combat in a low powered SciFi setting pitching players against an overwhelming and ever evolving enemy threat.

You can find the full feature list and description on Steam, so head over there and read up on all the features of the game if you did not do that yet! Instead of repeating that info here we want to share some thoughts on the game itself.

Turn based tactics is our thing and that is what both MENACE and BB are. When playing MENACE you will very quickly feel the Battle Brothers DNA: Intuitive mechanics, meaningful tactical choices, tragic deaths, exhilarating wins and crushing defeats. All this while being a lot less frustrating and easier to get into than Battle Brothers. Meanwhile, the game will be even more complex and multi-layered to make sure you can really dive deep into it if you want.

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Couchpotato spotted a gameplay trailer for MENACE:

MENACE - Gameplay Trailer - Pirate Attack | Sci-Fi Tactical RPG

Rock Paper Shotgun checked out MENACE:

Menace’s turn-based battles are the galaxy’s deadliest teambuilding exercises

The Battle Brothers devs’ next strategy game wants you to keep its soldiers sweet

If you’ve played Battle Brothers, you’ll know that Overhype Studios have a way of making you care for an underling, no more so than when you inadvertently send them onto the wrong end of a sharp blade. Menace, their upcoming turn-based tactical RPG, will also put the wellbeing of your chosen fighters at the forefront of your mind – along with a dramatic shift from 2D medieval sprites to the fully 3D battlefields of a unruly space frontier.

Whereas Battle Brothers filled your army with randomly generated serf lads, Menace lets you hire a cast of ready-made, "fixed" soldiers with their own backstories and personalities. It’s up to you how to recruit and deploy this gaggle of assorted mercs and charlatans, who range from aloof ex-marines to cheerful snipers and loudly pious mech pilots. For some, their roles as powerful squad leaders will likely result in them becoming the main characters of any given playthrough.

Thus, whereas Menace’s turn-based battles, grid movement, and heavy emphasis on cover will naturally invoke XCOM comparisons, the presence of these personalities more specifically brings to mind XCOM: Chimera Squad and its ragtag cast of interspecies cops. Except, Menace goes far heavier on both detail and scale than that pared-back spinoff did. Stat fiends will relish digging through the numbers that each pre-mission squad equip screen pours out, with such granularity as to include a line graph showing the damage falloff for individual guns. And, when you’re planetside, you won’t be fighting a preset handful of foes on a predesigned map, but a proc-gen army on randomised (and unpredictable) terrain.

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Gamesradar checked out the strategy RPG MENACE:

This turn-based game looks like tactical Mass Effect, and it's all down to the"light RPG" mechanics

Gamescom 2024 |I don't even play turn-based tactics games, but I'm sold on Menace already

A guy in a mech suit charges forward and swiftly obliterates a swathe of masked enemies. All it takes is a spray of bullets. As Overhype Studios creative director Paul Taaks zooms in a little closer for me to admire the carnage he's carving out in Menace, I let out a whoop of delight. The smoking corpses of the enemy forces sit in a satisfying heap, and as he zooms back out to initiate a tactical airstrike on another band of ne'er-do-wells in the center of the map, I sit back to enjoy the show.

At first glance, Menace is not the kind of game you'd associate with one of the best RPGs of all time. Yet somehow, something about how Taaks is pitching it leaves me shouting three words: tactical Mass Effect. Paired with the fact that Menace is taking a slightly more narrative approach to the turn-based tactics proceedings than in the developer's wildly popular Battle Brothers, this pivot toward something familiar is effortlessly selling me on a whole new genre.

[...]

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PC Gamer shows a gameplay trailer for the tactical RPG MENACE:

Menace - Gameplay Trailer | PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2023

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The Strategy RPG MENACE - the new game of the Battle Brothers team - will be released in 2024:

MENACE

Command a strike force of marines, mercenaries, and criminals in a distant system, cut off from the Core Worlds. At the lawless frontier, the Wayback system is controlled by pirate warlords, questionable corporations, and fractured planetary governments who struggle for a new order. Though you initially lead your strike force of marines from aboard the strike cruiser TCRN Impetus, you'll quickly need to unite the disparate locals under your leadership to defeat an unknown threat. Fielding tanks, mechs, and infantry squads with a massive selection of equipment to choose from, you’ll train your troops, plan out operations, and engage in deadly tactical battles.

The developers of Battle Brothers take us to the far future in MENACE – a turn-based tactical RPG set in an isolated system where a strange new threat has begun to emerge.

Take Command
Your Republic Marine Corps strike force has made its way over to bring the frontier back into the fold, but what was supposed to be a simple pacification mission revealed a threat that puts the entire system at risk…

Your approach is entirely yours to determine – as distress calls roll in, calling you from planet to planet, you can decide which to respond to, what resources to employ, and when to engage based on your readiness levels. Your choices will determine how the local factions feel about your presence, with a direct impact on your relations with them and what favors they may be willing to do for you. Will you prioritize relations with the arms dealers for access to better equipment on the battlefield? Or will you set their needs aside, focusing on the shipwrights instead to gain access to ship upgrades that can support your ground troops from orbit?

With all communications cut off, you're at the top of the chain of command, and your team of marines, mercenaries, and criminals turn to you for answers. Any single operation is not limited to one battlefield, instead taking you on branching paths of multiple missions each, asking you to engage in a series of battles across entire worlds. Make strategic decisions as you progress through an operation, choosing between the missions available to you – will you first take out the enemy air defenses that keep you from landing tanks? Or will you press directly into the enemy to rescue a group of hostages and gain the trust of the locals? Proceed mission by mission to complete the operation, and ultimately, further your grand campaign, but beware – every decision has serious consequences, not just for the operation at hand, but the entire system itself.

The strike cruiser TCRN Impetus acts as your base of operations, not only ferrying you between missions, but providing both orbital support and a place for much needed R&R. Invest in upgrading and customizing your mobile HQ to best synergise with your approach on the battlefield, seeking out opportunities among local allies to gain the upper hand for the task ahead of you.

Without access to your standard issue naval arsenal, you'll have to rely on local black market dealers and the spoils of war to equip your squads. From the jerry-rigged war machines of the pirate factions to the refined, high-end arms of the local mercenaries, each engagement isn't just an opportunity to bring the fractured system under control, but to acquire new equipment to help accomplish your mission.

High Stake Tactical Battles
The threat of death is real as you find yourself pit against numerically, and at times technologically, superior enemy forces. Large engagements across diverse battlefields are subject to the effects of weather conditions across a multitude of biomes, and human foes are the least of your concern. In the recesses of the system, something alien has taken hold, and its methods are unpredictable and unrelenting.

Battles in MENACE are deadly affairs – under the hail of bullets, plasma bolts, and missile fire, you will face off against enemies that are well prepared, and ruthless. Expect to permanently lose squad leaders and their squads, and prepare to adapt to constantly evolving situations on the battlefield. Pacifying an entire system doesn’t come without a few risks, and superior tactical prowess will determine the victor.

Use flanking maneuvers to make your way around cover, or use heavy ordnance to flush enemies out from their firing positions. Rush from cover to cover as you plot pincer attacks, opening fire to suppress enemy squads and pin them in place while working to destroy cover they might run to. A tactical approach is essential to coming out on top but remember to stay on your toes – though you can plan around intel gathered for mission briefing, plans never survive first contact with the enemy.

Keep an eye on your weapons' efficient ranges, their damage over distance, and whether they're best used against heavily or lightly armored enemies. Even beyond accurate ranges, every round fired causes some degree of suppression to the squad it lands next to – whether they were the intended target or not. With heavy fire more likely to pin an enemy down than small arms, you’ll be able to adapt based on the tools at your disposal, but make sure to adjust your approach as needed. Study the enemy to assess if you should be sniping from a distance or aggressively closing the gap under the cover of suppressing fire.

Arrive on the battlefield with a variety of vehicles and mechs alike, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and a variety of weapons systems to choose from. The firepower of a tank is immense, but the nimble mech is able to respond to fast-moving threats in an instant, rotating freely and quickly. Designated pilots are able to bring these vehicles to the battlefield, albeit at a high cost. Will you opt to bring in an expensive mech you’ve commandeered from the mercenaries at the cost of better equipment for your infantry? You might lose an entire squad, but the extra firepower might just be what secures your victory.

Use limited supplies to kit your squads out before each mission and ensure you're equipped for the task ahead. Infantry squads can swap their armor to strike a balance between protection and utility with additional accessory slots, where accessories range from disposable rocket launchers to grenades to target designators. Each squad can be equipped from a wide selection of weapons with different advantages and disadvantages, as well as particularly powerful specialist weapons – everything from flamethrowers to sniper rifles to EMP cannons.

A Character-Driven Experience
Pike is the model marine – loyal to the Republic, and a professional soldier, unwavering in the face of adversity. Rewa suffers from the trauma of past scars, a violent rage constantly boiling beneath the surface. Lim owes Pike for saving his home colony, and distrusts non-Marines – but he'll have to learn to meet them in the middle as the going gets rough. Every squad leader in MENACE has a history and personality, and as their commander, it's up to you to navigate the trouble that can bring.

From the marines you flew in with to the locals you need to recruit, each squad leader carries their own expectations and aspirations. Engage with them between missions to learn more about them and what makes them tick – their opinion of you and their morale will determine the performance of your squads both on and off the battlefield.

Squad leaders and their squads earn promotions and improve over time, giving you the option to customize them to your liking. Keep your squad leaders alive and choose perks from a varied promotion tree, acquiring additional abilities to use against the enemy.

Each playthrough features a selection of characters from a massive pool – learn how individual backstories are tied together and prepare to navigate the unique combinations of each run. Stories unfold in unexpected ways as your squad leaders push from engagement to engagement. Watch them crumble under pressure from a cataclysmic threat, and do your best to train them for the fight against the MENACE.

Endless Replayability
With procedurally generated multi-mission operations and battle maps, alongside a big selection of characters and countless equipment options, every run of MENACE plays different from the last. Find yourself face to face with a seemingly insurmountable challenge that takes on multiple forms across playthroughs, and put your strategic and tactical prowess to the test in new ways each time.

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