Patch Breakdown · v0.7.8 + Hotfixes

MENACE OCI Rework Guide

The OCI Rework went live on July 14, 2026 as update v0.7.8 — the largest single change MENACE has received since entering Early Access in February. It rebuilds the Impetus's upgrade system around three renamed slots, splits offmap support into Orbital and Airpower categories with real timing rules, pools ability uses per operation, and adds hard caps to both authority and squaddie count. Two follow-up hotfixes (v0.7.9 and v0.7.10) landed within the same week. This guide covers everything that changed and how to adapt your campaign.

Everything That Changed at a Glance

System	Before v0.7.8	After the Rework	How to Adapt
OCI slots	Three generic OCI slots on the Impetus	Slots renamed to Bridge, Hull, and Armament, each holding always-unlocked base OCIs that cover the essentials	Fill every slot with a base OCI early — they are free progression that needs no faction trust
Faction OCIs	8 OCIs per faction, installed standalone	12 OCIs and 12 trust levels per faction; faction OCIs install over a base OCI and replace it	Non-ability faction OCIs keep the base OCI's effect, so upgrading an Intelligence Center keeps the +1 intelligence
OCI upgrades	Single version of each OCI	Every unlocked OCI also has an upgraded version that costs more and can fundamentally change what it does	Read the upgraded tooltip before paying — 'better' sometimes means 'different job'
Offmap uses	Uses refreshed per mission	Uses are pooled per operation — spend all 3 in one mission or spread them across missions	Track the pool before the final mission of an operation; leftover uses do not carry further
Offmap delivery	One shared offmap behavior	Split into Orbital (from the Impetus, ~2-turn delay, heavier impact) and Airpower (dropship arrives after 2 turns, loiters 1 turn only)	Call dropships before contact, not after — a wasted loiter window wastes the use
Authority	No explicit authority ceiling	Maximum authority is 120, minus 4 for every squad leader or pilot on the roster	Treat each hire as a 4-point authority tax; some OCIs raise the cap again
Squaddie limit	Roster grew without a hard ceiling	The Impetus has a maximum squaddie count; no new squaddies join from any source once full	Raise it with the Quarters base OCI or set it in the custom difficulty options at game start

Two-panel chart for MENACE's OCI Rework v0.7.8. Left panel: maximum authority starts at 120 and drops by 4 for every squad leader or pilot hired, falling to 100 at 5 hires, 80 at 10, 60 at 15, and 40 at 20. Right panel: offmap timing comparison — orbital strikes land after a 2-turn delay (3 turns for the Ion Cannon after Hotfix #9), while airpower dropships arrive after 2 turns and must fire within a single 1-turn loiter window or the use is lost. — The two numbers that reshape campaign planning in v0.7.8: the 120-minus-4 authority soft cap (left), and the new offmap timing rules that separate Orbital strikes from loiter-limited Airpower dropships (right).

The Three Renamed Slots and Their Base OCIs

The Impetus still has three OCI slots, but they are now named Bridge, Hull, and Armament — and each slot offers base OCIs that are always unlocked, no faction trust required. Base OCIs cover the essentials so a fresh campaign is never locked out of core ship functions. Faction OCIs, unlocked through trust, are installed over a base OCI and replace it — but non-ability faction OCIs keep the base effect, so you rarely lose ground by upgrading.

Slot	Base OCI	Effect	Notes
Bridge	Command Room	+1 squaddie per mission	Stacks with the Impetus baseline of +1 squaddie per mission and a 15% squaddie rescue chance every new campaign starts with.
Bridge	Intelligence Center	+1 intelligence	The reference case for the new rules — any faction upgrade installed over it keeps this +1 intelligence on top.
Hull	Quarters	+20 maximum squaddies, +10% squaddie rescue chance	The main lever for the new squaddie cap; take it when your roster keeps hitting the ceiling mid-operation.
Hull	Garage	Repairs 1 defect and 10% vehicle HP after each mission	Passive sustain that keeps armor rotating without eating your supplies between fights.
Armament	Main Battery	Unlocks the Main Battery Salvo offmap ability	Orbital-category firepower — plan around the roughly 2-turn delivery delay.
Armament	Armed Dropship	Unlocks an MG strafing run	Airpower-category — the dropship needs 2 turns to arrive, then must fire within its 1-turn loiter window.
Armament	Support Module	Unlocks a supply drop	The low-risk way to learn the new per-operation use pool without betting damage on the timing.

Offmap Abilities: Orbital vs Airpower

Two rules now govern all offmap support. First, uses are pooled per operation instead of refreshing per mission — you can dump all 3 uses of an ability into one ugly mission or parcel them out, but the pool is all you get until the operation ends. Second, every offmap ability is now either Orbital or Airpower, and they behave completely differently on the timeline.

Aspect	Orbital	Airpower
Called in from	The Impetus, from orbit	A dropship flying to the battlefield
Time to effect	Long delay — usually 2 turns before impact	Dropship arrives after 2 turns, but then fires the moment you pick the tiles
Fire window	Strike lands when the delay ends	Dropship loiters for 1 turn only — fire in that window or the use is lost
Impact profile	Usually the heavier, more decisive payload	Faster, more tactical effects once the ship is on station
Example	Ion Cannon — delay increased from 2 to 3 turns by Hotfix #9	Show of Force — 5 uses per operation, delay 2, loitering time 1; reveals the area and suppresses and demoralizes enemies

Call dropships before the shooting starts

Airpower needs 2 turns of travel time and then gives you exactly 1 turn of loiter to spend the shot. The worst pattern in the reworked game is calling a gun run on the turn you already need it — the dropship arrives after the moment has passed, circles once, and goes home. Call it when contact is imminent so the ship is on station when your squads are actually engaged.

Treat orbital strikes as scheduled artillery

Orbital abilities land roughly 2 turns after the call — 3 for the Ion Cannon after Hotfix #9 — but they hit harder than airpower. Place them where the enemy will be, not where they are: defensive holds, chokepoints you are about to fall back through, and objective zones you can stall inside are the reliable targets.

Budget the operation pool, not the mission

With uses pooled per operation, the early missions of an operation are where restraint pays. Burning all 3 uses to style on a routine first mission leaves the operation finale — usually the hardest fight — with no support at all. A good default is to reserve at least one use for the final mission unless a run is genuinely about to collapse.

Authority and Squaddie Caps: The New Roster Math

120 authority, minus 4 per hire

Maximum authority is now fixed at 120, and every squad leader or pilot on your roster reduces that maximum by 4. Stacking leaders is still viable — five hires leaves you at 100 — but each one is now an explicit authority tax rather than a free roster slot. OCIs that raise the authority ceiling exist, so heavy-commander builds should plan their faction trust around reaching them.

Squaddies now have a hard ceiling

The Impetus can only house a limited number of squaddies, and once you hit the cap no source — rescues, rewards, recruitment — adds more. The starting limit is generous, the Quarters base OCI adds +20 capacity (plus +10% rescue chance), and the ceiling can also be adjusted in the custom difficulty options when starting a game. Big-squad strategies are now an intentional OCI commitment, not an accident of accumulation.

Quality-of-Life and Balance Changes in v0.7.8

Change	What It Means in Practice
Attack tooltips	Now show a range graph with the current distance curve, so you can see exactly how far you are from a weapon's ideal range before committing
Ally health bars	Changed from gray to green — friendly armor reads instantly in crowded fights
Enemy reinforcements	Reworked to be fairer and less frustrating; surprise spawns should feel telegraphed rather than arbitrary
Civilian movement	Player vehicles can now move through some civilian units instead of being hard-blocked
New models	SIPV Recce, SIPV Operator, and SIPV High Intensity armors, plus K-SAS DMR and P99A3 weapon models, with new pistol and armory idle animations
Perk fixes	Nothing Personal survives counterattacks, Quick Hands works on vehicle accessories, Grind Down correctly grants +30% armor damage (not armor penetration), Run Over works diagonally, drug accessories refresh their duration
Balance	Medium Walker no longer comes with a built-in minigun; Bombardier Acid Spit armor penetration reduced from 50 to 35

The Follow-Up Hotfixes

Patch	Released	Key Fixes
Hotfix #9 (v0.7.9)	July 16, 2026	Ion Cannon and Upgraded Ion Cannon no longer share identical stats — Ion Cannon delay rose from 2 to 3, Upgraded Ion Cannon selects 7 tiles instead of 5. Airdropped Regulars correctly has 3 uses instead of 1. Next Gen Dropship Engines can no longer push airpower delay below the minimum of 1. Autosave works again with 'Auto Save Slots' set to 1, and the AT-Wardog accessory applies armor damage properly.
Hotfix #10 (v0.7.10)	July 17, 2026	Fixed a rare but campaign-blocking bug where the system map generated no available operations — the game now always generates new ones. Also cleaned up German and Japanese translation issues.

Both hotfixes are compatible with existing saves. The one balance-relevant takeaway: if you built an Ion Cannon plan around the v0.7.8 release values, the base version is now slower (delay 3) while the upgraded version covers more ground (7 tiles) — the upgrade decision for that OCI genuinely matters now.

FAQ

Does the OCI Rework break my existing MENACE save?

No. Saves from before v0.7.8 still load, and every old OCI is automatically uninstalled with its full cost refunded, so you keep the OCI points you spent. That said, the update changes progression and balancing enough that starting a fresh run is the recommended way to experience the new system — continuing an old save works, but the pacing will feel different from what that save was built around.

What is the difference between Orbital and Airpower offmap abilities now?

Orbital abilities are called in from the Impetus and typically land about 2 turns after you call them — slower, but heavier. Airpower abilities are delivered by a dropship: the ship takes 2 turns to reach the battlefield, then the ability fires immediately when you select target tiles, with no extra delay. The catch is fuel — a dropship can only loiter near the battlefield for 1 turn, so if you do not fire during that turn, it returns to base and the use is wasted.

How does the new 120 maximum authority work?

Your authority ceiling starts at 120, and every squad leader or pilot you hire permanently lowers that maximum by 4 while they are on the roster. Ten hired leaders means a cap of 80. This is a soft cap on leader stacking — you can still field a large command staff, but each hire taxes the authority you have left for operations. Certain OCIs can raise the maximum again, which is worth planning around if you want a deep leader bench.

How many OCIs does each faction have after the rework?

Each faction now offers 12 unlockable OCIs across 12 trust levels, up from 8 of each before the rework. Faction OCIs are installed over a base OCI in the matching slot and replace it — though non-ability OCIs generally retain the base OCI's effect on top of their own. Every faction OCI also comes with a more expensive upgraded version, which sometimes changes the OCI's function rather than simply improving it.

What did Hotfixes #9 and #10 change after the OCI Rework?

Hotfix #9 (v0.7.9, July 16) separated the Ion Cannon from its upgraded version — the base cannon's delay went from 2 to 3 turns while the upgraded version now covers 7 selectable tiles instead of 5 — fixed Airdropped Regulars to its intended 3 uses, stopped Next Gen Dropship Engines from reducing airpower delay below 1, and repaired autosaving when save slots were set to 1. Hotfix #10 (v0.7.10, July 17) fixed a rare bug where no operations appeared on the system map, plus German and Japanese translation errors. Both are save-compatible.

Last updated: July 19, 2026