Large Cave Expansion:
There is now a large new cave expansion under the south east area of the map. The new cave system can be accessed via an underwater dormant lava-tube deep in the large lake in the area.
Players will need to use diving equipment to access the caves (same as the existing caves).
The new caves stretch far out towards the north. They currently don't meet with the existing cave system, but I plan to link them in a future update.
The new cave system is larger than the existing one, so has more than doubled the amount of subterranean space in the world.
Some areas are more confined with tight tunnel systems leading deeper in.
The new cave system adds a new source of crystal to the southern area of the map. However crystal spawn cooldown has been increased due to the increased supply.
Wild Boar:
A new animal type that roams the landscape. Boar will generally avoid players and predators. However if cornered or threatened, will attack, but will typically flee after inflicting damage. They can be seen rooting through undergrowth in wooded areas.
Their attacks will have a high chance of breaking bones and causing bleeding. Boar substitute wolf spawns in their areas, so this will lessen some areas of high predator density.
Hunting and butchering boar will yield pork chops, as well as large quantities of animal fat.
Slanted Glass Walls:
Slanted glass walls can now be crafted from the default player craft menu, along with side panels to fill the gaps.
These new pieces are a full-wall height and have a half-floor depth to the slant.
I think these new angles will give players a lot more freedom for interesting and creative base designs.
Foundation Stairs (half):
A slim variant of the foundation stairs.
Bats:
The cave systems now have a natural threat beyond the mining hunters. These large bats have a high chance of causing infection and bleeding (which differs across easy/normal/hardcore). However adds a means to harvest meat while within the caves.
While implementing the bats, I needed to create a new AI and navigation system for flying animals, which I plan to re-use for new ground-level flying animals.
Hunter AI Adjustments (and firepower):
I've made some tweaks to slow movement speed when engaged in combat and during base attacks. Previously, during certain navigation hops, they would sprint unusually fast, so this change should help combat feel more natural and fair.
Reduced firepower in Easy/Normal:
Hunters have always had a nerf on their firepower compared to players. The previous nerf (percentage of damage dealt) was of 65% across all difficulty modes. I've now changed this to 50/59/65% across easy/normal/hardcore respectively. This should help balance hunter gunfights on the lower difficulty modes.
Hunter Targeted Base Switching:
I've updated the logic for how hunter squads choose player bases to target for attack. If they are targeting a base, but then all base members log-off, they will now consider switching focus to another team's base. They will prioritize the most active and established bases.
This change is part of an effort to make servers self-balance as players join/leave, in preparation for dedicated server support. Also putting pressure on powerful player teams, while giving relief to players trying to get established.
Base Item Register and Range Extenders:
I've completely overhauled how base items register with the base BCU. Previously, once a base item was placed it could only be unlinked from the base if the primary BCU was destroyed. Removing a Range Extender would not unlink items using its extended range. Also, placing a Range Extender would not relink items that had become unlinked.
So if the primary BCU was destroyed, this could lead to situations where base items could not be relinked to a base (even when moving the item back within range of the primary BCU).
This all sounds complicated because it is. The new system is much more simple and logical.
- Everytime you move a base item, if unlinked, it will check if it should relink with a base.
- When you place a range extender, it will check if base items in its radius should be relinked.
- When daisy-chaining Range Extenders, removing one in the chain will disconnect all in the remainder of the chain (and base items). Replacing that gap in the chain, will reconnect it.
Range Extenders that become unlinked from the base will show with a red panel for visual reference:
Wild Strawberries:
During the summer months, wild strawberries can be found growing around the world. Strawberries have slightly better stats than blueberries, as well as small hydration boost (handy for the hot temperatures).
Animal/Fish Traps Duration Increased:
Traps will decay at a much slower rate now. They will now last for around 5 days with no repair.
Campfires Affected by Rain:
On Normal and Hardcore, exposed campfires will now be extinguished if left in the rain (on easy they will not).
I am just testing this out for now, and may roll this back. I feel it adds a small extra survival consideration and encourages progression, but I'm open to feedback from players.
Campfires Now Decay:
Campfires will slowly decay over the period of 5 days. They now also have a damage skin to indicate their health.
Co-op Random Poison Bug Fixed:
Reported by players for a long time, this bug would infect clients of co-op games seemingly at random. This was due to an error in accessing the player's persistent state, resulting in some clients essentially acquiring the medical state of another player.
This should now be fully fixed. Please let me know if there are any recurrences of this.
Fixed Cave Lighting Bug (clients of co-op games):
Occasionally clients were not correctly transitioned into cave environments. This resulted in caves being lit incorrectly and also not hearing certain sounds, no ambient reverb, etc. This should now be fixed.
Vertical Half Walls:
Finally players can craft vertical walls, rather than having to build two quarter walls.
Elevators Will Now Stop On Half Floors:
Previously elevators would only stop on floors that were full wall heights from the ground floor. They will now stop at half wall heights also. This will make base designs less restrictive.
Water Shaders Updated:
Previously the various water shaders for rivers and lakes had some very static panning layers, and would also not move at correct speeds for flowing rivers. I've adjusted the flowing speeds and added a distortion to better simulate a fluid motion. It's a subtle change, but one I notice a lot.
Fixed Glass Roof Alignment:
Glass roof pieces have always been slightly misaligned in their height. This is now fixed:
Migrating Birds Updated:
I've toned down the number of birds, and added more variation to wing flapping animations.
Increased Size of Wild Cotton Plants:
This should make them slightly more visible during the fall.
Dedicated Servers?
I know many players have been requesting ded-server support for a long time. I actually spent a fair amount of time on this during this sprint, but some more work is needed. I don't have a fixed timeline yet, but the plan is to make the files freely available through Steam CMD, and allow players to host using whatever service or hardware they please. I'll have more info on this in the near future.
Other Notable Changes:
- Fixed shadow bug that would result in floating hair shadow for female characters.
- Increased the range of weapon flashlights.
- Added lighting for white water particles (including when fishing). Previously would be fully lit at night.
- Fixed small gaps in the walls of the old cave system.
- Increased resolution of loading screen.
- Fixed "hunters moving into the world" message showing when building a second base.
- Added smooth transition between outdoor and cave environmental lighting (new cave entrance only).
- Fixed max health/stamina resetting on death. This was supposed to be included in Alpha 52, but didn't make it in. Decrease amounts are now 2/4/6 across easy/normal/hardcore respectively.
- Fixed bugged metal door model when in an open state.
- Fixed bug that was causing up to 4 hunter bases spawning to surround a single player base.
- Fixed exploit that allowed players to save/reload while low on breath to reset breath timer while diving without diving gear.
- Fixed visual bug where held weapon (and arms) would show while in map view.
- Increased visibility underwater.
- Fixed various underwater impact sounds playing without underwater fx.
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