Hello Survivors!
It's time to let people know what's happening once again in the progress of Endgame: Road to Salvation Major update 0.9 Deliver Us From Evil.
This is by far Endgame's largest update ever, and I'm still making daily progress towards the release. I'm having a lot of fun testing the new features and content in Endgame, I can't wait to share it with you. I apologize that it's taking longer than originally anticipated, but the good news is that I've refined nearly every aspect of the game, optimization, physics, mesh actors and shading, and so on for a cleaner, more immersive experience. I've also taken steps not to change the main gameplay loop, but rather add to it in a dynamic way with systems that can be disabled at will. Previous saves will all be valid, but your currently equipped gear will spawn random quality/rarity values at a slightly lower average based on distance traveled.
New content and features, Bounty missions, notes, new upgrades and mods, enemy airstrikes, new vehicles, over 20 new support options such as "Hack alarm", "Air superiority" and "Operation Jericho." New medieval type armor such as a full plate gear set, a full samurai gear set including the fearsome bushido mask, new tactical variants for weapons, new melee weapons, mods, new animations, new archery system, new bounty system, new procedural "backroads" terrain generator for a different way to reach salvation... the list is extremely long, but I'll get into some basics.
All equipment, vehicles and vehicle mods now have a quality and rarity, providing bonuses to stats and modification slots. Quality and Rarity is determined by distance travelled, offset by a spawn bonus for a better chance of higher quality items based on lootable/merchant rarity. Vehicles also now have quality and rarity, providing a boost to durability and other stats. Some enemy types now have boss variants or other types based on rarity. Dragons for example now have 5 variants from Young to the massive Omega Dragon. New zombie types that wear helmets, helmets must be destroyed before crit kill headshots are effective, but butchering can still bypass helmet armor once they are down.
A ton of new equipment and mods have been added to the game, as well as a few new vehicle types. Some mods now have a physical component, such as lasersights, scopes, extended mags, etc. Check out the new Plate mail gear set, Samurai armor gear set, capes, katanas, battle axes, late game high tech mods such as a forcefield generator, exoskeleton enhancement suits, a thruster jetpack, even a brand new Hawaiian shirt, just to name a few. New vehicle types include a Sport classic, a cabover semi variant, a hearse, and an old school retro sedan.
There is a new draw/holster system in place, Primary and secondary weapons are now visible at their respective holster locations when not equipped in the player's hand. Drawing the weapon is fairly quick, but reloading and melee attacks will instantly wield the weapon for ease of use. You can holster the weapon by holding the weapon switch button. The entire system can also be disabled or modified in the new options screen.
Added an additional exit from the colony leading to the new experimental "Backroads," a procedurally generated landscape with procedural foliage, highways, lakes, buildings, and so on. Also added options to allow player to modify hill height, biome frequency and terrain roughness before generation. In its current state, it spawns random landscape based on multiple noise fields, using Roughness/Hills/Mountains/ and Biome noise maps (values can be adjusted in options) for spawning procedural landscapes. Navigation, storyteller, and all other spawns work well so far with the new terrain. Currently loads faster than the original pre-designed maps, but it's still in development. To enter the backroads, leave through the new gated exit on the east side of the colony.
The new Faction system will allow players to choose which faction they wish to help by sending research items. Missions from the Bounty Board system can provide progress with specific factions, as well as finding certain notes/memorials in the game world. Faction representatives can be found in the colony checkpoints, they can provide access to certain special items based on progress. This is the main story content, and players will be limited to level 1 max faction relation until story mode is unlocked, but you can still deliver research items for inspiration like before.
A new Garage system is currently in progress, allowing the player to store a certain number of vehicles based on their caravan Mechanic department level. Vehicles registered to the garage can be repaired, restored, upgraded, and delivered to the player with certain unlocked functionality. Repair efficiency is determined by the new caravan mechanical skill pool.
The new companion system will allow you to recruit npcs with a specific combat skill. These npcs can be equipped and used as either field companions or assigned to a squad from the new roster menu. The new squad system can be unlocked at command department lvl 1, a caravan representative will appear in the colony and provide access to squad features/mission types. Squad missions can be completed to gain progress with specific factions, cash, inspiration, and potentially new items. This system will replace the old survivor equipping system, survivors that you rescue will only retain basic weapons and armor unless they have companion status and can be equipped with specific weapons and armor.
I've reconstructed nearly all weapons, and some other equipment meshes and vehicles, improving shading, normals, and materials. (still not perfect, but getting better) New visuals for the Start Menu and the Character creation screen, as well as a new game start.
A new cooking system is in place that makes better use of your culinary skill. By using a cooking pan, cooking pot, or cooking grill near a heat source (firepit, oven, etc.) you can combine ingredients from your inventory and potentially create a custom dish which can provide a larger health and stamina boost than average premade food. The amount of ingredients you can combine and the boost to hunger/thirst/morale/maxstamina is now determined by your culinary skill.
Caravan representatives will become available in the colony checkpoint as the player increases their department level. The new caravan skill pool will determine the strength of the actions available from your caravan, such as healing and repairs. The new caravan task groups an be adjusted if desired to focus on certain aspects, such as scavenging or security, or completely left alone to maintain an average over all groups.
New multistory buildings such as the apartment and office buildings have been added to the game with random procedural floors spawned in as required. All buildings have a rooftop access and have new building collapse code for handling interior furniture and lootables. Each wall destroyed will reduce the overall building health. Depending on building size, a building will collapse when enough supporting walls are destroyed. There is now a chance for a high end random lootable to be spawned in specific locations in most buildings (except most commercial) providing additional chances at decent loot in standard buildings.
New enemy/friendly jets and helicopters can spawn in via the storyteller, reigning fire or providing air support for a time. Certain new support options can be used to protect players from aerial threats such as Anti-airstrike or Air Superiority. Air defense support specifically targets incoming enemy airstrikes to protect the player as much as possible. A new massive explosion wave system replaces the old ICBM explosion, creating a wave of destruction the can spread nearly a kilometer.
New explosive projectile airstrike rounds that can be detonated immediately on impact or after a delay. New warning light indicator has been added on the ground where missiles/projectiles are targeting, and missiles can now track and intercept moving targets.
Enemy airstrikes can be triggered from a high threat level, or simply by triggering certain alarms. Specific support options have been added to protect against these airstrikes if used on time. Airstrikes can range from a simple point strike to a devastating ICBM tactical sub-nuclear cleansing operation. When the warnings come over the radio, you better be ready to ride.
Brand new support options are now available, replacing some of the older more outdated options, and a few changes to the existing structure. All Command options are strike variants now, there are two new mech types, some support options have changed such as convert vehicle now only provides a MBMG instead of a later game autocannon. Precision strike, cluster bomb, anti-air strike, Operation Red Sea, Show of Force, Lure Megabeast, Vanity Package, Hack alarms, Bypass locks, Engineering drone, and more.
The new hellscape/Demon gate system changes the way the hellplane system works. New actors called "Anchors" are spread around the landscape, holding the tower's energy in check. The players must destroy all the anchors to expose the relic at the main tower and destroy the gate permanently. Destroying one anchor and leaving will destroy the gate without awarding a relic. Towers spread around the landscape will now provide higher level equipment as a treasure, but will trigger an event. Collecting one item and leaving will now destroy the gate without awarding a relic.
The new demon tower system creates a few more steps to destroying the tower for good and collecting the new sentry eye research loot item. The towers are only exposed to damage after the interior core heart is destroyed, forcing players to go in on foot. Extreme firepower can still destroy the tower with ease.
Two new mechs have been added to the game, the Osprey-class light combat mech, and the Goliath-class heavy weapons assault mech. Two new drones have also been added, the Engineering Drone and the Medical Drone, these variants can be called in through your support options.
There is a new fishing system in place with a new minigame based on fishing skill and rod quality. The further players travel, the larger fish you will find. Some special places will provide higher-level potential fish to catch. New fish types include Largemouth bass, Northern pike, Catfish, Salmon, Devilscale, and Huskers. Colonies will hold a fishing contest at every location, simply submit an entry and travel to the next colony to see the winners and collect your prize.
Sentry Turrets have been overhauled and can now be placed anywhere, on walls, attached to vehicles or trailers and saved. Turrets will remain as long as their is ammunition/health remaining, but must be placed a certain distance from each other based on your construction skill/ Total amount based on your electronics skill/ Turrets will no longer search if player controlled, but rather return to set rotation if no enemy detected (Detects enemies by radar based on turret quality)
There is a new and improved options menu featuring tons of new gameplay options and modifiers. More gameplay features can be tweaked here now as well as experimental new features you can try (such as player zombies that spawn on death.) New spawn options are available as well to further tweak nighttime/apocalypse event spawns, storyteller event spawns, shoulder cam location, and you can disable many of the new features here, in case there is a feature you don't like.
A mission instance system is in development, sending players to an isolated location for a specific task such as attack/defence missions, megabeast hunting missions, search and rescue, checkpoint defense missions, and so on.
NPCs and players now have proper headtracking, players will look at the camera direction while driving, and some npcs will watch you as you walk by. NPC Drivers will now also focus on their target while driving.
Repair items have been activated, gear in your inventory can now be repaired using their appropriate kit (Firearms, tailoring, carpentry, chemistry, electronics, forge kits) There is a chance of breaking based on skill required.
Bank Heists have been introduced to the game. If you find a bank with a vault still intact, you can use a safecracker kit (found in electronics shops, crafted or purchased) (or you can even hack the alarm with a high enough security department.) Hacking a vault will trigger an alarm (and potentially an AI response) that will drawn a horde of enemies to the vault location. A player can increase safecracking progress by staying in the vault goal area long enough. Cracking the vault can award the players with a lot of cash and valuables.
AI has been added to some vehicles. Enemy bandits, marauders, neutral NPCs, and more can spawn in via the storyteller AI depending on certain factors.
New NPC abilities have been added to enemies such as throw grenade, summon drone, place turret, summon help, and more. Enemy explosives can be disabled in the options menu. New abilities have also been added to most Megabeasts.
New Pickup actor identifiers have been added for more visible distant pickup items at all light levels. They are color coded to represent the item's rarity.
There has been a complete archery overhaul, now using drawable bow strings and proper draw animations. Two new bows have been added, the Tech bow and the Demon bow, each with special abilities. Archery aim indicator length is now determined by player skill.
Thank you everyone for your continued patience! I'm still having a blast working on Endgame: Road To Salvation, and I hope to share this exciting new chapter with everyone as soon as possible. Progress is being made every day, I've been working hard to get this out as bug free and complete as possible. I'm going to save the full changelog list for the actual update. Until then, I hope you enjoy the game!