It has been a while!

Our team has been hardworking and diligent as always. Updates have been pushed on a daily basis. Due to that, this post will be long. That is why we made an updated summary and then a more detailed list of information for those who want to read everything.

We would like to thank our dear testers for finding and reporting bugs. Our current bug report status has reached over 500 bugs reported and around 90% of them have been fixed, but it does not mean we have a bug-free game yet, as each feature implemented has the potential to create new ones. However, we are happy to say that the worst and most common offenders have been fixed. The in-game bug report system has been really useful, and a few individuals who have been grinding the game hard do require special thanks.

 

A few major bugs that were causing lag spikes and sloppiness were found and squished. A few example issues: One hexing previously felt very inaccurate, but now it is much more fluent and snappier. Some shaders caused huge lag spikes when NPCs got in view of the player. On each action that had audio cues, playback was initiated multiple times, which caused micro-lagging. The performance of the game is much more optimized than what it was a year ago.

There will be four posts in total today, below is a summary.

Summary of Updates

Part 1

• Metro Dungeon

• Radiation Mechanics

• Town Militia

• Item Quality

• Weapon and Armor Modding

Part 2

• User Interface (WIP)

• Quality of Life Improvements

• World Map Improvements

• Challenges

• Discord Compatibility

• Shaders, Animation, and Textures

Part 3

• Combat Improvements and Balance Changes

• New Playable Races

• Character Registration and Origins

• Base Building and Management Improvements

• New Skill Books

• Transit Protection

Part 4

• World Map Events

• Assignments

• Useable Items and Tools

• Client Updater

• Hotkey System

• Weather Effects

• Advanced Filter

• Paginated Pages

• Fixes

• Halloween Event

There is much to talk about, so let’s start with the biggest new thing that was added recently, the Metro Dungeon.

Metro Dungeon

The dilapidated network of metro tunnels under the Boneyard is a new randomized dungeon – the deeper you go, the more difficult it will get, and consequently, enemies and loot will be scaled based on that difficulty. High-tier loot and permanent metro upgrades are waiting to be discovered and unlocked. Pretty much everything is randomized, types of enemies, loot, traps, possible hazards, and so on. Map layouts are randomized, so each new junction presents a unique challenge.

To enter the Metro, you need to enter the building east of Adytum, which has been taken over by The Blades. Talk to the quartermaster, who manages things from the top. Once inside, your task is to get to the nearest Metro station. Expect heavy resistance. Once the enemies have been dealt with, you can retrieve the Metro Fob from the station’s main terminal. Now you have the option to either go back to the surface or to continue to deeper tunnels – which will get more difficult the further you go. Talk to the Quartermaster for more details.

Player vs Player action is also possible inside the Metro. You and your party can meet up with other players that are close to your level and about similar party size. While going in with a party does provide more safety versus hostile NPCs, safety in numbers does have its drawbacks. A larger party means higher maintenance costs, less fluid movement in tight spots, and more potential for mistakes and mishaps. The number of metro fobs gained is limited – each run yields only one, so using a party might not be the most efficient way to gain them.

Metro upgrades can be unlocked in the Metro entrance building computers. These permanent bonuses will aid you greatly in getting to deeper levels. Upgrades are available on each difficulty’s last level –  the Metro station. When entering Metro as a party, the party members’ combined upgrades are used to determine upgrades on the station.

Here we can see some of the metro upgrades built on the metro station.

Few screenshots from Metro Dungeon:

Radiation Mechanics Reworked

You get a radiation dose for each minute you are inside locations that are irradiated. There are also visual cues that inform the player he is in an irradiated area.

The default dose of radiation is 100, but your character radiation resistance will reduce it by a percentage of the value. Previously, Radiation resistance affected the radiation damage taken and not the dose. Each time your character takes a dose of radiation from the environment, radiation damage is applied, or each minute ticks if not in radioactive locations. Radiation damage is the exact value of the accumulated radiation level. Accumulated radiation levels are reduced by half of the radiation damage gained. The RadAway drug is an excellent way to reduce high radiation levels (-250 Rad).

Alternative sources of radiation were created, such as Micro Fission Cells.

They work like regular MFCs, but there will be additional radiation added (5-15 radiation levels) with each shot. Oh, and they also glow in the dark. Due to the nature of the effect per hit, there will be nice synergies with traits that increase the splash area of projectiles. To acquire this kind of ammunition, players will need to craft it using rare uranium ores.

Some enemies also have irradiated attacks, so it will be wise to use some rad away before the radiation damage tick appears to prevent high damage spikes. As before, Radiation is no joke and may be deadly, especially for unprepared travelers.

Good old Green Goo and Rubber Boots make a comeback. They may come in handy in the newly added and reworked Toxic Caves dungeon. (Playable, but WIP as of now.)

Town Militia

The unsafe towns are now protected by the Militia from the winning side of Town Control, those guards will protect town citizens and also fight anyone trying to break into the town treasury.

If there is Vault Buster placed on the town treasury door and no player is fighting Militia, they will head to the treasury and remove it, defusing the event.

Item Quality

There is a new type of item parameter, Quality.

Quality can range from Common, Uncommon, and Rare to Exotic. The background color of an item is based on that Quality:

For armor and weapons, Quality will define the maximum amount of available Mod Slots. For other items, it provides information on item rarity and value, so new players know which items are worth taking so as not to fill their backpacks with every rock and flint stone in the Wasteland.

Armor and Weapons of Common Quality can have one Mod Slot available, Uncommon Quality has two Mod Slots available, and Rare and Exotic have 3 Mod Slots available.

You might ask, then, how and where to find the best Quality Items? Weapons looted from NPCs are of the lowest tier of Quality, Common. Uncommon Quality armor and weapons can be looted from instances where PVP is not very likely to happen, or bought from NPCs shops and by crafting. If one wants to find the best Quality armor and weapons, then he needs to find them in high PVP-risk areas such as public dungeons and Red Dot World Map events. Tier 4 weapons and armor are always of Exotic Quality.

Weapon Modding Reworked

Weapon mods have been reworked in a way that makes managing them easier and more nuanced. There is no need to scroll through hundreds of mods to check their individual bonuses as now mod bonuses are rolled on installation. Mods are now stackable. Modding screens have been scrapped and replaced with more universal ones.

 The rules of modding are that 3 individual mods can be installed, but the same type of mod cannot be installed on different slots simultaneously. If you are not happy with the rolled stats, you can install another mod to replace the old one. Installed mods cannot be detached.

Mod items have kept their names, effects, and tiers. A quick reminder on how weapon tiers work. Tier defines a number of rolls. Tier 1 = 2 rolls, Tier 2 = 3 rolls, Tier 3 = 4 rolls, Tier 4 = 5 Rolls of possible bonuses. Possible bonuses are based on mod types.

Modified items will have a small gear icon displayed. Shop and dungeon items have a chance to have modifiers by default.

Armor Modding

An armor mod system was created. It will use the same universal crafting screen as weapon modding. Armor mods do require higher-tier resources such as steel, composite, and energy transformers, and leather as a base material. Armor mod bonuses are applied on installation. There are no different types of armor mods as in weapons, but mods can provide a huge list of possible bonuses. Unlike weapon mods, Armor mods do not have an item type, and multiple of the same type can be installed. If a player wants to focus on a single type of bonus, then he can try to get the same bonus on each armor slot. For example, carry weight bonuses of 24, 30, and 13 rolled for the slots (a total of +67 carry weight). Each slot bonus can be re-rolled by installing another mod. Tiers work similarly to weapon mods in terms of the number of rolls.

 

List of possible armor bonuses per roll:

•        Normal Resistance 1-5

•        Laser Resistance 1-5

•        Fire Resistance 1-5

•        Plasma Resistance 1-5

•        Explode Resistance 1-5

•        Electric Resistance 1-5

•        Critical Resistance 1-5

•        Knock Resistance 1-5

•        AP use reduction 1-5

•        Threshold 1-2

•        Durability 5-30

•        Carry Weight 5-30