Client 50 - The Afflicted

New threats

• The Turning: escapees from the outbreak who still look like the people they were wander near towns, villages and other places. They shamble in groups of up to four, fight bare-handed, and a hit from one can make you sick. You will meet them from your first level, more often at night.
• The Sick: those who have turned completely. Slower than the Turning but much harder to put down, they roam in the same groups, and a few together are a real threat. Their hits can make you sick too.
• The Insane: from level 3 they hunt in pairs. You hear the scream first, then they charge and do not stop. They punch and kick. Sprint or fight; walking away will not save you.
• They attack everyone: the Turning, the Sick and the Insane go for bandits, soldiers and hunters too, and bears and wolves hunt them. Expect fights you did not start.
• Lock your doors: they open unlocked doors and beat down wooden doors and plank barricades. Metal doors and stone walls stop them.
• Raids: your base can now be raided by a horde of the Turning, the Sick or the Insane as well as by bandits.
• Bandits: tougher, slightly better shots, and they now travel in groups of two or three instead of large camps. A group in a town, village or farm may post a marksman on a rooftop, so check the roofs.
• Soldiers: soldiers fight smarter. Hit one and it runs for cover, then steps out to fire again; when a fight stalls they move to a new position. Every soldier now wears a helmet and an armoured vest, and a military site is fully manned before you get there.
• Snipers: soldier, bandit and hunter snipers all fire faster.
• Melee enemies: close fighters no longer stop and wait when they reach you. They come in closer and their swing lands as they arrive.
• Enemy loot: bandits and soldiers sometimes drop their gun and its ammo, and soldiers sometimes a piece of their armour. The Sick and the Insane carry no weapons, armour or ammo.
• New looks: bandits and traders wear their own outfits. The Sick and the Insane look ill, in torn hospital and prison clothes.
• Blood: armoured enemies bleed again when you hit them.
• Night: the Sick, the Insane and other enemies see less far on dark nights and further under a bright moon.

Wildlife

• Animals: an animal hit by something it cannot see now runs. A charging bear keeps after you when you sprint and lunges when it catches up. A wolf guarding its kill goes back to feed once it gives up the chase.

Weapons

• Bullet speed: every type of round has its own speed and drop. Primitive firearms and scrap rounds are the slowest.
• Scopes: the kick through the PU and 4x scopes settles smoothly instead of snapping.
• Weapon bench: attachment cards now sit beside their part of the gun, with clear lines pointing to where each part goes.
• Torches and lighters: a flame lights the area only once it is actually burning.

Vehicles

• Hitting NPCs and animals: drive into one hard enough and it is knocked aside instead of stopping you dead. It is not hurt, but most will turn on the driver, and your vehicle may take a little damage.
• Air time: vehicles stay in the air a little longer off ramps and drops.
• Scraping walls: grazing a wall or rock at an angle slides you along it instead of stopping you.
• Vehicle panel: a vehicle's details now show above your stats in the bottom-left corner.
• Fix: the view outside no longer changes as if you were indoors while you sit in a vehicle.

Your survivor

• Third-person camera: the camera stays free with empty hands outside fight mode, lights and non-swinging items. Fight mode, melee weapons and harvesting tools keep you facing where you aim.
• Health warnings: when cold, heat, hunger, thirst, bleeding or drowning is hurting you, a warning names the cause and what to do. Close to death, a bar under the compass estimates the time you have left.
• Condition tab: a new Current State section shows your body temperature, where it is heading and what is pushing it, along with your food, water, stamina, wetness and load.
• Pain sounds: your survivor cries out in their own voice when hurt, once, instead of grunting on every hit.

Items

• Bottles and kits no longer stack: water bottles, canteens, medical kits and other items with several uses each take their own slot, so every one shows what it has left.
• Fill All: at a water source, Fill All now also fills the empty bottles in your rig and backpack.
• Items on the ground: the outline on dropped items and loose resources is a thin line around the item. It no longer glows or covers the item.

Interface

• Interacting: interaction options sit in a compact list beside the crosshair, and searching, looting, harvesting and lockpicking share one progress ring.
• Mini map: the panel shows the season, date, time, weather and moon. Places have symbols, and unexplored ground is dark olive instead of black.
• Weather warnings: a card under the mini map warns of an approaching storm, heavy rain, snow, fog or dust storm and counts down to its arrival.
• Stations: cooking, smelting and crafting stations have a clearer layout with all storage visible and fuel in its own box. Each recipe shows how many of its ingredients you have available, and Add puts them in.
• Extractor: the Extractor runs on power, so its fuel box is gone. Fuel left in an older Extractor is removed; everything in its ingredient and output storage stays.
• Inventory: filled equipment slots show their names, and you can drag an attachment or magazine onto a weapon to fit it.
• Building panel: the placement UI panel remains at the bottom of the screen, above the hotbar.
• Skills map: you can click any skill at any zoom, and zoom all the way in and out.
• FPS counter: now on F9, so F12 only takes Steam screenshots.
• Inventory: it stays fully readable when enemies spot or hurt you, with a thin warning at the screen edge and the detection meter above it.
• Admin items: Full now sits beside the quantity selector, leaving more room for the item list.

Building, loot and towns

• Building in town buildings: inside buildings in towns and other places you can place beds and sleeping bags, campfires, wooden chests, the Crafting Bench, doors, locks, window bars, shutters and barricades. Anything else tells you why it cannot go there. Parts you already placed stay.
• Vaulting while building: you can vault and mantle with a build part in your hands.
• Placing furniture: chests and stations fit under beds and under L and U shaped stairs. When a placement is refused, the reason stays on screen long enough to read.
• Dismantling with a full bag: the salvage drops on the floor beside you, including inside town buildings.
• Stone doors: a door upgraded to stone now looks like stone.
• Chicken coop: slaughtering a chicken puts its meat and feathers straight into your inventory, and the coop menu is clearer about what each action does.
• Loot: every trash bag in towns can be searched. At Weirmouth, Camp Merritt, Ridgeline Depot, Corvel, Oakhurst and Brennan's Ford, loose loot now lies inside the buildings instead of out on the grass.
• Guarded places: containers and loose loot wait to restock until everyone has left and the guards are due back.
• Traders: traders speak a little louder, and a roadside trader no longer falls through the ground.
• Lighting: rooms stay darker at night, so bring a light, and campfires burn slightly dimmer.

Servers and fixes

• Smoother servers: less rubber banding when you arrive in a town with player bases, and stations no longer drop your frame rate when you open them.
• Trader tables: an oversized round of ammunition no longer sits on a trader's table.
• Crash sites: their guards change between day and night properly again.
• Support reports: a report now includes the files from your most recent crash.
• Server sign-in: server sign-in is stricter.
• Building: placing floors and walls near a base no longer drops your frame rate.
• Hands: soldiers, bandits, hunters, traders, the Turning and the Insane no longer hold their fingers bunched together.
• Tree chopping: chopping a tree is a little quieter.
• Steel shelving: chests can be placed on steel shelving on the servers again.