New patch with first pass of Story Mode in publicbeta! (v193)
For the last few months I've mainly been working on Story Mode, and I've now finished and done a full playthrough of it! - or at last what I'll call a "first pass" of it. If you want to play story mode as a completed final product I wouldn't recommend playing this just yet, but if you want to play an early draft and help out with testing, here it is! :) I'm not quite sure how much I'll add or change of story mode in future, we'll see how it goes.
Reading people's comments about the game, I see a bit of a split between people saying "When is Story Mode coming?" and people saying "It doesn't need a Story Mode!" When I first started making the game I thought Story Mode would be the main thing and I just added Sandbox Mode as a quick way to playtest the game mechanics without having to write a full story. Over time, however, I got to be more interested in procedurally generated storytelling and decided I wanted to spend more time developing Sandbox Mode. Part of the early access pitch was that I would do a Story Mode though, so I figured after 3 years it is Time! But I would say now that I no longer think of Story Mode as the "main" mode - they have about equal status in my mind.
There's been a bit of a blurring between them anyway - you'll see a lot of the procedural quests from Sandbox mode such as the relationship/friendship quests showing up in Story Mode as well. But having a defined map does allow for more realistic and interesting locations, and more complex plots. I also threw in a fun little special feature for Story Mode that would have probably been too unbalanced on a Sandbox map :)
Besides Story Mode I also got stuck for a while trying to do some optimizations. I'm not sure how much difference it will make to the average player in the end but there's quite a few new CPU-side improvements under the hood now, hope it helps. And as usual I've fixed a bunch of bugs. Here's the change list:
Story Mode first pass
Optimizations
Decreased the amount of time and corn needed to make enough biofuel to fill a vehicle's tank, but made sunflower oil take longer so they are more similar to each other. Also increased the beet sugar yield.
Added Steel Lockbox
World maps and geological maps will be deleted from your inventory if you take them on Hit The Road, so they don't remove the fog of war immediately from the new map!
Another fix for chefs getting stuck sometimes
Reducing Raiders slider (et al) in the difficulty settings will affect their cooldown time, previously it didn't
Made it possible to hold down button when stamping fences instead of clicking for each tile individually
AI allies can take food from the player without it being considered stealing, unless it has a Don't Share policy set. But it's still stealing if the player takes equipment from allies without them, as that's too much open to exploits.
Chefs pick at random between most tasty and most healthy recipe instead of just any available recipe
Fix for thousands of raider instances being created on the map sidebar possibly due to mod configuration
Fix for character getting stuck in loop between surrendering and rescuing someone
Fix for changing names on the character creation screen having no effect unless you press Enter
Fix for not being able to use the dialog to finish the Rebellion quest if you kill everyone and bring the body of the leader back
Fix for skill caps not being transferred when you take people to a new map using Hit The Road
Fix for not being able to manually pour water into an animal feeder bowl
Fix for farmers not going for the nearest crops, and issues when you have different bases and Always Closed gates
Fix for hungry chef sometimes not eating the food they just cooked and just staying there continuing to stir it
Fix for NPCs knowing you skinned a team mate's corpse even if none of them saw it
Fix for characters getting stuck in a loop auto collecting arrows if they don't have space for them in their inventory
Fix for characters being able to get into, or repair, vehicles from a long way away if they are moving
Fix for not being able to bind scroll wheel to target head/legs
Possible crash fixes and out of sync fixes
Translation updates to French, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish, Lithuanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Ukrainian
Note for mod-makers and translators: I have taken a bunch of quests from the "Sandbox" mod and put them in a new mod called "Common" which is used by both "Sandbox" and "MainStory" (which is story mode of course). So there are two new mod folders, "Common" and "MainStory". Old savegames and mods should still load fine.
Looking ahead to the next patch(es), the two things I want to focus on are (1) that annoying habit crafters have of stopping crafting because they filled up their inventories with random stuff they can't dump, and (2) morale and opinion balancing.
What's this publicbeta thing?
v193 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:
Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".
To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".
Drivable vehicles now live on main branch!
Two months ago I introduced drivable vehicles to the publicbeta testing branch. Aftera fewmorepatches they seem pretty well behaved so today I've made them live for everyone on the main branch!
To recap, you can now find "car parts" around the world, particularly in gas stations and other vehicles. With a toolbox and sufficient Construction skill you can use them to fix up a vehicle. They're useful for running over zombies and other critters, and transporting large quantities of loot from a town back to your base. For more details read the original patch notes.
They'll have a small amount of fuel still in their tank but most of it will have expired, more can be found in jerry cans around the world but again only in small amounts. Some use gas and others use diesel. To make more you'll have to grow maize (to make biofuel for those that take gasoline) or sunflowers (to make sunflower oil for those that take diesel).
If you fill a tank and drive to where a road enters the map, you can Hit the Road, which is a kind of New Game Plus option - start a new map with just the characters and equipment in your vehicle, leaving everyone else behind for good. For more details on that, read these patch notes.
For those that make mods, I also recently added a little section to the guide for importing models, explaining how to add your own vehicles.
Also, the game now has a green tick for the Steam Deck! That has been shown for the last month or so, but it was actually tested on the publicbeta build which is now live.
Small new patch in publicbeta (v192)
This is a small follow-up patch to fix some bugs in v190:
Some fixes for Hit The Road - remember interrogation dialogue and morale from memories about characters you left behind, also timestamps or retained memories will take into account your travel time
Fix for Asian characters not showing on debug menus due to the Unity upgrade
Fix for crash in multiplayer when someone throws a molotov at a moving vehicle
Fix for vehicle not showing in pip in multiplayer
What's this publicbeta thing?
v192 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:
Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".
To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".
New patch in publicbeta with ability to start new map with old characters (v190)
Hey, it's patch time! This past month I've mostly been concentrating on the upcoming Story mode but I managed to get in a few new features as well. The biggest is called "Hit the Road". If you have a working vehicle with a full tank of fuel, you can drive to one of the places where roads exit the map and use the Hit the Road option that will appear on the action menu. This means you leave the map behind for good, taking with you just the vehicle and any characters and equipment you have in it, and move to a newly generated map.
Different roads out have different traits - some will have more towns, some more survivors, and some more infected.
Think of it as sort of a New Game Plus feature. People have often asked me for the ability to take their characters to a new map, since they get attached to them but run out of things to do with them once they've taken over a map. Having added vehicles now I thought it would be interesting and logical to tie the feature to them. In order to use it you'll have to fix up a vehicle and get enough fuel, which means growing either maize or sunflowers and building a Still to convert them into large enough quantities of gas or diesel - in other words, you'll have to have progressed pretty far. I will probably also use it as one ending for story mode, where you drive off into a generated sandbox map.
On the new map you won't get the tutorial quests telling to find an axe, etc, but other than that you'll be starting from scratch. The characters you take with you will retain their stats and memories of, and relationships with, each other, but forget stuff relating to people you left behind. They won't go with you if it means leaving their friends and family behind. It'll be the same time of year, plus approx one day. You'll be low on fuel, so if you want to hit the road again you'll need to grow some more crops and build another Still (unless you thought to bring a few full jerry cans with you).
Besides that I've added a horn to the vehicles (press space bar), so you can drive through a town beeping and wake up all the zombies :) I increased your sight range in vehicles so you can see more of what's in front of you, and I increased the draw distance for grass which often looked bad for longer sight ranges. I've upgraded to a more recent version of Unity, which is always a bit nerve-wracking - hope it doesn't cause any weird problems. Based on user feedback I made arrow crafting more generous and lower level zombies a bit less likely to dodge melee attacks, and vehicles can now carry 50% more equipment.
I've made it so you have to go into a building at least once to see what equipment is inside it - always felt a bit weird that you could see everything just by standing near the building and highlighting it. Now the building will say "Not Yet Investigated" and you won't be able to "Take All" until you've entered it at least once. I didn't do this with vehicles or most other props though as I felt that would be making you do too much busywork. And I fixed a bunch of bugs.
Here's the full change list:
Added Hit the Road feature which allows you to drive to another map, leaving the current one behind forever and just taking the people and supplies you can fit in your vehicle
Added vehicle horn
Added Excavator prop (not drivable sorry)
Added selection box in script editor (hold rmb and drag)
You have to enter a town building at least once to be able to see what's in it and use the Take All and Scavenge actions
If an enemy community sees you have pit traps, they will still not be able to avoid tripwires, and vice versa
Increased sight range a little when in vehicles, also increased the amount of equipment they can carry by 50%
Increased the default distance grass is drawn to stop the unsightly effect where hillsides on the periphery of your vision are bare, but added a slider in Graphics settings in case you need to reduce it for performance
Made ammo crafting more generous
Made zombies a little less likely to dodge melee attacks, especially the lower strains and if you attack their torso or legs. Made NPCs less likely to dodge if you attack them from behind (zombies already never did).
Updated German, Hungarian, Latin American Spanish, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian translations
Upgraded to Unity 2023.1.7f
Fix for chefs getting stuck sometimes
Fix for NPCs not rebuilding outhouses if portable toilets are destroyed
Fix for snow on moving vehicles
Fix for characters involved in repairing a vehicle or capturing a building sometimes wandering miles away to get resources they have in their inventory
Fix for character briefly standing up after leaving a building crouching
Fix for not being able to repair wooden chests
Crash fix
What's this publicbeta thing?
v190 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:
Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".
To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".
New patch in publicbeta (v189)
I've released a small-ish update in publicbeta, this one has a few different fixes for vehicle physics, crashing into things and driving vehicles in online co-op, some general fixes for crashes etc, and updated translations. As I mentioned I would in the original vehicles patch, I've now reinstated sunflowers which you can use to make sunflower oil, and I've changed a few of the larger vehicles to take diesel instead of gasoline, for which you can substitute sunflower oil. Because I like it when items have multiple uses, I've introduce the concept of "frying" with the frying pan. It works similar to boiling in the pot, you can fry ears of corn or eggs (which is better for morale but worse for constitution than boiling them) and you can make omelets. Sunflower seeds are a bit rare and the AI communities won't grow them, but you should be able to find them here in there, especially in gardening stores or I would expect traders to carry them.
Reinstated sunflowers, which you can use to grow sunflower seeds and make sunflower oil, which you can use as fuel for diesel vehicles or to make fried eggs/corn/omelettes using the frying pan
Updated French, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish, Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian translations
Increased some font sizes
Some fixes for vehicle physics
Fixes for answers to Who's in charge here?
Fix for Organizers who are building multiple fences returning all their resources to a building between each fence post
Fix for communities having no name when they take over an empty base
Fix for crash sometimes when vehicles go outside map bounds
Fix for occasional crash when driving vehicles in co-op
Fix for occasional crash when surrendering
What's this publicbeta thing?
v189 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:
Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".
To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".
New small patch in publicbeta with tweaks to vehicle damage (v188)
This is a small follow-up patch to v187 which introduced drivable vehicles in the publicbeta branch. I discovered a crash which could happen if you knocked over a fence and then left it for a while, then restarted the game twice - that's fixed now. I've also removed the excessive explosion noise you heard when knocking over a mailbox or similar, and tweaked the amount of damage taken to your vehicle generally to be a bit less. If you bump lightly into a neutral community's building they won't take damage and start attacking you.
I also increased some menu font sizes as I'm trying to get a green tick for Steam Deck. And I've added a link to the game's discord channel on the title menu. Here's the full list:
Tweaked damage taken when crashing vehicles into things, and removed demolition explosion sound when they destroy mailboxes etc
Crashing into neutral communities property at slow speed in a vehicle won't damage them or make them attack you
Nudging a gate with your vehicle will open it (if you would be allowed to open it by hand)
Added Discord link to title menu
Increased font sizes in some menus
Fix for chickens saying 'Wow' when someone is executed
Crash fix
What's this publicbeta thing?
v188 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:
Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".
To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".
Drivable vehicles!
Ever since I released the original Survivalist people have been asking if I could add drivable vehicles... I always figured it would be awesome but technically difficult and might unbalance the game in various ways, so it was better to focus on other things. Survivalist is primarily a game about people, and community building so I that's what I put most effort into. However recently I started to realize that, having ported the game to Unity and added physics for ragdolls and thrown objects, a lot of the technical issues with vehicles might be solved now.
So anyway I'm focusing on Story Mode mainly at the moment, but after doing that for about a month I wanted a break of sorts, and I decided to give drivable vehicles a try! It actually just took one fairly intense week, or so.
I haven't done extensive playthroughs with this, so I'm not sure of all the implications. You can't just get into any vehicle and drive it, of course. You have to find "Car Parts" scattered around the towns - garages are a good place to look, and other cars, and traders might stock them. (Note - you'll need to start a new Sandbox game for this loot to be spawned, so I recommend doing that!) You will probably find it takes a while before you can get together enough car parts to repair the vehicle you want. You also need a toolbox and high enough construction skill.
There seems to be a general consensus that petrol.. I mean gasoline would expire about a year into the zombie apocalypse as it breaks down into its component parts, though you can find examples of people saying they started a car or lawn mower after X years standing idle and it was still okay. I've added the ability to make fresh gasoline from maize using the Still, but I figured it would be a bit limiting if you had to get all that production up and running before driving any vehicle.
So, drawing on my deep knowledge of chemistry and mechanical engineering *cough* I decided maybe there would still be a small amount of usable gas in the tanks of these abandoned cars, and in jerry cans you might find in gas stations and houses, etc. (Currently everything runs on gasoline, but probably a few of them should use diesel, for which you can substitute vegetable oil, which could be a reason to bring back the sunflowers - I just didn't get round to that yet).
I was initially afraid that vehicles might be a super weapon, so as well as the above-mentioned need to find car parts to get them working I made them take a little damage from running over people (or zombies), and from bullets. People and zombies will also try to dodge out their way, so it's not all that easy to run over all your enemies. Zombies will be attracted to vehicles with running engines (but can't hurt you while you're inside them), while animals will flee. NPCs will shoot or chuck molotovs/pipe bombs at them. In practice I don't think they're a super weapon now, if anything I might have made them too fragile but let's see how it goes.
There are a few caveats: - The AI won't use them - The game takes place on a grid of 1x1 meter squares, and every prop or building (including vehicles) must be a rectangle on that grid. So if you park diagonally, it can make a rather ugly collision box around the vehicle. - You can drive any 4 wheeled vehicle if you get it working, but you can't drive the tank - You can't do fancy things that require nice animations that you often seen in games with vehicles like GTA, such as leaning out of the window and shooting, or sliding across the hood, or standing on the roof
Sometimes a vehicle will roll upside down or get stuck in a river or something. For those situations, if you get out and highlight the vehicle, there's a feature on the action menu called "Park" which will try to revert it to a more sensible location (and align it with the grid).
There's likely to be a lot of refinements needed, which I'll hopefully be able to add slowly over time. It could use some hud elements showing a speedometer, rev counter, etc. There should probably be a friendship quest where someone in your community wants you to help them fix up an old pickup truck or something. The engine should emit smoke when heavily damaged. The grass draw distance could be improved. Etc. But it's in, and it's fun!
One other new feature of note is an experiment where I made some of the zombies in towns start off lying on the floor, as if dead, only to rise up and start chasing you if you get very close to them, or make a noise. I thought it might add more variation to town encounters, give you more of a chance to use stealth and possibly give you a jump scare or two.
Here's the full list of stuff in this patch (v187):
Driveable vehicles
Incorporate code for the Revised Crop Safety mod code into the game for AI so they don't waste their seeds planting crops when it's likely to be too cold. For the player, this is still a manual decision to risk it or not.
Increased some font sizes to try to help Steam Deck compatibility.
Mapped Voice Chat Push to Talk to the Start button on Steam Deck and game pads by default - hold it to talk, or click it to open the title menu. (I am seriously running out of buttons)
New tent types (to make camps more varied in story mode, but also usable in Sandbox)
Various small bits of editor work for story mode
As an experiment, allow NPCs from AI communities to level up their skills the same as player community members do. So you have more incentive to help them survive.
Fix for characters who tried to flirt with you, but who you turned down, getting negative morale due to jealousy anytime you hug your partner, forever afterwards - that will now happen for one day only.
Moral and Prudish characters won't try to flirt with you if you are taken.
Fix for exploit where you can extract more gunpowder from shotgun shells than it takes to make them
Removed some old code that stops farmers from tending crops more than 64 meters from where they started, you can use zones for that now
Get fatigued a little less quickly when running
Some Zombies in towns play dead, so you can creep past them if you don't make any sound or get too close
Helicopter taking off animation
That's in publicbeta now, and I've moved the previous patch, v186, to the main branch! The main new thing in v186 is the art pass with the new style houses:
Anyway, back to working on Story Mode.
What's this publicbeta thing?
v187 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:
Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".
To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".
New patch in publicbeta (v186) with some bug fixes
Just a small patch with a bunch of bug fixes :)
Fix for crafters not being able to use sugar if you set the policy to Don't Eat (instead of Don't Craft With) and related errors
Fix for incorrect amount of liquids shown on craft amount dialog box when metric is enabled
Fix for warning message sometimes wrongly being shown when you try to craft something, saying you can't because of the policy against certain ingredients
Fix for a saltpeter crafter getting stuck in a loop depositing empty plastic bottles and getting them again, in order to fill with urine
Fix for people eating stuff out of allies houses if they are in them (which is treated as theft by the allies)
Fix for your community members often lugging one or two pumpkins around
Fix for some town buildings, and wooden chests(!) being invulnerable
Stop communities from burying their leader while you have a quest to take their body to someone
Some editor work for story mode
Disabled snoring sound
Crash fixes
What's this publicbeta thing?
v186 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:
Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".
To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".
New patch in publicbeta (v184) with ability to surrender to mercenaries
Hello, I've released a small new patch in the publicbeta branch. This one is partly me reacting to feedback from a few people that the mercenaries are making things too difficult in the earlier game stages (the ones that looter bases can sic on you if you go to war with them) - I've reduced the frequency of their raids and made them less well armed. I've also made it possible to surrender to looters and raiders, so hopefully the surrender mechanic is more consistent and understandable to new players. And I've added the ability to pay supplies instead of gold when surrendering. Plus I've added a bit of extra dialog with the extortion squads to give new players a better sense of what will happen if they decide to go to war with them.
The rest of it is bug fixes and small quality of life improvements. I've moved the speech bubble upwards when someone is talking to you, so it's less likely to overlap stuff like combat going on in the middle of the screen. And I've made it so when you run towards a door in a building, with zombies chasing just behind you, you'll get into the door as soon as you are in range of it, without having to waste precious milliseconds turning to face the door. Here's the full list:
Made it possible to surrender to raiders and mercenaries (note: will not affect raider groups spawned before the patch), and tried to reduce their difficulty a little when your base is at an early stage
Added a hint that you can use Set Zone to stop your community members wandering off in search of food
When entering a building, be a bit more forgiving about getting through the door fast if you are currently under attack
Moved PiP speech bubble a bit further up so it's less likely to overlap other screen elements, e.g. during combat
Fix for character assigned to capture a building and also auto-deposit wood from getting into a loop
Fix for trade screen bug/exploit where pressing left and right mouse button at the same time will appear to duplicate an item and get you extra gold
Fix for bug/exploit where you tell someone to scavenge a building, then switch character before they reach it, allowing the character you switched to to eat/drink stuff in the building
Some fixes for infected weapons
Out Of Sync fix
Crash fixes
What's this publicbeta thing?
v184 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:
Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".
To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".
New patch with art pass in publicbeta (v183), price rise coming next week!
In order to make the map for Story Mode I felt it was necessary to do a bit of a visual pass on the towns and vehicles, so that's what I've been up to recently. I've improved the house models and added more variation to them, I've added much more variation to the stores, restaurants and gas stations, and I've added strip malls! There is now color variation on most of the cars and town buildings, so it doesn't feel so much like you keep encountering the same white house and red pickup over and over again. I've also added utility poles, lamp posts, mail boxes and traffic signs to the road sides, so it looks more like a real cohesive place.
Almost looks like a new game! I should mention that the size footprint of some of the houses has changed slightly with the new models, so if you had a fence adjoining them you might need to add an extra post. As a side note, I've tried to make them so they line up better so if you put a fence next to them, in most cases it should join on visually, except on the more elaborate fronts with balconies etc. I do recommend starting a new game with this patch so you'll generate a new map with all the new types of buildings and props in it.
Gameplay-wise all this doesn't change much of course, but I've also added the ability to use those chunks of meat you can cut out of zombies to infect arrows and sharp melee weapons (dependent on medical skill). Which adds a whole new tactic to assassination missions. And there's few more tweaks and bug fixes, here's the full list:
Visual pass on town buildings and vehicles, replaced house models with more detailed ones, added strip malls, randomly varying colors and signs, new gas station pumps and roofs, motel signs and ice boxes, utility poles, lamp posts and road signs
You can infect sharp melee weapons and arrows with zombie meat. Dependant on medical skill.
If someone set to be a chef is hungry, they will try to cook food rather than walking to other communities looking for it
Increased time between extortion squads, and made mercs have less armor and weapons when your presence is low
Fix for buildings in towns not being capturable if they are near another building that you already captured
Fix for getting stuck in fisticuffs state if you get into a war with the community of the person you were fighting
Fix for salad crafters who are set to auto deposit sealed containers getting stuck in a loop taking them in and out of chests
Fix for slowdown in mod where you can destroy graves with pipe bombs
Fix for memory leak that caused slowdowns, particularly after generating a new map
That's all in v183, which is in the publicbeta branch right now. The previous patch that was in publicbeta, v182, has now been moved to the main branch for everyone.
Lastly - I mentioned earlier I was planning to raise the price soon. I'm intending do that next week, probably Friday the 26th of May (unless something happens to delay it), so fair warning if you were thinking about buying and want to do so at the current price - you've got a week! The new price will be $9.99 USD (that's ¥42, or €9,75, £8.50, according to Steam's pricing tool). There will of course continue to be sales pretty regularly.
The reasons for this are: (1) people keep saying it's too cheap, (2) inflation, and (3) Sandbox mode has evolved enormously since launch and now feels like a full game in itself. But I will continue to make new additions and tweaks to Sandbox mode, as I work on Story mode, though. I'm also going to adjust the price of the original Survivalist game in some currencies (but not USD), as it hasn't changed since launch and some of the recommended prices have gone wildly askew since then.
What's this publicbeta thing?
v183 will be in the "publicbeta" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:
Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable
If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them
If you go back from the "publicbeta" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "publicbeta".
To use publicbeta, just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".
