1.12 Experimental Release

Greetings, survivors!

We’re happy to announce that the experimental build of Game Update 1.12 is live on Steam and Xbox. As usual, this article is not meant to provide a full overview of the build but outline the areas we would really like to get the most feedback on. We’d love to hear from you, and you can share your experience on our official channels (FT, forums; PC, Xbox). There’s lot to unpack with this one (sorry, WOBO), so let’s get to it.

One of the most crucial elements we’d love to get feedback on are the combat changes. These changes affect both player vs infected and player vs player scenarios.

We want to make fights with the infected more dangerous, and slower (i.e. stealthier) approaches more rewarding. The following list outlines the changes made to player vs infected combat:

• The infected attack much faster and their attacks are harder to interrupt (depending on which weapon is used against them).
• Melee attacks on the infected are much more consistent when it comes to the number of hits needed to take one down.
• Most of the bullets have a stopping effect on the infected, causing them to struggle every time they get hit.
• The infected’s senses and various noise sources were tweaked to promote a stealthy approach.
• Stealthy takedowns of the infected are now much more consistent to execute and are possible with a variety of sharp melee weapons.
• Suppressed weapons no longer aggravate the infected as quickly (depending on the weapon caliber used).
• The infected no longer engage unconscious players, giving them a second chance.
• Interacting with doors will warn the infected located within the vicinity (i.e. produces noise for the AI).

The following list contains the main changes made to player vs player combat, where the focus is on bringing more diversity between individual weapons, a re-balance of ammunition, and having the combat end more in an unconscious state, thereby giving people who are wearing protective gear a second chance.

• Major pass on weapon properties such as dispersion, durability, and recoil with factors such as magazine size and type (internal / external), ammo type, weapon inventory size, suppression (or not), and rarity in the world.
• Major balancing pass on ammunition, where we looked at the initial damage (health, shock), how fast it changes values during flight, and how much it loses once it goes through the target. We have also taken rarity into account, making sure the stronger it is, the rarer it is (already part of 1.11 loot re-balance).
• Bullet impacts dealing heavy shock will now cause the player’s character to stumble (losing mobility for a short period of time).
• Gear with ballistic properties reduces damage to health more than before, thus allowing for more firefights to end in an unconscious state.
• Firearm shot audibility has been adjusted for pistols at 250 meters, SMGs and shotguns up to 800 meters, ARs up to 2000 meters, and big caliber rifles up to 3500 meters.

We also made a balancing pass over landmines and they are no longer lethal to healthy players. Instead, their goal is to cripple players via an unconscious state and broken leg. Lethal disarm action has been removed and disarming is now possible with sharp tools (with varying chances of accidental detonation). If successful, the landmine will be ruined (i.e. unusable).

We’ve taken a deeper look at the nutritional values of all edible items and made a balancing pass on them. Things we took into account were the size of the inventory, the quantity itself, the fullness factor, the differences between cooking stages, and whether the item requires a tool to open. In addition to this, there is now a larger gap between a stuffed stomach and the vomit threshold, thereby offering longer times to react and stop eating. As a part of this food rebalance, we’ve also adjusted the distribution of edible items in the central economy setups. This pass also included the addition of a variety of new edible items.

Speaking of food, farming has received a number of updates:

• Farming is once again possible inside the greenhouses and poly tunnels. Greenhouses offer 9 slots, while poly tunnels offer 13. You can start farming in these by using the appropriate tool to dig slots.
• Plants grow slower and have varied growth times and yields depending on fertilization materials.
• Potatoes can now be grown. To eat potatoes, they need to be peeled first.

A major overhaul of the server connection and kick messages has been made to improve the feedback that the game offers the user (and server owner) when it comes to issues dealing with connection, both during the connection process and during game play. Over 100 messages have been added, with a code system in place.

There’s a lot more new stuff to discover with this update, but where would be the fun in revealing everything? The experimental servers are up and running now, so head on out and do some exploring! But if you’re truly eager to know every last detail, then do yourself a favor and check out our official changelogs (PC).

On behalf of the DayZ team,

Adam.