4:08pm EST - We hit that point. Load times were in the minutes, sky bridges everywhere, the map turned into a big mess pretty quick. I tried changing server.updaterate to 1000 to increase client load times, but that caused a network flood and subsequent mass drop. When the mass drop happened, I decided to call it. Fresh wipe, new seed. On the plus side, we made it over 50 hours that time!

3:45am EST - This past week, we saw the launch of the weapon refactor. This new system has changed a slew of things about the game: hitboxes, protection, damage, demolition, and more. To test the impact of these changes, I gathered a group of regulars to test out a bunch of things. The focus was specifically on demotion (the most efficient way to break down walls) and damage dealt by various weapons (with and without clothing / armor). Before I get into the specifics, I want to touch on the overall state of the game.

State of the game

All in all, the game is in a more stable state than it has been in weeks. The mass drops are gone, we aren’t getting random crashes / freezes, and server performance isn’t taking a nose dive if people start building things too fast. Our server has been up and running smooth for almost 40 hours now. This is a Christmas wish come true!

Although things are overall looking up, there are still issues impacting gameplay. First and foremost: building pieces are invisible for certain players, allowing people to effortlessly raid bases. This bug has been the demise of many bases so far and is very hard to protect against (see tip of the day below).

Another issue is load times. As entities goes up, load times for certain parts of the map are starting to take a minute or more for many clients. As load times get out of control, we will be forced to wipe. As always, try not to get attached to your stuff.

Walls mostly indestructible

One of the main goals of this testing was to find out how many people you need to get through wall and what weapon does it fastest. Unfortunately, we could not produce any reliable numbers around this. Once or twice, we were able to get a wood wall down with 3 people using salvaged axes in around 5 minutes. Mostly, however, 3, 4, and even 5 people failed to make a dent in a wood wall after minutes synchronized bashing. The health regen is just too fast and seemingly random the moment. It appears as of this now, the only forms of raiding are either walking through walls or dropping in from above.

Sky bridges are back

One of the fixes for server freezes required a change in the building stability code. In the past couple days, we’ve shifted from having random walls fall down when trying to build a second level to building gravity-defying structures with ease. Note to all you home owners out there: Put a fucking roof on your shit!

Salvaged hammer: the choice for melee

Recently, you may have noticed a bunch people running around with salvaged hammers. No, it isn’t because the salvaged rotates building blocks quicker than the wood. It’s because the salvaged hammer is a motherfucking beast at the moment. This bad boy yields about double the damage of the stone spear, and triple that of the stone hatchet. Killing nakeds in 2 hits or less, all for the low price of 100 wood!

It doesn't matter where you hit

This was a surprising one. We were testing out damage amounts for clothing on and off for each part of the body. As we shot from the head, to the chest, to the leg, all results were the same per each weapon. At the moment, a hit to the leg yields the same damage as a hit to the head. Don’t get used to it being this way, Maurino is already working on a fix.

Clothing now protects, somewhat

Unlike a week ago, clothing now does protect against melee and bullet attacks, slightly. By slightly, I mean it protects a maximum of 8hp from a bullet. Most melee attacks, it protects about 4hp per hit. Most important, all clothing currently protects the same amount. This means a burlap shirt has just as much (little) stopping power as a snow jacket. Given this, I recommend you burlap up if anything.

Metal is your friend

Metal still provides the best protection, bar none. How much protection? For bullets, 90%. Melee comes in a bit less. Remember, as with clothing, metal armor only protects where it covers.

Hazmat helmet no longer rules

Gone are the days of 360 degree protection from your fishbowl forcefield. The hazmat helmet now provides absolutely zero protection from bullet or melee damage. Unless you’re hunting down a radiated wolf monument for some reason, I recommend you let your face feel the breeze (or, if you can afford it, a metal facemask).

Full hazmat or no hazmat

You may also remember, hazmat clothing used to amplify damage. This is no longer the case, it now protects you from bullet and melee attacks just as any other piece of clothing does. Most important, does it protect from radiation? At the moment, yes, if you’ve got the complete set on. Unless you have every piece of hazmat gear equipped, you will have no protection from radiation (see video). Makes sense though, if you think about it.

Correction on this: The hazmat helmet, jacket and pants do appear to provide some protection from radiation by themselves, however, the full suit provides maximum protection.

Damage given per hit

Note: We didn’t exact-science this shit. We stood around, drinking and shooting each other. Given that, these numbers are subject to inaccuracies. Also, likely to change completely on the next update.

Salvaged hammer
42 - Naked
31 - Clothes
25 - Armor

Salvaged axe
36 - Naked
24 - Clothes
17 - Armor

Stone hatchet
18 - Naked
15 - Clothes
9 - Armor

Stone Spear
29 - Naked
24 - Clothes
18 - Armor

Wooden Spear
23 - Naked
18 - Clothes
13 - Armor

Wooden Arrow
36 - Naked
32 - Clothes
18 - Armor

Pistol Bullet
42 - Naked
36 - Clothes
4 - Armor

Rifle Bullet
82 - Naked
74 - Clothes
8 - Armor

Shotgun Bullet
As always, if close, dead.
Limited range

Tip of the day: Put cupboard and loot high

Given all this hubbub about walls being invisible for some and visible for others, your best bet is to put your valuables high up and blocked off. Picture this: if someone could just waltz right into your first floor, how hard would it be for them to access your cupboard and loot? If the answer is anything other than impossible, you’re pretty much fucked. This is why I highly recommend you have your cupboard and loot blocked from both top and bottom. That means demolishing any stairs leading up and roofing (flooring) off the top.

A special thanks to my testing team for helping me grab all this data!