1:00pm EST - Our update preview stream is live! twitch.tv/rustafied

12:00am EST - With two weeks till the update and forced wipe, the team moves forward on various features and fixes.

Our update preview stream goes live at 1pm EST. Follow @Rustafied for news throughout the week.

Nightlight

Work on a branch called ‘Nightlight’ continues this week. Not to be mistaken with some form of base illumination, this actually refers to changes coming to the dynamics of nighttime in game. Specifically, Helk let me know that ‘Nightlight’ is basically very dim moonlight but within a short 6 meter radius so you can’t gamma hack but still navigate. Here are two examples he sent me:

Bradley scientists

Our old friend Bradley may soon have more company. From the looks of it, Bradley will soon spawn with some Scientist NPC’s as support. This appears to be the case for both Bradley’s at Launch Site along with the ones which spawn towards the end of wipe. Will this be included in the March update? Not clear yet, but maybe.

Minigun progress

A new weapon is in the works. After being idle for a while, the minigun branch has sparked back to life in the past week. The team is working on basics for this weapon, such as textures, models, and animations at the moment. No details as to specifically how this minigun will be obtained or damage stats at the moment, but more information once it hits staging.

Patrol Helicopter changes

Building on some tweaks to the patrol helicopter started last week, we’re seeing some more changes to this flying server event come to light. From the looks of it, the patrol helicopter will explore the map and in a more dynamic fashion.

There’s also been tweaks to rocket strafes, with a slight chance of increase or decrease on rocket clips per strafe. Also, you can now anger the patrol helicopter by attacking it anywhere provided it isn’t already targeting someone.

This is all still on a separate branch, but we’ll have some more details once it gets merged for testing.

Rumor mill

Over on X, Shelby (who works with Facepunch as community QA) posted some interesting news! Here are some highlights:

Progress on the model for the upcoming Military Flamethrower
The Outpost overhaul is going to a very significant overhaul of the monument
Work continues on allowing players to see better at night
A tool cupboard skin which could display the upkeep stats on the front is in the works
One of the Oilrigs is being modified to include a moon pool, potential for submarine docking and another point of ingress

Other stuff

More work on the Harbor (it looks like it will have a working crane!)
More work on the new shop interface
Fixed keycards held by other players always appearing green
Fixed microphone stand incorrect power usage display in the UI
Initial work on entity snapping with things like the wire tool
Some extra non hazardous labels for loot barrels (recycling, etc.) Changed the static one that was saying 'fuel' for 'poison' to avoid confusion to players
Disable global networked bases until we get a fully custom rendering pipeline
More work on new explosion FX
More work on Tutorial Island (March release possible)
More work on the Compound redesign