Survivalist: Invisible Strain News

Hi everyone, I've released a new patch in the publicbeta branch. The main addition in this one is that when you are recruiting people, they won't join you if they have a family member or a friend or lover in the community they would leave behind, and that other person doesn't want to join. This means you can sometimes recruit a little chain of people at once, as someone brings all their relatives with them. Or sometimes you can't recruit someone because their spouse doesn't want to. That's just how the cookie crumbles. (Speaking of cookies, I stopped them from being used for gifts for now as they could be mass produced and given to anyone and so felt a bit too overpowered.)



When people leave your community they'll also take their friends/lovers/family with them. But they'll only leave if they all want to (or you kick one of them out). So I guess it's a little less likely that people will leave you when things go wrong. When recruiting from a group of refugees, they will all join you at once (regardless of whether they are related etc), as I felt it didn't really make sense for only one to join, when they are all looking for a home. Lastly, none of this applies if you threaten people to recruit them.

There has been a mod out for some time called Relationships Matter which did something similar to the above, but I've implemented it differently. So this should supersede that mod, but thank you to the mod author for filling in the gaps there while I worked on other things, I think it was one of the most commonly used mods and I greatly appreciated its existence. (If you are using the mod, remember v171 is still just in publicbeta, so don't stop using it until it gets into the main branch).

Here's the full changelist:

• Relationships matter when asking people to join your community
  
• Increased probability of guns on some of the mid-game raiders
  
• Fix for followers not depositing wood and minerals that they mine while following someone
  
• Slowed down limping non-zombie characters a little
  
• Fix for fleeing NPCs sometimes stopping and turning round while you are right behind them
  
• NPCs rescuing their teammates give up a little more easily when you shoot them
  
• Fix for trees sometimes being deleted when multiple lumberjacks chop them
  
• Fix for organizers dropping off clothes and backpacks after you set them to wear them
  
• Past tense versions of some memory speeches, for eulogies
  
• Fix for occasional crash when placing crops in multiplayer
  
• Fix for arrows and bullets bouncing off invisible buildings that are under construction
  
• Some new hints and tooltips introducing skills, bandages, shovels, assassinations and white strain
  
• Fix for characters getting into an infinite loop auto-depositing sealed containers which they were try to use to get water
  
• Fix for one of a stackable item being seen as insanely valuable gift when you have multiple of them in your inventory
  
• Fix for war breaking out between your community and NPCs if someone got zombified and someone else accidentally hurt a human while trying to shoot the zombie
  
• Stopped cookies from being used as gifts for now, they were too overpowered
  
• Reduced range at which you can hear footsteps, and added sliders for footstep sound range and volume in the Sound Debug menu
  
• Added SetSkill and SetPersonality events to script editor
  
• Editor crash fix
  
• Allow you to continue Turf War, Rebellion and Intimidation quests if they wanted the body of the leader, but they were buried, by just returning any other body from the community
  
• Fix for NPCs taking unconscious people to their base if enemies are currently in the base
  
• Fix for a case where NPCs sometimes got stuck forever in combat or just died of their wounds
  
• Fix for zombies sometimes running when the targeting display shows them as crippled (after you hit them with a molotov)
  

I'm also moving v170, which I released to publicbeta a couple of weeks ago, to the main branch. Here's what's in that:

• Sounds for footsteps, bushes, wind in leaves
  
• Fix for fleeing algorithm that meant rabbits etc would often run towards you instead of actually fleeing
  
• Fix for everyone in your community hating you if you destroy a snowman with molotovs
  
• Fix for blood loss recovering when you have unbandaged wounds from a blunt object
  
• Lumberjacks won't chop down baby trees
  
• Fix for big performance drop when a character is set on fire
  
• A few fixes for speeches characters say when finding resources
  

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v171 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".

Hello, it's finally time for that big main branch update - the last one was in May, so all the work that's been in beta testing since then is now live for everyone ːsteamhappyː That's a lot of changes, so I'll just summarize some of the bigger new features here:

• Save tokens are much more rare, instead the game saves automatically when you open the menu, overwriting your previous save so if something tragic happens you have to commit to it instead of reloading, and it becomes part of the story (but you can still turn this off, as is the case in the Slightly Easier difficulty mode)
  
  
• There's a Constitution skill which lets you fall unconscious instead of dying of blood loss, if it's greater than 0. Food choices matters more since better food improves your constitution.
  
  
• If you fall unconscious and have no community members to revive you, other communities will 'rescue' you - this reduces your constitution. NPCs will try to rescue each other if they fall unconscious.
  
  
  
  
• Looter communities will send squads out to extort gold and other things from you
  
  
• You can make alliances with other communities
  
  
  
  
• You can assign multiple roles to the same person
  
  
  
  
• You can queue up multiple types of building, and multiple people can work on the same building
  
  
  
  
• You can choose where you want different types of equipment to be stored, and there's an Organizer role and Auto Deposit policy to do it
  
  
  
  
• There are new quests for stealing chickens, and giving NPCs food for the winter
  
  
• You can try to surrender to enemy settlements if you started a war with them
  
  
  
  

I've also released a new patch in the publicbeta branch, v170. The biggest addition is your character makes footstep sounds when they walk, with different sounds for the terrain type and weather of course! There's also new sounds for wind in the grass and trees, when the wind is strong.

• Sounds for footsteps, bushes, wind in leaves
  
• Fix for fleeing algorithm that meant rabbits etc would often run towards you instead of actually fleeing
  
• Fix for everyone in your community hating you if you destroy a snowman with molotovs
  
• Fix for blood loss recovering when you have unbandaged wounds from a blunt object
  
• Lumberjacks won't chop down baby trees
  
• Fix for big performance drop when a character is set on fire
  
• A few fixes for speeches characters say when finding resources
  

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v170 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".

Another small patch as I try to get a solid build to take all the publicbeta work from the last few months into the main branch. This is mostly fixing bugs where NPCs were a bit too keen to blame you for something bad that happened nearby, and trying to stop AI settlements from being destroyed too easily by random events without your input. Plus a crash fix. Fingers crossed this is the one.

• Fix for FEMA helicopters setting area ownership so the player can't chop wood near where they landed
  
• Fix for two people with one water bottle getting into a loop of swapping it between them instead of filling it and drinking
  
• Fix for NPCs with invisible strain passing it on when there are onlookers around
  
• Fix for NPCs blaming you for killing someone who activates invisible strain
  
• Fix for NPCs blaming you for the death of someone who died after feuding with someone else
  
• Fix for NPCs sometimes not burying people from other communities who died near their base
  
• Some small tweaks to try and stop looter communities getting into a doom loop of depression
  
• Fix for rare crash when someone gives supplies to someone else in extortion or similar scenarios
  

EDIT - I added a few more fixes in v168, and updated translations:

• Fix for occasional crash when NPCs remove items from a corpse they are going to bury
  
• Fix for extortion squads starting a war with you if your conversation gets interrupted by a zombie or raider attack
  
• Some fixes for traders building fires
  
• Updated French, Lithuanian, Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish translations
  

EDIT - v169, crash fix

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v169 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".

This is another patch that's mostly bug fixes, mixed with a few gameplay tweaks. I'm hoping to be able to move all this publicbeta work to the main branch soon, maybe this will be the one :)

After the last patch I got a bit worried that the extortion squads wandering all over the map were dying too often and leaving too much free loot around, so I've tried to address that by making them extort from each other a bit less. I've also made NPCs who bury people take their equipment from their corpses first, so it's not so easy to get rich by just grave robbing after a battle.

I've been playing the game on Hard mode and enjoying it a lot! Hardly any save tokens, less loot and fewer deer makes it feel closest to the survival experience I was aiming for. I'd say it's the recommended way to play, at least once you understand the mechanics.

Here are the patch notes:

• Fix for NPCs sometimes being able to detect if you knock someone out when you are not visible to them
  
• Possible fix for molotovs not damaging people when they hit a hillside
  
• Fix for traveller groups being created to occupy bases that the player has started taking over already
  
• Fix for NPCs not eating or drinking if you go into a building and stay in stealth mode, and there is food in the building or on their person
  
• Fix being able to bandage yourself, eat food etc from your inventory when you are unconscious
  
• Fix for white strain towns being created even if you set them to 0%
  
• Fix for builder teleporting sometimes if you start walking when inside a frame
  
• Probable fix for traders stealing food and getting themselves killed
  
• When NPCs bury someone they will remove their possessions first, so they aren't leaving so much free loot around the map
  
• Looters will extort other AI settlements less, as they were getting themselves killed too often. Also, increased the rent.
  
• Some fixes for extorters
  
• Some combat AI fixes
  

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v166 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".

Another small patch in the publicbeta branch (v163), fixing a crash and some other bits and bobs:

• Fix for crafters making stew or curry not marking it to be stored in a building, and so getting their inventory filled up with it
  
• Fix for builders (and others) not getting resources that were kept in motel rooms
  
• Possible fix for unconscious or sleeping characters shouting Stop Thief! when you steal something
  
• Fixes for some graphical glitches on the character info screen and map screen when you switch between characters
  
• Fix for crash when one builder completed a building while another was working on it
  
• Fix for animal feeders collecting more and more water bottles over time
  
• Tried to make NPC communities a little less likely to all get killed fighting each other
  
• Fix for NPCs having a negative memory of themselves winning a feud
  

EDIT - I've released another patch in response to comments below, v164, with a couple more fixes:

• Fix for lots of NPCs in AI settlements being assigned the lumberjack role
  
• Fix for NPCs not starting conversations in some situations where they should
  
• If an NPC wins a feud with their own community leader in an AI settlement, they'll become the leader
  

EDIT - and another, v165, with a crash fix.

[h3]What's this publicbeta thing?[/h3]
v164 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".