New Release! v.1.599 - Virus survival, survival map, skills system!

Community members, v1.599 is here! This is huge release with a new infection model that brings the Phage virus into the game, enhancements for campaign mode, a whole new survival mode and map, new content and environmental challenges, the introduction of our new skills tree, and all the bug fixes and performance enhancements we could pack into the release! This release also starts our automated crash reporting phase as we look to improve reliability for publishing our final release. Please help us out by sending in those crash reports whenever they pop up!

Enemy-Spawning Nests:

Now when you roam the vast open world of Apollyon, in addition to the myriad of different encounters you could experience, you can now encounter nests spawning hordes of monsters and wild beasts! You can destroy the nest or stalk the things spawned from it for XP endlessly or harvest it for resources.

Quest Markers:

To make it easier for our players to find their next step in a quest, we have added quest markers that show up on you HUD marking your next objective, happy questing!

Survive the Virus!

We have implemented the first phase of our infection by the Phage virus! Players can now be infected if they take hits from a zombie after their shield is down. Wearing a helmet or mask reduces your chances of infection. There is also a cure you can develop for yourself and your colonists.

New Vanguard Encounters:

We've upped our early game with some combat encounters in the campaign starting phase (Vanguard).

Less Night!

In response to feedback from our players we have adjusted the day/night cycle. Day currently lasts twice as long as night, this can be changed in the game.ini file.

New Survival Game!

The new survival experience has been released with a new map, nests and trader cities, ruins and outposts to attack and loot, and tutorial features for new players!

New Skills System!

The new skills system is here and represents a complete skill tree with perks against certain types of enemies, skills for crafting and using items, much more to come as we build out the skills tree system.

--- The full change log can be found below, as usual, if you enjoy GearStorm, tell your friends about it, show it on your stream (We always look for streamers and we'll plug their clips on our social media), share it on your social media, don't be shy to tag us!

Full change log below:

• Initial Infection Model, Improved BuildGun Light distance, Improved Buildgun Harvest Error Messages, Improved Reticle Text for Menu/Use commands

• Added Wrecked VTOL to Vanguard with Zombies

• Updated Survival Map, shortened grass, reduced bushes, increased spawners

• Updating crash reporter client.

• Fixing played campaign switch, loading austrasia on survival selection

• Added "DisablePVP" flag to BaseCores, Fixed crash on Vehicle Messages

• Adjusting Raptor Den Frequency and Spawn Point

• Mob Spawner Code Completed

• Updated HudMarkers with Distance and off-screen display, Finishing up phase 1 spawners

• Fixing Sights on Weapons

• Added Extra Checks to Wheeled Vehicle for Terrain Removal

• Tables full of loot added to vehciletest map

• Adding Depenetration Limits, Increasing some Vehicle Weapon Damage

• Adding HudMarkers for Squad and DeathDrops

• Quest Hud Indicators

• Fix for Skywatch Contact Mission

• Fixing Door Toggle mismatch on Large Gate

• Add Shiny Material to Vanguard, Fix underway for Signaling/Lever problem, Fix for Bandits entering locked doors

• Fix to Display Info on Item Recipes

• Added Squad and Appearance Options to SpawnMap, Fixed Map Markers, Added XP for harvesting bushes, Reduced Level Requirement for Wooden Chest to 0

• Adding Character Selector and Social (Squad) menus to Spawn Menu

• Support for DayNightRatio (Ini only for now). Currenty set to 0.5 (2x Day). Setting to 1 is equal 1/1, Setting to 0 is No Night

• Work on Day/Night Cycle

• Finished Core Saving Feature, Updated Buildgun FX (reduced smoke and overall size), Added intersection indicator to BuildGun FX, Fixed bug with buildgun having wrong FX on NPCs, Added Mob "Snow Brute", Fixed material responses for some materials

• Adding get in vehicle help messages (except when getting in droppod), fixing droppod camera moving while in menu. Renaming "Toggle Perspective" to "Toggle Camera". Setting default "Toggle Camera" key to "v", kept "home" as secondary.

• First Release of Skills

• Added initial Skills System, Fixed Mob Anims (warnings), Fixed hair Shine, Fixed drop for Gauss Ammo, Improved Merchant Menu

• Cleaning up Manual Pages, Adding LoDs for Heads and Armor, Reduce Tick Rate of Machines (4x/sec), Fix for StatusEffect application, Skills work

• Bug Fixes - Crash on Item Drop, Anims for Pangolin, Liger Turret & FX, Scanner drop

• Adding message about 3rd person view when you enter a vehicle, may add a few more hints.

• Fix for Crash when sleeping

• Adding Models & Sounds for new weapon set

• Adjusted 1P Weapon Height

• Adding Ending Movie to Gearstorm Quest (Yay!)

• Adding Effects support to Rhino, TTops, Adding Emitter Socket to Other Mobs

• Status Anims for Raptor and Dog