Infected

**Infected** are hostile humanoid creatures that seek out and attack the player and the player's base. These frightening creatures display the following characteristics:

 • stretched mouths with sharp teeth

 • tattered clothing

 • skin discoloration depending of species

 • enlarged claws on hands

As of release 14 beta, the game description on Steam is the only source of game lore explaining the existence of the Infected. There we can read:

*"A virus was a lot more serious than anticipated, a treatment was looking promising. A drug trial seemed to work, many were getting better and fatality rates were dropping. But somethings not right. DNA is mutating and unexpected side effects are piling up, changing people."*

These infected humanoids can be found roaming in abandoned homesteads scattered around the map. One can only conjecture that they might have been previous human occupants of these homesteads.

## Variations of Infected

The infected humanoids occur in three main types, each with their own physical appearance and abilities. The three infected species are called **Vapir**, **Garwalf** and **Digger**. Each type has a boss version and two different kinds of minions. The bosses are larger and more dangerous than the minions.

### Vapir

**Vapirs** are one of the species of Infected that can be encountered. The Infected have a vampire-like appearance with fangs, blood-red eyes, pale skin and pointy ears. The minions have shaved heads, wear ripped jeans with ripped sleeves, a cloth patch rapped around their left arm with a red cross, suspenders, a dark red neck-tie, and what appears to be a Lanard with a plastic ID card. The larger mini-boss Vapir has a very similar appearance to the minions except for the hair, which is long and unkempt. The boss now can wear a long coat. Vapirs have a ranged attack that launches a ball of gray magic at you. This ball flies straight and deals the same damage as a melee attack. Bosses move by floating as opposed to minions that run.

### Garwalf

**Garwalfs** are the second species of Infected that you can encounter. These Infected have a werewolf-like appearance that includes yellow sunken eyes, pointy ears, and dark red stains on clothing and skin resembling dried blood. They emit howling sounds. The minions wear shredded cut-off jeans and either a green tank top and red bandana or a red button-up shirt. The mini-boss wears a bomber jacket with torn sleeves and is noticeably larger. They can do a flurry of attacks and can knock you on the ground stunning you while dealing damage.

### Digger

**Diggers** are the third species of Infected that you can encounter. These Infected have a bruiser appearance similar to a goblin or troll with green skin, bloated bellies, fangs and sunken eyes. Both bosses and minions wear a construction hardhat and shredded jeans. The minion wears either a dirty shirt and an orange reflective vest or is naked above the waist. Minions carry a club in their right hand which they use as a melee weapon. The mini-boss wears a dirty shirt with a orange reflective vest and wields a sword instead of a club. The boss also carries a shield in its off-hand that is capable of blocking the player's attacks. If the **Digger** take enough damage they well flee form the player, this applies to both the minion and mini-boss as the latter will drop their sword and shield.

## Attacks by Infected on Player and Player's base

The player will always find and be attacked by Infected at Homesteads and Villages if their presence there has not been disabled in the Load Screen AI settings.

However, other attacks on the player and the player's base are tied to the claiming of land in the game. The player can craft certain placeable items anywhere on the map. Examples are: Campfires, Sign Posts, Foundations. In order to build most other items needed in a base, the player must first claim a piece of land by placing a Land Claim Pole. When a Land Claim Pole is placed, three groups of Infected are spawned around campfires in random spots outside of the radius of the Land Claim. These enemies are attracted to noise and light and one of the groups will attack the player's base when noise or light reaches a critical level. The attacks are led by a Mini Boss with a few minions. These attacks will only begin after day 3 of a new game. The Infected which have spawned around campfires will also attack the player if the player meets them while traveling. After one of these groups of Infected has been killed by the player, a replacement group will spawn in a random location outside of the radius of the player's land claim. Each Land Claim Pole that the player places around the map will have its own 3 sets of Infected camping outside of its radius.

After day 20, there is a chance of 2 mini bosses and between 4 and 6 minions per attack.

If the player dies during a noise/light meter attack, the attacking Infected will despawn.

## AI Game Settings

In the loading screen game settings under the AI tab the player can enable or disable the presence of Infected in the game. There are three main settings governing their presence:

 •  Spawns in POIs: This setting refers to Infected that roam villages and homesteads.

 •  Base Attack Spawns: This setting refers to groups of Infected that spawn when a Land Claim Pole is placed and that attack the base depending on Noise/Light levels.

 •  Multiple Boss Attacks: This setting refers to the possibility of attacks containing 2 mini-bosses and 4-6 minions after day 20.

The stats of the different species of Infected can also be individually altered to make it easier or more difficult to cope with them in the game. By default, each species has 250 health and does 10 damage to the player and 10 damage to the player's base with each successfuul attack. The table below shows the range of possible settings.

 Digger | 50, 100, ***250***, 500, 600, 750, 1000, 1500 | 0, 5, ***10*** , 25, 50, 75, 100, 200 | 0, 5, ***10*** , 25, 50, 75, 100, 200

In order for changes to settings in the loading screen to become permanent, the player must save the game with the desired settings at least once. The settings can of course be changed at any time and the new changes must also be saved to prevent the game from reverting to the previous settings the next time the saved game is loaded.