Dev Blogs

A devblog refers to an update post about the changes in Season 5 and it's Beta Branch made by Donkey Crew.

## **Devblogs**

### **Update on Season 5**

While this update can be considered a devblog it was an update announcing the devblogs and the first official announcement about the game in months.

**Main points**

* Not all the time after season 4 got used to make the new creatures, it was spent deciding the new version of Last Oasis as well.
* A lot of the work "under the hood" is done.
* A lot more information regarding the new features in season 5 will be shared.
* A new creature was revealed, it's a giant walking rock with rupus on it's back. While it doesn't have an official name yet Chadz calls it "GoGo".

### **AI System Overhaul & New Creatures**

This devblog is about the changes to old creatures, new creatures added to the game, design choices for these creatures and the technical problems faced.

#### **Main points**

* Creatures will be a challenge instead of being a resource to harvest and killing them for their loot will be a big part of the new season and a challenge.
* Initially players will fight rupus and phemkes but with different behaviours to get to their next walker and progress onto bigger threats.
* Creatures in the new season will have 2 variants, a creature that will act normally roaming around being passive or defending it's lair which will have valuable resources. Battle mobs are creatures with battle rigs equipped with a variety of siege weapons, these creatures have a different AI to suit walker combat better.
* The wasteland (middle of Kali Spires map) will be inhabited by stiletto-sized rock crawlers and the large GoGo revealed in previous devblogs.
* The sand worm will be much more difficult to tackle with no certainty of coming back from the worm tile alive. Some attacks won't be able to be implemented during season 5 yet but the worm will be able to be balanced without them.

### **Siege Weapons Redesign - Automata and Remote Weapons**

This devblog is focussed on changes to siege weapons, remote weapons, Automata and rebalance of damage and armor ratings.

#### **Main points**

* New weapon: Stinger, 3 different tiers each improving on rotation speed and fire arc. Uses darts as ammo.
* Automata, Can be used to turn manned siege weapons in unmanned remote weapons.
* Rokker, cannon in between ballista and catapult.

##### Soft

Meant for players, most of the smaller creatures (Phemke, Nurr, Killin, Papak), Small Walkers (Firefly and Spider Walker), Crafting Stations and Siege Weapons. Overall, this armor is dedicated to things that can be damaged with melee weapons and some of the earliest ammo available, dart ammunition, scattershot pellets, and early ballista bolts.

##### Medium

Medium Walkers (Dinghy, Stiletto, Mollusk, etc), Small Walker legs, Light and Medium wood structures.

##### Hard

Large Walkers, some of the bigger creatures (Okkam, Koa, etc).

##### Reinforced

Capital Walkers, Balang, Clay and Stone Bases, Worm Scales.

##### Solid

Concrete Bases, Silur. This is specially reserved and will see sparse utilization, as very few damage types and ammo is capable of efficiently damaging it.

#### New damage types

Different types of ammo fall under different types of damage, this is a base for all damage sorts (light fire bolt will do light fire damage). Ammo can be made better by making it with better materials not only in how much damage they do but in what kind of damage they do as well.

##### Light

Darts and Scattershot Pellets. Used by compact remote Stinger, and Scattershot Gun.

##### Piercing

Ballista Bolts, high end Darts, and Scattershot Pellets. Used by early Ballista, higher end Scattershot Gun, and Repeater.

##### Heavy

Larger Rock based ammo, smaller Boulders, and high end Bolts. Used by more advanced Ballista, Catapult, and Slingshot.

##### Shattering

Strongest damage type in the game, fully effective against every armor rating in the game. Used by Rokker and Catapult.

###  **Walker building system rework**

This devblog goes over the removal of the free building on walkers.

#### Hardpoint system

Walkers now have differently sized hardpoints, object can only be placed on the hardpoints of their size or larger and will snap to the middle of the hardpoint.

##### Hardpoint sizes

* Small: small chests, water containers, ammo boxes, etc.
* Medium: medium chests, ballistae, scattershot, fiberworking station, etc.
* Large: larger crafting stations such as furnaces, woodworking stations, larger weapons like the catapult, battle fan etc.
* Edge: as the name suggests, these are placed on the edge of Walker decks, and they are designed for Gun Pods, Tool Pods, Climbers, and some of our small remote weapons.
* Decorative: these are meant to allow cosmetic/decorative structures without sacrificing proper, functional Hardpoints on the main Walker deck for aesthetic purposes.

#### Specialized walker rigs

While walkers have a default rig installed by default specialized rigs can be obtained to have more hardpoints, different types of hardpoints or a different lay-out for the hardpoints.

### **Quality system overhaul**

This devblog covers the new rarity system that replaces the old quality system.

#### **Resources and walkers**

Resources can have multiple rarities ranging from common to legendary, using these resources to build a walker will not only yield more module slots but increased health, armor rating and acceleration as well.

#### **Creatures, points of interests and maps**

Creatures, points of interest and maps can have a rarity value as well, this dictates what loot and what rarity loot the creatures/points of interest/maps provide.

#### **Tools**

There will be more tools to cover the gaps the previous tools had, for instance the difference between the sickle and syche.

### **Lobby removal and PvE maps**

This devblog covers the removal of the lobby, the addition of PvE maps and how they will be balanced.

#### **Main points**

* PvE tiles give players the opportunity to progress at their own pace until they feel safe to wander out.
* In the Beta Branch only cradle and canyon maps will be PvE tiles, all tiles have PvP options.
* PvP tiles have shorter respawn timers, higher rarity items and higher drop rates.
* The sandstorms and maintainance cost to upkeep bases is used to limit base size.
* Soft clan cap will continue to exist.

### **World travel rework and weather systems**

This devblog covers the reworked inter-oasis travel system and new sandstorms.

#### **Reworked travel system**

In the reworked travel systems there are multiple clearings in the sandstorm at the edge of the map, differently sized clearings will allow differently sized walkers to go through. Upon going through the clearing the player will be teleported to the map the clearing leads to. The clearings will be used to basically remove the queue, once a map is full no new clearings to that map will appear.

#### **Roaming sandstorms**

Roaming sandstorms are as the name implies sandstorms roaming around the map. They deal damage to any loose objects not covered by base walls and make sure every spot on the map gets hit by a sandstorm every 1-2 hours.

### **Progression rework - schematic system**

This devblog is about the new schematic system that replaces the legacy fragment and tablet system and some extra information on how Points of Interest interact with the new rarity system.

#### **Schematics**

Schematics can be found around the world and are used in building/crafting items. They are a part of balancing the game with only limited storage space.
Schematic types can be found here, NOTE: this is from the devblog and is subject to change
2
Walkers can be obtained from creatures, stiletto from wild Nurrs, Mollusk from Nurr Raiders and Falco/Buffalo from variants of the Papak creature.

Ammo can be obtained from rupu camps.

Items like the Wingsuit and Automata can be obtained from POI's

#### **Points of Interest**

Higher rarity POI's are more difficult to tackle and some need to be taken out by a walker.

### **Base building and packing**

This devblog covers the removal of the packing mechanic and the PvP balance in the base building mechanic.

### **The burn**

This devblog covers the removal of the burn.

### **Beta Branch Followup**

This devblog is a review of what went wrong in the first Beta Test and the changes made to fix these issues.

#### **Water**

Although it was agreed the early game water grind was a too much, instead of making it easier by reducing values Donkey Crew is instead adding new features like the Humidifier: A placeable object that humidifies a base allowing nomads to quench their thirst without consuming the water. More sources are also to be added like springs that can be dug up.

#### **Schematics and RNG**

The schematic bag (an inventory item which lets you hold more schematics) can be obtained earlier on in the game and a schematic chest which will be able to supply schematics to crafting tables and players while still in the chest will be available.

Simple tools like stone hatchet, sickle and simple pickaxe will all fall under 1 common schematic.

While it may seem like the game is heavily dependent on RNG, it uses calculations based on how much certain items a player has obtained from a certain creature.

#### **other**

Base packing will be considered for founder walkers as late-game gameplay

It has been acknowledged the grappling hook wasn't balanced right in the first beta test, a grappling hook can be very fun to new players and a very powerful tool for experienced players.

Concept art for a new later tier rupu has been revealed and Donkey Crew has stated they don't want to make the game artificially difficult.

**Devblogs**
Fri, June 17, 2022 @ 7:59 PM BST
"The Burn"
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/903950/view/5965595245666768423