Forget everything you know about our old skills and how they worked; you won’t need it anymore! Curious? Keep reading.

Survival tree

Before the update, you had to decide where to put your attribute points – like choosing between strength or stamina – right at the start of the game during character creation. We’ve gotten rid of those attribute points altogether.

Now, each new character level automatically unlocks a new bonus, such as increasing the maximum amount of hitpoints or damage.

Skill system

The old skill system was based on the attribute points that we have just got rid of. The new skill system works independently from all the other systems in the game.

Our new skill system includes both active and passive skills. Passive skills operate constantly and don’t have to be activated to take effect. By contrast, active skills can be strategically used in specific situations to gain an advantage. They can be activated by placing the desired skill into the action bar and pressing the assigned shortcut. But beware – activating active skills drains stamina!

How many skill trees are there?

How do I train my skills?

To make progress in a specific skill tree, you have to use it.

• Combat ranged: Cause damage with the specified firearm.
• Combat melee: Cause damage with the specified melee weapon.
• Profession: Harvest with the specified tool.
• Armor: Prevent damage while wearing the specified armor type.
• Endurance: Spend Stamina
• First Aid: Heal your Hitpoints

The maximum level you can reach in each skill tree is 50. Each level grants you 1 skill point, which you can use to unlock or increase the power of your skills. You can spend up to 5 points in each skill. After level 15, the token system will limit any further progress.

What is the token system?

Our skill system has a tweak that sets it apart from other games; you’re not required to choose an archetype at the beginning, and you’re not limited in what you can train initially.

After reaching level 15 in a skill tree you’ll need to unlock the next tier with an advanced tier token, of which you have 15. Upon reaching level 30 in that skill tree, you will need to unlock the next tier, which requires a proficient tier token, of which you have 10. Finally, after reaching level 45, you can unlock the ‘ultimate’ skill and advance to the highest tier, ‘expert,’ with an expert tier token, of which you only have 5.

This means you can have up to 75 ‘beginner tier’ skills, 45 ‘advanced tier’ skills, 30 ‘proficient tier’ skills, and 5 ‘expert tier’ skills (ultimates).

Further Information

Please note: Skill items are represented as a turquoise question mark in your inventory. Some graphics use placeholders, but they work as intended. Currently, three skills are not available. Each placeholder and the skills which are not available at present will be replaced or activated in the coming updates. Additionally, we plan to add some sound effects in the future.

Item system

The item system has undergone a complete overhaul and the items themselves have been updated with a fresh new appearance. Also, our tooltips now provide way more information. So, it’s time to forget everything you know, sit back, relax, and explore all the exciting new changes!

Item stats

In our previous item system, items of the same quality, such as a katana or a Desert Eagle, had identical stats.

Item upgrade

We’ve completely revamped the upgrade system for equipment. Here’s how it works now.

Item quality

Unlike the previous system where two identical items were required for an upgrade, the ability to upgrade an item to a higher quality will now also be determined by being rolled. Items eligible for upgrade will be indicated in two different ways.

Bunker function

Please note: The bunker is scheduled for redesign in the upcoming months, and all bunker functions, including the item upgrade function, may change in future progress.

Mods

Items with a quality of ‘good’ and higher gain another function: the mod. A mod gives weapon and armor parts an additional upside. Its potential can be unlocked by wearing the corresponding equipment and participating in fights. This means that the mod’s effect becomes stronger. The progress of each mod’s potential starts at zero.

The higher the quality of the item, the more mods are available. This means ‘good’ quality items have 1 mod, ‘remarkable’ (blue) items have 2 mods, ‘excellent’ (purple) have 3 mods, and ‘superior’ (gold) have 4 mods. When upgrading the quality, the corresponding mod will automatically be unlocked.

How is our armor working now?

New stats

Each armor now has two different stats: Evasion rating and Damage reduction rating. So what do these two stats mean?

It’s important to note that the evasion rating isn’t a direct percentage chance to evade, but rather a value that contributes to calculating your overall evasion probability.

For example, an evasion rating of 722 corresponds to an actual evasion chance of 3.09%.

It’s important to understand that the damage reduction rating doesn’t directly represent the percentage or the actual amount of damage that is reduced. Instead, it contributes to the calculation of your overall damage reduction percentage.

For example, a damage reduction rating of 285 corresponds to an actual damage reduction of 1.24%.

Armor classes

Our new item system has two item classes: Flexible armor and sturdy armor.

They are differentiated by the distribution of the two stats: Flexible armor has a higher evasion rating than sturdy armor, while sturdy armor has a higher damage reduction rating than flexible armor.

Both sturdy armor and flexible armor have their own skill tree. The effectiveness of the skills increases when wearing more armor parts of the same class corresponding to the chosen skill tree.

Further Information

With the new update, the block function using the right mouse button is no longer available. To compensate for this change, each player involved in melee combat now automatically receives an additional 10% evasion and 10% damage reduction. In melee combat, both you and the enemy fight using active melee attacks.

Please note: Some items currently use placeholders, lack tooltips, or have incomplete tooltips. We’re working on adding both tooltips and item visuals in the upcoming updates.

Zombies

We’ve also changed how zombies behave in buildings and at night. Hunting and looting in buildings should now be easier, as zombies no longer change floors without being triggered by the player. Furthermore, we’re making nights scarier by increasing the number of zombies on the streets. 

Overall, this update has increased the difficulty of the game, so watch out!

Please note: Currently, all wild animals are depicted as zombies and crawlers walk. Wild animals can be distinguished by the sounds players hear when being attacked by them. The ‘skin’ function remains available, and the models will be adjusted in upcoming updates.

Further changes

In addition to these three main changes, we’ve made several other adjustments in the game that you’ll notice. The player’s character overview has been reworked and improved. We’ve implemented a new network layer, resulting in smoother gameplay and better synchronization between players, enhancing PvP realism. Our game world graphics and the weather system have also been improved by adding more detail and realism.

Another change is the new contribution-based XP allocation. Each player receives XP based on their contribution to defeating zombies. NPCs are also included in the new XP allocation to prevent players from leading zombies to NPCs who would then shoot them down. 

The leaderboard now includes new categories representing each skill tree, as well as the player’s level. Additionally, each NPC in Junction is now visually dressed and equipped, and they also have gossip to share.

Moreover, our bunker now features music and sound to elevate the overall player experience. Please note, the research and repair functions within the bunker are currently disabled, and the production function is limited to bandages which is a necessary step towards the bunker’s redesign in the coming months.

In recent weeks we’ve also revamped our website, giving it a fresh new style and the option to choose languages, as well as the launcher, displaying the latest blog posts in the categories patch notes, updates, and news. We’ve also launched our forum, which is now accessible to everyone, with in-game login credentials.

What’s next?

After achieving another significant milestone on our journey, we are now gearing up for the next set of challenges. Over the coming weeks and months, our focus will be on implementing a Guild System, enabling players to collaborate on a larger scale. Additionally, we plan to overhaul the entire bunker concept to align it more closely with our vision.

We are aware that the current economic system isn’t balanced and some things don’t seem quite right. We aim to fix this with the bunker rework.

Currently, our game lacks a sufficient number of available quests. Therefore, we are planning to pay more attention on quests again in the coming months. Existing quests offer reputation for the faction the quest belongs to as well as potential cash.

Last but not least, we’re eager to improve the performance of our game. This involves the startup process to minimize wait times and RAM usage and the optimization of the game’s performance in general. 

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We really appreciate your continued support and are thankful for all the feedback we have received so far. Please continue to share your thoughts on the new systems in our forum (log in using your in-game credentials) or on Discord. 

See you out there!

⁓ Your Community Management Team