March Content Update - Blog #23

Hey Scavs! For this update, one of our biggest challenges was modifying the water system to address player feedback and keep the system integrated into the lore. We adamantly wanted to address this challenge while staying true to the grim reality of the world. Therefore as of this update the player's water will no longer drain in real time. It is now used as a currency to enter regions. This change means there is no turning back. So, we made sure to get full buy-in from our design team and also consulted with key members of the community for their input. Our community is awesome, so the back and forth was a pleasure. This is one of the things we love about early access – the chance to build that dark future together! https://youtu.be/rX5r6lxkOTo Thank you for being here. Fun Dog out!

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Hi Scavs! March Update is here! There are a TON of QOL and fundamental improvements to check out. The team worked REALLY hard to overhaul a bunch of core systems. AI spawning and awareness are sharper, gunplay is smoother, looting is smarter, and there are some pretty rad network & performance fixes! Oh, and did we mention Water 3.0? The in game timer is no more and is replaced with a brand new system that you should check out for yourselves…Plus a brand new map, Staircase. Make sure to watch your step. This update is ALL about refining the core experience..join us in the innards to feel the difference! We're going to put out a water 3.0 video shortly as well, that will go into some more of the in world details so keep an eye out for that! The new water system was a really cool idea from the community that actually fits the vibe of the game, while rewarding skill. We are also looking at adding a surprise gift at a later time for anyone who stockpiled like crazy, and will lose some of their stored water that is outside their water tank. Please see the below list of improvements, bug fixes, and newly added features. Water 3.0: -Water is no longer a resource that drains real-time. It is now a currency that is used to access region entry points. -Region entry points have specific water costs that are in an RNG range. The RNG range changes daily. -The current water cost per region is on the region map and in the ready room -The host of the current game pays the water cost to enter the regions. BUT the other players can give water to the host (and other players in the game) to help with the cost. -To account for water 3.0, a rebalance of water drops in regions and rewards for quests was done. -Water barrels are now only stored in the Innard’s water supply. Any additional water brought back from regions is converted to currency. -When you update to water 3.0, only water that is in your innards water supply will remain. Your save game will also be marked with a special tag so we can reward you for your real-time water participation at a later time (don’t delete your save if you want this TBD reward in the future!) -NOTE! You can still be invaded by water thieves if: -You leave the game with 0 water in your innards. -Your water bots are followed back (if you have hired them). -Other in-battle reasons can also incur the ire of the Water Thieves, so be careful -More Base invasion triggers will occur in the future as we introduce additional enemies and objectives in the battlefield. The reward and risk will be high. Water Trading: -Players can now trade water with each other on the ready room screen. -Players receive notifications if a friend has given them water -Players cannot give water if the recipient is already full (the transaction will be aborted). Increase your innards water supply! Gunplay 2.0: -The core gunplay system for player used weaponry has been overhauled. -Recoil, dispersion, kick, swing (based on size / weight) and weapon handling are completely renovated and retuned -Weapon upgrades / mods have been adjusted for the new system. -The gun’s position in ADS has been adjusted for better sight picture -When in ADS, there is depth of field on the periphery to help focusing on the target -Reload Animations: The reload animations have been improved for the following weapons. The Old Man character has been used as the first to receive the new goodness. We will continue to expand this to all weapons and all characters as we release more updates. -The Grenade Launcher -The M60 -The R8 Pistol -The M79 Sawed-off pistol -The P90 -The TKB-0146 -The S12 Shotgun (not to be confused with the SURPLUS shotgun) -Shotgun weaponry has been retuned for cone size, # of impact decals, etc. -This results in less damage when target is far away and more damage at danger close ranges Enemy Detection Improvements: -Enemy detection icons show up more reliably with the correct information on % of awareness / detection and state (??? for investigating, !!! for aware but not targeting YOU, and eyeball-icon for aware and targeting YOU) -Enemy detection icons now show up to 4 arrows showing which players they are detecting so you can more easily see if they are tracking you or an ally -This info only appears for the 3 closest in-view enemies to avoid a super noisy HUD -Enemy detection icons will not appear if the view of the enemy is blocked (if they are behind a wall or pillar, etc.). It will re-appear if they are in view. -Enemy sensors (hearing, vision, communication / “transference”, etc.) have been adjusted to improve chances of slipping by undetected if they are occupied with combat (unless the AI is specifically tasks to hunt players aka the Hunter-Killers) Game Performance Improvements: -Various low to mid-level gamethread and rendering improvements have been made to increase FPS. -Additional crash detection has been added to help prevent item loss if a crash occurs.. -Help us help you, if you had a rough time, scope out the discord and leave a message with your hardware specs, we will do what we can! Network Stability Improvements: -Finding and joining games via session browser and friend invites should be much more stable now. -Searching for games and quick matching should be faster. -Additional tracking has been added for unexpected disconnections to allow us to improve networking in future updates. AI spawning Improvements: -All scenarios and encounters on all regions have been audited and adjusted to mitigate and hopefully completely remove: -Seeing enemies spawn right in front of you out of thin air -Having enemies spawn right on top of you or out of view New Region: Stairway to Heaven: -A new region has been added to explore and complete quests in Night Mode for Frozen Swamp Region: -The Frozen Swamp now has a night / horror mode that you may find yourself thrown into when you visit if the conditions are right Looting Improvements: -There are now HUD elements on screen indicating what object you will interact with / open / pick up and if you are close enough to do so. -It is now much easier to aim at and select the specific item you wish to pick up or open on the ground when there is a clutter of items in a pile or nearby. -There are options in the option menu to adjust this HUD feedback for more or less info depending on your tastes. AI Melee Improvements: -The system for how AI performs melee has been overhauled and made much more data driven. -The Orga has been improved using this system as well as Mother courage. Both these units will have additional surprises. Additional Quests: -Added quests that can be accomplished in both the new and existing regions Faction Status Adjustments: -Player damage to different factions will have a more deleterious effect on the faction relationship (i.e. it will go down quicker) -Quest faction influence has been adjusted per quest (completing quests will adjust the faction scores more or less depending on the quest) -Vendor faction thresholds have been adjusted so its more challenging and rewarding to gain and maintain maximum faction rating (i.e. “its more challenging to get the vendors to sell you the good stuff”) And more!: -Countless other bug fixes, tuning adjustments, and improvements -Maybe a surprise or three ;)

Hey there scavs! We are looking for your feedback to help the dev team improve some QOL features in the game! See the below graphic that goes into detail on what items we are working on and can use your input! Thanks for being here!

Hi Scavs - Happy New Year! Hotfix 0.2.03 is now live. Please see below for details. 🐁 Network Improvements / Bug Fixes -Party invites should now work even if party privacy settings are changed to public or friends only after being set to private. -Friend list status and party privacy status should now update properly -Fix for potential crashes on session creation for multiplayer parties Enemy Detection / Awareness Improvements / Bug Fixes -Fix for Gunhead character being heard via the AI awareness system when crouched -Fix for AI being able to sometimes become aware of players instantly at certain distances or heights Economy Bug Fixes -Vendors will no longer mistakenly charge the player XP instead of credits for item purchase -Fix for some quests awarding the wrong item(s) on completion -Addressed an issue where all items and faction rating values could occasionally be lost if a player dies in a normal mission (when an Innards invasion due to water bots is detected). General Bug Fixes -Improvement for save-game updates when updating to a newer version of Forever Winter -Fix for potential save game issue(s) if the file path has atypical characters in any of the folder or file names -Addressed a potential UI pop-up window crash -Recruit and dismiss buttons no longer have cut-off text -Loot boxes no longer occasionally show incorrect button prompts for interaction -The HUD now displays the correct messaging on player death -Character skill pages no longer lose focus after acquiring a skill or performing prestige actions -Swapping characters in the Innards now properly shows all players the correct model for the in-use character -Gunhead’s head will no longer occasionally disappear in the Innards

With the year coming to an end, we at Fun Dog wanted to send out holidays wishes to all of you and your families. It has been an amazing year and an even greater final quarter and we cannot thank you enough. With hundreds of thousands of Scavs and millions of deaths later, The Forever Winter is growing by the day. It's only up from here .

Hey scavs, the FDS team has released Water 2.0, maintaining the challenge but shifting focus to rewarding strategic planning. Players now have multiple opportunities to prevent loss of everything. Now available: -Thief-Proof Vault: Store items and credits in a water pirate proof vault, thus preventing a water death from taking your hardest earned gear and credits. You will NEVER lose anything stored in this vault. The vault is automatically available to all players. -Water Bots: Hire Water Bots to collect water for you when you are offline -Base Defense: Increase base defenses with turrets in your innards We will continue to evolve the system so it stays as in-world as possible. As such, we're adding these optional tools to support players as they navigate the horrors of the world. The team is constantly working on adding to as well as reinventing current game mechanics and are thankful for your constant feedback and support! We know we have work to do and we are not backing down from the challenge. In 2025 the war continues> Happy holidays scavs! Stay warm.

Hi scavs - Hotfix 0.2.02 is now live. Please see below for details. -Fix for custom rig container being lost after extraction. (If your save existed before this hot fix, you should see a one-time gift of a large supply of rig customization containers the next time you enter the Innards from the main menu, after downloading the fix. This gift is only given if you have a pre hot fix save and will only be given once. Jeff Gregg couldn't..CONTAIN the rage that the rig customization bug must have cause. His sincerest apologies.) -Fix for soft lock that can occur if player presses the "move to stash" button or "open boxes" button after returning from battle -Fix for enemy dropped weaponry still showing their location marker after a player picks them up -Fix for entry points in Frozen Swamp not unlocking based on faction score -Fix for deep water in Frozen Swam continuing to do damage after player has left said water