Update notes

Hello Survivors!

A new update for Stranded: Alien Dawn has just landed. Thank you again for all your feedback.

Key new features & content

• Saltu region - A new jungle-inspired biome, featuring new plants, animals, swamps, rivers and beaches
• A new survivor, Melody Adeyemi, a talented healer and natural leader
• New expeditions and adversity, including crop disease, tropical diseases and extreme heat/humidity which makes perishable resources decompose faster while cooling devices will consume more power
• New core gameplay features include Area flags, Tools, new relaxation devices and more
• New photo mode
• New Super Sampling support for PC versions of the game
• Additional music
• Three new achievements/trophies
• Bug fixes and more

Camp management & Area flags

Researching camp management unlocks the ability to construct, place and name an area flag. Survivors can then be assigned to, and will reside and work within, the area of the flag.

• The survivor that constructs an area flag is automatically assigned to that flag after the construction is complete
• Each survivor's assigned area is displayed in their info panel, which also provides buttons for "Go to flag" and "Change area"
• When applicable, survivor portraits are now colour-coded, and sorted by assigned areas
• Survivors are also sorted by area in the activities menu and in the schedule menu
• A direct order to "Assign to Area X" is available when interacting with a device that is located within an area that the applicable survivor is not assigned to

Tools

Each survivor's inventory now includes a dedicated tool slot, allowing for one tool to be equipped and used automatically in most cases when needed. Research toolsmithing to unlock the ability to craft basic tools, and in turn reveal research topics necessary to unlock the ability to craft advanced tools.

Basic tools

• Survival kits contain a bedroll and emergency rations, enabling survivors to venture further afield without needing to return to base to eat and sleep
• Harvesting tools reduce the time taken to harvest, cut, and mine
• Good luck charms are a small trinket that grants their carrier a happiness boost

Advanced tools

• Respiratory mask allows survivors to breathe easier during dust storms and toxic ash
• Electromagnetic umbrella, a personal force field that prevents its carrier from getting soaked by rain and/or being struck by lightning
• Night goggles improve the survivor's vision and aim in the dark
• Signal flares* can be thrown to illuminate the area of impact, making it easier to aim and hit a target in the dark
• Grenades* can be thrown by survivors to deal damage to the area of impact, stun, and potentially take out multiple enemies with each Grenade

*When equipped, the Signal flare and Grenade tools, have a specific button to throw them

New adversity

• Monsoon rains and violent thunderstorms make it very likely for survivors to be soaked when outside, and/or for lightning to strike survivors, animals, and devices
• Heat and humidity cause perishable resources to decompose faster, and cooling devices to consume more power than they will in other regions
• Xenoflora blight is an airborne silent assassin that kills healthy plants and spreads like wildfire if the diseased plants are not cut down to keep it under control
• Swarm fever is a new disease unique to the Saltu region, which can only be cured with antibiotics
• Gut worms are a new disease that survivors might encounter after eating raw foods, which can only be cured with antibiotics
• Blood infection - Bleeding survivors can develop a blood infection, which causes pain and increases their rest loss. Left untreated, blood infections can become mild anaemia or worst of all, chronic anaemia
• Insect nests - The Saltu region features huge mantis/scissorhands nesting areas that yield Silicon and are unique to this territory
• Players that are used to acquiring carbon nanotubes from Shrieker nests, may find it more challenging to acquire this resource in Saltu, but valid strategies include using the 3D printer or taming a Broodmother Shrieker

For more information see the 'Help' section within the user interface, which includes new entries for Areas and Tools.

Photo mode

• When pausing the game, you will now be able to select 'Photo Mode', where it is possible to freely place the camera control and set a variety of graphic settings and photo filters to take beautiful screenshots. Be sure to take note of all the controls that are noted in order to get to grips with them

Super Sampling Support

• For PC versions of the game, popular Super Sampling algorithms; FSR 2, DLSS 2 and XeSS are now supported. See Options > Video > Antialiasing
  • If electing to enable Super Sampling, please ensure you have the most recent video card drivers and if you are using older drivers be aware that the option for DLSS 2 might not be unlocked
  • In addition to enabling Super Sampling, it is also possible to adjust the render scale to balance visual quality and performance. See Options > Video > Resolution Percent

Improvements & revisions to existing features & content

Survivors

• Adjusted looping animations and cooldowns when survivors are shooting a firearm
• Survivors can now shoot through force field barriers
• Adjusted animation when survivors are aiming upwards or downwards
• Survivors no longer get the "Slept next to my love +9" happiness bonus when the two beds are separated by a wall

Research, crafting, construction & devices

• Reduced research time for solar panels, wind turbines, diesel generators, refrigerators and energy storage
• Brick fence is now unlocked after acquiring bricks, instead of after researching "Brick rooms", making it consistent with the way that other fence types are unlocked
• Emergency rations can now be made using any cooked meals, instead of requiring tasty meals
• Adjusted consistency of placement for hydroponic racks and fortifications, so they are less likely to penetrate the ground and cannot be placed on top of spaceship debris
• Improved consistency of obstruction logic when placing wall lights
• A landing spot can no longer be placed on a weak-support floor that is marked for reconstruction with a strong-support material
• When placing the food fabricator and material fabricator, the direction they are oriented towards is now indicated
• The 'Repair' logic for buildings now factors in doors and windows that might also be destroyed when a wall is damaged
• Energy crystals can now be grown in hydroponic racks
• After a survivor has been assigned to a mech, the applicable survivor's info panel now features a "Board Mech" button
• Various improvements on mechs' behaviour when leaping
• Survivors no longer get "Soaked Wet" after they have boarded a mech
• A mech operator's health is now indicated via a red coloured health bar in their info panel, and a blue-coloured health bar is shown below the applicable survivor's portrait and over the mech, indicating the health of the mech
• For PC versions of the game, the construction buttons for 'Move", "Copy", "Reconstruct", and "Deconstruct" have been moved from the right side of the info panel to the bottom of the info panel

Animals

• When possible, tamed animals will run when they are drafted, just as survivors do
• Broodmother shriekers remain pacified for a little longer, providing more time for survivors to attempt to tame them
• Female Tecatli now interact correctly with and eat from feeders
• After taming a Juno demolisher, they now receive a health bonus for being tamed, which is consistent with other animals being tamed
• Fixed logic that occasionally resulted in some animals sleeping instead of attacking

Expeditions

• Survivors that travel to discover the "Burning cruise vessel", "Security signal" and "Distress signal" expeditions only have the possibility to find other survivors if taking place in the crash landing scenario
• Fixed an issue that caused a missing outcome in the "Loud bang" expedition, after electing to "Search the place thoroughly"
• Expedition notifications no longer remain active after the survivor returns with the balloon

User Interface

• If a tutorial is invoked from within a scenario that is being played out after electing to Pause, a new "Return to scenario" button has been added to the Pause menu
• Within activities, switching from advanced priorities to simple priorities now resets the priorities to 3 for everyone
• Adjusted the consistency of the icons displayed when a survivor is planting crops
• All resources that are reserved to be picked up by a survivor are now correctly indicated as "Reserved by"
• Loading screens are now specific to the applicable region
• Other minor UI fixes

Trading outpost scenario

• Added electronics to the starting resources
• The trading GUI now provides the ability "Buy all" and "Sell all"
• When resources are no longer available to complete a trade, a "Can't trade" notification is shown
• Adjusted the crafting cost of the pulse rifle and pulse rifle 2.0

Miscellaneous

• Fixed rare issue that caused save files to become corrupted and unable to load
• Additional optimisations to improve performance & stability
• Adjusted consistency of unlocking the achievements/trophies named "True Solo", "Four walls, a floor and a roof", "Getting the hang of it" and "Millionaire in the making"
• Fixed a rare blocking issue in the "Rooms" tutorial
• Adjusted FOV to better fit 21:9 and 4:3 screen resolutions.
• Minor improvements to various art, animation audio and text

PC/Steam Mods, ModTools & Steam Workshop

• Revised entities blending to improve overall performance for players using mods
• Cheat overlays now close automatically after quitting the modding test map, or after starting a new game
• Author name now uses the creator's Steam username, instead of displaying as "unknown"
• Localisation IDs no longer change when mods are updated
• Mod items with reciprocal properties (character relationships, traits and health condition incompatibility) are now automatically set
• Improved the function for copying from original presets in the mod items
• Mod preview images are now required to be in .png format, ensuring the source image is correctly displayed
• Fixed issues with mods sorting order and sorting persistency
• Added a cheat on the modding test map: cheatLightRange, to enable the light overlay
• Added a cheat on the modding test map: Template (in the object's info panel). When selected, the editor is invoked and the original game values for the desired preset will open
• Added new mod items named 'ModItemFont' and 'ModItemTextStyle' that enable the ability to add new fonts and replace existing ones
• Implemented improved error handling for the blender exporter
• Adjustments on SearchLight preset to add custom light FX
• Fixed the "Sing" relaxation activity sample mod
• Uploading mods to the Steam Workshop does not edit the mod visibility in the Steam Workshop