Hey everyone, happy 2024 :) I've released a new patch in publicbeta. This one is mainly about fixing bugs and addressing feedback for story mode, though there's a few little experiments in there as well. There's also a lot of new translations, including for story mode which now appears to be complete in Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. It's close to complete in Korean, Italian, Russian, and Lithuanian. Big thank you to all the translators! One experiment: If you have a top medical skill, you can make something called a biohazard cocktail, which is like a molotov cocktail but instead of burning it infects nearby people. Might be a bit OP, I'm not sure. Another: when you assassinate or choke hold someone, it makes a sound in a small radius which NPCs can hear (though zombies ignore it). This makes it harder to assassinate extortion squads as they walk home with your gold. Sorry I know a lot of people use that tactic but it felt too easy. I've also added dialog options to beg them to let your off (if they like you), or to intimidate them into leaving you alone (helps if you have a larger community). I've tweaked the combat AI to make characters with ranged weapons able to aim for the head or legs (previously they could only hit them by chance). Ranged and melee characters will be more likely to attack the legs of zombies who haven't been crippled, and don't have leg armor. Not sure how noticeable it'll be - maybe they'll seem a little smarter. There's still an element of randomness. Here's the full list: [list] [*] Dialog for if you find out the mystery guy has gone before you talk to Carter [*] Dialog for interrogating Tim in later game [*] Dialog for interrogating Charlie if you got him out after already finding the treasure [*] Dialog for ending an alliance [*] Various small dialog tweaks and fixes [*] Kelly introduces everyone as assholes [*] Fix for Tim's group not walking around together in story mode [*] Fix for quest to talk to Martin not progressing if he dies before you meet him [*] Stop Cameron Hines from joining the player's community while he still has his helicopter [*] Made it possible to stash dead or unconscious bodies in vehicles and buildings [*] Recipe for infected pipe bombs and biohazard cocktails [*] Tweaked throw trajectory calculation so you can't throw absurdly high to get over walls [*] Gave Ritz Creek Gang and Guardians wells so they can survive if the river freezes [*] Stop FEMA from changing leadership away from Malachi due to feuds [*] Stop people from starting dialog that disables character controls while there are enemies around, unless it's critical [*] Stop farmers from watering crops if it's raining heavily [*] Attempted fixes for things that can go wrong with Liam Franks [*] Increased crops and seeds for AI settlements in story mode [*] Allowed AI settlements in new Sandbox mode maps to plant sunflower seeds so they're a bit easier to find [*] Tweaked the way Carry Amount policy works for ammo to try to make it clearer [*] Some tweaks to combat AI that make NPCs more likely to aim for head and legs of zombies, and make enemies less likely to dodge if you have a high hand 2 hand skill [*] Fix for rare case where someone could get stuck vaulting over a rock next to a tree and a wall [*] Possible fix for Kelly sometimes getting inside the highway patrol compound [*] Possible fix for Carter sometimes not killing all the highway patrol zombies [*] Fix for stone mines not being available in story mode [*] Made fences that block entrance and exit roads invulnerable [*] If an inventory is large, wait till you scroll down before creating icons for everything in it, so it doesn't stall for so long on opening [*] Fix for lumberjacks trying to chop trees that are inaccessible [*] Added recipes to melt down tools such as axes or knives for steel, added a 'Disassemble...' section of the action menu for them to be less cluttered [*] Gates of active (non-hostile) communities open automatically as vehicles approach [*] Wishkey Falls Militia won't shake you down for a while after asking for your help [*] NPCs (but not zombies) can hear choke sounds within a small radius, so it's not so easy to assassinate extortion squads on their way home [*] You can try to intimidate or beg extorters using dialog checks to avoid paying [*] Increased firearms skill of FEMA guards and others, and gave them better guns [*] Crash fix [*] Updated Brazilian Portuguese, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Latin American Spanish, Lithuanian, Russian, Simplified & Traditional Chinese and Ukrainian translations [/list] [h3]What's this [b]publicbeta[/b] thing?[/h3] v197 will be in the "[b]publicbeta[/b]" branch for a while, before pushing it to the main game. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a good idea to start using this branch. But keep in mind:[list][*] Because it's the bleeding edge it could be less stable [*] If you want to be able to play online co-op with someone you'll need to be on the same version as them [*] If you go back from the "[b]publicbeta[/b]" branch to the main branch you may not be able to load savegames created on "[b]publicbeta[/b]".[/list] To use [b]publicbeta[/b], just right-click on Survivalist: Invisible Strain in your Steam library and go to Properties, then Betas and in the drop-down select "publicbeta".