This month’s update brings back one of our earliest content packs, which has been out of circulation since March. But if you’re thinking that means “nothing new to see here,” then we’re glad to say “Keep reading, my friend,” because this returning pack includes some serious upgrades!

Our returning Go Bag Pack adds 3 brand-new items to the collection of weapons that was last available in March of this year. This brings the pack to a full 12 bounties, making it one of our larger packs in rotation.
These new bounty items are…

• Compensating Suppressor: This versatile attachment improves control and power while also reducing noise by half. It’s a great compromise between a brake and a traditional suppressor.
  
• Bug Out Bag: This striking new backpack has all the room of an 8-slot pack, but has the smaller profile of a 6-slot pack. Thanks to its bright orange hue, your friends can easily pick you out even when you’re surrounded by zombies.
  
• Mad Norma: The “Norma” pickup truck has been a fan favorite since the original State of Decay. This model features some apocalypse-style improvements, along with a shiny new paint job. You’ll almost feel guilty splattering her with zombie guts!

As you can see, these new items continue to experiment with non-traditional bounty content (that is, items other than weapons and outfits). The Bounty Broker is happiest when he’s supplying you with a wide range of options for customizing your survivors and communities, so you can expect us to keep trying out ideas like this in future new and returning packs.

In bringing back the 9 weapons featured in the original Go Bag Pack, we identified some opportunities to improve and tweak those weapons, based on community feedback and player data. Here’s what you can expect:
G45 Burst: Formerly known as the G45 FDE, this pistol now features a 3-round burst fire mode (with some tweaks to its control stats to match).
Classic AK-47: We’ve reduced the sway and slightly reduced the recoil on this iconic weapon. We also bumped up the weight just a bit to better match expectations.
9mm Pro 986 Revolver: This handy revolver just got handier, with increased accuracy, reduced sway, and reduced reload time. (Formerly known as the M-Dart Revolver.)
Tow Hitch Club: This blunt melee weapon was a little underused by players, so it received a significant boost to its knockdown, a moderate increase to durability, and a small improvement to impact. We also slightly increased its swing cost, to balance these improvements.
These changes will automatically be applied to any of these weapons that you already own.

This is the first returning content pack that includes bounties. To keep returning packs from feeling like old hat to our veteran players, we are resetting all bounties in this and later returning packs. That means all players will have the same 12 Go Bag bounties available to them from the Bounty Broker.
If you had already completed any Go Bag bounties, you’ll earn bonus influence by completing that bounty again (in addition to getting the appropriate item).
Also, we’ve learned quite a bit about bounty completion rates since this pack was originally designed, so we adjusted the requirements for a couple of the bounties to make them a little easier to achieve. (You’re welcome.)

With the return of the Go Bag Pack, it’s time to temporarily retire the Pawn Shop Pack. Remember that you keep anything you already own, but you can’t acquire more items from retired packs.
Next month, it’ll be time for another brand-new set of weapons and outfits that we’re calling the Open Range Pack. This pack blends elements of the Old and Modern West to create a collection that evokes images of ranching and rustling alike. So whether you dream of quick-drawing a pearl-handled revolver or you just want to look rugged and wistful in your cowboy hat and denim jacket, this is the pack for you!
To make way for this new pack, the Anniversary Pack will be retired in September. Make sure to complete those bounties soon!
Speaking of leaving soon: this is your last chance to grab the new Bloodmobile that was released with Update 19. This special vehicle is available via radio command, but only until the next pack comes out in September!

This update is a bit light compared to recent months. But don’t worry! We’re working on some big features and exciting new content and gameplay improvements that will start rolling out next month.

The Bounty Broker menu now more clearly shows which pack is leaving soon
All AK-47 firearms have received an increase to their horizontal recoil
The Sleeper Cell PPK is now properly described and categorized as an assault pistol
We revisited the audio mix on attachment-ready guns to ensure that the new compensating suppressor was well-supported

Before we get to this month’s in-game headlines we’d like to ask for your help.
Undead Labs, in partnership with the American Red Cross, urges you to donate blood.

By giving blood, you give a bit of yourself to help save a life.

The blood supply is critical. Blood cannot be saved or stockpiled. Now more than ever, your donation is needed.


Visit StateOfDecay.com/RedCross today, and get involved.
Together, we survive.


Has it really been a whole month since we debuted the Green Zone difficulty level and delivered the piratical Plunder Pack? It has indeed, and we’ve been busy with another round of gameplay improvements.



Here’s a list of highlights from this update. You can read more details about each item below, along with a full recounting of other improvements and bug fixes.

• Vehicle Tune-Up: Our mechanics have improved performance for all vehicles in the game.
  
• Shotgun Upgrade: We’ve drastically upgraded the zombie-stopping power of the humble boomstick.
  
• Drucker County, Enhanced: We made this plateau map more visually appealing and much friendlier for drivers.
  
• Free Bloodmobile: Use your radio to call in this unique vehicle for your community. Available for a limited time!
  
• World War 2 Pack Returns: Older weapons are now in loot, and new weapons and outfits are available from the Bounty Broker.

You depend on your vehicle’s performance, whether you’re speeding down the highway or dodging zombies on windy dirt roads. As a result of your feedback, we went under the hood to review and improve vehicle performance across our entire fleet of cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans.

Next time you’re driving, look for these highlights:

• Increased acceleration to escape juggernauts intent on wrecking your ride
  
• Better off-road performance, allowing you to drive over rough terrain without getting stuck
  
• More power in reverse to help back out of those annoying ditches that keep jumping in front of you
  
• Revised terrain and tire interaction to better capture the different “grip” on roads, dirt, mud, and water
  
• Audio remixed to follow new torque and acceleration curves

Blowing away the evil dead with your boomstick delivers visceral excitement that no other firearm can match. To better deliver on that integral part of the zed-killing fantasy, we’ve drastically improved shotguns in the game.

Here’s what to expect:

• Shotguns reliably deliver kills inside five meters.
  
• Shotguns offer crowd control to about 20 meters, scoring knockdowns and dismemberments.
  
• Shotgun noise dropped significantly and is now comparable to a 5.56 round, so their use draws less unwanted company.
  
• Your shotgun remains less effective at longer ranges (that’s rifle territory), and it’s not ideal for stealthy kills. Instead, it’s the best weapon for mowing through zombie hordes, or for delaying oncoming zeds when you need to retreat.

Try one out today!



Our experience building the Providence Ridge map inspired us to review our existing maps to see where we could improve their quality. We identified Drucker County as deserving of some artistic love, so we unleashed a team of landscapers and architects on the entire area. Their goals: to enhance the map’s visual interest and improve player navigation.

To enhance visual interest, our team added infrastructure around select buildings to better “ground” them in their locations, added signage and set dressing to some base locations, and added details to non-playable spaces that felt a little barren. Taken together, these result in a more attractive and immersive space to explore.



Since Drucker County has never been the friendliest place for vehicles, we also prioritized a better driving experience. Our team smoothed out terrain, removing several tons of rocks that interfered with off-road travel or created frustrating dead ends. We added new dirt roads that show up on the Map screen to highlight easier routes. Finally, we placed signage, fences, and other visual guides to help drivers stay safe.

If it’s been a while since you visited Drucker County, we encourage you to get behind the wheel and check it out!



Speaking of getting behind the wheel, all players now have a new radio command allowing them to have a unique Bloodmobile vehicle delivered to their community.

Each community can use this radio command once for free; after that, calling for a new Bloodmobile will cost Influence.



This radio command replaces the Wizard Van option and is available only for a limited time. To view your radio commands, open your Inventory and tab over to Radio Commands.


The brand-new World War 2 pack adds 8 new weapons to the game, plus 2 items of clothing and a unique firearm attachment. These items are drawn from or inspired by the European theaters of combat, and most are available by completing bounties for the Bounty Broker.

• Ceremonial M1A1 Thompson: This beautiful submachine gun remains pristine and fully functional, thanks to years of loving maintenance.
  
• OSS Silent Night: Military historians claim this permanently suppressed revolver never existed as anything but a prototype. But they’re all dead, so no one can stop you from appreciating its power, accuracy, and surprising range.
  
• MP40 Submachine Gun: This 20th-century German weapon of war, brought to America as a battlefield prize, provides an exceptionally controllable assault platform thanks to its smaller caliber, modest fire rate, and longer frame.
  
• FBI Fighting Rifle: This vintage weapon is based on the military BAR and delivers large-caliber firepower with surprising control. Each rifle is equipped with a special Vintage Rifle Compensator attachment (see below).
  
• Soviet PPSh-41: A famous WW2 close assault weapon, known for its high rate of fire, sturdy construction, and simplicity of use. This one also features a permanently attached brake, and it’s been added to loot tables so you can find it by scavenging.
  
• Danger Dog PPSh-41: A skilled post-apocalypse gunsmith heavily modified this Soviet submachine gun to face today's nightmare world. It includes a welded-on AK-style suppressor, modified action to support three-round bursts, and other optimizations.
  
• Antique German Trench Tool: This “folding spade” is loud, weighty, and quite capable of hacking zombies to pieces.
  
• Tank Hammer: You might be surprised how many problems a tank can have that are most easily fixed by hitting it very hard with a large hammer. Works on zeds, too.
  
• Aviator Helmet: Your friends will all be jealous of this vintage leather flight helmet, complete with aviator goggles.
  
• Combat Helmet: This classic Army green helmet is an enduring symbol of service under fire.
  
• Vintage Rifle Compensator: This antique muzzle attachment provides stability, power, and durability. It is ONLY found on the FBI Fighting Rifle, but it can be removed and attached to any weapon that accepts a muzzle brake.

In addition, all weapons previously found in the World War 2 Pack (last seen in January of this year) have been added to the loot tables and can be found by scavenging in the world.


The return of the World War 2 Pack means that we must say farewell--for now--to the Bundle Up Pack. Remember that you keep anything you already own, but you can’t acquire more items from retired packs.

In August, we welcome the Go Bag Pack (last seen in March) back to the game! In addition to the 9 weapons originally featured in that pack, we’re adding 3 new bounties that let you earn some brand-new items.

All Go Bag bounties will be completely reset when the pack returns in August, so whether you’ve seen this pack before or it’s all new to you, the Bounty Broker will have 12 tasks for you to complete. We’re also implementing some tweaks to reward those of you who have already finished some or all of these bounties--more news on that as we get closer to the Go Bag Pack’s release date.

To make way for this returning pack, the Anniversary Pack will be retired in August, so be sure to complete those bounties soon!





We’ve made a tweak to the way loot containers – the objects you open up in search of guns, resources, and other useful stuff – are distributed among buildings in each newly populated map. This adjustment aims to reduce frustration and create moments of excitement on long-haul scavenging runs.

Originally, a typical building included 5 or 6 lootable containers for the host player, which often held slightly more items than you could carry home.

This resulted in many scavenging runs ending halfway through a building, leading to some frustration.
We’ve altered the container distribution so that most buildings now offer the host player either 4 or fewer containers, or 8 or more containers.

Each map still offers the same overall amount of loot. It’s just spread a little less evenly among buildings. Container distribution for client players is unchanged.

In most cases, when you explore a new building you should either think, “Yes, I have plenty of room to collect all this stuff and bring it home,” or “Wow, this building has more stuff than I could ever carry! What a bonanza!” Extra points if you use the word “bonanza.”This only applies to newly populated maps. Your existing settled communities will have the same distribution of containers both before and after the update.



If you start a new Green Zone game, and you’ve unlocked legacy boons at higher difficulty levels, the Green Zone versions of those boons should now be available to you, no matter when you unlocked them.

Previously, Green Zone boons were showing up unreliably if you unlocked their higher-difficulty versions prior to Update 18.

• You can now craft Toolkits and Advanced Toolkits at the Auto Shop, because what else would it be for? This includes brand new bulk-crafting options that actually make the Auto Shop the ideal place to craft them.
  
• We revised the UX for the experience of securing a site and revealing its container icons to make that experience friendlier.
  
• Icons that are through a wall from you show up “hollow” to make it clear that they are in another room.
  
• Icons for containers on porches and other close outdoor locations are now visible from indoors.
  
• We restructured our music playlists and increased the amount of variation in playback across all game modes.
  
• We corrected some icons in the closet that weren’t showing accurate colors for the associated outfit items.

We made some fixes to the way noise stats are calculated for revolvers.

• It used to be that .357 revolvers were louder than .44 Magnum revolvers, which didn’t make sense. So now all revolvers are quieter than they were before, but .44 Magnum revolvers are the loudest by a small margin.
  
• Weapon sway is now realigned to correlate better with barrel length. Expect to see more stability from .50-caliber rifles and long-barreled revolvers than you did before.
  
• If you have an ally firing “through” you harmlessly (due to the lack of friendly fire), you will no longer see gouts of blood splashing out of your body, sending you mixed messages about the sort of danger you’re in.

• We fixed a bug that was causing the Big Boss (the upgraded Military Truck) to take engine damage twice as fast as any other vehicle.
  
• The Spec Ops AW sniper rifle is now six pounds lighter, making it only one pound heavier than the standard Arctic Warfare.
  
• The CM1-A Breacher now features the benefits of a Professional Choke, as that was the original intent for that weapon.
  
• We increased the magazine size of the Echo-S3 Shotgun to 6+1 to keep it competitive among all the updated shotguns.
  
• The mighty sword known as Excadaver has lost some luster over the years. To ensure that it still feels like a potent reward, we boosted its lethality, dismemberment, and ease of use.
  
• The Sweet Skull Sword also gains some improvements, though to a lesser degree.
  
• The Pyro Launcher’s effectiveness against plague hearts has been reduced. It’s still quite effective against groups of zombies, but no longer shall it reign supreme as the gimmicky destroyer of hearts

.



We made further adjustments to the maps (beyond the refresh of Drucker County) in response to minor bugs with collision, textures, etc.

• We also fixed a few grayscale interior lighting bugs that crept into Update 18.
  
• We fixed a crash that could occur when engaging with plague wall fights in Heartland.

We hope you enjoyed celebrating the two-year anniversary of State of Decay 2 with us last month. You might think that after a party like that – not to mention the release of the mighty Juggernaut Edition just a few months ago – that the entire dev team might opt to just sleep in... but NOPE! Instead we’re back with another exciting content update!

This month we’re debuting a BIG new feature designed for players looking for a slightly calmer post-apocalyptic experience. We’re calling it the Green Zone, and you can read all about it a little later.
In case that’s not your bag, you should also check out the Plunder Pack — a new array of pirate-themed weapons and outfits available ONLY from the Bounty Broker!

And of course, we have our traditional set of gameplay improvements and bug fixes. Here are some highlights:

• Increased fuel capacity for all vehicles
  
• Increased resource storage for all bases
  
• Easier-to-find containers in secured buildings
  
• Improved follower behaviors against juggernauts and plague hearts
  
• Tabs on the inventory screen to ease navigation

We’ve added a new difficulty level to State of Decay 2! Think of the Green Zone as a more relaxed, accessible apocalypse, designed for all those gamers who’d like to explore what’s possible in State of Decay 2 without enduring quite so much stress.



Here are some of the key differences you’ll find in a Green Zone:

• Enemies deal less damage
  
• Your Stamina lasts longer in a fight
  
• Freak zombies are much rarer
  
• Crafting items and building facilities is cheaper
  
• Rucksacks provide more resources
  
• Scavenging delivers more weapons and skill books

You can try out the Green Zone by starting a new community and choosing Green Zone at the difficulty picker. You can also move an existing community to a Green Zone map by opening the Difficulty Screen and selecting “Green Zone.”



Inspired by our friends at Rare (creators of the exciting pirate game SEA OF THIEVES), we’re expanding our buccaneering options with the new Plunder Pack!

This pack adds four weapons, two outfits, two hats, and one seriously sexy vehicle to the game. All nine of these wonderful items are available by completing bounties for the Bounty Broker.

• Sea Dog Blunderbuss: Some call this short-range shotgun-style weapon the original horde stopper.
  
• Spyglass Rifle: With a .50 caliber rifle like this elegant beauty, you can brave the darkest waters without need for a bigger boat.
  
• Dead Man’s Cutlass: This marvelous bladed weapon is just what you need to take arms against a sea of thieves. I mean troubles.
  
• Bilge Rat Shovel: It may not look like much, but this handy blunt weapon has plenty of “digging” left in it yet.
  
• Buccaneer Bandanna: This handy piece of headgear bears the insignia of the mysterious Order of Souls!
  
• Naval Tricorne: It’s the hat that plundered a thousand ships.
  
• Pirate Jacket: This tattered coat has seen more than its share of pillaging.
  
• Kraken Hoodie: Terrifying monsters inspire the most attractive outfits.
  
• Megalodon: A gorgeous muscle car modeled after the legendary marine predator.

The addition of the Plunder Pack means it’s time to say goodbye (at least for now) to the Trumbull Valley Pack. Remember that you keep anything you already own, but you can’t acquire more items from retired packs.

Our next update, in July, will feature the first return of a retired pack! The weapons of the World War 2 Pack (last seen in January of this year) will once again be available in the game. Most returning weapons will be available as loot, and the pack also includes new weapons and outfits that you can unlock by completing bounties. To make room, the Bundle Up Pack will be retired at that time.

The winners of our Garden Gnome contest have had their nicknames added into the random name generator as of this update. Congratulations to all of our winners! (These nicknames are very rare, though, so we do not recommend sitting on the character-generation screen trying to make them happen.)

• You can now see all the containers in a building once the site has been completely secured, to address the frustrating experience of failing to find that one last container. (This ability was previously reserved for Scouting specialists. Scouts still keep their loot-and-scoot advantage, as they can spot containers without having to kill every zombie in the building first.)
  
  
• We raised the fuel capacity of all vehicles by 40%. Gas cans still contain the same amount of fuel as before, so it now takes more cans to fill a vehicle … but you can stock up and drive around longer without refueling!
  
  
• The right-side panels (Inventory, Skills, and Radio) now feature tabs, so it is much easier to navigate between them, and for new players to discover that the Skills and Radio panels exist at all.
  They’re not technically tabs, visually. They’re little button things. But they work like tabs.
  
  
• We improved the way your survivor determines when they can interact with items in the environment, checking both the character facing and the camera facing to determine your intent.
  
  
• Minor accidental noises from stumbling or falling short distances no longer attract zombie attention.

• Pump-action shotguns no longer take durability damage, and are effectively indestructible like revolvers and bolt-action rifles, to help balance their slower rate of fire.
  
  
• Your survivor now moves forward slightly when swinging a heavy weapon at an enemy just outside their reach, to avoid frustrating near misses, especially right after knocking a zombie back.
  
  
• We increased bonus melee damage to juggernauts from behind from +20% to +40%, to make it more worth the risk of trying to get behind them.
  
  
• We fixed a bug that could cause your survivor to get hung up on their own ally while attempting to charge and attack a zombie.

• Followers now engage more intelligently with the larger enemies (juggernauts and plague hearts).
  
  
• In most circumstances, they should now use guns when appropriate and avoid area-effect attacks more rationally.
  
  
• Followers now prioritize human threats a little higher than zombie threats, because hostile humans are scary.
  
  
• Followers wielding shotguns and fully-automatic weapons now experience projectile spread like normal people, instead of every pellet in a shotgun shell parading directly into their target in single file.
  
  
• We made it possible for community events to check if a given character is your follower, so that we don’t have followers claiming to have run off and collected supplies or something while you were staring right at them.

• We’ve increased the capacity of all Storage facilities by 10 for every resource. This should reduce resource storage pressure, especially during the early game.
  
  
• You can now check community members into the Infirmary to speed up the removal of partial infections (prior to full-blown blood plague). This was a thing that many players assumed should be possible, so now it is.
  
  
• This effect stacks with the benefits of the Sanitizing Machine and the Cleaning Station.
  
  
• Finding a new map via the upgraded Command Center no longer has a cost associated with it. This should remove some friction from the process of switching maps.
  
  
• In Green Zones only, if you keep your Morale at 10 or higher, new potential recruits will show up at your base once per day and offer to join your community.
  
  
• This should hasten the process of acquiring new people for your community, though we’re deliberately making these fairly average folks with no dramatically awesome or terrible traits.

• Our audio team restructured the in-game music playlists to minimize repetition. Players should hear a more interesting and varied mix of music across all game modes.
  
  
• We made a minor audio tweak to make it sound less like characters were eating their textbooks.
  
  
• As always, we fix minor map issues as they crop up, this time including an unfinished building interior that we discovered while playing multiplayer with fans of the game.

This month, State of Decay 2 turns two years old! To mark the occasion, we’ve created a content pack full of items that celebrate the history of the State of Decay franchise. Some are specifically drawn from our past, while others are brand new to the game.

We thank all our players, from those of you who’ve been with us from the first days of our apocalypse to the folks just joining us with the recent release of Juggernaut Edition. We hope this content pack brings back some treasured memories while also creating fun new ones!

In addition to the new Anniversary content pack, we’ve made a bunch of bug fixes and gameplay improvements, including:

• Increased speeds for reloading firearms and refueling and repairing vehicles.
• More improvements to combat with juggernauts, this time focused on melee weapons.
• Improvements to follower AI in combat.
• New beneficial community events driven by survivors with good morale.
• Adjustments to mission pacing to reduce stress and randomization.

Read below for all the details!



The Anniversary Pack adds 8 new weapons to the game, including two heavy weapons you can find by scavenging.

• Safari Razorback .44: The sidearm to grab when your elephant gun runs dry. Includes a muzzle brake and a military-grade scope. Unlock this beastly revolver by completing a task from the Bounty Broker.
• F45 Tactical: A heavy, durable combat pistol with an optic, large mag, and fast-firing trigger. Claim this very special pistol by completing a task from the Bounty Broker.
• AKS-74U Valentine:  Hard-hitting and fast-firing, this high-capacity submachine gun includes a sight and is chambered for rifle rounds. Add this gorgeous assault weapon to your arsenal by completing a task from the Bounty Broker.
• Ancestral Talwar:  One of two unique blades wielded by the heroic Gurubani Kaur, who first appeared in the updated Breakdown mode in State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition. Unsheathe this lethal weapon by completing a task from the Bounty Broker.
• Heirloom Khanda: The second of Gurubani Kaur’s iconic swords. To wield this hard-hitting blade, complete a task from the Bounty Broker.
• Industrial Wrench: The One and Only. Made in the USA by the Big Ass Wrench Company, and guaranteed to last as long as you do. Make it yours by completing a task from the Bounty Broker.
• Beetle Mallet: One swing is all you should need to knock down that horde... which is good, because you'll be exhausted after two. This heavy weapon can be found by scavenging in the game.
• Brick Hammer: Surprisingly lightweight and easy to swing for its size and knockdown.  For now, this heavy weapon is found exclusively in the remains of destroyed plague hearts.

This content update also includes four new outfits, a new hat, a new vehicle, and a new facility mod that’s perfect for celebrations!

•  Logo Ninja Hoodie: There’s just one way to make the ninja hoodie more awesome: by adding the logo of your favorite zombie survival game! You can unlock this outfit in your Closet by logging into the game between May 19, 2020 and June 28, 2020.
•  Undead Green Cattleman Hat: Now this is a hat that shows your true commitment to celebrating. Just like the Logo Ninja Hoodie, everyone who logs into the game between May 19, 2020 and June 28, 2020 receives this hat as a free gift!
• Sand Shark Hoodie: Last seen on a unique survivor in the Breakdown DLC for the original State of Decay, this iconic outfit is now available for any of your community members to wear, because it’s already waiting in your Closet!
• Brown Logo Combat Tee: Not everybody can pull off the t-shirt with combat pants look, but you’re special. Good news: this outfit is free to all players, so go check your Closet now!
• Red Talon Bomber Jacket: This sharp-looking jacket will make you the envy of all. You just have to complete a bounty for the Bounty Broker!
• Trumbull 4x4: This midsize pickup is designed for off-roading, with increased ground clearance and more suspension travel. In order to take it for a spin, you’ll need to complete a bounty for the Bounty Broker!
• Anniversary Cake Oven: Last but certainly not least is a very special facility mod that lets you craft fiery, zombie-killing “anniversary cakes.” Because a party’s not a party until you’ve invited a bunch of zombies over and set them on fire. Talk to the Bounty Broker to learn how you can score this unique facility mod!

Remember that all hats and outfits you’ve unlocked are shared across all communities on your account.


As you’ve likely noticed, we’ve started retiring older content packs to make room for the new content. Already this year we’ve retired the World War 2 Pack, the Fearsome Footage Pack, and the Go Bag Pack.

This month the Critical Response Pack is joining the list of retired content, and in June we’ll retire the Trumbull Valley Pack to make room for another exciting set of new items.

When a content pack is retired, you keep anything you already own. However, you can’t acquire more items from retired packs, nor can you continue making progress on bounties from those packs.

If you don’t manage to complete all the bounties from a pack before it’s retired, don’t fret! In a world where corpses walk, nothing stays dead for long ...

• The basic Shooting skill now awards improvements to Reload Speed.
  • This means that Gunslinging specialists are no longer the only ones who can manage to reload an AK-47 without fumbling the magazine.
  • Survivors with Gunslinging can still get far quicker at reloading than everyone else (and their maximum is still the same). The baseline is just higher for all experienced shooters.
    • You still want Gunslinging if you’re packing the Eternal Guard’s Infinite Rage — not that you ever really need to reload that one.
• Last month, we fixed some problems that cropped up when fighting juggernauts with guns. This month, we’re extending that fix to melee weapons.
  • Hitting a juggernaut in the back now does more damage than hitting it in the front.
  • Hitting a juggernaut while staggered now damages it properly.
  • Weapon impact now makes a major difference. Heavy weapons are over three times as useful against juggernauts as close combat weapons!
    • Don’t try stabbing a juggernaut to death with a screwdriver unless you’re looking for a bad time.
  • Some weapon balance was done to help clarify the differences here. Specifically, heavy weapons (especially heavy blunt weapons) are now far and away the hardest hitters.
    • The Bell Club, Persian Meel, CLEO Mace, CLEO Hammer, and CLEO Greathammer have had their impact reduced to ensure that heavy weapons can fulfill their role as the heaviest of weapons.
    • The CLEO Greathammer had it’s swing cost reduced to compensate, since it’s primary strength is impact. It’s still top of the charts for blunt weapons.
• Gas cans and toolkits now work 50% faster than before. You still don’t want to use them in the middle of a fight, but you also won’t want to claw your eyes out by the time they’re done.
  • Advanced toolkits are unchanged. Because standard toolkits got faster, the advanced toolkits are now only about five times as quick, instead of the usual eight.
• Rapidly opening and closing the Supply Locker no longer locks your character in a search animation.
• Using the Interact button to finish a zombie now takes priority over a whole host of other interactions, not just container searches. This means you’re less likely to enter a vehicle or start a conversation when you’d rather be busy snuffing zeds.
• It is now much easier to find those last few outfits and hats you’re looking for, as the random selection process is no longer making invisible fruitless attempts to offer you outfits you’ve already unlocked.

• AI-controlled humans now engage more thoughtfully in combat, making better decisions about weapon use, staying focused when surrounded by zombies, and responding appropriately to freaks.
• AI-controlled followers will now prioritize getting into the car when you’re trying to beat a hasty retreat from combat, instead of going for just one … more … kill.
• Zombies near a player’s base will no longer be inexplicably drawn inside to cause unnecessary fights.
  • Zombies, especially hordes and freaks, now also do a better job at avoiding safe zones of all types.
• Knocking the helmet off an armored zombie no longer attracts attention from other zombies.

• Twice a day, characters with morale of Stable or higher now have a chance of finding extra resources each day, finding useful items, or finding weapons.
• Twice a day, characters with morale of Cheerful or higher may provide a variety of bonuses to the community, including morale boosts to all members of the community, resources, items, etc.

• Mission pacing has been re-tuned to reduce pressure, limiting the number of similar missions that can exist at once, and reducing the overall size of the typical mission list.
• The mission system also now pays more attention to context, with examples like:
  • Offering ambient missions when you’re away from base, and personal missions when you’re at home.
  • Making sure you have a resource available before asking you to donate a rucksack of it.
• The Bounty Broker’s introductory mission now generally appears when you enter his area of the map, rather than immediately after the starter missions are complete.
• Enclaves will now generally accept rucksacks of “Mystery Meat” to satisfy their requests for food. The game still won’t recognize that this makes you a terrible person.
• The starting mission when skipping the tutorial in the Dread Zone now correctly causes all plague hearts to appear on your map.
• Warlord: To Stop a Thief now avoids getting hung up if a character is accidentally killed by a zombie.
• Warlord: Might Makes Right now avoids getting hung up on the objective to upgrade your Fighting Gym to level 2.
• Builder: Useful Utilities now recognizes the power and water provided by the Prescott Fire Station, and no longer asks you to double up on them.

• We fixed a problem that occasionally removed an incorrect plague heart from the map UI, causing it to seem that you had destroyed all the plague hearts on the map when you hadn't.
• We revised a couple of common icons in the UI to make them easier to understand.
  • The icon identifying the Consumables tab on the Supply Locker now more accurately represents the items you are likely to find inside.
  • The map icon for “move to this location” mission objectives is now more recognizable as an arrow when zoomed all the way out.
  • Vehicles delivered by a radio command now have a different icon than supply drops summoned by a radio command, to help distinguish between them.
• Vehicles delivered by a radio commands are now always visible on the map until you first get into them (no matter how zoomed out your map is), just like supply drops summoned by radio commands.
• We fixed a bug that could cause players returning from multiplayer to lose access to their Difficulty menus.
• We fixed a bug that, under rare circumstances, was causing the Map and Difficulty selection interfaces to persist on-screen after they were supposed to go away.

• We continued to make minor improvements to the maps to remove trouble spots where players could navigate to weird locations and get stuck. We also stapled down a few floaty props.

This update is a return to form after the massive release of Juggernaut Edition! It includes the new Pawn Shop Pack at the Bounty Broker and a host of other fixes and tweaks, including:

• A fix to address invisible zombies in multiplayer and the dreaded Error 3 disconnects.
  
• A massive overall increase to weapon durability, muzzle brakes that improve durability, and a free one-time repair for all weapons.
  
• Juggernauts that take more damage from higher-caliber firearms and headshots.
  
• Infestations that don’t repopulate right after you clear them out.
  
• Irritable characters that can more easily be prevented from starting fights.
  
• The ability to stealthily kill your way through a horde.

Pawn shops are intriguing locations filled with a wide variety of unusual items, from appliances to guns to jewelry. In that spirit, we’re offering this new array of useful gear and outfits for your survivors. It’s like the pawn shop came right to your door with a delivery!
This content pack adds seven new weapons to the game, all of which are available via new Bounty Broker challenges.

• PPQ 45 — A .45 caliber variant of the PPQ frame that uses polygonal rifling instead of “lands and grooves” to achieve extraordinary accuracy.
  
• G45 — An evolution of the G19 that incorporates years of field experience into a new, highly durable version of the classic pistol.
  
• Hunter SKS — This rifle was modified with a scope and brake for pinpoint protein procurement. Now it has other uses.
  
• Non-Compliant SKS — This SKS joined an outlaw biker gang, adding full auto conversion, a high-capacity “double stack” magazine, and a high-speed optic.
  
• Wyrmling — A gorgeous new close-combat weapon that pairs well with its larger cousin, the Wyvern.
  
• Wyvern — The most elegant blade you could expect for three installments of $29.95. Pick up the Wyrmling to complete the set.
  
• Guandao — An ancient, heavy blade meant to be swung with power. Use it to vanquish hordes of your enemies.

In addition, the pack includes five new raincoats and matching rain hats to keep your survivors dry in these rainy months. The black set can be earned by completing a pair of Bounty Broker challenges, while the other four sets are all added to your Closet for free! And remember, all hats and outfits you’ve gained are shared across all communities on your account.

We had previously announced that this update would see the retirement of the Critical Response Pack. Instead, we’re keeping that pack in the rotation for one more month!

In other words, you have a little more time to finish those Bounty Broker challenges from the Critical Response Pack before it’s replaced in Update 17 with another new pack of goodies. Future content pack releases will still “cycle out” one pack to make room, but this means we’ll now have four packs in the current rotation instead of three.

We hammered on our multiplayer networking code and fixed several issues with zombie synchronization. There should be fewer invisible zombies, more accurate positioning, and a major reduction in the dreaded Error 3 disconnects.

We’ve doubled the durability of all ranged and melee weapons! But we haven’t changed the way repair works — more durability means higher repair costs. So, you’ll repair half as often for twice the cost. This should make weapon durability behave a bit more realistically while leaving the game’s parts economy intact. As a side effect of these changes, the number of parts salvaged from these weapons is now roughly doubled. To smooth the transition into these new values, we’re repairing all the weapons that currently exist in your saved games. Enjoy!

To keep pace with our recent restoration of suppressor power, we’re further improving muzzle brakes to keep them competitive.

• Muzzle brakes no longer cause a weapon to make additional noise.
  
• Brakes now improve weapon durability, making repairs less frequent on any weapon to which they are equipped.
  
• This effectively grants 33%, 50%, or 100% more shots (for handmade, professional, and advanced brakes) before repairs are needed.

Brakes also improve control even more, allowing even notoriously squirrelly weapons to produce predictable, modest, recoil when equipped with the highest level muzzle brakes. To round out this balance pass on weapon mods, we’ve buffed chokes. Chokes now provide dramatic increases to range (50%, 100%, and 150% for handmade, professional, and advanced).

• A high-end choke now allows a shotgun to be effective at ranges previously reserved for longer pistols or shorter rifles.
  
• Chokes also grant modest increases to power (10%, 20%, and 30% for handmade, professional, and advanced)
  
• The power increase makes them more effective against plague hearts, hostile humans, and juggernauts.
  
• This work also fixes a previously undiscovered issue where chokes would actually make shotgun effectiveness worse as you got farther from the target. Essentially, the same bug as the “suppressor bug” we identified in CU14 appears to have been stealthily lying in wait on the choke attachments since … well, a long time ago.

We made a full tuning and tweaking pass across the new heavy weapons. Without listing all the details, here are a few highlights:

• All heavy weapons increased in durability, some more than others. The biggest beneficiaries are the Sledge Hammer and the Groundbreaker Shovel.
  
• All heavy weapons gained additional impact (which helps against enemies with hit points, like juggernauts and humans). The biggest beneficiaries are the Coffee Can Mace and the Groundbreaker Shovel.
  
• Most heavy weapons gained tweaks to their additional effects, like knockdown and dismember chance. These are largely minor and varied, and most are beneficial.
  
• Most heavy weapons also had their weight and stamina-cost-per-swing adjusted. Most got lighter, and only a couple got a bit heavier.

Thanks to some excellent sleuthing by members of our community (especially u/TheErudite on Reddit), we learned that Juggernauts were not responding to firearms the way we intended. So we’ve made a few important fixes:

• Juggernauts now take greater damage if you use higher-caliber firearms and power-enhancing weapon mods. So the difference between an AK-47 and a .22 pistol really comes through. We’ve done a balance pass across all firearms to make sure players are rewarded for bringing more firepower to a Juggernaut encounter.
  
• Body shots to Juggernauts are now less effective, and headshots become increasingly effective the more you degrade the Juggernaut’s skull with accumulated damage, rewarding players who keep their cool while he's charging.
  
• Juggernauts no longer ignore damage when they’re in their “stagger” behavior, and can be staggered again sooner after recovering. This damage immunity was helping to mask the problem, and now the natural assumptions players make about whether they are hurting the Juggernaut are actually true.

And finally, Heavy weapons can now be found when looting a Plague Heart.

• Destroying an infestation now creates a temporary moratorium on the creation of new infestations, removing that annoying moment when an infestation pops up literally ten seconds after you cleared out the last one.
  
• The death of a zombie no longer automatically gets the attention of the horde they are a part of, making it much easier to quietly kill your way through a horde, one zombie at a time.
  
• When a zombie is on the ground next to a container, we now prioritize finishing the zombie with the interact button, rather than looting the container.
  
• AI-controlled humans are now able to shoot zombies out to the effective range of their weapons. (They were previously inadvertently limited to about 50 meters.) This is particularly valuable to characters staffing Watchtowers.
  
• AI-controlled humans now get into vehicles more promptly, avoiding walking in indecisive circles beforehand.

• We removed the influence cost to Reveal Map Exits at an upgraded Command Center, to smooth the path for players who want to try new maps.
  
• Checking a character into the Infirmary to halt the progress of Blood Plague no longer has an ongoing meds cost.
  
• Characters made “busy” by a mission can now still be checked into the Infirmary.
  
• We fixed an inconsistency in the amount of experience awarded for "Primary Care" when used by an Infirmary 3 or Field Hospital. It was 200, but now is reduced to 100 to match the same action on the Infirmary 1 or 2.
  
• We fixed an issue where “Emergency Medicine” awarded Mechanics skill experience, instead of Medicine skill experience. Or maybe your survivors were actually robots up until now? Didn’t see that coming, did you?
  
• The new Ranger SUV can now be upgraded to a Smashwagon, like other SUVs.

• The numbers that lead to characters starting fights based on their traits have been changed to fall in line with the existing morale thresholds. In general, this makes those characters less likely to start fights.
  
• Characters with “irritable” traits won’t start fights unless they are below “Cheerful”.
  
• Characters with traits that “start conflicts” won’t start fights unless they are below “Empowered”.
  
• Characters at your base will no longer complain about noise when the Threat level is less than 14.
  
• Morale-driven filth on characters is now visible in multiplayer. A reminder to make sure to shower before seeing other people.
  
• Running low on meds no longer issues an inaccurate “Food Dire!” penalty to morale. Survivors now recognize that bandages are not food.

• Now when you equip an item (like a weapon or a backpack) directly from your supply locker or from a vehicle, the game swaps your previously-equipped item back into that container, rather than dropping it into your inventory by default. We made this change because in our experience as players, this is what we actually wanted the game to do about 99% of the time. Note, this does not apply to lootable containers out in the world, which still cannot receive items from you, but can only provide them.
  
• You can now click and drag scroll bars in the menus if you are using a mouse.
  
• Moving to a new map in Nightmare no longer reveals all the Plague Hearts.
  
• Dead characters and empty leader slots no longer offer you access to their closets.
  
• We reduced the time it takes to load up and interact with the Community Screen, which was becoming an issue on some hardware.
  
• The keybinding screen no longer issues a warning when you leave the older Dodge/Crouch action unbound.
  
• We’ve bound the option to delete Legacy survivors via the Main Menu to the X button instead of the A button to prevent unfortunate accidents.
  
• Remember last update, when we said that we had made it possible to bind Interact and Quick Finisher to the same button? We made a mistake. That arrived in this update.
  
• We also did some general cleanup work on the interface, making sure you can see what you need to see.

• We fixed an issue with map markers on vehicles that was making them very difficult to find in missions like Action Hero: Fast Cars, Rookie Mistake, and the Mysterious Broadcast with the abandoned van.
  
• We slightly increased the starting resources for players who skip the tutorial. You now begin with 6 food, 2 meds, and 3 materials.
  
• Builder: Gimme the Loot, though still rare, spawns more often than it once did.
  
• Builder: Pillage and Plunder no longer instructs you to stick a rucksack in your supply locker.
  
• Sheriff: Right of Way can no longer cost you an alliance with an enclave.
  
• Claiming the Shop has had its missing map marker restored, making the shop much easier to claim.
  
• Maslow’s Hierarchy no longer appears when you already have the Lounge it wants you to build.
  
• Who Should Lead no longer doubles up on the same leader tutorial if you recruit a new community member who matches your current character’s leader type.
  
• Connect with Other Survivors now handles the scenario where you start the mission already in the possession of a food rucksack.

• We added a console-only option to the Video Settings called TV Display Border (Overscan). You can use this to compensate if your television cuts off the edges of the game screen.
  
• We made several minor map fixes, with such effects as:
  • Avoiding players getting trapped by geometry, especially around their own parking spaces.
    
  • Preventing characters from spawning on rooftops.
    
  • Preventing players from getting trapped inside plague-engorged houses in Heartland. Because ick.
    
  • Creepy debris floating above the road. If you want to see weird floating debris on purpose, check out the game Overland.
• We fixed a few clipping issues on character outfits and hair.
  
• We also fixed a few rare crash and soft-lock bugs.
  
• We expanded our support for international keyboard standards. French AZERTY keyboards now use ZQSD instead of WASD by default for movement. New users and users who reset their keybindings will receive the change.
  
• Also, players with German and Italian keyboards can use 0 instead of = to sign out or reset their keybinds.
  
• And as with every update, we continue to improve our localization quality in several languages.

Gameplay

Characters whose maximum Stamina has dropped to zero no longer act as if they have full Stamina.

Characters no longer stutter when moving left and right when performance dips.

Localization

We completed the process of localizing all text in the game for players who read Simplified Chinese, including dialogue subtitles.

Settings

We fixed a problem that caused existing owners of State of Decay to end up with both Flashlight and Crouch accidentally bound to clicking the left stick on a controller.

If you have not already edited that control yourself or reset controls to default, then this update should correct the problem.

We made it possible to manually rebind Interact and Quick Finisher to the same button, where previously, you could only get them into that configuration by resetting all the controls to default.

We added support for ultra-wide 21:9 resolutions to the video settings drop-down.

Missions

Living at the Prescott Fire Station no longer prevents you from satisfying the Warlord Legacy requirement to build a Fighting Gym.

The built-in Workshop at the Prescott Fire Station can now be used to fulfill the crafting requirements of the Builder Legacy.

Prestige

Daybreak no longer inadvertently caps your prestige earnings at 9999.

Technical

We fixed some excessive, minutes-long load times that sometimes occurred on faster PCs.

We fixed a potential crash when viewing the Legacy Pool from the Main Menu.

We fixed an error that could occur when exiting the multiplayer menu in the Steam version of the game.

Other Changes

We fixed a range of minor audio issues, including music that wasn’t quite long enough for the updated credits.

We also made sure our most recent hires actually appeared in the credits for Juggernaut Edition.

See this on the official support page, here.

We are proud to present the official patch notes for State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition. We recommend reading through them before Friday, because there are a massive amount of changes you will want to know about!

Read them all here! https://www.stateofdecay.com/2020/03/10/juggernaut-edition-patch-notes/
(If you really like your patch notes detailed and supported by beautiful graphics and gifs, this is for you!)

New to State of Decay 2 and feeling overwhelmed? Did you try our previous tutorial area only to feel like you didn't have the tools you needed to survive and thrive? We address all this and more in our new onramp experience. Developers at Undead Labs tell you more about the decisions we made and why, and how it affects you.



Join us for our developer livestream every Monday, 3-4pm PT on YouTube/Mixer/Twitch (@stateofdecay) to answer your questions related to Juggernaut Edition, launching March 13!