Capture the Egg BETA and Community Scavenger Hunt!

6th Anniversary Celebration!

As mentioned in our last post, it's Extinction's 6TH birthday.
Wow, time flies... has it really been SIX YEARS?!

Let's party!

To mark the occasion, we are offering a FREE party pack that all players can claim during this special event. Simply click REDEEM KEY on the in-game store, then enter the code below to grab yours!

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Inside you'll find two weapons with special effects applied - the Party Cannon and Party Pistol, a commemorative T-shirt, the classic shotgun, and some festive party hats including The Dapper Raptor...

Our special Anniversary Event will last for just under 3 weeks, so don't miss out!

Capture the Egg BETA

This being our (belated) Easter update... well, we thought it was high time to completely revamp how Capture the Egg mode works. This is a radical reinvention, removing a lot of elements whilst adding new gameplay features in the process.

We felt that although there was some merit to the old version, it was just ultimately too repetitive and the small scale of the play area was stifling the fun out of things. So we rethought things altogether...

The Perfect Omelette

CTE mode has been reinvigorated as a fast-paced experience with short, dangerous rounds. There's no more taking turns to see who can capture the most eggs. In fact, you'll usually only need to return one egg back to base as humans in order to win, but it will be quite an intense jog back. CTE now makes use of the entirety of the maps, with up to 3 eggs spawned on random nests throughout the level.

There are number of other interesting wrinkles to the mode now, such as being unable to run when holding an egg (these things are pretty heavy!). You can drop the egg by pressing the Use key, and it will be auto-dropped if you're damaged. Eggs can be picked back up for a limited time after they have been dropped. Their shells are hard enough that they won't immediately smash if you lay them down now.

Oh, and the Tyrants are here.

Every Life Counts.

Lives are an experimental feature of the CTE beta. Each player has a limited number of respawns (lives) in a match. By default this is set to 2. After you've exhausted your lives, you are out of the round and must wait in spectate view for it to complete (we'll be adding better spectator mode functionality in future to make the wait less tedious).

The total number of lives combined for each team is shown at the top of the HUD in CTE mode.

We feel that this change makes Capture the Egg a lot more tense that it was previously, and have had some real "clutch moments" during testing where it's just one human left making it back to base in the nick of time. Speaking of which, if you are the "last one standing" you receive a damage buff.

Dino Defenders

A bunch of new changes have been made so that it is more rewarding to play as dinosaurs in CTE.

Dino players are now tasked with eliminating all humans to prevent them from capturing any eggs. If the dinosaur team manages to take out the entire human team, they win the game. To do this means draining all of the Lives that the humans have remaining.

Dinosaurs can also return dropped eggs to the nest they were stolen from, in order to slow down the humans and get some extra points. These lizards don't want to smash their unborn babies to pieces though, so move more carefully when holding the egg - you cannot jump or run with it in your claws.

Gametype Customizability

We've included several server config options that community hosts can tweak to find what works best for them. These range from preventing humans from using their guns when carrying eggs, to setting different warmup times for the two teams. Presently, the humans have a 15 second head-start on the dinosaur team to give them a chance to reach the eggs first.

Future Beta Updates

We're excited to see the reactions to the newly revamped CTE, and look forward to finding out which variations work the best. The mode has been relaunched as a beta and currently only supports 3 maps at present:

• ForestChasm
• ForgottenOutpost
• UtilityBase

The next patch adds additional map support for new CTE along with fixes & tweaks based on what we see people saying. We expect to continue fine tuning things for a little while yet, and hope you'll give it a try.

As a little extra incentive, there is DOUBLE EXP for playing Capture the Egg right now!

Forgotten Outpost Redux

As part of our ongoing overhauls to various parts of Extinction, the much maligned Forgotten Outpost map has seen some long needed TLC. The overall layout has been adjusted quite a bit to be more interesting to fight in, with the bases either side closed off during TDM to prevent camping.

The map is generally smaller than it was previously, with less empty spaces around the edges and more flowing combat arenas. Cover is thicker thanks to larger ferns, marsh trees, vast clumps of tall grass, and additional rock formations that break up line of sight a little.

We will have some further improvements and adjustments to Forgotten Outpost's layout in future (along with a few other maps), let us know what you think of it so far!

BALANCE CHANGES

This update introduces a long list of balance adjustments to the game based on both general community feedback and statistics taken from the more popular deathmatch servers.

Tyrant Tweaks

After the reduction of Tyrant health a while ago, they have become less of the unstoppable monsters they once were, but are still lethal in the right hands. To give newer players a better chance of survival when playing them, we have changed how their health restoration works when eating people. Tyrants now get two doses of health, a smaller one when they bite someone and a bigger amount when they have finished swallowing. This helps offset the vulnerability that comes from the time they need to chew their food.

We have also changed how weakpoints work for Tyrants; instead of the whole head being a crit zone, you can now only land a critical hit by shooting around the eye area. The rest of the head doesn't count and Tyrants can reduce the chances of being hit in their weakspot by holding the "jump" key to keep their head held high.

Further adjustments have also been made to Tyrant bite attacks- the range of them has been fine-tuned and they are now able to grab enemies earlier in the animation.

Putting Pyro in His Place

For the longest time the Pyro was just getting absolutely clobbered, with possibly the worst kill / death ratio of any class. He was recently given a leg up (several legs, even) in the form of flamethrower focus fire damage, fire ignoring armour, and just generally doing more damage, plus having extra health compared to other humans. However, this all might have made him just a tad too strong.

We still envision Pyro as a bit of a tank for the human team, so he is keeping his extra health (stat variations like these are something we might even look into for other humans in future). However, to balance things out a bit - flamethrower damage has been toned down, and its ammo reduced by one quarter. Pyro receives more fall damage than other humans, and of course can become a dangerous missile to his own team when bodily launched by enemies.

Fall Damage Reduction

The threshold for receiving fall damage has been adjusted for several classes to be more forgiving. It is still relatively easy to hurt yourself compared to ages past, but you won't be near death if you jump off the UtilityBase ramparts as a human anymore. Classes which rely on speed and jumping a lot such as our Raptors and Bruisers are also a bit tougher when falling off drops now.

Falling With Style

Flyers now enter free-fall if they collide with something hard enough during flight. We've swapped in a different animation for this to sell the wind buffeting your wings as you drop like a stone. If you're falling from high enough, you can still potentially recover and begin flapping again by holding the jump button. This change gets around some awkward animation glitching between walking and flying modes when brushing against 90 degree angles and acts as a minor punishment for careless swooping.

The maximum speed of flight has been reduced slightly compared to last update, but you will still receive a significant boost from dive-bombing straight downwards as a Flyer.

One last change with Flyers is that the Tupa's health has been lowered from 350 to 300 flat, to offset its entire head + crest being armoured.

Raptor Re-jig

Oviraptor players have been outclassing their Novaraptor peers for some time now. The advantages it had in agility and pouncing meant that it was seen as the more viable choice way too often, so we've taken steps to bring the two raptors closer together in terms of combat effectiveness.

Oviraptor's roar has a longer recharge time now and has a smaller detection radius, it was proving too overpowered in CTE mode. As a penalty for being so fast, Oviraptor now has heavier stamina drain than Novaraptor, and its stamina regenerates slower than it did previously. Novaraptor now consumes less stamina in general, and its pounce is both less costly to execute and more deadly to the victim. Oviraptor's pounce can still kill a human faster than Nova's but not to such a massive extent as before.

Both of the raptors now have shorter primary attack ranges, with a reduced window of time in which their bite/slash attacks can deal damage as well. This requires raptor players to use more finesse and actually aim when engaging enemies. It was a little too easy to just hold down attack and run forward to rack up kills previously.

Gun Feel

There's a bunch of little things that can add up to some of the weapons feeling not so great at the moment. We'll be working on larger scale improvements to things like weapon animations and sounds for some of the older guns at a later date, but have been addressing some of the little quibbles recently to make them feel smoother to use.

Several guns now have shorter reload times. The stungun shouldn't be such a chore to use in combat now with both a 50% reduction in reload time and charge-up time. The Spaz-12 reloads shells much quicker than it used to as well.

To differentiate the two most commonly used shotguns a little more, the Spaz now has an even faster fire rate than previously (we're also considering an alternate function for it in a future update!). Similar adjustments were made to the assault rifle and M4, with the former having a slower rate of fire but being more damaging.

Spread has been tightened up on a few the weapons such as the SMGs, MK pistol and Spaz-12. Simply spraying gunfire everywhere is still not really the best strategy, but your first few shots ought to be more accurate now.

We have swapped the MK Pistol to using single shot instead of continuous fire, as general feedback has been that it felt better to use in that form (the minimum time between shots is also shorter as of this update).

Trap Tune-up

Zap Traps have received some tweaks to make them more effective. We saw some players complaining that they weren't a very useful tool, so made some changes for this update. Firstly, their arming time is much shorter, as is their re-fire delay. This means that zap frequency is much more often and there's less of a chance that a dinosaur can escape before it goes off again. Zap Trap range has also been increased, and they do a smidge extra initial damage when triggered.

NEW ITEMS

Anniversary Store Rotation

This event commemorates our exit from Early Access way back in 2015, so on top of a brand new selection of cool new looks, we have both returning items from last year and the mists of time as well!

The new Featured content includes a collection of exotic new mutations and our first Easter-themed gift, plus several dino taunts inspired by the classic Harlem Shake April Fools video from eons ago...

Don't forget to redeem your free Party Pack on the in-game store to receive a bundle of goodies that are only available during the event period!

Ultimate Skins, Wave 3

The third batch of Ultimate dinosaur skins has been added! This set includes 6 brand new Kilowatt skins, pulsing with electrical energy and scorched by static discharge.

Batch 302 will deliver the remaining Kilowatt Ultimates in a future update to the game. For now the first six are available as exceedingly rare drops, and will be added to the crafting system by the end of the day. As a reminder, 25 legendary skins are required to craft a skin of Ultimate rarity.

You can view all of the anniversary event's items on our Special Event Trello board here.

Community Scavenger Hunt!

It's time for our third community scavenger hunt! Players must work together to find clues in-game, and every clue is a riddle that you must decipher the meaning of. Each one reveals a fragment of a special item code, piece enough fragments together and you have a key to redeem in the store.

There are 25 items to uncover, and the rewards shall remain a mystery until they are found...

You can join in the fun and help crack the codes by participating in the Primal Codebreakers channel on Discord, and we will be adding newly discovered items to Trello as they are revealed.

That's only Phase One of the scavenger hunt though. Phase Two will take place out of game with clues found online, and will lead to even more exciting surprises that will be coming in future updates. We're really looking forward to this and hope people have fun puzzling their way through this year's gauntlet!

FULL CHANGELOG

Capture the Egg BETA, Phase One:

Fundamental rework of Capture the Egg mode now in BETA...

• Updated CTE with new win conditions:
  • - If any team runs out of lives, the other team wins.
  • - If humans capture 1 egg when there are 2 or 1 eggs, humans win.
  • - If humans capture 2 eggs when there are 3 eggs, humans win.
  • - Otherwise if the timer runs out, the dinosaurs win by default.

• Players now have a set number of lives in CTE, with respawning prevented after losing them all

• There is now a warmup period before the round begins in CTE
  
• You cannot leave the base until the warmup countdown timer has completed
  
• You can respawn to change loadout during this time, but not after the round starts
  
• Enemy classes are hidden on the scoreboard until the warmup period has ended in CTE
  
• Similar to Survival mode, players must wait until next round if they join a CTE game in progress

• Flyers are *not* playable in CTE, however Tyrants *can* be used now...
  • Proportional limits are set by default, requiring at least 9 players for a Tyrant to appear
  • Tyrants are the only class which is not allowed to pick up eggs
  • Eating an egg carrier will make the egg respawn on its nest

• Egg spawn location(s) are now randomly selected from the available nests
  
• Players spawn either side of the level in team safezones that deactivate when the round begins
  
• Tyrant-blocking blue lasers in CTE prevent them from camping human capture zones
  
• Levels are now much foggier in CTE mode, thick enough to obscure at distance
  
• Jungle sounds are much quieter in CTE mode, use stealth to your advantage!

• Picking up an egg requires holding the Use key on it
  
• Added a circular progress indicator that shows when holding to pick up an egg

• By default you are unable to sprint when holding an egg
  
• You can drop the egg you are carrying by pressing the Use key (default E)
  
• Hints display for everyone when an egg has been dropped/picked up
  
• Dropped eggs can be picked back up by players on both sides
  
• If hurt by an enemy while carrying, you will auto-drop your egg
  
• Dropped eggs will automatically respawn at their nest after 20 seconds
  
• Dinosaurs can pick up their eggs much faster than humans can
  
• Dinosaurs are forbidden from jumping when holding an egg
  
• Dinosaurs can return dropped eggs back to the nests they were stolen from for bonus EXP

• Added new scoreboard with its own sorting method for CTE
  
• HUD now displays lives remaining at the top of the screen in CTE instead of points
  
• Added outlines and UI indicators for eggs, so you can see where they are
  
• HUD icon swaps when dinosaurs pick up an egg, to show which nest to return it to
  
• Added egg status indicators to the top of the CTE game HUD
  
• The red and blue egg indicators show which team has possession of the egg(s)
  
• Egg(s) that are captured have a tick next to their indicator

• Added new server config variables for Capture the Egg:
  • MaxLives - how many respawns are allowed per human player
  • CteEggCount - how many eggs are on the playing field (maximum of 3)
  • PreparationTimeDinos - how long the warmup period lasts for the dinosaur team
  • PreparationTimeHumans - how long the warmup period lasts for the human team
  • bAllowFiringWhileCarryEgg - true/false: lets human players shoot if holding an egg
  • bAllowHumanEggCarrierRun - true/false: lets humans run when holding an egg
  • bAllowDinosaurEggCarrierRun - true/false: lets dinosaurs run when holding an egg

• Default CTE game settings:
  • allowed to fire while holding
  • prevented from sprinting while holding (both)
  • default egg count = 2
  • default round time limit of 240 seconds (4 minutes)
  • default preparation time = 25 secs (both)
  • max lives = 2 per human

• Certain CTE server options may be removed in future and are only here for testing in beta.
  
• PreparationTime is added onto a default start time that is hard-coded.
  
• There will always be an additional few seconds before dinosaurs spawn in after humans do.

• CTE matches enter overtime if someone is still holding an egg at the end (max 20 seconds)
  
• Removed CTE maps that have not been updated yet from the map rotation
  
• Reduced scoreboard display time from 15 secs to 9 secs in CTE
  
• The last one standing on either team in CTE now receives a 25% damage buff
  

HUMAN CHANGES

• Reduced stungun charge time to 1.5 seconds (half original duration)
• Reduced flamethrower ammo to 150
• Reduced flamethrower instant hit damage from 5 to 4 MK pistol:
  • Reduced damage from 50 to 45
  • Faster rate of fire, effective fire interval (no spread bloom): 0.224
  • no longer able to be fired continuously by holding the fire button, must continue tapping.
  • Fixed "kill 15 dinos with pistols" challenge to work for the MK Pistol

  Zap Traps:

  • Reduced arming time of zap trap
  • Reduced hurt interval of zap trap
  • Increased range of zap traps a little bit
  • Increased damage of zap traps from 75 to 80
  • Slightly reduced shock immunity duration after being hit by a zap trap

  Spaz-12:

  • Reduced reload time of Stungun from 3 seconds to 2.5 seconds
  • Reduced SPAZ 12 pellet spread by 50%
  • Reduced shell reload time for SPAZ 12
  • Reduced fire interval of SPAZ 12 from 0.66 to 0.6

  Assault Rifle:

  • Increased assault rifle recoil and spread
  • Reduced assault rifle fire rate Reduced reload time for assault rifle clip from 3 secs to 2.75 secs Increased damage for assault rifle bullets from 33 to to 40

  Double Barrel Shotgun:

  • Reduced maximum range of regular shotgun
  • Reduced damage of Double Barrel Shotgun to 40
  • Increased accuracy of double barrel
  • Increased double barrel shotgun rate of fire
  • Disabled automatic reload on double barrel shotgun
  • Reduced reload time of double barrel shotgun from 4 to 3.6 secs

  Dual SMGs:

  • Reduced reload time for SMGs from 2.5 secs to 2.3 secs
  • Increase damage for SMGs from 23 to 26
  • Increased SMG reserve ammo from 100 to 120
  • Reduced spread bloom and recoil for SMGs

  Other:

• Increased damage for Deagle from 80 to 90
  
• Faster rate of fire and reload speed for M4
  
• Increased M4 damage from 30 to 34
  
• Minor reduction to heavy assault cannon fire delay
  
• Fixed weapon fire sounds playing twice for their owners
  
• Fixed weapon dry fire and holster/unholster sounds not playing properly in multiplayer.
  
• Weapon dry fire sounds now also play when current clip is empty.
  

MAP CHANGES

• First phase of overhauling the Forgotten Outpost map:
  • Can no longer enter the bases at the edges of Forgotten Outpost in TDM mode
  • Major layout rework, shrinking the overall area and creating new combat arenas
  • Added more cover to Forgotten Outpost, and more spawns in the jungle
  • Updated lighting and overall ambience, with more of a swampy vibe

  Added support for new version of Capture the Egg to:

  • PC-UtilityBase
  • PC-ForestChasm
  • PC-ForgottenOutpost

• The other maps which previously supported CTE will not work properly until next update
  
• PC-ForestChasm: added more thin trees and log blockers, opened a new pathway for Tyrants
  
• PC-UtilityBase: added more routes up and down from the main buildings for dinosaurs
  
• Various maps: added clues for the second Easter Scavenger Hunt - good luck!
  

DINOSAUR CHANGES

• Changed the way Tyrants get health back from eating humans:
  • Tyrants receive an initial small amount of health immediately when they bite a human.
  • A much larger amount of health is then given when they finish consuming their prey.
  • Possibly fixes the "phantom health" bug for Tyrants

• Changed weak points for Tyrants to only be the upper back portion of the skull, around the eyes.

• Novaraptor now has faster stamina regeneration, less stamina drain from running
  
• Increased pounce maul damage for Novaraptor from 20 to 27
  
• Reduced stamina drain while mauling for Novaraptor
  
• Oviraptor now drains stamina quicker while sprinting, has slower stamina regeneration

• Reduced distances of raptor and tyrant bite attacks
  
• Reduced duration of raptor primary attack damage window
  
• Adjusted timing of raptor and tyrant primary attack windows
  
• Reduced oviraptor marking distance slightly
  
• Increased oviraptor roar recharge time by +5 secs

• Reduced maximum speed for Flyers
  
• Reduced health of Tupa from 350 to 300

• Swapped in a different falling animation for Flyers
  
• Slightly faster diving speed for Tupa than Ptera
  
• Reduced tupa vertical charge momentum when doing knockback
  

UI / Other Changes

• Changed text above scoreboard in TDM and CTE to say whether Humans or Dinosaurs are in the lead, instead of Red Team / Blue Team.
• New icon for Scientist class on the scoreboard
• Added icons for dead human and dino players in scoreboard
• Added current round number to HUD
• Changed interaction hint text from "Press" to "Hold"
• Renamed FAMILY_PREDATOR to FAMILY_FLYER in server code / settings
• Limited HUD overlays to only be applied once per second, may fix freezing issue for some users

Thanks for playing!

We hope you'll have fun with our birthday celebration, we wish we could've got it to you sooner!
Here's to more years of Carnage ahead..

Until next time!
-The Primal Carnage Team