Hello Miners,

Welcome to SEASON 05 - DRILLING DEEPER!

Management’s got their sights set on mineral riches deeper down toward Hoxxes’ core, which means we’re increasing your depth of operations. You’re venturing down deeper than ever before, claiming unprecedented treasures for the company, and confronting all the lethal horrors that stand in your way.

In other words, it’s another great day at work.

With love,
-The Ghost Ship Crew

Patch notes - S05: Drilling Deeper

NEW MISSION: DEEP SCAN

Management has identified a new mineral priority: Morkite Seeds. Rumor has it that these could optimize the Morkite refining process tenfold. The problem is, they’re located much deeper down in Hoxxes than we’re used to, hidden away in dazzling Morkite Geodes.

You’re going to have to locate several Resonance Crystals in the cave system using your Telemetric Rangefinder. Use the Crystals to perform Deep Scans and pinpoint the location of the Morkite Geode. Once you’ve got that, a Drillevator will be sent down to bring you to the Geode where you can collect the precious Morkite Seeds.

Management advises that you familiarize yourself with the mission details in the Miner's Manual prior to your first descent. Good luck!

SEASON EVENT: CORE STONE

Reports are coming in of a peculiar new mineral formation in the caves. R&D’s best guess is it’s something from deeper down near the core of Hoxxes. What we know for certain is that these formations contain a Core Stone – and Management wants to get their hands on them.

But beware: Once you disturb the Core Stone, you’re in for a fight. It’ll open up rifts in the cave walls, and summon a hideous new enemy, unlike anything we’ve seen in Hoxxes so far. They’re called Corespawn Crawlers, and they’re not to be underestimated. Fight them off as you neutralize the Core Stone, then deposit the Stone in a specialized extraction pod to complete the event.

NEW ENEMIES

Glyphid Stalker

A cunning new Glyphid variant. This enemy is capable of cloaking to near-invisibility, burrowing for rapid repositioning, and launching ambush attacks that temporarily disable your shields.

Vartok Scalebramble

An invasive, semi-sentient plant consisting of an impenetrable, acid-spitting core, and an array of sensory feeler nodules. Take out the nodules to open up the core.

Barrage Infector

A new variant of the Infector species -- this one’s bigger, tougher, and shoots a salvo of explosive bile. Aim for the sac, and watch out for splash damage.

Corespawn Crawler

Unlike any creature previously spotted in the caves of Hoxxes, these mysterious fiends should not be underestimated. You’ll need to dispatch them without hesitation if you want to make it home alive.

HAZARD 5+

We've added Hazard 5+ to offer experienced players an extra level of challenge.
With Hazard 5+, you can adjust four variables to add to the baseline Hazard 5 difficulty:

• Aggressive Enemies
• Player Vulnerability
• More Enemies
• Tough Enemies

Each of the four options can be adjusted to your tastes, and each offers two levels of increased intensity. This feature will only be available at the Hazard 5 difficulty.

All Haz 5+ games will be categorized together in the server list, and you’ll be able to see which specific modifier switches they have activated. This difficulty level must be unlocked via the “Beyond Lethal” assignment.

Just remember: "It’s like Haz 5 – but Plus!™"

NEW OVERCLOCKS

Added 12 new Overclocks (one for each primary weapon), plus one rework of an existing Overclock.

• Rotary Overdrive (“Lead Storm” Minigun)
• Mortar Rounds (“Thunderhead” Autocannon)
• Cluster Charges (“Hurricane” Rocket System)
• Burst Fire (Deepcore GK2)
• Marked for Death (M1000 Classic)
• Conductive Thermals (DRAK-25 Plasma Carbine)
• Pump Action (“Warthog” Auto 210)
• Hyperalloy Assembly (“Stubby” Voltaic SMG)
• [Rework] Micro-Conductor Add-On (“Stubby” Voltaic SMG)
• SmЯt Trigger OS™ (LOK-1 Smart Rifle)
• Scorching Tide (CRSPR Flamethrower)
• Crystal Nucleation (Cryo Cannon)
• Combustive Goo Mix (Corrosive Sludge Pump)

NEW SECONDARY OBJECTIVES

Bha Barnacles

This pernicious and rather gross invasive species has taken up residence in some caves. They like to burrow in the ceilings. Look up, and shoot them out wherever you see them.

Swarmer Eggs

We’ve noticed new clutches of Glyphid eggs popping up. Like most eggs, they are completely defenseless. Track them down and smash them with any tools at your disposal.

NEW DEEP DIVE SECONDARY OBJECTIVES

In addition to the Deep Scan primary mission type going into the Deep Dive mission pool, we're adding two new secondary objectives.

Deep Scan

Use the Telemetric Rangefinder to locate Resonance Crystals, and unearth them so you can call down a Resonance Scanner and get it hooked up to the crystal to perform a Deep Scan. (As a secondary objective, this is the crystal-finding segment only, without the Drillevator sequence)

Liquid Morkite Extraction

Find a single well of liquid Morkite, call down a pumpjack, and build a pipeline to a Morkite Extraction Pod. The Morkite must flow!

NEW WARNINGS

Duck and Cover

Macteras, Infectors and Spitters, oh my! Jump into a cave packed with an extra helping of projectile-shooting enemies. This time, the bugs shoot back.

Ebonite Outbreak

The caves have an unusual concentration of stony-armored Ebonite Glyphids. Their only vulnerability is melee damage. Better keep those pickaxes close at hand.

NEW ANOMALIES

Secret Secondary

Management has tacked on another side objective for you. A second secondary, if you will. It's a secret. You’ll find out what it is once you’re down in the dig site.

Blood Sugar

Bad news: The caves are filled with airborne toxins that constantly drain your health. Good news: These toxins also make Glyphid blood crystallize into healing Red Sugar. You’ll need to kill to survive.

SEASON REACTIVATION ENABLED

We’ve added the ability to reactivate any season any time you want, and play through them at your own pace. There’s also an option to play DRG in a season-neutral (or 'unseasoned') mode. You can access all this in a new tab in the Season Terminal.

You can read more about how this feature works in our Q&A explainer.

NEW OMMORAN HEARTSTONE PHASE

This is something we've wanted to do for a long time. The Ommoran Heartstone now has a third attack phase in its repertoire, adding some unpredictability to each encounter. For this new attack the Ommoran targets a random player, attempting to trap the unfortunate dwarf in crystal growths bursting out of the ground. Stay mobile and be extra vigilant when in the vicinity of the Drilldozer, as the crystals bursting out of the ground will deal devastating damage to dear Doretta. Don't let the rock lay the smackdown on you!

NEW DANCE MOVES

We were able to teach the dwarves three new dance moves:

1. Bully Maguire
2. Spongebob Shuffle
3. Twerking

Please use them responsibly.

COSMETIC FILTERING

We’ve implemented a few handy options to keep track of your growing wardrobes. You’ll now be able to filter your cosmetics by subtype, style and season, making it quicker to put the perfect look together. We’ve also introduced a ‘Novelty’ and ‘Company Approved’ toggle for the Randomize option, to give you a bit more control over your randomized outfits.

REWORKED STATUS EFFECT OVERLAYS

Added and reworked 20+ visual overlays for status effects, like getting webbed, set on fire, or breaking your shield. The ones that already existed look better now, and we've implemented new visuals for status effects that didn't used to have any POV overlay.

NEW ITEMS FOR LOST PACKS, CARGO CRATES & MATRIX CORES

As many seasonal cosmetics are being migrated over to the Performance Passes and Cosmetic Trees where they originally appeared, we're adding some fresh stuff into various loot pools:

• Weapon framework: 'Danger Dice'
• Pickaxe set: 'Diamond Cutter'
• Pickaxe set: 'Spring Loaded'
• Armor paint job: 'Harbinger'
• Armor paint job: 'Ikari'
• Armor paint job: 'Retro Galaxy'
• Weapon paint job: 'Flaming Hot'
• Weapon paint job: 'Buff'
• Weapon paint job: 'Bubblegum'

NEW PROMOTION TIERS

Added an expanded promotion tracker to show the number of promotions past Legendary III (better known as Red III). Now you can really show off your work experience.

NEW WEAPON MAINTENANCE PAINT JOBS

We’re building out the Weapon Maintenance reward system with three new paint jobs to earn:

• WM 5.1 ‘LIBERTY’
• WM 5.2 ‘HEAVY METAL’
• WM 5.3 ‘DRAGON SCALE’

NEW SKIN TONES

Automatically added to default inventory:

• Almond
• Cool Brown
• Deep Brown
• Olive
• Porcelain

Skin tones added to The Shop:

• Orcish
• Cerulean Blue
• Rager

NVIDIA DLSS3 INTEGRATION

Enabled integration of this neat tech that boosts your framerate (requires a GeForce RTX 40xx series GPU). You’ll find the toggle for this in the Graphics menu under ‘Frame Generation’.

GAME OPTIMIZATION

Added a bunch of small optimizations to things like enemies, UI and loading of objects. Mmm more frames yum

COMMUNITY REQUESTS

• Added voiceline kill cries for Mactera Grabber, Glyphyd Acid Spitter and Web Spitter
• Added a ‘select random mission’ option in the Mission Terminal (only available for hosts)
• Glyphid Acid Spitter: Changed the Acid Spitter's projectile DoT damage type from Generic to Poison (the projectile impact damage remains Kinetic)
• Q'ronar Shellback: Changed the Shellback projectile damage type from Explosive to a mix of Explosive and Poison
• Infectors: Converted the Infector projectile area damage type from Explosive to a mix of Explosive and Poison (the direct impact damage remains Kinetic)
• Glyphid Dreadnoughts: Converted various Dreadnought fireball projectile area damage type from Explosive to a mix of Explosive and Fire
• Naedocyte Shocker: Changed the damage and STE to actually be Electric type damage and thereby get affected by the Elemental Insulation perk

TYPOS

Probably added more than we fixed lol

MISCELLANEOUS

• Added new 'Rock and Stone' animation for dual wield weapons that doesn't move the left hand up
• Added option to rejoin (only after crash) on Deep Dives up until the Drop Pod has been called
• Significantly reduced the time Impact Axes embedded in a creature take to disappear after the target dies, to not confuse them for retrievable ones
• Changed the Satchel Charge's blinking light to a less-blinding softer one (very soothing)
• Increased the explosion damage of the Special Explosive Chemical Bolts on the Boltshark Crossbow and changed the damage type to Explosive, so now it hits Glyphid Slasher and Mactera Spawn breakpoints
• Fixed Boltshark bolts sometimes triggering Fear without the T5 upgrade
• Polished up the Driller's Scale Brigade and Scout's MK1 armor suits
• Did some visual tweaks and fixes on MK1 + MK2 armor undersuits
• Changed the placement of the ”Ragdoll Lifetime” option to distinguish it from other graphics options
• Made the Overclock UI scale the Overclock's description text to better fit longer translations
• Updated Space Rig dressing for Seasons 01 and 02
• Added props from each season to Hidden Dwarf prop hunt beer (reflecting whichever season's Space Rig you have active)
• Re-added Frameworks to Cargo Crates that were missing since the Maintenance Update: Neon Band, Glyphid Hunter, Scale Brigade, Mechanize, Custom Engineered & Fourth Relic
• This one isn't part of the patch notes. Confuse my boss by leaving a comment with whatever you had for breakfast
• Tweaked Stingtail's collision around its nose horn to make it better match the visuals
• Fixed some of the Stingtail armor plates not breaking properly
• Added a reaction to Data Cell being hooped
• Added Milestones for the new Mission and new Warnings to the KPI Terminal
• Added rich presence status descriptions on Steam and Discord for Prop Hunt
• Fixed Jet Boots' first-person particles being offset
• Fixed network stats getting clipped on players' HUD when set to the 'Detailed' option
• Fixed late join/rejoin Pod beacon lingering too long after it lands
• Fixed issue where holding left click to throw a carriable object can make you start pickaxing, even without you holding right click
• Fixed the power attack activating when not intended, such as when performing a pickaxe cancel
• Fixed Q'ronar not working correctly with the Volatile Guts Anomaly
• Fixed the Rival Tech Router Nodes sometimes encroaching on other important objects and locations
• Fixed a bug that allowed you to use some weapon abilities that were triggered by holding reload while grabbed, and thereby not supposed to be able to shoot
• Fixed a crash triggered by picking up the glowing ball in the Space Rig (orb pondering is so back)
• Fixed instances where weapon stat upgrade values got rounded to whole numbers when they should not
• Added a 'Ragdoll Lifetime' option
• Fixed issue where Scout's grappling hook would sometimes not respond if activated while starting to sprint