You've been in the backyard a while now traversing the terrain and building up your base. However, for as long as you have been there, the bugs have been there longer, and they are prepared to attack in Grounded's latest update, The Bugs Strike Back!
🏡 Join Shyla, Obsidian's Social Media Manager, as you go through and learn how the bugs are are starting to work together to bring the fight back to your base! With 3 new base defense modes, more things to collect in the backyard, and tons of quality of life improvements, this is one update you won't want to miss!
New Base Defense Modes
Faction Reactivity
Bugs will take the fight back to your base when they get tired of you intruding on their territory or killing their kind. The more you annoy a particular species, the more likely they will say "knock knock!" at your door.
Waft Emitter
Want to anger the yard at will? Build the Waft Emitter and add a pile of rotting bug parts that wafts throughout the yard, enraging whatever bugs whose parts you add to the pile. Of course, the more you add, the more enraged the bugs will be.
Why, you say? Well, why not??? Maybe you want to have bugs delivered straight to you on-demand!
MIX.Rs
Find MIX.R tanks across the yard mixing some good ol' Raw Science for Wendell's experiments. Then, overdrive the system by turning up the mix speed beyond suggested limits and trigger an explosive result to collect the massive amount of Raw Science inside. Though MIX.R Overdrives are noisy and take time, and nearby bugs don't particularly appreciate that.
New Collectibles, Features, and Crafting
Point your PEEP.R at the closest insect near you and get ready to understand your neighbors like you never have before!
Peeping a creature will unlock a Creature Card on the data page of your SCA.B. By unlocking this card, you will have access to that particular creature's strengths, weaknesses, weakspot locations, health and creature tier, the number of this creature you have slain, and, a tasty, flavorful fact!
Field Stations now feature state-of-the-art "Advanced System Library" Terminals that connect directly to BURG.L's lab tech from anywhere in the yard.
The Charcoal Canteen and Charcoal Torch have been added to help you explore and keep you able to explore longer than before without needing to find fresh water or make a new torch.
Quality of Life Improvements
This is something YOU'VE asked for, and it's finally here! You can now swap the difficulty in any game not in Creative Mode!
You can also name your game saves so you can find them easier.
Storage containers can now be named. And Sap Collectors now feature a "Take All" Function.
So Much More!
Check out the full list of changes in our patch notes below:
New Features
Faction Reactivity
Bugs will take the fight back to your base when they get tired of you intruding on their territory or killing their kind. The more you annoy a certain species, the more likely they are to say "knock knock!" at your door.
Waft Emitter
Want to anger the yard at will? Build the Waft Emitter! Concoct a pile of rotting bug parts that wafts throughout the yard, enraging whatever bugs whose parts you add to the pile. The more you add, the more enraged the bugs will be.
Why you say? Well, why not??? Maybe you want to have bug delivered straight to you on demand!
MIX.Rs
Find MIX.R tanks across the yard mixing some good ol' Raw Science for Wendell's experiments. Overdrive the system by turning up the mix speed beyond suggested limits and trigger an explosive result to collect the massive amount of Raw Science inside. A word of caution though: MIX.R Overdrives are noisy and take time, and nearby bugs don't particularly appreciate that.
Additional Defensive Resources
Turrets
Help defend your turf by building one of the two new turrets, hopping in, and gunning down some angry bugs.
Pebblet Turret
Shoots pebblets at high speeds to destroy your enemies.
Pollen Turret
Shoots pollen that stuns enemies. Effective at bringing down flying pests!
Explosive Burr Trap
Highly volatile, will explode as soon as something spicy hits it.
1 New Mutation
Creature Cards
The teens can use their PEEP.R skills to better understand their bug neighbors and unlock creature cards that record important information on them.
Creature Cards are obtained via the PEEP.R
Successfully PEEPing a creature for the first time will unlock its Creature Card in the Data page
Creature Cards contain valuable information regarding the creature
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Weakspot locations
- Health and Creature tier
- How many the player has killed
- Flavorful information or a fun fact
- Armor Upgrading and Adjustments
- Armor has been completely reworked
Armor now applies flat Damage Threshold based on tier and % Damage Reduction based on weight class
Flat Damage Threshold reduces damage by a flat number and is better against small hits
% Damage Reduction reduces damage by a % and is better against big hits
- 20 damage - 10 Damage Threshold = 10 damage
- 200 damage - 10 Damage Threshold = 190 damage
- 20 damage - 20% Damage Reduction = 16 damage
- 200 damage - 20% Damage Reduction = 160 damage
Armor Upgrades
You could upgrade your weapons. Now get ready to upgrade your armor as well!
+1 - +5
- Upgrades the Damage Threshold value and durability of armor by 5% per level up
- Requires Grub Leather Plates
Bulky Path
+6 - +7
- Upgrades the Damage Threshold value and durability of armor by 10%
- Requires Berry Leather Plates
+8 - +9
- Upgrades the Damage Threshold value and durability of armor by 10%
- Requires Berry Leather Plates
- Upgrades the Damage Threshold value and durability of armors by 10%
- Requires Pupa Leather Plates
Sleek Path
+6 - +7
- Upgrades the Damage Threshold value and durability of armor by 5% per level up
- Unlocks an innate status effect on the armor piece
- Requires Berry Leather Plates
+8 - +9
- Upgrades the Damage Threshold value and durability of armor by 5% per level up
- Requires Pupa Leather Plates
- Weight Classes Reworked
Penalty for heavier armors is now stamina per weapon swing instead of stamina regen delay
Light
- 10% Damage Reduction
- 5% More stamina cost to attack
Medium
- 20% Damage Reduction
- 15% More stamina cost to attack
Heavy
- 30% Damage Reduction
- 25% More stamina cost to attack
Repair has been reworked on upgraded weapons and armor:
- All weapons and armor +6 or higher have their repair recipe replaced with "Repair Glue"
- Repair Glue can be crafted at a new crafting station: the "Glue Factory"
- Weapons and armor of +0 through +5 use their normal repair recipes as usual
Weakpoints
Creatures can now have weakpoints: locations on their bodies that can be attacked for additional damage.
- Enemies will take extra damage when struck in a weakpoint
- Certain weakpoints are only affected by specific damage/attack types
- Enemies that have weakpoints will have their weakpoint locations detailed on their creature card
- A special VFX sparkle will play when the player successfully hits a weakpoint
Swap Difficulty Mid Game
You can now change the difficulty of the game at any time on any game that is not in "Creative" mode. This includes non-custom games.
Change Custom Game Settings Mid Game
You can now change many of the Custom Game options mid-game after having started a custom game. The following options can be changed at any time:
- Difficulty
- Bugs Ignore Players
- Building Integrity
- Player Damage
- Friendly Fire
- Pet Invincibility
- Hunger/Thirst Drain
- Stamina Drain
- Equipment Durability
- Food Spoiling
- Menu Pauses Game
- Faction Reactivity
- Backpack Items on Death
The following changes cannot be edited mid-game:
- All Recipes Unlocked and Free
- Bugs Spawn
- Quests
ASL Terminals
Field stations now feature state of the art "Advanced System Library" Terminals that connect directly to BURG.L's lab tech from anywhere in the yard. You can now access the Science Shop, BURG.L Quests, and the Milk Molar Infusion interfaces at any field station you find without having to visit BURG.L directly at the Oak Lab.
Save Game Naming
Full playthroughs and individual saves can both be renamed for better book keeping!
Storage Naming
Storage containers can now be renamed and the name will display above the interact text. The name will also show floating above the storage similar to the chosen icon.
Bug Jumping
Some bugs have evolved to get you where you previously felt safe. Bugs hate cheese...
Additional Features
- "Take All" option on Sap Collectors
- The Read To Me feature can now use different voices installed on your system, including voices for languages other than English. Change the voice in the options menu.
New Crafting Content
Charcoal Canteen
Purify dirty water on the go.
Charcoal Torch
Light up a bigger radius, and repair your torch when it gets low instead of crafting a new one.
Story / Quest Revisions
Story and Quest progress will be reset.
- A lot of the early dialogue and quests have been undergone revisions and thus the story and quest flow are now different. Story and lab content will need to be traversed again to progress the new story flow. You will be placed back at the starting ravine.
- All inventory, player bases, unlocked recipes, milk molars, science purchases, and other unlocks will carry over.
- The dialogue revisions are still missing final recorded VO.
- Note: The first load of old saves may take longer than normal as the conversion process takes place.
Changes / Tuning
Systems
- Rest warning for waking up in the dark has been moved to 5am instead of 6am.
- The player will respawn at the nearest discovered Field Station if no respawn point is set.
- Billy Hogs and Apples now grant more items and are harvested in a slightly different way.
- After breaking the initial big food node it breaks in to several chunks.
- Each chunk can be hit to burst in to large quantities of loot.
- Billy Hogs now grant spoiled meat in addition to their other loot.
- Increased Milk Molar HP upgrade values
- Lint Rope now only costs 2 lint to craft.
Minor Stamina Rework:
- When stamina is fully depleted you'll now enter an "exhausted" state
- Exhausted state lasts for 3 seconds
- Cannot perform any actions that require stamina while exhausted
- After exhaustion ends, all stamina is fully recovered instantly
- Some systems such as Thirst have been changed to interact with exhaustion time instead of stamina recovery speed
- Stamina recovery speeds and delays work as normal in all other circumstances
- Stamina cost for swinging all weapons has been halved
Controls
When in PEEP.R mode, your rotation speed is scaled down for more precise control.
Mutations
Mithridatism is now a 3 stage mutation
- Stage 1
- Obtained: Kill 1 Wolf Spider
- Effect: 25% Poison damage reduction
- Stage 2
- Obtained: Kill 5 Wolf Spiders
- Effect: 50% Poison damage reduction
- Stage 3
- Obtained: Kill 10 Wolf Spiders
- Effect: 75% Poison damage reduction
Lil Fist has been reworked and is now a 3 stage mutation
- Stage 1
- Obtained: Kill 40 creatures with fists
- Effect: 25% chance on-hit to gain a damage up buff for unarmed attacks, stacks an unlimited amount of times. Clears on combat end.
- Stage 2
- Obtained: Kill 100 creatures with fists
- Stage 1
- Obtained: Kill 200 creatures with fists
- Effect: 75% chance on-hit to gain a damage up buff for unarmed attacks, stacks an unlimited amount of times. Clears on combat end.
Cardio Fan now also decreases exhaustion time on top of its previous effect of increasing stamina regen speed.
Reliable Friend now decreases revival time by a much larger amount
- Stage 1 = 25%
- Stage 2 = 50%
- Stage 3 = 75%
Daredevil now decreases fall damage by 50% and prevents dying from falling in almost all situations.
Movement
- Zipline speed and acceleration increased.
- The player will be slowed when finishing ziplines, to reduce falling damage.
Tech
Upgraded engine to Unreal 4.27.
Audio
One new combat music track.
Accessibility
Read To Me now works with non-Latin languages.
Improved Read To Me functionality in Molar, Tech Store, and BURG.L Quest interfaces.
Read To Me now pronounces science words such as BURG.L and TAZ.T correctly.
Combat
- All creatures have had a damage pass to keep up with new armor system
- All creatures have had AI adjustments for combat
- Creatures will now strafe and move more frequently
- Creatures have had their attack frequency and cooldowns adjusted
- Stamina cost for swinging all weapons has halved.
- Daggers now deal Slashing damage instead of Chopping damage
- Daggers can no longer harvest plants requiring chopping damage while above water
- Underwater harvesting functionality remains unchanged.
- Creatures are better able to navigate between separate navigable regions.
- Orb Weaver Jrs are now tier 1.
- Dust hazards no longer deal durability damage.
- Repair hammers repair more building HP per use.
Pets
Pet corpses will drop held items and memorials when they decay.
Pets now take 3x as long to get unhappy.
Additionally, Pets now lose happiness 50% slower when equipped with any sort of hat
Interface
- Subtitles have been improved to show character icons next to them.
- Subtitles display to other players when someone is talking to BURG.L so the rest of the party can follow along.
- Multiple HUD notifications that play at once will no longer overlap each other.
- Map location marker for current spawn point will show up no matter how far you are from it.
- Tech upgrades can be purchased by double-clicking on them.
- The Resource Surveyor interface now sorts the available resources.
- Added Deposit and Retrieve options to item context menus in container interfaces.
- Smoothie recipes are shown in the crafting interface (still requires Smoothie Station).
- "Take All" option on various buildings is disabled if there is nothing to take.
- A notification noting your equipment took durability damage on respawn now displays.
- A "Respawn at Kid Case" option has been added to the Death screen.
- A "Load Last Save" option has been added to the Death screen.
- Important conversation options with BURG.L now display a "!" icon next to them to show they are important for moving the conversation story forward.
Building General
- Broodmother Trophy now supports Arachnophobia Safe Mode.
- The game now communicates more clearly when building is disabled because of combat.
- Zipline anchors can now be relocated if no lines are attached.
- Stuffed Weevil, Infected Weevil, Aphid, and Gnat can now drop ingredients when destroyed (except meat).
- Players may run while relocating buildings.
- Grinder requires cheaper materials to craft.
Building Placement
- Triangular walls and floors can now be correctly placed against each other.
- Fixed several cases where snapped walls were incorrectly considered obstructed.
- Some grid buildings can no longer have other buildings placed overlapping them in specific cases.
- Buildings can no longer be placed inside characters in Creative mode.
- Small buildings can now be placed under stairs.
Optimization
- Steam versions of the game now use DX12 instead of DX11.
- Reduced auto-save hitching particularly on large saves.
World/Resources
- Dandelion Tufts world items will only stay active for 8 hours before being blown away.
- Pond Dome exterior lights will now turn off during the day.
- Removed the button puzzle and TAZ.T fight from the Oak lab.
- The landscape outside of the yard is no longer an empty void.
- Some normal Orb Weavers in the Hedge have been replaced with Orb Weaver Jrs.
- Grubs now drop 3 hides on average with a rare chance of dropping up to 8.
- More grubs exist in the lower yard, mostly around damp locations.
Creatures
- Dust Mites are now significantly less tanky
- HP reduced by 20%
- DT reduced by 12
- Resistances reduced from 50% to 25%
Items
- The same smoothie effect can no longer be stacked multiple times
- You can still stack as many different smoothies as you'd like
- Roasted meat now restores health when consumed in addition to its other effects.
Bug Fixes
Major Fixes
- Newly-connected clients can now see all resource survey regions instead of only ones near them.
- Dropped item locations will no longer desynchronize for clients.
- Fixed a client desynchronization issue related to relocated buildings.
- Fixed several other client desynchronization issues.
- Clients will no longer be missing ziplines when connecting to a multiplayer game.
- Collision added to the crumpled paper in the trash can so players can no longer get soft locked inside.
- Players no longer get physics shot to the moon.
Other Fixes
- The player can now take damage when impacting surfaces with sufficient velocity.
- Dropped weed burrs always collide with players.
- Controls tabs in the options screen will now scroll more nicely.
- HUD markers display in the correct locations during zipline connection.
- Previously-discovered Pagoda field station now automatically unlocks itself as a resource survey region.
- Clock times are now displayed correctly in Arabic.
- Reduced tendency of Wide Interaction to flicker between different interactables when many are close to each other.
- Wide Interaction can no longer be used to interact through walls.
- Displayed Milk Molar counts will be correctly updated when another player collects molars while the UI is open.
- Player nameplates and map markers will continue to display when the player is placing ziplines.
- Buildings can no longer be placed on Candy Corn.
- The client will no longer see inappropriately-disabled building construction interact options.
- The player will stop placing Pet Memorials after using the last one in their inventory.
- Hedge Berries will no longer disappear when cut using explosives.
- Frankenline drawing correctly saves and loads on Xbox and Windows Store / Game Pass versions.
- The full map art will now be correctly shown in the Resource Surveyor.
- Buildings can no longer be placed in prohibited locations by cycling the material.
- In German, some text labels that were supposed to be uppercase now are.
- Ziplines cannot be connected to anchors being placed by other users.
- The Broodmother BLT recipe no lon ger blends in to the table it's placed on.
- Collision around the underwater milk molar in the larva cave has been adjusted to make obtaining it easier.
- TAZ.Ts will no longer sometimes be larger in size.
- Improved memory usage with building Lamps which should help prevent crashing when loading large saves on Xbox One.
Bug Fixes - Steam
- Fixing issue where not logging in (OFFLINE_PLAYER) causes the wrong player save data to be loaded and potentially losing inventory / player progress.