*To disable the feature, you must first complete the tutorial for Curveball. Once you complete the feature you’ll be able to disable it in the settings menu

Overview

The very nature of a post-apocalyptic world is one which is unpredictable and often chaotic. The mundane day-to-day of a stable society is now a luxury of the past and in this hostile ever-changing landscape the survivors of the zombie outbreak are required to be ever alert to the changing tides of dangers and opportunities that unfold.

Sooner or later the wasteland is going to throw your community a curveball! An emerging incident, phenomenon or happenstance that will be to the benefit of your survivors or their detriment. Sometimes Lady Luck will be on your side and a scenario will arise that creates a timed opportunity for your community to take full advantage of, such as finding a lost supply crate, a mutational defect in a group of zombies or simply the boost of having a well-maintained base. Other times more sinister challenges will emerge like a mutational advantage in a group of zombies, hostile raiders appearing on the map or even the Plague Hearts themselves becoming more deadly.

The world is changing and you’ll need to stay alert. It’s time to seize the boons and tackle (or avoid) the banes! In this dynamic, changing wasteland, the choices made and opportunities you take will determine your community’s survival or demise.

Update Details

Curveballs

Curveballs are new events that contain modifiers which can happen at random, or appear as a response to something you’ve done.

A Combination of Effects

• Curveballs contain up to three different effects, these modifiers will change up aspects of the simulation and come in Major and Minor variations.

  • Major effects will be very impactful, these are the headlines of the event and are denoted by a star symbol in the effects panel.

  • Minor effects are additional modifiers to accompany the Major, they are not as impactful but certainly spice up the experience.

• Curveballs are not always one-shot events, they have a chance to reappear and when they do so you may receive a different combination of effects for a different experience, a previously seen minor effect may now be elevated to a major and vice versa.

What can be affected by Curveballs

We don’t want to give too much away, but you can read a few hints below for what you can expect!

• Zombies & Plague Hearts

  • Zombies can be effected by numerous Curveballs. Whether it’s through mutation or decay, zombies can now emerge as stronger or weaker by having their damage, speed or resistances altered.

  • Infestations can be a breeding ground for mutations. Zombies may develop weird side effects or behaviors which will require you to switch up your usual strategy.

  • Plague Hearts also have a chance to change over time, for better or worse. Expect the unexpected…
    
    

• Community

  • Sometimes your survivors will have good and bad days. Depending on the Curveball, effects can influence your communities stamina, morale, proficiencies and effectiveness of base facilities.
    
    

• World

  • Curveballs extend out to many other aspects of the wasteland like looting chances, resource availability, radio actions or even new hostile survivors wandering into town.
    
    

Location and Global Curveballs

• Location - Some Curveballs will be events that are only occurring at a specific location, this will be highlighted on the map. Whether you want to skirt around the area or drive straight in is up to you!
  
  

• Global - Global Curveballs are unescapable, they will be in effect no matter where you are and you’ll just need to take this into account as you traverse the world.
  
  

Resolving a Curveball

• Timed Curveballs - Some Curveballs are just destined to fade out over time. These will eventually expire and the effects will come and go.
  
  

• Objective Curveballs - Some of the worst Curveballs will need you to take action to rid the world of it’s influence. These actions are small objectives, that when completed, will clear up the effects so you can get back to the “normal life” of surviving the apocalypse.

Curveballs UI

With this new system, a few new UI additions have been made so everything easier to understand when a Curveball starts and when they end.

Curveball Menu

With these seemingly random things happening, you need a way to track what’s happening. This is where the Curveball Menu can help! Every detail you receive will be recorded and visible within this new tab in the menu screen.

• Curveball Entries - This page in the menu will provide information on all events upcoming, active and expired.
  
  

  • Upcoming Entries - Curveballs are a result of new and emerging situations occurring in the wasteland. Before a Curveball and it’s effects become active, a survivor may ask to speak to you about an observation. This intel is your forewarning to an upcoming curveball and will be recorded here.
    
    

  • Active Entries - When the Curveball appears in the world it will shift up from Upcoming to Active! This is when the situation and effects are live. All active curveballs will be recorded here in the menu for reference at anytime.
    
    

  • Expired Entries - Curveballs will eventually come to an end, either from time or the completion of it’s associated objective. Once it has ended it the effects will be removed and the event entry will shift down into the expired section in the menu.
    
    

• Details - The central component of the Curveball Menu is where all the details are shown.

  • Event panel - The event itself, it’s description and all it’s active effects can be easily viewed in the central component of the page.

  • Zombie Type - Some Curveballs will only affect a particular zombie type, this will be displayed here.
    
    

• Effects Overview - Multiple Curveballs can be active at once and it may be tricky to remember all the active effects live and influence the simulation. The details panel is your overview to see them all in one place.

  • Positive modifiers - Effects which benefit your survivors will be marked with a green up arrow.

  • Negative modifiers - Effects which are dangerous to your survivors will be marked with a red down arrow.

  • Star symbols next to effects denote that they are Major effects.
    
    

• Notes - Life in the wasteland moves quickly and you may not catch everything which gets mentioned on the radio. Your conversations and the observations you make will be recorded in the Notes section of the Curveball Menu, allowing you to easily read through the events that led to the appearance of this Curveball.

  • Open the Notes menu at the bottom of the page to receive the timeline popup revealing who said what on which day.

Curveballs and the map

With some Curveballs being location based and some having objectives tied to them. The map has been updated to help visualize where a Curveball is affecting or where it’s relevant objectives are.

Curveball Notifications

Surviving the apocalypse means a lot can be going on, so when the latest Curveball comes around, new notifications will appear to give you the info you need at a glance.

Notifications will appear whenever a Curveball is

• Starting soon

• Becomes active

• Has ended

• An objective has completed / updated

*These patches are meant for the Public Test Realm on Steam and not the base retail game