Game Mechanics

There are a lot of different game mechanics which are briefly summarized here. This is not intended as a tutorial or guide, but an overview of information about game mechanics with links to pages on each subject. More detailed information and guides may be found in articles linked here.

Survival

 * Max Stamina represents your wellness and can be restored by food, while the Agility Skill driven limit controls the Progression.
 * Max Health are limited to progression system and can be modified from 100 to 200 by 10 by Fortitude Skill.

Day and Night

 * Day and night settings can be defined by the player on the menu before starting a game.
 * You can change how many in-game hours there are in each day (12, 14, 16, or 18 hours in each in-game day). The sun will always set at 22:00 and rise at either 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, or 10:00.
 * You can change how long a 24-hour cycle lasts (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, or 120 minutes in real-time). The duration of a 24-hour cycle not only affects how long a day lasts but how long a night lasts too.
 * Both day and night time have an effect on zombies. During the day almost every zombie type cannot run (some exceptions include Feral Wight and the Zombie Dog). During the nighttime, every zombie can run. This can be modified (plus the run speeds) on the menu.
 * Time of day or night does not affect how the player obtains experience, loot, or any other variable besides how bright or dark the world is and if the zombies are allowed to run or not.

Temperature

 * Every player has their own temperature and it can be affected by clothing, their surroundings, the weather, and more.
 * Temperature cannot give the player any positive effects, it can only give neutral and negative effects.
 * If the player does not stay between 31°F and 99°F (-0.5°C to 37°C) and goes below or beyond these temperatures they will start to be affected with Status Effects that will negatively affect the player's fullness (hunger), hydration (thirst), health, stamina, and Speed. If the temperature is not kept to a suitable level the player will die.
 * Biome has an effect on temperature. The burnt forest is generally hot and the snowy forest is generally cold. The forest defaults to a suitable temperature.
 * Standing near other players will not increase your temperature.

Wet

 * Swimming in water, being outside in the rain (or snow), or against an open window inside a building while it is raining or snowing can cause the player to get wet.
 * Your temperature will always decrease while you are wet.
 * A Campfire will not dry you but will keep your temperature up.
 * To lose wetness the player must stay out of water for a period of time.
 * Wearing clothing reduces this effect.

Block Damage

 * Block Damage determines how much damage a weapon or tool will do to a block.
 * Every weapon and tool lists how much damage it does to blocks. This damage is determined primarily by the item's Quality.

Entity Damage

 * Entity Damage determines how much damage a weapon or tool will do to a player, Zombie, or Animal.
 * Every weapon and tool lists how much damage it does to entities. This damage is determined primarily by the item's Quality.

Stealth System

 * Stealth allows the player to be quieter, making it harder for zombies to hear the player's movements and actions.
 * When in stealth, actions like mining or looting are quieter.
 * The first attack done to a zombie while in stealth does extra damage. Any further attacks, even if the zombie did not detect the player attacking, will not result in increased damage.
 * Stealth cannot be used when creatures are already aware of you. This includes special events like the blood moon where a horde of zombies is triggered to attack you.

Heatmap

 * The heatmap is an invisible mechanic that controls zombie spawns around areas the players are most active.
 * There are a lot of things that can increase the heatmap: using firearms, explosives, or buildings like a forge or torch.
 * When the heatmap becomes very high, random screamers will start spawning and attempt to find the character. Usually, this results in a small horde once the screamer detects the player and screams.
 * Chopping trees, mining rocks, or digging up the ground also increases the heat map.
 * Small things like opening doors, jumping, falling more than one block, or standing in an area for a period of time can also increase the heat map.

Dismemberment

 * Dismemberment allows the player to dismember zombies and most animals by doing damage to their limbs and head.
 * Dismembering a certain body part has different effects on zombies.

Character Level

 * Every player has their own level, which is increased by gaining experience points (XP).
 * Players can see their progress towards the next level by checking the experience bar located just above the Toolbelt.
 * Most activities give XP. Killing zombies, crafting, looting, and mining all provide XP.
 * Tools, weapons, and clothing do not have a minimum character level to use.
 * Every level gives the character one point to spend on Skills. Four points are received from finishing the starting quest.

Perks

 * Perks can be leveled by use of the skill points.
 * Each perk has 5 levels, each requiring either a certain character level or a certain level of the parent Attribute Skill.
 * Players can level certain perks to increase damage with weapons, or increase effectiveness with tools.
 * Crafting of a lot of 'higher-tier' items require a Perk from the intellect Attribute to craft.
 * The player's Intellect attribute determines the tier of the items they craft; this controls the item's durability.

Crafting

 * Once a player has gathered the necessary materials, many items can be crafted directly from a player's inventory.
 * Some items must be crafted inside a forge, workbench or table saw, which generally require fuel to run.
 * Every craftable item takes time to craft. You can queue multiple items, including stacks of items, to craft many things in a row.
 * Each crafting station (including your own inventory) has its own crafting queue, so it's possible to craft many things in parallel.
 * The player cannot craft everything straight away. Some crafting recipes must be learnt through perks, and some must be found via rare schematics.

Crafting Menu

 * The crafting menu allows the player to craft items.
 * Opening the crafting menu does not pause time.
 * The crafting menu shows the player the current items they can make, what they need to make an item, or if they have the required skill or recipe book.
 * Players can only craft four stacks of items at a time.

Chemistry

 * The only place a player can use chemistry is at a chemistry station.
 * Chemistry is a cheaper way of producing some items the player can otherwise craft in their inventories. For example, gunpowder requires half the materials if crafted in a chemistry station.
 * A chemistry station is essential for mass-producing items such as gunpowder, antibiotics, and oil.

Cooking

 * The only place a player can cook at is a Campfire.
 * Cooking is a requirement to be able to make unhealthy foods such as raw meat into healthier foods such as Meat Stew.
 * Cooking is also required to make drinks such as turning Bottled Murky Water into Bottled Water.
 * Some recipes require additional tools, like the Cooking Pot, to be installed in the campfire.

Forging

 * The forge is used to make nearly every metal item in the game.
 * To craft an item in the forge, the material needed to craft the selected item must be smelted, putting the material in the forge itself. The forge will not use materials from the player's inventory.
 * There is no way to craft any item made from the forge inside the player's inventory like the chemistry station can.
 * Instead of scrapping items, players can put the items intended for scrapping into the forge, getting more resources than if the item was scrapped.
 * like in Alpha 16, you can't craft certain things until you have unlocked the perk. Level 1 lets you craft the forge and make forged iron but you can't make forged steel until rank 3. You can also craft certain blocks and ammo components using an anvil or a tool and die set respectively

Repairing Items

 * Most tools, weapons, and armor have a Durability which degrades over time with use.
 * Tools, weapons, and armor all function normally until they reach zero durability, at which point tools and weapons become unusable until repair, and armor stops providing protection until repaired. Repairing will restore the tool, weapon, or armor back to Max Durability.

Repairing Blocks

 * Any construction tool can be used to repair blocks.
 * To repair a block, the player must have the appropriate resource to repair it. This is usually one of the resources used to create the block. This is not always the case, for example Brick Blocks need Cobblestone Rocks for repairs. Using the right mouse button will repair the block.
 * It is very easy to see if a block requires a repair. Some blocks will have a visually altered appearance when they are damaged. Alternately, with a tool equipped and the crosshairs centered on the block, the health bar of the block will show. The health bar of the block will display as Current Durability / Max Durability for the block. The health bar of the block only shows when the block is damaged.

Quality

 * The Quality of an item can be found by looking at the current number and color of the Durability bar at the bottom of certain item icons.
 * Not all items have Quality levels, but most armor, weapons, and tools do have a Quality level.
 * The level of Quality determines its Max Durability and the number of Mods (if applicable) that can be used on it.
 * Repairing does not affect the Quality. In previous game versions, repairing would lower the item's Quality level.

Durability

 * Durability represents the current health or hit points of an item or block.
 * The durability of an item can be estimated by looking at the colored bar at the bottom of certain item icons. The more depleted the bar, the less durability it has, as the bar represents the percentage of Max Durability the item has remaining.
 * Not all items have durability, but most armor, weapons, and tools do have durability.
 * Armor, weapons, and tools function at full capacity until Durability reaches zero.
 * When an item reaches zero durability, it must be repaired and is unusable otherwise. Items can be repaired with any amount of durability lost. Repairing an item restores its Durability back to Max Durability.

Max Stack

 * Every item has a max stack of how many of that item can be carried in a single slot.
 * There is no way to raise the max stack of an item.
 * Not every item has the same max stack. Equipment like Stone Axes have a max stack of 1, while resources like Small Stone can go as high as 6000.

Player Statistics

 * Player's statistics can mean a lot of things, but for the most part player stats means the player's Character Level, Health, Stamina, Fullness (Food), Hydration (Water), and Temperature (Feels Like).
 * You can see all of your stats in your Character Menu.
 * There are also other stats in the character menu. Zombie Kills, Player Kills, Deaths, KM Traveled, Items crafted, and Longest Life.
 * There is also a hidden stat known as Speed. Speed determines how fast a player can move, and it cannot be brought above 100% but can be brought lower by injury like a broken leg, or by a temperature status effect.

Clothing

 * Clothing affects a lot of aspects of the player, how much damage it reduces, or the change in temperature they cause, among other things.
 * Some armor will take the place of ordinary clothing, but Chest and Leg armor both have their own slots allowing players to wear Shirts and Pants.
 * Some armors come in sets and some don't, but there is no bonus for having a full set of armor, besides it looking very nice and similar to one another.

Creative Menu

 * Cheat mode must be activated in the game's menu options to allow the use of the creative menu.
 * The creative menu has every single item and block in the game.
 * To get different quality levels the player must click refresh.

Map Menu

 * The map is used often by players to know where they are, or set waypoints for their home, or places of interest.
 * Waypoints put on the map will show up on the player's compass.
 * If the player has a friend in their game and tracks them they will see them, and the direction they are looking on the map. If the player moves, they will also move in real-time on the map as well.

Looting

 * Looting is done by searching furniture, chests, or garbage cans.
 * Looting takes time and the time it takes is dependent on the item being looted, and the current level of certain skills and perks the player has.
 * Every item has a drop table with drop chances for certain items.
 * Looting is not the same as harvesting because looting can be done by simply opening an item, while harvesting must be done with a certain tool, with no loot interface.

Mining

 * Mining can be done by hand, construction tools, or most effectively, by mining tools such as the Pickaxe or Auger.
 * The most common practice of mining is to find a stone node on the surface and use the appropriate tool to get Small Stones, raw iron, Coal, and nitrate powder.
 * Every biome has predominant ore spawns on the surfaces and underground. Both not always being the same.
 * Surfaces ores jut out from the ground and can be mined for a single type of mineral. For example, the Burnt Forest has nitrate deposits on the surface, and Coal Ore deposits underground.
 * Mining is also done with Shovels, but shovels are only used for certain block types like Dirt, Sand, or Gravel, and cannot be used on any type of stone or mineral.

Farming

 * Farming can be done with plants or trees, and unlike mining is indefinite as if done correctly you will always get more seeds back than you used in the first place.
 * Plants can be turned into seeds in the player's inventory to allow farming, trees, on the other hand, will always give some seeds once a tree is fully cut down.
 * Plants require natural sunlight to grow. Artificial light, such as from torches, cannot be used to grow plants that are not reached by sunlight. (Mushrooms are the only exception and do not require sunlight)

Appropriate Tool

 * There are many different types of blocks and each has its own appropriate tool which is best used to destroy them.
 * Not using the appropriate tool reduces the damage the block takes by 20%.

Harvesting

 * Harvesting is done by the player when a Tool is used on either an Animal's corpse or certain Furniture or Decor.
 * An Animal's body cannot be looted and must be harvested using an appropriate tool.
 * A Bone Knife, Hunting Knife, or Machete will always be the best tools to harvest with but any tool is usable.
 * To avoid harvesting a Zombie's Corpse use a weapon instead.
 * Wrenches can be used on certain furniture or decor, like an Air Conditioner, Fridge, or Sedan, all producing their own items. These items can only be harvested with a Wrench, other tools like a Claw Hammer will not work.
 * The Appropriate Tool should always be used while harvesting. Otherwise, the player will lose resources they otherwise could have been gained. Even though you can still harvest animals without the proper tool. Furniture or decor won't even give the player resources without the proper tool.

Constructing buildings
See Structural_Integrity.

Dynamic Music System

 * The Dynamic Music System is a fully dynamic system, which allows for in-game music to be played while playing the game.
 * The system procedurally generates a complete musical arrangement from a set of interchangeable loops. There are over 750 unique combinations.
 * The system is designed to provide music while the player is exploring the world.

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