Franco Abrina
Once Human is still in its infancy despite the old beta phases, and the developers have been very receptive to feedback so far. Seriously, they have given out three surveys as of writing this, with the third one being very fresh and rewards Starchrom like the previous ones. In this article, I will give you an overview of the patch notes, upcoming potential changes, and a few miscellaneous tips that you might find useful!
New Patch Updates (Event Changes, Rewards Reminder, and Bonus Building Tips)
Before we go through the more significant changes in the last couple of patches from July 25 to the 26th, let’s talk about the adjustments they made that need a lot less explaining:
- Fixes were made to the Three Strikes mod as some users reported that it did not work correctly.
- Another fix was made to the Bastille set as the three piece effect was reportedly being retained incorrectly, essentially preventing a player from sprinting or letting them keep the damage boost.
- An issue with the water pipe planter box seemingly not working has apparently been fixed.
- Biomass missiles now require slightly less Stardust Source, making it easier for players to participate in prime wars. Be warned, it still costs 20 a piece.
- Stardust’s Advent Loot Crates (prime war rewards) now give more Stardust Source and guarantees a legendary mod drop if opened with a Controller.
- An issue where players always got level 1 deviations whenever they traded via direct transactions or vending machines has been fixed.
- Secret Servitor’s lightning attack no longer ignores buildings.
- Fixed an issue where players were forced to exit dungeons.
- Territory issues were seemingly fixed and compensation was sent – This is for those who suddenly lost their bases for no reason, which was a common problem that popped up recently.
Those are some of the easier to digest changes or ones that just require no additional context. With that out of the way, let’s talk about some of what I consider to be more significant adjustments or “fixes”.
More Notable Patch Notes
Festering Gel – Nerf or Fix… or Both?
For starters, one of the latest changes is that they “fixed the abnormal HP regeneration of the Festering Gel deviation”. This one stands out as it used to heal a lot of HP and sanity, which people assumed was normal, and it very well could have been.
Some see this as a stealth nerf as it was rolled out before the patch notes were posted, so there is some speculation that more “sneaky” changes like this might happen in the future.
Maybe it was an unintended mechanic, but this basically makes it garbage as a healing tool during clutch moments or stuff like hard mode Arachsiam, where the mist phase now also inflicts poison. Good thing I’ve switched to the Lonewolf’s Whisper and long-acting activators for PVE nowadays.
Prime War Rating Requirements Dropped
For those who have tried to participate in prime wars started by completely random people in your server who never announce it ahead of time, rejoice! It is now easier to rack up enough points to unlock the next tier.
Paired with the slightly cheaper biomass missiles, you can now unlock the next difficulty level without breaking the bank. My server is still in phase 3 for the next two days, so I can’t check Pro difficulty, but here are the new reward tiers for prime wars:
- Easy Prime Wars – 300 -> 600 -> 800
- Hard Prime Wars – 500 -> 800 -> 1000
It’s only a 200 point difference compared to before, but the patch notes also state that certain task requirements are now easier and they also added additional objectives.
I haven’t been able to check myself as my server is taking it easy until pro mode is out, but this is a huge game changer considering how you can already get yourself up to even 2nd or 3rd tier rewards with just boss damage (no silver plague contributions) if you have a good build.
If you are on a server that is still in the first or second phase, hop on in to easy prime wars if you see them start in the map! They are good sources of legendary mods and unique deviations now that it is easier to contribute!
Public Crisis Event – Operation Chiron “FIXED”
Those of you who have tried it will know that Operation Chiron is a massive ammo sink and a huge waste of time compared to other events unless you have a whole lot of people participating in it.
This is because they spawn waves of the same amount of Vulture NPCs every time you clear a single group, and they never seem to be scaled to the number of players in the event. It’s not even hard, it’s just incredibly wasteful in general.
According to the patch notes, they have now “fixed” the issue wherein they were “spawning abnormally”, significantly reducing the difficulty of the event. This is great news for people who like farming these events, as it won’t cost you thousands of bullets per attempt if you’re soloing it now.
I have even personally tested this just for this article. I waited for one of these events to start in my server and hopped right on to see how it feels like now, and I can tell you right now, it is much more chill than before.
For starters, you aren’t bombarded with what seems like instant respawns anymore. There is actually a small period of inactivity before the next wave shows up now. On top of that, they seem to have relaxed a bit on the number of mobs, especially the suicide bombers.
On top of that, enemies stop spawning after the Cervitaur dies. I don’t know if this was a problem for every server, but before the fix, waves of Vultures would continue to spawn even after the event has concluded.
Overall, it’s still a slow event especially as a solo player, but it’s probably worth doing now for the Controller reward as it won’t eat through your ammo reserves or break your guns in record time. You also likely won’t hear endless beeping noises from bombers anymore!
Rewards Reminder + Top Architect Event
If you are reading this on the day it is published, you still have a couple of days left to claim rewards from the Dawn and Saturday event, which is just a bunch of free stuff every week.
If you were unaware of its existence, it’s not too late just yet. Press Esc and go to the Shop Events category, where you will find the “Events” tab. Upon opening it, you should be defaulted to the Dawn and Saturday page.
From here, just claim your rewards for all of the days marked on the calendar. It’ll give you a few free weapon skins and a small number of resources and throwables.
Top Architect Event (DISCORD EXCLUSIVE)
For all of you talented builders out there, you can show off your creations at the official Once Human Discord server by participating in the Top Architect event that exclusively takes place on that platform.
Basically, all you need to do is go to the designated chat channel and post your very own creation there. Submissions are encouraged to include stuff like your creative process and what the general idea behind the build is.
The community will vote by reacting with various emojis that are pre-determined by the server admins. There are several award categories based around these emoji reactions, and the top 5 (unsure if this applies to each category) submissions will receive the following ingame rewards:
- 1st place – Golden Trophy territory decoration item and 6,000 Crystgin (premium currency)
- 2nd place – Silver Trophy territory decoration item and 4,200 Crystgin
- 3rd to 5th place – Copper Trophy territory decoration item and 2,800 Crystgin
The person who has the most emojis overall will also receive all current base cosmetics in the shop for free, as well as the upcoming bundle. For items already owned, they will be refunded in Crystgin.
Nine lucky participants via random draw (?) will also receive the Steel Frame Glass Sunroom material pack for free, and once again, Crystgin will be refunded if any of the winners already own it. Here is an example of an entry clearly gunning for the Laugh Out Loud category:
New Building Trick Discovered
Recently, a post on the game’s subreddit shared a little trick that will let you place connected foundations at varying heights. This does not seem to be an intended mechanic, but it is incredibly helpful for the creative types out there who love building.
This is a tip I could have used before my very recent full overhaul of my own base, but I still have space to demonstrate the trick for you anyway. Basically, the method revolves around small half walls of any kind.
The only thing you need to do is plop down a small half wall at the edge of any foundation. If you try to place another foundation behind the small half wall, it will snap to the tip of the wall rather than to the foundation it’s built on depending on where you aim.
This is pretty huge for builders who love expressing their creativity through their territory. You might be able to use this trick to surround a Stardust Resonant Filter with marble foundations instead of walls. Raised foundations could also help with your auto irrigation devices and water pipe setups!
SIDE NOTE: More and more people in the community (the subreddit included) are starting to discover that vehicles can drive up walls. This has actually been a thing for a while now and it is not restricted to just territory structures, so expect this to be fixed eventually.
Just for fun, here is an old screenshot I have lying around of me driving up a random cliff in the game, demonstrating how cars in this game seem to be inspired by Skyrim’s horse physics.
Developer Talk – Possible Future Changes
Finally, the developers also posted about potential combat optimizations that might come in a future patch. Following the second survey they asked players to answer, they are going to use the feedback to work on the “3Cs”, which stand for Character, Controls, and Camera.
There is no timeframe for these changes, but they are going to be rolling out quality of life fixes for various mechanics related to the 3Cs. This includes removing the weird movement start delay and making vaulting feel much smoother.
They are also considering adding a first person perspective camera outside of aiming down sights. This is something that is low on their list of priorities, however, so don’t expect this to come out anytime soon.
There are a few settings that were already in the game that people were apparently asking for as well. This includes the option to toggle sprint instead of hold and reduce the screen shake intensity to combat motion sickness.
Finally, the developers also plan on adding controller support. The dev talk page merely states that it will be coming in August, though no exact day was given. It’s close, though!
And that is pretty much everything you need to know about the latest update and other upcoming changes that might pop up sooner than you might expect. While you are here, check out this guide on building a defensive base for purifications in Once Human so you can easily hit those weekly limits and rack up some quick Starchrom!
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