The next big patch for Dune: Awakening‘s now out there via Steam testing client, as devs Funcom look to test out its various tweaks before pressing go on full deployment next month. If you’ve been desperately screaming for the ability to slop out a bunch of blood and/or water at once, or have recently be chased by a swarm of griefy ornithopters, this is the patch for you.
In fact, the devs make clear that they’d really prefer it if you were to dedicate the bulk of your two-week-long patch testing time to those two things in particular. They’re also turning off taxes and sandstorms, the latter very much being the tax equivalent of the natural world, for the first week so bases won’t be at risk.
The rundown of the notes for patch 1.1.20, naturally, starts off with these two changes. “Colliding ornithopters will now get an impulse applied to separate them,” the devs wrote, “This will mitigate the griefing done to Carrier ornithopters by swarming with multiple ornithopters.” So, no more getting crashed into by a gaggle of cheeky spice field seagulls, or pinned down by one until you get wormed, at the cost of not being able to have a friendly head-on wreck when you fancy it.
Funcom are even offering a free top-tier buggy, scout ornithopter, assault ornithopter, and carrier ornithopter to folks who’ve already been into the game’s test client and created a character, so people have no excuse not to see how this tweak works. Instructions to claim them are in the full notes here.
In addition to that, the devs have finally added the option to deposit all of the blood and water you’re carrying into purifiers and cisterns with one button press, something players have been begging for since launch. You can also take all of the water back out again with one button press, though not the blood, which earns a boo from me.
Among the other tweaks are things like the flour sand and spice sand fields in Hagga Basin being put in the path of sandworm danger, which is bad news for folks who’ve been taking advantage of the chance to gather those without having to worry about being Shai-Huluded. The worms have also been made slightly deadlier, as running into its body during any of its animations will now result in death or your vehicle going pop.
On a lighter note, the prices of melange spiced beer, spiced wine, spiced liquour, and also napalm are all among those lowered by the patch in an effort to make them more attractive to buy, so there’s your next long weekend in the back garden of your base sorted.
As I was writing this, Funcom have ducked their heads around the door to announce another change they’ll be making with this patch. They’re making it illegal to build pentashields without proper support, so if you’ve erected one in that manner, here’s your warning that it’ll collapse once patch 1.1.20 goes live in full.
The devs are currently aiming to have that happen on August 12, so make sure you pin a note to your fridge.
