Many of you have been asking for it since the beginning of time and now it’s finally happening!
Today’s update adds a Machine Companion in the form of a Runner that you can build yourself, customize, deploy at any time and even pet!
Without further ado, let’s get right into the nitty gritty of the Companion Update.
The Companion
This adorable Runner will support you in your fight against the Machines.
In the new mission “Making Friends”, which you can pick up at the Vesslan Bunker Warboard, you’ll venture out into the world to find out about the Companion.
After that, you’ll have your very own machine friend who will assist you in combat!
You can change its name, weapons, color scheme and even the voice it uses to communicate with you.
To deploy your Companion, simply make sure you aren't indoors and access it directly from your inventory.
We’re so happy to fulfill this long-standing community wish. The first suggestion of a machine companion we could find was made all the way back in October 2018, during our game’s Closed Beta, by Forum user Crytical here. Since then, we’ve seen many players ask us to add a friendly machine and now it’s finally happening!
A helper in combat
You can equip the Runner with three different weapons: The Machine Gun, the Shotgun and the Rocket Launcher. When the Companion gets damaged, you can repair it using Repair Kits.
It can carry it for you, but it can’t carry you
That’s right: It has an inventory you can store ammo, equipment or other weapons in!
It can carry up to a weight limit of 30, which is currently not upgradable, but it will take quite a … weight off your shoulders!
Customization!
You can change the Companion to fit your personal preferences in multiple ways:
Renaming your Companion
Your buddy is going to need a name. Give them one! You can assemble the Companion’s name by choosing from three lists, each with many options for the ultimate callsign, including formal titles.
Paint Jobs
Four paint jobs are included in the free Companion Update. The latter three have to be earned from looting. The skins are:
Resistance
Prototype
Military
FNIX
Voice Boxes
Modify the way your new friend communicates with you by switching out its Voice Box! Without the Companion Accessories DLC, you have access to:
- “Modulator”: Beeps and boops its way straight into your heart.
- “FNIX”: Makes the Companion sound like a FNIX runner for that familiar soundscape.
Light Kits
By default, your runner will have the normal machine light color scheme of a runner: White in neutral state, orange when it’s searching for enemies and red during combat. You’re not stuck with that, though! Feel free to switch it up with two more light kits:
- “Hazard”
- “Search”
Available now and for everyone!
We’re so happy to be able to offer this amazing new feature for you to play with. Please let us know what you think on our Social Media channels!
Companion Accessories Pack DLC
This paid DLC allows you to customize your Companion even further. We’ve made sure to pack plenty of awesome content into this one so you get enough bang - or in this case, flash - for your buck! Here’s what you can expect if you go the extra mile to support the continued development of Generation Zero:
5 extra Paint Jobs
- Grand Prix
- Bubblegum
- Black Fire
- Blue Thunder
- Mecha Monster
3 extra Voice Boxes
- Digi-dog
- Speak & Learn
- Astrid
3 extra Light Kits
- Toxic Glow
- Neon
- Hazed
3 Modules for a custom gameplay approach
The Companion Accessories DLC also gives you access to an entirely new customization option: Modules. These give your Companion additional capabilities when equipped.
Scavenger Module
Allows your companion to collect items from defeated enemies into its inventory.
Medic Module
Allows your companion to use medical supplies from its inventory to heal you when you’re injured.
Spotter Module
Allows your companion to mark enemies during combat, causing them to take extra damage.
3 types of Armor to equip
- Ballistic Plate ArmorReduces damage taken from bullets
- Concussive Plate Armor Reduces damage taken from explosions
- Fire Retardant Armor Reduces damage taken from fire
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2473770/Generation_Zero___Companion_Accessories_Pack/
More soon!
Thank you for your continued support of Generation Zero. Our Community has been growing for the last 4 years and we’re so fortunate to be able to make a game we love for people who love it just as much.
We’re entering a period of Summer vacations now, so our Devs can get some well deserved rest before tackling the second half of the year.
As for our plans, we’ll be working on a public roadmap for the rest of the year, as well as writing a Dev Letter about how roadmaps are made and why it takes so much effort and time to craft one.
We hope you enjoy this summer and look forward to getting back to work as soon as we can! We have many more things to show you in the future, but for now, let’s leave it at that!
Stay hydrated and keep a lookout for evil machines,
The Generation Zero Dev Team
Bug Fixes
Crafting
- [Community Reported] Fixed a bug where the UI would display billions of schematic points earned and the actual schematic points amount would become negative. Since unfortunately there is no way to know how many points each player had before this bug appeared, those already affected by this have been set back to 0 schematic points.
Machines
- [Community Reported] Fixed a bug where the Tank, Harvester and Wolf wouldn't use their Stomp attack.
- [Community Reported] Fixed a bug where looting an already owned clothing item using “Loot all” would make the entire loot disappear. This was most prevalent in the Reaper’s loot and known as the “Reaper Loot bug”. Begone!
- Minor visual fixes to the armor on the Prototype Tank
Art
- Fixed an issue that would keep the Motorbikes’ lights from displaying correctly
Equipment and Weapons
- [Community Reported] Fixed a bug where shock ammo didn’t create arcs when attached to a machine, lowering its damage output significantly.
- [Community Reported] Fixed some throwables only lasting for half of their intended time after being thrown.
- [Community Reported] Fixed the Homing Turrets projectile flying circles around certain enemies. The Homing Turret’s rockets can now rotate and adjust their trajectory faster in order to adapt to and hit moving targets.
- Fixed an issue that prevented ammo from applying the Experimental AG4 signature fire DoT
Gameplay
- Fixed a bug where holding down handbrake + reverse while on a motorbike resulted in forward movement and a jittering animation.
Mission
- Weekly procedural missions no longer appear more often than intended.
Challenges
- Fixed a bug where Archipelago missions would sometimes not count towards the "Important Public Announcement" challenge
UI
- Preview images of the DLC Schematics from the first column didn’t match the icons. Now they do!
Known Issues
Gameplay
- Rocket launcher projectiles hit the ground instead of an enemy
- Companion reacts to flares and fireworks
- Invoking 'Pet the Companion' emote while aim down sight with any weapon throughout the gameplay causes issues
- In some instances the client's Companion might be Invisible to the host of a multiplayer game
- Title might crash after opening player inventory while the companion is looting dead machines
- Assignment "Destroy 5 Runners with a hunting rifle" does not track
Equipment and Weapons
- .44 Magnus and Meusser Hunting Rifle are missing from the inventory after being picked up in the world.
Missions
- Progress Lost on Mission "The Home Team" for client completing the mission in Multiplayer
- [Community Reported] Building block mission might get broken
- [Community Reported] Ghosts of the Past stuck at 9/10 placed Barricades.
UI
- Multiplayer Matchmaking - Player fails to join the correct session as per the preferred multiplayer matchmaking settings
- Machines can be invisible for certain party members, but not for others
Performance
- Tabbing out significantly increases the GPU load on PC
- Performance loss while playing Base Assault for both clients and host
