Infected

Original Vapir prototypes introduced in Release 14

Original Garwalf prototypes introduced in Release 14

Original Digger prototypes introduced in Release 14

Infected are hostile humanoid creatures that seek out and attack the player and the player's base. These frightening creatures display the following characteristics:

• stretched mouths with sharp teeth
• tattered clothing
• skin discoloration depending of species
• enlarged claws on hands

As of release 14 beta, the game description on Steam is the only source of game lore explaining the existence of the Infected. There we can read:
"A virus was a lot more serious than anticipated, a treatment was looking promising. A drug trial seemed to work, many were getting better and fatality rates were dropping. But somethings not right. DNA is mutating and unexpected side effects are piling up, changing people."

These infected humanoids can be found roaming in abandoned homesteads scattered around the map. One can only conjecture that they might have been previous human occupants of these homesteads.

Variations of Infected[]

The infected humanoids occur in three main types, each with their own physical appearance and abilities. The three infected species are called Vapir, Garwalf and Digger. Each type has a boss version and two different kinds of minions. The bosses are larger and more dangerous than the minions.

Vapir[]

Vapirs are one of the species of Infected that can be encountered. The Infected have a vampire-like appearance with fangs, blood-red eyes, pale skin and pointy ears. The minions have shaved heads, wear ripped jeans with ripped sleeves, a cloth patch rapped around their left arm with a red cross, suspenders, a dark red neck-tie, and what appears to be a Lanard with a plastic ID card. The larger mini-boss Vapir has a very similar appearance to the minions except for the hair, which is long and unkempt. The boss now can wear a long coat. Vapirs have a ranged attack that launches a ball of gray magic at you. This ball flies straight and deals the same damage as a melee attack. Bosses move by floating as opposed to minions that run.

Garwalf[]

Garwalfs are the second species of Infected that you can encounter. These Infected have a werewolf-like appearance that includes yellow sunken eyes, pointy ears, and dark red stains on clothing and skin resembling dried blood. They emit howling sounds. The minions wear shredded cut-off jeans and either a green tank top and red bandana or a red button-up shirt. The mini-boss wears a bomber jacket with torn sleeves and is noticeably larger. They can do a flurry of attacks and can knock you on the ground stunning you while dealing damage.

Digger[]

Diggers are the third species of Infected that you can encounter. These Infected have a bruiser appearance similar to a goblin or troll with green skin, bloated bellies, fangs and sunken eyes. Both bosses and minions wear a construction hardhat and shredded jeans. The minion wears either a dirty shirt and an orange reflective vest or is naked above the waist. Minions carry a club in their right hand which they use as a melee weapon. The mini-boss wears a dirty shirt with a orange reflective vest and wields a sword instead of a club. The boss also carries a shield in its off-hand that is capable of blocking the player's attacks. If the Digger take enough damage they well flee form the player, this applies to both the minion and mini-boss as the latter will drop their sword and shield.

Attacks by Infected on Player and Player's base[]

The player will always find and be attacked by Infected at Homesteads and Villages if their presence there has not been disabled in the Load Screen AI settings.

However, other attacks on the player and the player's base are tied to the claiming of land in the game. The player can craft certain placeable items anywhere on the map. Examples are: Campfires, Sign Posts, Foundations. In order to build most other items needed in a base, the player must first claim a piece of land by placing a Land Claim Pole. When a Land Claim Pole is placed, three groups of Infected are spawned around campfires in random spots outside of the radius of the Land Claim. These enemies are attracted to noise and light and one of the groups will attack the player's base when noise or light reaches a critical level. The attacks are led by a Mini Boss with a few minions. These attacks will only begin after day 3 of a new game. The Infected which have spawned around campfires will also attack the player if the player meets them while traveling. After one of these groups of Infected has been killed by the player, a replacement group will spawn in a random location outside of the radius of the player's land claim. Each Land Claim Pole that the player places around the map will have its own 3 sets of Infected camping outside of its radius.

After day 20, there is a chance of 2 mini bosses and between 4 and 6 minions per attack.

If the player dies during a noise/light meter attack, the attacking Infected will despawn.

AI Game Settings[]

In the loading screen game settings under the AI tab the player can enable or disable the presence of Infected in the game. There are three main settings governing their presence:

• Spawns in POIs: This setting refers to Infected that roam villages and homesteads.
• Base Attack Spawns: This setting refers to groups of Infected that spawn when a Land Claim Pole is placed and that attack the base depending on Noise/Light levels.
• Multiple Boss Attacks: This setting refers to the possibility of attacks containing 2 mini-bosses and 4-6 minions after day 20.

The stats of the different species of Infected can also be individually altered to make it easier or more difficult to cope with them in the game. By default, each species has 250 health and does 10 damage to the player and 10 damage to the player's base with each successfuul attack. The table below shows the range of possible settings.

Entity	Health	Damage P (damage to player)	Damage B (damage to buildings and placeable items)
Vapir	50, 100, 250, 500, 600, 750, 1000, 1500	0, 5, 10 , 25, 50, 75, 100, 200	0, 5, 10 , 25, 50, 75, 100, 200
Garwalf	50, 100, 250, 500, 600, 750, 1000, 1500	0, 5, 10 , 25, 50, 75, 100, 200	0, 5, 10 , 25, 50, 75, 100, 200
Digger	50, 100, 250, 500, 600, 750, 1000, 1500	0, 5, 10 , 25, 50, 75, 100, 200	0, 5, 10 , 25, 50, 75, 100, 200

In order for changes to settings in the loading screen to become permanent, the player must save the game with the desired settings at least once. The settings can of course be changed at any time and the new changes must also be saved to prevent the game from reverting to the previous settings the next time the saved game is loaded.

History[]

v. 14.01	Infected can now damage or destroy all placeable and construction items.
v. 14.14B	If a player crosses an enemy campfire while exploring, the AI will break chase of the player if the AI get beyond 10k units away from their campfire. This will at least allow players to avoid the battle if they can run away or drive away. In this case, the AI will go back to their campfire.
v. 14.12.B	AI attacks from noise/light meters will despawn after player death. Previously they would only despawn after 3 to 5 deaths causing a small death loop. Noise/Light meter attacks start only after day 3. After day 20, chance of 2 mini bosses and between 4 and 6 minions per attack.
v. 14.09B	Increased size of the minions to be a bit taller. Diggers' skin textures color change to be less green. New Vapir mini boss mesh with a long coat. New AI mesh imported to fix some skinning issues with animations.
v. 14.08B	Some changes/balancing to damage dealt on spike traps and barbed wired by the Mini Bosses.
v. 14.04B	Attack warning sounds by the AI added to alert players when they get close.
v. 14.01B	New AI replaced the old Vambies: Garwalf, Vapir, Digger
v. 13.0.5	Mini Boss will retaliate against player when hit and not just be stunned.
v. 13.0 beta	Horde Nights removed from game. Elite Mini Boss vambie added to game. More HP and only susceptible to barbed wire. Destroys spikes. Daily spawner introduced that brings in the Mini Boss and 2-4 attendant vambies. Roaming pack of one Mini Boss and 1-3 vambies introduced. Loading screen options changed to make it possible to enable/disable town vambies, wandering vambies and groups of vambies separately.
v. 11.0	New group behavior system. (2 to 5 AI roaming the map together).
v. 11.0	New group attack patterns. (Varied engagement behaviors- dodging, taunting, attacking, etc).
v. 11.0	New group behavior system. (2 to 5 AI roaming the map together).
v. 11.0	New AI Vambie models added, Various new AI animations.
v. 9.3	Vambie behavior- observation. Enemy AI may now observe players at a distance before choosing to engage or retreat.
v. 9.3	Chance the Vambie will retreat to heal themselves up. They can jump away, run away, or utilize their new teleport mechanic to phase out of range to safety.
v. 9.3	AI behavior optimization.
v. 9.0	Vambies now have the capability to dodge melee attacks.
v. 9.0	Some Vambies are now equipped with a knife and can throw it as a projectile. They are only equipped with one knife, so one projectile per Vambie.
v. 9.0	AI will no longer enter water.
v. 9.0	Vambie movement on slanted terrain. Player: Players can step up or walk up terrain/cliffs of 45 degrees. Vambies: Vambies can step up or walk up terrain/cliffs of 55 degrees. (Previously 95 degrees)
v. 8.4	Added a few more items to the loot list of harvesting dead Vambies.
v. 8.0	Added more items to the Vambie harvest loot list.
v. 8.0	AI will no longer consistently run at players in a straight line, they will now sometimes try to dodge and zigzag to avoid projectiles.
v. 7.2	20% chance that AI will break the spike traps and not be damaged.
v. 7.0	Horde Nights will no longer end when a player dies. It will continue on after respawn.
v. 7.0	Added a new jump attack that will restrain and bite the player. This attack is limited to the wandering AI in the POIs and the general AI on the map. The swarm Vambies during the night attacks will not preform this attack.
v. 7.0	Added new UI info for active swarm nights- it will now display how many Vambies are left to kill to complete the event.
v. 7.0	complete rework of all AI systems.
v. 5.5	Adjustment the new jumping Vambie behavior, reduced jump height.
v. 5.4	Vambies step height increased, this will result in them jumping on Foundations.
v. 5.0	Vambies no longer drop kevlar.
v. 2.4	Random drop of a second item from killing and harvesting Vambies.
v. 2.4	Game setting added: Toggle on/off of all Vambie spawning, including the ones guarding the camps.
v. 2.4	50/50 chance of vambies dropping kevlar, no longer 100%.
v. 2.3	Swarm Vambies will now spawn differently. Previously they all spawned at the center of the map and rushed towards you all at the same time. Now they will spawn in a 360 degree radius of the player. This will result in Vambies not all attacking your base at the same time and in different locations.
v. 2.3	Game setting added: Enable/Disable: Enable or Disable all swarm attacks. (Default: Enabled)
v. 2.3	Game setting added: Swarm frequency: Swarm attack frequency in game days after the initial first swarm attack. (Default: 3)
v. 2.3	Game setting added: Swarm start day. (Default: 10)
v. 2.3	Game setting added: Spawn quantity: The number of initial Vambies spawned. At each subsequent swarm attack, the number of spawned Vambies will be increaed by 1 up to a maximum of 15. (Default: 3)
v. 1.2	Pathfinding improved, damage distance tweaked, retreat when health is low, blood drops more opaque, attack animation speed increased.
IR	Infected included in the initial early access release of the game.