EARLY ALPHA 0.34.0 · 1 OCTOBER 2026

OPERATOR SKILLS

FEATURES

Operator skills: 17 skills that level up from what you actually do, from 0 to 51. Open the new SKILLS tab next to QUESTS in the stash or in raid; it updates live while you play.
Physical: Endurance (sprint longer), Strength (carry more before you are overweight), Vitality (bleed and break bones less, treat faster), Metabolism (need food and water less often) and Stress Resistance (shake off pain and tremor).
Mental: Search (search containers and bodies faster), Memory (skills tire out more slowly), Intellect (armour repairs wear less) and Charisma (better deals on insurance, treatment, repairs, rerolls and trades).
Practical: Magazine Handling (load, unload and check faster), Crafting (faster Shelter crafts) and Shelter Management (stronger modules, less fuel, faster building).
Combat: Assault Rifles, Submachine Guns, Handguns, Shotguns and Precision Rifles each cut recoil and speed up reloads and weapon switching with that class.
Every skill unlocks its own perk at level 51, such as Second Wind, Pack Mule, Thick Blood, Iron Gut, Berserk, Quick Hands, Loaded and Steady Hands.
Skills tire out the more you train them in one raid and recover when you rest; the tab shows exactly how effective practice is right now. Each skill shows its current bonus and the next level's.
Level-ups and perk unlocks pop up in raid, and the raid summary and the STATS page show your skill gains.
Stimulants now also raise skills for their duration: the EN-4 boosts Endurance and Strength, the RC-1 and HC-3 Vitality, each with a small side effect. The item card lists them.
Footsteps now sound like the floor under them: concrete, metal and wood each have their own walking and running steps, for you and for everyone you hear. Loudness and range are unchanged.
Health status icons show a count when you have more than one of the same effect (e.g. 2x heavy bleeding), fade in and out, slide into place and glow; bleeds glow red and heavy bleeds pulse.
Settings: hide the stamina bars, the stance indicator, the energy and water bars, or the raid time and connection display under In-raid UI.
Task screens show weapons in starting equipment and rewards as their full trader build instead of the bare receiver.
Ironworks: drifting industrial haze now surrounds the plant outside its walls, and the grey band past the map edge when zoomed out is gone.

BALANCING

Food and drink that boosted stamina now raise skills for a while instead (energy drink, slivovice, purified water and others); the item card shows the new effects.
Nurse now trades the red-seal key for Room 354 at loyalty level 3 (was 2).
Lukas sells the Blackline T8 Tempest rig at loyalty level 2 and the CR-20 Onyx at level 3. The Tempest fabric barter stays at level 1.
Nurse's FSK-2 surgical kit barter opens at loyalty level 1.
Volkov's grenades move up: the OF-5 at level 2 after Grenadier, the DF-1 and IF-17 at level 3, and the IF-25 at level 4 after Signal Kit. The DF-1 powder barter stays at level 2.
The Aegis Striker-4 helmet now unlocks through tasks: after Radio Silence at Lukas and after Chain of Custody at Marshal. Marshal's barter for it stays open. The Krest K-5 helmet unlocks after References at Lukas; its face shield stays open.
Ammunition tiers: 5.56 M855 at loyalty level 2, M856A1 at level 3 (after Toll Road at Rook, Payroll Audit at Marshal), M855A1 and M995 at level 4 behind tasks. 5.45 BT at level 2 after Serial Numbers, BP at level 3, PPBS at level 4 after Cold Trail. 7.62×39 BP at level 4 after Out Through the Door. 9×39 SPP at level 3, SP-6 at level 4 after Collection Day and BP at level 4 after Cold Trail.
Starting equipment that traders hand over with a task is now found in raid, except a lent rifle and the odd item another task asks you to find yourself.
Every task above level 5 now asks for found-in-raid items when you hand them in, including the tasks that open Orlov and Marshal. The first tasks up to level 5 still take whatever you have.
Armour and helmet repairs now cost in line with the item's value: a full repair from zero costs about a third of the item, so top armour is no longer almost free to fix.

BUG FIXES & POLISH

Task and skill notifications stay visible while the inventory is open.
Long guns (OP-12, OB-91, OK-45, VMR-54, KS9) are sharp in inventories instead of slightly blurry.
Ironworks: the office PC sits flat in the room's bottom-left corner, out of the way of the safe.

Protocol update: hard-refresh the browser (Cmd/Ctrl-Shift-R).