Patch 1.1.20.0 is one of the biggest patches to drop since Dune Awakening launched in June.
Don't get too excited however as it doesn't contain anything major like new content, but it does come with some new cosmetics and a bunch of changes to the game, some fairly significant.
Patch Highlights
The following section will spotlight the biggest changes in Patch 1.1.20.0 and provide some additional thoughts regarding the impact this change will have for you, the player.
1. New cosmetics: Sandbike variant + Desert Mechanic Decorations
- Breakdown: The new Sandbike variant and Desert Mechanic Decorations set can be purchased from the Vehicle vendors in Arrakeen or Harko Village.
- Impact: Cool to see some new cosmetics added to the game, not much else to say about this one.
2. Pentashields will now require proper support
- Breakdown: Previously Pentashields could be constructed without any support, allowing players to create impenetrable Pentashield cubes, an issue which occurred often in the Deep Desert. Players were able to do this by attaching Pentashields to the 'pre-constructed' projections of construction elements.
- Impact: Good change, this fixes an unintended interaction and prevents Deep Desert base-building abuse.
3. Deposit All and Extract All buttons added for Blood and Water
- Breakdown: When interacting with Blood Purifiers or Water Cisterns, you'll now have the ability to 'Deposit All' or 'Extract All' instead of spam clicking your mouse.
- Impact: Nice little QoL change here, especially as it relates to extracting water to your Literjons from your Cisterns.
4. Solido Replicators will now capture 'placeables' and decorations
- Breakdown: Until now, the Solido Replicator only captured the construction elements of a base (walls, floors, roofs etc) but now it will also capture all of the placeables (refineries, fabricators, cisterns etc) and decorations too.
- Impact: Another nice little QoL change, probably should have been this way from the get-go but nice that it's here now.
5. Quality of life updates to the Exchange
- Breakdown: You can now search for items in the Exchange (phew) and some of the categories have been reorganised so that its easier to find the items you are looking for.
- Impact: Honestly using the Exchange right now is a bit of a nightmare so this is definitely welcome.
6. Changes to Combat Skills - Centre of Mass and Marksman
- Breakdown: Removed Body Damage penalty from Marksman, updated Center of Mass and Battle Hardened to more accurately reflect what they do.
- Impact: Center of Mass is pretty much a must-have pick-up, since headshots against shields are not counted as headshots anyway. Battle Hardened is significantly worse than it might have appeared initially. The penalty being removed from Marksman is well received as it is already struggling to compete with the other powerful combat Techniques.
7. Deep Desert Sandworm changes
- Breakdown: Deep Desert Sandworms now have a 50% chance to use their much shorter breach animation (that they use in Hagga Basin) and any collision with the Worm above ground will now result in death.
- Impact: These changes make the worm considerably more deadly in the Deep Desert and will certainly affect Spice farming. If you have been spending all of your time in the Deep Desert and can't remember how short the breach timing is for Worms in Hagga Basin, well... it's short.
8. Missiles and Rockets now heavier and harder to craft
- Breakdown: The volume (v) of a single Rocket or Missile has increased from 0.05v to 0.2v (a 400% increase) and the crafting cost of both has increased from 1 Duraluminum Ingot + 10 Fuel Cells to 4 Duraluminum Ingots and 20 Fuel Cells.
- Impact: These changes are a move in the right direction but are certainly not heavy-handed enough to put a dent in the PVP meta, or probably even to alter rocket or missile use behaviours.
9. NPCs can no longer damage player-owned buildings in PVE areas
- Breakdown: Recently players were kiting enemy NPCs towards other players' bases and positioning themselves so the NPCs would attack the player's structures, ultimately allowing them to destroy bases.
- Impact: Absolutely a required fix, good to see.
Full Patch Notes
The full official Funcom Patch Notes are available if you want to deep dive the full list of changes.
