In the last few months, we’ve been quietly developing some new content for a major game mode that we aren’t quite ready to talk about yet. In the meantime, VAIL 1.6 is here with the addition of mining supplies, three new maps, over 300 cosmetics added to the supply capsules, two new prestiges, and much more.

The long awaited Safety Hat is here: this is a mining helmet that can be purchased for only 100 GEL. It makes you invincible to other players (and vice versa) and grants a 1.25x boost in ORE yields. It lasts until you leave the server, and it can be given out to other players by simply placing it on their heads.

We also added a pickaxe upgrade, the OREX pickaxe. This provides a permanent 1.25x boost in ORE yields and when combined with the Safety Hat you get a 2.0x boost.

VAIL Alliance subscribers get the OREX pickaxe for as long as they’re subscribed and get a supply of Safety Hats every month.

This update introduces 3 new maps: two new Training Grounds maps and a new 1v1 variation.

- TG-Nadeball is a grenades only training grounds map with endless chaos
- TG-Maze is a D. Eagles only training map to refine your pistol skills
- 1v1 Frio is the newest 1v1 map to challenge your friends

The Training Grounds playlist is still available to all free players. VAIL Alliance subscribers get automatic access to VAIL Combat with all of our 1v1 maps and other game modes.

We added over 300 new cosmetics to the supply capsules. At the same time, we revamped our cosmetic tiers structure in preparation for future content and to increase the variety of cosmetics we can offer.

There’s now 5 tiers of cosmetics that you can purchase or unlock: Standard, Enhanced, Rare, Elite, and Legendary. A special 6th tier, [REDACTED], is reserved for ultra exclusive skins that cannot be unlocked or purchased — although you can get some of these in the form of dev skins in Supply Capsules if you’re lucky. As part of these changes, the supply capsules and ORE shards were also updated to Standard, Elite, and Legendary.

One way we’re adding more variety to the cosmetics available is the addition of varying levels of wear. For Standard and Enhanced cosmetics, there’s now a chance you’ll get a Vintage or Relic variation with increasing levels of wear. This is something we’ll continue to tune and improve, but it already adds tons of variety to the cosmetics you might unlock.

VAIL Alliance subscribers get a fresh supply of capsules and ORE every single month.

Another way we’re adding more variety to our skins is with the addition of more color changes to gun features to match the rest of the skin. In a recent update we added the ability to change weapon sights for some cosmetics, and now we’re adding the ability to change the muzzle flash color and melee weapon trail.

These new features are showcased on the brand new ROVR-07 bundle in honor of RealityOnVR. This pack features a brand new colonist character with a new helmet in addition to the MK418, PL14, and Kanto. With these weapons you’ll be able to see the new effects in action with a blue muzzle flash and melee trail in addition to it’s animations and reactive effects.

As part of this update, we made some significant changes and improvements to the backend online code. While these changes have many benefits for us as developers, the most obvious benefit to the player right now is that this dramatically improves the speed of all interactions with our backend online systems including login, purchases, creating servers, etc. This upgrade was done in preparation for future content.

As part of this, we had to refactor how custom games work, and so we changed the custom game creation flow to have less bugs, be more streamlined, to work with the new online code, and, of course, to prepare for future content.

In short, we removed the lobby state from custom games — now when creating a custom game, you’ll immediately launch that server. If you still need a lobby to wait in before starting a match, create a PIC_Armory or SH_Citadel server and the host can change the map and game mode through the scoreboard once everyone has joined and is on the correct team.

• Added Prestige 4: Last Hope
• Added Prestige 5: New World
• Added a new marketplace rotation
• Added new exclusive mining themed cosmetic in the supply capsules — see a preview of it in the ORE shop
• Added the NXS Hammer to Gun Game
• Added new player cards to the death screen — in the future these will be customizable
• Added a mini-map for ART_Cliffside observer mode
• Player nameplates now become semi-transparent when aimed at
• Increased scroll speed for the weapon dispenser
• Spatialized voice chat now comes from the player’s ragdoll body when they die
• Made custom game passwords 4 digits long instead of 5
• Improved the server browser refresh function and look
• Added better error handling for custom games and the server browser
• Slight improvements to character cloak physics
• Replaced the last old style launch pad in Citadel with the new mesh
• Large optimization passes on several maps
• Misc. optimizations and crash fixes
• Lots of background work on future content

• Fixed alternate tac rig option spawning tacticals on the wrist on round or match start
• Fixed being able to equip double tacticals by editing files
• Fixed Gun Game not keeping secondary grip attached on weapon upgrade
• Fixed dead players being able to spawn supply capsules
• Fixed weapon dispenser not spawning the NXS Hammer
• Fixed purchase SFX not playing when purchasing some items in the Citadel
• Fixed a duplicate sign in the ORE shop
• Fixed pickaxe stand floating in the air slightly
• Fixed post match rewards sometimes showing a sight unlocked that you didn’t actually unlock
• Fixed the sign next to smelter showing a button instead of a lever
• Fixed invisible wall in Citadel from zipline leading to shooting range
• Fixed tablet SFX not coming from the tablet
• Fixed conveyor belt bouncing you back when you’re trying to walk down a specific slope
• Fixed frag activation haptics not playing when activated during force grab
• Fixed consumable names not appearing on subscriptions page
• Fixed a hole and other minor issues on the characters