Dear Stormworkers,
Natural Disasters (the next major update!) is will be here soon! It will release on Thursday 3rd February 2022 at 5PM UTC.
What is in the Natural Disasters Major Update?
Players have asked for hurricanes, volcanoes, meteor strikes, whirlpools, improved tsunamis and rogue waves, so that is what we have been developing! These events are spawnable via the creative menu, as well as occurring naturally within the world, and impacting the missions system.
Volcanoes
Volcanic eruptions can occur at specific locations within the world of Stormworks. We looked carefully at the different types of real eruptions because we want to create convincing and authentic volcanic events. Volcano eruptions are divided into several stages, from smoking and increased activity, to explosive eruption, pyroclastic flow, debris, ash pollution, and more. Volcanic eruptions are terrifying and deadly.
Hurricanes
High winds can now result in twisters. These powerful wind events involve a vortex of rotating wind energy to descend from the sky, meeting a water spout or debris cloud at ground level. Wind dramatically accelerates near the hurricane, and is powerful enough to lift vehicles that get too close. The power is awesome, with the first signs that a twister may form being clouds forming a spiralling vortex in the sky.
Meteors
Meteor strikes can occasionally occur, where fields of rocks of varying size may begin falling from the sky at high velocity. Impacts can cause explosions, and if a particularly large meteor hits the ocean, the energy release can result in a new kind of radial tsunami.
Whirlpools
Huge vortices can form in the ocean, where adjacent currents can feed energy into a rotating body of water. In Stormworks, these whirlpools are kilometres across, where huge ships can easily be swallowed by the eye of the whirlpool. These swirling bodies of water create strong currents in a spiralling direction towards the center, pulling down deep below the surface.
With these new natural disasters, there also comes a host of other features such as API support, new missions, and more.
We can’t wait to share this new update in just a few weeks! As always we look forward to your feedback on this news. Between now and release, we will continue finishing this update, as well as working on new minor updates, fixes and improvements.
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
https://steamcommunity.com/games/573090/announcements/detail/3145201921187416514
