Dystopian mobile RPG Arknights just announced its new game update, Operational Intelligence, with brand new events, operators, and storylines. After the occupation crisis between L.G.D and The Reunion in episode five, the game reveals new plots to unveil the stories behind other characters. During the limited event (March 25 - April 8), players can obtain Valid Intelligence Units from event operations to unlock extra stories and rewards.
Vignette Series Sneak Peek
There are seven new stories in this update, each of them possessing an individual plot. The stories involve new operators, unknown history about doctor, solid faith and belief among reunion members, struggles of this great battle for everyone, etc. Every separate story forms a web connecting the worldview behind the gameplay.
New characters
There are four new operators, six-star supporter Magallan, five-star sniper Executor, five-star guard Flamebringer, and four-star sniper Vermeil.
Magallan is the operator from Rhine Lab with a powerful skill that summons aggressive drones to fight by her side. Her drones are very practical. These drones not only slow enemies, but they’re also capable of extra single target art or AOE physical damage delivery.
Executor will group attack every enemy in his range with 1.5 times damage to front row enemies. He’s very useful when facing swarms of enemies.
Flamebringer’s HP will increase for every kill he gets. This talent, combined with his self-healing skill by attacking enemies, makes Flamebringer a unique and potent operator. Flamebringer’s attack damage and attack speed will remain upgraded until the end of battle if he’s on second skill with a fellow Medic. Flamebringer can be redeemed when players gather enough valid intelligence units.
As a four-star sniper, Vermeil has relatively higher basic attack damage than other snipers of the same level. After her second skill is activated, she can attack two enemies at once.
New furniture sets Airtight Anti-Chemical Safety Cabin, new outfits for Silence, Meteorite, Jessica, and headhunting events are also waiting for players to discover in-game.
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The CEO of Roblox believes the future is bright for the company, following a very successful first day on the stock market where its value reached $45 billion--higher than EA and Take-Two.
David Baszucki told The Wall Street Journal that growth for Roblox is expected to be slower in 2021 compared to 2020 with the world coming out of the pandemic and engagement numbers in video games falling back down to Earth. But on a longer timeline, the executive said Roblox is taking steps to expand the appeal of Roblox beyond GenZ and in more markets around the world.
"We're in this for the long haul," Baszucki said. "The engines that have been powering Roblox's growth up to the pandemic, we see those continuing well into the future."
Roblox makes money by selling currency called Robux, while the game overall is more akin to a platform. Users can create their own games within Roblox and then sell their creations.
Roblox developers made $329 million collectively in 2020, and more than 300 people made more than $100,000 during the year. The team at Roblox is now trying to improve the core technology behind the game to allow people to create more sophisticated games. The hope is that this will in turn attract older players--right now, more than half of its players are under the age of 13.
Roblox brings in a lot of revenue, as the company made $923.9 million in 2020 (+82%), with active daily users climbing to an astonishing 32.6 million. However, Roblox Corp. does not make any money. The company posted a loss of $253.3 million in 2020, which was significantly worse than its loss of $71 million the year before.
Baszucki's own net worth has climbed above $3 billion thanks to Roblox's direct listing. He won't take a salary at the company for the next seven years and he is planning charitable donations.
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A new Valheim patch has toughened up a few of the multiplayer survival RPG's boss enemies. According to developer Iron Gate, the bosses were too easy and players were "killing them too fast." With this new update applied, players should find that the bosses Bonemass, Moder, and Yagluth are now more challenging to kill.
Among other "major changes" highlighted by Iron Gate, the February 25 patch also updates the "socket backend" of the game, which is an under-the-hood change that should "improve connection issues for a lot of players." Additionally, Vulkan support is now available on Windows, and this should help fix "some random crashes" that some players were experiencing due to their GPU drivers.Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browserDisable in this text fieldEditEdit in GingerEdit in Ginger×
Another change players may notice is that the "Deathquito" enemies now have a "slightly longer" audio range, so you should be able to hear them from further away.
Additionally, the Valheim game world should no longer become corrupted when players log out using ALT+F4. Finally, Iron Gate warned that once you create a character and then load and save them into the new, updated version of Valheim, you can't revert those characters to an older version of the game. This is due to "changes in character save data."
You can see the full patch notes below, as posted by Iron Gate on Steam. Developed by a small team, Valheim is a bonafide phenomenon now, with more than 4 million copies sold in three weeks.
PlayingValheimwith friends is the premier way to enjoy the viking survival game. To do that, you'll need to either create servers in the game so other players can join you, or join them in their servers. Valheim's menus can be a bit confusing to navigate, though, especially if you don't really know much about local hosting or dedicated servers. And even joining games can be a little wonky, requiring you to use Steam's menus to find servers using IP addresses.
Check out the guide below for everything you need to know to set up your own servers or join someone else's in Valheim. It's also worth noting that if you're looking for new co-op viking friends, you can check the Community server list and join in with other people you don't know--although you should do so at your own risk, since you never know if your new friends might turn out to be griefers. It's also good practice to check for Discord servers to go with your Valheim servers so you can talk to other players.
Joining A Server
The Join feature for Valheim can be a bit janky. We had trouble finding the servers created by our friends by going through the game client. You should be able to join a friend's Valheim server from the main menu by using either the server name or the IP address. If the server is set up correctly, it should appear on the Community Server list by name; use the "Filter" text box to search for it. You'll need the password to gain entry. If that doesn't work, use the "IP" button to search for the server by its IP number and enter the password.
If neither of those options work, however, there is another way around using Steam. Quit Valheim and go to the Steam window you use to launch the game. Look up the menu at the top of the window and select "View." Go down the list to "Servers" and click it to pull open a new window.
On the servers window, go to the "Favorites" tab and click the button to "Add a Server" in the bottom-right corner. That'll bring up another menu window where you can enter the IP address of the server you want to join. Do that and enter the password when prompted. Steam will automatically launch Valheim and allow you to choose your character; you'll have to enter the password again to get into the server, but you should load in no problem from there.
That should add the server to your "Favorites" list, so it'll appear in the Servers window from now on. You can enter it again the same way, from the View menu. Just double-click on the server you want and enter the password to jump into the game.
Creating A Local Game
This is a relatively simple option for players who want to hang out in small groups and don't intend to play alone. Creating
Start the game and choose a character. When you hit Start, you'll have the option to create a random world, to make a custom one based on a specific seed, or to join a game created by someone else. If you create your own world, you can start a server that other players can join by clicking the "Start Server" radial button. That'll allow other players to log in with you--just set a password and a name for your server and you're all set. Other people you provide with that information should be able to find your server and join you while you're playing.
Making a local server uses the computer you're playing Valheim on to host everyone else who's playing with you, which comes with some drawbacks. First, you're limited somewhat in the number of people you can host. Valheim game worlds can support up to 10 players at a time, but it's likely your computer will struggle the more players you get in, so try to keep your groups closer to four or five.
Also note that since a local server uses your computer to host the game, it's unavailable when you're not playing. If you log out of Valheim while others are playing on your local server, they'll also be logged out of the game, and they'll have to wait for you to log back in to play on your server again. With that in mind, it's best to use a local server when you're going to play reliably with the same small group at predictable times.
Creating A Dedicated Server
You can also create a dedicated Valheim server that won't require you to be logged into the game in order to play. You'll either need a computer that can stay online to allow your group to log into it, or consider paying a service to rent a server that you can use for the game.
Before you do anything else, you'll need to set up Port Forwarding on your internet router to make sure that other players can access the server from the internet. Check the website for your internet service provider and router for more information on how to do that. Make a note of which port number you use for this step, because you'll need that info later. By default, Valheim's servers use ports 2456-2458.
To start a dedicated Valheim server, you'll need to download a tool from Steam that came with the game when you bought it. Find it by clicking the drop-down menu on the left side of your Steam interface, labeled "Games," and select "Tools." Searching "Valheim" will bring up the Valheim Dedicated Server tool, which you'll need to download.
From there, the steps for setting up a server are pretty straightforward, although you'll need to do some quick text editing to get up and running.
1. On the Valheim Dedicated Server page on Steam, click the gear icon for Settings in the top-right corner. Go to "Manage," then "Browse Local Files." You can also get this same menu by right-clicking Valheim Dedicated Server under Tools.
2. In the local files window, look for "start_headless_server.bat". You'll need to edit that file using a text editor like Notepad, but first, make a copy of the file to serve as a backup should anything go wrong.
3. Right-click start_headless_server.bat and choose "Edit" to open it in Notepad. Go down to the last line of the file, which starts with "valheim_server". You'll need to make a few changes to this line to set up the parameters for your server
4. Find '-name "My server"' in the line and change "My server" to the name you want to give the server. It can be anything, but it's good to choose something your friends will recognize. Your name should stay inside the quotation marks--so if you were to name your server GameSpot, the entry would look like this: -name "GameSpot"
5. Find '-port 2456' in the line and change the number to the number of the port you used for port forwarding on your router.
6. Find 'world "Dedicated"' in the line and give your game world a name in the place of "Dedicated". If you've already created a Valheim world (which you can do from the start menu when you launch the game), you can use that world--just put its name inside the quotation marks. Otherwise, a new game world with the name you use here will be created instead.
7. Find '-password "Secret"' in the line and set your server's password. Whatever you put in the quotation marks will be the server's password, and it'll be case-sensitive. You'll need to give this password to anybody else you want to be able to access the server, so it's a good idea to write it down for quick reference.
8. Find 'savedir [PATH]' in the line. By default, Valheim saves your game Worlds and various permissions files in a specific folder in the AppData folder inside your Windows username folder. If you want to make the game save those files somewhere else, you can specify the file path.
9. Save "start_headless_server.bat" and run the file to launch your dedicated server. You'll know it's ready to go for other players to connect to it when you see the message "Game server connected" in the server program window. If the server program triggers a pop-up from Windows Firewall, make sure to allow it full permissions by checking all the boxes so that other players can connect to your server.
10. Allow other players to join your server by adding it to the Community server list from the Valheim menu when you launch the game--players should be able to find your server by the name you gave it. You can also grab the server's IP address once it's up and running and give that to friends so they can search for the server that way. As mentioned in the Join section above, if Valheim's server list and IP address search function are acting up, use the Steam "Server" page (under the View menu in Steam) to search for the server that way. Make sure to give friends the password to the server or they won't be able to join.
That's it! If you need more information, you can find the "Valheim Dedicated Server Manual" PDF in the Valheim Dedicated Server local files, where you found start_headless_server.bat.
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The Workbench in Valheim is more like your crafting workhorse. It's the first crafting table you'll build when you start to establish your viking base, and it remains essential all the way through the game, allowing you to craft key items like arrows and to construct buildings even after you've moved on to higher-level materials. The Workbench is one of the first things you'll craft, but upgrading it will take some work--and unlock some key items you'll need along the way.
Here's everything you need to know to get your Workbench going, including some requirements that might not be obvious right away, what it'll cost to make, and what benefits it'll give you as you explore Valheim.Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browserDisable in this text fieldEditEdit in GingerEdit in Ginger×
You can craft a couple of tools out of sticks and rocks when you first start Valheim, but in order to make just about anything else, you'll need to build a Workbench. There are a few things you should keep in mind before you grab 10 pieces of wood and throw down your bench in any old spot, however.
First, having a Workbench automatically augments your hammer, allowing you to build new stuff--so just having a Workbench is an improvement you need to make. But you can't actually craft anything at the Workbench right away, which means you can't use it to make new weapons or armor right after you make it. In order to make anything at the bench, you need to build a roof over it, which can be an annoying extra step.
With the Workbench built, however, your Hammer will gain the ability to construct building pieces from wood. It's pretty easy to throw up three walls and a thatch roof to create a quick tool shed around a Workbench, and in a pinch this will do. If you're planning to build a bigger base, you might want to think a little more critically about where you want your Workbench, and the building that will surround it, to be. Then again, you can always bust everything up and move it around with your Hammer, since Valheim refunds all construction materials when you disassemble something from the Build menu.
Once you've crafted a Workbench, you can make all sorts of critical things, including a bed that will allow you to set a new respawn point, a bonfire that will allow you to get the critical Rested bonus, and a cooking station to make food.
You can also use any Workbench to repair anything can you craft from it, free of charge--so don't go building a bunch of extra axes or bows once the durability of one runs out. It's good practice to just stop by your Workbench periodically and nail that Repair button a bunch of times to make sure your gear is in tip-top shape.
To further upgrade your Workbench, you'll need to create other key buildings within the bench's radius.
Workbench Level 2 - Chopping Block
Cost: 10 Wood, 10 Flint
Unlocks: Deer Hide armor, Abyssal Razor, Stagbreaker, Flinthead arrows, Fire arrows, Poison arrows, Wolf Fur cape, Lox cape, Linen cape
The ability to create a Chopping Block unlocks once you find Flint, which you can snag near water. You'll need this upgrade to get better armor and a few key weapons--including new arrow types. A Level 2 bench gets you a lot of items and while you'll need to upgrade to reach higher-tier gear, a lot of the stuff you'll use for most of the game requires a Chopping Block. That's something you should keep in mind if you make multiple benches--it's usually good to bring them up to Level 2 so you have more convenient locations for making arrows.
The Tanning Rack is the last major upgrade to your Workbench for making armor. After this upgrade, you'll move on to making metal armor at a Forge, but don't sleep on Troll Hide, which can be very helpful in dealing with the Black Forest and starting to venture into Swamps.
Workbench Level 4 - Adze
Cost: 10 Fine Wood, 3 Bronze
Requirements: Forge (within radius)
Unlocks: Frost arrow, Needle arrow
You won't be able to make an Adze until you defeat Eikthyr, craft the Antler Pickaxe, and start mining Tin and Copper. You'll also need a Forge, so make sure to build it within the radius of your Workbench, so that you can also build your Adze. There aren't too many things you need the Level 4 Workbench to build, but it will allow you to continue to upgrade your items.
Workbench Level 5 - Tool Shelf
Cost: 1 Fine Wood, 4 Iron, 4 Obsidian
Requirements: Wall space near Workbench
Unlocks: Equipment upgrades
The final upgrade for the Workbench doesn't unlock much in the way of new items, but it is essential to keep upgrading your various other items and tools. To unlock it, you'll need to build a Tool Shelf, which goes on the wall near the Workbench, so make sure you've left enough space in your building to place one. This last upgrade also requires gathering Obsidian, which is only found in the Mountain biome. The cold Mountain weather will kill you if you don't make Frost Resist potions, so keep that in mind. You'll also need an Iron Pickaxe to mine Obsidian, but it's relatively easy to find once you start climbing into Mountains.
Other Workbench Tips
Not Every Workbench Needs A Roof
Especially as you advance into the game, you'll start to expand your base and venture out into the world to make additional outposts, especially as you start to find Iron in distant Swamp biomes. Workbenches are essential to expanding bases and outposts, but if a Workbench isn't your main one where you'll be doing most of your crafting work, don't bother upgrading it. You can get most things done with a base-level Workbench when it comes to building. If you're not intending to craft at a particular Workbench, you don't need to bother throwing a roof over it, so save yourself the hassle.
Put Workbenches Near The Edges Of Your Base
Enemies won't spawn within the radius of a Workbench, so you can use benches near the edges of your base as extra defense. You'll want to be sure to put the Workbenches away from where big enemies like trolls might smash them, but coupled with a moat and other defenses, a Workbench near the border of your territory can help to keep it a little more clear.
You Don't Have To Build Inside The Workbench Radius
Yes, Workbenches create a radius around themselves that allows for building, but that doesn't mean your buildings must be inside that radius. You can actually add stuff outside of the ring, provided you're standing inside it. That's useful to know when you're trying to make repairs on certain structures or vehicles--namely boats.
Don't Sleep On Upgrading Your Gear
Unlocking new recipes and climbing the tech tree is nice, but note that your Workbench will allow you to upgrade things you already own, often pretty significantly and at a lower cost than building all new things. You can get far in the world by continually upgrading your lower-level weapons and armor, and if you've got the resources from fighting early-game enemies especially, it's worth it to do so. Even upgrading tools can be useful over the long term since it'll increase their durability, meaning you'll be able to do more out in the world before returning to your Workbench to repair them. It can be easy to ignore the Upgrade tab on your Workbench, but amping up your gear can help you stay alive longer and brave tougher biomes even before you get higher-tier armor and weapons.
Use Workbenches To Quickly Dismantle Ruined Buildings
A useful early tip is to build your base on a ruined village or town you might come across, since it'll give you a cheaper, quicker way to get some structures created while you're advancing up the Valheim tech trees and getting acquainted with the game. These villages are also great quick sources for resources, since you can repurpose the wood in a building you don't want to build one you do. Don't bother chopping away at a building you're trying to level for wood, though--instead, whip up a quick Workbench next to the building and use your hammer to dismantle it nearly instantly. It'll save your axe and get the job done much more quickly.
Make Boat Repair Stations For Your Adventures
Before long, you'll probably want to start exploring your Valheim world to go in search of new biomes and new materials to advance your viking. To do that, you're going to need to build a boat. The good news is that you can cobble together a raft with low-level resources, but you'll still need a Workbench near water to build it. Making a small boathouse near where you intend to land your craft is actually a good idea, however, since boats can be destroyed by aquatic creatures or smashing them into underwater rocks too often, and the only way to repair them is with a nearby Workbench. As you explore, it's a good idea to create small Workbench stations in likely spots where you intend to land your boat. That'll allow you to repair or construct new craft if you need to, while also giving you semi-permanent waypoints where you can build bonfires and other useful items to help make exploring easier.
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