7 Days to Die Turns Chicken Chasing Into a Full Apocalypse Profession

7 Days to Die V3.1.0, also known as the Henpocalypse Update, is now available in experimental form on Steam. The Fun Pimps said the Stable release will follow after testing, unless critical bugs require more work during the experimental phase. The complete announcement and release notes are available in the official Steam announcement.

The update adds a new way to survive the wasteland: catch a chicken, protect it from zombies on the trip home, and place it inside the new Chicken Coop workstation. From there, players can produce eggs and feathers, unlock breeding, and cook several chicken-based meals. Yes, the apocalypse now includes poultry escort missions.

How to join the experimental build

1. Right-click 7 Days to Die in Steam.
2. Choose Properties.
3. Open the Game Versions & Betas tab.
4. Select latest_experimental from the drop-down menu.
5. Wait for the game to download the build.

Important notes before updating

The update splits enemy and animal density and respawn settings into separate day and night options. Players should check their preset codes because older codes may no longer be valid, and some settings could return to their defaults. The official presets have been updated for the new format.

The chicken coop tooltip also received a late localization correction. Chickens are required as an input for production, and further language updates will arrive in a future update.

New games are recommended, but existing saves should remain compatible. A fresh game is not required. Players can use the Manage Saves function to copy and name a backup before testing the experimental build.

Henpocalypse V3.1.0 Release Notes

The new Chicken Coop and its related systems are the main additions in this release. Chickens can be captured and carried back to base, but a stressed bird may trigger an event based on the player’s game stage. The update also adds new sandbox controls for coop production, survival needs, infection, stack sizes, and chicken-related events.

• Chicken farming in the apocalypse is harder than it sounds. First you have to sneak up on the fowl. When that fails, give chase until you catch it. Then defend your raucous, fidgeting feathered friend from zombies all the way back to base. Place it in your Chicken Coop workstation for a steady supply of eggs and feathers. Rinse. Repeat. Now you’re an apocalyptic chicken farmer.
• The Chicken Coop includes three tool slots:
  • Brooding Lamp: Speeds up production and chicken maturation
  • Chicken Run: Lets chickens hunt for bugs, cutting feed cost by 50%
  • Nesting Box: Unlocks chicken breeding and adds nesting slots
• Once you catch a chicken and add it to your Chicken Coop, you will need to feed it by crafting ‘Rekt’s Chicken Feed’ made from Corn and Rotting Flesh.
• In addition to capturing and carrying chickens, a new Chicken Stress event mechanic has been added for flavor. By default, when your captured chicken reaches 100% stress, you drop your chicken and a special event is triggered based on your game stage. These new events range from dropping your chicken to angered zombies to angry chickens! A sandbox option is available to tune these events to your liking.
• Along with the new Chicken Coop Workstation comes four new Chicken-Centric Recipes including:
  • Chicken Nuggets
    • Crafted from grilled meat, feathers, corn meal, and animal fat. Not only are the nuggets filling, they temporarily remove encumbrance.
  • Chicken Wings
    • Crafted from domesticated chickens, corn meal, eggs, oil, and honey. Grandpa’s favorite wings give you temporarily boosted melee damage and infection immunity.
  • Ash Chicken Stew
    • Crafted from domesticated chickens, mushrooms, corn, coal, and water. Comes with plenty of food, but has no smell to zombies.
  • Roadrunner Chicken Jerky
    • Crafted from domesticated chickens, yucca fruit, nitrate powder, and beer. A moderate amount of food that temporarily boosts your run speed, beep beep.
• The Big Beak cosmetic outfit, originally worn by Nana’s Famous Chicken Mascot, is coming with the Stable release. Cluck and load. Cock-a-Doodle Doom.
• We’ve added new Sandbox Settings and a QR Code feature! Now players can easily scan, copy, and share sandbox codes from their phones. Note: Existing custom presets may require updating with these new additions. New Sandbox Options:
  • Chicken Coop Time – Speed of production
  • Chicken Coop Yield – Amount produced per cycle
  • Chicken Coop Input – Required feed amount per production cycle
  • Chicken Stress Event – Controls events when chickens get stressed
  • Density and Respawn rates have been split into day and night options
  • Density and Respawn types have been split into enemy and animal
  • Infection Chance – Controls chance to get infected
  • Hunger Multiplier – Rate of food consumption
  • Thirst Multiplier – Rate of water consumption
  • Stack Size Multiplier – Max size is capped at 30,000 for all items
• We’ve added 4 new Loading Screen Images to the game replacing the old ones where the tooltips are displayed.

V3.1.0 b11 Changelog

Added

• Sandbox options for ChickenCoopTime, ChickenCoopOutput, ChickenCoopInput, InfectionChance, HungerMultiplier, ThirstMultiplier
• New Chicken attack SFX
• Option to keep Discord DM notifications audible while in game
• Discord login cancel button for instances where login would block all input on Xbox Consoles

Changed

• BiomeRespawn and Biome Density Sandbox Options to Day and Night values
• Enemy Density and Respawn Sandbox Options did not increase desert or snow rare spawns like Chuck and Rancher
• Localization sync for Russian language
• Adjusted Chinese localization for clarification
• Localization for The Fireman’s Almanac Vol.2 to align with new mod quality levels
• Simplified Chinese localization sync
• Updated Official Sandbox Preset codes to include new Day/Night Density and Respawn settings
• Replaced animal Boar with animal Bear and balanced environment in house_construction_02

Fixed

• Increasing Sandbox Option for Dew Collector Time could instantly fill collectors
• EndofStreamException and corrupted game from converting copies of saves to v3.0
• Clients were unable to see results from getsandboxoptions console command
• EOS exception in TileEntityNetPackage during POI reset
• Serverside EXC related to memory stream
• Battery Banks caused light bleed in adjacent rooms
• Robotics could break after being combined
• RequirementItemModTier did not check for null in slots
• Player inventory data could be sent to server when nothing had changed
• Cursor is now hidden on camera displays for Motion Sensors/All Turrets
• Could not change controller icon style without changing any other option
• Workstation UI Turn On button was on wrong layer
• Workstation slots were not selectable after opening for a short time
• Server Filter would not show all available filtered games
• Filtering long paged lists no longer cause single null entry if an item from a later page was selected before filtering
• Prefab Editor Help screen tab was overflowing
• NRE when saving audio options
• Server Browser list totals do not add up in some cases
• Corruption when rapidly loading/unloading multiple chunks
• Players were unable to paste sandbox code when already in Unsaved preset
• Editing Tools UI could stick and overlap other UI

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7 Days to Die

Developed by The Fun Pimps

Set in a brutally unforgiving post-apocalyptic world overrun by the undead, 7 Days to Die is an open-world game that is a unique combination of first person shooter, survival horror, tower defense, and role-playing games. It presents combat, crafting, looting, mining, exploration, and character growth, in a way that has seen a rapturous response from fans worldwide. Play the definitive zombie survival sandbox RPG that came first. Navezgane awaits!

• Genre: Shooter, Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Strategy, Adventure, Indie
• Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Linux, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Mac, Xbox One
• Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Split screen
• Release: 2024-07-25
• Publisher: Telltale Games, The Fun Pimps
• Age Rating: USK 16 / PEGI 18 / ESRB M / GRAC 19+ / ACB MA 15+
• IGDB Rating: 69.3/100

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