ARK: Survival Evolved on the PC received a new patch late Wednesday night that brings a host of new additions to the dinosaur survival game. A pair of new creatures were added with very different utilities along with a new crafting item, a powerful new weapon, plus a new home for the Broodmother.
The latest update to ARK: Survival Evolved brings the PC version up to 239.0, and Xbox One players should expect to receive it within the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, not everything made it in with this patch. Studio Wildcard had to pull the second phase of the Breeding Mechanics yet again along with Tribe Member Rankings and 4K textures. Developer Jeremy Stieglitz did declare “by Grabthar’s Hammer” these will be included in the next patch scheduled for May 3.
On the animal front, the 239.0 patch does add two new creatures with very different uses. The Direbear is primarily located in the northwest snowy portions of The Island along with some of the mountainous areas. The bear has a huge health pool, good speed, and put out a tremendous amount of damage, which makes it an excellent mount to bring into battle.
The other new creature is the Manta. This rideable ocean-going creature is a somewhat unique tame that requires Angler Gel. They are also quite fast and can jump out the water, as can be seen in the accompanying video, and have been compared to ARK: Survival Evolved’s version of the jet ski or waverunner. This naturally sets up the possibility of future mods or maps featuring water races.
Higher level players will welcome the addition of the Chemistry Table. This new crafting station replaces the Mortar and Pestle with some special benefits. Items crafted with the Chemistry Table will be produced in half the time it takes with the Mortar and Pestle and will produce bonus items. For example, making 6 Gunpowder with 4 Charcoal and 4 Sparkpowder at the new crafting station will generate 2 additional Gunpowder. The Chemistry Table does require power from a Generator, and it requires Gasoline in its inventory to use. It is also quite expensive to unlock at 65 engram points once level 85 is reached.
The Primitive Cannon looks like it came straight off of a pirate ship and requires players to unlock both the Primitive Cannon and the Cannon Ball to use. These can be unlocked at level 40 at a cost of 25 and 5 Engram Points, respectively. Using the cannon is handled by using the action key to bring up a radial menu to aim it up, down, left, and right and to fire it. Each aiming movement is very slight, so it may take several trips through the menu to get it adjusted properly.
Finally, the Broodmother Arena is the other new addition to ARK: Survival Evolved with this update. The boss was previously summoned at the Green Tower, but now Survivors must face her and her brood in her house.
A couple of issues were fixed with this patch to ARK: Survival Evolved . You can read the full patch notes posted to Steam below.
- New Creature: Direbear!
- New Creature: Manta!
- New Structure: Chemistry Table!
- New Structure: Primitive Cannon!
- Broodmother Boss Arenas
- Added 2 more Player and Dino Max Levels
- Fixed timeouts that people were getting connecting to servers that used lots of Mods
- Fixed issue with placeable explosive/traps collisions
- Fixed physx issue that could cause excessive server lag
ARK: Survival Evolved’s official release has been delayed https://t.co/ZFg0A4TmUl pic.twitter.com/iEXzUy4eZE
— GameZone (@GameZoneOnline) April 26, 2016
Additionally, Studio Wildcard has provided a preview of what is currently planned for ARK: Survival Evolved with the 240.0 patch.
- New Creature: Lystrosaurus!
- New Creature: Arthropluera!
- New Creature: Sabertooth Salmon, with Fish Meat!
- New Weapon: Bolas!
- Megapithecus and Dragon Arenas
- Ruins & Explorer Notes
- BY GRABTHAR’S HAMMER, THESE WILL RELEASE!!!!! :
- Breeding Mechanics Phase 2
- Tribe Member Rankings with Customizable Per-Rank Privileges
- Epic 4K Texture Deployment (all textures at source resolution)! Better texture pool utilization at all Texture setting levels
[Image via Studio Wildcard]