Studio Wildcard have released a massive update to Ark: Survival Evolved this week on Xbox One. Update 738 went livet last week on PC and this week sees its debut on Xbox. The update features a large amount of content promised by Studio Wildcard at E3. To highlight, the update sees the release of humongous Titanosaur, the biggest dino to grace the world of ARK. The original first map gets a makeover with the expansion of the snow biome and a large area of the swamp now a luscious redwood biome. In addition to these major updates, Studio Wildcard have added numerous other features including, gas masks, new structures, tastycakes and rendering speed.
Now for the Spotlight. The Titanosaur. As you can see from the video the Titanosaur is the biggest Dino to grace the ARK world. I found my first one on The Island by the Red Obelisk and it towered above the trees. The camera shake is unbelievable to compliment this giant and its unique plated body can be seen from far away. In the video you can see a wild Titanosaur destroy a wooden base in one hit. I have yet to see one aggressive and I don’t think I want to.
The Mighty Titanosaur dwarfs the landscape.
The Titanosaur is unfortunately a temporary tame. Meaning once you have tamed the beast you only have the length of time it takes its hunger bar to deplete which can take between 16 and 20 hours. To tame one you’ll need at least an army at your back as well as some form of platform saddle creature armed to the teeth. The only way to knock a Titanosaur out is by hitting it (most effectively in the head) with catapults, ballista, cannons and rocket turrets. Once its knocked out you can access the Titanosaur and saddle it, taming it instantly and starting the drain on food.
The requirements for a Titanosaur saddle are a little steep, be sure to have one made if hunting one to tame.
And the other big update, the addition of the Redwood biome to The Island. A large section of the swamp towards the south of the island has been converted to the redwood which can be seen for miles around by its towering majestic pines. So far I have discovered that the Redwood is home to Gallis, Carnos, Raptors, Phiomas, Terror Birds, Paracers and Megaloceros (BIG ASS DEAR), which makes taming them at lower levels a bit easier.
The Redwood is quite safe for new tribes considering there are hardly any large predators.
The addition of the Redwood has introduced the building of tree platforms and tree sap taps. The platforms act similar to the boats and allow players to build a number of structures on the platform. Walls do not snap to the platform so if you want to create a contained tower you will need fence foundations. The greatest addition to the construction are the rope ladders, the easiest way i learned was by off-setting a trapdoor off the platform. Not only that, the rope ladders are highly useful for larger creatures that have platform saddles. This means you can descend a plaftorm saddle without breaking legs. The tree sap taps allows players to gather sap which is used to create and refill gas masks, a new headpiece that makes surviving poisonous caves and weapons a lot easier.
Building a tree house has never been so…easy?
Building the wooden tree platform is not for the new starters in ARK: Survival Evolved. The requirements for the platform are huge and require the access of a smithy.
In addition to the Redwood biome, the Snow Biome at the roof of the map has been extended towards the top middle of the map. This makes winter survival more difficult but increases the spawn of winter dinos. Across the map there has been the inclusion of ruins, small stone features that hide some of the origin of ARK, the ruins being inspiration from The Center map.
Large sprawling ice shelves can now be found on once flowing rivers, perhaps testing a weather system?
There’s a new mechanic in ARK too now. Do you frequently play PVP and worry about being raided? Now Studio Wildcard have added the custom tripwire alarm that will send notification to you via the survivetheark.com. This means when you need a much needed break and you and your tribe are away, an alert can tell you when you are being raided to help defend your base. In addition to these updates, there are also;
- Balled Doeds (armadillos) are no longer invincible to tamed dino attacks.
- Ground clutter has been extended
- Magnifying glass now shows dinos torpor stat
- Tamed land dinos that are under water will no longer surface once the player dismounts, they will stay down as long as they can before their oxygen depletes. Making underwater exploration easier.
- +33% rendering speed gain
- Vaults can no longer be dropped on Platform saddles
- Pillar placement issue adjusted
Be sure to tweet us @XBLGamerhub screenshots of what you build in the new Redwood. Follow me @MJSaiger, I’m hoping to start a private server over the summer.
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