RELEASED // CLOSED ALPHA
HOME IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT
A major mid-0.5 Stable Alpha update expanding Home development, survivor progression, Training, Storage and the systems that make a refuge worth returning to.
This is a big one. Over the last few updates, we have been laying the foundations for what a refuge should eventually become in Still Alive: Idle. With this update, a huge part of that work comes together.
Your Home is no longer simply somewhere you return to between trips into Ashwick. You can begin developing it, organising it, securing it and building dedicated spaces that make your survivor more capable.
Strength, Fitness, the Home Gym, Physical Training, expanded Combat Training, Storage progression, Back Gardens and major improvements across the Kitchen, Workshop, Infirmary and Journal all arrive in Stable with this release.
HOME DEVELOPMENT
- Home Development now brings Security, Workshop, Utilities, Food, Kitchen, Medical, Storage and Training into one refuge plan.
- Existing infrastructure is recognised where saved state proves completion. Completed permanent projects remain visible in Development and are removed from the ordinary Construction catalogue where appropriate.
- First-stage Security now includes:
- Timber Window Barricades
- Timber Door Brace
- Fence & Gate Repair
- Stronger fortification remains future 0.5 work.
STORAGE & ORGANISATION
- General Shelving adds 5 universal slots to the initial General Storage Home.
- The Sorting Station adds category shortcuts plus Manual, Name, Category and Rarity ordering. Supported sorts can run ascending or descending, while manual order remains persistent.
- Rowan now supports up to 8 Modular Storage Shelves. Each Shelf creates a separate 20-slot Storage Home.
- Storage Crates remain unlimited capacity additions applied to the Storage Home you select.
- Rowan now describes quantity-limited products by their purchase limit instead of presenting them as tiered upgrades.
COMBAT TRAINING
- Training Areas now progress through three tiers:
- Makeshift: 2 weapon-family XP every 30 seconds
- Equipped: 3 weapon-family XP every 30 seconds
- Advanced: 4 weapon-family XP every 30 seconds
- Combat Training requires a genuinely valid equipped weapon from the selected family. If that equipment becomes invalid, Training stops safely.
- The Training Area has a redesigned presentation with new environment artwork for each tier.
HOME GYM
- The new Home Gym progresses from Makeshift to Equipped to Advanced.
- The Equipped Home Gym includes a built-in Pull-up Bar.
- Dumbbells, Kettlebells and the Barbell can be scavenged and fitted to the Home Gym.
- Owning Gym equipment is not enough. It must be fitted at the active refuge before its associated exercise becomes available.
STRENGTH
- Strength is a new survivor Skill with levels 1 to 99. It does not contribute to Survivor Rank.
- Strength continuously improves melee damage with Blunt, Bladed and Axe weapons, reaching a maximum bonus of 10% at Level 99.
- Strength expands normal Backpack capacity at key levels:
- Level 20: +1 slot
- Level 40: +2 slots
- Level 60: +3 slots
- Level 80: +4 slots
- Level 99: +5 slots
- Specialist Carry Gear capacity is unaffected.
FITNESS
- Fitness is a new survivor Skill with levels 1 to 99. It does not contribute to Survivor Rank.
- At Level 99, Fitness removes 5 percentage points from effective enemy accuracy.
- At Level 99, Fitness makes Scavenging 10% faster. It does not accelerate unrelated activities.
PHYSICAL TRAINING
- Bodyweight exercises:
- Push-ups: Strength, 25 seconds
- Sit-ups: Strength and Fitness, 25 seconds
- Squats: Strength, 25 seconds
- Burpees: Fitness-heavy mixed Training, 30 seconds
- Equipment exercises:
- Pull-ups: Equipped Home Gym or better, 30 seconds
- Dumbbell Press: fitted Dumbbells, 30 seconds
- Kettlebell Swings: fitted Kettlebell, 30 seconds
- Barbell Deadlifts: Advanced Home Gym and fitted Barbell, 30 seconds
- Makeshift, Equipped and Advanced Home Gyms provide base physical XP budgets of 4, 6 and 8 per completed action. Equipment exercises receive 25% greater Training efficiency.
- Hydration affects action speed. Physical Training supports offline progress up to the existing eight-hour cap and retains fractional XP where applicable.
IMPORTANT TRAIT CHANGES
- Strong: previously +10% weapon damage; now +5% Strength XP.
- Fit: previously +10 Maximum Health; now +5% Fitness XP.
- Existing Fit survivors may retain Maximum Health already persisted in their save. Newly created Fit survivors receive the Fitness XP aptitude instead.
- Existing survivors without the new physical Skills begin at Strength Level 1 with 0 XP and Fitness Level 1 with 0 XP. Historical physical XP is not reconstructed.
KITCHEN, WORKSHOP & INFIRMARY
- The Kitchen is now organised around Appliances, Preparation, Recipes and Equipment. Carcass Processing remains under Preparation.
- Consolidated and appliance-specific recipe views draw from the same Cooking recipe authority.
- Crafting and Dismantling now use a compact catalogue beside a full selected-recipe inspector. Selecting a recipe no longer changes the active recipe.
- Medical preparation uses the same clearer workspace approach, and implemented Infirmary treatment values now display correctly.
- Treatment Bed and Rest & Recover are not included in this update.
OUT THERE
- Back Gardens is a new Scavenging Level 7 location built around domestic sheds, unfinished repairs and abandoned gardens.
- The Handyman is a new encounter waiting somewhere among those gardens.
NEW ITEMS
- New canonical Items:
- Wooden Planks
- Dumbbells
- Kettlebell
- Barbell
- At Crafting Level 5, one Salvaged Timber can be sawn into two Wooden Planks in 30 seconds for 8 Crafting XP. This requires a Hand Saw and consumes 1 durability per batch, with no failure chance.
- Dumbbells and Kettlebells can be found in Silent Suburbs. The Barbell can be found in Back Gardens.
- Frying Pans can now be found naturally while Scavenging Abandoned Street and Silent Suburbs. They remain non-craftable and are not sold by Rowan.
SURVIVOR RECORD & JOURNAL
- The Survivor Record now shows how many Items that survivor has discovered without exposing the catalogue total or a completion percentage.
- Undiscovered Items reveal no name, artwork, description or acquisition source.
- Legitimate discoveries remain recorded after an Item is consumed, sold, dismantled, broken or lost.
- Survival History now records a wider set of meaningful milestones. Trustworthy legacy milestones without a reliable date may appear as Before Records Began.
- Strength and Fitness now appear in survivor Skill and status presentation.
CHARACTER CREATION
- Terraced House is the available and default starting refuge.
- Last Orders and Ashwick Service Station remain visible but locked for new survivors, marked Planned for 0.7 · The World.
- Existing Last Orders and Service Station survivors remain valid. They are not migrated, relocated or reset.
- This keeps current Home development focused on the Terraced House before refuge choice expands properly in 0.7.
OFFLINE & QUALITY OF LIFE
- Partial activity progress and supported offline continuation are more reliable across Training, Construction and other long-running activities.
- Offline-to-live handoff now better preserves legitimate progress without replaying already claimed time.
- Hydration boundaries and equipment or facility invalidation stop activities safely while retaining rewards that were genuinely earned.
- Rewards settle once. Loading or resuming a save does not repeat an already resolved action.
- Deeper live and offline parity work remains ongoing.
WHAT'S NEXT
- 0.5 Home is not complete. This update is a major step forward, with more work still to come.
- Remaining future 0.5 areas include:
- Advanced Workshop and Welding
- Stronger metal Security
- Base Power, Generator and wiring
- Polytunnel
- Restored Electric Oven
- Final Established milestone
- Well Rested
- Relocation, alternate-refuge identities and refuge specialities now belong to 0.7 The World.
KEEP TESTING
- Load an existing survivor and inspect how proven Home infrastructure reconciles into Development without rebuilding or repayment.
- Try General Shelving, the Sorting Station, additional Modular Shelves and Storage Home selection.
- Build the Training Area and Home Gym tiers, then test Combat Training, all eight physical exercises and Gym equipment installation and removal.
- Check Physical Training offline, especially with existing Strong and Fit survivors.
- Search Back Gardens, meet the Handyman and check existing Last Orders or Service Station survivors.
- No wipe required. Keep reporting the small things as well as the big ones.