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ChaserZ: Stormfront
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What is new in ChaserZ, newest first. Read them on their own page
Fog on the map, where it really is
A new Fog layer shows low lying fog on the map wherever it is right now. It comes from live airport weather reports where there are any, and the Met Office forecast for this hour everywhere in between, updated every quarter of an hour. It is off until you switch it on.
What it changes: Fog fills the valleys and low ground and the hills stand out above it, just like a still autumn morning. At night it shows as a pale grey haze. It is there to look at and plan around: it does not change what your kit catches.
How to use it: Open Layers and press Fog. A message tells you where the fog is right now, or that there is none. Press Fog again to hide it.
Lightning rods show when lightning is near
A Lightning rod now only shows as catching while lightning is landing within its reach. Under a clear sky its panel says there is no lightning nearby, and the sparkles round it on the map stop.
What it changes: You can see at a glance which of your rods have a storm on them right now and which are sitting under a clear sky. When a strike lands in reach, the top of the tower lights up.
How to use it: Tap a rod to see when the last strike landed near it. If it says there is no lightning nearby, press Relocate to move it into the path of a thunderstorm.
A brand new look for the Lightning rod
The Lightning rod is now a strike tower over its own fenced substation: a gravel yard with a transformer, a switchgear kiosk and a Jacob's ladder, then a brick control hut, glowing charge cells and finally a Tesla coil as it levels up. Blue sparks crackle across it, an arc climbs the ladder, and a strike lights up the whole top.
What it changes: You can tell at a glance which rods are working: the sparks come faster while a rod is catching and go wild just after a strike. Every level looks bigger and busier than the last, so a top level rod stands out on the map.
How to use it: Nothing to press. Zoom in on one of your Lightning rods to watch it work.
Lightning rods catch three times as much
Every lightning strike a Lightning rod catches now pays 30 Hailstones instead of 10, and each strike adds 1 Charge too. A rod also holds three times as much before it is full.
What it changes: Lightning is the hardest weather to guess, so getting a rod in the right place now pays off properly. A storm passing over a rod can bring in hundreds of Hailstones, and the Charge helps with boosts, roadblocks and repairs.
How to use it: Build a Lightning rod and set it up where a thunderstorm is heading. Press Collect cargo and bank when it fills up.
Room for more kit at every HQ
Every HQ level now has room for 2 more instruments, 2 more outposts and 2 more utility structures. A Field Station holds 4 instruments; Storm Command holds 8 instruments, 4 outposts and 6 utility structures.
What it changes: You can catch weather in more places at once from your first day, and once you have the blueprints there is more room for caches, masts, relays and outposts.
How to use it: Nothing to press. Build more in Inventory and set it down on the board. The HQ panel shows how much room you have of each kind.
The game opens with a clear map
ChaserZ now always opens with its menus closed. The map controls, the main menu, More, Layers and the sound menu no longer stay open from your last visit.
What it changes: On a phone you see the whole map the moment the game loads, with nothing covering it, even after a refresh or coming back to the tab.
How to use it: Nothing to press. Tap the map button in the bar whenever you want the map controls back.
Drag the panels up and down on a phone
On a phone, the little bar at the top of every panel now works. Drag it up and the panel grows to fill the screen; drag it down and it shrinks back or closes.
What it changes: You can read a whole fleet or a long list in one go instead of scrolling a small box, and swipe a panel away when you want the map back. The close button at the top right of a panel no longer hides under the menu button.
How to use it: Drag the top of a panel up or down. A tap on the top of a panel switches it between tall and its usual size.
ChaserZ on the WeatherZ leaderboards
The main WeatherZ Leaderboards page now has a ChaserZ board: the storm chasers who scored the most season points, next to the forecasting games.
What it changes: The points you score in ChaserZ now put your name on the site-wide Leaderboards too. Pick 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, 12 months or all time to see who scored the most in that time, so a new chaser can top the week.
How to use it: Open Leaderboards from the main menu and look for the ChaserZ board. Hover or tap a name to see their record.
The top 5 on Facebook every evening
Every evening at 6pm the WeatherZ.uk Facebook page shows the season's top 5 storm chasers on a fresh storm picture, each name marked in its team colour, with their points and who has climbed since midnight.
What it changes: Make the top 5 and your name is on the page for everyone to see. The words change every day with the story of the board: a new leader, a long run at the top, or a big climb.
How to use it: Nothing to press. Score points before 6pm and look for the post on the WeatherZ.uk Facebook page.
The rain radar no longer goes missing
Sometimes the rain radar would not appear on the board, and only reloading the page brought it back. If a radar picture fails to arrive, the game now fetches it again by itself a few seconds later.
What it changes: The rain stays on the board without you having to reload. While a newer picture is on its way, the last one that arrived stays on the ground, so the storms you are chasing never vanish.
How to use it: Nothing to press. If the rain ever looks missing, switching Rainfall radar off and on in the Layers menu now fetches it again straight away.
Hijacks sound like hijacks
Hijacking a salvage lorry now sounds like a robbery. You hear your car screech in and shunt the lorry to a stop, then your crew ramming and kicking in the back doors, smashing windows, tearing a door off and throwing the crates out. When the load is yours, the crates slam into your hold, your door bangs shut and you roar off with the tyres spinning.
What it changes: No more happy chimes and coin sounds while you rob a lorry. Chasing one down now revs your engine, and the fireworks over a hijacked lorry go off with thumps and bangs instead of whistles.
How to play and the tour show you what to press
How to play now walks you through picking up storm debris, hijacking a salvage lorry, moving, upgrading and packing up your kit, and using Things to do, naming the button to press for each. The guided tour has a new step on storm debris, salvage lorries and the Things to do lightbulb.
What it changes: You no longer have to stumble on the best extras a storm leaves behind: the game tells you they are there and exactly how to go after them.
How to use it: Press More on the bar at the bottom and choose How to play, then read The loop. To see the tour again, press More and then Take the tour.
Things to do points you at salvage lorries
While a salvage lorry is out on the map, Things to do now tells you so. Hijack a salvage lorry sits at the top of your suggestions, and Where to go opens with a card for each of the two closest lorries, showing what each is doing, how far away it is and how much storm debris it carries.
What it changes: Hijacking a lorry was easy to miss, so now the lightbulb lights up when there is one to catch. Hijacking one each day completes the suggestion and pays its activity bonus like any other.
How to use it: Open Things to do (the lightbulb at the bottom left of the board). On a lorry card press Chase it down, or Hijack its load if your vehicle is already beside it. Press Fly there to see it on the map.
Vehicles cross the sea by ferry
A vehicle crossing the sea now sails over on a ferry instead of driving across the water. The ferry rises out of the waves under it as it leaves the shore, carries it on the car deck with a foaming wake behind, and sinks away again as it drives off at the other side. Each ferry's funnel is painted in the team colour of the player it carries, and its cabin windows light up after dark.
What it changes: You can see at a glance which vehicles are at sea and which way they are heading, from your own trips to Ireland to the salvage lorries heading for a depot. With sound on you hear the ship's engine and the sea along its hull as one passes, and its horn as it puts out to sea.
Choose your team colour
You can now pick your team colour. Choose one of thirty colours, or press Your own to choose any colour you like. New players are asked to choose one when they join the season, and nobody starts in purple by default any more.
What it changes: Your vehicles, instruments, routes and name wear your colour on everyone's map, so it is easier to tell who is who. If another player wears a colour the same as or close to yours, your screen shows them in one that matches nobody else on your map, and they keep it each time you play. They still see their own colour.
How to use it: Open HQ and press Colour, the second tab, then pick a colour. When you join a season, pick one before you press Join the season.
Catch a salvage lorry on its last road home
Chase it down now works when your vehicle is waiting on the road between a salvage lorry and its depot, even when the lorry still has a pile or two to pick up first. Before, it could only plan a meeting on the next stretch of road, so a vehicle waiting further along its way home was told the lorry would be gone before it got there.
What it changes: Park a vehicle on the road into a depot and you can meet any salvage lorry heading home that way. It pulls over at the meeting spot for you, as it does anywhere else on its road.
How to use it: Click a salvage lorry and press Chase it down.
Goals: hijacks, achievements and missions now score
The season leaderboard has a new Goals column. Hijacking a salvage lorry now scores 25 points, every album achievement scores 50 (100 for a prestige one) and every Things to do suggestion that pays its bonus scores 10, up to 250 points a day. The Goals column adds your field assignment, forecast and operation points to these. Everything you have already done this season counts.
What it changes: Chasing lorries, finishing missions and ticking off achievements now move you up the leaderboard, not just banking weather. The load you take in a hijack also scores a full point a hailstone when you bank it, like your own weather, where storm debris you pick up scores half.
How to use it: Open the leaderboard and press Goals to see who has done the most. How to score points at the bottom of the leaderboard lists every goal.
Hijacking a lorry, seen and heard
When a vehicle hijacks a salvage lorry it now swings round in front of the lorry and skids to a stop across its nose. While the hijack runs, dust kicks up round them, smoke drifts off the lorry, sparks fly off its back doors and the lorry rocks as they break in. When it is over, the vehicle rolls back to where it was parked.
What it changes: You can see a hijack happening from across the map, even when another player is doing it, and you can hear it: tyres screeching, the air brakes on the lorry, a door slamming, then crowbars, banging and a grinder on the lock.
How to use it: Get a vehicle close to a salvage lorry and press Hijack its load, or press Chase it down to send one to meet it. Turn the sound on to hear it.
Salvage lorries turn up where the debris is
A salvage lorry no longer drives all the way out from a depot. It now turns up at the oldest pile of storm debris, picks it up straight away, works along the trail and then takes its load to the depot nearest the last pile it collected.
What it changes: Lorries get to work on a trail as soon as it is ready instead of spending ages on the road first, so you will find them out among the debris, not on the long run from a depot. Their trip home is shorter too, since they head for the nearest depot to where they finish.
How to use it: Look for the amber beacon on a debris trail, click the lorry, then press Hijack its load when you are close or Chase it down to send a vehicle to meet it.
Catch a salvage lorry on its way home
Chase it down now sends your vehicle to a spot on the salvage lorry's road ahead of it, even on its way back to the depot, and the lorry pulls over there for you. Before, it could only meet a lorry at a pile you reached first, so a vehicle waiting between the lorry and its depot was told the lorry would be gone before it got there.
What it changes: If you have a vehicle anywhere along the road a lorry is about to take, you can catch it. The lorry waits at the meeting spot for a little over a minute, long enough for your vehicle to start the hijack, then carries on home.
How to use it: Click a salvage lorry and press Chase it down.
The map glides when you let go
When you drag the map and let go while still moving, it now carries on a little, slows down and stops, instead of stopping dead the moment you let go. It works with a mouse and with a finger on a phone or tablet.
What it changes: The faster you flick, the further it glides, so a quick flick carries you up to about a screen further and a gentle drag barely carries on at all. Stop your drag before you let go and the map stays exactly where you put it.
How to use it: Flick the map in the direction you want to go. Press or tap the map to stop it gliding, and that press will not open anything.
Clouds drift the way the storms are going
The clouds on the map now drift the same way as the storms you are looking at. Before, they mostly churned in place and their edges crept sideways, and now and then the whole sky slid off in an odd direction.
What it changes: You can read where a storm is heading just by watching its cloud move. Each area follows its own storms, so a shower heading north and one heading east each drift their own way.
Salvage lorries keep moving
A salvage lorry no longer stops for two and a half minutes at every pile. It scoops each pile up as it drives past and carries straight on along the trail, and its amber beacon now turns and flashes the whole time, on the road as well as when it stands.
What it changes: To hijack one on the road, have a vehicle of yours within 500 m of it and press Hijack its load: it pulls over for you. Chase it down still works too. The lorry pulls over at the pile where your vehicle is waiting for it, so you can hijack it there.
How to use it: Click a salvage lorry, then press Hijack its load when you are close, or Chase it down to send a vehicle ahead of it.
Storm arrows point the way the storms are going
Storm cells now follow each shower much more closely from one radar scan to the next. When showers came in a fast line, a storm could be joined up with the shower behind it and its arrow and path pointed the wrong way, sometimes almost backwards. Checked against two days of real radar, wrong way arrows have gone from about 1 in 15 to about 1 in 250.
What it changes: The cone ahead of a storm now shows where it is really heading, so you can trust it when you plan where to place your kit or which way to drive to get ahead of a storm. A brand new shower starts with the heading of the weather around it and gets a short cone until the radar has followed it for a while.
Hijack a salvage lorry and take its whole load
You now hijack a salvage lorry instead of taking a share. The first chaser to finish a hijack takes everything the lorry is carrying, as much as fits in their vehicle and their storm debris for the day, and anything that does not fit stays aboard for the next chaser.
What it changes: It is a race: if someone finishes before you, the lorry is empty and you are told who got there first, until it loads its next pile. Click any salvage lorry to see the last three chasers to hijack one, in their team colours, with what they got. When your hijack lands, the load hops into your vehicle, fireworks go up over the lorry in your colour and a Load hijacked! banner shows what you took.
How to use it: Click a salvage lorry and press Hijack its load when a road vehicle of yours is within 500 m of it, or Chase it down to send one to meet it. Keep the vehicle still for a minute while the hijack runs.
Salvage lorries sooner, and real place names
A salvage lorry now sets off once a storm has left 2 piles of debris that have lain for 45 minutes, where it waited for 3 piles and an hour and a half, so you will see them on the map far more often.
What it changes: You still get the first 45 minutes on any pile, and a lorry only goes for the oldest ones. A trail of debris, the next stop of a salvage lorry and a meeting point are now named after the nearest town or village, so a trail across the Highlands no longer says Open sea.
A new look for the salvage lorries, and more debris a day
The salvage lorries have been rebuilt in more detail, with painted and worn panels, ribbed sides, a heaped load of hailstones, branches and crates, and an amber beacon on the roof that turns and flashes.
What it changes: You can now collect up to 500 of storm debris a day, where it was 120, piles and salvage together. The picture at the top of a salvage lorry or a debris trail panel now shows in full.
Rivals near your score, in colours of their own
Your map now shows up to 20 other players: the top 3 of the season and the 17 whose scores are closest to yours, plus everyone in your crew. A rival whose colour is too close to yours is shown in a different colour of their own, and it stays the same every time you play.
What it changes: You can only raid, capture, block, scan or invite a player when each of you can see the other on your maps, so the chasers you take on are the ones near your level. You can still see the top 3, but unless your scores are close, neither of you can touch the other, and their panel says so.
How to use it: Open Layers and move Players shown to see fewer rivals, anywhere from 3 to 20. It only hides them from your map: the players you hide can still reach you.
Storm debris and salvage lorries
Whenever a heavy shower or a thunderstorm on the move leaves debris behind it, you will find piles of hail, snapped branches and wreckage along the roads it crossed. Each pile melts away within about three hours, and salvage lorries run by the depots come out to clear the older ones, up to six on the map at once on a busy day.
What it changes: A road vehicle that drives within 500 m of a pile picks it up as cargo if it has room for all of it, and a fresher pile is worth more. You can have up to 500 of storm debris a day, and it banks and scores like Hailstones found on the road. Stop a road vehicle beside a salvage lorry for a minute to take a share of what it has loaded, once per lorry. Nobody loses anything to it.
How to use it: Click a trail of storm debris on the map, or open Operations and its Debris tab, and press Follow the trail. Click a salvage lorry and press Take its salvage, or Chase it down to send a vehicle to meet it. A cargo helicopter cannot do either.
Get ahead of the storm
Click a storm on the map to see the path it is heading along and when each of your vehicles could have a rain gauge or a lightning rod set up in front of it. One press sends the best vehicle there and makes the forecast call for you.
What it changes: For rain and lightning, the forecast and intercept bonuses now pay only for kit set up at least 15 minutes before the weather reached it: rain when the radar first shows the storm over it, lightning when a strike lands within 10 km. Setting up in rain that is already falling still earns the rain, with no bonus. Forecast points count for your first two correct calls each day.
How to use it: Storm cells are now on for everyone (you can turn them off in Layers). Zoom in and each storm carries a spinning gold info coin floating over it. Hover over the badge to see what the storm is, click it and press Get ahead of it. Things to do also lists storms to get ahead of, and debris to pick up, under Where to go.
Sparkles and sounds now match the weather
The sparkles around an instrument and the sound it makes when you select it now follow how much it is catching. A light shower gives a few sparkles and the odd drip, a downpour gives a full ring and a steady patter, and an instrument that is not collecting is still and quiet.
What it changes: You can see at a glance how hard the weather is working for you and for your rivals. The floating Hailstone that marks a full instrument now shows only over your own and your crew's kit, because how full a rival is stays private. The solar collector's hum is softer too.
Structures look and sound the part
Field caches, repair masts, relay sensors, outposts and roadblocks now have proper surfaces, like your instruments: cast concrete underfoot, riveted steel panels, glowing consoles, air vents, solar cells, timber crates and tarmac. Each one also has a sound of its own when you select it.
What it changes: A repair mast sounds like a field workshop, with ratchets, an impact wrench and tools being put down. A relay sensor chirps with data, a field cache hums like a cold store with ice settling inside, and a roadblock has a generator running beside the closed road. An outpost sounds like a small base. Anything knocked out, instrument or structure, now goes dark all over and crackles, so it stands out on the map.
How to use it: Click one of your structures on the map to hear it. Turn the game sound on from the speaker button if it is off.
Collecting on the map now means collecting
The collecting sparkle under an instrument on the map now shows only while the weather there is actually filling it. A solar collector after dark, a turbine on a calm day or a rain gauge under a dry sky no longer looks busy.
What it changes: You can trust the map when you size up a rival: if their instrument shows as collecting, it really is catching right now. Your own labels match what the instrument's panel tells you, including when it is waiting its turn or you have reached the day's limit.
Relocate: move a catcher to a new spot in one press
Instruments and structures you have out on the map now have a Relocate button. Pick a new spot and your nearest free vehicle moves it there for you.
What it changes: The vehicle drives out, packs it up, takes it to the new spot and sets it up again, with the same crew and sounds you see and hear for any set up. Then it pulls away and parks about three miles off, or at your HQ if that is nearer. It stops catching while it travels, keeps what it has caught inside it, and starts again once it stands.
How to use it: Click one of your instruments or structures on the map, press Relocate, then click where it should go. It needs a vehicle standing still with no orders and nothing on board.
The Cargo scanner
There is a new blueprint on the Research tree for your Regional Command: the Cargo scanner. It lets you scan a rival's instrument or structure and see how full it is.
What it changes: Rival instruments and structures on the map now show only whether they are collecting, never how full they are. With the Cargo scanner you can pick one and read exactly how full it is right now, for 50 Charge a scan and no Hailstones. Your latest reading stays on its panel for an hour.
How to use it: Build your HQ to Regional Command and research the Cargo scanner for 500 Hailstones. Then click a rival's instrument on the map and press Scan how full it is. You need 50 Charge.
Research is a tech tree, and it is in your HQ too
The Research button on the bar now shows a tech tree, so it is easy to tell what it opens. Your HQ panel also has a Research tab with the same tree in it.
What it changes: You can plan what to research while you look at your HQ, without leaving it. Picking a blueprint there works just as it does in the Research panel: it lights up and its details open beside the tree.
How to use it: Press HQ on the bar at the bottom and open the Research tab. The Research button on the bar still opens the tree on its own.
Fairer rules for everyone
A few rules now work exactly the way they were meant to, so every player earns by the same ones.
What it changes: A forecast adds its bonus, and counts as a hit, only for kit the calling vehicle sets down after you make the call. A field assignment is done by kit you place, or a trip you make, after you accept it. A drive can finish up to 5 km from a road, but not across water. A helicopter stopped short still carries its full chance of a crash. A crew mate can collect only from a vehicle you let them collect from.
How to use it: Nothing to switch on. If a drive says no road reaches the spot you picked, pick one nearer a road or on the same side of the water.
A cargo helicopter for Storm Command
There is a new vehicle at the top of the Logistics research: the Cargo helicopter. It flies in a straight line at 1,000 mph to wherever you send it and lands anywhere, at your HQ, a depot, an outpost or out in the field, carrying up to 500 Hailstones.
What it changes: It is the quickest way across the map, even over the sea, and roadblocks cannot stop it, but it picks up no Hailstones on the road. Every flight has a 1 in 50 chance of a crash, or 1 in 10 through an active thunderstorm. A crash loses the helicopter and the Hailstones aboard, anything it carried is saved to your HQ, and the wreck lies where it fell for 48 hours, slowly decaying.
How to use it: Build your HQ to Storm Command, research Cargo helicopter under Logistics after Field estate, and build it in Inventory for 1,000 Hailstones. Click it and press Fly. At Storm Command it lands on the helipad on your HQ roof.
The Research tree stays still when you pick
Clicking a blueprint on the Research tree now just lights it up and opens what it needs and costs beside the tree. Before, every blueprint on the tree vanished and faded back in on each click.
What it changes: You can click from one blueprint to the next and keep your place, so it is quicker to plan what to research. A locked blueprint you pick now shows at full brightness, so you can always see which one you are reading about.
How to use it: Press Research on the bar at the bottom and click any blueprint. Press open next to something it needs to jump to that one, or the cross to close the details.
A clearer HQ upgrade card
The Next tier card on your HQ panel now splits what the next HQ needs into two parts. To unlock it gives each part of the requirement its own bar, including the research branches, which had no bar before. To pay for it shows the Hailstones in your bank against the price, and it is taken from your bank when you press Build.
What it changes: Expeditions now count only trips that bring cargo home and bank it, plus finished field assignments. The Hailstones your HQ catches by itself go straight into your bank and no longer count as expeditions, and they no longer count for Bank your cargo or Bank cargo today in Things to do. When your bank is short, the card tells you how many more Hailstones it needs.
How to use it: Press HQ in the bar at the bottom and open the Base tab. The Next tier card is under your HQ.
Seasons follow the real UK seasons
ChaserZ seasons now follow the real seasons in the UK. Winter starts on 1 December, Spring on 1 March, Summer on 1 June and Autumn on 1 September, and each one starts and ends at midnight UK time.
What it changes: The preseason now runs until Winter starts on Tuesday 1 December, instead of ending in October, so you have longer to build up before the first full season. After that every season lasts the whole of the real one.
How to use it: Open How to play from the menu at the top right and choose Seasons to see the dates. On a computer, point at the days left at the top of the map to see when the next season starts.
Never miss a firework show
When another player sets off a firework display at their HQ, a note now pops up at the bottom of the map, just above the menu. It names them in their team colour and counts down to the start.
What it changes: Press the note and the map flies you in close on their HQ, so you get a good view of the whole show wherever you were looking. The fireworks are now sized for the view you watch from, so they burst right over the HQ even if you arrive part way through. The note goes by itself when the show ends, and the cross closes it.
How to use it: Keep ChaserZ open. When a note appears, press Watch the show. To put on a show of your own, click your HQ and press Firework Display.
Collect and bank in one press
Your instruments now have a Collect cargo and bank button. One press sends your nearest vehicle to collect the cargo, drive it to the nearest place to bank and bank it there, with nothing more to press. Collect cargo is still there when you only want to pick the cargo up, so you can collect from several instruments before you bank.
What it changes: A vehicle now banks by itself whenever it arrives at your HQ, an outpost or a depot with cargo aboard and nothing else to do, so you never have to press Bank when it gets there. At a depot it banks as soon as its short service is done, and the panel shows when that will be. Pressing Bank cargo on a vehicle already standing at your HQ or an outpost now banks in one press.
How to use it: Pick one of your instruments on the map and press Collect cargo and bank. Or send a vehicle with cargo to your HQ, an outpost or a depot and it banks when it gets there.
Watch your kit being set up
When a vehicle sets up one of your instruments you can now watch it being built. Cones mark out the site, a crate hops off the vehicle onto the pad, a scaffold and a small crane go up, and the instrument rises out of the crate while the crew weld, bolt and lift pieces into place.
What it changes: A small bar over the site fills up as the work goes on and shows the seconds left, and the name tag counts down too, so you know exactly when it starts catching. When it is done the scaffold comes down and it sparkles in your colour. With the game sound on you hear drills, welding and the crane at work. The vehicle now parks beside what it set up instead of vanishing inside it.
How to use it: Pick a vehicle that is carrying an instrument, press Place and choose the spot on the map. Keep the spot in view to watch and listen.
Watch your kit being packed up
When a vehicle packs up one of your instruments you can now watch it happen. The crew rock it loose, kick up dust and throw sparks while it slowly shrinks on its pad, then it hops into the vehicle and is gone.
What it changes: A ring of marks round it lights up one by one as the job goes on, and its name tag counts down the seconds left, so you can see at a glance when the vehicle will be ready to move. With the game sound on you hear the crew at work and the tailgate shut as it goes in. You can watch other players pack up on the map too.
How to use it: Pick one of your instruments on the map and press Pack up. Keep it in view to watch and listen.
Upgrade a catcher where it stands
Upgrading a catcher out in the field is now two presses: Upgrade, then Pay. You pay the Hailstones straight away and your nearest free vehicle drives out to the catcher and upgrades it where it stands.
What it changes: Nothing is packed up, taken home or set up again, so your catcher keeps catching weather the whole time and is upgraded the moment the vehicle arrives. If the trip is called off before it gets there, the Hailstones go straight back to your bank.
How to use it: Research the next level of instruments, pick one of your catchers on the map and press Upgrade to level, then Pay. The panel names the vehicle that is coming and how far away it is.
A tidier leaderboard
The table on the season leaderboard now shows five players and scrolls to show the rest, so it stays neat however many people are playing. Once more than fifty players have joined, the list comes in pages of fifty, with a button to show the next or the previous players.
What it changes: The podium stays at the top on every page, and sorting by a column sorts every player in the season, not just the ones on screen. Your own line stays pinned to the edge of the table, so you never lose sight of your place.
How to use it: Open Leaderboard from the menu at the top right and scroll inside the table. If your line is on another page, press Show my place to go straight to it.
Waves that break on the coast
Waves now roll in and break on the coasts as lines of white surf, with foam trailing behind them and a white edge where they run up the shore. They only break where the wind is blowing in from the sea, and the water stays calm where the wind blows off the land.
What it changes: The size of the surf follows the real sea forecast for each stretch of coast, so a stormy day sends big breakers onto exposed beaches while sheltered bays, lochs and harbours stay small. A glance at the surf tells you which way the wind is blowing on that coast.
How to use it: Zoom in on a coast facing the wind to watch the waves come in.
A closer look at every crew
The Crews list in the Crew tab now shows each crew on its own card: its place among the crews, its season points and Hailstones caught, how many places it has left, and who is in it, with a crown for the leader and a green dot for anyone playing right now.
What it changes: You can see at a glance which crews lead the season, which still have room, and who you would be teaming up with. A crew's points are its members' season points added together, so they match the leaderboard.
How to use it: Open the Crew tab in the bar and press Crews. Your own crew is marked in gold.
Release notes
ChaserZ now has release notes: this list of every new feature, what it changes in the game and how to use it, newest first.
What it changes: You can catch up on what has changed since you last played in one place. A gold number on the menu button at the top right tells you when there is something new to read.
How to use it: Open the menu at the top right of the game and press Release notes.
Easier to pick things on the map
Whatever a click would open now lights up as you move the mouse over it, and every building, instrument and vehicle can be picked anywhere on its shape. When two things stand close together, a short Which one? list lets you choose.
What it changes: No more missed clicks or opening the HQ behind the van you wanted. On a phone, a press lights up what it is about to open and a finger reaches a little further than a mouse.
How to use it: Point at something to see it light up, then click or tap it. If a Which one? list appears, press the line you want.
See who is online on the leaderboard
The season leaderboard now shows who is playing right now. A green Online now strip lists everyone in the game, a Recently row shows who dropped in during the last day, and the top three stand on the same holographic cards as the main WeatherZ leaderboard.
What it changes: It is easier to find rivals to race to a storm, or crew mates to team up with, while they are actually on. Every name in the table also says Online or when that player was last seen.
How to use it: Open the Leaderboard from the menu at the top right, or the trophy button in the bar. Press a name to fly the map to that player's HQ.
Clouds without a repeating pattern
Wide sheets of cloud no longer show the same lumps and gaps repeating across the map. Every patch of sky now looks different from the one next to it.
What it changes: Big weather systems look like real cloud cover. Storms, anvils and showers look just as they did.
1 km of room between players
You can no longer place an instrument, a structure or an HQ within 1 km of anything another player has placed.
What it changes: Nobody can set up right on top of your catchers any more, so the weather over your patch stays yours to catch. Your own things can still stand side by side.
How to use it: If you pick a spot that is too close, the game tells you straight away whose thing is in the way and how far off it is, before your vehicle sets off. Pick a spot a little further away.
Clouds that move like the real thing
The clouds over the 3D map now drift, build and fray gently, like a time-lapse of a real sky. Thunderstorm towers churn upwards faster than the clouds around them.
What it changes: The storms still sit exactly where the live radar puts them, so what you see is still what you can catch. Everything stands still if your device is set to reduce motion.
Solid 3D clouds and proper thunderstorms
Clouds are now solid, rounded 3D clouds instead of flat layers. A thunderstorm is a tall tower with a flat anvil on top that spreads out the way the storm is moving, and every moving shower leaves a small fading tail of cloud behind it.
What it changes: You can read a storm from its shape: bigger storms stand taller, and the anvil points where the storm is heading. Storms still light up from inside when lightning strikes.
How to use it: Keep the Rainfall radar layer on to see the clouds. The Cloud opacity slider in the Layers menu makes them lighter or heavier.
Thunderstorms on the ticker
When a thunderstorm is spotted over Britain it now appears on the ticker along the bottom of the board, saying where it is, how many strikes it has had in the last half hour and which way it is heading.
What it changes: You hear about a live storm the moment it forms, so you can get your fleet moving before your rivals do.
How to use it: Press the storm's line on the ticker to fly straight to it. Storm cells switch on for you if you had them off.
The convective outlook on the map
When WeatherZ issues a convective outlook at level 2 or above, it leads the ticker. A new Convective outlook layer shows the next twelve hours' thunderstorm watch areas on the map as walls of coloured light, with the highest level standing tallest.
What it changes: You can see where thunderstorms are expected before they start, and get your kit in place ready for them.
How to use it: Press the outlook's line on the ticker, or switch Convective outlook on in the Layers menu.
Every Hailstone you bring home scores
Hailstones your vehicles pick up on the road, and what your HQ catches, now count towards your season score at half a point each. Weather your own catchers gather, which you have to go out and collect, still scores a full point a Hailstone.
What it changes: Road trips and a well placed HQ now help you up the leaderboard, while collecting from your own catchers stays the best way to score. It all counts inside the same daily limit.
How to use it: Nothing to switch on. The How to score box on the leaderboard shows every way to earn points.
Catchers now have four levels
Every catcher now comes in four levels, each catching faster and holding more than the last, and every level has its own bigger, more detailed 3D model.
What it changes: Upgrading is a real step up: a level 4 catcher gathers far more weather than a level 1. The higher levels open up as your HQ grows.
How to use it: Research the next level of instruments, then build a catcher straight at that level from Inventory. To upgrade one already out in the field, pick it and press Upgrade to level: your nearest free vehicle packs it up, takes it home, has it upgraded and sets it up again exactly where it stood.
Hailstones on the road
Every drive now lays Hailstones along its route. Your vehicle picks them up as it passes, with a little celebration and a ka-ching, and one in eight is a big gold one.
What it changes: Driving pays: longer trips earn extra Hailstones on the way. They ride in your vehicle as cargo until you bank them, and you can pick up at most 200 a day across all your vehicles.
How to use it: Just send a vehicle somewhere. Its panel shows how many stones are still ahead and how many you have picked up today.
Chat is back in the game
A Chat button in the bar opens the ChaserZ chat without leaving the game. It is the same conversation as the ChaserZ channel in Live Chat.
What it changes: Plan a chase, call out a storm or ask your crew for help while you play.
How to use it: Press Chat in the bar. A gold number on it shows how many new messages are waiting.
New HQ buildings and busier depots
Every HQ level now has its own detailed building, from a small field station cabin up to Storm Command with its tower, radome and helipad. HQs stand a size bigger on the map, and the depots are far more detailed.
What it changes: You can tell at a glance how far along another player is from the look of their HQ. Windows and screens light up at dusk.
How to use it: Upgrade your HQ from the HQ tab to move up to the next building.
Firework displays at your HQ
You can design your own 30 second firework display and set it off over your HQ. Choose the fireworks, colours and pattern, fine tune them on a timeline and preview the show first.
What it changes: Celebrate a win or show off to the players around you: everyone who has your HQ on their map sees and hears the show. It costs 5% of your banked Hailstones and 10 Charge.
How to use it: Pick your HQ on the map and press Firework Display.
Speed boost for your vehicles
You can spend Charge to make a vehicle faster: 10 Charge makes it 50% faster for an hour, and a second boost while the first is running makes it double speed.
What it changes: Get to a storm first, or rush your cargo home before anyone can take it. Only the driving is sped up.
How to use it: Pick a vehicle and press Go 50% faster.
Engines that sound like engines
Vehicles now have real engine sounds as they pull away, cruise and arrive, from tyre roar and turbo whistles to diesel clatter and a V8 burble, depending on the vehicle.
What it changes: Following your vehicle feels like being out on the chase.
How to use it: Make sure the sound is on with the speaker button in the bar, then pick a vehicle to follow it.
The season leaderboard
A season leaderboard shows who is winning, with each player's score, Hailstones caught and brought home, HQ level, kit, vehicles and forecasts. The top three stand on gold, silver and bronze holographic cards.
What it changes: You can see exactly where you stand and what the leaders are doing. The How to score box explains every way to earn points.
How to use it: Press Leaderboard at the top of the menu at the top right, or the trophy button in the bar. Press a column to sort by it.
Round trips and routes you can change
A vehicle can now run a round trip by itself: collect from one of your catchers, bank at the nearest depot and repeat. A route can be changed at any time, stop by stop.
What it changes: Your fleet keeps working while you are away, and a wrong turn is easy to put right.
How to use it: Pick a vehicle, press Plan orders and choose Round trip with the catcher to collect from. To change a route, press Change orders and remove any stop with its cross.
Pick a vehicle to follow it
Picking a vehicle now follows it across the map, and shows its speed and how much road is left under its name.
What it changes: Watching a chase is easier: zoom and turn the view as you like and the camera stays with your vehicle.
How to use it: Press a vehicle on the map. Drag the map away to stop following.
Field assignments you can find
Each field assignment's spot is marked on the map with a waving flag in your team colour inside a ring, and a finished assignment sets off fireworks over its spot.
What it changes: No more hunting for where an assignment wants you to go.
How to use it: Press the ring, or open Assignments in the HQ tab and press Send a vehicle there: your nearest free vehicle drives to the spot and parks.
Banking you can see and hear
When you bank, Hailstones burst over the board around the amount and fly into your Banked total, clicking as each one lands. The bigger the bank, the bigger the show.
What it changes: You always know when a bank has gone through and how much it was worth.
Map controls are back
On-screen map controls are back: move, zoom, tilt and turn the map with buttons.
What it changes: Handy on a phone or tablet, where finger gestures can be fiddly.
How to use it: Press Map controls in the bar. Tap a button for one step, or hold it to keep going. The arrow in the middle turns the map to face north again.
Build more vehicles
New vehicles in the research tree, including the Standard truck, the Field estate and the Patrol car, and you can now run up to two of each kind, or three with Motor pool.
What it changes: A bigger fleet means more catchers looked after and more cargo brought home. The Patrol car is the toughest vehicle and can clear roadblocks.
How to use it: Research the vehicle in the Research tab, then build it from Inventory. A new vehicle parks at your HQ ready to go.
Your HQ catches the weather
Your HQ now catches every kind of weather that falls on it, lightning, rain, wind, sun, frost and snow, at half the rate of a catcher built for the job.
What it changes: A well placed HQ earns on its own, and what it catches is banked straight away with no trip needed.
How to use it: Place your HQ, or move it, somewhere the weather is lively.
Inventory has its own tab
Inventory is now its own tab in the bar, with Build, Storage and Workshop: what you can build, what you have in storage and what is being made.
What it changes: Building is easy to find, and sending kit out is one press: a vehicle picks it up, drives out and sets it up for you.
How to use it: Press Inventory in the bar, build what you have researched, then send it out from Storage.
Things to do
A lightbulb button at the bottom left of the board suggests things to do next, so you are never stuck for what to try. The suggestions never run out.
What it changes: Finishing a suggestion earns you a bonus of Hailstones, a few times a day.
How to use it: Press the lightbulb. The gold number on it shows how many suggestions are waiting.
The new ChaserZ: seasons, HQs and fleets
ChaserZ is now a seasonal strategy game on the live British weather. Place an HQ, research blueprints, build instruments and send a fleet of vehicles along real roads to wherever it is raining, blowing, shining or striking.
What it changes: What your instruments catch is at risk until you bank it at your HQ or a depot, so plan the run home. Each season starts the campaign afresh, and you keep your level, cosmetics and crew.
How to use it: Create a free account or sign in, join the season and place your HQ. Take the tour from the More menu for a quick walk round the game.