I never overcame my fear of sandworms in Dune: Awakening, no matter how many times I crossed the desert. Getting swallowed by a sandworm once and losing everything permanently—my armor, [[link]] my weapons, my loot, and my vehicle—was enough to make me tread the dunes of Dune as carefully as possible from then on.

But that punishing permadeath for everything the sandworm swallows has been de-fanged, at least a little bit: a new patch for Funcom's survival MMO means that you don't have to lose your vehicle forever even if it goes down a sandworm's gullet. There's a catch, however.

Thanks to the new "vehicle recovery system" added in Dune: Awakening patch 1.2.10.0, your vehicle backup tool now literally backs up your rides instead of just acting like a handheld garage.

"When vehicles that you personally own are removed from the world by the sandworm, coriolis storms, or complete destruction via combat they can now be recovered for a fee from a new Recovery mode in the Vehicle Backup Tool," says Funcom.

You'll have to pay for this very [[link]] important insurance, of course, and there's one other wrinkle in the bargain.

"In addition to a Solari fee, recovered vehicles will lose 15% of their maximum repairable durability each time they are recovered," Funcom says. "Recovered vehicles are brought back fully repaired and fueled."

In a world where everything [[link]] is constantly degrading from wear, losing a flat 15% off the top of your vehicle's max durability is a pretty big hit. On the other hand, it's an improvement over completely losing your bike or buggy or 'thopter to the worm's digestive track, isn't it? And it's nice that it comes back with its (shortened) durability meter filled, I suppose.

I'd also advise you against rage-quitting if you get eaten. "Vehicles in the recovery tool must be recovered within 72 hours. Afterwards they will be lost forever," Funcom says. You can mark up to five vehicles at a time for recovery with the tool's new mode.

I suspect this isn't Funcom trying to make the game easier on players but finding a way to mitigate the issue of the worms and the world being, well, a bit buggy. I've seen players lose their vehicles due to lag, glitches, and other instances where it's clear they should have escaped a worm but instead had their ride explode and be lost to them forever. It's a rough blow if the worm eats you fair and square, but it's no fun at all if you lose everything permanently due to a glitch.

You can read the rest of .