Backer Build Three

[sterner]

Thanks to your support, we were able to add ground battles to the Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail.

The game now contains ten battles introducing naval, landing and land missions of the future game, which makes it more than six hours of gameplay.

 

 

 

 

The build offers two new land battles. You can play the mission “Snakes and Powder” in raining jungles and the Battle of Bunker Hill.

The mission “Snakes and Powder” is a typical land mission in the campaign. Your troops are tasked to collect resources that are required to supply your fleet. You have not received any news for the past three days. There is a reported activity of the Spanish army in the area. Your goal is to investigate what happened with your people and reacquire supplies.

 

 

 

 

The Battle of Bunker Hill is a battle from the USA campaign. On June 16, 1775, the British attempted to break the American defensive line by attacking the militia's fortified positions at a hill. The defeat of the British in this assault demonstrated the inability of the British to break the American siege. Though neither side could gain ground in land battle, time favored the British. Thanks to the Royal Navy and its command of the sea, the British army could be supplied and reinforced at will. The Americans, on the other hand, soon found themselves without food or ammunition necessary to hold their positions.

 

 

 

 

Six months after the battle, Washington's Navy consisted of eleven vessels captured about fifty-five prizes and provided much-needed supplies to the troops.

New naval battle "Fireworks" is added and introduces fireship's mechanic. You can reassemble an old or outdated ship transforming it into a "torpedo". The crew can ignite the fireship and direct it toward the target though it is necessary to predict the course and time of the impact. Otherwise, the target will dodge, or the fireship will explode without reaching the target.

 

 

 

 

Patch notes v0.4.5 rev.31133 BB3:

· Multiple fixes in AI and unit behavior. There are still several issues, and we will continue to fix them.

· We improved controls and fixed problems with unit navigation with even more fixes to follow in the future.

· Graphics improvements were made for the new and old battles, and additional graphics settings are added. We are going to bring more graphical elements into the game in the future.

· We started performance optimization, but the main work will be done when backer build three is released and stable.

· Rebalance of melee, arty, and firearms damage.

· Fixes and improvements to the LOS system.

· Altitude increases the spotting range.

· We have fixed terrain tooltip.

· Made improvements and fixes to the animation system.

· Experimental background music.

· Fixed missing land for low-end graphics cards. Upcoming performance optimization will decrease the minimum system requirements.

· Massive changes in ship crew that is required for marine corps in the campaign. It can affect boarding, crew transfer, and landing.

· The surrendered unit will lose its flag and cannot occupy guns, supplies, nor fortifications.

· Column formation is fixed.

· We have fixed the issue when the recaptured unit had only captured animations.

· Fireship mechanics are introduced.

· Tweaked units for balancing.

· We have implemented proper formation for British troops in the year 1775.

 

 

[sterner]

Feel free to tell us what you think. Any feedback is appreciated. 

[akd]

This sentence needs some commas: “Six months after the battle, Washington's Navy consisted of eleven vessels, captured about fifty-five prizes, and provided much-needed supplies to the troops.”

[Galvez88]

Spain playable when? 

[Strategy General]

Bunker Hill

Like

When militia marches I can here the tune Yankee Doodle.

Correct bunker hill flag replaces betsy ross flag .

Cannons sound like thunder in distance.

Dislike

Supply Wagons never reach Battle.

H.M.S.  Glasgow and another ship fire on wagons.

Wagons stop movement and then are shredded by navy.

Too hard to watch supply and fight battle.

Because militia are not quite as good so they must be watched carefully.

Seeing as there is no standard army at that point in time.

Picture you show above has one continuous fortification.

My game has gaps in the line which the AI will try to funnel troops through.

The gap is in the bottom left of the pic where the artillery is located.

Both the fence and the artillery are not there.

[sterner]

Thank you for the feedback. Can you please send a bug report from Bunker Hill mission. We want to see the difference that you mentioned in fences. Screenshot will be automatically attached.

[JaM]

thing i reported in-game too - i think formation of unit that is behind wall or barricade should reflect their status.. right now, at Bunker Hill, militia is is disordered formation when moving, but if they occupy the barricade, they suddenly form perfect 2-line formation.. i think it would look a lot realistic if they were placed a bit more disorderly.

 

Also, for marines and sailors when in the same group, marines (guys in uniform) should group together, while sailors would be around them. British Marines had standard infantry training, they were well trained and supposed to keep the drill. Sailors at the other side did not have military training. so combined unit of these two should look accordingly. 

[sonnypemberton]

Excited for progress, but looking forward to release. I have always enjoyed having custom units like UGCW and keeping them through the game. To do so with this game will be a lot more enjoyable than random missions, so I cant wait.

As mentioned above, the supply wagons need work in this scenario, or left out all together. 

 

AI is good to move towards weak points. Any slight opening and they concentrate. Definitely better than UGCW at the same progress of its development. (.5 .7 etc) 

[sterner]

Video from the latest BB3 version.

 

[JaM]

musket range seems quite short... while musket fire was not very effective beyond 50metres or so, soldiers and militia commonly opened fire at much longer ranges, wasting ammo and getting disordered by own fire. typical range at which infantry opened fire was around 150-200m.. one of common tactics for light infantry, was to engage the enemy unit, and force it to start firing.. then own infantry could get close and fire effective volley from short range.

gameplay wise - its quite problematic setting up firing lines due to very short musket range in the game.

 

Fortifications should not be so easily destroyed.. solid shot couldnt possibly damage them that much, and howitzer shells were never as effective or reliable. plus, even broken up wooden barricades were still providing protection from musket fire for soldiers to be able to take cover..

[Bert66]

Just curious as to why the tangent into land battles? 

[Bert66]

On 9/22/2019 at 3:47 PM, ManuelSpain said:

Spain playable when? 

Agree - this is more of a priority than doing land battles in my opinion.

[i64man]

when does the game is going to be available on Steam early access? I got UG:CW the same way, early access, and still playing that game.

[michaelsmithern]

On 10/6/2019 at 8:57 AM, Bert66 said:

Agree - this is more of a priority than doing land battles in my opinion.

is it?

you can add nations later, Spain basically already being part of the game. I would rather they focus on the campaign and land battles. at least then i have a campaign to play while they add the nation of (insert random European colonial nation here).

[LeBoiteux]

Speaking of land battles, I really like the idea of connecting them to naval battles and fleets :

On 9/22/2019 at 10:35 AM, sterner said:

The mission “Snakes and Powder” is a typical land mission in the campaign. Your troops are tasked to collect resources that are required to supply your fleet. You have not received any news for the past three days. There is a reported activity of the Spanish army in the area. Your goal is to investigate what happened with your people and reacquire supplies.

Speaking of connections (and thus nations), I wonder why the focus of such a game as UA:AoS are national campaigns and careers of given Admirals and not a given war and coalitions. Wars were (already) coalition ones. And such battles as the naval battle of Chesapeake (France vs GB) and the (land) siege of Yorktown (with US, French, British, etc. troops) were connected.

The first game of the series could have been about the American Revolutionary War with two factions/campaigns : one for the USA ans their allies and one for the British and their allies. The second game about say a Napoleonic war with two playable coalitions, etc.  

IMHO making it nation-focused give a partial view of History.

Edited October 16, 2019 by LeBoiteux

[Bert66]

On 10/16/2019 at 9:17 AM, michaelsmithern said:

is it?

you can add nations later, Spain basically already being part of the game. I would rather they focus on the campaign and land battles. at least then i have a campaign to play while they add the nation of (insert random European colonial nation here).

It's a game about the of Age of Sail???

Edited October 20, 2019 by Bert66

[LeBoiteux]

15 hours ago, Bert66 said:

It's a game about the of Age of Sail???

but land battles are vital to flesh out the US campaign during the AWI

[Bert66]

On 10/21/2019 at 11:35 AM, LeBoiteux said:

but land battles are vital to flesh out the US campaign during the AWI

Nope, not getting why land battles are needed to flesh out an Age of Sail game sorry.

[pandakraut]

There was a discussion started by the devs on the discord regarding changing the name of the game to Ultimate Admiral: By Land By Sea to better indicate that the game would focus on both naval and land engagements. The general consensus was that Age of Sail was a better overall name since it refers to the time period the game covers.

The developer clearly wants to offer a variety of battles that can involve only ships, ships and land units, and only land units in the game all of which are appropriate to recreating battles in this time period.

[LeBoiteux]

13 minutes ago, Bert66 said:

Nope, not getting why land battles are needed to flesh out an Age of Sail game sorry.

land battles and naval ones are connected via trade, troop landing and transportation, invasions... Nice to have both in a same game. 

I for one wouldn't understand if there was Chesapeake without Yorktown or Yorktown without Chesapeake, in a given campaign.

[LeBoiteux]

I saw on a youtube vid that there was an interesting line of sight tool for land/landing battles.

If there were to be a French campaign implemented in game some day, I guess it could be fun/unusual to have the  French Aerostatic Corps with balloons for reconnaissance. They took action from 1794 to 1802 (battle of Fleurus, campaign in Egypt…). One of these balloons, L'Intrépide, is exhibited at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna. 🙂

 

 

Edited October 26, 2019 by LeBoiteux

[Fnkershner]

Ok, I am very new to Ultimate Admiral games. I just installed Age of sail yesterday. I find it to be a very exciting game. Just what I was looking for. So here is my feedback on Game play -

I would guess that there are many players not familiar with Sailing a square rigged warship. I suggest that the tutorial needs a section just for maneuvering. Such as you cannot tack across the wind and you cannot sail into the wind. It doesn't yet appear that your speed is affected by your point of sail. Also do you plan to have wind direction and speed change during a battle. currently I find the UI troublesome. I cannot use just the mouse to change my point of view with relation to my ships. in land battles how do I get my troops to take advantage of a fence line? I.e. I would like a tutorial that just dealt with movement of units. Is there a plan to enable tool tips? such as hover over something and a popup tells you what it is? I am still struggling with boarding an enemy ship in the navel battles. I also like the fact that if you sink someone's ship the crew will try to take one of yours.

[Fnkershner]

Is there a plan to add fore & aft rigged vessels, such as the Baltimore Clipper. This would add a very interesting area to the game. Since the clipper can point higher than a frigate. you could have a battle where an American clipper take on a British convoy.

[DeRuyter]

3 hours ago, Fnkershner said:

Ok, I am very new to Ultimate Admiral games. I just installed Age of sail yesterday. I find it to be a very exciting game. Just what I was looking for. So here is my feedback on Game play -

I would guess that there are many players not familiar with Sailing a square rigged warship. I suggest that the tutorial needs a section just for maneuvering. Such as you cannot tack across the wind and you cannot sail into the wind. It doesn't yet appear that your speed is affected by your point of sail. Also do you plan to have wind direction and speed change during a battle. currently I find the UI troublesome. I cannot use just the mouse to change my point of view with relation to my ships. in land battles how do I get my troops to take advantage of a fence line? I.e. I would like a tutorial that just dealt with movement of units. Is there a plan to enable tool tips? such as hover over something and a popup tells you what it is? I am still struggling with boarding an enemy ship in the navel battles. I also like the fact that if you sink someone's ship the crew will try to take one of yours.

Did you mean to say that it was more difficult to tack in a square rigged ship, or maybe when sailing in formation? Just so there is no confusion square rigged vessels did tack all the time. Now a fleet of ships of the line would often wear instead because it was easier to keep formation.

I agree they should add fore & aft rigged vessels and you are correct they pointed higher or were more weatherly. You could generally get close to 45 degrees off the wind close hauled whereas a good square rigger was limited to about 65 degrees. Although for the Revolution you may not see the "Baltimore Clipper" design as those became popular later, think War of 1812 privateer like Lynx or Pride of Baltimore.  Here is an example of an earlier schooner design, the Sultana:

 

[LeBoiteux]

A well-known fore & aft rigged vessel of the American War of Independence is the 18-gun cutter Le Cerf (1778) that was part of the expedition of Le Bonhomme Richard :