Patch Information: Forthcoming Improvements

[Nick Thomadis]

Hello admirals,

Our next patch will mainly address an issue uncovered regarding mission win rates. Some missions were almost unwinnable and had less than 5% win rates across all players. Our next significant improvement will be in the AI Auto-Design algorithm that previously generated, quite often, ships that were unrealistically fast or not sufficiently protected according to armament. Lastly, several minor fixes were made according to your reports.

We wanted to deploy this patch earlier but got delayed significantly because our programmer got ill and is still recovering. We expect the patch to be deployed this week or (worst case) early next week. 

Please read below the forthcoming changes:

Alpha-7 v74 

BALANCES

• Targeting became more dynamic, affecting mainly fast moving ships, such as destroyers, which should have more chances in evading shots when they maneuver.
• Flash Fire chance reduced for smaller guns ammo, especially those found in Destroyers.
• Fine tuned ship maneuverability/steering mechanics.
• Early tech torpedoes are now having smaller range and are slower. This makes the impact and evolution of torpedoes more historically accurate.
• Sonar/Hydro equipment is now available for CA, BB, BC, making capital ships much more aware against torpedo threats. Stealth and torpedo detection levels have been rebalanced accordingly.
• "Fast Mode" of torpedoes rebalanced. Range penalty is less but accuracy is reduced further.
• Minor adjustment to auto-design algorithm for improved designs.
• Optimizations of Destroyers' engine weights.
• Optimizations of all other hull types' engine weights.
• Two more barbette variants for large guns, giving more flexibility in handling gun arrangements.
• Balances of costs/weights for various ship parts.
• Early tech engines received a small boost in horsepower, so that early pre-dreadnoughts are not overly slow (needed with new changes in weights).
• Several mission rebalances (Long List of changes HERE). *Note:* Some mission changes will take effect only if you delete all previous mission saved designs. 

REPAIRS

• Fixed secondary guns that could fire over their maximum range and cause the "Too many threads" crash.
• Fixed torpedo tubes that could not fire at very sharp angles.
• Fixed a generic Mark-3 102mm (4-inch) single barrel turret that appeared with two barrel model.
• Fixed issue that made Transport ships too slow in maneuvering, stalling their formations.
• Fixed some Italian towers of Italian heavy cruisers, that were not fitting on the deck (due to a bug fix that previously allowed overlap of towers out of the deck).
• Fixes/rescales in some old-type Destroyer hulls.
• Repaired some issues with USA cage masts, that either did not fit in hulls or where not available.
• Rescales in casemate guns (fixing some overlapping issues).
• Various other minor fixes in hulls, where it was applicable (thank you for the continued reports, we address what is possible for the given time).

After this patch we would like to invite you to play again the missions that you could not pass and tell us if things have improved. Your opinion about the better auto-designed ships will be much appreciated too.

Thank you for reading!
The Game-Labs Team

[Aceituna]

I am sorry but I just have to ask: What about the campaing?

[roachbeef]

8 minutes ago, Nick Thomadis said:

Two more barbette variants for large guns

Praise be! I hope the programmer is back to full health soon! Health always comes first.

[Danvanthevacuumman]

Hope he gets well. Also what news about campaign?

[Bilderberger]

5 minutes ago, Aceituna said:

I am sorry but I just have to ask: What about the campaing?

Quite the elephant in the room.

[Hussarball_PL]

Ohhh, YAEH finalny a more flexible barbettes! Wonderful : )!

[Rak1445]

I'm also interested in when the Steam keys are supposed to ship out?

[Cptbarney]

Ahh so the campaign isn't coming this patch? @1MajorKoenig @BobRoss0902 @HusariuS might have to wait a bit lads if dis is true ;w;

[Cptbarney]

Either way take your time ladz, better this isnt rushed and done properly.

[Nick Thomadis]

14 minutes ago, Aceituna said:

I am sorry but I just have to ask: What about the campaign?

We have a lot of work to do to get campaign to a playable (interesting and fun) state. We don't want to raise expectations and don't want you to be disappointed, so this is why we cannot state any definite dates regarding campaign. Before offering the campaign we must finish several preparations for releasing the game on Steam Early Access.

[Bilderberger]

5 minutes ago, Nick Thomadis said:

We have a lot of work to do to get campaign to a playable (interesting and fun) state. We don't want to raise expectations and don't want you to be disappointed, so this is why we cannot state any definite dates regarding campaign. Before offering the campaign we must finish several preparations for releasing the game on Steam Early Access.

That sounds rather... vague. Maybe it's also just my aversion to information asymmetry.

[SiWi]

7 minutes ago, Nick Thomadis said:

We have a lot of work to do to get campaign to a playable (interesting and fun) state. We don't want to raise expectations and don't want you to be disappointed, so this is why we cannot state any definite dates regarding campaign. Before offering the campaign we must finish several preparations for releasing the game on Steam Early Access.

well better hear it late then never.

Can't be help and the circumstances are signification enough to explain it. 

[Aceituna]

17 minutes ago, Nick Thomadis said:

We don't want to raise expectations and don't want you to be disappointed, so this is why we cannot state any definite dates regarding campaign.

Well, of course it's up to you when you decide that campaing is ready but I think that the only thing most of us expect from the campaing right now is to be startable.

[SiWi]

Just now, Aceituna said:

Well, of course it's up to you when you decide that campaing is ready but I think that the only thing most of us expect from the campaing right now is to be startable.

I think it goes back to the problem I once mentioned:

they don't want to sauer they reputation on steam with a early campaign version that gives the game a reputation as "broken". 

[Bilderberger]

1 minute ago, SiWi said:

I think it goes back to the problem I once mentioned:

they don't want to sauer they reputation on steam with a early campaign version that gives the game a reputation as "broken". 

Wouldn't the best course of action be to release the campaign before their steam release?

[Tousansons]

Curious to see the new auto generation of ships and eager to retry the missions with less fleeing enemies.

As for the campaign, it was obvious we would have to wait. They already have a pretty big chunk of numbers to crunch and balance (armor model, for exemple), we are still lacking some sort of crew modelling, and the UI while functional is in dire need of improvement before an early access release on steam.

I'll wait... Eeeh... Maybe if we could have more options to the battle generator... Pretty please?

[SiWi]

Just now, Bilderberger said:

Wouldn't the best course of action be to release the campaign before their steam release?

well... I wouldn't mind for sure.

I mean I do report bugs "dutifully" and think I'm not alone.

And while a good running campaign would be preferred, if it works better then lets say "pacific storm" I would be happy.

Problem of course is that it could be running worse then PS at the moment and is really really not playable. 

[HusariuS]

12 minutes ago, Cptbarney said:

Ahh so the campaign isn't coming this patch? @1MajorKoenig @BobRoss0902 @HusariuS might have to wait a bit lads if dis is true ;w;

I have somewhat expected that to happen since the last two topics about Naval Academy Balance and AI Designs.

To be honest, I would like to see at least some campaign screenshoots like Campaign Map or something, even if it's not completed yet.

 

[DougToss]

1 hour ago, Nick Thomadis said:

Alpha-7 v74 

1. Targeting became more dynamic, affecting mainly fast moving ships, such as destroyers, which should have more chances in evading shots when they maneuver.
2. Flash Fire chance reduced for smaller guns ammo, especially those found in Destroyers.
3. Fine tuned ship maneuverability/steering mechanics.
4. Optimizations of Destroyers' engine weights.
5. Optimizations of all other hull types' engine weights.

Can we please get some specificity, ideally numbers for these changes? 

1. Is the targeting more dynamic because of a changing range rate? Speed itself does not make a ship harder to hit, only change in speed. 
2. Is flash fire reduced for guns that would be quick-firing as opposed to bagged? What calibers? How greatly reduced compared to other guns? Are there incremental reductions within smaller calibers? 
3. What does that mean? How do the mechanics work? How were they tuned? What figures and formulae are the basis for this, and can we get a comparison to historical sources?
4. Again, can we get a breakdown of hp/ton? How is it optimized? What was the basis for the figures and formulae used?
5. As above. Why is this different from destroyers? Is this a function of hull shape? If so, are light and protected cruisers calculated differently from other hull types? Is each hull calculated differently? 

@Nick Thomadis, we're here to help you. Please trust us to give you feedback. We can only do that if you start to provide specific details so we can provide specific feedback. 

We can only use the vast library of historical sources gathered and researched by the community if you start giving us specific numbers so there are points of comparison. 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by DougToss

[Cptbarney]

10 minutes ago, HusariuS said:

I have somewhat expected that to happen since the last two topics about Naval Academy Balance and AI Designs.

To be honest, I would like to see at least some campaign screenshoots like Campaign Map or something, even if it's not completed yet.

 

I thought it was part of alpha 7 lol.

Like the one in the alpha 1 update? Its still there i posted it in the planning for next updates thread. But yeah i want too see some smoll images doe.

Although if their programmer is ill, we probs won't get the update till july or august.

Soo i guess i was right in dat prediction i made.

[1MajorKoenig]

1 hour ago, Nick Thomadis said:

Two more barbette variants for large guns, giving more flexibility in handling gun arrangements.

Well that is good news!

 

Was hoping for a Bayern and a Kaiser Style superstructure But hey  - rome wasn't built in a day 

Btw. - could we please get the “Modernized Dreadnought” for Germany added?

 

56 minutes ago, Cptbarney said:

Ahh so the campaign isn't coming this patch? @1MajorKoenig @BobRoss0902 @HusariuS might have to wait a bit lads if dis is true ;w;

 

25 minutes ago, HusariuS said:

I have somewhat expected that to happen since the last two topics about Naval Academy Balance and AI Designs.

To be honest, I would like to see at least some campaign screenshoots like Campaign Map or something, even if it's not completed yet.

 

 

Yea that’s a pity - got a little hyped about the campaign too. The single missions are not too interesting to me - fortunately we have customs battles!

[BobRoss0902]

6 hours ago, Cptbarney said:

Ahh so the campaign isn't coming this patch? @1MajorKoenig @BobRoss0902 @HusariuS might have to wait a bit lads if dis is true ;w;

I reject your reality and substitute it with my own.

[TotalRampage]

6 hours ago, Nick Thomadis said:

We have a lot of work to do to get campaign to a playable (interesting and fun) state. We don't want to raise expectations and don't want you to be disappointed, so this is why we cannot state any definite dates regarding campaign. Before offering the campaign we must finish several preparations for releasing the game on Steam Early Access.

We still love you.

[BobRoss0902]

6 hours ago, Nick Thomadis said:

We have a lot of work to do to get campaign to a playable (interesting and fun) state. We don't want to raise expectations and don't want you to be disappointed, so this is why we cannot state any definite dates regarding campaign. Before offering the campaign we must finish several preparations for releasing the game on Steam Early Access.

I mean I and a couple other people have voiced the same opinion that we would happy to play a campaign no matter how broken it is.

There was a beta for a game I played a while ago that had a disclaimer every time you booted up campaign that the campaign might be broken, and that it was in development, and I personally think it would be a good medium between people that want a complete campaign before campaign update, and people like me who would gladly play it no matter how broken.

But it's your game and I respect the way you are going about making it.

Edited June 9, 2020 by BobRoss0902

[BobRoss0902]

5 hours ago, 1MajorKoenig said:

Well that is good news!

 

Was hoping for a Bayern and a Kaiser Style superstructure But hey  - rome wasn't built in a day 

Btw. - could we please get the “Modernized Dreadnought” for Germany added?

 

 

 

Yea that’s a pity - got a little hyped about the campaign too. The single missions are not too interesting to me - fortunately we have customs battles!

I personally have been playing HOI4 and then recreating naval battles in custom.