Upcoming Alpha-10

[Nick Thomadis]

Hello Admirals,

We would like to inform you about our next patch which will arrive soon.

In this update we offer crucial improvements on battle gameplay, especially regarding the formations and evasion system. This is a major improvement and we are happy that we handled it before paying full attention to the campaign. 

We also introduce for the first time the ability to use the reverse engines of ships, an action that is very useful for evading torpedoes and maintaining formations. Please read below about all the improvements we are currently working on.

===========

SHIP EVASION IMPROVEMENT

The auto-evasion system has been fully reworked and optimized. Ships under AI control will be much more effective in evading other ships or torpedoes. Especially, the ship-to-ship evasion system is now more advanced and is based on ship size and rank, following the standard military navigation rules of the Royal Navy:

Priority of Passage Rules

1. Ship of higher tonnage has priority 
2. Ship with Captain of higher rank has priority
3. For ships of the same rank and size, the ship on the starboard has priority. 

The new system makes ships to keep formations with realistic and consistent maneuvers without doing unneeded circles.

SHIP REVERSE MOVEMENT
Ships are now able to use reverse engines. This is done automatically when ships have to auto-navigate for evading or keeping a formation. Additionally, the player can also use the reverse engines at his own will, by pressing the Shift-Key and clicking somewhere behind his ship. In that manner, the ship can turn harder to avoid, for example, a torpedo or another ship. Moving backwards at will is possible but you will realize it has no tactical benefit in most battle situations.

AI OPTIMIZATION
AI will keep an effective firing distance according to battle situation. Destroyers will approach in more deadly ranges according to their torpedo armament. Lightly protected ships will desire to keep a safer distance. This was especially needed for AI battlecruisers which now they desire to fight inside their immunity zone more often, but not too far away and becoming ineffective.

OTHER

• Auto Design Fixes:  Some important bug fixes regarding the auto-design system make AI ships to never have empty barbettes or have very large unoccupied gaps on the deck.
• Partial Penetration Damage Increase: Shells that partially penetrate the armor will now make more damage. Small gun damage will be more significant against Battleships as a consequence, but still not comparable to the impact of big guns.
• Weapon info improvement: The average damage estimation of guns and torpedoes will be closer to actual battle numbers (previously the numbers were just not accurate showing x100 more damage). Additionally, penetration ranges can expand up to 35 km (previously they were limited to 25 km).
• Weight balances for armor, bulkheads, guns: The new balance of weights for integral parts of the ships allows for more realistic constraints. Auto-Design is also affected positively because it makes wiser choices for building more durable and effective ships.
• Tonnage Minimum Step for Design reduced: Minimum step was 50 tons and now it is 25 tons. This change not only helps the player to utilize tonnage more effectively for designing ships but also helps auto-design to use almost all free tonnage (previously it could leave several tonnes unused making AI designs weaker than the player’s on average).
• Minimum Speed for BB, CA and CL slightly increased: For BB and CA now the minimum speed is 16 knots (from 15) and for CL is 17 knots (from 16). This was needed for allowing more realistic designs of those ship types and to help AI to not build impractical, very slow ships.
• Minor penetration balance for 8-inch and 9-inch guns: Those guns have slightly more penetration at their extreme ranges.
• Initial playable missions increased: Initially the unlocked missions are nine (instead of five), to help players progress. (Note: The ironclad missions should be not so tough, due to the partial penetration damage increase).
• Various minor hull fixes.

===========

We might add a few more features until the release of the patch. For more information stay tuned in this thread until the release of
Alpha-10, estimated to arrive next week.

Thank you for reading!

The Game-Labs Team
 

===========

UPDATE 18/12/2020

 

[Marshall99]

Thank you for the announcement!

@Cptbarney@Aceituna@Fishyfish@CapnAvont1015 and lots of others (sorry I am still bad at names)

[CapnAvont1015]

Finally we've reached the pinnacle point of our technology. We can finally make our ships go in reverse. It took years of work but we did it.

[Cptbarney]

@HusariuS @Shiki @TotalRampage @Koogus @Gangut @IronKaputt @Airzerg @Tousansons @Skeksis (Soz lads, my brain has been fried, ill need a reminder lol).

Very noice, hopefully we can see a few extra stuff in this patch, if possible (and if not too much trouble some extra hulls if you have time, if not then du worreh).

Gun ranges could also be done up as well, heard the japanese 203/50 could hit up to 29k metres or something, so we need different barrel types as longer barrels (too some degree) allow for longer ranges and faster shell velocity but less barrel life.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Cptbarney

[DerRichtigeArzt]

Cool, we needed a patch that just fixes stuff. Especialy ai and formations were still not good enaugh so i hope they are now, nice to see buffs to 8in guns, ca's are my favourite ships. Imo what is super important now is to rework the barbette system, kinda goofy seeing 2in guns on primary gun barbettes. 

 

[Skeksis]

On 12/11/2020 at 5:53 AM, Nick Thomadis said:

SHIP EVASION IMPROVEMENT

The auto-evasion system has been fully reworked and optimized. Ships under AI control will be much more effective in evading other ships or torpedoes. Especially, the ship-to-ship evasion system is now more advanced and is based on ship size and rank, following the standard military navigation rules of the Royal Navy:

Priority of Passage Rules

1. Ship of higher tonnage has priority 
2. Ship with Captain of higher rank has priority
3. For ships of the same rank and size, the ship on the starboard has priority. 

...

AI OPTIMIZATION
AI will keep an effective firing distance according to battle situation. Destroyers will approach in more deadly ranges according to their torpedo armament. Lightly protected ships will desire to keep a safer distance. This was especially needed for AI battlecruisers which now they desire to fight inside their immunity zone more often, but not too far away and becoming ineffective.

You guy's must be having alot of fun getting the AI to do all this stuff but could you past some of it onto us the players. I acknowledge that 'scouting' mode is new but IMO the game might still be too AI heavy.

Command Modern Operation is an excellent example of a UI that allows players to set alot of the AI behavior.

Consider this to give us more interaction.                                                                

Edited December 12, 2020 by Skeksis

[Aceituna]

Oh nice, these are fine improvements for sure. Also I think that nobody expected new update this soon.

In the Alpha-9 News Update you said that you plan to add extra resources in November. How that went? Did it succeed?

Also, when you mentioned campaing. When can we expect it approximately? Just come on, we got last update about it's release back in summer (!!!). Don't you think it might be time to update this information?

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by Aceituna

[1MajorKoenig]

4 hours ago, Nick Thomadis said:

Hello Admirals,

We would like to inform you about our next patch which will arrive soon.

In this update we offer crucial improvements on battle gameplay, especially regarding the formations and evasion system. This is a major improvement and we are happy that we handled it before paying full attention to the campaign. 

We also introduce for the first time the ability to use the reverse engines of ships, an action that is very useful for evading torpedoes and maintaining formations. Please read below about all the improvements we are currently working on.

===========

SHIP EVASION IMPROVEMENT

The auto-evasion system has been fully reworked and optimized. Ships under AI control will be much more effective in evading other ships or torpedoes. Especially, the ship-to-ship evasion system is now more advanced and is based on ship size and rank, following the standard military navigation rules of the Royal Navy:

Priority of Passage Rules

1. Ship of higher tonnage has priority 
2. Ship with Captain of higher rank has priority
3. For ships of the same rank and size, the ship on the starboard has priority. 

The new system makes ships to keep formations with realistic and consistent maneuvers without doing unneeded circles.

SHIP REVERSE MOVEMENT
Ships are now able to use reverse engines. This is done automatically when ships have to auto-navigate for evading or keeping a formation. Additionally, the player can also use the reverse engines at his own will, by pressing the Shift-Key and clicking somewhere behind his ship. In that manner, the ship can turn harder to avoid, for example, a torpedo or another ship. Moving backwards at will is possible but you will realize it has no tactical benefit in most battle situations.

AI OPTIMIZATION
AI will keep an effective firing distance according to battle situation. Destroyers will approach in more deadly ranges according to their torpedo armament. Lightly protected ships will desire to keep a safer distance. This was especially needed for AI battlecruisers which now they desire to fight inside their immunity zone more often, but not too far away and becoming ineffective.

OTHER

• Auto Design Fixes:  Some important bug fixes regarding the auto-design system make AI ships to never have empty barbettes or have very large unoccupied gaps on the deck.
• Partial Penetration Damage Increase: Shells that partially penetrate the armor will now make more damage. Small gun damage will be more significant against Battleships as a consequence, but still not comparable to the impact of big guns.
• Weapon info improvement: The average damage estimation of guns and torpedoes will be closer to actual battle numbers (previously the numbers were just not accurate showing x100 more damage). Additionally, penetration ranges can expand up to 35 km (previously they were limited to 25 km).
• Weight balances for armor, bulkheads, guns: The new balance of weights for integral parts of the ships allows for more realistic constraints. Auto-Design is also affected positively because it makes wiser choices for building more durable and effective ships.
• Tonnage Minimum Step for Design reduced: Minimum step was 50 tons and now it is 25 tons. This change not only helps the player to utilize tonnage more effectively for designing ships but also helps auto-design to use almost all free tonnage (previously it could leave several tonnes unused making AI designs weaker than the player’s on average).
• Minimum Speed for BB, CA and CL slightly increased: For BB and CA now the minimum speed is 16 knots (from 15) and for CL is 17 knots (from 16). This was needed for allowing more realistic designs of those ship types and to help AI to not build impractical, very slow ships.
• Minor penetration balance for 8-inch and 9-inch guns: Those guns have slightly more penetration at their extreme ranges.
• Initial playable missions increased: Initially the unlocked missions are nine (instead of five), to help players progress. (Note: The ironclad missions should be not so tough, due to the partial penetration damage increase).
• Various minor hull fixes.

===========

We might add a few more features until the release of the patch. For more information stay tuned in this thread until the release of
Alpha-10, estimated to arrive next week.

Thank you for reading!

The Game-Labs Team

Firstly - great news!

 

However - Are there new hulls or a more flexible ship designer planned?

[Fishyfish]

Neat! 

[IronKaputt]

20 hours ago, Fishyfish said:

Neat!

Epilepsy alert!

 

Edited December 11, 2020 by IronKaputt
I rewatched it on bigger screen. Also to fill the empty space.

[Hangar18]

9 hours ago, Cptbarney said:

@HusariuS @Shiki @TotalRampage @Koogus @Gangut @IronKaputt @Airzerg @Tousansons @Skeksis (Soz lads, my brain has been fried, ill need a reminder lol).

Very noice, hopefully we can see a few extra stuff in this patch, if possible (and if not too much trouble some extra hulls if you have time, if not then du worreh).

Gun ranges could also be done up as well, heard the japanese 203/50 could hit up to 29k metres or something, so we need different barrel types as longer barrels (too some degree) allow for longer ranges and faster shell velocity but less barrel life.

Just baking it into the tech of the gun seems like it would be enough. Fully agree gun ranges could use a once over.

[TAKTCOM]

12 hours ago, Nick Thomadis said:

SHIP REVERSE MOVEMENT
Ships are now able to use reverse engines. This is done automatically when ships have to auto-navigate for evading or keeping a formation. Additionally, the player can also use the reverse engines at his own will, by pressing the Shift-Key and clicking somewhere behind his ship.

Hello Nick. What do you guys think of the rework this

into something closer to 

[Airzerg]

 

Everything is the same. Again there is no crew, no mention of the campaign. Cannons, bulkheads, all year round.

[Airzerg]

 

sorry for my English

[Donluca95]

3 hours ago, Airzerg said:

 

Everything is the same. Again there is no crew, no mention of the campaign. Cannons, bulkheads, all year round.

Actually they introduce something new the "SHIP REVERSE MOVEMENT" . 

Edited December 11, 2020 by Donluca95

[Cptbarney]

4 hours ago, Airzerg said:

 

Everything is the same. Again there is no crew, no mention of the campaign. Cannons, bulkheads, all year round.

Crew probs wont make it until they release the campaign, it seems like they want to flesh out the game mechanics which i would rather they do than rush for a shitty version of the campaign.

They may also add other stuff to this patch, but i have no clue if thats a certain or not. Although i think they should give us a simplified version of the crew at somepoint for us to test and for them to improve.

[1MajorKoenig]

1 hour ago, Donluca95 said:

Actually they introduce something new the "SHIP REVERSE MOVEMENT" . 

Do we need that?!

Do we want to make it a WOWS thingy with reverse paddling? What’s next - border hugging...? 🧐

 

Rather than these kind of features I would appreciate a solid and courageous improvement to the ship designer 

[Nick Thomadis]

16 hours ago, Cptbarney said:

Gun ranges could also be done up as well

This could be done a little later, when we add more design components and crew.

6 hours ago, TAKTCOM said:

Hello Nick. What do you guys think of the rework this

into something closer to 

The horizontal speed panel was chosen for taking less space and being easier to use. We will reconsider improving the Battle UI much later, as there are, as we know, other priorities.

15 hours ago, Aceituna said:

Oh nice, these are fine improvements for sure. Also I think that nobody expected new update this soon.

In the Alpha-9 News Update you said that you plan to add extra resources in November. How that went? Did it succeed?

Also, when you mentioned campaing. When can we expect it approximately? Just come on, we got last update about it's release back in summer (!!!). Don't you think it might be time to update this information?

 

We will share more information as soon as we can. Campaign is already in process, regardless of the patches we give out. Our ongoing patches intent to keep everyone satisfied by playing the game, until we make the campaign available.

14 hours ago, 1MajorKoenig said:

Firstly - great news!

 

However - Are there new hulls or a more flexible ship designer planned?

Of course, there is much more to come. Patches continue to arrive according to received feedback and our available resources. 

[Cptbarney]

@Nick Thomadis Noice, also helps with realism a lil bit as well, as some guns could fire up to pretty meaty ranges despite their calibers as well. Hope we get to change gun barrels as well at a later date (length, bore size etc). 

I hope the scope of the project is fine for you guys, also noice too see some mechanical refinements as well. Also adding more design components and crew sounds good as well.

Oh, i've noticed that it still says steam release for 2020 will that still be a thing? (I doubt it since its only a few weeks left of this horrible year, but still.)

[Cpt.Hissy]

Most guns range was limited by their elevation more than anything. You get highest possible range at ~45 degrees elevation, while it was common to have guns limited to 20 degrees or so.
Also, aiming capabilities, at furthest range you're not going to hit anything smaller than a town and likely will fall asleep before first salvo arrives x)

Increased range  could be an upgrade, that also can be fitted on older ships in campaign

[CapnAvont1015]

1 hour ago, Cptbarney said:

Oh, I've noticed that it still says steam release for 2020 will that still be a thing?

I would rather the release date be pushed to next year. So many game companies try to push out games on time even if they're broken as hell. (I'm looking at you E.A) I'll be totally cool if change the release date to next year as long as fix all the broken stuff.

[Cptbarney]

Just now, CapnAvont1015 said:

I would rather the release date be pushed to next year. So many game companies try to push out games on time even if they're broken as hell. (I'm looking at you E.A) I'll be totally cool if change the release date to next year as long as fix all the broken stuff.

I agree, fed up of broken half-arsed games. Its nice too see devs and companies actually take the time to polish their products as well, instead of the usual min-maxing for profits.

[1MajorKoenig]

1 hour ago, Cptbarney said:

I agree, fed up of broken half-arsed games. Its nice too see devs and companies actually take the time to polish their products as well, instead of the usual min-maxing for profits.

Well at some point they will need to collect some fresh money to keep the show running. Hope they have enough for now to not be forced to rush it in a half-ready state - with the known + expected consequences on reception.

 

Just in case it becomes an issue at some point it would be great to put up and discuss alternatives rather than pushing things out.

 

If my professional carreer showed one thing than it would be that there are always multiple ways to solve such things - if everyone is creative and wants to pull into the same direction 

[Shaftoe]

Ah, yes. Another "next week" release. This time might actually become a legit "next year" release. Lol. 

No offense, Nick. Lol. 

[Cptbarney]

19 minutes ago, 1MajorKoenig said:

Well at some point they will need to collect some fresh money to keep the show running. Hope they have enough for now to not be forced to rush it in a half-ready state - with the known + expected consequences on reception.

 

Just in case it becomes an issue at some point it would be great to put up and discuss alternatives rather than pushing things out.

 

If my professional carreer showed one thing than it would be that there are always multiple ways to solve such things - if everyone is creative and wants to pull into the same direction 

Ye, but the scope of the project is massive and its not a mainstream title either so, getting it right matters even more so than games like cod, warcraft, eve, mwo, world of lootboxes which can afford to half-arse half or most of the time.

Plus the campaign looks like it will introduce at least 12+ major new mechanics as well, along with possible further refinements to existing mechanics and a few new minor mechanics as well.

We will have to wait and see it seems, along with nudging the devs where possible i guess.