>>>Beta Feedback December 21'<<<

[Nick Thomadis]

Hello Admirals, 

We have prepared a new branch on the Steam version of the game, where you can easily switch between the stable live version and the latest beta. We will occasionally, almost daily, update the beta with new content which might contain bugs or unfinished features, but it will allow you to play, report your findings, enjoy early on the upcoming improvements of the game and help us to make them better.

In the current beta, you will find the new feature of the Custom Battle Mode, in which you can design the AI opponent ships and various more improvements, including a better AI. You can read the internal changelog which will also update frequently.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:

- Find the game on your Steam Game Library and right click on it:

- Click on properties...

- ... and on the opened window, select from the list the "BETAS" option. On the appearing list, select the "beta branch" to switch to the latest beta version of the game.

- If you want to switch back to the stable live version, repeat the procedure and select from the Beta list "None".

===============================================================

Your feedback regarding the latest Beta Build can be shared in this thread or on Steam:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1069660/discussions/3/3191361912817836783/

You can of course continue to make internal reports with the bug report button.

27/12/2021 Update

*==v1.0 Update==*

*NEW HULLS*

• New *"French “Ironclad Battleship I”* available from 1890 to 1906 with a displacement between 8,050 and 10,600 tons.
• New *"French “Ironclad Battleship II”* available from 1890 to 1906 with a displacement between 8,250 and 10,900 tons.
• New *"French “Ironclad Battleship III”* available from 1890 to 1906 with a displacement between 8,400 and 11,800 tons. This hull type can faithfully recreate the French Battleship “Massena”.
• New *"French “Battleship I”* available from 1891 to 1906 with a displacement between 8,100 and 11,500 tons.
• New *"French “Battleship II”* available from 1892 to 1906 with a displacement between 9,000 and 16,000 tons. This hull type can faithfully recreate the French Battleship “Bouvet”.
• New *"French “Battleship III”* available from 1895 to 1906 with a displacement between 9,500 and 16,500 tons.
• New *"French “Battleship IV”* which can be considered a semi-dreadnought, available from 1895 to 1906 with a displacement between 17,000 and 21,500 tons.
• New *"French “Light Cruiser II”* available from 1892 to 1920 with a displacement between 3,500 and 4,500 tons.
• New *"French “Light Cruiser III”* available from 1896 to 1920 with a displacement between 5,500 and 8,500 tons.
• New *"French “Light Cruiser IV”* available from 1903 to 1920 with a displacement between 7,500 and 10,500 tons.
• New *"French “Armored Cruiser I”* available from 1890 to 1920 with a displacement between 3,500 and 7,600 tons.
• New *"French “Armored Cruiser II”* available from 1894 to 1920 with a displacement between 7,800 and 11,500 tons.
• New *"French “Armored Cruiser III”* available from 1898 to 1920 with a displacement between 9,800 and 13,500 tons.

*NEW GUNS*

• New French Mark 1/Mark 2 guns for calibers 2-inch up to 8-inch.
• New French Mark 1 guns for calibers 9-inch up to 13-inch.

*NEW FEATURES*

• *Design AI opponent ships in Custom Battles:* You can now design the ships of your opponents by switching the view between “You/Enemy”  in the Ship Design phase. As a result, you can now create your own battles with much more freedom.
• *New Key-Bind Options:* You may now change the key shortcuts for several control options of the game according to your own preferences.
• *New Friendly Fire System for guns:* Ships will stop firing at targets that are blocked by friendly ships in front of them and too close, risking being hit instead.
• *New Division Command “Avoid Torpedoes:* When you enable, the ships of your division -except the leader of the group- will actively avoid torpedoes automatically.
• *Armor distribution affects ship stability more:* Previously the belt/deck armor affected the stability of the ship only as a factor of total weight. Now adding armor to the fore/aft ends of the ship directly affects the weight distribution. For example, adding too much bow armor (something usually done unrealistically by players to have an advantage over the AI with frontal attacks) will now increase weight offset and the general instability of the ship. You will also notice that ships with an initial fore/aft armor may have some initial weight offset, which you can stabilize by making equal the armor weight distribution between fore/aft sections of the ship. All in all, the weight calculations of the ship have become more realistic and offer more design alternatives.

*NEW MISSIONS*
*“Jeune École has failed?”*: The old French strategic concept called “Jeune École” of having a main fleet based on numerous light warships equipped with torpedoes and high explosive rounds is now put to the test. The Germans are approaching with several dreadnoughts and a potent force of destroyers escorting them. They are heading near the French coastlines to threaten directly the control of your waters. You have some torpedo boats and some old cruisers and the choice to reinforce them with ships of your design on a rather strict budget. Will you build more cruisers and prove that the “Jeune École” can work or prefer to fight with some battleships instead?

*CAMPAIGN*

• Improved campaign AI to balance its shipbuilding strategy. Previously the AI could order for building so many ships that when they were all completed could cause bankruptcy and eventual defeat because the AI could not handle them economically, scrapping them in the end with no real use.
• VP gained from sinking Transports is now properly shown in the Battle result window. Previously these points were shown only in the strategy map report and it was not clear their effect after a battle.WIP.
• The Mission generator will create big battles with more probability. 
• You can now unlock the 1940 initial year for the campaign.
• You can now rename your ships in the campaign in the FLEET window by double clicking the ship names and editing a new text..
• Initial Battle distance tuned so that fleets start in better starting distances according to tech era (not too far, not too near).
• Initial cash slightly increased for the late tech campaign era.
• Victory points calculations balanced for late years so that campaigns do not end prematurely after a few victories.

*BATTLE AI*

• Improvements on AI aggressiveness/Responsiveness.
• Auto Targeting is more responsive.
• Significant AI auto-design improvement. The better, more effective ships will also affect the Battle AI positively.

*OTHER IMPROVEMENTS*

• Improved further the shell dispersion mechanics, especially at close range.
• Fine tuning of horsepower output for early tech engines.
• Increased cost of engines/armor for the design process, to a level that better reflects the value of the ship.
• Iron Plate armor has a new balance, simulating more effectively its historical effect.

*BUG FIXES*

• Fixed visual bug of gun hovering in Ship Design interface. It was caused when the game was wrongly paused when you switched on/off the Help with the “H” key.
• Fixed some reported issues on hulls.
• Fixed bug in smoke interference which caused inaccurate calculations when smoke interference was negative.

 

[Airzerg]

Классно! Забота о клиентах в паре! А те, кто еще не получил ключи, не увидят этих дополнений?

[Nick Thomadis]

14 minutes ago, Airzerg said:

Классно! Забота о клиентах в паре! А те, кто еще не получил ключи, не увидят этих дополнений?

All Steam keys have been sent. If you haven't received yet yours, check first the spam folder of the email you used to buy the Limited Edition.

If you still cannot find the key, please post in the support forum to receive help:
https://forum.game-labs.net/forum/180-payment-issues/

 

[DieHard_BR]

Thank you @Nick Thomadis, quick question can you share the time gap between the instances? 

[Norbert Sattler]

Nice idea... though the naming becomes really weird. So this is the pre-alpha-beta xyz?

I know the label "beta" comes from Steam, but it's still funny. ^^

[Darth Khyron]

I have to enter a "Beta"-access code. Unfortunately, I canot seem to find one?

[Nick Thomadis]

3 hours ago, DieHard_BR said:

Thank you @Nick Thomadis, quick question can you share the time gap between the instances? 

Not sure I understand.

15 minutes ago, Darth Khyron said:

I have to enter a "Beta"-access code. Unfortunately, I canot seem to find one?

It should not need a code. Does someone else experience the same problem?

[Adm.Hawklyn]

Nope, Worked fine for me.

[Darth Khyron]

hm. Updated it, used the above-posted to-do-list, but still, there is a code to enter. Otherweise, does not work.

 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Darth Khyron

[Adm.Hawklyn]

All you need to do, is switch to that beta branch and close the window. Game updates automatically.

No code needed at all.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Adm.Hawklyn
Clarifying

[Darth Khyron]

Yeah, I have been stupid again. Works now, sorry to bother you 😕

[Adm.Hawklyn]

No problem, we've all been there at some point or another.

[Tycondero]

Do sunk transport ships that are sunk during combat missions impact the transport pool/budget? We currently get VPs for sinking them, but I do not see the sunk ships being registered when completing the campaign. 

[Airzerg]

10 часов назад Ник Томадис сказал:

Не уверен, что понимаю.

Он не должен нуждаться в коде. Кто-то другой испытывает ту же проблему?

Я думаю, это было связано с тем, что корабли были разных лет постройки, разного технологического уровня. Поправьте меня, если это не так.

[Tycondero]

I have found a bug when designing DDs or other (default) unarmored vessels. If you do not increase the armor of your default unarmored vessel you cannot select different armor techniques/types (e.g. Krupp etc). This means that at least during the 1890-1910 campaigns (but possibly also later) the default armor type is "iron plate". Iron plate armor has a value that sets Hull weight to +33%. This means that if you opt to not change the default zero armor values you will never get to choose (or even see the option) a different armor type, hence the hull weight will be significantly (negatively) affected without you knowing.

[Adm.Hawklyn]

So, some observations....

Can't seem to start battles that are uneven, say BC ca, cl, dd vs bb, bc, ca, cl, dd

Image enclosed below. But yeah, my only possible clue to not being able to battle is the lack of a bb for my side. It worked fine before by the way.

Another issue that I've seen with this hull is barbettes not allowed on the rear portion of the upper part of the hull. It will not work even with using the ctrl position placement; where again, this worked before .99 and does not work in either .99 or this latest build.

Sorry, if this was supposed to be in the beta feedback thread... You can move this post over if you like.

I'm still on the fence of my opinion of the custom battle enemy designer due to the issue I mentioned above.  Its a nice idea, but you should focus more on getting the campaigns pushed out; certainly, I like that you adjusted the custom battle section, but campaigns need doing too.

Hmm, file size allowance seems wonky...

Image showing issue in question as noted first.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Adm.Hawklyn
added image link

[Norbert Sattler]

For the filesize, try saving the image on your harddrive and then uploading the file to your post, instead of copy/pasting the image itself. That worked for me when the page claimed my image was over 500 MB in size. ^^

[Nick Thomadis]

The beta has just become updated. You can read the current changelog in the 1st post.

[1MajorKoenig]

Nice Idea! 

[T_the_ferret]

Whats that "Ultimate General: In Development" game on the picture?

French Ironclad 3 has some very odd turret placement on its raised side emplacement. Can put a single barrel 203 but not a twin barrel 51mm? All single barrel fit while all double barrel do not

Edited December 23, 2021 by T_the_ferret
First Opinion

[hopps]

Hi all and @Nick Thomadis,

I think the "smoke interference" modifier for more advanced boilers is having the opposite intended effect on ship's smoke interference when the modifier is already below zero (i.e the number should be going up, towards zero (less and less negative), not more negative and thus better for the ship).

So, instead of being worse for smoke interference, induced boilers and so on are actually providing a bonus to SI when the value is already below zero. It seems to work as intended when value is above zero (i.e when using low tech towers for example)

Am I missing something here?

1. When below zero

2. When above zero (working as intended?)

 

 

[Nick Thomadis]

17 minutes ago, hopps said:

Hi all and @Nick Thomadis,

I think the "smoke interference" modifier for more advanced boilers is having the opposite intended effect on ship's smoke interference when the modifier is already below zero (i.e the number should be going up, towards zero (less and less negative), not more negative and thus better for the ship).

So, instead of being worse for smoke interference, induced boilers and so on are actually providing a bonus to SI when the value is already below zero. It seems to work as intended when value is above zero (i.e when using low tech towers for example)

Am I missing something here?

1. When below zero

2. When above zero (working as intended?)

 

 

Something seems to not work right. We will investigate and fix. Thank you.

[akd]

French Ironclad I-III are a bit odd as their rear tower and main turret placement positions allow for easy placement of super-firing main turrets at the back long before this was really "invented" as a technology.  The displayed anchor points for the rear tower are actually limited and preclude this if you use them, but holding CTRL you can place the rear tower forward to past the center of the ship.  While this is kind of "cool," and I do prefer more flexibility in placing towers and funnels, it breaks logical design progression as you then lose this ability with all the post-1890 pre-dreadnought battleship hulls that are supposed to be more "advanced" (and of course isn't allowed on the other nations' pre-dreadnought hulls).

That said, it is great to see some more early designs making their way into the game.

Edited December 23, 2021 by akd

[polarscribe]

Bug with Dreadnought I hull: side gun turret will track a target on the opposite side of the ship, when it physically should not be able to, and thus the gun barrels clip into the superstructure.

[Norbert Sattler]

I just had torpedoes go through a German ship (1900 campaign as Britain).

The first one would have hit at a 90° angle midships, but I wasn't fast enough to screenshot it. Then another came from the back and also went through the German BB, as seen in the screenshot.

The torpedoes were fired by a DD with 3 single Mark 2 tropedo launchers, fast, 17"

Here's another screenshot of a 17", fast underwater torpedo from my CL fired at (under?) the same BB in the same mission.

 

Edit: Correction. It was not the BB, but either the mission or the torpedo that was bugged, since I saw more torpedoes go through both the enemy and one of my CLs. The enemy had the same 17" fast Mark 2 torpedoes.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Norbert Sattler