>>>Beta v1.3 Feedback<<<(Released)

[Nick Thomadis]

Hello Admirals,

The release of the new major update v1.3 approaches but before we make it available for everyone, we would like to make a beta testing so that it becomes released at the best condition possible. Below you can read the preliminary changelog of the current playable beta.

More information is given here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1069660/announcements/detail/5385784114981301254 

Installation instructions:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1069660/discussions/3/3191362449922656706/ 

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

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 2"
- Weather randomization mechanics are now finalized. You should be able to notice smoother variance on weather and daytime for battles.
- Fixed UI problems in campaign which made it unresponsive when clicking buttons.
- Fixed UI bug that made impossible to place a tech priority in armor quality technology.
- Fixed issue in new USA large guns which caused their colliders to expand over their visual borders.
- Battle AI & Auto-Targeting adjustments.
- Several other minor improvements.

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 3"
- Province borders with color highlight have been finalized. You can find a new button on the top right corner which allows you to toggle on/off the color highlight according to province ownership, which helps to monitor your territory possessions.
- Balance overhaul for accuracy and visibility according to the new weather system. Please note that the fog visuals will be improved so that ship control is easier at maximum zoom out level.
- Ship motion due to waves further improved to provide an even more realistic experience. The maximum designed speed will be possible only in very calm waters, because the large tides will reduce the ship's top speed and acceleration accordingly.
- Added back the manual rudder control. Players will still have to steer carefully because in large formations a full rudder could cause unwanted circular movements for all ships.
- Disabled the common alliance mechanic, which caused too frequent world wars.
- Oil, Rebellion and Major Offensive flag icons are now properly scaling according to map zoom level.
- Various bugs of the UI have been fixed.
- Fixed major bug of the auto-deesign (temporary of the beta build) which caused late tech CL to not be buildable.
- Auto-Design optimizations.
- Battle AI optimizations.
- Various other small bug fixes.

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 4"
- Reduced further the chance to have bad weather in campaign.
- Fixed issues that made province highlight to not update after conquering (not all issues are addressed, we will fix all ASAP).
- Fixed torpedo tubes not scaling (temporary problem of this beta). This fix will affect all designs since it will upscale or downscale torpedo tube models, making them to occupy different space. A new campaign may become necessary for not having various issues with problematic weapon fire arcs during battles or other problems.
- Fixed various issues with the localization, which  is still in an unfinished state regarding available languages or the translations.
- Balances on the ship’s costs, which primarily affect campaign upkeep costs and Naval Academy funds. Additionally, this change determines more accurately the actual battle value of a ship, thus the Battle AI priorities should work more effectively.
- Further Auto-Design optimizations.
- Fixed UI bug showing that submarines were not detected but the opposite happened.
- Fixed Shared Designs not applying properly in custom battles.
- Improved Naval Invasion / Conquest / Military Conflict missions showing who is considered the Attacker and Defender, so that the needed tonnage is updated correctly for player. This fix will apply only on new mission instances and unfortunately will corrupt the ongoing missions with inflated battle kills.
- Warning on spotted torpedoes now will never expire, helping players to detect them during gameplay.

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 5"
- New models for German late tech guns of large caliber.
- New models for Austro-Hungarian late tech guns of large caliber.
- Chinese guns models updated for the large caliber guns.
- Fixed issues of the new dual barbettes.
- Lowered further the chance for bad weather. Previously the chances for rain and storm were 5.5% and 3.3% respectively. Now it is 3% and 1%, very low chances. If you get too frequent storms  then there must be something not working as expected.
- Ship physics further improvement for more realistic and consistent acceleration.
- Torpedo reliability improved (due to weather, torpedoes would deviate just too often, depending on their technology).
- Fixed various minor bugs that were reported (thank you).

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 6"
- Fixed, hopefully, all border highlight issues, caused when a province was changing ownership. Please let us know, better in a new campaign, if all provinces in your games change color properly when they are conquered.
- Improved logic of ship repairing so that ships are sent to closer ports (those that can travel in up to 1 turn, as it should work). This fix needs testing. Players who do not want their ships to return to port when they have minimal damage, then  they can alter their repair priority accordingly in task forces and ports.
- Campaign AI will scrap old ships more consistently now.
- Naval Invasion success chance increased (the chance is depended on losses and tonnage added).
- Various issues of the beta localization languages are fixed.
- Gun collider optimizations. Auto-Design should be even more effective and faster. Some old designs may become affected and may need redesign.

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 7"

After the first series of betas, we stabilized the build, by fixing various critical issues, and now we can continue on the progressive release of the new ship models. Please check what the new update offers:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1069660/announcements/detail/3686802262359162555 

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 8"
- New USA "Experimental Dreadnought I” with a displacement between 20,500 and 24,500 tons and available from 1905 to1915.
- New USA "Dreadnought III" with a displacement between 26,000 and 33,500 tons and available from 1910 to 1918.
- Fixed bug that caused ships that have repaired in an allied port, not being able to be moved.
- Poland province split into two regions. (It may cause issues in a current campaign, if Poland is under attack).
- Eastern Siberia ports now are properly belonging to this region and not Siberian Russia. (Needs a new campaign to apply properly)
- Various optimizations in Auto-Design and part collider system.
- Battle AI further optimizations.

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 9"
- New USA ""Dreadnought IV"" with a displacement between 28,500 and 39,500 tons, as an enlarged variant of the New York class battleships, and is available from 1914 to 1926.
- New USA ""Dreadnought V"" with a displacement between 32,500 and 44,500 tons, available from 1919 to 1926.
- Fixed initial ownership for Eastern Poland.
- Fixed UI measurement for Beam in meters or feet not updating fully.
- Other minor.

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 10"
- New USA "Modernized Dreadnought I" with a displacement between 25,750 and 32,500 tons, which can recreate the *modernized New York-class battleships* and is available from 1927.
- New USA "Modernized Dreadnought III" with a displacement between 41,500 and 49,500 tons, available from 1927.
- New USA "Modern Battleship I" with a displacement between 44,500 and 52,500 tons, available from 1929.
- New USA "Fast Battleship" with a displacement between 47,000 and 62,500 tons, available from 1935.
- Various fixes, improvements on some model parts.

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 11"
- New Chinese "Modernized Dreadnought I" with a displacement between 28,750 and 34,500 tons, available from 1927.
- New Spanish "Modernized Dreadnought I" with a displacement between 28,950 and 34,900 tons, available from 1927.
- New "Modernized Dreadnought I" for France and Italy with a displacement between 34,000 and 44,000 tons, available from 1927.
- Ship motion due to waves has now a better, faster transition according to weather change state
- Further fixes/adjustments on ship models.

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 12"
- New USA "Fast Scout Cruiser" which can recreate the Atlanta-class cruiser with a displacement between 5,750 and 7,500 tons and is available from 1930.
- New USA "Advanced Destroyer (Compact)" with a displacement between 2,200 and 3,000 tons, available from 1935.
- New USA "Advanced Destroyer (Large)" with a displacement between 3,200 and 4,500 tons, available from 1935.
- New advanced main towers for late tech destroyers.
- Ship inertia improvements
- Further campaign economy adjustments.
- Other minor.

---------------------

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 13"
Content is finalized. Please read all the changes:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1069660/announcements/detail/3686802895174040046 

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 14"
- Fixed temporary scale issues for some French guns.
- Fixed LOD issue for one new tower.
- Fixed province highlight issues for Ukraine, Central Italy area, Honshu area.
- Fixed issue that could cause unmovable ships if they were in an ally port.
- Improved collider logic so that in several new hulls (and some old) the small caliber gun placements no longer obstruct the main guns, and can be used normally.
- Auto-Design optimizations to be more effective and faster.
- Ship motion due to waves optimized further.

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 15"
- Added thunder sounds in storms.
- Battle sound effects got an enhance.
- Improved further the ship physics and the ship motion due to sea waves. Additionally the jitter oscillation that could happen at start of battles should be now fixed.
- Ungoverned territories can now be attacked by Major Nations (similarly as it happens for the other minor nations, via government decisions).
- Other minor improvements.

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 16"
- Battle Sound Effects optimizations.
- Shell dispersion logic optimization.

Beta Update v1.3 "Build 17 RC"
- Battle Sound Effects finalization.
- Day-Night cycle repaired. Previously it was not able to work completely linearly and resulted in day to endure too little and phases to switch faster.
- Bulkheads became more expensive to reflect more accurately the real combat value of the ships.
- Added the ability to clean up saved designs and campaign saves within the tool.

This is a release candidate build, We will look to fix only game-breaking issues of the game, if they exist. There is a minor known problem with dual barbettes which prevents them to rotate properly (it is minor because all other barbettes, do not have any real value in rotating for years now, so we cannot risk in changing the whole logic of barbettes currently).

Please read before you report any game issue:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1069660/discussions/2/3832043983170771555/ 

PLEASE RESTART STEAM TO GET THE UPDATE FAST

 

v1.3 Released with various fixes based on your recent feedback.

Thank you a lot for your participation. Enjoy!
https://www.dreadnoughts.ultimateadmiral.com/post/major-update-v1-3 

[Käptn_Flitschauge]

Alright, first look:  For beginners, I like how provinces are more visible. However, for one the map could benefit from a visual clue showing which area belongs to who without having to hover over it, and second the borders are annoyingly off for the majority of the time period the game was set in. I would strongly recommend trying to redraw them and maybe add some more to better represent the distribution of territories between countries.

Also, in 1890, the only independent African nations were Marocco and Ethiopia. Since none of the ones currently represented are playable, why not just giving the colonial powers their historical empires?

Edited April 15, 2023 by Käptn_Flitschauge

[Nick Thomadis]

10 minutes ago, Käptn_Flitschauge said:

from a visual clue showing which area belongs to who without having to hover over it,

It is a work in progress. This is how it is going to work.

[Käptn_Flitschauge]

Just now, Nick Thomadis said:

It is a work in progress. This is how it is going to work.

Roger.

What about the provinces themselves? Will they be changed somewhere down the line, because to be honest, 21st century borders really don't fit the late 19th/early 20th century.

Also, having played a night battle now, I must say I'm impressed by the weather effects. The waves during a storm look a bit weird sometimes, but other than that, I think well done

[Nick Thomadis]

22 minutes ago, Käptn_Flitschauge said:

Roger.

What about the provinces themselves? Will they be changed somewhere down the line, because to be honest, 21st century borders really don't fit the late 19th/early 20th century.

Also, having played a night battle now, I must say I'm impressed by the weather effects. The waves during a storm look a bit weird sometimes, but other than that, I think well done

Which borders do not fit? Can you give examples?

[Käptn_Flitschauge]

18 minutes ago, Nick Thomadis said:

Which borders do not fit? Can you give examples?

For example Poland: The province of Poland you have on the map has the modern borders, however the dividing line between Germany, Russia and Austria ran right through it. Another one would be the boundry between France and Germany; Alsace-Lorraine should be split off to form its own territory. That would also make it harder for the two to just conquer the other in war. There are other zones on the map as well, like the boundry line between Italy and Austria/France (it might pay to turn Nizza into its own province) or Austria and Russia.

Other then that, I think you did a pretty good job.

Edit: I think your provinces are just too big as well. It is far too easy to conquer all of France, Spain, Germany, etc. in one go, and far too easy to then hold on to it. Reducing their size makes war in Europe especiall a bit less all-or-nothing

Edited April 15, 2023 by Käptn_Flitschauge

[Nick Thomadis]

1 minute ago, Käptn_Flitschauge said:

For example Poland: The province of Poland you have on the map has the modern borders, however the dividing line between Germany, Russia and Austria ran right through it. Another one would be the boundry between France and Germany; Alsace-Lorraine should be split off to form its own territory. That would also make it harder for the two to just conquer the other in war. There are other zones on the map as well, like the boundry line between Italy and Austria/France (it might pay to turn Nizza into its own province) or Austria and Russia.

Other then that, I think you did a pretty good job.

The borders are made to be as close to history as possible according to the very large period of 1890-1940. If our game allowed to have moving borders then we would be able to make them 100% accurate according to start year.

[Suribachi]

Feedback from one hour of gameplay so far:

Map improvements are very welcome, especially the province borders.  Weather mechanics are awesome, had a jump scare moment when an enemy BB opened up at point blank range from the fog.


Some things that we, the players, still need to see implemented or fixed:
- game minimized on its own without my input while in the ship designer.  I have not been able to replicate this so it may have been a one off issue.  Will inform if it happens again. 
- Map still lacks a wrap around feature.  This makes playing as China or Japan harder than other nations since you feel like you are playing at the edge of a table instead of a globe.
- https://forum.game-labs.net/topic/40596-cycle-between-fleetsports-that-are-on-top-of-each-other/
- UI has some information overload in larger battles.  Please see this post for examples on how it can be improved.  https://forum.game-labs.net/topic/40788-v11-feedback/?do=findComment&comment=775691

- Game is still unable to work in borderless window.  Meaning that the game minimizes and stops processing when another program is focused in the OS.  For example, being able to type on the forum here while allowing the game to continue a battle or processing a turn.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Suribachi
added another item

[Käptn_Flitschauge]

2 minutes ago, Nick Thomadis said:

The borders are made to be as close to history as possible according to the very large period of 1890-1940. If our game allowed to have moving borders then we would be able to make them 100% accurate according to start year.

What I mean is that you could easily make those borders more historical by for example taking that big blob Poland and splitting it up into multiple smaller provinces like Pommerania, Silesia, Mazovia, etc. Same goes for Ukraine, or France, or Italy, or Germany.

[mk4m]

6 minutes ago, Suribachi said:

 Map still lacks a wrap around feature.  

 

+1

[baltic1284]

There is also a bug in the game when you thicken armor on a ship the display that you can get when firing at a ship that show armor layout and such doesn't update at ie my ship started with 8 inches of armor and stated it was 21 inches effective armor and now i got to get to 12 inches and it still says that it is 21 inches effective.

Waves are also well oddly weird especially in a storm yes wave do get higher, and more pronounced in a storm but i was in the US Navy rode threw much worse storms than you show in game and yet waves didn't swamp my ship like they do in game where a wave can be 3 times taller than the ship in a pinpoint spike.

At the same time a new bug has it where I can't adjust speed of my ship unless I do full reverse speed then switch ammo type my guns are using then take the ship out of full reverse let it shoot one complete volley of shells then I can adjust my speed of the ship.

[casperwieik]

2 hours ago, Suribachi said:

Map still lacks a wrap around feature.  This makes playing as China or Japan harder than other nations since you feel like you are playing at the edge of a table instead of a globe.

The Devs have said that the way the map looks now is not going to change, it will stay bordered. Also, currently it has no impact on gameplay in any significant form since you can move fleets and fight in the pacific without issue.

[ijp8834]

@Nick Thomadis

Does the world map take into effect that it is a Mercader Projection, and that the north and south edges of the map are distorted? So for instance, sailing from Murmansk to Iceland is clost the half the distance from Gibraltar to Cyprus, despite them appearing farther on a map.

[Narbar]

Good to see the update! Always fun to try new mechanics!

Any plans to fix the forced alliance system? 

[ZorinW]

@Nick Thomadis First battle in a new campaign and stuck on "Prepare for Battle". Can't make a bug report as there is no button for it in that screen. Pressing Esc and trying to go to main menu results in the game being stuck loading the main menu.

Edited April 15, 2023 by ZorinW

[Thramoun]

4 hours ago, Nick Thomadis said:

The borders are made to be as close to history as possible according to the very large period of 1890-1940. If our game allowed to have moving borders then we would be able to make them 100% accurate according to start year.

I don't understand this. We already can move borders in the game right now, by conquest. Why not introduce additional regions to allow us to move the borders in a more sensible way?

[Suribachi]

4 hours ago, casperwieik said:

The Devs have said that the way the map looks now is not going to change, it will stay bordered. Also, currently it has no impact on gameplay in any significant form since you can move fleets and fight in the pacific without issue.

Unfortunately, without a feature to shortcut the viewing angle to the player's home province and to the extreme left and right of the map, I cannot agree that the map in its current form is an acceptable final form. 

If the map is going to be bordered, and not wrapped around as the developers have stated, shortcut key-binds or UI buttons need to exist to push the view instantly to the extreme left and extreme right of the map.  Instead the player currently has to press and hold the A or D keys, and with shift and or zooming out the view for extra speed, to get from one side of the map to the other.  For a player battling primarily in the Pacific, this is extremely off putting.

[StoneofTriumph]

There's something off about weather generation. 10 of my last 11 battles have all taken place at night effectively in the middle of a hurricane. And the one that didn't start as one turned into one.

Edited April 15, 2023 by StoneofTriumph

[Suribachi]

Could just be me, but the combat seems slower even when time compression is on.  As an example, with a gun that has a muzzle velocity of around 900 m/s and the target being 1.8km away, it takes around 2 seconds for the shell to get there when 3x time compression is on.

[Aurora]

34 minutes ago, StoneofTriumph said:

There's something off about weather generation. 10 of my last 11 battles have all taken place at night effectively in the middle of a hurricane. And the one that didn't start as one turned into one.

Can confirm, i just finished streaming a quick check of the 1.3 beta and all battles were during "rainy" weather (which is a thunderstorm) and even a custom battle where i specifically asked for calm weather turned to rainy in the first couple of minutes.
Also, there are issues with the UI in the campaign, if you try to move some ships and click on the list to the left to select the first ship to move, you can't quite click it. Also there seems to be very slight performance problems while on the map, especially when using a menu like the tech one. It's not major but it's there.

Overall i love the weather system and how it looks, but i really hope that actual night fights will have the addition of star shells and other support stuff that will improve the ability of ships to fight at night, because at the moment i had a 1915 dreadnought hit at like 30% accuracy against a pre-dread 2.5km away in the middle of the night during a rainstorm, it's a bit too accurate to be realistic.

[Fangoriously]

Any nation that uses American style 20 in guns scales wildly huge when you go from 20.0 to 20.9. its quite a few of them. Didn't notice any other gun model doing that, thats not even a new model.

I would also say the American mk2 and mk3 4/5in gun model is still to small, especially when compared to the 6+in gun of the same mk.

[Panzergraf]

If a wrap-around map is not possible, would it be possible to have different maps based on player nation?
So if you play a European nation, the map looks like what it does now, with a split down the pacific ocean.
If you play as Japan or China, east Asia is in the center and the split is somewhere in the Atlantic.
If you play as USA, the Americas are in the center and the split is in the Indian Ocean or something.

Basically, if the map has to be split somewhere, make it as unintrusive for the player as possible.
The map split along the Pacific really is a hassle if you're playing as Japan currently, even if "functionally" you can travel accross it.

[kineuhansen]

i do like the new weather think it will spice the game up abit but the ships model could use some change its a bit strange to see destoyers still be able to go full speed even in stormy weather wich was never the case in real life would also use more fuel would love to see that change would also love to see effect the torpedo

[Kiknurazz91]

In custom battle when selecting the option of having a BC it doesnt let you choose a BC hull only BB hulls

 

 

[Kiknurazz91]

1 hour ago, Panzergraf said:

If a wrap-around map is not possible, would it be possible to have different maps based on player nation?
So if you play a European nation, the map looks like what it does now, with a split down the pacific ocean.
If you play as Japan or China, east Asia is in the center and the split is somewhere in the Atlantic.
If you play as USA, the Americas are in the center and the split is in the Indian Ocean or something.

Basically, if the map has to be split somewhere, make it as unintrusive for the player as possible.
The map split along the Pacific really is a hassle if you're playing as Japan currently, even if "functionally" you can travel accross it.

The map works just fine other than having to scroll all the way to the other side of the map to select a point in the pacific it is not bad. Adding maps based on nations really is the same as having a wrap around and adds more potential issues to the game.