>>>v1.4 Feedback<<< (1.4.1.1 Opt x2 latest version)

[Dave P.]

Are the names in the pool for each country time-sensitive? I may be off my rocker, but I swear I've seen a USS John S. McCain before 1945, for instance.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Dave P.

[Dave P.]

I'm also noticing that, within the last couple patches, my ships steering is much more sensitive. They sort of "bounce" around the intended heading a few times before settling in. (These are in a campaign so the designs probably predate the patch in question.) Anybody else seeing that?

It seems noticeably worse at 3x/5x speed; maybe the math for steering is getting simplified when time compression is on?

Edited December 13, 2023 by Dave P.

[applegrcoug]

42 minutes ago, Dave P. said:

Are the names in the pool for each country time-sensitive? I may be off my rocker, but I swear I've seen a USS John S. McCain before 1945, for instance.

No, I don't think the names are time sensitive.  I'm pretty sure I've seen the RN get a KGV before 1910.

[MDHansen]

names are in a pool, randomly sharing between a few classes (bb-bc-ca, cl-dd-tb if i remember correctly) and no timeframes or limitations

[Dave P.]

Minor UI quibble:

When I have an encounter where one side has only submarines or transports, there's no option but to fight, and no option but to autoresolve. In these situations, it would be nice if the autoresolve was automatic so I only have to click one button.

[Dave P.]

Final note for the night, also about ship names:

Playing as Germany, I only had to build about two dozen battlecruisers before I started getting numbered ships. Wondering if it would be possible to either expand the name lists with some kind of non-historical fallback option instead of numbers (wikipedia has lists of town and city names for most countries) or (maybe preferable?) allow the user to provide name lists for their own use during a campaign.

Semi-related, I also see that ships built for a minor power (Brazil, etc.) have names from the major power that built them instead of names appropriate for the minor power in question. With all the minor powers, I realize it would be harder to "fix" this, but I'd bet users would be happy to research and generate list names for various non-major navies. Even numbered ships would be less weird than fighting an Ottoman ship called the Shimakaze.

Edited December 14, 2023 by Dave P.

[Panzergraf]

You can rename ships yourself btw, I do this a lot especially to give nation appropriate names to ships I sell to the AI.
Double click the name of a ship in the Fleet tab and change it from there.
Sold ships have to be renamed while they're still being built, but your own ships can be renamed whenever.

That still doesn't fix minor nation ships bought from AI major nations though.

Edited December 14, 2023 by Panzergraf

[Dave P.]

16 hours ago, Panzergraf said:

You can rename ships yourself btw, I do this a lot especially to give nation appropriate names to ships I sell to the AI.
Double click the name of a ship in the Fleet tab and change it from there.
Sold ships have to be renamed while they're still being built, but your own ships can be renamed whenever.

That still doesn't fix minor nation ships bought from AI major nations though.

I'm aware of being able to rename ships, but I'd prefer it were automatic, that's all. (I'm lazy.) 🙂

[Nick Thomadis]

Uploaded optimized x3 version including the following:
- Further optimizations in auto-design and saves processes. There should be a noticeable increase in the speed of loading for everything. If you notice a very short windows process freeze when you click buttons during campaign's generation "Creating World" just ignore it. We will try to optimize further with parallel cpu threads processing.
- Reduced the tension caused by enemies of ally. If diplomatic relations are good, then very small or no extra tension will be caused.
- Reduced Torpedo Arm time from 3 sec to 2 sec to fix rare issues of no torpedo firing at very close distance.
- Minor UI and localization issues fixed.
You must restart Steam to receive this update with no problems

[o Barão]

@Nick Thomadis can we discuss the AI behavior parameters in the battlefield? I would like to point the issues and limitations and suggest what can be improved.

 

AI independent formations crashing with others at max limit. ai_independent_range_away, modifier

This modifier will be applied to all divisions like they are the same. It is universal, and there is where the problems arise. It will cause situations where the many different divisions will bump each other and be vulnerable against enemy fire without using the firepower at full potential.

Possible solution: To set an independent range away modifier for each class. This way, it is possible to use different values to keep the AI formations apart from each other.

ai_independent_range_away_BB

ai_independent_range_away_BC

ai_independent_range_away_CA

ai_independent_range_away_CL

ai_independent_range_away_DD

ai_independent_range_away_TB

 

Rushing the player. approach_clamp_torpedoes, modifier

Similar issue with the previous one. It is universal. I like to set a high value to see the TBs and DDS rushing and swarming the player, the problem here is because it is universal value will force any AI ship with torpedoes to rush forward like maniacs even if it is better to keep the battle line intact.

Possible solution: To set an independent modifier per class.

approach_clamp_torpedoes_BB

approach_clamp_torpedoes_BC

approach_clamp_torpedoes_CA

approach_clamp_torpedoes_CL

approach_clamp_torpedoes_DD

approach_clamp_torpedoes_TB

 

The issue with scout formations. If they are in the wrong side of the formation, they will never help the main formation with the defense, no matter how much freedom I gave to them (scout_range_away modifier) I can mitigate this issue by using small base values, like 1000 meters, so they will follow the main formation in a close pattern, but this is not perfect. Ideally they should be able to switch sides to where is the enemy and protect the main force.

 

Individual survival AI behavior is missing. The moment a ship gets heavily damaged will turn to the side and sail to the end of the formation. Ideally, if it gets 50% below HP structure or floating, the AI ship should immediately apply these commands.

- Split from the division.(create a new individual division for this ship)

- Order the retreat.

- Use smoke (if available)

To try to run away and live to fight another day. To farm useless bots that don't know when it is the right moment to leave is not fun and only serves the purpose to make the AI weaker in the long run in the campaign.

 

Small AI ships imitating the target speed. This was implemented patches ago and is great when we are talking about BB vs BB, the problem is when we are talking about DDs and TBs. Many times I will see the AI ship launching the torpedoes in the water but not rushing forward to let the other ship in the division in the back to get into position to launch the torpedoes, instead they will run in a parallel course to the target, trading shot like they were BB. This behavior needs to be exclusive to capital ships. Small ships need to be rushing all the time in the frontline, to make it harder to hit them and to make the other ships in the division reach a position where they can launch the torpedoes.

 

Chasing the player modifier is missing. If the player starts to run away from the battlefield, the AI will not know what to do. So a new modifier is needed to force the AI to understand that needs to get close for the kill. As an example.

approach_playerleaving  (if the target is sailing around 70º-110º degrees, in relation to the AI ship position)

 

I really hope to see improvements in this area. After many years fighting the AI in this game, I must say it can only be used to please the casual player. Any experienced player will know the AI limitations and how to exploit them. This small changes can be used to make the battles much more interesting, challenging and fun to play around.

[MDHansen]

Very good post. I wholehearted concur. Please, Nick and team, have a look at this.

[Astor]

Also I would like to add that AI BC should not always follow BB ships. They loose their speed advantage this way and are easy prey for enemy ships.

Edited December 16, 2023 by Astor

[Nick Thomadis]

Uploaded optimized x4 version including the following:
- Further optimizations in the Battle AI. The Battle AI should be more balanced, not overly aggressive to move so close as before in cases it should not.
- Further Auto-Design optimizations.
You must restart Steam to receive this update with no problems

[Darth Khyron]

Uh...some strange issue(s) here :

German campain, now being the year 1962. I have some old modern battleship I vessels, the lead ship named "Fürst Bismarck". Before the final showdown with the powerful french fleet, I wanted a least refit. One of my lastest ships are a class of 130000 tons superbattleships, which are named "Bismarck".
The refit was done in four months. When ready, the refitted ships sported now eight 20 inch guns, sixteen eight inch and several smaller weapons, exactly like the big battleships. They now have the same superstructure, but crammed on the smaller hull, with a slight gab between the deck and the superstructure. They work, but they should not.

Also, battleships in formations now are prone again to veer off to one side, then the other and so on, zigzagging as if to avoid torpedoes.

 

uh...also, the opponent now runs away again. All engagements result in the french running away, even with superior fleets.

Edited December 18, 2023 by Darth Khyron

[Nender]

Flags are still a mess. Will they ever be fixed? It's somewhat frustrating to play Spain and have your fleet display an entirely wrong flag. There are some other flags that didn't even exist in some time periods, and others are just a mix that makes no sense.

Also, let me explain an example of what would look perfect for me (and possibly many other players):

- In the bow, the naval jack is displayed.

- In the middle of the ship, the national flag is displayed.

- In the stern, the naval ensign flag is displayed.

I personally doubt this would require lots of programming, and it'd definitely be a very good addition.

[Dave P.]

Minor quibble (It obviously depends a lot on which history you're using as a reference, and I don't think it matters much in terms of gameplay anyway) but it does feel to me like the losses for ground invasions are... pretty high?

Playing as China - invaded Kazakhstan in 1922. It's been ~1 year of fighting.

Given that it's a single province on a much larger border, both sides have specific and limited territorial and strategic goals, and both armies would have limits to the casualties they could take without compromising their ability to manage the rest of their territory, in terms of %KIA of deployed forces, I'd expect something less like Stalingrad and more like the Bangladesh Liberation War or something.

Maybe classifying losses as KIA/Wounded/POW and/or accounting for civilian casualties could fudge the numbers to make it seem right, without doing a lot more backend math?

Edited December 18, 2023 by Dave P.

[GrantK]

A fairly minor quibble.   Damaged heads of columns 'pull a warspite' as often as not.   At the battle of Jutland HMS Warspite's rudder jammed.   She went in was it two? complete circles, turned TOWARDS the German BBs.   Lotta shell splashes, she got away with it, lucky.

Sometimes my ships do not get away with it.  They are already damaged, then they circle blindly toward the enemy.   Shell splashes converge into shell hits and my already damaged ship is not lucky.  Suggest some logic added to the 'return to end of line' to include "BTW turn AWAY from the threat axis".

The ship AI design seems noticeably improved in the short few months I have played?  I am running into lots of well designed well balanced ships with decent high quality armor, good speed, good guns, decent rangefinders.   It feels as though the old days with ridiculous ships with no forward guns,  terrible low speed, useless armor disposition etc is mostly gone?   Like someone else I did notice quite a lot of wasted deck armor?   The above are impressions not really 'observations'.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave P.]

Does selling ships to my allies boost economic activity of total shipbuilding capacity at all? Seems like it ought to, but if it does I haven't noticed.

Might be nice, as an option, to roll profit into GDP growth or shipyard capacity instead of just pocketing it for the naval budget.

Edited December 18, 2023 by Dave P.

[Hasty R]

Hey all! I'm gonna take a break from Dreadnoughts for a while. It's been getting frustrating lately with the number of patches and trying to finish a campaign. I will leave some unsolicited advice for the Devs though...   This is a forum hosted by you (Game Labs). I've seen a number of posts here (myself included) that have made strong and (imo) helpful suggestions about how to make the game better. We don't hear back from you! Even if it is just, "thank you and we don't agree" or "can't do what you ask", an acknowledgement goes a long way.

Please remember, we are paying your bills. We bought the game, for heaven's sake! We enjoy the game and volunteer our free time to play it because of it's potential. If you were to even package things into DLCs for us to buy, we'd probably shell out more money to get them. But on your own forum, the decent thing is to acknowledge folks when they spend the time to post stuff.

Also, fewer but better updates are preferred over what is looking to me like spam updates with something new every day. Is anything being tested before it goes out? Feels like we get to be the quality control for every patch. Again, please respect us, the paying customer, and we will give you loyalty back. It matters (just look at what happened at Creative Assembly recently if you want to see a painful negative example).

Thank you and with respect,

Hasty R

[Nick Thomadis]

Uploaded optimized x5 version including the following:
- Fixed old rare issue which could cause guns to not fire, thanks to the dedication of kind players that reported to us very useful information. At modders: please be extra careful when you edit the values "shootDelayMin" and "shootDelayMax". We made hard coded changes to lessen the chance to get a bug but still, you need to not increase too much these values.
- Minor Battle UI fps optimization.
You must restart Steam to receive this update with no problems

[Tortenschachtel]

I have a question regarding the tooltips for Naval Invasions: When the AI invades one of my provinces does the "Chance to succeed" represent my odds of repelling the invasion?

The tooltip is otherwise identical when i invade or when the AI invades, but that number seems to change. I think it would be better to either always show the same number (odds of successfully invading) or to change the tooltip text to make it more clear exactly what odds it is showing (For example "Chance to successfully invade"  and "Chance to successfully repel").

Edited December 20, 2023 by Tortenschachtel

[MDHansen]

I believe its always seen from the attacker perspective. I do agree that defender and invader should see their chances of success

[Tortenschachtel]

57 minutes ago, MDHansen said:

I believe its always seen from the attacker perspective. I do agree that defender and invader should see their chances of success

Unlikely, since they have 0 tonnage in the vicinity and the "Chance to succeed" is 100%.

[brothermunro]

3 hours ago, Tortenschachtel said:

I have a question regarding the tooltips for Naval Invasions: When the AI invades one of my provinces does the "Chance to succeed" represent my odds of repelling the invasion?

The tooltip is otherwise identical when i invade or when the AI invades, but that number seems to change. I think it would be better to either always show the same number (odds of successfully invading) or to change the tooltip text to make it more clear exactly what odds it is showing (For example "Chance to successfully invade"  and "Chance to successfully repel").

Yes, it shows your chances of success

[Warspite96]

On 12/13/2023 at 11:56 PM, Dave P. said:

I'm also noticing that, within the last couple patches, my ships steering is much more sensitive. They sort of "bounce" around the intended heading a few times before settling in. (These are in a campaign so the designs probably predate the patch in question.) Anybody else seeing that?

It seems noticeably worse at 3x/5x speed; maybe the math for steering is getting simplified when time compression is on?

I'm getting this on the latest patch, booted up a battle after a month away from the game and ships of all sizes have much more sensitive steering, even if you slightly adjust course they overshoot the turn like crazy and then spend minutes in real time trying to correct it.