Beta Update v1.3 "Build 13"
Hello Admirals,
With this beta update we finalized the planned content and added many new hulls. As a difference from the previous patch you will find many new special cruisers and destroyers of the late tech era, adding up to the full amount of 28 new different hull variants for this patch. You will also notice an optimized auto-design behavior, a better weather randomization with less cloud chance, some fixes on the campaign , new gun models and parts and various fixes, rescales on previous gun models for France, Britain and Spain.
Furthermore, you will find in the main menu the Bin converter tool which will help those who want to mod the save files of the game. Please read below the full list of changes for the major patch v1.3 which will become finalized very soon, as soon as we fix some remaining small issues.
MAJOR FEATURES
- Detailed map province borders: Previously the map borders were showing up incomplete and were not including many provinces that the game used. Now all the map provinces not only have their visual borders but also become highlighted when you hover the mouse cursor on them, with a color according to their controller.
- New detailed weather system: Previously the visual weather system was a predefined set and the accuracy modifiers were independently randomized without proper correlation to the actual visuals. Now the weather is fully implemented. The 3D battles can occur in a realistic sea environment that has different daylight, wind, waves visualization and effects according to time of day and weather conditions. Night battles, dusk, late evening battle landscapes, rain, storms, and many other dynamic weather factors enrich the battle immersion and also seriously affect the accuracy with various modifiers.
- New binary save system improving game performance: Previously the saves were using a text mode system which could create very large files, over 150 MB for campaigns, and this caused huge loading delays. We have improved the save system to store files in binary mode, making files extremely much smaller and loading times much faster, thus improving the game experience significantly.
*IMPORTANT* *There is now an in-game tool (In the menu top right corner). Via the tool’s minimal interface you can convert .bin and .json files from one type to another. The game can read only the .bin format.*
28x NEW HULLS
- New USA "Experimental Dreadnought I” with a displacement between 20,500 and 24,500 tons and available from 1905 to1915.
- New USA "Dreadnought II" based on the original and *first made Texas Battleship* with a displacement between 23,500 and 28,500 tons and available from 1908 to1918.
- New USA "Dreadnought III" with a displacement between 26,000 and 33,500 tons and available from 1910 to 1918.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Chinese "Gun Cruiser" with a displacement between 7,750 and 9,500 tons which is available from 1930.
- New Spanish "Advanced Escort Cruiser" with a displacement between 9,750 and 12,500 tons which is available from 1930.
- New British "Advanced Escort Cruiser" with a displacement between 12,750 and 15,500 tons which is available from 1930.
- New French "Advanced Escort Cruiser" with a displacement between 12,750 and 15,500 tons which 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 British "Advanced Destroyer (Compact)" with a displacement between 2,550 and 3,250 tons, available from 1935.
- New British "Advanced Destroyer (Large)" with a displacement between 3,450 and 4,350 tons, available from 1935.
- New "Hybrid Destroyer" for Germany and Austria with a displacement between 4,450 and 5,850 tons, available from 1935.
- New French "Advanced Destroyer" with a displacement between 3,500 and 4,350 tons, available from 1935.
- New Russian "Advanced Destroyer" with a displacement between 3,690 and 4,600 tons, available from 1935.
- New "Advanced Destroyer (Compact)" for Spain and China with a displacement between 2,750 and 3,400 tons, available from 1935.
- New "Advanced Destroyer (Large)" for Spain and China with a displacement between 3,750 and 4,750 tons, available from 1935.
- New USA “Super Heavy Cruiser I” with a displacement between 14,750 and 18,750 tons, available from 1935.
- New USA “Super Heavy Cruiser II” with a displacement between 16,775 and 19,750 tons, available from 1935.
- New advanced main towers for late tech destroyers.
- Many new USA cage masts.
- Various new towers and part models for new and older ships.
NEW GUNS
- New USA guns for calibers spanning from 6-inch to 20 inch across all Mark tech levels.
- New China guns for small/medium caliber guns for late tech levels.
- New models for German late tech guns of large caliber.
- New models for Austrian late tech guns of large caliber.
- New barbettes.
- A few fixes and improvements on scales for older guns.
BALANCES & FIXES
- Ship handling physics improved following the new weather system additions.
- Minor improvements on shell ballistics.
- Battle fps performance optimizations.
- 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.
- Fixed issue which could cause guns to get jammed and not rotate.
- Fixed bug that caused empty hulls to be saved as valid designs, when you exited the ship design interface.
- Fixed bug that could cause an empty hull to be loaded upon the hull you were designing (this needs testing if it can happen again).
- 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.
- Auto-Design optimization.
- Warning on spotted torpedoes now will never expire, helping players to detect them during gameplay.
- Campaign balances in the economy.
- Various bug fixes and many improvements in game performance, loading times.
It is strongly advised to clean up old designs and start a new campaign, in order to ensure a smooth and fast gameplay without inconsistencies and bugs.
We hope you liked the progress of the beta. Please keep posting your opinions and feedback so that we can improve more things till the final release.
Thank you for reading,
The Game-Labs Team
Note:
The beta includes a work in progress language localization. The included finalized languages are: English, German, Spanish, Russian.
With this beta update we finalized the planned content and added many new hulls. As a difference from the previous patch you will find many new special cruisers and destroyers of the late tech era, adding up to the full amount of 28 new different hull variants for this patch. You will also notice an optimized auto-design behavior, a better weather randomization with less cloud chance, some fixes on the campaign , new gun models and parts and various fixes, rescales on previous gun models for France, Britain and Spain.
Furthermore, you will find in the main menu the Bin converter tool which will help those who want to mod the save files of the game. Please read below the full list of changes for the major patch v1.3 which will become finalized very soon, as soon as we fix some remaining small issues.
MAJOR FEATURES
- Detailed map province borders: Previously the map borders were showing up incomplete and were not including many provinces that the game used. Now all the map provinces not only have their visual borders but also become highlighted when you hover the mouse cursor on them, with a color according to their controller.
- New detailed weather system: Previously the visual weather system was a predefined set and the accuracy modifiers were independently randomized without proper correlation to the actual visuals. Now the weather is fully implemented. The 3D battles can occur in a realistic sea environment that has different daylight, wind, waves visualization and effects according to time of day and weather conditions. Night battles, dusk, late evening battle landscapes, rain, storms, and many other dynamic weather factors enrich the battle immersion and also seriously affect the accuracy with various modifiers.
- New binary save system improving game performance: Previously the saves were using a text mode system which could create very large files, over 150 MB for campaigns, and this caused huge loading delays. We have improved the save system to store files in binary mode, making files extremely much smaller and loading times much faster, thus improving the game experience significantly.
*IMPORTANT* *There is now an in-game tool (In the menu top right corner). Via the tool’s minimal interface you can convert .bin and .json files from one type to another. The game can read only the .bin format.*
28x NEW HULLS
- New USA "Experimental Dreadnought I” with a displacement between 20,500 and 24,500 tons and available from 1905 to1915.
- New USA "Dreadnought II" based on the original and *first made Texas Battleship* with a displacement between 23,500 and 28,500 tons and available from 1908 to1918.
- New USA "Dreadnought III" with a displacement between 26,000 and 33,500 tons and available from 1910 to 1918.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Chinese "Gun Cruiser" with a displacement between 7,750 and 9,500 tons which is available from 1930.
- New Spanish "Advanced Escort Cruiser" with a displacement between 9,750 and 12,500 tons which is available from 1930.
- New British "Advanced Escort Cruiser" with a displacement between 12,750 and 15,500 tons which is available from 1930.
- New French "Advanced Escort Cruiser" with a displacement between 12,750 and 15,500 tons which 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 British "Advanced Destroyer (Compact)" with a displacement between 2,550 and 3,250 tons, available from 1935.
- New British "Advanced Destroyer (Large)" with a displacement between 3,450 and 4,350 tons, available from 1935.
- New "Hybrid Destroyer" for Germany and Austria with a displacement between 4,450 and 5,850 tons, available from 1935.
- New French "Advanced Destroyer" with a displacement between 3,500 and 4,350 tons, available from 1935.
- New Russian "Advanced Destroyer" with a displacement between 3,690 and 4,600 tons, available from 1935.
- New "Advanced Destroyer (Compact)" for Spain and China with a displacement between 2,750 and 3,400 tons, available from 1935.
- New "Advanced Destroyer (Large)" for Spain and China with a displacement between 3,750 and 4,750 tons, available from 1935.
- New USA “Super Heavy Cruiser I” with a displacement between 14,750 and 18,750 tons, available from 1935.
- New USA “Super Heavy Cruiser II” with a displacement between 16,775 and 19,750 tons, available from 1935.
- New advanced main towers for late tech destroyers.
- Many new USA cage masts.
- Various new towers and part models for new and older ships.
NEW GUNS
- New USA guns for calibers spanning from 6-inch to 20 inch across all Mark tech levels.
- New China guns for small/medium caliber guns for late tech levels.
- New models for German late tech guns of large caliber.
- New models for Austrian late tech guns of large caliber.
- New barbettes.
- A few fixes and improvements on scales for older guns.
BALANCES & FIXES
- Ship handling physics improved following the new weather system additions.
- Minor improvements on shell ballistics.
- Battle fps performance optimizations.
- 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.
- Fixed issue which could cause guns to get jammed and not rotate.
- Fixed bug that caused empty hulls to be saved as valid designs, when you exited the ship design interface.
- Fixed bug that could cause an empty hull to be loaded upon the hull you were designing (this needs testing if it can happen again).
- 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.
- Auto-Design optimization.
- Warning on spotted torpedoes now will never expire, helping players to detect them during gameplay.
- Campaign balances in the economy.
- Various bug fixes and many improvements in game performance, loading times.
It is strongly advised to clean up old designs and start a new campaign, in order to ensure a smooth and fast gameplay without inconsistencies and bugs.
We hope you liked the progress of the beta. Please keep posting your opinions and feedback so that we can improve more things till the final release.
Thank you for reading,
The Game-Labs Team
Note:
The beta includes a work in progress language localization. The included finalized languages are: English, German, Spanish, Russian.