Dear Admirals,
Our next large update is rich including not only new features but also a lot of new ships, as well as improvements in gameplay.
We introduce realistic "Flash Fire" mechanics that simulate the real need of protecting sufficiently your heavily armed ships, in order to not have similar fate with the British battlecruisers in the Battle of Jutland.
We added 33x more Destroyers and 4x more cruisers in the game's tech tree, while several other hulls have been improved in various ways. Six new missions dedicated to Destroyer tactics will surely test your skills and the overall gameplay has been optimized based on your recent feedback.
Your battles will become even more immersive due to the new combat music which changes dynamically according to the battle situation. Read all about these and many more in the full changelog.
[h2]
Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnoughts Alpha-6[/h2]
[h3]SPECIAL NEW FEATURES[/h3]
- Flash Fires: If the main guns (or the sections below them containing the magazines) are penetrated then uncontrollable flash fires may swiftly spread, ignite the propellant containers and cause catastrophic explosions, blowing away one or more turrets of the ship with a spectacular new visual effect.
So, now detonations will not only occur after a direct penetrating hit reaching to the ammo storage but also due to the impact of flash fires, just as it happened for the British Battlecruisers in the Battle of Jutland.
In consequence, you must now be extra careful when you design your ships, especially your battleships and battlecruisers which carry heavy armament, because if they lack the necessary armor protection or other safety measures, they will be very vulnerable to flash fires that can blow them apart.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
- Detailed Combat Statistics: Now you can evaluate with precision the combat effectiveness of your ships by monitoring their hit percentage, damage and penetration power against the enemy ships. By selecting your own ships you have access to their detailed logs of damage, either in summary or per gun type.
When your targets are identified, you can also select them to view their combat stats, while the fleet damage statistics are accessible as previously at the top right corner with increased information when you hover on each icon.
Hover your cursor on the new icons to show overall damage info for your fleet...
... and the enemy fleet.
The previous damage icons are showing detailed info when you hover on them.
You can also view detailed statistics about the damage received and inflicted for each of your ships....
... even for each of your weapons, and understand which are more effective.
The same level of information is available for the fully identified enemy targets, when you select them.
Additional ship details are revealed in new icons about protection, engine and installed components.
- Epic Combat Music: Many new music soundtracks enrich the combat experience during or after a battle. Immerse yourself by hearing the new atmospheric music that switches according to the tension of combat.
Note: YouTubers must read the terms of using the game’s music in their videos. If you have any issue, please turn off the music while recording.
- 33x New Destroyers: Complete revamp of the Destroyer hulls. OId models have been optimized. Many new models have been added for all nations. Here is the list of changes:
- 4x Japanese special looking Destroyer models, available till the 1920s, making the Destroyers of Japan unique compared to other nations, having lighter, longer hulls that make them stealthier, faster, deadlier.
- 4x Modern Japanese Destroyer models available after the 1920s, following the unique design concepts of Japan, favouring speed and torpedo armament. These models are based on the detailed hull of the “Akizuki” Destroyer and several variants that can reproduce faithfully all late Destroyers of the Japanese Fleet, including the experimental design of “Shimakaze”.
- 13x Modern Destroyer models distributed to all nations with a selection of “Standard” and “Leader” type of destroyers. These destroyers are rather unique for each nation. For example, you are able to design and build very fast and powerful Destroyers similar to the French “Le Fantasque” and “Mogador” classes with role to overwhelm enemy Destroyers.
- 12x hull variants of Destroyers distributed for all nations from the 1900s till the 1920s. Most of those early ships are slight modifications with different hull size ratios, guns, funnels etc.
A Japanese modern destroyer based on the hull of "Akizuki".
- 4x Modern Cruisers: Some special cruisers have been added for Spain and Japan. These are:
- 1x Japanese Light Cruiser, inspired by the “Kuma-class” cruiser, a typical type of cruiser that serviced Japan from the 1920s till the 2nd World War.
- 1x Japanese Light Cruiser, inspired by the “Yubari-class” cruiser, a unique hybrid design that featured aspects of a Destroyer and a Cruiser.
- 2x Spanish Cruisers, inspired by the “Navarra” and “Canarias” classes, ships of the 1920s with a long active service till the Spanish Civil War.
All the existing, hundreds of hull variants accompanied by the new destroyers should be more than enough to cover the needs of the upcoming first campaign version, but we will continue to add more models in our next updates.
A German Destroyer of post WWI with the characteristic "break" in the bow, that was later adopted by the Japanese.[h3]NEW MISSIONS[/h3]
- Near Jutland: The British and Germans are concentrating their forces in the vicinity of Jutland and prepare for a major battle. Your task force led by two British battlecruisers has spotted three German capital ships heading to the location and plans to ambush them using the destroyers as spearhead of the attack.
- Modern vs Old Destroyers: Design modern destroyers and combat versus numerous, less advanced rivals. The enemy force is commanded by an advanced ship, a type of “Destroyer Leader” which is particularly effective against smaller destroyers.
- Torpedo Banzai: Feel the power of Japanese destroyers by leading an all-out torpedo attack against a large USA fleet. Your possible destroyer designs include a wide range of hull types and two specials: An experimental destroyer, which can achieve very high speeds and an experimental cruiser, which combines the benefits of a destroyer at a size of a cruiser.
- Mission Impossible: A powerful Japanese battleship and its escorts attacks one of your convoys. The only defense are your destroyers. The most sensible action would be to escape while you can. But the High Command decided that you should stand and find an opportunity to sink the enemy battleship with your torpedoes. Only the best designed destroyers can succeed in such a mission.... with a bit of luck.
- Battle of Destroyers: You will command a squadron of French destroyers against a Japanese destroyer squadron. The enemy force is led by a flotilla leader, a fast cruiser with many small guns and heavy torpedo armament that you should not try to confront at close range.
- Contest in the Black Sea: The German naval forces in the Black Sea are scarce and do not include any battleships. The Russians possess more and heavier ships. Two of the remaining German cruisers need the support of your destroyers to attack and destroy the commanding Russian ships in the area, a refitted dreadnought and a modern battlecruiser.
French Destroyer Leader of almost 4,000 tons.[h3]COMBAT BALANCES[/h3]
- Further improvements in ballistic trajectories. Shells follow a steeper, more realistic curve. Additionally, wave motion now affects the distribution of hits between deck and belt.
- Horizontal penetration over very long distances is reduced. Previously, in certain circumstances, it could become overpowered against any deck armor, especially when using 18-inch Lyddite shells.
- Lyddite and Cordite shells cause slightly more damage. Due to the new Flash Fire mechanics, these shells are even more risky to use but if your ship has adequate protection they will offer a distinct advantage.
- Torpedoes will not cause so frequent ammo detonations, as previously, versus well protected ships. However, Flash fires may be ignited by an underwater fire caused by a torpedo hit.
- AI is much more effective in aiming and keeping distance against its targets.
- Maneuvering is now playing more dynamic role in targeting. You cannot make swift turns without significant loss of aim. Ships that make zig zags are more effective in avoiding shots. Ranging shots is easier against static or very slow targets.
[h3]SHIP DESIGN[/h3]
- Weight limitations of all ship types rebalanced, so that ship speeds are more realistic according to technology era. You may still make an overly fast ship but it would be very weak in protection and armament. All ship saves are affected due to this change.
- Turbine engine horse power is more pronounced according to type, so that early dreadnoughts and battlecruisers are not so fast compared to more advanced ships.
- Diesel engines rebalanced to reflect better their bonuses. Diesel engines will be more important in campaign, but now can be useful in missions too, offering more reliable and cost-effective power plants.
- New Hull Variant that can replicate accurately the HMS Invincible. It is a British Battlecruiser found in Custom battles between 1907-1917.
- Optimized a Battlecruiser variant that is available for Britain, USA, France, in the period of 1912-1919.
- Various hull fixes/improvements based on player reports.
- Light Cruisers’ maximum belt armor is now 6 inches.
- New visuals for the Japanese 3'', 4'', 5'' inch Mark 4/5 guns, found on their Destroyers and Light Cruisers.
- New visuals for the USA/British 3'', 4'', 5'' inch Mark 4/5 guns, found on their Destroyers.
- New visuals for Mark 4/5 8'' guns for British Battleships and Battlecruisers.
German Destroyer Leader in action, launching torpedoes.[h3]SOUND EFFECTS[/h3]
- Major improvement in sound mechanics. Issues of sound interruptions when there were many guns firing should not occur at all or can happen very rarely.
- Various combat sound enhancements. Impacts should be heard louder and clearer. Partial penetration sounds improved, trails better synchronized and many other.
[h3]BUG FIXES[/h3]
- Fixed an error of calculating Course Change Time, showing opposite effect (for example when you added auxiliary engines, the Rudder could steer more slowly). Now ships will steer even more realistically.
- Fixed serious errors with gun rotations and overlapping of ship objects, that created unbuildable ships with the known error “Some parts are badly placed” or made guns not rotating during battle.
- Fixed bug that -sometimes- stopped torpedo tubes from firing, although they were fully reloaded.
- Fixed issue that caused torpedoes to hit your own ship.
- Fixed bug that made -sometimes- Radar Generation 2 to not function during battle.
- Fixed bug that did not update UI information about accuracy when we selected different rangefinders and other related components.
- Fixed bug that made the secondary tower of a modern French Battleship to hang in the air, behind the stern.
- Fixed issue that made big guns of smaller caliber to be grouped with secondary guns when player selected targets manually.
[h3]OTHER[/h3]
- Memory optimizations: The error “Too many threads” should now be fixed or happen very rarely.
- You are now able to observe the penetration power of enemies vs your ship. Select an identified enemy ship and hover the cursor over one of your own ships to open up the penetration tooltip.
- Subtle new visual effect for over penetrations: The shell passes through the ship from the other side.
- Battle UI improved by providing more information for the selected ship in a more compact window. When you hover on the respective icons you can see useful ship details, such as the armor zone protection scheme, components installed and various other.
- Now you can click on any recent battle log report (bottom left corner) to zoom in to the affected ship.
As always, your ongoing feedback is helping us to make the game better. Share it with us in our forums:
Designing the CSS Virginia
USS Monitor in action
Duel of the ironclads