Buccaneers! News

Fellow swashbucklers,

We’ve released another small update with some much-needed quality-of-life improvements. Notably, the world map now presents more information about quest markers, allowing you to distinguish between different encounters at a glance, and we made multiple adjustments to VR mode for a better room-scale experience. Check out the full list of changes below.

Buccaneers! Version 1.0.13

New Features
- [VR] Added a manual recenter function which is triggered by holding down the Pause button for 2 seconds. Please note: This only changes your horizontal position and rotation, and does not persist between play sessions. If you want to apply persistent offsets to your height, ship’s wheel position or playspace rotation, you can use the settings under Options > Controls.

Changes
- Boarding approach requirements have been replaced with visible zones on each side of the target ship. To initiate boarding, you now just need to be inside an active zone on either side of the target ship. The angle of approach no longer matters.
- Hovering over quest markers on the World Map now shows you the name and objective of the active quest associated with the marker. If there is more than one objective at the same location, the marker shows the quantity instead of the default “!” icon.
- Encounter and dock buttons with associated quests on the World Map now share a consistent design with a quest marker that no longer obscures the button.
- Added a heart icon next to the player’s health bar, which is replaced by the Second Wind icon when that ability is unlocked and ready to use.
- Added visual and audio effects when the Second Wind ability is triggered.
- Added crew battle cries when starting boarding or a land battle.
- Added an alarm bell sound to land battles.
- [VR] The player’s health bar is now split into segments, making it consistent with the non-VR version.
- [VR] Player locomotion/teleports and collisions are now handled relative to your current position within your playspace, instead of from the centre of the playspace.
- [VR] Snap/smooth rotation now uses your current position within your playspace as its pivot, instead of the centre of the playspace.

Fixes
- Fixed ranged enemies failing their line-of-sight checks against the player on land when there are no obstacles in the way.
- Fixed a bug that allowed the player to damage allied crew with melee attacks.
- Fixed a rare issue where a ship would initiate boarding on one side and swing around to the other side of its target before the grappling manoeuvre had finished.
- Fixed a rounding error that would sometimes calculate a small repair cost when it should be zero after partially repairing a ship.
- Fixed the target ship in “The Hunt” starting with zero crew after stealing it from a harbour.
- Fixed incorrect detection of completed main quests when starting a new game after loading a different save. This sometimes caused Elite encounters to appear too early in the game.
- Fixed the “Acquire a Tier 2 ship” objective in “Trial by Fire” not completing if you steal one from an enemy harbour.
- Fixed custom key bindings for the Sprint action not being correctly applied after relaunching the game.
- Fixed controller aim assist ignoring line-of-sight checks when aiming a ranged weapon.
- Removed leftover colliders for cannons which are hidden when sneaking into enemy shipyards.
- [VR] The game should now close when trying to quit via a VR platform overlay (e.g. Oculus Dash or SteamVR menu).
- [VR] The game now pauses when the headset is removed or a VR platform overlay is opened.
- [VR] Fixed the spyglass moving further away from your hand while on a fast-moving ship.

Happy pirating! 🏴‍☠️

Fellow swashbucklers,

Our latest update is now live, featuring several enhancements for both VR and non-VR modes. In VR, steering your ship should now be smoother and more reliable for most headsets, while non-VR mode now has directional indicators to give you more feedback when you get hit in combat.

Alongside this update, we’re pleased to announce that we now officially support the Quest 2 VR headset via Oculus Link! While this headset has already worked with the game since launch, we now have one in our office to test with, so we can provide better support as we continue to update and optimise the game.

Check out the full list of changes below:

Buccaneers! Version 1.0.12

Changes
- Flipped the Y-axis of the third-person ship camera and added an option to invert it independently from the first-person camera (Options > Controls > Invert Y Axis (third person)).
- Added a visual effect to indicate the direction of enemies that hit you in combat.
- Added new icons for player abilities.
- [VR] Added an option to prevent the ship’s wheel from recentering itself when it is not being held (Options > Controls > Ship’s Wheel Recentering).
- [VR] Increased the grab zone size of the ship’s wheel spokes to make it easier to grab them without looking or while it is recentering itself.
- [VR] When turning the wheel, your ship now gradually turns towards the desired steering angle instead of immediately snapping to it. This helps to smooth out any jitter caused by hand tracking issues while holding the wheel.

Fixes
- Fixed the walkable area in Cockburn Town excluding the wooden docks.
- Added a fallback to regenerate intrigues if a “Gather Intrigue” quest goal failed to initialise correctly.
- Fixed the “jolt” that occurred whenever your ship finished recentering the wheel in non-VR.
- Fixed the Captain’s Log not being locked off while in stealth mode on land.
- Fixed the doors to Nassau’s fort being closed during combat.
- Fixed shadows on the Three-Decker and Two-Decker appearing incorrectly from some angles when using third-person sailing view.

Happy pirating! 🏴‍☠️

Fellow swashbucklers,



Buccaneers! is a part of Steam VR Fest! You can now get the game for 33% off!
Don't miss this chance!

The sale ends on July 25 at 10:00 AM PDT (GMT-7)

Also, you could try the demo if you wish.
The demo is playable in both VR and non-VR modes and supports the Oculus Rift/Rift S and HTC Vive series of headsets.

Or just try the Prologue:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1631240/Buccaneers_The_New_Age_of_Piracy/

Happy pirating! 🏴‍☠️

Fellow swashbucklers,

Another new update is now live, bringing with it a much-requested feature: third-person sailing mode! You can switch to this camera view at any time, giving you a new perspective of your ship and fleet both in and outside of combat (but please note you cannot use this view in VR mode). Check out the full details including other changes and fixes below:

Buccaneers! Version 1.0.11

New Features
- Added a third-person view for non-VR sailing mode. You can freely switch between first-person and third-person at any time while sailing by pressing Tab (keyboard) or D-pad Up (controller). (Note that you always return to first-person when boarding.)
- The game remembers which camera view you used last and will automatically switch to it whenever you enter sailing mode.

Changes
- The “Orders” hotkey used in stealth combat on land now shares the same binding as the Map hotkey (M on keyboard, Back/View on controller) to be consistent with its use in ship battles.
- Added more accurate map images and location markers for some towns.
- Repositioned most NPC dialogue panels and a few other UI elements to ensure text does not get cut off when playing in narrow aspect ratios (minimum of 5:4).
- Rearranged some buildings in Maracaibo and Puerto de España to give better lines-of-sight from rooftops during land battles.
- Made minor adjustments to lighting in most harbours.

Fixes
- Fixed missing or incorrect collisions in some harbours which enabled ranged attacks and AI line-of-sight through some walls and buildings.
- Fixed AI ship pathfinding errors in the Cumana region due to missing navigation meshes.
- Fixed missing customisation merchant in Bridgetown and Saint John’s.
- Fixed non-pirate ships appearing in random encounters during the prologue quest.
- Fixed UI bugginess when deleting saves.
- Fixed Quick Save and Quick Load hotkeys causing errors when pressed during a loading screen.

Happy pirating! 🏴‍☠️

Fellow swashbucklers,

We just released our tenth update since launch, including challenging new encounters, balance changes, quality-of-life improvements and more. Check out the full list of changes below.

The game is also 30% off during the Steam Summer Sale, so if you’ve been waiting for the right moment to come aboard, now is a great time!

Buccaneers! Version 1.0.10

New Features
- Added “Elite” ship encounters which present a greater challenge for high-level players. These are denoted by a red skull icon and can start appearing once you reach Level 13 or complete Act 2 (The Hunt).
- Added Legendary Treasure Fleets which can start appearing once you have unlocked Elite encounters. The intrigue for these is more expensive to acquire, but capturing the target ships grants you a random Legendary item that you haven’t yet unlocked.
- The most difficult Bounties now feature Elite ships once you have unlocked Elite encounters, and offer higher payouts for completing them.

Balancing
- The encounter spawn rate is now lower while sailing through friendly regions.
- The factions used for random encounters now depend on who owns the region you are currently in: a random enemy in neutral or friendly territory; the owning faction in enemy regions; or a random enemy with partial ownership in contested regions.
- Your ship is no longer immobilised while repairing in battle. However, each repair cycle now takes 10 seconds (up from 7.5 seconds) at the default Cannon Reload Speed setting.
- The reward for selling prize ships is now reduced by the ship’s repair cost, so you will earn less money depending on how much damage the captured ship has taken.
- Increased the Prize Money ability bonus to 35% (was 30%).
- Increased the value of all cargo types by roughly 20%.
- Increased the reward from completing Bounties by roughly 20%.
- The XP reward for defeating ships now increases by 5% for each installed upgrade (excluding the default faction upgrades). The reward for normal encounters is the same as before, while Elite encounters and certain boss ships give more XP.
- Ships generated for random encounters and Bounties now have a randomised notoriety value depending on their difficulty (up to a maximum of 4 stars for Elite ships).
- The Influence (red ribbon) reward for defeating ships now scales with the notoriety of the target, increasing by 10% for each star.
- Increased the starting duration of normal Treasure Fleet intrigues to between 7 and 14 days. (This will still decrease over time, so will be lower if you acquire the intrigue several days after it was generated.)
- Moved some of the spawn points in Maracaibo and Puerto de España to make land battles less difficult.
- Increased the chance of armour-piercing rounds dealing critical hits against crew.
- Grapeshot and Bar Shot can no longer destroy armour.
- Mortar shots now ignore armour and have a higher chance of dealing critical hits.
- Medium forts now have a single mortar in their central gun battery.
- The turn speed of dismasted ships now scales with the global Ship Speed setting.

Changes
- Added a new Orders page to the Fleet Status tab which allows you to quickly change the orders for all ships in your fleet from a single menu. Orders assigned to “Fleet” will be automatically applied to ships you purchase or capture.
- Pressing the Map hotkey (M on keyboard or View/Back on controller) while in a ship battle now opens the Fleet Status tab instead, giving you quicker access to the new Orders page.
- Added an on-screen prompt for accessing the Orders page in ship battles, and moved the Disengage prompt to the opposite side of the screen.
- Crew members on Rogue ships now use the pirate models with a unique texture.
- Intrigue cards now display a rarity colour to indicate their importance. Quest intrigues always appear as Legendary (yellow).
- The green “Importing” icon is now shown next to the Sell buttons in the Merchant UI, while the red “Exporting” icon is shown next to the Buy buttons. This clarifies which actions are recommended to make a profit when trading.
- Your current XP and the threshold for the next level are now shown in the Abilities tab of the Captain’s Log.
- The owning faction’s name is now shown on the town map UI, and the town name banner is coloured blue for friendly and red for enemy factions.
- Added critical hit sounds and sinking/destruction sounds for ship battles.
- Your lieutenant now calls out critical hits against crew and forts in ship battles.
- Added interaction sounds to some buttons that were missing them in the World Map and Captain’s Log.
- Added red splash zone indicators and incoming explosion sounds for enemy mortar shots.
- Fort gun batteries now display a mortar icon if they have one as well as cannons, and both icons are greyed out when the battery is destroyed.
- Ships are now moved up or down to the default world height when boarding to prevent them sitting too high or low in the water.
- Increased the max display value of the Damage stat in the Choose Cannons menu to correctly represent the damage of Bronze Carronades. (The actual damage values are unchanged.)
- [VR] Fort battle progress bars now display in front of other objects and have been raised higher above the ground where needed.

Fixes
- Improved the obstacle avoidance logic for AI ships to make them less likely to clip through islands.
- Fixed a rare bug where AI ships could get stuck in a “fleeing” state in battles.
- Fort guns and mortars will no longer target ships which are being boarded.
- Adjusted the path mesh on the Brig to make boarding plank connections more reliable.
- Added a fallback to force quests to move on if they didn’t advance after completing an objective.
- Fixed colliders in some harbours to prevent NPCs from shooting through buildings during fort battles.
- Fixed a rendering issue with the ocean when using the “Low” quality water setting.
- Fixed smoke particles sometimes not fully stopping after putting out a fire on a ship.
- Fixed the ship not stopping if you exit the world map while sailing to a destination.
- Fixed an exploit for avoiding random encounters on the world map by starting and stopping sailing at regular intervals.
- Fixed the target ship in “The Hunt” not being removed from the town it was docked at if you capture it at the ambush point.
- Fixed an error with the Load Game menu if you deleted all saves in a campaign slot.
- Fixed the XP bar showing as empty in the Abilities tab once you reach max level.
- Fixed incorrect maps and location markers being shown in some towns.
- Fixed the custom captain model, name and stats not being used when boarding Fortune’s Favour in Act 3 (Retribution).
- Fixed skin tones being randomised on the Admiral and Lieutenant each time they appear in the main quest.
- [VR] Fixed the town map showing on top of other elements in the post-battle UI after a fort battle.

Happy pirating! 🏴‍☠️