Blazing Sails News

Ho ho hyarr!

We're proud to release our biggest update since Early Access launch! Better put on a warm coat and get them mittens ready because this update too just cool to handle without!

Want to get up to speed on everything immediately? Check out the trailer below!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]An all new ship[/h2]
We love Brigs, but we also love variation. That's why we're introducing the brand-new Junk ship, inspired by ancient Chinese sailboats. The Junk is a lot faster than the Brig, best for hit-and-run tactics and boarding. Did we mention the front-facing cannon?



[h2]The Icy Caverns[/h2]
Want to take your Junk ship for a spin in unexplored lands? You can! The Icy Caverns have drifted their way into Blazing Sails. This massive expanse of solid ice holds lots of loot for your crew to plunder. It's got plenty of space to have a good ol' fashioned brawl in, and lots of nooks and crannies for devious pirates.




[h2]New Cosmetics[/h2]
Why be a regular pirate when you can be an angry snowman pirate? For a limited time only, you can earn a ton of unique holiday-themed cosmetics for both you and your ship!




[h2]Full Patch Notes[/h2]

[h3]New ship:[/h3]

• The Junk Ship has been added! (a fast and agile alternative to the Brigantine with less firepower and a slightly weaker hull)
  

[h3]Main menu:[/h3]

• Ship type selector added to lobby screen
  
• Tweaked the rotation of the outer left player preview so he is more facing forward
  
• Added winter themed song to the main menu
  
• Added winter cosmetic unlock sound and icon (snowflake)
  

[h3]New customisation options:[/h3]

• Added many new tattoo colors
  

[h3]New Island:[/h3]

• Icy Caverns have been added!
  

[h3]New weapon:[/h3]

• The butcher’s knife has been added!
  

[h3]Island changes:[/h3]

• Seadog Island has been moved to a different location (due to the addition of the Icy Caverns)
  

[h3]Gameplay changes:[/h3]

• Trapshot loading time decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds
  
• Anti-cannon shot loading time decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds
  
• Wood crates now always have 50% to have at least 1 explosive barrel
  
• Wood crates now contain more trapshot and anti-cannon ammo
  
• Trapshot ammo moved down from tier 4 to tier 3 (you will find more trapshot now)
  
• Pickaxe damage changed to 40
  
• Pickaxe attack speed changed to 0.7
  
• Paddle damage changed to 22
  
• Paddle attack speed changed to 1
  
• Shovel damage changed to 30
  
• Shovel attack speed changed to 0.9
  
• Fog in night, night fog and day fog settings reduced
  
• Nock gun droprate changed from tier 4 to tier 5
  

[h3]Visual improvements:[/h3]

• Ship wakes location updating on high waves improved
  
• Water splashes when going through high waves timing improved (more accurate)
  

[h3]New cosmetic items:[/h3]

• Snowman Pirate Sail Emblem
  
• Snowflake Pattern Sail Emblem
  
• Reindeer Side Sail Emblem
  
• Present Sail Emblem
  
• Candy Cane Cross Sail Emblem
  
• Ginger Cookie Sail Emblem
  
• Green and Red Sails
  
• Red and Green Sails
  
• Cyan and White Hull
  
• Red and Black Hull
  
• White and Cyan Hull
  
• Black and Red Hull
  
• Green and Red Hull
  
• Red Hull
  
• Holly Flag Emblem
  
• Candy Cane Cross Flag Emblem
  
• Ginger Cookie Flag Emblem
  
• Green and Red Flag
  
• Red and Green Flag
  
• White and Cyan Cavalier
  
• White and Cyan Bicorn
  
• Bright Cyan Bandana
  
• White Bandana
  
• Red and White Bicorn
  
• Red and White Tricorn
  
• Red and White Cavalier
  
• White and Cyan Tricorn
  
• Red Santa Hat
  
• Blue Santa Hat
  
• Green Santa Hat
  
• Angry Snowman Hat
  
• Happy Snowman Hat
  
• Black and Brown Holly Tophat
  
• Black Tophat
  
• Red and White Holly Tophat
  
• White and Cyan Holly Tophat
  
• Purple and Orange Tophat
  
• Black and Red Tophat
  
• Black and Cyan Tophat
  
• Black and Green Tophat
  
• Green and Yellow Tophat
  
• Left Cyan and White Boot
  
• Right Cyan and White Boot
  
• Left Black and Red Boot
  
• Right Black and Red Boot
  
• Left Red Candy cane Pegleg
  
• Right Red Candy cane Pegleg
  
• Left Blue Candy cane Pegleg
  
• Right Blue Candy cane Pegleg
  
• Left Green Candy cane Pegleg
  
• Right Green Candy cane Pegleg
  
• Fancy White Pants
  
• Fancy Red Pants
  
• Torn White Pants
  
• Uneven White Pants
  
• Cyan and White Jacket and Shirt
  
• Cyan and White Vest and Shirt
  
• Cyan Shirt
  
• Yellow and Purple Vest and Shirt
  
• Beige, Brown and Cyan Vest and Shirt
  
• Beige, Blue and Purple Vest and Shirt
  
• Beige and Red Vest and Shirt
  
• Beige and Blue Vest and Shirt
  
• Beige and Black Vest and Shirt
  
• Beige, Brown and Blue Vest and Shirt
  
• Beige, Brown and Red Vest and Shirt
  
• Yellow and Purple Shirt
  
• Beige and Cyan Shirt
  
• Beige and Purple Shirt
  
• Beige and Dark Gray Shirt
  
• Beige and Black Shirt
  
• Beige and Red Shirt
  
• Beige and Blue Shirt
  
• Purple Waist Strap
  
• Cyan Waist Strap
  
• Light Purple Waist Strap
  
• Dark Gray Waist Strap
  
• Black Waist Strap
  
• Red Waist Strap
  
• Blue Waist Strap
  
• Purple Vest
  
• Brown and Cyan Vest
  
• Blue and Purple Vest
  
• Red and Dark Gray Vest
  
• Blue and Dark Gray Vest
  
• Black Vest
  
• Brown and Blue Vest
  
• Brown and Red Vest
  
• Purple and Red Vest
  
• White, Red and Black Jacket and Shirt
  
• White Waist Strap
  
• Black Vest and Shirt
  
• Green Waist Strap
  
• Snowflake Tattoo
  
• Pointy Eyes Tattoo
  

[h3]Options:[/h3]

• Max audio channels option added (32 and 64) to sound options (using 32 max audio channels may improve performance on systems with a weaker CPU)
  

[h3]Bug fixes:[/h3]

• Leader ship customisation should now always work when joining a game with a party
  
• Fixed a bug in video options that caused very low preset button not to work
  
• Fixed a bug with the swivel cannon that caused it to be unusable after rotating it in a certain angle
  
• Fixed empty click sound when trying to fire with blunderbuss and nockgun
  
• Fixed a bug that caused voice pitch to not be correctly saved sometimes
  

Like this update? Let us know on Discord!

Ahoy landlubbers!

We're proud to announce our upcoming new ship type: The Junk Ship!
This ship will be dropping along with our soon to come major winter update!

This design was inspired by ancient Chinese sailing ships. In comparison to the brig, the junk ship is smaller and trades in some firepower and ship health in return for incredible speeds. You also won't have to fiddle around with TNT barrels when going straight ahead, as the junk has a FRONT FACING CANNON! And no, that ain't a swivel -- that's a full-blown upgradeable cannon!

[h3]Here's sneak peek tour:[/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Is it better than a Brig?[/h3]

We're going to be monitoring things carefully to make sure both ships are viable and balanced. In a straight firefight, the Brig still has an edge, but the Junk is able to maneuver around much faster, dipping in and out of range! Boarding should also be easier for the Junk ship, as you can quickly drop off some mean looking lads, then get out before the brig can respond.

So to answer that question: it's not supposed to be better -- just different.


[h3]Wasn't it supposed to be a 2-3 person ship?[/h3]

That was the initial idea, but then we noted one issue: there's a lot of premade 4-man crews out there, and we don't want to deprive them of our beautiful Junk (heh). We're still open to other options (it is Early Access, after all) but for now, the Junk can also be manned by up to 4 players!

That said, because it has more of a focus on boarding, 3-player parties should still be able to win if they use the Junk effectively!


[h3]How many cannons does it have?[/h3]

Right now the Junker is equiped with a total of two normal side cannons, and one in in the front. You also have the ability to install swivels of course! One on each side (behind the normal ones) and one in the back. (like with the Brig)


[h3]Does it sink faster?[/h3]

Yes! The playstyle we want encourage with this ship type is agile and fast, but not tanky. So you better watch them repairs when playing with the Junk Ship!


[h3]Does the Junk have a cork?[/h3]

Does a pirate poop in a bucket? OF COURSE!

Hope you pirates are excited for this addition! We'll share more info on our upcoming winter update very soon. Stay tuned!



Like this sneak peek thingy? Let us know on Discord!

Hi there ye seadogs!

We've got another small update for you. We've been receiving quite a few complaints about performance and have noticed ourselves that we've seem to have lost some FPS along the last few weeks so we did some digging. Not to find treasures for once, but to find the culprit of the problem and we found it. Something was amiss with the ship lamps that caused a big drop in performance whenever a ship would have default (orange) lanterns. We also spotted some other strangeness that caused some performance issues with the floating wood crates, that as well is now fixed. Below the full patch notes:

• Big performance leak fixed with ship lanterns when using default (orange) lanterns
  
• Collision overhead fixed with seagulls above floating wood crates which also improves performance
  

• You can now choose between temporal anti-aliasing (Temporal AA) and fast approximate anti-aliasing (FXAA)
  
• Added "Ultra" setting for anti-aliasing
  
• Renamed lowest anti-aliasing setting from "Low" to "Off"
  

• There should now be a few more pre-games ready to receive players in Europe and Russia
  

Hopefully these fixes and optimisations will give you pirates some smoother sailing!

Like this hotfix? Let us know on Discord!

Ahoy scallywags!

Nothing feels worse than having a powerful gun, boarding an enemy ship, and missing every shot. Not utilizing those muskets feels like a massive blunder. That's why we've added the perfect gun: the blunderbuss. Why try sniping someone in a moment of tension, when you can walk up to them and blast 'em with pellets?

That, and more, in today's update!

[h3]New Weapon:[/h3]

• Blunderbuss has been added (spawns as regularly as crossbow) - Fires 10 pellets in a random spread pattern
  

[h3]Weapon balancing:[/h3]

• Flintlock projectile damage increased from 30 damage to 40 damage
  
• Quadbarrel flintlock projectile damage increased from 17 damage to 20 damage
  
• Dual quadbarrel flintlock projectile damage increased from 13 damage to 14 damage
  

[h3]Main Menu:[/h3]

• "New" items indicator for ship and character revamped
  
• Loading image placeholder added while newsfeed image is still downloading
  
• Patch notes button removed from startup disclaimer as patch notes can now be viewed from the in-game browse
  

[h3]Visual tweaks:[/h3]

• Tweaked the hand pose for the quad barrel
  
• Lerp time decreased when transitioning from swimming to walking animation (no more swimming pirates on deck)
  
• Players no longer jitter and teleport when leaving the capstan
  
• Quad barrel sprint animation improved
  

[h3]Gameplay:[/h3]

• A server no longer keeps resetting countdown to 30 seconds in pregame when a 16th player connects, only once now
  

[h3]Bug fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed a bug that made it so you couldn't steal ammo from an enemy ammo box
  
• Sunken ship crate icon changed into barrel icon (was still a wrong treasure chest blockout icon)
  
• Fixed overlapping crew UI when using the in-game announcement browser
  
• Kill information kill multiplier offset fixed (was offsetted to the left due to a bug)
  

Like this update? Let us know on Discord!

Yarr ye scallywags! We're rolling out a hotfix with some bug fixes, balancing and quality of life improvements.

[h3]Main Menu:[/h3]

• We've added an in-game browser to view the Steam announcements without having to close your game
  
• The news image in the main menu will now be more updated regularly and reflect live changes and events
  

[h3]Gameplay changes:[/h3]

• Final zone size increased from 100 to 150
  
• Voice chat temporarily disabled in pre-game due to frequently reported crashes during this phase (We are still investigating the crashes but to improve the quality and stability of the game we have disabled it for now during pre-game)
  

[h3]Balancing:[/h3]

• Nockgun single shot projectile damage decreased from 17 to 15
  
• Nockgun shotgun blast projectile (single pellet) damage decreased from 14 to 12
  
• Nockgun secondary fire now shares the same fire rate cooldown as primary fire (You could single fire and secondary fire at the same time causing slightly more damage than intended)
  

[h3]Bug fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed a bug that caused the spawn selection screen to freeze when a player connected to the server
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the bomb launcher projectile to not attach to a player when hit on a moving ship
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the underwater effect not to work when standing on a sinking ship
  
• Fixed a bug that caused ship unlock progression percentage to be incorrect due to including duplicates into it's calculation
  

[h3]Audio improvements:[/h3]

• We've upped the max audio channels from 32 to 64 (a setting to reduce it manually to 32 will be added soon) this should fix music, sounds and voice-lines cutting off randomly
  

[h3]UI tweaks:[/h3]

• Fixed a visual UI issue that caused a post mortem kill to appear on top of the killcard
  
• Checkboxes have been revamped in the options menu
  

Like this hotfix? Let us know on Discord!