Ships At Sea News

Ahoy Captains!

Some of you have already discovered it—upgradeable buoys are now live as part of the major v0.8.1 update we just released! This new feature adds more depth and customization to the commercial fishing experience, giving you greater control over how you mark and manage your gear out at sea.



Available for purchase at the Fishery Shop, every player begins with a default buoy—simple and functional, but without flags or lights. From there, it's up to you how far you want to upgrade:

• 🚩 Add a single flag for improved daytime visibility
  
• 🚩🚩 Upgrade to two flags for greater distance recognition
  
• 💡 Equip a light for better visibility at night or in poor weather
  

These upgrades are more than just cosmetic—they offer a practical advantages, especially when tracking longlines or net placements in busy waters, low-visibility environments, or rough weather.

Looking ahead, we’re continuing to expand and refine the commercial fishing loop. We’re working on:

• Working on visual feedback when reaching your gear out at the sea
  
• Purchasable tools like hooks and knives in the Toolshop
  
• Working on NPC crew system, letting you assign tasks such as hauling gear, especially useful on larger Tier 3 fishing ships
  
• And yes, we’re also preparing to introduce new fishing methods—something many of you have been eagerly waiting for!
  

Whether you're fishing solo or with a full crew, your tools and strategies are evolving—and this is only the beginning.

Stay tuned, captains, more is on the horizon!

- Team Misc Games

We've released a small hotfix that enables additional logging to help us track down a recurring crash. If you experience a crash, please send us the crash report—it greatly helps us identify and resolve the issue more quickly. Thank you for your support!

Changelog

• Added more logs to track down a frequent crash
  
• Fixed an issue with sound for cranes
  
• Fixed wrong length in boat description for Turbo in Shipyard
  
• Fixed wrong steering wheel upgrade asset for Nautical Pro
  

- Team Misc Games

Ahoy captains,

Many of you have already encountered a few NPC characters in Ships At Sea with the major update v0.8.1, and today we’re excited to share more about how we’re expanding the NPC system — especially when it comes to NPC crew.



We’re making steady progress behind the scenes. You can already hire and assign crew members to your boats, and soon you’ll be able to delegate specific tasks to them. This includes core operational actions such as hauling in gear, baiting and setting longlines, or helping with cargo operations — tasks that players typically perform themselves.

Please have an mind the UI is not finale and will be improved:


Our goal is to ensure that the NPC crew can also take over everything a player can do on board, whether you're playing solo or in multiplayer. There’s always room for an extra pair of hands at sea — and your crew will be ready to step in.

We’re building the NPC system to be flexible and future-proof, so you’ll be able to assign more roles, which also depend on the vessel type, plan workflows, and run your vessel efficiently, even with a reduced human crew. Whether you're gutting fish, managing crane operations, running an onboard kiosk, ferry operations, or cleaning up a deck, the NPCS will be right there with you, ready to work.

Stay tuned for more updates on task assignment, pathing, and how crew management could be tied into resource systems. The first iteration of the NPC system is currently planned for release in the upcoming v0.8.2 update.

More details will follow soon, and as always, thank you for sailing with us!

- Team Misc Games

- Added more logs to narrow down a frequent crash

Greetings from the Bridge,

We’re rolling out a patch for major update v0.8.1, focusing primarily on stability improvements and crash fixes. Many of these issues were identified through player-submitted crash logs — thank you to everyone who took the time to report them. Your feedback is invaluable and helps us make Ships At Sea better with every update.

We’d also like to acknowledge the ongoing issues with net fishing mechanics, such as fish falling below the table during the untangling process. This is part of a larger system-level task, and we’re actively working on a more complete solution. These improvements are planned for our upcoming update, v0.8.2.

Looking ahead, major update v0.8.2 will focus on expanding gameplay in several key areas:

• Introducing Service Operator missions, including activities tied to the lighthouse as seen in our trailer.
  
• Launching a basic version of passenger transport, featuring a simple kiosk system.
  
• Completing the initial phase of the Main Power Switchboard system, connecting the circuit breakers to the ship's instruments and equipment.
  
• First iteration of NPC crew, allowing them to take on selected tasks.
  
• Allowing weather and wave adjustments during multiplayer sessions.
  
• Expanding the XP and reward system better to recognise performance, co-op contribution and task completion.
  
• …and much more. Stay tuned, we will keep you updated!
  

In the meantime, here’s what’s included in today’s patch:

[h3]Changelog - Patch v0.8.1[/h3]

• Improved stacking for trash bags by adjusting their collision cells, making it easier to stack them properly
  
• Adjusted collision boxes on some medium cargo items to resolve issues where the crane couldn’t pick up stacked items
  
• Fixed a crash related to camera positioning in certain scenarios
  
• Fixed a crash caused by item interactions under specific conditions
  
• Fixed a crash triggered during the fish gutting process
  
• Resolved a crash caused by replication issues between the client and server for fish farms
  
• Fixed a crash related to skipping time
  
• Fixed a crash related to UI widget behaviour
  
• Fixed an issue where gutting fish became unresponsive after loading a savegame
  

Happy Sailing!