[EA SITREP #6] Weekly News: Steel, Reefs, Patch Notes & Staying the Course

[p][/p][p]Note & credit: Action screenshots were provided by players on the game’s Discord — today featuring Ferda1947, Hood & Ram399. Big thanks to them![/p][p][/p][h2]Greetings, admirals — and welcome back to the bridge.[/h2][p]Six weeks in. The coffee is cold, the paperwork is stacking up, and JB's screen has probably forgotten what sunlight looks like. But the ship is still underway, and that's what matters.[/p][p]Before we dive in: we know some of you are waiting for new scenarios. You've been patient, and we owe you both an explanation and an honest accounting of where things stand. We'll get to that. First — the recent patches, the pretty things, and a few words about what's been happening below decks.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Two more beta builds went out this week and were consolidated in a public release. Here's what was in them, with a bit of context for each entry.[/p][p][/p][h3]Midway Map – Sand Island & the Surrounding Atolls[/h3]

• [p]Improved Sand Island topography.[/p]
• [p]Added Kure, Pearl and Hermes atolls.[/p]

[p]We've pushed the Midway theater closer to how it actually looked from above. Sand Island's topography has been reworked to better reflect the real terrain — which matters more than it might seem once land-based elements come further into play. But the headline here is the addition of Kure, Pearl and Hermes atolls, lying to the northwest and to the east. These are not mere decorative additions: PBY crews and long-range patrol operations used these landmarks as reference points, and Kure in particular was to become a floatplane base for the Japanese following the invasion of Midway, as a support hub of the expected "Kentai Kessen" event. They'll be relevant once we push further into extended area operations. For now, enjoy the view from altitude — it is, we think, rather beautiful.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h3][/h3][h3]Deck & Air Operations[/h3]

• [p]Fixed bugs with multiple wave strikes.[/p]

[p]This one was a proper edge case, and a nasty one. The scenario goes roughly as follows: you have a strike mission already scheduled for a future launch window. In the meantime, you pull aircraft out of storage — reassigning them, repositioning them, whatever the reason. The system, at that point, was not correctly accounting for the fact that those aircraft were already spoken for by the upcoming mission. When you subsequently planned a new strike using the available pool, the scheduling logic would get confused about what was actually available, leading to conflicts, phantom assignments, or outright broken strike packages. It is exactly the kind of bug that only surfaces when you are doing three things at once — which, in a serious game, is more or less constantly, but needs precious user feedback to get resolved. Fixed.[/p]

• [p]Fixed damage detection code being too sensitive and sometimes preventing air operations on carriers.[/p]

[p]This one was subtle but maddening. Under certain conditions, the damage system was interpreting minor hits — or even near misses — as sufficient grounds to lock down flight deck operations entirely. In other words, you could take a single 100 lb bomb glancing blow and find your entire air group grounded as if the ship had just taken a Nagumo-style funeral pyre to the face. That is no longer the case. Damage thresholds have been recalibrated to behave more sensibly. This might affect the AI too, which might strike back on a more regular schedule.[/p]

• [p]Fixed aircraft sometimes circling forever above an airbase during landing ops.[/p]

[p]An somewhat embarrassing infinite loiter problem. Some aircraft, having been recalled, would simply orbit their destination airbase indefinitely rather than committing to a landing — apparently unable to decide whether they wanted to go home or keep flying until the fuel ran dry. We have resolved this identity crisis. They will now land.[/p]

• [p]Fixed CAPs taking off after sunset if takeoff had been delayed because of deck operations.[/p]

[p]Let's say that night CAPs were not something the Imperial Japanese Navy or the US Navy were eager to improvise in 1942 — and they shouldn't be something TFA cheerfully generates on your behalf because of a deck scheduling conflict.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]Other bugs[/h3]

• [p]Fixed crash in the FDO screen.[/p]

[p]Short entry, important fix. The FDO screen is central to your fighter direction and CAP management — a crash there at the wrong moment was, to put it diplomatically, suboptimal. Consider this one plugged.[/p]

• [p]Fixed planes clipping through Akagi's hangar.[/p]

[p]Akagi has enough problems in most of our scenarios without her aircraft deciding to phase through the hangar deck like ghosts in a carrier-themed haunted house. Fixed.[/p]

• [p]Improved turns for non-circular formations.[/p]

[p]Forming up in a non-ring configuration and executing a course change should now look — and behave — a bit more like a proper naval maneuver and less like a loose collection of ships each going broadly in the same direction but with their own individual opinions about the matter.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p]This has been a heavy modeling week, and we have quite a bit to show. Grab a seat.[/p][p][/p][h3]The Imperial Japanese Navy Battleline is nearly there[/h3][p]We have been at this for a while, and the results are beginning to speak for themselves. Below you will find the current state of our IJN capital ship roster — quite the family portrait. Pagodas, pagodas everywhere![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Getting that right required no small amount of research, and the credit goes entirely to the team members who spent their evenings squinting at grainy wartime photographs to settle arguments about the exact placement of a rangefinder or the profile of a fire control director.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h3][/h3][h3]Ryujo – Internal Module System[/h3][p]Now for something rather different. Those of you who've been following development know that ship survivability in TFA is not a simple hit point system — it is driven by internal modules, each representing a functional compartment of the vessel. Here is a look at the current internal layout of Ryujo, our next carrier addition to the Japanese order of battle. She still missed her "guts" in the previous update incarnations, here they are. A coat of paint, and she should be able to take her place by Junyo's side in Kakuta's "baby KB".[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Ryujo was a peculiar ship by any measure — originally overloaded, rebuilt, and perpetually underpowered relative to her air group ambitions — and her internal layout reflects that somewhat improvised nature. Modeling her accurately means her survivability profile will feel appropriately different from Shokaku or Hiryu. She is not a ship you want absorbing a concentrated strike, and the module system will make sure your AI opponent feels that acutely.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h3]Yokosuka D4Y1-C "Judy" — Reconnaissance Configuration[/h3][p]Introduced in the last round of news, she is very nearly ready for her operational debut and now requires integration and a proper coat of paint (these colors are just placeholders to allow the initial mapping, until Julien starts to deploy his skills).[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]We had hoped to have new scenarios in your hands before this update. They are not there yet, and we want to explain why rather than offer a vague "soon™."[/p][p]The three upcoming scenarios we described in our previous SITREPs each require gameplay functions that do not yet exist in their final, stable form. We are talking about things like expanded strategic objectives, surface engagement mechanics for the coastal gun content, and new AI behaviors around multi-axis threats. These are not optional embellishments — they are load-bearing walls. Without them, the scenarios either do not work correctly or, worse, they work in a way that is technically functional but experientially hollow. A scenario that fires and produces a result is not necessarily a scenario that is worth playing.[/p][p]We have seen what happens, in our own game and in others, when new mechanics ship before they are ready. A buggy feature does not merely inconvenience the players who encounter the bug — it colors their entire perception of the content built around it, sometimes permanently. We would rather keep you waiting an additional week or two than hand you something that makes you come away thinking the content itself is bad, when the problem is simply that a function was not ready.[/p][p]We know this requires patience. We sincerely thank you for it, and we will not take it for granted. The scenarios will arrive when they are ready to make a proper first impression — which is, we feel, the only kind worth making. Rest assured that we are trying our best to bring you more gameplay contents ASAP, and that we're not resting until then.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Until then remember that new gameplay experiences are accessible on the modding discord, link below. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE BUORD DISCORD[/p][p][/p][p]Besides, as you might know, Task Force Admiral also has its own server. Support is being provided 1-1 over there in our dedicated support section, so if you encounter any issue with the game, feel free to come and say hi.[/p][p]It works for us too if you don't have issues, obviously ^^[/p][p][/p][p]CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE OFFICIAL TFA DISCORD[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p]That's all for this week. The battle group remains at general quarters — new scenarios are coming, the battleline is forming up, and the Judy is about ready to go wheels-up. Thank you, as ever, for staying the course with us.[/p][p]Until next time,[/p][p]The TFA Team[/p]