From The Depths News

What is up Depthians!

We are pleased to kick off the long-awaited diplomacy update to beta! As well as numerous bug fixes, tweaks, and some new features.

Let us try and be diplomatic about this update and start there :p

When you first set out on your campaign run, and pop into map view you will see a timer.



This timer will be running after each council meeting where you will decide who to go to war with or make peace with for the duration shown in this UI “until the next campaign season starts in X hours”. Each option lists out the changes in the relationship with the factions and all the options will be random each time while keeping in mind that the stronger you get the more factions you will be at war with! In this screenie, we can see that we can have total peace for 2 hours at the cost of 3,752 commodities.


Some options will have rewards like the second example below, we can go to war with the DWG, have peace with all the other factions, and have a sweet little reward in commodities. Commodity rewards/costs are affected by the difficulty level that you select.


You will also see a mini-map showing you the territory where the factions are. In this case, it’s showing us our location in yellow and the DWG territory.
So remember that with more enemies and fewer allies you will get more commodities and with higher difficulties, you will get fewer commodities.

The AI is also undergoing another upgrade too, such that allied factions will be working together and better grouping.

You will also be able to have a secret meeting as your fleets will trigger a ‘secret emergency meeting’ when they stay near allied/neutral resource zones, or inside non-border tiles of neutral factions, for more than 120 seconds. In a ‘secret emergency meeting’, the offended nation and all their allies declare war against the player’s faction.

On to a frequently requested feature is better feet to make mechs without the need for thrusters to assist, and we are happy to say YES! However in this current beta they are still being worked on! So remember Clampy Feet = WIP.


We have also added new features to decorations that allow you to hide the block that the tether is created on. Let’s say you had a fancy pipe decoration, and you also set its color within the decoration UI which is also a new feature. However, it’s being covered by the block that it’s tethered to, as you can see in the first screenie.



Simply click “Hide original mesh” and poof that nasty block that was covering your beautiful spam of decorations is now gone, but not really gone as its collision mesh is still there and will ofc take damage, die, and fall off. We can also turn off that noisy wireframe too which is another sweet addition brought to you by our ever awesome Weng! (but it was all my idea I swear!)


The V menu / Construct information UI has had a few tweaks, and as you can see we can now swap block types. Select which material you want to change from EG Alloys with a specific color or “Any color” which would select all Alloy blocks and change them to all metal if you wish.



[h3]Additions[/h3]
[h3]AI[/h3]

• Add ‘maximum hull CoM shift before switching side’ parameter for Broadside 2.0 behavior. Useful for spreading damage evenly on both sides of the hull.
• Add ‘minimum firepower fraction before switching side’ parameter for Broadside 2.0 behaviour. Useful for vehicles that heavily depend on side weapons.

[h3]Armor refit[/h3]

• New tab on the V menu: ‘Armor refit’. Changes all armor blocks from a specific material and color (or any color) to another material and color (or keeps the color)

[h3]Blocks[/h3]

• Added 2m,3m and 4m surge protector beams. These have adjusted values for the EMP test mentioned elsewhere in the notes.

[h3]Breadboard[/h3]

• Breadboard modules for reading/writing to custom axes added

[h3]Campaign[/h3]

• Added a mini-map to the diplomacy screen so you get an idea of where the different factions are before choosing your wars
• Fleets are now teleported to the nearest non-hostile territory if the faction they are located in become hostile to the fleet’s owner, after a diplomacy council meeting
• Markers on the campaign map to show who you are at war or allied with and where they are based
• Player’s fleets now trigger a ‘secret emergency meeting’ when they stay near allied/neutral resource zones, or inside non-border tiles of neutral factions, for more than 120 seconds. In a ‘secret emergency meeting’, the offended nation and all their allies declare war against the player’s faction.

[h3]Clamp foot[/h3]

• Added a clampy foot which is an advanced form of the sticky foot

[h3]Control[/h3]

• [FTD-679] Add bindings profile which allows changing input bindings on the fly to accommodate different situations with a limited number of available bindings. For example, you may want to have a profile for 3rd person camera where the controller left stick is used for camera movement and another profile for aircraft where the left stick is used for pitch and roll.
• [FTD-679] Change key binding system to support analog bindings, multiple bindings per action, and arbitrary key combinations.
• [FTD-679] Support for controller input.

[h3]Decorations[/h3]

• Display the name of the current mesh in mimic and decoration UI.
• Option to hide the mesh of the block that a decoration is tethered to.

[h3]Laser warners[/h3]

• ‘Apply to all’ button in laser warner UI.

[h3]Lua[/h3]

• Added _VERSION global constant to get the Lua language version
• Lua commands for reading and writing to custom axes added

[h3]Power Priority[/h3]

• Power creators and users are now grouped by name. Each group is collapsed by default to avoid performance issues.

[h3]Separator[/h3]

• Added an option to the separator block to not separate unless the blocks it is separating are all repaired. Intended for use with ACBs
• Added an option to the separator to, instead of separating any block attached to it, only separate attached blocks that are in front of the separator block. In this mode, the separated vehicle is allowed to be connected to the main vehicle in other places

[h3]Steam[/h3]

• Valves got a new option to disable pressure control. Makes the valve ignore breaches and pressure ranges, so one-off open/close commands from ACBs stick

[h3]UI[/h3]

• New buttons in V menu: ‘Remove decorations’ and ‘Remove subconstructs’

[h2]Changes[/h2][h3]ACB[/h3]

• It is now possible to detect an object up to 5000m in front of the ACB [BUGS-3315]

[h3]Campaign[/h3]

• AI controlled factions that are allied will now work together to capture board sections from their enemies
• AI won’t try to capture board sections that are far away as often
• Changed AI intercepting of enemy fleets to have much better grouping and better logic in general
• Changed how the AI goes about capturing board sections. It should now group better and not send weak individual vehicles to the player very often
• Changed movement of AI fleets to be more smooth when following other fleets
• It is now possible to capture board sections that don’t border your own board sections but that do border a board section of an ally. After capturing the board section, it is given to that ally
• Limited how much forces the AI will stack to attack a single board section

[h3]CJE[/h3]

• Custom jet generator power/thrust up from 0.05 to 0.055

[h3]Decorations[/h3]

• Choose the color from a list of previews instead of using a slider.
• Improved the mesh search function to be much faster

[h3]Ducts[/h3]

• Drag for 1×1, 3×3, 5×5 and 7×7 ducts up from 0.05 (4m wedge equivalent) to 0.4 (1m slope equivalent). They still don’t need clearance

[h3]EMP[/h3]

• As a test EMP has been adjusted by adjusting all materials and their values, the main change being HA no longer acts as a giant EMP sink and some materials don’t outright block EMP anymore. Feedback for this should be via the betatest feedback channel in discord. THIS IS JUST A TEST AND CAN BE REVERTED.

[h3]Fuel engines[/h3]

• Base power/material up from 500 to 520
• Models for fuel parts have changed. Purely a visual change, this fixes issues with the old models and textures.

[h3]Loading[/h3]

• Faster loading of details in the blueprint browser.

[h3]Missile[/h3]

• Connectors and IIF blocks and ejectors now use the missile controller’s Q menu
• Ejector addons and Lua transceivers now use the missile launcher’s Q menu
• Missile harpoon and sticky flare attachment is more reliable
• Missile winch max power up from 5000 to 24000
• Allow selecting nose component on missiles with length of 1 or 2.

[h3]Separator[/h3]

• Removed the 2 second delay before a newly placed weapon can fire if the weapon is placed by a separator block
• Separators have an 0.1s cooldown between separating and attaching
• The separate ACB action has a 1s cooldown

[h3]Steam[/h3]

• Steam crank motor default RPM ratio up to 2
• Steam stat page tracks steam jet thrust and material use

[h3]Visuals[/h3]

• Increase maximum low LOD distance from 1 km to 5 km.

[h2]Fixes[/h2][h3]BUGS[/h3]

• BUGS-3348 Manoeuvre Hover no longer says ‘strafe is necessary’ when it is already ticked as being present
• BUGS-2951 Fixed CRAM packing steps being 1 frame off
• BUGS-3082 Updated HESH AP tooltip in the ammo customizer UI
• BUGS-3105 Fixed steam valve tooltip reporting 10 pressure when attached to some empty pipe sections
• BUGS-3236 Ducts now handle steam pipes the same way they do fuel exhausts
• BUGS-3330 Fixed various ACB related bugs with separators
• BUGS-3334 Increased separator block vehicle name field length to 100 characters
• BUGS-3338 Fixed a problem causing a blank screen on avatar death
• BUGS-3340 Fixed steam stat page displaying wrong values if multiple boilers were connected to turbines without pipes
• BUGS-3355 Added a failsafe to make sure missiles never get stuck in the gantry at high speeds
• BUGS-3356 Valve tooltip pressures improved when turbines are the highest pressure consumers in the pipe network attached to the given valve
• BUGS-3358 Fixed a problem with steam valves attached to exhausted pipe sections without a boiler/tank
• BUGS-3365 Fixed steam hull pipes acting as 6-way pipes
• BUGS-3370 Fixed secondary torpedo propellers without primary propulsion breaking the missile stat page
• BUGS-3242 Fixed an exception that could pop up in some situations

[h3]Camera[/h3]

• Fixed scroll wheel zoom not working with wireless camera.

[h3]Campaign[/h3]

• Fixed a bug where the AI would get stuck trying to do something it couldn’t do
• Fixed all AI fleets stacking on top of each other when following a fleet
• Fixed some cases where AI fleets would move out before all fleets where grouped up correctly
• Fixed some cases where the AI would fail grouping when trying to capture a board section
• Fixed some issues with AI trying to move fleets above their maximum altitude
• Fixed various small issues with the AI, mostly related to path finding

[h3]CRAM[/h3]

• CRAM packers and pellets were set to have 20 detection signatures instead of 3. This is now fixed.

[h3]Docking station[/h3]

• Fixed vehicles still being marked as ‘taken’ after the docking station that had taken them has been deleted
• The 1m docking station was using the 2m mesh. This is now fixed.

[h3]Drag[/h3]

• Fixed asymmetric clearance requirement on 1-4m, front and back wedge structural blocks
• Fixed top clearance requirement for 1-4m, front and back wedge structural blocks (they had it set up wrong, leading to inconsistent behavior)

[h3]Drills[/h3]

• Resting drill bits no longer cause insane amounts of damage.

[h3]Editor[/h3]

• Resource zone starting material now editable in the editor.

[h3]Performance[/h3]

• Much faster loading of vehicle information UI with large vehicles.

[h3]Power priority[/h3]

• Fix power priority not getting saved for multipurpose lasers and simple drills.

[h3]Separator[/h3]

• Fixed advanced cannon ammo clips not keeping their shells after being separated from or attached to a vehicle
• Fixed advanced cannon ammo intakes losing their ammo controller selection after being separated from or attached to a vehicle
• Fixed blocks getting back all their hp after being separated from or attached to a vehicle
• Fixed CRAM cannons resetting their reloading state after being separated from or attached to a vehicle
• Fixed docking stations losing their target when separated from or attached to a vehicle
• Fixed laser cavities losing their stored energy after being separated from or attached to a vehicle
• Fixed missiles instantly reloading after being separator from or attached to a vehicle
• Fixed PACs resetting their reloading state after being separated from or attached to a vehicle
• Fixed simple weapons losing their ammo controller selection after being separated from or attached to a vehicle
• Fixed simple weapons losing their shells and then instantly reloading after being separated from or attached to a vehicle
• Fixed typo in the description and name. Removed 3m separators from build menu for now

[h3]Steam[/h3]

• Improved steam distribution for multiple boilers feeding into the same L pistons from both sides
• M and L turbines are now functional with only 1 body element (for aesthetics, stats are bad)

[h3]Undo/Redo[/h3]

• Undo/redo for decorations placed using prefab.

[h3]Visuals[/h3]

• Stop AI path visualization from blocking mouse clicks in inventory.

[h3]Weapons[/h3]

• Fix bug that blocks a weapon from firing when it’s set to synchronize with itself.

What is up Depthians!

Before we get into all the goodies, I feel that I need to share the following.

As most of you probably know by now that Nick’s daughter is seriously ill, which is why there has been such a long gap between updates and I am sure you would agree that family comes first. So far the news has been positive and treatment is underway. 

With that out the way let us spring into action and go over this update, as we have some new additions such as a suspension spring mesh for our wheels (visual only), and before you roll off your seats with excitement we also have anti-roll bars for our land constructs!



Note that the center attachment point of the wheels is in line with the roll bar.

If this has not got you all hot and steamy, yes you guessed the next poor pun is about steam fixes and tweaks xD

So before you decide to separate my hands from my keyboard, we now have the separation block! xD Which is truly awesome yet needs some explaining for the current beta.

At the moment we have 1×1 separation blocks and you will need to set a few parameters before attaching the drone as the options you choose will be saved to the drone that is attached, and any future changes you would need to detach the drone first before they take effect.

Before we get into the settings we “should / could” use a docking station on the mothership per drone. This will help us align the drone’s attachment block to the mothership’s attachment block, and let’s not forget that most motherships may be on the move which is why the docking station would be needed, as the separation block currently only has a 10m range. We also need to ensure that the attachment blocks are not surrounded by other blocks (for now) and we may also need an origin block on the drone as the docking station pulls from the center of mass of the drone, so by installing an origin block the dock will use that as its center point. The origin block can be placed anywhere deep inside the hull, just make sure that it’s inline and behind the attachment (red blocks in pic).



Firstly decide if you want your drone to use its propulsion while attached. You will also need to state whether you want this to be rebuilt once detached or not, this gives you the option to rebuild the “missing” blocks from the mothership allowing you to keep spawning multiple copies of the drone, which will be built by Rambot or repair drones, not tentacles. We also suggest giving the drone a name in the Vehicle settings of the separator control UI.

Some things to note:

• 
  Attaching a drone to the mothership be it fort or vehicle, the drone will inherit the paint job of the mothership until detached.
  
• 
  Building an air/land vehicle drone attached to a fort would need to be built separatly as you will not have access to the air items/land items. However repair drones will repair any lost air/land blocks while attached to the fort.
  
• 
  For now do not build around the attachment blocks, leave them petruding from both mothership and drone, as shown in the screenshot above.
  
• 
  Remember to set the AI prioritisation in the AI tab, as only the AI(s) with the highest priority will try to control the vehicle.
  

We have also updated and basically redone the CIWS system, and before you panic, any old values from your previous constructs will be transferred to the new system.

The new system works with weights if a projectile is within a weight range that you specify or not within “Main ruleset”, we can also set weights for the target that is firing those nasty projectiles at your construct from the “Locked target ruleset”. However, I think the most epic part is that you can now visually see what your CIWS is prioritising from your settings.



The red circles mean they are the highest prioritised missiles, while grey is ignored, green has the lowest weight. Other projectiles have colors in-between showing their relative weight. The red line is the currently targeted projectile. 

We have also integrated a mod from the Steam workshop by Cappycot, which tweaks up the cinematic camera and a few other things. This is still a WIP so more additions and tweaks are on the way, therefore everything can be subject to change.

Currently, it:

• 
  Alters the Caps Lock camera behavior so that it doesn’t lag behind the vehicle of focus.
  
• 
  Adds a mouse smoothing effect to the Caps Lock camera.
  
• 
  Alters the top-down tactical map camera behavior so it follows vehicles you double-click on properly.
  
• 
  Removes the annoying splash sound when the camera submerges unless you are in first person.
  

We are also in the process of updating some textures at the moment, such as the AI blocks and fuel engine are WIP textures in this beta.


[h2]Additions[/h2]
[h3]AI[/h3]

• 
  Added a priority slider to the AI mainframe. On a vehicle, only the AI(s) with the highest priority will try to control the vehicle
  

[h3]APS[/h3]

• 
  Added missing numbers for autoloaders, clips and recoil absorbers. 3,5,7 where applicable.
  
• 
  Some values for cost and weight were marginally incorrect in autoloaders and clips, they have been fixed.
  

[h3]Attachment Point[/h3]

• 
  Added an attachment point block which combined with a separator block can attach a vehicle to another vehicles, turning them into one vehicle
  

[h3]Blocks[/h3]

• 
  Anti-roll bar added to the ‘Land’ tab
  

[h3]Build marker[/h3]

• 
  Transparency added to the build marker. The transparency level can be configured in the options.
  

[h3]Build mode[/h3]

• 
  [FTD-673] Press T to place cursor as decoration. It creates a decoration on the nearest block with the current item mesh, position, rotation and color. Works with Undo/Redo.
  
• 
  [FTD-679] Customizable build cursor speed.
  
• 
  [FTD-679] It is now possible to double tap Space/Alt to move faster vertically.
  

[h3]Camera[/h3]

• 
  Integration of the mod ‘Film the Depths’ which improves camera movement and removes the splash sound when the camera is entering the water when not in first person
  
• 
  Option to draw hole on water only when the camera is inside a pumped space. Enabled by default. Don’t forget to enable the visual effect in vehicle settings as well!
  

[h3]CIWS[/h3]

• 
  [FTD-677] CIWS controller can now control any type of weapon, including fixed weapons.
  
• 
  [FTD-677] CIWS controller now uses customizable lists of rules to determine the weight of targets and which targets should be ignored. Every rule has a rule type, an input type, an input range, and weight scale if applicable. Old AMCC parameters are converted to a set of rules that have nearly the same behavior.
  
• 
  [FTD-677] CIWS controller UI now visualizes the weight of targets on screen, and indicates the current target and ignored targets.
  
• 
  [FTD-677] Idle aim modes for CIWS controller (none, aim at enemy, or keep weapon direction).
  
• 
  [FTD-677] Option to take target acceleration into account in CIWS controller.
  
• 
  All-in-one CIWS controller block with built-in failsafe and wireless receiver.
  

[h3]Decorations[/h3]

• 
  Option (in Build Options) to hide the moving dash line when hovering cursor over a mimic or a decoration.
  

[h3]Lua[/h3]

• 
  Added coroutine.yield, setmetatable and getmetatable
  

[h3]LWC[/h3]

• 
  All-in-one local weapon controller block with built-in failsafe and wireless receiver.
  

[h3]Missiles[/h3]

• 
  [FTD-677] Missile interceptors can now prioritise the target of the CIWS controller when it was fired.
  
• 
  [FTD-677] Missiles now deal kinetic damage to enemy missiles during collision.
  

[h3]Modding[/h3]

• 
  Modding manual added (you can access it in the ‘Content’ tab, under the mod creation button)
  

[h3]Separator[/h3]

• 
  Added a separator block that can be used to decouple part of a vehicle into a separate new vehicle or to reattach a decoupled vehicle back. See Jon’s patch notes for details of the function.
  

[h3]UI[/h3]

• 
  New button in APS ammo customizer: changes every part in the shell to match the one last placed, between the position of the last change and the head
  
• 
  New button in APS ammo customizer: duplicates the part that was last changed, moving 1 step towards the head every click
  
• 
  New button in APS ammo customizer: fixes invalid shells by moving casings in front to the back of the shell and changing other invalid parts to the most common warhead in the shell
  
• 
  Right clicking a component slot in the missile editor now copies the last changed component into that slot
  

[h2]Changes[/h2][h3]Blocks[/h3]

• 
  All components can now be placed on subobjects with the exception of a few such as refineries.
  

[h3]CIWS[/h3]

• 
  [FTD-677] CIWS controller now uses the same weapon discovery and priority logic as LWC.
  
• 
  [FTD-677] Renamed AMCC (anti missile cannon controller) to CIWS controller.
  

[h3]Impact[/h3]

• 
  Harpoon missiles now do not do impact damage (cable connection is more reliable)
  

[h3]Lasers[/h3]

• 
  Cavity block cost down from 60 to 50 materials for each cell occupied
  
• 
  Cavity lines lose their charge when blocks belonging to them get destroyed/removed
  
• 
  Every 10000 laser energy storage capacity now counts as a single pump for AP calculations
  

[h3]Space[/h3]

• 
  A new visualisation of the space backdrop has been added
  

[h3]SpinBlock[/h3]

• 
  Spinblock now has the same AC as a 1m turret.
  

[h3]Wheels[/h3]

• 
  Wheel connectors now connect on the side relevant to their position e.g A left wheel connects on the right. They also now connect Up
  
• 
  Wheels suspensions is now using a spring (it’s only a visual change)
  

[h2]Fixes[/h2][h3]BUGS-3176[/h3]

• 
  Fixed breadboard maths evaluator not handling input from new components correctly
  

[h3]BUGS-3233[/h3]

• 
  Fixed error on loading AI state
  

[h3]Drag[/h3]

• 
  Fixed asymmetric clearance requirement on 1-4m, front and back wedge structural blocks
  

[h3]Duct[/h3]

• 
  Fixed error with HP value of an alloy duct
  

[h3]Explosions[/h3]

• 
  Contaiment for explosions is now working as intended, which will increase the damage at the center of the explosion, and also in contained space (it should improve APHE shells efficiency) [BUGS-3285]
  

[h3]Glass[/h3]

• 
  All effects now visible through glass.
  

[h3]Impact[/h3]

• 
  Fixed a problem causing missile impact damage to be too high after a coordinate origin shift
  

[h3]Localisation[/h3]

• 
  Lots of localisation tweaks for the upcoming Chinese and Russian translated version of FtD.
  

[h3]Lua[/h3]

• 
  Fixed incorrect error handling inside coroutines
  

[h3]Missile[/h3]

• 
  Fixed missile laser emitters hitting themselves when the construct is moving backwards (green-red flickering is gone)
  

[h3]Steam[/h3]

• 
  Improved steam distribution for boilers with multiple outputs and some setups with circular valves
  

[h3]Visuals[/h3]

• 
  Fix decoration mesh contour so that it no longer lags behind when the vehicle is moving.
  

[h3]Wheels[/h3]

• 
  Fixed an issue that caused fully compressed suspension force to be off at different time scales (causing too much jumping or sinking too low)
  
• 
  Which way the ‘Axle length extension’ slider moves the wheel now only depends on the block’s orientation (the side of the vehicle the wheel is on doesn’t matter anymore)
  

Steam Summer sale 2021 is here and From the Depths is on a -30% discount for a limited time. Grab it while this ship is still sailing

What is up Depthians!!

As the only new addition to Stable from 3.2.9 Beta, is that you now must use Breadboard to control your constructs as we removed the AI behaviour and manoeuvre cards, nothing else has changed from Beta to Stable.

So the following notes are a copypasta from Beta.

In this update, we will be showing you two new features to From The Depths via YouTube rather than screenshots and walls of text. We hope you like this format for showing off new functions or features.
In the following link, we go through the new projectile damage logging tool and a handy visual aid showing you where your turrets are getting stuck while trying to rotate :D. However, in order to try and keep it short, you will have to check out the changelog as there are more additions/tweaks as well as a boatload of bug fixes.
We also go talk about some news at Brilliant skies for the next month or so.

https://youtu.be/sA-v_b9NYG4


[h2]Additions[/h2]
[h3]AI[/h3]
- A troubleshooter has been added for the AI that will provide feedback if your AI does not match the capabilities of your vehicle
- Naval and land AI now properly uses the yaw controller during reversing.
- Naval and land AI now uses forward/backward controller during idling to bring speed to 0 m/s.
- Point at behaviour will make ‘reverse’ paths (sea/land) cheap (if reversing enabled) if we are too close to our target and pointing at them.
- The path view for AI has been upgraded to show how the waypoints are adjusted by the various stages of the AI. The markers, if you mouse over them, will show tooltips.
[h3]Blocks[/h3]
- Spin blocks have an option to reverse the angle controller value when moving backwards. Useful for large rudders on spin blocks.
[h3]Damage[/h3]
- Added damage logging system (enable from vehicle V menu). It shows kinetic, HE, HEAT, HESH and fragment damage markers and explanations for each projectile/missile that hits the vehicle. Useful for debugging.
[h3]Missiles[/h3]
- [BUGS-2350] Added new default guidance to (optionally) replace sea-skimming mode. It flies in the direction it is currently facing.
- [BUGS-2350] Added new default guidance to (optionally) replace sea-skimming mode. It flies in the direction it was launched.
- Added small and large reverse launchers.
[h3]Wheels[/h3]
- Added a reset to default button for wheel configuration tab
[h2]Changes[/h2]
[h3]AI[/h3]
- Airplane movement idle distance is now unified with the wander distance mechanic, creating a circular wander for the out of combat vehicle.
- All AI interfaces have been tidied up and now feature a full description of what the behaviour/manoeuvre does
[h3]Air Ducts[/h3]
- Previous change reverted. All single air duct blocks have now had their HP value halved. 3×3 and larger lose 1/4 HP and weight. This puts them in their intended role.
[h3]Applique[/h3]
- Applique armour can now create air gaps when hit centrally (the path of the projectile through the mesh is modelled). This means HEAT fragments and HESH spalling will be released from it.
- Applique armour does not get directly damaged by HEAT jet penetration
- Applique armour is structural for the purpose of HESH, increasing the AP of the spalling that will come from it (either released into it’s own air gap, or passing down the sides of the armour panels).
[h3]APS[/h3]
- All fragmentation warheads are now forced to share cone angle and offset values, as these were always averaged across the warheads anyway
- Shells without a pen fuse and using heavy, AP or sabot head will not explode on contact. They only trigger when they run out of kinetic damage
- The APS ammo customisation UI has been updated to the new format
- There is now a drop down in the ammo customisation UI to select the gauge of your weapons, and gauges that will fill the various clip sizes
[h3]Blocks[/h3]
- Aileron and tailplane now use the absolute velocity of the vehicle, so they work the as expected when moving in reverse.
- Hydrofoil, by default, will now work in reverse the same as it works in forward
- Rudder, by default, will now work in reverse the same as it works in forward
- The vehicle blueprint spawner can now spawn up to 100 vehicles instead of 10, and if you choose the max value there will be no limitation to the number of spawned vehicles
[h3]Ducts[/h3]
- Ducts no longer absorb HEAT damage. They are treated like ‘structural blocks’ for the purposes of HEAT.
[h3]ERA[/h3]
- ERA no longer explodes below 50% health. ERA also no longer actually kills projectiles near it when it dies.
- ERA rewrote. Projectiles (other than CRAM) have their explosions triggered by touching an ERA. An ERA-triggered explosion has 20% HE/FLAK damage/radius, 20% HESH thump damage, and 180° fragment release angle. The first HEAT jet or HESH implantation to interact with the ERA panel will be stopped in its tracks (HESH must be implanted onto ERA for there to be an effect). Kinetic hollow point damage will not take place if the shell explodes. Kinetic/hollow point damage of a kinetic shell that has not exploded at this point is reduced by 2500 to a minimum of 100 (this includes CRAM). EMP and smoke effects happen as usual.
[h3]Missile[/h3]
- Huge missile efficiency and health modifiers down by 20%
- [BUGS-2209] Beam riders now have the option of following other missile lasers on the vehicle, not just those attached to their controller.
- [BUGS-2209] Laser designator receivers now output a velocity value to allow APN and TPG guidance to improve the chance of hitting a moving designated target. If you don’t want this function just remove the APN and TPG from the missile.
- The missile editing UI now uses drop-down menus instead of incremental sliders, where appropriate.
[h2]Fixes[/h2]
[h3]AI[/h3]
- [BUGS-3121] Empty manoeuvre UI now shows the wander distance, order complete distance and Use Velocity Instead of Forward toggle (which has now been changed to a default of ‘off).
- [BUGS-3129] Failsafes now have a default range of 500m for self-checks. Anything that was the old default of 50m will become 500m.
- Look ahead distance for six-axis now only takes effect as we approach a final waypoint. This fixes issues using it in conjunction with sea surface pathfinding.
[h3]APS[/h3]
- [BUGS-3135] Elevation mantlet is now able to fire at 100° elevation (previously this would be evaluated as a 180° azimuth angle and dis-allowed)
- If you place a secondary HEAT warhead on the nose cone it will now work
- The HE special factor slider is now only shown for HE warheads where it is actually used
[h3]Blocks[/h3]
- [BUGS-3124] Slope transition pieces now all have the same convex ‘seam’ across their top surface.
- Mention of reinforcement bonus in the description was wrong on 2m,3m and 4m beams. This has been removed.
[h3]Breadboard[/h3]
- [BUGS-2255] Drive setter component no longer sets drives where no input wire is attached
[h3]Building[/h3]
- [BUGS-2243] Issue with build marker being rotated long after command was made
- [BUGS-2971] it’s no longer possible to place a fortress at an odd angle
[h3]Campaign[/h3]
- [BUGS-3119] Blockade battle start timers now tick down based on the game speed
[h3]CJE hull[/h3]
- Hull parts have had their descriptions corrected and the cost reduced to +10 over standard parts.
[h3]ERA[/h3]
- ERA is no longer marked as a structural component, and a HESH shockwave hitting a distant ERA panel will damage it like any other nonstructural block.
[h3]Exhaust[/h3]
- [BUGS-2928] Hull exhaust pipes no longer connect to cylinders in directions that they should not
[h3]Fleets[/h3]
- [BUGS-3117] out-of-play fleet vibration fixed
Graphics
- [BUGS-3089] Some minor issues with cut away views fixed
[h3]HEAT & HESH[/h3]
- Multi-threading issues fixed in HEAT and hesh that stopped them releasing fragments on the first non-structural block they killed
[h3]Misc[/h3]
- Multiple typos of the word manoeuvre fixed.
[h3]Missiles[/h3]
- [BUGS-2173] Issues with sea skimming default guidance and APN fixed.. APN and target prediction guidance no longer run when the ‘target’ is a default manoeuvre (such as sea skimming) (or when the target has a dummy velocity value of 0 (e.g beam rider aim points)).
- [BUGS-2209] Designator receiver logic fix for lasers that control ‘Missiles on this team’. Should all work as expected now.
- [BUGS-3112] GPP use of remote guidance is no longer double counted when several LWCs are controlling a missile controller.
- [BUGS-3131] Missiles will no longer change their rotation when in contact with colliders and are no longer super bouncy. This stops them from clipping through their launching vehicle.
[h3]Multiplayer[/h3]
- [BUGS-2956] fixed a number of multiplayer issues with pistons
- [BUGS-3110] issue with undo of block removal fixed for multiplayer clients
[h3]Muzzle Brake[/h3]
- The description mentioned a reduction in speed. This is incorrect and has been removed.
[h3]Particles[/h3]
- All particle systems will now use the ‘Particles factor’ and ‘Auto-regulation’ performance options
[h3]PID[/h3]
- [BUGS-2938] Fake set point for altitude in AI hover controller now goes from -1000 to +3000 (as per GP PID)
[h3]Repairing[/h3]
- [BUGS-2912] Fixed an issue with large turrets not repairing on specific vehicles
[h3]Sails[/h3]
- [BUGS-2942] Wind speed was not properly taken into account for the useful component of force on a sail (sailboats faster now). The weather vane now shows wind speed as well.
[h3]Shields[/h3]
- [BUGS-3111] Shield reflections causing explosions of inertially fused shells to happen at local coord [0,0,0] fixed
[h3]Steam[/h3]
- [BUGS-2815] Idle steam turbine tooltips show correct kinetic energy values
- [BUGS-2943] Steam jet particles now come from the correct place when placed on a sub construct
- Smoke leaking from 4m pipes will now exit at the correct location
[h3]Turrets[/h3]
- [BUGS-3101] turrets and spinners now check overlaps at integer degree steps (1°,2°,etc) to avoid some turrets managing to rotate when they shouldn’t, and becoming very unpredictable.
[h3]UI[/h3]
- [BUGS-3087] drive slider in propeller (and other) UIs no longer disappears after visiting stats tab
[h3]Video[/h3]
- [BUGS-2880] Youtube videos are working again
[h3]Weapons[/h3]
- [BUGS-3116] Fixed a recursion issue in synched weapons when they are synched with each other and dead
[h2]Removed[/h2]
[h3]AI[/h3]
- Tank broadside behaviour no longer selectable. It’s the same as naval broadside behaviour (now called Broadside 2.0) so use that instead.


Just in case, the Breadboard thing is an April fools joke…

What is up Depthians!!

In this update, we will be showing you two new features to From The Depths via YouTube rather than screenshots and walls of text. We hope you like this format for showing off new functions or features.
In the following link, we go through the new projectile damage logging tool and a handy visual aid showing you where your turrets are getting stuck while trying to rotate :D. However, in order to try and keep it short, you will have to check out the changelog as there are more additions/tweaks as well as a boatload of bug fixes.
We also go talk about some news at Brilliant skies for the next month or so.

https://youtu.be/sA-v_b9NYG4


[h2]Additions[/h2]
[h3]AI[/h3]
- A troubleshooter has been added for the AI that will provide feedback if your AI does not match the capabilities of your vehicle
- Naval and land AI now properly uses the yaw controller during reversing.
- Naval and land AI now uses forward/backward controller during idling to bring speed to 0 m/s.
- Point at behaviour will make ‘reverse’ paths (sea/land) cheap (if reversing enabled) if we are too close to our target and pointing at them.
- The path view for AI has been upgraded to show how the waypoints are adjusted by the various stages of the AI. The markers, if you mouse over them, will show tooltips.
[h3]Blocks[/h3]
- Spin blocks have an option to reverse the angle controller value when moving backwards. Useful for large rudders on spin blocks.
[h3]Damage[/h3]
- Added damage logging system (enable from vehicle V menu). It shows kinetic, HE, HEAT, HESH and fragment damage markers and explanations for each projectile/missile that hits the vehicle. Useful for debugging.
[h3]Missiles[/h3]
- [BUGS-2350] Added new default guidance to (optionally) replace sea-skimming mode. It flies in the direction it is currently facing.
- [BUGS-2350] Added new default guidance to (optionally) replace sea-skimming mode. It flies in the direction it was launched.
- Added small and large reverse launchers.
[h3]Wheels[/h3]
- Added a reset to default button for wheel configuration tab
[h2]Changes[/h2]
[h3]AI[/h3]
- Airplane movement idle distance is now unified with the wander distance mechanic, creating a circular wander for the out of combat vehicle.
- All AI interfaces have been tidied up and now feature a full description of what the behaviour/manoeuvre does
[h3]Air Ducts[/h3]
- Previous change reverted. All single air duct blocks have now had their HP value halved. 3×3 and larger lose 1/4 HP and weight. This puts them in their intended role.
[h3]Applique[/h3]
- Applique armour can now create air gaps when hit centrally (the path of the projectile through the mesh is modelled). This means HEAT fragments and HESH spalling will be released from it.
- Applique armour does not get directly damaged by HEAT jet penetration
- Applique armour is structural for the purpose of HESH, increasing the AP of the spalling that will come from it (either released into it’s own air gap, or passing down the sides of the armour panels).
[h3]APS[/h3]
- All fragmentation warheads are now forced to share cone angle and offset values, as these were always averaged across the warheads anyway
- Shells without a pen fuse and using heavy, AP or sabot head will not explode on contact. They only trigger when they run out of kinetic damage
- The APS ammo customisation UI has been updated to the new format
- There is now a drop down in the ammo customisation UI to select the gauge of your weapons, and gauges that will fill the various clip sizes
[h3]Blocks[/h3]
- Aileron and tailplane now use the absolute velocity of the vehicle, so they work the as expected when moving in reverse.
- Hydrofoil, by default, will now work in reverse the same as it works in forward
- Rudder, by default, will now work in reverse the same as it works in forward
- The vehicle blueprint spawner can now spawn up to 100 vehicles instead of 10, and if you choose the max value there will be no limitation to the number of spawned vehicles
[h3]Ducts[/h3]
- Ducts no longer absorb HEAT damage. They are treated like ‘structural blocks’ for the purposes of HEAT.
[h3]ERA[/h3]
- ERA no longer explodes below 50% health. ERA also no longer actually kills projectiles near it when it dies.
- ERA rewrote. Projectiles (other than CRAM) have their explosions triggered by touching an ERA. An ERA-triggered explosion has 20% HE/FLAK damage/radius, 20% HESH thump damage, and 180° fragment release angle. The first HEAT jet or HESH implantation to interact with the ERA panel will be stopped in its tracks (HESH must be implanted onto ERA for there to be an effect). Kinetic hollow point damage will not take place if the shell explodes. Kinetic/hollow point damage of a kinetic shell that has not exploded at this point is reduced by 2500 to a minimum of 100 (this includes CRAM). EMP and smoke effects happen as usual.
[h3]Missile[/h3]
- Huge missile efficiency and health modifiers down by 20%
- [BUGS-2209] Beam riders now have the option of following other missile lasers on the vehicle, not just those attached to their controller.
- [BUGS-2209] Laser designator receivers now output a velocity value to allow APN and TPG guidance to improve the chance of hitting a moving designated target. If you don’t want this function just remove the APN and TPG from the missile.
- The missile editing UI now uses drop-down menus instead of incremental sliders, where appropriate.
[h2]Fixes[/h2]
[h3]AI[/h3]
- [BUGS-3121] Empty manoeuvre UI now shows the wander distance, order complete distance and Use Velocity Instead of Forward toggle (which has now been changed to a default of ‘off).
- [BUGS-3129] Failsafes now have a default range of 500m for self-checks. Anything that was the old default of 50m will become 500m.
- Look ahead distance for six-axis now only takes effect as we approach a final waypoint. This fixes issues using it in conjunction with sea surface pathfinding.
[h3]APS[/h3]
- [BUGS-3135] Elevation mantlet is now able to fire at 100° elevation (previously this would be evaluated as a 180° azimuth angle and dis-allowed)
- If you place a secondary HEAT warhead on the nose cone it will now work
- The HE special factor slider is now only shown for HE warheads where it is actually used
[h3]Blocks[/h3]
- [BUGS-3124] Slope transition pieces now all have the same convex ‘seam’ across their top surface.
- Mention of reinforcement bonus in the description was wrong on 2m,3m and 4m beams. This has been removed.
[h3]Breadboard[/h3]
- [BUGS-2255] Drive setter component no longer sets drives where no input wire is attached
[h3]Building[/h3]
- [BUGS-2243] Issue with build marker being rotated long after command was made
- [BUGS-2971] it’s no longer possible to place a fortress at an odd angle
[h3]Campaign[/h3]
- [BUGS-3119] Blockade battle start timers now tick down based on the game speed
[h3]CJE hull[/h3]
- Hull parts have had their descriptions corrected and the cost reduced to +10 over standard parts.
[h3]ERA[/h3]
- ERA is no longer marked as a structural component, and a HESH shockwave hitting a distant ERA panel will damage it like any other nonstructural block.
[h3]Exhaust[/h3]
- [BUGS-2928] Hull exhaust pipes no longer connect to cylinders in directions that they should not
[h3]Fleets[/h3]
- [BUGS-3117] out-of-play fleet vibration fixed
Graphics
- [BUGS-3089] Some minor issues with cut away views fixed
[h3]HEAT & HESH[/h3]
- Multi-threading issues fixed in HEAT and hesh that stopped them releasing fragments on the first non-structural block they killed
[h3]Misc[/h3]
- Multiple typos of the word manoeuvre fixed.
[h3]Missiles[/h3]
- [BUGS-2173] Issues with sea skimming default guidance and APN fixed.. APN and target prediction guidance no longer run when the ‘target’ is a default manoeuvre (such as sea skimming) (or when the target has a dummy velocity value of 0 (e.g beam rider aim points)).
- [BUGS-2209] Designator receiver logic fix for lasers that control ‘Missiles on this team’. Should all work as expected now.
- [BUGS-3112] GPP use of remote guidance is no longer double counted when several LWCs are controlling a missile controller.
- [BUGS-3131] Missiles will no longer change their rotation when in contact with colliders and are no longer super bouncy. This stops them from clipping through their launching vehicle.
[h3]Multiplayer[/h3]
- [BUGS-2956] fixed a number of multiplayer issues with pistons
- [BUGS-3110] issue with undo of block removal fixed for multiplayer clients
[h3]Muzzle Brake[/h3]
- The description mentioned a reduction in speed. This is incorrect and has been removed.
[h3]Particles[/h3]
- All particle systems will now use the ‘Particles factor’ and ‘Auto-regulation’ performance options
[h3]PID[/h3]
- [BUGS-2938] Fake set point for altitude in AI hover controller now goes from -1000 to +3000 (as per GP PID)
[h3]Repairing[/h3]
- [BUGS-2912] Fixed an issue with large turrets not repairing on specific vehicles
[h3]Sails[/h3]
- [BUGS-2942] Wind speed was not properly taken into account for the useful component of force on a sail (sailboats faster now). The weather vane now shows wind speed as well.
[h3]Shields[/h3]
- [BUGS-3111] Shield reflections causing explosions of inertially fused shells to happen at local coord [0,0,0] fixed
[h3]Steam[/h3]
- [BUGS-2815] Idle steam turbine tooltips show correct kinetic energy values
- [BUGS-2943] Steam jet particles now come from the correct place when placed on a sub construct
- Smoke leaking from 4m pipes will now exit at the correct location
[h3]Turrets[/h3]
- [BUGS-3101] turrets and spinners now check overlaps at integer degree steps (1°,2°,etc) to avoid some turrets managing to rotate when they shouldn’t, and becoming very unpredictable.
[h3]UI[/h3]
- [BUGS-3087] drive slider in propeller (and other) UIs no longer disappears after visiting stats tab
[h3]Video[/h3]
- [BUGS-2880] Youtube videos are working again
[h3]Weapons[/h3]
- [BUGS-3116] Fixed a recursion issue in synched weapons when they are synched with each other and dead
[h2]Removed[/h2]
[h3]AI[/h3]
- Tank broadside behaviour no longer selectable. It’s the same as naval broadside behaviour (now called Broadside 2.0) so use that instead.