Naval Action News

Patch is being deployed today 18th June



[h2]Conquest changes[/h2]

[h3]War server[/h3]

Several Test chests will be given to all players until Monday to test Conquest flag.
Conquest flag flow

• Use the flag
  
• Exit port and sail to the destination
  
• Place the flag near the enemy port (4000 m) - size of the circle is indicated on the picture
  
• Flag carrier will be sent to the instance
  
• Instance entry rules will be the same as port battle (allies only)
  
• Reinforcements will be positional
  • Attackers enter near the flag carrier
    
  • Defender will enter outside of the 800m radius from the flag carrier
• Conquest flag will be bind on receive (if you get the flag only you can use it)
  
• Flag wont work if player changes nation
  
• Testing stage will be different in this way.
  • Port battle wont be organized up after flag placement - feel free to place flags on ports without fear of setting up the port battle
    • this can cause abnormal number of messages for clan owners but its ok.
  • Amount of ports that you can stat hostility has been increased from 2 nearest to 10 nearest - for testing
• Flag placement quest was added temporarily to motivate placement of flags.

PVP Hunters are encouraged to sink conquest flag carriers and generally interfere with flag placement. We might give something mildly interesting to those who sink the most.

[h3]The test will run till next week. Next week port battles will be switched ON[/h3]

[h3]Port battles on Peace server[/h3]

Port battles return to Peace server

• Raiders start attacking ports again.
  
• Missions can now only be taken in the port battle time slot
  

[h2]Timber. [/h2]

New timber stats have been added

• In general the changes can be characterized as following. Every timber will have main strength point and secondary strength points. Every timber will have a strong weakness (some stronger or weaker)
  
  • Oaks - HP and Structure HP (hull), secondary - resistance.
    
  • Teaks - hardness and resistance, secondary - hp
    
  • Firs - speed and acceleration, secondary - splinter damage
    
  • Other - specialized woods, giving strong bonuses in one area.
    
• We tried to keep old popular (meta) woods around the same levels they were before.

Please provide feedback on the philosophy and provide feedback on changes or mistakes you spot.

Table:
link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mM1LEvwbt1tXOudiDUpTsT97wum_DvZDEs-S1YrkVBw

(for some reason this link does not show in new microsoft browsers)

[h2]Shipbuilding[/h2]

• Doubloons have been removed from crafting. "Real" cost to build has been added to crafting.
  
• Blueprints have been rebalanced mainly in the area of distribution of timber between frame and planking (trim).
  

[h2]Combat balancing[/h2]

• Overall acceleration was slowed by 20% across all vessels. Deceleration has been left untouched.
  
  • ps The current difference with acceleration (after patch) with old sea trials is 200% (current ships accelerate 200% faster), we dont want to drop it as fast but in general we believe current acceleration is too high which allows easy stern camping without planning. Slower acceleration will force planning and will make sterncamping a maneuver you must plan ahead. We still believe acceleration is too high.
• Caps have been increased for speed, reloads, thickness, and HP. But not by much.
  

[h2]Updates[/h2]

Hotfix deployed today 19th June

• Fixed the problem where you see the message "Please wait for some time and use event again"
  
• Added a message for the flag carrier in instance : Stay alive until battle is over
  
• Slight fixes for the attack circle size
  
• Added more doubloons for specialized fleets: home defense fleet, small fleet, elite ships and raiders
  
• Fixed bugs in blueprints of some vessels
  
• Added small doubloon carry for NPC ship ranks

Additional test chest will be given to everyone to give a chance to finish a quest.
[h3]IF YOU WANT A FLAG PLACEMENT REWARD!: TAKE A QUEST FIRST BEFORE PLACING THEM[/h3]

Captains!

The event will continue till Friday (From 5th June until 12th June).


Additional changes - 9th June

• Attack circle lowered from 1000m to 650m to increase importance of control perk and reduce value of the defensive tag
  
• Reduced the damage threshold from 3% of hull average to 2% of hull average
  
• Increased the time to threshold accumulation from 1 to 2 minutes
  
• Implemented the potential fix of intro missions that was causing the overload of the servers.

Port battle flag is still undergoing optimization and was supposed to be deployed this week but will be delayed one more week because we had to switch to the intro mission crashes. Peace will continue until next week.

In honor of the player and clan leader Seeferkel who passed away.

Deine Heimat ist das Meer
Deine Freunde sind die Sterne
Deine Liebe ist ein Schiff
Deine Sehnsucht ist die Ferne
Und nur ihnen bist du treu
Ein Leben lang

Seeferkel Last Log has been added to the game. Please login to claim it to keep it.

New patch is coming today.

Some parts of the patch will require gradual slow introduction into the game so they will be staggered.

• RVR
  • Peace is still on. The deployment of new RVR mechanics will be staggered in stages.
    
  • RVR Flag item is already in game but do not drop - until the patch is fully stabilized
    
  • Port battle transport item is already in game but do not drop or cannot be bought - until the patch is fully stabilized
    
  • Flags and Battle transports will be initially distributed using an event, or will be given to all players as timed redeem on one of the weekends for mass real time test.
    
  • Description of mechanics
    • https://steamcommunity.com/app/311310/discussions/15/2284960483088698453/
• New player experience
  • New player mission is added to the game. The mission will let the player experience the beauty of the game right when he joins instead of overwhelming port UI. Player will immediately get into battle, learn by doing like in original sea trials and will have to deliver a message after a battle to a capital of his nation.
• New player protection
  • Light protection fleets added to capitals. On War server they will attack every ship above 30BR and will ignore light traders (Including trader brig)
    
  • They do not drop wood chests yet (until we teach them to run away). Only home defense fleets with skull symbol drop wood chests.
• Imported content
  • 1 New Imported ship added to the game
    • Victory 1765. The ship will go on sale as soon as Valve Approves the page
      
    • ETA - Today 28 May or Tomorrow 29th May
  
  
• Cheaper Edition Update
  • We have thought a lot what would be a cheaper starter edition but unfortunately the center of the game is combat and it is impossible to cut out the content without reducing the overall quality of experience. Which in turn would not achieve what we want.
    
  • As a result here is the plan
    • Every current owner of the game will receive a special ship redeemable every 24 hours
      
    • Price for the game will be lowered (new package created by Valve)
      
    • New package will not contain this ship (after price drop it wont be available)
      
    • The ship will redeemable every 24 hours like all Imported ships but will have special conditions.This
    • ship will not be imported. It can be captured, sold, gifted, taken over.
      
    • The ship is HMS Trincomalee.
      
    • Current Trincomalee will of course also remain as crafteable in game.

Trincomalee has a very interesting story https://steamcommunity.com/app/311310/discussions/15/2284960483088708663/

• Port investments.
  • Clans and large groups of people can now develop ports above their initial fixed points
    
  • 25 points (initially) can be added to ports using investments.
    
  • Every investment level gives 1 extra point to port development.
    
  • Investment are expensive and will require group effort
• Woods.
  • Woods added to blueprints but are not dropping in ports yet, because wood stats are still getting rebalanced.
    
  • New woods can be only used in crafting (they are not available in notes or redeemables)
• PVP and PVE
  • Hunts, Search and Destroy now also check for Steam ID, in a similar way to PVP hunt.
    
  • Some guns can now be picked up from sank players.
• Exit timers: Important!
  • 1 hit timer had to go. It created 1 hour chases wasting player’s time. It also allowed holding players in battles forever. This generated lots of hate, confusion and time wasting, including neverending griefing tribunals.
    
  • Player now has to deliver % damage to a player to stop escaping.
    
  • Battle timer increased to 5 mins (but can be increased further during experimentation phrase)
    
  • Exit timer is up to 3 mins (from 2 mins)
• ROE
  • Battle entry points fixed. Thanks for users for pointing this out. Previous entry points favored the attacker (which allowed his reinforcements to spawn closer to him). Now points are equal.
    
  • The pull circle has increased (70%) to reduce the need to go back to enter battles.
  
  
• Flags for groups and conquest flag
  • Changed flags based on the 1799 Signal book of ship of war
    • Group flag changed to Order of Sailing flag
      
    • Battle group flag changed to Battle Sailing
      
    • 
    • RVR/Conquest flag has changed back to Dangerous Cargo/Enemy in sight Flag (red flag)
• Other changes
  • Admiralty now buys Loki runes at 10 doubloons per rune
    
  • Money Locker added to stores and allows quick conversion of reals to Money Locker and back. Money lockers will be used for Port investments
    
  • Imported (DLC) ships now have (I) indicator in the name to give clear indication which ships cannot be captured (lets see how it works)
    
  • OW speed of Home defence fleets reduced by 5% to allow passers by more escape chances
    
  • Slightly buffed modern version of HMS Victory
    
  • Increased repairs production in capitals by 50%
• Critical bugs
  • Fixed bugs which spawned an NPC ship in group missions even if the group member did not join
    
  • Fixed bug that generated loot when sinking your own ship
    
  • Potential fix of the problem which sent Home defence fleets far away from their zone of operation
    
  • Fixed bug that did not sink players outside battle zone in some conditions.

Dozens of other changes.

[h2]Today in the patch[/h2]

• Chinese have started to arrive to Shroud Cay - It's up to you to stop them
  
• Important! Peace Server - International Clan Alliances.
  • International clan alliances can be created - you can invite international clans to your clan friend list. They can help each other in hostilities, port battles, defensive port battles and can use the investments if the leading clan of the alliance have allowed other clans to use the investments.
• Important! Peace Server - Raiders start to raid poorest underdeveloped ports on the Peace server.
  • Raiders will attack poorest under developed ports in 2 random regions every day.
• FPS Boost
  • Significant optimization settings have been added that can give 20-30% to FPS.
    
    • Cannon ball visualizations.
      • You can reduce the visual number of cannonballs on the client and set the distances where they will stop being drawn
        
      • This does not affect number of cannonballs on the server.
    • Damage effect visualization
      • You can reduce the amount of visual effects from hits on the client and distances where they will stop being drawn
        
      • This does not affect damage and server calculations - they are still fully counted

Tutorial challenges and final exams have been made slightly easier (they are still hard)
Other visual improvements and changes.
Multiple bugs fixed