UBOAT News

Dear skippers,

We are back with news about the upcoming update B129 and the future of UBOAT Early Access.

[h2]Next update[/h2]
Update B129 is shaping up to be the most important update to the game thus far. It will introduce the remaining features from the initial roadmap as well as will move forward beyond it.

We will publish small teasers every two weeks to keep you updated and give you a general idea what to expect from that update. Stay tuned!



[h2]Early Access[/h2]
After consultation with the publisher, we decided to extend the Early Access for a few months more to polish the game as well as we can for the upcoming final release. Keeping the game in Early Access allows us to move at a higher pace than will be possible later on. We hope that you will agree with us on this decision and that a few months more won't hurt.

This means that after B129 you can still expect at least one more major update to UBOAT before we leave Early Access for good.

[h2]Team changes[/h2]
We are pleased to declare that Ruby joins our team as the community manager. Ruby now has the inside look into the latest news and work, so you can count on getting the latest information through him from now on. We hope that with his help our team will be doing a better job at communicating the progress.

Aside from that, another member is joining our ranks soon as a scene designer. He will help us build new port scenes, as well as prepare content for the new game mechanics that will be shipped in B129. This way our team will grow to five people.

You will hear more from us in the future. We also sincerely hope that you are well in these hard times.

Warm regards,
DWS

Dear skippers,

A fourth hotfix to version B128 is now complete. It again fixes some of the most often reported issues.

Warm thank you as always for the sent bug reports and for posting your feedback.

This update is fully compatible in regards of saved game states with the previous version.



[h2]User interface:[/h2]
- Fix: Radio notification was remaining on the screen, if transmission stopped.
- Fix: After adding sailor to one of the teams in the management menu, some buttons there were previously on the bottom would appear on top of the UI.
- Fix: Decreased work performance notification was often stacking without need and was appearing when leaving to the menu.

[h2]Sandbox:[/h2]
- Further improvements that should prevent NPC groups from spawning too close. This could still occassionally happen, if enemy group was encountered when player was near NPC u-boats.
- Fix: Radio transmissions coming directly from the headquarters were never disappearing, while it was intended for them to last usually around 10 minutes. This was causing some issues, because side-mission message could be received days after it was intended to happen and the target could be already hundreds of kilometers away.
- Fix: Radio transmission could be transmitted for many hours, rather than as intended for around 10 minutes, if a high time compression was used.

[h2]Crew management:[/h2]
- Fix: After compensating the ballast in the compartments by blowing some ballast, another officer was automatically flooding the tanks back again.

[h2]General:[/h2]
- Background stories for recruits are now randomized in such a way to avoid repetitions.
- Sonar ping is audible more often.
- Time compression is now always disabled whenever something on the u-boat becomes damaged or any dialogue is started.

Yours,
DWS

Dear skippers,

A third hotfix for B128 is now ready. It fixes some of the most often reported issues thus far.

Warm thank you for the sent bug reports and for posting your feedback.

This update is fully compatible in regards of saved game states with the previous version.



[h2]Technical changes:[/h2]
- Unity engine update from 2019.4.13f1 to 2019.4.15f1.

[h2]Sandbox:[/h2]
- NPC groups were often spawning too close, if player haven't detected them in any way before the meeting.
- Improvements to side-mission frequency and their targets. For example, when player returns from a patrol there is no longer a requirement for side-missions to be contained in the patrol target area.
- Fix: Side-missions couldn't be started in certain patrol squares due to a bug.

[h2]User interface:[/h2]
- Regression fix: Radio transmission notifications weren't appearing.

[h2]AI:[/h2]
- Improvements to NPC u-boat capture course computation.
- Fix: NPC u-boats were still attacking crates from sunk ships that were floating on the water.
- Fix: NPC u-boats could stop their engines for a very long time after the fight was over.

[h2]General:[/h2]
- Regression fix: Intended music was often not playing during medal award ceremony.

Yours,
DWS

Dear skippers,

We just uploaded a second hotfix for B128. Like the last time, it fixes some of the most often reported issues.

It's fully compatible in regards of saved game states with the previous version.


[h2]Tutorial:[/h2]
- Fix: Tutorials now automatically fix various problems that are not the part of the scenario: officers becoming tired and fuel, energy or compressed air running out.
- Fix: Fourth tutorial at certain stages now forbids diving to stick to the scenario.
- Fix: It's no longer possible to get lost on the sea, while returning from the second or third tutorial mission back to the port.

[h2]Animation:[/h2]
- Fix: Admiral was moving very slowly forward over a very long periods of time.
- Fix: Evacuated NPC crew on a pontoon could swap between sitting and standing position indefinitely.

[h2]General:[/h2]
- Fix: Exclamation mark that appears above characters when they have something to say, was disappearing in the scene after reloading a game state. It was visible only above the portrait after that.

Yours,
DWS

Dear skippers,

A first hotfix for B128 is ready. It addresses some of the most common issues that were reported so far.

It's fully compatible in regards of saved game states with the previous version.


[h2]AI:[/h2]
- Fix: NPC u-boats could sometimes attack crates from sunk ships floating on the water.

[h2]Map:[/h2]
- Fix: Ulleungdo island had a wrong allegiance color assigned on the map.

[h2]Tutorial:[/h2]
- Fix: During the fourth tutorial mission, if player switched light to blue before tutorial asked him to do that, it was necessary to disable blue light and enable it back again to continue. It was hard due to time slowdown.
- Fix: During the third tutorial mission, if player submerged before reaching the second freighter, further tutorial orders couldn't be completed.

[h2]General:[/h2]
- Fix: Undocking script could fail in specific circumstances and u-boat would start to move in a single direction indefinitely until the game was reloaded.

Yours,
DWS