UBOAT News

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

Dear skippers,

After a few weeks of intensive work on version B128, we feel that it's now shaped up and is ready for a stable release. With the help of the community we managed to squash hundreds of bugs and improve on all the newly added features.

Full changelog of version B128:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/494840/discussions/0/2935742047979357314

Notice: This version is not compatible in terms of saved game states with the older releases. If your intention is to continue an ongoing campaign, please enter the game properties on Steam, click the BETA tab and switch to version B127.


Let's remind the two main features of this release:

[h2]Map[/h2]
This is probably the most exciting change in this version. The new map contains dynamic country borders that reflect most historical events of World War II. There are also major battles marked in on the map. We hope that you will enjoy this change as much as we do!



[h2]Tutorial[/h2]
In this version we added 7 tutorial missions into the game. They explain most topics needed to successfully proceed with your career through the game. These missions can be started at any time from any port in the game.

Aside from that, each in-game interface now has a dedicated help system that can be toggled by pressing the question mark icon in the upper right part of the screen.




Aside from the initially announced features, we added much more smaller improvements during the unstable version testing. The most important changes are:

[h2]Sandbox[/h2]
- Unescorted trade ships are becoming less common over the course of war and by the end of the war most of them travel in convoys.
- Convoy escort composition is now more varied and some more historically accurate. More countries will participate in the escort duties.
- Escort carriers, battleships and cruisers are now always hidden inside the formation and don't act as an anti-submarine escort.



[h2]Crew management[/h2]
- New action: Emergency ballast tank blowing, that helps to surface the ship at any cost.
- New action: Ballast adjustment, to compensate negative buoyancy from the leaks, by blowing some ballast from the tanks.
- New action: Preheat and load torpedo task was added to the crew schedules UI.
- Officers now become tired when their energy reaches zero and they start to rest. They won't take orders until they recover at least 40% of the energy or there is any emergency on board (alarm, leaks, wounded crew or panicking characters).
- Added many new backstories for the recruits written by the community.
- Crew now makes noise detectable to the enemy. Switch light to red or blue to let them know to be quiet.
- Torpedo loading and preheating now also makes noise.



[h2]AI & naval simulation[/h2]
- Added Huff-Duff devices on the enemy surface vessels. They are installed starting with 1941 and allow enemies to locate radio transmissions at a range of up to 24 km. Early Huff-Duffs don't allow to pinpoint position, but instead only tell that the radio transmission is originating dangerously close. If enemies detect your radio transmission with an early Huff-Duff, they won't know your position, but only know that you are nearby. Better Huff-Duffs will direct enemies directly at your ship.
- NPC ships are now much better at avoiding the coast and port structures.
- Enemy escorts are much better at deducing possible u-boat position after a torpedo hit, especially at high AI difficulties.



[h2]Economy overhaul[/h2]
- Basic T1 torpedoes, bread and potatoes are now free to ensure that the u-boat will always be able to continue the duty. Only one free type of food is allowed in the warehouse at a time, to disallow gaining discipline bonuses for free.
- Decreased prices of other types of torpedoes to match the new approach. All rewards for assignments and sinking ships were considerably decreased.



-------

We will now focus on the next major update - B129. Feel free to post your requests and suggestions to participate in the further development.

Please take a look at the initial announcement to read more about all the major features introduced this release:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/494840/announcements/detail/2877195252819396742

Yours,
Deep Water Studio