Foxhole News

Named for the unpainted look of an early prototype, the Blacksteele-Class Frigate is a highly manoeuvrable, albeit small-statured vessel. Deployment of “Trident” Submarines by the Republic Coastal Legion saw the Caoivish Naval Command respond in kind with the Blacksteele.



Designed as a sub-hunter escort, the Blacksteele excels at thwarting submersible assaults against larger, ungainly ships. The head shipwright on the project was none other than Conor O’Brien’s top protégé, Rory Boyd, who, in his later years became known as a master shipwright, and largely recognised as the man behind the Caoivish Naval Command’s world-class reputation.



Primary armaments include two 120mm turrets and 68mm turrets. Secondary armaments include a Quad Depth Charge Launcher and two Heavy Machine Guns. The Blacksteele supports a large crew complement.





The AC-b or “Trident”-class submersible brings much-needed versatility to the Republic Coastal Legion. Featuring a quick-loading ammo bay, the “Trident” is capable of quickly re-arming and returning to the hunt.



Combat Magister Curia commissioned the skilled engineers out of Dimiourg to develop a submersible to help counter the rapidly progressing naval technology deployed by the Wardens and Nevish Alliance. Much of the senate criticised Curia for this decision, as they believe it more prudent to invest resources into airborne warfare innovations. After witnessing the return and redeployment of several successful trial AC-b operations, it wasn’t hard to convince the Senate.



Primary armaments include two Torpedo Tubes and a 120mm Deck Turret that can be used against surface targets. The AC-b “Trident” features a unique Ammo Bay Hatch that allows for rearming without returning to Dry Dock. This vessel supports a medium crew complement.





[h2]OCEAN TRAVEL[/h2]
The naval game has been expanded with many key updates. First, is the addition of Ocean Border Travel, which allows ships to travel from an East or West Ocean border to the other side of the world. This allows for many more opportunities for naval engagements in all wars, especially those with East-West oriented starting conditions.



[h2]TORPEDO REVAMP[/h2]
Torpedo gameplay has been completely revamped to give Submarines a more unique hit-and-run role out at seas. Direct Torpedo hits to enemy vessels now causes the target to roll from the force of the impact, kills crew near to the impact, and creates a Large Leak, which requires a Dry Dock for repair.



[h2]DRY DOCK UPGRADES[/h2]
The Dry Dock has also been upgraded both visually and gameplay wise. The model has been updated to include more details, new animations for ship building has been added, and water now visually drains and fills up when a ship is being constructed or repaired. In addition to cosmetic improvements, Material Pallet and Shipping Container contents can now be directly transferred from the Dry Dock Loading Area to a specific stockpile on a docked vessel.





[h2]PRODUCTION PARALLELIZATION[/h2]
Facilities have been overhauled to make the more approachable to new players and to encourage collaboration in the spirit of Foxhole. Production Facilities can now produce items in parallel, allowing them to be shared with public players who can queue up their own private orders.



[h2]POWER SCALING[/h2]
Power mechanics have been improved to make Facilities easier to manage. Power Plants and Power Stations consume fewer resources when less Power is being consumed on the grid than is being generated. Production Facilities no longer turn off when insufficient Power is being supplied. Finally, in low Power situations, production speed is scaled down proportional to demand.





This update contains dozens of other improvements, including more voice chat settings, colour customization on more Container structures, interface improvements, and much more.




There many other features and bug fixes in this update. Read the full release notes for the details.


For a more comprehensive walkthrough of all the new features in Update 53, check out community veteran I Saw A Bear's video below.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Don't forget to follow the Foxhole Youtube Channel and Twitter Feed for the latest news on upcoming updates.

EDIT: If you missed the Devstream live, catch up on the full developer preview for Update 56 on Youtube below.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Watch the live preview of Update 56 on our Devstream on Tuesday, March 19th at 1PM ET. Tune in live on our Twitch Channel to get the details on what's coming to Foxhole next.

Note: Most of the content of this post is taken from our recent Devblog.

As 2023 winds down, we wanted to give everyone a final update on development for the year, including information on the next minor update as well as an early look at what's to come beyond that.

The team has worked tremendously hard this year shipping four updates including Naval Warfare and needs some down time to be with their family and friends over the holidays. While our live and moderation teams will still be supporting the game throughout this time, most the dev team will be taking some well deserved time off for rest and recuperation. If we are quiet, rest assured that we'll be heads down looking at feedback and working hard on the next update when the new year rolls around.

We hope everyone has a safe and happy holidays. See you all in 2024!


As mentioned previously, the plan was to do one more minor update before the end of the year.

After Update 55, we will continue to expand on the Naval game that was introduced back in October. In the new year, Update 56 will arrive and will add new naval vehicles for each faction. A Frigate class ship will be added to the Warden navy and a Submarine class vessel will be added to the Colonial fleet. We’re excited to provide each faction with the gameplay that is currently only accessible to one side or the other.

Throughout next year, the plan is to go back and refine various parts of the game, iterating on existing features rather than building entirely new systems. We know that QoL is a top priority for the community so that’s something we’re also going to be working on.



In terms of the bigger picture, up until now we’ve been working off of an internal roadmap that included Trains, Facilities, Towing, and a Naval revamp. It was extremely challenging pulling off major updates year after year but we really wanted to get Naval Warfare in to complete the roadmap as it’s always been to us a foundational part of the persistent war, not to mention one of the most highly requested features from the community. With that final piece of the puzzle in place and the internal roadmap complete, the team will be taking a break from major updates to focus on refreshing, but not reinventing existing systems for awhile.



Make no mistake though, we are developing a brand new roadmap for the next phase of development but it will take some time. Major updates will be part of that next phase and we're in the early stages of planning some big exciting things but don’t expect that to arrive any time soon. The Foxhole development team will continue to grow and updates will continue to be delivered for many years to come.



There is some important context to keep in mind for the changes going into Update 55. First of all, this will probably be one of our smallest updates of the year. Between supporting Update 54 and the work that will come in Update 56 in the new year, the scope of Update 55 had to be small.

The main focus has been on addressing an internal backlog of fixes and tweaks that have accumulated over the last while as we focused on the naval update. It's important to understand that the changes that end up in updates like this aren't always based on what is deemed the highest priority feedback to action but rather on current team resources available and other circumstantial factors.

Update 55 will have game balance changes, a lot of bug fixes, and a handful of small improvements such as those shown below. For a complete list of the changes in this update, read the full release notes.

We understand that there are many other changes the community is requesting based on the current war. We also know there have been requests for more QoL features. We are looking into addressing more of these issues in the updates coming in the new year.



Don't forget to follow the Foxhole Youtube Channel and Twitter Feed for the latest news on upcoming updates.

Foxhole is a sandbox-style war MMO and, while it officially released last year, it's been available in early access since 2017. Its schtick is one persistent and gigantic war game where thousands of players simultaneously battle for one of two factions, both seeking domination over a gigantic map, but with the twist that, as in a real conflict, the logistics, resource and supply side of the armies is just as important, if not more so, than the soldiers firing guns and piloting vehicles...
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