Fellow swashbucklers,
Another big update is now live, featuring major improvements for melee and ranged combat! We’ve added several new weapons including the much-requested Musket, and we’ve made swords and guns more varied and satisfying to use. Read on for the full details!
Buccaneers! Version 1.0.09
New Features
- Added a parrying mechanic to melee combat which allows you to temporarily stun enemies, increasing melee damage against them. To trigger a parry, perform the following action after an enemy starts swinging their weapon, but before their attack hits you:
- > Non-VR mode: Press the “Block” button (holding the button before the attack starts results in a regular block).
- > VR mode: Move your weapon forwards to intercept the enemy’s blade (holding it steady results in a regular block).
- All melee weapons now have a “Parry” stat which indicates how easy it is to trigger a parry with it. A higher value allows you to trigger a parry earlier in the enemy’s attack animation.
- The weapon loadout chest has been added to all cabins, allowing you to change your equipped weapons without visiting a blacksmith.
Changes
- Blocking melee attacks now absorbs a percentage of the damage instead of negating it completely (but parrying blocks all damage). All melee weapons now have a “Block” stat which indicates the percentage of damage they absorb.
- You now need to hold down the Block button to block with a sword instead of pressing it, so you can block for as long as you want.
- Pistols and heavy weapons no longer auto-reload after firing; you can now trigger this manually by pressing the Fire button again.
- Added new weapons:
- > Musket (Common) - Long range, single-shot heavy weapon with a bayonet melee attack.
- > Cutlass (Common) - Sword with 4-foot reach, medium damage, slow swing speed, high block and medium parry.
- > Falchion (Rare) - Sword with 4-foot reach, high damage, very slow swing speed, medium block and low parry.
- > Double-Barrelled Pistol (Rare) - Ranged weapon with two barrels that functions like the Pepper-box, but with higher range, damage and accuracy.
- > Sabre (Exotic) - Sword with 4-foot reach, medium damage and swing speed, very high block and low parry.
- > Nock Gun (Exotic) - Seven-barrelled heavy weapon that fires all barrels at once, dealing very high damage at medium range, but has a long reload time.
- Rebalanced some existing weapons:
- > Rapier - Reduced damage, increased swing speed and increased reach to 5 feet (this was previously reported incorrectly as 4 feet, but was closer to 5). It also has low block and high parry stats, and is now Rare with a higher purchase cost.
- > Dagger - Increased swing speed and allowed blocking as the secondary action. It has very low block and high parry stats.
- > Flintlock Pistol - Increased damage so fewer shots are required to kill tougher enemies.
- > Pepper-box - Increased reload time to 5.5 seconds (was 4 seconds).
- > Blunderbuss - Increased purchase cost to 1,750 DB (was 1,000 DB).
- Changed the starting loadout in the prologue quest to give you a Rapier, Double-Barrelled Pistol and Musket.
- While playing the prologue quest, you can no longer purchase small or medium weapons above Rare or large weapons above Common quality.
- The sword you pick up during the prison escape is now a Cutlass instead of a Rapier.
- Added archery-style targets to the blacksmiths which show bullet holes on impact.
- Added new weapon textures and updated some existing ones, giving the Blunderbuss and Rapier different textures to make them more visually unique.
- Removed the “lunge” swing from melee attacks and made it easier to chain swings together for more fluid animations.
- Player ranged attacks now play hit sounds on impact, including a separate sound for headshots.
- Added new firing/melee sound effects for some weapons to make them more distinctive.
- Pistol and heavy weapon ranges have been rounded up/down to more sensible numbers where applicable (e.g. Flintlock Pistol’s range is now 50 feet instead of 49).
- Weapons in the loadout chest are now sorted by size and rarity.
- NPC health bars now reposition to match the camera height in close quarters for better visibility.
- Increased starting funds (after the prologue quest) to 2,000 DB.
- Added reward funds for some quest objectives in “Trial by Fire” and “The Hunt”.
- Merged the “Show ship” controller hotkey with “Set sail/stop” on the world map, as the two actions are never active at the same time. Both now use the “X” button.
- Added a controller hotkey for the “Set Destination” and “Dock” functions on the world map (both use the “Y” button).
- If a ship gets reduced to zero crew, it can now be boarded without being dismasted.
- Weapon pick-up sound effects no longer play when browsing the loadout chest.
- Improved ambient sound effects at sea, in the cabin and in blacksmiths.
- [VR] Adjusted the minimum time between melee attacks on all weapons to more closely match non-VR damage-per-second.
- [VR] Removed the “half damage” swing threshold for melee attacks, so you can now do full damage with slower swings.
- [VR] Weapons now have bespoke holster models, and holsters are now visible on your chest when you have the required ability.
- [VR] The post-battle UI now appears in front of objects and quest notifications to avoid being obscured.
- [VR] Subtitles now appear in front of objects for better readability.
- [Debugging] If the game experiences an error but doesn’t crash, it will now save a separate log file when you quit the game. This will help us debug some issues even if you don’t have a save file to send us.
Fixes
- Fixed a quest generation bug that sometimes prevented Act 2 (The Hunt) from starting.
- > IMPORTANT: If you experienced this bug, follow the instructions in the workaround below to restart Act 2 in an existing save.
- Fixed the world map UI becoming unresponsive when using a controller if the player keeps moving before the camera transition completes.
- Fixed the bribe amount slider not being selectable with a controller.
- Fixed the cannon reload indicators going down if the cannons are fully loaded while the ship takes crew losses.
- Fixed the player ship’s health bar not appearing at the start of a random encounter in sailing mode.
- Fixed the player remaining crouched when returning to the helm if they were crouched when boarding ended.
- Ships stolen from harbours should no longer auto-repair after battles.
- NPC melee attacks should no longer hit you if you move out of melee range before the animation completes.
- Fixed melee attacks sometimes not hitting the intended target when multiple targets are grouped together in close quarters.
- Fixed NPCs sometimes teleporting onto your ship when you join a boarding fight which is already in progress.
- Fixed the weapon pick-up sounds not playing when equipping weapons at the start of “A Way Out”.
- Fixed ship colliders not being positioned correctly during boarding; these should now prevent other ships from clipping through in mid-boarding.
- Fixed the target ship in a treasure fleet being duplicated for the ship battle.
- [VR] Fixed holsters not highlighting when trying to equip weapons at the start of “A Way Out”.
- [VR] Fixed heavy weapons sometimes not entering their holster when dropped into it.
- [VR] Fixed press-and-hold not working for boarding and disengage inputs with Vive wands.
- [VR] Fixed the remaining crew indicators appearing too low on Three-Deckers while boarding them.
Act 2 Bug Workaround
If you completed Act 1 (Trial by Fire) but do not have Act 2 (The Hunt) in your quest log, follow these steps to force it to start:
1. Load the Main Menu and make sure you are running version 1.0.09.
2. Load a save from after you completed Act 1.
3. Open your quest log and make sure it is empty. If you have any active quests such as bounties, either complete these or abandon them first.
4. While your quest log is open, press Ctrl+Shift+Z and “The Hunt” will be added to it. This will not work again after you successfully complete the quest.
DISCLAIMER: If you trigger this workaround in a save where you have completed the entire story, you may encounter some unexpected behaviour. You should only use this for saves where Act 2 failed to start.
Happy pirating! 🏴☠️
