Hello everyone,
Many of you might remember me from my mods. Recently we decided to try some beta improvements, which I personally suggested and, hence, we named them with my old trademark.
Since the game is already in very fine shape, with extreme level of detail in historical and realism aspects, my proposed improvements are not so many, yet they should significantly improve the gameplay.
We just deployed a beta branch of the game which includes the following:
Naval Battles
- Ship movement speed slightly increased. Ships should now behave more realistically and not feel overly slow as before.
- Ship turning rate reduced to more realistic levels.
- Ship visual gun ranges increased to match the historical gun ranges. Now ship tactics become deeper, as line tactics evolve from long to deadly close range fire-fights.
- Naval AI improved to support the enlarged combat ranges and desire to keep line formations, more often.
- Fine tuned damage in all aspects. In every volley, there should be noticeable impact in damage to crew/structure/sails but the ships will be able to sustain a lot of this damage and keep fighting, if handled correctly. Ships will more often, realistically sink or surrender, after a decisive action or prolonged fight, than be completely destroyed by an explosion or complete structure destruction.
Land Battles
- Several repairs to AI. The AI should be, overall, more effective in creating firing lines and respond to player threats.
- Improved player AI so that it responds more actively to threats without too much micromanaging.
- Gun ranges increased. Previously gun ranges were too short, limiting the firefight actions or creating targeting issues to AI and player units.
- Increased accuracy bonus due to altitude difference, enhancing the tactical impact of the high ground.
- Improved retreat mechanics. Units of player and AI should more effectively retreat at safe directions close to allies.
- Fixed issue of AI supply wagons moving too close to player units.
- WIP: The historical “Battle of Bunker Hill” is improved to include more units from both sides, offering a more immersive combat experience. Furthermore, the initial deployments are closer to historical facts.
All those changes are not definite and might change according to player feedback. We hope you will like them.
On behalf of Game-Labs,
Nick Thomadis
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How to access this special game branch:
Access was closed due to many bug reports that are fixed in the main version and broken battles in campaigns. We merged some changes from Darthmod into the main version basing on your feedback and reports.
We will release DarthMod version later when all issues are fixed.
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Additional fixes & improvements offered by the “Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail” team:
1. Adaptation of UI for 4K
2. Fixed ship models
3. Added notification when player tries to start a battle with unassigned ships
4. Fixed issue with ship's armor thickness
5. Improved aiming for AI ships
6. Shallow water notification improvement
7. Ship fire arcs became optional (you can disable with button)
8. New ship firing effects with heavier smoke