Ahoy folks!
The past few months have been very busy. We've implemented new systems, replaced a large amount of placeholder items, finished up some UI screens, fixed a tonne of bugs & implemented some of the amazing new audio.
This patch brings a brand new way to define and control formations within Rise of Piracy. This change brings a brand new layers of control to your fleet. You can split out your formations at any time during a battle and change the focus of the groups to adapt to the ever changing battlefield.
We've cleaned a lot of the UI also to a place that we're happy with for Early Access. We've made solid progress on all of the Main Menu screens and improved the UI across the Tutorials and battle maps.
We've redone some of the audio management within the game and allowed for much smoother transitions between all of the tracks we have now. We've added new sinking ship, boarding audio and other ambient noise as well as replacing some placeholder sounds across the board.
The Custom Battle, Scenarios and Tutorials have all undergone a lot of improvement. You can now jump into a battle of your own creation by using the Custom Battle screen from the main menu. You'll be able to define a theater of battle from the available maps in the game, as well as up to 3 enemy fleets, defensive, offensive, or friendly.
There has also been plenty of performance fixes, as well as a great many bugs fixed this patch thanks to the heavy testing effort. Some fairly major issues have been identified and sorted out over the past few months that have been there for a while.
Main Items
A full list of the issues are available on the discord, but here are a few of the main issues listed off.
Redone the Audio management across the board.
Added new formation states for all ships.
Removed all placeholders and cleaned up all Main Menu items.
Redone the Order lines and feedback items for all orders and ship movement.
Improved Line of sight checks and performance.
Improved object avoidance and course correction for ships.
Added line helpers for aiming cannon shots during sailing.
Improved NPC movement and formation control.
Improved flag creation process and UI.
Improved controls around Land Cannons.
Implemented Custom Battles and cleaned up sandbox options.
Improved debugging tools.
Large amount of bug fixes especially around line of sight, ship movement, targeting.
Updated tutorials and added some new steps.
Game Mechanics Rundown
Lets briefly talk about the Invasion mechanics with regards to the Campaigns in Rise of Piracy.
At some point during your campaign, you're going to want to begin taking territories. There are colonial factions roaming the map with a collection of islands that they start with. These will change hands during wars and raids. You can choose to invade any of these lands, but the cost to relations between you and the faction that controls the settlement, and their allies will be great.
For those that prefer to stay a bit more conspicuous, there are options available also. Tribal islands are dotted around each biome of the campaign and are available to conquer even at an early stage in the game. Although their warriors are fierce, a sizable force can take these islands relatively early in the game. These islands generally will not have any defensive fleets so you can bombard the island first to soften up any defenses.
The islands vary in size, range and defensive strength. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses. These range from smaller tribal islands with relatively weak coastal defense, to vast capitals where you'll find it difficult to even secure a landing area.
Upcoming
Over the next few months the priority remains polish & iterate on test and actioning feedback. I'll be improving the new formation features, as well as cleaning up the new QOL additions we've put in place.
The game definitely feels easier to pick up and play now - and the controls feel smoother. That was a main goal for a while so I'm happy with progress.
We also have a lot of new audio pieces to add in and clean up, as well as some artwork placeholders to replace.
Thank you
Special thanks to all the testers this patch - its been great to see you enjoying the game and giving such great insight from fresh perspectives. Also to everyone discussing the game & providing feedback outside of that. Appreciate it.
Thanks and see you next time,
- John