Greetings, Captain!
On Friday, we released the Campaign Preview to the Experimental Branch after months of hard work, and today it has been updated based on your feedback as well as the changes we had planned that didn't make it to the initial launch of the preview. Many of you have already tried it out; in fact, our statistics show that a surprising 80% of all active players went on the Experimental Branch! For benefit of the uninitiated however, we'd like to once again remind you that you can access the Experimental Branch from Boat Crew's Settings panel, under the Betas section as depicted below:
Current Situation:
Our update today has brought some bug fixes, and multiple combat groups into the game, including supply submarines as historically used by the IJN as well as particularly big convoys that are meant to help remind you that sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor. We fixed the bug that prevented defenses from spawning in some bases, and tweaked the strength values of bases. Perhaps most importantly, we've implemented a system to reliably start an Allied Assault following a successful Base Raid on your part; so now you don't have to wait as long to be rewarded for your labor!
We believe that the Campaign Preview is, in many ways, a good representative of what Boat Crew is building up to be, and we hope you will agree with that assessment as you try it out and see for yourself. However, as proud as we are of its current state, we believe it's once again time to tighten the helmet straps and start talking about what will be in the future for the Campaign, as well as Boat Crew in general.
The first and most obvious limitation of the Campaign Preview is that only one type of boat, the 80' Elco PT boat, is available. We didn't want to provide all of the options right away so as to avoid making updated playthroughs of the Campaign repetitive, and to keep the other two boats exclusive to Challenges and Fleet Endurance a little longer. More importantly, the preview lacks the elaborate onboarding system that we intend for the Campaign to eventually have.
What we mean by that is that currently, when you enter the Campaign, you're given a random crew, a specific boat and are sent off on your way straight into the action. After considering your feedback as well, we recognize to be a pacing issue in that a slower start would be desirable, one where you pick your boat and recruit her crew by hand at the beginning, and are given a more elaborate tour of the options available to you.
Since we do not have our intended progression system in place but a placeholder that simply pays you money based on your scouting, eliminations and supply raids, and since the squadron system is missing, we felt it would have been premature to tune the pacing. It simply was not a priority next to making the Campaign a playable experience, and now that that is out of the way, you can expect pacing to be tuned a lot more carefully as we build on the foundation we have set in the first half of Early Access.
Assaults by either side are also not telegraphed enough, and the AI to muster a defense against them is incomplete, so these are two issues regarding Assaults that we intend to improve upon.
The squadron system and the call-in system are both quite critical to the intended vision of the campaign, and they will determine the ultimate balance of the front. Right now, you only have a single boat at your command and a limited set of support abilities, which can make progression a little bit too back-and-forth at times, as you find yourself trying to put out fires while a new one springs up on the other side of the map. This, of course, is in part intended, in that the Campaign is not meant to be about winning as soon as possible but in getting you acquainted with managing a dynamic Campaign. Nevertheless, as you accumulate experience and as more tools become available, there will be more and more ways to keep the Campaign fresh through tuneable parameters and the addition of new unit types.
Finally, the current iteration of the Campaign lacks surface patrols. While being a little too active with the radio will readily attract attention, our Threat system is essentially a draft and there are no light patrols to both make the map livelier as patrols from both sides clash, and to give you opportunities for some sweet boat-on-boat action without interference from those pesky Fubukis. Making the map livelier in that regard is certainly on our itinerary.
Closing Notes:
In short, there is a lot to iterate on regarding several aspects of the gameplay, as well as the customization system, but we hope you'll agree with us when we say that there is a solid foundation for us to build upon. Given this is a launch diary, we've had to summarize greatly and speak in somewhat broad terms as there was much ground to cover, but in future diaries, we will resume more specific discussions. We also hope to release the Campaign Preview in a stable build soon.
Now get out there and do us proud, Captain!
T.T.