Hello Captain,
Today's diary is about the major additions coming in the next experimental update tomorrow and it's all about landing craft and artillery!
Let's get right down to it.
Our first addition is the Nisshin-Class Seaplane Tender, a large, cumbersome support ship meant to, well, tend seaplanes, and was also used as a landing craft by Japan.
Tough, heavily armed and heavily armored, the Nisshin will be a not-so-rare sight in late game and high end assault forces, providing the backbone of the invading force. Each of these ships is a valuable part of the enemy war effort, and so the challenge of sinking one will be adequately met with a generous amount of RPs and VP income.
We should add that this ship was a suggestion from a community member on Discord. Thanks again for bringing this unit to our attention, we hope you'll enjoy fighting her!
Opposite the Nisshin is the McCawley-Class Attack Transport, acting as the US counterpart to the Nisshin. She's not quite as heavily armed or armored, nor does she have a complement of seaplanes. However, she should still be a welcome addition to your corner, providing fire support and remarkable amounts of AAA fire. Similar to the Nisshin, she will be found taking charge of high end invasion forces.
A not so fun fact about the McCawley is that she was mistaken for an enemy ship and sunk by US PT Boats during the Guadalcanal campaign. We sincerely hope you won't be repeating the same mistake, Captain!
To secure a beachhead, landing craft are indispensable, but almost equally important is the fire support to soften defenses on the said beach. Last week, we talked about the newly introduced Beach Barrage Rockets. Joining them as additional artillery variants, are the Smoke Shells and Superheavy Shells.
Smoke Shells are shells that, instead of dealing damage through large explosions, blanket an area in smoke instead, obscuring view. They will be our very first non-lethal support power, allowing you to generate smokescreens on demand, hopefully earning their slot among your call-in options through this versatility. As with all artillery variants, they will have a chance to appear randomly during re-rolls.
Superheavy Shells are Heavy Shells taken one step further, modelling gunfire support straight from battleship sized guns. They will not be available normally, instead given out as rewards through the Threat system, similarly to the army planes.
There are many things in gave development that needs to be decided in advance, but the addition of this weapon is not one of those things. It is no secret that we will eventually be adding a playable PC-461-Class Subchaser, and that she was meant to have access to the 3"/50 Dual Purpose Gun that is available on the AI controlled PC-461s. Upon realizing that the whole gun and mount assembly weighs less than the Dual Bofors, we felt a strong compulsion to just let the PT Boats have it.
As such, we are adding the 3"/50 Dual Purpose Gun as an available primary weapon on the PT Boats! Firing a powerful shell that is the exception to the rule of all weapons having the same total damage per ammo crate, this is the first auto-firing primary weapon that you can expect to give you a fair chance against larger ships in gun duels. Not only that, but it also has access to proximity fused shells; that will automatically be fired at aircraft instead of the usual armor-piercing ammunition meant for surface targets.
Big gun enthusiasts may also find joy in that this weapon is actually replacing another big gun in this week's update, and there will be another big gun added in one of next week's experimental updates, which you'll hear more about in next week's diary.
For now, the 3"/50 will be coming in at a bargain price of 10000 RP. This is probably a low cost for the performance of the gun, but we wanted everyone to be able to try the new weapon without having to sink too many transports for it. Still, don't be surprised if the price increases before stable release.
Another thing that we meant for a future update that got fast tracked is the option to replace your Utility Weapon with a second Primary weapon, with the 80' Elco having enough room to not even require replacing for the smaller primaries! Balanced mainly by your limited crew size, at least for now, you'll be able to engage destroyers in broadside duels!
Everything mentioned here should be in the Experimental Branch (as v1.6.0.2) before the end of the week, and that's all for this week's diary.
Good luck out there,
Captain,
T.T.