With the release of version 0.8, Pirate Patrol players now have access to a significantly expanded array of new features.
Here’s a quick rundown:
- Recruit New Pilots and Officers: You can now add fresh pilots and officers to your fleet.
- Acquire New Fighterships: Strengthen your fleet by purchasing a variety of new warships.
- Character Progression (Player & NPC): Level up both your own character and your NPC (officers and pilots) characters.
- Skill Selections: Choose from new skills (Applications) for both your player character and your NPCs.
- Officer Consoles and Tactical Applications: Gain more control and strategic depth through officer consoles.
- Main Ship Level Upgrades: Enhance your main ship's capabilities by upgrading its level.
- Signal Anomalies and Exploration on Tactical Map: Discover new opportunities by exploring signal anomalies on the tactical map.
- Heavy Damage and Personel Loss: Space conflicts are now much more realistic.
- Reputation System: Now, your choices affect your reputation.
- Mission Details:
- Animation Updates: Enjoy improved in-game animations.
- Save and Load Functionality: You can now save your game and load it whenever you wish.
- Battle Report: At the end of the battle, you will receive a comprehensive situation report.
- Galaxy map fuel mechanism: Your mothership is running out of fuel and you need to refuel.
- QOL improvements:
Here is the important details:
Recruit New Pilots and Officers
You will now be able to find new pilots and officers on all space stations and planets. Each NPC has different skills and levels, of course. Accordingly, contract prices and salary payments will also differ. If you no longer want an officer or pilot on your crew, you can dismiss them at a station or planet. Keep in mind that when you dismiss a crew member, you must pay them severance. Pirate Patrol might be the first and only video game in which you have to compensate a crew member when firing them. In our 45 years of gaming experience, we have never come across such a detail.
Acquire New Fighterships:
You start the game with one fightership, one officer, and one pilot. As you must find new pilots and officers, you must also find new fighters for your mother ship. You can find these ships in the planet or station trade panels. However, you will notice that each ship has different features and prices. These advanced combat vehicles are expensive and hard to find due to their high prices. Therefore, you should manage your budget correctly.
Character Progression
Players can now upgrade the main character and NPCs by gaining experience. Captain Lionheart and his officers earn upgrade points as he levels up. Officers and pilots can use their upgrade points in the Hangar window. As they level up and improve their skills, officers can run tactical applications on the Officer Console more efficiently.
Pilots gain experience by flying in space and participating in combat. You can see the pilots' experience level under their profile picture.
Captain Lionheart's skills are controlled from the "Character" screen, which can be accessed with the "P" key. There, you can upgrade Captain Lionheart's character traits. If the conditions are right, you can select skis from the skill list and start using them. Some of these skills are passive, while others are active. To activate active skis, press the relevant icon under the bridge panel on the tactical map.
Officer Consoles and Tactical Applications:
Officers can execute different tactical operations through consoles on the bridge. The “apps” that run on these consoles can be found by exploring space or bought through trade. However, you cannot sell these tactical applications.
Main Ship Level Upgrades:
As you level up, you will be able to upgrade the mothership's armor, fuel tank, crew capacity, logistics storage and energy output.
If you run out of fuel, you won't be able to move around the galaxy map. The more crew you lose, the slower your ship will move. When your logistics depot is empty, your guns won't have bullets, and your engineers and technicians won't be able to repair damage to the ship. It's important to have enough energy output to power the internal equipment you add to the ship.
Signal Anomalies and Exploration on Tactical Map:
There are now more details to explore on the tactical map. By scanning these signal anomalies, you can uncover secrets hidden in the area. However, keep in mind that the more your fighters run their scanners, the easier it is for the enemy to detect your location and attack.
Heavy Damage and Personel Loss:
Space conflicts are now much more realistic. As your mother ship takes damage, holes appear in its hull. Until the damage is repaired, flames and armor fragments will fly out of these openings into space. This is not just a visual effect, though. When your mother ship starts to take heavy damage, every enemy shot that hits the ship can result in casualties. There may be fatalities among the crew. The fighter ships stationed in the hangar may be damaged, and the officers you have painstakingly leveled up or the skilled pilots preparing for a flight in the hangar may die as a result of enemy fire.
Reputation System
Your choices will now directly affect your reputation. Your reputation will be impacted by the missions you respond to, the civilian ships you save from the enemy on the tactical map, and the civilians you fail to save in order to protect yourself. With a low reputation level (BRUTAL), you will be known as a commander who uses harsh and brutal tactics. Conversely, you will be known as a hero (MERCIFUL), someone who cares more about the lives of civilians than anything else and tries to protect them at the risk of his own life. These levels of reputation will impact the game in various ways, including the salaries of the NPCs you work with, the prices you pay in trade, and the equipment you can access.
Mission Details
Now, when you hover your mouse over a mission on the galaxy map, you will be able to see the details of the mission and the prestige points it will award. In future updates, other details such as cash rewards or equipment rewards will also be available in these popup windows.