Hi there friends,
🏴☠️🏴☠️ The Pirate Patrol v.0.8.2-Alpha update has been released!
With this update, the long-awaited enemy capital warships are finally entering the game. But that's not all; the update also brings significant innovations to the game's dynamics. We'll go over them one by one:
🚨 Enemy Capital Warships 🚨
First, let's talk about the enemy capital warships. These are extremely dangerous enemy vessels. They can destroy your fighter ships in a matter of seconds and inflict heavy damage on "The FATHER" in a short period. The turrets on these ships are comprised of high-damage turbo laser weapons and can rotate very quickly. This means they can rapidly destroy incoming fighter ships and missiles.
Therefore, if you intend to attack enemy Capital ships with your fighters, we highly recommend planning this operation with a large attack team. If you consider 3-4-5 fighters attacking an enemy capital ship simultaneously, along with the missiles they launch, you can create a window of opportunity to damage the main ship by reducing the risk of the enemy's deadly turrets focusing on a single target.
You can also target the turrets on the enemy capital ships. Every "tooth" you destroy will result in less damage when the enemy tries to bite you. We also recommend watching this video about Capital Ship battles.
🪐 Removing Planet Blockades 🌎 🪐🌕🌑☄️
Planets on the galaxy map are now under Autonex blockade, recognizable by the "red" ring around them. If you reach a planet, clear all orbiting Autonex ships, and then leave the area, the planet will be freed from the blockade and symbolized by a "green" ring. These details are important because planets that are either freed or still under enemy blockade will have different effects on the game. For example, in this update, this will be noticeable in Refueling...
⛽ Refueling and Autonex Ambush
With the previous update, if you ran out of fuel while moving across the Galaxy map, you could call a tanker ship from the nearest planet to refuel you. Now, enemy Autonex scouts can break into these tankers' communication channels and track their routes to find your location.
This means that as the tanker approaches to refuel you, you might suddenly be attacked by a heavy Autonex hunter team. During this "Fuel" mission, you must protect the tanker attempting to refuel you from enemy fire. Otherwise, not only will refueling fail, but you'll also suffer a significant loss of prestige, and the cost of refueling again later will dramatically increase.
If this fuel tanker originates from a planet under enemy blockade, the likelihood of Autonex scouts detecting your location will increase. Tankers coming from freed planets have a lower risk of being tracked by the Autonex.
🍀 Random Encounters 🤞
Of course, no RPG is complete without "Random Encounters"! 😉
We now have enough in-game dynamics to create Random Encounters. So, as you traverse the Galaxy map, you might experience some encounters that pop up randomly.
For now, these encounters will feature Autonex hunters. These are task forces with heavy firepower, and their sole objective is to destroy The Father. They will also include heavily armed capital ships. If you feel you won't be able to destroy this heavy assault team, and if Captain Lionheart's Bridge Console has the Hyperjump application, you can try jumping directly to the Galaxy map from your current location without reaching a Gravity Escape Point.
Alternatively, you might have the Full Speed application among your Officer console applications, or you might have added a Trait Skill that speeds up The Father to the captain's character traits. Additionally, your Engineer or Tactic officer's console might have hacker applications that freeze the enemy for a certain period... You can choose to escape this formidable enemy by combining the different options at your disposal. As you know, the tactical combinations you can use in Pirate Patrol's tactical battles are limited only by your creativity!
A Small Note: As far as we can calculate, it's possible to execute over 650,000 different tactical operations within the Tactical Map just by varying Officer applications and Captain trait skills. When we add factors like pilot abilities, fighter weapon selections, and the main ship's weapon and missile options, the number of tactical choices you can employ against the enemy in Pirate Patrol reaches into the billions.
In future updates, we plan to include different types of Random Encounters, such as "lost ship debris" and "merchant ships selling advanced equipment," or a mission to rescue a fighter pilot adrift in space. We're open to your suggestions on this!
Improvements in the Settings Section
Players requested several improvements for the Settings section, and these are now available. Here's what's changed in Settings:
⏸️ Toggling Smart Pause On/Off
Some of our players requested the ability to toggle the Smart Pause feature on and off via the settings. You can now find this option in the Settings menu.
📣 Pilot Voice Settings
You now have a separate volume setting for pilot radio calls during combat. This way, you can more easily hear these vital transmissions, even if you turn down other sound effects.
⌨️Enhanced Keymap
Ther e's now an enhanced and easier-to-understand keymap that visually displays the key assignments on your keyboard.
🛠️ Save System Bugs Fixed
We noticed that in some cases, players were unable to load their games from within the game and had to return to the main menu. This bug has now been fixed.
Beyond these, we've also implemented some minor bug fixes and graphics/sound improvements.
Thank you very much for your support of Pirate Patrol. If you'd like to help our development efforts by sharing information about Pirate Patrol with your friends on social media, we'd be thrilled!
Have fun!