Greetings Everyone!
Nice to see all the new players and all the feedback! Keep mashing that feedback button we read every one. We'd like to give a little status report on our current plans for the Playtest and what we have in store for the future of the game.
Playtest Status
First off, we are going to be switching to a continuous playtest strategy where access is always open and major big updates are going to be split into smaller more manageable chunks. While the big scheduled playtests where nice to get major changes implemented, it also created burnout and made it difficult to test more incremental improvements as everything was just lumped into the next 'Big' update.
We will still have 'named' updates that increase the PT version (PT3.5, PT4, PT4.5, etc) which denote larger balance/gamemode changes, new content, or server wipes. They'll just act more as bookmarks then big scheduled updates.
This also means that official test servers will remain open 24/7 which we will need your help with.. More on that later!
Playtest 3.5 Update
We are working on a major balance/QoL update for playtest 3 that should drop relatively soon. This includes a bunch of stuff that didn't make it in at the start and has some updates based on feedback that we've already processed. Here is a quick rundown of the changes:
Balance:
Multiple cannons on a single gunner will no longer auto converge on a single point.
Reworked Shell Dispersion (Aim Speed & Cannon Accuracy)
New Commander positions for passive spotting and crew coordination buffs
Spotting & Detection Rating changes (make larger vessels easier to spot passively)
Coordination(skill) system will be fully enabled will apply efficiency penalties for crew duplicate roles
Armor mass changes: structural mass will be linked to integrity scaling
Armor Class on armor will now be dynamic based on plate thickness (surface/volume ratio), Thinner plates will only have None > Light, while thicker plates are Medium > Heavy. Different armor materials will have unique thickness thresholds
Armor Degradation 'Armor Drilling' will now respect mitigation rules Example: shell with Light pricing vs Heavy Armor will have ~60% less drilling effect
Crew HP reduction
General increase to 'Impact' damage on most shells to improve the feel of direct hits
Increase to post-pen damage on APCBC shells
Vessel Combat Classes will now have a deploy cost floor (minimum $) unique to each class This will be assigned the term 'Shipping Cost'
QoL/Fixes
Team colors will now be fixed regardless of your team. (allies Blue, enemies Red always)
Networking optimizations
Game mode optimizations
AI improvements
Testing class specific spawn points in Siege
Testing the ability to change spawn points in Siege
Improvements to coordinate panel in designer
Better crew interaction feedback in designer
More tutorials
Roadmap
Here is the roadmap for our lead up into Early Access. Note: It doesn't get into specifics, but is a general mind map of what we are planning throughout the next few dev cycles. This roadmap will be available in-game and will be frequently updated.
Patreon
We are announcing a Patreon for those of you who want to financially help support development of the game. The intent is to bridge the gap between the playtest and a Steam Early Access release.
Right now the Official US Central server is hosted out of a cobbled together homelab in Texas and deals with mediocre consumer-grade internet and a hilariously unreliable power grid with downtimes ranging from 3 seconds to 30 minutes intermittently this summer, meaning even regular battery backups wouldn't help.
Our goal is about 500$ USD/mo, with which we can move our existing hardware into a datacenter and further funds would allow us to set up "shards" in the EU, Australia, or anywhere else.
It will still always be possible to host your own community servers and any tools we develop will also be included with the game, the Patreon is a way for us to facilitate us having 24/7 playtesting in different regions, so we don't feel "Forced" to go into Early Access too early.
For example, a long-term plan on the roadmap is to have a shared "War" on the Official server, that players could contribute to. We are currently developing a bunch of tools to help us with this.
In addition to helping fund the server, patrons would have access to additional Dev Q&As, polls, etc. and help us prioritize what features we should work on in the future. https://www.patreon.com/c/MountainousDevelopment
Dev Q&A
Finally, we plan to do a developer Q&A like we did in Playtest 2 in the discord this Saturday (July 4th).