Ahoy Mateys!
Here is a preview of what is to come in the upcoming 3.0 patch! Currently we have done over 60 internal tests with 2 being major stress tests, and are still going through the paces of adjustment and refinement. We are getting close but still have several tasks to complete.
As you know, our main goal for 3.0 was to provide content that increased replayability for Blackwake. Initially Blackwake was only meant to be a simple game, it was only focused on 1v1 small ships. As development went on design changed and we were left with some hard coded limitations in what we could achieve. Therefore to make 3.0 happen a lot of things had to be reworked. Instead of doing a sequel, we decided to try and get these things into Blackwake because many of you enjoy the game as it is now, and just want to see it expand. This was the cause of the stall of patches over the recent months.
3.0 will set us back a little, we admit, but we're much happier to proceed in this direction than the one we were on. With the initial 3.0 launch please bear with us and expect issues, we will work as hard as we can to resolve them.
SHIP CHOICE
You are now able to choose your starting vessel, as well as different vessels after it has sunk. We have both faction specific ships unlocked for both factions for the time being. This should provide a greater dynamic with combat from different encounters.
Eventually the ships will have more enticing pros/cons, allowing captains to choose ships that fit their play style the best. This isn't fully balanced yet.
NEW SHIPS
4 New ships will be added for 3.0
GUNBOAT
Currently this is classed as a starting ship, which is small and extremely nimble. Primarily for close combat and boarding.
CUTTER
An agile anti-boarding ship with 2 stern guns.
BOMB KETCH
This has a mortar on the ship that can only be fired while stationary.
BRIG
A new large vessel ship that has a fully open deck and 9 guns a side.
NEW SHOT TYPES
A large part of future patches was to give players more choice in how they approach combat. We now have 3 new special shot types that can be utilized for different scenarios.
BARSHOT
Destroys ship masts. Can only be effective within 300m and must be aimed at the masts for a hit. If done so will incapacitate a ship for a long period of time. Players will need to repair the masts including all sails.
CHAINSHOT
This is primarily used for destroying sails. Has a medium range and does 100% sail damage. If you feel like outmanuevering a ship this may be an essential option.
HEATED SHOT
No longer will fire be an RNG element in the game. Cannonballs can be placed in a furnace, in which they require a short amount of time to heat up. Target specific parts of enemy ships to cripple them!
CANNON CHANGES
You can slowly horizontally turn cannons using the AD keys. These will reset once fired.
Max range has been changed to 700m to encourage more boarding. The purpose of this mechanic is to provide crew with more control on firing, and instead put strategy, manuevering and tactical thinking on the captain. The cannons turn extremely slow so lineup from captain is still required.
FORTS
Along with increasing replayability and options, we've implemented a base for each team. We understand that constant ship combat can get tiring at times so have opted to have an optional way to WIN the game. This should take the coordination/agreement from the three crews ingame to make a successful assault.
- If your ship is not built, everyone will spawn at a fort. You can teleport to your ship at the ship constructer.
- The fort has a flag towards the top of it. If the enemy stands on the flag for long enough, it will capture the base and that team will win.
- There are mortar towers on the forts that each have three cannons and a mortar on it. These towers may be destroyed by firing cannonballs at them.
- Mortars will not destroy a mortar tower. Active enemy towers show up with their range on the ‘Q’ overlay.
- There is a red glowing area that can be used by the captain to raise the gate, it closes after 30 seconds. Gate will eventually be redone.
- When your base is under attack you will get a UI notification.
TEAM SELECT
We've now changed the team select menu to show players on each crew before the round starts to help organize/balance things out.
We've done a pass on the galleon/cruizer to add some more details on the ships to make them look a bit more lived in.
SHIP DESTRUCTION
As mentioned we have redone our ship destruction system. Now ships will have more precise holes. The primary purpose for this was to improve performance as well as fix those hard to reach holes! We will be adding effects to make these more visible, such as water spraying while submerged.
THE FOLLOWING WILL COME IN LATER PATCHES TO 3.0
We wanted to get 3.0 out as soon as we could so we could return to our more frequent patch schedule. So we've decided to lay out the base foundation for 3.0 while adding things after balance and stability have been tested. 3.0 isn't an all in one patch, it marks a series of updates that will be more active.
RESOURCE NODES:
This will only be in trial to see if it pans out. Complimentary to ship construction, having 3 resource nodes in the edges/center of the map that can be captured may offer more strategy. Wood, Hemp, Metal nodes can be captured and used to purchase ships that have defined costs.
DEFENSE MINES:
Captains will eventually be able to purchase (with gold) their preffered sea mine during ship construction.
SEA MINES:
Throw overboard into water. If ship runs over it, it creates 1 hole (no damage to crew). players can throw onto ships during boarding and shoot it for explosion. (crew damage)
Barrel will sink after 30 seconds. limited count of 10.
SMOKE MINES:
Throw overboard into water. creates a large smoke volume. thrown over gradually allows ships to create smoke walls. ships cannot be spotted through smoke walls. this is to aid/help friendly damaged ships. can also be used to obscure chasing ship vision.
TAR MINES:
Throw overboard to dump tar into the ocean. ignites and creates a fire volume. throw multiple to create a fire wall. any ships sailing through this wall will catch on fire.
SHIP STATISTICS:
Eventually attributes such as turn rate, ship speed and sink speed will be adjusted per ship.
MORE SHIPS
Currently we have the Bomb Vessel (13p), Carrack (7p) and Xebec (13p) in close completion.
MORE COSMETICS
We currently have over 20+ outfits in the pipeline, including some with wooden legs :) Eventually we will have ship figureheads and custom ship wheels that can be unlocked. We will show more of this as we get closer to that time.
Once the 3.0 content and beyond has been recieved well we will move onto 4.0. Which will be the final release for Blackwake. We will be ironing out a majority of the bugs, fixing game balance, adding quality of life improvements and adding more cosmetic unlocks for crew and ship.
We hope you enjoyed the preview mateys!
Dakota & Tyler