Dear captains,
As the wait for a beta test continues, we've decided to release another dev log, to give you a heads up and also use this opportunity to present a few major features that are coming soon with the Full Release Update.
Without further introduction, let's proceed.
Random events
We've created various random events that may happen on your U-boat or around it.
These events mirror the real challenges faced by U-boat crews. Injured crewmates might need land-based recovery, overtaxed engines could demand extra grease, or tensions aboard might flare into a brawl. But with each challenge comes opportunity e.g. complete a daring mission, and you might find a personal gift from the admiral stashed in your storage.
We've prepared many such events to make your patrols feel more unique and immersive. They won't disrupt the core gameplay, but instead will remind you that life at sea is full of surprises. Most of them are inspired by the authentic struggles found in books and U-boat KTBs.
Using this opportunity, we've also improved missions with a war correspondent. We've greatly expanded his pool of questions and made interactions with him more user friendly.
Flares and searchlights
Another addition, is that warships and aircraft deploy flares to illuminate the surrounding area when they know that submarines are around. You will also be able to use flares yourself, if you want to. Being close to deployed flares, increases your sight range, but also makes you more visible.
All warships in the game now also carry functional searchlights that aid them in searching for U-boats lurking in the darkness. They keep them disabled when they travel in a convoy and use them only when they go into battle stations mode.
Vickers Wellington & Leigh Lights
There are now Vickers Wellington bombers in the game. These aircraft start to appear in the game in 1942 and will attack your U-boat without any warning at night using a combination of ASV radar and a Leigh Light. These attacks look quite spectacular and starting with 1943 sometimes include rockets.
We've also recreated effective counter-measures to employ against this danger, that may ensure the safety of your U-boat. We've added diving schedules, with which you can set your U-boat to travel underwater at a specific time of day (in the discussed case - at nights).
Another, even more effective counter-measure are radar waves detectors, which we improved to work more consistently and we made it easier to understand what their purpose is for new players.
Night attacks from the surface
We've ensured that attacks from the surface during moonless nights now work properly, especially if you sneak with electric engines. It was a very common tactic employed by many skippers and we felt that we had to make it effective in the game too.
By employing this tactic, you will be able to avoid the risk of detection by the sonars while sneaking into a convoy. Once the enemy illuminates the area, you can then quickly dive and escape, before being spotted.
Mediterranean sea
We've added several ports to the game that have Arabic architecture in the cities. It's a massive boost for immersion on the Mediterranean, which previously lacked ports in general. New ports include Tobruk, Haifa and Tunis. Existing ports of Alexandria and Malta were improved. There is also new port of Marseille and Salamis naval base, both of which can serve as your home base.
Improved mission selection
While we've maintained this state during Early Access for variety of reasons, we've always intended to change this for the Final Release. Starting with this update, you will face a much more curated selection of missions offered by the command, and there is also a mode, in which you don't get any selections at all, and simply carry out with the orders as they come from the command.
While setting up the campaign, you will also be able to determine the type of missions that will be offered - varied or more centred on routine patrols.
Beta testing
At this time, we expect the beta testing to commence in a few more weeks. It's taking a bit longer than we hoped, but not overly so and hope to reach the stable version soon.
We still have to work out several things that could otherwise make for a frustrating experience and hope for your patience and understanding.
Once everything is done, we will announce the start of the beta testing with a week in advance to give you time to prepare.
Yours,
DWS