Greetings Captain!
We're busy working away on our next Major Update, which is going to be packed with loads of exciting new systems. As we implement new features we trial them on a publicly available Beta Branch for feedback and testing. This Beta Branch Update includes what we've been working on recently, and we'll talk more about what is coming soon!
To learn how to gain access to the Beta Branch, click on this link:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/551860/discussions/10/1698293255137774100/
If the version number in the bottom-right corner of the Main Menu ends in 8765 or later, you have the correct version. Some bug fixes plus new features mean your saves from previous versions will not work with this update, although those saves will work fine if you revert back to the main version of the game.
Let's take a look at what's in this latest update:
Expanded Crew Sizes, New Skills
This has been a popular request, so crew size is now dependant on the ship class and on the larger ships, goes up to 8.
-- Only the biggest vessels will support a crew of 8 --
We've also given the rest of the crew unique skills to differentiate them further:
- Captain: Leader. Provides a passive bonus to whatever action the crew on your ship are doing.
- Navigator: Evasive Manoeuvres. When manning the wheel, reduces the accuracy of enemy fire.
- Marine: Dodge. Reduces the damage received.
- Sailor: Special Repairs. Provides a bonus to extinguishing fires, repairing hull cracks and pumping water.
- Gunner: Accuracy. Increases the chance of hitting when firing cannons or mortars.
The Surgeon of course already has their 'Heal' Skill.
Autofire
Another popular request: every single weapon in the game can now be toggled between manual fire and autofire!
-- Weapons set to Autofire will have a gold highlight that circles the Weapon Button. Right-Click the Weapon Button to toggle Autofire on and off --
Major Balancing
We've been undertaking some major balancing improvements to the entire game. This has been necessary due to previous updates, as well as the changes to crew sizes, and to fix / improve some existing issues. Some highlights include:
- The way the AI scale in difficulty no longer has anything to do with your ship class, so it should remove / reduce the feeling of "I've got a new ship, and so did the enemy".
- The AI are now more aggressive than previously.
- Cannon Targeting has now been visualised with a system which is much clearer to read, and Section Damage has been re-balanced so it is less attritional. It now feels more viable a strategy to target a section and destroy it without the AI being too proactive and immediately fixing it.
- Fires and Hull Cracks are more likely to appear when firing weapons that cause them. Fires and Hull Cracks will be less dangerous on Easy Mode and more dangerous on Hard Mode.
We'll continually tweak this as we develop, but from what we've played internally, this feels like a solid improvement. Let us know what you think!
-- Targeting the enemy ship with cannons will now display a red highlight to show which section you are targeting --
Iron Captain Mode
In previous updates, we added Magistrate Saves; a way of manually saving if you found a rare Captain's Log. 'Iron Captain' Mode is something you can select when creating a new game and means there are no Captain's Logs in the game.
Key Bindings Menu
You can now re-map your keys in the new Key Bindings menu!
Community Translations In-Progress!
Some amazing members of our community are busy translating the game. So far we have translations for French, German, Spanish and Italian in the pipeline, and as work continues we'll make these available via the Beta Branch system until they're completed.
We've got extensive documentation and a super-convenient tool that allows local testing of translations in-engine, so if you're interested in being part of the Community Translation Project, then check out this link here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/551860/discussions/5/1693788384130852300/
Miscellaneous
We've fixed a load of bugs and made lots of other improvements to the game. Some worth bringing to your attention are:
- Crew commands can now be given when hovering over their widgets in the bottom left (e.g. making it easier to heal when the surgeon is selected, or stabilise someone who has been incapacitated)
- Monologues and single-choice event message boxes can be continued by pressing the main "Enter" key. Escape can now be used to close the Settings UI and "Cancel" Confirmation boxes
- Reduction in crew standing in the same space to improve readability when boarding.
- There is a new music track in the game, which can be heard in Sub-Tropical areas. For those that own the Abandon Ship Soundtrack, you'll have already heard this.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this latest update, so follow the instructions in the link to find out how to gain access and provide feedback:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/551860/discussions/10/1698293255137774100/
Our longer-term plans can be found here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/551860/discussions/6/1693788202021118098/
We're really excited about what is coming as part of our next Major Update: New Weapons, some additions to Exploration Mode, plus a couple of BIG surprises too! We'll provide updates on our progress.
Thanks for all of the support and feedback :)
The Abandon Ship Crew