Ahoy Captain!
We’ve just released a big update on our Beta Branch – with a lot of new exciting things coming to the game.
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 9540 or later, you have the correct version.
You’ll need to commence a new playthrough in order to see all these changes, as your old saves won’t work on this updated Beta Branch.
We talked about multiple ways around this; however any solution wasn’t great from a player-perspective, and would have taken too long to implement. That’s not to say we won’t create a workaround in future, but anything we do is a massive undertaking and we didn’t want to delay getting this update into your hands!
Here are the big-ticket items in the new update:
Sea Forts
Sea Forts are a new type of enemy you can battle. As giant stone structures, they cannot be sunk, so you’ll have to defeat them in other ways.
They have an outer-ring section which can be damaged and repaired just like a ship. This can house up to 4 mortars and 2 Sick Bays.
The inner-ring section is a raised stone platform that houses a new weapon – the Mega-Mortar.
The Mega-Mortar is auto-fired and auto-reloaded from mechanisms within the Sea Fort. It cannot be mounted on a ship, as the recoil would tear the vessel in half! This weapon will continually fire at you, and as well as the devastating damage it causes, will also momentarily halt the movement of your ship.
You can disable the Mega-Mortar by damaging all 4 inner-sections, which cannot be repaired. Once the Mega-Mortar is disabled, the Sea Fort will surrender (although it should be noted that Cult-owned Sea Forts will never surrender).
Of course, you could always charge in, board the Sea Fort and slaughter the crew to win as well, but the Mega-Mortar will make it tough-going for you!
Sea Forts provide a slightly different challenge for Captains to overcome. Victory provides a high reward, but you will take damage trying to defeat one – so only attempt hostilities if you’re in a strong position. In our playtesting thus far, we’ve found that specialised builds are more effective, so make sure you’re able to either get in super-fast and finish the battle quickly, or are set up for anti-crew warfare, or are extremely powerful at long-range and can disable the Mega-Mortar before it causes too much damage (the new Catapult weapon is handy for this).
Sea Forts are immune to ‘Brace’ tests and cannot be rammed, so if your strategy is heavily reliant on those tactics, you’ll need to change things up. Also, the imposing structures rise above the highest waves, so Tidal Waves have no effect on them.
-- Attacking a Cult Sea Fort --
In exploration mode, the Sea Fort will open fire on you if it’s hostile. While they won’t sink you, they will whittle your hull health down. Also, if you engage in battle within range of a Sea Fort, an off-screen bombardment may come into play. This could be a help or hindrance depending on the combatants. For example, if you battle a Cult vessel in range of a neutral Sea Fort, the Cult ship will be bombarded. If you fight a pirate in range of a Cult Sea Fort, you’ll both be bombarded.
Wanted Levels
If you engage in lots of piratical acts (or attack neutral Sea Forts) then the new Wanted Level will rise. As it passes certain milestones, negative-effects will come into play. Previously neutral Sea Forts will open fire as you sail into their vicinity, and Bounty Hunters will be dispatched to bring you to justice. Depending on your notoriety, they may offer to collect the Bounty in money, or prefer to shoot first and ask questions later!
-- At Wanted Level 1 and above, neutral Sea Forts will open fire if you sail too close --
You can reduce your Wanted Level by doing good deeds (either in events or liberating Cult-owned Sea Forts), or heading to the Magistrate in Port to pay your fine.
Side note: In order to fit in this new functionality, the old Magistrate menu has been changed to the “Explorer’s Guild”, just in case you’re looking to file your charts and use your Captain’s Log Saves.
Trade Routes
Trade Routes snake out from ports, and little trading vessels sail along them to their destination. You can raid these by sitting on the dotted line and pressing the “Raid” button.
Doing so will increment your Gold, but will also raise your Wanted Level.
Trade Routes can be raided by Pirates – in which case they’ll appear yellow, or completely blocked by Cult vessels (where the dotted line will appear red). If you displace these ships from the Trade Route, your Wanted Level will decrease.
The dotted lines of a Trade Route are also a handy navigational point – you know one direction will always end in a port!
Floating Outposts
If you reach a high enough Wanted Level, Ports will close down and not allow you access. If you reach this position and need to get those pesky Bounty Hunters off your back, then find a Floating Outpost.
-- Racing to a Floating Outpost with a Bounty Hunter hot on our heels! --
These neutral places act like mini-ports and are open to even the worst pirates. They don’t have the full range of options you’d find in port, but you’ll be able to boost crew morale, purchase supplies, patch up the worst of your hull damage and most importantly, pay off your wanted fines.
New weapons and upgrades
This update also includes 5 new weapons, and two new combat-upgrades.
We posted information on the Lightning Gun, Gargoyles, Catapult, Web Gun, Anti-Boarding Spikes, Timed Bomb and Berserk Dart Gun here, if you liked to read about how they work:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/551860/announcements/detail/3007726172112961652
Passage of Time
All maps will now repopulate their events over the passage of time, so you’ll no longer revisit previously explored places to find them empty.
Repopulation is handled through transitioning between exploration maps, or by waiting. You can wait by pressing the new button on the right-hand side of the screen – but be careful, waiting can result in being ambushed.
Kraken
The Kraken has received some love and attention. When it chases you throughout the game, it’ll now perform additional attacks on top of the standard hull-grab – so be prepared to deal with other things while you’re cutting those tentacles.
-- Several other attacks can disrupt your attempts to fight off the Kraken --
The Kraken will now ‘Aggro’ in the Boss Battle – once they reach a certain health they’ll play an aggro anim and from then on, attack more aggressively.
We've also improved the effect of the Kraken chasing you in exploration mode!
We hope you enjoy all the cool new stuff!
As the game expands, and even more new systems overlap in interesting ways, we’re increasingly reliant on the community to provide feedback to ensure we've covered all angles - so we'd love to hear your thoughts on this latest update. Details of how to provide feedback can be found here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/551860/discussions/10/1698293255137774100/
Our longer-term plans can be found here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/551860/discussions/6/1693788202021118098/
Depending on how much feedback there is, in approximately two weeks we’ll package this, plus our previous Beta Branch update into a Major Update that will be the new default version of the game.
If you’re interested in what was in the previous Beta Branch update, you can read about that here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/551860/announcements/detail/1651011615843111367
Thanks for all of the support and feedback :)
The Abandon Ship Crew