Update 12.6: Spanish Cruisers

Update 12.6 delivers the following:

• Early Access to Spanish Cruisers
• Battle Pass
• Concealed Maneuvers
• European Destroyers Are Available to Everyone
• Armory
• Battle of the Somme Collection
• Economic Changes
• Brawls
• Division Star
• Technical Improvements
• Game Balance Changes
• Content Additions and Changes
• Other Changes and Improvements

Early Access to Spanish Cruisers

Update 12.6 delivers Spanish cruisers to Early Access.
These ships have main battery guns with an average range and damage per minute. They are also armed with short-range torpedoes.

Cruisers of Tier VII and higher feature the "Burst Fire" alternative firing mode, their shells follow a flatter trajectory, and their AP shells penetrate armor more effectively.

The newcomers are fast, but they have only average concealment and maneuverability.

Spanish cruisers boast a wide range of consumables to choose from:

• The Hydroacoustic Search consumable is available from Tier IV; starting from Tier VI, players can choose to mount Defensive AA Fire in the same slot instead.
• Starting from Tier VII, Repair Party is introduced, and players have a choice between Fighter or Spotting Aircraft in another slot.

We've updated the Ocean Port and added national emblems for Spanish ships to mark the event.

Gold and Silver Spanish Tokens will come in handy while the cruisers are in Early Access, and one way of obtaining them is via the Personal Challenges event that’s making a return in Update 12.6. Once again, you'll have to demonstrate your skill by achieving specific accomplishments while commanding ships of different nations and types.

This time, the event features an updated interface.

• We've added a section with information about earned rewards to the Personal Challenges page.
• A number of other visual changes and improvements have been made.

Battle Pass

As usual, the new update delivers a fresh Battle Pass. Earn BP Points by completing daily and weekly combat missions, advance through the BP progress bar, and earn awesome rewards!

The final reward of the Free Battle Pass is 7x Rare Bonuses containers and 100 Silver Spanish Tokens. You can exchange the latter for sequential bundles that include bonus packages applicable to Tier V–VIII Early Access ships or for Gold Spanish Tokens.

The Premium Pass delivers even more valuable items, and the final reward for completing it is 500 Gold Spanish Tokens. Use them to obtain sequential bundles that hold Tier IV–VIII Spanish cruisers, permanent camouflages for Tier VIII–X ships, and other items.

We've changed the post-progression rewards for the Premium Battle Pass: after completing all of its levels, players will receive 1x Rare Bonuses container and 1,000 Coal for each additional level.

The seasonal bonuses remain the same as they were in the previous iteration—additional combat missions to earn BP points and progress through levels; a +100% bonus for the first daily victory; and a +5% bonus to Coal, Steel, and Research Point earnings.

Concealed Maneuvers

Starts: Fri. 21 Jul. 11:00 CEST (UTC+2)
Ends: Tue. 08 Aug. 02:00 CEST (UTC+2)

Update 12.6 introduces the Concealed Maneuvers temporary battle type, which has been designed to test new mechanics for aircraft carriers.

We've added two new aircraft carriers to the game— VIII Kikaku and VIII Concord Bridge. They resemble VIII Shōkaku and VIII Lexington, except that they feature adjusted parameters and squadrons with unique consumables. These aircraft carriers can be rented for the duration of the event; however, you can't take them into battles of any other type.

What sets these new aircraft carriers apart are their squadrons' unique consumables—Smoke Curtain Generator and Air-Dropped Minefield.

VIII Kikaku's attack aircraft are equipped with Smoke Curtain Generator, which can set smoke screens just like ships with Smoke Generators.

VIII Concord Bridge's bombers are armed with the Air-Dropped Minefield consumable. When activated, it calls in another aircraft to deploy a minefield within a circular area below the position of the squadron at the point of activation. The mines don't arm immediately, but once they do, they deal damage to any enemy ships that collide with them, and they have high chances of causing flooding.

Format

• Tier VII–VIII aircraft carriers, cruisers, battleships, and destroyers in a 9 vs. 9 format.
• Eligible aircraft carriers aren’t limited to VIII Kikaku and VIII Concord Bridge; all classes are allowed.

European Destroyers Are Available to Everyone

When Update 12.6 goes live, the European destroyers will become available for all players to research.

These newcomers are artillery destroyers that primarily rely on their main battery guns in battle.

• They are exclusively armed with HE shells; starting from Tier VIII, the shells have flat-trajectory ballistics.
• The high-speed torpedoes of the new European destroyers should be considered as secondary armament in most situations due to their low damage and rather short range.
• The highlight of this branch is the consumable combination of Smoke Generator and Surveillance Radar, the latter of which is available from Tier VIII and features a long range but a short action time. The destroyers are also equipped with Engine Boost.
• The new ships have mediocre speed and poor concealment, but higher-tier representatives boast large HP pools.

Armory

Warship Strike

Starts: Fri. 11 Aug. 07:00 CEST (UTC+2)
Ends: Fri. 01 Sep. 07:00 CEST (UTC+2)

Warship Strike is back in the Armory! You’ll again be tasked with fighting against AI in a 1 vs. 1 format. To participate in the minigame, you'll need special Strike Passes. You can purchase them in limited quantities in exchange for in-game resources and in unlimited quantities for Doubloons. One Pass costs 250 Doubloons.

The rewards have also changed: this time, they are chosen at random and include ships and Doubloons, among other possibilities.

Rewards for sinking ships

Rewards for gaining victory

If you already possess every ship that can be obtained through Warship Strike, you'll be rewarded with 1x Strike Pass.

Warship Strike can be played in the game client and on the Armory website.

Van Speijk

With the release of Update 12.6, IX Van Speijk will become available in the Armory for 46,500 Research Points.

In 1938, the Netherlands decided to strengthen their fleet, and new designs similar to Scharnhorst were introduced in 1939. The authorities were set on reducing the size of the ship for economic reasons. They favored a 16,000-ton cruiser with a projected speed of 33 knots and either 240 mm or 280 mm main battery guns; however, they eventually had to settle on a smaller caliber for the project.

The cruiser is armed with nine 203 mm main battery guns that don't have a particularly long range of fire. She also comes with HE Bomb Airstrike. This armament boasts an extensive action range but takes a lot of time to reload and is limited to only one flight. Other strengths of the ship include a well-armored citadel and decent concealment.

The cruiser has also access to Hydroacoustic Search, Defensive AA Fire, and Repair Party with a reduced reload time in separate slots.

Naval Community

With the release of Update 12.6, the following items will be removed from the Naval Community tab of the Armory:

• The Symbols of Yukon bundle
• The Leningrad Defense permanent camouflage for VII Leningrad
• The Japanese Castle permanent camouflage for VI Fusō
• The Stars 'n' Stripes permanent camouflage for V Texas
• The More Camouflages container

The following items will be added to the Naval Community tab:

• A bundle with "The Beautiful Game" flag and patch, available for 4,000 Community Tokens
• The Wings of Courage permanent camouflage, available for 2,000 Community Tokens
• The Bionic permanent camouflage for VI Pensacola, available for 4,000 Community Tokens
• The Orca permanent camouflage for VII Huron, available for 6,000 Community Tokens
• The Blazing Tropics permanent camouflage for VII Atlanta, available for 8,000 Community Tokens
• The Independence Day permanent camouflage for VII Colorado, available for 8,000 Community Tokens

Battle of the Somme Collection

Starts: Thu. 27 Jul. 07:00 CEST (UTC+2)
Ends: Thu. 24 Aug. 07:00 CEST (UTC+2)

A week after the release of Update 12.6, a new collection—Battle of the Somme—will become available. It commemorates one of the most immense battles of World War I, which took place from July 1, 1916 through November 18 of the same year on both banks of the River Somme. It was a confrontation between the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic on one side and the forces of the German Empire on the other side.

To complete this collection, you'll need 60 different elements that the new Battle of the Somme containers can drop. These containers can be obtained in the Armory in exchange for Doubloons and in the Premium Shop. They are also rewarded for completing combat missions, and the number of containers you can earn this way will be sufficient to complete the entire collection. The exchange rate for duplicate elements is 2:1.

We'll reveal the contents of this container on our website with the release of Update 12.6.

The rewards for completing the collection are IX Somme, a ship that's kin to IX Jutland, with the unique "Lest We Forget" permanent camouflage and a Commander with 10 skill points.

Economic Changes

Starting with Update 12.6, we'll be adding Operations to the majority of combat missions. Due to the specifics of this battle type, it's easier to fulfil the requirements of some combat missions in Operations; so as not to change the difficulty of missions in other battle types, results achieved in Operations will be reduced by a certain factor.

For certain metrics, the progress in combat missions and Personal Challenges will be halved when playing in Operations. For example, if a mission requires you to earn two "Destroyed" ribbons, you’ll need to earn four such ribbons if you decide to go for it in Operations. Another way to complete this mission would be by earning one ribbon in a Random Battle and two ribbons in Operations.

When the reduction factor is applied to combat missions, the Operations icon will display a special indication.

Brawls

Update 12.6 features four Brawls in different formats.

Brawl 1

Show details

Start: Fri. 21 Jul. 10:00 CEST (UTC+2) Format: 5 vs. 5 playing Tier IX ships; no more than two battleships and three destroyers. You can participate in a Division of up to five players.

Brawl 2

Brawl 3

Brawl 4

Division Star

The Division Star is a special event in which you can earn extra rewards by playing together with your Clanmates.

• You can earn a Division Star by playing in a Division with your Clanmates.
• Stars can be earned in all battle types, except for Training Battles.
• Certain numbers of earned Stars unlock access to various rewards.
• If you switch Clans, any Stars and rewards you previously received remain with you.

By playing together with your Clanmates, you can earn a total of up to three Stars—one for each fulfilled requirement:

• Winning a battle.
• Earning the "Shoulder to Shoulder" Division achievement.
• Earning the "Coordinated Attack" Division achievement.

Technical Improvements

Settings Menu Improvements

In Update 12.6, we've completely reworked the Settings menu interface.

All available parameters are now divided into eight sections: Display, Graphics, Audio, HUD, Camera, Mouse, Keyboard/Controls, and Other. Certain settings have been removed, while others have been merged together.

The interface changes introduced in this update aim to enhance user experience by providing a simpler and more convenient way to personalize the game to your liking! Furthermore, "under the hood" enhancements have been implemented so that we can seamlessly add new settings in the future.

Recruiting Station Combat Missions

Update 12.6 delivers missions with requirements specifically designed for Recruiters and their Shipmates. Team up in Divisions to progress through them and earn rewards!

Only Division members who are in a "Recruiter-Shipmate" relationship with at least one other Division mate will have their progress towards the Recruiting Station combat missions counted.

Replay Improvements

• We've added the post-battle statistics screen to the end of replays.
• We've also added a "Watch Again" button.

Twitch Drops

Twitch Drops are back in Update 12.6. We took advantage of this break to make a technical improvement that will allow users to request and receive Twitch Drops without the need to re-log into their accounts.

Game Balance Changes

We’re tuning the balance of certain ships based on our analysis of their combat effectiveness and your feedback. The changes will affect U.S. researchable hybrid battleships and British cruiser V Hawkins.

Tier V British cruiser Hawkins

• The shell ballistics have been changed and are now characterized by a flatter trajectory.
• The armor penetration capabilities of AP shells have been improved.

Content Additions and Changes

The game will feature:

• Commanders José Prudencio Padilla and Pavel Nakhimov
• Commanders Fyodor Apraksin, Murat Serezli, and Hua Hu with individual voiceovers

• 200 Years of the Colombia Navy and Telnyashka flags

• 200 Years of the Colombian Navy patch

• Four emblems for Pan-American ships

• Prince Dmitry Pozharsky permanent camouflage for VIII Dmitry Pozharsky

• An individual voiceover for Commander Minakami Shiori

In Update 12.7, Ranked and Clan Tokens will be removed from the game, and players will receive compensation in the form of Steel. As long as that Update is live, camouflages that are available in exchange for Ranked and Clan Tokens will also be available for Steel. More info on these changes will follow at a later date.

Container Changes

Other Changes and Improvements

Lantern Lights

We’ve prepared a chain of combat missions to celebrate the traditional Japanese Obon Festival.

Other Changes

• The starting number of points in the updated Domination mode in Co-op Battles has been increased from 150 to 200.
• Fixed the behavior of AI-powered bots in the following Operations: Aegis, Raptor Rescue, Narai, and Defense of Naval Station Newport.
• Fixed an issue that caused the sonar indicator to be displayed incorrectly on a target that was hit by a sonar ping.
• Fixed an issue that caused the text input field in the game chat to stop working when switching between Armory tabs.
• Fixed an issue in Operation Killer Whale that could prevent a battle from finishing in defeat when all player ships were destroyed after completing the initial primary task but prior to receiving the second one.
• Removed visual artifacts on the following maps: The Faroe Islands, Fault Line, and Seychelles.
• Removed visual artifacts in the following Ports: Saint Petersburg, Zipangu, and Naval Base.
• Fixed an issue that affected the Epic Games Store overlay loading and the friend list display.
• Fixed an issue that made it impossible to switch to the Binocular View when opening the game menu or hovering over the Minimap while pressing Shift.
• Updated the historical descriptions of U.S. ships.
• Fixed an issue that caused Commander Michiel de Ruyter not to be marked as "Historical" in the Captain's Logbook.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from getting a reward for completing a global mission chain.
• Fixed a bug that made it impossible to activate Combat Instructions with the Airstrike or torpedo armaments selected.
• We've added tooltips to the conditions of combat missions to be completed to earn certain achievements.
• Fixed an issue that caused excessive CPU load when loading the game.
• Fixed the incorrect display of deep-water torpedo tech specs when a Commander's skills were in effect or when equipment was active in combat.
• Fixed an issue that caused X Manfred von Richthofen's catapults to be misaligned.
• Fixed the incorrect sigma parameter for Hull B of VIII North Carolina. Now, it's the same as for Hull A and amounts to 2.05 instead of 2.0.
• Reduced the cost of shells for VIII Cheshire from 275 to 250 Credits.