Ahoy Pathfinders!
To get started, let’s discuss the launch, the boatload of updates we’ve had so far, as well as our initial development battleplan!
Launch and Patch Notes
For those that want to skip to starter, and jump right into the entrée, here’s a link to the latest changelog:
You could say that we were off to a stormy start! The initial influx of players wanting to set sail immediately was (predictably in hindsight) larger than we anticipated and our systems got crushed until we tuned the new technical systems to handle it. We have been incredibly humbled and excited by the number of seafaring Pathfinders wanting to dive into the ATLAS. Since the launch, the team has heavily prioritised connection and capacity resolutions, server and client-side performance updates, server and client-side crash fixes as well as tackling general gameplay bugs and balance concerns.
We’re going to continue to iterate at a very rapid rate, you can generally expect daily deployments and updates to both servers and clients, and sometimes even multiple if we feel like a change is significant enough to warrant it. We truly appreciate everyone’s patience and support during this launch period and we intend to show our gratitude through frequent updates that resolve the issues which matter to you and improve ATLAS in both the near-term and over the long term.
ATLAS is a very ambitious project and we recognize that there is much work to be done as it begins its Early Access journey, but as we said before, we’re hardened adventurers and we’re looking forward to the fun and challenges that we’ll experience alongside you!
We want to make it very clear to you that these rapid updates and the continuous upwards progression will continue with ATLAS. We have deployed a new server version to our Official Network (v7.104) which has resolved many server crashes and is already showing significant improvement in server stability; however, there is still more to come! Our number one priority at the moment is tackling the stability, connection, and data issues, and we will make significant progress over the coming days ahead.
The full list of the changelog for our upcoming update which focused on balance and stability, as well as the changelog for our update last night which dealt with a lot of gameplay bugs and stability.
Released 7.4 Notes
- Server-side crash fixes and stability improvements
- Army of the Damned Ships will no longer initially aggro to drydocked or anchored ships, unless fired upon by them or already targeting them.
- Reduced Army of the Damned ships spawn rate by 60%
- Reduced Army of the Damned ship HP per level scaling by 20%
- Reduced Army of the Damned ship Aggro range by 10%
- Boosted Army of the Damned ship loot quality by 10%
- Reduced Flotsam spawn rate by 35%
- Increased Treasure map item quality by 15%
- Eliminated at-sea increased rate of vitamin/vitals consumption. Now it just causes food to spoil faster, and temperatures to drop.
- Increased vitamin equilibrium range to +/- 20% rather than 10% (making it easier to achieve and stay in equilibrium)
- Decreased vitamin deficiency debuff threshold to 10% rather than 20%
- Reduced base rate of vitamin consumption by 2%
- Ensured army of the damned ships spawn farther away from shore, and don't spawn too near player ships
- Fixed Diving Platform to take any oils, not just blubber
- Changed Lighthouse HP to 25k, gave it stone structure settings, and allow it to burn oil
- Updated Vulture AI to only target sleeping humans if the player is connected.
- Army of the Damned Ships will no longer initially aggro to drydocked or anchored ships, unless fired upon by them or already targeting them.
- Added one more Skill Point earned by all level-ups above 10 (recommend players Respec)
Released v7 Patches Notes
- Added a new event cosmetic, 'Top Hat'. Permanent skin with 10 applicable uses. Can be purchased from Cosmetic Vendors in Freeports or Travelling Merchants. From the 27th of December, through til the 2nd of January, wearing this hat whilst digging up treasure will result in double the gold.
- Improved server performance by adjusting server water thread utilization
- Changed declaim period (stealing enemy territory) to 30 minutes from 1.5 hours (requires they have no alive crew or players in the vicinity)
- Removed requirement to be on a boat to steal someone's boat after placing the claim flag. Adjusted base value times to claim the boats to be 1 one minute to steal a dinghy, 2hrs~ to steal a raft, a couple hours to steal sloop, and so forth (levelling a ship increases the time it takes to steal that ship).
- Rebalanced Skill Point requirements as originally intended, where higher tier skills cost more SP. Forced a one-time 'free' respec to use these new values.
- "Low Memory" Launch Option for more reliable <= 8GB OS support. Launch the game with '-lowmemorymode' to utilize this!
- Ship collision damage is now disabled on Freeport servers.
- Alpha creature spawns are now disabled on Freeport and Lawless Servers.
- Item yield and Gold yield from Treasure have been doubled
- Significantly reduced Torch and Fire Arrow Damage
- Fixed a bug which prevented resources from respawning. Please note when this update goes live, it may be a few hours until they naturally start appearing again.
- Increased the damage from Dragon Fire AOE and set it to an 8-hour tame time with the token
- Equilibrium Buff now gives +20% XP, -20% reduced incoming damage, +30 temperature fortitude, +10% movement speed, +20% melee damage, and takes 30 minutes to achieve rather than an hour.
- Fixed a bug which prevented Bottles and Flotsams from spawning
- Fixed a bug ocean and deep ocean spawners, including Mermaids, Whales, Ship of the Damned, and Squids.
- NPC crew that are recruited in Freeport are now correctly assigned to your team.
- Fixed Shovels and Heavy Shields so they no longer damage stone structures
- All freeports now have pirate music in town
- Scuttling is now tied to the demolishing tribe governance setting and Prevent Demolishing Structures in Group Management Settings
- Group ranks now enabled on seating structures, so you're able to have better control of who is able to use those (Steering Wheel and Lt Podium)
- PvE Claim Flag contesting now displays the enemy Claim Flag's upkeep time remaining before you can contest it, and provides a proper HUD message to that effect.
Stay tuned for more updates to come in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. This game is going to be huge, and we’ve got a lot in store for you!
Captain’s Quarters
Hello all, apologies for the challenging launch here! Between the intensity of preparing for the release of a massively multiplayer title, and the needs to get all of the new infrastructure prepared to roll-out, we let the schedule and initial launch builds get away from us. Hunkered down in our development bunker 24/7 subsisting on Red Bulls and stale pizza, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture, which ought to start and end with communication to the players. Despite it all, I’m so happy that so many of you see the potential in what ATLAS is, and are enjoying the immense scale of sandbox freedom that can readily be had in the game. As we churn through issues and continue to build out the game in the days, weeks, and months ahead, I’m looking forward to seeing what’s just over the horizon for the game and its growing community. As a great poet of the sea once wrote: “All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.”
On a side note: the ATLAS Dev Kit & Steam Workshop! We haven’t forgotten about it, and the hooks for it are all ready to build the large-scale wargame of your dreams. We need Epic’s help to release it in early January, and tentatively intend for it to release by January 7, if not sooner. We will post further news as we get it ready to ship out then. In the meantime, you can experiment if you have server administrator rights with the following commands to mess around with some Dev Kit example vehicles:
Airplane: cheat ssf “zephyr”
Tank: cheat ssf “tank”
Steampunk Airship: cheat ssf “steam”
Have fun, just be sure you have enough runway to take off in that plane, else you might find yourself in the drink!
-Jeremy
Work Like a Captain, Party Like a… Lord?
Ye be cordially invited to join th’ crew at the Captain’s table to celebrate the New Year in style! Startin' from today with this update, the' 26th o' December, runnin' right through the New Year 'til th' 2nd o' January, Pathfinders can get involved in the' festive celebrations by pickin' up a Top Hat at thar nearest cosmetic vendor, located in all Freeports or at a Travellin’ Merchant!
All Pathfinders wearin' a top hat whilst diggin' up booty protected by the damned will be granted double the normal reward in gold! This bonus holiday effect be applied upon the distribution o' th' loot, so regardless o' whoever digs up th' booty, be it ye or a scallywag, as long as ye're wearin' th' hat ye'll get th' bonus between the 26th t’ tha 2nd.
Th' Top Hat Skins will remain in game forever, however, they will 'ave a limited number of skin applications 'n th' bonus effect will only last 'til th' 2nd o' January!
We know this isn’t the biggest Holiday Event to launch with, given our focus on shoring up our planks from the launch period. Rest assured we have far more ambitious limited-run events planned for the future!
Dynamic ATLAS Maps Roundup
Congratulations to the following companies for topping the leaderboards of our Dynamic Maps! The ATLAS Dynamic Maps is a system that monitors live in-game territory ownership and indicates which companies dominate over the lands. Soon, the Companies that have occupied Islands for a certain period of time will gain the automatic privilege to name them on the in-game and web maps, as it is their land! So each week with our Captain’s Log, we’ll be including an image to monitor the progress of the maps, taking note of any exits or new arrivals and any drastic changes in the overall claim. As this is just the first week of the ATLAS, we expect the Dynamic Maps to show a very turbulent representation as Companies expand their territories and go to war. Who will come to dominate the ATLAS may very well become clear in the days and weeks ahead, though maintaining a large Empire will likely come with its own longer-term challenges...
Remember you can don your tribe’s company flag by stylizing it in the game with a paintbrush! Upload your own images or design it how you like, with the top company flags always being visible on https://map.playatlas.com/
[EU PVP] The Whale’s Wrath
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1604810709
Arrivals: XSM???, Cobra, Le Saint Empire, French & Ships, The Holy Annwn Empire, Bad Company, Blackwater Company, BLDX DOUYU56876, Chem B, and Marlong
Departures: N/A
Notable changes: N/A
[NA PVP] The Kraken’s Maw
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1604811014
Arrivals: Dynasty, MAGA, INFINITE, Darkblade Army, The Goodship Misery, High Seas Booty Bandits, Radium, Order of Freedom, Libertalia, and Black Sails.
Departures: N/A
Notable changes: N/A
And whilst there isn’t active PvP on PVE servers, we’d like to recognize the following tribes for their claims!
[EU PVE] The Siren’s Call
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1604810802
Arrivals: Compagnie des Indes, M.E.R.C Spirit, Forlorn Hope, Unlucky, Paragon, I L O, UseR, Tacorsair, Starroad, and System of the Wipe.
Depatures: N/A
[NA PVE] The Hydra’s Den
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1604810428
Arrivals: Biz Enton Company, Plunderers, Test Squadron, Scales & Sails, The Salty Seamen, Dead Men Floating, Bad Neighbors, The Exiles, Chronically Raving Co., and Pirates of Gore.
Departures: N/A
Show ‘n Tell!
Hear ye, hear ye!
We be seekin’ fer the finest of ATLAS community creations! Show us yer mighty fleets, paint pieces, flags & sails, impenetrable forts, hellish tats, scenic screenshots, 'n entertainin' videos! Each week, we'll be runnin' a contest where we'll select th' best o' th' bunch 'n award tha winners wit' a cash prize! The first contest starts today 'n the winners will be announced in the next Captain's Log!
Here are some examples so you have an idea of what we’re looking for!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1599330758
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1598938195
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1599761403
We'd really love to see some epic boats and fortresses! Entries can be posted in the Creative Section the forums or the ATLAS' Steam Artwork Page! We’ll be on the lookout for your posts :)
https://www.playatlas.com/index.php?/forums/forum/42-creative/
🏴☠️For the latest dispatch on #playATLAS keep yer one good eye trained on this here information
Hoist ye sails to our Homepage: https://www.playatlas.com/
Natter n' chatter on Discord: https://discord.gg/playatlas
Navigate ye olde Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/playatlas
Hear ye, hear ye on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sailtheatlas
Watch us scallywags on Twitch: http://twitch.tv/sailtheatlas
Plus ye can band with us Pirates on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playatlasgame
Stay tuned for next Monday’s Log for a peak at some of the new things which await you on the ATLAS in January and beyond!
See you there Pathfinders,
Jat, Jeremy, and Jesse