>>>Beta Feedback December 21'<<<

[Grayknight]

Early hulls are nice adition, it apears that there is small bug with 8inch secondery being able to fit in lowered on ironclad hull which is funny looking, obviously those hulls are very reminiscent of each others but still have some uniquness to them.

I really hope that Britan and/or Germans get next ones as those are most important nations at the moment (this sayed i assume that given update france will be added soon). 

Over all i feel like CL and CAs that would give more freedom are very much needed now.

[Adm.Hawklyn]

Update.... Steam beta branch? Hello?

Perhaps you should work on updating everything at once so as to lessen possible confusion as some of us have dumped the Xolia launcher to save on disk space. Did I mention that the steam version had better performance for me than the Xolia launched one?

I have deduced that 1940s timeframe for custom battles seems to be bugged currently. Keeps giving me "design invalid, please select hull type [or proper main tower] when said hull type and tower is already there.

[Tycondero]

8 hours ago, akd said:

French Ironclad I-III are a bit odd as their rear tower and main turret placement positions allow for easy placement of super-firing main turrets at the back long before this was really "invented" as a technology.  The displayed anchor points for the rear tower are actually limited and preclude this if you use them, but holding CTRL you can place the rear tower forward to past the center of the ship.  While this is kind of "cool," and I do prefer more flexibility in placing towers and funnels, it breaks logical design progression as you then lose this ability with all the post-1890 pre-dreadnought battleship hulls that are supposed to be more "advanced" (and of course isn't allowed on the other nations' pre-dreadnought hulls).

That said, it is great to see some more early designs making their way into the game.

Easy fix would be to restrict the number of centreline turrets to 2 within the tech tree. I personally would have no issues with this configuration post-dreadnought (e.g. >1905), especially as these hulls should remain inferior on every other aspect compared to the post-dreadnought (true BB) hulls.

EDIT: I think these issues mostly come with the fact that we (players) are more flexible with placing parts. The AI will only use the predesignated positions and as a result will always place a secondary tower on the place that now contains your superfiring main turret. In this regard the player could thus be "cheating" over the AI. 

Either the hulls need to be adapted somewhat to restrict the placement of a superfiring main turret at these "unwanted" locations, or the tech tree should be adapted so that placing more than 2 centreline main guns is not really feasible before ~1905. Maybe people can techrush, but this would of course be detrimental for unlocking other parts/tech.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Tycondero

[Tycondero]

I know that this has not been the focus of the beta patch, but would it be possible to instruct the auto-designer/AI to not create these strange large barbette, small caliber gun combinations? I think in this case (British Dreadnought I hull) the problem might be that smaller barbettes, that would match well with secondary caliber guns, cannot be placed at the designated location (only medium and larger barbettes can). Therefore, the AI mismatches these perhaps??

BTW: there are a lot of hulls with smaller issues like this, but I do not know whether it is worhwhile to take the effort to report them. Perhaps the devs will do an internal quality control at some point?

[Darth Khyron]

I am only able to build "Barbette I" into any ship design since the Beta.

Also, anything less than a full fleet (aka at least one of every ship type) battles are not possible as of now in custom battle.

[T_the_ferret]

Some of the french battleships cannot mount some of the towers in any assigned tower slots. Also not sure if that's historically accurate but balance-wise the french battleship and ironclad can mount significantly more firepower at much wider and usable angles than other battleships of the period, making them have a distinct advantage over the other ships

[Grayknight]

I played a bit and must admit that

 

- with range finder in about 1896 on distance of about 2 km accuracy was what i would expect and it was fun, making bbs with no torpedo valid

- AI did well in combat and my lack of caution was punished by loose of 1 bb (out of 2)

- Hulls were fun to play with and very powerfull compered to other nations, mainly due to the fact that there were alot of placments that could be used without impering fire arc of main guns.

This sayed

- Those secondary placments have problem with mark 2-3 guns that have turret bigger then spot. Which means that unfortunetly they cannot house those with proper collision in place.

- Secondary tower couldent be placed in some places due to the colision with rafts, which felt like bug or cheap atempt at not leting player use superfireing position, either way i thinki it should be fixed

- If high caliber gun such as 10, 12, 15 inch shell hits TB i would suspect it should have atleast chance for instant destruction in ball of flames or breaking up in to two pices. This sayed i am not sure if shell this size would even initiate its fuse for explosion there fore i am simply puting this up that i think, there should be atleast chance for instant death for TB (200-400tones after all) to be destroyed in the same moment as shell impacts it.

And for sure TB would explode in to 2pices if this kind of shell hit it engine room. After all it has power full engine for that small mass and one could imagine what would heapen if all that steam got sudenly hit by 270mm shell

 

EDIT - also a placment bug on german bb hull

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2692137022

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2692137202

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Grayknight

[TheRealJostapo]

On Steam Beta build:

• Torpedo Evasion button.   Not sure how this is supposed to work, but my impression is "drive in wild circles"
  • If you give a division the Torpedo evasion order, it appears as though all but the leader will no longer respond to any further orders.   Units break formation and just wander aimlessly.
• Campaign
  • Still way too short. 
    • Research is pointless
    • Building is nearly pointless
    • Tested both above with stock file, and giving the AI 99 billion in funds, and 1000 reputation.
  • BB's don't appear to get anything but "you've been ambushed" missions.   At least from a player perspective.   Given you can play an entire campaign in 30 minutes, I've tested this 4 or 5 times.   The only missions my BB's got was "ambushed".
  • The vast majority of missions are CL on CL battles.   Boring and super easy given the current state of torpedos.
  • Transports no longer seem to be sunk.   Except in missions.
  • Many of the available hulls for most of the eras, are very difficult to build anything reasonably balanced (or overpowered for that matter)
    • There are very strange barbette limitations on many of the hulls.   
      • You have to place a medium/large barbette before you can place a small barbette for instance.
      • You can only place giant barbettes (which look silly) when there are lower tier models which are better in every way (and ought to work given caliber restrictions)
  • AI
    • To be blunt, the AI is 'chicken-shit'.   Even in fair fights (say a BC on a BC), a good hit, and the AI will go into 'hard-run' or 'max-oblique', leading to a boring "blast him in the bum with HE for 20 minutes"
      • A positive note, they will occasionally and suddenly shift out of 'flee' mode and into, 'eat some torpedos!' mode.   Keep this.   (usually they will then start running again)
  • Early era Campaigns are boring and frustrating.   Especially 1900.
    • Ships can't hit each other even when at 1km range.   Had one instance where a CA literally ran out of almost a thousand rounds trying to kill a single CL.   Debates about realism aside, this is terrible gameplay.   
    • Finding your enemy is annoying as hell and a GIANT waste of time.   The smoke spotted message events need to give a visual cue and indicate whether you are closing or separating   (so you don't have to run the game on 10x speed for 10 minutes only to realize you'll never catch the target).

 

[Phelidai]

Is it just me or does the AI build very... explode-y ships in the 1910 campaigns and onward? At least 70% of My Battleship or battlecruiser duels end after 5 minutes because the AI BB/BC has a flash fire or ammo detonation.

[Fishyfish]

Huh, what, where am I? When am I? (what am I? oh right) 

*sniff sniff* do I smell new pre-dreadnought hulls??!??!?

Boy oh boy, let's put down the booze filled eggnog and figure out how to activate this on steam and take a peek! Christmas came early and I didn't notice it!

[Fishyfish]

 

Aaahh, now, that's more like it. However, it seems a bunch of parts are broken or don't fit on any of these hulls. Most of the towers, guns conflict with each other and don't like specific angles. But none the less, top notch work on the new old hulls! Have a cookie, on me! Very nice, very nice indeed. 

[Nick Thomadis]

Beta build is going to be updated tomorrow, with new ships. Next week, if all is ok, we will release the final patch for everyone.

[akd]

4 hours ago, TheRealJostapo said:

BB's don't appear to get anything but "you've been ambushed" missions.   At least from a player perspective.   Given you can play an entire campaign in 30 minutes, I've tested this 4 or 5 times.   The only missions my BB's got was "ambushed".

Are you putting them on "Sea Control"? I've only had one of these missions and it was vs. AI BB.

[TheRealJostapo]

1 hour ago, akd said:

Are you putting them on "Sea Control"? I've only had one of these missions and it was vs. AI BB.

Yep.   In the 1930's Campaign, I prefer "Fast BBs" over BC's.   First thing I always do is put them on Sea Control.

[TheRealJostapo]

1 hour ago, TheRealJostapo said:

Yep.   In the 1930's Campaign, I prefer "Fast BBs" over BC's.   First thing I always do is put them on Sea Control.

Nick and all, my apologies.   The report regarding BB's not engaging may be untrue.

Normally I select "Design your own fleet" when setting up a campaign.   The first thing I do is build my BB's, set their port _and_ set them to Sea Control.   I'm not sure (haven't tested yet), but it's possible when building ships, they start "In Being" and ignore any Sea Control orders when they are built.   I'll confirm here.  (ie, don't waste any time on my BB's not getting missions report).

[DieHard_BR]

12 hours ago, Nick Thomadis said:

Beta build is going to be updated tomorrow, with new ships. Next week, if all is ok, we will release the final patch for everyone.

This is the time gap I was asking between the instances, so more or less two weeks

[Grayknight]

Enemy bbs will run from mine - i am not sure if that is beocuse mine have torpedo launcher or BBs will atempt to go for his optimal range, it is suiacidal when for my enemy as it is slower. Enemy  will do soo even with far higher waight of it broadsisde. I could put in to broadside use 8x12 while enemy had 10x14, so over all far bigger potential damage done.

I had 23 knots he had 19 knots. Instead of deadly battle which could be resolved in few ways it was long chase that gave him no chance of victory

 

Also AI BB and BC are of a preaty decent design

Edited December 25, 2021 by Grayknight

[Toby]

@Nick Thomadis do you have the beta patch notes for todays up[date?
also do we have any word yet on when the next nations will be added to the campaign as we really really neddf that to help test campaign fewatures

[Nick Thomadis]

Hello all and Merry Xmas!

Today it has been updated the beta with many new ships and various improvements. Unfortunately, there are some known critical bugs, that we did not manage to fix promptly. Please read below the updated changelog:

25/12/2021 Update
*==v1.01 Beta==*

*NEW HULLS*
- New *French “Ironclad Battleship I”* available from 1890 to 1906 with a displacement between 8,050 and 10,600 tons.
- New *French “Ironclad Battleship II”* available from 1890 to 1906 with a displacement between 8,250 and 10,900 tons.
- New *French “Ironclad Battleship III”* available from 1890 to 1906 with a displacement between 8,400 and 11,800 tons.
- New *French “Battleship I”* available from 1891 to 1906 with a displacement between 8,100 and 11,500 tons.
- New *French “Battleship II”* available from 1892 to 1906 with a displacement between 9,000 and 16,000 tons.
- New *French “Battleship III”* available from 1895 to 1906 with a displacement between 9,500 and 16,500 tons.
- New *French “Light Cruiser II”* available from 1892 to 1920 with a displacement between 3,500 and 4,500 tons.
- New *French “Light Cruiser III”* available from 1896 to 1920 with a displacement between 5,500 and 8,500 tons.
- New *French “Light Cruiser IV”* available from 1903 to 1920 with a displacement between 7,500 and 10,500 tons.
- New *French “Armored Cruiser I”* available from 1890 to 1920 with a displacement between 3,500 and 7,600 tons.
- New *French “Armored Cruiser II”* available from 1894 to 1920 with a displacement between 7,800 and 11,500 tons.
- New *French “Armored Cruiser III”* available from 1898 to 1920 with a displacement between 9,800 and 13,500 tons.
- Other ships WIP to be added.

*NEW GUNS*
- New French Mark 1/Mark 2 guns for calibers 2-inch up to 8-inch.
- New French Mark 1 guns for calibers 9-inch up to 13-inch.

*NEW FEATURES*
- *Design AI opponent ships in Custom Battles:* You can now design the ships of your opponents by switching the view between “You/Enemy”  in the Ship Design phase. As a result, you can now create your own battles with much more freedom.
- *New Key-Bind Options:* You may now change the key shortcuts for several control options of the game according to your own preferences.
- *New Friendly Fire System for guns:* WIP. Ships will stop firing at targets that are blocked by friendly ships in front of them and too close, risking being hit instead.
- *New Division Command “Avoid Torpedoes:* When you enable, the ships of your division -except the leader of the group- will actively avoid torpedoes automatically.

*NEW MISSIONS*
- Not yet available.

*CAMPAIGN*
- Improved campaign AI to balance its shipbuilding strategy. Previously the AI could order for building so many ships that when they were all completed could cause bankruptcy and eventual defeat because the AI could not handle them economically, scrapping them in the end with no real use.
- VP gained from sinking Transports is now properly shown in the Battle result window. Previously these points were shown only in the strategy map report and it was not clear their effect after a battle.WIP.
- The Mission generator will create big battles with more probability. 
- You can now unlock the 1940 initial year for the campaign.
- Other WIP.

*BATTLE AI*
- Improvements on AI aggressiveness/Responsiveness.
- Auto Targeting is more responsive.
- Significant AI auto-design improvement. The better, more effective ships will also affect the Battle AI positively.
- Other WIP.

*OTHER IMPROVEMENTS*
- Improved further the shell dispersion mechanics, especially at close range.
- Fine tuning of horsepower output for early tech engines.
- Increased cost of engines/armor for the design process, to a level that better reflects the value of the ship.
- Iron Plate armor has a new balance, simulating more effectively its historical effect.
- Other WIP.

*BUG FIXES*
-Fixed visual bug of gun hovering in Ship Design interface. It was caused when the game was wrongly paused when you switched on/off the Help with the “H” key.
- Fixed some reported issues on hulls.
- Other WIP.

Known critical issues

• The custom battle may not allow you to use a saved design (false "Invalid Design") if you exit the Design interface and re-enter for various known reasons.
• The Victory Point calculations are very buggy in battles that include TR. Especially when you sink TR in combat they can cause extreme victory points count and cause the end of a campaign.

[DieHard_BR]

Feliz Natal (Merry Xmas in Portuguese)

[Grayknight]

Ok so this will be long post

Bugs - There are bugs with new hulls 2 which i found

1st - collision and impossiblity of adding towers and other things in place in which they should easly fit

2nd - for some reason game decided that i did not add main towers to my designs which was there, it did not work on both CA and CL that i built. atempts at fixing with reading towers and restarting design did not work  After i restarted game i could and did build CL

3rd (not a bug but hey ) spread of torps from new CL is to narrow

Bug with UI -

When i added DD to my fleet in campaign something strange heapened (please check steam link for screanshot i cannot explain this) It fixed itself when i went to designer and back.

Possible bug - this one i am not sure but i think that one of my CL launched torps on enemy ignoring path of my CL. This on i am not sure if is not my mistake (not checking for my own torps) but i do not think soo.

and flash fires... this ship on one of those picurest took cake when it comes to flash fire chain reaction.

Also i am posting pictures of some bad things with german 1920 dd hull. Also please note that 3inch gun that is biggest gun you can put on small barbett for destroyer is to small to be operated on sayed barbett

Steam screanshots: plese not that i cannot place steam screansht via url here for some reason

 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693788960

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693789225

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693789517

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693790119

(Campaign bug picture)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693790895

 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693791139

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693791512

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693791794

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693792105

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693792322

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693792987

 

Mentioned before torpedo attack

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693794216

 

and flash fires

 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693794438

more flash fires

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693794657

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693794987

and more flasfires (still the same ship)

 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693795317

 

and finally fireworks are over. Why is it alive? Why this still floats? How? French werent known for making strudiest ships

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693795522

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693795771

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2693796023

It suffered about 20 flash fires including those of 7 inch turrets. 66% of people on it are alive! this is miracle!

 

 

Over all i will say when it comes to french in early years they are very fun. Their ships can be very very very powerfull especially CA with alot of torpedo underwater placment. In fact i would say that those CAs are the most powerfull ships when it comes to ships that are not bb in this time span.

If france would be added to campaign that lasts more then a year for sure they would be my 1st choice thanks to those ships. They are after all really nice looking and fun to play around if a bit overpowered (mainly due to the simple fact that no other nations have anything that come close to those hulls)

AI still needs a bit of work when it comes to capital ships battles. This sayed battles i had beside bb vs bc or bb vs bb AI proven to be a capable oponent.

1890 and 1900 combat with basic rangefinders in close distance is far faster and alot of fun.

[T_the_ferret]

Wait... the dreadnought, heavy cruiser and light cruiser are the same hulls? And they can all mount the most amount of firepower at most angles of all ships? 

Edited December 25, 2021 by T_the_ferret

[TAKTCOM]

The new French look great. However, they fell through in your typical "too little space". This beautiful 16k battleship cannot use turrets larger than 10 inches, there is simply no room for them on the ship bow.

The same problem on a different hull, but at the stern.

It's like Borodino (rus pre-BB II), over and over again. By the way, you never fix it. 

Edited December 25, 2021 by TAKTCOM
WAR FOR IMPROVEMENT

[akd]

2 hours ago, TAKTCOM said:

The new French look great. However, they fell through in your typical "too little space". This beautiful 16k battleship cannot use turrets larger than 10 inches, there is simply no room for them on the ship bow.

It works on the front with the Mark I guns up to 13-inch, but of course that doesn't help with the weird academy mish-mash missions that make you use later mark turrets. 

The later mark 12-13" turrets (at least the Mark IIs) will fit on the back, but you have to hold CTRL to place them further back than the default mounting points. Part of the issue here is that many of the French pre-dreadnought towers includes davits with boats behind them that you are forced to fit onto the front of the hull severely limiting your ability to gain more deck space up front with smaller towers (and also obligating you to either place a funnel immediately behind the tower or leave a weird empty deck patch). 

@Nick Thomadis could the boats on davits included with Tower I-III automatically be removed if we place the tower back past a point where they will fit, the same way that boats on the hull are automatically removed when an object added to the hull would interfere with them? 

 

Edited December 25, 2021 by akd

[RedParadize]

I agree with @TAKTCOM here. These hull are very nice, but have placement issues. They also are a tad too unselective to my taste. I find IronClad III and Battleship I to be superior to the later hull for that reason. Example:

Arguably, triple turret might not be of the era. But I suspect that in campaign the number of turret will be limited by tech.

@Nick Thomadis Would be great to have these hull available in campaign, on both German and British side. At least until we get every nation. Nation flavor is great, but its very limiting given how many hulls we have.

Edit, some tower add smoke interference instead of reducing it. Like Improved sec tower I & II

Edited December 25, 2021 by RedParadize