Version 1.0.6 is out, bringing new modules, balance adjustments, and quality of life improvements.




Light and medium cannons sticking out of the side of ships. They have no placement restrictions but a narrow fire arc.




Available in top and bottom versions, these turrets have some of the flexibility of the larger dorsal and ventral turrets but can be placed in a staggered line.




A cheap, low-tech weapon that offers better range than muskets or grenades.




How about a bomb that goes up? That's what an aerial charge is.




A new high-tech plane based on the historical Fairey Swordfish. Torpedo planes take off and release a single aerial torpedo before returning to base to re-arm.



The tech tree has been expanded with three new techs:



Aerodynamics, which now unlocks Biplanes and more accurate bombs.



Sponsons, a Tier 2 tech that gives you sponsons.



Torpedo Planes, which is a high-level tech that gives you Torpedo Bombers.



To support the new modules, there are both updated and new sets of AI ship designs, some created by me, some contributed by players.



In terms of balance adjustments, many types of armour are now significantly lighter and cheaper, making them more viable options. Planes and Aerial Hussars have also been strengthened significantly. Large Suspendium Chambers and Heavy Turrets now require less free space around them. A full list of changes is available below.

I've also re-worked the game physics a bit, which means that airships now fly in more of a straight line and landships are faster.

The ship editor GUI no longer lists flipped versions of modules and decals seperately. Instead, there's now horizontal and vertical flipping buttons in the list, which makes the list more compact.



Finally, there is now an option to turn off the cooldown between commands issued for ships, letting you micro the movement, priorities, and targeting of your ships as fast as your hands can manage. Available both in individual combats and in conquest mode.



Enjoy!


Normal Difficulty Level

Capital City Income 70 -> 80
AI Attack Interval 25s -> 32s

Hard Difficulty LEvel

Player Extra Money for Ships and Defences 300 -> 600
Final Player Extra Money after Placing Ships and Defences 500 -> 200
Extra AI Starting Techs 3 -> 2
Guaranteed Player Starting Ship No -> Yes

Wooden Armour

HP 40 -> 50
Weight 3 -> 2

Reinforced Wooden Armour

Weight 18 -> 15

Steel Armour

Cost 8 -> 6
HP 40 -> 50
Weight 16 -> 10

Heavy Steel Armour

Cost 14 -> 10
Weight 30 -> 20

Brick Wall

Cost 1 -> 0

Heavy Stone Wall

Cost 8 -> 6
HP 120 -> 100

Aerial Hussar

Weapon Reload 2s -> 1.8s
HP 15 -> 20

Triplane

Piercing Damage 6 -> 9
HP 19 -> 23

Bomber

Weapon Reload 2.2s -> 1.3s
HP 30 -> 36

Biplane

Piercing Damage 4 -> 6
HP 14 -> 18

Air Dragoon

Speed 25km/h -> 50km/h
HP 7 -> 8

Aerial Torpedo

Blast Splash Radius 5m -> 7m

Bomb Bay

Max Accurate Range 271m -> 195m (386m with Aerodynamics)

Deck Gun

HP 50 -> 40
Max Accurate Range 480m -> 675m

Dorsal and Ventral Turrets

HP 180 -> 240
Piercing Damage 70 -> 80

Flak Cannon

Blast Damage 8 -> 14

Gatling Gun

Crew Required 1 -> 2
Shoot Troops/Planes Range 36m -> 57m
Clip 50 -> 35
Clip Reload Time 3s -> 2.5s
Max Accurate Range 271m -> 226m

Grapeshot Cannon

Piercing Damage 10 -> 9
Number of Shots Fired 12 -> 14

Heavy Turret

HP 500 -> 650
Cost 450 -> 500
Reload 4s -> 3s
Fire Arc 70deg -> 100deg

Musket

Reload 1.5s -> 1s
Max Accurate Range 338m -> 226m
Piercing Damage 9 -> 8

Slopes and Blocks

Cost / Block (approximate) 8 -> 4
Weight / Block (approximate) 10 -> 4
HP / Block (approximate) 40 -> 30

Suspendium Cannon

Max Accurate Range 13km -> 3km
Piercing Damage 70 -> 90

Beta updates:

• Fixed rendering of some flipped decals.
  
• Adjusted air and ground friction, ram damage.
  
• New brigand ship designs by user Meowskyi.
  
• Updated AI design sets by users StuChris and Orang.

OK, I think we're basically there! Going to merge this into the main version of the game tomorrow unless something comes up.

Next beta! These change lists are becoming shorter, which means we're homing in on being able to merge the beta into the main game.

• Improved leg and track physics.
  
• New AI ship design set by user Orang.
  
• Fixed module search duplicates.
  
• In the editor, can now right-click on modules when in select mode to pick them up.

Do urgently let me know if you still find any strange behaviour with ship/landship movement!

• Ballista: Reload 3s -> 2.5 s
  
• Light sponson: Inaccuracy 0.0018 -> 0.0016, Fire Arc 40 deg -> 45 deg
  
• Sponson: Inaccuracy 0.002 -> 0.0016
  
• Fixed some torpedo bomber aim logic.
  
• Air resistance and leg springiness are now calculated differently. Hopefully in a better way. Let me know about weirdnesses.
  
• Unarmed ships no longer try to go for clever positions just neatly outside the enemy's fire arcs but super-close to the enemy.
  
• Your final city can no longer be lost to revolt.
  
• Fixed weird graphics glitch in simple graphics mode where Stone Guardian shots were causing the entire sprite sheet to be drawn.
  
• Ships that are at exactly ground level during combat no longer cause autosave crashes to happen later.

As always, you can access the current beta by right-clicking on the game in your Steam library, choosing "Properties", going into the "Betas" tab and choosing "Beta -" from the drop-down.

New beta! We're getting there!

• Charges that give tech now only give one tech.
  
• Charges that give tech are now listed with the other charges that give bonuses rather than randomly stuck at the bottom of the list.
  
• Fixed issue with combat zoomed out way too much in multiplayer combat setup.
  
• First new ship set for AI based on steel and sponsons.
  
• Modules picked up with right-click are now flippable.
  
• Improved torpedo bomber targeting no longer gets confused by oddly-shaped ships.
  
• Armour buffed significantly, Torpedo Bomber made more expensive, Ballista more accurate and more damaging, Gatling more ammo-hungry.
  
• Landships are now 3x faster in combat and 1/4x as fast on the conquest map, bringing them in line with what their reported speed.

• Torpedo Bomber Cost $200 -> $300
  
• Ballista Aim 0.003 -> 0.002, Damage 22 -> 30, Shot Speed 0.5 -> 0.7, Cost $15 -> $20
  
• Gatling Gun Clip 50 -> 35, Clip Reload Time 4 seconds -> 2.5 seconds, shootTroopsRange 36m -> 57m
  
• Wooden Armour HP 40 -> 50, Weight 3 -> 2
  
• Heavy Wooden Armour Weight 18 -> 15
  
• Steel Armour Cost 8 -> 6, HP 45 -> 50, Weight 16 -> 10
  
• Heavy Steel Armour Cost 14 -> 10, Weight 30 -> 20
  
• Brick Wall Cost 1 -> 0, HP 30 -> 40
  
• Massive Stone Wall Cost 8 -> 6, HP 120 -> 100, blastDmgAbsorb 4 -> 6

This will probably be the last beta update before merging the beta into the main game. I still need to update the AI ship designs to use the new modules, which will take a few days.

• Modules and decals with flipped versions are now directly integrated into the editor list instead of being listed separately.
  
• Tech connectors are a bit prettier
  
• Bonuses from tech choices no longer apply in single combats.
  
• Stained glass windows display properly again
  
• Minor stat adjustments, giving turrets a wider fire arc and reducing the ammo consumption of light sponsons and aerial charges.

The second version of the beta is now available, with changes based on player feedback and new techs for the new modules.

Short version: Sponsons are improved. They're now specifically weak in HP and firing angle but good in DPS. Turrets are less heavy. Bombs are very inaccurate to start with but benefit from an upgrading tech.

And again, do give feedback. :)

Long version of all the changes:

+20% lift overall

Aerial Charges
HP 80 -> 60
shotSpeed 0.06 -> 0.1
maxUpRange 700
Inaccuracy 0.012 -> 0.08

Ballista
Inaccuracy 0.004 -> 0.003

Bomb Bay
Inaccuracy 0.065 -> 0.7 base and 0.35 with aerodynamics tech

Deck Gun
HP 50 -> 40
Inaccuracy 0.0028 -> 0.002

Dorsal Turret
HP 200 -> 240

Musket
Reload 1500 -> 1000
Inaccuracy 0.004 -> 0.006
penDmg 9 -> 8

Sponson
Now requires sponson tech.
HP 150 -> 110
Weight 140 -> 90
Cost 100 -> 80
Reload 3000 -> 2700
Inaccuracy 0.002 -> 0.0018

Suspendium cannon
Inaccuracy 0.0001 -> 0.0004
penDmg 75 -> 90

Torpedo Bomber Hangar
Now requires torpedo planes tech.

Added bottom versions of medium turrets.
Added light sponson. A bit wider firing arc, pretty good DPS for the price.
Added techs for sponsons, torpedo planes, aerodynamics.
Note that the AI ship designs don't use any of these techs yet!

• Fixed a network desync caused by renaming buildings.
  
• Fixed an ancient bug that would sometimes strand crew members to float in mid-air and produce corrupt save files.
  
• Fixed some other crashes caused by mods.
  
• In conquest, fleets that lose no longer instantly re-attack.
  
• All translations are now up to date.
  
• Crew transfer command works again.

I've put up a beta that adds a number of new modules and re-balances others. You can try it out by right-clicking on the game in your Steam library, choosing "Properties", then going into the "Betas" tab and picking "Beta" from the drop-down. Let me know what you think of the new modules and changes - do they make the game more interesting? Are they well-balanced?

• Ballista
  
• Front Turret and Back Turret
  
• Sponson
  
• Aerial Charge
  
• Torpedo Bomber

• Planes have more damage and HP
  
• Aerial dragoons are faster
  
• Gatling guns require more crew and are less accurate
  
• Heavy turrets are better
  
• Bombs are less accurate
  
• Lift curve has changed - harder to make high service ceilings, easier to make very low ones

The sponson and torpedo bomber modules will get their own techs. None of the stats on the new modules are final.

Oh, and one last thing - there's now a "no command cooldown" option, available in single-player and multiplayer, combat and conquest. For all your high APM micro needs.