Aug 10, 2019

ATLAS - Dollie

Ahoy Pathfinders!

Our Public Test Realm is now live with our latest update, ready to be explored! This Captain’s Log will cut straight to it and provide details on how to join the fun as well as what to expect in the coming weeks ahead!

Live Stream!

First things first, at the end of the month we’ll be doing an ATLAS Developer Livestream! We’ll be announcing a date as we get closer to the time, so keep an eye out. The stream will be hosted on multiple platforms and we’ll have much to share and discuss. Make sure you’re following our pages and tune in!

twitch.tv/sailtheatlas
mixer.com/playatlas
https://www.youtube.com/playatlas
https://steamcommunity.com/app/834910

We’ll also be collecting some questions from the community which we’ll be answering live. If you’ve got something on your mind, whether it’s about future development plans, upcoming content, decisions regarding features, submit your questions to this thread!

https://www.playatlas.com/index.php?/forums/topic/106488-livestream-qa/

Public Test Realm

With this initial round of PTR changes, we’ll be exploring:

- Alternative map layout (note: we've not yet determined whether this layout will make it to the current existing official servers)
- In-game voice chat
- Updated Waveworks (Ocean - including the waves, and performance changes for server and client)
- Sail Cosmetic (Available at Freeport Vendors)
- Hydra Revolver (Available at Freeport Vendors)
- Miscellaneous client and server-side performance improvements

The new content that has been revealed so far won’t make it into this iteration, but we plan to get it into another.

If you want to join in on the fun, check out some new islands, and help us put these changes to the test you’ll need to switch to the PTR branch (8gb download) which we’ll go through below.

How to join the PTR

For those who want to join in on the fun, the ATLAS Public Test Realm is available to all players by opting into the Steam Beta branch. You can join the PTR by following these steps:

1) Right click on the ATLAS game in your steam library and select "properties"
2) Select the "Beta" tab on the popup.
3) Locate publictestrealm in the drop down menu and select that.
4) Select close then launch ATLAS.

You may need to restart your Steam Clients to make sure you see the publictestrealm branch as a beta option.

We will be reopening our PTR Bug reporting channels on the Discord and here on the Forums to coincide with the launch of the PTR. Instructions on opting into the PTR Bug Report channel on the ATLAS Discord can be found in #discord_news.

Wild Pirate Encampments

We’re still working on the Encampments system, however, it needs a bit more time in the oven before it’s ready to be packaged and delivered to you. We’ll have further updates on this at a later time. For those not familiar with what the Pirate Encampments system is, you can read about it here:

https://www.playatlas.com/index.php?/atlas-news/news/captains-log-34-wild-pirate-encampments-non-dedicated-mode-and-more-r171/

Enforcement

Our Enforcement protocol has been expanded to include temporary bans. This means that enforcement will now include three tiers of action rather than two: Temp bans, Permabans, and HWID bans.

Whether your offence receives a temporary ban or not will be at the discretion of our Enforcement team. For the most part, temporary bans will likely be appropriate when enforcing against player misconduct, namely, chat related misconduct. Repeat offenders may receive longer bans, or in some cases, enforcement action will be escalated to permanent bans.

Moving forward, in regards to some players feeling that what they said in-game was not deserving of a permaban: We work with the overall community and within our own company guidelines to identify what disruptive behavior and misconduct are and what the consequences for those behaviors should be. If your disruptive behavior has resulted in a permaban, it was either deemed highly excessive and harmful or this is not the first time you have been informed that your actions were inappropriate and unwelcome on our network.

Please bear in mind that bans, both temporary and permanent, are seldom revoked. If you feel your ban was issued in error or seek clarification on the nature of your ban, bans can be appealed here: https://www.playatlas.com/index.php?/support-tickets/

v218.24 - Fixed a case where ships would enter a broken state where it visually appears to be unanchored, but you wouldn't have been able to move it. - Releasing a ship from a shipyard now has an activation timer - Fixed a bug which would cause players to throw items out of their inventory when rapidly pressing E to equip them - End of Magic Mythos event on Official Servers - Critical Save Changes to Non-ATLAS Dedi/Blackwood which fixes the following, but may require a save wipe: Players were randomly removed from their company Companies being deleted Being unable to spawn on beds Beds not appearing on the map Ships not appearing on the map Additional info on Blackwood/Non-ATLAS Dedi changes: v218.21 - Prevented the hotbar from outlining red with broken items when at the ship wheel - Fixed a bug which prevented melee attack with weapons whilst carried by Lion - Fixed a bug which caused players to lose most control of their characters after dying to exhaustion when shovelling (was previously solved by relogging) - Fixed a bug where buoys would not provide light and be desynced on the ocean at high waves - Fixed a bug which would not allow players to change the name of the ship if they hadn't previously given it a name (this only occurred when pressing accept without naming it, rather than cancel) - Fixed a bug where the reload mini game would not take effect when mounted on creatures - Multiple Misc Blackwood Level related fixes (floating foliage, ocean water transitions, holes). v218.21 - Fixed a crash which would occur when attempting to open a Dinghy's inventory - Fixed Advanced Able Mapmaker being unlocked by the wrong skill - Fixed Ship Max Level being erroneously counted by the Shipyard's current health rather than the total health. - Fixed dedicated servers not using passwords on Blackwood - Fixed a case when searching for Blackwood servers would cause only one to list at a time - Fixed a bug where corpses with inventories would not calculate their correct weight - Fixed a bug which wouldn't allow you to select the Home Server to change to on Unofficial Networks - You can now plant an assortment of seeds in Blackwood - Fixed multiple islands on Blackwood being marked as non-buildable - Fixed a bug where beds would sometimes not function on Blackwood - Fixed Shipwrecks spawning on the coast of islands in Blackwood - Fixed multiple foliage and terrain bugs with Blackwood - Moved the 'Exit to Main Menu' button to the bottom of the pause menu options v218.15 - Fixed a client-side crash (https://pastebin.com/U3QN7KyQ) - Blackwood content moved to optional DLC, for those who do not plan to play it and want to save the install size (10GB): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1129370/Blackwood__ATLAS_Expansion_Map/ - Added multiple treasure map locations per island for Single Player and Non-Dedicated Game Modes v218.14 - Client-side fix for Treasure Map crash v218.13 - Blackwood is available! An example command line for running a dedicated Blackwood server: start ShooterGameServer.exe Blackwood? -log -server -NoSeamlessServer exit - Character and inventory import/export for Single Player and Non-Dedicated Servers (optional for hosts) - Magic Mythos 2x is enabled on the Official Network: 2x Taming, XP, Harvest Rates and Gold! v211.32 - Further optimizations for structure replication in multiplayer networking v211.31 - Improved how servers replicate structures on ships leading to large performance gains, particularly in areas where there are many boats and many clients, such as docks and large fleet battles. - Magic Mythos has now ended on the Official Network v211.21 - Disabling the "Give Default Pathfinder Items" Option will now properly hide any cosmetic skins you've purchased or unlocked when you fast-travel/respawn (requires fast-travel/respawn to see the change if you toggle that option). - Fixed Kraken sweeping players off their ships when the ships are knocked back - Improved client performance when numerous players are nearby - Wheel Skins now work for singleplayer/host - Sunken Ship Treasure now shows you the Loot Quality at the water surface effect via floating text. - Added a new Quest: loot a 16 quality or higher sunken treasure to get the new Crab Wheel Skin - Added Shark Wheel Skin to the "Master Cartographer" Quest (get any more Discovery Zones to unlock it if you've already completed that quest) - Added Kraken Wheel Skin to the "Power of the Gods" Quest (Beat the Hard Kraken again to unlock it if you've already completed that quest) - Improved the weighting of Sunken Treasure by overall making higher quality treasure about 50% more likely to be generated, as well as boosting the max quality of sunken treasure by 15% - Magic Mythos 2x is enabled on the Official Network: 2x Taming, XP and Harvest Rates v211.15 - You can now password protected Non Dedicated Multiplayer Servers, some notes: If the session is password protected no direct joins will work unless the person has previously successfully inputted the password If they fail to enter the password, they'll have to restart the client before they can have another chance to join. You are unable to host a Private Match at the same time as a Password Protected Session at this time. - Fixed a case where players weren't able to respawn on beds in Non Dedicated Multiplayer after transition - Fixed a bug which would cause player arms to disappear after mounting the submarine v211.0 - Non Dedicated Mode is now available v210.2 - Settlement owners can no longer raze claims on PvE. - Settlement Owners can place down multiple banks on their island, so settlers can supply it to help upkeep with gold - Settlement Owners now have the option, on Claim Flags, to prevent anyone but Company Admins from removing items from a tax bank v210.13 - Magic Mythos 2x is enabled on the Official Network: 2x Taming, XP and Harvest Rates - Settlement Owners can now raze a settlement after first claiming it. This will destroy all structures on the island. The cost to raze will be 12k gold on PvP servers and 25k gold on PvE servers. Settlement Owners will need to wait 48 hours to be able to raze an island after claiming it. The raze option will then be available for a 24-hour window only. This option is only functional during peacetime on PvP networks.

Happy Sailing,

Grapeshot Games

For the latest dispatch on #playATLAS keep yer one good eye trained on this here information

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

Jul 26, 2019

Blackwood - A New Twisted Adventure!

ATLAS - Jatheish

It's here! Blackwood is now Live and ready for intrepid pathfinders to jump into!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzdLqsTVa58
Today’s free DLC update for the ATLAS delivers the long-awaited map Blackwood! Prepare for a dark twist on the Equatorial biome with dark jungles, caves, alcoves, villages, homes, farms, and an interesting array of animals. Wade through thick green waters teeming with dangerous creatures, rare plant life, and the occasional Gorgon to find buried treasure, sunken ships, explore the Mermaid City and experience a new spin on fighting the Hydra and Dragon with transient spawn locations.

The Blackwood map was created by Iso, the level designer behind ARK: Survival Evolved’s popular mod-map Crystal Isles. Blackwood was designed to be used for single servers an example of a stunning mod map that can be hosted unofficially. This specific map will be set up so that it still enables all the mechanics that ATLAS has to offer, whilst hosting it as a standalone server with no database setup required! Blackwood will support the importing and exporting of characters and their inventories (an optional setting for the host), so you can keep your progress and dive right in to explore this beautiful map!

Blackwood is free for anyone who already owns ATLAS. It is available for play in Singleplayer mode, Non-Dedicated Server mode, and on Unofficial Servers that opt to host the map.

Note: Due to an unknown time restriction Valve has put in place in regards to DLC uploads, Blackwood will unfortunately not be an optional download for this weekend only. We'll rectify this come Monday.

Blackwood includes:

The full ATLAS experience (including all your favorite features and mechanics) merged into a single 1x1 server grid.
7 unique biomes across 11 islands, from hazy bogs teeming with life to mysterious jungles full of danger and toil.
Resource-rich islands complete with every material from the core game.
New cities and outlying areas ideal for roleplaying and server events.
A beautiful mermaid city ripe for exploration.
A new boss arena featuring unpredictable enemy types and spawn locations.
The Forbidden Reach: a hard mode island featuring elemental beings.
Other iconic ATLAS content, such as Army of the Damned mobs, all 9 Power Stone locations, the Fountain of Youth, your favorite tameable creatures, and much more...

We'll also be releasing an update later this weekend to the ATLAS DevKit, which will contain the source files for Blackwood as an example of a single mod map!

Haven’t yet ventured onto the high seas? ATLAS is currently on sale for 67% off on Steam July 26 - August 2!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/834910/ATLAS/

Happy Sailing,

Grapeshot Games

🏴‍☠️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

Jul 12, 2019

Captain's Log #34: Wild Pirate Encampments, Non Dedicated Mode, and More!

ATLAS - Jatheish

Ahoy Pathfinders!

In this Captain’s Log, we aim to give you an update on some new and exciting features that will be making their way to the ATLAS, as well as a brief status update on the next Mega Update.

Before we begin, we’d like to give each and every one of you a huge thanks for the support you’ve shown ATLAS. Over the course of ATLAS’ development, our recent review scores on Steam have jumped considerably. We just wanted to express our thanks and show our gratitude for your support. We know that our work is far from over and that ATLAS still has a long journey ahead. There are many more changes we plan to make and features we would like to introduce. Keep your eye on the horizon, there is much to look forward to, some coming sooner than you might expect ;)!

Mega Update 3

It’s been a while since we’ve spoken about our next Mega Update 3. There have been questions about the release date, and how it’s progressing. The update is still coming together, our team of developers is actively working on getting it ready to release. When we’ve got something to share about the launch date, additional features, it’s availability on the PTR, we will let you know.

Though, we won’t leave you guys empty handed! Here’s an update on our Hydra Six-Shooter Pistol! In an earlier log, we revealed it’s concept art, now we can actually show you what it looks like in game as it’s going through its implementation. This pistol, as the name indicates, allows for up to 6 shots before reloading -- though it is significantly weaker than the single-shot flintlock! So if your aim sucks, or you have multiple targets, this will be a great weapon of choice.

Wild Pirate Encampments!

We’re excited to reveal to you a new system we’ve been working on, which will be released for Single Player, Non-Dedicated Multiplayer (more on that later!), Unofficial Dedicated Servers (optional), and potentially expanded onto the Official Networks in the future.

This is how the new feature will function on Non-Dedicated Multiplayer and Single Player mode:

“Wild Pirate Encampments” (WPE) are collections of enemy NPC characters, defensive fleets, and fortifications which inhabit claimable islands. They have varying weapons (melee and ranged), defenses (various cannons/turret types), and live in pre-built forts. They’ll also have AI ships representing all 4 classes (Sloop through to Galleon) patrolling the shoreline of their islands. The placement of Encampments will be randomized along the islands, and they can also include inland encampments without ships. You’ll have to explore an island to discover all the encampments which inhabit it, and the number can vary based on the island size, with larger islands having bigger and more Encampments. Each region will also have a WPE Level visible to players, some being higher than others resulting in better loot but a more challenging task.

In order to claim an island, Pathfinders must destroy the WPE that currently live on it. This includes their patrolling ships and any enemy NPC within range of the Encampment center. Players will be able to use the Encampment claimflag to reveal nearby enemy NPCs. After claiming an Encampment, all Encampment structures transferred to the new settlement owner, and an Encampment Loot Box will be spawned. Once defeated, an Encampment will never respawn, and you cannot unclaim an Encampment. However, if the Encampment has not been fully defeated, it will reset to full strength if sufficient time has transpired without it being rendered.

Players will have the option to disable WPE entirely via the Host Settings UI, or scale the difficulty of Encampments (this will not affect the loot quality).

If you decide to enable WPE on an Unofficial Dedicated Server please note that:

Encampments will only spawn (and can respawn) on unsettled islands when no players/tames/structures are nearby at all, over a long period of time.
An island can only have Claim Flags placed on it when no Encampments are present on the island, indicated on the HUD when the system is enabled.

With the implementation of this togglable content, we’ll be nerfing the traversal capability of Gliders on Non-Dedicated Multiplayer and Single Player, with an option to use the original values in Non-Dedicated Multiplayer.

We’re excited to introduce this type of encounter to the ATLAS and we expect to have it ready in the very near future.

Non-Dedicated Multiplayer!

Following the positive response to Single Player and after evaluating the relatively small amount of technical bandwidth required to make this a possibility, we’re excited to announce that a new game mode will be making its way to players!

Non-Dedicated Multiplayer will facilitate playing as a client whilst also hosting the server at the same time. It will allow up to 8 players to play simultaneously on the server. Similarly to Single player, the host will be able to make use of the host settings UI to adjust server settings to your group’s needs, as well as additional enhancements in your .ini files.

We expect to have this game mode available next week (the week of July 14), and the “Wild Pirate Encampments” Beta towards the end of the month.

ISO: Blackwood

We are working on final touches and testing for ISO: Blackwood and we expect to have it ready to play later this month.

Explore the heart of the jungle or settle in rolling farmland. Silent eddies run before your boat as you make your way through the slick reeds of The Mire. Wade through thick green waters teeming with dangerous creatures, rare plant life, and the occasional Gorgon to find buried treasure and lost corpses. Approach the ancient serpent boss, Anacython, if you dare!

For those not familiar with Blackwood, this is not something we’ll be supporting specifically on our Official Network, as it was designed and intended to be used for single servers an example of a mod map that can be hosted unofficially. This specific map will be set up so that you can still enjoy all the mechanics that ATLAS has to offer, whilst hosting it as a standalone server with no database setup required!

Live Patches

Since the last Captain's Log, our live game updates have taken a look at some more long term issues we’d like to address with the game in addition to our general focus towards bugs, performance, and QOL.

We released an update which was shortly reverted with the aim of tackling sky high Claim Flags. Our initial attempt involved setting a maximum height for flags to be placed at, but we recognize this one-stop solution doesn’t work for all islands, so we’ll be looking at a more island-specific approach in the future. We understand why these locations are chosen for flags, and how they relate to some of the more frustrating mechanics involved in contesting claims for both attackers/defenders, which we also plan to improve in the future.

An additional patch focused on the implementation of Fast Decay on our Official Network in order to tackle the structure spam that is present on islands. We understand that this doesn’t resolve the root issue and it can be worked around, however, it’s an initial measure we wanted to put in place whilst we explore proper long term solutions.

With today's patch, we'll be deploying a measure to help new settlement owners clear out existing structures on their island. A frustrating part of the game, after claiming an island from someone else, is dealing with the remains of their structures, whether that's a large base, or where that's multiple pillars and foundations littered around the island. With the latest patch, new settlement owners will now have a 12-hour window to activate a one-time razing of an island. This will destroy all structures on that island, including their own. It can only be used during peacetime, and will notify everyone on that specific grid, as well as log into any companies that had wiped structures on that island.

And finally, crew changes! So, of course, you guys may remember our mention of the I.W.C.R.S, now dubbed the Silo - a structure which can store gold and berries and is capable of feeding and paying crew from anywhere on the island - a much needed QOL change!

Another crew focused change we made recently, was to sync up the costs of both stationed and idle crew. This was because we wanted to encourage players to keep their crew stationed when possible, and the primary reason for that is for performance. Stationed crew are a lot more cost efficient on our servers due to specialized logic. So it’s a win-win for everyone here!

Further changes involved allowing the stationed crew to repair boats, but that change was shortly reverted due to players requiring the choice of whether or not they wanted their crew to repair their boat. Having all crew capable of repairing meant resources were being used up a lot more rapidly than some intended due to natural boat decay, but changing it back to idle only, means players have a partial choice in determining how often those resources are being used up. It's clear this system could use some improvements, and it’ll likely be something that's touched on in the future.

We wanted to highlight that sometimes we’ll make changes and they may not pan out, but we’re not afraid to pull those back, give them some more time in the oven or tackle problems from a different point of view. We appreciate your feedback as always and will continue to iterate on solving these problems and more!

And now for the rest of the patch notes:

Current Version: v209.499 - Fast Decay has now been enabled for Settlement Owners - Fixed Reservoir and Waterpipes being from being falsely flagged by Fast Decay - Fixed some edge-case 3-5 structure builds from being falsely flagged by Fast Decay v209.497 - Fast Structure Decay has been enabled on our Official Network. This means that core foundation structures (floors, pillars, and fence supports), which are not snapped (connected) to more than 2 pieces or do not have a valid structure on top will have rapid decay which will result in their destruction after 12 hours of not being rendered in. Unofficials can enable this setting with the following command parameter: ?FastDecayUnsnappedCoreStructures=true - Reverted the change to Stationed Crew repairing anchored boats in order to control the amount of materials that are being consumed when a boat has been anchored. Idle crew will still repair boats. v209.491 - Magic Mythos bonus rates have been disabled - Fast Structure Decay has been disabled on our Official Network (needs more tweaks before we can set this live) v209.48 - Fixed a bug which would cause bears and horses from not basing on ships when they had storage carts attached to their harness (this would cause them to fall off ships when sailing) - Non Seamless Grid maps now save and load player/ship locations properly (notable on mod maps such as OceanTest) - Stationed crew can now repair anchored boats - Stationed Crew and Idle Crew now have the same gold cost requirements on land and on ships (Client will need to be updated to visualize this change, it's inc!) - Fast Structure Decay is now enabled on non-snapped core structures. This means that they will decay within 12 hours. v209.48 - Shipwrecks and their icons should now correctly vanish on the map after 5 days. We're still investigating legacy wrecks and however, they may clear with this change after 5 days, as company data is loaded - Fixed "leave Company" button in multiplayer v209.43 - Fixed a bug which would sometimes cause the Wall Hook to not remember whether a light source was active after loading a saved game - Fixed a bug where players would temporarily enter combat state upon transition v209.4 - Fixed a bug which prevented players from gaining experience at level 149 (Max is level 150) - Companies are now enabled and force-created on Single Player so players have access to their Company Log. If you had a pre-existing savefile, you will be able to create a company, however it will only pull in boats/structures/creatures for the grid you're currently on. We recommend creating your company on your most active grid. You can use the cheat command 'cheat givetome' to pull boats/structures/creatures into your new company - Added an Admin Command to Single Player: cheat DoLeaveTribe - Forest Colouring can now be crafted and applied to items - Renamed one of the Purple colours to 'Dark Violet' as there were two of the same name - Demolishing buoys will no longer leave the sign floating behind 209.36 - Fixed a bug which caused silos to pay crew that weren't on the same team v209.35 - Reverted the Claim Flag height limit on Official Servers v209.34 - When replacing invalid claim flags, you can now place them within the green ring of your original flag - Claim flag height limit has been increased to 6500 units above sea level v209.31 - Magic Mythos is enabled on our Official Network: 4x Harvesting, 4x Taming, 4x XP, 2x Gold, 2x Egg Hatching, 2x Baby Maturing, 2x Crop Growth, and 50% less mating interval! - Company Island Point Limit has been increased by 100 - Tax Banks can only be placed by Admins or above in companies. - Fixed certain level creatures not receiving experience points in Single Player - Fixed underwater trenches not loading properly in Single Player - Fixed a bug which caused Pistols to have a bullet loaded after being repaired from a broken state - Discovery Zones on the map can now be hidden using the Toggle Island Info button on the ATLAS map - Discovery on the map now temporarily disappear beyond a certain zoom distance on the map (zooming back in will have them reappear) - New configurable ini setting for Claim Flag height limit /script/shootergame.shootergamemode MaxSettlementFlagZ=4000 // you can set this number to 999999 to have no height restrictions. v209.1 - Added activate sail turning as a keybind (default: Left Shift) - Crew Members will now take food/gold from the following structures in this priority (it goes to the 2nd/3rd if the first does not have gold). Crew on Land: 1st priority: Resource Box and Food larder 2nd priority: Silo 3rd priority: Claim Flags Crew on Fully Anchored Boats: 1st priority: Silo 2nd priority: Claim Flags 3rd priority: Resource Box and Food larder - New placeable land structure 'Crew Resource Silo' which allows storage of food and gold to feed crew. Note this will also function on lawless servers, but to do so we've had to have them display island points on the map, however they still will not be able to be claimed. - New option on claim flag which allows turning off crew gold and food payment - Fixed an edge case which allowed you to fire cannons through walls - Fixed a bug where Crew were taking gold/food from a flag before they took it from a resource box/larder - Fixed a bug which prevented harvesting on creatures/using tools in Singleplayer - Fixed a bug which would sometimes cause the resource override to stop functioning, therefore provide players with a different resource than intended

Show ‘n Tell #9!

Check out our PlayATLAS announcement to see the results of our latest Show 'n Tell contest!

Happy Sailing,

Grapeshot Games

🏴‍☠️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

Jul 1, 2019

Captain's Log 33: Quality Of Life

ATLAS - Jatheish

Ahoy Pathfinders!

In the last Captain’s Log we revealed our plans to incorporate a Singleplayer game-mode; initially, we had hoped to release a beta-test by mid-July. Due to unforeseen circumstances… we’re ahead of schedule! The beta was released over the weekend, earlier than expected! (ikr)

Singleplayer Mode Beta

Singleplayer will be accessible via the in-game menu as of the latest major version. Unlike our previous betas, this is a game mode that doesn’t impact the multiplayer version, therefore, it was optimal to integrate it into the live game immediately. An added benefit of doing so is that you won’t need to maintain separate ATLAS folders or switch between the branches to access the Singleplayer beta and also play on the Official/Unofficial networks.

The game mode is still in a highly iterative beta state. You will encounter issues but rest assured it is still fully playable. We’ll be actively collecting your reports and feedback as well as patching issues throughout the coming weeks.

Now sink your scurvy sea dog teeth into Singleplayer and break all of the things so we can fix them ;)

Our commitment to multiplayer

Singleplayer mode has been a highly requested feature and we’re excited to provide an alternate option for those who find multiplayer less suitable to their wants within the ATLAS. That said, the majority of the work involved in getting singleplayer’s maiden voyage away smoothly takes place during the initial phase of setting up the game mode. Once she’s at sea, it will grow in tandem with the multiplayer experience with little extra bandwidth necessary.

Our team is fully dedicated to the multiplayer experience; it is and always will be our main priority. The team is constantly working on improving it, whether that’s through the introduction of new content, optimizing the game; covering both client-side and server-side performance, balance, QoL, and bug fixes. Plus, the work we’re doing with singleplayer will actually benefit the multiplayer game due to client-side optimization.

Live Game Patch: Quality of Life Changes

Over the past few weeks, along with our regular live game patches targeting bugs and balance, we have had some focus on quality of life changes.

As many players will have noticed, we’ve rolled out a few significant QoL updates recently. These have incorporated smaller changes such as increasing the slot capacity of storage items and allowing more varied resources to be stored in storage boxes along with more technical implementations, namely, allowing NPC crew to collect their gold payments and edible rations via the claim flag.

It’s no secret that achieving certain goals in ATLAS can be a considerable grind - and part of that adds to the feeling of reward and accomplishment. What we don’t want is tedium. We’d rather your playtime be spent sailing the high seas, completing quests, fighting each other if you are of the PvP persuasion, working on your fleets and bases - things you enjoy. With this in mind, we’re committed to rolling out more of these types of QoL changes throughout ATLAS’ development cycle.

This is a marathon rather than a sprint, some aspects will be quick and easy, whereas others will need more delicate and thought out solutions. We're confident we're up to speed on which aspects of the game you guys find particularly tedious. That said, please continue to let us know the type of QoL changes you’d like to see. Let’s work together to identify what’s important to you. We understand that this is a diverse community, each group holding a different perspective and all of your feedback is valuable to us and the game’s development.

Speaking of which, we’ll be adding a new structure which will allow you to feed and pay your crew, from anywhere on an island. This will be limited to 1 per company per island, whether you’re the settler, an island owner or inhabit a lawless island.

Patch Notes that have gone out since the last Captain's Log

Complete Patch Notes

Current Version: v208.21 - Fixed a bug which would cause players to be stuck when unmounting creatures - Cleared up the pinwheel text on Claim Flags, so they now indicate what it'll be changed to. v208.2 - Fixed invalid discovery points value on server v208.11 - Fixed a client side crash v208.1 - Single Player Beta Mode Note: Whilst not a formal system, Singleplayer users can play on any world json they want, by just replacing these files: \ShooterGame\ServerGrid.json \ShooterGame\ServerGrid\ (the map images) When doing so, please back up your SavedAtlasLocal folder, and then delete your save data using the in-game save delete button. - Claim Flags now have a toggleable setting in Settlements mode which allows Settlement owners to choose whether to pay and feed the NPC Crew for allies or everyone settled on the island. This will be displayed in the top-right hand corner HUD. A single + means ally crew will take gold/food from claim flags. ++ means everyone will take gold/food from the claim flag. A lack of + means that only the settlement owner's crew will be able to take good/food from claim flags. - Magic Mythos is now active for the weekend: 2x bonus rates for Harvesting, Taming, XP and Gold! - Future proofing landscape optimization (large patch) Just some further information on the update size, the reason it is so large is because a technical change went in place to improve the logic surrounding landscapes (not related to single player). Something we plan to improve more on in the future. This optimization will basically allow us to reduce the current install size of the game by, hopefully, ~33%. The way it works in technical terms is that all the landscape variants of the same shape will use one map, with material variants, rather than each having a redundant copy of the large maps themselves. This means we won't have to have all those additional copies, thus reducing the effective size of landscapes (which together comprise over 50% of the game's install size) v207.999 - Crew gold payment and food can now be done via your Company's claim flag. Crew that are on an island or on a fully anchored ship within Settlement range are eligible. Berries are the only food that can be used in the claim flag (there is a greatly extended spoil timer on berries in a claim flag for further QoL). Crew will still seek out payment and food from nearby food larders and payment boxes and if there are none nearby or they are empty, they will take from the claim flag. - Increased SoTD XP: Schooner approx 20% increase Brig approx 50% increase Galleon approx 100% increase v207.009 - Fixed Ghostship not appearing/disappearing - Increased step height for Elephants and Rhinos to 110 to allow to climb half wall steps, and helps with other obstacles both would realistically be able to step over - Golden Age AoD now drop less gold, have a larger respawn radius around players/tames and a longer respawn interval - Fixed cases where players would be dismounted from the swivel gun when firing on a ship v207.997 - A claim flag can longer be placed on a fully anchored ship during peacetime. - Grog: Damage bonus changed from +6% to -3%, duration changed from 600s to 300s - Rum: Now instead of giving 15 water, it removes 20 water - Target soft spots - Cooldown increased from 15s to 60s and torpor bonus reduced from 35% to 28% - Critical strike - Cooldown increased from 20s to 60s and damage bonus reduced from 2x to 1.65x - Target weakness - Duration increased from 10s to 24s - Reduced the following armor stat scales by 30%: Health Melee Damage Stamina Fortitude Intelligence v207.996 - AoD on GoldenAge now drop gold when killed. Scales with level. - AoD now have a non-weighted random spread up to level 120 on GoldenAge servers - AoD are now immune to anything except gun (non-puckle), melee damage and tame damage. - Fixed cannons shooting thru overhangs - Increased sword damage by 50% - Increased mace damage by 35% - Increased pike damage by 15% - Increased spear damage by 20% - Increased throwing knife damage by 20% - Increased gun effectiveness against creatures 12.5% - Reduced med kit self heal 20% - Reduced tiger and lion head hitbox bone damage multiplier to 1.5x - Increased minimum island points on PvE from 30 to 70 - Increased max island points on PvE from 150 to 250 - Increased max island points on PvP from 250 to 320 - Magic Mythos is now active for the weekend: 2x bonus rates for Harvesting, Taming, XP and Gold! v207.994 - Fixed multiple cases where players would become unbased (slide off ships) due to certain structures. v207.992 - Company Rank settings are no longer the default option on E for climbing ladders if you're an admin or owner of a company - Improved Ghostship appearance logic - Fixed a bug which allowed clients to complete a musical sheet without even having to play a track - Updated Equatorial tags and temps for Giraffe breeding, as it now spawns in the bog. - Hid and cleaned up text overlap issues with the Sextant/GPS when inside menus v207.991 - Fixed bolas releasing creatures prior to their timer ticking down entirely.

Meaningful communication and keeping an eye on the horizon

Following this post, we plan to make a shift to our routine in regards to Captain’s Logs. We’ll be opting for quality over frequency and making sure they are meaningful and offer insight into what we’re working on. This means we may decide to change our regular schedule of Captain’s Logs in favor of bringing news and updates which matter. We assure you, we’ll still be present reading, interacting, digesting and responding to your communications across Discord, the Forums, and social media. Keep that precious feedback and bug reporting coming!

There are big things in the works for the game and, unfortunately, they can’t be shared just yet. Rest assured that you can take things growing a little quieter as a sign of the calm before the exciting storm!

Finally, we’d like to extend a sincere expression of our gratitude to all of our community for your support as we ask you to batten down the hatches and keep a keen eye on the horizon for the bigger adventures to come!

Happy Sailing,
Grapeshot Games

For the latest dispatch on #playATLAS keep yer one good eye trained on this here information
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

Jun 20, 2019

Captain's Log 32: Blackwood Update and Singleplayer Mode!

ATLAS - Jatheish

Ahoy Pathfinders!

We have much to share! Let's get down to business, shall we?

Mega Update 3

Mega Update 3 is on the horizon and we’re excited to share some more teasers and information!

New Cosmetics: Sail Skins!

Unfurl new sails against the sky with new Sail Cosmetics. The new cosmetics for small and medium sails lend the appearance of a delicate Junk or Sampan rig with bamboo slats which harkens back to the Far East inspired sail design preceding Western square sails. Opt for the new large sail cosmetic to imbibe your ship with a commanding battle galley aesthetic and make it stand out as the flagship of your fleet!

New Islands!

More new, unique Islands will be landing on the ATLAS giving you more opportunities to own land, explore, and unlock new Discoveries.

New Creature: Sea Horse!

The elegant Sea Horse can be found in the deepest trenches of the ocean. It has a calm demeanor unless provoked which will anger this aquatic species, resulting in a deadly attack. They have two known methods of poisoning their foes, it can either be through the form of a venomous bite in close quarters or a toxic substance shot from their snout at medium range. The poison is said to be quite potent with strong penetrative abilities that have been reported to even pierce through armor and golden age infused metals used to build vessels.

While generally a solitary creature, it seeks out the assistance from its kin when in danger. A few daring adventurers have yearned to saddle this beautiful marine equine, however, due to its hostile nature when disturbed, it has been an impossible task.

Single Player Mode

We’re excited to say that we are currently working on a single player experience! This has been a common request from many of you and it is currently being prototyped by our team. We expect that we will have it ready to test on a beta branch in Mid July. This mode will be a true single-player mode; you won’t have to run a server in the background using up your precious memory! Every piece of content will be available, that includes the same massive world, with each and every island.

With single player, there always comes the question for whether we plan to allow users to play in a listen/local server mode. This isn’t something we’re working on at the moment, and pending on how the single player works out, it may be something we consider in the future.

ISO: Blackwood

The standalone map (and server) experience still needs a little more time in the oven, so prepare for a dark twist on the Equatorial biome with ISO: Blackwood coming Mid July!

Explore the heart of the jungle or settle in rolling farmland. Silent eddies run before your boat as you make your way through the slick reeds of The Mire. Wade through thick green waters teeming with dangerous creatures, rare plant life, and the occasional Gorgon to find buried treasure and lost corpses. Approach the ancient serpent boss, Anacython, if you dare!

Please note, this is not a map that will be supported on our Official Network, as it was designed to give players all the mechanics that ATLAS can offer hosted as a single server, without the use of a database.

Live Game Updates

Our patches can focus on various different things. They may be aimed to hotfix a bug introduced by new content, improve performance, resolving outstanding technical issues, and much more. This past week, the primary focus for our live updates was QOL improvements and balance changes. A lot of these changes were influenced by your suggestions and feedback, so keep it coming, Pathfinders! We understand you may feel something is too strong, too weak, or tedious - let us know, and we’ll do our best to improve the game experience. We truly appreciate all the support you’ve shown the game and will continue to work on improving it.

Current Version: v207.991 - Fixed bolas releasing creatures prior to their timer ticking down entirely. v207.99 - Fixed a bug which prevented tames and crew on ships from not having their claim timer refreshed on PvE. To refresh their timers, you will need to board the boats they're on. - Fixed a bug which would result in the XP Curse lasting permanently (retroactive) - Fixed a bug which prevented firing cannons which were placed on the top deck above gunports - Beds can only be used to spawn on after their initial respawn cooldown has cleared v207.981 - Inactive PvP boats will now automatically destroy after 4 weeks of inactivity - Enabled auto-destruction for decayed structures on Official Servers. - Sunken ships will always destroy after 5 days on Official Servers. This will clear the icon from your maps too, as long the area where the boats were sunk have been revisited. - Gunports can now be opened again without cannons (i.e you can now fish out of them again) - Fixed some invalid cannon placements / shooting edge cases. - Open gunports will obstruct firing from any cannons that are not explicitly linked to them, either by dismounting the shooter or blocking the projectile. - Fixed a Sail placement exploit. - New game.ini mode for Sunken Ships /script/shootergame.shootergamemode DestroyDeadShipsIntervalTime=0 // Defaults to 0, meaning sunk ships would last forever and set to 2592000 for officials. v207.972 - Fixed an issue where NPCs on a Galleon's front NPCs would not replicate, due to the Captain being all the way in the back. This would have previously shown Missing NPCs, even if they were stationed. v207.971 - Updated localization for German, French, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Swedish. - Gunports will no longer open if they do not have a cannon snapped to it - Cannons using gunport-snaps now check for near-by freely-snapped cannons before snapping, in order to prevent multiple cannons shooting from one gunport. - Fixed the Global Ship Limit counting Sunken Ships v207.95 - Increase torpedo ammo weight to 12 - Increase the torpedo launcher weight to 240 - Reduced the weight bonus torpedo launcher receives from closed gunports to 20% - Bola CC duration reduced to 6 seconds on players - Bola release time now reduced to 0.5 seconds when removing it from a player - Torpedo crafting costs updated. Reduced by approximately 20% and updated metal to require 2 types of ingots. Mythos requirement unchanged. - Flame damage now eliminates ballista harpoons - Improved server performance on Golden Age grids as AoD enemies will only be networked to clients once they've awoken. - Ballista Harpoon reload time has increased (it'll take longer to reload) v207.93 - Mortar and Pestle slots increased to 40 - Soap Blueprint added to Cooking Pot and Grill - Large Storage Box slots increased to 100 - Small Storage Box slots increased to 40 - Sugars now stack to 500 (increased) - Thatch now stacks to 1000 (increased) - Grenade weight increased to 5 - Firegel, Gunpowder, Blasting powder, Mythos and Coral can now be stored in the ship resource box. - Reduced Grenade damage to players by 33%, to NPC Crew and Creatures by 10% - Increased Playershop health to 12000 - Reduced base damage of Blackjacks by 10% and reduced the Fall Swing damage by 65% - Doubled stamina cost of shield bash - Fire Elemental now takes 50% more damage from Shotguns and 100% more damage from Ballista - Fixed ""Fail" sound line for the medkit using male voiceline for female characters - Fixed being able to place wallhooks on demolishable resources to prevent floating structures - Fixed being able to place triangle foundations on top of beds - Player Name is now included in the tribe log when scuttling ships or demolishing it via a shipyard - Fixed a bug which allowed you to move whilst bola'd - You can now base on non-allied PvE boats, and we've added an actionwheel entry to force non-allied characters off of your ship in PvE v207.91 - Torpedo Damage reduced by 45% - Boats will no longer sink when overweighted or overcrewed if they are fully anchored (green anchor) - Settlement Mode: Claim Flags now appear on the World Map for the grid region you're currently on - Submarines docked on hangars now retain their colour after server restarts - Prevented firing from gunports if the gunport has not fully opened. This is to resolve crews being dismounted as they were blocked for firing too soon - Quest skills are blacked out with a silhouette when not learned - Cocoa can now be crafted properly in irrigated grills - Fixed FPV reload animation playing when switching from TPV to FPV with the Crossbow - Fixed an issue where servers that were running for more than 4 days consecutively without reboot would have choppy water on the client. Please note on Thursday, we plan to deploy a patch which will do the following - Increase torpedo ammo weight to 20 - Increase the torpedo launcher weight to 300 - Reduced the weight-reduction bonus torpedo launcher receives from closed gunports to 20% v207.9 - Networking range for players on ships is now the same as players not on ships (~34,000 units) - Networking range for unseated NPCs on ships are now about 18,000 units, and seated NPCs are now about 9,000 units. - Fixed Crows no longer flying to attack. - Fixed Shipyards at max storage capacity (300) fail to create ships. - Fixed being unable to gain any stamina after sailing to another server with a stamina debuff active from using any feat, for example, "reload overdrive" feat on a ship. Previously you would have had the debuff permanently until you die and respawn v207.81 - Improved third-person view offset so that it now positions at the average head height rather than the center of the character's capsule. This should improve how it feels when the camera is brushed up against a collision in the world. v207.8 - If a launched torpedo hits within the first 3.75 seconds of being fired, it will do significantly reduced damage - Torpedo overall damage reduced by 20% - Torpedo overall projectile lifespan reduced by 10% - Torpedo and Torpedo Launcher crafting cost has been increased - Fixed hotkey assignments to save on relog - Readjusted Marker UI location when minimap is open to prevent overlap - You can now use "prying eyes" to look inside lock chests if they are your own company's boxes - Cannons/Puckles will no longer fire in peacetime if the structure does not own the claim and the target is a player or tame - Significant shoreline data memory optimization

Community Spotlight

The Community Spotlight is a new series that introduces you to player-driven communities, projects and/or initiatives in the ATLAS community. If you’re looking for more player created ATLAS resources and fun, keep an eye on these amazing projects, groups, and individuals.

ExploreAtlas

ExploreAtlas is a user-friendly resource and creature index for ATLAS with over 10,000 resources and creature locations currently logged. ExploreAtlas also offers an up to date taming calculator for gaining max efficiency on your tames!

Other features include:

PVE claim point calculator
Imprint calculator
Added Resource Navigator (Allows you to input a location you are at and the resource you desire to find the closest available)
Support 9 languages through native translations
Live player tracking on a Cluster and Region basis
Introduction of Companies to show off your home island and flag

Show ‘n Tell #8!

We’re still collecting entries for the Show ‘n Tell! So you have a little longer to astound us with your creations, be they your fleets, building designs, imaginative tatts, entertaining videos, original fan art or scenic screenshots. Don’t be shy and head to the submission thread for a chance to win some booty in the form of a cash prize!

Show ‘n Tell #9 Submissions!

Alrighty, that’s it for this post. Thank you so much for becoming a part of our crew and we can't wait to show all you scallywags, landlubbers, captains, and seadogs what lies ahead!

Happy Sailing,

Grapeshot Games

🏴‍☠️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

Jun 7, 2019

Captain's Log #31: Sharpshooting Meowtiny!

ATLAS - Jatheish

Ahoy, Pathfinders!

June marks the 6-month anniversary since ATLAS’ initial launch to Steam Early Access. We’d just like to take a moment to say “Thank you!” to all of our players and fans for your support over the last 6 months and to reaffirm to all of you now that the development team is still committed to making ATLAS the best game it can possibly be. Especially with the help of your continued feedback and support; please keep your ideas, concerns, complaints, and reports coming.

For this Captain's Log, we'd like to give you an early glance at some of the content that'll be making its way ashore with the upcoming Mega-Update!

Head to the shooting range and pull out your pistols, it's time to brush up on your marksmanship!

Introducing our latest weapon, the Hydra Revolver!

This new and improved revolver allows for up to 6 shots before reloading! So if your aim sucks, or you have multiple targets, this will be your weapon of choice.

Curious about what else we'll be adding? Careful, you might just kill the...

Cat!

You can pick up the high-quality wallpaper here

Found in caves, the cat makes a purrfect pet for contaminating enemy pirates! It can be tamed by hand-feeding, but you better be sneaky, as they’re known to be quite skittish. After a cat has been tamed, order it to ‘hunt’ and wait for your tamed feline friend to catch a rodent, either a rat or a mouse. Each offering the pathfinder something different:

The mouse can be used to create a powerful delicacy and makes players temporarily immune to catching the plague.
The rat, infected by the contagious bubonic plague, can be loaded into catapults and launched at your enemies. The plague is a temporary debuff which can spread to others if you’re not careful!

We realize this may not be everyone's tankard of grog, but don't worry, there’s more to come and we can’t wait to share it with all of you. Stay tuned!

OFFICIAL ATLAS DISCORD

Bug Report Channels

We have added a bug reporting channel to the ATLAS Official Discord. We appreciate your bug reports and we aim to collate and act upon them as efficiently as possible. In order to facilitate this further, we have shared some guidelines there on how to how to make a clear bug report including information that is relevant to maximizing the way in which we sort, investigate, and debug.

We’ll continue to keep an eye on Bug Reports posted on our Official Forums but we are finding Discord is very conducive to investigating and resolving them.

Boosting Info

We have enabled Nitro Server Boosting for the Official ATLAS Discord. Fellow pirates of the Discord who boost the server will find treasure awaiting them!

What do you receive for boosting the Atlas Discord?

A special icon next to your name.
A new unique role and colour on the Official Atlas Discord
Access to our Booty Bay VIP channel
Members will get the opportunity to add an emoji of their choosing to the atlas Discord. (Pending Approval) Those who boost the server can submit their request by messaging ModMail with the emoji. Once approved by the Discord staff, the emoji will be added to the Official Atlas Discord and will remain for the duration of the active boost!

For those of you unfamiliar with the new server boost feature, you can find out more about it here.

Join the ATLAS Discord: discord.gg/playatlas

Patch Notes Up To v207.7

While working on the upcoming Mega-Update, we are still continuing to iterate on the live game. These are the updates that the game has seen since our last Captain's Log.

v207.7 - Fixed harvesting boost from giving more resources than intended - Fixed some unharvestable rocks and adding Fiber to missing freeports - Moved sextant GPS/Speed/Direction from above the hotbar to below the sextant compass widget - Prevented using Lucky Loader when in the middle of a reload - Fixed Harvest Boost and other skills from resetting their cooldown upon death - Crafting that requires 'water' as a resource will now consume 100 water, rather than the entire container - Fixed Grill not being able to use water containers as a crafting resource - Fixed overlapping text with Reservoir and Grill - Hydra is able to reliably break down trees - Fixed an issue with fishing rod where it would destroy itself when the item had broken v207.6 - Added JSON object library. - Added blueprint interface for anonymous communication between mods. - Added helper functions for: Searching for creatures by ID. Retrieving filtered class lists. - Re-enabled UObject counter in the devkit v207.5 - Fixed an issue with dropped ship cargo being incorrectly calculated v207.45 - Optimised Fog of War memory usage. - Added a new slider: Ship Draw Distance (note: changing this will require a client reconnect to take effect). This setting changes the distance at which non-core ship structures and seated characters will draw for clients. If you wish to revert this, move the slider all the way to the right, alternatively, slide to the left for higher performance (particularly in large-scale ship battles). - Looking at boats through a spy glass will force maximum draw distance on non-core structures and seated characters. v207.4 - Fixed some server-side crashes - Fixed double harvesting feat - Ship of the Damned will now lose agro if they have not dealt damage for some time - Ship of the Damned Galleons now have cannons on the front - Decreased the time it takes for Ship of the Damned to respawn on Golden Age Ruin servers by approximately 75% (previously 1 hour, now 15 minutes) - Fixed being able to drag players inside the Ice Dungeon v207.21 - Enabled Ship Structure Weight to the item tooltip - Fixed a client crash caused by crop plots - Giant Tortuga: Added step damage to prevent getting stuck on trees. Increased step height to prevent getting stuck on small obstacles and helps to more easily get out of water. Decreased tail swing range as attack missed at old max range. - Fixed combat state not being unset with gamepad - Fixed displayed ingredient requirements for Unthinkable Delicacy notable differences: 25 animal meat -> 10 cooked prime meat 10 Magic Marrow -> 10 Mythos added 50 hunger requirement to feat description - Server option to force disable structure prevention volumes Server Launch params: ?DisableStructurePreventionVolumes=true or in GameUserSettings.ini under ServerSettings DisableStructurePreventionVolumes=true v207 - Fixed a bug which impacted Ship of the Damned's ability to sail - Updated the quest description for 'Veteran Explorer'. It now takes 25% of all DPs, rather than 50%.

Community Spotlight

We will be putting a spotlight on Community initiatives in future Captain’s Logs. Please reach out if you run a community website, trading group or other Community as we'd love to hear about it!

Dev Kit

The new ATLAS Devkit update, including all of the latest content from Mega-Update 2 is now available! Information including links to download the Update and the optional Ocean map sublevels can be found here.

Show ‘n Tell #8!

Check out our PlayATLAS announcement to see the results of our latest Show 'n Tell contest!

Alrighty, that’s it for this post. Thank you so much for becoming a part of our crew and we can't wait to show all you scallywags, landlubbers, captains, and seadogs what lies ahead!

Happy Sailing,

Grapeshot Games

🏴‍☠️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

Jun 2, 2019

Mega Update 2 & 48-Hour Sale!

ATLAS - Jatheish

Ahoy Pathfinders!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pXqX73FGFY
The time has come for challenging the enraged boss in his icy lair, exploring new and previously unchartered islands and putting your mark on the ATLAS with new items, creatures, and quality of life additions; the Mega Update 2 is here!

The Public Test Realm heavily facilitated our getting the Mega Update 2 ready to push to our Official Network and ready for everyone to jump into and explore. Thank you to those of you who contributed through playing on the PTR and being enthusiastic about reporting bugs and issues and offering feedback.

We look forward to hearing about your experiences and seeing you explore all the new content that Mega Update 2 has introduced to the ATLAS. As always, we will continue to monitor and rapidly iterate on the game!

For those of you who haven’t yet set sail on the high seas, worry not as during the next 48-hours ATLAS is available on Steam Early Access for the promotional price of $14.99 ($29.99 Early Access S.R.P). Come on in, the water’s fine!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/834910/ATLAS/

Mega Update 2 Patch Notes

New Quests

Into the Ice: When you have collected all the Power Stones, head deep into a Polar Ice Dungeon to discover what lies beneath...

Master Cartographer: And with a thundering swell, the heaving ocean rose and fell beckoning avid explorers to uncover her secrets. Get at least 40% of the ATLAS Discovery Zones

Skills and Feats

Feat: Instant Hotbar Equip, unlocked after completing "Master Cartographer" quest.
Feat: Harvest boost, unlocked after completing "Into the Ice" quest.

New Levels

Ice Dungeon: Traverse the depths of the new Ice Cave as you navigate foreboding chasms, expansive halls, and abandoned mines to reach the lair of the abomination which lies beneath awaiting your crew. Found in the polar region, the dungeon can only be entered if players have unlocked all the 9 power stones.

New Islands: Multiple equatorial and polar islands added to the ATLAS!

New Boss Fight

Snowman - Activated lights in the boss arena now power a shield that maintains the Snowman's ice armor. Killing a round of minions will disable the shield, and prevent minion spawns for a short duration, which allow the ice armor to receive damage. When the minion cooldown is over, the shield reactivates. When the ice armor reaches 0, the Snowman's health can be damaged directly and no more minions will spawn until the next health state.

Upon entering each new health state, one extra minion will spawn at a time, and an increased amount of minions will be required to be killed for the shield to be deactivated. When in the last health state and ice armor is destroyed for the final time, chaos ensues, and will continue until the boss is killed!

New Structures

Offensive Structure: Torpedo Launcher and torpedoes. Master the waves with this heavy artillery projectile designed to detonate on contact with its target. Skill is obtained after completing "Into the Ice" quest.

Building Structure: 3x4 Medium Gates further allow customization within the comprehensive building system.
Utility Structure: Ice Box - a high-insulation box for generating ice in cold areas. Has “active” mode that will drain ice but reduce surrounding temperature (reverse fire). Consumes less ice if “indoors”. New Resource: Ice - Generates over time in cold zones inside of the Ice Box. Decays relatively quickly if not in “insulated” storage. Can be consumed to reduce temperature and the half negative effects of armour weight debuffs for a short duration (15s per ice cube, max of 5 mins). Ice, which is relatively heavy, can be placed inside preserving bags to extend spoil times, and also lasts much longer in preserving bags. Keep it frosty.

New Cosmetics

Player: Adopt a menacing tribal-esque countenance with the Hydra Hide Armour Set or don the Cyclops Heavy Armour Set for a streamlined and foreboding Stygian look.
Ship: Further customize your ship with the new Hydra Steering Wheel, and Bone Skin Steering Wheel

New Attachments

Boat Attachment: Cargo Racks offer more options to the discerning Captain! This large hangar-based crate can carry a ton of resources at a massively reduced weight, but can only be accessed when anchored, and slows down the speed of the ship which carries it (at maximum cargo carrier attachments, a boat's speed will be reduced by a total of 40%). It can also be dropped into the water if your boat needs to make a hasty getaway, and recovered later into its hangar!
Cart Attachment: Transport goods more efficiently! The large storage box can now be placed on the back of a bear or horse’s field-harness saddle, where it becomes a special “freight box” that provides reduced weight for the items it contains when on land. And now you can ferry around your items while looking like a proper traveling merchant!

New Items

Fishing Net: Bide your time chasing that catch whilst on long journeys with the new fishing net. Can only be used when sitting. Equips on the back slot. Will begin automatically catch fish when boat has met minimum sailing minimum velocity.

New Weapons and Ammo types

Ballista Ammo Type: Boat Harpoon. Stop fleeing enemies in their tracks by using this formidable weapon to attach to and reel in their vessels.

Weapon: Master the aquatic depths armed with the Speargun. Can only be used underwater.

Weapon: Up the ante with the new crossbow boasting the ability to load up to five projectiles and higher accuracy. Cannot be used underwater.

New Creatures

Olfend: This quirky looking creature narrowly avoided being burdened with the moniker: the Camelephant. The unique Olfend possesses some utilitarian attributes based around water. Water can be collected as you ride it across fertile land or by drinking from lakes and the considerate Olfend will store it, distribute it amongst water containers or...spit it in a friend’s eye. The delicately-legged creature also has the potential to be more heroic than it may appear by being put to use in extinguishing fires.

Giant Tortugar: In some ways, the Tortuga, or carrier turtle, acts as an organic armored personnel carrier and, in others, it is similar to an organic submarine. Nestle under its’ sectioned shell for protection or stay sheltered as it plunges into the depths and affords its passengers reduced oxygen consumption.

New Features

Company: Map markers
Company: Announcements
Boats: Can now be unclaimed and claimed
Controls: Full gamepad support

New Quality of Life Improvements

UX: Revamped Skill Tree UI
UX: Adjusted 3rd person aiming so there is less likelihood of foliage clipping
UX: Sextant Buff Corner Mini Map is now hidden by default and can be revealed by pressing the H key. Sextant Mini Map can be permanently enabled by turning on the option in Advanced Settings
Combat: Players now have the option to turn dual wielding weapons off by holding the TAB key and the hotbar key to equip the new pistol, rather than duel wield it.
Combat: Gun hotbar equip time now scales (improves) with the various reloading skills
Combat: You can now attack from the run-state (but not whilst running). Previously when attempting to attack whilst running, you would have had to pause, then attack. Now you can go straight from a run into an attack.
Structures: The grill can now be attached to water pipes
Controls: You can now use the F key as an option to pick up all items from the floor within a certain radius
Ship: Pressing the F key whilst driving the ship, now allows you to access its inventory menu

Bug Fixes

Skills: Fixed skills showing up in the wrong order on the skill tree
Ships: Fixed a bug which prevented ships from reversing when they bumped into shores
Ships: Fixed pressing right click to zoom in on the compass when sitting at a wheel of a ship
Ships: Can no longer place a Steering Wheel inside the sail mast
Building: Fixed a bug which prevented Water Reservoirs from irrigating grills if gathering water from a non-lake source
Building: Fixed vertical encroachment check on the bookcase so it fits in 1-high wall rooms
Resources: Fixed a bug where brain coral and fire coral were incorrectly labeled
Map: Multiple level fixes (holes, waterfall transitions, soil types, etc)
Creatures: Fixed a case where creatures would be stuck in the flee state whilst bola'd
Creatures Fixed a case where creatures would appear to stand up briefly just after being bola'd
UX: Fixed a bug which prevented you from seeing the HUD of a dropped item
UX: Scaled the size of ammo texts on ammo containers to make them more readable and changed CanisterShot to Canister Shot
Misc: Fixed icons for: Cooked Prime Fish Meat, Explosive Barrels, and Instant Equip
Misc: Disabled male voice on female characters when using a repair hammer on damaged planks
Misc: Fixed multiple cases where players shoulder disappears when harvesting with new anims
Misc: Fixed manual targeting aim location not replicating to clients

Balance Changes

Combat: Reduced sickle damage against creatures and players
Combat: Sprint/Charge weapons have been disabled and will be re-added to the game as enhanced feats
Ships: Small Weight Sail weight bonus increased from 515 to 1000
Ships: Medium Weight Sail weight bonus increased from 920 to 2500
Ships: Large Weight Sail weight bonus increased from 1300 to 4000
Ships: Small Handling Sail wind effectiveness increased from 101 to 118
Ships: Medium Handling Sail wind effectiveness increased from 101 to 118
Ships: Large Handling Sail wind effectiveness increased from 101 to 118

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