After silent running with blue lights on for two weeks and working on the next update, we are finally ready to share this version publicly. We try to be as open as possible about the production, but during major work, there is often not that much point in sharing what we have even on the unstable branch as that would be just a pure frustration for you and us :)
Let's move on and talk about the update B121 which is now being released on the "Unstable" branch. If you like to test it, change to it in the game properties from the Steam Library, but keep in mind that this is still a work in progress.
Travel system overhaul
With this version, we overhauled the travel system in the game. The most visible change is that the fast travel mode is gone. We didn't like it, you didn't like it, nobody liked it seems, so we finally got rid of it.
Instead, there is a new time compression available that is 5x as strong as the base one. It allows you to leave areas in a decent time, similarly to the old "fast travel" mode, but it works in a much more cleaner fashion. It can be used at any point in the game without restrictions, while no cheating is involved and all laws of physics are respected. It was a major technical challenge, as physics tend to break easily on such fast time scales and we had to perform many optimizations, fixes and ensure proper handling of edge cases.
Another major change is that long distance travels on the map work differently than they used to. There were many technical changes which translate more or less to such end effects:
- Movement on the map is much slower without time compression. There is much more time to plan an attack on the nearby groups, if you prefer to play real-time without using the active pause.
- On the other hand, travel on the map is much faster than before, if the new time compression is used, so this change may satisfy both the patient and impatient players.
- All small cheats here and there were removed that translate to more realistic navigation.
- U-boat's range is set to real-life values.
Those changes address some of the suggestions we were getting from the community since the release. We hope you will like them.
Time progression
Before this update, there wasn't any decent mechanism that would make it possible to play through the whole war in a reasonable time. We had one solution during the Kickstarter backer beta, namely skipping calendar dates, but it was a confusing solution. We removed it and planned a new system. Finally, we had time to implement that new system. Let's talk about the details.
- Resupplying your u-boat at the port is no longer instant and takes some time to be done. Your u-boat will be moved off-duty until all ordered equipment is loaded inside. You can skip the wait with a click of the button and continue normally. We didn't add any animations for the port workers so far, but we have such plans.
- Crew gets fatigued over time and needs a vacation from time to time. We found historical sources about places where u-boat crews were resting and added them into the game. You can send your guys to simply rest in the port city you are currently in or spend some budget and let them relax in a French Chateau or Eagle's Nest.
- New travel system ensures that patrols last much longer when it comes to passing in-game hours and days (it's also closer to real-life historical data).
These changes ensure that time will progress much faster and potentially allow the player to play through the whole World War II which was always our intention for UBOAT.
We balanced the game accordingly to match these changes. All HQ tasks take much more time to be researched and officers get fatigued much more slowly, which was also a commonly requested change.
Storages overhaul
To implement the delayed resupply of the ship at ports we had to improve the user interface for storages to make such information readable. It was an unexpected work that lead us to a major change how the storages are used and delayed this update by a week.
Starting with this version it's possible to open storages and plan all logistics without having any officer selected. All transport tasks are later completed by officers with certain roles and sailors under their command.
It's also possible to plan ahead the torpedo loadout and don't let your officer choose it automatically.
All ongoing transport tasks are clearly presented in the storage's user interface.
Another change, is that it's now possible to purchase ammunition directly into a gun's storage.
Technical improvements
With this version, we worked on some tougher technical matters that needed some time to be done. The game should generally run more smoothly, with better performance and lower RAM / VRAM usage.
Have you ever noticed lags appearing before and after each rain in the game or after adding new sailors to the crew? They were caused by rebuilding geometry for the characters. Considering that the u-boat is pretty densely packed with unique characters we are displaying them in a very optimized way which has this downside that some CPU work is needed to get it going after each change of the clothing like equipping a raincoat. Starting with this version, it's a fully asynchronous process and those lags won't bother you anymore.
Other changes
Starting with this version rewards for assignments are received only after talking with the leading officer in the port rather than clicking a button on the open sea. This change keeps the mission open until that point. It allows you to report all sunk ships and other events normally after completing the main objective of your assignment. It was a small oversight in the design that we didn't manage to fix for the initial Early Access version.
