The next major update v1.06 is finally available for all players! We deeply thank all beta testers who aided us with their valuable feedback to improve the game further and with their ideas to shape up the large content of this patch. After all, this game is for you -the players- and so when you actively help us you not only influence the development of Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnoughts to head in the direction you choose, but the game to become significantly improved, even beyond our own expectations.
In this update you get an expanded campaign version which makes it possible to start at peace, and progressively become prepared for the next inevitable wars between the major nations. A simple diplomacy system allows you to build your relations with other nations and form alliances. Winning a war may provide ships and provinces as war reparations that will make your nation stronger for the future.
Two major features enrich the design process: The Citadel and the Custom Gun Calibers. The hull is now strengthened according to the placement of guns and funnels and becomes armored with detailed schemes which greatly affect the ship's protection system, as well as its stability on sea, since the weight measurements become more complex. Additionally, the guns can now be modified to the maximum extent, by choosing the diameter and length of the gun barrels, offering extreme customization options for your designs.
Many other improvements, including one of the most widely requested features, "The Dud Torpedoes" are offered in this patch. Please read the below changelog for more detailed information.
CONTINUOUS CAMPAIGN
The campaign can now be started at the selected year with no immediate wars happening and will continue until 1950 or until one of the following circumstances are satisfied:
Low naval prestige: Player is replaced by the current government.
Revolution and naval prestige is not high: Player is replaced by the new government.
Total Nation Defeat: 50% or more of the Home Provinces are lost.
Total Domination: All non-allied enemies have been destroyed (temporary feature, until we add more nations and mechanics
The AI players will also lose with the same rules and their nations can be obliterated from the map if the home provinces are conquered by another nation.
During peacetime, the following new mechanics are introduced:
Random events: Events in which you must take a decision that will affect relations with other nations and other aspects of gameplay. This is a work in progress functionality that will expand further.
Tension: Tension will be produced mainly between nations with bad relations that have a stronger fleet than necessary in common waters. Tension affects bilateral relations and can slowly bring nations to war.
Alliances: If two nations have good relations up to +99, then special events can trigger alliance agreements. Nations in an alliance fight their enemies together as it happens in the update v1.05.
War: If two nations have bad relations up to -99 then special events can trigger a war between them. Other nations will immediately pick a side according to what were their previous relations and modify relations accordingly. This large modification of relations can immediately trigger new alliances and force other nations to enter the war.
Negotiations for Peace: When eventually a peace agreement is signed and war reparations are shared for the victors, money, ships and provinces are transferred accordingly to the nations (previously the game just ended). While there is no land conquering mechanic yet, the province exchange via war reparations will be somewhat exaggerated.
Economic Cycles: During prolonged wars the GDP will suffer greatly and the economic growth accordingly. After the war it will need much time to recover financially, especially if you were defeated and lost provinces.
MAJOR NEW FEATURES A detailed Citadel functionality, new gun mechanics and Dud Torpedoes enrich the realism factors of the game.
New detailed Citadel: The damage model becomes upgraded with a far more detailed armoring system. The way you layout out your guns and funnels will affect the length of the citadel (the armored box covered by the main belt and deck) and you will be able to view it in the ship preview during the design process. So it will be now fully realistic to create Nelson type ships which save weight due to the shortening of the armored citadel. Moreover, the hull weight and strength in each section will be dependent from the way you choose to layout your main guns as well as the center of its mass. For example, the sections in the middle will be significantly stronger and more resistant against damage than the lighter sections at the edges of the ship. Finally, you will be able to add an extra multi-layered armor in the citadel and choose independently its values according to the components enabled "All or Nothing", "Turtleback" etc. Furthermore, the new calculations for the hull will affect everything about the ship stability and weight allocations. For example, you can enlarge the citadel to reduce the pitch/roll, because by adding weight in the central parts of the ship will significantly increase its stability (Currently this effect is not so strong, because all sections were weighted equally, so adding big guns on the ship would always increase pitch/roll with no way to reduce other than bringing guns closer to the center). Engine Room sections become detailed: Following the new detailed citadel, the engine room is now automatically configured in size and position according to the placement of funnels. The sections where engines are added, affect ship stability and when they are damaged during battle the corresponding engines may become damaged and affect the ship speed accordingly (In a next update you will be able to choose how many engine shafts your ship may support, from 2 to 5. Now the engine shafts are by default from 2 to 3).
New Special Gun Calibers: A new design panel will allow you to edit the diameter and length of the gun barrels which will affect the gun statistics and their actual size on the ship. So, for example, you will be able to have calibers such as 13.5 inch for your guns before you research the next bigger 14 inch caliber. The variations of designs now will become extremely enriched, as each ship will look different also on the gun scales. The different guns on diameter and length-caliber will also vary according to the 3D model used for them. Guns of different nations that are large or have a shorter barrel than others of the same caliber and technology, will not be identical as now, but will have different stats accordingly.
Dud Torpedoes: Torpedoes will not be as successful as now but will detonate and damage ships according to their angle of impact and their technology. You may have torpedoes to not explode on impact or explode prematurely with new visual effects. Torpedoes can also deviate from course (extremely rarely in more than 90 degrees).
A variant of the new Danton hull in various angles
3x NEW HULLS
“French Experimental Battleship” available from 1899 to 1916 with a displacement between 17,700 and 22.500 tons. This hull can recreate the Danton-class Battleship.
“French Experimental Dreadnought” available from 1905 to 1916 with a displacement between 19,750 and 24.500 tons.
“French Large Armored Cruiser” available from 1914 to 1921 with a displacement between 14,800 and 16.500 tons
NEW GUNS
New late tech 8-inch and 9-inch guns for Japan.
New late tech 2-inch and 3-inch guns for the USA, Britain, Spain, China.
New generic Mark 3 Torpedo Tubes for all nations.
New Mark 1 French Guns from 9-inch to 16-inch caliber, replacing some older variants where applicable.
New Mark 2/Mark 3 French Guns from 6-inch to 16-inch caliber.
"New Horizons" mod Download links:
OTHER IMPROVEMENTS
Improved ship motion at sea: Pitch/Roll and overall ship movement characteristics are updated to support the new hull weight adjustments. Ships will interact with waves more realistically, as a result.
Improved shell ballistics & mechanics: Following the new gun mechanics, the aiming/targeting/shell dispersion will be improved and will have extensive variability according to the virtually countless combinations of the different gun settings. When guns fully aim they will characteristically speed up their firing rate to destroy the target quicker.
Over penetration mechanics improvement: Overpenetration will now be depended further from the angle of impact, increasing the chance of striking full penetrations when firing through the bow of a ship. Moreover, overpenetration damage will be dependent greatly from the angle of the ship, significantly damaging the hull if a shell passes through the bow and along the length of the ship.
Torpedo tubes create special detonations: When Torpedo Tubes become hit and destroyed they can cause a special detonation, simulating the damage caused by the destroyed torpedoes (which are removed from ammo).
New Ship Components: “Advanced Electrical Turrets”, “Advanced Electro-Hydraulic Turrets”, and “Advanced Gun Reload System” are now included in the available list of ship components.
Many Ship weight/cost balances: Following up the new Citadel and Gun mechanics, the weight and cost of ship assets have been adjusted accordingly.
New weapon stats visible in the UI: In weapon stats you can now review the weapon’s rotation speed in deg/sec and what is the exact weight of ammo per turret.
Colored weapon availability: During battle, by hovering the mouse on a weapon type all the respective weapons become highlighted and colored according to their status. “Green” is fully operational, “Yellow” is seriously damaged, “Red” is destroyed or out of ammo. Previously you could just view the weapons highlighted yellow with no information if they were working or not.
All guns of the same caliber become grouped: Guns on the centerline, or side, or with different barrels will aim together in one fire control group, increasing their efficiency.. However, accuracy and reload penalties will apply when guns are not fully uniform (different calibers, barrels, not placed on the centerline etc.)
Conning Tower and Fire Control become damaged with a more accurate system: Damage caused to the Main Tower will properly utilize the armor of the Conning Tower and the Superstructure to protect the Conning Tower and Fire Control.
Further Auto-Design improvements: AI will design ships even better following the logic of the new mechanics for Citadel and Guns.
Further Battle AI improvements: Battle AI will operate overall in a more effective way vs the player.
Further Division logic improvements: There should be less errors in division auto-management.
Fixed Window Mode: You can now safely Alt+Tab or play in “Window Mode” and the game will continue to play, it will not be paused.
Beam/Draught Custom Edit: You can now type the needed values for Beam/Draught.
Crew can surrender sooner: Crew will now surrender at 45% casualties instead at 70%. When a ship has received so many casualties, the ship usually is at a very bad state to continue the fight in a realistic manner. As a compensation, the minimum crew to man ships in the campaign is 70% instead of the previous 50% (which would make a ship too bad in performance to send to sea).
BUG FIXES
Fixed bug that made HE penetration to be dependent from the penetration of AP shells. AP and HE shells penetration will now correctly work independently according to the chosen AP and HE shell types.
Fixed bug that made ship to freeze when executing reverse and “Avoid Ships” option was disabled.
Fixed various campaign bugs.
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Thanks again to everyone who has helped with feedback during the beta procedure of update v1.06. We continue to monitor your reports and will provide a hotfix for everything needed in due time.
Please visit our forums to share your feedback about the new patch here: Official Forum
The Game-Labs Team
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