Changes in Service Record
- Now a total of 11 levels are available in the player’s Service Record (XP milestones required for reaching the next level have been revised and recalculated to reflect the player’s current level in the Service Record, the player’s total XP has been retained)
- Tech Trees for ships and modules are now unavailable at Level 1 in the Service Record, and only become available when the player reaches Level 2.
- If certain features, which were previously available to the player, have been moved to a higher Level in Service Record that the player has not yet reached, the player will be promoted to the respective higher level in their Service Record
- Level 10 of the Service Record introduces Missions, Events and Challenges
- The Ranked Battles have been moved to Level 11 of the Service Record
Missions, Challenges and Events
- Events, Challenges and Missions become available for players who reach Level 10 in the Service Record. Players can click on the respective panel in the upper left corner in the Port to go to Events, Challenges and Missions
- Specials may be timed to coincide with a specific Event, and come with a description and duration of their own
- Missions can be completed once for each game account, while Challenges may be completed an unlimited number of times. All Missions and Challenges have a duration period
- When a Mission can be completed over a number of battles, then such a Mission will have a completion progress bar
- Conditions for completing Missions and Challenges have been introduced. For example, “Complete the Mission while playing on a specific ship/in a Division/in a specific battle type”
- Players are given rewards for completing missions. The list of rewards has been extended. Now players may be rewarded with ships, consumables, upgrades, signals, camouflage, credits, doubloons, Free XP, Service Record XP points, Premium account, places for Commanders in the Reserve, rewards and bonuses in a giftbox, and coefficients (multipliers) applied to any resources earned in a battle
Daily Missions
- Now one of the three Daily Missions may be replaced once every 24 hours
- The player can replace a new mission, as well as a mission which can be completed during a number of battles. However, when the latter is replaced, all progress will be lost
- When the player completes the mission during a battle, but exits to Port and replaces the Mission before the end of the current battle, the reward will not be given and the progress will not be accounted for
- In contrast to Daily Missions, the player cannot replace Challenges, Missions and Events
- A new Daily Mission is marked with an indicator. The indicator remains visible until the player clicks the Mission
Ranked Battles
- The number of points a team needs to score for a victory has been raised to 1000. Now the initial score is set at 300 points.
- Now all maps in Ranked Battles have two Key Areas
- The Ocean, Strait and Land of Fire maps will become available in Ranked Battles
- Now different limitations on the tiers of ships may be set for the Leagues
- League flags and Commemorative flags have been introduced
- The League flag indicates that the player belongs to a League during a season of Ranked Battles. The League flags are discarded at the end of a season.
- Commemorative flags are given at the end of a season, if the player meets the respective requirements.
Introductory Mission
- An Introductory Mission will be available for newcomers. The Introductory Mission will help new players learn the game basics, when they log in to the game for the first time.
Ships
General:
- Aircraft torpedoes’ chance of causing a flooding has been reduced by approximately half
- Aircraft speed has been slightly increased for air squadron assault mode, and damage caused by aircraft in this mode has been increased as well
- The damage that a higher tier ship receives from flooding is no longer significantly less than the damage a lower tier ship receives from the same flooding.
- Two charges of the Defensive AA Fire consumable are now available for cruisers of all nations, except the U.S.A. whose cruisers have 3 charges of this consumable
- Two charges of Hydroacoustic Search are available for all ships
- Two charges of Defensive Fire is available for all cruisers, except the US whose cruisers have 3 charges of this consumable, with Atlanta being the only exception that keeps the aunlimited amount of charges for this consumable.
U.S.A.
- The armor plating of Baltimore and Des Moines has been thickened by 2 mm
- The bomb dispersion of U.S. bombers has been reduced in situations when enemy ships activate the AA Defensive Fire consumable in an attempt to counteract the bombers attack
- Changes for U.S.A. Destroyers:
- Nicholas Mk15 mod. 0 torpedoes have been removed from the Tech Tree
- Farragut: Mk15 mod. 0 torpedoes have been replaced with Mark 11 torpedoes; Mk15 mod. 3 torpedoes have been replaced with Mark 12 torpedoes
- Mahan: Mk15 mod. 3 torpedoes have been replaced with Mark 12 torpedoes; Mark 12 torpedoes have been replaced with Mk15 mod. 0 torpedoes
- Mahan: Hull B has been moved to become hull C (with enhanced AA defense), the now vacant position of hull B has been filled by a totally new hull. If the ship had an Elite status, the new Hull B becomes researched. Otherwise, Hull C is shown as not researched.
- Benson: Mark 12 torpedoes have been replaced with Mk15 mod. 0 torpedoes; Mk14 mod. 3 torpedoes have been replaced with Mk15 mod. 3 torpedoes
- Benson: Main battery’s rate of fire has been increased
- Fletcher: Mark 12 torpedoes have been replaced with Mk15 mod. 0 torpedoes; Mk14 mod. 3 torpedoes have been replaced with Mk15 mod. 3 torpedoes
- Fletcher: Main battery’s rate of fire has been increased
- Sims: Main battery’s rate of fire has been increased
- For Omaha cruiser, the number of aircraft on board has been reduced to 2 planes
- For other U.S.A. cruisers, the number of aircraft on board has been increased to 4 planes
- 203 mm AP shells fired by the main batteries of U.S.A. cruisers (except for the stock main battery of Pensacola) will enjoy better ricochet angles
Japan
1. For Japanese bombers, the bomb attack area has been reduced for situations when the player releases bombs in manual mode
2. Atago: rudder shift time has been shortened by 20%, and the Repair Party consumable has been added
3. For Kuma and Zao cruisers, as well as for battleship Myogi, the number of aircraft on board has been reduced to 2 planes
Russia
- Izyaslav: the ship has been given designed speed of 35 knots (instead of 31,9)
- Derzkiy: the ship has been given designed speed of 34 knots (instead of 32,8)
Germany
- For Dresden, Kolberg and Karsruhe AP shells have been recalculated, armor penetration has been increased
- For Hermelin, central hull platearmor has been increased to 23 mm
Aircraft
- The logic for fighters behavior has been improved. Now, when fighters attack other fighters, the squadron being attacked will automatically counterattack and will not abandon the dogfight until it runs out of ammunition.
- Implemented the ability to change the direction of the squadron attack by holding and dragging the attack cone or ellipse.
- Implemented smooth movement of the torpedo bombers squadron’s cone in automatic attack mode
Economy and Upgrades
- US Destroyer Mahan:
- Pre-top hull (former top hull). Price has been changed from 14200 XP 1240000 CR to 10200 XP 940000 CR. Hull is now 4000 XP and 300000 CR cheaper.
- Top fire control system Price has been changed from 8200 XP 750000 CR to 7200 XP 550000 CR. Module is now 1000 XP 200000 CR cheaper.
- Top Torpedo tubes. Price has been changed from 12500 XP 980000 CR to 10500 XP 780000 CR. Module is now 2000 XP 200000 CR cheaper.
- US Destroyer Benson:
- Ship price has been changed from115000 XP 9040000 CR to 110000 XP 8540000 CR. Ship is now 5000 XP 500000 CR cheaper.
- All of the abovementioned changes are due to the introduction of the new top hull for US Destroyer Mahan (priced 13000 XP 1200000 CR) and are made to keep the upgrade price at the same level.
Game Maps and Modes
- Added Maps:
- Land of Fire (Land of Fire). The distinctive feature of this map is long and narrow rock ridges that can be used as cover by small ships. This map will be available for battles between ships of Tiers VII through X.
- Northern Lights (Northern Lights). This is a counterpart of the North map with different visuals.
- Trap (Trap). This map will be available for battles between ships of Tiers VIII through X.
- Map Changes:
- Strait:
- Changed ship spawn points. Now the distribution of ships into groups is more balanced
- Hotspot:
- Removed the crisscross team spawn pattern
- Changed the location of a large island at one of the flanks
- Corrected the shape of one of the large islands
- Changed the location of Key Areas in the Domination mode
- Two Brothers:
- The landscape on the map underwent an extensive rework with numerous changes made to the location and shape of islands
- Big Race:
- Moved all landscape objects to the corner where the continental land is located. Changed location of the continental land itself.
- Added the Domination mode with two Key Areas
- Islands of Ice:
- The iceberg field in the lower right corner underwent an extensive rework
- Decreased the number of icebergs by about a third
- Now there are three Key Areas on the map in the Domination mode
- The lower left corner is now more separated and has a mountain as a visual landmark
- The lower right corner is now more separated and covered by an ice field
- Now the icebergs located on the map are in a more uniform formation
- Solomon Islands:
- Now this map is available for battles between ships of Tiers II through VI
- Strait:
- Interaction between Ships and Map Borders
- If the ship controlled by a player stays in the map border area for too long, her engine power will be forcefully decreased. The engine power will be restored after the ship leaves the map border area
- New Battle Mode: Zone
- Zone is a huge base in the center of a map that becomes available for capture two minutes after the battle has started. It takes 60 seconds to capture the Zone, regardless of the number of capturing ships. The capturing will slow down when there are enemy ships within the Zone. However damage received by ships does not slow down the capturing.
- This mode will be available on the Ocean, Big Race, Trap, and Islands of Ice maps.
- Changes in Domination Mode
- Now players will be rewarded with XP and credits for capturing, defending, and blocking the capture of bases. Rewards will be given for: capturing the base (namely, for base capture points; for example, if two players captured a base together and at the same time, then each player will receive a half of the reward), defending the base (namely, for base capture points that a player takes away from an enemy ship capturing a base by damaging this enemy), and blocking the base capture (staying within the base simultaneously with the enemy, which prevents the enemy from capturing the base or earning base capture points)
- Changed the amount of penalty points for losing allied ships and reward points for destroying enemy ships in the Domination mode
- Destroyer: 45 penalty points; 30 reward points
- Cruiser: 50 penalty points; 35 reward points
- Battleship: 60 penalty points; 40 reward points
- Aircraft Carrier: 65 penalty points; 45 reward points
- Changed the notification at the end of a battle when the 20 minute time limit has expired.
- AI Changes
- Improved behavior for AI-controlled ships on the maps. Now AI-controlled ships move in formations. Destroyers stay closer to islands, battleships keep away from islands, and aircraft carriers move about in safer areas instead of going straight to the center of a map
- Improved behavior for AI-controlled ships in the event of accidental collision with the sea landscape
- Other Changes
- Improved spawn layout for players of the same Division. Now the ships controlled by players in the same Division will be spawned as close to each other as possible when the battle starts
- Reworked system for notifications played when either team is about to win or takes the lead. Now the notifications will be played in the following cases:
- the enemy team has twice as many ships as the allied team
- the allied team has twice as many points as the enemy team
- the enemy team only needs to destroy two allied ships to win
- the allied team only needs to destroy two enemy ships to win
- Implemented notification about battle ending soon (played when there are five minutes left before the end of the battle)
Sound
- Totally reworked the sounds of engines for all ships in the game. Now the sound of a ship’s engine will depend not only on the current ship speed, but also on the position of the bridge telegraph lever
- Added new firing sounds
- Overhauled sounds for the low sound quality setting: now special sound banks will be loaded when this setting is selected. In these sound banks, post-processing effects for movement and firing are disabled and significant restrictions are imposed on the playback of sounds. This sound quality setting is recommended for low performance computers
- Improved certain interface sounds
- Added two new music tracks
- Reduced RAM usage of the sound system
- Updated version of the sound engine, optimized playback of sounds in the .ogg format
Port
- Reworked the “carousel” of ships at the bottom of the Port screen:
- Now the displayed ships can be filtered by: name, nation, tier, type, Elite status, Premium status, applicability of specials with bonus multipliers for the first battle, as well as a combination of any filter criteria mentioned above
- Added an alternative mode for displaying ships, with smaller ship icons in the slots
System changes
- System Changes
- Optimized network traffic between the game client and the game server
- Added a system that expects acknowledgment from the game server for any user action, which resulted in a significant decrease in the risk of losing game items due to poor network connection quality
- Improved performance of the effects subsystem on multicore CPUs (with more than 2 cores)
- Improved performance of the subsystem for rendering markers in battle
- Optimized several subsystems for the Binocular View
- Added a new sea rendering quality setting, Very Low, to the graphics settings. Using this quality setting provides a significant performance boost for computers with entry level graphics, owing to simplified simulation and rendering of seawater in the game. Moreover, reflections and shadows on the water surface are also disabled when this quality setting is selected. For other sea rendering quality settings, minor improvements to the visuals as well as utilization of graphics resources were added.
- Implemented an optimization that reduces the risk of the game client freezing
- Added logic to the game client which detects that the application is frozen and then terminates the application correctly
