WoWS: 0.5.7 Release Notes

~ Sebastianul

The update is scheduled for June 15 and will be prepped from 03:00 PT/ 06:00 ET until 05:00 PT/ 08:00 ET

Upgrade Changes

For this update, we overhauled the upgrade system to provide better options when enhancing your vessels! Our analysis showed that many upgrades were seldom chosen, especially those for secondary armaments. We aim to fix that and help you unleash more torrents of fire!

First Upgrade Slot

We found that most players mounted Main Battery Modification upgrades in the first slot because bonuses from other upgrades were too slight. With 0.5.7, we’re bringing a new set of useful upgrades to replace the old ones.

Removed Upgrades
  • Main Battery Modification 1 (-20% to the risk of the main battery becoming incapacitated; -20% to main battery repair time; -20% to the risk of your ship’s magazine detonation)
  • Torpedo Tubes Modification 1 (-20% to the risk of the torpedo tubes becoming incapacitated; -20% to torpedo tube repair time)
  • AA Guns Modification 1 (+20% to AA mounts survivability)
  • Secondary Battery Modification 1 (+20% to secondary battery survivability)
Added Upgrades:

  • Main Armaments Modification 1 (-20% to the risk of the main battery and torpedo tubes becoming incapacitated; +50% to main battery and torpedo tubes survivability)
  • Secondary Armaments Modification 1 (+100% to secondary battery and AA mounts survivability)
  • Magazine Modification 1 (-70% to the risk of magazine detonation)
  • Gun Fire Control System Modification 0 (+20% to traverse speed of main turrets and torpedo tubes; +20% to secondary battery maximum firing range; -64 -40% to the maximum dispersion of main and secondary battery shells). This upgrade will be available only for Premium Japanese ships with 140mm main guns (Iwaki, Yubari and Katori)

Second Upgrade Slot

For the second slot, four upgrades were combined to make two new powerful upgrades, while the Main Battery Modification upgrade had its penalty reduced.

Removed Upgrades:
  • Secondary Battery Modification 2 (+20% to secondary battery maximum firing range; -20% to maximum dispersion of secondary battery shells)
  • Artillery Plotting Room Modification 1 (+16% to main battery maximum firing range)
  • Torpedo Tubes Modification 2 (-10% to torpedo tubes repair time; +20% to the torpedo tubes traverse speed)
  • Gun Fire Control System Modification 1 (-7% to maximum dispersion of main battery shells)
Added Upgrades:
  • Artillery Plotting Room Modification 1 (+16% to main battery maximum firing range; -20-5% to the maximum dispersion of secondary battery shells; +5% to secondary battery maximum firing range). This upgrade will be available only on American battleships
  • Aiming Systems Modification 1 (+20+5% to secondary battery maximum firing range; -20-5% to maximum dispersion of secondary battery shells; +20% to the torpedo tubes traverse speed; -7% to maximum dispersion of main battery shells)
Reworked Upgrades:
  • Main Battery Modification 2 (+10% to main battery loading time; +15% to the main battery traverse speed): the penalty has been decreased to +5% to main battery loading time

Third Upgrade Slot

For this slot, the available upgrades purposefully enhance the performance of secondary armaments.

Reworked Upgrades:
  • Main Battery Modification 3 (-12% to main battery loading time; -17% to the main battery traverse speed): the penalty was changed to -13% of the main battery traverse speed
  • Artillery Plotting Room Modification 2 (-7% to the maximum dispersion of main battery shells): the main battey shell dispersion has been improved by 16-11%. This upgrade will be available only for American battleships
  • AA Guns Modification 3 (+20% to average damage per second of AA mounts): the bonus has been increased to +25% to average damage per second of AA mounts
  • Secondary Battery Modification 3 (-20% to secondary battery loading time): the bonus has been increased to -25% to the secondary battery loading time; and new bonuses have been added, namely +20% to the secondary battery maximum firing range and -15% to maximum dispersion of secondary battery shells

Fifth Upgrade Slot

  • We increased the usefulness of an upgrade that players rarely used.
Reworked Upgrades:
  • Propulsion Modification 2 (-20% to time for reaching full power) the bonus has to time it takes to reach full power has improved to 50%. This upgrade boosts the engine automatically by 50% while the ship accelerates from 0 to 6 knots (both ahead and astern)

Compensation

To improve switching to the new upgrade system, you’ll be automatically compensated for all changes that significantly affect gameplay:

  • For all the Main Battery Modification 1 upgrades, the same number of Magazine Modification 1 upgrades will be added and available to mount
  • All the Main Battery Modification 1 upgrades and Torpedo Tube Modification 1 upgrades will be replaced by the Main Armament Modification 1 upgrades
  • All the AA Guns Modification 1 upgrades and Secondary Battery Modification 1 upgrades will be replaced by the Secondary Armaments Modification 1 upgrades
  • All the Gun Fire Control System Modification 1 upgrades will be replaced by Aiming Systems Modification 1 upgrades
  • All Secondary Battery Modification 2 and Torpedo Tubes Modification 2 upgrades will be removed. You will receive a compensation of 500,000 Credits for each removed upgrade

Interface

We’ve improved the post-battle statistics screen, focusing mostly on the “Detailed Report” tab:

  • The amount of damage will now be in bold text, and the normal font style will be used for the number of shots fired. For both the parameters above, we added pop-up window hints with detailed information
  • Added pop-up window hint with detailed information about the aircraft shot down (enemy and player, where applicable)
  • Added pop-up window hints with detailed information about damage received from bombs, torpedoes, and shells
  • In the “Credits and XP tab:” Added pop-up windows with information about a Commander. This window is displayed when the cursor is placed on the Commander’s name
  • Updated the layout of in-game surveys for more numerous and detailed responses

Battle Interface and HUD improvements:

  • If a ship has two main armaments (main battery and torpedoes) the reloading status panel will show the reloading indicators for both main armaments. To enable this option, use the corresponding interface item in the “Controls” tab
  • For the alternative battle interface mode (activated by pressing the Alt key or setting the corresponding checkbox in the “Controls” tab if not permanently enabled in “Settings”), the tiers of the corresponding ships will now be displayed for both allied and enemy aircraft
  • Players can switch to the Binocular View when their ship’s torpedo armament is selected

Maps

  • On this new map, fighting takes place around a Canadian archipelago. Teams need to navigate numerous islands. (It’s available for battles in tiers VII-X.)
  • The “Islands of Ice” map is reworked after surveys and feedback from players. We concluded that the middle part of this map is too open which makes it less tactically diverse. Furthermore, we decided to remove the “diagonal” placement of key areas because they were too far from each other
  • The “Islands of Ice” and “North” maps now will be available again for Ranked and Team Battles

After we analyzed the statistical data and feedback from players, we made the “Strait” map unavailable when tier VII ships are present — Standard Battle mode was removed from battles between tier VII-X ships because:
– In this mode, the bases on most maps were far away from each other, and players often had a tough time arriving to impact the outcome of the battle. Because of this, players were often unable to have enough impact on the outcome of the battle
– It lacked intermediate “points of interest” where the most exciting action usually takes place
– In this mode, protecting the base was crucial, and players used more passive tactics, which led to less exciting play

Audio

  • Enhanced special sounds for “distant events” in battle
  • Enhanced the sound for an air attack on a ship by bombers
  • Improved the ship destruction sound: now the nature of this sound will depend on the way the ship was destroyed
  • Enhanced sounds when the player’s ship is hit
  • Improved the sound notification for Surveillance Radar activation
  • Optimized and enhanced sounds for low sound quality settings
  • Improved “dropping” sounds for ejected main battery shell cases
  • Improved game interface sounds

Other Updates

Economics

We’ve removed all the modules that were duplicated on several ships. This creates a more systematic approach to researching and unlocking ships and their modules. Now each ship has her own unique modules. This change will have no significant effect on the gameplay process and all made by players before this change is implemented will be retained!

Weather

The “Hydroacoustic Search” and “Surveillance Radar” consumables will now work at maximum distance even during Cyclone weather conditions. This change comes from analysis of the feedback we received from players after the introduction of weather mechanics in Update 0.5.5

Visual-only weather effects were replaced with the Cyclone weather conditions (with a 10% chance of a Cyclone during a battle) for battles between tier VII-X ships on the following maps:

  • “The Atlantic”
  • “Islands of Ice”
  • “Hotspot”
  • “Trap”
  • “Two Brothers”
  • “Land of Fire”
  • “Trident”
  • “Shatter”
  • “Okinawa”
  • “Neighbors”
  • “Estuary”

Water Visualization

We reworked the effects when an in-game object hits the water’s surface. Now the water will reacts to bomb explosions, ship destructions, torpedo wakes, most ship wakes, and when you fire the main guns!

Technical Changes

  • The time required to load ship models during a battle is decreased. Ship models will load faster on some computers, and there will be fewer cases where a ship delays becoming visible to the player if she should have already been visible according to the game’s detectability and spotting mechanics
  • We reorganized the game content in .pkg archive files to further optimize the use of resources. Foliage and skybox textures were moved to map archive files, while user interface items, particles, effects and camouflage patterns have also been moved to individual archive files

Spectator Free Camera

If your ship’s been destroyed, you can stick around and watch the rest of the battle using the Free Camera.

  • Control it with the WASD keys, and change the camera’s elevation with the mouse’s scroll wheel!
  • Press Shift to switch modes
  • With the space bar, you can move the camera to any ship or squadron you see in the center of the screen (via the crosshair)

Ships

We started a gradual revision of all armor models to bring these armor models (created at different stages of the game’s development) to the same level of detail. In Update 0.5.7, we more precisely defined the destroyers’ armor models. In some cases, this led to the slight redistribution of HP within parts of the ship, while Increased detail and curves will also make AP shell ricochets possible in some situations. Armor interaction with HE shells and bombs will not change.

New Warships

Arizona and Ashigara were added into the game for testing by Supertesters and WG employees. Unfortunately these ships are currently unavailable for purchase, but players may encounter them in battle.

Server Maintenance

We’re introducing notifications about planned server restarts. You’ll see these notifications in the Port or in Battle Chat if the player is in a battle.

Minor Changes and Improvements

Ships
  • Changed default angle of fire for small-caliber AA guns
  • Revised display of halyards, signals, and ensigns from various distances
  • Murmansk: revised display of stars on her port and starboard sides
  • Colorado: revised display of her textures from various distances
  • Benson: fixed the overlap of her torpedo tubes with the ship structures
  • Arkansas Beta: revised display and model of the crane
  • Chapayev: corrected texture and detail defects, revised her stern funnel shape
  • Dmitri Donskoi: added “Machta-11-14” and “Coral” antennas, fixed incorrect texture of ship’s bottom
  • Baltimore: changed the positions of drum winches to remove their overlap with the main battery turret
  • Khabarovsk: improved her geometry and textures, replaced the boat of 1390 design with the boat of 378 design that is more historically accurate
  • Błyskawica: fixed errors in her textures and geometry, improved the quality of the coat of arms
  • Campbeltown: changed the geometry of the “Type 286” surveillance radar, changed the radar location
  • Moskva: now, her respective radars rotate together with the ship’s guns
  • New Orleans: ventilation elements no longer overlap with the aft main battery turret
  • Myogi: main gun barrels and the catapult gear will no longer overlap
  • Indianapolis: fixed the error with the “Manual Fire Control for AA Armament” skill not working properly in some cases
  • Molotov: fixed the error with the “Manual Fire Control for AA Armament” skill not working properly in some cases
  • Udaloi: fixed small errors with the in-game camera for this ship
  • Kirov: corrected models and rotation of her radar
  • Budyonny: Fixed bug where some objects from model remained visible above the water surface after the ship had been destroyed
In-Game Logic and Interface
  • Corrected the logic error in in-game logic related to the “Survivability Expert” skill. In some cases, this error resulted in ship repair cost being added instead of being deducted or making it possible to earn the “Dreadnought” achievement with a ship that is not able to recover HP with the use of the Repair Party consumable. We also revised the description of this skill
  • Fixed the bug with the artillery camera’s point of view passing through a ship’s superstructure when tracking the fired shell
  • Corrected the visuals for flooding effects when switching cameras after a ship is destroyed
  • Corrected the transition between zoom levels when in the Binocular View
  • Revised the hint displayed when a player is trying to demount a permanent camouflage
  • Fixed bug where the on-screen fire effect did not disappear after the player’s ship had been totally destroyed
  • Fixed bug that resulted in the camera’s point of view passing inside some islands
  • Fixed error where non-default key bindings were sometimes not kept after restarting the game client
  • Fixed bug related to incorrect camera position when going back to the battle HUD from the Tactical Map view
  • Fixed bug that made it impossible to assign a priority target for the secondary guns when the target was beyond the maximum firing range of the main guns
  • Fixed bug where the command to close the game client was ignored when in the Basic Training screen
  • Fixed bug where the animation for the active Defensive AA Fire consumable was still shown when there were no enemy aircraft within the corresponding ship’s AA engagement area radius
  • Fixed error where the checkbox for enabling/disabling display of a “circle” for the main battery firing range was available in the Minimap settings when playing on aircraft carriers
  • Fixed error where the incorrect number of aircraft a player destroyed in a battle was sometimes displayed in the post-battle results screen
  • Fixed bug that made it impossible for the player to recover an air squadron
  • Fixed bug related to display of completed missions and challenges in the post-battle results screen
  • Fixed error where the wrong amount of XP earned by the player in the last battle was displayed when the player had damaged their allies in that battle
  • Fixed incorrect behavior of crosshair-related hints when in the Binocular View
Other Changes
  • Fixed error that caused the game client to terminate unexpectedly during the Introductory Mission
  • Fixed operation of the Vertical synchronization option
  • Fixed some memory leaks in the game client
  • Fixed error that caused the game client to terminate unexpectedly when launched on a computer under heavy load
  • Removed files that became unused in the current update
  • Fixed error that caused the game client to crash under certain conditions when loading into the battle