whats the story?

[nihilcat]

Originally Posted by makman94

hello Nihilcat,

each time it looks better and better (for sure it seems the best water enviro i have seen so far).

I read at your last update that celestial objects are in correct place now.
Does this mean that celestial navigation will be possible for players ?

Also, can you tell something for the AI manouvers in case of detection ? will it be a random list of possible manouvers or it will be one standar behaviour all the time?

What about the hydrophone, sonar and radar devices? are they detailed modeled so player can use them in an effective way ?

Also, how 'deep' have you modeled the TDC ? will there be any more (than the ones you showed at a previous update) at the manual targeting system such as torpedo run time,spread ,impact angle...etc ?

Lastly, will the game be modable and in what level ?

Hi makman94,

Thank you.

Although you should technically be able to tell your position using the environment, there are currently no tools supporting you in that. Also it's not very practical considering how our travel system works at this time, but IMO we will probably add alternative, conventional time compression during beta... so who knows.

As a rule, I decided to not comment on AI behaviours to not spoil the inner workings and make them look natural. I hope that NPC ships behaviour will be satisfying - if not let us know during beta, if you will have the time to participate.

At this time only hydrophone is manually useable by the player, but we already have a full research done on sonars and radars on u-boats. It's probably a matter of time when we add manual stations for them too, but this may happen even post-release. It's not our top priority at this time as we already have enough bugs to deal with.

Regarding TDC - yes, all these parameters can be set by the player. All data may be supplied by the player and nothing is hidden.

Modding - yes, we are designing the game with modding in mind. You should be able to do everything we can with C# scripts, config files and Unity's asset bundles, but keep in mind that SDK may not be instantly available as we are obviously behind the schedule anyway

PS please post questions in separate topics. I would move the post for you, but I still haven't figured out how to do that.

[makman94]

Originally Posted by nihilcat

Hi makman94,

Thank you.

Although you should technically be able to tell your position using the environment, there are currently no tools supporting you in that. Also it's not very practical considering how our travel system works at this time, but IMO we will probably add alternative, conventional time compression during beta... so who knows.

As a rule, I decided to not comment on AI behaviours to not spoil the inner workings and make them look natural. I hope that NPC ships behaviour will be satisfying - if not let us know during beta, if you will have the time to participate.

At this time only hydrophone is manually useable by the player, but we already have a full research done on sonars and radars on u-boats. It's probably a matter of time when we add manual stations for them too, but this may happen even post-release. It's not our top priority at this time as we already have enough bugs to deal with.

Regarding TDC - yes, all these parameters can be set by the player. All data may be supplied by the player and nothing is hidden.

Modding - yes, we are designing the game with modding in mind. You should be able to do everything we can with C# scripts, config files and Unity's asset bundles, but keep in mind that SDK may not be instantly available as we are obviously behind the schedule anyway

PS please post questions in separate topics. I would move the post for you, but I still haven't figured out how to do that.

thank you for your answers Nihilcat,

Celestial Navigation will be great to have (no need to be in the release version). But as the stars allready stands at their correct positions now,will be great to have the abbility to navigate through them maybe at a later update
And this made me wonder , what about tools for plotting on the map? will the player be able to draw lines-angles-circles-parallels...etc on the map?

about the AI , i didn't ask to spoil anything (i fully understand that this would kill all the immersion). i asked if there would be one and only standar pattern or a randomness at possible patterns to follow.
But ,as you said it is satisfying, i have no reason to doubt and i would like to see it in your beta version

Thats wonderful news that you are planning to add sonar and radar stations too. it doesn't matter that will not be at the release (of course bugs comes first).

about modding , it looks like we are about to have an almost open game for modding . This is just....heaven

ps: i didn't saw any special thread for Questions thats why i replied here.if there is any, i will keep there.

All the best to your efforts

[makman94]

Originally Posted by makman94

thank you for your answers Nihilcat,

Celestial Navigation will be great to have (no need to be in the release version). But as the stars allready stands at their correct positions now,will be great to have the abbility to navigate through them maybe at a later update
And this made me wonder , what about tools for plotting on the map? will the player be able to draw lines-angles-circles-parallels...etc on the map?

about the AI , i didn't ask to spoil anything (i fully understand that this would kill all the immersion). i asked if there would be one and only standar pattern or a randomness at possible patterns to follow.
But ,as you said it is satisfying, i have no reason to doubt and i would like to see it in your beta version

Thats wonderful news that you are planning to add sonar and radar stations too. it doesn't matter that will not be at the release (of course bugs comes first).

about modding , it looks like we are about to have an almost open game for modding . This is just....heaven

ps: i didn't saw any special thread for Questions thats why i replied here.if there is any, i will keep there.

All the best to your efforts

pump

[nihilcat]

Originally Posted by makman94

thank you for your answers Nihilcat,

Celestial Navigation will be great to have (no need to be in the release version). But as the stars allready stands at their correct positions now,will be great to have the abbility to navigate through them maybe at a later update
And this made me wonder , what about tools for plotting on the map? will the player be able to draw lines-angles-circles-parallels...etc on the map?

about the AI , i didn't ask to spoil anything (i fully understand that this would kill all the immersion). i asked if there would be one and only standar pattern or a randomness at possible patterns to follow.
But ,as you said it is satisfying, i have no reason to doubt and i would like to see it in your beta version

Thats wonderful news that you are planning to add sonar and radar stations too. it doesn't matter that will not be at the release (of course bugs comes first).

about modding , it looks like we are about to have an almost open game for modding . This is just....heaven

ps: i didn't saw any special thread for Questions thats why i replied here.if there is any, i will keep there.

All the best to your efforts

Apologies for a late reply makman94,

Map tools are currently in a basic shape as necessary buttons are missing in the current iteration of UI... we will certainly add them back during or possibly before beta though

Regarding the AI - that's correct, there is some randomness. Characters, ships and groups of ships (like convoys) are driven by the same core AI system. It has some fuzzy logic built in and is moddable too, but in practice some calibration may still be needed. I'm not sure, how seasoned players will see all of this and I'm personally lacking perspective. Technically it's a flexible system and there shouldn't be a problem to do anything, if there is a solid feedback.

PS no problem, don't worry about the thread thing Thank you!

[DiddumsJ]

Originally Posted by nihilcat

... we will certainly add them back during or possibly before beta though..

so... able to give us any rough sort of timeline regarding when we might expect a chance to sign up for/participate in beta?

Gotta make sure to get a couple of days off work to hunt them bugs!

EDIT: To clarify, Im talking about the option for a non kickstarter-backer to buy-in to become a bug/beta-tester. I would be more than happy to buy the game in advance or pay for beta access. You hinted towards this being possible earlier, is that still the case?

[Niume]

I am wondering if we even get the testing until the autumm.

[nihilcat]

Originally Posted by DiddumsJ

so... able to give us any rough sort of timeline regarding when we might expect a chance to sign up for/participate in beta?

Gotta make sure to get a couple of days off work to hunt them bugs!

EDIT: To clarify, Im talking about the option for a non kickstarter-backer to buy-in to become a bug/beta-tester. I would be more than happy to buy the game in advance or pay for beta access. You hinted towards this being possible earlier, is that still the case?

Thank you very much, we appreciate everybody willing to help

We don't offer any form of buy-in early access, but everybody will still be able to participate in beta testing for free, one month after Kickstarter backers. There may be some limits, if interest in testing will be higher than expected, so watch out for news and fill the form.

Having that said, you probably wonder when Kickstarter backers start to test the game. That's harder to tell, it's summer and our contractors are delayed a bit.. but not long.

Animations were probably most important for us here and we should have all of them done today. We are going to need some time to implement them correctly into the game though, so we will have to test your patience for a few weeks more. Animation bugs are usually especially embarrassing and make quite a comedy out of the game, so that time is actually needed. There are also other alph-ish bugs left to fix, but we are getting there

By the way - let me tell, that these new animations are of really good quality - far better than any you could have seen on our earlier videos. We are really happy of the cooperation with a new animation studio, it adds so much into the game.

[succerpunch]

Since the post, has there been anything new yet?

[Hjalfnar]

They have announced a closed beta for possibly September on Facebook. These devs and the publisher seriously need a proper PR department. Signed up for it, so we'll see if I get my hands on it early, would be cool as I also supported them on Kickstarter. I have some experience as closed beta tester, for example Battlefield 3, War Thunder, World of Warships, some Paradox games, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 1&2 (just recently). Though I can be a bit nitpicky and too open about things I don't like, Pdox and Gaijin won't let me test their games anymore after I was very vocal about what I thought was ****ty about their games. xD