News about 129 and leaving EA

LtCmdrRat · 01-23-21, 04:41 PM

https://steamcommunity.com/app/49484...4379499914054/

Road to B129
Dear skippers,

We are back with news about the upcoming update B129 and the future of UBOAT Early Access.

Next update
Update B129 is shaping up to be the most important update to the game thus far. It will introduce the remaining features from the initial roadmap as well as will move forward beyond it.

We will publish small teasers every two weeks to keep you updated and give you a general idea what to expect from that update. Stay tuned!
Early Access
After consultation with the publisher, we decided to extend the Early Access for a few months more to polish the game as well as we can for the upcoming final release. Keeping the game in Early Access allows us to move at a higher pace than will be possible later on. We hope that you will agree with us on this decision and that a few months more won't hurt.

This means that after B129 you can still expect at least one more major update to UBOAT before we leave Early Access for good.

Team changes
We are pleased to declare that Ruby joins our team as the community manager. Ruby now has the inside look into the latest news and work, so you can count on getting the latest information through him from now on. We hope that with his help our team will be doing a better job at communicating the progress.

Aside from that, another member is joining our ranks soon as a scene designer. He will help us build new port scenes, as well as prepare content for the new game mechanics that will be shipped in B129. This way our team will grow to five people.

You will hear more from us in the future. We also sincerely hope that you are well in these hard times.

Warm regards,
DWS

BungoJungo · 01-23-21, 08:45 PM

I was starting to get a little worried, that's some good news. The end (official start?) is in sight!

01-28-21, 09:35 PM

I'm not sure I see the good news. Guess I'll add a mini-review to explain

The game has a lot of potential but at the moment (well actually for a long time) it has been more about adding new stuff instead of fixing bugs, which I guess is okay in an Early Access game, but leaving Early Access when still in such a state as it is would in my opinion make it a money grab. They have promised at least one more big update but I have my doubts that one update will fix the huge amount of glaring bugs since they still also need to add the campaign and they also need to add new ports. I think they bit over more than they can chew.

A few of the bugs I have encountered:

Tutorial is (still) broken.
Ships (still) sometimes sail in circles forever.
You can sail below land if you get too near (England only?!).
Ships seem to spawn randomly close to you instead of sailing routes. This can cause them to be very close at spawn while a few minutes before you could neither see nor hear them.
Ships sometimes spawn on-top of each other five high.

A few annoyances for me are:

Depth charge attacks are the most arcadish I have seen in a subsim. In reality they had a 60 attacks to 1 kill later in the war (1943-) with good tactics, multiple ships working together and better equipment yet in the game you can either die all the time using realistic tactics or play Game The AI to win easily.
I meet other U-boats on Every. Single. Mission. (while in reality they only had ~20 in mission areas at the start of the war) and the game marks them as an enemy for some reason so you cannot use high time compression near them and your crews moral decline.
You get reputation for reporting kills by other U-boats.
AI U-boats seem to have unlimited torpedoes. Seen multiple times that a VII fires 2 x 4 torpedoes in short succession.
The AI is dumb as rocks (use 8 torpedoes at one freighter, sink a carrier with no response at all from the rest of the task-force, crew walking into flooded compartments on their own and drown, etc).
Convoys can have 10+ warships to protect 5 freighters.
Merchant kills count more than warships.

Okay I'll leave it at that

Suffice to say the game really has potential but if makes Silent Hunter series look like rock steady well tested and polished games at their release

01-23-21, 04:41 PM	#1
LtCmdrRat Gunner Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: My mind is My Fortress Posts: 100 Downloads: 110 Uploads: 0	News about 129 and leaving EA https://steamcommunity.com/app/49484...4379499914054/ Road to B129 Dear skippers, We are back with news about the upcoming update B129 and the future of UBOAT Early Access. Next update Update B129 is shaping up to be the most important update to the game thus far. It will introduce the remaining features from the initial roadmap as well as will move forward beyond it. We will publish small teasers every two weeks to keep you updated and give you a general idea what to expect from that update. Stay tuned! Early Access After consultation with the publisher, we decided to extend the Early Access for a few months more to polish the game as well as we can for the upcoming final release. Keeping the game in Early Access allows us to move at a higher pace than will be possible later on. We hope that you will agree with us on this decision and that a few months more won't hurt. This means that after B129 you can still expect at least one more major update to UBOAT before we leave Early Access for good. Team changes We are pleased to declare that Ruby joins our team as the community manager. Ruby now has the inside look into the latest news and work, so you can count on getting the latest information through him from now on. We hope that with his help our team will be doing a better job at communicating the progress. Aside from that, another member is joining our ranks soon as a scene designer. He will help us build new port scenes, as well as prepare content for the new game mechanics that will be shipped in B129. This way our team will grow to five people. You will hear more from us in the future. We also sincerely hope that you are well in these hard times. Warm regards, DWS __________________ A joke is a very serious thing... sir winston churchill. Last edited by LtCmdrRat; 01-25-21 at 02:31 AM.

01-28-21, 09:35 PM	#3
Dahoon Stowaway Posts: n/a Downloads: Uploads:	I'm not sure I see the good news. Guess I'll add a mini-review to explain The game has a lot of potential but at the moment (well actually for a long time) it has been more about adding new stuff instead of fixing bugs, which I guess is okay in an Early Access game, but leaving Early Access when still in such a state as it is would in my opinion make it a money grab. They have promised at least one more big update but I have my doubts that one update will fix the huge amount of glaring bugs since they still also need to add the campaign and they also need to add new ports. I think they bit over more than they can chew. A few of the bugs I have encountered: Tutorial is (still) broken. Ships (still) sometimes sail in circles forever. You can sail below land if you get too near (England only?!). Ships seem to spawn randomly close to you instead of sailing routes. This can cause them to be very close at spawn while a few minutes before you could neither see nor hear them. Ships sometimes spawn on-top of each other five high. A few annoyances for me are: Depth charge attacks are the most arcadish I have seen in a subsim. In reality they had a 60 attacks to 1 kill later in the war (1943-) with good tactics, multiple ships working together and better equipment yet in the game you can either die all the time using realistic tactics or play Game The AI to win easily. I meet other U-boats on Every. Single. Mission. (while in reality they only had ~20 in mission areas at the start of the war) and the game marks them as an enemy for some reason so you cannot use high time compression near them and your crews moral decline. You get reputation for reporting kills by other U-boats. AI U-boats seem to have unlimited torpedoes. Seen multiple times that a VII fires 2 x 4 torpedoes in short succession. The AI is dumb as rocks (use 8 torpedoes at one freighter, sink a carrier with no response at all from the rest of the task-force, crew walking into flooded compartments on their own and drown, etc). Convoys can have 10+ warships to protect 5 freighters. Merchant kills count more than warships. Okay I'll leave it at that Suffice to say the game really has potential but if makes Silent Hunter series look like rock steady well tested and polished games at their release Last edited by Dahoon; 01-28-21 at 09:36 PM. Reason: Removed b00rked YouTube link

01-23-21, 08:45 PM	#2
BungoJungo Der Kommissar Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Austin, Texas USA Posts: 26 Downloads: 16 Uploads: 0	I was starting to get a little worried, that's some good news. The end (official start?) is in sight!