What's New

The new big feature this week is divers. The maneuver panel to the bottom left can now be swapped to a diver control mode, letting you perform repairs and salvage operations. These divers are very slow, and impractical to use at anything other than a dead stop.

Repair divers will patch any leaks on your submarine, bringing it close to full health. Salvage divers can be sent to a targeted wreck and retrieve any valuable items left on board. All types of divers have limited oxygen, and will die if they cannot return to your submarine before the supply is exhausted. Replacements can be hired at the bar on most stations.

Speaking of salvage, there is now a named wreck located somewhere south of Bastion. For now it's just a free source of items, but it will be more important in the near future.

Models

OtterAlpha has made a new model for the Province (which you can see above salvaging a Protector), which I'm particularly fond of. I was able to animate it's hangar doors based on dive teams leaving and returning to the sub. A lovely example of that can be found here.

A new model for the starting sub (the Stalwart) will be done shortly as well.

Patch Notes

• Reduce sub values (currently 1/3 of what they were previously)
• Increase bounty payout % (from 1% to 5% of target value)
• Increase owned sub value retention when exchanging subs (from 50% to 80%)
• Add guards against stuck repair divers, and repair divers being deployed when the player exchanges subs.
• Added UI panel for managing dive teams.
• Implemented salvage divers and salvaging.
• Account for dive teams when purchasing new subs.
• Persistent wrecks in the world.
• Added the Fitzgerald as a wreck.
• Made wrecks last longer in open world map.
• Added wrecks to scanner filters and map.
• Added OtterAlpha's Province model.
• Tweaks to diver deployment timing.
• Added repair divers.
• Added diver buying/selling at the bar.

What's Next

I'm wrapping up development on a dialog system for talking to NPCs. I found the incredibly useful Clyde Dialogue Language, and have integrated it into a new UI window, as you can see above. There's lots left to tweak and integrate, but I expect to have it functional by next week.

Dialogue, in combination with salvage mechanics, will pave the way for the first narrative quest in the following weeks.