What's New

The big new feature this week is NPCs and conversations. These don't have a direct mechanical influence yet, but they add some nice flavor and background to the world. Soon, though, they'll be key to quests (more on them in What's Next, below). There are 4 NPCs right now, two at the bar in Northburg, and two at the bar in Bastion.

OtterAlpha has also produced lovely new models for the Stalwart (the open world starter sub)

As well as the pride of the Hudson fleet, the Republic.

In addition to all of that, I've put in some refinements to torpedo handling, to make them a little more interesting to use and evade. Torpedos now lose their guiding wire (and cannot be controlled) if they travel too far to the side of the launching submarine. While the wire is intact, however, you can now change their target mid-flight. For dealing with unguided torpedoes, submarines can now drop decoys, these noisemakers both block sonar detection and attract any unguided torpedoes. As side effect of this some enemy submarine types (the Sparrow, Infiltrator, and Seeker) now perform hit-and-fade attacks, masking their movements with decoys as they withdraw and reposition.

Turret aiming has also been improved for hitting smaller targets.

Patch Notes

• Added OtterAlpha's Stalwart model.
• Lightened turret textures.
• Playing around with spotlights on subs and light cones.
• Added NPCs to some station rooms and dialogue system.
• Gillian Mclaren and Deadeye at the Rusty Torpedo in Northburg.
• Old Greg at The Drunken Sailor in Bastion
• Torpedoes will now be a little slower to start maneuvering.
• Torpedo control wire will automatically breaks if the angle from the sub's bow to the torpedo gets too large.
• Added decoy droppers that drop sonar blinding decoys. 
• Added a couple minutes of persistence and position estimation to previously detected contacts.
• Strafing attack subs now drop decoys when withdrawing.
• Increased armor penetration of barrage torpedoes.
• Add slight roll effect when turning. 
• Allow the player to change torpedo targets in flight (as long as they're still on the wire). (press the Set Target button with the new target targeted)
• Fixed a line of dialogue for Old Greg.
• Added Maxamed Omar to Bastion.
• Changed decoys to attract non wire guided torpedoes, in addition to previous functionality. (edited)
• Factions treat themselves as friendly (just affects UI coloring in the battle map for now)
• Reduce time compression to 1x/2x/4x
• Lock time compression to 1x when in danger
• Add small constant heal when docked, to prevent stuck repair divers from stranding submarines.
• Change sub aiming to use a point rather than a vector, to improve shooting at small targets.

• Added OtterAlpha's Republic model.
  

What's Next

The next big feature builds upon the previous two weeks: quests. Quests are a special type of mission tied to a story. They are non-repeatable, and hand-crafted (as opposed to the simulation generated patrol and trade missions). Quests will require both talking to NPCs and performing actions out in the world. They can have different paths to completion, as well, depending on how you approach them.

The fist quest is nearly half way completed, and involves helping Gillian Mclaren discover the fate of the missing freighter Fitzgerald. I expect it to be fully complete by next Friday. Following this first quest I'll likely start on a second quest, or on dynamic reputation changes. I haven't decided yet.