What's New

In a sharp contrast to last week, quite a lot. The first quest and dynamic reputation, as discussed last week are completed. In addition Minisubs are in, with three submarines in game currently having minisub hangars. Two hudson subs in the battle map (Republic and Province) have hangars, and two subs available on the open world map (Province and the new pirate Junk) have them as well. AI submarines currently don't use their minisubs, but that will be coming next week.

Also pirate stations are now useful. To go with the new dynamic reputation, the player now starts off neutral to the pirates, so you can begin your life of crime right from the start. Additionally the player spawn point has been moved a little further away from Northburg, to reduce the risk of spawn-kills once you've pissed off the local lawmen.

Pirate stations have the basic equipment vendors, as well as security patrols. They also sell the new pirate Junk sub. The Junk is a converted Conveyor, featuring a minisub hangar and an expanded torpedo magazine. It still has the low armor and maneuverability of the Conveyor, so don't expect it to be a dedicated battlesub. Its substantial cargo of 1000 u, and up to 4 salvage dive teams make it a good option for killing and salvaging transports, however.

All of the stations in the open world map have received a makeover, with beautiful new models from OtterAlpha. The stations have also been increased in size, to properly capture the feel of a city. They also have hangars, and will launch minisubs to defend against hostile submarines.

Patch Notes

• Dynamic reputation changing with completing / failing missions.
• Reputation changes when registering bounties.
• Reputation changes from crimes, crime tracking, crime reporting.
• Temporary hostility state from sustained friendly fire.
• Adding new NPCs for supporting the fitzgerald quest.
• Death of the Fitzgerald quest
• Added OtterAlpha's Spotlight and station models.
• Rebuilt Northburg with OtterAlpha's new models
• Updated Bastion and Delve to use the new modules. 
• Tweaks to submarine spotlight light cone.
• Added tooltips to ammo buttons on turret widget
• Middle mouse button now also toggles aiming periscope
• Wrecks are louder (easier to detect)
• Added minisubs
• Added minisub hangars to Province and Republic.
• Added minisub vendor to equipment dealers.
• Changed station security patrols from Sparrows to Protectors
• Added minisub hangars to Northburg, Bastion, and Delve.
• Minisubs relay sonar contact information back to their parent sub.
• Add functional rooms to pirate bases.
• Add patrol missions to pirate bases.
• Added pirate Junk sub
• Tweaks to Minisub logic.
• Added pirate junks to patrol missions and to the world.
• Added minisub hangar count to sub vendor display.
• Make mission enemies hostile regardless of standing.

What's Next

AI Minisub Control

The AI needs to be taught how to deploy and recover their minisubs. This will make combat involving the Province, Republic, and Junk a lot more interesting, and should make the Junk a dangerous combatant (right now it's kind of a big fat target). This shouldn't take long, as it's just a small modification to existing behavior.

Pirate Economy

The pirate stations currently don't have economic processes defined. To continue making the pirates a more viable faction I'll be adding economic processes and trade missions between the pirate stations. This will also make salvaging and selling items from wrecks a viable way to make income as a pirate.

Pirate Minisub

The pirate stations currently use and sell the same Sparrow minisub as Hudson. Instead they should have their own design, unique to them and possibly converted from a civilian design. At the same time I might add some more minisub types for hudson as well, like a dedicated torpedo bomber and/or gunboat.

Cargo Scanning

This will be a larger item. I already talked about the idea last week, but I plan on starting work on it once the pirates have been fleshed out. This will allow for smuggling gameplay to further liven up the pirates.