Update 0.5.5

Weather Effects

• Weather is randomy selected at the start of the battle for the maps "Ocean," "Solomon Islands," "Strait," "Big Race," "New Dawn," "The Atlantic," *"Fault Line," "Islands of Ice," "Two Brothers," "Land of Fire," "Shatter," "Mountain Range," "Hotspot," and "Trap".
• For these maps, players will have a chance to see various "bad weather" effects (rain, snow, heavy clouds) during the countdown before the battle starts. After the battle starts, these effects dissipate within 90 seconds.
• Weather settings for these maps are cosmetic and won't affect gameplay. The chance to see them is roughly 50%.
• For the "North" map, we added "Cyclone" weather conditions (heavy rain, fog, heavy clouds). During the cyclone, the maximum surface spotting/detectability range (ship to ship) is 8km, and the maximum air spotting/detectability range (ship to aircraft, aircraft to ship, aircraft to aircraft) is 3km.
• The chance of a cyclone and its duration are random values that may significantly differ from one battle to another.
• During "bad" weather (lasting from 2 to 10 minutes), aircraft carriers will onlyspot the targets that are spotted by their aircraft or are directly visible.
• Depending on the current weather conditions, the length of the view cone displayed on the minimap will change to match the spotting range.
• When the weather starts to change to "bad" weather, the following message is displayed: "Cyclone inbound! Spotting range will be decreased to 8km!" (or a different value, depending on the scenario).
• When the change from "bad" to "good" weather is complete, the following message is displayed: "Cyclone is over! Spotting range restored!"
• There is also an audio cue and different music when weather changes.
• The "North" map has been removed from the map pool for Ranked Battles and Team Battles, as a result of the new weather system.

New Maps

Mountain Range
Modeled after the South China Sea, an area that has been fraught with naval conflict throughout history. Expect to see exotic islands encircled by sheer cliffs. Beware enemies hiding around every outcropping!

Trident
Trident features an archipelago resembling those found in the Indian Ocean. The small islands make for excellent hiding places from which to launch raids. Trident is one of the first maps to feature time-of-day variants: dawn, morning, evening, and night.

Selecting a Crosshair for Binocular View

• You can now select from crosshair options for the "binocular view" using the "Controls" tab in Settings.
• You can select from a dynamic crosshair or one of several static crosshair types.
• With the dynamic crosshair, the distance between vertical marks on the horizontal line will scale when the camera zooms in and out.
• You can select a crosshair both in Port and in battle. In addition to the standard static crosshair, we have permanently added popular crosshairs inspired by our players: z1ooo, DeCease, and Mebius_LW.

Sound Improvements

• Implemented audio feedback for crossing map boundaries. When your ship crosses a map boundary, a special sound effect will fade in, and several sound groups will be muted. This sound effect will be played until the ship leaves the map boundary area and returns to the battlefield.
• Added new music tracks, including tracks with vocals.
• Introduced special sounds for long-range hits on ships and the landscape, active when using "binocular view".
• Added initial framework for a more dynamic soundstage. Sound sources visible to the player have priority over sources invisible to the player. *However, priorities won't be changed for important sounds.
• Improved aircraft engine sounds.
• Improved sound design for ship destructions.
• You can now set the volume of gunfire under Settings. However, you cannot completely mute them.
• Environment sounds are now customized for different Ports.
• Enhanced sound effects for fighter attacks.
• Implemented ambient voice communications for "binocular view" when detecting enemy ships, and added sound effects to standard voice messages.
• Implemented settings for dynamic range width. By default, a wide dynamic range is set. You can toggle dynamic range presets to get the most suitable range for your sound equipment. Narrow dynamic range is recommended for small speakers or built-in notebook speakers.
• Wide dynamic range (set by default) is recommended for sufficiently powerful audio systems and headphones. If the "Wide dynamic range" checkbox is cleared, strong range compression is applied to various sound groups, resulting in normalization of the volume level for loud and quiet sounds. *Because of this, quiet sounds become much louder and are better perceived when small speakers are used.

Full-Screen Effects for Fires

• Added a new full-screen effect when your ship is set on fire. This effect is enabled by default. A new option ("Reduced fire effect") is available under Settings. The fire effects are displayed in all camera modes.
• The effect visuals will change depending on the fire's intensity:

• Minor fire (when one or two ship parts are on fire)
• Massive fire (when three or four ship parts are on fire)

Rendering of Shell Models

• Implemented new functionality for rendering artillery shells in flight.
• Visually, the new shell model consists of three parts: the shell body, shell end, and the heat haze around the shell. This new model is visible when the camera is zoomed in.

New Visuals for Sinking Ships

Improved the mechanics of sinking ships. Ships will now sink in a more realistic manner Ships will sink in different ways depending on their type, the cause of their destruction, and the amount of damage they received in battle.

Changes to Ships

• Hermelin: Improved firing range by extending it from 7.8km to 8.6km. This should help novice players get the hang of the German cruiser branch.
• Izumo: Shells from her top guns are now available with the stock hull module. To ease the progress to the top configuration of the Izumo (Tier IX), all her hull configurations were supplied with top shells (the previous shells weren't efficient enough).
• Ishizuchi: Steering gear and magazine modules are now more protected from HE shell fragments. Moreover, the rate of fire for her main guns was improved from 30 seconds to 25 seconds. To provide a better gameplay experience for new players with the Premium battleship Ishizuchi, we improved the armor protection of its magazine and steering gears against HE shells and increased its rate of fire, since it often has to fight at maximum range to be effective.
• The chances of setting fire with HE-46 shells (available on Soviet destroyers Tier V and above) has been increased from 7% to 8%. In order to improve the efficiency of Soviet destroyers when countering larger targets, we increased the chances of setting targetson fire with HE shells.
• Changed the parameters of the Type 93 model 1 and model 3 torpedoes mounted on destroyers Kagero and Shimakaze. As a partial solution to the 'torpedo soup' problem, we increased the spotting range of Type 93 model 1 and model 3 torpedoes 2.5km and 1.9km, respectively. The range of Type 93 model 3 torpedoes has been reduced from 15km to 12km, and the speed of the model 1 torpedoes was reduced from 67kts to 62kts. We want to make it easier for all players to avoid being hit by randomly launched long-range torpedoes.
• Added torpedoes to Fubuki, Kagero and Shimakaze. As an option for players that prefer a more aggressive and risky style of play with the Japanese destroyers, we added shorter-range, yet quicker, Type 93 model 2 (Fubuki, Kagero) and Type F3 (Kagero, Shimakaze) torpedoes.
• Increased the hit points for the turret housing of small-caliber main guns (131mm up to/including 160mm) and main guns of calibers under 130mm: 1.5 and 2.6 times, respectively. To reduce the risk of a complete loss of a main weapon, we increased the number of hit points for small-caliber main guns to make it more difficult to destroy such guns with a random hit. The primary reason for this is an increase in the number of rapid-firing artillery cruisers.
• Increased the range of the Soviet Model 1908 and Model 1910 torpedoes to 4km. We have carefully examined the behavior patterns of novice players who choose Soviet destroyers. Often, they tend to play in a risky fashion due to the short torpedo range. We hope to make the line feel more uniform with this change.
• Reduced the increase in detectability range (as viewed from ships) resulting from gunfire by 1km for the destroyers Storozhevoi, Derzki and Izyaslav. The standard coefficient for an increase in the detectability range, typical of Soviet destroyers, was excessive at lower tiers, so we decided to soften the effect.
• Reduced the incapacitation time for engines from 120 seconds to 60 seconds. Long incapacitation times were a cause of concern for many players, and overly incentivized the enhanced "Damage Control Party II" consumable. The new time is the minimum (without taking improvements from upgrades into account) required to effectively stop any warship in the game and keep it immobile for a short period of time.
• Reduced the duration of incapacitation time applicable to steering gears from 120 secondsto 40 seconds. Again, this overly incentivized the Damage Control Party consumable. We've reduced the duration of the module incapacitation time to be a reasonable time period.
• Kirov is now 88 centimeters deeper in the water. Her draught now corresponds with her full load weight and this should offer some increased survivability.
• Pensacola has had its armor increased by 1 to 6mm.
• Svietlana has had its engine compartment's defense buffed. The compartment is now less susceptible to HE shells and is somewhat smaller in size
• Bogatyr has had its automatic camera fixed when switching between battery groups.
• Kirov has had its visual bug fixed that caused the hull to appear completely black when superstructures were damaged.
• Added the Defensive AA Fire consumable to US aircraft carriers Tiers VIII-X. Focused encounters between aircraft carriers is a common thing in high-tier battles. We think this situation negatively affects gameplay -- the players on the team that loses a carrier at the beginning of the battle are at a great disadvantage, and sometimes intentionally wait for defeat. To prevent this from happening as little as possible, we made the "Defensive AA Fire" consumable available on high-tier aircraft carriers. Unlike its cruiser counterpart, this consumable is intended for the aircraft carrier's own protection from enemy air attacks and is very poorly suited to helping allied ships.

Defensive AA Fire Parameters for US Aircraft Carriers:

• Lexington: Active for 120 seconds, AA power multiplier for 40-mm AA guns by x1.05. Reload Time for regular consumable (enhanced values in parentheses): 360 (240) seconds; number of uses: 1 (2).
• Essex: Active for 120 seconds, AA power multiplier for 40-mm AA guns by x1.25. Reload Time for regular consumable (enhanced in parentheses): 360 (240) seconds; number of uses: 1 (2).
• Midway: Active for 120 seconds, AA power multiplier for 40-mm AA guns by x1.25. Reload Time for regular consumable (enhanced in parentheses): 360 (240) seconds; number of uses: 1 (2).

Defensive AA Fire Parameters for Japanese Aircraft Carriers

• Shokaku: Active for 120 seconds, AA power multiplier for 25-mm AA guns by x1.75. Reload Time for regular consumable (enhanced in parentheses): 360 (240) seconds; number of uses: 1 (2).
• Taiho: Active for 120 seconds, AA power multiplier for 40-mm AA guns by x1.75. Reload Time for regular consumable (enhanced in parentheses): 360 (240) seconds; number of uses: 1 (2).
• Hakuryu: Active for 120 seconds, AA power multiplier for 40-mm AA guns by x1.75. Reload Time for regular consumable (enhanced in parentheses): 360 (240) seconds; number of uses: 1 (2).

• Disperson is increased from 125% to 150% when American bombers are under attack. Introducing Defensive AA Fire created too large of an advantage to leave the parameters as is. This slight nerf to bomber accuracy brings it all into balance.

Price Changes

Fubuki:

• Reduced XP cost for hull module Fubuki (C) from 19,500 to 16,500.
• Reduced Credit cost for hull module Fubuki (C) from 1,500,000 to 1,400,000.
• Reduced XP cost for torpedo module Type 90 mod. 2 from 22,500 to 18,500.
• Reduced Credit cost for torpedo module Type 90 mod. 2 fro 1,900,000 to 1,600,000.

Kagero:

• Reduced XP cost for hull module Kagero (B) from 24,000 to 21,000.
• Reduced Credit cost for hull module Kagero (B) from 1,800,000 to 1,600,000.
• Reduced XP cost for torpedo module Type 93 mod. 1 from 38,000 to 24,000.
• Reduced Credit cost for torpedo module Type 93 mod. 1 from 2,800,000 to 2,200,000.

Shimakaze:

• Reduced XP cost for torpedo module Type 93 mod. 3 from 52,000 to 30,000.
• Reduced Credit cost for torpedo module Type 93 mod. 3 from 3,600,000 to 2,500,000.

Game Locations and Ports

Changes to Ports

• The "New York" Port has been reworked for daytime illumination.
• The "Black Sea" Port has been revised and the "Defender of the Fatherland Day" greeting was removed.
• Added Onshore Objects to the Solomon Islands, Two Brothers, The Atlantic and Shatter maps.

Balance Changes in Maps

• "Trap" and "The Atlantic" maps were reworked on the basis of feedback from players and analysis of statistical data. Spawn positions for ships in both teams were revised for the "Trap" map.
• "Trap" Changes:

• Available for Tier VIII-X battles in Domination mode.
• We got a lot of feedback on this map. In particular, most battle encounters on "Trap" tended to shift to the lower left part of the map. The statistical data that we accumulated has proved that such a shift is actually present. We have extensively reworked this map in order to make its upper-right area more accessible and popular.
• Large Islands at Spawn Positions. For both teams, large islands have been moved away from spawn positions. Nothing should be in the way when proceeding towards the chosen flank. This is especially true for the right flank. One of the islands has been moved to the upper-right corner of the map, to become a visual reference for the map boundary.
• Right Portion of the Archipelago.The right portion of the map contained too much open water and was rather monotonous. We've moved large islands (mostly from spawn positions) to the upper-right part of the map and closer to the map center, and replaced the volcano with a small oblong island. A chain of four islands was created in the upper-right part of the map. This chain can be used as cover for detour maneuvers.
• Spawn Positions.We moved spawn positions up and to the right so that it would be easier for you to reach the upper-right part of the map. The spawn positions are now closer to the center to effectively decrease the time required to enter combat with the enemy.
• Volcano. The volcano that used to be in the right part of the map now has been moved to the left, right in the center of the atoll. It's now only half as big. A small additional piece of cover is available in the middle of the atoll. This cover can be used when fighting to get control of the capture point.

• "The Atlantic" Changes:

• Available for Tier IX-X battles in Domination and Standard Battle modes.
• We decided that the middle part of this map contains too much open water and too little tactical variety. To fix that, we tried to put the islands in a more dense formation around the capture point in the middle.
• Central Part of the Map. We moved some islands from the map edges and spawn positions to the map center, which results in less open water around the central capture point. Our idea was to make the central part of the map safer and provide more tactical variety there. At the same time, the upper team will now have fewer obstructions in the route to capture point C.
• Capture Point A. One of the two large islands covering the capture point in the lower left corner of the map was moved closer to the middle of the map, and the second island was rotated in such a way that the line of sight is broken between this capture pointand the central one. Now capture point A has cover to protect it from fire from the map center, but players from both spawn positions now have a better view of this capture point(and a better firing solution).

• "Tears of the Desert" Changes:

• Added the "Tears of the Desert" map into the list of maps available for Ranked Battles and Team Battles.
• For this map, the scenario with three capture points has been selected. When controlled, a capture point adds 3 points every 5 seconds.

General Fixes and Improvements for Maps

Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Fixed abug that caused damage to be incorrectly inflicted to ships in the introductory mission. Sometimes it was impossible to destroy an enemy ship when ithad a few hit points left.
• For the Introductory Mission, we readjusted parameters for the enemy ships, so that it would take less time to destroy them.
• Fixed the issue of incorrect spawn positions for teams on the "Strait" and "Hotspot" maps. In some cases the ships would be divided into groups unevenly.
• Fixed the issue of incorrect spawn position for the aircraft carrier when in a Division with a battleship on the "Tears of the Desert" map.
• Fixed the bug that caused an incorrect spawn position for a battleship on the "Shatter" map when played with by a Division member.

Spawn Positions Revised

• Reworked the ships' spawn positions on the "Land of Fire" and "Islands of Ice" maps for Ranked Battles and Team Battles
• To decrease the time required to engage in combat, we re-adjusted the distance between spawn positions of players on opposing teams on Islands of Ice, Trap, Land of Fire, Shatter, and Straight for Random Battles.

Changes In Matchmaker Settings

• Reduced the chance of entering battles in Standard Battle and Domination modes on the "Land of Fire" map for Tier X battles.
• The "Two Brothers," "Hotspot," and "Land of Fire" maps were moved one level up in the matchmaker.
• Two Brothers will now be available for Tiers VII-X (was VI-X).
• Hotspot and Land of Fire will now be available for Tiers VIII-X (was VII-X).
• Readjusted the mechanics for decreasing propulsion power when in contact with the map boundary. Ships will now lose propulsion power faster in these cases.

Game Client File System

• Optimized the game client file storage structure. The game client files are packed in a .pkg as per battle type and map, thus reducing the number of files and battle loading time as well as the Port loading time.

Other Changes and Fixes

• We increased the penalty for damaging and destroying allied ships. From now on, a player can receive "team killer" status even if they caused relatively slight damage to an ally. A player will instantly receive the "team killer" status when they destroy an allied ship.
• Added functionality for marking a ship as a "favorite" in the carousel. Right-click the ship icon in the carousel, then select "Set as favorite" from the list. Ships that are marked as "favorite" will always be displayed at the beginning of the carousel, unless other filters are applied to these ships. The "favorite" mark is stored on your server-side profile.
• New filters for the carousel make it possible to select only ships with or without a Commander.
• Added functionality for sorting the ships in the carousel by the last time a ship was used in battle.
• Added functionality for displaying three or four rows of ships in the compact carousel view (dependent on screen resolution).
• Added functionality for changing the selected filter without opening the main filter panel. To modify a certain filter without opening the main filter panel, click on the desired filter above the carousel.
• In the confirmation windows for purchasing, researching, or mounting in-game items, hints with their parameters and descriptions are now displayed when the cursor is placed over the icon of the corresponding item.
• In the confirmation windows for purchasing, functionality for selecting the desired in-game currency (Credits or Doubloons) was added if there is an option.
• For an upgrade mounted on a ship, the "Destroy" operation is replaced with the "Sell" operation.
• "Low graphics settings" will now be default when using automatic detection with a 32bit operating system.

Additional Ship Parameters Displayed in Port

• Torpedo Protection: percentage values of decreasing damage from torpedo hits and the risk of flooding.
• Initial shell velocity for main battery shells.
• Initial shell velocity for secondary battery shells.
• Detectability range of torpedoes.
• For attack aircraft with rear gunners, the damage caused to the enemy by their self-defense armament.
• Common ship name abbreviations are now used in lists and other GUI items where text length is limited.
• The Detectability Range term was replaced with "Visibility".

Team Battles Match Maker

• Fixed an issue with matchmaking causing multiple battles in a row with the same opponents.
• Reduced the likelihood of a long wait time (over three minutes). Long waits will only occur when the queue is at a low population for suitable opponents.

Team Battles Settings

• The minimum amount of players required to enter battle is now two.
• The minimum amount of Team Battles required before creating a second team is now three.

Fixes

• Fixed a bug which caused the aircraft squadron marker indicators to appear during take-off while they were out of an observer's view range
• Interface markers on the battle screen underwent a stage of technical optimization. Reduced the number of freezes when in battle
• Added the "Destroyed" status to ship markers.
• In the "Controls" tab, added a new option in the battle camera settings group: "Always start the battle completely zoomed out." By default, this option is disabled. When enabled, the battle camera will always be as zoomed out as far as possible when the battle starts. All other settings will be ignored. Otherwise, the battle camera will be focused on a main turret during the countdown before the battle starts. This option works for cruisers, destroyers, and battleships.
• If you press the same square on the Tactical Map or minimap multiple times, only one "Attention to square..." message is displayed in battle chat
• Added a "reason" to system notifications regarding the addition of in-game valuables.
• Added the functionality for a flashing game client icon displayed on the taskbar. The game icon will start to flash if the game window is out of focus or not active (minimized, overlapped by another window, and so on) for 5 seconds before the countdown to the battle starting, or when the player has entered a battle that was already in progress.
• The multiplier factor is not applied to a ship's detectability range for 20 seconds after a shot from the main battery is fired, if, at the moment the shot is fired, the ship cannot be detected by the enemy, even with the potential detectability range increase being applied.
• Integrated Tobii EyeX technology.
• Updated the in-game web browser.
• Reduced micro-stuttering of ships during the battle when the network connection is unstable.
• Improved visual quality of wave crests and decreased flashing artifacts when they are distant from the player's point of view.
• When the game client is launched, a randomly-selected background image is displayed on the game loading screen. The same image may be displayed for several game launches.
• A randomly selected video is played on the log in screen. The same video may be present for several game launches.
• In the Team Battles session schedule, different time zones are displayed depending on the region: UTC for the RU and ASIA regions, CET and CEST for the EU region, CST for the CN region, PST and PDT for the NA region.