Update 0.9.1

DevBlog preliminary post Developer Bulletin News article

Update 0.9.1: British Heavy Cruisers Part 2

British Cruisers: Part 2 ● The Fifteenth Season of Ranked Battles ● Updates to Upgrades ● Updates to the Service Record ● Armory ● New Northern Waters Map ● Other Changes

Commanders! Due to the installation of the Update, the server will be unavailable:
From: Wed. Feb. 12 2:00 AM PT / your local time: Wed. Feb. 12 4:00 AM
Until: Wed. Feb. 12 5:00 AM PT / your local time: Wed. Feb. 12 7:00 AM
Update size: 2 GB

Because of the updates being made to upgrades, the dismounting of them will be free of charge for a period of 1 week from the release of Update 0.9.1.

British Cruisers: Part 2

A new line of British heavy cruisers has become available for all players to research. Unique Features of the Ship Branch

• Their powerful artillery can cause significant damage per salvo, but the guns have a relatively short firing range and arcing shell trajectory.
• In contrast to light British cruisers, these ships have high-explosive shells in their arsenal that can cause heavy damage and have good chances of setting targets on fire.
• Their ability to fire torpedoes one-by-one opens additional tactical options.
• Strong armor protection for the central parts of the decks of ships of Tier VI and above, increases their survivability compared to other cruisers, with X Goliath's deck armor reaching a thickness of 40 mm.
• Efficient Repair Party consumable.

Decent survivability, thanks to their durable armor and effective Repair Party. Their powerful guns with relatively short firing ranges predispose British heavy cruisers to medium-range artillery encounters.

You'll be able to learn more details about the British heavy cruisers later in a dedicated article on our website.
Ship Histories

Directives

The new game event tasks you with completing 36 missions, spread across four Directives. The first Directive will become available with the release of Update 0.9.1, right after the necessary technical work has finished. Those that follow will be unlocked each week. The ultimate reward for completing all Directives is cruiser VI London.

Completing missions will reward you with signals, expendable camouflage patterns, credits, Coal, and Free XP. Completing Directives will reward you with Royal Tokens.

Royal Tokens

You can exchange Royal Tokens for doubloons, signals, Union Jack camouflage patterns, credits, days of Premium Account, and the main reward — the new unique British Commander, Andrew Cunningham!

You can get Royal Tokens for completing the event's Directives, Daily Missions, and Daily Challenges for warships VI London, VIII Cheshire, and VIII Albemarle. You can also obtain Royal Tokens from random bundles that are available in exchange for doubloons in the Armory.

With the release of Update 0.9.2, Royal Tokens will only be obtainable from random bundles in exchange for doubloons. When Update 0.9.3 hits the servers, Royal Tokens will be converted into credits at the rate of 1:9,000.

A new unique Commander

Andrew Cunningham has the following talents:

• Lightning Fast: the speed of your ship and squadrons increases by 5% after scoring two "Caused flooding" ribbons.
• Consumables Expert: the number of consumable charges for your ship increases by one after destroying two enemy ships.
• "Sink, Burn, Destroy!": the reload time of your ship’s main battery guns and torpedo launchers, as well as aircraft restoration time, reduces by 10% after earning the “Witherer” achievement.

Each of these talents can be activated only once per battle. His talents are unavailable in Clan Battles or Training Rooms.

This British Commander also has two enhanced skills:

• Jack of All Trades: −10% to the reload time of all mounted consumables, instead of the standard −5%.
• Aircraft Armor: −11.5% to the continuous damage of AA guns, instead of the standard −10%.

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The Fifteenth Season of Ranked Battles

Dates: from February 26 till March 24

Format: Tier X ships in a 7 vs. 7 forma
Battle mode: Arms Race

Arms Race is a game mode in which special buff areas appear on the map. If you manage to enter an area and capture it before the enemy does, your entire team will receive a bonus to their combat characteristics that will last until the end of the battle. When you capture another area with the same buff, its efficiency increases further.

At a certain point in time after the start of a battle, a Key Area will appear in the center of the map. Its diameter will shrink over time, and the team that captures it will be able to quickly gain a point advantage and ultimately win.

We've reworked the bonuses given by buffs. They now also apply to carrier squadrons and provide:

• Increased ship speed and a faster rudder-shift time; reduced aircraft engine boost cooldown time.
• Continuous restoration of HP as a percentage of the maximum HP pool for ships and aircraft.
• Faster reload time of the main battery and torpedo armament; faster aircraft restoration time on a carrier's deck.
• Faster reload time of ship and squadron consumables.

Updates to Upgrades

In Update 0.9.1, many old upgrades will be updated and some new ones will be added. These changes will make the selection of upgrades more interesting and diverse.

We've also removed all type and tier restrictions for any special upgrades that improve the efficiency of ship consumables, provided that the ship has the respective slot.

Some upgrades will be replaced with new ones. If you have any of these upgrades already mounted on your ships, they will be replaced with their new versions. You will get compensation in the form of credits for any upgrades in your Inventory that are removed from the game, and the amount of credits provided will be equal to the removed upgrade's full cost.

Slot 2

Engine Room Protection

This upgrade combines the bonuses provided by the Propulsion Modification 1 and Steering Gears Modification 1 upgrades which are scheduled to be removed from the game:

• −20% to the chances of critical damage to the engine and steering gears
• −20% to the repair time of the engine and steering gears

This upgrade cannot be mounted on an aircraft carrier.

Defensive AA Fire Modification 1 (special upgrade)

• Added a bonus reducing the cooldown time of the Defensive AA Fire  consumable by 10%

Slot 3

Torpedo Tubes Modification 1

• +20% to the traverse speed of torpedo tubes
• −40% to the chances of critical damage to torpedo tubes
• +5% to the speed of shipborne torpedoes

This upgrade cannot be mounted on an aircraft carrier.

Aerial Torpedoes Modification 1

• +5% to the speed of torpedoes dropped from the air

This upgrade can be mounted on an aircraft carrier only.

Main Battery Modification 2

• Removed the penalty to the main battery gun reload time

AA Guns Modification 1

• The bonus providing additional explosions in AA salvos has been replaced with a 20% reduction in the preparation time of the priority AA sector.

This upgrade cannot be mounted on an aircraft carrier.

The bonus providing a certain number of explosions was ineffective for most ships whose AA defenses produce a lot of explosions, and for some ships — especially destroyers — it didn't work at all. The new bonus reducing the AA priority sector preparation time will be effective on any ship that has AA armament. This is because the priority sector, in addition to reinforcing the continuous AA damage, deals damage as a percentage of the enemy squadron's current HP. The exact percentage depends only on your ship's tier.

Slot 5

Torpedo Lookout System

Replaces the Target Acquisition System Modification 1 (TASM1) upgrade and provides the following bonuses:

• Increases the range of assured acquisition of torpedoes to a fixed value of 1.8 km (this range can be further extended by the Vigilance skill)

Please note: the upgrade does not extend the torpedo acquisition range for the Hydroacoustic Search  consumable.

The TASM1 upgrade was rarely used by players, and wasn't as efficient as the Concealment System Modification 1  upgrade. We've introduced changes to this upgrade in order to make it more relevant.

The bonus of +20% to the acquisition range of torpedoes heavily depended on their detectability range: this bonus was ineffective against torpedoes with low detectability, and very effective against torpedoes with high detectability.

The new bonus doesn't depend on the characteristics of any approaching torpedoes. You will always be able to spot torpedoes at a fixed distance of 1.8 km (without taking the effects of the Vigilance skill into consideration). This change will allow your ship to actively counter the torpedo armament of your enemy.

We wanted to set a fixed assured acquisition range of 2 km and totally eliminate situations where the enemy detects you when you haven't spotted them. That's why we've replaced the bonus for the range of assured acquisition of ships in the game.

This upgrade cannot be mounted on an aircraft carrier.

Ship Consumables Modification 1

• +10% to the action time of ship consumables

This upgrade cannot be mounted on an aircraft carrier.

Squadron Consumables Modification 1

• +50% to the action time of squadron consumables

This upgrade can be mounted on an aircraft carrier only.

Enhanced Countermeasures (a unique upgrade for cruiser Worcester)

• The bonus applied to the action time of the Surveillance Radar  consumable has been increased from 10% to 20%

This bonus has been improved in order to highlight the difference between X Worcester's unique upgrade and the new Ship Consumables Modification 1 upgrade, which provides a similar bonus, is situated in the same slot, and is available on other ships.

Slot 6

Auxiliary Armaments Modification 2

This upgrade will replace the AA Guns Modification 2 and Secondary Battery Modification 3 upgrades that are scheduled to be removed from the game:

• +15% to the continuous damage of AA guns
• +15% to the damage within the explosion radius of shells fired by AA defenses
• −20% to the secondary battery reload time
• +2 explosions in AA salvos when the Defensive AA Fire  consumable is active

Unique Upgrades

As the opening move towards the changes that have been promised for unique upgrades, we've updated the way in which they are obtained. With the release of Update 0.9.3, unique upgrades will appear in the Armory's Research Bureau. The combat missions for unique upgrades will also change.

• With the release of Update 0.9.1, you cannot get combat missions for unique upgrades.
• The end date for any combat missions you have already received will be December 31, 2020.

We're going to revamp the existing upgrades and also add new upgrades in future. Stay tuned for more news!

Updates to the Service Record

• The order in which in-game possibilities unlock has been changed.
• The number of battles required to reach the majority of Service Record levels has been reduced.
• The rewards granted for opening various levels of the Service Record have been updated.

You can learn more details about the changes to the Service Record in the game client.

Please note: all players who started playing before the release of Update 0.9.1 will receive all the newly added rewards for the levels they have already reached, minus the rewards they had received in the old version of the Service Record.

Thus, any players who have already reached the final level in their Service Record by the time that Update 0.9.1 is released will receive 15,000 Coal, 4 days of Premium Account, a supercontainer, and nine daily containers (with five More Resources containers among them), as well as upgrades, expendable camouflage patterns, and economic and special signals.

Armory

When Update 0.9.1 hits the servers, Shipbuilding Tokens will be converted into credits at the rate of 1:7,500.

The unique historical Commander, Philippe Auboyneau, has been added. He's available in exchange for for 175,000 Coal. He has the unique Sparks of Resistance, Fully Armed, and Speed and Composure talents, as well as the enhanced Survivability Expert skill.

Effective as of the release of Update 0.9.3, the following ships will no longer be available in the Armory: X Smolensk, IX Jean Bart, IX Neustrashimy, VII Flint, and IX Black.

Smolensk and Jean Bart have become very popular warships for their tiers. In order to maintain the proper level of diversity in teams in terms of the ships they are made up of, these ships will no longer be available to obtain for an undefined period of time, but may return in future.

For a number of reasons, Neustrashimy, Flint, and Black are not currently strongly sought after in exchange for Steel. That is why they will no longer be available in exchange for Steel, but will later become available in exchange for Coal. However, this will be after 6 months at the earliest.

We understand that accumulating resources for ships is a long process, which is why we wanted to warn you in advance so that any interested players can still steer these ships into their Ports before Update 0.9.3 goes live.

New Northern Waters Map

The map is designed for Tier VIII–X battles in the Epicenter and Domination modes, with three Key Areas.

Battles will be fought in the harsh Northern territories, among snow-blanketed islands where the sun appears for only several hours each day. The map is divided into three parts:

• The western part is an open-water space with several large islands, providing good possibilities for battleships and destroyers to maneuver.
• The central part is also open water, but at the same time it contains islands that will allow you to find shelter from any fire from the flanks. Besides that, the location of islands and their landscapes make it possible to push through the center into the flanks.
• The eastern part has many islands behind which cruisers and destroyers can find shelter from enemy fire. This part is suitable for those players who prefer inflicting sudden attacks on the enemy, and who can skillfully make use of limited shelter.

Other Changes

Changes to Armament Panel in Battle

• For ships and squadrons, we've changed the icons and exterior view of the indicators on the armament panel.
• When in battle, UI elements can now be hidden using Ctrl+J.
• Reworked the icon for the destroyer ship type.

Display of AA defense characteristics

The display of AA defense characteristics in the Port has been updated:

• AA defense parameters that are displayed in the Port have been changed: Now the players can view the following parameters:
  • Average continuous damage
  • Damage per second within a shell's explosion radius
  • Maximum priority sector reinforcement
  • AA gun maximum firing range
• A pop-up tooltip with detailed parameters has been added for each position in the AA defense characteristics.
• The information you can view during battle on the tooltip called by pressing the H key has been changed.

Please note: average damage is calculated by summing up the damage dealt by all AA defense zones. The damage dealt by each AA defense zone, taking into account its accuracy, is multiplied by the "weight" coefficient of the particular AA defense zone in relation to the ship's overall air defense capabilities. This coefficient is equal to the ratio between the firing range of a particular AA defense zone and the maximum firing range of the ship's AA defenses. With this in mind, to calculate the average continuous damage we use the total damage dealt by the long-range AA defenses (as this range extends over the entire AA firing range of the ship), and part of the damage dealt by the medium- and short-range AA defenses—depending on their firing range.

Game Balance Changes

In Update 0.9.1, we've changed the characteristics of several ships, having analyzed their combat performance and taken player feedback into account. Such changes were required in order to carefully adjust the balance of selected warships. We'll continue to introduce changes in the updates that will follow, if deemed necessary.

Tier X Japanese aircraft carrier Hakuryu

• Fixed a bug that caused an inconsistency between the accuracy of her standard attack aircraft and that of her researchable attack aircraft. The accuracy of her standard attack aircraft has now been reduced to the level of her researchable type.
• The damage dealt by rockets from attack aircraft has been reduced from 3,450 to 3,350.

British Tier IX cruiser Neptune

• Her main battery reload time has been reduced from 5 to 4.8 seconds.

American Tier X destroyer Gearing

• Standard torpedo reload time has been reduced from 106 to 103 seconds.
• The reload time of her researchable torpedoes has been reduced from 122 to 118 seconds.

Soviet Tier VII battleship Sinop

• The sigma parameter for her main battery guns has been reduced from 1.6 to 1.55.

Soviet Tier X battleship Kremlin

• The sigma parameter for her main battery guns has been reduced from 1.9 to 1.85.

Tier X destroyer Yueyang

• Torpedo speed has been increased from 68 to 69 knots.
• Torpedo reload time has been reduced from 146 to 142 seconds.

Tier IX destroyer Chung Mu

• Standard torpedo speed has been increased from 55 to 56 knots.
• Standard torpedo reload time has been reduced from 122 to 119 seconds.
• Researchable torpedo speed has been increased from 66 to 67 knots.
• The reload time of her researchable torpedoes has been reduced from 122 to 119 seconds.

Tier VIII destroyer Hsienyang

• Researchable torpedo speed has been increased from 55 to 56 knots.
• The reload time of her researchable torpedoes has been reduced from 122 to 119 seconds.

Tier VIII cruiser Irian

• Torpedo speed has been increased from 68 to 69 knots.
• Torpedo reload time has been reduced from 136 to 133 seconds.

Tier VIII cruiser Wukong

• Torpedo speed has been increased from 63 to 64 knots.
• Torpedo reload time has been reduced from 110 to 107 seconds.

Tier VIII destroyer Siliwangi

• Torpedo speed has been increased from 61 to 62 knots.
• Torpedo reload time has been reduced from 131 to 128 seconds.

British Tier VI cruiser Devonshire

• Continuous damage of long-range AA defenses has been reduced from 95 to 53 HP per second
• Continuous damage of medium-range AA defenses has been increased from 151 to 161 HP per second
• Continuous damage of short-range AA defenses has been increased from 158 to 165 HP per second
• Number of AA shell explosions has been reduced from four to two
• Damage within the area of AA shell explosions has been reduced from 1,400 to 1,120

Aircraft

• The viewing range (being the parameter that shows the distance at which an aircraft can spot the enemy) of aircraft carriers' squadrons, as well as that of fighters and spotting aircraft, has been reduced from 20 to 19 km.

Content Additions and Changes

Added a flag for the Recruiting Station referral program.

The following ships have been added for testing by developers, volunteer testers, and community contributors: IX Ägir, X Yashima, VIII Arashi, and VIII Orkan.

Operation Narai has been removed from rotation due to technical issues.

Other Changes and Improvements

• VIII HSF Harekaze: hull geometry updated.
• VII Z-39, VI Trento, X Venezia, and X Kremlin: fixed the designations of her gun fire control system modules.
• VIII Irian: changed the designation for her torpedo module.
• X Puerto Rico: fixed the display of secondary battery data in the ship's technical specifications.
• X Midway: changed the designation of her torpedoes.
• IX Bajie and IX Izumo: fixed the armor protection of the conning tower.
• IX Roon: the armor protection for the barbette of the fore 150 mm secondary battery turret is now displayed in the Port.
• VIII Mogami and V Yahagi: updated the geometry of their main battery turrets.
• V Gremyashchy: added a second color scheme for the camouflage.
• VIII ARP Takao: fixed the exterior view of turrets when the ARPEGGIO RED camouflage is applied.
• Updated sounds in the Designer's Table Port.
• Fixed a glitch which disabled the sound of aircraft flying by in the sky in the London Port.
• Fixed a bug which disabled gunfire sounds when the sound quality was set to "Low" in Audio Settings.
• Removed visual artifacts on the Neighbors and Land of Fire maps, as well as in the Taranto Port.
• Fixed a number of glitches affecting the display of containers in the Port.
• Fixed a bug preventing the language bar from being displayed in the game client.
• Fixed an issue which in certain cases prevented players from receiving bonuses provided by Clan structures.
• Fixed a glitch which prevented the display of smoke trails from rockets fired by attack aircraft.
• Fixed an issue causing the "Your Rewards" window header to move outside of the screen border.
• Fixed an issue which caused game login errors on computers with non-typical names in the OS settings.
• Fixed an issue causing the incorrect icon of the reticule to be displayed when a player was controlling a squadron from an aircraft carrier.
• Now the tooltip informing players about the possibility of reloading a torpedo tube isn't displayed if the main battery guns are selected.

[transmission ends]