Update 12.1

Developer Bulletin Public Test News article
Waterline for Winter and early Spring 1 Feb 2023

Due to the installation of the update, the server will be unavailable
from: Wed. Feb. 15 4:00 AM Central
until: Wed. Feb. 15 7:00 AM Central

Update 12.1: British Submarines

♦ Battle Pass ♦ U.S. Hybrid Battleships ♦ Early Access to British Submarines ♦ Global Combat Missions ♦ Adventure: Queen of the Seas ♦ Clan Battles: Salamander Season ♦ Brawls ♦ Domination Mode With New Settings ♦ Technical and Visual Changes ♦ Unique Upgrades ♦ Armory ♦ Content Changes ♦ Other Changes

Battle Pass

Following tradition, Update 12.1 brings a new Battle Pass (BP). Earn Battle Pass Points for completing daily and weekly combat missions, advance through the Battle Pass progress bar, and receive rewards!

The final reward of the Free BP are containers that hold rare economic bonuses, as well as British Tokens. You can use these Tokens to gain Early Access to British submarines. The Premium BP offers even more valuable in-game items, and its final reward is  10,000 Research Points.

More details about Battle Pass 12.1 will be available in a dedicated article.

Statue of Liberty Commander and US Hybrid Battleships

Special combat missions are available until the end of February. Complete the missions to earn Commander Statue of Liberty with a unique voiceover, as well as American Tokens.

Within sequential bundles available for these Tokens, you'll find the Stormy Sky permanent camouflages; the U.S. Battleships commemorative flag; a bonus package for VIII Nebraska; and other rewards.

IX Delaware can be found in random bundles available for  Doubloons, while X Louisiana is available for purchase in exchange for  Doubloons at the end of a sequential bundle chain.

Early Access to British Submarines

British submarines arrive in Early Access in the third week of Update 12.1!

VI Undine and VIII Sturdy will be available in sequential bundles for a new temporary resource — British Tokens.

X Thrasher will be available to purchase for  Doubloons at the end of a sequential bundle chain.

In addition to the British submarines, the sequential bundles include the Iron Resilience permanent camouflage for VIII Sturdy and the Victoria Cross permanent camouflage for X Thrasher, a bonus package for Sturdy, and other rewards.

The number of Tokens that can be earned during Early Access is sufficient to obtain VI Undine for free, as well as the Iron Resilience permanent camouflage and a bonus package for VIII Sturdy.

Characteristics of Our New Submarines

The main armament of the new submarines is represented only by acoustic homing torpedoes with a large count per salvo, fast reload, good range and speed, but not the highest damage. The large number of loaders allows you to reload all bow and stern torpedo tubes simultaneously.

British submarines have a high dive capacity but small HP pools.

Their consumables are represented by Damage Control Party with a limited number of charges, Submarine Surveillance, and Hydrophone, which are standard for submarines. The latter has a fast cooldown time and short interval between pings but a limited number of charges, as well as a short ship-bearing range compared with submarines of other nations.

You can find more details in a dedicated article on our website.

Global Combat Missions

Global combat missions are being introduced into the game in Update 12.1. These are missions of a new type, and their objectives are shared by all players on the server. Each participant will contribute to the global combat mission progress. After a mission is accomplished, all players who participated in it will receive the final reward.

Global combat missions can be represented either by chains or individual missions. If a mission is completed before its official deadline, only those players who actually contributed to its progress will receive the reward. In the case of global combat mission chains, it's sufficient for a player to have participated in at least one of the parts of the chain for them to receive the final reward; however, it's not possible to receive rewards for the parts of a combat mission chain that a player has not completed.

A global combat mission chain will become available in Update 12.1 with the launch of British submarines in Early Access. Completing the chain will bring you the British Submarines commemorative flag, as well as British Tokens.

Adventure: Queen of the Seas

The Queen of the Seas special themed adventure gets underway 3 weeks after Update 12.1 goes live. You'll follow the path of a pirate-turned-bushranger who seeks to escape Australia by means of a mythical ship in Brisbane. The reward for completing the adventure missions is a temporary resource — Pirate Tokens. The event's main rewards are cruiser X Brisbane and Commander Matilda Kelly with 19 skill points and a unique voiceover.

Brisbane

X Brisbane is a light cruiser project with powerful and advanced AA defenses that was developed after the end of World War II. She's armed with ten dual-purpose 152 mm main battery guns with a good rate of fire.

The ship is similar to cruiser X Minotaur but with significant game play differences. X Brisbane is equipped with HE shells, AP shells that have standard parameters for the ship type, and enhanced torpedo armament. The ship's torpedoes have a large count per salvo and good range.

The ship has weak armor but low detectability. She's also equipped with Specialized Repair Teams, which will allow you to restore a significant part of your HP. In addition to Specialized Repair Teams, the ship has access to Hydroacoustic Search and Surveillance Radar. The cruiser also boasts improved engine parameters. They allow X Brisbane to gain speed quickly.

During the event, X Brisbane will only be available for Pirate Tokens. In a future update, the ship will be added to the Armory and be available for  Coal on a permanent basis.

Full details of the adventure will be revealed in a dedicated article.

Clan Battles: Salamander Season

Update 12.1 kicks off Clan Battles Season 20—Salamander—in a 7 vs. 7 format with Tier X ships.

Starts: Wed. Feb. 22 5:30 AM Central
Ends: Sun. Apr. 09 10:30 PM Central

Restrictions will apply from the start of the season.

Common

• No aircraft carriers or submarines.
• No more than three mercenaries per Division.
• No more than two battleships per team. After 3 weeks of the season, the limit will change to no more than one battleship per team.

From the start of the season, we'll set limits on a significant number of individual ships. This will increase the variety of team lineups in Clan Battles compared with previous seasons and encourage players to try out new tactics and unusual ship combinations.

For ships

• No more than three X Kléber and X Marceau (or combinations of both) per team in total.
• No more than one X Petropavlovsk or X Napoli/ X Napoli B per team in total.
• No more than one X Marseille per team.
• Banned from battles: X Ohio, X Vermont, X Kremlin, X Preussen, X St. Vincent, X Thunderer, X République, X Louisiana, X Småland.

We'll release more details about the new Clan Battles season in a dedicated article.

Brawls

Update 12.1 features three Brawls. Round 1 utilizes a 1 vs. 1 format with Tier VIII ships.

Starts: Mon. Feb. 20 10:00 AM Central
Ends: Mon. Feb. 27 3:00 AM Central

More details about this and subsequent rounds of Brawls will be available in dedicated articles on our website.

Domination Mode with New Settings

An updated Domination mode with three Key Areas has been added to Random Battles. The new settings are aimed at eliminating situations where battles take too long or end too quickly.

New Settings

• Starting number of points at the beginning of battle: 150
• Points for destroying an enemy ship: +40 for all ship types
• Points for losing a ship: –25 for all ship types

The modified Domination mode will be added to maps New Dawn, Fault Line, Shards, Trident, Neighbors, Crash Zone Alpha, Northern Waters, and Faroe Islands with a small drop probability.

If the new settings show satisfactory results on the Live Server, we'll completely update the parameters of the standard Domination mode on all maps.

Technical and Visual Changes

Updated the display of squadrons on the decks of aircraft carriers in the Port and in battle. Aircraft carrier decks now display all types of squadrons available on the ship. The number of aircraft of each squadron on deck is now equal to the size of the attacking flight.

Added interactive music for submarines. It matches their special dynamic and stealthy game play.

The music will change depending on several factors:

• Combat situation and time remaining until the end of the battle.
• Actions performed by the submarine or her opponents. These actions include detection and destruction of opposing ships, hitting opposing ships with sonar pings and torpedoes, capturing Key Areas, being attacked or destroyed by the opposition, and having your bearing taken by an opposing submarine.
• Location of the submarine—on the surface or underwater.
• The new music will be active in Dynamic and Mixed modes.

The volume of voiceovers for Commanders has been leveled, and a number of bugs that caused incorrect playback of voiceover lines have been fixed.

Due to the changes delivered with the release of Update 12.1, custom voiceover modifications will no longer work. To continue using the voiceover modifications, you'll need to wait for them to be updated in accordance with the changes.

Changes to Unique Upgrades

We’re tuning the balance of certain unique upgrades for a number of ships based on our analysis of their combat effectiveness and your feedback.

Heavier Torpedo Warheads (Daring, 5th slot)

• Added a –5% bonus to the ship's detectability range by sea.
• Bonus to torpedo tube reload time increased from –10 to –20%.

Improved Main Artillery (Yueyang, 5th slot)

• Bonus to main battery reload time increased from –15 to –18%.

Improved Camouflage Patterns (Kléber, 6th slot)

• Penalty applied to main battery reload time reduced from +80 to +60%.

Torpedo Fire-Control System (Z-52, 5th slot)

• Added a +5% bonus to torpedo speed.

Modified External Hardpoints (Midway, 6th slot)

• Bonus to bomber cruising speed reduced from +10 to +5%.

Fuel Injection System (Hakuryū, 6th slot)

• Bonus to maximum squadron speed reduced from +15 to +12.5%.
• Penalty to engine boost action time increased from –20 to –30%.

Improved Main Battery Loading Mechanisms (Henri IV, 5th slot)

• Bonus to main battery reload time reduced from –12 to –10%.
• Bonus to main battery firing range reduced from +8 to +5%.

Aerosol Smoke Curtain System (Minotaur, 5th slot)

• Bonus to Smoke Generator consumable action time increased from +150 to +300%.
• Penalty to smoke screen dispersion time increased from –15 to –20%.

Automated Main Battery Loading Mechanism (Kremlin, 6th slot)

• Removed the penalty applied to the number of ship consumable charges.

Most of the unique upgrades listed above were inferior in efficiency to other upgrades in their slot and needed a small buff to make them more competitive. In turn, upgrades for aircraft carriers and Henry IV had an unnecessary impact on the strength of ships and were nerfed.

Armory

X Z-42, a variant of the Type 1936B destroyer project, will become available in the Armory with the release of Update 12.1. Unlike other ships in the series, she is armed with dual-purpose main battery artillery represented by five twin-gun 105 mm mounts. The ship is equipped with HE shells that have high armor-penetration capabilities but deal low damage, as well as powerful AP shells. Her torpedo armament consists of two quadruple-tube torpedo launchers with average characteristics for their level. The ship has access to the "trademark" German Hydroacoustic Search consumable with an increased action time and detection range, as well as Short-Burst Smoke Generator, which is not typically found on German destroyers. The ship will be available for  27,000 Steel.

We've added Seven Seas collection containers, which are available in exchange for  2,000 Сoal.

Content Additions and Changes

The update brings the following items to the game:

• Commander Vera Mikhailova for Soviet ships

• World of Wargaming patch

Details on how to obtain these in-game items will be announced later.

The visual appearance of the content of the community contributors program has been updated to match the new World of Warships logo.

★ Admiral Ushakov and ★ Sekiryu are steaming towards their respective national ship branches. Both ships were offered at the auction that took place in Update 11.10. ★ Admiral Ushakov will cost  57,000,000 Credits; ★ Sekiryu will cost  48,000,000 Credits.

Container Updates

A number of containers are going to be updated when Update 12.1 goes live.

The contents of Premium Ship Special containers will become similar to those of Premium Ship containers. Compensation for items in Premium Ship containers will be given in Credits; for Premium Ship Special containers—Doubloons. Special containers have been renamed "elite" containers.

The contents of Journey to the West containers and Air Supply Premium container have been updated.

The Distant Voyages Premium container has been updated:

• The container will now drop three items at once.
• The drop rate of the permanent camouflage has been increased: It will be included in one of the slots with a 50% chance of dropping.
• The guaranteed drop counter value has been changed: The number of containers you need to open for a guaranteed reward drop from a group of unique items has been reduced from 17 to 5.

You'll be able to find details about the changes to the contents of containers here after Update 12.1 goes live. Details of the changes are also available in an article about Update 12.0.

The following ships have been added for testing by developers, supertesters, and community contributors: VIII Almirante Grau, VII Tashkent '41, and X Cumberland.

Future Changes

In Update 12.4, IX Groningen, X Hayate, IX Azuma, and IX Ägir will no longer be available to purchase in the Tech Tree for  Free XP. At the same time, players will have the opportunity to purchase these ships in the Armory for  Coal.

Other Changes

• The Ranks banner has been removed from the menu on the left side of the Port. The description of the Ranked Season will be available by clicking a button on the battle type selection screen.
• The Recruiting Station banner has been removed from the menu on the left side of the Port. The functionality of the Recruiting Station will be available via a button in the Player Menu.
• Updated the interface of the Division window for Clan Battles and Brawls, as well as the screen with a description of the rules for Brawls.
• Updated the display of rewards received for various promotions.
• The position of the ship in the Fjords Port has been returned to the original position it occupied before Update 0.11.11.
• Removed the "Purchase Containers" button from the descriptions of "The Age of Sa Zhenbing" and Five Epochs of the Navy collections.
• The World of Warships app icon has been updated.
• Added new settings for the Warrior's Path, Loop, and Islands of Ice maps for the upcoming King of the Sea tournament.
• Improved the geometry and textures for the following ships: X Mecklenburg, ★ Admiral Ushakov, VII Atlanta, IX Groningen, VI Juruá, IX Sun Yat-Sen, VI Repulse, V Yahagi, X Louisiana, X Marseille, VII King George V, and X Puerto Rico.
• The armor layout for IX Tashkent, VIII De Zeven Provinciën, VI Kijkduin, and VII Eendracht has been updated to utilize the new technology that we discussed in detail in our article about Update Update 0.10.9.
• Fixed a bug that caused aircraft catapult models to collide when launching aircraft.
• Fixed a bug that caused Shipmates and Recruiters in the Recruiting Station to be displayed incorrectly in the contacts list.
• Removed the Recurring tab from the Combat Missions section.
• Fixed a bug that caused the flag to flutter incorrectly on ships in the Fjords Port.
• Fixed a bug that caused water textures to display incorrectly on the Operation Killer Whale map.
• Fixed a bug that caused the container icon of "The Age of Sa Zhenbing" collection in the Armory to be different from the 3D model of the container.
• Fixed a bug that caused the time status of combat missions to be displayed incorrectly.
• Fixed a bug that caused the client to crash when activating unique Commanders' talents.
• Fixed a bug that made it impossible to submit a complaint about interference in the game.

For a complete list, please refer to Player Support.

• Updated patrol fighter models for Nebraska and Delaware.
• When launching one aircraft, only one aircraft catapult will now move on the ship.
• Updated the visual appearance of the Ranked Battles Expert emblems and the Fourth Game Anniversary and Fifth Game Anniversary flags.
• Fixed an incorrect camera position and trajectory for players helming United States when the ship was sunk.
• Fixed a bug that caused the progress for some campaign tasks to be calculated incorrectly.
• Fixed a bug that caused the notification about reaching the maximum number of Divisions in battle to be displayed incorrectly.
• Fixed a bug that caused unique Commander Sa Zhenbing's broad pennant to be displayed incorrectly on ships.
• Fixed a bug that worsened the visibility of ships on the North map in the Binocular View.
• Fixed a bug that caused the aircraft engine animation to be displayed incorrectly for Eagle, as well as for M.Richthofen and Parseval in the Lord of the Seekers camouflage.
• Fixed a bug that caused shadows on flags to be displayed incorrectly when ships were moving at full speed.
• Fixed a bug that caused the "Battle starts" voice message to not be played on the Mountain Range map.
• Fixed a bug that caused messages related to submarines to be played incorrectly for a number of Commanders.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Combat Instructions progress bar to fill up when firing at water over a submarine positioned at the maximum depth.
• Fixed a bug that caused submarine models to be displayed incorrectly when colliding with the bottom.
• Fixed a bug that caused the range of ship armor thicknesses to be displayed incorrectly in the tooltip for the hull module on the Equipment tab.
• Fixed a bug that caused post-battle service costs to be calculated incorrectly for Brawls utilizing the 1 vs. 1 format.
• Fixed a bug that caused the ESC button to be missing in the Armory or under the Dockyard tab.
• Fixed a bug that caused unavailable tasks in chains to be displayed as available ones.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused ships to not fit into the frame completely when viewing them in the Port.
• Fixed a bug that caused damage from depth charges not to be displayed after their explosion.
• Fixed a bug that caused the camera to shake when squadrons took off from aircraft carrier Sekiryu.
• Fixed a bug that caused the speed of the main squadron to be displayed during an attack by attack aircraft rather than the speed of the attacking flight.
• Fixed a bug that caused the silhouette of a ship highlighted by Hydrophone to remain after that ship had been destroyed.
• Fixed a bug that caused acoustic torpedoes to dive underwater after losing their target.
• Fixed a bug that caused the voiceover for the quick command to capture a Key Area to be played incorrectly.
• Fixed a bug that caused the ability to control the camera and main battery guns to be lost when changing the size of the chat during the loading of the battle.
• Fixed a bug that caused the main battery gun on I-56 to start rotating underwater when re-entering a battle.
• Fixed a bug that caused the gun repair timer to stop when re-entering a battle.
• Fixed a bug that caused the submarine's emergency surfacing timer to be displayed incorrectly.
• Fixed a bug that caused torpedoes to not arm correctly for Chkalov and Hornet.
• Fixed a bug that caused squadrons of aircraft carrier bots to fly over opposing ships without attacking them.
• Fixed a bug that caused the firing-readiness indicator for main battery guns to be displayed incorrectly at the border of the gun-aiming dead zone.
• Fixed a bug that prevented main battery guns that were loaded and aimed at a target from firing in some cases.
• Fixed a bug that caused the ship detectability value to be displayed incorrectly when leaving a smoke screen.
• Fixed a bug that caused tooltips to be displayed incorrectly in the Port.
• Fixed a bug that caused the client to crash when there were a large number of lights in the frame.
• Fixed a bug that caused the client to crash when entering battle from the Dockyard screen.

[transmission ends]