Hello fellow Captains, We have updated the Beta Branch with a huge amount of new stuff. To learn how to gain access to the Beta Branch, click on this link: https://steamcommunity.com/app/551860/discussions/10/1698293255137774100/ If the number in the bottom-right corner of the Main Menu ends in 11049 or later, you have the correct version. Heres what weve been up to recently:

Building for the Future

After we visited The Haunted Seas in our last update, we took the opportunity to make some infrastructural changes, because the more content we added, the more pressure this was putting on minimum spec machines (like mine!). Something that would have only got worse with future updates. This work is crucially important, as itll put us in a good position for adding everything else in the game. You should see memory usage come down, and it should be faster to get into the main menu when you boot the game. We also took the opportunity to rework our save file system as this was creeping up to large sizes as well so these are now massively smaller compared to before. This will be useful for implementing Cloud Save support. It does however mean that your previous saves are incompatible unless youre on an older branch. While Adam was undertaking this work, I planned out the rest of our time in Early Access which you can read about here: http://abandonshipgame.com/early-access-roadmap-update

New Biome

Originally, we had 5 biome types: Arctic, Sub-Polar, Temperate, Sub-Tropical and Tropical. As my thoughts turn to the more Southerly regions in the game, I felt that Sub-Tropical and Tropical didnt offer enough distinction from one another. Weve therefore merged these two island types into Tropical, in order to make room for an Arid biome. This is visually distinct from anywhere else, and has a hot, Mediterranean vibe to it. Youll notice this region just south of the Temperate areas.

3 New Regions Unlocked

For keen observers, you may notice the World Map is slightly different. The region borders are approximately the same, but we wanted to make changes to accommodate our latest plans such as the Spider Islands becoming an entire region rather than a single map. We have some cool plans for this so it warranted more prominence. For this update, weve unlocked 3 new regions to visit:

• Forsaken Seas
• Shattered Empire
• Howling Seas

All of these regions exhibit our ultimate goal for every map in Abandon Ship. That is each map should have a unique island to discover, plus a unique event / side-quest. In some cases, there will also be a unique modifier to gameplay as well. Below is a brief description of these regions, well let you discover whats in them for yourself! These regions arent accessible until Act 2, but dont forget there are two quick-starts that put you at Act 2 and beyond, so if you just want to check out these regions, you can easily do so.

The Howling Seas

This arctic region is constantly battered by blizzards. Wights Embrace is the only port here, and the harsh environment contains some strange islands to discover.
In combat, blizzards will occasionally ramp up their intensity. When this happens, the crews on both ships can do nothing but shield themselves. If they pass the brace test at the apex of the storm, they can continue as normal, otherwise theyll fall to the deck or risk being knocked overboard.

Forsaken Seas

The Forsaken Seas have always been a geologically strange area, but one fateful day the mountains began spewing toxic fumes into the air. This had a catastrophic impact and the region is largely abandoned. Although the air is something you can now survive in (for a few days, anyway), it is still a very inhospitable area. Only those wishing to pass through to other regions in a more direct route, opportunistic looters or those under the employ of the Sweethook Barons tend to be found here.
In combat, this poisonous fog obscures visibility and will continually sap the health of both crews until it reaches the red portion of the health bar.

The Shattered Empire

Bordering the Forsaken Seas, Spider Islands and Cannibal Island regions has meant that this once prosperous region has fallen on hard times. Your intervention can have a lasting impact on the areas in this region. When you find the broken monument to the Empire which two factions are fighting over, will you help rebuild or destroy it? Duskvale is a cursed map, haunted by Ghost Ships. Will you lift the curse or fulfil it? You can visit the Silk Keys, the gateway to the Spider Islands, and finally there is a Plague Colony with blockades guarding each exit. Will you break through the blockade, or is there another way? Once you visit Rotholme, will you be merciful with your much-needed supplies, or turn a swift profit?

Plague Dart

Speaking of the Plague Colony, this is the only place in the world where you can acquire a new weapon the Plague Dart. Crew infected by this swivel gun instantly have their health capped at 66%, and anyone standing within close proximity will be infected. Weve had great fun hitting a crew member running past their colleagues, infecting the whole ship. Combining this weapon with other anti-personnel weapons can be especially effective.

Exploration Systems

Weve added a couple of new systems that aid navigation and provide more of a sense of purpose to general explortation.

Lighthouse

The first of these is the Lighthouse. These Empire-era buildings not only provide a high vantage point, but they are also stocked with maps of the local area. Visiting one of these will uncover the fog of war in that map, and due to their height, are clearly visible from afar.
This means when you enter a map, the fog of war around them is already revealed, so by checking the full map and spotting a lighthouse, you can sail directly to it.

Compass

No Captain would take to the sea without a compass, and this acts as an arrowhead around the ship that points to undiscovered points of interest. That means even without a lighthouse, youll have something pointing you toward points of interest you havent yet discovered, so no more hunting down that last icon hidden in an unrevealed corner!

Friends and Enemies

As you play Abandon Ship and make decisions in events, youll now notice some will display a new piece of UI, explaining that you have made a Friend or Enemy. Life on the seas is tough, so people live their lives by one mantra: A debt must be repaid. If you go around helping people, they will eventually come back and repay the debt by their own act of kindness. Similarly, being more piratical and not helping those in desperate situations will earn enemies that could return for revenge. Once created by your actions, these acquaintances will be in the world, and if they return the message box will provide the context to help you recall the choice that led to this particular encounter.
Of course, not all will return. For example, not picking up a Castaway may make them an enemy, but they may also not survive the situation as in real life, you wont know, unless of course they one day crop up for revenge. Equally, you may make decisions that create friends or enemies without you knowing about them perhaps liberating a port from the Cult resulted in a locals loved one being killed, and they blame you for it? Im keen for feedback on this, as Ive found it a particularly tricky feature to balance. It is one of those systems that requires multiple full playthroughs to get a feel for it. Do acquaintances crop up too often? Not enough? There are safeguards to ensure new acquaintances dont crop up too soon after theyve been made, but is this too short? Head to the forums to let me know!

New Languages

Our team of community translators are busy working through the text, and the first languages have been implemented: Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. To activate them, follow these steps:

• Right click on a game from the Steam game library and choose Properties.
• Go to the Language tab
• Select the language you wish to use from the drop-down menu

Not every line has been translated yet, but well keep updating them to get full coverage.
German is likely to be the next language ready. Simplified Chinese, French and Dutch are in the works but no ETA on those yet. In case you were wondering, we choose our languages through a combination of willing translators and Wishlists + sales we get from specific countries.

Other Stuff

Well post the full list of changes once the update is released onto the main branch, but some other stuff worth calling out is listed below:

End of battle Improvements

Crew now cheer when theyve won a battle, which helps positively reinforce your victory, and there are multiple new ways enemy ships will now sink. We added this last one because its something you see a lot, so we felt variety helped keep it fresh.

Exploration Improvements

A raided or blocked trade route will now increase prices at their connected port so youve got a choice when spending money there. Do you take care of the trade route to save money, or if youre desperate for repairs, do you take the financial hit? Similar to the gold chests floating in the sea, we now have Hull Repair flotsam. These repair your ship hull a small amount when you collect them.

Major Balancing

Weve generally made it faster to get through maps by making actions that didnt previously count towards gate opening now do so. This is stuff like dealing with pirate discount ships, Sea Forts and ships on trade routes. Alongside this, weve nudged down the amount of events needed to get through Region 1 maps, so in general the game moves along at a faster pace now.

Old Crew

Each crew member can have an old variant. Theres no gameplay difference (yet, its something Im considering) but it was a fun way to give your crew a bit more character.

Technical Stuff

Weve added support for 5:4 and 4:3 aspect ratios. Previously this only allowed the choice of 16:9, resulting in lower resolution choices for people with 5:4 or 4:3 monitors. Weve also added Discord Rich Presence, so your Discord friends should see details of what youre doing in-game. Oh, and if you want to join our Discord server, the link is here: https://discord.gg/jbahTp6
Phew! This ended up being our biggest update yet, and once we feel like it has received sufficient community testing well release it onto the main branch. If you find any issues, please report them on the forums, and let us know if you like it! Thanks for the support. The Abandon Ship Crew.

[ 2019-01-25 16:19:00 CET ] [ Original post ]