[2019] Captain's Log #33: Quality Of Life

Ahoy Pathfinders!

In the last Captain’s Log, we revealed our plans to incorporate a Singleplayer game-mode; initially, we had hoped to release a beta-test by mid-July. Due to unforeseen circumstances… we’re ahead of schedule! The beta was released over the weekend, earlier than expected! (ikr)

Singleplayer Mode Beta

Singleplayer will be accessible via the in-game menu as of the latest major version. Unlike our previous betas, this is a game mode that doesn’t impact the multiplayer version, therefore, it was optimal to integrate it into the live game immediately. An added benefit of doing so is that you won’t need to maintain separate ATLAS folders or switch between the branches to access the Singleplayer beta and also play on the Official/Unofficial networks.

The game mode is still in a highly iterative beta state. You will encounter issues but rest assured it is still fully playable. We’ll be actively collecting your reports and feedback as well as patching issues throughout the coming weeks.

Now sink your scurvy sea dog teeth into Singleplayer and break all of the things so we can fix them

Our commitment to multiplayer

Singleplayer mode has been a highly requested feature and we’re excited to provide an alternate option for those who find multiplayer less suitable to their wants within the ATLAS. That said, the majority of the work involved in getting singleplayer’s maiden voyage away smoothly takes place during the initial phase of setting up the game mode. Once she’s at sea, it will grow in tandem with the multiplayer experience with little extra bandwidth necessary.

Our team is fully dedicated to the multiplayer experience; it is and always will be our main priority. The team is constantly working on improving it, whether that’s through the introduction of new content, optimizing the game; covering both client-side and server-side performance, balance, QoL, and bug fixes. Plus, the work we’re doing with singleplayer will actually benefit the multiplayer game due to client-side optimization.

Live Game Patches: Quality of Life

Over the past few weeks, along with our regular live game patches targeting bugs and balance, we have had some focus on quality of life changes.

As many players will have noticed, we’ve rolled out a few significant QoL updates recently. These have incorporated smaller changes such as increasing the slot capacity of storage items and allowing more varied resources to be stored in storage boxes along with more technical implementations, namely, allowing NPC crew to collect their gold payments and edible rations via the claim flag.

It’s no secret that achieving certain goals in ATLAS can be a considerable grind - and part of that adds to the feeling of reward and accomplishment. What we don’t want is tedium. We’d rather your playtime be spent sailing the high seas, completing quests, fighting each other if you are of the PvP persuasion, working on your fleets and bases - things you enjoy. With this in mind, we’re committed to rolling out more of these types of QoL changes throughout ATLAS’ development cycle.

This is a marathon rather than a sprint, some aspects will be quick and easy, whereas others will need more delicate and thought out solutions. We're confident we're up to speed on which aspects of the game you guys find particularly tedious. That said, please continue to let us know the type of QoL changes you’d like to see. Let’s work together to identify what’s important to you. We understand that this is a diverse community, each group holding a different perspective and all of your feedback is valuable to us and the game’s development.

Speaking of which, we’ll be adding a new structure to the game, the Island-Wide Crew Resource Storehouse. That’s I.W.C.R.S for short. This structure will store berries and gold, as well as automatically feed and pay your crew from anywhere on the island. This will be limited to 1 per company per island, whether you’re the settler, an island owner or inhabit a lawless island. We’ll also be providing an option on claim flags to disable their island-wide feeding and paying options for crew. Updates that have gone live since our last Captain's Log

Complete Patch Notes

v208.21

- Fixed a bug which would cause players to be stuck when unmounting creatures
- Cleared up the pinwheel text on Claim Flags, so they now indicate what it'll be changed to.

v208.2

- Fixed invalid discovery points value on server

v208.11

- Fixed a client side crash

v208.1

- Single Player Beta Mode

Note: Whilst not a formal system, Singleplayer users can play on any world json they want, by just replacing these files:
\ShooterGame\ServerGrid.json
\ShooterGame\ServerGrid\ (the map images)

When doing so, please back up your SavedAtlasLocal folder, and then delete your save data using the in-game save delete button.

- Claim Flags now have a toggleable setting in Settlements mode which allows Settlement owners to choose whether to pay and feed the NPC Crew for allies or everyone settled on the island. This will be displayed in the top-right hand corner HUD. A single + means ally crew will take gold/food from claim flags. ++ means everyone will take gold/food from the claim flag. A lack of + means that only the settlement owner's crew will be able to take good/food from claim flags.
- Magic Mythos is now active for the weekend: 2x bonus rates for Harvesting, Taming, XP and Gold!
- Future proofing landscape optimization (large patch)

Just some further information on the update size, the reason it is so large is because a technical change went in place to improve the logic surrounding landscapes (not related to single player). Something we plan to improve more on in the future. This optimization will basically allow us to reduce the current install size of the game by, hopefully, ~33%.

The way it works in technical terms is that all the landscape variants of the same shape will use one map, with material variants, rather than each having a redundant copy of the large maps themselves. This means we won't have to have all those additional copies, thus reducing the effective size of landscapes (which together comprise over 50% of the game's install size)

v207.999

- Crew gold payment and food can now be done via your Company's claim flag. Crew that are on an island or on a fully anchored ship within Settlement range are eligible. Berries are the only food that can be used in the claim flag (there is a greatly extended spoil timer on berries in a claim flag for further QoL). Crew will still seek out payment and food from nearby food larders and payment boxes and if there are none nearby or they are empty, they will take from the claim flag.
- Increased SoTD XP:

Schooner approx 20% increase
Brig approx 50% increase
Galleon approx 100% increase

207.998

- Fixed Ghostship not appearing/disappearing
- Increased step height for Elephants and Rhinos to 110 to allow to climb half wall steps, and helps with other obstacles both would realistically be able to step over
- Golden Age AoD now drop less gold, have a larger respawn radius around players/tames and a longer respawn interval
- Fixed cases where players would be dismounted from the swivel gun when firing on a ship

v207.997

- A claim flag can longer be placed on a fully anchored ship during peacetime.
- Grog: Damage bonus changed from +6% to -3%, duration changed from 600s to 300s
- Rum: Now instead of giving 15 waters, it removes 20 water
- Target soft spots - Cooldown increased from 15s to 60s and torpor bonus reduced from 35% to 28%
- Critical strike - Cooldown increased from 20s to 60s and damage bonus reduced from 2x to 1.65x
- Target weakness - Duration increased from 10s to 24s
- Reduced the following armor stat scales by 30%:

Health
Melee
Damage
Stamina
Fortitude
Intelligence

v207.996

- AoD on GoldenAge now drop gold when killed. Scales with level.
- AoD now have a non-weighted random spread up to level 120 on GoldenAge servers
- AoD are now immune to anything except gun (non-puckle), melee damage and tame damage.
- Fixed cannons shooting thru overhangs
- Increased sword damage by 50%
- Increased mace damage by 35%
- Increased pike damage by 15%
- Increased spear damage by 20%
- Increased throwing knife damage by 20%
- Increased gun effectiveness against creatures 12.5%
- Reduced med kit self heal 20%
- Reduced tiger and lion head hitbox bone damage multiplier to 1.5x
- Increased minimum island points on PvE from 30 to 70
- Increased max island points on PvE from 150 to 250
- Increased max island points on PvP from 250 to 320
- Magic Mythos is now active for the weekend: 2x bonus rates for Harvesting, Taming, XP and Gold!

207.994

- Fixed multiple cases where players would become unbased (slide off ships) due to certain structures.

v207.992

- Company Rank settings are no longer the default option on E for climbing ladders if you're an admin or owner of a company
- Improved Ghostship appearance logic
- Fixed a bug which allowed clients to complete a musical sheet without even having to play a track
- Updated Equatorial tags and temps for Giraffe breeding, as it now spawns in the bog.
- Hid and cleaned up text overlap issues with the Sextant/GPS when inside menus

Meaningful communication and keeping an eye on the horizon

Following this post, we plan to make a shift to our routine in regards to Captain’s Logs. We’ll be opting for quality over frequency and making sure they are meaningful and offer insight into what we’re working on. This means we may decide to change our regular schedule of Captain’s Logs in favor of bringing news and updates which matter. We assure you, we’ll still be present reading, interacting, digesting and responding to your communications across Discord, the Forums, and social media. Keep that precious feedback and bug reporting coming!

There are big things in the works for the game and, unfortunately, they can’t be shared just yet. Rest assured that you can take things growing a little quieter as a sign of the calm before the exciting storm!

Finally, we’d like to extend a sincere expression of our gratitude to all of our community for your support as we ask you to batten down the hatches and keep a keen eye on the horizon for the bigger adventures to come!

Happy Sailing,

Grapeshot Games

For the latest dispatch on #playATLAS keep yer one good eye trained on this here information

Natter n' chatter on Discord: https://discord.gg/playatlas Navigate ye olde Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/playatlas Hear ye, hear ye on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sailtheatlas Watch us scallywags on Twitch: http://twitch.tv/sailtheatlas Plus ye can band with us Pirates on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playatlasgame

View full article

Ahoy Pathfinders!

In the last Captain’s Log, we revealed our plans to incorporate a Singleplayer game-mode; initially, we had hoped to release a beta-test by mid-July. Due to unforeseen circumstances… we’re ahead of schedule! The beta was released over the weekend, earlier than expected! (ikr)

Singleplayer Mode Beta

Singleplayer will be accessible via the in-game menu as of the latest major version. Unlike our previous betas, this is a game mode that doesn’t impact the multiplayer version, therefore, it was optimal to integrate it into the live game immediately. An added benefit of doing so is that you won’t need to maintain separate ATLAS folders or switch between the branches to access the Singleplayer beta and also play on the Official/Unofficial networks.

The game mode is still in a highly iterative beta state. You will encounter issues but rest assured it is still fully playable. We’ll be actively collecting your reports and feedback as well as patching issues throughout the coming weeks.

Now sink your scurvy sea dog teeth into Singleplayer and break all of the things so we can fix them

Our commitment to multiplayer

Singleplayer mode has been a highly requested feature and we’re excited to provide an alternate option for those who find multiplayer less suitable to their wants within the ATLAS. That said, the majority of the work involved in getting singleplayer’s maiden voyage away smoothly takes place during the initial phase of setting up the game mode. Once she’s at sea, it will grow in tandem with the multiplayer experience with little extra bandwidth necessary.

Our team is fully dedicated to the multiplayer experience; it is and always will be our main priority. The team is constantly working on improving it, whether that’s through the introduction of new content, optimizing the game; covering both client-side and server-side performance, balance, QoL, and bug fixes. Plus, the work we’re doing with singleplayer will actually benefit the multiplayer game due to client-side optimization.

Live Game Patches: Quality of Life

Over the past few weeks, along with our regular live game patches targeting bugs and balance, we have had some focus on quality of life changes.

As many players will have noticed, we’ve rolled out a few significant QoL updates recently. These have incorporated smaller changes such as increasing the slot capacity of storage items and allowing more varied resources to be stored in storage boxes along with more technical implementations, namely, allowing NPC crew to collect their gold payments and edible rations via the claim flag.

It’s no secret that achieving certain goals in ATLAS can be a considerable grind - and part of that adds to the feeling of reward and accomplishment. What we don’t want is tedium. We’d rather your playtime be spent sailing the high seas, completing quests, fighting each other if you are of the PvP persuasion, working on your fleets and bases - things you enjoy. With this in mind, we’re committed to rolling out more of these types of QoL changes throughout ATLAS’ development cycle.

This is a marathon rather than a sprint, some aspects will be quick and easy, whereas others will need more delicate and thought out solutions. We're confident we're up to speed on which aspects of the game you guys find particularly tedious. That said, please continue to let us know the type of QoL changes you’d like to see. Let’s work together to identify what’s important to you. We understand that this is a diverse community, each group holding a different perspective and all of your feedback is valuable to us and the game’s development.

Speaking of which, we’ll be adding a new structure to the game, the Island-Wide Crew Resource Storehouse. That’s I.W.C.R.S for short. This structure will store berries and gold, as well as automatically feed and pay your crew from anywhere on the island. This will be limited to 1 per company per island, whether you’re the settler, an island owner or inhabit a lawless island. We’ll also be providing an option on claim flags to disable their island-wide feeding and paying options for crew. Updates that have gone live since our last Captain's Log

Complete Patch Notes

v208.21

- Fixed a bug which would cause players to be stuck when unmounting creatures
- Cleared up the pinwheel text on Claim Flags, so they now indicate what it'll be changed to.

v208.2

- Fixed invalid discovery points value on server

v208.11

- Fixed a client side crash

v208.1

- Single Player Beta Mode

Note: Whilst not a formal system, Singleplayer users can play on any world json they want, by just replacing these files:
\ShooterGame\ServerGrid.json
\ShooterGame\ServerGrid\ (the map images)

When doing so, please back up your SavedAtlasLocal folder, and then delete your save data using the in-game save delete button.

- Claim Flags now have a toggleable setting in Settlements mode which allows Settlement owners to choose whether to pay and feed the NPC Crew for allies or everyone settled on the island. This will be displayed in the top-right hand corner HUD. A single + means ally crew will take gold/food from claim flags. ++ means everyone will take gold/food from the claim flag. A lack of + means that only the settlement owner's crew will be able to take good/food from claim flags.
- Magic Mythos is now active for the weekend: 2x bonus rates for Harvesting, Taming, XP and Gold!
- Future proofing landscape optimization (large patch)

Just some further information on the update size, the reason it is so large is because a technical change went in place to improve the logic surrounding landscapes (not related to single player). Something we plan to improve more on in the future. This optimization will basically allow us to reduce the current install size of the game by, hopefully, ~33%.

The way it works in technical terms is that all the landscape variants of the same shape will use one map, with material variants, rather than each having a redundant copy of the large maps themselves. This means we won't have to have all those additional copies, thus reducing the effective size of landscapes (which together comprise over 50% of the game's install size)

v207.999

- Crew gold payment and food can now be done via your Company's claim flag. Crew that are on an island or on a fully anchored ship within Settlement range are eligible. Berries are the only food that can be used in the claim flag (there is a greatly extended spoil timer on berries in a claim flag for further QoL). Crew will still seek out payment and food from nearby food larders and payment boxes and if there are none nearby or they are empty, they will take from the claim flag.
- Increased SoTD XP:

Schooner approx 20% increase
Brig approx 50% increase
Galleon approx 100% increase

207.998

- Fixed Ghostship not appearing/disappearing
- Increased step height for Elephants and Rhinos to 110 to allow to climb half wall steps, and helps with other obstacles both would realistically be able to step over
- Golden Age AoD now drop less gold, have a larger respawn radius around players/tames and a longer respawn interval
- Fixed cases where players would be dismounted from the swivel gun when firing on a ship

v207.997

- A claim flag can longer be placed on a fully anchored ship during peacetime.
- Grog: Damage bonus changed from +6% to -3%, duration changed from 600s to 300s
- Rum: Now instead of giving 15 waters, it removes 20 water
- Target soft spots - Cooldown increased from 15s to 60s and torpor bonus reduced from 35% to 28%
- Critical strike - Cooldown increased from 20s to 60s and damage bonus reduced from 2x to 1.65x
- Target weakness - Duration increased from 10s to 24s
- Reduced the following armor stat scales by 30%:

Health
Melee
Damage
Stamina
Fortitude
Intelligence

v207.996

- AoD on GoldenAge now drop gold when killed. Scales with level.
- AoD now have a non-weighted random spread up to level 120 on GoldenAge servers
- AoD are now immune to anything except gun (non-puckle), melee damage and tame damage.
- Fixed cannons shooting thru overhangs
- Increased sword damage by 50%
- Increased mace damage by 35%
- Increased pike damage by 15%
- Increased spear damage by 20%
- Increased throwing knife damage by 20%
- Increased gun effectiveness against creatures 12.5%
- Reduced med kit self heal 20%
- Reduced tiger and lion head hitbox bone damage multiplier to 1.5x
- Increased minimum island points on PvE from 30 to 70
- Increased max island points on PvE from 150 to 250
- Increased max island points on PvP from 250 to 320
- Magic Mythos is now active for the weekend: 2x bonus rates for Harvesting, Taming, XP and Gold!

207.994

- Fixed multiple cases where players would become unbased (slide off ships) due to certain structures.

v207.992

- Company Rank settings are no longer the default option on E for climbing ladders if you're an admin or owner of a company
- Improved Ghostship appearance logic
- Fixed a bug which allowed clients to complete a musical sheet without even having to play a track
- Updated Equatorial tags and temps for Giraffe breeding, as it now spawns in the bog.
- Hid and cleaned up text overlap issues with the Sextant/GPS when inside menus

Meaningful communication and keeping an eye on the horizon

Following this post, we plan to make a shift to our routine in regards to Captain’s Logs. We’ll be opting for quality over frequency and making sure they are meaningful and offer insight into what we’re working on. This means we may decide to change our regular schedule of Captain’s Logs in favor of bringing news and updates which matter. We assure you, we’ll still be present reading, interacting, digesting and responding to your communications across Discord, the Forums, and social media. Keep that precious feedback and bug reporting coming!

There are big things in the works for the game and, unfortunately, they can’t be shared just yet. Rest assured that you can take things growing a little quieter as a sign of the calm before the exciting storm!

Finally, we’d like to extend a sincere expression of our gratitude to all of our community for your support as we ask you to batten down the hatches and keep a keen eye on the horizon for the bigger adventures to come!

Happy Sailing,

Grapeshot Games

For the latest dispatch on #playATLAS keep yer one good eye trained on this here information

Natter n' chatter on Discord: https://discord.gg/playatlas Navigate ye olde Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/playatlas Hear ye, hear ye on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sailtheatlas Watch us scallywags on Twitch: http://twitch.tv/sailtheatlas Plus ye can band with us Pirates on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playatlasgame