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Version 0.8.6 ushers in a series of updates dedicated to French destroyers! So, what do you get?
A branch of French destroyers in early access.
A new in-game event with Premium destroyer Siroco as a reward.
The revamped Port of Marseille.
Symbols of France.
A number of balance-related changes; and new seasons of Ranked and Clan Battles.
FRENCH DESTROYERS
Welcome to the Port of Marseille!
Tier V-IX French destroyers are coming to early access. How does the new branch stand out?
The unusual characteristics of their hulls: the hit points of the French destroyers’ hulls can be reduced to zero, just like the HP of ships’ ends. The result is that after receiving several hits, this part of the ship will receive just half the typical damage.
The absence of the Smoke Generator consumable is compensated for by the ships’ high speeds and the enhanced Engine Boost consumable they carry.
Starting at Tier VI, French destroyers are equipped with the Main Battery Reload Booster consumable, which is quite an extraordinary feature for this ship type.
Starting at Tier VIII, the new destroyers enjoy flat-trajectory ballistics and AP shells with a high armor-penetration capability for their ship type. This enables players to confidently inflict damage to the citadels of enemy cruiser at medium ranges.
Activate Symbols of France, complete the tasks of the Directives and obtain French Destroyers containers which may, with a certain chance, drop a combat mission that unlocks early access to one of the following French destroyers: Tier V Jaguar, Tier VI Guépard, Tier VII Vauquelin, or Tier VIII Le Fantasque.
Symbols of France
Take a good look at the ship carousel in the Port. You'll see new symbols—Symbols of France—displayed above re-searchable Tier V-X ships, as well as Tier II–X Premium and special ships.
Symbols of France work much the same way as the "stars" that score a daily bonus for the first win of the day. But unlike stars, they can only be activated once throughout Update 0.8.6. For the duration of the update, your first win with a ship marked with a Symbol of France will either bring you Coal or a new temporary resource—Republic Tokens.
Symbols of France will also appear on ships purchased, bought back, or received from containers in Update 0.8.6.
Directives
Directives are available to players with access to the combat missions feature in the Service Record. Novice players will have to play 70 battles in any accessible battle mode to unlock access.
Directives start at: Thursday, July 25th 7 AM ET / 4 AM PT and end on Monday, August 19th at 5 AM ET / 2 AM PT.
By completing combat missions and Directives, you'll earn various in-game items and French Destroyers containers. These containers have a chance of dropping a combat mission with its reward being early access to Tier V–VIII French destroyers. The main rewards will be French destroyer Tier V Siroco and her permanent camouflage.
Republic Tokens
Symbols of France are not the only way to lay your hands on Republic Tokens. Got Tier V Jaguar, Tier VI Guépard, Tier VII Vauquelin, Tier VIII Le Fantasque or Tier V Siroco? Complete a one-time combat mission for each of the ships: earn 15,000 XP and get 250 Republic Tokens as a reward. A similar mission is available for completion with Premium cruiser Tier VIII Bayard.
You can exchange Republic Tokens in the Armory for the French Navy permanent camouflage designed for Tier V–VIII French destroyers, as well as for the sequentially available set of bundles that carry various game items. Having obtained all these bundles, special random bundles will become available in exchange for doubloons.
All the rewards are visible in advance: the bundles’ contents and their amounts are displayed when viewing the currently available bundle.
After each random bundle exchange, one new random bundle opens out of 30 available.
One of the random bundles drops French destroyer Tier IX Mogador with the French Navy permanent camouflage.
If you hover the cursor over the bundle's description in the list, you'll see how many of those bundles you've already received. Having collected all the bundles, you're guaranteed to have obtained all the available rewards.
Please note: Tier IX Mogador and Tier X Kléber will become available for research in Update 0.8.8.
CLAN BATTLES
Season 6 of Clan Battles, code-named "Neighbors," will be held in a format that differs from that of regular Clan Battles: battles will involve only Tier VIII ships and will be held in a "6 vs. 6" format. All ships are eligible, except for aircraft carriers. Apart from this, each team is limited to having one battleship. Victorious battles can bring you a total of up to 8,750 Steel!
Season starts on: July 31st and ends on September 15th, 2019.
Similar to Season 5, Clans are free to select the prime time that best suits them.
ASIA 11:30 — 15:30 UTC
RU 16:00 — 20:00 UTC
EU 17:00 — 21:00 UTC
NA 23:30 — 03:30 UTC
Please note that on the release days of any updates, no Clan Battles will be held.
RANKED BATTLES
On August 8, we launch a new Season of Ranked Battles! Battles will involve only Tier IX ships and will be held in a "6 vs. 6" format. Rewards will include various in-game goodies, up to 5,500 Steel, and the Jolly Roger commemorative achievement for those who make it to Rank 1.
GAME MAPS AND MODES
The legendary white facade of the cliffs of Dover has looked over the final resting place of many a ship in the annals of history. In Update 0.8.6, a new map called Crash Zone Alpha is set to appear in the game for Tier VIII–X Random Battles in Domination mode. The map has two versions: with three and four key areas, respectively. In Random Battles played in Domination mode, the key areas are not congested with islands. The islands are located along the flanks, making approaching them safer and flank attacks more effective. Some of the islands have elevated areas with different heights, so care should be taken when choosing cover. In Clan Battles the "home" key areas of the teams are located quite close to each other, which will force the teams to seek new combat and attack tactics.
The Greece map has been updated with the addition of sunny weather. Besides this, the islands located rear of the teams have been reworked and will now act as more reliable cover.
The updated Raptor Rescue operation is back: AI opponents have had all their skills, upgrades, and enhanced consumables reset, and the composition of enemy groups has changed.
Aircraft carrier bots have returned to Co-op Battles. Now, a player on an aircraft carrier will face not a battleship, but an aircraft carrier. Moreover, bot-controlled carriers may also appear in battles for novice players and are accessible in Training Battles, too.
ARMORY
A new tab has been added to the Armory, dedicated to French destroyers.
Republic Tokens can be obtained only throughout Update 0.8.6. You can exchange them in the Armory before Update 0.8.8 goes live.
We've added five new historical Commanders: Friedrich Bonte, Horace Hood, Matsuji Ijūin, Vladimir Trubetskoy, and Theodore Chandler. They are available in the Armory for 1,500 doubloons and come with 10 skill points. Each of them is a real historical figure. In every other respect, they are similar to the "conventional" commanders available in the game. The Commanders can be obtained only once per account.
We’re continuing to offer new camouflage patterns in the Armory, obtainable in exchange for Ranked Tokens and Clan Tokens. In Update 0.8.6, cruiser Tier VII Flint gets a camouflage called Ultimate Wolf.
The Ultimate Wolf camouflage features:
−3% to the ship’s detectability range by sea
+4% to the dispersion of shells fired by enemies at your ship
+100% XP per battle
+100% Free XP per battle
+100% Commander XP per battle
−10% to the cost of the ship's post-battle service
In Update 0.8.6 you will still be able to exchange Fuel Tokens for rewards from the Rogue Wave event. When Update 0.8.7 hits the servers, all Fuel Tokens will be converted into credits at an exchange rate of 1:22,500.
Please note: with the release of Update 0.8.6, Provision Tokens will be converted into credits at an exchange rate of 1:22,500, and the "Victory: Part 2" section will no longer be available in the Armory.
TECHNICAL IMPROVEMENTS
The in-game lighting model has been updated. This is an important change that opens the doors to a graphics update for the game in the future. The new lighting model will bring visible changes to Ports and certain maps. We're going to gradually release further updates for Ports and maps, implementing the new lighting system.
We've enhanced the anti-aliasing which removes ripples when the Sea Rendering Quality is set to Medium or higher in the Graphics Settings.
Apart from that, dynamic texture streaming has been enhanced. This change will slightly improve performance in battle.
GAME BALANCE CHANGES
French cruiser Henri IV:
The reload time of the ship's main battery guns has been increased from 12.3 to 13 seconds.
Tier X Henri IV is one of the most powerful Tier X cruisers in the game. This fast-moving ship is capable of inflicting considerable damage with her HE shells, and the Main Battery Reload Booster consumable only makes her yet more formidable. To balance the strength of the cruiser, we’ve increased the reload time of her main battery guns.
German cruisers Roon and Hindenburg:
The reload time of the ships' main battery guns has been reduced from 11 to 10.5 seconds.
In Update 0.7.6, the ships' main battery reload time was increased. However, game balance is by no means a static thing, and subsequent changes rendered Roon and Hindenburg inferior to other ships of the same type in terms of their overall battle efficiency. In Update 0.7.9, they were equipped with an extra charge of the Repair Party consumable. The ships, however, were inferior to other same-type ships in terms of their overall efficiency. Now their guns will reload faster, increasing the aggregate amount of damage they can deal.
German 105 mm secondary battery guns mounted on Tirpitz, Bismarck, Graf Zeppelin, and Tier VIII-X cruisers:
We’ve increased the armor-penetration capability of their HE shells from 17 to 25 mm. This change will enable 105 mm shells fired by the secondary battery guns of the German ships to penetrate the hull plating of destroyers, cruisers, and Tier VI–VII battleships.
U.S. destroyer Gearing:
The reload time of Gearing's researchable torpedo tubes has been reduced from 136 to 122 seconds.
With Update 0.7.6 this destroyer was equipped with Mk16 mod. 1 torpedo tubes similar to those carried by Fletcher. Now, we want to bring the ship's stock and re-searchable torpedoes (each offering its own play style) to balance in terms of combat efficiency.
Soviet destroyer Grozovoi:
The reload time of the ship's main battery guns has been increased from 4 to 4.2 seconds.
A handsome set of consumables and powerful guns allow this ship to be one of the most effective destroyers at Tier X. In order to better balance her against her counterparts, the main battery reload time has been increased.
Pan-Asian destroyer Chung Mu:
The reload time of the ship's main battery guns has been increased from 3.3 to 3.5 seconds.
The reload time of Chung Mu's re-searchable torpedo tubes has been increased from 106 to 122 seconds.
Pan-Asian destroyer Yueyang:
The reload time of the ship's torpedo tubes has been reduced from 156 to 146 seconds.
This change will better balance Pan-Asian ships against their counterparts.
British destroyer Jutland:
The reload time of the ship's main battery guns has been increased from 3.5 to 4 seconds.
Jutland is an excellent close-range fighter, but her overall combat efficiency turned out to be excessively high. This change will bring Jutland back into balance with other same-type ships.
Japanese battleship Kii:
The armor thickness of the citadel deck has been increased from 22 to 32 mm.
After penetrating Kii's belt armor, shells with a caliber of 356 mm or higher would not ricochet against the thin armor of the citadel deck, and often pierced it. This change is aimed at improving the ship's durability.
German destroyer Z-23:
The HP pool of the stock hull has been increased from 14,700 to 16,700.
The difference in number of hit points between the stock and researchable hulls equals 4,800—an impressive amount for a destroyer. We’ve reinforced the stock hull for a smoother transition.
British cruiser Emerald:
The armor thickness of the citadel deck has been increased from 25 to 40 mm.
By increasing the thickness of the deck armor, we’ve added more protection for the cruiser's citadel deck against penetrations by attack aircraft rockets, 203 mm HE shells, and no-ricochet penetrations by AP shells.
Tier VI Hatsuharu, Tier VI Gnevny and Tier V Nicholas have had their stock hulls updated. Now, visually and in terms of armament, the stock hulls are closer to the re-searchable ones.
Japanese destroyer Hatsuharu:
The Hatsuharu (A) hull now comes with two paired main guns (127 mm/50 3rd Year Type mod. B).
The AA defenses of the Hatsuharu (A) hull are now represented by four paired automatic anti-aircraft machine guns (25 mm/60 Type96 Twin mod.1).
The Hatsuharu (A) hull now has one AA zone that deals 70 HP of damage per second, with an 85% hit probability and an action range of 0.1–1.9 km.
Soviet destroyer Gnevny:
The anti-aircraft guns aboard the Gnevny (A) hull comprise two 76 mm 34-K guns, three 45 mm 21-К guns, and four 12.7 mm DShK machine guns.
U.S. destroyer Nicholas:
The main battery guns of the Nicholas (A) hull now include four 127 mm/51 Mk7 mod. 2 guns.
The aiming angles of the main guns have been changed.
British battleships King George V, Lion, Duke of York, Monarch, and Conqueror:
The citadel has been elevated and now occupies part of the ships' casemates.
The Repair Party consumable has been changed:
The restoration of the casemate (non-citadel) damage has been increased from 60% to 75%.
Tier VII Duke of York will get one extra charge of the consumable.
Tier VII King George V, Tier VII Duke of York and Tier VIII Monarch will now have 0.6% restored of their maximum HP pool per second as opposed to 0.5% as it was previously.
For Tier VII King George V, Tier VIII Monarch and Tier VII Duke of York, the cooldown time of the Repair Party consumable has been reduced from 120 to 90 seconds.
For Tier IX Lion and Tier X Conqueror, the cooldown time has been reduced from 180 to 120 seconds.
Exposing their broadsides to an enemy’s salvo is the worst mistake most ships can make. However, due to their low-sitting citadels and long-distance combat tactics, the consequences of such an error for Royal Navy battleships were much less tangible. These changes will enable enemy ships to teach British battleships a good lesson about the results of carelessly exposing their broadsides by causing them some considerable damage. However, if players manage to avoid such mistakes and skillfully use the improved Repair Party consumable, the survivability of these Steel Monsters will only improve.
Japanese carrier Hakuryu:
The J5N Tenrai Type 91 mod. 8 torpedo bombers are no longer available. If you’ve already researched them, you’ll get 38,000 Free XP. If you’ve already purchased them, you'll get 2,500,000 credits. If you had these torpedo bombers placed on the aircraft carrier, they will be replaced with the C6N Saiun aircraft, even if you don't currently have them in your Inventory.
The main weakness of the carriers represented in the game—Tier X Hakuryū being no exception—manifests itself in a group of ships covering each other against attacks from the air. In their current state, torpedo bombers with a long attack range are substantially inferior to standard torpedo bombers in terms of their combat efficiency. This change in the parameters of the J5N Tenrai Type 91 mod. 8 aircraft was checked during the Public Test of Update 0.8.4. The test showed that strengthening these parameters removes this shortcoming of the Japanese carrier, turning her into a multi-purpose ship capable of attacking any target. Bringing those settings to balance would require almost a complete overhaul of the parameters for the carrier and all of her squadrons, thus changing the very underlying concept of the ship. For that particular reason, we decided to remove these torpedo bombers.
AA Defenses
Anti-aircraft guns now deal permanent damage several times per second. Previously, the frequency of damage depended on the type of gun. To make the operation of AA defenses more stable, we've standardized damage infliction. The damage value will also be recalculated in consideration of the increased frequency. This is a merely technical change aimed at removing some inconsistencies, with the total damage per second remaining nearly the same. Apart from that, if a ship’s particular AA zone used to deal less than 18 HP of damage per second, it will now deal 18 HP of damage per second, provided all AA guns are operable.
CONTENT ADDITIONS AND CHANGES
A new camouflage called "Red Heat" has been added, providing the following bonuses:
−3% to the ship’s detectability range by sea
+4% to the dispersion of shells fired by enemies at your ship
+100% XP per battle
+100% Commander XP per battle
A commemorative flag called "St. George Flag" and a background for the "Arctic" patch have been added. How can you get them? Details will soon appear on the portal, so stay tuned!
Battleship Tier X Ohio has been added for testing by developers, supertesters, and community contributors.
OTHER CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS
The automatic collision alert system has been upgraded. Now, it will divert ships from islands more reliably, with manual control always being a priority.
Added descriptions for achievements that can be earned in Operations, and an icon for the Torpedoman achievement.
Fixed the description of 200 mm secondary battery shells for Tier VIII Kaga.
Fixed a bug which caused a notice regarding an insufficient amount of credits for ship servicing to be displayed, even after replenishing credit stocks.
Fixed a bug which caused a pop-up tip about the availability of several color schemes for a camouflage to overlap with a pop-up tip of the camouflage itself.
Fixed a bug which caused the badge of a Division to overlap with a player's nickname.
Fixed a bug which caused the text of a notification on the selection of Colored Shell Tracers and a Broad Pennant to exceed the limits of the notification box.
Fixed a bug which caused damage dealt by ramming to be less than it should have been according to the mechanics of the game.
Fixed a bug which caused the game client to crash when using an incorrectly generated Preferences file.
Fixed a bug which caused a voiceover notification to be played back after allied or enemy fighters or spotting aircraft have been destroyed, or after their action time has expired.
Fixed a bug which could cause a fire effect to remain in the air when landing aircraft on the carrier while being attacked by hostile fighter aircraft or AA guns.
Fixed a bug which triggered the Radio Location skill to show the direction of buildings in Operations and special battle modes.
Fixed a bug which caused, in certain situations, the accompanying sound of the player-selected Port to be played back in battles.
Fixed a bug that caused the game client to shut down when switching to the Flags tab in the Exterior section of the Port.
Fixed an issue affecting the display of a pop-up tip about the possibility of researching ships in the Tech Tree.
Fixed the display of the menu at a screen resolution of 2560x1440.
The pop-up tip for the Recruiting Station button that’s available in the account menu has been updated.
Fixed a bug which made it possible for shells to deal damage when hitting an already destroyed torpedo launcher.
Fixed a bug which caused the aiming reticule of an air group to jump around after the Adrenaline Rush skill has been mastered.
Clans will no longer have levels assigned to them. Now, all bonuses which opened up as a Clan progressed from level to level will be available at once. This change will help novice players to pick up the basics of the existing Clan structure.
The description of the Canada Day patch has been updated.