Greetings, Commanders! I'm totally sure that players will enjoy new update.
Just imagine, early access to Italian cruisers and new Halloween event.
Let's get started!
Italian cruisers introduce new gameplay
both in terms of main caliber and stealth.
But how best to push through enemies and cover your allies?
Igor Lazarev knows the answers.
Early Access to Italian ships is arriving in the game. What do the ships look like?
Italians are all about maneuverability and speed,
and they have several new features, roughly speaking;
mechanics; a new shell type… They will be quite interesting to play.
Let's talk about the new shell type,
because that's the most interesting thing for me.
How will they fit into our game? We have HE shells, AP shells...
They are somewhere in the middle between HE and AP shells.
AP shells have quite inconsistent damage
because they can either hit a citadel or bounce off a ship's armor.
HE shells provide more consistent damage, as well as fire damage,
but their direct damage isn't so great.
Semi-armor-piercing shells fit between them,
they have good consistent damage, but don’t cause fires.
What do you mean by "good consistent damage"? What factors influence it?
Technically they are like HE shells, and might bounce off ship's armor.
But if there is no ricochet and the shell meets the armor,
the same process as with HE shells occurs:
if the armor penetration capability of the shell is 54 mm,
and if the shell hits the armor with less than 54 mm thickness,
the shell will penetrate the armor.
Not like AP shells that account for effective armor, no, but like HE shells.
That's why they will deal more consistent damage per shot.
Sounds quite tempting, I can already see
that everyone will start using only them. Aren't you afraid of that?
No, let them try.
Actually, there is a trick,
the shells don't cause fires, which is a very important thing,
and this precise thing differs them from HE shells.
They aren't so good against battleships as HE shells are.
But they're much better against cruisers, destroyers, and carriers,
because the armor of these ship types
is too thin to cause every shell to ricochet.
So we've defined the main advantages of SAP shells.
What are the counterplay techniques?
Since the shells can bounce off ships’ armor, the counterplay is bow-tanking.
Let's talk about maneuverability. How do they perform?
Compared to other cruisers of the same dimensions,
the turning circle of Italian ships is slightly smaller,
which is why they are considered to be more maneuverable and agile.
This is highly helpful in battle, especially for cruisers.
Let's go on. About those magic smokes…
The main feature of the smokes
is that they can hide a ship while at the full speed:
you sail, then just push a key and that's it, you're hidden.
Italian ships have quite high visibility,
so these smokes are used primarily for defense rather than offense.
You should use them when you're under focused fire
and understand that you need to run and hide.
You push the key and run away, thus taking the focus of fire off yourself.
Another advantage is the airplane that is very helpful while in smoke.
You launch the airplane,
and it highlights everything for you within a 10 km radius.
To my mind, that sounds too imbalanced.
What about torpedoes? They carry just a few torpedo launchers,
in most cases, just a single launcher on each side—
either three-tube or four-tube.
The torpedoes are long-range and fast-reloading,
but they're very slow and their damage isn't that great.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I see the only disadvantage of Italian cruisers
is that they can't set enemy ships on fire.
Actually, no, their disadvantages are their high visibility,
a firing range that isn't so good at higher tiers,
and Italian cruisers sometimes experience difficulties
while fighting against battleships, because they can't set them on fire.
Even though SAP shells are good against destroyers,
Italian cruisers don't have any means of detecting them.
They have neither Hydroacoustic Search, nor Radar, only an airplane.
But the airplane can be shot down anytime,
and it doesn't provide spotting for long.
Another disadvantage of the Italian ships is a very long reload time.
How long is it? 20?
The reload time of Venezia is 20 seconds, others have like 15, 16 seconds.
In such cases, the perk that makes switching shell types faster
if the guns are loaded will come in handy. Oh, that's my favorite.
Tell us about what we'll never see in the game,
what was abandoned in the development stage in the past.
We had many interesting solutions, we experimented a lot
during the development phase of the Italian cruisers
and reviewed different mechanics.
We thought about quite an interesting mechanic of interacting with the terrain,
so the terrain could decrease the visibility of a ship
that’s close to an island. That feature wasn't implemented
because it contradicted the style of gameplay intended for Italian ships.
They're more about speed and maneuverability.
We also had ideas about smoke shells,
but this idea doesn't fit the game at the current stage.
Semi-armor-piercing shells, are those historically accurate?
Yes. Basically, a SAP shell is an HE shell
with a good cap that can penetrate armor.
We wanted to provide Italian ships with something new,
which is why we introduced them.
The quality of the work done by our artists improves each year.
Let's ask Anastasiya Shpagina about some 3D artists' tips and tricks.
Italians. The new branch is being released,
you designed two ships of the upcoming branch.
Tell us about the process of creating a ship
from the moment "a ship is ordered."
We had the blueprints for all four sisterships,
and the blueprints were historically accurate.
Everything was clear with the stock ship, Zara,
the armament was known, as well as the set of blueprints.
We had to spend some time on choosing a Premium ship.
At first, we chose Fiume, then some difficulties began to appear
when we found out that her hull was 7 meters longer than was stated in theory.
That was surprising for us all
because there were no blueprints of the frames on Fiume,
and no notifications about extending the length of her hull.
What difficulties did this 7-meter extension introduce?
Why that was an obstacle for your work?
We had no blueprints of the hull's sheathing.
Since we wanted to make a Premium ship,
we wanted to make it as accurate as possible.
Sheathing is the process of distributing sheathing material along a ship's hull.
In other words, the armor layout. Yes, the way the armor plates fit.
We didn't have that. Since the hull was different,
we couldn't use the blueprints of her sistership,
so we decided to choose another ship, Gorizia.
She was made at the same shipyard as Pola,
so we could partially use the sheathing blueprints of Pola.
Roughly speaking, when we were creating a ship,
we had to not only find the source blueprint of that ship,
but also compare the ship with her sisterships, thus verifying the data.
Ideal situations, when the whole set of blueprints is available, never happen.
Well, apart from those cases when you invent something on your own, right?
Yes. That's why we have to borrow some parts from sisterships,
search through various archives and guides, and examine photos.
What photos do you work with?
You mean like detailed photos of each part of a ship?
Yes, sure. Tell us about it.
At that time, I think, nobody was interested in taking detailed photos.
It was even prohibited to take photos of Yamato.
Sure. That's why we use everything that has survived.
Have those photos been taken from some archives? Aerial photos or…
They are different, some have been taken from a shipyard, others from the air.
They are the worst, because you can hardly see a thing in such photos.
Some were taken during trials, and those are quite detailed photos.
A photographer was surely on the ship,
so the photos he made can show some peculiar details.
Pola had great and useful photos. We used them
to decide upon some disputable issues that we couldn't see on Gorizia.
So the whole infrastructure of the ship is in place, right?
Yes, everything has its logic, paths are everywhere, no dead ends,
you can see why and how specific parts were used on the deck.
You can see some worn parts of the deck where sailors have been running a lot,
and, vice versa for the places where nobody goes.
Up to such level of detail?—Of course! That's one of our working requirements.
Wait a second, you have a requirement that, roughly speaking,
the paint on the deck should correspond to how frequently
sailors moved along this part of the deck than along some other part?
Well, yeah. For example, sailors move more often around guns
than somewhere in the middle of the deck.
Respectively, the deck is more worn out there.—Yes, that's the way it should be.
It should be checked, for example, whether the deck is wooden,
then it should be made as wooden, and worn out in the corresponding spots.
We check all of that. Cool! Cool! Cool!
For events, we always prepare new skins for popular ships.
It will be hard to recognize Montana during Halloween this year.
How we did it, why we did it, and more info from Artyom Avdeev.
Hello! Hi! Let's talk about Halloween.
It’s set to be beautiful, vivid, and unusual.
How do you create the exterior of a ship?
In the beginning, we were given the task to create a monster-ship,
which would be evil incarnate.
How do you create such a concept?
We have a heap of limits that we need to observe.
I'm talking about the ship's shape, number of polygons—
roughly speaking, the number of animations available.
I consider all this information and start working on the idea.
Have you managed to realize some of your personal goals as an artist?
Rather yes than no, because I did my best to create a skin
that would make it worthwhile to research this ship.
As the ultimate objective. Exactly.
That's why I tried to make a model that I would enjoy myself.
You've made an incredibly cool Montana.
Why is she like this? Tell us the story behind her character.
We had a task to create a monster who also carries some armament, so to speak.
It was rather difficult to combine a beast and a gun,
so I came up with this concept of, basically, a giant fish,
which someone has equipped with weapons,
and now they live on it and head into battle on it.
So, some race captured this monstrous beast and uses it as a vehicle.
There are guns made of skulls on the ship
and some kinds of insects that act as armament.
Spiders are AA guns. Amazing style, great work!
Yes, it even sinks like a living being, it waves its flippers.
Anything else interesting about it? When I was working on it,
I tried to provide as much space for animations as possible,
to make it look alive, rather than a static, motionless model.
To make it animated.
Yes. In fact, there are many animated parts to it.
It opens its mouth, moves its tongue, its eyes blink and turn,
and a lot of different things rotate and move in general.
In your opinion, does this Halloween character
deserve a special voiceover for its Commander?
I imagine its Commander to be some sort of insect,
a representative of an insectoid race that lives in this world.
I can already see the comments on our YouTube channel,
"My god, what do they smoke there?.."
How many teams? Why should you avoid the enemy bots?
Who are the bosses of the level?
Danyla Lychkin will tell you all about the new Halloween event.
The Halloween event is simultaneously new and familiar to us.
Tell us about the new things in it,
what differences will it have from the previous installments?
Firstly, the Halloween event is a tradition for us.
The only thing we’ve added is another difficulty level.
Apart from Hard Difficulty, we'll also have the Super Hard level,
which will require even more coordination within teams.
Ok. Raid for the Filth.
We already know the name, but what is it about? What’s the gameplay like?
You need to destroy enemies and bots, gather the resources they drop,
and escape with them through the Portal.
Instead of classic squadron battles, we rather play in a convoy.
In this, you can either play as a hunter, when you have few resources
and have to hunt for someone in order to gather them,
or you can play as a convoy ship,
which has to transport all these resources through the Portal.
How many teams and participants? Three teams with three people in each.
Moreover, we have a separate team for bots—
additional bots spawn from time to time as the scenario develops.
The entire scenario is a mix of classic PvP battles,
where you compete against other players,
and PvE operations, where you fight against bots, depending on the story.
Which ship types will be available in the new Halloween event?
Our three main types— destroyers, battleships, and cruisers—
will be available.
If you liked the fast gameplay of the Rogue Wave event,
you'll like the fast destroyers.
If you enjoy classic battleships but with even greater survivability,
you'll have a chance to appreciate this event as well.
How survivable are they?
At the moment, I don't have the final figures,
but they have around 150 thousand HP.
However, it can change— it might even become higher.
Why did you do this? How did you come up with it?
Because the balance in this mode is different from our classic modes.
It's not built around your combat efficiency,
it's built around your relative ability
to transport a specified amount of resources in a defined period of time.
Accordingly, fast destroyers transport them quickly but in smaller quantities;
while battleships operate at slower speeds,
but they have a much larger capacity.
What can you tell us about the gameplay from the point of view of ships?
Are there any special weapons or consumables?
You've increased the amount of HP.
What else changed compared to the usual game?
Well, it's Halloween, and probably our players
have gotten used to us bringing back our Halloween consumables for this event…
Clubhaul? Clubhaul, invulnerability,
and the consumables that battleships are carrying—they have two functions.
First—HP restoration, and second—some kind of resistance to incoming damage.
All types of resistances— invulnerability, and so on.
Is the number of uses unlimited? The mechanic is as follows:
initially you don't have any consumables, like in Rogue Wave.
But every frag gives one consumable.
What happens after I leave a battle?
The resources from your ship
will be transferred to the team's pool of resources.
When either all the players finish a battle, or get destroyed,
or the time runs out, or everyone leaves through the Portal,
the results of the battle are evaluated and the economy is displayed,
just as in standard battles, displaying how many resources
were brought to the team's pool by each player.
What can I do with all these resources then?
You can use these resources in the Armory
and exchange them for desirable things, including new Halloween styles.
From what you’ve said, I understand that there will be
three ships in the event— a destroyer, cruiser, and battleship.
No, three types of ships. So, how many ships will there be?
There will be nine ships. Each type has a development system.
Players will begin with a starting, for example, destroyer,
and they will have an opportunity to research
the second and third destroyers as well. How will they differ from each other?
They will differ in their firepower and available consumables.
Are bots presented as the roaches of Mikasa,
crawling at you wave by wave, or they are somewhat different entities?
First of all, they are pretty weak bots, which appear in waves
and act as warm-up or resource sources for players.
There will be our favorite, Rasputin, which will carry a plethora of resources.
She will have her minions, and they will protect their master,
so it won't be easy to deprive Rasputin of her resources.
What gameplay can players expect in this mode?
Players can be either convoy hunters
with the aim of depriving others of their resources,
or cargo ships transporting the resources.
Let's say that, if the gameplay of the mode turns out to be good,
there's a high chance that we'll use these mechanics
in a more historically accurate setting.
So, that's it! Participate in the Public Test
and study the history of Regia Marina.
Subscribe to our channel and like our video!