Development blog

Let's talk about the most notable new features of the next update.

Halloween

In this year's Halloween celebration, players will enjoy the already familiar operations "Saving Transylvania" and "Sunray in the Darkness". The temporary "Twilight Battle" battle type, familiar to players from Halloween 2018, will also return with minor visual enhancements. 

Operation "Saving Transylvania" will be available as Operation of the Week in the first week of the update, "Sunray in the Darkness" – in the second week. Throughout version 0.11.9, they will be available for completion in divisions. Both operations will only be available at normal difficulty level. Standard operations will only be available during 0.11.9 for divisions.

"Twilight Battle" will become available 2 weeks after the release of 0.11.9

Operation "Wolfpack" 

In version 0.11.9, a special Operation "Wolf Pack" will become available in the game. It is inspired by the real events of World War II surrounding the German submarine fleet's hunt for Allied convoys.

Players will fight at the helm of Tier VI and VIII submarines. There will be 7 players in a team.

The objective is to break through the Escort screen groups and destroy the transports before they reach their destination. 

For the first two weeks of 0.11.9, the Wolf Pack will only be available for divisions. Then it will become available as Operation of the Week. 

Personal challenges

In 0.11.9, Personal Challenges will be available again! In this iteration, we've updated the interface, as well as diversified the mission conditions. In the first two weeks of Personal Challenges in 11.9, you will have to earn ribbons, while in the second two weeks it will be base XP, as before. In future iterations of Personal Challenges, new conditions will be added, such as damage dealt. 

Technical changes and improvements

Submarine changes

The visual effect of the ping traveling through water has been re-implemented. It did its job well of drawing the attention of both the targeted player and their allies to the attacking submarine. Combined with the effect of the ping launch appearing on the surface of the water near its source, it would help to locate the submarine more accurately, draw attention to it, and allow for a quicker and more effective attack.

Updated the icon representing homing torpedoes - now it is more distinct from conventional torpedoes.

New ribbons for depth charges were added. They will more clearly show the effectiveness of dropping depth charges on the submarine.

• "Hit" ribbon is issued when a submarine receives full damage from the depth charge.
• "Splash damage" ribbon is issued when a submarine receives partial damage from the depth charge.

Auto-ASW for aircraft carriers

All Tier VI+ aircraft carriers will receive Depth Charge Airstrike that will work automatically. It won't serve as a tool for attacking submarines, but will grant aircraft carriers a means to defend themselves against submarines that will work even when the player is in control of squadrons. 

The Airstrike will be triggered if a submarine is detected within the Aistrike's range, or if signs of its presence are present, such as oil slicks on the water or the sonar ping effect. Based on this, an airstrike will be subsequently triggered considering the lead. The submarine will have the opportunity to evade the attack if evasive maneuvers are taken at the right time.

Changes to commanders, skills, and upgrades

A number of unique commander talents, skills, and upgrades have been updated to bring them to balance as well as increase their versatility.

Talents

Commander	Changes
Nikolay Kuznetsov	"Will for Victory": The duration of bonuses after the activation of the talent reduced from 30 to 15 s; The amount of hit points restored per second increased from 0.25% to 0.35%. "Emergency Reserve": Bonus to the number of consumables now also affects squadrons' consumables.
Yamamoto Isoroku	"Emergency Reserve": Bonus to the number of consumables now also affects squadrons' consumables.
Günther Lütjens	Fixed an issue because of which "Aerial Equipment Expert" talent was triggered on ships without squadrons.
Andrew Cunningham	"Lightning Fast": Number of instances of flooding required for the talent activation increased from 2 to 4
Philippe Auboyneau	"Rampant": Added a bonus that reduces the aircraft preparation time by 5% "Fire and Fury": Added a bonus that increases the chance to cause flooding by a torpedo by 10%

Skills

Ship type	Skill	Changes
Submarines	"Enlarged Propeller Shaft"	The skill now also increases the submarine's speed when surfaced and at periscope depth.
Battleships, cruisers	"Focus Fire Training"	Added a bonus that reduces the aircraft preparation time by 5%
Cruisers, destroyers	"Swift Fish"	Added a bonus that increased the aerial torpedoes' speed by 5%
Battleships, cruisers	"AA Defense and ASW Expert"	Added an activated effect: When the AA is active, improves the ship's consumables reload time:  by 10% for battleships by 5% for cruisers
Aircraft carriers	"Secondary Armament Expert"	Added a bonus that increases the damage of depth charges by 10%

Upgrades

Added a new upgrade – "Air Groups Modification 3". It can be mounted in a 4th slot for Ise, Tone, and Kearsarge. It provides the following bonuses:

• -5% squadron preparation time
• +5% squadrons speed 
• +15% to the planes' HP.

I-56 can now have "Main Battery Modification 2" and "Aiming Systems Modification 1" mounted (3rd slot)

We've also updated the interface of the commander's tab and commander's skills window. In the reserve, you can now view the available commanders of those nations whose ships you do not have.

Brawls

0.11.9 will be featuring three Brawls in the following formats:

First Brawl - October 10-17.

Format: 1 vs 1 on tier VI ships

No ship type restrictions

Second Brawl - October 17-24

Format: 4 vs 4 on Tier VI ships. In this Brawl, you will be able to participate with submarines.

Restrictions per team:

• No more than one aircraft carrier 
• No more than two battleships, two cruisers, and two destroyers
• No more than one submarine

Third Brawl - October 24-31

Format: 3 vs 3 on Tier VI ships.

Restrictions per team:

• No more than one aircraft carrier 
• No more than two battleships, two cruisers, and two destroyers

Ranked Battles

In Update 0.11.9, the 9th Ranked Battle season will kick off. It will last until the end of 0.11.11. 

The battles will be held in a 6 vs 6 format on ships of the following Tiers:

• Bronze League - Tier V.
• Silver League - Tiers VI-VII.
• Gold League - Tier X and superships.

Details about the upcoming Ranked Battles season will be published later

Content additions and changes

The following content has been added into the game:

• "Orca" permanent camouflage for Huron. This camouflage is the winner of the camouflage contest, the appearance of which was suggested by the players. Once again, we thank everyone who participated in this contest! 

• Permanent camouflages: "Celebration" for Conqueror, "Greek Trireme" for Velos, and "King of the Sea XIV — Gladiator" for Hipper

• "Bicol Express", "Tom Yum", "Satay", "Pho", "The Year We Roar Together" patches
• "The blessing HE is here" flag.

Please note that all information in the development blog is preliminary. Announced adjustments and features may change multiple times during testing. The final information will be published on our game's website.