Development blog

Captains! As our Anniversary update draws near, it's once again time to reveal upcoming ships; this round includes many torpedoes, as well as some long awaited historical giants...

Pan-American destroyer La Pampa, Tier X

A Battle-class destroyer, built at a British shipyard, that could have been purchased by the government of Argentina, which sought to strengthen its Navy in the post-war decades.

Following the Argentine Navy's tradition in the first half of the 20th century to name destroyers after provinces, the ship was named after the La Pampa Province, located in the center of the Argentina’s territory.

Unlike other Battle-class destroyers in the game such as Jutland, La Pampa is geared towards torpedo gameplay - she sacrifices her rear turret for an extra rack of torpedoes, bringing her total up to 15 tubes, rivalling the legendary Shimakaze. The torpedoes themselves have medium range and a comfortable blend of characteristics. Great concealment will allow her to outspot other destroyers and conduct torpedo attacks from close range. Complementing her torpedo armament is a strong set of consumables: Torpedo Reload Booster will allow her to put up to 30 fish in the water at once, while Specialized Repair Teams and Smoke Generator will give her substantial survivability. While all of her consumables come with a long cooldown time, Combat Instructions charged with torpedo hits and time spent undetected can be used to reduce it. Key weaknesses of the ship include a low base hitpoint pool, a weak main battery, and slow speed with no access to Engine Boost.

In gameplay, La Pampa will function best as an invisible assassin, using her concealment to avoid being spotted and launching devastating torpedo attacks with the aid of her Torpedo Reload Booster. While not the strongest against enemy Destroyers in a direct engagement, La Pampa can outspot most of her tiermates and is capable of recovering a lot of of the damage taken if forced to engage in a gunfight.

Standard permanent camouflage for La Pampa is still work in progress and will become available at a later date.

*02.08.2024 Fixed a mistake in description of La Pamba's main battery guns. Correct value is 2x2 for main battery guns.

Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano, Tier X

The largest aircraft carrier of World War II and the largest warship sunk by a submarine. Originally built as the third Yamato-class battleship, but after "the Battle of Midway" completed as an aircraft carrier. Sunk on November 29, 1944, by the USS Archerfish.
 

A truly iconic ship and one of the most unique carriers to be constructed is nearly ready to join your fleet! Reflecting her beginnings as a Yamato-class battleship, Shinano features a drastically different set of features compared to most aircraft carriers. Unlike other aircraft carriers, Shinano behaves similar to battleships when it comes to fires and floods, meaning they will last longer but deal less damage per second. Complementing this, Shinano does not feature the typical long duration aircraft carrier Damage Control Party; it will last for a shorter time but also reloads much quicker. In terms of armor, Shinano features improved plating: 27mm for extremities as well as an armored deck. However, unlike her sister Yamato, her citadel protection has been weakened during her conversion,  and is susceptible to enemy battleship fire. In terms of armament, Shinano features improved secondaries. While she has a limited number of turrets, they feature a highly accurate dispersion pattern similar to that of Graf Zeppelin and up to 11km range when fully buffed, making them a substantial threat to light enemy ships.

As for her air group, Shinano features a new plane squadron: skip bombers armed with armor-piercing bombs. While they behave similarly to HE skip bombs in terms of the attack patters, the AP bombs will lose penetration and lower their arming threshold with each skip. So for example it would be most effective if you hit enemy battleship with first skip, while lightly armored ships can be targeted with second or third skip. Her second squadron consists of torpedo bombers; Torpedo bomber squadron is small, with only 6 planes per squad and an attacking group of 3, while Skip bombers have 8 planes per squad and attacking group of 4. Finishing off her aircraft complement is a tactical HE dive bomber squadron equipped with a Smoke Curtain Generator. Similar to her role in history, Shinano's weaknesses include a limited hangar capacity and outdated planes with low HP, but somewhat compensated by her quick hangar restoration time.

In battle, Shinano will benefit from an aggressive captain willing to make use of the ship's armor and the tactical squadron's Smoke Curtain Generator to take aggressive positions; due to the small size and high alpha strike of Shinano's squads, fast plane cycling from relatively close range is key to maximizing her damage output. Seek out targets which are actively engaged with your teammates, as both regular squadron types perform best when attacking broadside targets.

American submarine Archerfish, Tier X

One of the Balao-class submarines. USS Archerfish is famous for sinking the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine, the Japanese carrier Shinano, which was also the largest carrier of WW2 Era.

Of course, Shinano wouldn't be complete without her nemesis also being added to the game! The third Tier 10 USN submarine to be added, Archerfish features some key differences from her sisters. While Gato heavily relies on unguided torpedoes and Balao is a comfortable jack-of-all-trades, Archerfish will lean heavily into short-range homing torpedoes, while her unguided torpedoes have lower range and damage compared to her sister submarines. While her torpedoes have an individually fast reload, unlike the other American submarines Archerfish will only reload one torpedo at a time for her front and rear torpedo sets. To complement her torpedoes, Archerfish's sonar pings travel at a high speed and feature increased sector width, making it easier to land double pings; however, sector duration is greatly reduced. Additionally, while she has a large battery reserve, Archerfish has a very slow battery recharge, encouraging more time to be spent on the surface.

As a first for a submarine, Archerfish also possesses Combat Instructions; these will charge mainly while submarine is being spotted by enemy ships but also torpedo and main battery gun hits can contribute. Once full, combat instructions activate automatically, and provide a substantial reload boost to all of her consumables. Speaking of which, Archerfish's complement includes the normal Damage Control Party (with additional charges), Hydrophone, Submarine Surveillance (with reduced range and duration), Reserve Battery Unit, as well as Engine Boost.

In battle, Archerfish thrives in close range engagements, guiding in salvos of homing torpedoes with her sonar. Seek out isolated ships and beware of opponents with Hydroacoustic Search; while the short range of her torpedoes will often bring Archerfish into harm's way, the combination of Engine Boost, Combat Instructions, and her respectable dive capacity means a quick getaway can be made.

Standard permanent camouflage for Archerfish is still work in progress and will become available at a later date.

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.