In-game event

⚓ Update: Clan Upgrades, Shield Rework, and Combat Balance

Pirate Ships · published 26 days ago

A big one this time. Let's break it all down.

A new Research system has been added! Contribute resources to develop your clan and unlock powerful passive bonuses for all clan members.

Shield mechanics have been significantly improved, with several incorrect ability behaviors fixed.

General Changes

Shields now block bullets with a 50% chance during the boarding stage
Abilities that reflect or block bullet damage no longer affect shots empowered by shield-piercing abilities, such as Francesca's "Fissure"
Reflected shots now retain their original effects, such as Bleeding

Sniper & Machine Gun

Fixed the Sniper's shot, it now pierces through two targets, with the second target taking reduced damage
The Sniper's "More Gunpowder" ability now allows shots to pierce targets without damage reduction
The Machine Gun no longer pierces shields, but now deals more damage and can gradually destroy a target's bullet protection with the "Swiss Cheese" ability

Shield Abilities

Reworked the "Defender," "Bodyguard," and "Attack into the Void" abilities on Light, Heavy, and Steel Shields, they now trigger constantly, absorbing part of the area damage dealt to the sailor behind the shield
Fixed the Heavy Shield's "Cascade" ability
The Steel Shield's "Ironclad" ability has been replaced with "Shrapnel Absorption," which reduces explosion radius
The Steel Shield's "Counter Reaction" ability now reflects only regular cannonballs
Fixed an issue where projectiles reflected by Redmond Force's shield did not deal area damage

New Air Hunter shooting mechanics:

Each projectile flying in an arc trajectory now has its own durability
The Air Hunter no longer destroys projectiles instantly, instead, each shot deals damage to them, and its attack speed has been greatly increased
The "Lucky Shot" ability has been replaced with "Clockwork Mechanism," allowing it to keep firing even after losing gunners
The "Bull's-eye" ability now activates every time a projectile is destroyed
The reload speed upgrade for the Air Hunter has been replaced with a damage increase
Kraken's Poison Spits can no longer be destroyed, and defending against its Barrel now requires several Air Hunters, its durability also increases with Kraken's level

Cannons now deal damage to ships during boarding as well, hull durability has been rebalanced
The Large Cannon's "Breach" ability now damages the ship only when hitting the first target in its line of fire
Cannons now factor in rotation time before firing when selecting a target, and distance now has less influence on target selection
Fixed an issue where cannons with frozen gunners continued reloading and firing
Fixed an issue where the Ice Brig's "Frost Ram" ability only froze melee sailors, and only aboard ships with a collision knockdown ability
The Sniper's "Bull's-eye" ability now always deals guaranteed critical damage
The Repairman's "Flow" ability now grants a chance to dodge instead of invulnerability
Fixed an issue where the Talisman of Calm affected sailors
Fixed an issue where the Kamikaze could not attack
Fixed an issue where gunners abandoned their cannons and ran off when unable to fire
The Flamethrower's area damage has been reduced by half
Shields and equipment no longer damage their owner when destroyed, cannons, however, now explode more noticeably, dealing shrapnel damage in a small radius
Adjusted the balance of gold and building material production by forts
Excess Sailor, Captain, and Ship Cards are no longer removed from shops, they can still be purchased and will automatically convert into Gold or Rubies

What do you think of the shield and air defense rework? Notice a difference in battle? Drop your thoughts in the comments.

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