Greetings, Captains.
The ship and building visual upgrade announced in the previous development update has now been completed and applied to the game.
This update focuses on improving the overall visual quality of **Ship of the Line** while also making the new assets significantly more efficient for large-scale battles.
## Ship Model Upgrade
A large number of ship models have been rebuilt and refined.
The new models feature:
- More detailed and historically convincing hull shapes
- Improved proportions and silhouettes
- Refined sterns, decks, railings, gunports, and structural details
- Cleaner geometry and improved overall model quality
- Better visual consistency between different ship classes
Despite the increased level of detail, the new models have also been heavily optimized.
Polygon usage has been reduced substantially compared with the previous models, and the new model files are approximately **one-tenth the size of the old versions** in many cases.
This allows the game to display improved ships without sacrificing the large fleet battles that remain at the core of Ship of the Line.
## Building & Port Upgrade
Port buildings have also received a major visual overhaul.
Many of the older simplified structures have been replaced or rebuilt with more detailed models inspired by architecture from the Age of Sail.
The upgrade includes improvements to:
- Houses and civilian buildings
- Warehouses and dockside structures
- Churches and larger public buildings
- Port facilities
- Overall settlement variety and detail
Ports should now feel much more like actual settlements rather than collections of simple placeholder structures.
## Performance & Optimization
Visual improvement alone was not the goal of this update.
Because Ship of the Line can simulate battles involving dozens — and in some scenarios hundreds — of ships, model efficiency remains extremely important.
The rebuilt assets were therefore designed to provide:
- Higher visual detail
- Lower polygon counts
- Much smaller model file sizes
- Reduced memory and loading overhead
- Better scalability during large fleet battles
The objective is simple: **better visuals without giving up the scale of the game.**
This visual overhaul is another step toward the world I ultimately want to build for Ship of the Line.
There are still many ships, buildings, environments, and effects that I want to improve, and development will continue from here.
Thank you, as always, for playing and supporting the game.
Fair winds, Captains.
Developer of Ship of the Line