Fellow swashbucklers, A new patch is now live for the free prologue which brings some big changes and improvements over from version 1.0.09 of the full game. This update focuses on melee and ranged combat, featuring new weapons, a parrying mechanic and more! Read on for a list of the most notable changes. [b]Buccaneers! The New Age of Piracy (Prologue) Version 1.0.03[/b] [b]New Features[/b] - Added a parrying mechanic to melee combat which allows you to temporarily stun enemies, increasing melee damage against them. To trigger a parry, perform the following action after an enemy starts swinging their weapon, but before their attack hits you: - > Non-VR mode: Press the “Block” button (holding the button before the attack starts results in a regular block). - > VR mode: Move your weapon forwards to intercept the enemy’s blade (holding it steady results in a regular block). - All melee weapons now have a “Parry” stat which indicates how easy it is to trigger a parry with it. A higher value allows you to trigger a parry earlier in the enemy’s attack animation. - The weapon loadout chest has been added to all cabins, allowing you to change your equipped weapons without visiting a blacksmith. [b]Changes[/b] - Blocking melee attacks now absorbs a percentage of the damage instead of negating it completely (but parrying blocks all damage). All melee weapons now have a “Block” stat which indicates the percentage of damage they absorb. - You now need to hold down the Block button to block with a sword instead of pressing it, so you can block for as long as you want. - Pistols and heavy weapons no longer auto-reload after firing; you can now trigger this manually by pressing the Fire button again. - Added new weapons including the Musket, Cutlass, Falchion and Double-Barrelled Pistol. (Some new weapons such as the Sabre and Nock Gun are only available in the full game.) - Rebalanced some existing weapons to adjust for the new parrying and blocking mechanics. - Changed the starting loadout in the prologue quest to give you a Rapier, Double-Barrelled Pistol (replacing the Pepper-box) and Musket (replacing the Blunderbuss). - The Pepper-box and Blunderbuss are now only available in the full game (though you can still use them in existing prologue saves made prior to this patch). - Added archery-style targets to the blacksmiths which show bullet holes on impact. - Removed the “lunge” swing from melee attacks and made it easier to chain swings together for more fluid animations. - Player ranged attacks now play hit sounds on impact, including a separate sound for headshots. - Weapons in the loadout chest are now sorted by size and rarity. - NPC health bars now reposition to match the camera height in close quarters for better visibility. - Merged the “Show ship” controller hotkey with “Set sail/stop” on the world map, as the two actions are never active at the same time. Both now use the “X” button. - Added a controller hotkey for the “Set Destination” and “Dock” functions on the world map (both use the “Y” button). - If a ship gets reduced to zero crew, it can now be boarded without being dismasted. - Improved ambient sound effects at sea, in the cabin and in blacksmiths. - Crew starvation rate now gets reset when docking at any town, so you no longer lose your entire crew after one day if you set sail with no rations. - [VR] Adjusted the minimum time between melee attacks on all weapons to more closely match non-VR damage-per-second. - [VR] Removed the “half damage” swing threshold for melee attacks, so you can now do full damage with slower swings. - [VR] Weapons now have bespoke holster models, and holsters are now visible on your chest when you have the required ability. - [VR] The post-battle UI now appears in front of objects and quest notifications to avoid being obscured. - [VR] Subtitles now appear in front of objects for better readability. [b]Fixes[/b] - Fixed the world map UI becoming unresponsive when using a controller if the player keeps moving before the camera transition completes. - Fixed the cannon reload indicators going down if the cannons are fully loaded while the ship takes crew losses. - Fixed the player ship’s health bar not appearing at the start of a random encounter in sailing mode. - Fixed the player remaining crouched when returning to the helm if they were crouched when boarding ended. - NPC melee attacks should no longer hit you if you move out of melee range before the animation completes. - Fixed melee attacks sometimes not hitting the intended target when multiple targets are grouped together in close quarters. - Fixed NPCs sometimes teleporting onto your ship when you join a boarding fight which is already in progress. - Fixed ship colliders not being positioned correctly during boarding; these should now prevent other ships from clipping through in mid-boarding. - Fixed missing/outdated Russian translations for some player abilities. - [VR] Fixed heavy weapons sometimes not entering their holster when dropped into it. - [VR] Fixed press-and-hold not working for boarding and disengage inputs with Vive wands. Happy pirating! 🏴‍☠️