Greetings, fellow strategists! PDX_Gorion here, reporting back for duty.
As we settle back into the frosty atmosphere of our Stockholm studio following the winter hiatus, it’s the perfect time to reflect on a monumental year. 2023 was a whirlwind of activity with the launches of Graveyard of Empires, Prototype Vehicles, and No Compromise, No Surrender. This year promises to be even more significant as we commemorate our tenth anniversary alongside the ambitious milestones established in Expansion Pass 2.
Our development teams are currently operating in parallel across several key initiatives:
- Warships of the Pacific: Scheduled for deployment this quarter.
- Peace for our Time: Arriving in Q2.
- Thunder at our Gates: Also slated for Q2, with new Developer Corners resuming next week.
- Ongoing War Effort maintenance patches.
- Additional unannounced content.
Shifting focus to our immediate horizon, let’s discuss the upcoming 1.17.4 patch. Our engineering efforts are currently concentrated on three primary pillars:
Naval AI Refinement
We are committed to the continuous evolution of our naval systems. Recent community feedback has highlighted specific instances where the AI exhibits “erratic” behavior. One significant area of investigation is the AI’s current reluctance to engage in decisive, large-scale fleet confrontations. We are scrutinizing these reports alongside other community-submitted bugs to ensure a more robust maritime experience.
Historical AI Balancing
In historical playthroughs, Germany should represent a formidable threat to the Soviet Union; however, current data suggests they are underperforming. A major contributing factor is the recently introduced airbase access mechanic, which allows the UK to flood Soviet airspace with aircraft the moment Operation Barbarossa commences. This often leaves German forces without essential Close Air Support (CAS), severely hampering their offensive capabilities. Beyond this, we are fine-tuning mastery gains and general AI decision-making scripts.
Multiplayer Stability & Performance
We are prioritizing optimizations for the multiplayer environment. We’ve received reports that performance can degrade and stability can falter during protracted play sessions, and we are working diligently to ensure a smoother experience for larger groups.
While these three areas are our main focus, they are not the only improvements included in the next update. We are currently targeting a release in early February.
Before we go, here is a preliminary glimpse at a new feature we’re hoping to ship with the February patch:
PS: For the best tactical results, we highly recommend utilizing an actual keyboard.