Our long-awaited STEEL release – the real-time combat revamp – is here! It brings a clutch of bug fixes and a giant shipload of really stunning scenery.

This is the first release and there are issues, quirks and missing features – but it basically works, and is fun.

How To Get It

We’ve put it in an opt-in beta branch on Steam while we gather feedback and work out some of the kinks. We’ll migrate over everyone to the new branch in the next week or so. In the meantime, here’s how to get to it:

Right-click on SUNLESS SEA in your Steam Library.

Choose Properties | Beta, and select ‘steel_beta’ from the dropdown.

Close the properties panel, and you’ll have an update waiting.

(If you can’t see steel_beta in the dropdown, restart Steam).

IMPORTANT! You can switch back to the old version – for a little while – but new games started under STEEL will not be compatible with the old version.

How It Works

This is a summary! There are full patch notes at the bottom of this post.

Target an enemy by clicking it, or hitting TAB. Combat won’t actually begin until you fire on it, or it spots you. (Enemies will have a harder time spotting you when your lights or off, or if you have a high Veils stat. You may be able to sneak up on them.)

You’ll see your weapon arcs appear (different weapon positions have different arcs). Keep your enemy in the arc, and you’ll notice a glow circling the fire buttons in the combat bar. This is your firing solution: when the circle is complete, you can hit your enemy. If your enemy is illuminated by your prow-light (or by other lights, in the next patch) the firing solution willl increase faster. (It’ll turn green when this happens).

Elaborations! You can also fire before the arc is complete… but then you have a chance of missing. Higher Mirrors allows you to fire more frequently. Higher Iron allows you to do more damage.

Enemy ships, meanwhile, will be trying to do the same to you. You’ll get a warning signal just before it fires – the longer you can stay out of their arcs, the less damage they’ll do to you. Ducking behind land works. Zee-beasts can’t usually use projectiles, but they’ve learnt to submerge and than emerge to bite or ram you. You’ll need to pick your moment.

There’s other stuff – smaller ships have limited choice of weapons, there are several items with a use in combat. We’ll let you find it out.

How To Talk To Us

Tell us everything! We’ll watch the forums, but if you find a bug – or aren’t sure if it’s a bug – do let us know at sunlesssea@failbettergames.com. You are brave pioneers, and we salute you.

Other Goodies

SO MANY NEW ISLANDS! very little content as yet, but some amazing sightseeing. The Chelonate, Varchas, Fathomking’s Hold, Visage, Saviour’s Rocks, the Isle of Cats, the Gant Pole, Nuncio, the Grand Geode, and the (unfinished) Dawn Machine. You’ll also see a great many unnamed islands filling up the zee – generally, there’s much less empty space.

Terror now accumulates much more slowly, although Terror pips also dissipate much more slowly.

You can now tuck your officers out of the way with the button by your Captain’s portrait.

If you haven’t already brought your stories up to date, you’ll find that the Brisk Campaigner, the Nacreous Outcast and the Principles of Coral all have stories; the Wisp-Ways are open in the Mangrove College; and new branches have sprouted like, well, branches, on a whole lot of existing content.

A whole bunch of other fixes and improvements! Check out the patch notes below.

COMBAT

Features:

– Combat is now real-time and takes place on the sailing screen

– Weapons equipped to your Forward, Deck and Aft slots will now give you access to attacks

– Each attack has a Range, Firing Arc, Damage amount and Warmup time

– While an enemy is in your weapon’s firing arc, the firing solution will increase

– Once a firing solution is over 50%, you have the option to fire. Your % through firing solution is equal to your chance to hit, meaning if you wait for 100%, you are ensured a hit.

– If the enemy is in your headlights, the firing solution will increase at double the speed

– Your Iron level will increase the damage your weapons do

– Your Mirrors level will reduce the warmup time of your attacks

– Your Veils level will reduce the range at which enemies will spot you

– To engage your enemy, simply click on them with your cursor or hit the Tab key (you can also toggle between possible enemies with Tab)

– Using keys 1-3 will fire your currently equipped weapons in combat

– When you manage to avoid an enemy, it will begin to search the area it last spotted you

– When an enemy spots you, they will engage in combat

– Running with your lights off will reduce the distance at which enemies can spot you

– Organic creatures will not fire missiles at you, but will instead ram your ship and deal damage to you

– When you defeat an enemy, they will drop loot crates, allowing you to pick up rewards

– Entering combat will hide your officers from the HUD

– Enemies will attempt to avade you if you have locked on to them for a while

– Certain organic creatures will submerge beneath the water, making it impossible to target them

– You are unable to fire through terrain or objects in the sea, and instead have to wait until you have a clear line on your opponent

– Using The Unclear Device during combat will cause your enemy to lose sight of your for 10 seconds

– Using a Rattus Faber Assistant during combat will repair 10 hull damage

– Using a Lump of Blue Scintillack during combat will fill all of your attack solutions instantly

– You can leave the combat interface by pressing the cross at the end of the attack bar, as long as you are not currently being pursued by a target

UI

Features:

– You can now toggle the display of your officers using the cross next to your avatar

– The cursor has been reworked

SPAWNING

Features:

– Beasties no longer spawn randomly over time, but instead tiles are automatically populated with a random number of beasties when you enter them

– As a result of the above, tile populations are more random, but you will no longer be mobbed by constantly respawning enemies, it will be possible to clear a tile and then leave

– Enemy populations are currently much lower than before while we balance combat

ZEE-BAT

Features:

– The Zee-bat has been reworked and should now be providing more accurate information

– The animation of the Zee-bat has been improved

– You can now dismiss the Zee-bat message with the Z key

SAILING

Features:

– Weight now has a more noticeable effect on speed

– Terror increases much more slowly now while we balance combat

KNOWN ISSUES…

– The UI is all still quite placeholder

– The content is currently very limited, so almost all beastie attacks are identical

– Very little artwork, animation or sound design has been implemented at this stage

– Docking while in combat will partially obscure the dock button

– Some enemies and weapons remain unblanaced

– There are some framerate issues as a result of the new combat system that we are working to address

– Some smaller enemies can bit a little hard to click

– The submerge effect is subtle at present and it is easy to miss what is actually happening

– Some enemies may act strangely when attempting to ram you, sometimes freezing in spot or veering off to the side before doing damage

– Enemies may get stuck on the terrain as a result of the new pathfinding introduced to incorporate combat behaviour

– Beasties should not attack you will your are on top of a port, but they may behave irratically

– There are occasional sweet-spots where enemies may not be able to see or react to you, giving you an advantage

– Turn speed is not based on weight or engine power, and so faster ships will appear to turn much more slowly

– Zee-beasts drop crates, crates can give prize-ship results even after a ship’s destroyed.