DevBlog: Death Tides

Greetings, Captains!

We're back with another DevBlog, as we know some of you have been eagerly waiting for more information on Death Tides: our new dedicated PvP game mode. Death Tides will be launching on the 27^th May with the Y2S1.1 mid-season update. Until then, dive with us as we dig out all the information you need to be ready for it!

Enter Death Tides

The war between the DMC and Compagnie Royale is spilling over from Europe, with each side determined to establish supremacy in the Indian Ocean. Meanwhile, the local factions are pushing back against the megacorporations' efforts, while locked in conflict with each other.

As a result, the megacorporations and factions are engaging in fierce skirmishes on the edges of the Indian Ocean. These battles reflect the ever-present race to either dominate or defend.

Eager for victory, participating factions offer lucrative and promising rewards to pirate captains who will aid them in battle.

Note - All images are from a work-in-progress build and may not represent the final version at launch of the Y2S1.1 Update.

How to unlock and access Death Tides

For new players, you will be able to access Death Tides from the main menu once you complete the opening sequence.

For our existing Captains, to unlock Death Tides in the Journal, you'll need to have completed the contract "Into the Lion's Den" and then embark on the contract "Death Tides" where you'll look for the new Death Tides Vendor in either Sainte-Anne or Telok Penjarah.

Once unlocked, you can access Death Tides from the main menu, visit the Vendor at Sainte-Anne or Telok Penjarah, or simply access it from your Journal.

Game Modes

Death Tides launches with two game modes: Fleetfire and Tidebreaker. In both, you'll face off against other players in intense, skill-based naval battles. To rise above the rest, you'll need to prove your worth and crush your enemies.

Fleetfire (Team Deathmatch)

Fleetfire pits two teams against each other, with team sizes varying based on the map. The objective is straightforward: sink enemy ships to score points. Here's a quick run-down of how the mode works:

• Team Formation: Players will join one of two teams, with the size of each team depending on the map.

• Scoring Points: Each time you sink an enemy ship; your team earns a point. The goal is to be the first team to reach the set number of points.

• Winning the Match: Victory is achieved by reaching the target number of points before the opposing team. Should neither team reach the required number of points before the timer runs out, the team with the highest number of points will win.

• Tiebreaker: If teams are tied in points as the timer runs out, the match will go to Sudden Death. The team that gets the first kill will win the match.

At its heart, Fleetfire is all about being aggressive and making quick decisions, so get to work and sink those enemy ships!

Tidebreaker (Hardpoint)

Tidebreaker is a team-based activity where two teams of players compete to control a single point which changes positions throughout the match. Here's what you can expect:

• The Match Begins: Once the match begins, you'll need to wait for the first control point to open. This is where the real battle starts.

• Capturing the Control Point: Only one control point will be active at any given time. Work with your teammates to take and maintain the control point until it's been completely captured. At least one team member must stay inside the control zone to contest the zone. The team with more members contesting the zone will contribute towards the control point's progress. The more teammates in the zone, the faster the capture progresses. The more enemies in the zone, the slower the capture progresses. After capturing the control point, it will deactivate and, following a short period of time, a new control point will appear at a different location.

• Beware! If there are less teammates contesting the control point, the opposing team will continue to make progress in capturing the control point - even if there are teammates contesting the control point!

• Victory Points: Each time your team captures the control point, your team will earn 1 victory point.

• Winning the Match: The first team to earn 3 victory points wins the match.

• Tiebreaker: Should the timer end and teams have the same number of victory points, the match will head into Sudden Death. The first team to capture the next control point will win the match.

Tidebreaker is all about teamwork, you and your team need to dominate the zone, outnumber the enemy, and capture those control points fast.

Remember, Captains, success in both Tidebreaker and Fleetfire hinges on effective teamwork. You'll need to coordinate with your teammates to capture control points and sink enemy ships to lead your side to victory.

Quickplay

Just want to get into a round of intense naval combat as quickly as possible? Choose the Quickplay option from the Death Tides Main Menu, which selects the mode to get you firing your weapons in no time!

Maps

When Death Tides launches, four distinct maps will be available, each offering unique challenges and gameplay opportunities. Both Fleetfire and Tidebreaker will be playable on all four maps. Let's take a quick look at each of the maps:

• Brimstone (6v6): Its name is easily recognisable due the prominent volcano in sight, no matter your position. This location is populated with small islands offering plenty of cover while you wait to ambush enemy ships or work towards taking a control point.

• Sanctuary (6v6): If you look carefully, you'll find a DMC settlement tucked away beside the island. Each team will spawn on opposite sides of a set of islands of different sizes, with power-ups spread out in between. The layout of the map provides some time to strategize while the smaller islands afford cover.

• Sunken Ruins (6v6): As you sail around, you'll spots various shipwrecks. Look closely, and you may also see the ruins of lost settlements. Each team will start from opposite sides of an archipelago. Look for the shortest routes across the map when travelling to control points located around the islands will be paramount should you wish to succeed in Tidebreaker.

• Mukiti Falls (3v3): Some might say it's a little special. A smaller and more up-close-and-personal map by comparison, here, you'll face off in 3v3 matches. Watch that you don't get distracted by the spectacular waterfalls and unique rock formations. Expect to take on your opponents at close range in the narrow river pass.

Power-ups

Power-ups are scattered across the map, which grant temporary boosts to reload speed, hull health regeneration, sailing speed, and even repair kits. Incorporating the acquisition of these power-ups into your strategy can lend you an edge over your opponents.

Power-ups spawn periodically and can be located on your map or minimap - reach them before your opponents and seize these advantages for yourself!

Ships, Ships, and more Ships!

In Death Tides, you'll have the option of either selecting one of many preset ships or using your own.  If your ship is sunk during a match, you'll also have the opportunity to switch to a different one.

Ship Presets

If you're new to Skull and Bones or would like to try something fresh, don't fret. You'll be able to choose from six ship presets, each designed to give you a taste of how to build your own fleet. Here's what you need to know:

• Equipped for Success: Each preset ship comes outfitted with some of the best weapons and furniture available for its role. They are all upgraded to the highest ship upgrade level possible, ensuring you can stand your ground in a fight against more experienced captains, and their fully customized ship builds.

• Specialised Roles: These ships are tailored to specific roles, giving you a taste of what's possible when it comes to ship builds in Skull and Bones. Whether you want to deal maximum damage or support your teammates, there's a preset for you:

  • Damage: If you're looking to do as much damage as possible, consider the Disrupter (Sloop), Pyrocast (Sambuk), Lancelot (Bedar), or Marksman (Garuda).

  • Support: For those who prefer to assist their team, the Paladin (Barque) is an excellent choice.

  • Tank: If you're someone who prefers to act as a vanguard in battle, you'll be looking for the Stormwall (Battle Junk).

Each of the preset builds will also have an Ultimate assigned. We'll cover Ultimates further in the DevBlog.

Preset ships offer a quick way to jump into Death Tides, but veteran captains will find great potential in crafting the perfect loadout, in combination with modifications which come with ascended weapons.

Custom Ships

Seasoned Captains can bring their own fleet into Death Tides. Assign up to 5 ships to your Death Tides Fleet on the docking screen and choose from them during matches.

Here's how it works:

• Fleet Assignment: You can assign up to 5 different ships to your Death Tides fleet through the docking screen. You'll be able to select from these ships to use in either Tidebreaker or Fleetfire.

• Ship Upgrades: To ensure a more level playing field, all ships will be automatically upgraded to Level 7 for the duration of the match. This also applies to Weapons and Armor:

  • Hull Health: Upgraded ship levels will increase Hull Health, add perks, and improve the overall performance of the ship.

  • Weapons: All weapons will be upgraded to their highest tier of the same type, increasing the damage output of the ship. For example, if you have a Long Gun I equipped, it will be upgraded to Long Gun V for the match.

  • Armor: Similarly, all armor will be upgraded to their highest tier of the same type, increasing the armor rating and damage resistance of the ship. For instance, if you have Steel Coat I equipped, it will be upgraded to Steel Coat V.

 Whether you choose a preset or custom ship, it will respawn with full health. Any status effects applied before your ship was sunk will also be cleared.

Ultimates

In Death Tides, you'll have access to additional abilities that you can unleash against your opponents. When used at the right time, these powerful abilities have the potential to turn the tide of battle. Ultimates require different levels of Ultimate Charge to be used. Ultimate Charge builds passively but can be further accelerated by damaging or sinking opponents, taking damage, and healing teammates.

The launch of Death Tides offers 11 varied Ultimates to choose from, which are progressively unlocked by playing any of the Death Tides game modes. 3 of them are unlocked immediately, which you can assign to your ship through the Manage Ship menu. These Ultimates are:

• La Plus Grande Fleur - Fires a volley of poison mortars onto an area.

• Hunter - Grants a huge bonus in sailing speed and weapon fire rate.

• La Peste Signal Launcher - Summons La Peste to fight for your team.

Ultimates fall under three categories, each providing your team and you with certain advantages throughout the match:

• Power Weapons are temporary weapons automatically equipped on your ship when activated. Once equipped, you have the option to choose when you want to fire these weapons. When you run out of ammunition, they will be automatically unequipped, and your ship will revert to your original weapon loadout.

• Combat Skills apply temporary benefits:

  • Bastion: Confers temporary invulnerability

  • Combat Fury: Increases damage dealt, adds Hull Health and Stamina

• Summon a Legendary entity that will support your team in fighting your enemy:

  • Each team is limited to one legendary summon at any given time and their health will deplete over time.

Team Chat

With a fleet of up to 6 teammates, communication becomes even more important in securing certain victory.

There are new sets of quick action messages available in Death Tides which will help facilitate communication when attempting to secure capture points or rally your teammates. The default chat channel will also be set to Team upon entering Death Tides, though you can still send a GLHF or GG to your opponents by switching to the World chat.

Additionally, Team Voice chat is available in Death Tides and can be enabled through the settings menu. Be sure to set your input and output devices correctly and test with a fellow captain before the match - lest all your commands sink into the void!

Rewards

Infamy

The rewards you earn will be based on a combination of your individual and team performance. You can earn up to 1000 Infamy for each match.

PvP XP

After completing each match, you will also earn PvP XP which will unlock rewards on the Death Tides reward track.

Most rewards you earn from playing Death Tides can be used both in the Indian Ocean and Death Tides. All rewards unlockable in Death Tides are available in the main game, and there will be no rewards other than Ultimates that are exclusive to Death Tides.

Rewards include unlockable Ultimates (only usable in PVP), ships, weapons, armor, furniture, and resources which can aid in your progression in the Indian Ocean.

There are 100 levels of rewards with the initial launch of Death Tides, and also a recurring Chest that can be repeatedly obtained after the initial 100 levels. We intend to extend the rewards track with bigger and better rewards in the future.

Smuggler Points

Additionally, completing matches will also grant you Smuggler Points on the Seasonal Smuggler Pass. Whether you are defeating Legendary Kingpins in the Indian Ocean, or bloodthirsty captains in Death Tides, you're sure to make progress towards recruiting that cute tiger as part of your crew!

Balancing

With the launch of Death Tides, we want to reaffirm our commitment and focus on balancing. Our aim remains to ensure a long-term, fair and fun experience in both PvP and PvE for all of our players. 

Throughout Year 1 and with the launch of Year 2 Season 1, we have made many changes to balancing and gameplay based on feedback from the Skull and Bones community. Going forward we intend to deploy more regular balancing updates in order to address issues reported by our players. This means taking a more proactive stance, but also implementing normalization changes, whereby all ships are the highest upgrade level, and equipped weapons, and armor are brought to the highest tier of their type. This is designed to ensure all ships brought into Death Tides are on a more equal footing to compete.

Some of the latest balance changes we've made coming with this update that improve your Death Tides experience:

• The diminishing returns system for the Shell-Shocked status effect, introduced in Y2S1.0.0, has been improved to make it even harder to repeatedly apply the effect to the same target within a short time. Additionally, this updated system now also applies to the Torn Sails status effect.

• The duration of the Shell-Shocked status effect on player ships has been reduced from 5 seconds to 3.3 seconds.

• The difficulty to build up initial Shell-Shocked status effect on player ships has been increased by 20%

• Stamina drain from La Piqûre I-III long guns has been halved to reduce the impact it has on brace effectiveness of players in PvP.

• Stamina drained by trimming sails has been heavily reduced while outside combat, allowing for more stamina to be available for bracing hits when players do engage in combat.

These are only the latest balancing changes being made in preparation for the release of Death Tides next week. These changes come in addition to the many other changes we've made since we've started working on our dedicated PvP game mode - including various changes to presets, Ultimates, powerups, match pacing, spawn points, contribution scoring, progression, rewards, and matchmaking to ensure a more balanced and fair experience for all.

These changes were guided by data analysed from all of our testing, feedback gathered from the Community, and the general evolution of the game direction. Each time such changes are made, they are re-validated by internal balance test experts and also re-validated through data analyses of larger-scale tests.

Beyond the release of Death Tides, we also want to reassure players of our commitment to regular balance changes. Starting from patch Y2S1.1 next week, we are preparing for a series of increased balance reactivity for a couple of weeks. We are mindful that when implementing balancing changes for PvP it will also have an impact on PVE elements, and this will be part of our decision process when considering future changes.

In the medium term, we aim to continue making regular balance changes, where we collate and release adjustments based on analysed data and collected player sentiment. This regular cadence will help us to accurately quantify the impact of our changes through external and internal testing - and at the same time, provide predictability and time for players to adjust to new builds and adapt to the meta.

Our vision of the metagame and build variety of Skull and Bones is centred around building depth to core mechanics and expanding the possibility of playstyles that players can experience - and balance is a key element in making or breaking preferred builds. Do look forward to an increased frequency of balance changes in the near future!

What's going to happen to PvP in the in Indian Ocean?

Death Tides is our answer to the long-awaited request for a dedicated PvP mode in Skull and Bones. While we are not planning major changes to these activities in the short term, we hope the arrival of Death Tides will re-kindle your interest in participating in PvP activities in the Indian Ocean as well. Don't hesitate to let us know your thoughts and suggestions on how you'd like open world PvP activities to evolve in the future!

In other words - don't stop sinking that other captain to claim that coveted manufactory!

Future

Even though we are making Death Tides available to everyone starting next week, it is still considered to be in its BETA stage - which is why the 'Beta' tag is still visible on the Death Tides button in the main menu.

This means we are dedicated to continuing iterating and improving the game mode for the long term, with the help of our community and the feedback we receive. We're also exploring other modes that could be introduced, additional new maps, and other quality of life improvements.

Make sure to share your feedback on Death Tides as it will be invaluable in helping us to continue building the mode in future!