New game modes coming to Atlas

The team took the player feedback into consideration when developing the new PvP modes. According to the feedback they received "players are interested in, primarily, two distinctly different styles and scopes of gameplay. One group of players is interested in design focused on small to mid-sized companies (2-50 players) and another has a preference for large company-centric design (200+ players)." With the new networks coming to the game, you'll be able to choose the one that suits your needs the best.

According to the latest Captain's Log there will be 2 new PvP game modes (one large scale and one small to mid scale) and a new PvE mode:

• ATLAS: Empires (large-scale PvP Mode): this is intended to be the original, hard-core, high risk and high reward Atlas game mode, but with a few tweaks to the claiming system (the claiming system will be very similar to the traditional claiming system, but adjusted for maximum speed (increased rates) and no “anti-size” scaling)
• ATLAS: Colonies (mid/Small-Scale PvP Mode): this mode will be more structured and will include a new claiming system, it will be more of a survive-and-thrive type of environment  (it will include hard company and alliance limits, the war system, and raiding hours)
• ATLAS: PvE (PvE Mode): will use the changes discussed in the previous Captain's Log (PvE will use the same claim system as PvP, but remove the raidable hours and war aspect)

The submarine harpoon is a new underwater weapon which will ramp up oceanic combat.

The Public test real will be delayed and as such the PTR will be released late March / early April and we expect the test realm will run for approximately 1 week.

In relation to our Public Testing Realm overall, we’re planning to get multiple smaller clusters online which will incorporate the three game modes as well as everything else listed in the patch notes. Players can expect higher rates to facilitate fast progression and testing of the new systems along with the fact these servers are likely to wipe as needed.

Various armor skins to help you personalise your character will be included in ATLAS 1.5!

You can also read about bug fixes in the patch notes down below:

v22.21

Fixed a bug where tamed creatures, boats, and NPC Crew stats didn't replicate properly.

v22.1

- Fixed a case where players would disconnect on certain servers when loading into large bases. We advise setting your "Client Network Bandwidth" Option value back to Epic if you had previously changed it, to deal with the disconnections.
- Fixed a case which would cause creatures to flash or flicker.
- Fixed a case where players on saddled creatures would teleport back to the server's origin if the creature they were mounted on had been killed by another creature.
- Sail canvas now takes twice as long to repair. Repair hammer can no longer be used to repair a canvas. A canvas must be repaired using the pinwheel option on the mast, which can be accessed by holding down E.
- Target Soft Spots will no longer add torpor to other player teams in PvE.
- Camera no longer interpolates to origin when destroyed.
- Glider will no longer activate when encumbered.
- Buoy signs remain attached after server restart (retroactive).
- Server and client performance optimizations.
- Fixed an exploit which allowed players to stall and potentially disconnect other clients.
- No longer able to turn off cannons that do not belong to your team.

v21.43

- Fixed some server side crashes and added additional server performance optimizations for NPC Crew

v21.1 (client)

- Fixed choppy claim flag physics

21.42

- Further optimizations to NPC crew

21.41

- Optimized replication and ticking of NPC crew on turrets, for significantly improved server performance.

v21.31

- Improved Structure replication rate from servers, though this may increase client stalls slightly. Clients can reduce their "Client Network Bandwidth" Option value if they are experiencing too many stalls with this change (we do recommend the default, 60 KB/s).

v21

- Optimized how items are networked resulting in significantly higher performance and less bandwidth usage
- Added the Hook Hand and the Peg Leg to the Freeport cosmetic vendor

v20.1

With our planned changes for March, the game will be heading into a more rule based system, so for the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes to experience what it would be like if we took an alternative route. 

We’ll be releasing an update tomorrow which includes the following changes:

- 6x Rates - Harvesting, Taming, Experience, Gold, Farming, and Breeding.
- Claim flags will no longer prevent enemy building. You can now build anywhere, and only structure build radius will prevent it. This does not apply to cannons and mortars, which will still require a claim flag. This is a non-default, which will be enabled on our PvP Networks. Unofficials can also use this as a custom server-side config.
- All servers, other than Golden Age Ruin servers, can be set to home servers, allowing players to respawn at them. (PvP only)

Game.ini:
[/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]
bDontRequireClaimFlagsForBuilding=1
bIsLawlessHomeServer=1
bForceRequireClaimFlagsForBuildingCannons=true
This is what we’re enabling on all our non-Golden Age ruin servers, but please note that you must also flag the corresponding grids as homeservers on the servergrid.json

This patch will also include:

- Whispering voice hotkey [* [numpad] key]
- Server side config that allows you to alter the distance for the 3 voice modes: Whispering, Normal, and Yelling.

Game.ini:
[/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]
ProximityRadius = 8500
YellingRadius = 22000
WhisperRadius = 2000
- Removing the Destruction Mesh on Lighthouses
- Increased the limit of folders in inventories from 20 to 40, and 80 in Bookshelves
- Treasure Map names now includes the grid for easy filtering
- Explosive Barrels can no longer be used as an ammo type for cannons. Any loaded ones will just fire regular cannons. They'll be receiving a large redesign in the major update coming in March.
- Fixed chat scrolling, so it now works again with Page Up and Page Down
- Fixed an edge case where voice chat would stop working unless the client relogged

These changes will allow us to see how the game would pan out if we didn’t have the claim system affect build rules, which helps us collect more feedback on playstyles.