Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnoughts

[Lone Wolf]

They don't have to defeat USA - one sunk carrier will be a good enough blow at American prestige already.

I have doubts that any state is willing to throw itself on the pyre just to prove that an AC is vulnerable. Sinking it would be an escalation to strategic warfare. I can't think of a state actor dumb enough to try it.

 

[Luka-boy]

So the next major version will include the first iterarion of the campaign mode, which should be a Great Britain vs Germany in the North Sea affair according to their release schedule.

I really want to see the interface for the campaign mode, though I'm not holding my breath for a truly monocled design.

 

[Luka-boy]

The first test campaign version!
Updated: 3 days ago


Greetings Admirals,


We are very happy to announce the next update of Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnoughts which includes the first early version of the campaign! Let's read in more detail what we offer in Core Patch v1.0.



THE VERY FIRST VERSION OF THE CAMPAIGN The following information describes in a few words the first playable campaign. It may have a limited functionality, but it should be fully playable and enjoyable. It presents the following main aspects:

• The campaign involves only two Major Nations: *Britain* and *Germany*. You can select and play both of them in different starting years spanning from 1890 to 1940 which you unlock as you win campaigns (in the first build you will be allowed to unlock years up to 1910). The different starting years do not feature different historical map conditions but only represent the respective technology era, in which you can quickly jump in.
  
  
• There is currently no peacetime and no diplomacy & alliance mechanics. Your goal is to survive and beat your opponent in an endless brawl against the rival nation.
  
  
• The economy is working at a minimum level due to the limited nature of the first campaign version. So, for example, economic growth or other related financial factors are not yet simulated. There are, though, various decisions which you have to take regarding the shipyard development, crew training, technology funds and transport capacity, which are detrimental for financing and continuing the war.
  
  
• The technology mechanics are not finalized but they work sufficiently for the most important aspects. The technology advancements would matter more during peacetime while you prepare for war, so now they are gained in a rather fast manner, aiding more distinctively the nation which chooses to invest funds for gaining a technological advantage.
  
  
• The Map is limited graphically and in functionality, while the ship movement mechanics are disabled. However, a mission generation system will assess various strategic aspects, data from your active ships and their sea control orders, and will automatically create battles in the various sea regions. Some battles can be avoided, for example defending a small convoy against enemy ships and this would only cost you the loss of some transports - if you choose to not risk your valuable ships. But some key battles will require you to take a mandatory action.
  

This first version of the campaign is provided as a stable test version for you, while we continue to develop it. We will very much appreciate your feedback and suggestions not only for the current working state of the campaign but for the future features you would like to see. Most work for this patch was allocated for the special functions of the campaign, but there are several new improvements which you can read below.



QUICK GUIDE ON HOW TO PLAY

• Initially you can choose to play with the "British Empire" or the "German Empire".
  
  
• The starting year is 1890 but as you win campaigns for each nation, new starting years become available.
  
  
• The AI opponent can be randomized to be fully unexpected in its behavior in campaign strategy and battles.
  
  
• Your fleet is by default auto-generated, but you can choose to create your own fleet.
  

As you pass turns in the campaign, missions may become available for your fleet.


Some missions may be ignored but if they include friendly transport ships, you will lose them, negatively affecting your Victory Points status.



Key missions will need your immediate attention. These missions cannot be avoided and you need to take one of the following actions, where applicable:

• Fight: Go to Battle or Auto-resolve
  
  
• Delay: Attempt to hold a safe distance from the enemy fleet but do not engage. This action may fail if the average speed of your fleet is much smaller than the enemy’s. If it succeeds then there can be an escalation on the next turn, inviting more ships for both sides into the location.
  
  
• Withdraw: Attempt to escape. This action may fail if the average speed of your fleet is much smaller than the enemy’s.
  

Your monthly funds are dependent from the annual revenue of the government (GDP) as part of the yearly naval budget percentage.



At the moment, the following actions are functional:

• Crew Training: The amount of money spent for training and recruiting new crew. The Training Pool receives new cadets which are gradually trained according to the funds spent. Crew in the pool and ships can reach the maximum level of “Trained” with training. Only in battle the crew of the ships can receive higher training skills.
  
  
• Transport Capacity: Your nation’s economy and fleet need transport ships in order to function at full potential. This slider determines the policy cost of building more transports. If you have "Transport Capacity" higher than 100% your GDP receives bonuses. During war you will start having an economic impact with each loss of transport, if the "Transport Capacity" is lower than 100%.
  
  
• Tech Budget: The more funds you allocate in the “Tech Budget” the faster you research new technologies. You may further speed up the technology research for selected categories by assigning priorities in the “Research” panel (See Next Image).
  
  
• Shipyard Size: Increasing your shipyard development size allows you to design and build larger warships. Hulls you research will not be available if the shipyard development is not sufficient.
  

• Assign a priority to a technology category in order to focus on this research and reduce the time needed to achieve a breakthrough at the expense of slowing down the research of other technologies.
  
  
• Click the priority icon on your preferred technology to enable/disable it. Up to three priorities can be used.
  

In the "Ship Design" section you manage your ship designs. If you select "New Design" you are transferred to the already familiar dockyard environment where you can design your ship. Saved designs are added to a list where you may choose one or more to start building.

In the "Fleet" section you see, on a list, all the ships belonging in your fleet and what is their current action. From here you can replenish the crew of damaged ships, suspend construction and set roles such as "In Being" and "Sea Control". Setting your ships to "Sea Control" role, their maintenance cost is increased but they become more active, participating in missions far away from their base, depending on their operational range.



ADDITIONAL CONTENT


The campaign consumed the largest part of our development time, but this is not the only big feature we prepared for this update. We added new hulls, new features such as the Battle Statistics and improved several aspects of the gameplay according to your feedback. Please read below what more you can find on this patch:



9x NEW HULLS

• The Japanese “Mogami-class Heavy Cruiser" is the new detailed ship model of the game. You can find the new hull for Japan after 1930 with a displacement between 10,400 tons and 16,600 tons with the name “Heavy Cruiser III”.
  
  
• New Japanese “Heavy Cruiser IV” especially suited for torpedo armament that is available after 1930 and has a displacement between 13,400 and 18,600 tons.
  
  
• New Japanese “Modern Light Cruiser II” available after 1930 with a displacement between 10,200 and 13,600 tons.
  
  
• New Japanese “Scout Cruiser”, a light cruiser which is especially stealthy and fast, available after 1930 with a displacement between 9,000 and 11,600 tons.
  
  
• New Japanese “Heavy Scout Cruiser”, a heavy cruiser which is particularly effective in distant fighting is available after 1930 and has a displacement between 10,600 and 13,600 tons.
  
  
• New Japanese “Experimental Cruiser” which is essentially a small battlecruiser with a displacement between 24,000 and 27,600 tons that is exceptionally stealthy and fast. This hull is available after 1935.
  
  
• New German “Modern Battleship I” which is a smaller variant of the Bismarck-class having a displacement between 42,500 and 54,500 tons and is available after 1927.
  
  
• New USA “Modernized Dreadnought” based on the famous California-class that was rebuilt in the 1940s. It has a displacement spanning from 34,500 and 38,500 tons and is available after 1927.
  
  
• New French “Experimental Battleship” a hull that is better suited for a fast battleship is available after 1929 and has a displacement between 45,500 and 67,500 tons.
  

*Additionally:* Many new ship parts became available in previous hulls, following the new progression system of the campaign.

A variant of the Mogami-class cruiser

NEW FEATURES

• New AI personalities: Adopting the new campaign mechanics, the AI opponent fleets now behave differently according to the nation. Some nations are very aggressive, others are balanced, and others especially cautious. All the AI personalities are now using a more effective system to decide when, how and at which distance to attack, due to the new AI which received an overall improvement.
  
  
• New After-Battle Statistics: Now you are able to examine detailed battle statistics for any ship that participated in a battle.
  
  
• New Steering gear component: You are now able to choose between various different steering options which affect the ship maneuverability.
  
  
• More engine components enriching the available technology tree: Multiple Expansion Steam Engine II, Turbo Electric Drive, Gas Turbines are the new engine types. Due to having now the option of a Turbo Electric Drive system, the respective previous Aux systems were rebalanced and renamed.
  
  
• New improved weight/offset mechanics: The new system allows the design of ships with cross deck guns and no side weight offset (previously it was impossible to have cross deck guns without instability problems). Another noticeable improvement is that you can find a perfect weight balance, if you use the CTRL while moving ship objects (previously this could be achieved much harder and sometimes it was impossible).
  

BALANCES & GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS

• Various ship weight balances, especially in armor and engine aspects, allowing to make more realistic ship designs.
  
  
• Ship rotation mechanics are adjusted so that ships have realistic turning rates at all situations. You should notice ships to turn more naturally according to their weight and length.
  
  
• Smoke interference became more significant in earlier technology years and depended more on fuel type and engines.
  
  
• Overpenetration mechanics adjustments cause now more frequent overpens on small or lightly armored ships.
  
  
• Rescaled some small guns of the Pre-Dreadnought, Dreadnought era. They now match better to their caliber size.
  
  
• Initial deployment of ships became improved so that BB and BC types are always placed into battle lines that cannot merge with each other (previously some battle lines could be too close to each other creating inevitable ship collisions.
  
  
• Ships no longer automatically lose speed according to formation spread. This was helping them to maintain the formation but players usually removed the ships from formation to achieve the top speed. Now the ships will still be effective overall in keeping the formation but you will have to adjust their speed if they lose cohesion.
  
  
• Added in Battle Statistics damage details for ramming.
  
  
• Increased Naval Academy funds by about +15% as compensation for the money needs of the latest components and features.
  

AI

• The AI, as mentioned already, has received a significant improvement. You will notice AI to become more aggressive when it clearly has the advantage. For example, if the AI notices that your Destroyers are out of torpedoes, then it will stop behaving defensively and will close in to destroy them. Another noticeable improvement is that it generally keeps a more effective firing distance and maneuvers more sharply and promptly, trying to adapt to player actions.
  
  
• Optimized the Auto-Design system. Ships of the AI should be generated in much less time and be much more effective according to their technology generation.
  
  
• Division AI logic improved in general, to be more responsive and help to maintain the formation.
  

Detailed battle statistics are available after each battle

BUGS & OTHER FIXES

• Fixed various minor issues of the Graphical Interface.
  
  
• Fixed collider issues of some Russian guns, which made them overlap with other guns.
  
  
• Fixed bug that caused the showing of wrong information of min/max armor value in ship details info.
  
  
• Fixed issue with a few funnels not fitting in some hulls.
  
  
• Fixed issues with the shell dispersion mechanics which could make shell shots fall at much wider range than they should at close distances. Now you will notice much more realistic shell trajectories at all ranges.
  
  
• Various small fixes to some hulls.
  

GRAPHICS & OPTIONS

• The Ship Designer interface became improved by organizing the various parts into scrollable windows. Previously the excessive number of parts could overload the interface or become very small due to downscaling.
  
  
• Battle FPS performance became improved due to the AI code optimization.
  
  
• Fixed some issues that could cause lag in the design interface.
  

=================================================================================== The first campaign is just the start. We continue to improve it and will expand all functionalities in the next updates.


We deeply thank the following volunteer testers who participated in the closed beta and helped to fix various bugs and inconsistencies:


pandakraut


Cptbarney T_the_ferret


o Barão


Skeksis


Destraex



Thank you for reading! Please continue to share your very valuable feedback in our forums:


Official Forum


Steam Forum



The Game-Labs Team

 

[Andnjord]

About damn time

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://tallyhocorner.com/2021/12/ultimate-admiral-dreadnoughts-review/

...
Devoid of cover and contours, the best naval wargames have always relied heavily on intricate damage models for tactical texture. Game-Labs seems to grasp this. While UAD doesn’t let you manage damage control or examine warships GHPC-style postbellum, there’s enough detail and dynamism to destruction to ensure the colour-coded damage diagrams in the top-right of the screen get frequent glances. At times those diagrams showing as they do invisible repair teams battling to contain spreading fires, plug holes in colandered hulls, and pump out flooded compartments, are just as compelling as the 3D spectacles unfolding centre stage.

Do the unseen catastrophe averters with their fire hoses and wooden wedges sometimes feel too efficient? Yes, but overall I think the devs get ship survivability about right. Anyone who knows their naval history will note the way some vessels take incredible punishment and, because of the timing and distribution of that punishment, endure, while others less fortunate perish with Indefatigable-like suddenness, and nod approvingly.
...

 

[Burning Bridges]

Sounds like shit and gameplay consists of ships going in circles and shooting at each other from almost point blank range.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

Sounds like shit and gameplay consists of ships going in circles and shooting at each other from almost point blank range.

the video above they seem to be shooting from beyond visual range, the battleships are really far away from each other shooting high arcing shots trying to come down onto the top of the decks..I have seen other videos where they are close shooting point blank like you staid, but the one above shows different type of battle. I don't own the game.

 

[Norfleet]

Sounds like shit and gameplay consists of ships going in circles and shooting at each other from almost point blank range.

That only happens in the very early eras where they lack the ability to hit each other at anything further.

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

AI here was designed by a French as their favourite tactic is to runaway all the time.

 

[Nutria]

Le Comte de Grasse won a world war by running away. #DealWithIt

 

[Norfleet]

AI here was designed by a French as their favourite tactic is to runaway all the time.

That's actually surprisingly realistic. Relatively few ships in naval combats were actually SUNK. Most of the combats involved one or both sides breaking off after sustaining only "light" casualties, which is at odds with the typical gamer behavior of turning every fight into a bloodbath.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Sounds like shit and gameplay consists of ships going in circles and shooting at each other from almost point blank range.

the video above they seem to be shooting from beyond visual range, the battleships are really far away from each other shooting high arcing shots trying to come down onto the top of the decks..I have seen other videos where they are close shooting point blank like you staid, but the one above shows different type of battle. I don't own the game.

In any event the waves are much too high, it looks ridiculous like playing with toys ships in the bath tub.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Ok, maybe I was too rash .. Tim Stone's review/preview sounds somewhat promising, like there is a good game hidden within

https://tallyhocorner.com/2021/12/ultimate-admiral-dreadnoughts-review/

he seems to like it

good looks, decent AI, and an intuitive UI

since this is not at all a given these days (most new games have decent graphics but no AI at all, and gameplay is designed by borderline morons) I'd actually consider giving this one a chance.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

Ok, maybe I was too rash .. Tim Stone's review/preview sounds somewhat promising, like there is a good game hidden within

https://tallyhocorner.com/2021/12/ultimate-admiral-dreadnoughts-review/

he seems to like it

good looks, decent AI, and an intuitive UI

since this is not at all a given these days (most new games have decent graphics but no AI at all, and gameplay is designed by borderline morons) I'd actually consider giving this one a chance.

the waves are too high, I have seen it mentioned a number of times, they don't seem to have an actual impact on game play its just a visual thing. I think I will likely get the game eventually, but not until its almost about to be released then I will go through the long list of tactical puzzles they have created at that point (the tutorials I guess)

 

[flyingjohn]

AI here was designed by a French as their favourite tactic is to runaway all the time.

That's actually surprisingly realistic. Relatively few ships in naval combats were actually SUNK. Most of the combats involved one or both sides breaking off after sustaining only "light" casualties, which is at odds with the typical gamer behavior of turning every fight into a bloodbath.

Just to iterate on this.
Jutland:
250 ships participated,25 sunk.

The only actual naval battles with huge losses at that era were in the American civil war and that was because of the low number of ships involved and design failures because of the rush to build more stuff.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

AI here was designed by a French as their favourite tactic is to runaway all the time.

That's actually surprisingly realistic. Relatively few ships in naval combats were actually SUNK. Most of the combats involved one or both sides breaking off after sustaining only "light" casualties, which is at odds with the typical gamer behavior of turning every fight into a bloodbath.

Just to iterate on this.
Jutland:
250 ships participated,25 sunk.

The only actual naval battles with huge losses at that era were in the American civil war and that was because of the low number of ships involved and design failures because of the rush to build more stuff.

yeah I don't think history has a lot of real ship on ship navel battles, especially once you get to 'modern' times like depicted in these games..so really I don't think the game will ever be that 'realistic' because it would likely be boring. A realistic sea battle game would be more along the lines of representing some particular battle, or would be highly abstracted and political. Countries were very cautious entering heavy ships into actual battle due to the massive amount of resources and military strength they represented at the time...

 

[Norfleet]

The only actual naval battles with huge losses at that era were in the American civil war and that was because of the low number of ships involved and design failures because of the rush to build more stuff.

That, and because it's pretty hard to run away when most of your combats are taking place in rivers and at very close range. Your willingness to fight until your ship is sunk is also somewhat increased by the fact that you're not in the middle of the ocean and safety after you abandon ship is only a short distance away. And finally, "civil" wars are, in general, far more bloody than external wars. There's not much civil about a civil war.

 

[Burning Bridges]

The only actual naval battles with huge losses at that era were in the American civil war and that was because of the low number of ships involved and design failures because of the rush to build more stuff.

There were many ship battles where only a few ships were involved.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

They don't have to defeat USA - one sunk carrier will be a good enough blow at American prestige already.

I have doubts that any state is willing to throw itself on the pyre just to prove that an AC is vulnerable. Sinking it would be an escalation to strategic warfare. I can't think of a state actor dumb enough to try it.

U don't even need to sink it, just irradiate the carrier with a tactical nuke and cripple the enemy logistics even more dealing with the cleaning.

 

[Norfleet]

There were many ship battles where only a few ships were involved.

Well, it's hard to get a ship battle where MANY ships are involved when you just built the things hastily during the war, and most of your fighting is occurring in rivers where it's physically impossible to get that many ships in play.

 

[Sergiu64]

AI here was designed by a French as their favourite tactic is to runaway all the time.

That's actually surprisingly realistic. Relatively few ships in naval combats were actually SUNK. Most of the combats involved one or both sides breaking off after sustaining only "light" casualties, which is at odds with the typical gamer behavior of turning every fight into a bloodbath.

Just to iterate on this.
Jutland:
250 ships participated,25 sunk.

The only actual naval battles with huge losses at that era were in the American civil war and that was because of the low number of ships involved and design failures because of the rush to build more stuff.

Now count Russia vs Japan 1905.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

AI here was designed by a French as their favourite tactic is to runaway all the time.

That's actually surprisingly realistic. Relatively few ships in naval combats were actually SUNK. Most of the combats involved one or both sides breaking off after sustaining only "light" casualties, which is at odds with the typical gamer behavior of turning every fight into a bloodbath.

Just to iterate on this.
Jutland:
250 ships participated,25 sunk.

The only actual naval battles with huge losses at that era were in the American civil war and that was because of the low number of ships involved and design failures because of the rush to build more stuff.

Now count Russia vs Japan 1905.

Doesn't that count one of the worst trips ever around half the world?

 

[Burning Bridges]

Thats why the Soviet developed the Ekranoplan.

 

[Norfleet]

Now count Russia vs Japan 1905.

Tsushima is kind of an exceptional case in that the Russians sailed all the way around the world, by which point their ships were already kinda falling apart, to get into a fight with a force that completely outclassed theirs, leading to a situation in which retreat was nearly impossible, since their only options to retreat were "run all the way BACK around the world" and "run all the way through the Japanese fleet". It turns out you can, in fact, get massacred if you send an obsolete fleet around the world into a fight from which there is nowhere to retreat.