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    CAPTAIN’S LOG 25: TEST AHOY!

    Ahoy Pathfinders!

    It’s here! Our Public Test Realm is now live and ready for all of you to dive into. This Captain’s Log will cut straight to it and provide more detail on our new claiming systems along with some information on our PTR. 

    We appreciate your patience as we prepared this megapatch to go out on the PTR: ATLAS 1.5 is an ambitious new chapter and we recognize that it has taken us some time, but as we’ve said before, we’re hardened adventurers and we’re looking forward to the fun and challenges that we’ll experience alongside you!

    large.sea_4-1.jpg

         :anchor: Claim Systems Overview :anchor:

    First we will revisit the three modes which will be implemented for ATLAS 1.5 and their respective claim systems in a brief overview:

    Colonies PvP: Freeform building, with more progress-protecting and time-enforced PvP rules creating a cooperative atmosphere, and limits to ensure the game is more oriented towards single players and small to mid-sized groups.

    Empires PvP: This is our previous PvP mode with which our PvP players are familiar. Some changes have been made to the declaim timers to mitigate griefing and water claims have been eliminated. Companies have a high member limit of 250 members. Alliances are limited to four. 

    PvE: A modified version of our Colonies system. There will be a limit on the amount of Islands one Company can claim via a points system. 

     

         :anchor: Public Test Realm :anchor:

    Our Public Test Realm will run the Colonies system on a full 15x15 grid. This is the most important mode for us to have players test currently and we’re excited to see how players interact with it.

    THE COLONIES SYSTEM

    Please bear in mind that the values described below may be subject to change pending our observations and player feedback during the PTR. We've implemented some test values which we'll be using for the Settlement system throughout the PTR.

    • Islands will be delineated and ranked through a points system predominantly based on size. A Company will have a total of 200 accumulative points to “spend” on claiming and settling islands. 
    • One claim flag per island (claim flag owner is the Owner of the island)
    • An owned island is called a Settlement
    • An Island can be claimed by placing the claim flag skill which has a cost equal to the island's initial base upkeep.
    • Claim flags are no longer mergeable
    • There will be no sea claims.
    • Upkeep scales based on: 
      • Size of island and its rank (summarised by an Island’s point value)
      • How many different Companies are on the island (more Companies = lower cost)
    • To steal an Island, you must unclaim an enemies’ flag by placing your own flag within range of theirs. It is a smaller radius that can be visualized by pressing the “H” key.
    • A Settlement’s upkeep cost will scale in relation to its points ie: the upkeep cost of a 30 point island will be significantly less than that of a 100 point island.
    • Upkeep costs will be deposited in the island’s Claim Flag.
    • Tax rates and taxes themselves will be collected within the Claim Flag.
    • The tax bank is utilized to transport resources that will be used in the Claim Flag from different locations on the same Island.
    • Other companies may build on a Settlement. The company holding ownership of the island can attack others built upon their island at all times. The Settlement owner can only be attacked during combat or war.
    • A claimed Island/Settlement can be in one of three different states: Peace, Combat and At War.
    • The World Map will display an Islands: point value, current ownership, the tax rate on the island, and its current war status along with its raidable hours. An Island’s standing will also be displayed ie: Own/Ally/Enemy.
    • The Settlement Owner can select building options as follows:
      • Cannons can only be built during combat/war phase
      • Allies can build cannons freely
      • Everyone can build cannons
    • Other companies can build defense structures (puckle) any time.
    • Ships will now receive invulnerability when docked at their companies’ settlement for 15 minutes during peace phase.
    • The Settlement owner chooses a non-optional 9-hour window of vulnerability from a 24-hour cycle in which their Island is raidable. This window can be changed once a week, but for PTR will be able to be changed once every 2 days. 
    • A War Declaration can be purchased during PTR for 50k gold (100k when ATLAS 1.5 releases) plus some uncommon items in order to circumvent raiding windows altogether. An item is given upon purchase. To declare war this item is dragged from the hotbar onto the island upon which you want to declare war.
    • Once a War Declaration is made against an enemy Island, the attacker must set a time that is at least 2 days (12 hours on PTR) and as far as 4 days (24 hours in PTR) to commence the war and the duration of the war period is 24 hours, but for the duration of PTR will be 12 hours.
    • Cannons now have an initializing timer which will vary dependent on the cannon type. 
    • An island has a 5 day (1 day for PTR) cooldown before another War Declaration can be made on it. 
    • A War Declaration is per-island, so it is possible to declare war against multiple Settlements simultaneously.

         :anchor: Joining the PTR :anchor:

    The ATLAS Public Test Realm is available to all players by opting into the Steam Beta branch. You can join the PTR by following these steps: 

    1) Right click on the ATLAS game in your steam library and select "properties"

    large.ptrproperties.png

    2) Select the "Beta" tab on the popup as indicated below: 

    large.publictestrealm.PNG

    3) Locate publictestrealm in the drop down menu and select that.

    4) Select close then launch ATLAS.

    You may need to restart your Steam Clients to make sure you see the publictestrealm branch as a beta option.

     

    Server Grid Editor 

    New Server Grid Editor, JSON, and Unofficial Servers are already available on GitHub. Unofficial Server files will be made available later this weekend once we've confirmed there are no critical issues we need to deal with. Linux hosts will have to wait until early next week. We'd recommend folks play on our test servers as we won't be providing direct support to any servers hosting their own version of the branch, though we'll look into issues you report.

     

         :anchor: Upcoming Patch Notes :anchor:

    If you haven’t checked out all of the content, features and QoL changes we have coming to the PTR (and the ATLAS 1.5 launch) jump into the patch notes below:


    New Features and Content

    - Redesign: ATLAS World - 40% more islands/landmass & new world map layout.
    - Redesign: Claim System - Colonies: Freeform building, with more progress-protecting and time-enforced PvP rules creating a cooperative atmosphere, and limits to ensure the game is more oriented towards single players or smaller groups. Previous mode now known as Empires and PvE will be a modified version of colonies.
    - New Environment: Deep Ocean Trench. A new area to explore, guarded by powerful underwater creatures and home to the new Giant Crab
    - New Environment: Eastern Tundra now has its own visual design, no longer using the Western Tundra style
    - New Weather: 'Snow' weather systems for Polar and Tundra
    - New World Phenomenon: Aurora Borealis light display which will result in a harvesting bonus, visible in particular regions.
    - New Vehicle: Submarine. Explore the depths of the ocean in this small scouting submarine. Use the claw arms to help harvest the ocean floor and explore (demolish) player shipwrecks. Also equipped with a harpoon (uses ballista bolts) as a new underwater weapon which will ramp up oceanic combat.
    - New Creature: Giant Crab. It can carry heavy loads, along with players, tames and wild creatures
    - New Item: "Guillotine". Hanging your foes in a noose taking too long? Off with their heads! 
    - New Item: "Large Wall". Equipped with parapets and ladder snaps so you can now build a proper defensive perimeter!
    - New Item: "Small Gates". 2-wall high gate structures for wood and stone.
    - New Item: "Player Shops". Players can set up automated shops, listing loot for sale and naming their own gold coin prices.
    - New Item: "Settlement War Declaration". Tied to the War System. Drag over a settlement on the ATLAS map to declare war on them!
    - New Item: More tame tokens for more mythical creatures! Allowing players to have limited-time tames of the Fire Elemental, Rock Elemental, and Gorgon. BONUS: Rock Elemental and Cyclops are rideable!
    - New Feature: War System - Declare war on your enemies!
    - New Feature: 1 'Mainline Quest' involving gathering 9 trench stones and defeating the hardmode Kraken!
    - New Feature: 7 more ‘Quests’ which upon successful completion will provide their own unique Skill unlock
    - New Feature: Curses. Tied to the execution of players
    - New Feature: Player-to-Player secure trading system
    - New Feature: Procedurally Generated Shipwrecks which players can explore for items and blueprints. They can be found by diving deep into the ocean, or looking out for their visual indicator on the surface of the water, or successfully completing the sextant mini-game which will point you in the direction of nearby shipwrecks.
    - New Feature: Human Catapult. Player characters can now be deployed into battle using a catapult.
    - New Cosmetics: Peg Legs, Hook Hands, and Multiple Armor sets to customize the look of your company and crew! Can be purchased at the cosmetics vendor.
    - Redesign: Squads (Ship) of the Damned will now come in multiple size variations with different stats and difficulty levels.
    - Redesign: Grappling Hook has been revamped, better physics & rappelling mechanics, and players will be able to realistically swing using them.
    - Redesign: Explosive Barrels. Can now be carried in hand, thrown overboard to sink and will explode when they collide with anything underwater (Depth Charge!).

    Balance Changes

    - The higher quality shipyard used when building a ship, the more level ups a ship will be able to obtain.
    - Ships can now level up their total damage output (which effects all cannons on a ship) and their total resistance, as new upgradable stats.
    - All tamable creatures made breedable, with no exceptions except for Mythical Creatures.
    - Various spawner adjustments & fixes across all islands
    - Reloading now changed to have the mini-game appear back to back, rather than through various points of the animation.
    - Vitamin debuffs have been removed and will only cause health loss when a player has a vitamin surplus or deficiency.
    - Increased smithy inventory slots to 130.
    - Increased weight of catapult from 12 to 84.
    - Adjusted the crafting quantities on higher tier blueprints so they don't require as many resources as before.

    QOL Changes

    - Territory map will now display allies as teal-coloured
    - Character creator now has a Height slider to make it easier to set your character's desired height
    - Any dead ships (shipwrecks) from your Company appear with a unique icon on your map now, so you can find the wrecks
    - Global territory message updating
    - Currently contested claims will be indicated on the minimap
    - Players can now mount a sail to directly control the sail's open/close amount and rotation settings in a more intuitive way.
    - Toggle ladders button for ship captain, defaults to L key. 
    - Company Groups have been increased to 10
    - Players cannot accept alliance invites unless they're an admin
    - Company Log can now be sorted
    - New group permission which acts as an effective 'company owner'. Only the true company owner can set/unset that specific group rank.

    Misc

    - Improved Server and Client performance
    - Visual feedback for players being unable to board unallied boats on PvE
    - Full body animations for harvesting
    - More realistic old age wrinkles
    - Additional face sliders for character customization
    - Dive suit overlay has been adjusted so it's easier to see when underwater
    - Commodities trader can only be found on the Merchant Ship on PvP servers
    - Respec potion has been moved to the Crew Recruiter on Freeports

     

           :anchor: Discord Webhook Notifications :anchor:

    This update comes with Discord Notifcations which you can set up pretty easily! All you have to do is grab your webhook URL and copy it into your Company's Manage Notifications UI. For more info on how to get your webhook URL, check out Discord's how to guide here: https://support.discordapp.com/hc/en-us/articles/228383668-Intro-to-Webhooks

    large.easterntundra.jpg

     

    Please note that we have opened Public Test Realm-related subforums here on the playATLAS forums along with new specific channels on the Discord. We look forward to your thoughts, experiences and feedback. The Discord channels can be accessed by assigning yourself the PTR role in the #role-assignment channel and links to the PTR subforums are below.

    General Public Test Realm Subforum

    PTR Bug report Forum

     

    :wheel:

    Alrighty, that ’s it for this log! Thank you so much for becoming a part of our crew and we can't wait to show all you scallywags, landlubbers, captains, and seadogs what lies ahead!

    Happy Sailing,

    Grapeshot Games

    🏴☠️For the latest dispatch on #playATLAS keep yer one good eye trained on this here information🏴☠️

    Natter n' chatter on Discord: https://discord.gg/playatlas
    Navigate ye olde Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/playatlas
    Hear ye, hear ye on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sailtheatlas
    Watch us scallywags on Twitch: http://twitch.tv/sailtheatlas
    Plus ye can band with us Pirates on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playatlasgame

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    On 4/6/2019 at 10:35 AM, Demeastro said:

    When will the server wipes happen? I've been waiting to play the game for basically all of March as it was mentioned there would be a big wipe, but I've not seen anything about the wipe having actually happened.

     

    I think there needs to be some more clarity around this as I am sure that a lot of players are waiting for this to happen as well. Please can you give us some indication? 

    game wipe happened like a month ago, next wipe will be like in a week (i think i read somewhere PTR would last 1 week) then another wipe can happen at any time during early access (they aleady stated so), so if you havent bought  the game i suggest you to wait for final release and even then watch some updated gameplays first, the game might end up being totally different from what they sold us, in any case take in consideration that even after official release buildings and ships will probably have decay wich means if you dont play the game for 2 weeks you lose your base and your boat (wich they never mentioned when advertising the game) so evaluate everything before is too late to refound.

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    BTW I'm not a big fan of the new claim system. I see why it would be good for PVE, but on PVP all the islands are already claimed(I haven't checked every single grid, but this will be the case in a few days regardless.) What's the point of building on an island owned by someone else if they can just wipe you whenever they want? The irony is that now PVP has the same problem that PVE had before-we need somewhere to build. A suggestion if I may-why not just limit the number of claims each company can have(instead of limiting whole islands.) Let's say 10 for example. That would balance things out a little more and encourage forming more separate, smaller companies. Keep all the new war mechanics and the invulnerability-I just don't think that two people being able to claim an entire island is a great idea. Am I missing something here? Don't you have to declare War on someone to take an island that is already claimed? What if I'm starting fresh and don't want to build on an island that is owned by someone else? I mean if people really are having trouble finding places to build then just keep restricting how much land each person/company is allowed to own.

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    11 minutes ago, The D Legacy said:

    game wipe happened like a month ago, next wipe will be like in a week (i think i read somewhere PTR would last 1 week) then another wipe can happen at any time during early access (they aleady stated so), so if you havent bought  the game i suggest you to wait for final release and even then watch some updated gameplays first, the game might end up being totally different from what they sold us, in any case take in consideration that even after official release buildings and ships will probably have decay wich means if you dont play the game for 2 weeks you lose your base and your boat (wich they never mentioned when advertising the game) so evaluate everything before is too late to refound.

    Game wipe didn't happen a month ago. The only thing that was wiped was EU PvE.

    NA PvE got wiped a day ago, and NA PvP and EU PvP haven't been touched.

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    2 minutes ago, [GP] Guybrush Threepwood said:

    Game wipe didn't happen a month ago. The only thing that was wiped was EU PvE. 

    NA PvE got wiped a day ago, and NA PvP and EU PvP haven't been touched.

    well i stopped playing EU PvE when the wipe was announced so i never got to know that, is good to know i guess.

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    As everyone expected, the new claim system is absolute garbage. So many people had so many excellent ideas in previous captains logs on how a new claim system could work. The devs have listened to nobody, and have chosen to put in place the worst system they could find. I only hope there better at coding than they are at ideas for game content, but if some more people come up with some more ideas that should give them an incentive to roll out a few more new animals for us not to use

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    Freeport is not buildable. There is an idiot surrounding the store right away. (E4 South)

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    11 hours ago, 2-of-12 said:

    As everyone expected, the new claim system is absolute garbage. So many people had so many excellent ideas in previous captains logs on how a new claim system could work. The devs have listened to nobody, and have chosen to put in place the worst system they could find. I only hope there better at coding than they are at ideas for game content, but if some more people come up with some more ideas that should give them an incentive to roll out a few more new animals for us not to use

    so far i like the new system
    and it is better they testing it for some month and working on a better solution over time then rush it AGAIN and we will wait again for month and month for an wipe...

     

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    Can we get an updated, Official Word on the new "ATLAS: 1.5 Launch" please Grapeshot? I would like to plan ahead and prepare, thank you.

    Edited by vaylain

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    On 4/6/2019 at 6:07 AM, Draalei said:

    "The tax bank is utilized to transport resources that will be used in the Claim Flag from different locations on the same Island."

    Could you clarify this a little more?

    The Tax Bank is a free resource teleporter.  Set it to max tax rates.  Send people out of company, to gather.  50% is teleported to the tax bank.  50% they carry back. Twice the load for half the work.  End of gathering duty, readmit them to company. 

    Kinda like using an elephant to haul resources.. but without having an elephant.

    8 hours ago, CFT said:

    Freeport is not buildable. There is an idiot surrounding the store right away. (E4 South)

    Can you make this abit clearer.. how exactly are people building around/blocking the npcs? Anyone have pics of this? or a video?

    Edited by Martyn

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    5 hours ago, Martyn said:

    The Tax Bank is a free resource teleporter.  Set it to max tax rates.  Send people out of company, to gather.  50% is teleported to the tax bank.  50% they carry back. Twice the load for half the work.  End of gathering duty, readmit them to company. 

    Kinda like using an elephant to haul resources.. but without having an elephant.

    Can you make this abit clearer.. how exactly are people building around/blocking the npcs? Anyone have pics of this? or a video?

    They are building walls around the vendor, blocking it. Inside the npc town. Oh, you can drop down in to the box. But, how can you get your new crew out? 

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    I made a post about this as well its in F8 i believe, in that area. all four ports (Pathfinder (square)) has blocked in the NPC buyer. this guy needs to be banded, utterly ridiculous how this sort of thing can happen, NO building on the Freeports, NONE, even in test mode should you be allowed to build in a Freeport....its just that a FREEPORT.  I just love how this guy can get away with it and will be allowed into the next game to screw everyone over again.

     

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    3 minutes ago, Bulldogg50 said:

    I made a post about this as well its in F8 i believe, in that area. all four ports (Pathfinder (square)) has blocked in the NPC buyer. this guy needs to be banded, utterly ridiculous how this sort of thing can happen, NO building on the Freeports, NONE, even in test mode should you be allowed to build in a Freeport....its just that a FREEPORT.  I just love how this guy can get away with it and will be allowed into the next game to screw everyone over again.

     

    Yeh the funny part is these griefers all leave thier names stamped on their efforts, which connects them to their atlas accounts.  Yet.. the devs do absolutely nothing about it.  You're more likely to get banned from the steam forums or these forums for loosing your temper with a troll, than you are for trolling people in the game and wasting weeks of their time, money and effort.

    Edited by Martyn

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    Its not so funny that they get away with it though. If the Devs really gave a crap about this they would look into the matter and ban them, done. it happens on the PVE as well...and Nothing is done to the individual. On ARK they would ban a whole clan for crap like this and then they would have to make their case in order to get back on. Not that i want a Griefer Police but at least take the time to investigate crap like this and the individual or clan doing it. Ban them if its inappropriate for 30 days. and if they sign back on with another account and people find out ban both accounts. its not as if they dont have access to our steam accounts to check and see if this person/clan is doing this sort of thing on other game servers. Steam has a tracker for getting kicked of servers and its on your steam page for all to see.

     

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    Any idea if a bug causing tames to disappear and die after being moved to a ship is going to be worked out with the update?

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    So I've been getting a lot of mixed answers on this but I'm looking for some clarification. In order to play after they wipe all the servers and boot them back up again (if that ever happens) we have to move over to the public test realm? What servers are up now?

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    22 minutes ago, Hedret Medes said:

    So I've been getting a lot of mixed answers on this but I'm looking for some clarification. In order to play after they wipe all the servers and boot them back up again (if that ever happens) we have to move over to the public test realm? What servers are up now?

    I updated and only see one EU server

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    7 minutes ago, =MGC=Ranger said:

    I updated and only see one EU server

    Ya that's all I've seen since this morning..........

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    19 minutes ago, Eleissa said:

    Guys, there is no PVE PTR server yet right ? They said on Monday......Delayed ??

    No not yet and Jat has not been on to say anything

     

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    7 hours ago, Hedret Medes said:

    So I've been getting a lot of mixed answers on this but I'm looking for some clarification. In order to play after they wipe all the servers and boot them back up again (if that ever happens) we have to move over to the public test realm? What servers are up now?

    No. You only have to move over to the public test realm IF you want to take part in the PTR testing. If you don't, then you stay on the branch you are now, and when the mega update and wipe happens you will just update to 1.5.

    Anyone on the public test realm now will need to opt out of the PTR and go back to the normal branch to update to 1.5.

    Also the latest update:

     

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    This company is a joke. At this rate the full release will never happen under them. I mean seriously you see set a date, then change it 12 times. Seriously if it stays in their hands it will continue to go down. I mean you have already lost over half the player base. 

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    Yes Atlas 123 company built up on E-4 South Island) surrounding the vendor you buy NPC's from. Very cheesy and nooby but easy to get your new npc's out of there if you have a friend with a chair outside the behemoth gate to place them onto.

    it doesn't matter what the devs do...there will always be people who don't approve changes. Myself, i'm not a big fan of the claim system but i will adapt. I won't get into details on everything but overall i think they've done a decent job so far.

    I haven't gotten around to the submarine/crabs yet but i will on private server soon. I hear they need fixes anyway.

    There are many ships of the damned. It's a cool concept having them in packs but my goodness, i counted 24 total all within render distance. 

    Bravo on the new grappling hook, very cool.

    Vitamin system still sucks. Just scrap the idea and slap whoever originally thought of it.

    I can still shoot creatures in the face with arrows and they take 0 damage, wtf.

    I was unable to play today for more than 2 minutes at a time due to disconnections on D-5 but overall, as the great Max Holloway says, It is what it is. 

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