In the coming weeks, torpedoes and depth charges will be replaced on Nations, as they transition from subcraft weapons to specialised cannons. Accordingly, craft designs will need to be updated in advance; all of these changes are currently live on the Creative server to help you prepare. Here’s what you need to know.

Reasoning

Subcraft weapons are an antiquated system developed almost a decade ago. They can only travel in cardinal directions; they cannot be aimed. They have numerous behavioural quirks and bugs that can neither easily be changed nor fixed, leading to the emergence of balancing issues that are now well-known. Moreover, their status cannot be displayed on the craft weapons HUD which is suboptimal for the user experience. The updated torpedoes resolve these problems.

Additions

Five new cannons will be introduced:

• Standard Torpedo Launcher (for the Corvette, Destroyer and Cruiser)
• Heavy Torpedo Launcher (for the Corvette, Destroyer and Cruiser)
• Submarine Torpedo Launcher (for the Submarine)
• Bomber Torpedo Launcher (for the Bomber)
• Depth Charge Launcher (for the Destroyer and Bomber) 

Cannon Designs

Standard Torpedo Launcher

Materials:

• 1 Lever
• 1 Chiseled Stone Bricks
• 3 Polished Basalt
• 1 Stone Bricks
• 1 Observer
• 1 Polished Blackstone Stairs

Ammunition chests can be placed next to the Observer.

Heavy Torpedo Launcher

Materials:

• 1 Lever 
• 1 Chiseled Stone Bricks
• 1 Iron Block
• 3 Polished Basalt
• 1 Deepslate Brick Stairs
• 1 Stone Bricks
• 1 Observer

Ammunition chests can be placed next to the Observer.

Submarine Torpedo Launcher

Materials:

• 1 Lever
• 1 Chiseled Stone Bricks
• 2 Iron Blocks
• 3 Polished Basalt
• 1 Polished Blackstone Stairs

Ammunition chests can be placed next to the Chiseled Stone Bricks.

Bomber Torpedo Launcher

Materials:

• 1 Lever
• 1 Chiseled Stone Bricks
• 1 Polished Basalt
• 1 Polished Blackstone Brick Stairs

Ammunition chests can be placed next to the Chiseled Stone Bricks.

Depth Charge Launcher

Materials: 

• 1 Lever
• 1 Polished Basalt
• 1 Stone Brick Wall
• 1 Polished Andesite Stairs
• 1 Stone Bricks
• 1 Observer 

Ammunition chests can be placed next to the Observer.

Torpedo Firepower (TF)

Using /firepower on a craft with torpedoes

Torpedoes have their own firepower system, torpedo firepower (TF). Each torpedo launcher adds TF to a craft, and craft types have different limits on how much TF they can have.

TF is separate from the “normal” firepower (NF) used for other cannons. But some crafts - namely corvettes, destroyers and bombers - can exceed their TF limit at the expense of their NF. For these crafts, each excess point of TF will consume 3.34 points of NF. This means they can sacrifice their other cannons (e.g. naval guns) for extra torpedoes.

Craft TF Limits

• Bomber: 9 (at max size, as larger bombers will now have higher firepower limits) 
• Cruiser: 10
• Corvette: 12 (limits: 6 Standard, 4 Heavy)
  
• Destroyer: 18 (limits: 9 Standard, 6 Heavy)
  
• Submarine: 36

Launcher TF Values

• Standard Torpedo Launcher: 3
• Heavy Torpedo Launcher: 4.95
• Bomber Torpedo Launcher: 3
• Submarine Torpedo Launcher: 6

Depth Charge Launchers do not use the TF system. Instead, they use simple limits like AA guns: a maximum of 4 on destroyers, and 2 on bombers.

Testing and Implementation

The new torpedoes are in an advanced stage of testing. Some more balancing must be done before they can be implemented onto Nations; I anticipate this will be completed within the coming weeks. All of these additions and changes are currently active on the Movecraft Creative server so that you can prepare for their implementation on Nations.

The numbers presented here may change as testing progresses. After the update is released on Nations, you should refer to the forthcoming wiki page instead of this post for the most up-to-date values.

Since fleets will need time to rebuild, naval assaults will be disabled for the weekend following implementation on Nations.

Credits

Much is owed to Sciath, WitherV and Melkron, who significantly contributed to the design, coding and testing of these features.

Best feature ever made

Lovely update