Captains,

The following changes were applied today on the Testbed Server:

• The Conquest Flag item has been removed from RvR - you can still exchange it for doubloons.

• The right to undertake conquest missions is now granted to the top 10 clans on the national leaderboard, determined by specific Activity Points accumulated during the past 7 days.

• The price of Conquest Missions is tied to the level of activity within the targeted port.

Once you take a conquest mission, the rest of the flow remains the same — you must start the mission within 45 minutes and then survive inside it for another 45 minutes, after which the Port Battle is scheduled for the next day.

These changes aim to eliminate several issues with the previous Conquest Flag mechanic that were reported by players.

• Adjusted rudder turn values based on the kinematic characteristics of ships.

• Updated rudder curve.

• Updated acceleration and deceleration for all ships.

• Updated ship inertia.

• Reworked speed loss mechanics from rudder inertia for all ships.

• Increased ship turning from sails at low speeds.

The purpose of this update is to establish a consistent tacking pattern. For example:

• If a ship begins a tack with sufficient speed, it should retain positive speed by the end of the maneuver.

• If a ship starts a tack from low speed, it will stall and end up moving backwards.

In the current Testbed implementation, speed loss due to rudder inertia only affected ships under Battle Sails, leaving full sails unaffected. With this update:

• Rudder inertia will reduce speed by up to 50% of a ship’s maximum speed, regardless of sail plan.

• After that threshold, the impact of rudder inertia becomes negligible.

• Sail damage caused by chain shot reduced by about 38%, based on player feedback.

• Gun damage increased by about 5% across all guns.

*Spotlight image by Captain Lord Dorian Beckett from the June 2021 screenshot competition.