It’s been a while since we had a biggun, but the Atlas v18 update is here to quench the thirst for all players who were desperate for a full-numbered new Atlas update. The update in question (Atlas 18.0) is filled with bug fixes and performance-improving changes, as well as a sprinkling of quality-of-life tweaks that should make the whole pirate-‘n-plundering experience a far smoother one. We’ve rundown some of the most important issues you need to know about below as well as the full Atlas v18 update patch notes.
Atlas v18 update
Bug fixes
Atlas has bugs. That’s kind of part and parcel of the whole sea shebang. But Studio Wildcard/Grapeshot Games are working hard to buffer out all of the game’s growing aches and pains. As such, cannons and turrets can now not be utilized underwater and gliding has been made significantly harder to pull off as the glider cooldown bug has been vaporized.
Animal changes
Of course, Atlas also has animals. Except many were wondering why there weren’t as many whales in some of the chillier parts of the ocean. That’s now been rectified thanks to a reduced spawn interval of 50% as well as increased whale count in Tundras. You’ll also be pleased to know that Wild Dragons have received a slight nerf. No more singed sailors. We hope.
Top companies
It can be hard work at the top, let alone attempting to reach that point. Atlas, though, has seen fit to reward some of the best companies in Atlas with their own nameplates, as well as their names being included on the left-hand side of the map when open. Pretty neat, right?
Inactive ships
Finally, in one of the biggest quality-of-life changes, those who have dropped anchor and not returned to Atlas will not have a ship to go back to after a short time. The move, to stop the seas being clogged up with those who have gone AFK for over 21 days, will see inactive ships be vaporized on both PvE and Golden Age Ruin servers.
Atlas v18 patch notes
Bug Fixes
- Turrets and Cannons will no longer fire underwater and can no longer be mounted underwater
- Fixed a bug allowing players to reset all glider cooldowns by moving the glider between hotbar slots
- Increased the required minimum diving velocity before going into the glide-fall state to reduce gaining/maintaining height
Server Performance
- Eliminated Cannon Animations playing entirely on the server for performance savings
Quality Of Life
- Option to hide territory broadcast messages
- Territory broadcast message boxes now scale according to the character size of the message
- Gunport camera socket has been lowered and moved forward for better viewing when shooting from gunports
- Ships that have been inactive for 3 weeks on PvE servers and Golden Age Ruin servers will now vaporize (tackling the abandoned ramshackle boats/rafts on maps)
- PvE players will now be able to see their claim flag’s inactivity timer on the flag itself
- Attacking Player no longer needs to be in range for declaiming progress
- Glider now has a required dive duration rather than a forced dive cooldown (achieves the same nerf effect on glider spam and feels better to use)
Creatures
- Whale Counts have been boosted on the Tundra and reduced the spawn interval between whales by 50%
- Wild Dragon damage has been reduced by 30%
- Golden Age Spawns have had their spawn interval increased from 30 seconds to 5 minutes and increased distance from players from 7700 to 9000
Music
- Various buffs/changes made to musical songs played on the Accordion.
Miscellaneous
- PvE Claim Flag inactivity timer has been adjusted so that it now scales dynamically. A company with a small number of flags will be declaimable after 2 weeks of inactivity, whereas a company with a large number of claim flags would be declaimable after 3 days of inactivity.
- The gold cost has been increased on upgrading higher quality items and structures
- Cooking Recipes spoil time has been increased
- Top Companies will have their names displayed on the left-hand side of the map and are now granted special nameplates and figureheads
