Subscribe to download
[LEGACY] (PA - EotS) Rothlan's Lagoon (Naval combat)

Recommended gamemode: Point match
Recommended bots: 80 or more
Recommended weapons: There's no infantry combat in this one so really doesn't matter as long as you don't have MANPADS or whatnot

Formed from the caldera of an ancient volcano, this collection of small islands and sandbars form a natural harbor around a central atoll. Though at one point considered for a mid-ocean coaling station, its only long-term inhabitants came in the form of guano harvesters, and the occasional band of pirates. The island cluster would remain completely ignored for the better part of a century, up until 527. As one of the north-westernmost features in the Bressian Imperial Navy's area of operations against Beirun, it was found to be an ideal location for an airfield, as well as a future naval resupply station, thanks to the natural harbor provided by the lagoon. So too was it seen as an opportunity for the Elandric Navy, who in a bold stroke have sent a task force to seize the island, creating a staging point for disrupting Bressian naval operations in both the Buffer Islands, and the Kartasian Sea. In doing so, it is likely that Bressia will be forced to commit even more resources in the eastern ocean, allowing Elandris and the Commonwealth to gain the upper hand along Altirus' southern coastline.

Finally got a basic naval battle done. The goal is for either team to try and move their ships into the lagoon to seize the airfield, which can then spawn in torpedo bombers. Bots don't necessarily like to play along, but I've been spending the last few months trying to get them to do what I want, and this is as close as I could get. There's also a host of other issues, and some things that are lacking (like a broader variety of ships), but I bit the bullet and figured I'd rather just release it in a somewhat rough, but playable state. Meanwhile, I don't know if this is an "official" start to Empires of the Sea, since I haven't made any weapons for it, but since there's no infantry combat for this one I guess it's fine. All in all, there's a lot I want to do, and a lot I ought to do, but I'm currently moving out of state and likely won't have much time to dedicate anymore.

This map includes the following new vehicles:
- Recon Floatplanes: General-purpose, single-engine seaplanes able to fill fighter and light bomber roles, but not especially well. Also come with tailgunners.
- Flying Boats: Big, slow, sturdy, and with a pretty significant bomb load, plus three gunners.
- Torpedo Bomber: It's a bomber. With torpedoes. The torpedoes act a bit odd when being dropped, but are functional enough, and are devastating against ships.
- Destroyers: Small, fast ships with guns and torpedoes. They respawn fairly frequently.
- Light cruisers: Pretty much scaled-up destroyers. Can keep pace with them, and similarly carry torpedoes, but pack a lot of main battery guns and can take significantly more punishment.

Before you tell me I need to make heavy cruisers and battleships, I really wanted to make those, but ran out of time. Maybe I'll get that at some point and add them in, but no promises. If you think this map could do with some infantry combat and beach landings, there's a map with just that in the pipeline. I can't guarantee it'll be out any time soon, though. Ideas for how to properly make configurable or WW2 themed versions of this map are under consideration, but I won't be able to do that immediately.

-----

Known bugs/issues:
- General AI buffoonery in ships, including T-boning each-other, running aground, and stopping and turning around at random. The reason why it took me so long to make a naval combat map was because I was trying to fix these things, among many others. The others were fixed, but these were not.

If the AI behaves in such a way that breaks the map entirely, try restarting the battle.

- On some computers, bots might be completely braindead or suicidal. I have no idea what's going on there or how to fix it.

- Bots manning the aft turrets on cruisers will whip back and forth at breackneck speed while idle.

- Torpedos dropping from aircraft look weird. Often times they just sorta hang in midair for a while and then suddenly go into the water.

- AI crew will not board a ship if you enter it before they spawn. To make sure you have crew, wait until bots spawn in, or gather up some into a squad first.

- Z-fighting on water ripple/wake effects

- Water might not appear on Mac. A version with a mac-compatible water shader can be found here
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1800437145

- The signal is growing stronger

- Ships flop around when sinking.

-----
Tags: Naval, navy, sea, seaplane, flying boat, ship, destroyer, cruiser