Ship of the Line — Update Notes

September 29 – October 2, 2026

Over the past few days, a major round of improvements has been made across ship visuals, internal ship structure, crews, AI command behavior, and the flooding system.

Complete Ship Visual Overhaul

• All ship models have been replaced with the new SOL2 generation.

• A total of 42 new ship models have been added, including ships of the line, frigates, sloops, merchant vessels, and East Asian warships.

• Menu thumbnails, strategic-map miniatures, harbor visuals, and ship cards have also been updated to use the new models.

• Masts, yards, sails, rigging, and internal compartments are now procedurally generated.

• Mast damage, sail damage, projectile penetration, magazine explosions, and fires now follow the actual structure of the ship.

• Additional bow details, stern decorations, and quarter galleries have been added.

Crew and Onboard Presentation Improvements

• New gun crew roles have been added for both naval and land artillery.

• Musket and matchlock reload animations have been improved.

• Sailors now move to working positions aboard ship and react to battle, including crouching and covering their ears during heavy gunfire.

• Crew members can now escape into the water when a ship sinks.

• New wooden-ship fire loops and sinking sounds have been added.

Tutorial and Language Support

• The tutorial has been reorganized into 9 chapters.

• Full French and Spanish support has been added.

• Localization now covers not only battle UI, but also the campaign, map editor, captain dialogue, and officer titles.

General Scenario Control Improvements

• 2D Classic Mode is now working normally again.

• In General Scenarios, the player once again has direct control over all subordinate ships.

• An issue where captain AI could steer subordinate ships without player orders has been fixed.

• Only sailing assistance, broadside alignment, automatic fire, and explicitly ordered general pursuit remain automated.

Major Command Scenario AI Overhaul

Captain and admiral behavior in Command Scenarios has been significantly reworked.

• Captains now make situational decisions and speak during battle.

• 230 historical captains, including Nelson, Collingwood, Villeneuve, Gravina, Lucas, Infernet, Magon, Churruca, Foley, and Rotheram, now have individually assigned traits based on historical records.

• The ship information panel now shows who currently has the helm, how far an incoming signal has progressed, and what decision the captain is making.

• Captain ability now directly affects gunnery, boarding, morale, and surrender behavior.

Captains can now respond to situations such as:

• Intercepting the projected path of a retreating enemy

• Breaking through gaps in an enemy line

• Moving to protect a friendly ship in distress

• Placing themselves between an enemy and the flagship

• Deciding whether to continue or abandon a pursuit at night, under heavy damage, or with low ammunition

• Turning to bring the broadside to bear when the bow or stern is exposed

• Changing position or target when friendly ships block the line of fire

• Increasing pressure when the enemy formation is disrupted

• Leaving the line when unable to maintain station, allowing following ships to fill the gap

Doctrine also differs by nation and period. British, French, Spanish, Dutch, Russian, Korean, and Japanese fleets now use different tactical tendencies.

AI Target Distribution and Formation Improvements

• Fixed an issue where too many ships would converge on the same enemy vessel and slow each other down through collision avoidance.

• Ships now redistribute targets when too many friendly vessels are already committed to the same enemy.

• Fixed repeated speed oscillation after leaving the battle line.

• Fixed overlapping line formations where one formation could overwrite the steering of another formation’s lead ship.

• Fixed protection behavior that could cause an entire fleet to keep retreating away from the enemy.

Flooding and Sinking System Rework

The flooding system has been redesigned based on large-scale automated battle testing.

Previously, flooding from below-waterline hits could progress too quickly, causing ships to sink in a short time even while a significant amount of hull strength remained.

Under the new system:

• Floodwater gradually spreads through the ship.

• Pumping capacity now depends on ship size and available crew.

• Carpenter parties seal individual breaches one at a time.

• A small number of holes can often be contained, but accumulated damage can overwhelm damage-control capacity and cause flooding to accelerate.

• Draft now changes dynamically with flooding and heel.

• If lower gunports are pushed below the waterline, additional downflooding can occur.

• 2D Classic Mode now uses the same underlying flooding model.

In equivalent test conditions, the median time from 40% flooding to sinking increased to roughly three times the previous value.

The sinking animation has also been changed. Ships no longer suddenly roll to 90 degrees and plunge underwater. Instead, they continue sinking from their existing flooded attitude, usually remaining relatively upright unless flooding is heavily concentrated on one side.

Squadron Commander Discretion

In Command Scenarios, squadron commanders can now exercise limited discretion within the intent of the admiral’s orders.

When given attack or engagement orders, a squadron commander may decide to exploit an immediate opportunity, report the situation and wait, or maintain position.

A new admiral signal, “Act as circumstances require”, gives squadron commanders broader freedom to respond to local conditions.

Any new signal from the admiral immediately overrides and ends that discretionary action.

Other Changes

• Improved land combat melee exchanges, pathfinding, and weapon animations.

• Fixed ghost units appearing during gate-breach actions.

• Fixed missing national flags in some ship UI elements.

• Removed Command Scenario-only flagship-loss messaging from General Scenarios.

• Scenario categories are now labeled General Scenarios / Command Scenarios.

The main goal of this update was not only to improve ship detail, but also to make captains and fleets behave less like units simply following scripted orders and more like commanders responding to the situation around them.

AI and combat behavior will continue to be adjusted based on actual play records and battle logs.

May the winds be with you.

From the developer of Ship of the Line