Windward News - 11/21/14

Greetings Fellow Captains! We have decided to move the updates to a bi-weekly format, and so this one includes last week's changes as well. The last 2 weeks have certainly been busy! Achievements are now in, as well as multi-stage quests, a new special equipment slot, and the spymaster specialist. Aren has continued to make tweaks and improvements to controller support and overall gameplay, and has made some very exciting additions to the game. Pro tips have been added to guide players and help you learn the ropes. You can even pause now in singleplayer when you press escape, which we know will be a welcome feature for all you busy folk. There have also been adjustments to loot dropping, a new pennant for reaching Admiral, and plenty more updates, fixes, and changes! Feast your eyes on the notes below: _CHANGE LOG_ 2014-11-21 - Now Live * Ships need to now be damaged by players in order to drop loot. It’s no longer based on proximity to players. * Reaching the Admiral rank with any faction will now unlock a new pennant on your ship. * Added a new achievement for reaching the Admiral rank with any faction. 2014-11-19 * Ships that sink far away from players will no longer drop loot. * Player ship’s stats are no longer saved. They come from the config now. * Ganker achievement is no longer awarded for killing yourself. * Menagerie and Bigger is Better achievements are no longer awarded to new characters. * You can now right-click on items to share their stats in chat. * You can now rearrange all icons on your skill bar via drag & drop. 2014-11-18 - Now Live * “Ganker” achievement should now be unlockable. * “Unstoppable” achievement should now be unlockable. * “Unequip” right-click option should now let you unequip flags at sea. * Fixed an issue that would sometimes allow players to edit existing world maps. * Added some extra code (read: hacks) to prevent Unity’s physics going all crazy after collisions in multiplayer. Player ships should now spontaneously combust much less frequently. * AI ships should now get stuck slightly less frequently. * AI ships that explode due to being stuck will no longer drop loot. 2014-11-17 - Now Live * Guard Tower achievement should now be unlockable. * Raised the drop rate of all items. * Raised the drop rate of customization items. * Added progress indicators to some achievements that needed them. * Added icons for all achievements. * Added a new achievement: ship customization. * Added a new achievement: combat repairs. * Fixed a pair of null ref errors that crept into the previous update. * Added a subtle Bloom effect to 100% graphics quality. * Towns will now sell wood, stone and black powder (existing towns must grow first). * Floating loot revealed by the Spyglass should now have proper icons. * Lantern is no longer a cargo slot item (will affect future drops, not existing items). * Specialists should now properly go up to Legendary (orange) quality. * Changing graphics quality should no longer mess up the minimap. * World creation stage should once again show initial faction information. 2014-11-16 * Added a summary screen that will show inflicted / repaired damage, kills, deaths, etc when pirates get driven out and when a PvP match ends. * Added 27 Steam achievements. Only Windows currently supports the Steam integration (and thus achievements). OSX and Linux integration will come later. In addition,