Ship of the Line Update Adds 28 Historical Battles and 40+ Ships

Ship of the Line, the naval strategy game that spans centuries of sea warfare, has picked up one of its biggest content drops so far. An official Steam announcement details 28 added historical engagements, over 40 additional vessels, an American Civil War career and reworked boarding, sailing and gunnery. The team says player feedback drove many of the changes.

28 historical battles, 1644 to 1912

Every new battle can be played both as a standalone scenario and inside Career Mode, with locations and fleets based on the historical record. Large fights keep their real fleet makeup but stay within the scenario ship limit.

• 17th century: Colberger Heide (1644), Fehmarn (1644), the Gabbard (1653), the Sound (1658), the Four Days’ Battle (1666), Palermo (1676), Køge Bay (1677), Barfleur (1692)
• 18th century: Imbros (1717), Cape Passaro (1718), Toulon (1744), the First and Second Battles of Cape Finisterre (both 1747), Lagos (1759), Grenada (1779), the Moonlight Battle (1780), Hogland (1788), Reval (1790), the Kerch Strait (1790), Tendra (1790), Cape Kaliakra (1791), USS Constellation vs. L’Insurgente (1799)
• 19th century: Athos (1807), the Basque Roads (1809), HMS Shannon vs. USS Chesapeake (1813), Cherbourg (1864), Mobile Bay (1864)
• 20th century: Beirut (1912)

Hampton Roads (1862) also joins the Career list of historical battles.

More than 40 new ships

The roster now reaches from the Tudor era to the First World War. Highlights named in the post include the Great Michael, Henry Grace à Dieu, Mary Rose, São Gabriel, Madre de Deus, Golden Hind and Batavia, plus five famous pirate vessels: Queen Anne’s Revenge, Whydah Gally, Adventure Galley, Royal Fortune and Fancy. Other additions cover HMS Shannon, British 80-gun ships of the 1745 Establishment, USS Niagara and Lawrence, French Le Cygne-type brigs, a Philadelphia gunboat, USS Galena, the Confederate raiders CSS Alabama and CSS Patrick Henry along with new heavy pivot guns, Swedish, American and Russian oared craft, Italian and Ottoman ships from the Italo-Turkish War, and new British, German, Austro-Hungarian and Italian submarines with deck guns.

Career and campaign changes

• American Civil War: Southern states leave the Union on their historical dates starting in December 1860, the Confederacy appears as a new nation, and the war runs until May 1865. Players serving the United States stay with the Union.
• Choosing your ships: Before a historical battle you pick which of your ships take part, capped by the friendly slots available. Enemy reinforcements are drawn from real existing navies instead of copies, and losses are permanent. A player fleet that is far too strong may be left out of small engagements, which then play out on their own and are reported as tavern rumours.
• Blockades now show their pressure on the map.
• Commerce raiding: A new fleet mission sends squadrons to patrol enemy trade chokepoints, chase merchant ships and head home once prize crews run out.
• Privateers: Letters of Marque can be issued from the fleet list; privateers act on their own and report the prizes they take.
• Prize research: Taking an enemy ship rated higher than anything your nation owns gives a one-time research boost for that class.
• A Next Event button skips time ahead to the next construction, research or fleet event, and war goals for the United States and the Netherlands have been clarified.

Boarding, sailing and gunnery

Boarding is no longer an abstract capture. Crews now throw grappling hooks, pull the hulls together, wait for contact, go over the rail and fight defenders one on one.

The rigging overhaul touches braces, lifts, clewlines and buntlines, rope detail and sail weathering, and 195 ships gain sheet anchors. Ships moving through the water now throw up bow spray and foam. In combat, ships can manoeuvre to aim at chosen land targets, anchored ships fire more steadily, chain shot goes for rigging and grape shot for crew on deck, and several aiming errors against large ships were fixed. Fleet pathing in poor wind and shallow water was also improved.

Before you play

The post notes that the first battle after installing the update may run slowly for around 40 seconds while the game rebuilds its shader cache, after which performance should return to normal.