KittyDevilStudio

Development journal

Patch highlightsWildtide v0.59.43.6.27.6 – v0.59.43.6.27.9.8

Run out the guns: naval combat and a crew of sailors

Schooners now carry working cannons, and you can sign on named sailors to crew them. Your hands follow you, man the guns, and swim for safety if their ship goes down.

A Schooner's deck from above, with eight cannons run out at open gunports and her sailors gathered amidships
Captured in a Wildtide Alpha 0.60 development build in November 2026. Her gunports and cannons were fitted under the normal game rules.

Wildtide is now Alpha 0.60, and the biggest change since our last post is on the water: Schooners can be armed, and they can be crewed.

Cannons you work yourself

Cut gunports in a Schooner's side and set a cannon at each — up to five a side, so ten guns in all. At a gun, E mans it, R loads it, a click fires and F opens or closes its port. The server checks every shot: who may fire, where the gun can point and when it is ready.

  • Direct hits. Round shot can strike ships, survivors, deer, wolves, sailors and timber ashore. Cover stops a shot and there is no splash damage.
  • Hull damage that matters. A direct hit does real harm to a hull, and broken hull panels let the sea in — so bailing and repairs count in a fight.
  • Safe Waters and PvE rules still apply before any harm is done.
Gunports open along a Schooner's side, her crew at the rail
Gunports open along the Schooner's side

A crew of your own

At the crew boards at Sandhaven Harbour and the Old Landing, you can sign on named sailors for provisions — dried fish or meat and a full waterskin. They are real people on deck, not icons on a panel.

  • Follow me, wait here. Sailors follow you ashore and aboard, wait where you leave them, and board your ship with you.
  • Station them at the guns. Press F at a cannon to put a sailor on it. From the helm, a broadside fires your sailors' guns while you steer — and R at the wheel reloads them.
  • They remember who they are. Names, looks, health and where they stand are saved with the ship.
Sailors waiting on the beach at sunset, their Schooner at anchor behind them
Sailors on the beach at sunset

When a ship goes down

A ship's hands no longer vanish with her. If she sinks, they swim for a beach or a friendly ship, and you can pick them up. A countdown over a swimmer shows how long they have left — amber under two minutes, red under one.

Also aboard

Schooners gained beds, bunk beds, ship's stoves, campfires, lanterns and nautical decorations, with stores that travel with the ship. Stairs between her decks now choose a full flight or a narrower companion stair automatically.

The full list of changes is in the official patch log (opens in a new tab).