Mar 5, 2026
View on Steam↗SHIPSHAPE
4/5 Significant
The Shipshape update introduces a massive naval overhaul with electricity on boats, extended 50-minute daytime cycles, and significant buffs to player protection against Naval Scientists.
Key Changes
- 1Electricity, Industrial, and Water IO items can now be used on player-built boats.
- 2Daytime duration has been extended by 20 minutes, significantly lengthening the gameplay loop.
- 3Naval Scientists received a major balance pass, including smoke grenade occlusion and massive armor protection buffs for players.
- 4TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enforcement options added for server owners to combat cheaters.
- 5The 64k collider limit has been removed, allowing for much more complex server builds and better performance.
- 6Added a movement penalty for boats hit by cannons to encourage boarding actions.
- 7Boat decay delay doubled to 24 hours, making boat ownership more viable for casual players.
- 8New Storage Box Pack DLC adds 16 skins that visually show their contents.
- 9Sunken player boats are now destructible block-by-block for loot recovery.
- 10Added a Painting Line Tool for drawing straight lines on signs and frames.
All Changes
🎮Gameplay(7)
- changeDaylight Cycle: Daytime duration extended by approximately 20 minutes (now ~50 minutes total); night remains ~10 minutes.
- nerfPlayer Built Boats: Added a movement penalty for player-built boats hit by cannons, reducing speed up to 30% max.
- nerfPlayer Built Boats: Added ADS aim sway while on player-built boats, scaling with the boat's speed.
- newBoat Wrecks: Sunken player-built boats can now be damaged block by block to recover loot.
- buffPlayer Built Boats: Boat decay delay doubled from 12 hours to 24 hours.
- changePlayer Built Boats: Boat decay duration reduced from 18 hours to 12 hours once decay begins.
- changePlayer Built Boats: Boats are now only considered 'used' (resetting decay) when receiving steering wheel input.
🚢Naval Systems(23)
- newPlayer Built Boats: Electricity, Industrial, and Water IO items can now be placed and used on boats.
- removeAuto Turret: Blocked Auto Turrets from being placed on boats.
- removeSAM Site: Blocked SAM Sites from being placed on boats.
- removeWindmill: Blocked Windmills from being placed on boats.
- removeCCTV Camera: Blocked CCTV Cameras from being placed on boats.
- removeSeismic Sensor: Blocked Seismic Sensors from being placed on boats.
- removeHanging Lights: Blocked Hanging Lights from being placed on boats.
- removeDoor Controller: Blocked Door Controllers and Hoppers from being placed on boats.
- buffBoat Building: Boat building blocks can now be rotated and demolished at any time in edit mode, removing the 5-minute timer.
- fixBuoy: Dive site buoys no longer collide with or stop full-size boats.
- fixSails: Fixed an issue where sails were randomly destroyed due to rotation and groundwatch triggers.
- changeSteering Wheel: The 'Deploy & Edit' steering wheel option now always shows, providing an error toast if the location is unsuitable.
- changeDeep Sea: Deep Sea loot now respawns slowly over time instead of all at once.
- nerfDeep Sea: Initial loot fill when Deep Sea opens decreased to 70% of previous values.
- changeDeep Sea: Deep Sea spawn side is now randomized after each opening.
- changeDeep Sea: Deep Sea will no longer open immediately after a server wipe.
- removeRHIB: RHIBs can no longer access the Deep Sea area.
- newDeep Sea: Added a notification sound when the Deep Sea opens.
- buffDeep Sea: Increased network range from 300m to 620m in the Deep Sea to allow spotting ships from further away.
- buffCannon: Increased player protection while mounted to cannons.
- newWallpaper: Wallpaper can now be applied to boat walls.
- newDeployables: Enabled deployable snapping (Shift + Left Click) on player-built boats.
- newDeep Sea: Added a static Boat Building Station to every Deep Sea island with a magnetic docking force.
🤖AI & NPCs(6)
- buffNaval Scientist: Naval Scientists can no longer see through smoke from smoke grenades.
- buffHazmat Suit: Hazmat protection against Naval Scientists increased from 5% to 30%.
- buffFull Metal Armor: Full Metal armor protection against Naval Scientists increased from 25% to 50%.
- changeNaval Scientist: Naval Scientists now miss less frequently but deal lower damage per hit.
- changeNaval Scientist: Naval Scientists now equipped with flashlights and laser sights for better nighttime visibility.
- changeNaval Scientist: Improved Naval Scientist reactions to long-range sniping; they will now reposition more effectively.
⚙️Performance & Technical(8)
- buffPhysics System: Removed the 64,000 collider limit per broadphase cell using a custom PhysX implementation.
- fixMissions: Consolidated mission validation to the server using a work queue, reducing client-server discrepancies.
- fixMissions: Optimized mission position generation, reducing work queue cost from 20ms to 1.5ms and fixing NPC dialogue lag.
- buffTrees: Vine swinging trees now use 6-9 fewer colliders.
- buffPlants: Removed server-side colliders for collectable plants (Hemp, Wheat, etc.) and plants in planters.
- changeUI: Reworked Shadow settings into a single 'Shadow Quality' preset; moved Max Shadow Lights to Rendering section.
- fixShadows: Minimum value for Max Shadow Lights changed to 1 to prevent light-leaking.
- changeMIDI: Identified Windows MIDI incompatibility causing performance degradation; recommended disabling MIDI convars.
🛡️Anti-Cheat(3)
- newAnti-Cheat: Servers can now opt-in to requiring TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot for players.
- newServer Browser: Added 'Secure' tag to the server browser for servers enforcing TPM and Secure Boot.
- newServer Settings: Added convars 'server.useServerWideRequiredSystemConfig' and 'server.usePerPlayerRequiredSystemConfig' for system enforcement.
🎨UI & Customization(3)
- newPainting: Added Painting Line Tool: hold Shift and drag to draw straight lines while painting.
- newBarbeque: The Barbeque is now a skinnable workshop item.
- newLarge Wood Box: Released 'Storage Box Pack' DLC featuring 16 skins for Large Wood Boxes with visual content indicators.
Summary
Naval & Boat Overhaul
This update fundamentally changes how players interact with boats. Player-built ships now support electricity, industrial, and water IO systems, allowing for complex mobile bases. To balance this, boats now suffer movement penalties when hit by cannons, and players experience ADS sway while moving. Additionally, boat decay has been reworked to be more forgiving for active players while clearing out abandoned vessels faster.
Deep Sea & AI Improvements
The Deep Sea monument has received balancing tweaks regarding loot respawns and accessibility. Naval Scientists have been significantly rebalanced; they are now more accurate but deal less burst damage, and player armor (specifically Hazmat and Full Metal) provides much higher protection against them. Scientists also now respect smoke grenade occlusion.
Technical & Performance
Major backend improvements include the removal of the long-standing 64k collider limit and a complete rework of mission validation to reduce server-side lag. A new TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enforcement system has been introduced for server owners to combat cheating more effectively.