Jigaraphale

A French Twin-Tailcon.

Joined on October 2016
Discord : Jiga
Server : Brunei Anchorage
IGN : Jigaraphale
Main discord server (French KC): Le Kancolle [1]

Kancolle enhancement project

The following list is what I think are good ideas to implement in KC in order to improve the game, while keeping its basic esthetic and having in mind that it's still a free-to-play game that needs to make money. I absolutely do not want to transform this game into a generic and forgettable Gacha, I just want to imagine how an updated Kancolle can be, with many features that I believe are missing in this 8+ years old game. I also consider that no 3rd party software should be used because if the game is "perfect", it simply does not need such things (even so I will still use them myself).

Must add/change features

Some features that I believe must be added as soon as possible in order to make the game more forgiving and welcoming for newcomers, more bearable for long-term free players, and richer for any old player.

• new maps :
  • EO 1-7 / 2-6 / 2-7 / 3-6 / 3-7 / 4-6 / 4-7 / 5-6 / 5-7 / 6-6 / 6-7 (or just 2 EO/world)
    • We are waiting for the 2nd and 3rd EOs of the main worlds since they were introduced. At this point, such EO can serve to re-introduce some rare mechanics, like events ones, such as the arctic gears, the repair nodes, TP nodes, historical fleets …
    • some could be changed every month/quarter :
      • using older events maps and gimmicks
      • using randomly generated map (to force you to explore a bit every month) => maybe just 1 or 2, not to overwhelm us
  • W7 maps :
    • I think they are the best place to serve as an "event tuto world", with event-exclusive mechanics being shown here for newcomers
• new expeditions :
  • W3 "C" monthlies
  • more W7
  • W6
    • maybe W6 expeditions can be limited-time ones, which appear only once, or just once a year, where you can use exotic fleets to have special loot.
    • those expeditions could also be randomly generated.
• a "friend" thing / player-player direct interactions, where players can interact and maybe even play with/against each other
  • having the possibility to display our port to other players (to flex ^^)
• increase the dock size to around 150 for all players (maybe give those slots via quests)
  • maybe also give 5-10 slots with a birthday quest depending on the added ships
• give one new ring for every st-Val, with a very hard-limited quest
• rework all the shop economy! (some items are too expensive and/or useless)
• a more explanatory crafting system (something that is not some witchcraft recipes like now)
  • maybe just give some guidelines/probabilities on which class of item you are going to craft within a range of resources used
• a quest tree, or at least some way to know what we have done and the immediate new quests we can unlock
• more quest rewards info
• all quest ship can be dropped or/and crafted, so you are not blocked at some point, praying for the next event
• all quest equipments are obtainable at any moment, so you can't stay blocked if you loosed a unique quest item => maybe add a hard limit to how many "special" items you can own, to avoid power creep.

Sorties

• possibility at any time to see the fleet state (engagement, air situation, HPs...), so you can maybe close your eyes for more than 0.5 sec without the fear to miss something
  • doing it as Kcanotify does is a good starting point
• more obvious routing / LOS effect on the sortie, where you can more easily guess a given map routing by yourself without needing to do several hundred runs.
• in-port log of all the fleets (just the 6 girls) used on the map & its routing, or just the class/types of warships combinations used on the map
• less useless loading times
• give us more stats about one fleet,
  • the total stats
  • the general LOS
  • the air power
  • the combined fleet stats
  • the LBAS air enhancements
• no more hidden fit bonus (with guns mostly)
• more "logical" fits (by classes/nations) and logical effects (like AA bonus on CVs)
• no more OP fit bonus (a greater gear diversity is better than some meta defining ones)
• no more broken stats
• some items mechanics need to be reworked,
  • the Rice items are useless in battle for now
  • the majority of secondary guns are completely useless
  • some main guns have no use for their lack of bonus or proper mechanics

Events

• historical bonus general debuff, it must be a simple bonus fact, not a game-breaking thing that is almost a "must-have" each time
• friendly fleets from the start, but using them add a drawback, like less/worst drops for instance
• Remove the stupid idea to have the Strike Force fleet in the 3rd fleet, this adds nothing to the game but frustration and big mistakes.
• Remove the possibility to drop nothing on an S rank on absolutely every boss

New tuto

• add a brand new tuto that explain more mechanics from the beginning, like :
  • cut-in
  • opening and closing attacks
  • fleet compositions
  • day and night battles mechanics
  • different nodes guide (combat, night, storm, resources, air raid, refueling, repairing, routing, blue, boss, TP …)
  • routing explanations, from LOS to ship restriction, how does it works and how to find it by ourself
  • airplanes effects, echelons, attack types, synergies, cut-in, slots size …
  • synergies bonus (like for ASW or anti install)
  • fit bonus
  • upgrades bonus
• possibility to replay the tuto
• event general tuto :
  • locks
  • historical bonus
  • historical attacks and routings (like 2021 spring Drum fleets)
  • LBAS
• special guide for each new mechanic (touch & ci) shown when we unlock it
  • for instance, on every Big Seven's Gallery profile, you can find her touch tuto and effects
• explanation of the global effect of more stats
• more world 7/EOs tuto maps mechanics
  • => combined fleet / 7 ships fleets
  • => a "per month lock" ?
  • => special unique gear use (artic gear, Akashi sortie repair, refueling, FCF...)
• use Katori or/and Kashima as the "tuto mascots "
  • give Gotland as the final tuto reward, a nice Easter egg, fixing her obtainability issue at the same time

Upgrade system

• increase the screws/week from 4 to about 10 in end-game
  • maybe add one map (like a hard new EO) that can give 1 screw/run (eventually caped), or use some new expeditions
• every piece of equipment must be obtainable (via Akashi/quest) no matter the price, so you can never be blocked by a quest and can at some point complete the kancodex
• general screw price balancing, some equipments are way too expensive for what they are, and others are very cheap.
• new Akashi menu UI
  • must not be hidden like now
  • give more descriptions on the upgrading effects/benefits (like visible stars bonus)
  • give us some sort of timetable so we can see who to use without looking at all our ships one by one.

Farming

• add more ways to farm multiples things (more adventurous maps like 4-2 & 4-3), so you are not simply dependent on expeditions and too few regular maps
• rework all the expeditions rewards & length (some are way too useless)
• change the brain-dead farms (like 1-1 sparkle, 1-3 fuel, 5-2 Lv...)
  • Morale should come back to 50 when the girl rest
  • Maybe add a "relaxing mechanic" (like a dormitory, spa, onsen, restaurant…) where you can dock a limited amount of ship to raise their morale above 50 (maybe up to 100), maybe consuming some resources at the same time. You could have a tier system, where every +10 moral point you need exponentially more time/resources to get it.
  • maybe add a new bonus for married girls: the morale recover faster and cap higher

The "RNG issue"

KC is not an RNG-based game and I don't think that RNG is an issue right now in this game, but I think that some things can be improved:

• Drops :
  • The drop system doesn't need anything more, but maybe the idea of a "mercy drop", in order to avoid having to do 435 runs for one particular ship.
  • An idea would be to add a "drop pool", where you have all the droppable ships on a given map in it, and so when you drop a certain ship from this pool, her drop rate will decrease, making less likely to have to make a billion runs for any given ship (but still possible). Also, when all the ships of the pool have been dropped at least once, the pool rates reset.
• Routing :
  • Since phase 2, there are less to no "non-sense" off routing, so on almost any map, it's possible to have 1 route or multiple almost identical routes 100% of the time.
  • I think it could be nice to have some maps where at some points you have random chances to follow different paths, obliging you to chose fleets suited for any of those situations.

UI improvements

• for sparkling (making it more visible)
• to sort ships and equipment by stats/types
• to see the full stats/names for equipment or ships
• dark mode (for my poor eyes)
• notifications for exped, repair, craft, morale …
• expeditions arrival don't need to have the port reloaded to be obtained
• new CG / seasonal CG indicator (so you don't miss any)
• all new ship CGs are immediately unlocked in the kancodex when introduce (if you have the said ship)
• better management for special ships slots, like the Ise K2 class ones, where selecting the 3rd to 5th slots forbid you to put guns, even so the 2 firsts ones are free
• global fleet stat for the expedition menu
• better sound and music management
• In-game dev logs with the possibility to see past patch notes, so we can have a genuine way to see new stuff added for each update, with maybe some announcements on the side using a new kind of board, clearly separating the KC twitter account from the default changelog/announcement board

Good bonus stuff

Not really needed, but highly appreciable

• ranking hints :
  • some hints every month start on what will the ranking rewards be (ex: "this month, a plane from the tea country" and a spitfire is among the related rewards), so we can plan our ranking
• new game engine that runs faster
• mobile update (with IOS maybe)
• desktop app, where you have all game assets already downloaded, reducing the loading times and server load when peoples DL new assets at every new restart.

• And also, maybe, eventually, a global release/translation, not a new game release for foreigners, just the possibility to genuinely play this same and unique game from aboard.

Things I absolutely do not ever want to see

• Gacha lottery
• auto quest selector
• skin economy
• premium currency (for exclusive stuff)
• "fast mode" to skip content (maybe a skipped animation using a special currency can be good)
• "autoplay"
• limited currency to limit how much you can play per day
• auto repair system
• auto formation mode
• auto click to continue
• auto-leveling mechanic
• specific unit/commander equipments
• post WW2 content (to some extent)

Conclusion

In the end, what I want here is a game with a bit more polish, which is beginner-friendly and still has an interesting late game. I want to see more of the "announced" and/or "exclusive" content to be properly implemented in the game, making it looks more like an up-to-date game, and not just an old fossil with some paint.

Basically, I reject anything that is the signature of Gacha games, and which will just transform KC into another generic and forgettable game. I also want to avoid content exclusive to old players, not to hardcore players, just old players, like the Shinden kai, which creates an unfair and undeserved segregation/street creed between recent and older players. If you want to flex, just use exclusive furniture.

For a final note, the best thing that could happen to Kancolle is having the developers listen to the community, because in 2021, most of the best FTP games see an active debate between their devs and fans, bringing a constant benefic feedback loop to enhance the game. Better than "me" to improve this game is all of us AND the devs.