Kensuke Tanaka Interview: Comptiq Magazine April 2018
Introduction
The following interview comes from Comptiq Magazine's March's issue, which was released on March 10th, 2017.
In the article, Comptiq's T-ko interviews Kancolle's main producer, Kensuke Tanaka, talks about the details of the Winter 2018 Event including the Friend Fleet System.
In addition, he talks about Isokaze and Hamakaze's new remodels, plans to migate into Phase 2, server migration plans, and the KanColle Sasebo Naval Base Tour along with hinting about an escort ship appearing sometime in the Spring along with a mini event.
It's the showdown at Operation Shō-Gō! Off to the dev team headquarters in the midst of the Battle of Leyte Gulf!
T-Ko (hereafter T): 'Sup and good work as always! Oh wait, we're still in the middle of the Winter Event! How's it going?
Tanakako (hereafter Ta): Much appreciated! Yeah, sorry about that, this time we really had to do a lot of work because of the boatload of content we had to implement. But we somehow got the second part of Operation Shō 1 rolling! This time it really was all blood, sweat and tears for us!
T: As expected from such a bloody showdown things once again got pretty exciting! It gets your blood pumpin'!
Ta: It certainly does. KanColle has been going on for five years now, so I thought it would be fitting for the final large-scale event of phase 1 if I created a narrative not with text, but with the game's system itself. Of course this has its limitations, but I think we can open up a path to a bright future with both the ship girls' Operation Shō 1 and the help of all the admirals out there.
T: The Friend Fleet that finally appears at the end of the event's first part is the Nishimura Fleet that passed through Surigao to provide support, right?
Ta: Of course there's Force C of the 1st Striking Force i.e. the Nishimura Fleet that passed through the Surigao Strait, but also the 11th Battleship Division that fought hard at Ironbottom Sound in the Solomon Sea. And the 4th Cruiser Division of which all four members enter the battlefield. And last but not least there's the European Fleet that provides support.
T: I was a bit surprised when I saw how worn-out the Nishimura Fleet was.
Ta: The Extra Operation in the second part of the event starts with Operation Ta-Gō Kai, a surface transport mission that turned into a tragedy due to leadership mistakes and for which you have properly provide air cover with the land-based air forces, followed by a counter operation by the fast 2nd Striking Force, and concludes with the Second Battle of Cape Engaño where the entire Combined Fleet engages the enemy task forces. For the latter half's decisive battle the allied fleets will also join the fray. Join forces with them in order to carve your victory---
T: Upon the dawn horizon, yep!
Ta: Oh, that reminds me. Have you already cleared all maps?
T: Nope, still working on it! Right now I'm at E-5!
Ta: By the time this issue is released the Friend Fleet will have been expanded even further so that on the last map powerful fleets such as the 3rd Battleship Division in Force B of the 1st Striking Force, or the 1st Battleship Division led by Yamato in Force A of the 1st Striking Force, or historical fleets that met their end in this naval battle such as 2nd Torpedo Squadron led by light cruiser Noshiro, or 10th Torpedo Squadron led by Yahagi are going to provide support.
T: Oh wow, looking forward to that! I wanna meet Yamato's allied fleet!
Ta: For now the allied fleets were implemented as NPC fleets. For Phase 2 that we're going to release this year we'd like to implement this Friend Fleet system carefully while also taking feedback of this event into account.
T: So much to look forward to! So what are your plans for KC until Phase 2?
Ta: Between the end of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, this year's large-scale winter event, and the game's fifth anniversary I'd like to implement a non-Japanese ship that fought to the bitter end during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She's a USN escort ship that put up a good fight defending the carriers she was escorting before sinking in the end...
T: I'll look into it!
Ta: Come to think of it, there really are a lot of non-Japanese warships that despite strategically favourable circumstances faced opponents that were overwhelming on a tactical level and to fight to the death protecting whom they had to protect--- Hey, that's for later!
T: What's this artwork? Is this the K2 you mentioned a while ago?!
Ta: No, the Kagerō-class K2 refits that're coming this spring are meant for different ships... This is a Kagerō-class "B Kai" refit unrelated to that. It's not a K2.
T: Huh? Kagerō-class B Kai refit? Not a K2?!
Ta: Yes. This distinguished ship will receive her K2 refit eventually, but not for now, so in the meantime she'll receive a "B Kai" refit this spring that's somewhere between Kai and K2. And this one here is a Kagerō-class destroyer as well. She may not be K2, but she still possess a pretty high combat power.
T: Wait, isn't that destroyer...
Ta: Oh well, no need to beat around the bush now that you've seen her. The one to receive her "B Kai" refit this spring will be Kagerō-class destroyer Isokaze.
T: Isokaze?! The one with the sauries?!
Ta: Uh, sauries have nothing to do with this. But now that you mention it, we've been planning a lot of things for this year, including that.
T: Oh, so it is because of the sauries!
Ta: No! I already said so!
T: Oh, almost forgot. What about your plans for KC from now on?
Ta: Now that the fifth anniversary is just around the corner and KanColle is about to enter its sixth year, we're carefully modernising the game in preparation for Phase 2. It shouldn't have much of a direct impact on the admirals. Furthermore, we're going to restructure, improve and optimise all servers. Around that time we're going to accept applications from admirals who want to migrate to other servers. It'll probably end up turning into a lottery, but some players will be able to migrate to certain servers. And finally we're going to port the game to HTML5. "KanColle 2.0" i.e. the HTML5 version will be implemented in a three-step process.
T: I see. So admirals will be able to move between servers.
Ta: Yes. It'll be a lottery, but admirals who're planning to move will be able to register for it. Our goal is to finish the Phase 2] update by this summer, with a mini event in-between this spring.
T: Oh~.
Ta: I'll apologies in advance in case we fall behind schedule. We put safety first, so we're going to keep everyone up-to-date if that happens.
T: Please do. Oh right, I heard you're gonna do a collab with Sasebo at the end of this month.
Ta: Yes. It's where the old Sasebo Naval District used to be, so we wanted to do some exhibits - they're mostly handmade though -, revitalise the city and help with tours around today's naval district. Also, Sasebo has lots of delicious food! As part of our collaboration we'd like to bring you the famous Sasebo burger! We've also prepared artwork of a young Akagi, whose original three flight decks were consolidated into a single enlarged flight deck at Sasebo's naval arsenal.
T: Looking forward to that! Comptiq's gonna come too and support you guys! Gotta get our chief editor's permission later!
Ta: I'd certainly appreciate that! Oh yeah, this issue will also include an "Operation Shō 1" mini soundtrack provided by the administrative naval district. Whether you're still working on the event or have already cleared it, feel free to give it a listen. And of course many thanks to Comptiq for their cooperation!
T: It's fine, don't sweat it. Looks like you guys are once again in high gear early this year, so good luck! We've got your back!
(Late Feburary 2018, KanColle Management Naval District)
Special thanks to User:Admiral_Mikado for his translation work
References