Privateer 1.0.5 Beta

Privateer 1.0.5 Beta

This beta builds on Privateer 1.0.4 Beta and includes cross-save ship copying and SDF ship import.

• Ship Spawner offers Copy from another save and Import from SDF file. Built-in designs are not available and are no longer shown as an option.
• SDF import supports custom and installed design folders, multiple copies, editable shared class names, and editable individual ship names.
• Removed the (WIP) marker from the Ship Spawner context-menu item.
• Browse another campaign, select ships from its nations, and stage copies. Apply accepts the batch; Cancel discards it. Save or Save As writes the destination campaign.
• Source saves remain unchanged. Copies receive new hull/design identities and use the receiving nation as their builder, including when the source nation does not exist in the destination.
• Copies retain equipment, crew, history, build year, damage, fleet status and construction progress. They arrive in the receiving nation's home area without commanders or movement orders. Duplicate names get a copy suffix.
• Fixed a table theme callback error.

Carriers and aircraft-capable ships remain unsupported for copying, as do historical losses, scrapped and museum ships. Copied equipment is not scaled to campaign technology or date. SDF import remains experimental across ship types, especially carriers. Back up your campaign before testing.

The budget calculator remains an estimate with a ±10% monthly-balance planning range; underlying calculations are still under review. Aircraft creation still needs further in-game validation.

Ship copying has passed user testing. SDF import is available for broader testing in this prerelease; Privateer 0.9.10 remains the latest stable release.

Download Privateer-1.0.5-Windows-x64.zip, extract the complete folder, and run Privateer.exe. Python is not required. See the Ship Spawner guide.

Privateer 1.0 Beta

Privateer 1.0 Beta

This beta adds cross-save ship copying to Privateer 0.9.10.

• Ship Spawner offers Copy from another save and Use built-in designs. Built-in designs are not available yet.
• Browse another campaign, select ships from its nations, and stage copies. Apply accepts the batch; Cancel discards it. Save or Save As writes the destination campaign.
• Source saves remain unchanged. Copies receive new hull/design identities and use the receiving nation as their builder, including when the source nation does not exist in the destination.
• Copies retain equipment, crew, history, build year, damage, fleet status and construction progress. They arrive in the receiving nation's home area without commanders or movement orders. Duplicate names get a copy suffix.
• Fixed a table theme callback error.

Carriers and aircraft-capable ships remain unsupported, as do historical losses, scrapped and museum ships. Copied equipment is not scaled to campaign technology or date. Built-in designs are disabled. Back up your campaign before testing.

The budget calculator remains an estimate with a ±10% monthly-balance planning range; underlying calculations are still under review. Aircraft creation still needs further in-game validation.

The ship-copy workflow has passed targeted automated checks and user testing. This is a prerelease for broader testing; Privateer 0.9.10 remains the latest stable release.

Download Privateer-1.0-Windows-x64.zip, extract the complete folder, and run Privateer.exe. Python is not required. See the Ship Spawner guide.

Privateer 0.9.10

Privateer 0.9.10

This release adds submarine spawning and management to the features in 0.9.9.1.

Submarine Manager

• Spawn completed coastal, standard, minelaying, long-range and missile submarines using built-in reference data. No existing submarine or Game6 save is required.
• Choose Submarine Type and a destination home/service location. Editable names default to the next available Privateer number.
• Right-click to Rename, Delete or Repair. Repair sets Availability to 135 without changing other state.
• Spawn and right-click actions remain pending until Apply. Cancel discards the pending changes; Save or Save As writes accepted changes to disk.
• Removed the Submarine Manager (WIP) label. One minelayer choice uses Accuracy=0.

User guide

The wiki is the primary end-user manual. Manager pages now describe the current released controls and workflows, without development logs or superseded instructions. Existing screenshots are retained.

Notes

Submarine reference stats are fixed rather than scaled to campaign technology or year. Submarine transfers are unavailable. Aircraft creation still needs further in-game validation. The budget calculator remains an estimate with a +/-10% monthly-balance planning range; its underlying calculations remain under review.

30 targeted submarine/version tests and GUI Apply/Cancel checks passed during preparation of the submarine features.

Installation

Download Privateer-0.9.10-Windows-x64.zip, extract the complete folder, and run Privateer.exe. Keep the runtime folder beside it. Python is not required. Close RTW3 before saving campaign edits and keep a known-good backup.

Privateer 0.9.9.1

Privateer 0.9.9.1

This release brings the changes developed since 0.9.8 into the published Windows build. The user wiki now documents 0.9.9.1.

Added and improved

• Dark mode: enable it in Settings and Apply. It updates immediately and persists between launches, including manager controls and striped tables. Windows-owned dialogs and title bars may follow the system theme.
• Relationship Manager: Create Alliance, Break Treaty, Reset Tension to 0, Start War, and Ceasefire; a shared nation-by-nation matrix with War/Allied indicators and row/column striping; a compact 960 x 780 default window. Removed the old disclaimer and raw relationship-detail panel. War-budget changes remain outside scope.
• Technology Manager: alternating row colors and selection radio buttons synchronized with sliders and the selected research area.
• Colony Manager: ordinary possessions can transfer even inside a nation's home map area. Individual home provinces with saved Value at least 200 remain protected.
• Transfer Ships: corrected Reserve Fleet, Trade Protection, and Raider status labels, with museum/lifecycle safeguards. Original builder nation remains part of the ship's history.
• Aircraft Manager: opens even when the campaign has no aircraft models. The empty list says "No aircraft are detected in this save" and players can create the first model using built-in defaults, then save normally. Existing models remain available as templates. The status text and Create/Close buttons stay visible while the editor scrolls. Create adds a model without closing the window, allowing consecutive creations; Close retains created models as unsaved changes until Save or Save As in the main window. Creating a model does not create squadrons or unlock aviation technology.
• Submarine Manager (WIP): clarified the menu label; the existing searchable inventory remains read-only.
• Economy and Unrest Manager: removed the bottom information/disclaimer panel and Estimate assumptions dialog. Default calculations remain unchanged.
• Updated user guides, technical documentation, repository organization, and wiki maintenance instructions.

Budget accuracy and remaining limits

The budget calculator still presents a +/-10% monthly-balance planning range alongside its central estimate. Its base calculations remain under review. The range is not a validated confidence interval; the game may fall outside it.

Aircraft creation, including first-model creation and early campaigns, still needs in-game validation. Supported war/alliance workflows and fortification edits have user-confirmed validation. AI-only war actions and multi-opponent ceasefires are unsupported. Carrier/air-group transfers remain blocked. Submarine editing, Ship Spawner, and custom-nation creation are not included.

Validation

The previous release passed 153 automated tests. The aircraft-window update passed 28 targeted aircraft/version tests and Tk checks at default and minimum window sizes, including consecutive creations and retaining staged models after Close. Additional Tk checks covered dark/light switching, persistent preferences, matrix layout, and opening/applying aircraft creation in an empty synthetic campaign. These checks do not replace in-game aircraft validation.

Installation

Download Privateer-0.9.9.1-Windows-x64.zip, extract the entire archive, and run Privateer.exe. Keep the accompanying runtime folder beside the executable. Python is not required. Close RTW3 before saving edits and retain a known-good campaign backup.

Privateer 0.9.8

Privateer 0.9.8

This release includes all updates since 0.9.4: a read-only Submarine Manager, expanded budget estimates, a monthly-balance planning range, and the completed game-data research handoff.

Budget calculator: estimates and a ±10% range

The final monthly balance now includes a ±10% planning range alongside the central estimate, rather than presenting that estimate as an exact result. The underlying budget calculations are still under review. This is a chosen planning allowance, not a measured confidence interval or a guarantee that actual costs fall inside it.

For example, an estimated balance of -3,795 displays a range of -4,174.5 to -3,415.5. Negative balances keep correctly ordered bounds; zero displays 0.0 to 0.0. The range does not change the underlying income or expense calculations.

Every calculator row now displays a numeric estimate, including total expenses and monthly balance. Changes since 0.9.4 include:

• Provisional income now accounts for saved budget modifier and fleet size instead of the original fixed resource multiplier. Research uses the resulting monthly-income estimate.
• Historical and museum ships are excluded from surface maintenance and construction.
• Reserve and mothball maintenance reductions use nearest-even rounding; observed class-2 search-radar charges are included for destroyers, light cruisers and carriers.
• Surface construction handles normal, accelerated and halted charges, with halted construction taking precedence.
• Normal unfinished fortification construction uses saved monthly cost; completed installations are kept out of construction.
• Player intelligence uses the confirmed rate of 80 per level per target, summed across targets.
• Installation maintenance and missing submarine, aircraft, academy, training and dock costs now have explicitly documented reference estimates.
• An Estimate assumptions… dialog lets you adjust the fallback rates and income factor for the current calculator window.
• A scrollable explanation identifies the inputs, assumptions and unresolved components. A separate all-active maintenance estimate is informational and is not added again to expenses.
• Calculator changes and assumptions do not write projected costs to game saves. Existing Funds, Base Resources and Unrest editing remains separate.

Accuracy limitations: several fallback rates are calibrated to the Game3 example and are not verified across nations, eras or submarine/aircraft types. Annual income, aircraft/pilot costs, submarine pricing, academy/training timing, missile-storage accounting and other maintenance modifiers remain unresolved. Some missing inputs use disclosed zero fallbacks. The Game3 ship-maintenance aggregate still differs from the displayed ship rows by 21; no arbitrary correction was added.

Submarine Manager

Right-click a nation and choose Submarine Manager.

• Search the submarine roster and sort its columns.
• Filter in-service boats, boats under construction, halted construction, sunk/history records and unknown states.
• Inspect every saved field for the selected record.
• Keep repeated names as separate roster entries and retain missing locations explicitly.
• Check sunk/final-fate state before ordinary service/construction flags.
• Show unverified type codes and statistics as raw values rather than guessing labels.
• Report missing rosters, inconsistent counts and ambiguous duplicate fields.

This is the read-only inventory phase. Submarine creation, editing, transfer and removal are not implemented. Save-slot numbers are not permanent submarine IDs. No in-game turn-progression validation of submarine edits is claimed.

Research and documentation

• Added the nine-save budget comparison and controlled Game3 experiment findings.
• Documented maintenance-tooltip, construction, training and aircraft reconciliations.
• Added the feature implementation guide, field catalog, research checkpoints, readiness matrix and final source-audit handoff.
• Documented the current calculator assumptions and submarine-manager implementation boundaries.
• Updated roadmap/milestone planning, including the future AAR Logger; these plans are not shipped features.

Validation

132 automated tests passed before release preparation. Read-only checks covered 2,506 submarine records across nine save slots. GUI checks covered submarine search, duplicate names, filtering, details and sorting, plus calculator assumptions and positive/negative/zero balance ranges. The local Windows build was opened successfully. No live save files were modified by these checks.

Installation

Download Privateer-0.9.8-Windows-x64.zip, extract the entire archive and run Privateer.exe. Keep the accompanying runtime folder beside the executable. Python is not required.

Close RTW3 before saving edits. Use Save As for the first edited copy and retain a known-good backup.

Privateer 0.9.4

Privateer 0.9.4

This release adds fortification management and more precise technology editing.

Fortifications Manager

• View and sort each nation’s fortification roster alongside its dockyard size.
• Add coastal and turreted batteries, missile batteries, MTB squadrons, airship bases, and airbases in owned possessions.
• Edit built installations and resize airbases while preserving installation IDs and aircraft assignments.
• New installations are built immediately without deducting funds. Construction and retired entries remain read-only.
• Airbase sizes respect the campaign limit; bases cannot shrink below their assigned aircraft capacity.

Technology Manager

• Keep the cumulative research-area sliders, with individual checkboxes to enable or skip specific technologies.
• View each technology’s description and typical unlock year.
• Moving a slider replaces that area’s individual exceptions with a fresh cumulative selection.

Aircraft Manager testing status

The Aircraft Manager appears to be working, but has not been extensively tested. Keep backups and verify generated aircraft in-game before relying on them in an ongoing campaign.

Validation and installation

103 automated tests passed, along with Tk interaction checks and a temporary Game 6 save/reload check. The live Game 6 save was not modified. Newly created fortifications have not yet been verified through an RTW3 turn advance.

Download the Windows ZIP, extract the entire folder, and run Privateer.exe. Keep the _internal folder beside the executable. INSTALL.txt is packaged with the application; no separate Python installation is required.

The application now displays the corrected version number, 0.9.4.

Privateer 0.9.3.2 Beta

Version numbering correction: This release is correctly named Privateer 0.9.3.2 Beta. The original program displays 0.932 Beta because its version number was formatted incorrectly. This is a numbering mistake, not a different program version. Existing download filenames and Git tags retain their original names; the released binaries have not been changed.

Privateer 0.932 Beta

Updated build with the equivalent-year aircraft slider.

• Choose an equivalent year to load that year's stored aircraft statistics while keeping the design and base model dates at the current campaign year.
• Each aircraft type's slider and table span its first through last recorded Game 6 years. Intermediate years retain precomputed values; no runtime interpolation is performed.
• Changing aircraft type resets the slider to the campaign year or nearest available endpoint. Moving the slider replaces the editable statistics.

Replaces the previous ZIP on this release. Aircraft implementation: 72306b2 . The existing release tag is preserved; GitHub's automatic source archives describe the original tagged build. Use the attached Windows ZIP for this updated application.

Validation: all 93 source tests passed, including slider and saved design-date checks. The local app opened successfully. The preceding static-table build passed the user's Defender test; this rebuilt package needs its own check. INSTALL.txt is included in the Windows ZIP.

Privateer 0.9.3 Beta

Version numbering correction: This release is correctly named Privateer 0.9.3 Beta. The original program displays 0.93 Beta because its version number was formatted incorrectly. This is a numbering mistake, not a different program version. Existing download filenames and Git tags retain their original names; the released binaries have not been changed.

Privateer 0.93 Beta

Privateer 0.93 Beta introduces aircraft-model creation and improves how aircraft
design values are selected for the current campaign. This is a beta release so
the new aircraft workflow can receive broader in-game testing before it becomes
part of the next stable release.

Aircraft Manager

• Create a new aircraft model for any nation from the nation context menu.
• Choose among all supported aircraft roles, including fighters, bombers,
  floatplanes, patrol aircraft, jets, and helicopters.
• Start with Privateer as the manufacturer or choose a manufacturer already
  used by the selected nation.
• Set the model's design year automatically from the current campaign year.
• Show only the statistics that apply to the selected aircraft role.
• Prefill editable statistics using year-by-year averages derived from all 1,121
  aircraft models observed in Game 6.
• When a role has no model in the campaign year, use that role's lowest observed
  yearly average for each field as a conservative starting point.
• Preserve the source model's unknown internal fields and leave existing air
  units and squadrons unchanged.

Safety and validation

• New aircraft models receive a contiguous aircraft slot and an ID allocated
  through the campaign's global ID counter.
• Aircraft-only saves compare all other loaded campaign files and sections with
  their original data before writing.
• Existing unrelated ship-design validation findings no longer prevent a valid
  aircraft-only edit from being saved.
• The complete automated suite passes 91 tests, including aircraft creation in a
  fixture that already contains an unrelated missing ship-design reference.

Known limitations

• Aircraft Manager creates aircraft model definitions; it does not create or
  modify air units or squadrons.
• The Game 6 averages are practical starting values and may not match every
  campaign's technology state or the game's internal aircraft generator.
• Economy projections are estimates and still require refinement.
• Relationship editing remains under development. Fortification editing and Ship
  Spawner remain placeholders.

Keep automatic backups enabled and test important edits in a copied save slot.

Privateer 0.9.2

Version numbering correction: This release is correctly named Privateer 0.9.2. The original program displays 0.92 because its version number was formatted incorrectly. This is a numbering mistake, not a different program version. Existing download filenames and Git tags retain their original names; the released binaries have not been changed.

Privateer 0.92

Privateer 0.92 expands the stable Rule the Waves 3 save editor with safer colony
transfers, clearer ship-state handling, unrest editing, save reloading, and a
guided first-launch setup.

Major improvements

• The Colony Manager now shows named map regions instead of raw area numbers.
• National home regions are identified and locked so they cannot be transferred
  through the Colony Manager.
• The Transfer Ships screen now displays saved ship statuses, including Active
  Fleet, Reserve, Mothballed, Foreign Service, and Under Construction.
• Destroyed, sunk, mined, scrapped, retired, and museum ships are omitted from
  the transfer list and rejected by the transfer API.
• The Economy and Unrest Manager can edit each nation's UnrestLevel alongside
  funds and base resources. These changes are staged and validated together.
• A Reload button refreshes the currently selected save without opening the
  folder picker again. The selected nation is retained, and Privateer warns
  before discarding unsaved changes.
• First Run Configuration now collects the Rule the Waves 3 installation folder,
  save-game folder, and backup preferences. Every option remains available later
  through Settings.

Additional refinements

• Colony, ship-transfer, economy, and main tables retain sortable column headers.
• Loading, reloading, validating, and saving continue to use responsive progress
  windows for larger campaigns.
• Economy and Infrastructure menu names now reflect unrest and planned
  fortification management.

Known limitations

• Economy projections are estimates and still require refinement against the
  game's internal calculations.
• Relationship editing remains under development. Fortification editing and Ship
  Spawner remain placeholders.
• Transfers involving aircraft carriers or certain active campaign-division
  relationships remain blocked until their linked records can be handled safely.

Keep a known-good backup and test important edits in a copied save slot.

Privateer 0.9.1

Version numbering correction: This release is correctly named Privateer 0.9.1. The original program displays 0.91 because its version number was formatted incorrectly. This is a numbering mistake, not a different program version. Existing download filenames and Git tags retain their original names; the released binaries have not been changed.

Privateer 0.91

Privateer 0.91 is the first stable release of the Rule the Waves 3 save editor.
It provides a Windows desktop interface for common save edits, reduces the need
to alter raw campaign files by hand, and includes validation and backup tools for
safer experimentation.

Available in this release

• Transfer complete ships between nations while preserving permanent hull IDs,
  original building nations, construction state, equipment, crew data, history,
  and unknown fields. Privateer copies and remaps the associated design into the
  receiving nation's design library.
• Review ship type, class, displacement, speed, armament, radar, ASW, build year,
  location, status, crew quality, and maintenance in a sortable transfer table.
• Adjust technology areas with cumulative level sliders and review the selected
  technology's effect and typical unlock year when available.
• Manage gun-caliber quality, national funds and resources, dockyard size,
  diplomatic tension, colony ownership, and the player admiral's name and
  prestige.
• Validate saves before writing, create backups by default, choose a custom
  backup location, and create edited copies with Save As.
• Sort tables by column and view progress while larger saves load, validate, and
  write.
• Run as a self-contained Windows application without installing Python.

Known limitations

• Economy projections are estimates and still require refinement against the
  game's internal calculations.
• Relationship editing remains under development, and infrastructure
  fortification editing and Ship Spawner are placeholders.
• Transfers involving aircraft carriers or certain active campaign-division
  relationships are blocked until their linked records can be handled safely.

Keep a known-good backup and test important edits in a copied save slot.