Announcement

**RonHiler** · January 14, 2001, 18:47

Hi gang,

Not many new play features in this one. This is mostly a bug fix patch.

If you have a current game in progress and you do nothing else, *read the first part of this message before you patch*. It is entirely possible to wreck your current game if this is done improperly.

================================================
How to Patch if you have a game in progress:

If you are playing in a multiplayer game - Players should run their current turns and save using the old version (0.4.0.000). Send this file to the host. The host should first upgrade to the new version(0.4.0.024), and then generate the turn. Send the players their new turn files. Before opening the new turn, players should upgrade to the new version.

If you are playing a single player game - You should do the same as above, though you may skip the bits about sending files out There is a new shortcut for single player games, see below.

By using this method, current games in progress should continue to run without compatability problems.
=============================================

Here are the notes for this version.

=======ALPHA BUILD 0.4.0.024=========================
A new build has been made available, and can be found at http://www.rjcyberware.com/ (go to the download page, 1728 KB) . You will need an unzipper program to decompress the program files.

Also available is a patch (at the same place, 635 KB). This is a self extracting patch. Download the file into the same directory as the game, and run it to update to the new version.

Version 0.4.0.024 Build / Designer Notes:

1) A Host screen memory leak was plugged.
--After every turn generation, the host screen would leak about 20MB! This has been fixed.

2) Host screen display will now update properly after a turn generation.
--Previously, after generating, the screen would display the current turn as -1 and the next turn as 0. It would also not update the player status'. Both of these errors have been corrected.

3) Multiple game turns may now be generated without leaving the host program.
--Previously it was necessary to exit to the splash screen in between generates to reset the program. This is no longer the case.

4) The host screen will now poll the save directory for save game files.
--This means you can leave the host file open. When a save file is placed in the directory, it will automatically be detected and loaded without having to leave the screen.
*********NOTE: The combination of the above 4 items leads to a nice shortcut for hosts in blitz style games, or those playing single player games. See the end of this post for more details.

5) Bug Fix: Fixed technology restrictions on unit templates.
--There was a bug which could allow players to partially ignore the technology restrictions on unit templates, designing units they otherwise would not have the required research to build. This is no longer the case.

6) Positioning of some techs in the General Tech Tree were adjusted for more clarity.

7) Bug Fix: Fixed an AV error that could occur when opening a player save file by the host screen.
--If a player had units or leaders in a city, but no production items, this could have caused an AV error. This is no longer the case.

8) Bug Fix: Fixed several problems with Stack <-> City unit transfers.
--Units should now transfer back and forth between cities and stacks with no problems.

9) Stack Info Panel will now update after exiting the City and Unit design screen.
--It is possible to change the composition of a stack from both of these screens, so the main screen panel is now updated when leaving either of them.

10) Enemy Design Lists (on the Unit Workshop Screen) will now show Civilization names rather than player numbers.

11) Units will now be deleted when a design is deleted.
--If a unit exists which is based on a design that the player deletes, the unit will also be deleted. If active units of a design exist, the player will be asked to confirm the deletion.

12) Several spelling and grammatical errors were fixed.
--Thanks to all the players pointing them out. I'm sure it won't be the last time Keep pointing them out, guys!

13) The Research Ponit costs of technologies were adjusted.
--Almost every one of them were brought down. Only one went up.

14) The message screen continues to evolve.
--Still not functional yet, but very close now....

=======A Shorcut for Single Player and Blitz Style Games======
If you are playing one of these two types of games, you know that the longest wait is when you are loading a host file. There is now a way to load the host file and leave it open while you play, bypassing this lengthy load time.

Start the game and open your host file. Now, leaving this open, start *another* instance of the game (so you now have the program running twice). Load your play file in the second instance. Play, save, and exit to the splash screen. Now switch over to the other instance. You will see the host screen tell you your save file has been received. Generate the turn,
and switch back over to the game instance. Reload the play file. You can continue to do this as long as you like.

========Other Notes==============
A text file has been provided with this build. This is sort of a mini-tutorial on how to set up and play a game. If you are unfamiliar with how to play MD, or how PBEM games work, please read over this file.

Enjoy!

Ron
--
Creation is an act of sheer will
Manifest Destiny -- The Race for World Domination http://www.RJCyberware.com
news:alt.games.mdestiny

**RonHiler** · January 22, 2001, 22:27

Hi gang,

First off, I want to thank our Alpha testers. Their input has been invaluable in producing our first two patches since the release of the Alpha version. Keep up the good work guys!

This is a pretty short one, only 6 items, four bug fixes and two new features! But what they lack in quantity, they make up for in quality. The two new features are big ones.

================================================
How to Patch if you have a game in progress:

There were no major changes to the file system which would cause any problems with this release. All files from version 0.4.0.024 are completely compatable with 0.4.0.065. You may feel free to update your game in any order without worry of corrupting the files.
=============================================

Here are the notes for this version. The format for these release notes are as follows:
1) A brief description of the change/fix.
-- Where needed, a brief discussion of how this change affects new games.
** A discussion on how this change will affect ongoing games, if different than new games.

=======ALPHA BUILD 0.4.0.065=========================
A new build has been made available, and can be found at http://www.rjcyberware.com/ (go to the download page, 1744 KB) . You will need an unzipper program to decompress the program files.

Also available is a patch (at the same place, 537 KB). This is a self extracting patch. Download the file into the same directory as the game, and run it to update to the new version.

Version 0.4.0.065 Build Notes:

1) Bug Fix: Fixed an AV error on the city screen.
-- Previously, if you clicked on the left/right arrows which cycle through the production queue, it could produce an AV error under certain circumstances. This has been corrected.

2) Feature Improvement: Main map resolution has been increased.
-- The texture surface for the main map previously was one very large surface. This was causing problems with certain video cards, and prevented us from implementing better looking maps. The texture has now been split into several smaller parts. We have also doubled the resolution of the map using an upsampling method, allowing the play files to remain the same size. This causes a slight delay in game opening, as a few seconds (~5) are required to upsample the map texture. In addition, you may note visible seams on the map where the texture parts fit together. We are working on this, and will have it corrected soon.

3) Bug Fix: City production queues will no longer default into the first city.
-- After a turn generation, all player city's production queues and completed production were erroniously being moved into the player's first city. This is no longer the case.
** For ongoing games, it will take a couple of turns for the host program to sort this problem out. On the first turn after the host patches, you will see your production shifted into your first city as previously. After the *next* turn, however, you should see proper production taking place.

4) Bug Fix: Units will no longer be duplicately named.
-- In some cases, units could share the same name (ie you might end up with two Hominid 4's). This is no longer the case.
** For ongoing games, previously named units will not be renamed, so you may still see name duplicates. However, newly produced units (from the point
after your host patches) will be correctly named.

5) Bug Fix: Unit costs on the city production screen will now display the proper values.
-- Newly placed units into a city production could, under some conditions, show improper costs (ie 654324543 of 5 Production Points, etc). This is no
longer the case.

6) New Feature: The city screen now displays an overview map, marking the locations of player cities with a red dot.
-- To help players know which city they are currently working with, an overview world map has been provided. Cities belonging to the player are marked on the map with a small red dot. The currently selected city will show a bigger dot than other city markers.

========Other Notes==============
A text file has been provided with this build. This is sort of a mini-tutorial on how to set up and play a game. If you are unfamiliar with how to play MD, or how PBEM games work, please read over this file.

===============================
That's it for this one. Hopefully that will be the last of our problems with units moving between cities unexpectedly.

There are a whole host of things I want to work on for the next patch. Improving the resolution of the movement lines, multiple stacks outside of
cities, right clicking on the map to get a menu of stacks/cities, and player-to-player messaging, and improvement of the movement AI routines are the current big ones I'm focused on. With any luck, the number of serious bugs in the game has now been reduced to a level where I can start to think about new features again

See you then.

Ron

**VetLegion** · February 1, 2001, 17:51

I just downloaded it and played a little. Emphasis on little I can not judge the whole game from that.

But some observations:

- PBEM

This is a very strange way to start. Even PBEM players like to learn the game in SP and then "advance" to PBEM.

- zoom levels

Was it my settings or is map small?
And I dont think you need all that zoom out, more zoomed in start would be better (IMHO)

- simulataneous turns

Excellent. Err, can I read more about it somwhere? Conflict resolution and such?

Thats about it. I think RPG elements are a strongpoint of MD, but I dont like to play RPG, actually the only ones I played were Fallout 2 (the greatest game ever, next to civ ) and diablo 2 which was a disaster I erased after half a game ). But Leaders and stuff are good to see back in the genre...

If I was you I would advertise the game among the Master of Magic crowd (and bend it towards that more) more then space conquest people (although the groups probably overlap )

grpahichs you have are honestly nothing much, but Star Empires IV has MS Paint graphics and people swear on its gameplay - in this genre, graphics is not much for an established brand, but may help us new hopes to gain a market.

**RonHiler** · February 3, 2001, 02:48

quote:

Originally posted by VetLegion on 02-01-2001 04:51 PM
- PBEM
This is a very strange way to start. Even PBEM players like to learn the game in SP and then "advance" to PBEM.

Single player requires computer opponents. You want to write the AI for that?

The computer player AI is going to be one of our biggest challenges, as it will have to make very sophisticated decisions to keep competitive with the human players. It will be neural net based. Fortunately, we have another AI that will handle combat that is a bit simpler, but uses the same kind of techniques. I'm going to use that one to practice before I try to take on the much tougher computer player AI routines.

The combat AI is in the coding phase right now, and I've already become much more aware of how the techniques will and won't work for the computer players, so I think we are using the right method. Start with a small AI, then do the monster one

So, while single player will come, you won't see a real computer opponent until we get near the end of the Alpha phase.

quote:

- zoom levels
Was it my settings or is map small?
And I dont think you need all that zoom out, more zoomed in start would be better (IMHO)

Yeah, I've gotten this comment a couple of times. It's a play balance issue, and the movement rates and scanning ranges will be adjusted as our testing moves forward. We have a lot of playbalancing to do, in a bunch of areas, and that's one of em.

quote:

- simulataneous turns
Excellent. Err, can I read more about it somwhere? Conflict resolution and such?

I haven't really written anything on it all in one place. Any written comments I've made would be scattered across usenet. But if you have specific questions or comments, I can answer them directly.

quote:

Thats about it. I think RPG elements are a strongpoint of MD, but I dont like to play RPG, actually the only ones I played were Fallout 2 (the greatest game ever, next to civ ) and diablo 2 which was a disaster I erased after half a game ). But Leaders and stuff are good to see back in the genre...

The leaders are our biggest RPG element, since they are player trainable in various skills. I like the system, since it gives the game a bit of a personality it wouldn't otherwise have. Imagine running a civ with leaders based on the characters in Tolkien, or The Wheel of Time, or from an actual historical period here on Earth (with your cities named appropriately, of course).

The idea behind the leaders is for them to develop a sort of reputation, not only for the controlling player, but for the other players as well. A stack with 30 swordsmen might not be such a big deal for the defenses of your city, but the same stack with Mat Cauthon in it could be a whole different matter. Especially if you've run up against him before!

quote:

grpahichs you have are honestly nothing much, but Star Empires IV has MS Paint graphics and people swear on its gameplay - in this genre, graphics is not much for an established brand, but may help us new hopes to gain a market.

First rule of game programming - Never sacrifice playability for realism.
Second rule - Don't allow lack of graphics to hold up programming. Where needed, use prototype or temporary graphics until the real graphics are ready.

That's what you are seeing in many cases, the prototype graphics. Don't worry, it'll get prettier, it's just not a real high priority right now. I'm after functionality first, heh.

Thanks for giving it a look, Vet, and for the comments. I hope GG&S is going well.

Ron

**RonHiler** · March 30, 2001, 20:55

Hi gang,

Here is the new major release version I've been trying to finish up what seems like *forever*

Be aware, there are two completely new subsystems in this version, and I can make no absolute promises as to their stability. I've tested them as much as I can, and I believe they are working more or less to spec, but there could be issues (in fact, with the new movement paths, there *are* still issues, which I will discuss at the end of this post). But let's get to the release notes first.

================================================
How to Patch if you have a game in progress:

There were no major changes to the file system which would cause any problems with this release. All files from version 0.4.0.065 are completely compatable with 0.4.4.198. You may feel free to update your game in any order without worry of corrupting the files.

The host *must* upgrade before being able to process any turns which have a player message embedded within. And players receiving messages must upgrade before they will be able to read them. If you get an error message on opening a file, and you haven't yet upgraded, this is probably the reason. Update your game, then reopen the file.
=============================================

Here are the notes for this version. The format for these release notes are as follows:
1) A brief description of the change/fix.
-- Where needed, a brief discussion of how this change affects new games.
** A discussion on how this change will affect ongoing games, if different than new games.

=======ALPHA BUILD 0.4.4.198=========================
A new build has been made available, and can be found at http://www.rjcyberware.com/ (go to the download page, 1756 KB) . You will need an unzipper program to decompress the program files.

Also available is a patch (at the same place, 680 KB). This is a self extracting patch. Download the file into the same directory as the game, and run it to update to the new version.

Version 0.4.4.198 Build Notes:

1) Bug Fix: Fixed an AV error that could occur on host generation of new turns.
-- If a player had a stack moving near the one of the poles, an error could occur which would prevent a new turn from being generated (due to an error in the visibility calculations). This is no longer the case.

2) Game Balance / Bug Fix: Some tech prerequesites were modified.
-- In some cases, it was possible to bypass prerequesite techs (such as being able to research Iron Sword without first researching Iron). This was unintended, and has been corrected.
** For ongoing games, if you have already researched components for which you now do not have the prerequesites, you will still keep those components. However, items in the research queue which have not been finished will have been removed. You must now research the prerequesite first. You will not lose any RP points already spent on the items, however. They will still be credited to the tech.

3) Cosmetic: Updated the credits screen
-- Added some relevent information.

4) Cosmetic: Resource names now start with a 1 rather than a 0.
-- You will no longer see (for instance) Food 0 in newly generated games.
** Current games will not have their resource icons renamed. Food 0 will remain named as such.

5) Game Balance: The Mana Crystal resource has generally been reduced both in icon numbers and number of resources per icon.
-- Mana Crystals are meant to be a rare item. We felt there were too many appearing on the map.
** Current game Mana Crystal numbers are unaffected.

6) Cosmetic: The visible seams between textures has been greatly reduced.
-- It's not quite gone yet. If you look close you can still see them, especially in the unexplored grey areas. But they have been much improved from the previous version. We are still working on them.

7) Bug Fix: Fixed a load bug which could, in rare cases, cause a non-fatal error box to appear when a player file was loaded.
-- If the only resources shown on the main map happened to be Mana Crystals, the Resource Information Panel would fail to load the resource icon, causing an error message. This has been corrected.

8) New Feature: Diplomacy Messages
-- Hitting the "Mail" button near the message panel will take you to our new Diplomacy screen. You can send messages to selected players, which they will recieve at the start of the next turn. You may also reply to messages you have recieved by hitting the reply button (after highlighting a message on the message tree). The message fonts on the tree are coded (although see the "Known Bugs" list below). Plain fonted messages are old, bold fonted messages are newly recieved, and italicized messages are newly written by the player and have not yet gone out to the host (and may still be edited). Player messages which have already been aknowledged by the host file may *not* be further edited, even if written by you. Player messages which have not yet gone out to the host may not be replied to (but may be edited).

9) Feature Modification: The Overlay Surface has been broken into smaller interlocking parts.
-- In much the same way the main map has been split up, the overlay surface has also had the same modification. This is to preserve video memory and bring the program into compliance with some older video card's limitations.

10) Feature Modification: The Overly Surface texture resolution was increased by 4 fold.
-- Again, in the same manner the main map surface was reworked. Note that we currently do not have any active systems using the Overlay Surface (the movement paths *were* on them, but were moved off with this build). The surface will be used for player borders, territory, and city influence shadings. For now, you'll just have to take our word for it for items 9 and 10

11) Feature Improvement: New Tech Blurbs added.
-- Several of the techs have gotten new tech blurbs on the research screen. With thanks to Chris Subach, who wrote parts of them.

12) Feature Improvement: Open Economy Routines.
-- Resource Icons will now regenerate resources in the manner described under "Open Economy" in the game creation screen. Note that games created using the "Closed Economy" mode will, for now, use the Open Economy routines (until we can finish the Closed Economy routines).

13) Feature Improvement: All icons (stack, resource, and city) were moved to individual surfaces.
-- This helps preserve video memory space, and will (hopefully) allow better compatability with certain video cards.

14) Game Balance: Most Template Component costs were adjusted.
-- Template Component costs should now make some sense. No longer will your bow cost Mana Crystals to build!

15) Feature Improvement: New resource - Copper.
-- A new resource has been added to the game, the first metal. For new games, this resource is placed and treated like any other, and is considered a "common" resource.
** For current games, the resource is placed on the map more randomly. It may very well end up in the oceans or other inappropriate places. Games created under the new patch will not have this problem, but those playing in games created under previous versions will just have to live with it. There is no way for us to intelligently place the resources once the game creation phase has been completed.

16) Feature Improvement: Combat Test functions have been removed.
-- In preperation for making this screen active, the testing functions were taken out.

17) Feature Improvement: Empty Stacks are now removed from the main map.
-- It should now no longer be possible to click on an empty stack, causing an AV error, as they are promptly removed from the game.

18) Feature Improvement: New Movement Paths
-- The large ugly lines that showed movement were removed and replaced. The new paths are animated and have progress bars, showing where the location of the stack will appear after each turn generation.

========Other Notes==============
A text file has been provided with this build. This is sort of a mini-tutorial on how to set up and play a game. If you are unfamiliar with how to play MD, or how PBEM games work, please read over this file.

========Known Bugs===============
There are still several outstanding issues with the new movement paths. They do not always connect properly, leaving gaps between themselves. Further, for stacks with more than one waypoint, it is possible for the progress bars to be inaccurate. The progress bars from the stack to the first waypoint should *always* be accurate, however. After that, you should take them with a grain of salt. In addition, a few "rouge" movement path tiles appear from time to time. We are working on these issues now.

The fonts on the message tree do not always appear properly. This has something to do with the highlight line. Run the cursor from the top of the first message all the way down, and they should appear correctly, with the exception of the final message title. For now, you should be careful about checking your messages for new items, until we can stabilize this feature.
======================================

That's it for this one. I must say *thank god* that one is finished, it was a very difficult build

For the next version, we will work on outstanding bug issues with the movement lines and messaging system, as well as any other new bugs that might have appeared with this release.

Combat is going to be our next big item, and in preperation for it, the Unit Workshop will recieve a fair bit of overhauling. Look for significant changes in that subsytem for our next patch.

Until then.

Ron
--
Creation is an act of sheer will
Manifest Destiny -- The Race for World Domination http://www.RJCyberware.com
news:alt.games.mdestiny

**RonHiler** · May 6, 2001, 16:49

Version 0.4.4.259 Build / Designer Notes:

The [only slightly late] weekly build is here once again. More changes bringing us closer to a working combat system have arrived. A number of bugs were fixed on the new Diplomacy screen. A few other things. Lets get to it.

================================================
How to Patch if you have a game in progress:

There were no major changes to the file system which would cause any problems with this release. All files from version 0.4.0.198 or higher are completely compatable with 0.4.4.256. You may feel free to update your game in any order without worry of corrupting the files.

The host must upgrade before being able to process any turns in which a player has added one of the new techs to their research queue (from the 243 build). Failure to do so will cause errors.
=============================================

Here are the notes for this version. The format for these release notes are as follows:
1) A brief description of the change/fix.
-- Where needed, a brief discussion of how this change affects new games.
** A discussion on how this change will affect ongoing games, if different than new games.

=======ALPHA BUILD 0.4.4.259=========================
A new build has been made available, and can be found on the download page (at the bottom of the page under "Weekly Builds", 1895 KB) . You will need an unzipper program to decompress the program files.

Version 0.4.4.259 Build Notes:

1) Feature Change: Armor values are now single number values.
-- Previously, they were represented as dice rolls (ie 3D5+2). They have now been converted to a single number value (ie 12) as the weapons were in the last build. We thought the dice roll thing was a little to role-playish.

2) Bug Fix: The Diplomacy Screen now displays proper From: and To: values for all messages in the message header.
-- Although all messages were being sent to the correct players, the "From" and "To:" display was not correctly showing on the reciever's side. This could cause confusion as to who recieved which messages.

3) Bug Fix: The Diplomacy Screen Reply Button now will reply to the proper players.
-- Note that you can override the default values by changing the check boxes, as you would in a normal message send.

4) Feature Improvement: The animation timer has been optimized. The front screen controls will be less sluggish now.
-- I'm still not entirely happy with the responsiveness of the front screen, but it is better than it was. We will continue to tweak it.

5) Feature Expansion: All units have been given, in addition to the visibility radius, two new radii. The first is the Combat Radius, and the second is the Reaction Radius. All three of these Radii are inherited by the stack or city in which they live.
-- If an enemy unit enters into the combat radius of a stack, combat will commence. If a combat begins within the reaction radius of a stack, and one of the participants is a friendly stack, the stack will move to join the combat. Since combat is not yet functional, these radii don't have any effect yet. But they are a current stat of the stack. Currently, all units have equal Radii (10/15/30 for Combat/Reaction/Visibility respectively), however, this will be changed in the near future.

6) Feature Improvement: Stack Radii can now be shown on the main map.
-- Radii are shown as three concentric dotted circles surrounding the stack. The Combat Radius is shown in red, the Reaction Radius in yellow, and the Visibility Radius in green. Radii displays can be shut off with a new speed button under the main map.

7) Cosmetic: The front main screen has been "Skinned".
-- Our current skin is a stone age skin. Others will be introduced and will be placed on the screens based on technologies known by the player. They will also make their way to the other screens.

8) Bug Fix: Speed buttons under the main map are reset when a game is loaded.
-- Previously, loading another game after closing one could cause problems if the buttons were not in their default positions. This has been fixed.

========Other Notes==============
A text file has been provided with this build. This is sort of a mini-tutorial on how to set up and play a game. If you are unfamiliar with how to play MD, or how PBEM games work, please read over this file.

========Known Bugs===============
There are still several outstanding issues with the new movement paths. They do not always connect properly, leaving gaps between themselves. Further, for stacks with more than one waypoint, it is possible for the progress bars to be inaccurate. The progress bars from the stack to the first waypoint should always be accurate, however. After that, you should take them with a grain of salt. In addition, a few "rouge" movement path tiles appear from time to time. We are working on these issues now.

The fonts on the message tree do not always appear properly. This has something to do with the highlight line. Run the cursor from the top of the first message all the way down, and they should appear correctly, with the exception of the final message title. For now, you should be careful about checking your messages for new items, until we can stabilize this feature.
======================================

Okay, hopefully next week's build will be on time. I will continue to move toward getting combat functional, and I hope that in the next build you will see some concrete results of that work.

Until next week.

Ron Hiler
Lead Programmer
R&J Cyberware

**RonHiler** · May 13, 2001, 17:33

Version 0.4.4.298 Build / Designer Notes:

Hey look, I'm on time!!

This week's build notes are really short. Since I'm mainly working on the combat AI routines, most of the changes are internal, and don't yet have much effect on the appearance of the game. But the good news is they have finally begun to show concrete results. I'll get to that. Here are the notes.

================================================
How to Patch if you have a game in progress:

There were no major changes to the file system which would cause any problems with this release. All files from version 0.4.0.198 or higher are completely compatable with 0.4.4.298. You may feel free to update your game in any order without worry of corrupting the files.

The host must upgrade before being able to process any turns in which a player has added one of the new techs to their research queue (from the 243 build). Failure to do so will cause errors.
=============================================

Here are the notes for this version. The format for these release notes are as follows:
1) A brief description of the change/fix.
-- Where needed, a brief discussion of how this change affects new games.
** A discussion on how this change will affect ongoing games, if different than new games.

=======ALPHA BUILD 0.4.4.298=========================
A new build has been made available, and can be found on the download page (at the bottom of the page under "Weekly Builds", 916 KB) . You will need an unzipper program to decompress the program files.

Version 0.4.4.298 Build Notes:

1) New Feature: The Espionage Screen makes it's debut.
-- The first pass at adding espionage functions to the game have arrived. These additions are based on discussions from our forum. The screen is accessable from any city screen (and therefore you must have founded at least one city to get to it). The screen itself is basically a mock-up. There is nothing very functional about it, and it has no effect on gameplay at this point. The purpose of adding this screen now is to solidify the abstract discussions about espionage from our discussion board. With an actual screen to work from, I hope to generate additional discussion on the specifics of the system, which will (with any luck) lead to having all of it's problems and changes worked out before major coding begins on it.

2) Feature Improvement: Combat units now understand the concept of "Safety" as regards to locations on the battle screen.
-- This may not seem like a big deal, but actually, it is huge. This is the first step (and probably the hardest) in teaching the units how to move intelligently during combat (and has some bearing on other actions a unit may take buring battle). They understand the danger they are in standing in the position they are at, and the danger at other locations on the map. They don't yet do anything about it, because they don't have the concept of moving learned yet. But at least they know what sort of danger they are in

3) Feature Improvement: The battle board can now display Positional Safety Potentials for either side.
-- This is not really for you guys, it's more of a testing/debugging function. Once you reach the battle board (from the Report|Combat menu on the main screen), you will see three new buttons under the combat map. One shows the unit positions (as normal). The other two shows either side's Safety Potentials (ie how safe a unit would feel at any given place on the board based on enemy position and range). The greener the spot, the safer they would feel, while redder means more danger. Eventually, this will be entirely internalized, and you won't see this part of the battle. But it will remain there until I'm convinced units are moving in an intelligent manner. You can reset the unit test placements with a fourth button on the board, as you like.

========Known Bugs===============
Same old bugs. I haven't gotten to these yet.

There are still several outstanding issues with the new movement paths. They do not always connect properly, leaving gaps between themselves. Further, for stacks with more than one waypoint, it is possible for the progress bars to be inaccurate. The progress bars from the stack to the first waypoint should always be accurate, however. After that, you should take them with a grain of salt. In addition, a few "rouge" movement path tiles appear from time to time. We are working on these issues now.

The fonts on the message tree do not always appear properly. This has something to do with the highlight line. Run the cursor from the top of the first message all the way down, and they should appear correctly, with the exception of the final message title. For now, you should be careful about checking your messages for new items, until we can stabilize this feature.
======================================

I told you it was short. Only three items! But they're big ones, especially the AI one. I think that the next build will show dynamic movement of the units in combat, as I will be teaching them the concept of movement. However, they still will have no inherent hostility toward the enemy units, so I'm not sure exactly how they will move! It will be interesting to see how they interpret movement with no particular motivation to move (except to stay in a safe place).

Until next week.

Ron Hiler
Lead Programmer
R&J Cyberware

**RonHiler** · June 3, 2001, 20:54

Alpha Version 0.4.4.364

Version 0.4.4.364 Build / Designer Notes:

Okay, gang, here is the build for this week.

Before I get started, I want to mention that there have been a number of changes to the combat screen. To make these changes and make sure everything was working, a test battle was set up. This battle has no relation to anything in the game. Player 1 and 2 on the combat board are not players 1 and 2 in the game, and the unit designs are not those player's designs. In fact, they are not even legal designs. They are just quick setup designs, they don't even bear much resemblance to the unit names. They're just the best designs to use for testing purposes. Fairly shortly, we'll be changing this code to use actual player designs and real battles. But for now, they are mock-ups.

================================================
How to Patch if you have a game in progress:

There were no major changes to the file system which would cause any problems with this release. All files from version 0.4.0.198 or higher are completely compatable with 0.4.4.364. You may feel free to update your game in any order without worry of corrupting the files.

The host must upgrade before being able to process any turns in which a player has added one of the new techs to their research queue (from the 243 build). Failure to do so will cause errors.
=============================================

Here are the notes for this version. The format for these release notes are as follows:
1) A brief description of the change/fix.
-- Where needed, a brief discussion of how this change affects new games.
** A discussion on how this change will affect ongoing games, if different than new games.

=======ALPHA BUILD 0.4.4.364=========================
A new build has been made available, and can be found on the download page (at the bottom of the page under "Weekly Builds", 970 KB) . You will need an unzipper program to decompress the program files.

Version 0.4.4.364 Build Notes:

1) Bug Fix: Fonts repaired on the Mail Screen.
-- You will now be able to tell at a glance the status of any message sent to you by other players (or written by you). The title of all messages are shown on the message tree. If a message title is in Bold font, it means this is a newly sent message from another player (note that the host program will continue sending you messages that you have not yet acknowledged, even if they are several turns old. They will stay bold until acknowledged by you. You acknowledge sent messages by returning a save file to the host). Messages which are in Italic font are new messages written by you, which have not yet been sent out to the host. These messages may be edited by you until sent off for distribution. The final type of font, regular, means this is an old message that you have already aknowledged (and presumably already read).

2) Bug Fix: The Message Tree is no longer accessable for choosing a message if you have a message in progress.
-- This prevents certain AV error situations. You must "Send" or "Cancel" the message you are writing before you can look at other messages.

3) Bug Fix: When replying to a message, the reply is highlighted on the Message Tree.
-- Previously the message being replied to was left highlighted, which could cause confusion. This is no longer the case.

4) Feature Improvement: The main menu on the front page is no longer held up by the animation timer.
-- The menus should work at full speed now.

5) Feature Improvement: All player designs involved in combat are stored in the Battle Report.
-- The Battle Report is sent out to players until they acknowledge reciept of it (much like player messages are). If a player deletes a design in the meantime, this could cause problems. Now all designs are stored seperately in the Battle Report at the time the battle is generated.

6) Feature Improvement: All Player units involved in combat are stored in the Battle Report.
-- For much the same reason as the designs.

7) Feature Addition: All units involved in a combat are now listed in list boxes on the combat screen by name.
-- This will probably also be expanded to show health and status a bit later on.

8) Feature Addition: Unit Designs are now shown on the combat screen.
-- Click on the name of any unit in the list boxes, and you will be able to see it's design parameters, including what template the unit uses, and any components it carries (as well as how many of them). Very shortly, we will add more stats about the selected unit on this part of the combat screen (such as health, experience, status, morale, all the usual things you need to know during battle).

========Known Bugs===============
At least this list is now a bit shorter...

There are still several outstanding issues with the new movement paths. They do not always connect properly, leaving gaps between themselves. Further, for stacks with more than one waypoint, it is possible for the progress bars to be inaccurate. The progress bars from the stack to the first waypoint should always be accurate, however. After that, you should take them with a grain of salt. In addition, a few "rouge" movement path tiles appear from time to time. We are working on these issues now.

The "Edit" function on the Mail screen is still causing some problems. I'm working on it

======================================

Plans for next time: I'd like to get more interactivity out of the combat screen by next build, allowing the players to use the VCR controls to examine the battles. In addition, I will add those stats to the combat screen as I talked about above. And, of course, work on the AI continues...

Until next week.

Ron Hiler
Lead Programmer
R&J Cyberware

**RonHiler** · June 15, 2001, 23:02

Version 0.4.4.379 Build / Designer Notes:

Depending on your point of view, we are either quite late or somewhat early

This build fixes a few bugs, and adds in the framework for the Leader subsystem. Here it is...

================================================
How to Patch if you have a game in progress:

There were no major changes to the file system which would cause any problems with this release. All files from version 0.4.0.198 or higher are completely compatable with 0.4.4.379. You may feel free to update your game in any order without worry of corrupting the files.

The host must upgrade before being able to process any turns in which a player has added one of the new techs to their research queue (from the 243 build). Failure to do so will cause errors.
=============================================

Here are the notes for this version. The format for these release notes are as follows:
1) A brief description of the change/fix.
-- Where needed, a brief discussion of how this change affects new games.
** A discussion on how this change will affect ongoing games, if different than new games.

=======ALPHA BUILD 0.4.4.379=========================
A new build has been made available, and can be found on the download page (at the bottom of the page under "Weekly Builds", 983 KB) . You will need an unzipper program to decompress the program files.

Version 0.4.4.379 Build Notes:

1) Bug Fix: Resource and Owner labels fixed.
-- Previously, after the game first loads, the resource panel had two labels which were not initializing properly, and showed default values. These have been fixed, and now properly reflect the stats of the highlighted resource on the map, if any.

2) Bug Fix: The Mail Screen will no longer give an AV error when a message recipient option is chosen from the radio buttons while the player is creating a new message.
-- Previously, if a player attempted to use the radio buttons to set the To: fields for a message they were creating, an AV error would result. This would lead to a chain reaction causing multiple AV errors on the mail screen, until the screen was closed. This should now be fixed.

3) Bug Fix: The Mail Screen now properly shows To: fields
-- Under certain rare circumstances, the To: fields for messages were not updating properly. This should now be fixed.

4) Bug Fix: The Orders Menu will now properly appear.
-- Due to a bug with the animation timer, the Orders panel was being drawn over before the player could use it, making it impossible to found new cities. This has been repaired.

5) New Game Creation Option: The Host can now set how many "Aquirable Leaders" will appear in the game per player, when creating new games.
-- The host can set anywhere from 0 to 35 Leaders, which each player may aquire during the course of the game. These Leaders are linked to technologies. If a player researches one of these "tagged" technologies, they will be given a new Leader.
** For games in progress created with versions prior to this one, it will be as if the host had set 0 aquirable Leaders. No new Leaders will be given out in such games.

6) New Player Message: New Leader has joined your cause.
-- If the player has researched a "tagged" technology, they will be given a message alerting them to the fact that a new leader has become available.

7) New Screen: Activate Leader Screen.
-- When a player is given a new Leader, that Leader goes into the "Inactive pool". To activate the Leader, the player needs to give them a name, title, location, etc. The Leader Screen (accessed from the main screen menu) now has a new button which will tell the player how many inactive Leaders are in the pool. If this number is greater than 0, players can use this button to access the Leader activation screen. This screen allows them to set the new Leader's parameters. This screen, while active, does not yet allow the player to save their settings. Players can only "Cancel" out of this screen.

========Known Bugs===============
All the same issues as before. I haven't yet managed to get to the bugs in this list, so check the previous build notes to see the list of known issues.

======================================
I've added a game file which is a few turns into the action, for those of you who want to play with the new routines without having to mess around with all that game creation stuff. You won't be able to generate new turns (because I have not included the host file), but at least you can take a look at how the new stuff will work.

Plans for next time: I probably should stop trying to predict what will be done for the next build. It seems it never turns out to be what I think it will

I have often said that this project tends to tell me what it needs rather than me deciding what needs to be done next. Still, I suppose I have give it some attempt. There are some obvious items. The "aquired" Leaders which are activated need to be saved so the player has the ability to use them. Once we have new Leaders, we need to be able to give them skills, which will take a few modifications to the city build queues, not to mention adding some new technologies to the research trees. And those new skills need to do something, so I will implement as many of them as I can.

And for those of you waiting on combat functionality, don't panic! Work still progresses on the combat AI routines.

So until next time.

Ron
_________________
"So Brain, what do you want to do today?"
"Same thing we do every day, Pinky. Try to take over the world!"

**RonHiler** · July 22, 2001, 18:27

Version 0.4.4.538 Build / Designer Notes:

Okay, this one is going to be long. Partly becuase it's been five weeks since our last release, meaning there have been a huge number of changes, and partly because there is a new rule set for Leaders, which I will go through. The change log will come first, and the new rules will be at the end.

Many of the changes are transparent, meaning you won't notice a difference. For that reason, there is a more than usual possibility for bugs to have snuck into this release, even though it may not seem a system has changed. If you come across a bug that is not listed in our known bugs thread, please contact me and let me know about it.

================================================
A note about games in progress:

The file system underwent some major overhauls with this release. I regret to say that any games in progress cannot use the new build. Most files will not load. Those that do are prone to strange behavior. Please do not report bugs that occur when using old files. I am aware of them, but there is simply nothing I can do about it. For best results, generate all new game files starting with this build. This includes race files.
=============================================

Here are the notes for this version. The format for these release notes are as follows:
1) A brief description of the change/fix.
-- Where needed, a brief discussion of how this change affects new games.
** A discussion on how this change will affect ongoing games, if different than new games.

=======ALPHA BUILD 0.4.4.538=========================
A new build has been made available, and can be found on the download page (at the bottom of the page under "Weekly Builds", 1020 KB) . You will need an unzipper program to decompress the program files.

Version 0.4.4.538 Build Notes:

1) Feature Improvement: Your Primary Leader's title may now be set as either a prefix or a suffix in the Race Wizard.
-- This allows for a more dynamic title system, making things like "Lord Baratheon" or "Baratheon the Bold" possible.

2) Graphics: Several new graphics have appeared, along with a couple of replacements.
-- Replacement Graphics include new Stone and Copper icons (thanks Nath!). New graphics include Simple bow, Composite bow, and a "Scroll" background (for Leader technologies).

3) New Research Items: We have added fifteen new technologies to accomodate three Leader skills.
-- We have added five levels of technology for each of three new Leader skills, Builder, Scientist, and Scout. Each level of technology will add 20% max level for training Leaders (see Leader rules, below). Note that some of the technologies have not yet been named. If you can come up with an appropriate name for them, let us know!

4) Feature Improvement: Graphics are now functional on the Research Screen.
-- You now will get a picture when you click on a technology. For techs that give you resources, this will be the same graphic used on the main map. For techs that give you unit components, it will be the same graphic used in the unit workshop screen. For Leader skills, it will be a scroll background (which eventually will have a foreground added to it). For those without graphics yet, it will show up as a default blank unit component button.

5) Feature Improvement: The Leader Screen can now scroll through all individual Leaders belonging to the civ.
-- You can examine the level of training each of your Leaders possess using this screen. All Leaders (except the Primary Leader) will start with no skills, and must be trained in cities prior to using them.

6) New Features: Three new Leader skills have been implemented.
-- In addition the Settler skill given to the Primary Leader (which allowed a player to found a Gathering Place), we have added three new functional skills to the game, Builder, Scientist, and Scout. See the Leader's Rules section below for a complete description of these skills.

7) New Feature: Leader Activation is now functional.
-- If you happen to attract the notice of a new Leader, he/she/it will go into the inactive Leader pool. Hitting the "Inactive Leaders" button will bring up a screen, where you will give the new Leader a name, title, sex, and a starting location. Once this request gets back to the host, the new Leader will join your cause on the next turn, ready for training.

8) Feature Improvement: The Possible City Production Queue has now been color coded.
-- Unit Designs which can be built appear in black, as before. Leader skill training options appear in green.

9) New Feature: Leader Training.
-- If you have a Leader who has less than the maximum possible points in any given skill (based on your known technologies) in a city, you will be able to train that Leader in that skill. Simply move the skill from the Possible Production Queue over to the Production Queue. See the Leader's Rules below for more information.

======================================
I've added a game file which is a few turns into the action, for those of you who want to play with the new routines without having to mess around with all that game creation stuff. You won't be able to generate new turns (because I have not included the host file), but at least you can take a look at how the new stuff will work.

======================================
Leader Rules

Leaders are basically a whole new subsystem in the game. They are fairly complex, and require some explanation on how they work, and how you can best use them to your advantage during a game. Some of this information is old, but it is probably worth going over for those new to the game.

The Primary Leader
You define your Primary Leader when you create your race, in the Race Wizard. A Primary Leader enters the game in turn 1. He, she, or it will know the Settler skill, and have a 10% skill level with the other three skills, Scientist, Builder, and Scout.

Getting New Leaders
Under certain circumstances, it is possible to aquire new Leaders. What are those circumstances? During the initial setup of the game, the host will choose how many additional Leaders can be aquired by the players (from 0-35). Whatever this number is (say 20), that number of technologies are randomly "tagged" (note that though the techs are randomly determined, they will be the same for all players in any given game). Players are not informed as to what these tagged technologies are, but must discover them as they play. If you happen to research a tagged technology, you will be informed that a new Leader has joined your cause. New Leaders are placed in the inactive leader pool until activated by the player.

Activating Leaders
Inactive Leaders must be named and given a starting location prior to being ready to use. You can see how many inactive Leaders are attached to your civ from the Leader screen. Hitting the "Inactive Leader" button will take you to the screen where you will activate your new Leader. Simply fill in the blanks and hit "Accept". The request must first go back out to the host. On your next turn, you will see your new Leader in the city you have chosen for his/her/its starting location.

Leader Technologies
Like any other technology in the game, Leader technologies must be researched before you can use them. Currently, there are fifteen technologies associated with the three Leader skills. Each level of technology will add 20% to the maximum level you can train a Leader in for that skill. For example, if you research "City Planning", which is the first technology associated with the Builder Skill, you can train your Leaders up to a max of 20% in Builder. Researching the second technology will allow you to go to 40%, and so on.

Training Leaders
All Leaders, except the Primary Leader, start with no known skills, and must be trained (the Primary Leader is unusual in that he, she, or it starts with the Settler Skill (a skill only the Primary Leader can have), and 10% in Builder, Scientist, and Scout. The Primary Leader actually knows these skills even before you've researched them, just one of the many amazing things about your Primary Leader!). Any Leader in a city that has less than the maximum possible skill levels known can be trained. Skills will automatically appear for each Leader in the "Possible Production Queue" box. Move these skills to the Production Queue to begin training, the same as you would to build a unit. Note that if you get "partial credit" for a skill (meaning your Leader is being trained, but you did not quite have enough PPs to finish the training), you remain at the lower level. If you leave the Leader in the city, they continue the training. But if they leave, they lose their partial credit, and must start over from the level they are at (for example, suppose a Leader has Builder 42% and is training in Builder 43%, which costs 1290 PPs. They train for a couple of turns, getting credit for 850 PPs, leaving only 440 PPs remaining until they advance. As long as the Leader stays put, he/she/it keeps the partial credit. But if he/she/it leaves the city prior to getting the remaining 440 PPs, the partial credit is lost. When the Leader returns for more training, he/she/it must start back at 1290 PPs again to get to 43%).

Note that the higher the skill level, the more it's going to cost. In addition, there is a "miniturization" effect, whereby the higher technology level you know, the less a skill will cost at a given level. If you know only one tech of the Builder skill, it will cost more to get the 10% level skill than it would to get the same level if you know all five of the technologies.

Skills and Their Effects
There are four skills currently in the game.

Settler - This can only be known by the Primary Leader. It allows the Leader to found a Gathering Place. This skill may only be used if the Civ has NO other cities on the map. No other Leader may ever learn this skill.

Builder - A Leader in a city will add to the city's Production Points every turn they are there, using a formula of 1 point per skill level. If your Leader has Builder 20%, you will get an extra 20 points in any city where that Leader is residing. Note that this skill is not cumulative. Only the Leader with the highest skill level will affect the total Production Points for any given city. Having two Leaders in a single city with this skill does not give any more points than having just the one with the greater skill level. For best results, spread Leaders with this skill around to your different cities.

Scientist - Leaders with the Scientist skill will add to the civ's total Research Points every turn. The formula used depends on where the Leader is. Leaders in cities will add one point to the Research Point pool per level of skill they have (ie Scientist 20% will add 20 points to the RPs). Leaders in stacks cannot be as effective in their research, and have that total cut in half (ie Scientist 20% will add 10 points to the RPs). The Scientist skill is cumulative across all your Leaders, irregardless of their concentration in cities.

Scout - The scout skill increases the range that a stack or a city can see, in a 1:1 percentage with their skill level. For instance, a city with a Leader with a Scout skill of 20% can see 20% further than a city without such a Leader. Like the Builder skill, the Scout skill is not cumulative. Note that currently, all units and cities are set to a visual range of 30. A Leader with a 20% skill would increase this to 36. In the future, units will be given varaible visual ranges, so this skill will become a lot more dynamic.
======================================

Well, there you go, a whole new subsystem to play around with. In the future, we will add in new Leader skills. But the basic system is in place, so new skills won't be such a big deal. Leaders are basically fully functional with this release, except for what happens to them in combat. We'll deal with that when combat goes functional (soon hopefully).

So until next time.

Ron

**RonHiler** · October 13, 2001, 18:29

Version 0.4.4.647 Build / Designer Notes:

This one is all about combat and the associated artificial intellegence control that goes along with it. We have no less than four neural nets just for controlling combat. Only 1.5 of them are finished, so combat AI is not functional yet. Unfortunately, AI is very complex and time consuming work, and there are no results that have any effect on the game until it is complete. But we are getting there!

There has been a lot of discussion about the problem cyclical combat initiation on our forums. Note that while we have a solution to this problem, it first requires that combat be fully functional to implement. For now, we just have to live with the inconvenience of this quirk.

================================================
Games in progress:

I have to recommend that you start completely new games with this build rather than try to load old files. They may work, but I wouldn't count on it. In particular, a certain variable was changed in the play files from an integer to a float. This may or may not load properly from old files. You can try it if you like, but do so at your own risk

Race files should be fine from the last build.
=============================================

Here are the notes for this version. The format for these release notes are as follows:
1) A brief description of the change/fix.
-- Where needed, a brief discussion of how this change affects new games.

=======ALPHA BUILD 0.4.4.647=========================
A new build has been made available, and can be found on the download page (at the bottom of the page under "Weekly Builds", 2281 KB) . You will need an unzipper program to decompress the program files.

Version 0.4.4.647 Build Notes:

1) Feature Improvement: Stacks now show speed.
-- The front screen has a speed bar for the active stack (below it's health bar). This bar will now accurately show if a stack is moving or not. Currently, if the stack is moving, it will show 100%. Otherwise it will show 0%. Current stack speeds are hard-coded at 30. These will later be changed to allow player-set slower movement and variable max speeds for different unit types.

2) New Feature: Combat Initiation.
-- If a stack moves into combat range of another stack (as evidenced by the red circle surrounding the stack), it will initiate combat (if they belong to different players). Combat takes place simultaneously with movement. Stacks in combat do not move during their phase (there are 100 phases per host generated turn). A message is sent to all participating players.

3) New Feature: Combat Resolution.
-- Goes along with 2, stacks will exit combat. Currently stacks should exit combat at an average of 5 phases into combat. Stacks involved in combat when the movement phases end (ie after phase 100) will complete their combat and exit, ending their turn. A message is sent to each of the players who were involved in the combat letting them now the combat ended.

4) New Graphics
-- We have quite a number of new graphics in place. These include replacements for some of our placeholder graphics, new unit component icons, and new technology tree icons. I want to especially thank Shane and Aniruddh for their contributions (guys, make sure all your icons got in and that I didn't miss any).

======================================
A pretty short build-notes set, considering the length of time that has passed since our last release, but a vast majority of that time was spent on AI coding, so don't judge me too harshly

I've added a complete set of game files which illustrate the current combat routines. Open player 1 or 4 if you want to see them working. This is an entire game set, including host file, history files, race files, and the whole nine yards. You can continue this game from where it's at, if you like.

Combat initiation and resolution messages are very non-descriptive at this point. They will change in the near future. Currently they are providing information for the programmer and testers to insure everything is working properly. Once this is established, they will be changed to be more "in-game" type messages.

Plans for next time: I'm going to suspend the AI coding for a week in order to deal with a few game mechanics issues that need to be resolved, such as the stack variable speed thing, unknown unit designs, that sort of stuff. The next build, therefore, will be both more timely, and have more visible content.

So until next time.

Ron

**Darkknight** · December 22, 2001, 19:56

Terrain Roads and Building animation art...

Attached Files

mdart.zip (51.0 KB, 164 views)

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Manifest Destiny - Alpha Build

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