Global Contention Alpha .6

[neonext]

Global Contention Alpha has been discontinued due to lack of support.

There is simply no way for me to make a multiplayer game without any players.

[neonext]

Revisions since 0.45

- Fixed many tech tree bugs, tech research now makes much more sense, but still needs improvement.
- Added aircraft (including increased shroud oncovering range, sounds, restriction on taking cities, restrictions on what can attack what, ai usage).
- Added restrictions on what can attack what for land units.
- Increased shroud uncover range for aircraft.
- Fixed bug where units other than settlers could build cities.
- Fixed bug where settler would die if unsuccessful in building a city (however AI players will still kill off extra settlers).
- Fixed drawing of multiple units in one tile. The game will now show a single unit per tile, with a counter showing how many additional units are located there. The priorities for selecting what unit to show is: Selected units first, then Defending units (units involved in battle), then Best defending unit (the unit that will defend that tile first if attacked).
- Fixed bug where land ownership (as seen with political map turned on) wouldn't be taken away for cities that are destroyed.
- Changed grid display so that it is drawn over political map tiles.
- Updated in-game help to show the kill unit key ('k')
- Fixed unit defense so that the unit with the highest defense will defend first if multiple units are in a tile.
- Added highways and circuit links (future form of highways), including actual move cost adjustment and pathfinding adjustments.
- Added automatic, instant upgrading of all roads within territory you own into their more advanced versions when you research the required tech. In addition, all roads that you build within your own territory instantly become that level of road (outside your territory you will have to build roads, then highways, then circuit links).
- Fixed a lot of random start location placement bugs, and made it so that all start locations are properly placed a minimum distance apart and also a minimum distance from the map edges.
- Fixed a bug which would make a user or AI player unable to select any new units if the unit they were using at the time was destroyed.
- Added starting age option, which basically gives you free techs until the age you specify (only the host player may set this option).
- Fixed AI aircraft pathfinding so it isn't affected by roads.
- Fixed AI pathfind and goto pathfinding so that it is affected by the location of units and cities you do not control. In the future this will be upgraded to support tile sharing by allies, but many other things have to be upgraded as well for that feature to work correctly.
- Barracks now work properly (heals unit in city with lowest amount of hitpoints by a % every interval, which is currently set to 3 seconds).
- Added new unit: Mobile AA. Can only be used against air targets, but is very effective and can still occupy undefended cities.
- Added transport ability for aircraft. The helicopter can now be used to transport 2 infantry, or one mobile unit. Helicopters come with 2 infantry already on board.
- Added new unit: Transport Helicopter. Can store up to 4 infantry, or 2 infantry and 1 mobile unit, or 2 mobile units. Transport helicopters currently come with 4 infantry already on board.
- Added unloading ability for aircraft. (paradropping).
- Added AI's use of air transport unloading, including searching for a drop zone when carrying troops.
- AI settlers no longer build roads in the same tile that they will be building a city in.
- Cities are now correctly displayed based on size and era.
- Units are no longer drawn over cities, instead a flag is shown indicating that the city has troops defending it. This can be toggled off and on using the 'F5' key.
- Production is now increased by population.
- The amount of food needed for popluation increase has been lowered, increasing the growth rate. (necessary at least until tile improvements are added).
- Added new unit: Mobile SAM (surface to air missile launcher). Cannot attack land units, but has great anti-air attacking abilities, plus it can take and defend cities.
- Changed city defense rules so that aircraft could not block land units from taking the city. All aircraft based in cities are now vulnerable to attack by all land forces.
- Added mouse move mode. You can click around the map with the right mouse button to scroll the map, and it will stop centering on your unit until you press the center unit key ('keypad 5'). This means you can finally change build orders while fighting a distant war in low res.
- Added ability to select units on the map by clicking them. This clears all orders, so if the unit is fortified or in goto mode, it will revert to standby and will be selected if 1) it's countdown is ready and 2) you are not attacking with another unit.
- AI players now send their fortified obsolete units off to die.
- You can now center on battles occuring in which your units are in involved with the 'c' key.
- Completely re-wrote random map generator. Units are now placed properly and terrain is generated much more realisticly now, with user controlled settings for terrain placement (world temperature etc).
- Fixed all graphical issues with coastline drawing.
- Added basic diplomacy support, including 7 different treaty statuses and user messaging system.
- Changed AI negotionations so that the AI will only possibly suggest treaties every minute or so.
- Added attitude system similar to MoO2, where each AI player has an attitude towards each civ, and different things add or subtract from that rating. There are many things that change the rating, and a full list will be made available.
- Added support for map size loading and all aspects related to map size compatibility.
- Fixed start location placement so that the minimum range for placing starts is based on map size.
- Fixed bug where AI settlers would just sit there if they couldn't build their first city where they
were started.
- Fixed AI settlers so that they don't build a road on the way to their first city.
- Updated map editor to show correct terrain, including on minimap. Also updated map editor to show units, for coming scenario support.
- Fixed graphical bug that caused different colored tile drawing off the map.
- Got rid of "Wait for Lobby" connection option and added an option to start a single player game. Note that this is a work-around that will still use a network protocal to set the game up, but you won't have to deal with all the dialog boxes that pop-up for the connection, and all open slots will be filled with AI players.
- Added the ability to press space bar at the title screen to jump straight to a "single player game", as noted above.
- Fixed many transparency problems with the new unit graphics.
- Added drawing of mini-map, with 3 different zoom levels. Minimap is drawn with top-down perspective, so keep in mind that north on the minimap will be towards the top left corner (this is pretty obvious though when you see the whole map's climate patterns). Drawing of the biggest minimaps might cause the game to run slower on older systems, although the minimap can be turned off and on with the 'F6' key.
- Fixed region calculations (for terrain type placement in random map generation) to account for different map sizes.
- Fixed land width calculations (for random map generation) to be based on different map sizes.
- Fixed AI defending so that AI players will only send out obsolete units to die if the amount of non-obsolete units defending the city is at least 2.
- Increased amount of cities each civ can have active at a time to 32, and the number of units each civ can have active at a time to 96.
- Added saving of scenarios for map/scenario editor and loading of scenarios for the game. Fixed lots of issues regarding scenario handling.
- Fixed issue where AI units that do not start out in cities will go into defense mode.
- Fixed bug where units could attack units that were already ingaged in battle.
- Fixed pathfinding bug regarding the use of aircraft over water.
- Added support for team locking (necessary for scenarios, but will be an option for normal games).
- Added game setup option "Auto-Upgrade Roads". This will control whether or not roads will be instantly upgraded in each civ's own territory.
- Got rid of "Accelerated Production" option and added "Production Slow/Medium/Fast" option. Slow = -50% production/research, Medium = normal production/research, Fast = +50% production/research.
- Added listing of civ names in game setup menu.
- Added buttons for switching which civ you would like to play as.
- Added Diplomacy/Treaty setup menu for scenario editor, included easy-to-use drop down boxes.
- Added the following items to the game/setup menu: Turn Clock (in seconds), Base Move Counter, Unit Heal %, Lock Teams, Can Build Settlers, Can Take Bases, # of Starting Settlers, Land Mass Size, World Temperature, and Map Width/Height.
- Removed rule that restricted units from attacking a unit that was already ingaged in combat. You and your allies can now "gang up" on units by attacking them at the same time from different angles. (and the same angle when tile sharing is implemented!)
- Fixed bug where friendly civs would steal your undefended cities if they had planned on building a city there.
- Fixed bug where AI helicopters would drop off its troopers in friendly territory.
- Added ability to set available civs to pick for scenarios.
- Allied civs now share shroud uncovering.
- Fixed issue where units would be selected too quickly after a move was completely, often times resulting in unwanted moves.
- Fixed auto-centering bug (no response on left side).
- Battle sounds are no longer heard for tiles under shroud.
- Added Airports, Universities, Research Labs, Sewers, Land Fils, and Factories.
- Fixed transports so that they come loaded with Robotic Infantry when you have researched Advanced Robotics.
- Fixed problem with having to switch to fullscreen to initialize the sound. To get sound in windowed mode you used to have to switch to fullscreen and then back to windowed, now the program correctly initializes the sound when you first get to the game setup menu.
- Added ability to click the mini-map to center the view on a location (both in-game and in scenario editor).
- City build orders for units are now upgraded when obsolete.
- Production is now slightly decreased based on the number of cities you control.
- Added small white percentage bars for city sizes (food supply) and unit production, so you can tell when cities will increase in size and when construction will finish on the unit/structure it is building.
- Various cost adjustments for units and city structures. Also increased research cost factor to account for higher city cap and added research structures.
- Added ability to change/save civ names in scenario editor.
- Added user's diplomacy actions.
- Fixed drawing of city numbers above 9.
- Added ability to set city/base size numbers in scenario editor.
- Added control of base spawns and spawn counter.
- Increased shroud brightness, so that you can tell where the map edges are when shroud is on.
- Settlers are no longer placed on the map for uncontrolled civs.
- Civs that don't start are no longer listed in the diplomacy screen.
- Added "Scenario Saved" message in scenario editor so the user knows that a save is made.
- Added the ability of attacking an empty city with aircraft for a chance in decreasing the city population. Cities can actually be destroyed this way, though I'm not sure if I will keep it this way.
- Added explosions.
- Fixed some problems with multiple unit combat and unit spawning.
- Added political mini-map, where terrain is all dark and territory owned by civs is clearly defined (used by default now, since it's much better).
- Fixed bug where units would get stuck in combat mode when one of your other units died while you were fighting.
- Fixed bug where AI's would contact you when Lock Teams was turned on. Also, all treaties now default to war for random maps when Lock Teams is on.
- Fixed barracks so that they always heal at least one hit point. Also fixed problem Heal % menu option.
- Added messages for when civs are completely defeated.
- AI civs no longer make diplomatic actions after they have been eliminated.
- Fixed bug where AI's would only bomb city populations if they were at war with a civ.
- The "Can Build Settlers" option now works properly.
- Added "Lock Technologies" option. If this is selected, no further research is possible.
- Added ability to save starting techs in scenario and load them in the game. When used with the "Lock Technologies" option, the civ will only have those saved techs the entire game (necessary for scenarios).
- Added ability to save default options for Production, Turn Clock, Base Move Count, and Unit Heal Percentage in the scenario editor. The user can still adjust these options before he plays, but they will default to what you save in the editor for intended play.
- Added ability to save the options Lock Teams, Lock Techs, Can Build Settlers, and Can Take Bases in the scenario editor. These options cannot be adjusted by the user before he plays.
- Added ability to set and save the scenario name in the scenario editor.
- And of courese, Fixed many small misc bugs.

[neonext]

Asside from all the gameplay bugs, if anyone has problems, PLEASE let me know.

I will post the official bug list soon.

I hope you enjoy the new Global Contention.

Please post any comments or questions here.

[fuchs]

just took a look at your alpha 0.6
think it would be cool, if you could mark the active unit

[fuchs]

ah, i see, there is a marker in 16-Bit, sorry for that

[neonext]

I'm working on the MultiPlayer update for Global Contention now. This is the top priority, followed by remaining bugs and missing features from 0.6, then sea units. Other than that the to-do list is pretty wide open, and I will be starting a new wish list soon (as well as posting the official bug list).

Tonight will be especailly important for the multiplayer development, as there will be extensive in-house testing. I still need someone who lives within the continental United States to dedicate time for testing, not just one session but a lot of small sessions that fit into the development schedule (usually late night hours - plus I'm on the west coast). This will help decrease lag and other problem related to the jump from a LAN to the internet.

Even if you cannot help test, I wouldn't mind playing some GC with some of you when the multiplayer update is ready.

So who's down for some multiplayer action?

[neonext]

after some initial problems, the multiplayer testing went very well. GC is very playable in MP now, but there are still a number of issues to be resolved, mostly involving diplomacy in MP. Once these issues are done with, an update will be released.

[Nebula]

Some bugs :

Units do not move when you press the move key. You need to hold down the key for a little while.

When you have moved all your units and the counter goes down to zero the flickering square does not show on the next movable unit. (no way to know which unit you can move)

In battle of brittain all units on the screen are purple. This in oldwin mode and the other mode using 16 bit resolution.

my specs. Pentium 2-450, geforce 4mx440.

Great to see a new version btw.

[neonext]

Originally posted by Nebula
Units do not move when you press the move key. You need to hold down the key for a little while.

I think I have fixed this for the next version, so when the update is released please try it and let me know because I don't get that bug on my system.

When you have moved all your units and the counter goes down to zero the flickering square does not show on the next movable unit. (no way to know which unit you can move)

I haven't gotten any other reports about this, but there are some reasons this can happen. If you right click around the map, it won't auto-center on the selected unit until you press '5' on the keypad. Also, there is a bug where the blinking cursor won't be drawn when the selected unit is near or on the edge of the screen. Let me know if it's unrelated to those issues.

In battle of brittain all units on the screen are purple. This in oldwin mode and the other mode using 16 bit resolution.

Ok, that's really really strange. I have no idea about that one

my specs. Pentium 2-450, geforce 4mx440.
Great to see a new version btw.

Thanks, and BTW what OS are you using again?

[neonext]

some people have suggested a message to the player when a structure is completed in their empire.

there are 3 ways to do this:

1) send the message as an in-game chat message from an advisor in your empire.

2) send the message as a civ treaty-style message using the incoming messages button on the right

3) add a new type of message queue for these types of messages, and show them in a way similar to #2



if I had to pick, i would say #1, because the user can easily read what is happening on the screen without clicking all kinds of different places. also, this info will be on the media marquee when that is added, so this is until then

[Nebula]

My os is Win 98se.

I tested the game on 2 different computers both with win 98se

When I run in 32 bit mode the units all have a filled box around them - weird

[neonext]

yup, because it can't properly convert the colors in 32 bit mode. this game will work in 16 bit mode ONLY.

if you want to keep your desktop at 32 bit and still play, just play in fullscreen mode - it will force 16 bit.

[Nebula]

Ok, I played the battle of brittain. I destroyed the planes that where attacking me and I started building my air fleet. I then attacked the enemy, they would not die.

I noticed london being in the south/west of england. Wales I believe. The outlines of brittain look ok. You should make the map smaller so you can include germany so you can bomb them to hell

Also, I could hardly make out the city sizes off the german cities. And they were in the water

Another major effect I had trouble with was the fact I had to hold the keys down to move. This caused some moving of units in directions I did not want. This time on a winxp machine using a AMD 1300 processor.

When I attack a unit the next unit is not selected. Can it be made so you can use the mouse to activate another unit?

Also when I move a unit sometimes a unit nearby moves a little bit but then jumps back. quite fast but noticable.

Anyway, It was a great 10 minutes play. Pitty there are not more screnario's.

[neonext]

Originally posted by Nebula
Ok, I played the battle of brittain. I destroyed the planes that where attacking me and I started building my air fleet. I then attacked the enemy, they would not die.

Well, to win the scenario you have to only defend from the German attack, not actually take over the German bases (although ending screens are not in yet, so the game never lets you know when it's over).
Are you saying you couldn't kill their units or are you saying you couldn't take over their bases?

I noticed london being in the south/west of england. Wales I believe. The outlines of brittain look ok. You should make the map smaller so you can include germany so you can bomb them to hell

I made the map in about 3 mins without using any real maps for reference. I'm hoping someone can use the scenario editor to make this scenario better.

Also, I could hardly make out the city sizes off the german cities. And they were in the water

Hmm they are supposed to German airbases, which are supposed to only be able to build air units. They are there to represent the incoming air forces of Germany. Yeah, it would make more sense to actually put the air bases in Germany, but I didn't have enough time to make it accurate.

Another major effect I had trouble with was the fact I had to hold the keys down to move. This caused some moving of units in directions I did not want. This time on a winxp machine using a AMD 1300 processor.

This has hopefully been fixed for the next version. When I release it, can you please let me know if you still have this problem?

When I attack a unit the next unit is not selected. Can it be made so you can use the mouse to activate another unit?

You can click units to select them, but only if their countdown timer has reached zero and you are not in combat with another unit. Your units can defend on their own, but you must have a unit selected for attacking, there is no way around this.

Also when I move a unit sometimes a unit nearby moves a little bit but then jumps back. quite fast but noticable.

This is a graphical bug I haven't been able to track down yet. It happens only on a certain horizontal line of tiles, right?

Anyway, It was a great 10 minutes play. Pitty there are not more screnario's.

Yeah, hopefull I can get some help with that. Multiplayer scenarios are great, and if someone creates a scenario, only the host has to have it.
The new update solves a lot of bad bugs in addition to adding multiplayer support.

[Nebula]

I could destroy their units.

Ok, I will play the new version when it is out and give you feedback.

You are right the sudden movement of enemy units only does occur when the unts are next to each other.