Making a release?

[kaan]

I think we should consider making a official release this year.
Last year the downpoint was the the playtest wasnt up to 1.11 patch standart in multiplayer yet, but i havent seen any significant development in that area since then.
I think its time we take what we have and make it public so that the the rest of the community can benifit from our work.

-klaus

[Fromafar]

There still has been some development. Actually, we now even have some fixes (XP hosting, tile improvement handling) that were not in the Activision patch.

But it looks like there is not really that much interest in testing multiplayer functionality, so there is no reason to have this block a release. OTOH, what is the advantage in making some "official" release? Maybe we should just update the version in the directory more frequently. And the FAQ as well. I just saw it is still mentioning that the .NET changes have not been moved into the mainstream of the project. Didn't we do that about a year ago?

[Maquiladora]

Yeah its sad (but not surprising) that noones interested in testing the MP, although I know theres still a few (new and old) that are interested in playing.

Theres PBEM that still needs to be properly working too, particularly the human-human diplomacy and some sort of battle reporting. Theres more on Apolyton ready to play PBEM too.

[J Bytheway]

I would like to get MP working, but for one reason or another I've never had an internet connection on which it was possible to play MP.

PBEM fixes are still on my todo list...

By and large I agree with Fromafar, but if we did want to make an official release, the main thing we would need to fix would be AOM (and other mod SLIC) compatibility.

[mapfi]

Originally posted by Maquiladora
Yeah its sad (but not surprising) that noones interested in testing the MP, although I know theres still a few (new and old) that are interested in playing.

Yep - Maq, I got enough free time these days - so if your up for a tryout, anytime! (wouldn't we need a playtest vesrion with the newest fix by fromafar, though?)

[Maquiladora]

We can use the current playtest 2005-09-12 and the seperate fix for XP hosting he made here . I think he just intergrated it into the source (?) but this fix works fine to use.

You need the servers.dat from the directory too here.

Between 4pm and 10pm GMT+1 would be ideal. Anyday this midweek between those times ill be around so let me know.

[mapfi]

I got the servers.dat, of course
anyday this midweek means?... those times are perfect for tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday

[Maquiladora]

Midweek just meaning Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur and Fri... or, not the weekend

Ill be on ICQ tomorrow from 4pm GMT+1 then.

[kaan]

Originally posted by Fromafar
OTOH, what is the advantage in making some "official" release?

The advantage is largely in PR.
But I also think that it is important to draw a line in the sand somewhere and start making versions instead of revisions.
That way our surroundings will have a stable invironment to update the varius mods and other stuff against. It will also highten our sence of acheivement when we increment the version number from time to time

[Locutus]

Originally posted by kaan


The advantage is largely in PR.

What, pitting it against Civ4? Sorry, releasing something official now is suicide PR-wise. Best to wait at least 6 months for that purpose (and hope Civ4 isn't as awesome as it's shaping up to be...)

[kaan]

Originally posted by Locutus


What, pitting it against Civ4? Sorry, releasing something official now is suicide PR-wise. Best to wait at least 6 months for that purpose (and hope Civ4 isn't as awesome as it's shaping up to be...)

There is a civ4
When is it due?

[Locutus]

Originally posted by kaan
There is a civ4
When is it due?

You *are* joking, right?

It'll be released next month. It will have awesome modding capabilities (including the release of a good portion of the source code), it's really shaping up to be something CtPers will love as well (based on previews anyway, and it's not like those are infallible), you'll want to look into it.

[kaan]

Originally posted by Locutus


You *are* joking, right?

It'll be released next month. It will have awesome modding capabilities (including the release of a good portion of the source code), it's really shaping up to be something CtPers will love as well (based on previews anyway, and it's not like those are infallible), you'll want to look into it.

Hmm, just read some about it from the link on this page
It does look very promising indeed, lets see if it delivers better than civ3 did.

hmmmm, scripting engine in python ... has a nice ring to it.
I dont know one bit of python though

[Locutus]

Well, SLIC is harder to learn (or at least it was 6 years ago, I've progressed a bit since )

[Protra3211]

I have played the latest playtest about 230 turns and all is stable so far no CTD.
The bright spot is the AI to AI diplomacy is alot better.
Their are many diplomatic stances between them .
AI,s will not fight on to many fronts making them easy to exploit because their over extended.
I still feel its too early as AI defense is weak at times and needs to be refined in war planning.
I think the code updates have gone beyond fixes bugs as the AI is a better empire builder.
But have goals changed and will the updated patch have a AI that stronger than most of the early mods .