Author Topic: Prerelease 1.201I (Astro Trains nerf vs turrets, various HUD improvements)  (Read 4272 times)

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
The Latest prerelease is now out: http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1201I.zip

That version is an upgrade from version 1.013, so you have to already have 1.013 (or greater) installed. Just unzip it into your game folder (usually C:\Program Files\Arcen Games\AI War\ unless you specified something else). Please make sure that your unzip process keeps the folder structure from the zip file, rather than just unpacking all of the files into the base target directory.

Why is this now 1.201 instead of 1.014?  Well, this release is just so huge that I felt it needed to be differentiated with a more major version number shift.  People are going to remember this as the release where the economy became flow-based and got more robust, where the AI tactics became way more intelligent in many ways, and where a ton of interface and graphical improvements came into play, amongst other rebalancing and over a dozen new ship types.  It's a whole new game from 1.013 in some respects when it comes to the advanced strategy, so this is something I felt was important to make really clear with the numbering.

What's new since 1.201H:
(Cumulative release notes since 1.013 are attached at the bottom)

-------------------

-Astro trains now have 1/4 of their prior strength against turrets.

-The hover text on Astro Trains is now much more helpful, explaining what to do about them.

-The scores list has been made into a clickable scores panel that replaces the Score button that was on the left of the screen.  It has also been made more attractive in general (though more is still coming for this panel).

-The background color of the planetary summary has been improved (more coming with that).

-The way that the energy reactor efficiency reductions are calculated have been updated so that the numbers are now more round.

-The scrollbars in the score/stats window have been updated so that they no longer cause the "waiting for players" message to appear when clicked in a multiplayer game.

-The way the lobby renders has been altered once again, so that it now uses the same underlying device as the main window.  This will hopefully resolve the second-run compatibility issues with XFire.


CHANGES FROM PAST PRERELEASES
--------------

-Counter-Negative-Energy turrets now only cost 2,000 energy instead of 20,000.

-Ships that were given from one player to another were collision-detecting, which was incorrect in that it would cause them to jump to the side.  Fixed.

-The explanation on the metal and crystal tooltips at the top of the screen were out of date.  Fixed.

-The AI was being too aggressive with command stations when force fields were present.  Fixed.

-The poor efficiency warning for reactors now shows even during placement mode, so it is really obvious when a player is about to place a reactor that has poor efficiency.

-The tutorial no longer references the zoom buttons that have been removed.

-Turrets all build a bit faster than in recent releases.

-Alt + the A key is what now must be held to toggle the energy display, rather than just the A key.

NEW ART - Philippe Chabot
--------------
New Quick Buttons & Bar
« Last Edit: September 01, 2009, 01:23:15 am by x4000 »
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Echo35

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,703
  • More turrets! MORE TURRETS!
Just from a quick load:

-The lobby is still wonky with Steam drawing inside the map window, but I can't confirm XFire since I don't currently have it installed.
-The new tool bar is very pretty.
-The scores window doesn't draw the vertical scroll bar all the way to the right, so when I look at something that takes up the whole width, like the score chart, the scroll bar blocks the view.

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
-The lobby is still wonky with Steam drawing inside the map window, but I can't confirm XFire since I don't currently have it installed.

That is unlikely to change, but it should cause less issues of the sort XFire was having with restarting.

-The new tool bar is very pretty.

Yeah, I thought Phil's design for that was really cool.  More coming!

-The scores window doesn't draw the vertical scroll bar all the way to the right, so when I look at something that takes up the whole width, like the score chart, the scroll bar blocks the view.

Can you post a screenshot?  I can't seem to duplicate it (and the scrollbars should not be on the graphs screen at all, that's a different screen).
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Fiskbit

  • Arcen Games Contractor
  • Master Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,752
I'm having the same problem.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Click here to get started with Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports.  Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Fiskbit

  • Arcen Games Contractor
  • Master Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,752
Any thought on making astro trains immune to force fields? Currently, if you build a force field over a wormhole, a train can get stuck to it, which sucks. :P
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Click here to get started with Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports.  Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline PhonSiE

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Any thought on making astro trains immune to force fields? Currently, if you build a force field over a wormhole, a train can get stuck to it, which sucks. :P

This was addressed in prerelease 1.201G.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2009, 10:39:53 am by PhonSiE »

Offline Fiskbit

  • Arcen Games Contractor
  • Master Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,752
Clever. :) I didn't notice that before and was recalling this issue coming up in a previous multiplayer game. Ah well; glad to see it's in!
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Click here to get started with Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports.  Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Echo35

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,703
  • More turrets! MORE TURRETS!
I'm having the same problem.

Yep, thats exactly it.

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
I'm having the same problem.

Oh, now I see -- it's on widescreen monitors.  Great catch!
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Fiskbit

  • Arcen Games Contractor
  • Master Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,752
I'm running a 4:3 setup (1460x1095) and it did it for me (I took that screenshot). It definitely happens on widescreen setups, too, though, according to a friend who runs widescreen.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Click here to get started with Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports.  Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Okay, to be more specific: it happens on any screen with a width greater than 1024 pixels.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline CautiousChaos

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
I've been noticing that the starfield appears to be the foremost layer now instead of the bottom-most layer.  When scrolling the starfield floats above the nebula whilst the nebula are moving underneath.  Strange effect.  
-cc

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
I've been noticing that the starfield appears to be the foremost layer now instead of the bottom-most layer.  When scrolling the starfield floats above the nebula whilst the nebula are moving underneath.  Strange effect.  
-cc

Are you sure?  One of my alpha testers actually thought that was happening for a bit, but then realized not.  I think it's an optical illusion with the colored starfield, actually...
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline CautiousChaos

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
It jumped out at my right away, but it could probably be explained away as an optical illusion.  Or an artifact from the martinis I had last night. 
-cc

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
It jumped out at my right away, but it could probably be explained away as an optical illusion.  Or an artifact from the martinis I had last night. 
-cc

Okay.  :)
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!