Prerelease 1.202U (1.301 Release Candidate 1, many bugfixes)

[x4000]

The latest prerelease is available at http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1202U.zip

That version is an upgrade from version 1.201, so you have to already have 1.201 (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.

What's new since 1.202T:
(Cumulative release notes since 1.201 are attached at the bottom)

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

-The Paused text in the galaxy map has been moved down to a more pleasing location (where it does not overlap the game timer).

-The word "reinforcements" was misspelled on all the guard posts in the game.

-Previously, sometimes ships that were being pushed or displaced by force fields would become invisible.  Fixed.

-Previously, after clearing a cross-planet gather point for a constructor, ships would still travel to the first planet on the old queue.  Fixed.

-Previously, lightning shots that were mostly offscreen would disappear incorrectly.  Fixed.

-Previously, the menus were not centering correctly in the game when the window titlebar was shown.  Fixed.

-Previously, some of the menus and windows (like the View Controls window) could sometimes show up too tall when the window titlebar was shown.  Fixed.

-There were previously some issues with the "ready checkbox" state being able to get out of sync in the lobby.  Fixed.

-There were a few issues with mouse cursor position calculations when the window titlebar was shown and/or the window was moved around.  Fixed.

-There is now a confirmation message when the combat style button is clicked, to prevent accidental clicks on it from causing players to need to save and reload.

-Previously, all ship icons were flashing for the first two seconds of a new game.  Fixed.

-Previously, the windows "error" sound effect would play when players hit enter in the in-game chat textbox.  Fixed.

-When an active player name is blank or "" in the Manage Players interface, players with any name can connect into that slot and the name will become whatever the connecting player's name is.

CHANGES FROM PRIOR PRERELEASES
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-Autocannons and Spiders had their Mark IV variants named wrong in recent prereleases.  Fixed.

-In the last prerelease, there was a minor glitch with the supply lines on the galaxy map, where if two non-player planets both had supply, a supply line would be drawn between them.  Fixed.


NEW ART - Philippe Chabot
--------------
ShotLightning
ShotSniperLazer
ShotMissile
SmokeTrail

[x4000]

So, tomorrow is the day for 1.301, and this is the first release candidate.  I am planning on dealing with this issue in the morning, and Phil may sneak in a few last-minute art tweaks, but otherwise this is pretty much the 1.301 release unless other issues are found that need to be addressed before release.  There are still a few items on the confirmed bugs and critical list, and normally I like to have those lists empty before release, but these are items that really are noncritical enough to not need to be in this release (despite the naming of the "critical" forum, I often use that for "things I want to do asap").

[quickstix]

-Previously, the windows "error" sound effect would play when players hit enter in the in-game chat textbox.  Fixed.

Ah good, so I wasn't hearing things and going crazy.

[x4000]

-Previously, the windows "error" sound effect would play when players hit enter in the in-game chat textbox.  Fixed.

Ah good, so I wasn't hearing things and going crazy.

Nope, you're good!

[x4000]

Okay, I'm about ready to do a real release here, with just a couple of added minor bugfixes that I mentioned.  I'd feel a bit better if I knew if people have had a chance to bang on this release candidate in this thread a bit, though.  I have a feeling it is fine -- it just has bugfixes, not any new features -- but one can never be too careful.  Anyone?

[darke]

Okay, I'm about ready to do a real release here, with just a couple of added minor bugfixes that I mentioned.  I'd feel a bit better if I knew if people have had a chance to bang on this release candidate in this thread a bit, though.  I have a feeling it is fine -- it just has bugfixes, not any new features -- but one can never be too careful.  Anyone?

I gave it a bit of a clubbing a couple of hours ago with an AI10/10-planet/8-start-world game and nothing jumped out at me as to being obviously out of whack. (Other then the obvious problem of the AI out producing me by about 50% even though I had 4x the number of planets, but that's a given really given this isn't really expected to be a particularly playable scenario. ).

[x4000]

Good to hear!  And yeah, that's certainly an interesting scenario to play, haha.

[Echo35]

-Previously, the windows "error" sound effect would play when players hit enter in the in-game chat textbox.  Fixed.

Ah good, so I wasn't hearing things and going crazy.

Ever see the movie Gas Light?

[quickstix]

-Previously, the windows "error" sound effect would play when players hit enter in the in-game chat textbox.  Fixed.

Ah good, so I wasn't hearing things and going crazy.

Ever see the movie Gas Light?

Nope, but having looked it up, I shall have to see it now. I nudged the enter button the other night and thought it was a little odd to hear the windows error sound. Now I can sleep soundly 

Good luck with the update, now I have a good excuse to start my first game again on a harder difficulty.

[dumpsterKEEPER]

Okay, I'm about ready to do a real release here, with just a couple of added minor bugfixes that I mentioned.  I'd feel a bit better if I knew if people have had a chance to bang on this release candidate in this thread a bit, though.  I have a feeling it is fine -- it just has bugfixes, not any new features -- but one can never be too careful.  Anyone?

I was only able to put in about a half hour on it last night, but I didn't run into anything unexpected. I really didn't notice much difference from T, except for the movement of the Paused text on the galaxy map (best bugfix ever! ). Overall it seemed to be running and playing great.

[x4000]

Awesome!  Yes, not too much different from T unless you were affected by one of the bugfixes in U.

[darke]

Okay, I'm about ready to do a real release here, with just a couple of added minor bugfixes that I mentioned.  I'd feel a bit better if I knew if people have had a chance to bang on this release candidate in this thread a bit, though.  I have a feeling it is fine -- it just has bugfixes, not any new features -- but one can never be too careful.  Anyone?

I gave it a bit of a clubbing a couple of hours ago with an AI10/10-planet/8-start-world game and nothing jumped out at me as to being obviously out of whack. (Other then the obvious problem of the AI out producing me by about 50% even though I had 4x the number of planets, but that's a given really given this isn't really expected to be a particularly playable scenario. ).

On a random note, this scenario is actually playable and winnable in just under 3 hours game-time with abuse of a few things I'd consider bugs. Not particularly fun, but does have some interesting decisions.

[x4000]

Good to know -- I've seen your various suggestions that resulted from that, and by and large they look like great ideas.  I'll probably put most of them in place tomorrow or so.  Thanks!

[darke]

Good to know -- I've seen your various suggestions that resulted from that, and by and large they look like great ideas.  I'll probably put most of them in place tomorrow or so.  Thanks!

No problem. Seems like every time I try to play an odd game mode I shake out a couple of dozen posts of bugs and quirks.

As far as the AI10/10-planet/8-starting-planet game went, I was actually quite impressed at the balance of the resources/energy/amount of ships. It scaled down nice enough it felt pretty much the same as playing an 80-planet game under the same conditions where you're continually juggling that little more energy here or there to get a full compliment of ships. I was quite surprised.

As far as game difficulty goes, it only felt like about as hard as a AI7/80-planet/8-starting-planet game from the last time I played an AI7 (before the economy shake up). But I was playing against a pair of tanks, and they're definitely one of the weaker AI's at the moment due to their lack of something to compensate their lack of attack waves. Plus I was abusing a few quirks that probably shouldn't be there, and probably won't be there in the next version, so I suspect the difficulty will head back up to where it should be.

I really should sit down and document some of the odder uses for some of the weapons at some point in time. The argument in that other thread about missiles reminded me of quite a few tricks I used them for, but I hadn't used them recently since they don't work so well in AI10 level games. Then again if I do document them, about half of them will probably be nerfed in the next release due to them being a bit... not the way it should work. (Like using the Tachyon missiles to startle 1000+ ships to running straight into my turret fire, or Nukes to clear up an AI homeworld full of nasty stuff for me. )

[x4000]

Good to know -- I've seen your various suggestions that resulted from that, and by and large they look like great ideas.  I'll probably put most of them in place tomorrow or so.  Thanks!

No problem. Seems like every time I try to play an odd game mode I shake out a couple of dozen posts of bugs and quirks.

Yep, that's quite helpful.   There are too many modes for me to test everything in combination myself, so some of the player-requested modes that are a little more niche remain kind of experimental until explorers like yourself go out there and see how it is.

As far as the AI10/10-planet/8-starting-planet game went, I was actually quite impressed at the balance of the resources/energy/amount of ships. It scaled down nice enough it felt pretty much the same as playing an 80-planet game under the same conditions where you're continually juggling that little more energy here or there to get a full compliment of ships. I was quite surprised.

I'm actually not too surprised, I spent a lot of time with the formulas to make sure that they would scale right to 40 or 120 planets, with 80 as the baseline, and so those same ratios would presumably hold true even on 10 planets.  But good to hear!

As far as game difficulty goes, it only felt like about as hard as a AI7/80-planet/8-starting-planet game from the last time I played an AI7 (before the economy shake up). But I was playing against a pair of tanks, and they're definitely one of the weaker AI's at the moment due to their lack of something to compensate their lack of attack waves. Plus I was abusing a few quirks that probably shouldn't be there, and probably won't be there in the next version, so I suspect the difficulty will head back up to where it should be.

Cool enough!

I really should sit down and document some of the odder uses for some of the weapons at some point in time. The argument in that other thread about missiles reminded me of quite a few tricks I used them for, but I hadn't used them recently since they don't work so well in AI10 level games. Then again if I do document them, about half of them will probably be nerfed in the next release due to them being a bit... not the way it should work. (Like using the Tachyon missiles to startle 1000+ ships to running straight into my turret fire, or Nukes to clear up an AI homeworld full of nasty stuff for me. )

Well, yes... Some of those have been nerfed already, or are on the chopping block for being nerfed at any rate.