New Beta Patch
 

Just wanted to let everyone know, Aaron has released a beta patch to the testers, which should fix the fighter bugs and the command-line problems. So a full-release patch is at least partially completed. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: New Beta Patch
 

Thanks for the report Will!
Long life to the Cerban Empire!!

Re: New Beta Patch
 

Wohoo!!! http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: New Beta Patch
 

Thank you very much for this good news!

Re: New Beta Patch
 

Any word on what was included?

I'm hoping that the "explosive component" ability has been added.
Aaron said that it was on the to-do list, and I've got lots of stuff to use it on.

(components add X damage to the ship when they are destroyed)
Nuclear Missiles, Antimatter stores & other dangerous stuff will rip big holes in your ship when they are destroyed http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: New Beta Patch
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Nuclear Missiles, Antimatter stores & other dangerous stuff will rip big holes in your ship when they are destroyed<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Contrary to popular mythology, nuclear weapons don't explode when damaged. You'd get more damage from the missiles' propulsion fuel, with some radioactive contamination if the warhead is breached.

Antimatter losing containment, though, will be a spectacular bLast.

------------------
Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 23 May 2001).]

Re: New Beta Patch
 

I believe that nukes do carry high explosives in their warheads, if I'm not mistaken.
MCO

Re: New Beta Patch
 

Many high explosives are rather stable, if memory serves. Besides, a) the explosives surrounding the fissionable material are typically *shaped* charges, and b) they need to all be detonated simultaneously, to trigger anything stronger than a fizzle. And any coupled fusion devices won't go off without the fission devices detonating.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

Re: New Beta Patch
 

Yes, I know nukes will generally not explode when hit, and the high explosives in them will not make a really big bLast.

For storytelling purposes, I consider the warheads to be armed, and hair triggered http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif. So the missiles explode just before PDCs would have finished 'em off, in the hopes of doing splash damage.

I should also note that I never said that I was going to set the damage from an exploding missile launcher really high. 75 damage would be plenty to account for fuel stores in the launch bay.

Still, the biggest use for this will be in the Cobalt warheads http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif If you have a ramming ship, one small hit could trigger a chain reaction and blow your ship to smitherines http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: New Beta Patch
 

The Russian navy would no doubt endorse SJ's proposal.

Re: New Beta Patch
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Version 1.36:
1. Fixed - Map Editor: Access Violation when you tried to edit a
planet after deleting one.
2. Fixed - Map Editor: After saving a planet with a name that does
not end in a roman numeral, the next time you tried to
add a planet in the same system, you would get a Range
Check Error.
3. Fixed - Map Editor: Removed systems names from the combo box that
are already in use.
4. Fixed - Occasional driver or VxD errors when using the Resolve
Combat feature.
5. Fixed - Compiling a turn from the command line was not working.
6. Fixed - Fighter Groups were getting a cumulative offfense and
defense modifier.
7. Fixed - Sometimes fighters would not fire on targets if their first
weapon could not target the remaining enemy pieces.
8. Fixed - A target planet in the combat simulator would show the wrong
player's population bars.
9. Fixed - Long Messages to other players would get cut off in the Log
Window.
10. Fixed - When a new empire is created by rebelling from an old one,
the new empire would have all of the log Messages from the
old empire.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nothing new yet, mainly working out kinks before anything new is put in...

Not a problem with the report... I figured Richard or another tester would post something, and I was a bit suprised to see a thread hadn't been made. Besides, I didn't want all of you to think Aaron turned into a hermit/got sick/got dead/came to hate SE/etc... he's hard at work on SE4 http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif (not too hard hopefully, don't want to overwork him).

Re: New Beta Patch
 

Will again thank you very much for this information.
I am very pleased to see that some of my suggestions to MM as the deletion of already used system names have been made and the fighter bug has been fixed.

Re: New Beta Patch
 

Hey Suicide Junkie, long time, no see! http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif Ya, I agree with you. I sure hope MM does add that feature. It would really help make the design process more important. Heck, with something like this, a lucky shot from an escort vessel could theoretically severly damage a Battleship if it was lucky.

Re: New Beta Patch
 

QUOTE:
a lucky shot from an escort vessel could theoretically severly damage a Battleship if it was lucky
/QUOTE

"I used to target womp rats from my t-16 back home, and they can't be much bigger than 2 metres..."

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"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so, Brain, but balancing a family and a career ... oooh, it's all too much for me. "

Re: New Beta Patch
 

This thread reminds me of the one missing feature from SE combat -- variable damage! Every weapon does an absolutely fixed amount of damage. What about near misses? What about beam "contact" time with the target? Most weapons ought to have some slight variations in the amount of damage they do. Even 10-20 percent variation would make combat much less predictable. Think of MOO where a weapon does 3-12 instead of "10 10 10 10" out to whatever range.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 24 May 2001).]

Re: New Beta Patch
 

All that would really require is a second "damage at range" line in the components.txt, and some work on the damage lookup routine.

with "minimum damage at range"
and "maximum damage at range"
you could really make some interesting effects, AND emissive armor will block the occasional shot, when the dice turn up low!