Psst, over here, I got the latest patch status... shhhh

[Baron Munchausen]

quote:

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Originally posted by tesco samoa:
That would make for an interesting game.

It will be good to see how this addition changes the game. Static warfare could be back. Too bad you cannot figure out which enemy planets have the device so you can target those planets first.

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Uh, you can... It's called Covert Recon, an intel operation that returns a list of facilities on a given planet. Granted, if it's a large system with lots of planets you will have to go 'trial and error' to find the right one, but if you can break through the defenders counter-intel you can eventually find it. Large, well-defended planets seem like a good place to look, of course. Then, you can use the Industrial Sabotage intel operation to attack the planet and you might get lucky and take out the Gravitational facility. There is no way to 'concentrate' counter-intel in a specific area or towards defending against a specific attack, so it's pretty much a question of "luck" for both attacker and defender. So, as long as there is contact with an enemy empire your nifty "Warp Point Lock" is not secure.

How you would break into a closed group of systems that all have one of these is a good question, though. I guess the key thing to think about is how hard it would be to set this up. They are expensive to build, so you'd need a large empire to afford them. The bigger your empire gets, the more you have to build to completely close it off. It seems likely that someone able to do this is winning the game anyway. Sort of like building a ringworld or sphereworld...

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 12 October 2001).]

[PsychoTechFreak]

quote:

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Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
The intel fix seems to be working very nicely, btw. I really like the notifications of EACH enemy intel project defeated. Now you can clearly see that one counter-intel project does in fact defeat more than one enemy project.

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Great news, thanx !

[geoschmo]

New patch fixes:

quote:

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Version 1.46:
1. Fixed - Problem where a race style used from a mod directory was
not being used when the game was re-loaded.
2. Changed - Removed the application of the maximum units per player
rule while in combat. This means that you can launch as many
fighters as you like during combat. However, the maximum
units per player rule stilly applies to non-combat unit
launching.
3. Fixed - Wrong description used when scuttling units because of
not paying maintenance.
4. Fixed - Fleet Transfer Window would reset the Vehicles in Sector
window to the top each time a ship was moved.
5. Changed - Decreased the rate at which fleet experience increases.
6. Changed - Decreased the amount of experience gained from killing fighters
and mines.
7. Fixed - Description for Afterburners was not correct.
8. Fixed - You should be able to give colonize orders to a ship even if there
is a population on the planet.
9. Fixed - Population Transport Minister was not taking population to planets
with zero population.
10. Fixed - The Construction Minister would sometimes build troops and weapon
platforms not on a planet.
11. Fixed - AI would sometimes try to attack enemy minefields.
12. Fixed - The AI could sometimes initiate combat against a minefield in a
simultaneous game.
13. Fixed - Ship Groups would sometimes start on top of each other in combat.
14. Fixed - Ground Combat was experiencing some problems with the changes for
one side to hit another.
15. Fixed - Some units would have their statistics changed during a combat
simulation.

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I am sure it's frustrating for everbody waiting on the patch to be released. But hopefully it will make you feel better that the delay is because he is fixking so much. It's not like Aaron is sitting around doing nothing.

The next patch is going to be a big one. Just look at some of the big bugs being squished...

Intel bug. (We all know how bad that one is.)

Cultures. (That's been around forever.)

Mines not self destructing.

Carriers not launching during combat if unit limit reached. That's allowed now. (Gives fighters some use later in games.)

Emmisive Armor.

And a whole bunch more. Should improve our enjoyment of the game greatly.

Geoschmo

[chewy027]

hey i'm happy to see all this stuff fixed. I'd be willing to trade two more weeks to see drones in there or some other new feature. I've waited this long i can wait a little longer.

[Dracus]

I am with you chew, I can wait as long as it takes for him to fix thing. I too would like to see some new features added.

[dmm]

Warning: RANT AHEAD.
I'm disappointed. I don't see any "biggest-bang-for-the-buck" changes. (See that thread.) I don't understand that, because some of those would be SOOOOO easy to implement, yet would greatly expand the game. Shrapnel is fond of bragging about the thought that goes into their games (and rightly so). But here we have numerous cases where the thinking has been done, the game design notably improved, and the ideas are not implementable for lack of a little bit of coding. I'm beginning to think that Aaron has a "not invented here" attitude.

[edit: Feel free to agree or disagree with this opinion as strongly as you like. I don't mind, as long as you don't get personal. Examples: "this opinion stinks"=OK, "dmm, you stink!"= not OK.]

[This message has been edited by dmm (edited 12 October 2001).]

[thorfrog]

I have to say I would like to know if things like drones, palaces, ect will ever be finally implemented. No one has really come out to say either way.

[chewy027]

maybe if MM would give us a list of things that they are at least CONSIDERING to include in SE4 we could quell some of our expectations

[geoschmo]

Dmm,

I won't say there aren't features I'd like to see added. Your comments are not out of line. There would be no reason to get personal against you for expressing an opinion. But you need to keep a couple things in mind.

First, just because an idea sounds easy to code, doesn't mean it is easy to code. And even if the feature itself wouldn't take a lot of code to add, it could cause problems with other areas of the program that could take a total rewrite of whole sections to implement them.

Secondly, remember that this isn't Aaron's full time job. Or at least it wasn't Last time I heard. My understanding is that he goes to work and punches a clock just like the rest of us poor slobs, and then comes home to his new wife and still manages to find time to work on SEIV and make improvments. And as well as SEIV is doing, I don't think he makes enough off it to hire a team of programmers like the big boys do.

Lastly, SEIV isn't the only iron in his fire either. He's working on the RPG at least. Maybe SE5 for all we know, although I haven't heard anything about that. I am just guessing.

Personally, I have got a lot more play time out a $35.00 piece of software than I would have any resonable expectation of getting. So I tend towards being satisfied even if there are things I would like to see added at some point in the future.

Geoschmo

[tesco samoa]

Perhaps after a year or two (or when some other goal is reached )maybe open source the game. That way if someone wants to code tcpip play into they can. Or something along those lines.

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Inter arma silent leges