Worth the stretch?

[Sniper]

Hi guys

I have enough credit with Shrapnel to get a new game at the moment (and get it shipped ot old blighty, it still comes in cheaper than a new game in the shops, we brits get gouged!)

However as far as I can see the only games I want are:

82nd Airborne (and I'll wait till its out I think)
And SEIV Gold

Why do i have a problem with SEIV gold? Because I already have SEIV. So the question is, is it worth me spending my credit on this, or should I wait for somthing else?

Thanks again guys, the mods sound cool BTW

[David E. Gervais]

Would someone be so kind as to post the "History.txt" from SE4:Gold v1.91 So that Sniper can have a right good and proper view of what has been done since SE4 v1.49.

I'm sure it would help him make this all important decision.

Thanks, and Cheers!

[TNZ]

[ April 02, 2004, 10:50: Message edited by: TNZ ]

[dogscoff]

Why do i have a problem with SEIV gold? Because I already have SEIV. So the question is, is it worth me spending my credit on this, or should I wait for somthing else?

Can't comment on 82nd Airborne, but I think SEIVG is well worth it (and I paid full price). THen again, I've barely played any other game in the Last 3 years, so I've more than got my money's worth.

As you may know, SE5 is scheduled for summer 2005, but that's more than a year away, and that assumes it will be out on time.

So basically... wait a year (or more) and spend your credit on SE5, or buy Gold now! That's my advice.

[Sniper]

Thanks for the advice guys...

Im a big fan of SEIV and tend to play single player or hotseat with my friends.

I think the main thing that has me wanting SEIV is so I can run some of these cool mods your all talking about/designing. It seems to be a well supported game,

SEV? Next year? That'll be fun!!!

[Greybeard]

Sniper: I love 101st Airborne and am anxiously (and impatiently) waiting for the 82nd Airborne sequel. If people are upset about delays in releaseing SEV, they should be required to suffer the long delay waiting for 82nd Airborne. It's more than 15 months late.

Both of these games are great and you can't go wrong with either one.

[Kamog]

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
Would someone be so kind as to post the "History.txt" from SE4:Gold v1.91 So that Sniper can have a right good and proper view of what has been done since SE4 v1.49.

I'm sure it would help him make this all important decision.

Thanks, and Cheers!

Sure, here it is.

Version History for Space Empires IV
---------------------------------------------------

Version 1.91:
1. Changed - Revised title screen bitmap to make the buttons more visible.
2. Fixed - Upgrading just 1 facility would incorrectly upgrade them all.
3. Fixed - Bug from Last Version resulted in huge spikes in intel and research points.
4. Note - Spaceyards will not work on cloaked planets or ships.
5. Fixed - Cloaked planets were allowing you to add multiple spaceyards to them.
6. Fixed - A planet that was damaged and lost its cloaking facility would not decloak.
7. Fixed - A planet that scrapped its cloaking facility would not decloak.
8. Added - You can now use an override field for Vehicle Type in Components.txt which
will allow you to use a list instead of a hard-coded value. Another field
is used for the description used in the Components Report.
9. Added - You can now use an override field for Weapon Target in Components.txt which
will allow you to use a list instead of a hard-coded value. Another field
is used for the description used in the Components Report.


Version 1.90:
1. Fixed - Descriptions for the Facilities changed in the Last Version were still old.
2. Changed - New title screen bitmap courtesy of David Gervais.
3. Changed - Added black drop shadow to "Version" and "Loading" text on main screen.
4. Changed - You can now save/load your turn in the middle when playing a simultaneous
multiplayer game.
5. Added - "Generate Points" abilities which will generate points for an empire each turn.
These abilities are independent of a planet and will generate an unlimited number
of points. These abilities can be used on a facility, component, ship, or anything else.
6. Added - "Order By Name" and "Order By Class" buttons to the Scrap window.
7. Fixed - The View Orders window would show the name of unexplored systems.
8. Fixed - Attempting to colonize in an unexplored system would sometimes show the planets in the sector.
9. Fixed - Rare Access Violation bug during Movement Log Replay.



Version 1.89:
1. Changed - The Create and Destroy Storm components are now destroyed on use.
2. Changed - Mineral Scanner I, II, III have had their modifiers increased to 15%, 30%, 45%.
3. Changed - Hybrid Eco - Farms I, II, III have had their modifiers increased to 15%, 30%, 45%.
4. Changed - Radioactives Collider I, II, III have had their modifiers increased to 15%, 30%, 45%.
5. Changed - System Mineral Scanner I, II, III have had their modifiers increased to 15%, 30%, 45%.
6. Changed - System Eco - Farms I, II, III have had their modifiers increased to 15%, 30%, 45%.
7. Changed - System Radioactives Collider I, II, III have had their modifiers increased to 15%, 30%, 45%.
8. Fixed - The owner of a minefield would not get a log message if the minefield was completely
sweeped.
9. Added - Added "Race Directory" to the Empire/Race Report.
10. Fixed - When you replied to a demand for a gift or tribute, you were unable to view the package
of the gift or tribute that was demanded.
11. Fixed - Range Check Error upon loading a turn where massive numbers of units were launched the
previous turn.


Version 1.88:
1. Changed - Added in Imperator Fyron's smoothed population modifiers.
2. Fixed - A ship would clear its remaining orders if it tried to load cargo and
it had no cargo space available.
3. Fixed - A colonizer ship will still be counted as available for colonization
even if it has low supplies (but not if it has zero supplies).
4. Fixed - Sometimes an attack force would invade an ally's planet if it was in the
same sector as an enemy planet.
5. Fixed - Occasional Access Violation or Range Check Error from the Combat Replay.
6. Fixed - Component mounts were not being used in retrofit change comparisons.
7. Changed - You must have movement remaining on your ship to create a storm.
8. Fixed - "Remove All" in the Fleet Transfer window would break up other player's fleets.


Version 1.87:
1. Added - "Move Hundred" to Cargo Transfer window.
2. Fixed - In Simultaneous games, scanned enemy ship designs would not be saved.
3. Fixed - "Max Positive Anger Change" and "Max Negative Anger Change" were being
used as percents instead of tenth of percents.
4. Fixed - Ships were not receiving experience for kills made with seekers.
5. Fixed - Increased the population amount for the storehouse in combat simulations.
6. Fixed - The Small Graviton Beam is now under the Gravitational Weapons tech area.
7. Fixed - Mothballing would not generate a log message in simultaneous games and would
show a messagebox instead.
8. Fixed - Unmothballing would not generate a log message in simultaneous games.
9. Fixed - Converting resources would not generate a log message in simultaneous games.
10. Fixed - The Abandon Planet order would not generate a log message in simultaneous games.
11. Fixed - Intelligence reports on planets were not showing the cargo they contained.
12. Fixed - In Computer Versus Human games, the AI's would get negative happiness modifiers
on treaties (Partnership) they were forced to have.
13. Fixed - AI's would continue to propose the existing treaty in a Computer Versus Humans game.
14. Fixed - In the Combat Simulator, any player that has a base or a planet will start in the
center of the combat map.
15. Fixed - The Fleet Report window's list will now respond to the Mousewheel.
16. Fixed - The component list in the Tactical Combat window will now repsond to the Mousewheel.
17. Fixed - The Add Design window's components available list will now respond to the Mousewheel.


Version 1.86:
1. Added - "AI Tag ##" abilities for use in getting AIs to use specific components.
2. Fixed - Improved Empire placement using the "Evenly distributed through the quadrant" option.
3. Fixed - AI would purchase ships even if it had no resources available.
4. Fixed - Cloaked unit Groups would not show a dotted circle around them.
5. Added - Empire style directory label to the Empire setup window.
6. Fixed - AI would still try to launch units when its maximum units in space had been reached.
7. Fixed - The name of the current item under construction should show how many as well.
8. Fixed - Drones were not inflicting special damage types.
9. Fixed - Decreased seeker damage factor required to move to next target.
10. Fixed - You could build designs which had mounts of higher technology than your empire.
11. Fixed - AI would build all of the same colonizer type in a given turn.
12. Added - Mousewheel support to lists.


Version 1.85:
1. Fixed - AI players were giving away technology too easily.
2. Fixed - There was a limit of 5 neutral players in a game. Now the amount of
neutral players is based on the values in the Settings file.
3. Added - 4 more neutral races.
4. Fixed - AI was not taking into account bonus resources for scrapping.
5. Fixed - Changed Population Transport minister so that it takes population
to lowest populated planet regardless of distance and also taking
into account if a pop transport is already heading to the planet.
6. Fixed - Problem with AI checking its existing ship's orders.
7. Fixed - The race setup screen no longer errors if an empire ship picture is
not present.
8. Fixed - "Change Bad Event Chance - System" ability was not working right.
9. Fixed - "Change Bad Intelligence Chance - System" ability was not working right.
10. Fixed - Planets would not recalculate their sight values when a new facility was
built (this would make planets with cloaking abilities not light up cloak
button).
11. Fixed - A cloaked planet would still show its name for the option "Show Planet Names".
12. Fixed - Rebelling planets would double their population.
13. Fixed - Simultaneous different machine multiplayer games now require that a game
master password be provided.
14. Fixed - In the Select Package screen, clicking in the package list would not reduce
the resources by the x10000 or x100000 amount selected.
15. Fixed - Integer Overflow if a finite resource planet had too large a value.


Version 1.84:
1. Fixed - Reordered some of the formations to be better for ship movement.
2. Fixed - Tech Areas that were not allowed in the Game Setup would still
show under the expected results list of research.
3. Fixed - Ships in combat will follow their fleet's strategy until they
are no longer in a combat group. Once they are no longer in a
combat group, they will follow their own strategy.
4. Changed - When planets take damage, weapon platforms will be destroyed
first. After all weapon platforms are destroyed, then the remaining
units will take damage randomly.
5. Added - Added two new target types for components: "Ships\Planets\Sat" and
"Ships\Planets\Sat\Drone".
6. Fixed - The Designs Window list would not show a design with the same name
as another, but with different case.
7. Fixed - AI would build multiple system-wide resource modifier facilities in
a system.


Version 1.83:
1. Fixed - You could stop a "Slow Build" by clearing the queue.
2. Fixed - You could stop a "Slow Build" by giving a planet to
another player.
3. Fixed - The Jraenar battleship portrait was 1 pixel to large.
4. Fixed - Intro screen graphic stretches to the screen size.
5. Fixed - "Any" and "None" were being confused in CompEnhancement.txt for
the field "Weapon Type Requirement".
6. Fixed - Weapon Mounts were not showing in the expected benefits list when
looking at a Tech Area report.
7. Fixed - AI will now use Master Computers on his ships correctly.
8. Fixed - Added more slots to all of the formations to keep ships together
better in combat. New formations thanks to Imperator Fyron.


Version 1.82:
1. Changed - Ships in combat will now follow their fleet's strategy regardless
of whether they are in a combat group or not.
2. Fixed - Computer Players which had a "Computer Player Bonus" set above
None were not using all of their bonus funds.
3. Fixed - The largest ship in a sector was not always being drawn on top
in the system display.
4. Fixed - Planets in combat would not fire all of their weapons (sometimes).
5. Fixed - Planets in combat would not fire enough seekers against a target
to guarantee its destruction (sometimes).
6. Fixed - Improved the Transport minister a little.
7. Added - The Log Window will now return you to the item you had selected the
Last time you were in the window.
8. Fixed - Ships with a Tractor Beam would not fire weapons located after
the tractor beam in their design.


Version 1.81:
1. Fixed - "Crew ConVersion" damage type will work on all target types,
again.
2. Fixed - "Crew ConVersion" damage type will fail against a ship with
a Master Computer (regardless if that component is damaged or
not). It does not matter if there is a Bridge on the ship.
3. Fixed - AI will no longer launch "Anti-Planet" Drones in combat.
4. Added - Option to strategems to control how many drones are launched
per target in combat.
5. Changed - You can now give drones orders to Attack warp points. This
is essentially the same as telling them to warp through
and attack anything on the other side. Any survivors can then
be given new orders.


Version 1.80:
1. Fixed - Integer Overflow when a unit with no shields was hit by normal
weapons.
2. Changed - "Crew ConVersion" damage type will only work against ships
regardless of the target type.
3. Fixed - "Crew ConVersion" damage type will fail against a ship with
a Master Computer (regardless if that component is damaged or
not).
4. Fixed - You can now give resource gifts in excess of 200,000.
5. Added - "x10000" and "x100000" to the Select Package window for resources.
6. Fixed - Fighters were unable to "Fire On And Destroy" ships.
7. Fixed - Organic Armor was pre-regenerating itself before damage occurred
in combat.



Version 1.79:
1. Fixed - "X Damage to Shields" damage types were not working correctly.
2. Fixed - Shield Depeleters will now work properly against units.
3. Fixed - The result of a Communication interception intelligence project
will be displayed with arrows in the log window.
4. Fixed - Ships would clear their order if trying to move to sector 0,0.
5. Fixed - Ships with regnerating armor will regnerate all of their armor
at the end of combat.
6. Fixed - During a Deconstruct & Analyze, you would sometimes receive duplicate
techs if a component and the vehicle size were new to you.


Version 1.78:
1. Fixed - Mine damage was not accumulating against Fighters or Drones moving
through minefields.
2. Added - More Empire options for showing letter identifiers for facilities on
planets.


Version 1.77:
1. Fixed - Vehicle Size Minimum text in Mount report was 2 pixels off data value.
2. Fixed - Mines would accumulate damage beyond their means and sometimes cause
an Integer Overflow.
3. Fixed - Orders to destroy stars, planets, storms, etc. could be executed even
after the ship moved away from the location.


Version 1.76:
1. Fixed - New damage types were not being recognized.
2. Changed - If you change treaties with another race and you were at a Trade
alliance or better, and you change to a Trade alliance or better,
then you retain the same Trade %.
3. Fixed - In Simultaneous Games, sometimes the treaty between two races would
be set to None.
4. Added - Added the Weapon Mount Report window which you can get by right-clicking
on the mount name in the list or by going to the Help window.
5. Fixed - A space yard ship that was cloaked would not decrease its emergency
build time.
6. Added - Added a flag to the Shield Components decsription so that they will
show the true shields generated taking into account any mounts.
7. Fixed - AI player would choose Atmospheric Converter I over an Atmospheric
Converter III.
8. Fixed - Fighters would skip targets who had emissive armor high enough to
prevent one fighter's attack.


Version 1.75:
1. Fixed - Players can no longer exceed the maximum mines / maximum satellites
per sector restriction.
2. Fixed - Rare error on warp command execution.
3. Fixed - More improvements to Escape and Enter key usage.
4. Added - "Shield Percent" to CompEnhancement.txt.
5. Added - Added damage types - "Double Damage To Shields",
"Half Damage To Shields", "Quarter Damage To Shields".
6. Fixed - Improvements to how Emissive Armor is applied.
7. Added - Added new Settings.txt fields - "Seeker Combat Defense Modifier",
"Planet Combat Offense Modifier", "Planet Combat Defense Modifier".
8. Fixed - Point-Defense will now fire automatically on moving drones.


Version 1.74:
1. Fixed - Null-Space Projectors and Computer Viruses had the same component
family.
2. Fixed - Rare BitList error during combat.
3. Fixed - Rare Integer Overflow.
4. Fixed - Access Violation when completing combat.
5. Changed - A ship will gain benefits from a training center even if it is cloaked.
6. Fixed - Players can no longer exceed the maximum mines / maximum satellites
per sector restriction.
7. Fixed - Planets now display the number of drones they can launch / recover
in the Unit Launch window.
8. Fixed - Ships without cargo capacity are now omitted from the Cargo Transfer window.
9. Fixed - Ships without unit launch capacity are now omitted from the Unit Launch window.
10. Fixed - Escape and Enter keys work a little better on dialogs.


Version 1.73:
1. Fixed - "Different Machine" games would report an error in different exes.
2. Fixed - All Messages being sent default to "General Message".
3. Fixed - Damage Types of Pull Ship, Push Ship, and Teleport Ship will now be
targeted on as many enemies as possible (not all weapons on one ship).
4. Fixed - A Component Enhancement which has a weapon type of None means it can
only be used on non-weapon components.
5. Changed - The Comp Family Requirement in CompEnhancement.txt is now a list.
6. Fixed - The Mount listing in the Vehicle Design Add window will only show
valid mounts for the current type and size of the vehicle.
7. Fixed - Normal components will now display the mount they are using on their
report window.
8. Fixed - Capturing Ships during combat was not restricted to nearby square.
9. Fixed - Drones were not changes their target when the target was hit by an
allegiance subverter.


Version 1.72:
1. Fixed - Non-required fields were still being required.
2. Fixed - Fighters with weapon range of 2 or less were not attacking planets.
3. Fixed - Weapon Platforms were firing weapons at targets out of range.
4. Fixed - Added protections against the player file switching cheat.
5. Fixed - Added protections against exe hacking. The players and the host
must now be running the *exact* same exe.
6. Fixed - Fixed problem where cargo would sometimes show zero units remaining.
7. Changed - Revamped Jettison Cargo window.
8. Added - Mounts now support "any" weapon type, component families, maximum
vehicle size, and tech requirements.


Version 1.71:
1. Fixed - Ships were unable to ram planets.
2. Fixed - Drones were not smashing into planets.
3. Fixed - Tactical Combat was not displaying correctly after a Ram.
4. Fixed - Distance to planets has been reduced.
5. Added - Added fields to Settings.txt to allow for a higher maximum
value or resource amount.
6. Added - Added a "Bases Can Join Fleets" field to Settings.txt.
7. Fixed - AI would attempt to add units even when a planet was full.
8. Added - Added "No Retrofit Adding Of Spaceyards" and
"No Retrofit Adding Of Colony Module" so players can set
whether the game will enforce these rules.
9. Changed - Fighters and Drones will have full movement when launched.
10. Fixed - In a Turn-Based Game, fighters can only be recovered if they
have their full movement points (and are not in combat).


Version 1.70:
1. Fixed - Troops were unable to drop onto planets in combat.
2. Fixed - Only ships and fighter Groups can join fleets.
3. Added - Added Fighters, Satellites, and Drones Weapon Target Types in
Components.txt.
4. Added - Added "Two Per Vehicle" to "Ten Per Vehicle" to Restrictions
in Components.txt.
5. Fixed - Minefields will now accumulate damage against ships when
hitting them.
6. Changed - If a mine will not do damage to a target because of its damage
type, it will not strike the target. For example, if the mine
only does engine damage, and the target does not have engines,
then the mine will not strike the target.
7. Changed - Engine Damaging Weapons no longer skip shields.
8. Fixed - Integer Overflow when viewing a planet report window for a planet
that had been captured during combat.
9. Fixed - Ai should be cloaking again in Simultaneous Games.


Version 1.69:
1. Fixed - The Massive Ship Mount stated that you needed a ship size of
1100kT but it should actually be 1200kT.
2. Fixed - Rare Integer Overflow in combat when a planet was attacked.
3. Fixed - There was a way to bypass the Next Player Password dialog.
4. Changed - A ship cannot be retrofitted from a design which does not
have a Spaceyard to one that does.
5. Changed - A ship cannot be retrofitted from a design which does not
have a Colony Module to one that does.
6. Fixed - Range Check Error when a luck trait tried to prevent a star
from exploding.
7. Fixed - Set Players To Computer Control window was setting all ministers
off even for human players.


Version 1.68:
1. Fixed - Fighters no longer share their supplies with other ships.
They will not pool their resources when in a fleet.
2. Fixed - Newly launched fighters in a turn-based game will have no
movement. The next turn after they are launched, they will
receive full movement.
3. Fixed - AI was not reacting with anger when a planet or system was
destroyed.
4. Changed - Increased the number of formation positions from 30 to 100.
5. Fixed - AI was still not always closing to optimum distance for
launching seekers against planets.
6. Fixed - Seeker hit on a planet would sometimes not show an explosion
even if damage was done.
7. Fixed - AI was not always moving on the first turn of Tactical Combat
if it was the first player.
8. Fixed - Planet hit points would not always accurately portray damaged
units on the planet as well.


Version 1.67:
1. Fixed - Players created with the existing empires would require a password
when loading an autosave game.
2. Fixed - AI was using construction queue resource rate instead of actual
item cost when computing how many resources remained for purchases.


Version 1.66:
1. Fixed - The wrong System Physical Type was set on some of the nebulae
systems in the SystemTypes.txt file.
2. Fixed - Problem in the SE4 Map Editor which would cause Access
Violations when you edited abilities.
3. Fixed - Cloaked minesweepers will decloak their entire group if they
encounter a minefield (regardless of their minister settings).
4. Fixed - Improved the AI's calculation of resources available for purchases
of ships and units.
5. Fixed - The Construction_Units.txt file can now have a list of comma separated
colony types.
6. Fixed - Multiple items from the Construction_Units.txt file were being added
each turn to the same construction queue.
7. Added - Added "Percentage of Resources To Reserve For Unit Construction" field
to the Construction_Units.txt file.
8. Fixed - "Lucky" racial trait was not always working.
9. Fixed - Abilities "Change Bad Event Chance - System" and "Change Bad Intelligence
Chance - System" were not always working.


Version 1.65:
1. Fixed - Range check error when AI was processing its turn and
was trying to launch drones from a planet.
2. Fixed - Display error where the Fighter report would display
in the upper left-hand of the Main window.
3. Fixed - QuadrantTypes.txt had a misspelling which caused spatial
ruptures to not show up.
4. Fixed - Fleet name generator was incorrect for fleet numbers over
100.
5. Fixed - Combat Simulator would remove a fleet when you tried to add
the first ship to it.
6. Changed - Fighters with zero supplies only get one movement per turn.
7. Changed - Ships and fighters with zero supplies get zero shields.
8. Changed - Ships and fighters with zero supplies will not be able to fire
any of their weapons.
9. Changed - Drones can only target planets, ships, and satellites. Fighters,
mines, and other drones are too small to target.
10. Added - TCP/IP Host dialog will display all valid IP Addresses for the
host's machine.
11. Added - TCP/IP Player dialog now allows the player to select which source
IP Address they wish to use for play (the selection defaults to
the first available).


Version 1.64:
1. Fixed - Resource modifiers were going into negative percents.
2. Fixed - Integer overflow with large numbers of units in combat.
3. Changed - Increased the "maximum number of ships per player" and the
"maximum number of units per player" selection to have an
upper limit of 20,000 each on the Game Setup screen.
4. Fixed - Maintenance cost displayed for designs was not taking into
account abilities of that design.
5. Added - You can now use an AI_Construction_Units.txt file with your
AI. The file will only be used if it exists. This supplements
the AI_Construction_Vehicles.txt file with specific units to
purchase. See the AI_Construction_Units.txt file included for
more details.


Version 1.63:
1. Fixed - The AI was not matching class names correctly from the Vehicle
Construction file.


Version 1.62:
1. Fixed - The AI was not purchasing colonizing ships.
2. Changed - Put in opening screen from release Version.
3. Added - More details to AI Fleet order debug output.
4. Fixed - AI was not creating multiple designs which were of the same AI
Design Type (even if they had different names).
5. Fixed - Troops were not using their shields in ground combat.


Version 1.61:
1. Changed - The Default_Ai_Construction_Vehicles.txt file will now allow
for the design name or the design type. The term "Colonizer" is
till hard-coded to be evaluated to the needed type of colonizer.
When looking for the design to build, the game will look for the
latest design which matches the design name. If no match is found,
then the latest design which matches the design type will be located.
If neither is found, this purchase item will be skipped.
2. Added - Added an optional file called "DebugSettings.txt". This filed should
be placed in the SE4 directory and controls whether certain debug
setting are used in the game (if the file is not present all of the
debug settings are turned off). See the file for complete details.


Version 1.60:
1. Fixed - In Combat when targeting a planet, ships will move 1 square closer
so they can hit all 4 squares of the planet.
2. Fixed - If you re-loaded a TCP/IP game, and selected that you did not want
to continue it as TCP/IP Host, then when the player ended their
turn the TCP/IP Host window would show up.
3. Fixed - In some circumstances in a simultaneous turn game, the AI would
decide for the player not to move ships into a combat situation.
4. Fixed - In a Simultaneous Turn Game, enemy planets in the same sector would
generate multiple combat reports.
5. Fixed - Weapons which would cause the target ship to move were not showing
the ship movement in the combat replay.
6. Fixed - Sometimes the AI would leave a design strategy blank for a human
player using all of the ministers.
7. Fixed - Improved the sorting of AI defense locations.
8. Changed - Planets can now repeat their orders.
9. Fixed - Setting repeat orders in a Simultaneous game would not always be
changed the next turn.
10. Changed - The TCP/IP Host can now remove an empire before the game starts.
11. Fixed - Emotionless races cannot be induced to riot through intelligence or
natural events.
12. Changed - Updated the Credits.


Version 1.59:
1. Fixed - Drones would not attack when in the same square as their target.
2. Fixed - AI needed to take control of everything when a human player
was switched to computer control.
3. Fixed - In Combat, drop troop ships will go after the enemy planet they
were ordered to attack. If they don't have specific attack orders
then they will attack the planet with the highest population.
4. Fixed - You can now cloak and decloak Groups of selected ships.
5. Fixed - Cloaked drones were not de-cloaking to attack in some situations.
6. Fixed - The Map Editor would not load pictures from mod directories.
7. Fixed - Increased the chance that the AI will ignore an incoming message
if it wants to declare war or break a treaty.
8. Note - In TCP/IP Games, the UDP Messages are sent on Port 6716, and file
streams are sent on Port 6720.
9. Fixed - Cursors and Fonts would not load individually from Mod directories.
10. Fixed - All files in mod directories should now be on an individual basis.
Meaning that you don't need all of the .txt files if the directory is
present.
11. Fixed - In rare cases in Tactical Combat, a player could show twice in the player
list at the top of the window.
12. Fixed - Finally fixed the Highest Allowed Treaty bug.
13. Fixed - Solar generators were not producing any resources in a finite resource
game when the planet had zero resources remaining.
14. Change - Solar generated points are no longer modified by racial advantages,
population happiness, or population amount.


Version 1.58:
1. Fixed - Only warheads of the correct target type will damage targets in
combat that are rammed.
2. Fixed - The AI would accept systems in trade that the offering player did
not own.
3. Fixed - Increased chance for AI to send certain political message types
(like demand surrender).
4. Fixed - Added Drones to the Manual page "Status Icons".
5. Added - Hotkey Shift-A to Tactical Combat to select all available weapons.
6. Added - Hotkey Shift-C to Tactical Combat to de-select all weapons.
7. Fixed - The AI will now decloak its drones before attacking their target.
8. Fixed - The buttons to cloak and decloak are now available for drones.
9. Changed - Added a defense bonus to drones much like small ships.
10. Fixed - If a combat piece was in a fleet it would always use the fleet strategy,
even if it had broken formation.
11. Fixed - Simultaneous Games were still playing out combat in player order. The
defending players should always get to move first.
12. Fixed - If you have the setting "Automatically use Individual Ministers for newly
built vehicles", then any ships captured through intelligence
operations will be set to individual minister control.
13. Fixed - After a combat where multiple ships were selected in the Ship List, some of
them would still have "ghost" orders.
14. Fixed - Drones will no longer "dance" around warp point. They will charge through. If
they get into combat, and their target is not present, they will select new
temporary targets until combat is complete.


Version 1.57:
1. Fixed - "One Turn's Worth" selection should not show during a Multi-Add.
2. Added - Drone Carriers for AIs to use.
3. Fixed - In the Designs window, the list would sometimes be past the bottom
item when switching between tabs.
4. Fixed - The AI would often launch all of its satellites leaving none for the
Satellite layers.
5. Added - More AI settings to control drone and satellite launch.
6. Added - Fields to "Settings.txt" to control whether fighters can be hit by
mines and how much supply they use each turn just sitting still.
7. Fixed - Mines, Satellites, and Drones can self-destruct without a self-destruct
component.
8. Fixed - Mines, Satellites, and Drones can be fired on and destroyed. Only a
ship with direct-fire or seeking weapons can fire on a target and destroy it.
9. Added - Hotkey Shift-A to select all of the ships in the ship list.
10. Added - Hotkey Shift-C to de-select all of the ships in the ship list.
11. Changed - While holding Shift, you can select and deselect ships in the ship list.
12. Fixed - During combat, drones were not getting their full movement upon launch.
13. Fixed - Drones launched during combat were not showing correctly in the combat replay.
14. Added - Setting to control number of fleets AI uses for defense.


Version 1.56:
1. Fixed - Some minor spelling errors in SystemTypes.txt.
2. Fixed - Some picture problems with the new System background pictures.
3. Fixed - Added the Baseship bitmap name as the primary picture for the
baseship vehicle size. This way no changes will be needed if
race styles are already using them.
4. Fixed - TCP/IP Host's chat Messages would dissappear when a message from
a player would come in.
5. Fixed - TCP/IP Player would not receive chat Messages while taking his
turn.
6. Fixed - A TCP/IP Player who quit the game and then restarted before taking
their turn would receive a file load error.
7. Fixed - If a TCP/IP Player reconnected to a game in progress, the message
displayed would incorrectly be "Waiting for all players to connect."
8. Fixed - If a TCP/IP Player reconnected to a game, errors would occur when
the game turn was received.
9. Fixed - Sometimes a disconnected race would not start researching the "Not
Connected" items early enough.
10. Fixed - Mod Folders were requiring that the picture be present.
11. Fixed - Boarding ships would not engage enemy ships even if they had weapons.
12. Fixed - Kamikaze ships were not seeking for fleets to join.
13. Added - Added an "Orders" tab to the Colonies Window.
14. Added - Added a "Multi-Add" button to the Construction Queues window. This will
allow you to add Ships or Units to multiple construction queues at a
time.
15. Fixed - Fixed a problem with combat to-hit chances where the weapon modifier
was being factored in after the total modifier to hit was bounded to
1% or 99%.
16. Fixed - Fixed a problem where chains of partnership treaties would not allow
all players to see with all other players sight. A->B, B->C = A->C.
17. Changed - Increased the default fighter launch group size to 10.


Version 1.55:
1. Fixed - The text for the Weapon Platform and Satellite weapon
mounts did not say anything about their extended range.
2. Fixed - Generating multiple quadrants when starting a game would
sometimes cause a crash.
3. Changed - Changed the VehicleSize.txt file so that each vehicle
size has a primary and alternate bitmap.
4. Changed - Added a to-hit bonus for weapon platform weapon mounts.
5. Changed - Increased the possible range of Facility Family from
1 - 64000 in Facility.txt.
6. Added - You can now clear the orders for all selected ships.
7. Fixed - All Drones with the same orders should move together
in a group.
8. Changed - Drones now get their full movement immediately upon launch.
9. Fixed - The General.bmp was missing from the patch. This included
a new drone icon for cargo.
10. Fixed - Drones should not be able to have self-destruct devices.
11. Added - New fields in Settings.txt to set the random range of starting
computer and neutral players.
12. Fixed - An error would occur if you were a player with a number greater
than 10, and you were trying to change cargo in the combat
simulator.
13. Fixed - Sometimes the game would report that a player order file could
not be found in a simultaneous game.
14. Changed - Increased the maximum value of System Types in the
QuadrantTypes.txt file to 300.
15. Fixed - AI would design mine sweepers when it didn't have the mine
sweeping component.
16. Fixed - TCP/IP Host problem where a reconnecting client would be listed
twice.
17. Fixed - TCP/IP Host problem where a reconnecting client would not be
notified that they had reconnected successfully.
18. Added - Sounds to the TCP/IP Host when a player connects or disconnects.
19. Changed - TCP/IP Host must wait until all players have submitted their
empire files before the host can add its own empires.
20. Fixed - TCP/IP Player cannot set his empire to computer control.
21. Fixed - TCP/IP Host gets a more specific message that they can only add one
empire at a time to the game.
22. Fixed - TCP/IP Host's "Remove Empire" button changes its text to
"Toggle Empire AI On/Off" after the first turn.
23. Fixed - TCP/IP Host can toggle an empire between AI and human control.
24. Fixed - TCP/IP Host would be in the wrong state after the host canceled
processing the turn because of a missing player file.
25. Fixed - TCP/IP Player would sometimes get Access Violations when it
received Messages while a player was taking their turn.
26. Fixed - TCP/IP Chat Messages are no longer lost when you take your turn.


Version 1.54:
1. Fixed - The AI Neutral files had not been modified with the new
settings, and were causing errors when they were loaded
for a neutral's turn.
2. Added - Confirmation dialogs when you quit as a TCP/IP Host or
TCP/IP Player.
3. Fixed - When a TCP/IP player quits a game, the host will have a
status for that player of "Quit".
4. Fixed - If a TCP/IP player reconnects to a game, they will not
make a second line in the list.
5. Added - Added a sound effect when a chat message is received.
6. Added - Confirmation dialog when you try to process a turn as the
TCP/IP Host.
7. Changed - The TCP/IP Host can only add one empire at a time.
8. Fixed - List index out of bounds error when a TCP/IP Host quit a
game in progress and then started a new one.
9. Fixed - Progress bar window would stay open when a TCP/IP Host
did not want to continue processing after the game could
not find a missing player order file.
10. Added - The TCP/IP Host can now remove an empire from the game
before it begins, or change an empire to AI control during
a game.
11. Fixed - TCP/IP Host can add AI controlled empires.
12. Fixed - TCP/IP Host can create empires while players create their
empires.
13. Fixed - TCP/IP Player could not cancel out of creating an empire.
14. Fixed - If the TCP/IP Host added more than one empire, sometimes
their pictures would be mixed up.
15. Added - Added Combo boxes to the TCP/IP Player window.
16. Fixed - The SE4 Map Editor would error if you regenerated the quadrant
and there were less systems then previously.
17. Added - Added some new system types.


Version 1.53:
1. Fixed - When the AI first developed Quantum Reactor technology,
it did not always create new designs for its ships.
2. Fixed - All drones would launch even if you selected "Launch 1".
3. Fixed - Seeker launch sounds were not playing in Tactical Combat
or the Combat Simulator.
4. Fixed - The Ionic Pulse Missile did not have a sound effect.
5. Changed - The AI will completely redesign all of its ships on turns
1, 20, and 40.
6. Fixed - Drones will not choose seekers or fighters as targets in
combat.
7. Fixed - Empire files were missing the Drone Attack strategy.
(New Empire files thanks to Philipp Kullmann)
8. Fixed - Fighter Groups were not getting bonuses from racial
characteristics.
9. Added - Added more empire settings to the AI_Settings.txt file.
10. Fixed - When marking a design as obsolete, the view on the list
would jump back up to the top.
11. Added - New sound effects! You can use either the new sound
effects or the classic sounds effects by selecting the
setting in the Options window.


Version 1.52:
1. Fixed - Ships were firing on their own in Tactical Combat.
2. Fixed - Drone design warning was saying "Must have 1 bridge."
3. Fixed - When the AI generates an empire, it was not using all of
the racial points from characteristics. The AI will now
purchase characteristics first, then advanced traits.
4. Fixed - You were unable to add drones to the combat simultator.
5. Fixed - If a cloaked minesweeper is about to enter a sector with
a known minefield, it will decloak.
6. Changed - Decreased the size of the Shield Regenerator V to 20kT.
7. Fixed - The player order was incorrect in combat during a
simultaneous play game.
8. Changed - Increased Asteroids starting value. Also added these values
to the Settings.txt file.
9. Fixed - Updated the Map Editor so it will work with current maps.
This should also fix the Ruins problem.
10. Changed - Improved the sound effects.
11. Fixed - Drones were not showing up in the Combat Replay.
12. Changed - Reduced costs for Ringworld and Sphereworld components.
13. Fixed - AI would propose treaties at a higher level than its
"Highest Allowed Treaty" setting.
14. Added - Added a setting to Settings.txt which allows drones to
not be effected by mines.
15. Changed - Smart Bombs can now be placed on Ships, Bases, Satellites,
and Drones.


Version 1.51:
1. Fixed - It was possible for the Purchasing Minister to take a
very long time to finish.
2. Fixed - Recon Satellites were being miscounted by the AI for
use by its scripts.
3. Fixed - In certain cases, the Ai would not move a minesweeper
to a minefield because of the "Don't move through mine
fields" Empire Option.
4. Fixed - AI would research Mines a bit too much when they
encountered the first minefield.
5. Changed - Weapon Platforms and Satellites now get a range bonus
on their weapon mounts like bases get.
6. Fixed - When the AI first developed Shield technology, it did
not always create new designs for its ships.
7. Fixed - The TCP/IP Player should show an error if it cannot
connect to the host even if the host is on this
machine.
8. Fixed - The TCP/IP Player can only add one empire to the game.
9. Fixed - In the TCP/IP Host window, if the host cancels his
login to play a turn, the game should not end.
10. Fixed - Made the TCP/IP host a bit more lenient on player drops.
If you're dropped, you can reconnect and rejoin the game
(using the same player name). However, to get resynched
with the game, you'll just have to wait till the host
sends the turn file out again (you'll miss a turn).
11. Fixed - Minor manual text fixes.
12. Fixed - When starting a new TCP/IP Host game, all order files
for the selected game name will be deleted.
13. Fixed - On the TCP/IP Player window, when the chat button was
pressed the focus would not be set to the Chat Message
control.
14. Added - When all of the player order files have been received
by the TCP/IP Host, a sound will be played and the
game will un-minimize itself.
15. Fixed - If a vehicle could not recover a unit, the wrong name
was displayed.
16. Fixed - Point Blank strategy ships in combat would move to the
opposite side of the target from where they were.
17. Fixed - There was a bug in the fonts that would cause >> to
be displayed in Messages.
18. Fixed - Newly launched units weren't always having their
individual minister turned on if the automatic setting
was set.
19. Added - Drones. The manual pages on Units have been updated.
20. Added - A DataFileHistory.txt file which describes the data file
changes we've made in each Version.


Version 1.50:
1. Note - Gold Version.

[Slick]

I'd say that makes it worth it! Also, there were some fundamental changes that were made on the "Gold" transition not listed in those patches. AI improvement being one of the more significant ones, although there were many improvements.

Slick.

[ April 02, 2004, 14:33: Message edited by: Slick ]

[Sniper]

I think Im probably sold on that one! hehe

Unless I wait for SEV...

btw I will buy 82nd when it comes out, just not going to pre-order as such

[Atrocities]

Originally posted by Sniper:


Thanks again guys, the mods sound cool BTW

Both are good games I am sure, however, SEIV Gold has much more going for it currently and is far more fan supported at the moment than 82nd.

Buy Gold if you don't like it sell it to someone over there and recoup the $$ to buy 82nd. If you do like it, sell your old SEIV disk and use that money to buy 82nd. Either way it is a win win win situation for you.

Gold is drastically better then 1.49. Hands down I would buy gold over again without thinking about it.

Gold Gold Gold says it all. Buy Gold. You never loose with Gold.