Saturday, May 09, 2009

Another download update :)

After doing some playtesting recently I uncovered some things I wanted to change, so I've been spending time on the game features and processes as a diversion from the network code.  I've also added a few new things that I think will please many people following this project.

After this I'll be working on pathfinding for a little while.  It's one of those things that's easy to implement poorly, and impossible to get perfect.  I always feel like there must be something I can do to make it better.  And this time, I really think there is, and I have many ideas I want to test out at least.

Updates in RC4c:
  • Deep Desert mode is now activated!!  I think people will love this one.  It increases the rock and spice on the board, and as for the worms... well, I'd stay off the sand.  ;)  You can choose this mode when creating a game.
  • The Harvesters icon in the top bar now shows how many harvesters you've created/are creating, out of how many possible you could have, in addition to showing the "idle harvester warning".
  • PSMs now generate at a much faster rate.  It should be much more difficult to empty the board of spice.
  • Sonic tanks have been rather completely revamped.  Because of how I designed the attack mode in the game, it's very difficult to control their lanes of fire, and they end up destroying themselves or other friendlies too often.  Now, they can no longer hurt friendly units.  Their disadvantage is that they will damage themselves a little every time they fire (rationalization: the sonic weaponry is so powerful it shakes them apart).  Keep them on 25% retreat if you want the chance to repair them before they blow themselves up.  Now I think people may actually use these tanks.
  • At any Refinery you'll find a global Maintain Operations switch.  This will automatically place a new harvester queue at the same location any harvester was when it was destroyed, where possible.
  • Saboteurs now default to Stop orders after moving, so they don't rush around anywhere and give themselves away.
  • Crags are generated at half the previous rate during map creation.
  • ConYards cannot be demolished now.  (durr)
  • The mouse scrollwheel circle now has a minimum size of zero, instead of looping.
  • Players choosing to be Observers for a game now take "kill with a word" to a new level... just click on any unit you see to shatter bones and burst organs.  Obviously this is for debug purposes and will not be in the final product, but it is fun.  :)
  • Fixed several small bugs.