Sunday, February 21, 2010

1.73 Release

1.73 is released today.  There is only one major change.

Network games now default to 30 frames per second.  A long time ago I decided to go with 60fps to make it a much smoother experience than the original game, but I didn't reckon for high bandwidth needs at the time.  For a long time I've been meaning to make this change, but it took a lot of motivation because of how much code I would need to modify.  Bear in mind that, since this is an expansive code update, there WILL be bugs as a result of it. :)

The game won't "appear" to run any slower as I've modified all the calculations in the game to account for the lower frame rate.  It will look a bit choppier but you won't notice it after a short while.

Also due to this change, I had to re-write some nagging "loose ends" in the code.  It was actually a good thing as it forced me to resolve some older issues.  Carryalls should "wiggle" less often now and generally behave more smoothly, and units should NEVER be unable to hit their target due to weapon speed and distance (occasionally before you might have seen a Quad firing at an adjacent Infantry and never being able to hit it, for instance).

Please let me know in the forums how this affects network game performance compared to the previous version.  My hope is that it will be quite a noticeable improvement and may even correct some sync loss issues.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

1.72 addendum

Hey everyone,
I forgot to list two updates present in 1.72.  One of them is major so I'm making a new post to draw attention.

  • Buildings WILL NOT COMPLETE if they are within any enemy unit's weapon range (except Flak Trikes).  Idea is that construction crews cannot be forced to work under threat of receiving gunfire.  Purpose is to stop building spamming
  • Fixed bug with detonations and unit kill counts; also added cratering

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

1.72 Release

Changelog since 1.71:

  • Foot Soldiers are now invisible to enemies while in Crags.  They will still be attacked as normal by enemies in range
  • Corrected bug with range bonus for Foot Soldiers in Crags (now applies properly in all directions)
  • Trading Posts are now visible to enemies while taking damage
  • Trading Posts no longer count for proximity when building new structures
  • Reduced MTP hit points commensurate with other LVs
  • Fixed bug preventing AI players from building Foot Soldiers at tech levels 2 and 3
  • Fixed bug allowing players to queue extra flyers for HTFs that were not yet completed
  • Fixed bug with Ornithoper weapon sound effects
  • Fixed bug with Merc purchase costing nothing for clients
  • Fixed several bugs with small weapon fired from buildings
  • Fixed bug causing "base is under attack" messages much too frequently
Considering many big changes for next release.  Might be a while.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

1.71 Release

Changelog since 1.70:

  • Major balance changes
    • Light Vehicle health reduced by 40%
    • Infantry health reduced by 50%
    • Rocket Launcher damage reduced by 50% against non-buildings
    • Siege Tank ROF increased by 15%
    • Above changes have the following ramifications:
      • Troopers are more powerful compared to lighter units, hopefully more valuable
      • Heavy Vehicle combat effectiveness against Light Vehicles is improved
      • Lower Infantry strength only matters against units that do not kill them with one shot, i.e. other light units, so they are equalized against LVs
      • Rocket Launchers will now have a much harder time against other HVs, but otherwise remain unchanged
      • Siege Tanks have greater damage output and hopefully are valuable enough to choose over Combat Tanks sometimes
  • Added Skirmish option that does not start any network functions
  • Added Tech Level to game options
  • Added 96x96 map
  • "W" key now selects idle harvesters instead of Tilde/Grave (should help foreign keyboards)
  • MCV now has Sight range of 8 (was 2)
  • Mercs now group together in formation
  • Fixed bug with halting construction giving no return
  • Fixed bug enabling dropping more than one unique building
  • Fixed bugs with Mercs, Alliances, and Starport pricing for network clients
  • Removed popup window when exiting game