Hardcore Gamer Resource Kit/Hardcore Gamer Resource Kit - Disc 2.iso/Pc/S_T/STARSUPD.ZIP/README11.TXT

Text File | 1995-06-06 | 14KB | 299 lines

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Stars! V1.10 Upgrade Patch Readme11.txt
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So what's this upgrade all about?
---------------------------------
After Stars! initial release we've been flooded with feedback from users
telling us what they liked about Stars! and what they didn't.  Many of
the requests were for things we've already planned to do in future
versions, but a small core of requests came up repeatedly and we felt
that we needed to address them before the next major release.

Does that mean you've found a bunch of bugs?
--------------------------------------------
Suprisingly, no.  This update does fix a few minor bugs, but that isn't
the main purpose of the update.

So why are you releasing this upgrade?
--------------------------------------
It turns out that we had a few more things to learn about how BBS/PBM
games are conducted.  People told us that the games of this genre
typically generate only 1 turn per day, or 3 turns per week.  Further,
many bulletin boards don't run under Windows, so additional support was
needed to automate turn generation during scheduled maintenance
downtime.  We also received numerous requests that the Shareware version
be allowed to generate turns for registered players without crippling
their technology.  This would allow BBS operators to operate full BBS
games without having to make an investment in a registered version.
This release was designed to meet these needs.

What are the new BBS features?
------------------------------
* The advanced game wizard now has an "Accelerated BBS Play" checkbox.
Selecting this option will significantly speed game play and give people
more things to do from the start.
* New command line flags were added to allow Stars! to generate turns
for multiple games as part of a DOS batch file that starts Windows up,
does the processing, then terminates Windows.
* Both the shareware and registered EXE may be used to host games
regardless of whether individual players are registered or not.
Advanced game setup options and custom race creation must still be done
by players with registered copies.
* The shareware version defaults to Moderate for the starting distance
between players.

Is there anything else in this upgrade?
---------------------------------------
Stars! is a work in progress.  We are always making changes.  With 1.1,
you get the features weÆd already coded and tested after releasing 1.0,
along with the new features we implemented based on your requests.
WeÆre including these in this release because, well, thereÆs no reason
not to.

So what are the other features we'll get with Version 1.10?
-----------------------------------------------------------
* VCR improvements.  WeÆve added additional fleet information. Attacks
now have some animation to help make attack sequences easier to
understand.
* Scanner mode improvements.  You can turn modes like radar coverage,
fleet view and planet names on and off independently of each other.  A
new mode that displays planets based on population has been added.
* Cloaking has been reworked.  Cloaks may now be used to help cloak
uncloaked ships in the same fleet.
* Various item costs and abilities have been tweaked to improve game
play.  For example, the mineral costs of some of the lower tech beam
weapons has decreased slightly.
* The host mode dialog now displays more information about player status
for network games.

Did you fix any bugs in this release?
-------------------------------------
We fixed all 8 reproducable bugs that people have reported to us.  None
of these were major, or caused a crash or data corruption.  There have
been other bugs reported that appear to be problems with specific
display drivers.  We appreciate any and all bug reports and investigate
them all.

How do we send you bug reports, suggestions, and feedback?
----------------------------------------------------------
You can mail them to Star Crossed Software, or you can email them to
[e-mail].  Remember that msn is a beta product and often
there are delays and mail can be lost.  This was why we didn't initially
publish an email address for comments.

What's the deal with your Web Site?
-----------------------------------
We're waiting on Ma Bell to install a 56k line.  They promise it will be
in by June 12.  If you try http://www.webmap.com/stars! at 12:01 am on
June 12 and it isn't there, try again in a few days.  We're working on
it.  Really.

Are you going to put out the playerÆs guide in a printable form?
----------------------------------------------------------------
Yes.  It will be available on our web site and we'll distribute it at
various FTP sites.

How do I patch my registered version?
-------------------------------------
Place the patch.exe and stars!11.upd in the same directory as your
registered version 1.00 of Stars!.  Run patch.

If I upgrade, do all the other players in my game need to upgrade?
------------------------------------------------------------------
This version is backward compatible with Version 1.00.  However, Version
1.00 will NOT read files created by Version 1.10.  Do NOT upgrade until
AFTER the host of your game has generated a new turn with the new
version.  If in doubt, back up your game files before upgrading.  If you
open a 1.00 game and look around and save, and the host hasn't upgraded
to 1.10, your history file will be ignored and you will lose all data
about previously visited planets.

The previous description was confusing.  Can you restate that?
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sure.  If you are playing a game against computer players, upgrade and
things will just work.  If you are playing a multi-player game.  Wait
for the host to tell you that they have generated the new turn with the
new host.  Then upgrade.

Do I have to pay for this upgrade?
----------------------------------
This upgrade will be distributed free of charge across the net.  If you
don't have access to the internet, Star Crossed Software will provide
you a patch disk for $5, which includes shipping and handling if you are
in the US.

Ok, how do these new features actually work?
--------------------------------------------
* Accelerated BBS Play.
This appears in the New Game Setup. When you check this box, the
following happens
1) Players start out with a population 4 times larger than normal.
2) All planets have 20% more minerals.
3) Planets with poor mineral densities are improved by a few percentage
points.
4) The default starting distance between players is now "Moderate".

What this means is that you can build 5 to 10 ships your first turn if
you choose, complete research up to 2 tech levels a year, and in general
jump-start the game.  You don't need to worry about running out of
colonists if you want to send out a bunch of colony ships at the
beginning of the game.
In practice, games with this option have a lot more decisions to be made
from turn 1 on.  The first 10 turns accomplish what usually takes about
30 to 50 turns.  Games with this option usually have a winner emerging
before turn 100.  The disadvantage to this option is that some of the
subtlety of Stars! is lost.  You don't have to make as many of the early
resource tradeoffs that have a large impact on your later strategy.
Most BBS games will find that this disadvantage is outweighed by the
faster pace.

* New Stars! command line flags
-x                 Exit Windows when Stars! exits.
-b games.txt       Generate turns for each game listed in games.txt

For example if your BBS is OS/2, NT or Windows-based you can launch
Stars! with the -b <filename> parameter to batch generate turns for
multiple games.  Stars! will automatically exit when the last turn has
been generated.  The file listing the games should contain one game name
per line including the full path like so:

c:\games\stars!\play\frenzy.hst
c:\games\stars!\play\game.hst
c:\user\john\stars!\killer.hst

You can name this batch list anything you want.
If you are running a DOS based BBS but have some version of Windows
installed on the machine, you can launch Windows and Stars! from a
nightly maintenance script like this:

win c:\games\stars!\stars!.exe -x -b c:\games\stars!\gamelist.txt

This will launch Windows and Stars!, generate a turn for each game
listed in gamelist.txt, and exit Stars! and Windows.  If you have
Windows for Workgroups installed you need to use the /n parameter for
windows:

win /n c:\games\stars!\stars!.exe -x -b c:\games\stars!\gamelist.txt

This will prevent Windows for loading any of its network drivers and
suppress its login prompt.
If you only need to generate a turn for a single game you can still use
the -g gamename.hst parameter with or without -x.
The -x flag is for 16-bit Windows only. Behaviour of the -x flag on
OS/2, Windows NT, or Windows 95 is undefined and probably not what you
want.

* Shareware version may host registered players
Version 1.00 allowed this as well, but would peg all player's tech
levels to 10.  Version 1.10 will allow registered players to progress up
to tech level 26.  Shareware players will still be limited to 10.

* VCR improvements
First, a note:  These improvements do not purport to turn the VCR into
the best thing since sliced bread.  They are incremental improvements
that you're getting because they were completed at the time we did the
patch.  These improvements are only a small fraction of the changes
we're planning for the next version.  That said, they significantly
enhance players' understanding of battles.

Attacks are now animated.  Laser and torpedo fire are shown to give a
better representation of who's attacking whom.
The status text to the right of the board now displays the tactic being
employed by the active ship.  This helps you figure out what your
opponent is trying to do.

Clicking on the VCR selects the ship in the square (right-clicking
brings up a list).  A button has been added in the status area that pops
up a picture of the hull of the selected ship.

The battle plan option "spread out" is a more aggressive at spreading
your ship stacks out.

* Scanner mode improvements
A new scanner mode, Population Value, has been added.  This mode
displays planets you own in green, planets owned by friends in yellow,
and planets owned by neutrals and enemies in red.  The bigger the
circle, the larger the population.

There are now 5 base scanner modes:
Normal View -- the standard view your planets and ships view
Planet Value -- planet size depends on habitability
Minerals at Planet -- pie charts of minerals at the planet
Population View -- planet size depends on population
No Player Information View -- hides all traces of planet ownership in
the scanner

The above modes are exclusive w.r.t. each other.  The following 5 modes
can be overlaid in any combination:  Add Waypoint, Radar, Fleet View,
Ship Filter, Planet Names.

Ship Filter has been expanded to allow multiple ships to be displayed.

* Cloaking Changes
Cloaking can now be shared by an entire fleet.  The cloaking percentage
of a fleet is now displayed in the Fleet Composition tile, except when
in small screen mode.

Cloaking percentage is calculated as follows:
In order for matter to be cloaked, it requires a certain number of
cloaking units per kT:
100 units/kT   50%    cloaked
300 units/kT   75%    cloaked
600 units/kT   87.5%  cloaked
1000 units/kT  93.75% cloaked

Cloaking can never exceed 95%
Between those reference points, cloaking percentage is linear.  40 units
cloak at 20%, 180 units cloak at 60%, etc.

Ship Cloak units are the sum of all cloaking devices on the ship:
Transport Cloak (50%)     100 units/kT
Stealth Cloak (40%)        80 units/kT
Super-Stealth Cloak (65%) 220 units/kT
Ultra-Stealth Cloak (75%) 300 units/kT
Chameleon Scanner (20%)    40 units/kT

The total number of Cloaking units for a ship is obtained by multiplying
the Cloak units by the weight of the ship without cargo.

To determine the percentage a fleet is cloaked, sum up the total number
of cloaking units in the fleet and divide by the mass of the fleet,
including fuel and cargo.

Example:  A small freighter with a Quick Jump 5 engine, Tritanium Armor,
and a Transport Cloak weighs 90kT empty.  This freighter has 100
units/kT * 90kT = 9000 units of cloaking.

By itself, empty, the freighter is visible to enemy scanners at only 50%
of their maximum range.

If you completely fill the freighter with fuel and cargo, the ship now
weighs 360kT.  Its cloaking units/kT are 9000 / 360 = 25 units/kT.  The
freighter is now only 12.5% cloaked.

Now assume that the empty freighter is placed in a fleet with an empty
scout that has a Quick Jump 5 engine, Laser, and a Bat Scanner, which
weighs 15kT when empty.  The entire fleet weighs 105kT, so traveling
together, this fleet would be 9000 / 105 = 85.7 units/kT approximately
43% cloaked.

* Part cost changes
You can view these in the tech browser.  We will also be publishing this
data in table form in the printable documentation.  Nothing major, just
changing production costs slightly to improve the game balance.

* Host dialog improvements
The host dialog now displays player's status as dead if they have been
eliminated and no longer waits for a turn to be turned in from deceased
players.
The dialog also shows the status of players who have saved turn changes,
but not marked their log file as turned in.

Will these changes ever appear in the playerÆs guide?
-----------------------------------------------------
Yes, weÆll be updating the playerÆs guide and making it available on our
Web site.