AmigActive 3/AACD03.BIN/AACD/Games/Freeciv/NEWS

Text File | 1999-10-20 | 13KB | 235 lines

Welcome to Freeciv 1.9!

This is release 1.9.0.

With this release the Freeciv maintainership has changed again,
with David Pfitzner resigning and being replaced by Jeff Mallatt.
We also farewell Martin Willemoes Hansen as webmaster, replaced
by Paul Zastoupil.  Thanks again to all our developers, who continue
to work so hard.

This release includes lots of changes, outlined below.  Those who
are interested in seeing the detailed changes should check the
ChangeLog file.

WHAT'S CHANGED SINCE 1.8.1:

 - Internationalization added.  Some aspects still need improvement,
   and in particular currently only works well if client and server
   both use the same language.  Initial (partial) translations
   included are: de es fr hu pl pt pt_BR.
 - Improvements to "trident" tileset, and this set is now the default.
 - New ruleset support for NATIONS, and many new nations added --
   there are now 32 nations in the default nations file.  Also allow
   multiple leaders choices for each nation, allow longer player
   names, and allow specifying/choosing sex of leader.
 - New ruleset support for TERRAIN, and changes to allow Civ2 style
   terrain with more specials, multi-terrain rivers, and new farmland
   infrastructure.  Moved some server options into terrain ruleset,
   and added new rule option regarding movement along rivers.
 - New ruleset support for GOVERNMENTS, and more general unit upkeep.
 - The contents and layout of the graphics files is now described in
   user-editable 'spec' files, instead of being hardwired into the
   code; see README.graphics for details.
 - Changes to city graphics: can now see cities grow.  Also, code
   support for different city styles for different nations, and for
   technology dependent styles, but lacking good graphics except for
   the default style.  Cities show a small flag when occupied by one
   or more units.
 - From Civ2, added Paratroopers unit and Airbase infrastructure.
 - Initial window size of Gtk+ client is smaller, to fit better on
   smaller screens, and can now resize detached chat/output window.
 - City report enhancements: New "Change All" dialog to convert all
   production of a given item to some other item (both clients); can
   select multiple cities and issue commands (Gtk+ client only); can
   sort by different columns (Gtk+ client only).  Can also select
   multiple items in the Trade Report (Gtk+ client only).
 - In Civ2 style, can select which infrastructure item to pillage, and
   multiple units can pillage together.  Can now pillage fortresses,
   as well as new farmland and airbase infrastructure items.
 - More fields added to Demographics Report, and now configurable from
   a server option.
 - Added more information to "Active Units Report", and renamed to
   "Military Report".
 - New cursors added for Goto, Nuke and Paradrop modes; <Escape> key
   cancels Go-To/Paradrop/nuke mode; pollution on city squares is now
   always clearly visible; improvements to refresh method for pixmaps
   in Gtk+ client; various other improvements to both clients.
 - Autosettlers no longer convert Plains/Grasslands to Forests, but
   will now Transform terrain.
 - AI can build spaceships, although does not do so very aggressively
   or intelligently yet.
 - Server and client may specify a different metaserver to use.  There
   is now a metaserver running on www.freeciv.org, and that is now the
   default metaserver (http://www.freeciv.org/metaserver).
 - New server option for "turn blocking" mode, in which players will
   never miss a turn even if sometimes disconnected.
 - More flexible rulesets for units and techs (advances) allowing
   variable number of items in each (up to 200) and no longer any
   techs with hardwired effects depending on position in ruleset file.
 - Appropriate helptext now appears in ruleset files, allowing
   modpacks to give modified help to correspond to modified items.
 - Format of ruleset files is changed, no longer compatible with
   those for 1.8.0 and 1.8.1.
 - Removed science bonus of +1 per city per turn.
 - In Civ2 mode, overflight of a hut causes it to disappear, and can't
   build cities next to each other.
 - Rapture_size now 3, to conform to Civ2.
 - Settlers and Engineers now cost shield upkeep as well as food
   upkeep (depending on government type) as in both Civ1 and Civ2.
 - Helicopters do not lose hitpoints when over an airbase.
 - The amount of food required for a city grow is now ((citysize+1) *
   foodbox), instead of (citysize * foodbox); new behavior matches
   both Civ1 and Civ2.
 - Some re-organization of data directory, in adding data/scenario,
   and graphics now in data/trident, data/engels and data/misc.
 - Preliminary support for compiling the server on Mac (but networking
   code not yet ported).
 - Progressively moving code out of client gui-dependent directories.
 - Lots of bug fixes, code cleanups, and help-text improvements.

WHAT'S CHANGED SINCE 1.8.0:

 - The biggest change is a new client which uses the popular Gtk+
   toolkit.  The old Xaw client is still included as well.
 - A new alternate (30x30) tileset: the "trident" tileset.
   Start the client with "--tiles trident" to try it out.
   (This replaces the "classic/brunus" tileset, which is still
   available separately from the Freeciv ftp site.)
 - In the Gtk+ client, parts of the main window can be detached.
   Detaching them all allows a full-screen map window!
 - The data directory can now be specified as a "path" ($FREECIV_PATH),
   instead of a single directory.  By default, ~/.freeciv is now in
   the path, so if you download new tiles, modpacks, etc, you can now
   simply put them in ~/.freeciv
 - Server console improvements: can abbreviate server command names,
   and server option names.  Better prompt handling - eg, server no
   longer prints an unnecessary prompt each turn.
 - Server commands can now be issued from the client chatline.
   There is a new server command "cmdlevel", to control access to
   this feature on a per-player basis.
 - Some of the "small" graphics have been improved.
 - Added a nice cursor for selecting the destination for "goto".
 - New column "corruption" in the city report.
 - Implemented Marco Polo's Embassy wonder.
 - New command to explode Nuclear units at an empty square.
 - Improved behavior of Caravans and "goto": the Caravan dialog will
   now popup when the Caravan arrives, whether moving by goto or by
   the keyboard.
 - Allow connecting to metaserver (in client) via $http_proxy.
 - Minor "Zone of Control" (ZOC) rules changes to better match Civ2.
 - Improved debug logging.
 - Server will refuse to run as root, as a security measure.
 - As always: lots of bug fixes, code cleanups, and help-text
   improvements.

WHAT'S CHANGED SINCE 1.7.2:

 - Space race!  Be the first player to build a space ship and colonize
   Alpha Centauri.
 - Civil war!  Capturing the enemy capital may split his empire.  Half
   of his towns will join a new AI leader!
 - Two tile sets in this release! The "big" ones are from Ralph Engels.
   I hope you will enjoy them.  The second set is an enhancement of the
   classic tiles.  The server option -tiles allows to choose a subdirectory
   of the data directory to use different tiles.  (The data directory can
   be set with the DATADIR environment variable.)  Also, diagonal roads
   and railroads are now drawn.  Changed some of the national flags
   (especially changed Soviet flag to the Russian flag for Russians).
 - Rulesets can be used to customise units, advances, wonders, and
   improvements without recompiling -- see README.rulesets.
 - Units in a town can be put in auto-attack mode.  In this mode, they
   will attack any enemy units which come nearby.
 - New city options for each city, controlling whether new citizens are
   workers or specialists, whether to allow disbanding a size 1 city by
   building a settler, and options for units on auto-attack mode in the
   city.
 - Mapgen 4 (selected with the server command "set generator 4") is a new
   map generator which generates a map with 2 players on each island.
 - Cities can be a traded in diplomatic treaties.  This effectively allows
   you to exchange, sell or buy cities.
 - The AI now builds diplomats to defend against enemy diplomats.
 - Settlers and engineers can do teamwork.  With enough manpower, all
   terrain improvements can be done fast!
 - With engineers, the terrain type can be changed using the new Transform
   command ('O').  For example, hills can be turned into plains.
 - Units only regenerate hit points if they have not moved at all for a
   full turn.
 - Gamelog option.  The whole history of a game can be stored in the
   gamelog file.
 - One can select a unit with 0 moves left from the main map.
 - City workers can be adjusted from the main map, with shift+button1.
 - Changed the order of libraries to fix problems on IRIX and Cygwin.
 - Changed the client-server protocol to use network byte order.
 - Other bug fixes and code and help text cleanups.

WHAT'S CHANGED SINCE 1.7.1:

 - Improvements to the configure script, so it should now work
   properly on all systems.
 - Ability to configure to use Xaw3d instead of the normal Xaw.
 - New "easy" AI mode, which is now the default.
 - Improved "City Report" dialog, with configurable columns.
 - Improved "Message Options" dialog, with customizable filtering and
   selection for the different message types.
 - Improved "Messages" dialog, with a scrollbar, and a "Popup City" button.
 - Improved multi-column "Unit Select" dialog when there are lots of units.
 - In city dialog, middle-click unit icons to "activate and close".
 - New client command "t" to show tiles used by city under mouse.
 - New metaserver dialog to make connecting to metaserver games easier.
 - Ability to save and re-load client settings.
 - Clearer Yes/No toggle buttons in various places in the client.
 - Reduced color usage (but looks almost identical), so the client should
   now work fine on systems with 8 bit color displays.
 - Ability to use "scenarios", that is, pre-designed maps.  Scenarios
   for Earth and Europe games are included in the data directory.
   (Use them with the server command-line option -f, like savegames.)
 - More city names, so you're less likely to see "City 41" etc.
 - Saving large games is now much faster, and the savefile is smaller.
 - Improvements to the documentation and online help system, including
   a new help section on the "Zones of Control" game concept.
 - Detect repeated log messages and print repeat counts.
 - New server options randseed and aqueductloss.
 - Many other enhancements and bug fixes.

WHAT'S CHANGED SINCE 1.7.0:

 - Removed two C++-style comments, the most reported problem with 1.7.0!
 - Tweaks to the configure script for Solaris, although it's still not perfect.
 - Spy and diplomat improvements.
 - Added the "W" command, which Wakes up sentried units,
 - Added the "scorelog" command, which can be read by a script to generate
   power graphs after the game.
 - Loading games is now MUCH faster.
 - AI improvements from John Stonebraker.
 - Visual improvements to dialogs and the map screen.
 - Settlers may not fortify.
 - Numerous bug fixes.

WHAT'S CHANGED SINCE 1.6.3:

 - Massive AI changes. It plays smarter, and the AI uses seagoing vessels.
 - The contents of the help system have been improved substantially.
 - Many bugs fixed.
 - We now recommend you use "configure" instead of Imake.
 - Settlers have a new "e"xplore mode.
 - The makefiles now contain auto-generated dependency information.
 - Units within the radius of the city to which they belong no longer
   cause unhappiness.  This will allow much more realistic defense
   scenarios.
 - The tax/lux/sci rates are now limited by your government type.
   Also, they can modified by clicking on the rate status icons.
 - The behaviour of spies and diplomats has been greatly improved.
 - Freeciv now needs to transmit a lot less data (<25%!) when playing
   over the Internet.  This will greatly speed up games.
 - Preliminary support for compiling Freeciv under Windows and OS/2,
   when used in conjunction with the GNU tools.
 - From now on, it will be possible for different Freeciv versions to
   talk to each other if they're able.
 - Tracy Reed (who provides www.freeciv.org) reports that our site is
   getting over 6,000 hits per month.  He was quoted as saying "Cool!
   Now my computer is doing something!"
 - Lots, and Lots, and Lots of donated patches. Thanks guys, keep 'em
   coming!