Author Topic: Change for v7.00  (Read 29170 times)

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Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Change for v6.50
« Reply #15 on: August 24, 2015, 03:34:35 PM »
System Discovery Dates on Galactic Map

I've added the ability to display the date each system was discovered on the Galactic Map. Helps if you are reconstructing how a race expanded into space.
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Change for v6.50
« Reply #16 on: August 24, 2015, 04:23:15 PM »
More Detail in SM Comparison Window

I have added some extra columns to the SM Comparison window (which lists high level stats for player races).

Shipyard capacity is now split into Naval and Commercial, shipping tonnage is split into Naval, Commercial and Civilian, Fuel Refineries have been split out from factories and I have added a Fuel Stockpile column.
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Change for v6.50
« Reply #17 on: August 27, 2015, 04:55:53 PM »
Shorter Period Comets

Comets other than those in the Sol system are often very long period comets, which are usually not economically exploitable due to the distances involved. They also can lure auto-surveying ships a long way out from the primary.

Therefore for v6.50 I have changed the comet generation code so comets in other systems are generally much closer to Sol style comets in terms of aphelion ranges.
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Change for v6.50
« Reply #18 on: August 30, 2015, 08:56:40 AM »
Increased Fuel Production

The changes to jump point generation have increased distances significantly. As almost every nation in my current campaign is out of fuel after 3.5 years :) it would seem the current fuel production is no longer sufficient. Therefore I am doubling the fuel production for v6.50.

This will also consume twice as much Sorium so Fuel Harvesters will again move up a little in importance (because your mines may not keep up with the needs of refineries)

In addition, I am changing Fuel Harvesters to use the current Fuel Production Rate rather than the Mining Rate
« Last Edit: August 30, 2015, 09:20:47 AM by Steve Walmsley »
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Change for v6.50
« Reply #19 on: September 01, 2015, 12:44:43 PM »
NPR Interrupts

There has been some debate on the forums about NPR interrupts so I thought it was worth clarifying how they work and what has changed for v6.50

There are two ways in which a turn can be shortened. If the program believes something is about to happen, like a missile or ship entering detection range, it will shorten the turn at the start. The second is through an interrupt, which is caused by a notable event and ends the turn so that the player (or an NPR) can react to it. Some interrupts are player only, such a ship being constructed or a system being surveyed, and some are interrupts for both players and NPR, such as a ship being destroyed or missiles being launched.

Note that the NPR AI code for movement and combat takes place at the start of a turn, so if anything significant happens relating to an NPR, the NPR needs a new turn in order to evaluate the event and react to it. Once a player interrupt occurs, it ends automated turns so the player can react. However, the AI doesn't need a break to react - it just needs to start a new turn - so interrupts are flagged as Player Events or Non-Player Events. A Player event is either something directly affecting a player, or an NPR event that involves a player, such as the NPR detecting the player. For NPR events that do not involve players, Automated Turns are not switched off. This is how it works in 6.40 btw - not a change for v6.50.

It's also worth noting that Automatic Turns only work if you are using the Tactical Map - the time buttons on the Population Window or the Galactic Map don't use Automated Turns.

In v6.40 there are 264 different events in Aurora, 60 of which don't cause interrupts for players and 184 of which don't cause interrupts for NPRs. For v6.50 I revisited the event list to see if I can reduce the number of interrupts for NPRs and now there are only 27 events that will trigger NPRs interrupts. The list is shown below. These are all events that the AI will need to evaluate and potentially issue a change in orders.

In addition for v6.50, I am going to change Player Events to only events that directly involve the player, so an NPR detecting a player will no longer stop automated turns.

NPR Interrupt Events
Target Hit
Missile Launch
Ship Destroyed
Damage Taken
Ship Slowed
Alien Fleet
Alien Population
New Thermal Contact
Population Surrender
Hostile Transit Detected
Jump Point Detected
New Alien Race
Missile Intercepted
New Hostile Contact
Missile Contact
Shipyard Contact
New System Discovered
Active Sensor Detected
Population Detected
Shields Detected
Jump Point Found
Ramming Attempt
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Change for v6.50
« Reply #20 on: October 04, 2015, 07:45:09 AM »
List of Systems with Wrecks

On the Display2 tab on the tactical map, there is a list of known ruins. There is now an option to toggle the list to display known systems with wrecks.

This is slightly unrealistic as it will reveal wrecks that appear when you have no ships in the system. However, I thought the usefulness of this in large games would outweigh the realism concern.

 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Change for v6.50
« Reply #21 on: October 26, 2015, 04:11:42 PM »
Gravity on Mineral Survey Window

A minor change. I've added a gravity a column to the mineral survey summary window, mainly so you can see if creating a lower gravity species (through genetic modification) would allow you to place manned mines on currently inaccessible system bodies.

 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Change for v6.50
« Reply #22 on: October 26, 2015, 07:11:59 PM »
Larger Compressed Fuel Storage Systems

If you discover a Compressed Fuel Storage System in a ruin, you can now research Large and Very Large versions as well.
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Change for v6.50
« Reply #23 on: November 10, 2015, 12:29:16 PM »
Filter Contacts by Race

On the system map you can currently filter contacts by their neutrality status or by civilian status.

In v6.50, you can also filter by Race, so you can restrict the view to only the contacts from a particular race. This can be combined with the existing filters. This is particularly useful if you have fourteen players races and a lot of civilian traffic :)

I also fixed the bug that displayed the active sensor signatures of ships that were excluded by neutrality status.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2015, 01:00:49 PM by Steve Walmsley »
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Change for v6.50
« Reply #24 on: November 29, 2015, 01:57:30 PM »
Generating Specific Known Stars

In v6.50, when you select Generate System in a known stars game, you can now choose which system to generate. This allows you to start in Alpha Centauri, or Rigel, or Antares, or setup NPRs in those systems.

The list of systems from which you can choose shows the name, the types of stars, the distance from Sol and the coordinates in 3D space relative to Sol.

By default, the generic system names (Gliese xx, HIP xx, NN xx, etc.) are excluded. You can display them though if you wish.

You can also show systems already in the game, if you want to see how they compare in terms of distance to non-generated systems. These are shown with a grey background.

EDIT: Although not shown below, I have also added a function that allows you to select a system, then re-sort everything based on ascending order of distance from that selected system.
EDIT #2: Any existing systems that have been renamed by the race looking at the list will appear with their correct racial name, rather than the generally used name for the system.

« Last Edit: November 29, 2015, 03:45:59 PM by Steve Walmsley »