Author Topic: Update on Progress  (Read 252703 times)

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Offline QuakeIV

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #105 on: August 27, 2018, 04:34:34 PM »
That actually raises a really good point in general.  If players are faffing about finding broken mechanics that need overhauling prior to full AI coding then the AI code would possibly need a lot less revision and therefore probably be easier.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2018, 11:03:04 PM by QuakeIV »
 

Offline DEEPenergy

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #106 on: August 27, 2018, 10:58:33 PM »
I'm so hyped to play C# Aurora that I'll even play the incomplete version  ;D
 

Offline Profugo Barbatus

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #107 on: August 27, 2018, 11:09:57 PM »
Normally I'm pretty much for steve just dropping stuff whenever its actually done, but for something genuinely 'optional' like AI, it could work to release without. I'm one of those people that plays without any spoilers and without NPR's, running a themed game with specific empires. A good complete AI is a massive rabbit hole, doubly so when your implementing significant new features it never had before. Maybe it would be for the best to polish off the game, and give it the brains to play itself in an update down the line.
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #108 on: August 28, 2018, 02:28:13 AM »
I'm not really in the situation of having a complete game without AI. I still have work to do on the game and I am well in to the AI code. I'm doing both in parallel and I plan to test both in parallel too.

Also, although not normally a consideration in programming, it depends on which part of the code is interesting at the moment :)
 
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Offline Bremen

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #109 on: August 28, 2018, 03:04:14 AM »
Also, although not normally a consideration in programming, it depends on which part of the code is interesting at the moment :)

One of the luxuries of something being a hobby instead of a job. Enjoy it whenever you can :)
 

Offline MarcAFK

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #110 on: August 28, 2018, 07:10:17 AM »
Meanwhile AAA publishers have the gall to charge $80 for a buggy unfinished mess with core features pruned out in order to sell them later as a DLC.
On the other hand, we have Aurora, where the bugs are a core feature! :p
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Offline Jovus

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #111 on: August 28, 2018, 09:20:32 AM »
On the other hand, we have Aurora, where the bugs are a core feature! :p

And so is the $80 still in your wallet!


Yes, I know that was humour rather than complaint. So's mine.
 

Offline Kof

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #112 on: September 02, 2018, 07:21:13 PM »
Good to see that I'm not the only one gagging for release!  ;D
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #113 on: November 13, 2018, 02:58:46 PM »
I've been away since Friday night, which is why I have made minimal posts. Normal service should resume this Friday :)
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #114 on: November 26, 2018, 12:54:00 PM »
The test campaign has been going well. It is now the end of 2415 and all five races have established multiple colonies, including populated, mining and civilian. All the various movement and unload orders are functioning as they should and civilian trade is working. Construction orders, including space stations, are working as intended. One race has built a 2.5m ton orbital habitat that can house a million colonists and is towing it to Europa. Another has three fuel harvesters in orbit of Saturn. All the races are concentrating on mining, industry and have started research jump technologies. They have all built a large number of ground forces, with very detailed OOBs in some cases.

This is a sort of good news/bad news update as I have decided to end that campaign and start a new one. I want to get started on testing the AI (now that I can rely on base functionality) and to concentrate on that I don't really want the distraction of five player races. So I am starting a campaign with a single conventional player race, a Trans-Newtonian NPR and Precursors active. That will allow me to concentrate on monitoring what the AI is doing, while keeping an interest on the player side. It should also be very challenging to start in that situation, which will force me to be creative.
 
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Offline Hazard

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #115 on: November 26, 2018, 01:42:48 PM »
Well, with those ground forces available, why not end the game with a test of the ground combat mechanics?
 
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Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #116 on: November 26, 2018, 02:34:58 PM »
Well, with those ground forces available, why not end the game with a test of the ground combat mechanics?

That is a good idea !
 
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Offline The Forbidden

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #117 on: November 27, 2018, 02:33:28 AM »
So will you update the campaign's fan fiction one last time with the glorious last war on Earth or will you just move on to the next one ?
 

Offline King-Salomon

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #118 on: November 27, 2018, 05:04:55 AM »
Well, with those ground forces available, why not end the game with a test of the ground combat mechanics?

That is a good idea !

An AAR of the fighting would be great if it wouldn't be too time consuming...

would be great to know if the new ground combat mechanic is really adding something to the game and what impact is has in reallity not only in theorie..
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #119 on: November 27, 2018, 04:39:42 PM »
This is more of a note than an update.

Just spent an hour with a weird bug that was causing NPR home worlds to change environment after game start. Firstly, I realised that I needed to run a evaporation cycle during system generation so that the first 5-day cycle didn't change the environment. Secondly, I couldn't understand why the water vapour generated by evaporation kept disappearing and slowly reducing the water on the planetary surface. Finally I checked the gas freeze out code, which is supposed to change atmospheric gases to a frozen state (in the ground, not the atmosphere), and realised that was where the water vapour was going (except I wasn't recording it so it just vanished). I then realised that I had set the boiling point of water vapour in the Gases table to 100 C, so it was effectively freezing out as soon as it evaporated. Boiling and Evaporation aren't the same thing of course, but simple oversights lead to annoying bugs :)

So, this is a note to explain why the boiling point of water vapour in the gases table is now 245K (about -28C) so it lines up nicely with when the hydrosphere changes from liquid to frozen.
 
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