Author Topic: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone  (Read 161783 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline TMaekler

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 1112
  • Thanked: 298 times
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #510 on: October 02, 2021, 02:35:25 AM »
When you build a fighter the number of build fighters is also set to 0 after the production is added. If you simply select a new fighter and create another production, it is added with 0 as the number to produce.
 

Offline TMaekler

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 1112
  • Thanked: 298 times
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #511 on: October 02, 2021, 11:46:42 AM »
When you want to release a ship with a tug into a fleet, the command releases the ship but as a separate fleet - not into the fleet you selected as a move-to-target. Maybe you can create a "release to fleet" task?
 

Offline TMaekler

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 1112
  • Thanked: 298 times
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #512 on: October 04, 2021, 12:15:30 PM »
I have an ally which is sharing his grav and geo information with me. Recently I received a finishing message of a grav survey and wanted to redeploy my ship - but there was none. So the info came from the ally. I don't know but it might make sense to have those messages separate, or marked somehow that a survey finish came from an ally, not from your own ships and efforts. Or?
 

Offline xenoscepter

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 1154
  • Thanked: 317 times
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #513 on: October 04, 2021, 12:37:33 PM »
 --- Would it be possible to get a "No Ground Forces for Conventional Start" option at GameGen? Upgrading them all one by one is pain... or rather it was pain in VB6. Unless you've implemented some way to avoid having to click them all one by one already?
 
The following users thanked this post: MinuteMan

Offline Kyle (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • K
  • Posts: 472
  • Thanked: 973 times
  • Quasar4x dev
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #514 on: October 06, 2021, 12:13:34 PM »
QoL: When building new ships and your shipyard has more than one slipway the target task group is reset to <None Selected> when you click on the "Add Task" button. So for the next slipway, you again have to select a new task group. Usually, I build all to the same task group. Can you change this reset to only happen when there are no more free slipways left?  :)

Press the Default Fleet button a couple rows below that menu to fix this problem.  I know it could be designed better but for now, that's how to deal with it.
 

Offline Kyle (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • K
  • Posts: 472
  • Thanked: 973 times
  • Quasar4x dev
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #515 on: October 06, 2021, 01:55:40 PM »
Is Maneuver rating truncated to an integer for actual collision calculations or just for the system parameters display?

Yes, it's truncated for actual collision.  Same as VB6.  (The truncated man rating is stored in the Missiles.MR field in the DB, an integer field type, at time of design)


I find it strange that a missile can be made objectively better by subtracting 0.008 MSP of hardware devoted to agility. ... extremely odd for a video game despite actually being somewhat realistic. Speed changes due to the changed mass, but due to rounding (or according the that spreadsheet you linked, truncation) of the maneuver rating, the added agility has no effect. Really the confusing behavior is due to different rounding rules being applied in different parts of the equation.

Thankfully I can just wave my hand at this and say "that's how VB6 does it" :)


I don't remember if I already asked this. Sorry if so. But do you have any plans to include Repair Yards as we have now in C#?

I do not


Seriously impressive work, thanks for Quasar4x!
Would it be possible to add an option for the original VB color scheme? Also, the "Shrink to fit small displays" options reduces the font size and increases eye strain drastically, making it (at least for me) unusable.   The original VB Aurora reduced blank spaces in the UI while keeping the same font size, perhaps this could be an alternative.   

I have no plans for adding alternate color schemes.  It is possible to do with the modding tools provided if you know how Godot works and can thus extract and manipulate the themes and styles packed into the game, albeit not a fun or easy task to undertake.

I have no plans to support displays smaller than 1080p beyond the current implementation of the current "Shrink to fit small displays" option, sorry.


--- Would it be possible to get a "No Ground Forces for Conventional Start" option at GameGen? Upgrading them all one by one is pain... or rather it was pain in VB6. Unless you've implemented some way to avoid having to click them all one by one already?

Possibly, but it's not a priority for me right now.  After creating a new game you can delete ground units with SM to replicate this setting, unless I'm forgetting some nuance or other related to this.



 

Offline Kyle (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • K
  • Posts: 472
  • Thanked: 973 times
  • Quasar4x dev
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #516 on: October 06, 2021, 02:12:33 PM »
When you build a fighter the number of build fighters is also set to 0 after the production is added. If you simply select a new fighter and create another production, it is added with 0 as the number to produce.

This will be fixed at some point, for now you'll just have to re-type in the number, sorry. I know it's annoying.


When you want to release a ship with a tug into a fleet, the command releases the ship but as a separate fleet - not into the fleet you selected as a move-to-target. Maybe you can create a "release to fleet" task?

This workflow does need work for sure; the QoL is not as good as it could be. 

On the 2nd tab of the Fleet Orders window there's a "Detach tugs when no longer needed" checkbox.  You can check this box on the primary fleet.
 Then you can tell the tug+payload fleet to join the main fleet, and the tug will be automatically detached afterwards.  The only problem with this method is it creates a new tug fleet with an auto-generated name and none of the prior settings the old tug fleet had, which does get annoying.

The other option is to just release tractored ships at the primary fleet's location, and periodically manually merge them all together.  This is still a step better than VB6, because you can release at the fleet's location rather than the colony's location, making it a little easier to find the target in your list of possible destinations.  (for example, "Release Tractored Ships Miner TG" instead of "Release Tractored Ships Asteroid #6")


I have an ally which is sharing his grav and geo information with me. Recently I received a finishing message of a grav survey and wanted to redeploy my ship - but there was none. So the info came from the ally. I don't know but it might make sense to have those messages separate, or marked somehow that a survey finish came from an ally, not from your own ships and efforts. Or?

It's how VB6 does it but I agree it should be made clearer. 
 

Offline TMaekler

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 1112
  • Thanked: 298 times
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #517 on: October 08, 2021, 02:45:45 PM »
In my test game, I have one NPR that is my ally. I didn't pay much attention to him - only to find out that he has created a bunch of small outposts all over the place. There really is no good way to keep track of enemy movements other than pinning it down every time something shows up and you have to make sense of your notes to see, what your ally or enemy is moving around. Well, that is how it is in reality - so no complaints there. I was wondering though if there could be something added that gives you a visual history of your allies' and enemies' movements - so you don't have to pin it down manually. Any ideas what could make sense? One thing that would definitely make sense is that we could get a note of all the colonies you detect whilst flying around. They are simply notes in the log, but they are not recorded in the info for alien races. I would definitely love to see that recorded there.
 

Offline TMaekler

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 1112
  • Thanked: 298 times
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #518 on: October 09, 2021, 10:00:26 AM »
"New Allied Contact" - Population detected - but it doesn't tell you on which body
"Allied Contact Update" - A contact has been lost on ... - and it does tell you on which body

Can you add the body information for "New Allied Contact"?
 

Offline Drgong

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 1181
  • Thanked: 34 times
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #519 on: October 10, 2021, 12:40:04 AM »
Just want to say thank you for making this a linux option, I have a Linux laptop and I never was able to get C# working on it, the idea that I could get VB style play on my laptop just warms my heart, let alone that it by all accounts does not bog down as bad as VB6.
Check out or Join my Community Game
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?board=235.0
Also check out my stories, including Interactive tales.
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?board=239.0
 
The following users thanked this post: Kyle

Offline TMaekler

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 1112
  • Thanked: 298 times
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #520 on: October 12, 2021, 01:41:33 PM »
How exactly are fleets refueled when they are set to "Fulfill a contract"? It every now and then happens that a ship in those fleets are without fuel. Usually equalizing fuel and then let them continue works and they get refill at some place where there is fuel. I.e. I do have fuel at my base planets but not on the target planets for automines etc. Do the fleets auto return to the place they came from?
 

Offline Kyle (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • K
  • Posts: 472
  • Thanked: 973 times
  • Quasar4x dev
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #521 on: October 13, 2021, 06:40:06 AM »
How exactly are fleets refueled when they are set to "Fulfill a contract"? It every now and then happens that a ship in those fleets are without fuel. Usually equalizing fuel and then let them continue works and they get refill at some place where there is fuel. I.e. I do have fuel at my base planets but not on the target planets for automines etc. Do the fleets auto return to the place they came from?

On the Population window (F2), there is a new tab for Q4X called Policy, and a checkbox to auto-refuel fleets when they do certain things at that colony.  Specifically,

"Fleets that complete an order to resupply, overhaul, load cargo, unload cargo, load colonists, or unload colonists at this population will also have their fuel topped off when possible."

This is the intended way to keep fleets with "Fulfill a contract" fueled.  It also works for default and manual orders that perform the above actions.
 
The following users thanked this post: TMaekler

Offline TMaekler

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 1112
  • Thanked: 298 times
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #522 on: October 19, 2021, 03:08:25 PM »
Copied from a suggestion I made for C#:

When your empire grows a lot, setting up routes becomes a bit tedious. Especially when the galaxy becomes more like a cross-grid where you can go from one point to another by several routes, not remembering which one is the quickest. I thought to circumvent this by saving a route order template with just the jump points - but that of course doesn't help because you have to save it in the destination system - to which you have no access in the source system.

Is there a way to make this possible?
 

Offline TMaekler

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 1112
  • Thanked: 298 times
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #523 on: October 20, 2021, 11:12:12 AM »
For C# Steve had changed the hard 10% Fuel for Fuel Ships to a number you can enter for each ship. Especially for really big ships, it made no sense that they kept millions of liters of fuel for themselves. Maybe also something for Quasar?
 

Offline TMaekler

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 1112
  • Thanked: 298 times
Re: Quasar4x - An Aurora4x VB6 clone
« Reply #524 on: October 25, 2021, 09:29:09 AM »
The "bug" that a fleet not at max speed is set to max speed after doing a system jump is quite annoying. I was wondering if this is a setting or hardcoded behaviour (i.e. a bug). Does someone know if I can set a fleet in a way that it does not go to max speed after a system jump?