Slitherine

New! 1.3.10
+ Additional cheat detection and prevention in multiplayer games
+ Tweaks to opportunity fire and the AI

Cheat Detection
Detects and reports when maps have been changed, and won't display games with mismatched maps.

Tweaks
Reworked some reaction logic to make behaviour when opportunity firing more logical and consistent. Also, AI now correctly suffers move penalties.

Fixes
+ reports registered username if email is already in use when registering ingame.
+ does not show enemy unit information during replay in MP games.
+ new tweak NOSHAKING turns off the shaking during artillery etc. Add the line NOSHAKING 1 to the user.txt file in the My Documents\My Games\BBCBA folder.
+ can do keyboard scrolling on the numpad (when Numlock is on) for left handed players.
+ The Y key allows you to toggle a mode where you can left click to define a portion of the map. If you then go into the new map dialog, it will have the selected area ready set up and will use that as the playable area of the map.
+ changed the way that the terrain file works - now needs to replace the existing one, rather than adding on (as it wasn't going to work for additional unit types etc as you had no way to set up the types in the 'old' file).

pipfromslitherine wrote: + does not show enemy unit information during replay in MP games.

YES!! Thank you guys! Now MP games will improve a lot as that was giving too many gamey hints to players. Rewarding more cunning and smart play!

Great support as usual and please, keep coming the fine cutting to this precious little diamond you put in oir hands.

And now, just a little tiny hint of the expansions you are working in? Pleeeeeeease?

pipfromslitherine wrote: Fixes
+ does not show enemy unit information during replay in MP games.
+ new tweak NOSHAKING turns off the shaking during artillery etc.

Thanks for the update ... particularly NOSHAKING Never had a request for a change actually done before!

It's one of our mission statement points to never cause players to vomit.

Unless it's integral to the gameplay of course...

Cheers

Pip

So how do you use the NOSHAKING ? putting it in user.txt causes error on loading

You need to add the line

NOSHAKING 1

All entries in the file need to have a value. I will make the post more specific.

Cheers

Pip

Thanks for the update. This game will stay on my hard drive forever.

Thanks for your work Slitherine!

pipfromslitherine wrote: + The Y key allows you to toggle a mode where you can left click to define a portion of the map. If you then go into the new map dialog, it will have the selected area ready set up and will use that as the playable area of the map.

Very nice .... You can even make tiny maps! (less than 16x16).

+ changed the way that the terrain file works - now needs to replace the existing one, rather than adding on (as it wasn't going to work for additional unit types etc as you had no way to set up the types in the 'old' file).

We can add new types now?

- TYPE Landing Craft ... that can move over water?

Thanks .... I'll have to play around with this now (sigh) I haven't even scratched the surface yet.

Merr wrote:Thanks for your work Slitherine!

pipfromslitherine wrote: + The Y key allows you to toggle a mode where you can left click to define a portion of the map. If you then go into the new map dialog, it will have the selected area ready set up and will use that as the playable area of the map.

Very nice .... You can even make tiny maps! (less than 16x16).

+ changed the way that the terrain file works - now needs to replace the existing one, rather than adding on (as it wasn't going to work for additional unit types etc as you had no way to set up the types in the 'old' file).

We can add new types now?

- TYPE Landing Craft ... that can move over water?

Thanks .... I'll have to play around with this now (sigh) I haven't even scratched the surface yet.

Yep - the terrain stuff is now way more flexible

Cheers

Pip

Well done on removing the tell tale signature of promotions/ambushes/suppressed etc - makes it much more realistic!

[quote="pipfromslitherine"]New! 1.3.10
+ The Y key allows you to toggle a mode where you can left click to define a portion of the map. If you then go into the new map dialog, it will have the selected area ready set up and will use that as the playable area of the map.
quote]

Okay exactly how does this work .. pushed the "y" key and left clicked and ended up changing all the tiles but that was it. When to new map and got nothing. Tried again and got a map defined as one square. I need directions please. remember some of us of had other things in our life that did not allow for more in-depth use of editors etc. without the additional details these features remain useless for I would expect more people out there then have the experiance to accomplish everything in the editor.

Hitting Y allows you to then left click the two opposite corners of the area you want to map out. You can then left click to tweak your area and it will reset the closest corner. If you then go to the new map, it will have the values set up to make the playable area the area you have chosen. Hitting Y will toggle you out of it.

We're a little behind on the documentation for some of the new features because of the out-of-band release of this version to deal with the potential multiplayer cheating.

Cheers

Pip

Thanks Pip, that was easy but I got an interesting side effect. Took a scenario I had created and resized using the "y" key. Added a few units to the smaller map, saved and went to compaign on the game menu. Started playing the game and to my surprise the axis units that I had placed in my original scenario started entering the smaller map from the borders. Seems I need to do something different I guess.

Resizing a scenario doesn't delete anything on it unless it goes off the map (rather than the playable area). This has always been the case. And units in the border are allowed to drive onto the map, you just can't drive off into the border.

Cheers

Pip

A must have for multiplayer mode would be to keep the map visible for the non-playing side so they can see the map and plan their strategy using that time to think, rather than looking at a static setup screen until it is their turn to play.

I'm not sure what you mean? The multiplayer isn't intended for you to sit waiting for your opponent really. Obviously if you know you are both going to be doing the turns asap then that is great, but in general this isn't the case. We imagine that you will exit the game (or play other turns) and either check back, or use the System Tray Tool to wait for turns to be ready.

Cheers

Pip

Hello Pip,

Why couldn't the multiplayer be just like the single player experience? I know that hard core old school gamers (and I am one of those) like to play by email, and that was great in 1996, but we are in the 21st century. That’s like playing chess by email which can take weeks and really interferes with your concentration and thinking, unless perhaps you are Karpov. If I have to keep exiting the game, I have to spend time reacquainting myself with the various units and refresh my mind as to what my immediate strategy was. I also have to spend time viewing the replay to see what happened to my forces, or I may have to reopen the game or start my computer. This all takes time and takes one out of the experience. I played a game called The Grandest Fleet by QQP in 1994 with a friend and it was turn based. When I had finished my turn the screen stayed as it was and I was able to move the map and look at my forces and use that time to think of my next moves as well as view any attacks or moves when the enemy came into view. Today with Skype or voice communications, it is great to have that real time experience and also be able to talk to your opponent and get their reactions etc. Why not give players the option? For those who like to play be email, fine, for others that like to dedicate a couple of hours at a time playing, that would be appreciated.

You don't need to sit there waiting at the screen all day, use the systray tool and it will tell you when you get your emailed turn.

I can understand what you mean - perhaps we could do something like that, where you don't exit until you want to and we tell you when there is a new turn. The only issue would be that the flow doesn't really allow for just 'continuing' the turn, so it would need to do a new load to start the replay. I will add it to our wishlist, but it would be interesting to know how many people play (or would like to play) in that manner. I'm not sure that a significant proportion of people can set aside an hour or more to play a single game - but perhaps I'm wrong!

Cheers

Pip

Those old games probably had sync errors that you were never aware of. Exiting and reloading allows the game to try to make sense of two different computers playing the same game.