1.04.058 is up ...

And it has a BUCKETLOAD of improvements too!

~SDC~

where is the changes .txt? Can't find it in my GC-Directory...

1.04: May 27
General idea:
Lots of little fixes, tweaks, and fine tuning.


NEW FEATURES
- Windowed Mode! Put a W after the command line (or as part of the shortcut) and the game will run in windowed mode. Desktop must be in 16bit (65,000 colors) to work. Otherwise it will immediately close. Example: c:\>galciv w

- Galaxies have more stars.
- saves minimap settings
- if you trade for a tech that you were researching, it pops up the research completed screen for that tech
- display range now gets recalced if a new game is started or one is loaded from within a game
- select ships that manually leave orbit
- ship list now updates selected ship entry when jump to next ship
- tweaked listboxes to handle large lists more optimally - fixes a late game crash
- destroy star now re-assigns home colony
- mousewheel support for sbupgradewin

Bug Fixes
- Crash bug from NULL tech issue fixed
- Crash bug (lockup) due to unfinished battle animation hopefully fixed
- fixed some spelling errors/typos
- alliance sumamry fixed
- fixed AI senate setup bug
- fixed major race logo for minor race error
- fixed volume not saving bug
- Fixed Cancel Ship destinations to check for star targets as well as ship targets
- fixed model typos in improvements
- clear tech completed queue when loading/starting new game
- fixed crash in upwindow
- fixed FindShip going through all ships in a fleet.
- made sure that senate would always have a valid poliitcal party
- fixed break alliance for minor races
- hide espionage/destablize sliders when fp screen in minor races mode
- fixed string not found
- functions to help embargo - embargo not allowed yet because AI needs to check for embargos before assigning trade ships
- fixed it so that you can't purchase multiple social and military projects (but they don't get lost)
- fixed starship move calculations
- fiixed crash in extended ship data window
- fixed crash if save game has bad colony ID


TWEAKS:
- new home colony is assigned when ship is traded
- First colony ship having infinite range fixed
- AI ships no longer show range on minimap unless debug version
- when constructors are planted, their directives are canceled now
- checked in fix for events coming up for defected planets
- home stars get re-assigned when ships are traded
- AI ship range will not show up on minimap in release versions
- if a constructor is on sector sweep, etc, it cancels all actions when turned into starbase
- AI Diplomacy behavior somewhat based on top players in Metaverse
- AI technology path now based on metaverse players
- Scoring system heavily modified.
- Tactical AI enhancements
- Battleship and Dreadnought technology costs more to research
- Battle Cruisers more powerful
- Battle Axes have fewer hitpoints
- Range ability costs more point to get at start
- Other abilities cost less to get at start
- AI gets more ticked off if you start a war with them after making peace.
- AI more sensitive to star bases being built in its territory (this may need to be tweaked further)
- "Incredible" AI pumped up more.
- Trade Goods cost more but are much more powerful.

Other Changes:
+ All AI players more intelligent in tactical combat
+ Some AI players are more concerned with relationship building (having a strong military not quite as important)
+ Military Power calculated to take defensive ships more into account
+ AI more intelligent in dealing with tribute demands from other AI players
+ Dead Cheese: Can no longer blockade stars with ships (they'll pop up beyond your blockade).
+ pop up dialog for when trying to select a military project when all orbit slots are full.
+ AI Players manage money better
+ Lots of misc. game tweaks
+ Scoring changed to provide slightly higher scores in general.

~SDC~

awesome! I am looking forward to playing again!

They've done it again - thanks guy's !!!! LOL

Well, id save and exit out of the game before
installing, but they say it should be able to load
1.03 save games.

TWEAKS:
- new home colony is assigned when ship is traded
- home stars get re-assigned when ships are traded

Does this mean that if I have a shipyard on my planet, and I trade a ship, then the shipyard bonus is lost?

Thanks for the update, Stardock!



My feel is that less than 1% of players now play Incredible consistently but still Stardock seems intent to make this an "unwinnable" level.

Makes you wonder who is going to be playing Nightmare level.

Onwards to the new 1.04 challenge!

- AI gets more ticked off if you start a war with them after making peace.

What about the AI declaring war the turn after you just paied a high price to make peace?

Well, in all seriousness: You can get ticked too.

All they've done is make it so you can't cheat as easily, and isn't that what everyone is asking for?


~SDC~

Is this patch only available using StarDock? I can't seem to find the traditional patch file posted on the site :notsure:

Yes, it is Stardock only for now. The standalone patch will be its own news item in the future I'd imagine.


~SDC~

Hmmm, I thought they were gonna implement rally points in this version...

No, that would be the expansion pack...

Gol dang it - AI reckon Aphrodesiac trade good is worth 8 bc, and Aphrodesiac+FristionlessClothing is worth 12.
For BOTH trade goods they won't even give me WarpDrive OR TurboPhasers.

Looks like the value of trade goods in trade has been completely nerfed. (Far more than I expected.)

Is this because of my level (masochistic), or is everyone seeing this?

~SDC~

Well done getting Aphro on masochistic in 1.04. I just tried some masochistic games. First one: Arceans develop Aphrodisiac in april 2179. Second one: Also Arceans, january 2179. Pretty hard to beat .

I'm stepping down to crippling again (especially since i seem to be unable to play without +2 speed anymore, which i think is a shame).

At masochistic the AI is very wary about trading much for trade goods.

~SDC~

And at Painful - which is supposed to be the equal economic footing for human and AI and it isn't by a long shot now. I pay one price for techs and goods, the AI pays a fraction of that to me (I don't know what they're paying each other, but the cynic in me says it's the fractional prices).

OMFG!

I didn't even know 1.04 was out! I didn't see it in the download list!!!!

Now I can't wait to get outta work!

It's not unfair that the AI doesn't want to trade you the stuff you want. You don't have to accept those deals. Just means the AI isn't as willing to trade the things you want. You hand it battleship technology fr instance and it'll give you plenty of stuff.

~SDC~

The question is whether the AI treats the human player any differently from the other AIs (taking into account similar relative strength of position, past history, etc).

Exactly Librarian. My experiences in my new Huge game say the AI's still treat each other on equal footing while I get the sharp end of the stick.

Brad can put whatever spin he wants on it, but the game gets less fun by the patch because we're no longer trying to equalise the AI, we're just doing exactly what the game was declared not to do: have a blatantly cheating AI (and when I have Tri-Strontium and it's only worth 100bc, but if the AI has it, it's worth about 3000 bc, that is blatant cheating on Intelligent).

Well Frogboy, i just handed the Drengin (they had very little planets, were neutral to me) Battleship tech on a crippling 1.04 game to see what i could get from them. I wanted at least Large Scale Building to get on researching Dreadnaught tech. They wouldn't even trade LSB + Sensors for Battleship tech. (I still traded Battle for LSB though , so i suppose they were right to refuse me anything else). But it feels a bit lonesome, me against an AI universe, whereas before the patch there was a lot more room for manipulating your way out of trouble.

Someone once said: "Beware of what you ask for - you might get it."

My only comment is all you heavy hitter are way ahead of the curve so if you want it ultra tuff, so be it. But Frogboy & Co, please have mercy on the middle-upper and lower levels!

They are *trade* goods after all and I'm just getting the hang of acquiring them for supposed economic gain.

I just beat 1.04 masochistic, its alot tougher, but
shouldnt their be a level for everyone? If the
upper levels got harder, is there really any crime
in playing at a lower level? Frog has said that
at more normal levels the tradegoods still behave
as in 1.035, though I havnt checked this out.