The first beta of 1.3 is due out this week (and we've got it basically done, we're just testing it at this point having had extra time to throw in some extra features).
To find out what's new in it, click the link below. Cheers!
The 1.3 builds of Galactic Civilizations II will be in beta for longer than some of the previous versions. It's not so much that we think it's buggy but the fact that we don't want to do a 1.3, 1.31, 1.32, 1.33 and so on. Plus, if there ARE bugs in these builds, we can say "Well it's a beta". After all, weaseling is what sets us apart from the animals...well...you know..except the weasel.
The 1.3 builds are designed to extend the playable lifespan of the game. To eliminate annoyances and pet peeves that players might have that would eventually turn them off. That includes things like UI annoyances being eliminated based on player feedback, amping up the computer AI further, and adding more difficulty levels so that players can fine-tune things.
If I were a better game designer, I'd just have the difficulty levels be a slider with a 1 to 100. Dark Avatar will have that (ironically the original OS/2 version of GalCiv back in 1993 had this but what did I know then?). But for 1.3, we added 3 more difficulty levels and just generally cleaned up that area.
Below is the change log of BETA 1 of 1.3. It will be available via Stardock Central tomorrow or Friday unless there's some disaster.
It should be fine to run. Most of the embedded spyware, hard drive formatting, and other malicious code that all our software includes has been reduced by over 14%. Just ignore the hard drive crunching... 
+ fixed first turn after load zero production behavior!
+ AI better at managing colonies
+ More difficulty levels: Dunce at the lower end, Godlike and Ultimate at the higher end.
+ AI intelligence levels above and below "Intelligent" adjusted in difficulty (so i.e. Normal will be tougher than it was because there's a new easier difficulty level and Incredible will be easier because there's two higher difficulty levels).
+ The overall difficulty levels have now bee tweaked to have a 1 to 1 relationshipo with the AI intelligence levels so "Challenging" means all AI intelligences set to "Bright" rather than a weighted overall value. Many higher level players would find that they set the difficultly level to Crippling only to find that 2 or 3 of the players would be set to "Fool" (and do very little) while the others played very well.
+ Difficulty setup screen tweaked to work better.
+ changed size of TriStrontium so that it's bigger than TriStrontium2; previously the definitions were identical.
+ fixed error in translation code for raceconfig (homeworld)
+ fixed error in translation code for UP issues.
+ fixed bug that reset the cheater's flag, allowing cheater games to be submitted normally.
+ fixed some exploits in raceconfigs for metaverse games
+ fixed missing image in Rename Ship dialog
+ fixed error in AbilitiesBonus.xml file that didn't show 20% bonus to Loyalty
+ reduced the Custom Race's default value of Loyalty to 15% so that it would not cause negative ability points
+ added code to clear the planet/shiplist between games so that it wouldn't keep old pointers (should prevent a memory leak and potential crashes due to bad pointers)
+ made it so that you can select a race by clicking on its icon on the Foreign Treaties screen
+ made it so that the seleted planet or ship in the planet/ship list is saved so that changing the sort variable or filters will still keep the selection.
+ added code to let you right click on a tech to bring up the tech description dialog when the tech tree window is maximized
+ fixed error where fleets of ships could still attack freighters protected by galactic privateer
+ Reversed direction of the moon revolution (yes, Earth's moon now rotates around the Earth the right way)
+ added a check in the Direct 3D code for vertex and pixel shader versions
+ added code to make foreign policy window try to select a non-dead civ
+ made sure that the civ manager only has to parse the entry definitions once
+ made planet screens refresh after removing or adding troops
+ fixed numerous typos and spelling errors in various files
+ changed it so that the difficulty on the OpponentWnd slider changes all of the selected races' intelligences
+ changed it so that when you enable a race, it automatically sets its intelligence to be at the level of the difficulty
+ Fixed bug where lines on Treaties screen would point off-screen if you were a custom race playing against 10 enemies
+ D and T buttons will now toggle the details and rally point screens on/off instead of queuing up multiple instances of them
+ Kills some battle related processes as soon as they are finished so they don’t stay in memory when no longer needed
+ When running in full screen mode (Release build), the mouse will be clipped to the game window to prevent accidentally clicking outside of the window. You can still use ALT+TAB to activate other windows.
+ added function IsProtectedMiniFreighter to check for valid target
+ added code to clear selected rallypoint from minimap to prevent crashing when the rallypoint is deleted
+ added code to clear rallypoint destination when rallypoint is destroyed
+ Added a debug assert if the required technology for a ship type is not found
+ Fixed bug where ships on auto-explore that were put in a planet would immediately start auto-exploring once launched from the planet
+ Fixed a graphical bug where if you had 1 ship with moves and it attacked a planet with a fleet manager, the fleet would remain on top of the planet if the attacking ship was killed.
+ fixed memory leak caused by too many references to ship design listbox entries
+ fixed possible crash when saving std::strings in save game
+ cleaned up code in PropertyBucket class to make it more efficient.
+ Fixed a crash in the scene graph
+ Added ref counts to scene nodes in battle processes to prevent “random battle crashes”
+ Kills some battle related processes as soon as they are finished so they don’t stay in memory when no longer needed
I've written an article that shows off some of the features of the new WinCustomize forums.
There's a lot of really cool, though often subtle, features in the new forums. Check it out.
A Graphic Novel Outline
Brad Wardell, July 2006
Chapter 6: Retribution
Chapter 5: Monsters & Eternity
Chapter 4: My dad isn’t a hero
Chapter 3: You will do what we tell you to do…
Chapter 2: We're from the government...
Chapter 1: They're coming for you Ha Ha.
DL and Mr. Miller are sitting in the living room of DL’s home. Ethan is playing in the other room. DL looks up and looks gravely at Mr. Miller.
DL: Take Ethan and go into the cellar..now.
Frank: Trouble?
DL: Definitely.
Mr. Miller runs to Ethan and just after they have gone into the cellar a tractor crashes through the house. DL looks back and can see the pole barn out a gaping hole that the tractor left. In front of him is an Intruder standing amongst a lot of dead press people.
DL steps out and looks at what has happened. The Intruder is sitting in a small impact crater. He had jumped from afar into the spot he currently stands. He then picked up the tractor that was next to him and threw it at the house – through a bunch of startled press people .
This Intruder is quite different from the three DL previously faced. This one still looked like a human being but had an alien hue to him. One could imagine some sort of monster that was using a human form to mask its inner evil.
Vagath: I am called Vagath, human. You killed two of my servants and injured another.
DL: I had little choice. I have lived here for quite awhile and never sought your kind out. I was content to live quietly here with my family but your friends weren’t willing to leave well enough alone.
Vagath: This is our world now, human. None shall contest our will.
DL: (sighs). Look, it’s probably too late to undo the damage you’ve done to me. I have the press and the government hounding me. But if you leave now and never come here again, I will leave you in peace.
Vagath: That is not an option I’m permitting you to have.
And with that, Vagath strides towards DL. And with incredibly speed strikes out at DL with his fist. DL blocks and cups his fist in his hand. The sound of the fist meeting DL’s open hand shatters windows. Any doubt that might have remained as to DL’s unusual nature is now gone as the press now sees that there is a human being powerful enough to block the punch of the mightiest Intruder on this world.
DL: This is your last –
But DL does not get to finish his sentence. Vagath pivots and in a flash kicks DL so hard that the impact shockwave knocks nearby onlookers down. DL flies back through the house and crashes into the pole barn behind it.
Vagath jumps to the pole barn and with his arms makes a gesture towards the pole barn causing it to shatter into pieces with each half flying its own direction as if Vagath was parting dirt with his hands.
DL gets up amongst the ruin and a drop of blood flows down his forehead.
Vagath reaches out and a steel pole that was in a junk pile in DL’s back yard near some equipment flies into his hand and is then instantly javelined at DL who turns to dodge but is not quite fast enough. DL is knocked flat on the ground.
Vagath approaches DL who is trying to get up onto his hands and knees. DL coughs and blood comes out.
Vagath: Did you really think we were all the same?
DL: (coughing) I had..hoped you were anyway.
Vagath kicks DL in the chest as DL is on his hands and knees propelling DL 20 meters back into his own field.
As Vagath starts to walk again towards the fallen human, military choppers overhead begin firing Vulcan cannons – depleted uranium slugs – into Vagath. All they succeed in doing is getting Vagath’s attention. Vagath reaches out with his hand and with an invisible force grabs one of the two choppers and with incredible speed rams it into the other chopper. Both explode.
The time is enough for DL to get to his feet and with a full run throws himself into Vagath causing Vagath to fly back into the debris of the pole barn.
Vagath: Umph. Enough of this.
And with that Vagath reaches out with his hand as if to grab DL like he just did with the choppers but is unable to grasp him.
Failing that, Vagath sends a bolt of that invisible energy. This time, DL is able to dodge Vagath’s malice but the bolt evaporates a news van behind DL.
DL picks up a wooden pole from the remains of the barn and hurtles it at Vagath. But the pole merely bounces of Vagath harmlessly..
DL: (to himself) This could be a problem.
With incredible speed, Vagath runs at DL, picks him up by the leg and throws him into the equipment shed that was next to the now destroyed pole barn. DL impacts it crashes inside.
At this moment, Tendath arrives and runs to DL. DL is dazed and flat on his face on the ground. Tendath lifts DL’s head up by his hair, takes out his sword and puts it to DL’s neck.
Tendath: Let me finish him.
Vagath: No you fool, get away from him!
But it is too late, DL snatches the sword from Tendath and in a blur of motion cuts Tendath in half.
DL: You can be sure I won’t be walking around without one of these again. (referring to the sword).
Vagath: It matters not. Your fate is sealed. (Vagath takes his own sword out).
DL: With all your life spans, the best you can make yourselves are sharp metal sticks? No technology at all.
Vagath: And with all your technology, it only took a dozen of us to subdue your world.
DL starts to approach Vagath when a tractor (the same tractor as before) smashes into DL from the side sending him flying.
DL: (to himself) That is getting old.
DL stumbles and is wary of the tractor which he sees in his mind is well behind him now.
Vagath steps towards DL and the two engage – sword to sword. The thrusts and parries are too fast for anyone to see. It is a blur of motion that quickly turns into a stalemate.
But behind DL opens the cellar door from the heavily damaged homestead.
Ethan: Dad!
DL is distracted enough for Vagath to exploit an opening and with a quick thrust Vagath stabs DL through his right breast. He quickly removes his sword and is about to decapitate DL as DL falls to his knees when a round of buckshot bounces off of Vagath’s face. At the other end of that buckshot is Mr. Miller.
DL falls from his knees onto the ground.
Vagath: It is over, human. For the trouble you have caused me, I will let you see your child die first.
But DL isn’t just a human anymore. And he’s not an Intruder. Already the near-mortal wound he received has begun healing and Vagath’s words spark something DL hasn’t truly felt in millennium – rage.
With terrible speed DL is to his feet and his hand reaches out and grabs Vagath by the neck lifting him from the ground. DL’s eyes become pitch black and an otherworldly menace permeates the air around him.
DL: Ki’tin Va Unem!
The alien words rock Vagath for they are not the language of the Intruder but they are words he recognizes. DL’s reaches out and the sword flies into his hand. Vagath slashes with his sword repeatedly dealing DL a series of light wounds but he can’t quite make the reach to make a lethal blow.
DL impales Vagath with the sword ending the life of the mightiest Intruder on Earth. DL then falls to the ground losing consciousness.
Next: Legacy
Welcome to Brad's tips on how to use the new forums. The new Stardock forums are custom developed based on the needs and uses of our customers. Over the years, we have experimented with many different layouts with varying degrees of success.
The 2006 Stardock forums have many advantages over previous generations:
Stardock forums have one primary advantage over other forum systems. It's an advantage that is invisible to most users -- it is the world's only distributed network forum system (that we know of anyway). Visit other companies or communities and they have one giant forum in one place. Visit a site using the Stardock.net forums and the forums displayed are specific to that site. If two sites overlap, so do the posts. A post on PC Computing on WinCustomize.com will show up on JoeUser.com but not TotalGaming.net. A post about strategy games might show up on TotalGaming.net and GalCiv2.com and Joeuser.com but not on WinCustomize.com. This overlap means that users from different communities can interact together without even being on the same site. It gives more options for users and customers and allows Stardock to interact with the varied communities much more easily.
Another key difference in Stardock forums is that new posts float to the top of the parent forum which in turn floats to the top of its parent.
In a forum system you might have:
Software
Games
Strategy
Turn Based
Real-Time
Utilities
Disk Utilities
Security
Anti-Virus
Desktop Enhancements
Applications
..and so on.
In a typical forum system, if you wanted to find out the newest post on a real-time strategy game you would have to dig all the way down to the real-time sub-category. On a Stardock forum, the forums are set up almost like a search result -- The parent forum contains all the posts of its children arranged by the newest first. If the newest post is in the Real-Time area it will be the first post in the Software forum. In this way, digging down allows users to get more specific if they choose but casual readers can stay more general.
One can imagine a forum like this:
Hardware
PC
Graphics Adapters
nVidia
7800
Overclocking
Utilities
In a Stardock.net forum, a user who clicks on the nVidia forum would see the newest posts from all the sub-forums. So if there's some hot new utility that lets users over-clock their 7800, the user who just clikced on the nVidia forum would see it without having to dig all the way down to the Overclocking utilities area. As a result, it saves a lot of clicks.
So why are other forum systems set up the way they are? There are lots of reasons, but one likely reason is that when forum software was first being developed, getting more page views was considered the goal. Stardock's sites are designed to try to reduce the number of clicks and page views since it generates revenue from selling software and subscriptions. So our forums are designed to let users get to as much info as possible.
One of the first new tips I'd like to show you is how easy it is to jump to other sub-forums. If you click on one of the arrow separators between categories (i.e. Home -> General -> etc.) you will get a pop up menu that lets you jump to another sub-category.
Near the bottom of the forums is a small link that we will probably make more prominent over time and that is the "view all recent posts". By pressing that button, all the recent posts on the forum will be listed and users can go through and see all the actions anywhere.
Pinned topics are very important to new users but just get in the way for expert users. The new Stardock.net forums let users minimize the topics and it will remember that you did so for future viewing.
At the top of the forum, "My posts" are there. Click that link and you will get a list of the posts you have made. Are also working on it so that it will eventually display all the posts you've recently interacted in. That way, if a post you've been participating in scrolls off, no problem, you can quickly follow it.
If you want to keep an eye on a post for the long-term, even if you're not participating in it, you can add it to your watch list. To add a post to your watch list, click on the tools button.
Is someone pointing to a post you or someone else made? Stardock.net forum posts automatically link back and let you see who is talking about it (and sends traffic back to the people who link to you). Your account gets points every time someone goes to something you created from another site via a referral.
These are just some of the tricks that we have already.
The 2006 Stardock.net forums are still in their infancy and we are always looking for suggestions and ideas for them. But we hope you find the new forum system fast, reliable, and effective. Have fun!
One of the age old questions in computer customization is what looks good?
This is a skin I've been using. Yea, it has gigantic borders and it's not nearly as usable as many other skins. But for me...It's fun. It's neat. It's different.
In the old days, a skin like this would slow my computer way down. But as software such as WindowBlinds gets better and hardware gets faster, there's really no penalty anymore. You really have the freedom to do some weird stuff with your computer.
I also wonder how many WindowBlinds users remember to take advantage of the fact that you can change the color and gamma of a skin so that even if the original author makes a skin too light or too dark or just a strange color that you can change it.
Now if only I could find a matching ObjectDock skin.
A Graphic Novel Outline
Brad Wardell, July 2006
Chapter 5: Monsters & Eternity
Chapter 4: My dad isn’t a hero
Chapter 3: You will do what we tell you to do…
Chapter 2: We're from the government...
Chapter 1: They're coming for you Ha Ha.
Mr. Miller, Amanda Miller’s father and DL Bradley’s father-in-law has arrived at DL Bradley’s house. The Millers were very close to their only daughter, Amanda. They spent a lot of time at the Bradley house after Amanda died to help DL adjust.
But DL never did adjust. Frank Miller had known DL for 15 years and always thought the young man to be solid if perhaps a bit cynical. But DL was constant. He had not changed since he met the man. Frank Miller was certain of one thing, if anything were to happen to Ethan Miller, DL Bradley would be gone never to be seen again he was sure of it. That DL Bradley loved his son was without a doubt. And now he was here to take Ethan away from DL for his safety.
DL Bradley had already managed to kill 3 of the other-worldly powerful “Intruders”. In the decades the vile Intruders had been on this world killing millions of people, only 1 of them had ever died. Now, in the past 72 hours, 3 more had died at the hands of one seemingly ordinary man.
Frank Miller had served in World War II and in
Frank: DL, don’t you think it would be wiser to go into hiding? You’re a heck of an engineer and a great lad but these Intruders will be coming for you. There’s supposedly only around a dozen – now less than a dozen – all over the world.
DL had known Frank even before he met Amanda. He was perhaps the only man on this world that DL fully trusted. It was now or never.
DL: I am going to kill any who come here.
Frank was about to chuckle when he realized that DL wasn’t kidding.
Frank: How can you possible hope to do that? The government give you some new secret weapon?
DL: No. I don’t need any weapons. In all the years you’ve known me, you’ve never asked me much about my past.
Frank: None of my business, I suppose.
DL: Maybe. When Amanda died, I…was reminded why I didn’t get close to people. Sooner or later, they die.
Frank: Everyone dies, son, sooner or later.
DL: Not everyone.
Frank: What do you mean by that?
DL: I have been alive a very long time, Frank. A very long time. And the longer I live, the more I can do.
# # #
Meanwhile, in
Tendath, an “Intruder”, faced DL Bradley and him and Kanath were defeated and Kanath died. Tendath was injured but escaped.
Tendath: My lord, this human defeated the two of us in exactly the way he said.
Tendath was speaking to Lord Vagath, and while Vegath looked like Tendath in that he looked like a human, he absolutely reeked power and malevolence. Tendath could potentially walk down the street and blend in as a normal human. Vagath could not. He had an otherworldly quality about him that made him menacing from afar.
The race that the Intruders belonged to were not of this Earth. But more than that, they were far more varied from one to the next than human beings are. One Intruder could be, literally, hundreds of times more powerful than another. Vagath was one of them.
The Intruders, as a race, had a problem. Each subsequent generation was less than the previous in terms of might and potency. Vagath was literally eons older than Tendath who himself was thousands of years old. Their mission to Earth involved trying to solve the problem that their race was experiencing. And part of that solution involved harvesting the life energy of these mortal humans while they still contained as much life energy as possible.
Vagath: Are you certain it was not just by luck? He had one of your weapons.
Tendath: No human should be able to hurt us, not even with one of our weapons.
Vagath: Truth. You are certain he is not a renegade?
Tendath: I am positive. He is definitely not one of us.
Vagath: I do not want to have to report to the emperor this set back without having first dealt with the problem. I will deal with him myself.
…back at the Bradley house…
Frank: I don’t understand you then. If you believe you could deal with these Intruders, why haven’t you?
DL: Because…I don’t care.
Frank: How can you not care? Are you that cynical? They’ve murdered millions of people.
DL: It’s not that black and white. It’s easy to say that but for me, I’ve done this hundreds and hundreds of times.
Let me use an analogy that probably won’t improve your opinion of me but might grant some understanding.
Imagine if you were on a world in which everyone lived exactly one hour while you lived a normal lifespan. Let’s say you had the power to save people from an untimely death, which in their case would be deaths that occurred before their hour was up.
Would you do it? Would you give up spending time with your family and those you cared about to continually go and help people?
Frank: I think I would.
DL: Let’s be specific – let’s say you did decide to help. You have the power, you should help right? And let’s say you do that for a thousand years – knowing just how many generations of these people have gone. You have no personal connection to them. And they have no personal connection to you. They can’t even begin to relate to you. And as soon as you get to know some, their hour has passed and there is always – an endless – number of things threatening them.
Frank: I think I understand what you’re saying but still, I don’t know.
DL: You would know. Believe me. It’s just a matter of time. Because in the end, only one thing matters.
Frank: What’s that?
DL: Living each moment. Trying to get as much out of the tiny slice of time that we’re given. I don’t care about people in general. I care about individuals. I care about Ethan. I care about you and Mrs. Miller. I cared about Amanda – and even with her, with all that I can do, I could not keep her hour from ending early.
If you live long enough and have the power to go…to places…different planes of time. You will eventually realize that there’s always an Intruder or a Dread Lord or a plague or megalomaniac or menace of some sort in which people would be greatly aided if someone with the ability to make a difference stepped in.
But eventually, it is all for nothing, because in the end, their hour will end no matter what you do.
Next: Retribution…
Over the next few weeks you're likely going to notice some changes in how wallpapers are being moderated.
Previously, only a very small percentage of wallpapers were let through based on the views of our volunteer moderators who have years of experience in skinning.
Starting today, Zoomba, myself, and Karmagirl have taken over moderation directly in order to broaden the wallpaper selection.
This will mean a lot more wallpapers will come through. Not everyone will be happy of course because a lot of wallpapers that are plain or not terribly creative will come through. But we are looking to have more wallpapers that appeal to a wider audience of user.
We will still be moderating wallpapers. So people who load up Bryce and start rendering flying unicorns or take a picture of The Simpsons and paste it on a picture of your backyard are still out of luck.
Firing Squad has a pretty detailed interview of some of the things going into Dark Avatar.
The expansion pack for Galactic Civilizations II is due out this Fall and can be pre-ordered directly (with a $5 discount too!).
Check out Firing Squad (it's one of our favorite sites!). 