We’ve had a lot of changes in the ten months since our last big update post; the game is basically a different beast now.

Details after the break!

First, the big stuff:

• Teslaworld was completely revamped; it no longer has a point requirement and is largely based out of battlesuits. It’s still a group activity; you can only gain more money by bringing along your friends!
• Starship insurance was also completely revamped; it’s now a bill over time with distinct insurance levels per-ship. You always get a little bit of cash on an otherwise ‘uninsured’ ship, however.
• Organizations now have their own upgradable and customizable space stations.
• Activity in a sector now produces “heat” (which is really just our internal name for it) which, after an amount of time, will trigger an invasion. Less secure sectors heat up faster and cool off slower.
• Salvage ops are a new activity given actual mechanics. It pairs defenders and salvagers together to form a mutually profitable arrangement.

Now, some of the smaller, but still somewhat major stuff:

• Damage calculations have been changed somewhat; launchers are now only lost to more extreme levels of damage, as this was unduly influencing launcher ships more heavily than turret ships; launcher ships tend to have much fewer damage output components.
• Organizations now have their own message boards!
• Pilot corp liaisons have been expanded fairly significantly.
• Conquest only triggers during wartime, however conquest periods are still important and production goals are in place to give the conquest benefits.
• TRADE CYCLES: THE CARD GAME. Playable at any disreputable bar.
• Gunships in general were revamped. Overall, the AEU gunships were inordinately powerful and the League ones were inordinately weak. Overall, it was a fairly huge balance change. Tier two gunships also had their point requirements cranked up.
• Newbies deciding to join a less populous alliance now have statistical bonuses to their point gains, up to 500 points.
• Organization unity was changed to be based more on the /number/ of people in weird alliances than simply the alliance composition of the organization.
• Hundreds of smaller changes! See more here.

Overall, on Star Conquest, this pretty much meant a 66% reduction in CPU utilization, though before all of the performance improvement changes were put in we were running over 120 simultaneous AI pilots in a sector without the server missing a beat.

Still, we could probably use an upgrade some time in the future.

Detailed changes after the break.

• In order to be more ‘hip‘ and ‘web 2.0‘ and ‘responsible‘ we actually started using a version control system, which probably would have been vastly useful before but that’s just how the sloth goes sometimes.
• Some time since the post in August of last year we added scattered_isa() which is sort of a bulk/multi-target isa operation. It’s actually a lot more useful than it probably sounds at first.
• Updated the autoconf scripts to work with modern versions of autoconf.
• Removed pgperf and changed the build environment to work with modern versions of gperf, which now has case insensitive operation — pgperf hasn’t compiled properly in some time, as far as I know.
• The server was rebased to the experimental LambdaMOO 1.8.4, which had some pretty significant fixes overall — primarily in memory leaks and increased performance.
• The RNG engine was switched from libc’s built-in random() to SFMT, and now it operates in pool generation mode, which makes random number generation overall DRAMATICALLY faster. Also included is the generation of a ‘true’ floating point random number function. Overall, this is more of an improvement in performance than it sounds — even in the first version without pooling there was a 5% increase in random() speed, but the pooled mode is where stuff really shines.
• Improved the floating point suspend stack over previous builds; it’s now accurate (in theory) to the microsecond, whereas before the MOO couldn’t handle much more beyond a tenth of a second in accuracy, and as server load increased, it became increasingly inaccurate. We feel that in a game like Star Conquest, these sorts of problems are unacceptable.
• Several other new builtins, including a noise generation function.
• By default, the server now sends TCP keepalive packets on all connections.
• Improved the speed of isa(), scattered_isa(), and noise().
• memory_usage() now works on any Linux machine (though it might not work quite properly on a FreeBSD machine)

Click for big!

Hello, Squidsoft enthusiasts! Today I’m pleased to officially announce our next project, and our second ever serious effort at a graphical game!

Star Voyage is a single player game with a retro, DOS-era style that puts you in control of a massive starship. You have to build your ship even as it flies, manage your crew, assign tasks aboard the ship, and gather resources. It’s a bit like a city simulation, except that your city is hurtling through space at an incredible velocity.

I’m announcing this now because Star Voyage is about to enter a state I would call “minimally playable.” In my mind, this means we’re moving from pre-alpha development to an alpha stage. And that calls for an alpha test. Now is the time to dig up and fix any problems in the game before we move on with further development. And there will be a lot of further development.

This will be a small initial alpha test, and I would like nothing more than to choose the first participants from a pool of longtime Squidsoft fans. If you’re interested, submit an application! The link is below!

Of course, Squidsoft has historically produced text-based games far more than anything else, so I will emphasize once again, so that there is no confusion, that this project is thoroughly graphical.

Have some links!

More about Star Voyage

Alpha Test Application

Developer Blog

I haven’t forgotten about you. I just….I haven’t had time to answer your calls….

Listen…. I think it’s better if we….had a break, you know? I need some space.

Since October so many wonderful things have happened. Several Gamma security clusters of space were added to the game, allowing for player versus player conflict without gaining the attention of the navies. And so many bugs were fixed! A new control scheme for players who fly sans-keypad…

So many new crafting recipes, including ones for space-launched interdictors. Navies are less uptight about the errant stray shot. And while you can’t repair past failsafes anymore, extreme burst damage from a big ship no longer breaks three failsafes at once like how it used to, and it adds an emergent feature of attrition.

Bari were reintroduced, but so were a totally revamped felo, with multiple breeds and genetics. And you can switch out your battlesuit at ANY spaceport now.

We gave battlesuits other love too, with new per-conquest raid missions and a buff to the advanced RATS battlesuit.

We’ve released several new ships and advanced upgrades for mid- and high- level pilots, and most recently we have added rental starships targetted at cadets and other players with low amounts of points, equipped with a reasonable level of upgrades.

Thanks for listening to what’s been going on in my life, diary.

First the good news: our efforts at generating interest in Star Conquest have resulted in the creation of over 70 new characters since the month began, and a return of peak numbers to 20-25 active (not idling) players! That’s a pretty good start, but we’re hoping, of course, to keep up the momentum and keep those numbers growing.

Now the bad news! Long hours at my real job have prevented me from making a great deal of progress on that secret fifth category of points, which I may as well name now: command points. There is to be an aspect of both space combat and ground combat, and I’ve made some progress on the ground combat front, particularly in adding a redesigned form of vehicles. But the command point activity can take place in a number of settings, and I think to get the system out sooner, I’ll set aside the ground combat for now and concentrate on getting the space combat portion working (as those fundamentals already exist), along with the basic functionality of the whole thing. Ground combat missions can then be added in later in a new setting, which will be more plot-appropriate anyway.

But before that, the results of the survey we did this month have convinced me that I should shift my focus a bit. It’s evident that very, very many of you guys want more variety in terms of industrial activity. Upon reflection, using salvaging (SC’s oldest and crappiest point-generating activity) as the top method of gaining industry points really isn’t acceptable. What we should have is, ideally, an industry activity at the top level which is as engaging as some of the combat activities are, and not so mindlessly repetitive as salvaging. My goal is to get that system designed and at least partially coded this weekend. I cannot tell you in detail what form it will take, because at the moment I really have no idea!

So that’s where we stand at the moment. As always, we’re looking for your input into the best ways to gain and retain new players, as higher peak numbers open up many possibilities!

As for other plans, one thing it’s become clear that players miss is the organization system. An organization in classic Star Conquest was something like a guild that allowed players to share funds and starships. Unfortunately, it had some balance issues that were never properly addressed. This month, probably quite soon, we plan to build a new organization system from scratch that’ll have built-in balancing mechanics from the start. Our organization system will allow for group-funded and group-insured ships, which has often been requested by players.

This organization system will, in turn, lead directly into an entirely new game mechanic with a new points category. Experienced civilian pilots will soon have the opportunity to stake out areas of space and lead the defense there, delegating space and ground missions to their fellow pilots. This will involve all new challenges for pilots at every level.

Continuing along the chain, the system above should help us nail down some mechanics for low-security space and the control thereof, though that won’t necessarily happen this month.

Mutuality space should get some attention this month, with a rebuilding and reopening of the Ring region and the release of some all-new space stations! This isn’t only for Mutuality players, but will likely serve as the first showcase for low-security space, factions, and capture mechanics in the coming weeks.

Now that we’ve expanded space, we hope to make it feel alive, with both enemies and friends constantly on the move around you. Pilots will have to step up their defense, but they’ll also be able to take on more responsibilities, and win real victories for their alliance or their chosen faction.

We’re still on track to return to focusing on plot by the end of August, though there will be some buildup first before we have a new scheduled event. We’ll be using this buildup time to attempt to expand the player population. This still requires some preparation, but we’ll let you know when we’re getting started.

In preparation for this, most of our time lately has been spent on the early portion of the game, including the Mentor system, a new set of newbie quests, and a new early half-tier of battlesuits. But not to worry, we also recognize the need to add to the mid- to late-game and we have some plans for that.

And finally, we’ve added a new builder! This person will be helping to expand the new space stations into actual places, and will also be addressing player housing soon. So that will be an exciting time for all.

September should be a month of new players, new plot twists, and new additions to the game, and with the server situation stabilized and population on its way back up, it’s a great time to get back into the game! We’ll need the assistance of our veteran players to make the next month go smoothly!

Keep in mind that this is merely an initial release. While there’s a few all-new places, our goal was really just to convert existing space to the new system. Mainly, this release is just paving the way for many more changes to follow. Just so that’s clear.

Read the full changelog after the break!

SECTOR STRUCTURE

• Sectors are no longer numbered 1 through 30, 31 through 60, etc. Instead, sectors each have unique names that you will use to identify them.
• Sectors are no longer all equally accessible. Instead, sectors are arranged in clusters consisting of a main (or gateway) sector, usually at least one secondary sector, and sometimes more lower-tier sectors.
• The practical difference between main sectors and the lower tiers is beacon strength. Here’s all you need to understand: main sectors have strong beacons and you can jump to them from pretty much anywhere, exactly like how all sectors worked before. But secondary sectors have weaker beacons, and you must be at their main sector before you can jump to them. This means that to get to Old Earth, you must first jump to the main sector Earthgate, and then you can jump to Old Earth Orbit.
• You can no longer refer to sectors by their numbers. Except for one deliberate callback, numbered sectors no longer exist. To jump to a sector, such as Old Earth Orbit, you would type JUMP OLD EARTH ORBIT. The command also accepts shortened names. For instance, JUMP OLD EARTH is also sufficient.
• You can see sectors within your current cluster, plus other immediately accessible sectors, by typing JUMP by itself and selecting YES at the prompt. This list DOES NOT include sectors in other clusters that you cannot immediately access. If it did, it would be overwhelming.
• You can use the JUMP command to travel to ANY accessible sector, even if it’s not IMMEDIATELY accessible. For example, L5 Station will now be three jumps from any other cluster, but you can type JUMP LAGRANGE 5 from anywhere, and the system will automatically jump three times for you. Additionally, linking jumps like this is much faster than doing them one at a time, so that jumping between places doesn’t take much more time than it did before.
• In summary:
  • Use the JUMP command as you did before.
  • Answer YES to the prompt that follows if you want to see a list of accessible sectors.
  • Choose to jump to ANY sector you can access and your ship will take you right there, even if it requires multiple jumps.
  • Sectors which are not in your current network, such as how Mutuality space is separate from the other alliances, still cannot be jumped to directly. These are accessible via the same methods you used previously; for instance, via acceleration gates.

SECTOR SECURITY AND PLAYER VS. PLAYER

• Sectors now have security ratings. These go from the Alpha tier, the safest, to Delta tier, the least safe.
  • Alpha-1 security is completely safe, in that any hostile ships will be set upon by alliance navy or Accord peacekeepers within seconds, reinforced by space-based defenses.
  • In the Beta tier, the next safest, the defending ships take longer to respond and the space-based defenses go away. Your safety isn’t totally guaranteed, but anyone who attacks you must be prepared to face some opposition.
  • In Gamma tier, spaceports become increasingly picky about who they serve. First they will serve only allies, and in very unsecure space, they will accept only their own pilots. Also at this level, spaceports can be influenced by conquest activities taking place in their region.
  • In the lowest level of the Gamma tier and below, spaceports are outright capturable in battles.
  • In the Delta tier, alliances have no recognized authority and your faction standings will take precedence in your relations with other ships and spaceports.
  • At this time, only sectors in the Beta tier and above will be accessible.
• The high security responder ships will take the place of the old navy system, which has been disabled for some time anyway due to the strain it placed on the server. The new system has a much lower overhead, and we’ve also greatly upgraded our server hardware since then.
• The Accord Peacekeeper force will now respond to defend unclaimed and neutral sectors in Accord space. Miscellaneous Tandem Pact ships will respond similarly near Mutuality space.
• As mentioned above, very high security sectors will now have space-based defenses. These will probably guarantee the destruction of any hostile ship. Hostile ships are considered to be enemy alien factions, alliances at war, or any ship containing blacklisted pilots. Additionally, any ship that that sector’s controller considers to be under its protection will be actively defended against hostiles.
• Player vs. player conflict is intended to be essentially impossible to pursue in high-security sectors, to the point where successfully carrying it out in Alpha-1 security will probably be considered a game exploit. In Gamma tier sectors, there is nothing to actively prevent player vs. player conflict, but it may still be considered an act of war in character, exactly as all sectors tended to work previously. In the Delta tier, you should expect and be prepared for active conflict regardless of war status. If you go to low-security space, you’re accepting that risk.
• Some aspects of Gamma and Delta security may change before their release as we finalize the design.

RESOURCES

• Resources are now linked to particular sectors rather than scattered sort of everywhere.
• Debris can no longer be found just anywhere in uncharted space. Instead, certain sectors are known to contain clouds of debris, and you may go to these to salvage. Mostly, these are exactly the same sectors that contained debris before, now under new names. Additionally, uncharted space around these sectors also contains debris.
• Asteroids, similarly, can no longer be found just by exploring uncharted space from any point. Instead, you should look for asteroid belts or clusters and search from there.
• Local artifacts… can you guess? That’s right, they’re no longer found just anywhere. There is currently one source for them. Solve the mystery! Clue: Pivotal battle of the Outsider War.

UPCOMING CHANGES

• Firstly, the game will probably be full of bugs for the next couple of days as we find things that didn’t handle the conversion so well. Enjoy!
• We plan to greatly expand the geography of Known Space, in particular adding in sectors at Gamma and Delta security.
• Certain objects in space are likely to be rearranged in the near future, such as space markets, asteroid belt management stations (which are currently nowhere near asteroid belts), stars, and other things.
• Mutuality space is largely untouched by the conversion and is not finalized. It’ll probably undergo an overhaul of its own soon.
• Factions will become more important throughout the game and particularly in Delta security.
• The new stations all take the form of tiny placeholders at the moment. These will be built into proper destinations over time.
• Activities such as mail delivery, courier jobs, and running passengers will take security level into account in the near future, and will tend to keep you at the same security tier.