1.69 Release

This isn't a typical bugfix release. Please read the list below carefully. Wormsign has been much changed after I concluded the randomness of their attacks was actually a worse idea than if they always attacked. Many other changes you'll care about also.

This may the last update you see until late January as my overseas trip is less than two weeks away. Anyone who feels like donating could really bring some holiday cheer my way by doing so.

Changed this version:

• Move and Retreat orders now provide a 10% bonus to speed
• Units on Retreat orders are no longer slowed down by being damaged, and will no longer default to Move orders within a certain distance of the player's Retreat Flag
• Wormsign has been drastically altered. It will last about a minute on average, and during this time, don't even think about breathing on the sand. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
• Wormsign also gives a warning ten seconds before it starts. That's how long you get to stop your groups and get off the dunes
• Pre-spice masses are only created and will only naturally blow (i.e. from aging, not from being disturbed) when the worms are quiet. Their frequency of both creation and eruption has been slightly increased to account for the difference
• Pressing the Tab key doesn't just show statistics; now it also shows a halo around all of your units representing their general health
• Added a "Default to Attack" option at the Outpost, which when enabled will cause any units produced to go on Attack orders toward the queue location
• Trading Posts are now invisible to enemy players, although they will still be attacked in range
• Sonic Tanks and Fremen have had their ranges reduced by 1. However, their shots will "follow-through" one extra whole cell beyond the target now. This has been shown to increase their overall damage against enemy armies and bases in most cases. Also, like Sonic Tanks, Fremen no longer hurt friendly units
• Increased speed of mousewheel selection oval growth
• PSMs are now drawn on the minimap if the IX upgrade has been researched
• Fixed bug with Harvesters and some other units defaulting to Stop orders inappropriately
• Fixed bugs with some menu selections
• Fixed bug with some information remaining when exiting and restarting a game
• Fixed bug with music overlapping when exiting from a game
• Fixed self-destruct explosions not being net-synced
• Fixed Death Hand launches not being net-synced
• Fixed rare bug with Frigate draws
• Made slight changes to performance which may or may not be noticeable

1.68 Release

First off, please see the previous post, and thanks for your support. Secondly please wait a few days before posting bugs in the forums as I need to take a break.

1.68 massive changelog:

• Main executable is again separate from music files, and will be going into the future
• Many, many bugs fixed and some graphics tweaked
• New menu system added for most production buildings (please use your mousewheel)
• Full network synchronization with acceptable speed (still only 2 human players)
• Greatly improved close-range pathfinding (no more units doing the "dune shuffle")
• AI players now send attacks in formation (not as great as it sounds but still an improvement)
• Units put on Retreat will not be selectable until they are close to their destination, when they will default to Move/Protect orders
• Added a timer to the global Retreat Flag button
• Flak Trikes now take double damage from ground units when moving
• Outpost now controls default Retreat settings and building auto-repair (if researched)
• Auto-concrete now has greater range from each ConYard
• Fremen have range 2 instead of 3
• Slightly reduced AOE of Rocket Launchers/Deviators (very slightly)
• Added percentage complete for flyer queues at HTF
• No problems should remain with Sandstorms
• Trading Posts will not appear on enemy radar
• Outposts, Trading Posts, and MTPs have higher vision to balance Sandstorms
• AI Death Hands will now launch when attacked
• Reduced Harvester strength by 10%

Plans

Hello everyone,

I've just made plans to go overseas this holiday and new years. For those few of you who are close to me, you know what this trip represents. For all the other followers of this project, I won't go through even part of the whole story, but this trip will bring me back together with the person I love more than anything after three long years of waiting. I might never have seen her again but I got lucky recently in a couple ways. This trip is a financial risk for me but one I have to take.

I will try to put out the next version before Christmas, but if you ever even considered donating to this project in the past, now would be the perfect time, and I would appreciate any support. Thanks.

Greetings to the globe

Just wanted to say hello to all the countries of the world with visitors to this site. I just checked my analytics and I see people visiting from Japan to Norway to South Africa, 63 different countries in fact. Apparently I have the most fans from Germany, but also a visitor from Iran and even someone from the Isle of Man. Salutations and peaceful wishes to you all.

In honor of this I've added a Translate button to the web page. I'm sure it will be entertaining sometimes in its misinterpretation, but I think it's overdue.

Forums

Okay, supposedly, all my databases have been repaired. I won't be convinced of this until a few days have gone by with people posting and registering. Please check it out and let me know (somehow) if you see any errors.

Oh, and don't worry about this slowing down any dev progress. I've continued working and should have something new for everyone in a couple weeks. And hey, in the mean time, there's that "donate" button over there on the right...

Forum Maintenance

Hey everyone,

My web server was upgraded recently, and while they claimed my databases would not be affected, they definitely have been. I'll have to work on this today and see what's going on. Hopefully I haven't lost too much data and can get things running again soon.

EDIT: Everything "should" be fine now (and incidentally should be much more responsive after the upgrade). Feel free to resume normal forum activity.

EDIT AGAIN: This is really starting to piss me off. Found out people couldn't register due to database problems, tried to fix it, and now everything's hosed again. Getting real sick of my web hoster right now.

1.61 Win32 release

Linux version will be up after I get some library issues resolved.

This is a standard update with some bugfixes and some new features. In my latest testing, network sync has been perfect (knock on wood). Please leave a note in the forums if you see any out-of-sync situation in the future. No improvements to networking speed yet.

• Added Sandstorms. They occur rarely (more often in the Deep Desert) but they reset all visibility for all players. This is likely to remain a permanent new feature
• Selecting units and scrolling the mousewheel now allows immediate issue of orders. Scrolling the mouse up chooses Move orders, and scrolling down chooses Attack orders (defaulting to Protect and Guard orders respectively as normal)
• Foot Soldiers now receive a +2 range bonus while in Crags, but Crags no longer stop low bullets
• Devastators now fire twice as slowly, but with 250% damage. This makes them even better against large targets and even worse against infantry. Plus dammit, they're devastators. They should wreck what they're designed to wreck
• Split pickup lists for Carryalls into two separate ones for Harvesters and all other units (improves Carryall prioritizing of targets)
• Starting Units now provides a Flak Trike
• Allied units will share vision
• Re-added spice field voice call for first discovered spice
• Refineries will now drop the first harvester upon completion automatically
• Fixed a sync issue with IX and other building bonuses
• In-game Exit button works again (like the Back button now)
• Switched to OpenGL rendering
• Fixed music bug with "back" button
• Disabled Z-menu for HTF
• Fixed bug with detonating units not causing much damage
• Fixed bug with HTFs not counting flyers properly
• Fixed bug with selecting buildings to Demolish
• Merc purchases now ensure unit cap adherence
• Alliance units now have tiny amount of player coloring
• Fixed several other small bugs