PiArmada .09 released!

Z

ZOmegaZ

Rear Admiral
So it took me nearly a year, but I've finally released a new version of PiArmada! Sorry it took me so long, guys, I know I told some people it'd be done before now. Still, I think you'll find it worth the wait! .08 was effectively .07 with the flight engine hacked onto it. This is a much cleaner implementation, with quite a number of new features. From the readme:

---------------------------------------------------------

Python upgrade: PiArmada is now compiled with Python 2.4. Py2exe, Pygame, PyWin32, and Psyco have been updated to match.

Root menu: The game now drops you into a menu instead of straight into the game. Similarly, exiting the game takes you to the menu. Only the "Strategic Game" and "Exit" options do anything for now, the others are just placeholders.

New combat system: The strategic combat system has been totally rewritten to be much more modular and stable. I think this fixes all outstanding bugs in the system, and just generally makes me happy. Victory or defeat shows a screen displaying who lost. This includes a totally rewritten strategic AI, thanks to Spirit.

Greatly enhanced flight engine: Thanks largely to the hard work of Spirit and HellcatV, the flight engine has been greatly enhanced! Everything looks much better, and weapon effects are quite impressive. Missions also start with ships lined up nicely and fleets facing each other.

Configuration file: Certain game variables are now stored in settings.xml. The startup resolution and sector map file are stored, as are the songs played at different points in the game, the sound server port, and whether the game loads in full screen or not. Hopefully, the ability to load in windowed mode should fix some of the crashing problems that have been reported to me.

Modular empires: A lot of the hard-coded stuff with relation to ships and empires has been removed. In theory, it should now be much easier to modify individual empires images and ship statistics. The next version should allow the player to play as the Kilrathi, or any other empire someone cares to insert.

Improved appearance: There are a couple new planet images. Chris Martin provided new "ALL" and arrow button images. Also, button text is now centered on the button, which makes things so much prettier.

Save/Load: I found a way to hack PGU widgets into the GUI. The save/load buttons on the options screen now work! Hopefully, the next version will have upgraded interfaces that will allow for more than five kinds of fighter and more than six kinds of buildable ship.

More keyboard shortcuts: The move, pre-move, resource, docking, summary, and catalog screens now have keyboard shortcuts. The currently selected interface is highlighted in red.

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As always, any questions, comments, and bug reports are welcome. And I'm always looking for help developing the project further! Basically, anything you've got to say, I want to hear it. :) Enjoy!
 
The version I released seems to spawn quite a number of soundservers. A fix has been found and implemented. Also, don't hit the button marked "Flight"! It crashes the game. I'm compiling a version that fixes both these problems, should be up within a couple hours. Please let me know if you know of any other bugs!
 
Okay, I've updated the download. No change in version number, but it shouldn't leave soundservers running. Also, the flight button has been removed, it really served no purpose. This fixes all major bugs of which I am aware.

In case anyone's interested, my to-do list for version .1 is as follows:

Remove the last hard-coded empire name references, making empires fully modular.
Add an interface to select which empire you want to play as and which you want to play against.
Add an interface allowing you to select what map you want to play on, including the entire WC map and any sector therefrom
Upgrade the interfaces for docking and shipyards, so that greater numbers of ship classes can be supported.
Possibly modify flight engine balance (feedback would be nice).
Gauntlet mode.
Begin exploration of network play.

I'm also going to look into a new game mode that someone suggested last release. Instead of having one carrier that runs around building stuff, you get a larger fleet with many different kinds of ships, but you can't build anything. You just have to outmaneuver your oppoent. If that works out, we can expand from there back into building stuff with the larger fleet.
 
Are you suppose to install it over older versions of PiArmada? cuz running it just unzipped i get this from the log file
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Armada_Init.py", line 60, in ?
File "telnetlib.pyc", line 208, in __init__
File "telnetlib.pyc", line 237, in open
socket.error: (10061, 'Connection refused')
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Armada_Init.py", line 26, in ?
File "xml\dom\minidom.pyc", line 1915, in parse
File "xml\dom\expatbuilder.pyc", line 922, in parse
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'settings.xml'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Armada_Init.py", line 91, in ?
pygame.error: No video mode large enough for 1280x1024
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Armada_Init.py", line 26, in ?
File "xml\dom\minidom.pyc", line 1915, in parse
File "xml\dom\expatbuilder.pyc", line 922, in parse
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'settings.xml'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Armada_Init.py", line 60, in ?
File "telnetlib.pyc", line 208, in __init__
File "telnetlib.pyc", line 237, in open
socket.error: (10061, 'Connection refused')
 
looks good so far but i have a couple of suggestions

1. all the "space dust" floating around is a bit excessive.

2.every time i take out a solkor (or whatever) it keeps saying that I loose all the ships in my flight (in one case 2 arrows and another case 1 arrow) even when I kill the ship with no losses.
 
Sorry for all the bugs, guys. Will do my best to help fix them all.

As for the in-flight music, I'm not really sure why that happens, I'll talk to Hellcat.

Tim, my guess is your problem lies in settings.xml. I didn't think about the inability to load in 1280x1024, and I just left it like it was on my machine. Just edit that file in notepad or whatever, and lower the resolution to what you like, 1024x768 should do fine. That should fix at least one problem, if not both. If you still get the telnet error, try disabling your firewall or changing the port soundserver connects to in settings.xml.

I agree about the space dust, should be easily fixable. And if you mean shok'lar, I don't know that I've even seen the AI build one. I'll see about reproducing the error.
 
ZOmegaZ said:
I agree about the space dust, should be easily fixable. And if you mean shok'lar, I don't know that I've even seen the AI build one. I'll see about reproducing the error.
Click to expand...
Well looks like we have polar opposites here. The only thing that the Kilrathi build in my game is Shok'lars.:)
 
first off, very nice job for making an armada remake

a couple bugs I had,
for some reason when it starts the inflight fighting the games loading screen switches to the privateer remake screen as it's waiting to start the fight... just thought that was kinda weird...

I still had the issue of it crashing when I hit the flight button, after that I kept with just selecting a ship.

Is there a way to stop a ship on a planet while it is moving to another? Ie I accidentaly sent a ship to a planet one past the one I wanted it to, but once it got on the one I wanted, there seemed to be no way to tell it to just stay there and not move on to the next on the next turn.

Also reagarding ship movement, the backdrop for the moving screen is so big it blocks out the map, so a lot of times I have to close reopen and close the screen just to figure out where I want to select my ships to go. Can we have the backdrop to the menu screens semi transparent?

btw I like the final fantasy music as the background music, keep it for the final version

again very good job so far.
 
Error message i get when trying to play the game.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Armada_Init.py", line 99, in ?
File "Armada_Root_Menu.pyc", line 25, in __init__
File "Armada_Root_Menu.pyc", line 151, in Loop
File "Armada_GUI.pyc", line 190, in Handle_Mouse_Up
File "Armada_Root_Menu.pyc", line 83, in Strategic_Button_Function
File "Armada_Game.pyc", line 185, in __init__
File "Armada_GUI.pyc", line 190, in Handle_Mouse_Up
TypeError: Flight_Button_Function() takes exactly 2 arguments (1 given)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Armada_Init.py", line 99, in ?
File "Armada_Root_Menu.pyc", line 25, in __init__
File "Armada_Root_Menu.pyc", line 151, in Loop
File "Armada_GUI.pyc", line 190, in Handle_Mouse_Up
File "Armada_Root_Menu.pyc", line 83, in Strategic_Button_Function
File "Armada_Game.pyc", line 185, in __init__
File "Armada_GUI.pyc", line 190, in Handle_Mouse_Up
TypeError: Flight_Button_Function() takes exactly 2 arguments (1 given)

I get this whenever i try to fly a mission
 
I gave the game a whirl this evening, and I think this update's a big improvement. I was getting an error message at first, but using the "fullscreen = 0" that was mentioned in the readme file fixed it. The game window was still too large, however to use (my computer's resolution is 1280x800), but I fooled around with the screen_width and screen_height variables in the settings file and got a window size small enough to use (1024x740).

The only problem I'm having right now is that the flight mode doesn't seem to come up. Whenever a battle is offered, there are three options; "Flight", "Auto", or one of the fighters (or more, if you've got more than one type). I know it's not flight, and I guess Auto plays out the fight using some randomized function. But when I press on one of the fighter buttons, I get the WC scramble music, the screen flickers a bit (no Privateer remake screen), and then I get the turn summary report on the next page; the flight was played out as if I pressed the Auto button.

Another minor bug is that if my carrier is involved in a fight and is successful, all the fighters that were onboard have to be placed back on the carrier manifest at the start of the next turn.

The one big thing that would really up the replayability is more maps; I don't know how hard it is to make them, though. Historical maps would be good; perhaps a sector with a strategic jump node, or with a cluster of heavy resource systems; the current map seems to have these elements in various fashions, though. A map editor would be the ultimate solution, but I imagine that would be difficult. Otherwise, the to-do list above pretty much nails all my suggestions. Great game.
 
Cardinal said:
The one big thing that would really up the replayability is more maps; I don't know how hard it is to make them, though. Historical maps would be good; perhaps a sector with a strategic jump node, or with a cluster of heavy resource systems; the current map seems to have these elements in various fashions, though.
Click to expand...

What about a random map generator like the original Wing Commander Armada featured?

Cardinal said:
A map editor would be the ultimate solution, but I imagine that would be difficult.
Click to expand...

It doesn't sound too difficult. The current map seems like a simple file with a bunch of x,y coordinates that match up with a list of planet stats and markers for connecting jump lines.
 
DO NOT hit the flight button. Leaving it in the release was a mistake, I meant to take it out and just forgot. You can either just not hit it, or you can download the archive again, as I've removed it.

The Privateer Remake splash screen is kind of jarring, yeah. I just don't have anything better to replace it with. Any volunteers? :)

Movement works better if you just drag the icon of the ship you want to move to the icon of the system you want to move it to. That way you're sure to get it to move where you want. I may be misunderstanding your problem, though. If you want to cancel a move while a ship is in transit to another system, it's certainly doable. You're correct, though, it's not 100% obvious. I should probably fix that at some point. Just drag the ship to another system to bring up the move screen. From there you can tell it not to move.

Glad you like the music! I got it off OC Remix, the title is "On That Day..." Unfortunately I couldn't contact the remixer, one Nobuo Uematsu. Hope he doesn't mind!

Now, the error Cardinal got with no flight actually occuring, that I can't reproduce. Running at the resolution you specified and in windowed mode, combat worked just fine. My guess is that there's still some incompatability between your video card and the Vega Strike engine. (You were one of those who had trouble with the last release running at all yes?) Try running the vega strike executable, and see if it'll load. Oh, and by the way, if you're running at a resolution besides 800x600, 1024x768, or 1280x1024, opening the options screen WILL crash the game. Didn't occur to me until now that that could come up, now that there's a settings file. This means that running at non-standard resolutions, you CAN NOT SAVE. Since it's only caused by purposeful modification, I'm not gonna release an immediate fix, but I'll have a workaround in the next release.

Fighters re-docking at a carrier didn't seem like a big deal to me. Docking served no purpose at all in the original game, IIRC, nor does it now. It's just there now for completeness and use in future modifications.

I definitely agree about maps. High on the to-do list for version .1 is an interface allowing you to select different maps. Hellcat provided me with the WCU XML file for the entire Wing Commander universe. I hope to have that playable, as well as any individual sector. Completely random sectors are also a possibility, though a little more complex as I'll have to come up with an algorithm for making decent looking ones. Right now, you're stuck with Vega and random resource distribution. As Chris points out, though, the format for maps right now isn't that complex, so if someone really really WANTS to create a new map by hand, you can. Just look at the files "vega" and "test", most things should be pretty obvious. Resources are hard-coded random, though.

If you want a graphical sector editor... I'm gonna have to think about that one. If I do that, it'll be after the next release, for sure. If someone else wants to take a stab at it, though, they're welcome to. I always welcome help with coding! :)
 
ZOmegaZ said:
Now, the error Cardinal got with no flight actually occuring, that I can't reproduce. Running at the resolution you specified and in windowed mode, combat worked just fine. My guess is that there's still some incompatability between your video card and the Vega Strike engine. (You were one of those who had trouble with the last release running at all yes?) Try running the vega strike executable, and see if it'll load.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did have trouble with the earlier versions. I think I figured out the problem...in the .armada001 directory there's a shortcut that I'm guessing is used to access Vega Strike. The shortcut is set to C:\Armada\...\, but I installed the game to D:\piarmada\...\. I fixed that and Vega Strike seems to run fine now.

ZOmegaZ said:
Oh, and by the way, if you're running at a resolution besides 800x600, 1024x768, or 1280x1024, opening the options screen WILL crash the game. Didn't occur to me until now that that could come up, now that there's a settings file. This means that running at non-standard resolutions, you CAN NOT SAVE. Since it's only caused by purposeful modification, I'm not gonna release an immediate fix, but I'll have a workaround in the next release.
Click to expand...

Sure enough, switching the resolution to 800x600 did allow me to use the options screen. The game runs fine in 1024x768 fullscreen. On a whim, I changed the fullscreen value in the settings file back to 1, and now the program doesn't crash when the game loads up...no idea why, but hey, I'll take it.

ZOmegaZ said:
As Chris points out, though, the format for maps right now isn't that complex, so if someone really really WANTS to create a new map by hand, you can. Just look at the files "vega" and "test", most things should be pretty obvious. Resources are hard-coded random, though.

If you want a graphical sector editor... I'm gonna have to think about that one. If I do that, it'll be after the next release, for sure. If someone else wants to take a stab at it, though, they're welcome to. I always welcome help with coding! :)
Click to expand...

I just opened up the "vega" file in WordPad now (it's under strategic/Armada/ if anyone else is interested in making maps). At first glance, it looks simple enough for anyone with some graph paper...I'll give it a whirl and I'll see what I can come up with.
 
ZOmegaZ said:
Fighters re-docking at a carrier didn't seem like a big deal to me. Docking served no purpose at all in the original game, IIRC, nor does it now. It's just there now for completeness and use in future modifications.
Click to expand...

Aside from making it easier to move your escorts along with the carrier, docked fighters don't show up in the enemy's intel. By manipulating the fighters docked versus the fighters freely in space, you could bluff forces to discourage them from attacking or bait them into a trap.
 
Feature requests

Hello,

Okay I figured out how to play the fight scenes and verything seems to be working great! As a strategy gamer i have some requests:

1. Implement more types of units - I love how you added fortifications to the game. add something like colonies, space stations, repair stations, fleet yards, planetary defenses, etc.

2. expand the star systems: Moons, asteroid fields, jump point nodes, etc.

3. resources: set a time condition to the buildup of fighters and things like that.

I know that you are still in the beginnings of development. I thought that this might give you a few ideas. I'm a big fan of the game Empire and just thought that some of the elements of that game incorporated into armada would make an awesome strategy game.
 
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