Brit

I just put out another update (version 1.01.13801) to fix an issue that was causing crashes in top-bottom wrapped maps.

Thanks for the feedback! The poll is still open for anyone arriving late, but the clear winner in the poll is tactical AI - which is what I spent the day working on. I thought people's "other" suggestions would also show up in the poll, but they didn't. Here's the current results: 46% Smarter AI - Better tactical AI (invasions, defense, use of aircraft, etc) 18% Smarter AI - Better foreign relations AI (forming alliances and teams, more active with trade, etc) 18% The multiplayer game has connection problems (the game disconnects from other players or crashes) Suggestions typed into the "other" box: - Enable the combat priority on the rules editor - Open terrain (I assume that means allow new types of terrain) - Hotseat - Add more unit types, ie helicopters, engineers - Aircraft attack nearest target if no other [target is available(?)]

Notable Changes and Fixes: - Fixed bug: if a trade failed due to insufficient resources, the error message got repeated multiple times. - Fixed a bug with the internal bug-report system: it didn't allow foreign characters. - Fixed bug: ongoing map-transfer was not working correctly - Fixed a variety of small bugs with the rules-editor - Increased the foreign relations penalty for sneak-attacking other players - Fixed bug: the save-game was not remembering the Instant Message Log - Fixed bug: the "forgot password" email wasn't being sent - PBEM Fixed bug: the PBEM system wasn't sending out notification emails when the turn was processed - PBEM Fixed bug: the game will remember your email address for turn-update notifications - Rules Editor: Generalized units' consumption of resources. Now their maintenance cost can include any combination of resources. - Rules Editor, Fixed bug: after double-clicking on a unit in the unit-list, the mouse scroll would scroll the unit-list. - Added new splash-screens to the startup

Hey guys. The next update will be available soon (unsure of the exact timeframe). In the meanwhile, I wanted to say that I've received a bunch of suggested fixes and improvements to the game. So many that it's hard to know what you, the players, think is the most pressing issue. I wanted to get your feedback on this, so I created a poll. Here are the options: * Smarter AI - Better tactical AI (invasions, defense, use of aircraft, etc) * Smarter AI - Better foreign relations AI (forming alliances and teams, more active with trade, etc) * Faster AI - the game takes too long calculating the AI's turn * Faster Turn Processing * The game uses too much memory * The multiplayer game has connection problems (the game disconnects from other players or crashes) * More options for customizations and user-created rulesets Vote here: http://polldaddy.com/poll/3898013/ You can vote for multiple items (although you'll be watering down your vote a bit if you vote for too many things), and you can suggest something, too. Feel free to post a comment on this thread, as well.

I sent you a message. Did you get it?

Well, if we need to, I can send you a full installer with the latest version of the game. Ideally, I'd like to get the updater working correctly for you, since there will be updates in the future.

Hm. The updater uses normal http / port 80 to communicate (this is the same port that's used by web-browsers). (In other words, it's nothing too tricky or complicated.) You can access www.empiresofsteel.com with your web-browser, right? Also, could you make sure your Internet Explorer browser* is not set to "work offline"? * And I mean Internet Explorer specifically, not any other browser that you might use - like Firefox, Safari or Chrome.

The updater might not have permissions to write to your hard drive. You might need to set the Updater6.exe application to have administrator permissions. By the way, what version of the game does it say you are running? (It should tell you in the lower right portion of the main menu.)

The major fix to the AI involved the fact that the AI was under-utilizing it's units. Based on my latest AI-vs-AI games, the AI seems to be much better about using its full military. There was no carrier-fix (sorry). The AI has been using paratroopers for a while, but the fact that it was under utilizing its units in general meant it wasn't using paratroopers very often.

Notable changes and fixes: - Fixed some bugs with the AI - Generalized the city-improvement/airfield-improvement costs, so they can cost any combination of resources (instead of just production and iron) - Rules Editor: Double-clicking on a unit, city-improvement, or airfield-improvement in the list goes to the 'edit' page - Reduced Turn-Processing time by approximately 40% - Fixed an AI bug: the AI could go to war against teammates. - Fixed bug: could not set ground/sea rally points that end in cities/airfields/resources - Update to the AI: the AI more likely to declare war on players who are at war with their allies and teammates - Fixed Bug: Ongoing Trade Agreements can't be ended if a trade agreement is started, the game is saved, loaded, and then the player tries to end the trade. - Fixed Bug: Sometimes aircraft would not takeoff due to an apparent shortage of oil - Fixed Bug: Sometimes trade agreements would spontaneously be cancelled due to an apparent shortage of resources. Let me know what you think of the latest AI. It still doesn't have all the behaviors I'd like, but I'd be interested in knowing how often you can win against it.

Hi Hoolaman. I did a test, and everything seems to be working fine. My guess at this point is that either there's some specific situation where PBEM doesn't work (and I'm not sure what it is), or my webhost was down for a while (and it was back up again when I tried it). Let me know if it's continuing to cause problems.

You're right. I've now looked into this and fixed it. I noticed there was a similar issue with sea-units. That's fixed too, and will be available in the next update.

Sorry for the late response. I had computer problems. Hm. I'll take a look at it. It's supposed to show you which of your friends are in the chat room (just below the number of players in the chatroom) on the main menu. You mean leave them a private message that they can see when they arrive in the chatroom? I'll have to think about that, and the best way to approach the whole note/messaging system.

I hate to say it, but the AI does know the geography and sees through the fog of war. As the AI gets more competent, I'd like to remove those advantages. I originally started out creating an AI that has to explore the map, but I started getting bogged down in a lot of exploring code, when I needed to be working on other things like the AI's tactical planning. Plus there's all kinds of assumptions that humans can make about the map (like "what's the odds that there's land in that section of unexplored map?") based on past experience and also the map settings. And, of course, if you're playing a known map (like europe or the world map) then the human player knows pretty well what the layout of the map is without being able to see it, which would put the AI player at a disadvantage relative to the human player.

Thanks. Glad you're enjoying the game.

I thought it was sprained. I saw the doctor again today because it didn't seem to be healing, and the X-Ray showed a small break at the end of one of the wrist bones. So, it wasn't swollen and it was a minor break. It generally didn't hurt unless I turned my wrist a certain way or tried to pickup something heavy.

Thanks. Yeah, the sale has been good. Oh, and I found out today that my other wrist is also broken (but just a minor break). Fortunately, I can still type.

I tried setting up a ruleset with a city-improvement that isn't initially available and isn't in the research tree. I got a warning item in the analysis window, but didn't see any other problems other than that. I was able to setup a scenario, and able to play a game. Could you send me the ruleset so I could take a look at it and figure out what you're doing differently than me?

Didn't get nearly as far on the AI as I was hoping with this update, but I should get more done for the next update. Anyway, not even a broken wrist could stop me from getting these fixes done and the update out. Enjoy. Notable Fixes/Improvements: - Fixed a variety of bugs involving the AI - Fixed bug: when creating large pangea maps, the world-builder will take a very long time. The fix also speeds up normal map building. - Rules Editor Bug: the "duplicate unit" button wasn't copying all the values - Rules Editor Bug: the consumption/production values for city-improvements was backwards (affects custom rulesets, but not the official one) - Fixed Bug: warning messages appeared when setting up teams in the New-Game window - EOS Messenger: Fixed Bug: Pressing ENTER closes the application - EOS Messenger: Fixed Bug: the application was not remembering how often to check for updates - Added 10 New Flags (thanks Hoolaman) - Fixed Bug: Players could setup units to upgrade multiple times, even though they haven't researched the technology required for the upgrade. - Fixed Bug: The image editor wouldn't show *.wav files in the list of sounds. - Rules Editor Bug: fixed an error in the toggling of city-improvement's "can only be built adjacent to water" value

I found a bug related to this issue, and fix it. The latest update is now available.

What's the configuration of the units? Are the artillery on a transport trying to move onto land? Are they already on the land, but taking shots at the submarine and therefore, not moving when they're supposed to?

Yes, that's correct. I hadn't thought about undestroyable improvements. Did you have something specific in mind? You mean you get a warning in the ruleset editor? I think the ruleset editor will warn you about that situation, but I don't think it will stop you from using that ruleset. Let me know if that's not true.

Ok, I tracked down this bug and fixed it. The fix will be in the next update. Thanks. Brit

You're right. I've confirmed this bug.

Yes. It's 4000x3200. There is no fixed limit. I suppose the only real limit is the amount of memory on your machine. There is no fixed limit. Yup, I hope to keep adding to it.