------- changes for V2.7.1 ------- In scripting, if using randomIntLow and randomIntHigh to generate a random number with set_variable, the result is unpredictable if randomIntLow=randomIntHigh. This has been changed. In this case, the result is now the low value. Also, if randomIntLow>randomIntHigh, then the code swaps the two values and proceeds normally. There is no long_desc for the Transport. Fixed. Found several memory leaks and plugged them. Asteroid art is now 25% bigger, to match its collision sphere. the script command, if_monster_tag_matches, was crashing. fixed. found a bug with the new side-mission, "carrying needed supplies to the station". It would cause server lockup. fixed. if_docked script command wasn't working right with the "not" attribute. Fixed. fixed crash when if_docked script command was used without a "name" attribute. hull counts for the new torp types (beacon, probe, and tag) have been adjusted. the script command, create (with monsters), now has an attribute of "age". Set it to 1,2, or 3, for young, mature, or ancient. added "pirateRepWithStations" to the set of -if_object_property- values, for player ships. IF the player is a pirate, >0 means friendly stations will let you dock fixed pirate-station texts, so they only work with friendly stations, if there are any jellies, when created, jump to the nearest asteroid (or station, or map center). This wasn't implemented correctly, and other monster types were jumping to asteroids. Fixed. for MON_BRAIN_RELEASE_PIRANHAS, there was a timer, so new wrecks (with the MON_BRAIN_RELEASE_PIRANHAS brain element) didn't spawn piranhas for about a minute. That has been reduced to 5 seconds. RELEASE_PIRANHAS value1=side(piranhas will not be created when a player of this side is too close), value2=dist(player ships gets this close, piranhas are created), value3=num of piranhas spawned, value4=pod number of this monster group (0-9) Not proerly documented in 2.7.0, the new monster, "jelly", is a harmless space jellyfish that likes to play in asteroids ATTRIBUTE: monsterType VALID: 0-7 0 = GMMONSTER_CLASSIC, 1 = GMMONSTER_WHALE, 2 = GMMONSTER_SHARK, 3 = GMMONSTER_DRAGON, 4 = GMMONSTER_PIRANHA, 5 = GMMONSTER_TUBE, 6 = GMMONSTER_BUG, 7 = GMMONSTER_JELLY, ! new for 2.7.0 8 = GMMONSTER_DERELICT, ------- changes for V2.6.3 ------- added CHASE_OTHER_MONSTERS to aiship brain stack elements. chases all monsters except whales. GenericMeshs can now be selected and scanned by the Science console. The Science Console's object dialog will now show lots of things about GenericMeshs that can be affected by "set_ship_text". Scripters can now use if_scan_level with GenericMeshs, too. The GM Console text boxes can now be toggled between, using TAG or RETURN. The GM Console sends text messages to ships and consoles, and now has buttons to set message category for messages sent to Comms nebulae now come in 3 different flavors. Right now, those different colors don't mean much. Except to scripts, which have the added "nebType" attribute when creating nebulae, and have a new conditional, "if_in_nebula" For ship 1, on extra main screen computers, the dmx output didn't work. It DID work on ships 2-8. I believe I have fixed this problem. I now use a low-level UDP protocol to automagically link servers to clients, on the local LAN most pickups/anomalies have been anemic; most of them are now more useful the first thing all of the stations build is a Homing missile, but for some reason they all require five minutes regardless of their build factor. Fixed. The scripting doc said that (for embedded variables) the 'escape' character was '^' (also called a carat). It's not. It's '|' (the pipe, or vertical bar). Fixed. Sorry for the confusion. monsters would show up across the entire map on the Science console, not just those within the limited sensor range like ships work. Fixed. Pirate players can now loot surrendered ships for energy and torpedoes. Just get close. Pirate players now have "reputation" with friendly stations. They won't let you dock 'til you've killed an invading enemy. And they'll never let you dock if you kill a friendly. changed dragon to chew more, 20 8-pt attacks instead of 10 16-pt attacks changed "isTagged" script object flag. Now it can be used on all named objects text chat is now enabled for comms players number keys on Comms now need the CTRL key pressed to work. So does "r" for red alert on comms. the "help us help you" missions now have custom comms text, if you're in a Pirate ship. The mini-missions still work the same way, though. the classic monster (now dubbed Typhon) is now twice as hungry as before; it will now eat up to 10 enemy ships before running home bases should no longer shoot at surrendered enemies Shuttles can now pick up anomalies for their carrier ships For those of you who want to set up more hand-off, locked-in bridges, several new artemis.ini commands are available: clientSide lets you force a computer to be a client, and you can also use it to specify which ship the computer must belong to forceAddress lets you make the client automatically connect to a specific IP address several commands let you pick the game console for the computer (like Helm, Science, etc.) operatorLogoImage lets you place your own business logo or event image into the game, specifically onto the console choice screen the artemis.ini now contains STARTUP RESOLUTION SETTINGS (the following settings let you bypass the initial screen dialog by specifying the screen mode and resolution here) did you know that if shift and ctrl are held down, and you press j, the artemis.ini file gets reloaded? added new looks to asteroids fixed memory leaks; mission names and carried fighters weren't being deleted in scripting, when creating anomalies/pickups ATTRIBUTE: pickupType now has an additional number 8 = ITEMTYPE_BEACON // beacon that repels/attracts monsters -- for anomaly of type 8 (a beacon) ATTRIBUTE: beaconMonsterType VALID: 0-7 (same as ATTRIBUTE: monsterType) ATTRIBUTE: beaconEffect VALID: 0-1 (0 = attract, 1 = repel) the scripting conditional "if_distance" now has the two optional attributes: ATTRIBUTE: player_slot1 ATTRIBUTE: player_slot2 A mission XML script should now contain a single block. The raw text inside the block is displayed on the mission choice dialog of the server. Finally! New scripting conditional CONDITION: if_scan_level (tests a named space object's scan level (side-based) against a condition) ATTRIBUTE: name VALID: name of object that has a scan, so AIShips, monsters, and pickups ATTRIBUTE: comparator VALID: =, !=, <, >, <=, >=, EQUALS, NOT, GREATER, LESS, GREATER_EQUAL, LESS_EQUAL ATTRIBUTE: value VALID: signed floating point value (but scan levels are usually 0,1, or 2) ATTRIBUTE: use_gm_selection VALID: use this attribute to use the game master's selected player ship (this will fail if the selected object isn't a player ship) (optional) ATTRIBUTE: player_slot VALID: 0-7 (corresponds to the 8 player ships allowed in the game) use this instead of a "name" or "use_gm_selection" attribute (optional) ATTRIBUTE: side VALID: integer value (sides are 0-31, 0 = no side, 1 = enemy (normally), 2+ = player side (normally)) IMPORTANT: this side is the side doing the detecting, NOT the side of the named object I've cleaned up and added to CONDITION: if_docked (tests if a player is docked with a named station) ATTRIBUTE: name VALID: text (name of station the ship is or is not docked with) (optional) ATTRIBUTE: use_gm_selection VALID: use this attribute to use the game master's selected player ship (this will fail if the selected object isn't a player ship) (optional) ATTRIBUTE: player_name VALID: text (name of player ship) (optional) ATTRIBUTE: player_slot VALID: 0-7 (corresponds to the 8 player ships allowed in the game) use this instead of a "player_name" or "use_gm_selection" attribute (optional) ATTRIBUTE: not VALID: anything (inverts the logic of this command, to test if the player ship is NOT currently docked) new scripting commands if_object_property > isTagged, tagOwnerSide set_named_object_tag_state if_object_tag_matches set_monster_tag_data if_monster_tag_matches pickup/anomalies now have more info about them on Science probes now correctly exit the edge of the screen and die probes now correctly detect ships in deduced detection distance games DMX events have been extended to: TORP_HOMING_FIRED TORP_NUKE_FIRED TORP_MINE_FIRED TORP_EMP_FIRED TORP_PSHOCK_FIRED TORP_BEACON_FIRED TORP_PROBE_FIRED TORP_TAG_FIRED For scripting, properties of stations that can be changed now include: missileStoresHoming missileStoresNuke missileStoresMine missileStoresEMP missileStoresPShock missileStoresBeacon missileStoresProbe missileStoresTag For scripting, properties of player ships that can be changed now include: systemCurCoolantBeam systemCurCoolantTorpedo systemCurCoolantTactical systemCurCoolantTurning systemCurCoolantImpulse systemCurCoolantWarp systemCurCoolantFrontShield systemCurCoolantBackShield systemCurHeatBeam systemCurHeatTorpedo systemCurHeatTactical systemCurHeatTurning systemCurHeatImpulse systemCurHeatWarp systemCurHeatFrontShield systemCurHeatBackShield systemCurEnergyBeam systemCurEnergyTorpedo systemCurEnergyTactical systemCurEnergyTurning systemCurEnergyImpulse systemCurEnergyWarp systemCurEnergyFrontShield systemCurEnergyBackShield ------- changes for V2.6.202 ------- Stations have 3 new missile stores that the script can change, using the names "missileStoresBeacon", "missileStoresProbe", and "missileStoresTag". Player ships have more nums the script can change, using the names "countShk", "countBea", "countPro", and "countTag". Also the tag ECM was changed to "countEMP". tagging a monster lets scientists study it better. Tagging an enemy ship can inhibit its cloak and teleport special abilities. ------- changes for V2.6.0 ------- New layout of the comms console, shows comms buttons on the left, a click-able waterfall of all messages on the right, and a filter-able list of messages in the center. Each of the 3 lists are drag-able. There are buttons on the top-center that filter the messages that show in the center list. Clicking on a message on the right-hand list causes it to be shown in the center list, and for the appropriate filter to be set. Small changes to the fighter-bay card game. The fighter-bay ship list no longer re-arranges as player fighters leave the bay. The game no longer has just fighters. Now (internally) they are called single-seat ships, and there are different sorts of fighters and shuttles. Now every player ship can carry one shuttle. Many player ships can carry multiple single-seat ships of different types, but the first single-seat in the list must always be a shuttle. In the ship cusomization menu (on server or client) players may now select a type of single-seat ship, and name each one. In scripting, there's a new command, "set_player_carried_type", which lets the scriptor set the exant single-seat ships that are carried in a player ship. In scripting, there's a new command, "spawn_external_program", which does what it says. Ideally to be used to start a video player, so pre-recorded videos can pop up on the main screen. ------- changes for V2.5.104 ------- Some small fixes to comms and fighter systems. In scripts, set_comms_button, clear_comms_button, and if_comms_button let you add special buttons to the comms console, and trigger events based on the comms clicking those buttons. In scripting Variable parsing, the 'escape' character, '^' (also called a carat) has been changed to a vertical line '|' (the shifted backslash). // new for scripting, for set_object_property; these sound volume values should range from 0.0 - 1.0 musicObjectMasterVolume commsObjectMasterVolume soundFXVolume ------- changes for V2.5.102 ------- Now all text in scripts comes with built-in variable formatting. Any place in a script, like: can now have formatted variables placed inside them, using the 'escape' character, '^' (also called a carat). Like: All scripting variables are now assumed to be floating point, UNLESS expressly set: ------- changes for V2.5.1 ------- Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Fighters now launch pointing in the same direction as thier carrier. Fighters now have a directional ring to help them find targets that aren't in thier FOV. Fighters now have a background, with windows (thank you Lightwave_Gecko!) There's a new game mode, Infestation, which demands that you exterminate a sector full of Biomechs. Biomechs now have a complete life cycle. Biomechs have been adjusted somewhat. ------- changes for V2.4 ------- Loads of new ships, including all the Ximni ships, plus new TSN Juggernaut and TSN Mine Layer. Big changes to the GM console, and GM script options. New Customize Ship screen, gives you a better way to choose your ship, name it, and change its accent color. set_gm_button, clear_gm_button, and if_gm_button have been added to mission scripting. These commands let you add graphical buttons to the GM console, and trigger events based on the GM clicking those buttons. Added "player_slot" as an attribute to the <"create type="player"/> script line. This lets the scriptor have more control over exactly which player ship is referenced in the script. player_slot is an attribute that identifies players ships in the scripting system. player_slot is now usable with these commands: destroy, set_object_property, addto_object_property, set_to_gm_position, warning_popup_message, set_player_grid_damage, set_damcon_members, set_ship_text, set_side_value, if_inside_box, if_outside_box, if_inside_sphere, if_outside_sphere, if_damcon_members, if_docked, if_player_is_targeting, if_exists, if_not_exists, and if_object_property. In addition, copy_object_property now uses the player_slot1 and player_slot2 attributes. So does set_relative_position. In addition, use_gm_selection (the attribute that lets the subject of the command be defined by the GM) is now used with these commands: destroy, add_ai, clear_ai, set_object_property, addto_object_property, set_to_gm_position, warning_popup_message, set_player_grid_damage, set_damcon_members, set_ship_text, set_special, set_side_value, if_damcon_members, if_docked, if_player_is_targeting, and if_object_property. The if_docked command takes a "name" attribute, which is the STATION that the player might be docked with. The player may be specified by using the player_name, use_gm_selection, or player_slot attributes. Otherwise the default is (as it has been) player ship zero. This is also true for if_player_is_targeting. ------- changes for V2.3 ------- Many small bug fixes prompted by you, the awesome player. Gun camera indicators have been fixed. Fighters and carriers have been implemented, as a first pass. The Medium carrier holds 5 fighters; the dreadnaught now has 2. Changed the overall difficulty of the game in several ways, including: --Making the enemy ships at higher levels hit a bit harder --Making the enemy ships at higher levels faster and more maneuverable --Making enemy fleets move as a group more intelligently --Making the enemy skaraan ships more troublesome, with a new shield-vampire ability (IF they also have shield drain, the drain reinforces their own shields) added "tauntImmunityIndex" as a value the script can change for enemy ships. 0,1, or 2, corresponding to the taunt immunities in vesseldata.xml for each race anomalies are now scaned on Science like ships and monsters. Science can now identify the type of anomaly. The game master console now cannot be shared; only one client (connected to a server) may be the Game Master. Made a completely internal change that affected many parts of the code. I was using a variable improperly (from a code-safe POV) and fixing it required many small changes throughout the code. ??Fixed a problem causing crashes when monsters were killed. This problem would leave extra derelicts lying around, and turn piranhas into classic monsters. Accepted the vesselData.xml changes suggested (and produced) by ryleyra. ------- changes for V2.2.0 ------- Many new types of Monster are now in the game. They all behave differently. What used to be "Anomalies" (which were just floating gas cans) are now actual "pickups", that buff your ship in different ways. Changed mine code to be more efficient. New PlasmaShock torpedo. Does little damage to shields, but (if not blocked by a shield) destroys an enemy ship from the inside. Adjusted energy rewards so you have less chance of getting so much energy your ship overheats. ------- changes for V2.1.5 ------- Now the game connects to (and works with) the War Server, a seperate and free Windows program that models a galactic war. ------- changes for V2.1.1 ------- fixed a nasty crash bug that kept multiple ships from joining the game. Fixed messages from stations so they don't send "friendly" messages to ships that aren't their friends. ------- changes for V2.1.0 ------- In the script command "destroy_near", the list of valid values for "type" now include "whales", "drones", and "all". When at warp, turning on reverse caused you to coast to a stop, not drop out at the normal rate. Using this with high warp, you could coast from one end of the map to the other through nebulas and everything while only using 100 or so energy and actually gaining energy if you so choose. This has been fixed. The "showScrnPopups" value in artemis.ini can turn off the popup messages in the lower-right of the screen. On Science and Capt's Map, WASD keys scroll the map. ALT-f toggles the framerate counter, thought the feature has been in the game for a while. More DMX flags, mostly for torp tube function. Start and confirm a jump with the ENTER/RETURN key, cancel it with SPACE, TAB between the two text boxes. The "showVisTab" value in artemis.ini can turn off the VIS tab for old machines that aren't happy with the 3D view. updated list of AI blocks for brain stack, reflecting the new ai block, GUARD_STATION. also added new page of server-side mission debug info (accessed by the F7 key), to help with debugging/understanding the AIShip brain stacks Fixed bug causing all ships to "stick" on a heading when the "sideValue" was set. Changed the set_ship_text script command ATTRIBUTE: hailtext VALID: text this ship will reply with when comms "hails" them The version numbering system has been changed, to 3 integers. Added 8 new stations, and radicaly upgraded what stations can do. Each of the 4 standard enemy races has its own base type. These bases can all defend themselves, and have various shield strengths. There are now 5 TSN bases. The old base has been renamed the Deep Space Base. Some of these bases can also defend themselves. All friendly bases still produce torps for you, and let you dock. But different bases have modified production speeds. All coop and single-player games used to have exactly 4 stations. Now that has changed. A random number of different player stations appears in each game, but the total production potential of the friendly bases won't change. In other words, you might get lots of science stations, or a few bigger stations. There's a new layout option. Deep Strike lets you play a game where only the enemies have stations, and you're all alone against the enemy hordes. In both single and coop modes, you must destroy all enemy stations to win. In single player mode, you must also destroy all enemy ships. We've upgraded the PC engine to the latest version of DirectX 9 (we were using a very old version before). The terrian adjustments for missions are now much more granular. There's a new client mode, called Data. This mode toggles between LRS, TACT, and INFO modes by pressing space. This client mode exists so, if you are blessed with extra computers/screens, you can have an extra screen that's locked to a specific data presentation. -------------------------------- ------- changes for V2.0 ------- -------------------------------- The UI art has been completely replaced, new crisper fonts, custom screen controls torpedo controls, and significant changes to every game screen. Artemis 1 had distinct enemies and friendlies. This was inflexible, especially for multi-ship games (which are much more popular than we originally assumed). So a lot of underlying structure was changed, so that any ship could take on any role for any side. Artemis 2.0 can now support up to eight simultaneous bridges (48 players). Multi-ship games got special attention, with lots of bug fixing and UI changes. Science scanning now has much more data displayed about NPC ships, and this information has more mission ramifications. By popular request, there is now a full-fledged PVP mode, where any number of sides and teams can battle each other in arena sectors that can be tuned to limit torpedo and ship types, as well as the number of NPC ships on each side. four new NPC non-combatant ships now ply the spacelanes, offering many new scenarios for Artemis crews. These ships can be broken down, hijacked, blinded, held hostage, and more. Pathing AI has been added to all NPC ships. No longer can players rely on the stupidity of enemies that blunder into black holes and minefields. Artemis ships play in real 3D now, with climb/dive controls (button, keyboard, and joystick). Players can fly OVER a black hole, and come up underneath enemies. The Skaraan enemy race has always bedeviled Artemis players with cloaking, warping, and other special abilities. Now these abilities have doubled, including tractor beams and drone launchers. As with any major release, there are also many, many bug fixes, corrections, and adjustments, thanks to the feedback of our awesome fans. ------- changes for V1.702 ------- fixed problem where changing ship name on client would make the server crash changed the DMX code to stop the lights at the conclusion of a mission changed the engine sound to stop at the conclusion of a mission underscores (_) were breaking the new expression evaluator in the scripting changed the scripting if_client_key functionality to work better ------- changes for V1.70 ------- fix problem with comms text color changing over time. Now engineering has another key (RETURN/ENTER) that resets all the coolant values to zero. Also, pressing the key that resets all sliders to 100% (SPACE) and then pressing it a second time will do the same thing (reset coolant values). F9 and F10 will now cycle through all the consoles active on your client. On Helm, press RETURN/ENTER to center the rudder of the ship. Press ESC to toggle reverse on and off. Yes, Helm now has reverse. On Science, press Y to select the closest object to your ship. Press U and I to cycle through all the scannable objects on your screen. Scan selected objects by pressing RETURN/ENTER. On Science, you can now use the mousewheel to zoom. On Engineering, there's a dark red bar around the "selected" system of the eight systems you can adjust. Move the selection using the A and D keys. For the selected system, change the power slider using the W and S keys. Adjust the coolant for that system using the E and C keys. You can toggle shields with the Q key, but now you can also use the K key to raise shields, and the L key to lower them. On Weapons, Auto Beams can be toggled with the B key. All references to USFP have been changed to TSN. Scriptors now have more power over the text of a unit that science sees. They can adjust text fields for race, class, small desc, and science desc. Small desc appears in the info dialog of the science console. So does science desc text, but only after a unit has been scanned twice. You can now type in values for the jump drive. Engineering damcon systems have been adjusted, so they (hopefully) don't fall out of sync with the server. An expression evaluator has been added to the scripting system. Now, everywhere you might use a literal number (like 1, or 3858, or 34.56), now you can use an equation (like 5+3, 45.6 * 65/ 2, etc.) You can even use variable names in the equations, (like myVal, 5 * speed - 2.44, etc). The Comms console now uses the number keys was well as mouse clicks to navigate the menus. The scripting system has new commands that let you ask certain clients for keyboard input. Those clients will now send keyboard press messages to the server, which can be used by the script (using the "if_client_key" conditional) to trigger events. Collisions have changed, from a soft bounce to a hard bounce. This changes how space objects bump against each other, in a subtle but significant way. Vector normalizing code was changed to trap a zero-normal condition Removed "invisible to sci" from Skaraan abilities Changed the way torpedo unloading is handled. "tube lock" should no longer exist. Enemy fighters often showed up with USFP textures and science details. This has been fixed. The ship option controls on the Helm and Main Screen consoles (when NOT playing) have been changed. there's no longer a "submit" button; changes are automatically submitted. The initial dialog box that lets you set a resolution has a new mode; full-screen windowed mode. This makes the screen a borderless window that covers the entire desktop. Changed sound code to tolerate a missing sound device (for rackmount servers). Show/hide arcs in weapons now also has the option to show player arcs only. Made drones fall into black holes. fixed problem with comms text color over time. DAMCON Team Replenish message always poped up when docking, even if no teams took casualties. Fixed. The warp slider has been recalibrated, so you have to drag it all the way up to reach warp 4. Clients and servers both now have a toggle button called "3d Chase Camera" that lets you choose a chase cam OR an "out-the-window" view. On the client login screen, there's now a bit more information about the status of the login attempt. ------- changes for V1.661 ------- In 1.66, I added a feature that would punish ships that collected too much energy, thinking this would be an interesting added challenge. It seems to be much more of a headache, so I've just made it more forgiving, AND added adjustable values to Artemis.ini . ------- changes for V1.66 ------- Major changes have happened to support both custom input and custom output. --(custom input) The keyboard and joystick mapping is now routed through a file called controls.ini . This file allows you to change which key or joystick button triggers which UI event. Because all of the game controls are based on the client, changing this file on the server computer won't do much good. --(custom output) The Artemis program now interfaces with the ENTTEC Open DMX USB Interface; http://www.enttec.com/index.php?main_menu=Products&pn=70303&show=description This small box costs $65us, and interfaces between your USB computer port and one or more DMX devices. http://www.interactive-online.com/what-is-dmx http://www.guitarcenter.com/Color-Changers---Wash-Lights-Lighting---Stage-Effects.gc The file in the DAT/ directory called DMXCommands.xml describes events that can happen in the game, and what DMX values should be sent in response. -- When a friendly ship or station dies, the nearest other friendlys confirm the death in a comms message Observer cam got wierdly shaky; fixed Several game sounds were volume or pitch adjusted If the ship overcharges with too much energy, all engineering systems now start to heat up! added scripting control of how much coolant you have Stations no longer fall into black holes All players now get an explicit PVP death message to the pop-up window helm and client main screens can change ship name, hull type, and movement type. beams don't all shoot at once warp engines have some inertia now Comms labels are now more clear. ------- changes for V1.65 ------- ++ Major changes ++ The 3D graphics have been upgraded, with glow and specular maps, and upgraded particle effects. Torgoths have been changed radically, with all new ship art. They are now a race of super-capitol ships, much larger and tougher than any you've seen before. They have lots of beams, but they ALSO fire drones, which are large, long-range, slow-moving torpedos. The player can target and destroy these drones before they can impact. Arvonians (previously known as "Argonians") have been changed radically, with all new ship art, into a race of fighters and carriers. Because of the massive changes to the behavior of Torgoths and Arvonians, they have become "support races". This means that (for Invasion Mode) they no longer have their own fleets, but accompany Kralien fleets. Skaraans are still the same loner sneaky scumbags they were. Pods of space whales have been added to the game. Harmless and beautiful, but fragile and easily killed. Some enemy races react differently to space whales, and these reactions could be used against them... The player now has a self-destruct sequence. (helm/weapons) lower shields (helm) stop dead (engineer) reduce all systems power to zero. (engineer) increase power to warp, to cause an overload. On overload, your ship flares up like an exploding sun! ++ Minor changes ++ In Invasion Mode, the more difficult fleets now start further towards the edge of the map mission scripts can now use the "if_difficulty" conditional to find out hwat the players set the diff level to. Engine particles have changed The way a ship turns when docked has changed Fixed problem where fleets were chasing their surrendered members minor size changes to soem UI elements, to make touchscreens easier added "currentRealSpeed" to player, and made it visble to scripting stations now should complain about nuke damage skybox is now synced to clients properly player torps (when unlocked) will now home on other players, all stations, and space whales Player energy cost increases with difficulty. The formula has changed; the cost for high diff levels is reduced enemies try to avoid black holes now The Aux Power Unit's recharge rate has doubled Plus many bug fixes and other adjustments! ------- changes for V1.61 ------- Game Master is a new client console. It's like the science console, but with everything fully scanned, and several extra features. It's designed to be used BY a game master, a game puppeteer, just like a D&D dungeon master, or the operator of a military sim. To use the GM console, your server MUST be running a mission. Not just any mission, but a mission designed for the GM console. By convention, these mission files should start with the word "Module", to separate them from "normal" missions that do not need a GM operator. Why? During play, the GM operator presses keys on the GM console. These key presses are sent to the server, and used by the script to trigger script events. The GM operator can also select objects by left-clicking them, and select points in space by right-clicking on the spot. Both selected objects and selected locations can be used by the script for various events. Finally, the GM console has two text entry lines, and several buttons used to send the entered text to various stations of the players' ship. Because of the basic structure of this GM console system, the complexity and power of the GM system comes from the mission script you use. But the execution of events in the script are triggered by simple key presses. So, by convention, every GM script (starting with "Module") should come with a simple text file called "module-doc.txt", which details which keys do what. Other changes include; Captain's Map is a new client console. It's really just the science console without the scan ability. It's inspired by various shows that have, well, a Captain's Map station. much bug fixing has occured, hopefully resulting in a more stable game experience. Enemy ships now have a percentage change of surrendering, and that value is controllable in scripts (surrenderChance). Asteroids NOW HURT YOU when the ship runs into them! Player ships are now limited to warp 1 when inside a nebula. Changes have been made to the client so (hopefully) you don't have to keep clicking "ready to play" to get back into the game. ------- changes for V1.60 ------- Science station has lost its sweep arm, and has become a more detailed LRS, with dragging, zooming, and the ability to scan ships to find out more about them. Now you can choose from 5 different player ships; Scout, Cruiser (the regular ship), Battleship, Missile Cruiser, and Dreadnought. These ships have different beam and tube configurations, and different shields and maneuverability. AI for enemies and neutrals has been changed to make scripting more powerful. Now these objects have a stack of "AI blocks" that can be mixed, matched, and adjusted. On the client, the new console choice screen lets you have more concurrent consoles and choices. Now you can have an unlimited amount of any console, except helm and weapons. The new ECM torpedo fires and explodes like a nuke. But instead of physical damage, a ship hit by an ECM blast will lose half of its maximum shield strength, AND its shield frequencies will be severely damaged, making beams much more effective against them. Sloops (Sl) are now Transports (Tr). The vesselData.XML file and scripting have been changed to give modders more flexibility. While hull entries still have a unique numeric ID, races have been broken out into their own objects, and both races and hulls have "keys". This allows scriptors to make an enemy that is "enemy elite" and "large", instead of #36. Jump drive gives the players an alternative to warping. This alternate mode of travel is more like the Battlestar Galactica point jump, and changes the game significantly. Space monsters now hit harder. In Invasion mode, monsters and black holes start the game a bit closer in, making them more of a navigational hazard. ------- changes for V1.55 ------- Major changes to the look and feel of the Comms console. Big changes to the engineering console, to make it generally work better and more smoothly. scripts can now test and set the number of damcon team members mission level 11 For clients, the IP/URL of the server can now be set in the INI file. Neutral ships weren't affected by mines. Now they are. A script variable can change that. Mine art was changed. Mini-missions has bugs which kept them from paying off. Fixed. Plenty of new mission script functionality. Please check the mission-file-docs.txt file. ------- changes for V1.52 ------- Torps are changed. - mines are unchanged. - now there's no difference between nukes and homing except the warhead. - get a lock, torp fires and hits target from any angle (just like the old homing torp). - no lock, torp shoots out the front, and is attracted by enemies, bases, and other players. several changes to make the 3D engineering system work better and more smoothly. Completely changed how nebulas, mines, and asteroids are trasmitted from server to client. Reduced packet size, and space them out to avoid bottlenecks (like when a mission starts). Added a clickable close icon to the bottom-right info popup. Fixed problem with neutral ships WANTING to attack enemies, but bound to the travel direction you gave them. Also, Comms can now ask neutrals to defend/join players, including yourself. Several other bugs squashed. ------- changes for V1.51 ------- added code to prevent wierd graphical effects and possible crashing fixed mysterious server lockup Added INI setting to turn off joystick support add INI indirection for all SFX add vesselData.xml tag for the ship internal data file fixed problem with players getting stuck in the event horizon of a black hole added random numbers to variables in scripting added new command to change systems damage in scripting ------- changes for V1.50 ------- Black holes drag everything around them towards fiery doom. Plenty of bug fixes and enhancements to the scripting system. CHeck the mission-file-docs.txt file for the current formats and commands. Comms can now taunt enemies. 3 new missons: trials of deneb. Always exactly the same. Designed as technical challenges for experienced crews. Engineering has changed. Now you see a 3D internal view of the ship, with dots representing ship systems. Diamonds represent the 3 DamCon teams. You can hover to see data on the systems and teams. You can click a team to select it. You can click a point to direct the selected team to the point. You can left-click and drag to spin the ship display. If you leave the teams alone, they will automatically move to repair damaged parts (red dots). If a ship point gets damaged by enemy fire or overload, and a team is near, the team will loose a member and become less effective. Replenish members by docking. Engineering also has a new way to allocate power. For each of the eight systems, you have a drag bar that lets you adjust power from 0-300%. Overpowered systems will build up heat and eventually overload, causing internal ship system damage. Each system has 8 dots which direct coolant. Coolant is a limited resource shared between all systems. press SPACE to reset all systems to 100% power. Hotkeys (1-9) work as they did before. Hull damage, front and rear, has been removed for all ships. For players, you die when all internal points are damaged. Enemy and neutral damage now calculated differently; 70 points of internal damage to explode The weapons station now has a choice between auto-fire of beams and manual fire. When in manual fire, locking a target brings up a gun-cam (looks like binoculars). WHEN a ship in guncam is in range and arc and the weapon has cycled, clicking on the ship fires the beams. The guncam shows special points on the enemy hull that can be hit. If you click right on those spots, they can result in internal system damage to that enemy, even through shields. Click off the gun camera to turn it off (and loose lock). enemies now surrender a bit sooner skaraan shields are now tougher On helm, SPACE stops warping. Press SPACE again to bring the ship to full stop. Scriptors MAY now set the diff level of a mission, overriding the diff setting of the user. Players may once again re-name their ships. In scripts, the end_mission command didn't really; it does now. Comms can now tell neutral ships to go protect another neutral or base. Neutral destroyers are now faster and more aggressive. Enemy and player beams are now more distinctive. fog of war (limited sensors) radius has been shrunk. torp-to-energy and enrgy-to-torp buttons have been moved to the weapons console and shrunk. ------- changes for V1.46 ------- 6 brand new space backgrounds have been added. Mission scripts can choose which one to use. Science has been given a small facelift; color-coded text mostly. Warning message popups have been added. These can be controlled by scripts. Asking to build a nuke doesn't reset the timer any more. Station status (for the comms command) now shows how much time is left on the torpedo build. player beam damaged increased to 12 (from 7). Many changes and bug fixes to scripting in general. seperate volume control for mission voice audio. exact bearing on helm station. And lots of small bug fixes. ------- changes for V1.41 ------- fixed some bug with the new mission script system. SPACE MONSTERS!!!!! ------- changes for V1.4 ------- increased 3D view distance. New mission scripting system, so you can make your own complex missions and share with everyone. Neutral ships now cross the sector. Your comms officer can order them around. Enemy elites now threaten you with tough ships and special abilities. All new music! The Artemis's shields have been strengthened quite a bit. Enemy fleets have been changed to be more reactive and aggressive, and to (sometimes) spread out more. Difficulty level effects have changed. No enemy fleet will have more than 5-6 ships. At higher diff levels, there will be more fleets. Enemy beams now do no more than 5 damage. Two more settings for sensor strength have been added, for those who REALLY like fog of war. Plus other incidental fixes and changes. ------- changes for V1.3 ------- All new ship art. All new UI art. User interface greatly modified. Ships are now defined in a file called "vesselData.xml". It can be edited. Many settings are now defined in a user-editable file called "artemis.ini". Nuke torpedos are now rarer and take longer to manufacture. Player beams have been strengthened. Player shields now recharge 50% faster. Helm and Weapons can click on the tactical display, but now the click (to turn the ship or lock an enemy) is restricted to the rosetta ring. Taking the upgrade files from the website, and copying them over the free demo, used to work, sort of. That's been fixed. Asteroid fields are now in the game. They block movement and all weapon fire. The client setup screen allows people to choose which and how many stations their computer displays. This screen will let one computer choose to play several stations at once, but Main Screen and Observer are mutually exclusive to every other setting. If you choose to make your client be a main screen, that ship will appear in game. This system is a negotiation; two or more clients can no longer be the same bridge station. In addition to letting you choose the different bridge stations assigned to your client, every client can also look at a long range scan, and a front view of the ship. Implemented sensor ranges/fog of war. Enemy ships have more interesting weapons and weapon arcs. Different weapon arcs are now color-coded. NEbulas have been added to the helm tactical view. Game and installer icons changed. The "get-too-many-torps-at-a-station" exploit has been fixed. In a multi-ship game, all ships can now easily re-spawn. If your ship is hit by an enemy, there's now a "shaky" screen indicator, in two types, and you can turn it off. Torpedos now have a maximum range. ------- changes for V1.2 ------- The enemies are smarter. They'll always form 5 fleets, and advance towards their first station target in a crooked path that avoids minefields and likes nebulas. They'll stay together, and let stragglers catch back up. They convey more information about what they are doing in radio signals which the comms station can pick up. The server setup screen has been streamlined. The difficulty level now sets the enemy beam damage, but also the number of enemies in each fleet. Every bridge station except Helm has been significantly changed. Beams and shields now have a "Frequency Channel". The weapons officer can change the beam channel, from A to E. The science officer can see the frequency distribution of the enemy's shield generator, as a set of 5 bars. The lowest bar is the weakest frequency, so the weapons officer should set his beams to that frequency for maximum effect. Torpedos are completely changed. They are much slower and have no max range. They now come in 3 different types. Type 1 Homing torpedos need a target lock, but then will always hit the target with great force. Type 4 LR Nuke torpedos launch straight out from the ship, travel straight until they detect a close enemy, home in, and explode, damaging ships in a large area. Type 6 Mine torpedos simply fly behind you and become static space mines. The artemis can carry a maximum of 8 Type 1 Homing, 2 Type 4 LR Nuke, and 6 Type 6 Mine. The Artemis has 2 torpedo tubes, which must be loaded before being fired. The Type 1s need an enemy target lock to fire. The others do not. Bases have stores of the torpedos, and when you dock, they will re-stock you with as much as they have (up to your max limit). But you can use all that they have, and they won't be able to give you more. The comms station can now query each base to find out what they have. Bases make new torpedos, though it takes 2-5 minutes depending on which type they make. Comms can request that they make only a certain type. The engineering station has lots of new features suggested by the community. The purple buttons now include 'double arrow' buttons that can maximize or minimize the power settings. Also, if you click on the individual power circles, you can adjust the power that way. Finally, the number keys on the keyboard can be used to save and restore entire sets of power settings. To store the current energy settings, hold SHIFT and press a number key. To retrieve that setting, just press the number key. Two buttons also allow you to trade Mark 1 torpedos for energy, and vice versa. The science station's contact list has changed. You can now see each contact's distance and direction. If it's an enemy, you can see how many points are left in its front and rear shields, and if it has internal hull damage. To the left, you can also see it's shield signal profile. These 5 bars show you which channel of the shield is weakest (lowest). Tell that to the weapons officer so she can correctly tune her beams. The comms station no longer has a sensor sweep. Instead, all messages sent anywhere in the sector are omni-directional. There are no more meaningless messages about "missing the Artemis already". The enemy fleets are smarter, and have more interesting things for you to overhear. The new 'Transmit' button in the upper-left is your voice to the game. Click it, choose a type, choose a specific game object, and choose a statement. The message you assembled will be sent, and you may recieve a reply. You can tell enemies to surrender. You can tell stations to 1) give you a status report, 2) prepare for docking, or 3) focus torpedo production. Once you ask for docking prep, the station will be more efficient for the next 60 seconds. You can also send a variety of different messages to other player ships (if they exist in your sector). FIXED: IF joystick is attached, the warp hotkeys and sliders no longer work. when you use the slider, you have to hold it in place, otherwise you drop out of warp the instant you "let go" with the mouse. found and fixed bug causing station shields to be very weak fixed the ability to run up huge energy totals by performing the conversion trick right next to a starbase and docking multiple times added missiles to science scanner change torpedo systems power to effect reload speed, not torp damage server sounds are now audible when the server window is not the active one the game can now be drug between multiple monitors, IF you do it immideately, before the actual game starts. ------- changes for V1.12 ------- Artemis now has an APU, which regenerates energy at a very slow rate. The engineer can shut off all systems to allow the APU to regenerate energy in an emergency. Fixed mouse being visible on main screen Giant bug caused low frame rate with many enemies on the map; fixed Player starts facing up, not down Enemy shields are now visible (iconically) on the tactical and bridge station screens Beams were changed cosmetically Enemies survived/killed calculation was fixed The starting screens now remember the last info typed in You can now type in a longer prefix code The joystick buttons were simplified. hold button 1 for warp 1. Hold button 2 for warp 3. Fixed: Main Screen clients crash when pressing End Game button on score board, tries to go to server configure screen Fixed: Main screen indicators not all synced? Fixed: player dot on main screen radar shouldn't be red Fixed: Can't hear shields up/down sounds? ship weapon arcs (drawn on hte brdgie consoles) are now much more accurately drawn A toggle button lets you turn on/off weapon arcs ------- changes for V1.1 ------- Players can choose the name and Prefix Code of their ship players can target and shoot each other game doesn't end until all players OR all enemies are dead When more than one player ship is created, each begins parked next to a different starbase spaced out some of the starbases so one of them is often in peril sooner than the others results screen is now more bland, and doesn't show any "score", but is repeated on every main screen On the science console: clicking on contacts on the right-side list makes it the selected target for the scanner now shows hover text on meter bars anomalies now show up as intermittent blips if they are in the scan field nebulas now visible added the bearing to the info displayed about the ship in the side panel Added slave(client) main screens, so each bridge can have it's own main screen buttons on all stations (but engineering) now allow 4 levels of zoom, plus a toggle between absolute and relative modes No in helm, you cna click on the screen and have the ship auto-turn to that point steering UI was moved to left side of helm screen LRS and tactical now show grid "sectors" warp hotkeys were added to the helm (keys 1-4). Pressing them again stops warp, as does SPACE observer client is now working changed the hull damage indicator to the correct ship outline fixed it so clicking just off a button doesn't unlock the target in the weapon screen main screen controls now on comms station too cosmetic red alert system, with a button on comms server adjustment for network update tick speed gave engineering an energy-to-torpedo button, too added help text to mainOption screens added F1 toggle help overlay for each bridge station skybox texture fixed network code completely re-done for efficiency Fixed bug where, if in warp when game ends, new game starts in warp! Removed server test keys for release build