FreeOrion 0.3 Released!

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Geoff the Medio
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Posts: 13587
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 1:33 am
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Re: FreeOrion 0.3 Released!

#22 Post by Geoff the Medio »

FreeOrion v0.3.16 has been released for Windows and Intel Macs.

Note that if you're installing on a system that has previously run an older version, you may need to delete your config.xml or may get errors about missing font files. On Macs, you may also need to delete some files for the new version to run.

Changes since the last release include:
  • Replaced the fullscreen turn progress window that covered the map with progress indicator text in the message window. The map now stays visible between turns, but with order-issuing UI disabled until the next turn starts being playable.
  • Chat messages are now enetered in the same message window with a more obvious interface for entering text and displaying old messages.
  • Added an empire / player list window above the chat / message window. When any empire or player is selected, chat messages are sent only to that player.
  • The server now sends updates several times between turns, including fleet movements before combats, and a full update (as before) at the start of the next turn.
  • Added an encyclopedia to the in-game interface, showing information about game content like ship parts, techs, species, etc.
  • Added the option to have observer players in multiplayer games. These players can see the whole universe, but don't have an empire to control and can't control when turns are ended.
  • Added the option to have AI players in multiplayer games.
  • With the observer option and AI players in the multiplayer lobby, it is now possible to create an AI-only game with only a human observer. This works like an AI test arena, with the AIs playing against eachother and no human player.
  • Added a "Drop" option in the multiplayer lobby, to allow removing human or AI players from games.
  • Added "Deep Space" to possible types of systems in universe. These systems have no star, but may still have a planet.
  • Made map screen zoom centre on the cursor instead of the centre of the screen.
  • Improved rendering support for graphics cards that don't support rendering buffers and shaders.
  • Made system sidepanel resizable and draggable.
  • Made the UI generally respond better to FreeOrion window resizing. The intro screen generally looks good, but production and research don't resize properly, yet.
  • Content updates, including new species.
  • Tweaked fleet window layout to remove the new fleet drop panel when the window is very small.
  • Added optional autogenerated effects descriptions to various tooltips and content descriptions. These must be enabled in the options to be seen, since many people complained that the autogenerated text was hard to read.
  • Translated stringtable updates.
  • Updated AI scripts.
  • Reworked autoresolved combat.
  • Added an "Apply" button on the resolution screen. This seems to work on Windows, but may not on other operating systems.
  • Changed the tech tree layout code to a custom implementation. There may be some quirks with this new system.
  • Tweaked layout and rendering of meter bars.
  • Fixed issues with food distribution to planets.
  • Made rollover link text colour modifiable in options.
  • Made SidePanel retain scroll position of planets list between opening and closing the panel or changing system, and when pressing the turn button.
  • Fixed issue with SidePanel where scrolling up planet panels would cause the system droplist and forward/backward buttons to become unusable.
  • Fixed sidepanel scrolling problem when expanding and collapsing planet panels.
  • Tweaked how colonization works, so that ships ordered to colonize, and their fleets, don't disappear until the turn is ended. Ships ordered to colonize are marked with an indicator. As well, colonization now can't occur if there are enemy armed ships in the same system.
  • Various bug fixes and new features within the game content and AI scripting systems.
  • Made the client respond more promptly to server disconnections, so that players don't attempt to finish their turn before being made aware of the disconnection.

User avatar
Geoff the Medio
Programming, Design, Admin
Posts: 13587
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 1:33 am
Location: Munich

Re: FreeOrion 0.3 Released!

#23 Post by Geoff the Medio »

FreeOrion v0.3.17 has been released for Windows and Intel Macs.

Changes since the last release include:

New Features / Improvements:
  • Added space monsters
  • Added neutral natives on planets
  • Added frequecy of monsters and natives can be adjusted during galaxy setup.
  • Ground troop ship parts that allow a ship to invade neutral or enemy planets. Planets can be invaded only if their shield meters are zero. The original and new owners get sitreps after invasions succeed.
  • Very basic ground combat system for capturing planets - ship combat can no longer capture planets.
  • Reduced turn processing time, particularly for large galaxies.
  • New versions will ignore old config.xml files, preventing some crashes after updating.
  • Added more lists of content, and more details about content, in the encyclopedia.
  • Reduced file save size by using binary format (instead of semi-readable text).
Balancing:
  • Generally a lot of little tweaks to make the beginning of the game more playable.
  • Decreased cost of colony pods by 20%.
  • Unexplored systems block resource sharing between planets, preventing players from knowing about a hostile presense in a system before exploring it.
  • Ships no longer have functional detection when moving on starlanes. Ships must be in a system to detect objects.
  • Planets can be seen, although without details, by any object in their system, regardless of detection and stealth. Detection strength above planet stealth gives details about the planet.
  • Planets do not increase their shield, troops, or defense meters on a turn they are attacked.
  • Fleets must end a turn's movement if they arrive at a system that contains hostile fleets and no friendly fleets.
  • Increased base detection of all hulls to at least 5.
  • Colonies target construction is increased to 20 so once the meter fills, they create 1 jump supply lines.

Content:
  • Added a lot of minor "native" species, a few of which have extended descriptions.
  • Experimental addition of various space monsters
  • Added domesticateable space monster nests.
  • Added Small & Medium basic hulls (smaller and cheaper than standard)
  • Improved, usually cheaper, pre-made ship designs
  • Added Computronium Moon & Damaged Computronium Moon specials.
  • Added automatic terraforming to Gaian planets
  • Added guard ships sometimes to Gaian, Ancient Ruins, & Computronium specials.
Graphics:
  • Added binary star variant star graphics.
  • Added new building graphics.
GUI:
  • Systems with no stars but with populated planets now show their system name on the map.
  • Systems with only non-player populated planets have a lighter name on map than non-populated systems.
  • New sitrep messages
  • Slightly improved resolution settings apply button functionality on OSX
  • Made default sidepanel with slightly larger so that the 6th meter icon in planet panels will not be partly hidden.
  • Made default message window and players list wider and less tall.
  • Invade button on planet panels works similarly to the Colonize button; a troop ship must be selected in the same system.

Bugs:
  • Fixed issue where empty fleets would remain when moving ships around
  • Fixed crash when using conditions to check the distance between two systems
  • Made sidepanel disable focus droplists when the planet is not owned by the client's player
  • Modified the Imperial Palace to only work on planets owned by the empire that produced it, preventing captured palaces from moving a player's capital.
  • Fixed bug with detection system where ships in a system could detect arbitrarily stealthy objects in the same system regardless of their detection strength.
  • Fixed issue where planets would not feed themselves, even if they produced adequate food, while being blockaded.
  • Fixed issue where ordering a single ships to colonize multiple planets in the same system could leave nonfunctional cancel buttons on planet panels.
  • Fixed bug where actual system name was being shown instead of "Deep Space" in the FleetWnd.

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