Unable to Bombard or Attack Planet

[ghealy]

Running version 0.4.4+ (Build 20150406.87ba108) MSVC 2010 on a Windows 7 Pro 64 bit desktop.

Current game is single player (Human) with one AI opponent (George)

Am at turn 449. Am trying to attack the opponent's plant (Jon beta) Planet has shields = 167 with planetary defense value at 45

My fleet comprises 21 ships with combined fire power of 498 and shields 9.3

Nothing is happening. No bombardment, no combat. Bringing Troop ships doesn't give option to attack.

I don't see anything that prevent my ships from attacking.

Am I missing something?

TIA

- Gene

[Dilvish]

Do you have current visibility of the planet? If it is shown with scanlines then it is currently stealthed to you and the info you see is stale. If that doesn't resolve your question, then try posting a screenshot.

[MatGB]

Also, are the fleets definitely set to attack ("Control System", showing a fist on the right side of the fleet panel), if they're all set to Hide (blue stealth circle in the same place) they won't engage.

[ghealy]

Dilvish: Aha! Planet has a stealth value of 20 and yes the planet has scan lines on its icon. How does one overcome that? Suspect researching scanners/sensors?

MatGB: Thanks for pointing of that feature (agreesion selctioin). Had not noticed that in the fleet window.


Thnaks for the help.

Still can't find enough hours to play the game.

- Gene

[MatGB]

Stealth 20 is a bit low, but yes, you need to be researching the detection techs found in the Intelligence tab, each one increases your detection ability by 20. You can also research and build a Distortion Modulator, which reduces their stealth by 20, and even an Interstellar Lighthouse, but that will require an Outpost in their system to build it on.

[ghealy]

Thnaks, MatGB. Had finally figured out that one.

If I cna ask another question?

Why am I able to build exbot colony bases/ships at some Human inhabited planets but not on others?

- Gene

[MatGB]

Just noticed you're playing a fairly old test build, that's fine but when you finish this game strongly recommend upgrading to the most recent test build before starting a new one.

That build was in the middle of our transition to a completely new colonisation system, it should only be possible to build an Exobot colony at an outpost, not an inhabited world, so it should'nt be possible to build it at a 'human' world at all.

Before the change, you had to build a starter colony at an inhabited world and that would create a ship you then moved, the new system is much better. Consequently without a screenshot showing where you can, and can't, build what you want to build a full answer isn't possible.

[ghealy]

matGB:
Am playing the older version because the current version stops working just after opening the second window.

- Gene

[Dilvish]

Am playing the older version because the current version stops working just after opening the second window.

Eh? And you haven't posted about it (at least not that I can see from your post history)? C'mon, please this is beta, we need to be told about problems so we have a chance to fix them

Could you tell us more about just what version you had tried, and give us some more details about "stops working just after opening the second window"

Thanks

[MatGB]

matGB:
Am playing the older version because the current version stops working just after opening the second window.

- Gene

Were you trying to use an old savegame?

Games are incompatible after a few changes, that's why I said upgrade after you've finished this game, it'll be the first I've heard that the new versions aren't working at all on Windows, they certainly were for me up until a few weeks ago when I got my new Linux machine.

[ghealy]

I initially downloaded version FreeOrion-v0.4.4-7641-Win32-Setup back in April of this year. It simply would not run. Same as recently. It would open small window (Possible a DOS window?), then a larger window. Hung for a second or two and then I would get a pop-up Windows window stating that Free Orion has stopped working.

The same happened after I installed that version this time, after having completed the game I was playing on the older version.

I am running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit with SP1 installed. According to Windows Update, I do not any updates to install.
My Motherboard is an Intel DP35Dp running a 2.50 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad Q9300 CPU
I run 8 GB RAM
My Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT. Again with latest updates installed.
My primary HD has 54 GB free space. My Pagefile is on a second drive having 255GB free space.

When I could not run version v0.4.4-7641-Win32 back in April. I search the forums here to see if others had that same issue. I was then I came across a post advising another user to try the older version -- Build 20150406.87ba108 MSVC 2010. It worked for me as it did for the original poster. as I was enjoying the game and learning some of its intricacies, I figured - If it ain't broke, . . .

Is there some sort of log that might be created during the installation and initial start of the game that I can get and post here that might give some sort of indication what the issue might be, I'm more than happy to do so.

Am open to any and all suggestions?

- Gene

[Dilvish]

FreeOrion-v0.4.4-7641-Win32-Setup

That is not a new version, it is a rather old version, nearly a year old (we are a bit embarrassed we have not get formally released a new 'officially-stable' version, but that is about to happen).

I was then I came across a post advising another user to try the older version -- Build 20150406.87ba108 MSVC 2010.

That is a version from mid April of this year. Chances are that if it works for you then all the more recent versions do as well. Whatever issue you saw someone posting almost surely had nothing to do with whatever trouble you ran into with rev 7641.

[MatGB]

0.4.4 7641 is last years stable release, the version you've got up and running is a far more recent test version (release April this year instead of August last year, the newer ones have the date in the release).

So if you've had a problem running the old version it might be linked to a known issue with graphics cards and drivers that we hope was fixed. The version you're playing is a much better version than 7641, stick with that until you've completed this game, then please do try the most recent Test version and report any issues with that, there's very little point in trying to bughunt last years stable as we're nearly finished getting this years ready.

But, if you have a problem with recent test releases then we have a problem we need to solve. Can't answer the logging/first run problem, although log files are created in your Users folder (I think under Roaming/Freeorion, you'll probably need to tell Windows to show hidden files and folders to get to it)

[ghealy]

I'm confused. I go to the Forum index.

I check under Announcements

Right at the top is a topic "FreeOrion v0.4.4 Released"

I open that post and see download link 'Get FreeOrion here, for OSX and Windows.'

I download it and am given version '0.4.4 7641'

If this is not the version I should be using, where do I find a link to the version I should be using?

I do admit that I may not be the brightest bulb in the pack, but I do try.

- Gene

[Dilvish]

I'm confused. I go to the Forum index.
I check under Announcements
Right at the top is a topic "FreeOrion v0.4.4 Released"

Perhaps you missed my slightly-delayed-edit:

(we are a bit embarrassed we have not get formally released a new 'officially-stable' version, but that is about to happen).

Anyone coming to our forums is encouraged to use the most recent builds; the periodic "officially-stable" releases are distributed far more broadly than just what we do directly and get extra scrutiny before release so that we are confident that folks out in the wilds of the internet will be extra-unlikely to run into trouble with them.