New Stars Status

Started in on the bugs from last update...

• Fixed names with spaces (caused planet names in the test bed to shift... which required an update to the orders.tcl)
• Added display of max infrastructure (which is stored in the turn file). This caused me to realize that turn 0 does not have a max infra calculation. I also realized we did not factor in OBRM and JOAT...
• Added display of defenses (including max)
• I moved the "bottom right" frame (which shows planets, fleets, minefields, etc.) over to the left. This makes more room for the starmap. I also changed the display to 800x600, and shrunk the hab bars to make things fit better, and fixed the hab pluses to use a brighter color.
• Fixed message display when you have no messages.
  

New Stars Status

Bug report:

• Planet names file stopped at first space (no multi-word planet names)
• No max calc for planetary mines, factories, and defenses
  
• No mining rate calc
• Missing pop-ups on population, resources, scanner, defenses
• Missing gui cargo transfer (work-around: use waypoint 0 load/unload)
• Missing clear planetary queue button (work-around: manually clear, who ever uses this button?)
• Missing route button (not a big usage, it adds a move order on newly constructed ships, basically automation)
• Missing starbase display panel
• Missing mineral display in bottom right
• Missing message display
• Need menu commands for Research (dialog is done, use F5), Generate (done, F9), Planet/Fleet view (not done, F3), battle plans (not done, F6), Player relations (not done, F7)
• Battle engine improvements
• Report menu
• Scanner pane filters/options
• Starbase and fleet icons in bottom right
• Pop-ups in bottom right
• Should probably disable add to queue from empty/unowned planets... (server will reject the commands... I hope...)
  

New Stars Status

A few more minor improvements, but they're the sorts of things that are important for playability:

• Implemented slot compatibility checks (no engines in weapon slots!)
  
• Implemented slot moving (used to have to discard and re-add)
• Implemented cost and design feature labels in ship designer
• Fixed a crash when the production window is not open, and a new design is created (tried to update the production list with the new design...)
• Improved zoom-in/zoom-out behavior (less shifting of the center point)
  

Here we can see the path highlighting I added last time. It also shows a ship with no engine being rejected. I also made the ship designer window a default size, which should reduce window resizing jitter. You can also see the cost/feature labels below the ship layout.

Stuff I've read lately

"The Faded Sun: Shon'Jir" (C.J. Cherryh) - This is the second book in the Faded Sun universe. I hadn't realized there was a trilogy here. In the first book, "the People" (mri) were reduced from millions to two (and brother and sister at that). The second book focuses on a human sent with the last two mri on a journey to their homeworld. Not the best Cherryh, but pretty good.

New Stars Status

Ok, sorry, been a long while... things are pretty close now, and it is sometimes hard to be motivated to finish :)



I've fixed the clearing of private information from enemy scans. This was a lot more intrusive than I had imagined.

We have to clear the fleet and design names from enemy scans. So what do we put there? I'm leaving it blank (so players can't name their designs "War Pig Scout" and confuse people...). But then, I had to update the client to fill in "War Pig Scout" when it sees a scout with a blank name. Except, where does "War Pig" come from? Seems, we never added a place to store the names of known enemies (players start without knowing the names and ids of other player races).

So, then I had to update the PlayerData structure, and the toXML and parseXML, and the regression files...


In other news, I added a highlight to the path of the currently selected ship (not shown).

I also fixed the next turn generation in the client. Note, it just goes ahead and generates a multi-player turn when any one player hits generate...

Stuff I've read lately

"Old Man's War" (John Scalzi) - This is the first book in the series including "Ghost Brigades". I didn't mind reading them out of order, there is not much overlap. Scalzi has an interesting universe here, it will be interesting to see where he takes it.

Card Game Client

The client is now usable. Here we can see a game of Texas hold-em. The cards can be moved around, and the movement is reflected to the other clients. I also have added the code to pop up more information on more complicated card sets.

Stuff I've read lately

"Manifold: Space" (Stephen Baxter) - This is a continuation of the Manifold: Time "manifold universe". It is basically an alternate history (near future), where now there are many alien intelligences (thanks to our hero's efforts in the first book). Baxter attempts to deal with the Fermi paradox by claiming galactic catastrophes. I'm not familiar with the physics involved, but it wasn't real satisfying. I liked the first book better, but this one had some touching points, and some interesting tech.

Card Game Client

I've gotten the hello protocol working. Here you can see a jumble as three clients connect to each other on my machine.




The network topology is arbitrary. That is, any client can act as a server for new players to join. In my example, the client on the left started serving. Then the client on the right connected. The first stopped serving, then the second started. The third client connected to the second. You can see the third client sees welcome from both when it connects. The original two only see the new player when added.

I need to add the in-game messages. And I should probably handle clients quitting gracefully...

Card Game Client

I haven't forgotten NewStars! I'll have another update soon...

But I have also thrown together a card game client (modeled after Apprentice). My client allows any card set, and will support any number of connected players (eventually). I have shuffling, drawing, and playing cards (including moving cards around) done.

Here is an odd nine card hand (and I forgot to shuffle until after drawing about six cards):



The main thing I need to add is the network messages for starting the game, and reflecting playing and re-arranging cards (I have the network connectivity [listen and call], as well as the code to reflect messages to everyone).

Stuff I've read lately

"Manifold: Time" (Stephen Baxter) - I was very curious where Baxter was going with this book. He starts with solid premises: the promise of off earth expansion and the inevitability of entropy (heat death of the universe). This theme peaks about halfway through (~page 206), as the main characters watch a video stream from the end of time.

Turns out, Baxter is bootstrapping himself an alternate history series (not that there is anything wrong with that). I have started the second book (Manifold: Space). We'll see how it goes...

Stuff I've read lately

"Invader" (C. J. Cherry) - Second book in the "Foreigner" series. It picks up right where the last left off. Cherryh is always rough on her poor characters. But Cameron (the guy in this one) spends a lot of time struggling with a powerful sense of loneliness. Kind of unusual for Cherryh, but very well done.

"The Ghost Brigades" (John Scalzi) - Apparently this book is a sort of sequel to "Old Man's War". At least, it is set in the same universe. I will have to read that one, because it is a pretty interesting universe. Scalzi does a good job with building deep characters.

Stuff I've read lately

"The Android's Dream" (John Scalzi) - This is the first Scalzi book I've read. I find his humor to be unique, and I like it a lot. I found myself laughing out loud frequently (first book to do that to me was the Hitchhiker's Guide).

Stuff I've read lately

"The Far Side of the Stars" (David Drake) - This is the third novel in the Lt. Leary series. It is classic Drake, classic Lt. Leary. I was surprised to see an all-knowing tree, though. Don't normally see something so mystical from Drake. Of course, Leary uses it to find a bauble for his current employer, and protect his country from a sneak attack :).

Stuff I've read lately

"Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days" (Alastair Reynolds) - This is two novellas bound together, set in the "Chasm City" universe. I found the first to be way too much "Cube" (although Reynolds is at least gracious enough to give Cube a nod). The second story, about an ocean of biological computers storing personalities, was much better. Although Reynolds tries to tie it back to the first in one line, which seemed a stretch.

"Foreigner" (C. J. Cherryh) - Classic Cherryh. Although the main character doesn't start his stress time until about one hundred pages from the end (of 373). The subtitle is "a novel of first contact", which I find an overexploited topic. Actually, it is a "novel about how first contact can seem to go well at first, then later it turns out the parties were talking past one another, leading to lots of misunderstanding and tragedy." Of course, that is too long for the subtitle :)

"Why the Ten Commandments Matter" (D. James Kennedy) - Reviewed on my faith blog.

"The Selfish Gene" (Richard Dawkins) - Reviewed on my faith blog.

Stuff I've read lately

"Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls" (Hershel Shanks ed.) - Reviewed on my faith blog.

"In the Shadow of the Ark" (Anne Provoost) - Ditto.

Stuff I've read lately

"The Sharp End" (David Drake) - Drake delivers once again. You can always count on him for quality military SF. This story covers the less told story of a squad of Slammers sent to investigate new "business opportunities".

"The Bondage of the Will" (Martin Luther) - Reviewed on my faith blog.

New Stars Status

I fixed a bug due to clicking near a projected ship path. Also, I've added the future paths (show below).



Next step is to fix the scan of enemy ships (mentioned previously), and add checking to the ship designer.

Stuff I've read lately

"Rainbows End" (Vernor Vinge) - Vinge hasn't written a lot of stuff. I've read his far future stuff (A fire upon the deepness in the sky), which is pretty good. This book is much nearer future. Wearable computing is nearly ubiquitous. And medical technology has gotten pretty good (the "heavenly minefield" as Vinge calls it). The book follows several viewpoints, but the key one is an Alzheimer's patient recently cured. He is trying to adapt to the new culture, and restore some of what he's lost (as well as finally maturing!).

New Stars Status

Lots of minor problems need fixing. So, I grabbed a bunch and fixed them:

1. Selecting a planet crashes the program, if the production window has been closed.
• Fixed the update calls to check for the window's existance
• Added the "change production" button to bring the window back
• Defaulted the window to not be shown


2. No enemy designs in the ship designer
   
• Added an interface from the nstclgui dll back to Tcl
• Updated the ship designer code to show it


3. GUI oddities when clicking near planet names and fleet flight paths
• Fixed the ordering of canvas objects so planets are on top

This is taken from the JOAT the turn after they detect the WM scout. I suspected the scan code was not clearing private info. Now I am sure...