SC

SC v2.9 FAQ

This FAQ is for Stellar Crisis version 2.9. To play this version at CyberNex, you should read the regular (v2.8) FAQ then this FAQ.

This document is only meant to tell what changes have occurred between v2.8 and v2.9.

The most recent version of v2.9 FAQ is available at CyberNex or Titan.

What's New
Motivation
Features & Status
Current Bugs
Plans

What's New

  • 3/7/97 - Fixed bug that used the system number instead of the empire name when broadcast a takeover (of an empire that surrendered.)
  • 3/7/97 - Fixed that annoying bug in the game list. yeah!!!
  • 3/7/97 - Fixed the html code generated in the game list so that it can be viewed using lynx.
  • 2/21/97 - moved out of beta testing!!!!
  • 2/21/97 - efun (encode/decode) doesn't work on my system so i reverted the default back to the older? backup and restore and it seems to work fine.
  • 2/16/97 - Fixed it so that draw and surrender are available in bloods.
  • 2/16/97 - Fixed multiworld start so that the max pop are set correctly in the player systems.
  • 2/12/97 - Fixed 'pacifist bug' that prevented empires from fighting.
  • 2/12/97 - Using a new method to generate the mirror games I think it will eliminate the problem of a system showing up twice sometimes in multiworld games. I also changed the initial population in the multiworld games to be equal to ag instead of maxpop.
  • 2/12/97 - Naming of initial planets in multiworld games are changed. Now the homeworlds are X:n where X is the player's name and n is a number.
  • 2/21/97 - moved out of beta testing!!!!
  • 2/21/97 - efun (encode/decode) doesn't work on my system so i reverted the default back to the older? backup and restore and it seems to work fine.
  • 2/16/97 - Fixed it so that draw and surrender are available in bloods.
  • 2/16/97 - Fixed multiworld start so that the max pop are set correctly in the player systems.
  • 2/12/97 - Fixed 'pacifist bug' that prevented empires from fighting.
  • 2/12/97 - Using a new method to generate the mirror games I think it will eliminate the problem of a system showing up twice sometimes in multiworld games. I also changed the initial population in the multiworld games to be equal to ag instead of maxpop.
  • 2/12/97 - Naming of initial planets in multiworld games are changed. Now the homeworlds are X:n where X is the player's name and n is a number.

Motivation

Stellar Crisis is a great game that I have enjoyed for a long time. However, there are some short comings IMO.
Length
Games can be long, I would like to be able to take a short SC break, instead of the several to many hours that it takes to play a typical game.
End Turn
People not hitting end turn so that they can get a slight advantage.
Ship Value
Uneveness of the ships, some are essential, while others are practically useless.
Initial Layout
Initial layout can often be very unfair.
Varieties
Few winning strategies (i.e., there is pretty much a fixed optimal strategy for playing), I would like a little more variety, and possibly randomness as long as it is still fair.

Features & Status

Servers
The primary test server is at SC 2.9
Beta Status, no more
No one reported any bugs after many games, I didn't see any in my testing and I don't plan on adding any new features at this time. So, it is out of beta.
Fixes
This is a bit subjective but these are 'fixes' to the 2.8 code.
  1. The code actually uses the home_rsrc for setting up the homeworld.
  2. Other users can not tell what is being built during this turn.
  3. 'Invasion/multiple nuke' bug fixed.
  4. Players who are idle (more than 3 turns typically) and are nuked, are considered both nuked and ruined. Note that the converse is not true, if a player ruins it does not count as a nuke against them.
  5. Attempt to add comments to parts of the code that are changed.
Features
These are new aspects to the game.
  1. Mirror world code for 2 players working.
  2. Multiworld start for mirror games. Note: Multiworld games are meant to be fast paced deadly games. You receive an initial jump in resources by starting on multiple planets but if any of your initial planets are nuked, then you are nuked. This may seem extreme, but it is still fair since multiworld are currently only in mirror games.
  3. Listing of who is in a game on the Game List screen.
  4. Planets in the mirror games have the stats determined as in the regular games with the following exceptions.
    • Buffer systems (random 0 and MAX/2) + MAX/4
    • Homeworld in traditional is MAX (e.g. 100) and overwrites whatever value was there.
    • Homeworld(s) in multi are +MAX/4
  5. Player's use of html is disabled.
  6. Surrender and Tie options. In a draw none of the stats change. You can draw if you have allies also. If you surrender in a 2 person game, it is as if the other person nuked you. If you surrender in a more than 2 person game it is as if whoever colonizes your homeplanet (a random homeplanet in multi start) had nuked you.
  7. Time limit and overtime. After a certain amount of time the amount of time a turn is changes to the new value.
  8. (optional) upper limit on ag growth.
Installation Notes
Notes for people setting up servers
  • Mirror games only work for 2 person games. It doesn't hurt to use the Mirror layout for more than 2 person games, as it is ignored, but it can be misleading.
  • Multiworld starts are only supported for mirror games.
  • The overtime and time limit should not be left blank or at 0. If you don't want to use these features, then set both to be the same as the turn time.
  • The minimum agriculture is only used in multiworld games. It has no effect on other games.
  • Maximum ag ratio will limit the ag ratio of a game to that value. The series setup will not allow a value less than 1.0. Low values (1.0-2.0) tend to make colonization more of a long term investment and also limit people from pop-tricking. A high value (5-50) should have little effect on the game. Note that with a value of 1.0 the population will still grow by 1 each turn (given sufficient ag)
  • If the encode/decode worked on your systems and you have databases encoded that way then you probably want to uncomment them so you can use them. Both Rowan and I were unable to make use of them. I suspect it has something to do with how your server is setup, but noone on the list was able to provide any info on this. Of course it goes without saying that if you have a current database that you should copy the dump files while making the transition. If you have problems with this I'll try to help, but most likely it would be the roxen people who know the most about this problem.

Unsolved Bugs

  • The game list listing of players in games will show empires who joined a game that didn't fill up before the cutoff. No harmful effects are known, besides it being annoying.

Plans

This information has migrated to a new document
hart@cs.wustl.edu
Updated at SC Room March 26, 1997
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