Acebloke's site

Chrono Wars Update

Fri, 10 May 2013 23:14:17 +0000

Chrono Wars has had a very small update, although it may have some minor things I've added/changed since Feb 2012.

The update mainly concerns the manual placement of a castle if the box is ticked in the settings tab. This gives you 60 seconds from the start of the game to select a colour and find a spot to plonk your castle on by clicking on the map.

If you wasn't sure what Chrono Wars is, it is part of the benefits of the Wargames Complete Pack, found here:

http://www.byond.com/forum/Acebloke/WargamesCompletePack

It remains the only additional game for the moment but I have plans on releasing another one soon. You also get ALL the benefits in WG1 + 2 for subscribing to the Complete Pack.

Wargames round being hosted now

Fri, 10 May 2013 21:26:04 +0000

I'm hosting a new round of Wargames of the latest 2.0 build. Its many latest features have been rounded up elsewhere but I shall do it again quickly here:

1) Uranium has been re-introduced in a new way. Research Uranium to gain its base resource from metal mines, then use enrichment buildings to make usable material. You can switch between power plant uranium and nuke uranium from a new Nuclear Ministry, in a system not unlike the civic/war factory one.

2) Yes, this means both power plants and nukes are back in, nukes are now made out of 'parts' but I have the most basic ones available so far. I'll diversify it with time.

3) You can now make extra money without other players having to buy it with the Passive trading. Tick which resources you want to trade in the 'world market' tab. Requires ports to build ships. This is part of a much larger system being developed for ships, which will eventually lead not only to ship combat, but using your trade ships as makeshift warships.

4) Each of the 5 currently available unit options has a unique tank which isn't the generic UK Mark or French Renault tanks, as well as a 5 step staged infantry unit all with their own graphics (minus the first 2 steps for US because, well, it didn't exist at the time, uses UK instead for those 2).

5) Some fixes and balancing, particularly to the year gain, although I expect its still a little too fast for longer games, this is one of the longer rounds I've hosted so I'll be balancing further after this round.

If this goes well, it might soon be the new download version, although I'll keep the old one up for download for those who are nostalgic.

Unit Tech Trees - Tanks

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 00:06:09 +0000

In the 2.0 version of Wargames, units are 'upgraded' in many cases instead of being completely separated. Each country has its own Tank Tech Tree, of which the current developed trees will be listed here:

Wargames 2.0 Public Beta starting up again

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:26:40 +0000

Some of you might have noticed a Wargames round is up again. Due to work commitments, I haven't had a lot of time to do any more since the last round I hosted of the '2.0' version. For those that don't know about 2.0:

1) It features better, larger icons and more suitable palette.
2) New battle system you can watch, more deterministic and unit icons that reflect the Unit-Region style.
3) Addition of Russian Units, as well as French for subs (more coming soon!).
4) No more eras, time period now more dynamic and progresses passively without research; but sped up with other research completed.
5) More modable interface.

This round features a few more additions, I've added a new flag system which acts more like a 'stencil' than a set design. There is now no limit on colours, and the stencil parts can be moved also without limits. This means you can have 3 stars in your map alongside other features such as stripes, triangles, etc instead of just 'one' design.

I've also included a second infantry unit which upgrades the first, all of these have separate designs for each region, so US, UK, Russia and France have different icons for same unit.

There are more replacements to old icons again, I'm slowly getting there.

I've also speeded up year gain depending on the length of a game, so shorter games should get people further up quicker.

Wargames 1 Prices slashed for 2013

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:22:48 +0000

From now and into 2013, Wargames 1 prices have been slashed. This is in preparation of the new version.

For now, you can enjoy full subscriber features in original WG1 now for only $3, and its not even an annual subscription fee! Just a one off, $3 fee will get you access to all features.

Bear in mind that this only includes some of the features in the new, 2.0 version making a public beta entrance on friday. For full features in that version and loads more features such as full features to WG2 and its Map and Scenario Editor and exclusive access to betas, you'll need to goto the Complete Pack found here:

http://www.byond.com/forum/Acebloke/WargamesCompletePack

Prices for Wargames 2 and Map & Scenario editor slashed!

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:19:12 +0000

Sorry for the lack of update still, I'm working on it though.

From now and into 2013, Wargames 2 and its Map & Scenario Editor has been drastically reduced. Before it was on an annual subscription, $4-5. I've now set it to a flat, one off fee of $3.

This is an excellent opportunity to support Wargames 2 and its future development. Alternatively you can get these and even more features by subscribing to the Complete Pack found here:

http://www.byond.com/forum/Acebloke/WargamesCompletePack

Recent changes to Wargames

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 23:39:11 +0000

Minor post on the last two updates to Wargames.

After the current round I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing a public beta for the new version.

Mark 4:

* Change: Special round changes to allow higher max map range and other features.
* New: Major improvement the religion report to include the pie charts normally left to just the alliances.
* New: Latter Day Saints religion (no units).

Mark 5:

* Fix: Now unable to avoid unpun at era increase by being logged out when it finishes.
* Change: Religion Report improved to list % of world and # of nations affiliated.
* Change: Major Change: alliances can now allow members to join without unpunning.
* Change: Starting resources gone up, Cash 100,000 (x10), Food 250 kt (+50), Wood 500 (+300).
* Change: Slight change in some building costs: Nuclear Plant 75,000 (-25,000), Fusion Plant 200,000 (-50,000).
* Change: Unit Bulk buy increased from 9,999 to 99,999.
* New: Land and Sea tiles now automatically take out million notes if required.

This set of updates is mostly to make the startup a bit easier and also fixes up some annoying habits that existed for quite awhile (such as land not taking million notes to pay and avoiding unpun at era up by being logged out).

Latest updates, round results, and about Beta access this Friday

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:09:19 +0000

Ok, been a month since the last post. I've updated the main Wargames twice since then, the updates has not been too much as I've been working on '2.0' so I'll just pop them at the top this time:

* Change: The 'less deaths' included in the last update has been modified so that non-death scenarios (such as swordsmen vs helicopters) does not waste moves.
* Change: There has been some changes to terrain values in order to promote more trade, All negatives are slightly more negative, all positives outside of uranium is slightly higher. Plains has less wood, metal, oil.
* Change: The game notifies you if you are trying to build units while in 100% civic.
* New: Force players to decide a terrain now, so this should make them think more about what they are focusing on.

Nutyy is hosting a round now with the following updates in the new download:

* Fix: A2's can now be bought in Interwar period as intended.
* Fix: Billionaire medal wasn't registering if the player already had Nuclear Holocaust.
* Fix: Game checks a bit more to see if a country has been wiped out properly.
* Change: 0 Landers no longer remain on the Leaderboards.
* Change: Space technology is speeded up turn wise by your other space improvements.

So as you see, mostly fixes and minor changes this past month. Of course, the main reason being that the really nice new version of Wargames is coming round the corner.

I think I'm just about ready for a beta test for the new version coming out, which will start on friday and probably be a few hours a day for that weekend. Its still early days and will be private for subscribers only, so if you want in, now is a good time to buy up a subscription.*

The results for the last few rounds is available here: http://aceblokeswargames.wikispaces.com/evennewerresults

* Check here: for full information on what you get. A minimum of a Wargames Original subscription will be required to join beta tests for '2.0'.

http://aceblokeswargames.wikispaces.com/subscriptions

Buying from the Wargames hub page may also continue to be cheaper for the timebeing.

Small Wargames Update

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:29:40 +0000

The major update to Wargames is still in the works, but I've found a few hours just to work on the current version a bit more.

There is only a couple of changes, first is I've shortened slightly the era delay (they won't be around much longer anyway).

Secondly, I've worked a bit more on kill-ratios, and more importantly on the way units attack each other. This is a staged test for what will be in the updated form of Wargames. You should see a lot less kills especially in larger, more diverse armies.

As a final mention, I've been working on a Wargames exe, you can use it here:

http://files.byondhome.com/Acebloke/wargames_install.zip

Its a very basic setup, with a simple splash screen. I'll need to upgrade this graphically in the future. Installing Wargames is extremely helpful for getting into the game quick and looking for online games. I've personally been using it for most of the time that beta exe has been out and found it so useful I often forget to log into the BYOND pager until I need to log into another game. If you are a serious Wargames player then I'd recommend installing this even if its a bit plain right now.

Wargames Announcement: Last round, Updates for this round, News for the future

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 22:50:07 +0000

First off, thanks to everyone who took part in the Ramadan-long round. I know it was longer than normal but it gave me a chance to take a break from development and focus on other things.

For the results of this 150,000 turn round, go here: http://aceblokeswargames.wikispaces.com/160812

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I did however manage to do a little work on it, so this round's update includes some bug fixes and improvements to the previous version updates. This round will go on till Sunday 2nd of September (thats 2 weeks, 2 days).

For those that are interested, I'm leaving the update list at the bottom, but now for the interesting news:

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Wargames has nearly had 2 or 3 rebrandings, but never happened because the main issues that prevented the current one from progressing managed to be avoided or fixed. However, now is the time for Wargames to go into a cocoon and come out a butterfly. Wargames will go through a set of changes in order to keep it fresh and also improve in areas that have long needed it. This is a list of things I hope to do:

* Better and bigger icons
* More customisation to interface
* Remove and replace Eras
* Upgradeable Units with more stats
* Graphical, animated combat

In more detail:

I'm finally getting rid of both the default 32x32 pixel sized boxes, as well as the default BYOND palette. Wargames is a game of conflict and pain, not bright green fields and colourful buildings. The game will feature a new, darker palette fitting the mood of the game, as well as bigger icons for more detail.

Support for 800x600 resolutions, this resolution seems to be more common on BYOND than global data would suggest, the need for a large resolution in Wargames in the past has prevented people with this resolution from playing. For those with larger, even HD resolutions however, will be able to expand the map element across to benefit from their wider screens.

Eras has been a staple of the game from the near beginning; Starting from a WW1 period going to modern day, and eventually expanding both to earlier times, future and recently a Bronze age start. This will be totally scrapped, and research will no longer be dictating level of development, cashflow or opening technology. Instead a 'Year' based system, which gradually goes up for everyone and promoted through the player to be faster will mean things unlocking down to their historical year of discovery instead of wide periods of time for a more balanced development throughout a game.

Units will see a major change, to date more units get added with time, and many will be never used, if at all. With this new system, units will upgrade with research and be immediately replaced, saving time from disbanding units just to build the next stage up, and making sure many more units will be used instead of forgotten. Units will also expand beyond the current Att/Def/Type values and expand into other areas, such as speed values to be accounted for in combat.

Combat itself has since the start been a pure database of numbers, while this is unlikely to change drastically, a graphical representation will show you in better detail the conflict and what is going on and how your tactics and choice of units is handling.

I doubt all of these features will be done in the 2 weeks of this current round, but I hope to have something to show soon after. This will be a big step up for Wargames and hopefully a continuation for a good time to come.

Finally, for those that want the updated features for this current round, here you go:

* Fix: Fuel and Material were not appearing till WW2 era, fixed.
* Fix: A bug caused a fully researched Agriculture to prevent Space Technology researching, fixed.
* Fix: Fixed a bug which meant space research could go over 9.
* Fix: Forgot when moving hud interface to move nuke/bomb/rocket icons.
* Fix: It is often possible for negative buildings to occur, the game now ensures it'll never be negative.
* Fix: 'Nuking off the map' was an issue for some people too close to an edge of the map, being jumped to another country, fixed.
* Fix: Fixed a graphic bug when attacking with air or sea related combat.
* Fix: Extremely minor, some units displayed in MoW too early.
* Change: Improved Defence minister graphic.
* Change: New Start (rebooting country) requires less than 9 land, instead of 10.
* Change: Healthcare leaderboard now requires 1million + citizens to be included.
* Change: Made improvements to the new Religion Report.
* Change: Some slight changes to terrain and sea make it look nicer.
* New: Added new destinations to pass by in space, 11 extra for a total of 27.
* New: Ministry of Space Exploration now has a second page which displays your destinations passed with the Space Rocket.
* New: Passing objects in Space now reports in Country Report so you know what turns and distances your Rocket has been.