Topic: Test 1 of Eco War server is UP!

[Herr Burt]

The first test server of the Eco War project is up.  This is a test of the cartel layer (only) and shiplist of Eco War.  You should be able to log on with either the stock shiplist, or with OP+ 4.0

None of the Eco War rules are in play.  Just log on and treat it as "fun".

*You may fly whatever you can buy
*You may buy and fly fleets of up to three.
*You may create multiple accounts for multipler cartels.
*Single PFs are available for all cartels.  (I've had trouble with fleet view if all I have is PFs.)
*An AxPFT is available for all cartels

*Mandatory missions appear in many hexes if you are in an enemy cartel's space.   They should not elsewhere.

Let me know if you have any problems.  I'll try to keep an eye on things over the weekend, but if it crashes I may not be able to get to it for a while.  Don't panic!  I will get to it.

-Herr Burt

[KDS-KYTARH]

Been playing on the server for a while, seems good so far. I got one mission with an ion storm in it that didnt have an enemy, i ran off the map and got a win, not sure if that means anything.

[FPF-Tobin Dax]

I signed on as an Orion. Supply costs seem high and I was drawing "Romulan" enemy AI in Federation hexes.

[Lepton]

I had a rare CTD on this server when I blew up a pirate ship.  I assume my break.mod is missing for that ship, so I doubt it is anything systemic, but I was intrigued by the idea that one could log on with either the stock or OP+ 4 shiplist.  How is that possible??

[Herr Burt]

Been playing on the server for a while, seems good so far. I got one mission with an ion storm in it that didnt have an enemy, i ran off the map and got a win, not sure if that means anything.

Let me know if it happens again.

There is a mission where a freightor has been desttroyed, usually in an ion storm, and you are supposed to scan some crates to see if anything is inside them.  It's a good free way to get some spare parts.  Sometimes an enemy is generated looking at the same crates, and some times it isn't

Is this the mission you mean?

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

I signed on as an Orion. Supply costs seem high and I was drawing "Romulan" enemy AI in Federation hexes.

Ah!  Yes, high supply costs I can easily fix.  (I'll try to do that now.)   I'll have to investigate the AI thing you are talking about to see if anything is amiss.

EDIT:  Back up.  Supply costs have been drastically reduced.  Not sure exactly where they will end up, but for now eat, drink, and be merry. 

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

I had a rare CTD on this server when I blew up a pirate ship.  I assume my break.mod is missing for that ship, so I doubt it is anything systemic, but I was intrigued by the idea that one could log on with either the stock or OP+ 4 shiplist.  How is that possible??

It helps a lot that Luc hasn't worked with the pirates much in OP+.

Ships are generated server side, but created client side.  So you can work with the server side list to control what will show up.  The server-side list I have *shouldn't* be generating any ships that can't be created by both stock and OP+; at least not most of the time.  Likely there will still be a problem I missed here or there.  If you start consitently seeing a problem with a specific ship, let me know.

-Herr Burt

[KDS-KYTARH]

yes it was the mission where you are supposed to destroy the gargo crates,, i am playing Korgath, and there were no crates,, just empty space

[KDS-KYTARH]

Oh also , not sure who did the mods but the ships look great

[FPF-Tobin Dax]

Thanks.  +1

[Dfly]

Was on it the other night.  things looked good, flew a few missions, but after winning 3 in a row, the hex was still at 50 of 50.  I was hitting a Lyran base hex, sorry dont know the number.  Also, ran a mission where I got to destroy 5 crates, did not know I was supposed to scan them, but won anyway, just had to leave the map for it.

[Herr Burt]

Was on it the other night.  things looked good, flew a few missions, but after winning 3 in a row, the hex was still at 50 of 50.  I was hitting a Lyran base hex, sorry dont know the number.  Also, ran a mission where I got to destroy 5 crates, did not know I was supposed to scan them, but won anyway, just had to leave the map for it.

I haven't had (so far) any trouble getting the hexs to change with missions won.  They should drop by 5 for each win.  I will definitely have to fix this if it is a problem.  A couple of questions:

1) Which cartel were you flying as?  (In case I need to alter racial tensions to make them work)

2) You say you were attacking a Lyran base hex.  Were you looking at the cartel map or the imperial map?  The cartel areas overlap several imperial areas, so you could fly from one empire to another and still be attacking home cartel space.   

-Herr Burt

[KBF-Crim]

So...when will we get to fly PF floatillas again?

[Dfly]

the space I was flying in was definitely Lyran, hex 4,6 if I remember right.  tried it again tonight in a different hex, and the numbers worked fine. I am flying Camboro.  all seemed fine tonight, but that other hex I flew in the other night is still at 50.

[Herr Burt]

the space I was flying in was definitely Lyran, hex 4,6 if I remember right.  tried it again tonight in a different hex, and the numbers worked fine. I am flying Camboro.  all seemed fine tonight, but that other hex I flew in the other night is still at 50.

I checked out the map.  4,6 is a Lyran base, but it is still a Camboro hex.  Thus no matter how many missions you win there as a Camboro, you wont' change the hexs DV.

There are no pirate bases;  all the bases are either neutral or owned by the empire on the imperial layer.  Forgive me if you already know this, but you need to go to the upper left corner of the map, and you'll see a fielc that says "Empire View".  This is a pulldown menu.  Pull it down so it says "Cartel View"

The map can also fool you a bit from time to time.  If you are zoomed out, the empire bases can turn the color of the hex to the imperial color.  If you zoom in, it will be a Lyran colored base in a Camboro colored hex.

Hope this helps!

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

So...when will we get to fly PF floatillas again?

Another Squadron Commander server wouldn't take a lot of effort on my part.  I might can do one of those sometime this summer, between servers.

-Herr Burt

[KBF-Crim]

SWEET!...I loved that...a totally different feel for SFC...yet familiar...

I'd personally like to see another zone like "the slot"....PF floatillas, frigs , and DD's only....that would rock...

[Dfly]

thx for the info about the different maps, forgot all about it.  helped a lot

[Pestalence_XC]

I had a rare CTD on this server when I blew up a pirate ship. I assume my break.mod is missing for that ship, so I doubt it is anything systemic, but I was intrigued by the idea that one could log on with either the stock or OP+ 4 shiplist. How is that possible??

The shiplist.txt is not present in the Validate Client Files folder of the server kit.. as such, shiplist is not CRC checked for cheating and any shiplist will log in... however your game may CTD because of this.

[Dfly]

it does CTD at times.  I have had it happen 3 times so far, and everytime it is when delivering the final blow to a ship, but each time so far has been in a Patrol with me vs 1 AI.  I have run some that have not crashed, but I think about nearly 1/2 of those exact missions did CTD.

[FPF-Tobin Dax]

CTD last night on final volley to another pirate ship.

[KDS-KYTARH]

Yup same thing here .. destroy the pirate ship and CTD

[Lepton]

I also ran 2 missions in the same hex and saw no change in hex DV.  I was playing as Orion and attacking Prime hexes.

If it is true that a difference between the server shiplist and client shiplist can be causing CTDs, perhaps we could get the server side shiplist, so this won't be continue as it seems to be a systemic problem at this point.

[Dfly]

I did some testing on the Gorn PF+, and it comes up in the game with only 1 working phaser1.  the remaining weapons are damaged, and wont repair.  the ship has full power.

On the Romulan Centurion PF, it shows in the database as having 4 drones(2C,2B), 4 Phaser1, 4 Phaser2.  When you go to fly it, it has a bank of 3 PlasmaF which load, the phasers load, and the front bank of 2 Plasmas load only 1.  This ship flew fine, but everytime during the game(3 times in a row) the  whole computer froze up and I had to do a hard reboot.

I will keep trying different ships on there, since some seem to have some issues.

[GDA-S'Cipio]

Upon reflection, the PFs you buy in the shipyard are going to be a problem.  In fact, they are a problem with the shiplist that I should have forseen.  My advice is simply don't buy them.  Originally I wanted you to be able to buy a squadron of PFs to fly without a tender, but I've been able to do what I wanted there in Squadron Commander -- and its forthcoming sequel -- so my primary motivation for having them as standalone ships is gone.  Besides, they don't make all that much sense in my EcoWar setup anyway, so they likely won't make the cut for the final server.  AxPFTs will still remain, and I'll fix the PF problem to meke them work.

I will check into the Orion/Prime hex problem and see if I can't address it, if it is persistent.

I'm curious abot the CTD problem with 1 player vs. 1 pirate ship.  Do me a favor:  If it happens again (which aparrently, it will) then note exactly which ship you are flying and which ship the AI had.  That will help me to track whether or not it is a shiplist problem or a script problem.  (Hopefully, it's a problem with my shiplist that I can fix.)

As to the sever side shiplist:  If you want use as close to the production shiplist as you can, then try out the stock shiplist.   I opened the server up to OP+4.0 just to try and be as easy on people as possible, so they wouldn't have to download anything.  All the alterations to the pirates from the stock list were intended to be in things already demonstrated not to cause problems when modded only on the server side.  However, I liklely overlooked a few bits in making it compatible with OP+4.0.  And FOR SURE you don't want the GW 5 add-on still intalled, so make sure you remove it before logging on.

THANK YOU again to all who have tried this out.  You are helping me a great deal.  I hope it is useful as a fun server as well, while we wait for Mirror Mirror.

-S'Cipio the Herr Burt