Hey Brisub, the missing images is something we're working on. As you can appreciate, the game is a work-in-progress, and it will take a long time to come up with all the images that the game needs. I've actually got a major image update ready for Mike (The developer) to upload to the update server, but he's working on a more important update at the moment that with any luck will both speed up the game and fix a number of known bugs. Once that's ready, Mike will add on my image and database updates. If you want a sneak preview though, we've got the ship images in This Thread.

The freeze bug that you're encountering is an extremely well-known bug - and one that with any luck will be fixed by the update that I mentioned above. The freeze bug has plagued Supremacy almost since the first demo, and Mike has had problems tracing the cause. It *shouldn't* be happening every time you hit turn 20-25 though; to my knowledge this bug is completely random. The only defense is to save your game regularly i'm afraid. Many people misunderstand the "downloading update from server" message though; the server is on your computer, not the internet. The game works on a server-client basis. The server processes the game information, whilst the client is the bit that displays that information for the player. Most games actually work like this, they just don't happen to show it in the way that Supremacy does.

The other empires don't expand because they don't know how yet. The game currently lacks an AI (Artificial Intelliegence) so they quite literally don't know how to feed themselves - let alone know how to build ships or colonise other systems. The AI will be coming in a future update, but it will likely be the most complex part of the game to program; don't expect it to be coming soon.

Officers are only needed for building ships. If you run out of officers, then ship production will simply slow to the rate at which your empire can churn them out. Not all of the mechanics are fully implemented or working properly yet though, so this might undergo changes in the future.

As you mentioned, the game does include an auto-updater (Which was added September 2008), so if you've downloaded the game since then, it will automatically check if an update is available each time you play. A notification of this is only shown if an update is available though - and it's up to players to decide whether they want to download the update or not. You can also turn off the updater in the game options. Like I said above, Mike is working on an update that will also contain the new images and database updates that i've compiled, so it will likely be a large update when it is released. I don't know what sort of timeframe this update will be released in though. The auto-updater also works by comparing your files against those on the server; it identifies updates simply by checking whether there are any differences in the files, rather than checking *what* those differences are. The updater will therefore attempt to overwrite any non-official updates or mods, which is why I haven't manually placed my files for download on the forums.

I downloaded and starting playing Supremacy the other night, first time I checked the time after installing & updating it - it was about 7:35am local time (AEDT, GMT +11) and I was already on Turn 80.

One little glitch that pops up now and then for me - every now and then after I hit turn 80, the game freezes between turns looking for updates from the planetary productions, and only way I can fix is kill the game in Task Manager and start again from the save file. This usual gets past that glitch.

Hey Technous, welcome to the forums!

The bug you've encountered is very well known - in fact, I posted about it in my previous post. We have no idea what the cause is, but Mike (The developer) is working to solve it. He's actually got a major programming update in the works, that *may* fix the freeze bug, along with several other annoying but less common bugs, so cross your fingers and wait for the next update.

Do you know how much longer we will have to wait for that update? I keep getting that same bug too.

Sorry Jamie, I don't know how long it will be. But Mike sent me an alpha copy of the update a few weeks ago for performance testing and then he sent me a beta version last week. You'll be pleased to know that it didn't freeze once during my testing of either version.

Of course, one person testing it a couple of times on the same computer isn't as rigourous as a few thousand people testing it on thousands of different hardware set ups and operating systems. The real test will be when Mike releases the update. Then we'll know for sure whether this bug has finally been squashed, but I must say, it's looking good.

I hope so. About half of the time i play i get stuck processing a turn halfway through.

I've been periodically downloading his source code and running it on my desktop. I've encountered a few minor things that Mike has since squashed. I'm not getting any freezing either. I'm not sure what else Mike is planning to change before releasing the full update, but I figured I'd take a moment to add a bit of info to the good news (then again, I'm running the program in Visual Studio's dev environment and not actually installing it).

Well Supremacy technically doesn't need you to install anything, so I imagine it amounts to the same thing. Mike does have some plans to make other changes, but he may have already done them. I know that he's planning on scrapping at least some of the database files because they're causing too many problems from a modding point of view. He also plans to add some new graphical options so people can both customise the game more and reduce the memory demands, and he's looking for a new background image because people are complaining the current one is so bright that they are confusing it with star systems. One of the new options is actually an option to turn the background off.

I've also found another bug in the editor, but I don't know if Mike plans to fix it or not; I know he's working on a completely new editor, but I don't know when he plans to release it. This bug is preventing me from correctly setting the "One Per System" restriction on many of the buildings in the game

I also sent him an early copy of my content update, although i'm still working on it so his version is actually already out of date lol. Plus Val just made a couple of new structure images for us. Fingers crossed he will make more.

It will be a while before the next update, because there will be some major internal changes to the game. I'm in the middle restructuring the entire game client (the graphical interface) to make it more performant, modular, and extensible. It will look pretty much the same, but it will cut down on the time required to implement new screens, as well as new UI themes for the different empires. I'm hoping that a lot of other bugs and performance issues will be resolved due to these changes--so far the results look promising .

I'm also planning some significant gameplay changes related to personnel, intelligence, and diplomacy. Only a couple of people know the details, but the result is going to require a lot of changes to the tech tree. I'll probably try to get an update out before I dive into those changes, though, just to keep the waiting period down.

I want to leave the shiplist in good shape before I dive into the new project. Fireball is going to send us models and that should go a long way to a play-testable set ready for the combat engine.

I'd have to agree with Mike; from the beta versions of the updates that he's sent me so far, I haven't encountered any problems, other than a small number of previously-existing features that were missing because Mike simply hadn't yet re-enabled them yet in the update. Someone else (Possibly Azhdeen, I can't remember) also said they had looked at the source code and weren't able to find any problems with it, so it's definitely looking positive.

I'm also one of the people that Mike has told the details of the gameplay changes to. I agree with him about keeping quiet about these changes for the moment, so don't ask me what those changes are because i'm not going to say. A lot of it still needs to be fleshed out, so making any announcements at the moment would just end up causing problems. I think the changes are going to be a very pleasant surprise that people will like though, especially since the changes - as we currently hope they will work - actually go above and beyond what a lot of people have been asking for on the forums over the last year or two. It's certainly going to ensure that Supremacy is an improvement over BOTF in many new ways. Trust me, you guys will be glad of the wait when you find out what the surprise is...

Hopefully a user definable galaxy map size (single player maybe 200X200)

GB

Err...no. It's nothing to do with the maps, although I sent him a PM detailing some updates i'd like in the editor, which included a map creator/editor. Keep thinking.

Is there a release date for the update yet? The Christmas Tree is starting to look old and out of place. Don't get me wrong, it is a nice tree, very pretty and wonderful, and i couldn't do anything like that, but it looks so out of place.

Mike stated yesterday in another thread that the update is still a long ways off yet. He's actually stated that he's going to release the update sooner than he would like so that people at least have something to play with, but even still it's going to be several weeks if not months. He's working as fast as he can, but the update really is a major one from a programming point of view. I know it's frustrating, but remember this: he's fixing the random freeze bug. I think we can forgive him for the wait as long as the update manages to do that.

ok. thank you.

hej jamie,

maybe the next update will be right in time to replace the tree for some eastereggs. If not next opportunity would be halloween

That would be cool. Maybe a holiday version of the main picutre should be made that has all of the major holidays on it.

Who says Mike hasn't already? I was just as surprised by the christmas tree as everyone else!

here yeah go lol

That is SO going in my game.

If anyone else wants it in their own game, save the file as "Title.png" and put it in your Supremacy\Resources\Images\Backgrounds folder.

You might want to make a backup of your christmas tree one though, as this image is rather small compared to the offical (Christmas Tree) image - which is 1920x1200 pixels. For that reason, the image will look blurry if you have a resolution higher than 1024x640 (Which is the resolution of Val's image). If your resolution is higher than this, the game will need to expand the image to fit your screen, causing it to lose quality. My resolution is 1280x1024 though, and it doesn't look too bad.

since you seemed to enjoy my poor attempt at humor. I redid the image for game

I'm surprised Mike hasn't posted here yet. I sent him a PM about it.

Oh well, he'll find out one way or another. I'll stick it in my next content update and see if he notices.

lol

Well, I may have an update ready by easter. If so, I'll have to work this in.

I'm starting to believe in the "Easter Bunny" again

An update by easter is the best news i have heard in my life! (well, maybe just this week, but still)

Was the new database the only update? I am just checking because i thought some more pictures were going to be added in this update.

I have all kinds of new pictures



.............But I had to add them I dont think Mike has released the update yet. I wish that the updater would tell you what changes have been made so you can try to look for them , but maybe soon

The update includes significant architectural changes that aren't really apparent to the player. The game client has been completely refactored to be more modular and extensible. There should be some performance and stability improvements, too.

Aside from that, there are some gameplay changes:

• You can choose your starting tech level (1, 3, 5, 7, or 9).
• You can now resume saved multiplayer games.
• Several bugs have been fixed.

I'm not sure if I can get matress' content updates into the game by tomorrow, and I'll be at the Microsoft campus in Redmond all of next week, so I doubt I'll have any time to work on the game.

That is an excellent title screen. I can't wait for it in the update.