Next update?

I guess it'll be released when its ready; something I've noticed is that they try and release an update every few months, so I guess the next one will maybe be August/September time.

For the most part it looks like the game is coming along well. I did have an event where the game crashed when several worlds joined the federation, but other then that no problems. Some of the aspects are a little tedious (i.e.: no window to look at all your worlds to see a summary) but I will assume something to this effect is coming. Also it seems a little easy to influence minor races. Maybe this is because I am playing the federation, but even so I would think building up the trust of minor races would take longer then a few turns.

Yes, a summary screen is being work on.

Hey everyone, sorry i've been away for the last week but I lost my internet access due to an electrical fault with the phone line. Anyways, i'm back now and i've got a whole weeks worth of posts to catch up on.

Anyways, i've had a look at the download balonik, and the link now works - whatever the problem was it has sorted itself out. So just go back to the very first post of this very thread and read the instructions, then click the download link and have fun.

As for an update, Mike releases minor updates on a very regular basis. You'll have to rely on the auto-updater to ensure you get them. Major updates are usually every few months dependant on the size of the update and how busy Mike is with his "real" job - the busier he is, the less time he has for the game. The auto-updater should download these for you as well (Assuming you run the game to let the updater do its job) but if, for whatever reason, it can't do so, we'll post download links for the update on the forums.

As Kenneth said, Mike is also working on a colony management screen but I don't know how long it will take for him to implement it - it could be days, it could be months. It'll be done when it is done is all that I can say on time frames.

It is great to see you are back MOE. Praise be to the great Ferengi Material Continuum. That materialistic force that pulses through the universe has seen fit to return you to us.

Mike must be really busy. He has not posted in a while. Let us pray the Material Continuum returns him safely to us as.

Whilst he hasn't been on the forums in two days, he isn't so busy that he doesn't pop up on the forums to at least check his messages. I frequently send Mike PM's with the latest bug reports or questions so he doesn't need to hunt all over for them. I know he reads them because they are no longer in my outbox. Unfortunately, this might be partially why he doesn't bother posting on the forums much. Then again, he doesn't reply all that often to the PM's either, so he probably is extremely busy.

Hello all

I just found this game and it looks really promising. I'm running it on windows 7 x64 RC 7234 and it worked straight away with no errors, Net framework 3.5 is included in Windows 7 by default so no setup was needed. I think its cool that the game uses net framework.

I haven't played it long enough to add any decent feedback yet but I have some questions if anyone knows the answers.

There was no option to choose display settings in the game but it seems to start up in my desktop resolution 1920 x 1200 and to be in widescreen so is this game automatically 4:3, 16:10, 16:9 compatible? Is there a way to change resolution or play in windowed mode? Is there a minimum resolution will this work on netbooks?

Because the game is written in .net does that mean it uses the CPU to perform all of the graphics instead of the GPU?

Will there be a 3D combat system in the future and if so will this be using the CPU to render the battles?

There is actually no real full-screen mode as other games have it, it is still windowed but the border is removed and the window is maximized.
This is because the game uses WPF and not pure DirectX to render. To return to the normal window open the options screen and uncheck "Run in full-screen mode".

WPF is hardware accelerated to a degree. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Pr ... l_Services

Yes, but this is developed in XNA by cdrwolfe.

Wow, congrats on managing to answer the post before me, Overlord!

Mike is very clued up when it comes to using the latest technologies to develop Supremacy, Sideeffect. I would actually be surprised if Supremacy didn't work in Windows 7! I know for a fact that he's already using .Net 4.0 to develop future updates. .Net 4.0 is currently in beta at the moment.

....

Mike spent a very long time in developing the way the game displays. It actually performs - and looks - better on very high resolution displays, because past a certain point the game automatically sharpens and enlarges the font size so it is still readable. It does however have a minimum resolution, which is a requirement of the system screen. I'm not sure of the exact resolution, but I believe is is somewhere around 1024x768. If you use a resolution lower than the minimum, then part of the screen will be physically cut off, usually either the bottom or the right-hand side, depending on how the dimension that is limited. These limitations mean that Netbooks will almost certainly have problems displaying the game. Many low-end laptops will as well, although the game itself is likely to still work.

Another forum member, Jszrom, has actually encountered this problem. His monitor runs at 1280x720 - so it's more than twice the necessary width, but 48 pixels short height-wise, so the screen cuts off half way through the game exit button whilst on the menu screen. Here's the screenshot he sent me of what his screen looks like. Click the thumbnail to enlarge it.



Come to think of it, i'll add this problem to the known issues thread in the bugs forum.

...

Wolfe's combat system is being developed as a stand-alone program, which will then be merged into the game at a later date once both the combat system and the game are stable and complete enough for such a merge to take place. For the time being, you can download the most recent version of the combat system from This Post. (We constantly update the download link in the first post like we do with the Supremacy download)

Thank you for the replies.

I think I have a problem with updating the game. When I start the game it says an update is available and downloads a small file and restarts but the version number is the same after the restart. If I clear the updater registry it downloads the update again but the same thing happens.

My current version number is 0.4.3427.36588 is that the most recent ?

I tried running the game in administrator mode to see if that helped but it doesn't make a difference.

Edit - Never mind i found the information in the bug reports. It would be helpful if the current version number was listed in the first post of this thread though along with a more recent date as the post is dated so long ago that it becomes confusing to new people.

The posts are updated whenever there is an actual major update. The last major game update was in May, so it's less than two months old. Minor updates are released as and when Mike has time to work on them. But Mike has been absolutely swamped by his "real" work since the update - he's barely even had enough time to post on the forums.

Version 0.4.3427.36588 - the May update - is therefore the most recent version of the game. That's the version you have, the version that I have, and the version that my known issues thread relates to. Whenever there is a game or information update, I delete this thread and repost it from scratch with the updated info. Simply editing it wouldn't show up for most people unless they specifically viewed the thread, but by reposting it, it will show up as a brand-new post for all existing members, so people will know about the updated info. There's method in my madness.

Yes but this thread were talking in now that includes the download is dated Tue Nov 07, 2006 nearly 3 years ago. The last edit it shows is Last edited by mstrobel on Sat Oct 13, 2007 2:31 pm, edited 46 times in total.

So the download link has been updated in May 2009 but it doesn't look like that and it is not shown that it was updated in 2009 and it doesn't show any version information.

Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining about updates or times I was just giving an opinion as someone who just came to this forum. I thought at first that this game was dead when I saw the last edit of 2007 and I think maybe other surfers who might be interested in this game will think the same.

(Even though I registered in 2005 I haven't been on this forum since then so I am really a new user)

So just a suggestion but update the first page to reflect that it is under recent development it would take 1 minute and would help new users a great deal and it would have saved me some time trying to find out what version were supposed to be on and all the time I spent looking for the May 2009 release.

Your post in the Bug section is very helpful but it's a bit out of the way and people are not going to go to that section if they don't have the game. I really think that this whole forum section could do with a good sort out moving important information into easy to find places and consolidating a lot of information into single threads and getting rid of announcements that don't have any responses in years and seem outdated anyway.

The "updated on..." date info is incorrect because it doesn't record any edits that an admin makes. Admins have ultimate power on the forums so the forums don't need to record this info. But Mike was only made an admin a few months after Supremacy first appeared on the forums, and he had already posted this thread and made all of those edits by that time. The moment he was made an admin it stopped recording the edits, so it appears that it has been all that time since the last edit, when in reality the thread has been updated by Mike and myself hundreds of times and was actually last updated less than two months ago.

The only way to get around this is to post a new thread each and every time there is an update, but this would only result in the thread cosntantly moving, and would also mean that any direct links you give to the post information would break every time the thread was reposted - and this is exactly what happens whenever I update the known issues thread. But since the game download contains the download links, we would need to also scour the forums for every single download link and update them. It therefore simply isn't practical to do this.

As i'm an admin though, I am able to edit Mike's posts and so will add in some info about the current game version. Mike doesn't like me editing his Supremacy post anymore because he wants to control the information, but I think he'll make an exception this one time because you're right, it is info that *should* be there.

Yes I guessed that the edits didn't show because an admin had made those changes.

Adding the new information is great though and makes it much clearer so thanks for that.

Just edit the top post and put a line of text near the top saying:
Last update: June 2009

I think by month is fine since it may become taxing to keep changing the version numbers every minor update but that would be good to mention too if possible.

You could also add a line "If you have any concerns or problems with the game or downloading it, please visit the Known Issues post to see if that solves your issues before posting."

If that doesn't work because the thread is constantly being deleted and recreated (and so the link might keep changing) use the bugs section instead of the specific post so "If you have any concerns or problems with the game or downloading it, please visit the Known Issues post in the Supremacy Bug Reports section to see if that solves your issues before posting.". The bug reports section might even be a better idea to start with because it will encourage and show people where to post any unknown issues to keep things organized rather than have them list errors and bugs in this thread or other random sections.

Just some helpful thoughts... it won't solve the post edit issue but if people see that in the text it should be clear enough.

Good idea. I think I will wait for MOE to edit that one the way he wants it.

If you look closely, you'll note that i've already done some of the things you've mentioned, Kaladin.

I already added in a link to the known issues thread. I will have to update the link to it every time I update that thread, because the link to it changes, so updating the version info, even for minor updates, isn't that much of a problem. I've already added in a date for the most recent major update as well, above the version information. The download for the game is always labelled with the date of the update as well; SupremacyTest_20090520 means it was released on the 20th May 2009.

Would doing my link to the 'Bugs' section and mention the 'Issues' thread idea help you not have to recreate the links all the time, I assume the section itself doesn’t change all the time only the issues thread itself does?

Yeah I noticed some of the things I posted were there, yay!

I just recall when I first came here how finding stuff was really a pain. It has gotten much better over the last while, especially with your forums server transfer (a year or so ago, maybe longer I forget now), the old one even though similar was much less user friendly so keep up the good work both on the game and the information management aspects.

Recreating the links really isn't a problem for me, it's just the way I do things, and it's a side effect of the way they are set up. Besides, I spend more time on the forums than is healthy anyway, so I might as well spend it doing something useful.

Part of the problem with the old forums was that many of the decisions regarding the games hadn't yet been made, and the games themselves weren't yet released or were at an even more rudimentary state than they currently are. This meant that the game information that is available today simply wasn't available back then.

In the last few months though, we've all being doing massive amounts of work to improve the situation. As you've noticed, I've been compiling all the information as concisely as I can, Kenneth_of_Borg has been pulling all-nighters on getting hundreds of models done, .Iceman has been pointing out every little mistake that i've acidentally-on-purpose made in info posts and the game database ( ) and Mike has been spending every waking moment on updating the game.

Things will likely slow down over the next few weeks now as almost all of the models have now been made, Zeleni has almost finished doing all of the new minor race emblems, Mike is absolutely swamped by his job, and we're approaching the holiday season, but development will continue in one way or another. And since we've got multiple projects in development here, there's bound to be news for one game or another for people to read about. Klogd's recent map update for Trekwar for instance certainly whets my appetite for his game.

Hi all, First just wanted to say a Very big thankyou to Matress_of_evil and all involved in working on BOTF2, I know a lot of time and effort has gone in and not enough praise for the work you are doing, glad someone followed up on this, shame activision or one of the other companys didn't listen to the fans more!!!
That said any ideas on release date for Full version, or at leased with some AI??? It seems you started this a Long Long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, Opps wrong show, anyway keep up the great work and thanks again, maybe someone could do a stargate game like this? (if they already have please let me know)

Welcome fellow BOTF fan botffan.

Our coder, Mike, is doing the work of two at his real job
coding business software. Until the economy picks up
and he can lighten up it will be some time to an AI.

In the mean time we are filling in the gaps on content like,
in game images, ship and station models, music and spell
checking the text. Work goes on and in time we will wrap this
up. Just not today.

Hey botffan, welcome to the forums!

Thanks for the praise; we're doing all we can because BOTF2 is a labour of love - we want the game(s) as much as you do. Praise is nice, but it isn't necessary. We'll keep making the games one way or another. But praise definitely helps, so the more you give the better.

If you're after some Stargate, you need to spend a bit more time on Armadafleetcommand.com; Jigalypuff, the owner of these forums, has been busy making a Stargate mod for BOTF. You can find the download in the downloads section of AFC. You'll need an account before you can access the downloads section though. The Stargate mod is on page 6 of the mods section in the downloads area.

Alternatively, download the latest version of the Multimods Installer, as that will install every major mod that AFC has for you in a single package.

Ok, I don't realy think que the programmers of the game creators will really read this post of eventually answer to my sugestions. But I would be really grad if they do it so. I've downloaded the demo. This game will be a great game indeed. But I'll not make any compliments here, because you really know what you did well. The greatest achievement of this game, in my oppinion is the great size of the universe, really bigger than the previous version.

But the game is REALLY TOO SIMILAR of the Botf I!

I was really expecting for more. I really don't think that my tips will be possible tips in this stage of creation. I think que this contact should be earlier, but it's really not possible now. Anyway, I send this tips.

1 - One of the greatest things in StarTrek Series are the importance of singular people, It makes we think que individual people can change the world. It's similar the old greek heroes. But Boft, even being a great game, really forgot to use this. Imagine that each ship, or only the greatest ships have 4 posts to be filled. Capitain, Navigator, Engenier, Weapons. You would be able to hire some persons to fill this posts. Imagine the difference of an Destroyer with a simple commander and a Destroyer controled by Cap Kirk, even with Data helping him. There would be possible to make some this in other positions too. Exemple, scientific research, you should choose if you will send mr Spock to the reasearch data center of simple send him to help Kirk in a Battle. This strutcture of game is present in Master of Orion II (just one position for each ship, but I think we can implement it here)

2 - The other important thing about StarTrek Series forgot here are the moral judgents, many times the capitains had to choose between two or three options that should chance the entire course of the universe. This mecanism is present in the "Space Empire" series. Imagine that each race (or side) has some cultural indicators (exemple: Federation: Peace + Cultural Respect + Science / Klingons: War + Cultural Domination + Power / Romulans: Peace + Cultural Domination + Science ) and some events in the game triggers situations of moral judgment (exemple: You found a small planet where the population never gets old. There is a mineral found only in the planet in entire universe. This could be very profitable, or help the entire population of the universe. Here are your options
A - Leave this people in peace helping to protect them against any invasor + 4 morale for Cultural Respect + 1 moral for peace - 100 credit
B - Kill of the inhabitants and extract all this material to make better fighting suits + 3 morale for war + 2 Land Combats
C - Transfer the population to another world and mine this mineral to sell for other races + 3 morale for Cultural Domination + 500 credit
D - Diplomatic convince the people of this planet to study this mineral without taking it away from the planet + 1 moral for Cultural Dominarion + 2 moral for peace + 50 research point for BioTecnology.

Okay, this are only two of my tips. I really have many others. But I wll not loose my time here without knowing the programmers will really read it of even someone reads any think this should be possible.

I anyone want to contact me, please, send a message to leandrovillela@terra.com.br

Thanks
Leandro

I'm on the forums every day, leandrovillela, so at least one of the creators is listening. Whilst i'm not the programmer, I should be able to answer most of your questions. I'll have to warn you that Mike, the developer of Supremacy is swamped under with his real job at the moment though and hasn't been able to do any work on the game for the last few weeks, and likely won't be able to for a few more weeks yet either. And he certainly hasn't had the time to get on the forums. I'm doing what I can to keep him informed though of what is happening on the forums.

1 - I'm pretty sure that having individuals in the game in the way that you ask won't be in the game. For starters the game simply isn't set up that way - it would require conceptual and programming changes to allow it. IF Mike (The programmer) did consider it though, there would only be one crew member that he would want to implement and that would be the Captain. The simple fact of the matter is that people are going to want to build fleets of hundreds, even thousands of ships. Putting a Captain on each one of those ships means the game has to create profiles for each of those captains, track them and their assignments/training, and so on. This would significantly increase the amount of data that the game needs to track, which is already presenting programming problems because it is already tracking such massive amounts of info. It's inevitable that games will slow down over time because of this, even without the memory leak that BOTF had. So imagine quadrupling the info as you've said? It's therefore unlikely it will be in, sorry.

...There is a repreive though. I can't say much about this as Mike has sworn me to secrecy, but similar ideas to yours just might be coming to the game in one form or another as part of future updates...


2 - Having dilemmas as you suggest is actually something i've considered including myself in respects to the random events system. The best example that i've come up with so far is the Omega Particle event, but there are others in there, to a lesser extent. The random event system is a bit of an unknown at the moment, but i've written a list of potential random events for the game. They weren't written because they will be in the game, they were written to spawn ideas. Now the way that i've written the Omega random is that you would randomly encounter it during the game. You would then have to decide what to do with it. You could either use it for a massive research bonus - but with a large risk of it blowing up and taking out subspace in multiple sectors with it, which would then cause the local economy to collapse and even damage the structures in the surrounding systems. Or you could dispose of it, with a small chance that it could still blow up when you do so and you miss out on the research bonus. There could even be the possibility of enemy intel activity trying to steal or destroy it. If you want to check out my randoms, you can find them Here.


If you have any other ideas or questions, please ask away. We'll do what we can to answer. We're friendly people and won't bite people's heads off.

By the way, you might want to edit your email address out of your post; bots can trawl the forums and use your email for spam attacks. You're already displaying your email addy in your profile so people will be able to find your address that way with less risk of your account being attacked.

I love surprises! I can't wait!

MoE, you're just evil dropping all these hints of secret future updates etc!

I'm the Matress_of_evil. I've got to be evil about *something*.

The Welsh aren't that evil !

The ideas that were talked about in the post that started this mini abuse thing are interesting. I particularly like the idea of some kind of dilemma choice in random events.

Interesting... It would be neat for example if the random events were designed to allow options even as simple as 4 (or more).

(Excuse my lame pseudo code)

EventName
EventDescription

Option1Name: (Name + Description)
Option1Active: (true/false)
Option1Result: (the outcome)

Option2Name: (Name + Description)
Option2Active: (true/false)
Option2Result: (the outcome)

etc...


So like

EventName: Sun Potentially Going Nova at the %name% system
EventDescription: Our scientists have discovered a shift in the temperature, alignment and fusion in the sun of the %name% system. We believe it to be an imminent threat to that system; critical action is required:

Option1Name: Ignore the problem
Option1Active: True
Option1Result: 50% chance the system is destroyed in 5-15 turns

Option2Name: Put research into preventing this
Option2Active: True
Option2Result: (Calculation involving total research each turn solving the issue, might still go nova)

Option3Name: Evacuate and Salvage
Option3Active: True
Option3Result: All buildings are sold (loose 10-15%) and credits added to pool, and all population is divided (loose 10-15%) amongst remaining systems. And 50% chance the system is destroyed.

Option4Name: Null
Option4Active: False
Option4Result: Null

So basically have a template that allows 4 options (or more) and you can shut up to 3 of them off for example for something like "Markets crash in %name% system" and the option being "Accept" as the only one. Ignore the numbers, calculations and naming system I used, as they are just quick samples to illustrate my point.

This is just something to think about and was really a brainstormed idea I had after hearing the above posts. But I really like the decision-points idea being included in the random events.