"On air. On sea. On land. Still the Internet's greatest wargame simulation."
"All the news that fits, we print."
July, 1995
Vol. 2, No. 6
In This Edition
Empire2 r18 is beta released
19 improvements to the new server were coded this month. See "New Server"
below for more details.pei 2.0a is beta released
A new, completely overhauled version of pei has been beta released.Howitzer
Ken Stevens plans to run the first long term game using the new server.Howitzer Blitz
In preparation for this game, Ken Stevens is hosting a blitz.Better than Beer Tournament
The final rounds will begin soon!BTBT Tourney 1, 2, 3 & 4 are over
Dr. Pepper Weekend Madness III
was won by Aurora.
Howitzer
The new server is getting more and more stable, and it's about time that
we started taking it for more than just a drive around the block. I'll run
the blitz for a couple of weeks, and if the server survives your pounding,
I'll announce a new long term game to be run on the new Server.Howitzer Blitz (http://www.empire.net/~children/pea_pages/blitzes.html)
If you're going to be playing in the Howitzer long term game, then I
recommend trying a blitz or two to get used to our slick new server. You
can connect to the Howitzer Blitz at empire.net (205.164.80.15) on port
7778. Once you've logged on, type "info" to see the new info system, and type "info Empire2" for a brief summary of what's been changed in the new server.Better than Beer Tournament
The final rounds of the Better than Beer tournament will get underway on
10 July. For more details about the tournament, check out the Better than
Beer Tournament Home Page (http://zeus.chem.ucla.edu:1615/tourney.html) !
You can find final reports, colour maps, and colour videos of the first
round games on the PEA in the BTBT Archive
(http://www.empire.net/~children/PEA/player/past_games/BTBT/).
pei version 2.0a beta has been released. You can find it on the PEA in
player/clients/ (http://www.empire.net/~children/PEA/player/clients/). New features include:
- Fixed output redirection for tools (e.g. "simu > foo" works now).
- Changed the socket read routines to detect server timeout and EOF.
- Completely rewrote the interrupt handler (what happens when you type ^C). It should now recover much better than before.
- Wrote a C program highlight.c to which you can pipe the output of "sect" to get highlighting to work with pei (see the comments at the top of highlight.c for installation instructions).
- The Empire command "exe" (short for "execute") now works. This sends commands from a file directly to the server (no alias expansion...) and the output from the server is not parsed by pei.
- When the user types RETURN pei now checks for (asynchronious) data from the server
- Support for the Empire 2.0 "flash" command has been added.
- "history" command now takes an argument (for number of lines you want to see)
The New Threaded Server
(http://www.empire.net/~children/ftp/deity/server/empire2b1r18.tar.gz)
If you'd like to try running the beta version of the new server, then get
this one.The Empire Project Home Page (http://www.rr.ualberta.ca/~empire/)
PAST
A team of coders has been working to improve the Empire Server. Dave Pare merged the three main server programs into one monolith server which uses threaded client-server communications. Ken Huisman
beta-released the new Server and called it "empire 2 beta 0 revision 0" or "empire2b0r0". Since then, the server has been ported to SunOS 4.x, Linux, Unixware, DEC-ALPHA OSF1, and AIX and about 37 of the WISH LIST items have been coded. Ken Huisman has set up an auto-resetting blitz (http://www.empire.net/~children/pea_pages/blitzes.html) to test the new server code (brule.forsci.ualberta.ca 7777). It always uses the most recent version of the code.
LAST MONTH
Ken Stevens has added a "configure" program so that it is now possible to compile the server without editing any files. When you run "configure", it asks you 12 quesions about your game, and then edits all the relevant files for you. Ken Stevens has reorganized the info pages. Now when you type "info", you will get the following output:Info: List of Subjects Empire info is available on the following subjects: Combat Maps Playing Commodities Missions Populace Communication Moving Production Detection Nation Sectors Diplomacy Obsolete Server Distribution Occupation Ships Introduction Planes Update LandUnits Type "info Subject" where Subject is one of the subjects listed above. For a complete list of all info topics, type "info all".All of the Empire commands now have an info page, and all the info pages belong to at least one subject. You can have a look at the new info pages On the Howitzer Blitz (empire.net 7778) or the Ualberta Blitz (brule.forsci.ualberta.ca 7777).
PRESENT
This week, Ken Stevens coded 19 items from the Empire WISH LIST. Here are some of the highlights:
- Payoff now shows how many sectors the ship has travelled.
- Coastwatch now shows ships names.
- You now get a telegram when someone loads stuff onto your ship
or unloads stuff into your harbour. Load and unload also now
tell you exactly how much got put on each ship.- You no longer need to specify tech level when building units (it
assumes you want to build at current tech level unless you
specify otherwise). Also, if you get the syntax wrong and ask to
build more than 20 units at once, the server will ask you "are
you sure?"- The "test" command no longer requires there to be the commodity
in the sector (useful if you want to use that sector as a temporary stopover and you don't want the stuff to get stranded there).- It's no longer possible to bomb from an airport less than 60%
efficient.- "prod" no longer lists conquered enlistment centres
- It's no longer possible to accidentally unload mil into an
non-allied harbour (e.g. he took your harbour right before you
unloaded)- About 12 flying and bombing report bugs like "3.302555e-308fficient" and "0amage" fixed.
- Now only your allies can cede to you (no more your enemy ceding
you 600 mil right before the update to make you go broke). Type
"info Empire2" in the new server for a more comprehensive list of
changes from Chainsaw 3.32 to Empire2.
FUTURE
If all goes well, most of the important items on the WISH LIST will
be addressed within a year and we will have a vastly improved Empire
Server, which will be released as Empire 3.0!
Empire Server Discussion mailing list
(http://www.empire.net/~children/empire-list/)
The mailing list, a forum of discussion regarding changes to the server,
has been established (with current traffic about 2 mail messages per
month). If, and ONLY IF you are very familiar with the Empire source code, have experience modifying the Empire source, and have time to help with the Server project, send mail to empire-list-request@empire.net with the body content: subscribe
The Chainsaw Server
(http://www.empire.net/~children/ftp/deity/server/chainsaw.3.32.tar.gz)
This is the server that most people are using to run their games. Note
that the Chainsaw server now works under Linux!Empire Tools (http://www.empire.net/~children/ftp/deity/tools/emptools.tar.gz) If you do not have GNUmake or mkmf on your system, then you will also need to get this so that you can compile the server.
Linux mkmf (http://www.empire.net/~children/ftp/deity/tools/mkmf.linux.tar.gz)
Linux users will need to get this version of mkmf.Deity Handbook
(ftp://ftp.Empire.Net/pub/empire/deity/docs/Deity.handbook.v1.tar.gz) Chad Zabel has written a guide to help Deities compile and run the Empire Server. Here is the table of contents:
1 Getting the source code and compiling the game.
2 Making modifications to the existing code.
3 Seting up a game: world generation, resources, adding countries.
4 Running a game: Deity commands and scripts.
5 Where to Get Help: fixing, debuging, and updating the source code.How to Run a Game
(http://www.empire.net/~children/ftp/deity/docs/how_to_run_a_game.txt)
Before making a game announcement to r.g.e, please read and heed this
document.
Pictures and videos of the BTBT tournament round 1 may be found
on the PEA at http://www.empire.net/~children/PEA/player/past_games/BTBTBTB Tournament Game 1
Was won by KingCrimson, beep, Nirvana, and Mithrilien. Here is the
final power report:sects eff civ mil shell gun pet iron dust oil pln ship unit money KingCrims 110 98% 78K 3.4K 1.7K 195 750 18K 1.0K 4.1K 10 70 30 25K beep 100 94% 59K 2.4K 1.8K 230 900 10K 950 5.3K 10 40 30 20K Nirvana 55 94% 36K 2.0K 1.1K 90 14 4.5K 450 1.0K 0 20 10 25K Mithrilie 60 96% 35K 1.9K 500 35 1.0K 5.8K 650 2.2K 4 10 20 15KBTB Tournament Game 2
Was won by Waffen, LV426, Cathouse, and harmless. Here is the final
power report:sects eff civ mil shell gun pet iron dust oil pln ship unit money Waffen 130 97% 107K 3.8K 3.7K 355 2.1K 28K 600 5.3K 40 50 30 10K LV426 135 100% 108K 4.2K 5.8K 425 900 32K 100 3.9K 20 60 40 25K Cathouse 65 93% 40K 1.9K 1.3K 135 450 11K 100 950 5 40 10 10K harmless 10 99% 5.1K 250 0 0 0 300 400 0 0 0 0 2.5KBTB Tournament Game 3
Was won by Lothlorien, Tallistan, Krikkit, and Khazad'ur. Here is the
final power report:sects eff civ mil shell gun pet iron dust oil pln ship unit money Lothlorie 105 99% 76K 3.0K 1.4K 90 400 18K 1.0K 3.1K 20 30 20 25K Tallistan 55 84% 26K 1.0K 275 110 0 7.8K 200 3.5K 0 20 9 4.8K Krikkit 95 97% 52K 1.8K 700 30 0 19K 500 400 0 30 20 105K Khazad'ur 55 93% 36K 1.1K 100 30 0 7.5K 50 1.9K 0 10 7 10KBTB Tournament Game 4
was won by Doorbell, Eureka, Barsoom, and children. Here is the final
power report:sects eff civ mil shell gun pet iron dust oil pln ship unit money Doorbell 100 96% 75K 2.0K 1.6K 120 900 12K 450 1.9K 8 30 60 20K Eureka 70 98% 49K 2.1K 1.8K 75 0 13K 200 7.2K 0 50 40 437 Barsoom 75 98% 50K 1.7K 1.6K 140 0 6.7K 250 1.4K 0 20 30 5.0K children 50 100% 38K 900 750 85 0 6.8K 250 2.8K 0 30 10 10KDr. Pepper Weekend Madness
was won by Aurora:sects eff civ mil shell gun pet iron dust oil pln ship unit money Aurora 150 93% 100K 3.9K 2.6K 425 1.2K 28K 2.0K 3.0K 7 30 20 40K Goshen 25 90% 16K 800 150 25 300 6.2K 10 800 0 4 3 15K Uber_Reic 40 52% 14K 100 20 4 0 1.9K 1.4K 0 0 4 0 5.0K Howard 20 99% 11K 150 0 0 0 1.7K 800 1.3K 0 0 0 3.4K
If you have any additions/corrections/changes/feedback to the information in this post, please email me at children@empire.net.
Ken Stevens a.k.a. Buster, ruler of children
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