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CariElf
CariElf
Join Date 08/2001
+68 sdemployee

Not your normal dev journal

Please note that this developer has had too much sugar today

July 29, 2005 5:10:49 PM from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
When last we met our intrepid explorer, er, developer, she was tracking down crashes and memory that was modified after it was deleted. Having slain all the bugs in her path, our heroine has since moved on to more exciting work, development of the fabled Fleet Combat Window.

It began as many adventures begin; that is to say, it was pretty mundane. (You can’t really make setting up string fields and the like sound exciting.) The excitement begins when heroine began working on main feature of the screen, the brand new (and shiny) Scene View Window. The Scene View Window is the child of the Model View Window, which you will be familiar with from the Ship Design Screen and numerous other locations in our esteemed beta. The Model View Window, however, is meant to display only one model. The Scene View Window will allow any number of models, and will show scripted scenes. For the Fleet Combat Window, this means that we will actually be able to watch the fleets battling it out! Jesse Brindle, the newest addition to the Gal Civ team, will work on the code to setup the battle script. We do not yet know if we will see this Scene View Window used in other places, or if the modding community will be able to make use of it.

Having finished her part (at least for now) on the Fleet Combat Window, our industrious developer went on to get the new Research Complete Screen up and running. Though missing necessary graphics, the screen is currently functional. As this screen will be familiar to anyone who has played Galactic Civilizations, there is little of interest to note. However, before starting work on this screen, our heroine made an important discovery: it is possible to add your own custom files to the new item menus in Visual Studio. Net 2003. Since all of GalCiv2’s screens start from a template file, our heroine added the files to appropriate folders, modified the relevant vsdir files, and voila! The templates for creating screens are now part of the new item menus. This will save her the trouble of always needing to copy and rename the files from the source directory.

This concludes our adventure for this week. Tune in next week when our heroine tries to get starbases to animate! Until then, my friends, adieu.

Disclaimer: No, I've not flipped or gotten a big head. I just decided to write my dev journal like this on a whim, no doubt inspired by the amount of sugar and caffeine I've had today. Or maybe just because it's Friday.
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CariElf
Evil Roy
Join Date 05/2003
+8
Reply #1 July 29, 2005 9:30:06 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
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CariElf
Mike C
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #2 July 30, 2005 7:11:31 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
The fleet info is interesting...

What do you mean by watching fleets battling it out? MOO2 on Auto? Are we talking hands off tactical combat? Or will it just be some ships on each side, fire at something in turn.... kinda like the old fashoned war games... (or new like superpower 2 or grisby's world at war) .

Thanks for the info
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CariElf
Star Ranger
Join Date 12/2002
+6
Reply #3 July 31, 2005 3:11:19 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I love the idea - even if it is only automatic - its exciting!
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CariElf
Ugleb
Join Date 09/2003
+1
Reply #4 July 31, 2005 3:38:09 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
The Scene View Window will allow any number of models, and will show scripted scenes. For the Fleet Combat Window, this means that we will actually be able to watch the fleets battling it out! Jesse Brindle, the newest addition to the Gal Civ team, will work on the code to setup the battle script.


That suggests "MOO2 on auto" to me, like Mike C says. It sounds like the battle will number crunch the result and show us the fleets playing out the shooting and deaths. It sounds like a nice mid way point between behind the scenes combat like we had in GC1 and a MOO2 style sub-game. Its automated resolution but you see it play out rather than just seeing a stack of ships go 'pop'. Can't wait to see it.
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CariElf
CariElf
Join Date 08/2001
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Reply #5 August 1, 2005 9:51:50 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Yep, before setting up the scene, the game will know which ships take damage and/or die, etc. Jesse's code will go through and determine the position of the ships in the battle, the order they fire, etc. and play through the battle. Jesse already has the normal ship battles looking really cool, so I can hardly wait to see what he does with the Scene View Window.
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CariElf
Zoomba
Join Date 11/2002
+114
Reply #6 August 1, 2005 10:14:11 AM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Maybe someone could do a video capture of a battle in testing currently? It would certainly make for a great teaser bit
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CariElf
Mike C
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #7 August 1, 2005 3:07:08 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
So will weapons and such look different from each other? It sounds like the ships won't be moving....
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CariElf
CariElf
Join Date 08/2001
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Reply #8 August 2, 2005 9:21:14 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
The weapons will look different. Beam weapons will look like beam weapons, and mini-balls will look like mini-balls, etc. As you research better beam weapons, the graphics will change to reflect that.

Also, I did not say that they wouldn't move.
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Mike C
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #9 August 2, 2005 2:40:53 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
True... you did not say much Any idea how big fleet battles can get?
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CariElf
Ugleb
Join Date 09/2003
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Reply #10 August 3, 2005 9:22:35 AM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Also, I did not say that they wouldn't move.


I didn't want to get my hopes up. Can't wait for a preview!
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CariElf
CariElf
Join Date 08/2001
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Reply #11 August 4, 2005 9:30:52 AM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums

Logistics will cap the fleet size, but I don't know how big that cap will be yet.  I believe it will be no larger than 100 per fleet.  However, based on logistics and maintenance, your fleets may not get to be that size.

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CariElf
Mike C
Join Date 02/2003
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Reply #12 August 4, 2005 2:48:03 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Soooooo, every ship will be shown on the screen?
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CariElf
Glavius
Join Date 03/2004
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Reply #13 August 13, 2005 7:57:17 AM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Mark my words when the final game comes out ill build a fleet of 200+ ships and have them fight a battle... thats right 200 unarmed barely moving ships.
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CariElf
Lucky_Jack
Join Date 01/2002
+62
Reply #14 August 13, 2005 12:36:26 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
200 unarmed


????
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CariElf
Doomclown
Join Date 03/2003
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Reply #15 September 13, 2005 9:38:18 PM
from Stardock ForumsStardock Forums
I guess he wants the battle to last awhile.
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