Game version 0.95.124 released

Notable changes:

• Tanks now try to get closer to their targets in ground battles. If you give them an explicit attack order, they will approach the target, fire one round, then move one cell closer if possible. If you give a move or stop order, they go into a form of guard mode and won't try to get closer to their target (i.e., they will hold formation). In attack-move this behavior is not enabled. You can disable this in the open-ig-config.xml under aiGroundAttackGetCloser.
• Showing the bar and diplomacy room is now dependent on the walks.xml definition of the current level's ship design, not the level number. In addition, diplomacy was moved to the level 5 ship.
• Aliens have now a separate police station (in the data files) which is cheaper and provides morale boost. This should improve their numbers and economy.
• Campaign editor improvements. You can now create a copy of the existing campaign and adjust a few properties. However, I suggest using the copy feature only and make changes by the old fashioned  XML editing.
• Aliens now produce their special units.
• Fixed AI static defense planning for races who don't have banks and trader spaceports.
• Aliens are now able to colonize any number of planets after 2 weeks into rank 4.

Launcher version 0.42 released

Added a quick verification step to check the SHA1 of the jar and upgrade files since sometimes I don't update the version number or file date on the project page. This may happen if a critical bug is discovered right after a release, but only few downloads happened till then.

Note to modders that this new launcher behavior might constantly complain about incorrectness if you modified the main open-ig-upgrade-XYZ.zip file.

Game version 0.95.123 released

Notable changes:

• Fixed case when mission objectives were not properly triggered when the computer audio notification was turned off [Issue #705].
• The planet management AI now won't produce Orbital Factory if there is none in the empire [Issue #705].
• Modified the save system to use XML+GZIP instead of plaintext XML. Existing saves will be automatically converted to the new format.
• Population loss on planets where the owner's race is different from the population race is now 3 times as fast.

Game version 0.95.122 released

Notable changes:

• Fixed fleet and shield regeneration not working properly.
• Fixed some UI errors in case of main menu language change (CTRL+1...CTRL+5)
• Modified skirmish initial planet count minimum to 1 to avoid crashes [Issue #705] due zero total lab required. I will extend the skirmish to handle 0 initial planets later on where the player's fleet is just deployed somewhere and may colonize a planet he/she wishes at start.

Game version 0.95.121 released

Notable changes:

• During spacewar, switching to chat on one panel while the other already shows chat will switch that chat panel to something else. [Issue #543]
• Fixed chat when shooting at traders in the middle of a peaceful conversation not switching to flee text. [Issue #660, Issue #546, Issue #696]. (Luckily, it was just a missing case in the chat def)
• Changed tank speeds, light tanks go faster and each newer tank gets slower. [Issue #589]
• Fixed vehicle movement getting interrupted at each cell if the movement is linear (i.e., if the current target can be reached under 0.5 step, the remaining 0.5 worth of movement is deferred till the next step).
• Changed the AI to build as many military spaceports as the player can afford with 50% money excess relative to the spaceport cost and autobuild limit. The equation is: spaceport_count = money / (spaceport_cost * 1.5 + autobuild_limit) + 1  [Issue #509]
• You can make alliance with the Dargslan if you are extremely lucky. The war threshold has been lovered to 90. [Issue #561]
• Changed vehicle firepower and HP. [Issue #574]
• Added nicknames to ships [Issue #572]. These nicknames are listed in the players.xml file for each player. The nicknames/nickname entries reference a label.
• Ships now register kill counts and kill values. Kill counts are visible in the ship information subpanel during spacewar, in the hp/dps box of an individual ship in equipment, and the total kills in the equipment screen totals area.
• Moved the Sell button on the equipment screen further to the left to avoid accidental sell instead of remove. [Issue #621]
• Added difficulty dependent ECM vs Anti-ECM hit probabilities along with probabilities that the scrambled rocket will target the same fleet it was fired from. (Note that the battle.xml structure changed, see battle.xsd for details). [Issue #607]
• Fixed incorrect Hungarian subtitle. [Issue #634]
• Added options to hide various panels on the starmap screen. [Issue #641]
• Updated the Free Play version of the main campaign:
• enabled Colony Ships for all parties
• removed colonization limits from all parties
• the human player now starts with a fleet with all ships and vehicles granted in the original through levels 1-5 (including Thorin).
• Fixed missing parameters from diplomacy in Russian translation [Issue #704]
• Added Orbital Factory as available tech to all non-human races in the Main campaign.
• Added the ability to colonize a planet by clicking on the Colonize button, now shown when the planet is suitable (known to be empty). The AI assistance will produce military spaceport, orbital factory and the colony ships if necessary, deploys into new fleets and sends them to the targets. [Issue #296]
• A few missing French button graphics added.
• French graphics cleanup.

Game version 0.95.120 released

Notable changes:

• Added attack-move to ground battles. In classic mode, hold CTRL and click on the ground. In modern mode, hold CTRL+SHIFT. If the command debug is enabled via CTRL+C, the attack-move paths are shown in red.
• Fixed subtitle for Wife #1 message. Fixed title and subtitle for escort mission messages. [Issue #674]
• Updated skirmish to accept radically different galaxy and technology models. [Issue #690]
• Reduced frequency of thunder audio effects.

Game version 0.95.119 released

Notable changes:

• Improved pathfinding performance for larger battles and when selecting buildings as targets. [Issue #702]
• Modified AI to attack its enemies even before it finishes the galaxy exploration.

Game version 0.95.118 released

Notable changes:

• Factories now show their production output in the Building Info panel. [Issue #699]
• Equipment management did not work properly [Issue #700]. Several issues were identified and fixed:
• If the reequip tanks or rockets were selected, these were constantly re-equipped, and didn't let the user change the values. Now, these items will be reequipped only once the fleet moves into range of a planet with military spaceport.
• Removing battleships and/or vehicle storage units left the vehicles in the fleet. Now, the excess vehicles are moved back into the inventory.
• Global unit limits (3, 25, 30) were still hardcoded at some locations. (The definition.xml contains the option to change various limits.)

Trading screen concept

Here is the plan for the upcoming Trading screen.

The player can filter the available item list via the category buttons (toggleable). Selecting a row will bring up the item details onto the right part. Apart from the image and description, the list of equipment types and quantities are listed. The player can instantly buy items by clicking on the Buy buttons.

Due to the way the inventory works in Open-IG, equippable ships and stations won't be added to the inventory but deployed near the specified planet. If the target planet is full of stations, the purchase is rejected with a warning. The "deliver to" choicebox will be populated with all the player's planets or just the ones with military spaceport (?). Buying fighters and tanks will be deployed onto the target planet if the capacities permit (excess will go into the global inventory), or can be sent into the inventory directly with "deliver to". Buying other weapons and equipment will always go to the global inventory.

Buying units affects their market price, which is updated frequently. To buy multiple units with the same price, the game should be paused.

Launcher 0.41 released

Notable changes:

Fixed issues with the working directory of the Launcher and Game. Linux usually sets the working directory to the user home instead of the directory where the actual program was run from.

The fix unfortunately won't work by itself, you should delete the open-ig-launcher.jar, open-ig-launcher-config.xml and open-ig-update.xml from the home directory. Then, go to the install directory via the Terminal and run the Launcher:

java -jar open-ig-launcher.jar

Chose the Update Launcher button or Other > Repair Launcher option from the menu.

Related issues: Issue #682, Issue #694

Game version 0.95.117 released

Notable changes:

• Balance: reduced Garthog force strength on Mission 5: Escort Admiral Tullen for easy and normal players. [Issue #691]
• Admiral Tullen's battleship should now show up with 100% health, although its hitpoints are far less than the regular Thorin.
• Added Spy Center graphics and is buildable, although not doing anything and AI is ignoring it.