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Dear Jan-Olof,

Thanks for due diligence. I wonder whether you'd like to send me the patches
once you're done, or just join the GE development team at SourceForge.

Best regards.

Alexander

Greetings all you great coders !!!

Since Alexanders mail about a new game forming got me really really eager to play some I tried to compile up explorer 2.10 on a server tu run a small test-game... To kind of warm up...

However, I discovered that since I use a more recent compiler than last time, the game is not inclined to compile at all. The problem can be easily solved by just go back to older gcc and g++, but I suppose even better would be a small "upgrade" of the code.

Basic problem sems to be that strstream is used, not sstream.
I suppose it would work (I managed to comple BlindMailer.cpp) if we include sstream instead and change the references to be stringstream instead of strstream.

However to have a binary compile is not the same as to have it done correctly, aand I think someone with better knowledge of the code should evaluate the implications and using str(NewString) instead of constructing a new stringstream, copying it over the old one, and destroying the temporary. 
As well as checking if this parts should be #ifdef:ed with somekind of suitable _HAS_XXXX in case the new construct would be incompatible with older compilers.

My ugly-hack sure does't make any checks, and I still have some files to "fix" before I have managed to compile the entire package to see if it works or dumps a core in my lap.

Best regards

/Jan-Olof Flink, galaxy veteran, c-programmer, C-noob

Hi everybody,

I'm pleased to announce official release of the Galaxy Explorer version 2.10.
You shoiuld be able to download the source archive from the Galaxy Explorer
Source Forge site (http://sourceforge.net/projects/explorer) right away.

This game engine will be used for the upcoming highlander game of Thermopylae.
All judges are encouraged to move on to this version of the engine, too. Note
that due to the introduction of the blind game support and win criteria
control, the database format was changed in the usual upward-compatible manner.
Details can be found in the Files section of the Galaxy Explorer discussion
list (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/galaxy_explorer).

Following is a pertinent excerpt from the HISTORY file.

This is a major update of the Galaxy Explorer suite. The following has been
added and changed:

- One can elect to ignore any, both, or none of the winning criteria now using
the EditDB utility.

- In addition to the classic games, one can run blind games where the galaxy
size, the number of planets and races won't be revealed to the players, and
the initial race names will be scrambled to make guessing harder still.

- A new utility, MapChk, was created to allow judges assess the quality of
a map without actually seeing it, watch the increase of player visibility
horizon, etc.

- The command O DEFAULT was brought back in order: it would actually forget
to change player's default posture upon interpreting input (thanks to Ian
Kelly for the bug report).

- File streams were fixed to allow them to work with the newest GNU libraries
that are somewhat stricter about the stream flags.

- The template .forward file got the required double quotes around the
MailProcessor invocation sequence.

- All main programs finally started to use the return statement instead of the
exit() call.

A couple of minor bugs was fixed in the process as well.

Best regards.

Alexander

Hi everybody,

I finally solved the remaining blind race name generation issue. I will
update the CVS, promote Galaxy Explorer 2.10 beta2 to the official 2.10
status, and upload the final source distribution to the Source Forge as soon
as my ISP comes back to its senses.

Best regards.

Alexander

Hi everybody,

Explorer 2.10 is in beta2 phase now. I added support for completely blind
games (of the kind Marathon was and Thermopylae is going to be). Also added
was the possibility to ignore any, both, or none of the winning criteria
(i.e., home world dominance and production dominance). This caused
incremental game database format changes, so that the format specification
was updated accordingly in the Explorer discussion Files area.

There's some polishing of the code to be done yet, so that I'd suggest to
wait until 2.10 is released officially before trying it for real games.
Testing this stuff is OK. Note that upon creating a blind game you'll have
to set the player names to some scrambled values in the EditDB utility. Now
all are called Player_00 for simplicity, which of course is bad for blind
mailer, encounter reporting, etc.

The details of the care and feeding of the new features are in the recently
updated Judge manual at my Explorer site,
http://home.foni.net/~supalov/explorer/judge , in the sections devoted to
the game creation and editing.

Best regards.

Alexander

Hi everybody,

Galaxy Exprorer enters 2.10 beta phase. Enclosed is a pertinent excerpt from
the HISTORY file (note that some of the changes were announced in 2.9.1 beta
that is eclipsed by the current beta release).

This is an incremental improvement release that still adds new
interpretation
of certain game database fields. The following was changed:

- The command O DEFAULT was brought back in order: it would actually forget
to change player's default posture upon interpreting input (thanks to Ian
Kelly for the bug report).

- Extended report format has got an ability to skip certain optional output
depending on the bit setting of the _GextendedReport flag. Note that this
setting naturally affects the XML report as well.

- Likewise, blind player and planet naming schemes were introduced by
tweaking
the interpretation of the _GlongPlanetNames flag and its transformation into
_GnamingScheme value.

- Lots of old compilation flags were rearranged accordingly.

- A new utility, MapChk, was created to allow judges assess the quality of
a map without actually seeing it.

- File streams were fixed to allow them to work with the newest GNU
libraries
that are somewhat stricter about the stream flags.

- The template .forward file got the required double quotes around the
MailProcessor invocation sequence.

- All main programs finally started to use the return statement instead of
the
exit() call.

A couple of minor bugs was fixed in the process as well.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome. Depending on the reaction to the
suggestion of the control over the winning criteria expressed in the earlier
Thermopylae announcement, I may add an extra field to the database in the
run-up to the full 2.10 release.

Best regards.

Alexander

Hi everybody,

Version 2.9.1 of the Galaxy Explorer entered beta tonight. The changes are
mostly technical and reflect the experience of porting the program to a
relatively fresh Linux box with RedHat 8.0 and respective gcc and libraries
(newedorf.net, that is).

The only big addition is the utility MapChk that, when complete, will allow
the Judge to
assess the quality of the map without having to look at it. Currently,
interhome distances are printed out and minima are indicated.

This engine will be used for running the game of Marathon, the initial
reports for which are due tomorrow.

Best regards.

Alexander

Hi everybody,

If you want to join the pending Galaxy Explorer game Marathon, you've got
precious little time to do so: there's only a couple of free slots left, and
the game is about to commence.

This is your absolutely very last chance to wake up to the light of
merciless distant stars. Write me up at su...@fo..., and I'll see what
I can do for you. Please put the word Marathon into the subject line to
ensure quick response.

Best regards.

Alexander

Hi!

> WorldBase -> UnknownWorld
>                   -> ScoutedWorld -> Asteroid
>                                                -> OwnedWorld
>
> in which properties like size, resources and stockpile levels are only
> introduced when they are known, or should there be a single
> "uberworld" class in which unknown properties are flagged with a
> suitable value (e.g. size = -1).

Not that I felt like guru, but anyway.

There's no single most appropriate way of representing entities in a
program. What is most suitable in your case depends on what you're going to
achieve and at what cost.

Let me give an example. If you just want to count creatures in the street,
you don't really have to introduce any classes at all. If you want them to
produce corresponding noises when asked to, you'll be probably better off
with a class Creature that stores a respective sound clip and knows how to
play it. But if they also are to catch mice and love milk, or bark at cats
and prefer bones for breakfast, you're well advised to have Cat and Dog as
full blown classes.

Also note that back in GE there are in fact two classes of world objects.
The first - the worlds as they really are - would be more suitable for a
preprocessor (like a map generator). The second - the worlds as they are
observed by the players - would be needed by a typical postprocessor (turn
viewer, report reader, etc.).

Finally, GE uses the "ueberworld" approach internally as far as the worlds
observed by the players are concerned. The classification into Worlds,
someone's Worlds, and Other Worlds, as well as the details of the data
output in each case, is a matter of presentation which results from a series
of rather involved conditionals.

Best regards.

Alexander

Hi!

> I notice that system.cpp includes paths for things like mv, touch
> and the like.  I appreciate it's trivial to modify these paths, but is the
> path actually required?  surely these commands are in peoples paths
> anyway.

No, this cannot be taken for granted. On some systems, files started by the
.forward run with empty or very rudimentary paths, which have in fact lead
to engine failures in the past. One can set the PATH there, of course, but
this looks wrong anyway (see below).

> I only point it out as for example RedHat 7.3 puts touch in /sbin
> rather than /bin

This stuff is on my todo list, together with the output and logging modules.
In fact, most of the file management has to be reformulated to eliminate the
dependency on the system() calls spread rather liberally across the code.

> Obviously this files shows some sign of work on a windows
> system - any development on that front?

None at the moment. Volunteers?

Best regards.

Alexander

Alexander,

	I notice that system.cpp includes paths for things like mv, touch 
and the like.  I appreciate it's trivial to modify these paths, but is the 
path actually required?  surely these commands are in peoples paths 
anyway.

	I only point it out as for example RedHat 7.3 puts touch in /sbin 
rather than /bin

	Obviously this files shows some sign of work on a windows 
system - any development on that front?

-Michael

Following the huge effot in terms of time required to finish Pulsar I've 
finally decided it's time to do some work and have started on a set of 
tools, to make explorer empires a bit easier to run and manage.  I 
hope eventually to offer similar functionality to GalaxyChart, but am 
some way of that yet.

The first tool will be a turn reader, designed to expose an explorer 
turn through a familiar document object model (DOM) regardless of 
it's source, e.g. text, XML or database.  This will then form the basis 
of an IO engine for any viewer - and allow interchange between 
these data sources.  Most sections of the report are fairly easy to 
decide upon an interface for and the XML spec provides a good 
guideline, however planets/worlds provide me with a few headaches.

Should worlds be represended in a class heirarchy...

e.g.

WorldBase -> UnknownWorld
                  -> ScoutedWorld -> Asteroid
                                               -> OwnedWorld

in which properties like size, resources and stockpile levels are only 
introduced when they are known, or should there be a single 
"uberworld" class in which unknown properties are flagged with a 
suitable value (e.g. size = -1).  As best I can understand GalaxyChart 
goes for the latter aproach - is it the best one or just the simplest?  
Any OO guru's out there with any opinions?

-Michael

Hi everybody,

I've just uploaded the Galaxy Explorer version 2.9 to the Source Forge. All Judges 
considering to start new games are advised to do so using this new version of the 
engine. Old installations may have to be checked for the necessity of bug fixes, 
especially in the case of activated cargo at asteroids extension.

Here's a pertinent excerpt from the change log:

Galaxy Explorer has XML report and forecast output now. The format
is described in the GE XML specs version 1.4. It must be noted that
the amount of information provided by an XML report exactly corresponds
to that provided by the extended textual report.

The textual report format had to be rearranged in the options part to match
the order of the galaxy-game-turn-race specific settings that have
different life spans. The textual report format is described in the format
specs version 1.6.

The following are the changes made to the code:

- Most important of all, this version of the engine uses an incrementally
modified database format version 1.2 described elsewhere.

- All pertinent output methods were extended to handle the XML as well as
textual output generation.

- The EditDB has got an extra control to toggle the state of race's output
formatting (text or XML).

- New commands "O FORMAT TEXT" and "O FORMAT XML" were introduced to allow
players control the format of the reports and forecasts returned to them
by the engine. Note that the effect of these commands is felt immediately.
For example, a forecast of orders that contain one of these commands will
already be returned in the indicated format.

- The N, C, Y, and Z commands have got O equivalents:

        O WORLDNAME oldWorldName newWorldName
        O RACENAME newRaceName
        O PASSWORD newPassword
        O ADDRESS "newAddress"

Apart from this, a couple of nasty bugs of version 2.8.3 was fixed:

- Incorrect partial bombing indication was reversed.

- One syntactically incorrect asteroid inquiry was fixed: note that this
might lead to a compilation or runtime engine fault in version 2.8.3.

- Cargo at asteroids lost its "hypervisibility" - the state of the stockpiles
on a visited asteroid would be updated and remain visible throughout the game
even if no player's ships were present there anymore.

- The Makefile was changed to produce the new style engine configuration
(global mail, partial bombing, and extended report on) by default.

- All main programs were finally declared int to make the ANSI C minded C++
compilers happy.

I've also moved the XML format specification from the RFC into the specifications 
section of the Files area of this list to reflect the recent change in its status.

Best regards.

Alexander

Dear Michael,

>The most pressing however would be Goto world and goto group. 

I think the former can be accomplished now in one of the small text entry fields 
placed atop the main screen. The latter would indeed be most welcome once in a 
while (especially when a crazy group is heading south).

Best regards.

Alexander

 Dear Aaron,
> 
> I'd like to suggest a couple of modifications to the GalaxyChart.

I've got a bucket load :-)

The most pressing however would be Goto world and goto group. 

-Michael

Dear Aaron,

I'd like to suggest a couple of modifications to the GalaxyChart.

1. In the ship developer tool, it would be nice to have buttons setting the ship 
building tech (the upper line in the upper left corner) to all ones, and another one 
setting it to a half of the current tech.

It would also be nice to have a button copying the ship building tech into the 
current tech (second line over there), to make update cost calculation a little less 
cumbersome.

2. In the view options popup, it would be nice to have the zoom controls 
replicated. I often find myself changing the zoom level first (one screen update) 
and then tweaking some view options next (another screen update). I think we 
could optimize this bit of the GUI somewhat, and perhaps accidentally restore the 
button alignment thanks to adding a couple of new elements.

3. Is it possible to switch those cute color spheres off by default? I mean, I like 
them once i a while, but being overconservative, usually prefer to plot my 
treacherous plans using the classic format.

Best regards.

Alexander

Dear Michael,

>I'm not sure how the explorer web pages are managed arranged etc. 
>but is there any way that they can be added to the CVS as a module?  
>If so it would enable a history of the page to be maintained, multiple 
>people to work on the site (allowing corrections etc.) without fear of 
>stepping on other peoples toes.

The master copy of the main Explorer pages lives on my home PC and I upload it 
once in a while. Tthe next update is scheduled for this weekend, by the way - I see 
that the Academy data is there (thanks, Frank).

I would prefer to retain the editorial oversight over the main project pages. I hope 
that my overconservative attitude doesn't frighten off anybody who'd like to 
comment on them.

Just tell me what you find necessary to change or, better still, write up what you 
consider missing, and I'll be glad to fit the stuff into the framework at the earliest 
possible moment.

Most sorely missing is a full edition of the Galaxy Explorer rules. Unfortunately, I 
don't have time for such a vast re-edit. Volunteers?

>I think we should have a link from the Explorer home page to the 
>sourceforge project page.

We do have a reference to the developer mailing at the bottom of the introduction 
page, and I'm sure to have embedded some links elsewhere. You're right - this 
and also the Tools subpage have to be changed. I'll do this during the pending 
update.

>On the Notes -> Explorer Map page the map symbols still need to 
>include a definition of "o"

Right. I plan to add a page describing the international trade extension as well, 
and perhaps a couple of links - if not outright copies - of the current specs for the 
technically minded visitors.

Best regards.

Alexander

P.S. I'm going to address your ealier mail regarding "?" controvency later today.

I'm not sure how the explorer web pages are managed arranged etc. 
but is there any way that they can be added to the CVS as a module?  
If so it would enable a history of the page to be maintained, multiple 
people to work on the site (allowing corrections etc.) without fear of 
stepping on other peoples toes.

I think we should have a link from the Explorer home page to the 
sourceforge project page.

On the Notes -> Explorer Map page the map symbols still need to 
include a definition of "o"

-Michael

Hi everybody!

I've just moved the latest GE 2.9 into beta phase.

Although there are some bits that would make a hardened C++ expert cry, it 
works just fine. I expect the code to become a stable and be put up for download 
within days from now. This engine will be used for running the upcoming Crescent 
team game. I would advise the prospective Judges to consider using this new 
version for their new games as well, for the following exciting reasons.

Galaxy Explorer has XML report and forecast output now. The format is described 
in the GE XML specs version 1.3. It must be noted that the amount of information 
provided by an XML report exactly corresponds to that provided by the extended 
textual report.

The textual report format had to be rearranged in the options part to match the 
order of the galaxy-game-turn-race specific settings that have different life spans. 
The textual report format is described in the format specs version 1.5.

The following are the changes made to the code:

- Most important of all, this version of the engine uses an incrementally modified 
database format version 1.3 described elsewhere.

- All pertinent output methods were extended to handle the XML as well as textual 
output generation.

- The EditDB has got an extra control to toggle the state of race's output 
formatting (text or XML).

- New commands "O FORMAT TEXT" and "O FORMAT XML" were introduced to allow
players control the format of the reports and forecasts returned to them by the 
engine. Note that the effect of these commands is felt immediately. For example, a 
forecast of orders that contain one of these commands will already be returned in 
the indicated format.

- The N, C, Y, and Z commands have got O equivalents:

        O WORLDNAME oldWorldName newWorldName
        O RACENAME newRaceName
        O PASSWORD newPassword
        O ADDRESS "newAddress"

Apart from this, a couple of nasty bugs of version 2.8.3 was fixed:

- Incorrect partial bombing indication was reversed.

- One syntactically incorrect asteroid inquiry was fixed: note that this might lead to 
a compilation or runtime engine fault in version 2.8.3.

- The "?" sign that means that a planet is inhabited but not known by whom may 
be output now only in the "Other Worlds" section.

- Cargo at asteroids lost its "hypervisibility" - the state of the stockpiles on a 
visited asteroid would be updated and remain visible throughout the game even if 
no player's ships were present there anymore.

- The Makefile was changed to produce the new style engine configuration (global 
mail, partial bombing, and extended report all on) by default.

- All main programs were finally declared int to make the ANSI C minded C++ 
compilers happy.

Best regards.

Alexander

Hi everybody,

I've just checked the very preliminary 2.9 alpha into the CVS repository
under the Forge, just to make sure that the changes I've made so far are
saved not only at mine.

Here's the list of changes:

- Added XML output
- Incrementally updated database format to version 1.3
- Added format control to the EditDB race submenu
- Added O FORMAT command
- Added O equivalents for the N, C, Y, and Z commands
- Reversed incorrect partial bombing indication
- Fixed one syntactically incorrect asteroid inquiry
- Restricted the "?" sign output to the "Other Worlds" section
- Eliminated "hypervisibility" of cargo at asteroids
- Changed the Makefile to produce the traditional GE configuration

Best regards.

Alexander

Hi everybody,

Just in case it may be useful for testing the viewers, I've got a full
backup of a test game (which I played against myself for five turns and won
hands down). It has, I hope, everything that GE has to offer in both XML and
extended textual formats.

The archive is about 45 KB packed. If you need it, just let me know, and
I'll put it up at GE Yahoo list or send directly to the desired address.

Best regards.

Alexander

Hi everybody,

I've just uploaded new versions of the GE XML and text report format specs to the 
Files area of the GE list at Yahoo.

The former reflects the state of the XML output module as implemented by GE 
version 2.9 alpha that I'm testing currently at home. The latter was necessary to 
bring the text report format in line with the XML stuff, and simultaneously correct 
some old errors.

Please don't worry: the "new" textual report format is understood by the Galaxy 
Chart, and nothing substantial was added or removed. It was only a minor 
rearrangement and a couple of clarifications. Most notably, the "?" sign that shows 
that a planet is inhabited by somebody was restricted to the "Other Worlds" 
section. Many thanks to Michael for having brought this bug to my attention a 
couple of days ago.

Best regards.

Alexander

On Thu, Apr 17, 2003 at 03:08:41PM +0200, su...@fo... wrote:
> Dear Kenneth,

> Thanks a lot for this clarification. Do you or one of your friends
> happen to know when the interceptors lock upon their targets, and
> when and in which order they are dispatched? We're contemplating
> some changes to the GE intercept mechanism - but not the target
> definition, which is markedly different from NG's and Blind's ones -
> so I'm curious as to how this works in other engines. I do have an
> older NG code at home for reference, of course, but it would be nice
> to get kickstarted.

I just took a look at the code. The intercept phase happens between
fleet creation and the move phase.

There is also a comment in the code that the intercept phase is buggy
and semi-random things might happen if there's a lot of movement
happening.=20

--=20
/~\ The ASCII        Ken Weinert   mc...@qu...=20
\ / Ribbon Campaign  303-452-6603 (V) 303-705-4258 (F)
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rg/
/ \ Email!           1D87 3720 BB77 4489 A928  79D6 F8EC DD76 9274 F1CE
Onions don't cause heartburn; they only make it interesting - Solomon Short

Hi everybody,

I've just uploaded the GE DTD XML specs 1.2 to the Files area of the GE
Yahoo list. Please take a look and tell me whether you like it: I'm diving
into coding any time now.

And yes, I know that the message and receipt elements are not properly
defined yet: this bit will have to wait until I've got the rest of the
format tested by practice.

All constructive feedback will be highly appreciated.

Best regards.

Alexander

At 09:15 AM 4/17/2003 -0500, Chris Shaffer wrote:
>>By the way ot it, I'm a bit curious about NG intercept: it seems to 
>>follow only ships
>>that depart from the target planet. In GE all ships (bar player's own) 
>>would be
>>considered, and, roughly speaking, if the biggest mass stayed put, the 
>>interceptor
>>would fly to it.
>>
>>Is NG different from the classics and Blind here?
>
>Yes, this is the case.  NG only considers ships that depart the world.  If 
>mass 800 ships are at a world, and the only ship that departs is a mass 1 
>probe, the interceptors will follow the probe.  I had thought this was the 
>case in Blind also, but I could be wrong -- it's been a long time since I 
>played Blind Galaxy.

p.s. I'm reasonably sure that NG follows all groups - i.e. it does not 
disregard the owning player's groups.

-----
If builders build buildings the way programmers write
programs, the first woodpecker that came along would
destroy civilization.
Chris Shaffer     Th...@bs...     http://www.gesserit.net/chris/

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