Monday, January 18, 2010

A New Zero 0.78

Download: A New Zero 0.78

Version 0.78

Additions:
Random forests
OpenGL 1.1 compatible

Changes:
Increased cargo boat capacity to 10
Changed rearming

Fixes:
Fixed player ready bug
Fixed game restart bug
Fixed lag issues
Fixed research bug?
Fixed bloom rendered underwater
Fixed profiteer bug

Version 0.77

Additions:
Added Attack Plane
Added Missile Ship
Added flags to show island's team
Shows research points in research menu
Added player ready to restart game
Added starting cash option

Changes:
Increase island income for 2 island game
Increased Air-to-surface missile thrust
Lowered wing strength
Lowered bandwidth for missiles and bombs

Fixes:
Fixed bug with research and restarting
Fixed Esc sending chat message
Fixed fullscreen tab bug

50 comments:

Talisman said...

Love the blocks scattered around the entire map! and the new islands with the defence squares, its MUCH MUCH smoother now. Haven't really been able to dig into it but i will tomorrow.

Do you think you could let us in on what other vehicles and weapons you plan on adding in the future? if not i understand and dont let us rush you, take your time on the updates even though we want them as soon as possible hehe.

Tyga said...

NOOOOO!!!! AS soon as i start to reformat, it comes! NOOO! i guess i can wait 3 more hours... :(

( im on my ps3 right now)

Ray said...

I still wish I could play single player with my own team bots, again. Is this feature coming back?

Ray said...

Also, who the Hell is Roy Sawyers?

Skiv said...

im wondering that too ;d

Sam O said...

Alex is on Fire!

Tyga said...

ok well i got to download it, its just awsome ( waaaay better then .74)

but why can't i fight along side bots, against bots?

DeKapral said...

I can't seem to find the player banner on the giant missile boat... Am I blind or is it not there? Considering it's size the banner should take up a lot of the boat's deck.

An option to build better, bigger defences alongside normal building would be great. I noticed when defences are built theyre called AAA, could there be two types of defences? Anti-Air and Anti-Boat?

One more thing, the attack plane feels really heavy, a lot heavier than the bomber. I think it should feel lighter then the bomber if anything, maybe the bomber is too light and easy to fly?

Tyga said...

yes, i also felt the attack plane was a lot heavier then the bomber

i also think the bomber should be one of the most expensive vehicle to research, and be able to carry a lot more bombs then just the 4 or the 1, i think it should at least hold 8 and be able to rapidly drop them from the cargo

also, for the fighter plane, i think it should have like heat-seeking missiles.. i think that would be fantastic

Unknown said...

I really don't think the bomber needs more bombs.

A good pilot can easily destroy any building in one pass, and often a single defence position on the way past too.

Ray said...

I'm having trouble with timeouts in the middle of play. The game freezes, but I can still get to the menu and disconnect without having to close the program.

Talisman said...

The bomber does not need more bombs, however if alex decides to make a Huge bomber/gunship that 2 people can control (one person controlling turrets other controlling bombs and flying?) then it could have way more bombs.

Also, the fighter should have 2 researchable 24kg missiles that home in on the nearest heat signature in the air like enemy planes, a direct hit from one of these would only be enough to blow off a wing, or if the missile hit the pilotbox it could knock the box off for an instant kill.

The fighters primary role is Air superiority right? well the ground attack plane has them beat with its long range cannon, i think having a low power explosive missile (or maybe one that doesent explode? just hits the target at a fast speed to try and knock of a wing of box) would make the fighter much more fun and balanced.

These would not be across the map instant kills though, they would be easy to evade if you do enough maneuvers but if you just fly in a straight line the misisles should be able to hit, and they should have a short range, then you could add research for a super long range explosive missile to attack bombers maybe?

Good luck on the next updates alex hope you add some of this.

Tyga said...

http://crypticsea.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-zero-074.html

sasquatch90210 said...

I'm finding that the peacemaker missiles really don't take off very well while moving or at a high angle. The missile tends to lazily take off and detonate roughly 50 meters away, thus "knocking my block off." Otherwise, I like the new changes.

I would really like to see the ability to fight along side bots, like the earlier versions (I'm with ya Tyga).

sasquatch90210 said...

*(and Ray)

Ray said...

I think that the Peacemaker needs to be slow and dangerous to use. It helps provide a little more balance to the upgraded weapons. How would it be if the goal of every match was for each team to rush to research the Peaceraper and skip defense and planning altogether?

Azbec-Azreal said...

Thank you so much for making the GL 1.1 version, Alex!

Azbec-Azreal said...

A couple of suggestions and ideas:
-Bots are overpowered, their aim is rediculously good making them i some sense overpowered.
-Each dock and runway needs lights to show where they are, yellow lights outilining the edges of the runway and docks for Condor, and blue for Eagle.
-Maybe a sort of suicide 'bluff' vehicle, like a cargo boat in the enemy colours that carries a payload and exploads after a certain time?

Tyga said...

hey i think that kamikaze should be an option, many times i have bombed the shit out of the capital, to the point that 1 more little bullet can hit the green thing, so i always just dive at it full speed crashing into it.

but it does nothing, i simply break apart on impact and no explosion, so exploding plane when you hit something at fast speed would be cool

DeKapral said...

I think that more variation of heighth in those random forests would be nice. For some really awesome dogfighting! Maybe bridges for the boats to hide under? like in the old version

Ray said...

@Tyga:

I also think that a kamikaze should produce at least a very small explosion. Maybe just enough to take out the core of a building and nothing else?

Skiv said...

I say NO to kamikaze planes. It would be waaay to easy to destroy the capitol.

Ray said...

It already is too easy to destroy capitals. Every game I play is a rush to research bombers and tallboys. If we want to make the game harder, the buildings or the defenses need to be tougher and maybe more varied.

DeKapral said...

As for varied defenses, i think a system which shoots fast moving projectiles at incoming missiles could work. Making a corner of an island completely missile proof would make it vulnerable to cannon attacks, making the players balance their base, or play on defense.

Maybe some way to fix your buildings would make destroying them harder. A concrete bomb that planes could drop onto the core of a building to cover it? same research time as for the tall boy should make it balanced. Ridiculous from a simulation point of view, but no repairs is also somewhat strange from the same perspective.

Ray said...

@DeKapral

What if we could just buy repairs the same way we buy buildings? You could hypothetically pay less money to repair a damaged building than wait for it to go down and put up a new one.

Talisman said...

Ray, thats a great idea, paying a fraction of the price to repair a damaged building over time.

Also Alex, in coop the bots dont know how to fly, and they dont use missile ship they get in planes but then just floor it into the water by their base.

And could you add the deathmatch mode? i've tried doing deathmatch with some editing of the config file and did it but theres no way to spawn, the mode is there it seems like a quick fix.

And here are some suggestions

Ability to choose the height of the generated blocks in between islands, maybe make bridges between some of them.

Ability to research a cannon or artillery building, it would be a building on your island that is player controlled, it wouldent do anything unless you go to TAB > ISLANDS > and click the building > enter building, then you could move a slow huge cannon around that would shoot very slowly but pretty big exploding cannon balls so you could defend your base better against incoming bombers maybe.

Make the Dedicated server box better, right now when i host a server its just a big black box, could you maybe make it so i can see a list of the players in the game, and see the text they type and be able to type using only the dedicated server box with out acctually being in the server, so i could say things like Server shutting down in 10 minutes ect ect with out starting it up and joining my own server.

More weapons and vehicles as well!

Cheers, and good luck on future versions.

Ray said...

And I'm still getting this freeze bug on really busy servers. The game freezes such that I can still access the menu and exit, but never recover and keep playing without reconnecting.

DeKapral said...

@Ray

To figure out how much money you'd have to pay to fix a fraction of the building you'd need to know how much of the building is missing/destroyed. I don't know how the game works and stuff, but that doesnt seem to me to be an easy thing to determine. If it was possible though, the repairs would have to be really slow, so that they dont stop the building from being destroyed by two tall boys. So the repairs would start only after the building has not been under attack for a certain amount of time. again, seems like a hard thing to determine.

But, if the game could know how much of the city buildings are missing, and reduce the money income proportionally to that, attacking the city buildings would actually make sense.


I'm in on the dedicated server window upgrade.

Unknown said...

One idea that I have had to build team-play and make it take more co-ordination to win, is to make it so that factories provide shielding for the capitol.

The Cap shield can take 2 56/64Kg hits before failing, and then 15-30 seconds before recovering.

So a tallboy hit on a cap will collapse the shield, but not damage the building, but if a bonber/missile ship hits it a couple of times first, then you can take advantage of the down time.

Or.. you can take out the factory first. Unless there's 2 factories then you have to take out both etc.

This would give teams an incentive to build more factories initially instead of just charging for labs/bombers, and it means that defensive play is more useful, you don't have to stop every bomber to survive, but you do need to try to take out some of the bombers.

Ray said...

The great thing about the graphics and limited theme is that they leave plenty to the imagination. Adding shields would limit this, somewhat.

Just make the buildings beefier or the defense turrets more threatening so that I can't take out three brand new capitols, each in one hit, with a single missile boat volley(or, at least, not again).

And then maybe think about a way to repair damage that is both simple and worthwhile.

Ray said...

Also, versus mode > coop. Whoever is running the servers should take notice.

Alex Austin said...

For the next update I will be working on improving the AI, and possibly having it so you can buy bots to use in versus mode.

I've been thinking about having a repair/remove option for the buildings, I should be able to have that for the next version.

I will probably add another defensive building type also.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to have it done, but probably not before the middle of next month.

coolguy1 said...

good to hear alex

sasquatch90210 said...

I have a thought...

What if buildings could be upgraded to be larger or denser (or both). Cannons could be added as well, it would just have to be expensive or slow or require research to construct.

It may be a solution to the reconstruction dilemma. It all depends on how Alex writes out the next version.

I await v. 0.79

Ray said...

Sounds good, Alex.

I await v. 1.00.

Unknown said...

Some Suggestions and Ideas-Please do not ignore. At least acknowledge this.- Perhaps there should be a vehicle-add-on feature (Such as having a section in the research tab dedicated to research-able vehicle add-ons that must be bought. For example, you have researched Night Vision, and it is automatically put on your vehicle- it only stays with you until you die. Add-ons may be equipped/unequipped at any time as long as the vehicle has not been destroyed. Example--TAB>Vehicle>Add-Ons>-Insert Add-On Here-)

STRUCTURE
Properties:
Name: Launch Pad


Buildable (Through purchase)

Goes on islands belonging to your team

Must be researched

All islands are remade to have 1 structure spot dedicated to only this structure. The spot protrudes from the island. Once built, it offers a launch pad for a new vehicle that will be described below.

VEHICLE
Properties:
Name: Recon Sat. (The 'Sat. stands for 'satellite'.)


Can only be built on and launched on a friendly Launch Pad (Described above.).

High altitude vehicle.

2 views. ( 1 on the keyboard toggles normal launch view, which the camera faces the direction the nose of the rocket points, 2 on the keyboard engages the recon view, which is the camera that points down. Cameras in both launch view and recon view are allowed to move with 'Right Mouse Click+Hold+Mouse Movement')

Space unfolds 2 compartments in the sides of the rocket, revealing high-efficiency wings, therefore greatly decreasing fuel consumption and nonetheless engages Orbit Mode (Must be used along with autopilot for easier maneuvering without falling out of the sky).

In recon view, the player can select a maximum of 3 enemy buildings and 4 enemy vehicles for tracking on radar.

Radar automatically displays all friendly structures and vehicles- Structures look like quadrilaterals- Aircraft look like triangles- Boats look like circles- Color of the blips on the radar depend on the team- Blue signatures belong to team Eagle, orange signatures belong to Condor.
(Radar is shown to friendlies.)

The vehicle cannot be shot down by ground defenses/other aircraft/boats while at high altitude, but impacts with other recon satellites are fatal, and fuel is not unlimited for the craft. The recon sat. has about 1.75x the fuel of a bomber.

Pressing Space a second time, reverts it back to the rocket, and can land at any friendly runways, and park in the hangars. Parking in the hangars automatically makes the player exit the vehicle, to give the player the freedom of weather or not to go pilot a new satellite or just choose a different vehicle.

No weapons.

VEHICLE ADD-ON
Note: Not available on Recon Sat.
Properties:
Name:Radar


Is on as long as a friendly satellite is in Orbit Mode.

Research-able

Buyable

Stays with the player until a new game starts/the player exits the server.

Mini-map mode+Expanded Mode
(To activate Expanded Mode, which shows the entire game area, go to TAB>Vehicle>Radar>Expand- Expanded form of the map is only available while tab is initiated.)
Mini-Map mode shows your general vicinity.

Sorry it was so long, kinda had to be descriptive. Remember, I recommend at least acknowledging this.

Ray said...

Tl;dr.

Unknown said...

Way creepy post there... "Remember. I recommend at least acknowledging this." All you needed was an "or else" and that would have made you full on certifiable mate Let him do his thing and try not to creep the forums here

medioevo said...

Hi guys!
sorry to bother you with a question like this:
how do I activate bots in the 0.78 version of A New Zero? I seem to be unable to play a single player match, because bots don't spawn.
Can you help me please?
thanks!

Ray said...

There are no allied bots in single player. They have not been reimplemented, yet.

You can turn on enemy bots at the game setup screen.

medioevo said...

Thank you for the reply!
I have another question: when I click on the "Join Game" button, it says there are no servers available.
There are really no servers at all, or do I have a problem?

medioevo said...

p.s.: I do have the same problem with the older version, the 0.74.

Ray said...

It's not a game issue, it's a community issue. The problem is that there really isn't one, yet. We need more players who are able to create dedicated servers. So that the rest of us are relegated to the unfinished single player.

I tried starting a thread in /v/ over on 4Chan, but those threads don't last long and I only managed to nab two or three more players. Someone else could try again on a better forum.

Blank said...

Please put back the lights on the runway! Made it much more realistic, and helped everybody to navigate back to landing if you stayed out at night.

I really like the lighthouse idea, too, please put that in soon!

Perhaps you could make some different plane models for each different type of plane, also.

Also, please put in some form of anti-aliasing. The jagged edges can be quite distracting.

Perhaps you could add some sort of researchable night vision, and an option to have two researchable items on a vehicle as long as they are in different categories. Like, you couldn't have a 4x bomb and then a tallboy, but you could have a 4x bomb and nightvision, or a 4x bomb and some other non-weapon "perk", like radar, sonar, or something like that.

Perhaps some sort of heat-seeking missles are in order? Perhaps even a TOW or something like that?

How about the lighthouse is a building that you can place on squares normally reserved for AAA, so you have to choose between defense or light.

I know I'm rambling, but I'm just really excited about the possibilities of this game!

Perhaps for a much later release you could have some sort of land combat going as well.

Also, please bring back the ability to play alongside bots. I miss that. Singleplayer isn't really an option when you can only fight against bots.

I think some sort of radar building, or radar attachment to a vehicle, like a missle boat with researchable radar, would be cool.

Sorry for rambling, I'll try to come up with some other ideas later. This game just makes me so excited!

LittleDrummerBoi said...

I am a newcomer to A New Zero... and I like it a lot.

Wish I could make something like that...

Unknown said...

This game is great! Me and my flatmates have been playing over LAN and the only problem is the bots have no real strategy/tactic/defence so are easy to beat. The vehicle mix and bot accuracy are ok, but maybe the handling could use a tweak and there should be a heavier AAA available for research (stronger armor/range). Also, maybe make the night sky just a shade off of black so a low flying plane/boat can barely see silhouettes?

What's the story with online play - are there no active servers anymore?

Unknown said...

I'm trying to set up a dedicated server but not having much luck - can anyone help? It works fine over LAN but doesn't appear in the lobby screen online.

Radar could be cool if it was a HUD display and no doubt some team communication is poor enough to justify it, but lighthouses etc etc all somewhat miss the point of the night - it's dark, have a break for 80 seconds.

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