Space Trek: TI-99/4a version

[+adamantyr]

So here are some issues:

• You have to enter the starbase square to dock, not move adjacent to it, which is not logical captain
• The magnetic storms are too frequent and last too long! I actually abandoned the game after the second storm because it was getting boring since I was simply impulsing blindly around.
• Sometimes the guided warp does not work even if the target quadrant is valid. This is intermittent.
• This is not a bug but a request - could we replace the numeric orders with meaningful letters? W for warp, C for computer, I for impulse, P for phasers, T for torpedoes etc... Trying to remember all the numeric codes is a real pain.

I guess you now have enough to chew on

 

Thanks for the feedback!

 

The problem with moving adjacent is that the game doesn't know if you JUST did it. I thought about adding a "dock" command to explicitly make it so you did, but I thought moving into it via impulse made more sense, and was part of the existing system.

 

I actually haven't had a magnetic storm strike the whole time I've played on level one except once! It's only set to occur 5% of the time, I think you just got really unlucky getting struck with two in the same game.

 

The guided warp bug I've noticed too... actually i just noticed that I wasn't able to move from quadrant to quadrant via impulse at one point as well, it just cycled around in the same quadrant... I'm investigating this.

 

The numeric codes for commands have the advantage of being fast; I can quickly limit input to just them. I can test out letters but I worry about it impacting response time, which is important since the clock ticks when no key is pressed...

[+Vorticon]

Do you think you can at least shorten the duration of the storms? I really feel they last way longer than they should and take away the fun of the game after a while... They are interesting concept, particularly when Klingons are around, but only in moderation

[+adamantyr]

Yeah, I'll do that! I think I had the length influenced by level too, I'll remove that.

[+Vorticon]

I was playing at the lowest level...

[+adamantyr]

Wow, I seriously haven't had a storm strike in multiple iterations now.. I may need to make sure the code is still triggering on it.

 

I'm nearly done with 2.5, I've done a lot of cosmetic and style changes as well as bug fixes. Currently I got a nasty one; torpedoes can crash the game if they are headed at particular angles towards the top; the movement algorithms try and locate the sprite at a negative position. I'm not sure yet how to fix it.

 

I added a tone when you press a command key, that little bit of extra feedback helps with knowing if you pressed a key. I also reduced the "noise" of alerts and notifications so they only happen once per quadrant. I was getting really tired of the red alert over and over again...

 

For guided courses inside sectors, as well as manually targeting phasers, I added a cursor target system so you can just select the square on screen you want to move to. Quadrant selection is still by number though, there's not enough memory left to do a galaxy/quadrant map.

 

Biggest change is I reduced the clock cycle from 500 to 300. The original CoCo game had this set to 280. I noticed that after removing time drain on most activities that it was taking TOO long for things to happen, even leaving the game idle. So far it seems like it's a good balance.

Edited May 26, 2016 by adamantyr

[+adamantyr]

Based on Vorticon's feedback on Magnetic Storms... I think I'm going to alter them slightly. I'm going to limit them to quadrants only and have them move around periodically on the galactic map. Your Long Range Scanner will tell you if they're close by.

 

This should make it a bit more tactical to avoid them (although they can certainly enter your current quadrant!) and be a bit easier to deal with, as you can escape them.

[+Ksarul]

I like that thought. . .another valuable use for the long range scanners.

[+Vorticon]

Cool I'll give it a shot later this week.

[+adamantyr]

Okay, Version 3.0 is up for download! I've incremented it a full version because with all the changes made to the interface and notifications, it feels VERY different.

 

I had a lot of trouble breaking apart various quadrant updates, status updates, and a bunch of things. I done testing with the new Magnetic Storm approach but there may still be an odd bug or two, please post here if you find anything!

 

I've also managed to hit 24k limit for Extended BASIC. The game has about 1400 bytes left, and it gave me a memory full error once. Hopefully there won't be issues in run-time!

[+Vorticon]

BAD SUBSCRIPT IN 3140 error after a Klingon fired a torpedo that ended in a star. Also in that same battle, I was still idle in my sector and I got an alert that Klingons had entered the sector. At first the Klingons were shown in one position, then the screen refreshed and they showed up in totally different positions.

Question: At the start of a battle, I don't seem to get the chance to enter a command, typically raising shields, before the Klingons attack. This was not the case before. Is this intentional?

[+adamantyr]

Ugh, torpedo processing was over-complex, a single GOTO change should fix that. It's not common that they miss with torpedoes!

 

How many Klingons were in quadrant before and then after the announcement? Was it just Klingons that moved or did all items on the display? My code shouldn't be re-setting coordinate positions of anything unless you change quadrants. I just had this happen myself, and it DID refresh the screen but all objects stayed in their original positions. I need to fix it so it doesn't refresh the screen unless a storm state has changed.

 

When you enter a new quadrant with Klingons, you have the advantage of a first attack. If THEY enter the quadrant, they get first attack.

Edited June 1, 2016 by adamantyr

[+Vorticon]

Only the Klingons' position changed during the refresh.

As for torpedoes, it does not look like like your code checks for line of sight. I was in a straight line from the Klingon behind a star, and he fired anyway... I thought I was dead meat

[+adamantyr]

Yep, stars are your friends! I considered having the Klingons not be perfect shots with torpedoes, add a variance to their targeting, but I decided not to because it is their long range weapon of choice and the chances of missing from afar is higher. Hmm... maybe I should have torpedo use go up based on distance away...

 

I have fixes for everything, just need to do some more testing, I'll get 3.1 up later.

[+adamantyr]

Okay, 3.1 is posted! I think I fixed both of the bugs you experienced, Vorticon. I also reworked several things, including Klingon targeting in general (was a bit too busy and over-complex) and adding in an increased chance of them using torpedoes from long distances.

 

I also completely replaced the distance calculator. I was originally using the Pythagorean theorum for it, but this doesn't accurately represent distance in the game, since diagonals are always a movement of 1. Replacing this fixed both the computer courses for warp and impulse travel, which were extremely messed up trying to correlate the two completely different systems.

 

I've also added in one LAST feature, which is that Star Bases under attack have a percentage chance of being destroyed, depending on how many Klingons are in the quadrant with it. So don't ignore their cries for help for long!

[+Vorticon]

Sounds great! What changes with increasing levels of difficulty?

[+adamantyr]

Level currently affects:

• Number of Klingons in the game and per quadrant
• Number of magnetic storms
• Amount of mission time
• Power level of Klingons ships, affects disruptor power and shield strength
• Random chance of Klingons warping into your quadrant

Currently, level 5 Klingons have double the shield strength/disruptor power of level 1 Klingons. That's pretty significant...

 

I may nix level affecting power and keep them static. Klingons are already pretty powerful at level 1; within a short distance it only takes them a few turns to bring your shields down. At higher levels just having MORE of them in a quadrant is difficult enough!

 

You could still possibly win at level 5, but the game play changes, with you needing to use hit-and-run tactics (impulse into a quadrant, stay on the side, use torpedoes to destroy two, duck back out), NEVER use Phasers because it's almost never worth it unless you're extremely close, camp at Star Bases to keep torpedo supplies up and use the base as a decoy, etc.

Edited June 2, 2016 by adamantyr

[+adamantyr]

Working on 3.2 now... I added some cosmetic nice things, like phasers and torpedoes will automatically go back to the command screen if there are no enemies left in the quadrant. (Tricky because in a magnetic storm, you don't know if there ARE Klingons or not, so there I want it to keep prompting until you opt out manually.)

 

Big change is I did make Klingons a fixed power level, regardless of difficulty. I compensated by having them slowly regenerate their energy over time. Klingons now can either move or attack but not both in a single turn, they flip a coin to decide which. If cloaked they always move. If they're more than a certain distance away and decide to attack they'll fire a torpedo; otherwise it's a base low percentage chance they'll fire one. I may have to play a bit with that one; Klingons using torpedoes more often is going to make things challenging!

 

Until I playtest it a bit and make sure balance is all right, I don't want to release this version. If anyone finds any other serious bugs in 3.1, please post and let me know!

[+Vorticon]

This is likely going to be one of the most well thought out trek game out there, easily a commercial product back in the day...

[+adamantyr]

Ah drat, knew it was going to happen... memory full errors. I had to do some clean-up to reclaim some memory for execution time.

 

Biggest change is I had to remove the selector method for manual phasers and guided course. So you're back to entering row/column positions again. Deleting that block of code got me 500 bytes back, just enough to make the game runnable again.

 

So far testing looks good though. Klingons are a lot slower and less lethal when they either move or attack but not both.

[+adamantyr]

Getting close to 3.2... I currently have Klingons moving up to 3 spaces (depending on their power level) or attacking. They seem to zip about pretty quick though...

 

I had one major bug that was amusing, every time the Klingons attacked a Star Base the Enterprise exploded! Turned out the targeting system needed some adjustments. I still have one minor bug that when Klingons warp into quadrant, it seems to create an extra "ghost" Klingon that doesn't actually exist and disappears if you refresh the display using Long Range Scan.

 

One thought I had was if I should have Klingons deplete their own power source with their actions. Like, attacking with disruptors uses 50% of their current power in an attack, and so they wait for recharge to attack again. Cloaking negates recharge. Movement consumes power, etc. So if their power is low they basically take a "wait" stance to recharge. Realistically though, I should track torpedo count as well, so they run out or at least are unable to fire again in the same quadrant. Or... make it so they DON'T regenerate power (which kind of matches the Enterprise anyway) so once they get low they try and kamikaze, ramming their ship into the Enterprise, which is the equivalent of a torpedo in destructive power.

 

But the question with anything like this is, how does it benefit gameplay? These are factors that will be largely invisible to the player. And if I get too clever I'm going to see that "MEMORY FULL" message again. Maybe I should shelve this for a 3.3 update for now...

Edited June 3, 2016 by adamantyr

[+Ksarul]

They're just following the Klingon ethic: "As far as possible and without surrender, move into other peoples' space."

[+adamantyr]

Okay, 3.2 is up for download!

 

Aside from bug fixes and some clean-up to free up memory in places, including the removal of sprite targeting for guided course and phasers, the big changes are:

• Klingons now only warp in from adjacent quadrants. I was originally storing all quadrants with Klingons in string arrays, but this was more inefficient than just checking your local quadrants.
• Klingons now either move or attack, but not both. They can move up to three spaces a turn though, so they can cover a lot of distance in a hurry!
• A tone is heard when the Star Date advances.
• Fixed up the efficiency rating so it makes sense. Scores above 500 are pretty good. 1000 is the perfect "unobtainable" score.

There's still some potential fine-tuning to do, but I think I'm going to call it done on feature work. Please let me know if you encounter any bugs! I decided not to try and make Klingons more complicated with tracking energy and whatnot, so the next release will be only bug fixes and spit/polish work.

[Opry99er]

Had a rough go at it tonight.... Destroyed 12 Klingon ships before getting waxed. I entered a quadrant with 3 Klingon ships. I fired guided torpedoes, but I was hit twice, draining my shields. I attempted to get away but, alas, my Impulse drive was damaged. I then attempted to regroup and fire again to eliminate the remaining two ships. One went down, the other hit me with shields down and I never knew what hit me.

 

Didn't find a star base in this game. Never saw one the whole time I was playing. Strange.

 

 

Loving the game still. Good times!!!!

 

 

[+adamantyr]

Glad you're enjoying it Owen! Good to see you back. Will you be picking back up that excellent BASIC Star Wars game?

[Opry99er]

I've been going through the Yoda code here for the last hour or so. I suck at commenting during development.

 

It all makes so much sense until you don't look at it for a couple months, and then you wonder what the hell you were smoking.

 

 

Thanks for the interest in the game. And your new Wizard game has me all flustered. I NEED a fully packaged copy of that game. Make it so.