So! It’s been a while.
We’ve had a lot of changes in the ten months since our last big update post; the game is basically a different beast now.
Details after the break!
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Things in the server code room over the past year (but really, the past month more than anything else) have been hectic, but I suppose that the changes should also be listed here as well, for posterity.
Overall, on Star Conquest, this pretty much meant a 66% reduction in CPU utilization, though before all of the performance improvement changes were put in we were running over 120 simultaneous AI pilots in a sector without the server missing a beat.
Still, we could probably use an upgrade some time in the future.
Detailed changes after the break.
Dear diary,
I haven’t forgotten about you. I just….I haven’t had time to answer your calls….
Listen…. I think it’s better if we….had a break, you know? I need some space.
Since October so many wonderful things have happened. Several Gamma security clusters of space were added to the game, allowing for player versus player conflict without gaining the attention of the navies. And so many bugs were fixed! A new control scheme for players who fly sans-keypad…
So many new crafting recipes, including ones for space-launched interdictors. Navies are less uptight about the errant stray shot. And while you can’t repair past failsafes anymore, extreme burst damage from a big ship no longer breaks three failsafes at once like how it used to, and it adds an emergent feature of attrition.
Bari were reintroduced, but so were a totally revamped felo, with multiple breeds and genetics. And you can switch out your battlesuit at ANY spaceport now.
We gave battlesuits other love too, with new per-conquest raid missions and a buff to the advanced RATS battlesuit.
We’ve released several new ships and advanced upgrades for mid- and high- level pilots, and most recently we have added rental starships targetted at cadets and other players with low amounts of points, equipped with a reasonable level of upgrades.
Thanks for listening to what’s been going on in my life, diary.
I’ve been doing stuff too! Server stuff!
Believe it or not, SQ-0.1.10 (the server version we used up to the shutdown) actually had some fairly major potential stability issues which have now been rectified. In addition, we’ve added some cool new under-the-hood features (which are of rather limited utility to everyone who isn’t actually a host), which will be after the break.
The games are currently online!
By this point, the DNS info has probably propagated, so you can connect via moo.squidsoft.net like normal. If it hasn’t yet gotten to you yet, you will be able to access the games normally by using the domain biblemanifesto.com instead of moo.squidsoft.net. After the migratory period is over, you should be able to connect to the games just like how you used to be able to!
The games are currently active as such:
Star Conquest is online on ports 7777 and 7771.
Star Conquest: Classic is online on port 7888.
SquidMOO is online on ports 4444 and 4000.
hey yo so i guess i’m in the web 2.0 version of squidsoft.net. this is scary and i think i’m going to ask jason to knock it down to my web 0.5 standards.
Anyways, with that out of the way, I’m going to peg the server’s return at -probably- within the next 2 to 3 days. Bear in mind, this estimate is very, how to put it, optimistic. It could be longer, (or shorter) but we’ll try to get everything sorted as soon as possible. The server should be up TOMORROW, FRIDAY 2010.07.30. Watch out for bears.
In closing,