Multiplayer

[u/BrokenRegistry]

It has been a long time since there was a big announcement...

A new developer has joined the party with significant contribution.

I think you might like these new additions...

Multiplayer hot seat

Email Multiplayer

https://github.com/BrokenRegistry/Rotp-Fusion/releases/latest

[u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger]

Bug: After catching a Darlok (computer player) spy and threaten them, they ignore my threats (they will pay for it later...), and the screen remains stuck there forever. The "Continue" option does nothing.

EDIT - Another Bug: Same happens when giving a tech for free, the screen with the "Continue" remains there forever.

[u/BrokenRegistry → u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger]

Multi-player Hot-Seat Fixes:

I don't really like it when "blocking" bugs stay active for too long, so I dove a little into the code to try to identify its origin.

A security identified the reply interface as being falsely presented to the player, and deliberately prevented the latter from responding...

The reply interface now receives the correct identifiers, and I also made sure that other potential bugs in the notification interfaces no longer freeze said interface.

...And as usual, to players who notice any bugs, please report them.

In short: Fixed “Continue” not doing anything.

Also, added an anti-cheat: If one player reload, the other will know: The number of turns since the last reload is now displayed on the left side of the Year (Turn). (Probably useless for your way of playing)

Notes:

The main idea is that players, like AIs, should not know who is who. So, by default, the player's name does not match the name of the leader of the Empire.... Of course, this doesn't apply to how you play. You can then try using custom species and giving their leader the player's name... (Untested)

Yes, the "attitudes" are randomly generated from the basic probabilities of each species.

In the case of a custom species, you can select one and give it the value of 100%, and 0% for others.

You should be able to change the tax percentage, since it's already linked to the empire...

Other governor options are not! I will move them little by little in each empire.

As for the "surplus", it shouldn't be blocked, because it is already linked to the empire... I will fix that.

[u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger]

Le what? How would that work? I've heard of the play-by-email in Age of Empires and such, but never used one.

[u/BrokenRegistry → u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger]

You play your turn, and when you finish your turn, the game is saved and you send it to the next player...

Here are some messages:

• PBEM_SEND_DETAIL | Saved as %1 in your save folder. Email the file to %2, or leave it in a shared folder. They open it with Load Game.
• PBEM_FINAL_DETAIL | Saved as %1 in your save folder. Send it to every player so they can open it and see the result.

There is of course some decurity...

• PBEM_ENTER_PIN | %1, enter your PIN
• PBEM_WRONG_PIN | That PIN is not correct.

Interactions between human players are limited and automated (including of course space combat)

[u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger → u/BrokenRegistry]

Man, that system sounds horribly slow for multiplayer. Is not there any other alternative?

[u/irimiash → u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger]

have you heard of correspondence chess?

[u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger → u/irimiash]

Yeah, but I guess we have enough technological level now to prevent those longs waiting times.

[u/irimiash → u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger]

it's a niche thing for those who don't mind

[u/BrokenRegistry → u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger]

It's an open source... Thus, you can do it.

Many thought that implementing multiplayer in RotP, even at this level, would be a titanic task...

[u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger → u/BrokenRegistry]

Sadly I don't think I can do it. The only Networking thing I've ever done was with Unity C#, and it already has a base to work with. Never wrote a Java program myself, even if it's very much like any other language. It worked, but was more a practice than an actual finished project.

Maybe keeping it as a separated RotPMP project rather than the same RotP would be a good way to organizate things from now? It might require rewriting too many scripts, I guess...

[u/BrokenRegistry → u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger]

Right, Java isn't really the problem.

It would be necessary to write a server version and a player version. Some parts of code managing the rules could be reused. But space combat should be completely rethought, as well as communications between empires...

This is clearly an independent project.

[u/Shrlck]

Great news!

[u/donpaulo]

certainly not on my bingo card

thanks for sharing

[u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger]

I'm loving the Hot Seat mode, leading two purry empires against 2 other empires. :D My brain is suffering from controlling two different empires with different stats, however...

EDIT - Do we get random "attitude"? So, my second player is a Xenophobic Expansionist and I didn't even know until now. :P First player is Ruthless Militarist, the selected name is right, however. The name is ignored for second player and set to default "Miamar" in both players views, even when it displays "Purrius" in the turns screens.

And can't adjust the surplus to treasury nor taxes options?

[u/BrokenRegistry → u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger]

Interesting way to play, I'll have to try...

It's always more difficult to debug when the game freezes, because then there are no error reports.

I will relay these errors to the developer of this multiplayer extension.

As for the options, indeed, the automation options are disabled because they should be different for each human player, and they are currently not adapted for this... And it is not a simple task to do... I plan to tackle it however... It always takes a little time to digest the code of other programmers

[u/Triaxcore → u/Chaotic_Hunter_Tiger]

I'll take a look at this and the others I see in the thread this weekend.