Conquest Minus

Discussion of all aspects of multiplayer development: unit balancing, map development, server development, and so forth.

Moderator: Forum Moderators

Post Reply
SlowThinker
Posts: 876
Joined: November 28th, 2008, 6:18 pm

Conquest Minus

Post by SlowThinker »

The main purpose of this thread is to collect information about new releases of Conquest Minus (aka Conquest-), and to discuss stuff related expressly to this add-on. If there is a chance your post has a relation to any Conquest variation or may be interesting for anybody from the Conquest community then please post rather to the main Conquest thread, where all Conquest variants are debated:Conquest 2.0 - on 1.8 server

Why Conquest "Minus"?
  1. This word is so unpopular, at least in comparison with its brother "Plus", that I had to give it a chance
  2. Whenever possible, I will try to keep things simple. (At least it looks they will stay simple in comparison with other Conquest variants.)
What is Conquest? (don't confuse with World Conquest, a MP campaign)
It is a game type.
In comparison to the standard Wesnoth it stresses the strategy and rather lessens importance of the tactics: it simplifies the combat rules (resistances, experience and time of day have no effect, all units have a melee berserk weapon only), and usually uses larger maps.
Also the luck factor is lower than in standard Wesnoth games.
Screenshots of various stages of the game: click here

News:

Conquest Minus Ladder
Last edited by SlowThinker on September 26th, 2014, 2:44 pm, edited 9 times in total.
I work on Conquest Minus • I use DFoolWide, Retro Terrain Package and the add-on 'High Contrast Water'
I moved to Nosebane's corner (Doc Paterson's signature); I am spending my time there, so PM me if I don't answer your post in forums
SlowThinker
Posts: 876
Joined: November 28th, 2008, 6:18 pm

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by SlowThinker »

Other Conquest add-ons
Conquest (original, created by Blueblaze, then changed by various people) is not maintained anymore, it has been deleted from the add-on server during bloody wars among Conquest clans.
Conquest 1.0 is available in the Wesnoth 1.6 add-on list
Versions below 2.0 are in this thread: Conquest 1.0 - Now on the 1.6 Add-on Server
The last version of the original Conquest (2.7.2f) is attached to this post.
(2nd attachment has been made by Gwledig, it is just 2.7.2f, but the directory is renamed to "Conquest-Classic". It allows to have installed both the original Conquest and the new Mabuse's Conquest simultaneously.)
Now 4 Conquest add-ons are maintained, all come out from the original (in order of appearance):
The Best Conquest, maintained by jinnaraka
(Wesnoth 1.8 only);
Conquest+, maintained by Gwledig Conquest, maintained by Mabuse
(Wesnoth 1.8 and 1.10 only);
(thread: Conquest 3.x - on ADD on Server)
in comparison to Conquest Minus it is less for a serious play and more for fun; it also allows a mode where "Neutrals" create units that can move and attack.
Conquest Minus

In the game lobby these variants are differentiated by their map names:
if the name includes "Conquest-" then it is Conquest Minus
if the name includes "Conquest+" then it is Conquest+
if the name includes "Conquest" then it is original Conquest, Conquest, or The Best Conquest
Attachments
Conquest.tar.bz2
Conquest 2.7.2f
(131.44 KiB) Downloaded 883 times
Conquest-Classic.zip
Conquest-Classic 2.7.2f
(200.02 KiB) Downloaded 979 times
Last edited by SlowThinker on April 9th, 2015, 9:15 pm, edited 14 times in total.
SlowThinker
Posts: 876
Joined: November 28th, 2008, 6:18 pm

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by SlowThinker »

Conquest Minus 2.7.3
Conquest Minus 2.7.3b
These were first two versions of Conquest Minus, they are very similar to Conquest 2.7.2f, changes are listed here.

Conquest Minus 3.0
Changelog:
for players:
Changes that affect the game mechanics:
- reinforce has been removed (heal remains)
- the firststrike has been removed from all units
- Hurricane Drake has been removed
- Mermen can board ships
- any unit with a 'leader' ability (General and Warship) is vulnerable to any unit with an 'assassin' ability (Assassin, Mermaid Assassin and Pirate Ship), attack values remain unchanged
- a ship that enters its own land village get +1 move (and so can enter, heal and still leave the village, like ground units can), this is represented by a 'relax' ability
- fords adjacent to a village allow to recruit ships (adjacent bridges still don't allow it)
- the game length selection has been removed
- the starting gold for the capitol mode has been adjusted
- 8-player games are possible on the Surdmark maps
- due to the 8-player games the AI is white now
Changes that don't affect the game mechanics, but rather player's comfort:
- the fog refresh has been improved: on the game start shift-d-d is not needed anymore, also allies can see one another; unboarded units refresh fog also for allied sides;
- the village distribution is faster (especially capitol on Surdmark map)
- ships offer info about boarded passengers (by right-click)
- wounded units show cost of heal (by right-click)
- it is possible to get a detailed info about recruits by right-clicking on ANY village
- special game mechanics are done by abilities: worker, noboard, transport, leader, assassin
- the assassin vs leader advantage is done by a vulnerability to pierce attack
- the capitol mode: AI doesn't spawn on turn 2 of the red player but on turn 1 of the AI player.
- the realm mode: it has been removed
- some info from the status bar that has no effect in Conquest games has been removed: advancements not shown, traits not shown (mechanical, undead...)
- on maps with kalifa units kalifa warning appears at game start
- units were renamed in order to bring an order there: only very similar units get equal names (e.g. "Militia" can be human or elven, but dwarvish militia gets a different name)
for map creators:
I announced a plan of the scenario format 3.0 here, but it is not done yet: 1st I need to finish the code rewrite (the code is not enough modular now, and so cannot support a better scenario format.)

Max. number of players is not fixed to 6 like with the original Conquest. Conquest- 3.0 supports maps for 6-8 players. Due to this possibility original .scn files cannot be used with Conquest- without little changes:

In order to convert a map so that it works with 3.0 you need to read "How to adapt a Conquest map file to your Conquest variant" here.
The article seems to be complicated, but usually all you need to read is
  • 1. Directory (folder) and name of the Conquest variant
  • How to transform an A-style .scn file to a B-style file for 6 players
For maintainers of Conquest variants
One of goals of the code rewrite was to offer something more reasonable than the original Conquest code ... but at present it is far from an ideal code:
The code is fully reworked, and it looks like a computer program, and not like a copy-paste-edit-paste-edit-paste-edit-paste-edit thing. Any code editing and maintenance is easier.
But ... I wanted to launch the new release ASAP and therefore the code is bad at present: it is not polished, it is often ugly, the structure is not optimal, sometimes I used complicated techniques because I didn't notice WML allows simpler ones, etc. etc.
It will get better though.

misc. notes:
A village type can allow several recruit-types, not only one
stats of units are defined directly and don't depend on stats of original units
firststrike removed from the game, but a support still remains in the code
'XX' inside a comment means it is my personal comment and stands for "to do"
Attachments
Conquest-.tar.bz2
Conquest- 3.0
(96.24 KiB) Downloaded 870 times
Last edited by SlowThinker on August 11th, 2011, 11:44 pm, edited 8 times in total.
User avatar
Gwledig
Posts: 568
Joined: March 30th, 2009, 5:10 pm
Location: UK

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by Gwledig »

Congratulations Slow it all looks great and masses of work you have done...
Maintainer of Conquest (Original Gameplay), Conquest+, Conquest+ Space/Ranged, Chaoz Battle of the Wizards, Lazersquad (squad game), WesCraft (building MP game)
SlowThinker
Posts: 876
Joined: November 28th, 2008, 6:18 pm

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by SlowThinker »

Conquest Minus 3.0.1
Changes that affect the game mechanics:
none
Changes that don't affect the game mechanics:
a bug that reported a pseudo-OOS has been removed.
Last edited by SlowThinker on April 14th, 2011, 9:19 am, edited 3 times in total.
I work on Conquest Minus • I use DFoolWide, Retro Terrain Package and the add-on 'High Contrast Water'
I moved to Nosebane's corner (Doc Paterson's signature); I am spending my time there, so PM me if I don't answer your post in forums
User avatar
Conrad
Posts: 43
Joined: January 12th, 2011, 3:59 pm

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by Conrad »

Interesting...
"Strength in numbers" is a common phrase.
But doesn't anyone remember?
Small amounts are more manageable.
SlowThinker
Posts: 876
Joined: November 28th, 2008, 6:18 pm

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by SlowThinker »

Conquest Minus 3.0.2

Changes that affect the game mechanics:
none
Changes that don't affect the game mechanics:
a bug removed: changes of income bonus of side 7 and side 8 on Surdmark maps weren't shown immediately
Last edited by SlowThinker on April 14th, 2011, 9:19 am, edited 3 times in total.
I work on Conquest Minus • I use DFoolWide, Retro Terrain Package and the add-on 'High Contrast Water'
I moved to Nosebane's corner (Doc Paterson's signature); I am spending my time there, so PM me if I don't answer your post in forums
Mabuse
Posts: 2239
Joined: November 6th, 2007, 1:38 pm

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by Mabuse »

SlowThinker wrote:Other Conquest add-ons
Conquest (original, created by Blueblaze, then changed by various people) is not maintained anymore, it has been deleted from the add-on server during bloody wars among Conquest clans.
ahaha, good joke, slowie.

btw, of course original conquest is maintained. by me.
who edited which things to make conquest the game it currently is now can be reread in the old and new threads.

i just had to delete the old 1.8.x upload it because i gave the passphrase to non-loyal people.
so i had to reload it up to the server with a different passphrase.

btw, you speak of a bloody war amoung conquest clans :D
which clans are were fighting there ? asking just out of interest.
i seems your imaginations ran riot on this point.

i'd be happy if you would rely on more reputable advertisement for your add on.
but its up to you to leave the impression you are in need of these things, which is also amusing :)

as soon i have time i take a look on your conquest clone, i promise
im happy if people still like with the "old" gameplay, although i think the new version of MAIN conquest has a lot to offer
The best bet is your own, good Taste.
Mabuse
Posts: 2239
Joined: November 6th, 2007, 1:38 pm

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by Mabuse »

btw, this [redraw] thingy (im just reading about) seems to be a good add to conquest
The best bet is your own, good Taste.
User avatar
Gwledig
Posts: 568
Joined: March 30th, 2009, 5:10 pm
Location: UK

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by Gwledig »

Yep, there is talk on game now of conqest "clans", ppl are asking each other which clan they belong too.. all very amusing.. I remind them of course that conquest+ is just an experimental one where I muck about playing with various things, and they need to be clan "neutral" and play them all.

Just thinking about "old" game play, there's a few ppl now regularly hosting conquest 2.72, I joined one the other day and suggested they should maybe host it as yet another pack, but should be prepared to maintain it properly and make changes like for 1.9. none of them volunteered tho :)

I was actually thinking Minus was gona be 2.72 but we'll have to see how this develops with the total re-write and all.

Just on re-draw Mabuse, unless you already got the code sorted by now (which you probably have) you can probably get it better from conquest+ as it uses the same idea as Minus but is closer to the main code. In conquest+ theres a macro in utils called Redraw.cfg or similar.. this is called from the villas.cfg (or similar) and you just call it from anywhere at the point where vila allocation happens (just search for the macro name through the document). I also added it in realm which is a bit pointless I'll have to remove that.
Maintainer of Conquest (Original Gameplay), Conquest+, Conquest+ Space/Ranged, Chaoz Battle of the Wizards, Lazersquad (squad game), WesCraft (building MP game)
SlowThinker
Posts: 876
Joined: November 28th, 2008, 6:18 pm

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by SlowThinker »

Mabuse wrote:btw, you speak of a bloody war amoung conquest clans :D
which clans are were fighting there ?
:) I didn't want to say directly "Mabuse stole Conquest from Lich_Lord", and so I used that unclear diplomatic statement. I thought that we talked a lot about the subversion and that we don't need to reopen the case.
I work on Conquest Minus • I use DFoolWide, Retro Terrain Package and the add-on 'High Contrast Water'
I moved to Nosebane's corner (Doc Paterson's signature); I am spending my time there, so PM me if I don't answer your post in forums
Mabuse
Posts: 2239
Joined: November 6th, 2007, 1:38 pm

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by Mabuse »

SlowThinker wrote: :) I didn't want to say directly "Mabuse stole Conquest from Lich_Lord", and so I used that unclear diplomatic statement. I thought that we talked a lot about the subversion and that we don't need to reopen the case.
which isnt the case of course. i just gave lich lord the passphrase so he can add stuff to the conquest upload.

btw, if you think that "we" talked a lot about the thing then dont post garbage about this matter in the forum.
because i will not leave crap like that uncommented.

also i want to point out that i dont want to see any new maps that are made/modified by me in the future (the old maps canbe used) being included in the minus clone.
Last edited by Mabuse on January 18th, 2011, 7:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The best bet is your own, good Taste.
Mabuse
Posts: 2239
Joined: November 6th, 2007, 1:38 pm

Re: Conquest Minus

Post by Mabuse »

Gwledig wrote: Just on re-draw Mabuse, unless you already got the code sorted by now (which you probably have) you can probably get it better from conquest+ as it uses the same idea as Minus but is closer to the main code. In conquest+ theres a macro in utils called Redraw.cfg or similar.. this is called from the villas.cfg (or similar) and you just call it from anywhere at the point where vila allocation happens (just search for the macro name through the document). I also added it in realm which is a bit pointless I'll have to remove that.
no, i didnt look into the conquest minus code so far.
also no plans to use code from minus since the original code is working well (one exception, but more about this in the original conquest thread).
also i dont think that i will use macros on that matter, since redraw just consist of two lines, which will get simply added to the code after the villages were allocated to the players.
the idea is good though.
The best bet is your own, good Taste.
SlowThinker
Posts: 876
Joined: November 28th, 2008, 6:18 pm

the GNU license

Post by SlowThinker »

Mabuse wrote:also i want to point out that i dont want to see any new maps that are made/modified by me in the future (the old maps canbe used) being included in the minus clone.
I answered here
I work on Conquest Minus • I use DFoolWide, Retro Terrain Package and the add-on 'High Contrast Water'
I moved to Nosebane's corner (Doc Paterson's signature); I am spending my time there, so PM me if I don't answer your post in forums
Post Reply