Version 0.4.7

[Dave]

I just snagged the single header file from http://www.libsdl.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/SDL_ttf/SDL_ttf.h and dropped it into the wesnoth folder, and make ran with no problems.

I would not recommend doing this, however if it works for you, that's fine I suppose.

I've had SDL_mixer installed, but .4.0 didn't play sound for me -- 0.4.7 is playing sound, and I've changed nothing. I don't know if anything changed in the code, but it's working now.

Actually, 0.4.0 didn't have sound support. That version was so long ago I barely remember what it did.

It's not entirely clear in this new version how the "heal" at the beginning of each turn is working, but it looks like certain players are getting automatically healed. Am I mistaken on this?

- units on villages will heal 8 hitpoints
- units with the 'regeneration' ability will heal 8 hitpoints - i.e. trolls, no units you can get.
- (in 0.4.7, changed in CVS) units with the 'heal' ability will heal units adjacent to them. The more injured units around a healer, the less healing each one gets. A unit may heal a maximum of 8 hitpoints.

Also, there's been a change to allow recruiting of creatures on all castle spaces in a keep, not just next to the.... uh, well, "Summoner" is how I think of it. I'm not sure how well this will work out in the long run, despite being sort of freaked out by it on the first map, I've since adjusted. Maybe it will speed gameplay, which would be a huge plus in a game like this.

The other major change I've noticed is that you can only recruit when your "summoner" is on a Keep... Maybe that's what you always intended, but I thought it was a nice touch in 0.4.0 (the first version I'd played) that you could move your main guy to another set of castles and summon there... It added a nice twist to the game, especially on the first map, where you could head west and summon in the keep/castles along the western edge.

These two changes are kinda part of the same change. It was irritating having to move your leader around the castle to optimize recruiting, so now you can just recruit anywhere you want on the castle.

A major reason your leader has to be on the keep is because otherwise you can move your leader next to an enemy castle and start recruiting from there, even without having killed their leader. That seemed silly. So now, you have to have control of the keep the be able to recruit. If you attack an enemy castle, kill their leader, and move your leader onto their keep, then you can recruit.

I haven't been recruiting Mages, since they tend to get wasted as soon as they reach their first combat situation, and they're quite expensive.

Mages are more powerful in 0.4.7.

A mage's long range attack is 'magical' meaning it has a guaranteed 70% chance to hit, which is a good advantage. Additionally, mages are very powerful when they advance to higher levels.

I definitely wouldn't recommend recruiting a mage on the first scenario, but on the second and third scenario it's a good idea.

Sorry to blather on, just trying to spill the thoughts I have when playtesting as fast as possible before I pass out :]

That's entirely welcome, we want lots of feedback!

I had gotten to the 3rd map this afternoon in 0.4.0, but the save game didn't load, so I got there again tonight with 0.4.7 and tested the save file, and things loaded on the 3rd map, so I'll pick up from there tomorrow.

Mid-level saves are not likely to be compatible across versions. Between-level-saves usually should be. You're welcome to send me a between-level-save that doesn't work, not least of all because I'd want to try and fix any bugs which cause it not to load.

So far the new AI is definitely better, it picked up pretty quickly that I was moving troops in along the left hand side on the second map, whereas this afternoon (in 0.4.0), it was merely attacking on the right and leaving the left open. It seems more adaptable, I guess I should say.

I think 'adaptable' is a little generous, but yes, the AI is slowly improving. Considering how much more processing power modern machines have than the Genesis had, I'd sure hope it's a little better than Master of Monsters

Are there plans to add networking code?

Yes, however my focus is on the single player version of the game.

David

[Dave]

If you've played Master of Monsters you should be well set for this game. However....miyo is right, one big difference is that this game has special objectives for each scenario, and in scenario 1, they are to get your leader to the north-west.

Hmm.....I'm wondering if we should automatically display the scenario objectives at the start of each scenario.

David

That would be a good thing to do, I think. Definitely "friendlier" that way, since the final objectives don't become crystal clear during the expostition of the story. Games like AoE, Warcraft, Starcraft, etc. tend to do this.

Once I'd figured out the exact objectives, It was much easier, although I'd *almost* killed 2 of the 3 enemies when the turns ran out, I was *so* close to killing them all :]

I strongly recommend you try playing a harder difficulty level! If you've played Master of Monsters alot before, you should definitely go for at least 'normal'. The idea is for there to be no hope of defeating the enemies in the first scenario. If you can kill all the enemies in the first scenario on normal, I'll be very very impressed. If you kill them all on hard, well....you won't be able to do that

Yes I think we'll add in the "show objectives at beginning of level" thing.

David

[skovbaer]

The Danish translation with the 0.4.7 version is not the newest one, it seems... Remember to replace the newest translation, when 0.4.8 is done... Just a little note...

[Cat]

Hi,
the location given on unit list is off by -1 on each axis (i.e. 1 up and left of the actual pos).

keep up the great work!

[Guest]

http://wesnoth.whitevine.net/files/wesnoth-0.4.7.tar.gz

Translators please note that keyboard shortcuts can and should be configured in the language configuration file..

Please make it possible to easily play with the english default keys

[Dave]

Hi,
the location given on unit list is off by -1 on each axis (i.e. 1 up and left of the actual pos).

A change has been committed to CVS which fixes this bug.

David

[methinks]

when i run windowed version it goes fullscreen after i choose to load a game.

[zas]

This behavior (it's not a bug) is pretty confusing. You have pressed Fullscreen button in previous game, and it was saved in ~/.wesnoth/preferences.
If you have fullscreen=true in your preferences file and start wesnoth with -windowed then it starts in a window and when tutorial/campaign/multiplayer starts it swaps to fullscreen.

I was confused by this, and it seems i'm not alone.

A solution is to make -windowed acts as fullscreen=false preferences without actually changing this default mode.

So fullscreen=false/true is in fact a default behavior when wesnoth is run without any parameter, -windowed and -fullscreen will set the behavior for the current game session.

[Dave]

I think it's kinda fair to say the behavior is a bug

I think I'll make it that if you run the game with -windowed it sets your preferences to windowed.

David