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Greg,
Sounds like you would like to have me do two things:
1. A simple option in the game to create a clone of the current ship.
2. Add an additional attribute to a ship to denote whether it is a decoy or not.

Do I have that correct?

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Tuesday, August 19, 2025 - 05:45 pm: Edit

Not really a clone. As a ship of the type can just be added at that time.

What is needed is a counter. Like the Lyran ESG counter that is placed on the board. That the player can then put in which of the ships is the decoy. The movement plot and speed of the decoy. With three lines for 3 turns of movement. (128 impulses) With a spot of when it self-destructs.

When I play face to face I just wright down all of that on a piece of paper and set it out. The counter would be just doing that.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Wednesday, August 20, 2025 - 01:06 pm: Edit

The one problem with just adding a counter is that since people can double click on the counter to bring up the SSD. They can know via the client what is the decoy and what is not. Also, since the names in the client need to be unique, the opponent will automatically know which one was added and therefore the decoy. That is why I was thinking a clone of the current ship would be best. Because then you could "switch" to the cloned ship (or not) and then your opponent would not be able to tell. Would it be more difficult to manage. Yes.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Wednesday, August 20, 2025 - 05:52 pm: Edit

A player would know which ship was added. When You add the ship. No need to click on it. I know I cannot click on my opponents ESG counter and see what radius or power is set for. Nor can I look at a player's drone and see what target are type it is until it is revealed.

You are proposing a duplicate of the ship, The problem is There would be no way to do an EA for the added ship? The clone thing I think would be really hard to manage.

The other player will not know what ship counter I chose for the real ship. Until the counter is revealed.

By Gregg Dieckhaus (Gdieck) on Monday, October 06, 2025 - 12:19 pm: Edit

Paul, I updated to the latest version. And now when starting I am getting a gub/start/StartClient not found error when attempting to start the client.

Suggestions?

Gregg

By Gregg Dieckhaus (Gdieck) on Monday, October 06, 2025 - 12:23 pm: Edit

Looks like the directory somehow changed... it is starting now...

By Justin Royter (Metaldog) on Saturday, October 11, 2025 - 03:11 pm: Edit

Paul will you please either replace entirely or add a new AI driven die roll to the interface? Random/org is in no way random, its terrible. The internal options are unusable with terrible latency. Can you please add a newer AI driven die roll?

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Saturday, October 11, 2025 - 04:47 pm: Edit

Justin,
I am not sure what an AI driven die roller would look like.

When it comes to the other ones, that I would need to look into the latency issue since they hit the sfbonline.com website and use different PRNG algorithms. The internal one uses the one built into Java. Which is fine. I could add a PRNG that is used for Security.

Note: A true random generator means that each number that is generated has no relation to any previous or future numbers. So rolling 5 6's in a row is a completely valid.

By Justin Royter (Metaldog) on Saturday, October 11, 2025 - 06:50 pm: Edit

sure it is but the sheer number of 5s and 6s thrown in 7 turns today was insane, I mean insane, ask Dan.. and it is NOT just this particular game it has been EVERY game I play the sheer amount of 5s and 6s, never 1s and 2s is just too compelling, if you could please look at the die roller and try to find a more modern AI driven roller if possible, thank you.

By Gregg Dieckhaus (Gdieck) on Wednesday, October 15, 2025 - 01:53 pm: Edit

I think I got all your 1's...
I had to reinstall the client and the Die Monitor reports my last game
1: 7
2: 2
3: 5
4: 4
5: 1
6: 1

And yet it doesnt matter when you get tractored and eat a stack drones!

By Daniel Bitseff (Cadet_Stimpy) on Monday, October 27, 2025 - 12:35 am: Edit

Hey Paul,
Would it be possible to have the client log out our existing session when you try to re-login?

Whenever I get dropped from a game, it takes a minute or two of trying to login & receiving messages of "that user already logged in" or whatever it is. I don't think anyone would be sharing their login with anyone else, so it should just nuke the earlier session & log me in immediately when I try to get back on. Would make the occasional drops a lot less annoying ;)
Thanks for everything you do!

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Monday, October 27, 2025 - 09:51 pm: Edit

Daniel,
Understood. I will look into the cause. It is probably related to TCP connection timeout. Because I am thinking the your connection to the server still exists on the server and has not timed out yet.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 12:54 am: Edit

Hey Paul, would it be possible to make the speed change reminder something more than just a 'reminder'? Something perhaps that also stops at the relevant segment in the impulse and that prevents continuation unless resolved?

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 12:46 pm: Edit

Carl-Magnus,
I will see what I can do. Is the situation that you want to resolve, the issue with forgetting that you need to announce the speed change before you go onto the next impulse?

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 - 02:58 am: Edit

Paul, I think you want a clarification what I am askingh for.
Whatever the solution looks like I need it to be impossible to brute force past. Like one can do with movement. You know the window that pops up and says:"The follwing units have not moved:
R.I.S. Prima Ballerina Do you want continue anyway?"
Or "This piece does not move this impulse. Do you want to move anyway?"
Those pop all the time when players mess about, going back and correcting things,
How would this work? Maybe indow pop up saying: "You have a speed change plotted. Please resolve" with an ok button that when pressed bring up IA window at the relevant segment.
Trigger would be whenever players want to do IA past that segment or when moving to the next impulse of a higher number.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 - 12:16 pm: Edit

Carl-Magnus,
Been there done that with Fed Com Online. People are not a fan. That is enforcing the rules instead of giving them a tool which will help them to not to cheat.

I can popup the "You have a speed change plotted. Please resolve" if you click the "Next Impuse". Not sure what I will do if your opponent clicks "Next Impuse" because I would need to announce to your opponent that they can't go to the next impulse without you resolving an issue.

The only true solution is changing the UI for the client to be something that came up many years ago in the C4F vs. PIA "discussion". And that is requiring each person to click on the "Next Impulse" button to go on to the next impulse. I can do it just not sure people will be happy.

By Daniel Bitseff (Cadet_Stimpy) on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 - 01:39 pm: Edit

Paul, maybe some UI hints would help here. Like, after the speed change reminder pops up, have the IA button change color, and when you hit IA, have the "announce speed changes" option highlighted. But that's probably a lot of work for more of a fringe problem.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 - 03:13 pm: Edit

Paul, that is puzzling, do people want to have the option to cheat?
For me it would be a play aid, I would never miss a speed change again.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 - 04:42 pm: Edit

Carl-Magnus,
No. The issue is that you assume that I develop the feature without bugs in the feature. For example, in the Fed Com Online I messed up the calculation of the available energy (go the state/energy cost wrong). Originally I didn't let players correct the issue and that messed up some games until I actually was able to fix the issue.

BTW, do you mind that your opponent knows that you have a speed change for this impulse?

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 - 05:00 pm: Edit

Paul,
Not a good idea if your oppenant knows of a speed change upcoming for you.

Cheers
Frank

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 - 05:16 pm: Edit

>> you assume that I develop the feature without bugs

It's not just that, it's also that given a very complicated game, there may very well be subtleties in play interactions. And disagreements (even from experienced players) can arise about how those subtle interactions actually apply to the current game situation.

So then a computer program that "runs the game" can be at odds with how the players see the rules. Whereas a computer program that "helps the players keep track of their game" will probably never be at odds with the players.

--Mike

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 - 07:07 pm: Edit

Paul, right, that has crossed my mind but I have confidence in your skills. I know nothing about coding however so my suggestion are based on ignorance. Still the simple solutions are always the best in any endeavour.
Therefore I thinks Daniels idea is good.

I wonder though if it is possible to get more use out of the reminder window? It has a tool for changing speed plots.
How about also adding an "Execute speed change" button?

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Sunday, November 09, 2025 - 06:17 pm: Edit

I have been playing Paravians face to face. Went into the game and I can not find Drogues of any kind for them? Is it possible to get them? I would if I knew how.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Monday, November 10, 2025 - 04:51 pm: Edit

They need to be added to the library.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Monday, November 10, 2025 - 05:01 pm: Edit

UHmm and how is that done? Sigh

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Tuesday, November 11, 2025 - 08:49 am: Edit

I will ping Frank Lemay and Matthew Potter, if they know. Drogues are basically a shuttle (inside the client) so that is a different challenge. BTW, what are the drogues available for the Paravians?

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Tuesday, November 11, 2025 - 05:58 pm: Edit

They get sensor, Decoy and phaser drogues. they also get a seeking weapon drogue with 3 QWT instead of drones.