News from Development
Here comes another update on current development state: Since my last post in December a lot of visible changes have found their way to our subversion repository.
First of all Erik further improved the code for the html-documentation. If you search for a manual for one of the tribes, this feature will definitely give you what you want.
Another new feature Erik implemented is a full tree cycle.
Well what does that actually mean - tree cycle?
In the current development version, the trees are growing by themselves, spreading their seeds, conquering new land and are eventually dying. Also, the life cycle of the tree is affected by the terrain he is growing on. So for example a spruce might grow better on mountain meadows than an oak or an aspen, while larches can thrive better on steppe terrain than other trees... So to conclude: When a tree dies actually depends on its capability to grow and life on the ground it stands on. The death might be in an very early state of the tree's upgrowth or might only come because the lumberjack finally uses his axe.
Perhaps this might sound strange while reading, but I am quite sure you will understand how it works as soon as you are playing with this great new feature. 
Further some wonderful new artwork has also found its way to our repository. Ilguido painted us some great new portraits for both campaigns. Link to one example
Another new feature Erik implemented is the possibility to start up with different initializations. That means there doesn't need to be a headquarters at the start of the game, but just some other buildings. At the moment there are two possible initializations for all three tribes: either the old style headquarters (which of course will stay the default) or the castle village (or citadel village at barbarians) which includes a castle full of soldiers, a warehouse and a little infrastructure of bigger buildings like a sawmill and a smith. This feature enables us to not just improve normal games, but also improve campaign maps.
Did you already use the automatic flag setting in a road build (holding down CTRL while ending a road with a flag)? And did you like it? If yes you will surely be happy to hear that Erik implemented a feature that rips of all flags that get a dead end if holding down CTRL while ripping out one flag.
Another question: Did you ever wonder why the lumberjack is running around like an idiot to finally cut the tree furthest away from his house? Well if you really did, you will be happy that you won't ask this question again ... 
Okay so what did I do?
Did you ever want to start a game on a different position than the first one? Actually I did and so I implemented a "switch position" system allowing the player to choose a starting position. But that's not all. In multiplayer games you can now even choose to not participate as player, but to follow the game as spectator. And to complete the multiplayer feeling, you finally can use your local characters (like ÄäÖöÜüß in German) in the ingame chat.
Well, what more? Ah... I nearly forgot it, but yes: Bugfixes, bugfixes, bugfixes, bugfixes ...
But well even this long text is not holding all changes, so if you are interested in more information, you should take a look at the ChangeLog
2 comments Posted by Nasenbaer on 2009-03-16, 23:14
Sounds promising
Any estimated release date for build14?