Game Update (1) 2012

The game server is now 100% operational. (Including the high score list!) Things are pretty much the way they are going to be for a while.

At a glance, the game looks and plays nearly identically to the 90’s mtrek server. Most of the differences are improvements incorporated into the jtrek engine.

Here’s a basic breakdown of the changes you’ll find on this server:

Creating a ship-

You’ll be asked to enter your player name along with your ship name. The player name is used to link all of your ships into one fleet. When exiting the game, you’ll find that all of your saved ships using that player name, are listed on the third page of high scores. It will only display your top 20 ships, sorted by gold. If you’re planning to manage a fleet of more than 20 ship, I’d recommend adding another player name.

You may only choose from the 14 “standard” mtrek ship classes. (II-A, EXCEL, LARSON, DY-600, RBOP, KEV-12, KPB-13, BR-5, BR-1000, CL-13, CV-97, CDA-180, CDA-120) However, any of these may be traded in for additional classes not previously available in mtrek. See the player’s guide and previous Game Server Updates for details.

Miscellaneous devices

Seeker probes and lithium mines load and regenerate in your ship’s inventory the same way buoys do. These aren’t new for jtrek, but they were never part of the 90’s mtrek, so they’re probably worth mentioning.

Delta Quadrant

Again, not new to jtrek, but new to mtrek. You can get there via the spatial anomaly in alpha (object W). Currently, there’s not much to do there aside from looking at assimilated planets and upgrading to an AVG-IX.

I think it was originally meant to be a Borg-infested quad to add a little depth to the solo “player vs bot” play. There’s a lot of distance to cover, getting to the anomaly and the planets are pretty far apart. There’s also nowhere to save off in delta.

Delta will stay on the back burner for a while, but if I ever run out of things to do, I’ll play around with it some and maybe even get it finished up.

Server-side bots

Unlike mtrek of old, this server incorporates AI robot ships that fly around, attack players, attack each other, and generally, give players something to do.

Bots vary in skill level and ship class. Currently, they can be found flying EXCELs, LARSONs, DY-600s, KPB-13s, BR-1000s, CDA-180s, and CDA-120s.

The AI isn’t very good for cloaking ship classes and flys them as if there were no cloak at all. I’m not sure if I could improve upon it any, but cloakers are pretty useless without cloak, so for now, the above (non-cloaking) classes will be the only ones you see.

Finally…

Now that the game server is pretty much sorted out, I can spend some time on the website. Writing documentation is the bane of my existence, but it is a necessary evil.

I know fully well, how frustrating it can be, especially for a new player, when the docs are inaccurate, incomplete, poorly written, or in this case, a combination of all three. I assure you, I will do my best to expand upon them in comprehensive detail, and one day, perhaps, finish them.

-obit