The Natives... are watchful?

I'm getting a lot of reports that the "Watchful Natives" option is breaking the combat interface. I've identified and fixed the bug that causes this, but I'm probably not going to do a patch release because there is a reasonable workaround: don't turn this option on.

If you are playing combat, and discover that the NEXT button doesn't advance, or something else seems to be unresponsive, you've likely encountered this bug.

Sorry about that folks!

Version 0.31 Released

Wow, it's been a long time since the last release. You might expect a big release for that length of time, but keep in mind I did take nearly a month off from coding. Still, looking at the feature list, it does seem to be a lot.

Before I get into the features, I would like to take a moment to thank all of you that have been posting bug reports, and helping me determine which need the most attention, and which are misunderstandings of the rules. Without you guys, I'm afraid the RealmSpeak project might have died many months ago. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Okay, onto the changes. Since you can simply read the features down below, I'm not going to reiterate them too completely here, but I do want to point one thing out in particular: the behavior of combat is changed slightly, and that may annoy some of you. Up until this release, there were some actions you could perform that would automatically press the next button for you, an advance to the next stage. Some examples: selecting a melee target, running away, alerting a weapon, etc. There were other actions which did NOT do this, and this makes for a confusing interface.

To absolve this issue, I decided to make ALL actions require pressing the NEXT button. Though this means you will have to press NEXT when you used to not, it also means that you have a few moments to change your mind, or fix a "mis-click" by pressing the RESET button. I've come to like the change, and I think you will too. If not, you have my e-mail!! :-)

Okay, here's what you can expect in this release:

NEW FEATURES:

• When trading with natives, you can now trade items as part of the cost
  
• 3rd-edition optional rules added:
  
  • Knight's Adjustment (ALLY becomes FRIENDLY)
    
  • Watchful Natives (mostly - natives assigned randomly to hirelings when character is hidden, for now)
  
  
• Couple of new features in the combat simulator:
  
  • You can adjust the HIDE status of hirelings separate from character
    
  • You can choose whether or not hireling horses are included

BUGS/ISSUES:

• Flowers of Rest owned by unhired native groups will cause people to sleep now (once they've been "seen")
  
• Resolved issues with Timeless Jewel: RealmSpeak would get confused about your location if you tried moving through an undiscovered path.
  
• Fixed a problem with placing a horse during combat on the non-galloping side (trotting)
  
• Fixed an issue with the way rest phases were being counted during daylight
  
• Unfixed/Refixed the problem with the REST dialog - Now you can press the Done button if you still have REST phases, but it warns you that this is the case. (otherwise, WITHER causes an unresolvable situation that causes the game to stop)
  
• Flying from combat will position you between two tiles - Flying MUST be your first action on the following day
  
• Activated horses and boots are properly handled when a new item is aquired that is too heavy for either to carry
  
• Artifacts and Books can now only be used once per evening
  
• Wish Strength can be used to open the VAULT
  
• Cloven Hoof in native inventory, having not been seen, no longer adds one to your die rolls
  
• Fixed an issue where hired leaders and controlled monsters couldn't open the VAULT, even though their strength was sufficient
  
• Fixed an inconsistency in the behavior of the buttons in the "Encounter" phase of combat. Now ALL encounter actions require pressing NEXT, which means you also have a chance to press reset if you make an error. This might take some getting used to...
  
• Dragonfang necklace works again
  
• Vial of Healing is implemented (I thought it was before, but I clearly never wrote code for it)
  
• Getting transported by the Toadstool Circle no longer includes your hirelings (they are left behind)
  
• Familiar, Phantasm, Hired Leaders, and Controlled Monsters no longer count towards the "Character Limit" you set at the beginning of the game.
  
• Combat simulator works for setting up natives against natives without a character
  
• Trading the Regent of Jewels in your first TRADE phase no longer causes you to lose the TRADE phase bonus that that treasure gives you'
  
• Calculation of clearing distance is correct for missions that have multiple possible paths to the same destination now
  
• END combat for multiple online players should work properly now
  
• WITHER Curse properly fatigues alerted and color chits, in addition to normal active chits

ps - no current plans for an online game, so I can't really say with confidence that the online portion of RealmSpeak is working again. If you decide to play an online game with a friend or two, I'd love to hear from you regarding how it goes! When I do get a chance to play online, you know I'll post it here!

Watchful Natives

I had a request to add some 3rd edition rules into the game, and I decided to get that together for the next release. The two you can expect to see are "Knight's Adjustment" and "Watchful Natives". Should make the Inn masacres less prevalent, and balance the game a bit.

I think I fixed the bug that killed my last online game, so I may have to schedule another one very soon. I probably wont do a release until right before that game (sometime in the next couple of weeks?)

Lots and lots of other things. As always, you can watch my progress at the bug tracker. Simply log in, and click the Change Log link at the top of the page to see what's been fixed in the newest version. If you don't already have an account there, feel free to get one: it's not required that you report issues to have a login, and I'll never use your e-mails for anything else (ie., I wont sell you off to any spammers!) Plus, if you ever do decide to chime in on a bug, you'll be set to go!