The war game is a combination of Empires of Steel, WeeWar, Mother of All Battles by Sean O’Connor, Advance War, as well as Command & Conquer. The game will initially feature single player game play only. Please note, the graphics are not final yet. The tilesets will go out to the artist pretty soon.

RTS Wargame (WiP)

Release Date: Feb. 2011.
1st Tournament: Free to Enter (no subscription required), US$1000 Prize Money

Standard Galactic Alphabet

Age of Conquest is now available in Polish:

• Age of Conquest in Polish by Robert Urbaniec

So, right now, the following languages are support:

• Age of Conquest in English
• Age of Conquest in Italian by Gabriele Ravanetti
• Age of Conquest in Chinese by “绝影汉化组

Also, currently underway are translations to German, French, Spanish & Japanese. If you would like to add yet another translation, please contact me for details.

My thanks go to all the contributors for their hard work!

http://sig.ageofconquest.com/universe1/sig/user/<username>.png

Replace <username> with your Age of Conquest username. For integration into a forum, you could use the following BB Code. The code links to the homepage of Age of Conquest:

[url=http://www.ageofconquest.com][img]http://sig.ageofconquest.com/universe1/sig/user/<username>.png[/img][/url]

Game Signature for noblemaster

Custom Triggers

What are “triggers” are you probably asking yourself? Has he finally lost his mind? Not yet! Triggers are custom events that can be added to map scenarios. A trigger can either be shown at random or at a fixed turn. Triggers serve a game by providing “outside” events to a game, rather than everything being player generated.

The following triggers are currently available:

• Announcement: to display announcements. You could for example create an announcement that will be shown at turn 2 to all players telling them to attack Rome.
• Economy: you could say for turn 4, everyone will get an extra 17′000 gold in their treasury due to good economic time.
• Plague: a plague has killed 87% of the human population at turn 5. Once a plague has hit, income will be reduced as less population will not be able to produce as much income.

There are currently no triggers defined in any scenario (to my knowledge?). If you are a map maker and would like to test the feature, open the map editor and fill in the corresponding fields in the “Trigger” tab. Hit test to see it live in action.

Please visit the MultiplayerHub Forums to discuss.

Espionage & Sabotage

The latest update for Age of Conquest ONLINE v3 includes five additional actions. The actions are available on both Android and desktop (PC, Mac, Linux), except the call to arms function is only available on desktop at the moment. The five actions include:

• Support - can be used to send gold to other empires. The functionality is limited to 40′000 gold per transaction.
• Purchase - can be used to purchase neutral provinces. The provinces are rather expensive and can be acquired for 100′000 gold or more depending on the province’s value (production, population).
• Call to Arms – can be used to rally troops from multiple provinces that are in range (radius 3). The troops become available the next turn. It helps prevent depletion of population on a province.
• Espionage - can be utilized to spy on other empires. Functions include locating an enemy ruler, their treasury, economy or reading their messages.
• Sabotage - can be utilized to steal gold from foreign rulers or reduce their morale.

[Call to Arms], [Espionage] and [Sabotage] are disabled by default and have to be set if a new game is created. [Support] and [Purchase] are new and become available also in games already in progress. [Support] and [Purchase] can be disabled as needed.

Please note, the purchases refer to the orders made through http://www.ageofconquest.com only and do not include purchases via 3rd party distributors of Age of Conquest (don’t have any numbers yet).

Live Statistics for Age of Conquest

Obviously for Age of Conquest! Should be available within the next few weeks…

Big Map of Europe

Overview Map for Age of Conquest

Age of Conquest ONLINE v3 now features an overview map. The map can be viewed during game setup and during game-play. The overview map shows the empires, economy and population sizes.

Also, please join noblemaster’s game in the Casual realm!

In other news, I am planning to release Age of Conquest ONLINE in about one month from now and need beta-testers for the online version as well. You will receive a free one year subscription to the online version for participating, plus being added to the credits. Also, you will get a headstart by getting to play around with it first. Please email me your username and operating system (Windows, Macintosh, Linux or UNIX) if you would like to participate. Send your email to contact at ageofconquest dot com.

Planned Release Date:

• Age of Conquest III: Nov. 17 (GamersGate, ageofconquest.com)
  
• Age of Conquest ONLINE: Nov. 17 (ageofconquest.com)

Release dates are pretty fixed, unless there are not enough volunteers to beta-test Age of Conquest ONLINE.

Please contact us at the email address listed on our web site.

Thanks!

Edit I: beta-testers will appear in the game credits!

Edit II: Let’s make this a paid beta-test (PayPal ony). The whole test shouldn’t take much more than 1-2 hours. I need bug reports for Windows, Macintosh & Linux. I need 3 beta-testers for each platform (9 total). You will receive a payment of $25 for sending me the test report, plus have your name added to the credits of the game. Please email me know if you would like to participate. Let me know which platforms you can test for (you only need to do one). It’s first-come first-serve. Thanks!

Links for Users

Age of Conquest III will have linked users and clans. All the users and clans, wherever they appear inside the various panels will be clickable and will open an information panel.

The user information panel will contain the following components:

• Information about the user such as his location, birthday, standings and awards.
• A button that allows to contact the user directly via private messaging system.
• Add a user to the friend list; or block the user from contacting you.
• A reporting button to report suspected cheaters.
• Administrators will be able to view last logins and other user related information. There is admin functionality available to administrate the user if you are an administrator.

The same will be available for clans. The clan information panel will display the clan owers, admins and honor members. Also, it will be possible to directly apply to become a member of the clan.

Ratings & Awards

Age of Conquest III will feature a much improved user information panel. The panel will display the following information:

• Overall Rating & Ranking
• Season Team/User Rating & Ranking
• Awards including Championships won, Top Season Ratings achieved as well as Contest finishes.

More awards will be added once version III has come online.

Visit the Age of Conquest Modding Discussions & Workshop forum on the Multiplayer Hub for download and information.

Age of Conquest Editor (beta)

Star Rating

I couldn’t find a good star rating component for Java Swing, so I rolled my own. The star rating component displays the current current rating (yellow stars), as well as a “selected” rating (reddish stars). The “selected” rating can be changed by a user. If the “selected” rating is changed, all the listeners will be notified of the change.

Example (5 stars, 3.78 average rating, 3 stars initial selection):

  StarRater starRater = new StarRater(5, 3.61, 3);
  starRater.addStarListener(new StarRater.StarListener() {
    public void handleSelection(int selection) {
      // a new number of stars has been selected
      do something...
    }
  });
  add(starRater);   // add the component to the container...

The star rating component will initially be used to rate maps in Age of Conquest.

Here is the download for both source code & star images (Photoshop). Note that I included the star images as byte array in the source code for your convenience. You are obviously free to use your own as well. Please consider both source code as well as images in the Public Domain. If you would like to credit me for the work that’s great, otherwise, no problem either:

• Star Rater Component (Swing) + Star Images (Photoshop)

England Zone

Age of Conquest will have a new game type available. King of the Hill will require a player or a team to hold a certain area on the map for a given time to win the game. Target flags will define the zone.

For additional suggestions, please post your ideas here in the blog!

Color Swatch (Java)

The color selector (JColorChooser) for Java is rather ugly, so I decided to write my own color chooser. The color chooser is made up of two components:

• ColorSelector: A button which displays the currently selected color and pops up the ColorSwatch when clicked.
• ColorSwatch:  Displays a color swatch with clickable colors. The color swatch expects a two-dimensional array of colors as input that will be displayed in the swatch.

The color selector and swatch will be used for Age of Conquest to make it more convenient to select a color in the map editor (less cumbersome). Please note, the five columns to the left are specifically designed colors for Age of Conquest to give maps a medieval look & feel. Although other colors can be chosen as well, it is recommended to use the medieval colors when creating new scenarios for the game.

Here is the code for both components. Please consider the code Public Domain. Feel free to use and modify it any way you please. Although, I would appreciate to be credited, it is not necessary to do so. Enjoy!

ColorSelector.java

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.RenderingHints;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import javax.swing.ButtonModel;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JPopupMenu;

/**
 * Represents a color selector.
 *
 * @author noblemaster
 * @since August 16, 2010
 */
public class ColorSelector extends JButton {

  /** The default colors. */
  private static final int[][] DEFAULT_COLORS = new int[][] {
      { 0xFFFFFF, 0xEEEEEE, 0xDDDDDD, 0xCCCCCC
       , 0xBBBBBB, 0xAAAAAA, 0xFFCC00, 0xFF9900
       , 0xFF6600, 0xFF3300, 0x999999, 0x888888
       , 0x666666, 0x444444, 0x222222, 0x000000 },
      { 0x99CC00, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000
       , 0x000000, 0xCC9900, 0xFFCC33, 0xFFCC66
       , 0xFF9966, 0xFF6633, 0xCC3300, 0x000000
       , 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0xCC0033 },
      { 0xCCFF00, 0xCCFF33, 0x333300, 0x666600
       , 0x999900, 0xCCCC00, 0xFFFF00, 0xCC9933
       , 0xCC6633, 0x330000, 0x660000, 0x990000
       , 0xCC0000, 0xFF0000, 0xFF3366, 0xFF0033 },
      { 0x99FF00, 0xCCFF66, 0x99CC33, 0x666633
       , 0x999933, 0xCCCC33, 0xFFFF33, 0x996600
       , 0x993300, 0x663333, 0x993333, 0xCC3333
       , 0xFF3333, 0xCC3366, 0xFF6699, 0xFF0066 },
      { 0x66FF00, 0x99FF66, 0x66CC33, 0x669900
       , 0x999966, 0xCCCC66, 0xFFFF66, 0x996633
       , 0x663300, 0x996666, 0xCC6666, 0xFF6666
       , 0x990033, 0xCC3399, 0xFF66CC, 0xFF0099 },
      { 0x33FF00, 0x66FF33, 0x339900, 0x66CC00
       , 0x99FF33, 0xCCCC99, 0xFFFF99, 0xCC9966
       , 0xCC6600, 0xCC9999, 0xFF9999, 0xFF3399
       , 0xCC0066, 0x990066, 0xFF33CC, 0xFF00CC },
      { 0x00CC00, 0x33CC00, 0x336600, 0x669933
       , 0x99CC66, 0xCCFF99, 0xFFFFCC, 0xFFCC99
       , 0xFF9933, 0xFFCCCC, 0xFF99CC, 0xCC6699
       , 0x993366, 0x660033, 0xCC0099, 0x330033 },
      { 0x33CC33, 0x66CC66, 0x00FF00, 0x33FF33
       , 0x66FF66, 0x99FF99, 0xCCFFCC, 0xFFFFE3
       , 0xFFFFFF, 0xFFE3FF, 0xCC99CC, 0x996699
       , 0x993399, 0x990099, 0x663366, 0x660066 },
      { 0x006600, 0x336633, 0x009900, 0x339933
       , 0x669966, 0x99CC99, 0xE3FFFF, 0xFFFFFF
       , 0xFFFFFF, 0xFFCCFF, 0xFF99FF, 0xFF66FF
       , 0xFF33FF, 0xFF00FF, 0xCC66CC, 0xCC33CC },
      { 0x003300, 0x00CC33, 0x006633, 0x339966
       , 0x66CC99, 0x99FFCC, 0xCCFFFF, 0x3399FF
       , 0x99CCFF, 0xCCCCFF, 0xCC99FF, 0x9966CC
       , 0x663399, 0x330066, 0x9900CC, 0xCC00CC },
      { 0x00FF33, 0x33FF66, 0x009933, 0x00CC66
       , 0x33FF99, 0x99FFFF, 0x99CCCC, 0x0066CC
       , 0x6699CC, 0x9999FF, 0x9999CC, 0x9933FF
       , 0x6600CC, 0x660099, 0xCC33FF, 0xCC00FF },
      { 0x00FF66, 0x66FF99, 0x33CC66, 0x009966
       , 0x66FFFF, 0x66CCCC, 0x669999, 0x003366
       , 0x336699, 0x6666FF, 0x6666CC, 0x666699
       , 0x330099, 0x9933CC, 0xCC66FF, 0x9900FF },
      { 0x00FF99, 0x66FFCC, 0x33CC99, 0x33FFFF
       , 0x33CCCC, 0x339999, 0x336666, 0x006699
       , 0x003399, 0x3333FF, 0x3333CC, 0x333399
       , 0x333366, 0x6633CC, 0x9966FF, 0x6600FF },
      { 0x00FFCC, 0x33FFCC, 0x00FFFF, 0x00CCCC
       , 0x009999, 0x006666, 0x003333, 0x3399CC
       , 0x3366CC, 0x0000FF, 0x0000CC, 0x000099
       , 0x000066, 0x000033, 0x6633FF, 0x3300FF },
      { 0x00CC99, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000
       , 0x000000, 0x0099CC, 0x33CCFF, 0x66CCFF
       , 0x6699FF, 0x3366FF, 0x0033CC, 0x000000
       , 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x3300CC },
      { 0x000000, 0x222222, 0x444444, 0x666666
       , 0x888888, 0x999999, 0x00CCFF, 0x0099FF
       , 0x0066FF, 0x0033FF, 0xAAAAAA, 0xBBBBBB
       , 0xCCCCCC, 0xDDDDDD, 0xEEEEEE, 0xFFFFFF },
  };

  /** The rollover color. */
  private static final Color ROLLOVER_COLOR = new Color(0x20ffffff, true);

  /** The current color. */
  private Color color;
  /** The available colors. */
  private Color[][] colors;

  /**
   * The constructor.
   */
  public ColorSelector() {
    this(Color.RED, getDefaultColors());
  }

  /**
   * The constructor.
   *
   * @param color  The active color.
   * @param colors  The colors to select from.
   */
  public ColorSelector(Color color, Color[][] colors) {
    this.color = color;
    this.colors = colors;

    // set background
    setOpaque(false);

    // listen to clicks and display popup as needed
    addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
        // create and show swatch
        final JPopupMenu popup = new JPopupMenu();
        popup.setOpaque(false);
        ColorSwatch swatch = new ColorSwatch(ColorSelector.this.colors);
        swatch.addColorListener(new ColorSwatch.ColorListener() {
          public void handleColor(Color color) {
            // set the new color
            if (color != null) {
              ColorSelector.this.setColor(color);
            }

            // hide the popup
            popup.setVisible(false);
          }
        });
        popup.add(swatch);
        popup.show(ColorSelector.this, getWidth() / 2, getHeight() / 2);
      }
    });
  }

  /**
   * Returns the color.
   *
   * @return  The color.
   */
  public Color getColor() {
    return color;
  }

  /**
   * Sets the color.
   *
   * @param color  The color.
   */
  public void setColor(Color color) {
    this.color = color;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the colors.
   *
   * @return  The colors.
   */
  public Color[][] getColors() {
    return colors;
  }

  /**
   * Sets the colors.
   *
   * @param colors  The colors.
   */
  public void setColors(Color[][] colors) {
    this.colors = colors;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the base colors.
   *
   * @return  The base colors.
   */
  public static Color[][] getDefaultColors() {
    Color[][] colors = new Color[DEFAULT_COLORS.length][DEFAULT_COLORS[0].length];
    for (int y = 0; y < colors.length; y++) {
      for (int x = 0; x < colors[0].length; x++) {
        colors[y][x] = new Color(DEFAULT_COLORS[y][x]);
      }
    }
    return colors;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the preferred size.
   *
   * @return  The preferred size.
   */
  @Override
  public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
    return new Dimension(60, 30);
  }

  /**
   * Returns the margin.
   *
   * @return  The margin.
   */
  private int margin() {
    return 3;
  }

  /**
   * Draws this component.
   *
   * @param g  Where to draw to.
   */
  @Override
  public void paint(Graphics g) {
    // use antialiasing
    Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D)g;
    g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,
                        RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
    int width = getWidth();
    int height = getHeight();
    int x = 0;
    int y = 0;
    int margin = margin();

    // draw border
    getBorder().paintBorder(this, g, 0, 0, width - 1, height - 1); 

    // draw the color
    g.setColor(color);
    g.fillRoundRect(x + margin, y + margin
                 , width - (2 * margin), height - (2 * margin), 5, 5);

    // draw effect as need
    ButtonModel model = getModel();
    if (model.isPressed()) {
      g.setColor(ROLLOVER_COLOR);
      g.fillRoundRect(x + margin, y + margin
                 , width - (2 * margin), height - (2 * margin), 5, 5);
      g.fillRoundRect(x + margin, y + margin
                , width - (2 * margin), height - (2 * margin), 5, 5);
    }
    else if (model.isRollover()) {
      g.setColor(ROLLOVER_COLOR);
      g.fillRoundRect(x + margin, y + margin
               , width - (2 * margin), height - (2 * margin), 5, 5);
    }
  }
}

ColorSwatch.java:

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.RenderingHints;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.event.MouseInputListener;

/**
 * Displays a color swatch.
 *
 * @author noblemaster
 * @since August 16, 2010
 */
public class ColorSwatch extends JPanel {

  /** The rollover color. */
  private static final Color ROLLOVER_COLOR = new Color(0x80ffffff, true);

  /** The listener. */
  public static interface ColorListener {

    /**
     * Called if a color has been activated.
     *
     * @param color  The color.
     */
    void handleColor(Color color);
  }

  /** The listeners. */
  private transient List
 listeners = new ArrayList();

  /** The colors. */
  private Color[][] colors;

  /** The rollover color. */
  private Color rolloverColor = null;

  /**
   * The constructor.
   */
  public ColorSwatch() {
    this(new Color[0][0]);
  }

  /**
   * The constructor.
   *
   * @param colors  The colors to select from.
   */
  public ColorSwatch(Color[][] colors) {
    this.colors = colors;

    // set look
    setOpaque(true);
    setBackground(Color.WHITE);
    setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLACK, 1));

    // add listener
    MouseInputListener mouseListener = new MouseInputListener() {
      public void mousePressed(MouseEvent event) {
        Color color = getColor(event.getX(), event.getY());

        // notify about selection
        for (int i = 0; i < listeners.size(); i++) {
          listeners.get(i).handleColor(color);
        }
      }
      public void mouseMoved(MouseEvent event) {
        rolloverColor = getColor(event.getX(), event.getY());
        repaint();
      }
      public void mouseDragged(MouseEvent event) {
        // not used
      }
      public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent event) {
        // not used
      }
      public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent arg0) {
        // not used
      }
      public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent arg0) {
        // not used
      }
      public void mouseExited(MouseEvent arg0) {
        rolloverColor = null;
        repaint();
      }
    };
    addMouseListener(mouseListener);
    addMouseMotionListener(mouseListener);
  }

  /**
   * Returns the colors.
   *
   * @return  The colors.
   */
  public Color[][] getColors() {
    return colors;
  }

  /**
   * Sets the colors.
   *
   * @param colors  The colors.
   */
  public void setColors(Color[][] colors) {
    this.colors = colors;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the preferred size.
   *
   * @return  The preferred size.
   */
  @Override
  public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
    int colorSize = getColorSize();
    int colorSpacing = getColorSpacing();
    int margin = getMargin();
    return new Dimension((colorSize + colorSpacing) * colors[0].length
                              + (2 * margin) - colorSpacing
                       , (colorSize + colorSpacing) * colors.length
                              + (2 * margin) - colorSpacing);
  }

  /**
   * Returns the margin/insets from where the colors are painted. Override this method to paint the colors
   * further inside.
   *
   * @return  The margin.
   */
  public int getMargin() {
    return 2;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the color for the given coordinate.
   *
   * @param x  The x coordinate.
   * @param y  The y coordinate.
   * @return  The color or null if not found.
   */
  private Color getColor(int x, int y) {
    int margin = getMargin();
    int colorSize = getColorSize();
    int colorSpacing = getColorSpacing();
    x -= margin;
    y -= margin;
    int col = x / (colorSize + colorSpacing);
    int row = y / (colorSize + colorSpacing);
    if ((col < 0) || (col >= colors[0].length) || (row < 0)
                       || (row >= colors.length)) {
      return null;
    }
    else {
      return colors[row][col];
    }
  }

  /**
   * Returns the spacing.
   *
   * @return  The spacing.
   */
  private int getColorSpacing() {
    return getColorSize() > 2 ? 1 : 0;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the size of a color thingy.
   *
   * @return  The color size in pixels.
   */
  private int getColorSize() {
    if ((colors[0].length <= 12) && (colors.length <= 8)) {
      return 15;
    }
    else if ((colors[0].length <= 24) && (colors.length <= 16)) {
      return 7;
    }
    else if ((colors[0].length <= 48) && (colors.length <= 32)) {
      return 5;
    }
    else if ((colors[0].length <= 96) && (colors.length <= 64)) {
      return 3;
    }
    else {
      return 1;
    }
  }

  /**
   * Draws this component.
   *
   * @param g  Where to draw to.
   */
  @Override
  protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
    // use antialiasing
    Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D)g;
    g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,
                        RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
    int width = getWidth();
    int height = getHeight();
    int margin = getMargin();
    int colorSize = getColorSize();
    int colorSpacing = getColorSpacing();

    // background fill
    g.setColor(getBackground());
    g.fillRect(0, 0, width, height);

    // draw the colors
    for (int y = 0; y < colors.length; y++) {
      for (int x = 0; x < colors[0].length; x++) {         Color color = colors[y][x];         g.setColor(color);         g.fillRect(x * (colorSize + colorSpacing) + margin                  , y * (colorSize + colorSpacing) + margin                  , colorSize                  , colorSize);                  // draw rollover?         if (colorSpacing > 0) {
          if (color == rolloverColor) {
            g.setColor(ROLLOVER_COLOR);
            g.fillRect(x * (colorSize + colorSpacing) + margin
                , y * (colorSize + colorSpacing) + margin
                , colorSize
                , colorSize);
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }

  /**
   * Adds a listener.
   *
   * @param listener  The listener.
   */
  public void addColorListener(ColorListener listener) {
    listeners.add(listener);
  }

  /**
   * Removes a listener.
   *
   * @param listener  The listener.
   */
  public void removeColorListener(ColorListener listener) {
    listeners.remove(listener);
  }
}

Slider and Progress Bar

Age of Conquest III will feature two new GUI components: slider and progress bar. Both components have been designed by Sergey “Serjio” Churbanov who created most other graphics for Age of Conquest III as well.

The income and expenses for each turn are calculated as follows:

World world = ... // the world including everything
Entity entity = ... // the empire we are doing the calculations for

// assets
long money = entity.getMoney();

// income: tax
long taxIncome = getTaxIncome(world.getProduction(entity),
                              entity.getTaxRate(),
                              entity.getMorale());
money += taxIncome;

// income: vassals
for (Entity vassal: vassals) {
  long vassalIncome = getTaxIncome(world.getProduction(vassal),
                                   vassal.getTaxRate(),
                                   vassal.getMorale());
  money += getVassalPay(taxIncome);
}

// expenses: economy and military spending
money -= getEconomySpending(taxIncome, entity.getSpendingEconomy()));
money -= getMilitarySpending(world.getMilitary(entity),
                             entity.getSpendingMilitary()));

// expenses: tributes to vassal masters
for (Entity master: masters) {
  money -= getVassalPay(taxIncome);
}

Please note, production is a factor of economy x population.

Utility functions to calculate costs as well as economy, population and military increases/decreases depending on the spending settings chosen.

  /** The percent the vassal pays. */
  public static final int VASSAL_PAY_PERCENTAGE = 10;

  /** The standard economy spending in percent [0, 100]. */
  public static final int STANDARD_SPENDING_ECONOMY = 80;
  /** The standard military spending in percent [0, 100]. */
  public static final int STANDARD_SPENDING_MILITARY = 80;

  /**
   * Returns the tax for the given number of people.
   *
   * @param production  The production.
   * @param taxRate  The tax rate in percent [0, 100].
   * @param morale  The morale in percent [0, 100].
   * @return  The tax.
   */
  public long getTaxIncome(long production, int taxRate, int morale) {
    return Math.round(Math.pow(production * 0.08d, 0.96d) * taxRate/10*morale/100);
  }

  /**
   * Returns the payment a vassal slave has to pay to
   * his master based on his production.
   *
   * @param taxIncome  The tax income of the vassal slave.
   * @return  The pay a vassal slave has to pay to his master.
   */
  public long getVassalPay(long taxIncome) {
    return taxIncome * VASSAL_PAY_PERCENTAGE / 100;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the investment spending for the given tax income.
   *
   * @param taxIncome  The tax income.
   * @param economySpending  The economy spending.
   * @return  The expenses.
   */
  public long getEconomySpending(long taxIncome, int economySpending) {
    return (taxIncome / 10) * economySpending / STANDARD_SPENDING_ECONOMY;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the economy increase for the given spending rate.
   *
   * @param economySpending  The spending.
   * @return  The increase factor. Stays stable for 1, decreases
   * or less than 1 and increases for more than 1.
   */
  public float getEconomyIncrease(int economySpending) {
    return 1.03f + ((economySpending - Market.STANDARD_SPENDING_ECONOMY) * 0.03f / 100);
  }

  /**
   * Returns the population increase for the given spending rate.
   *
   * @param economySpending  The spending.
   * @return  The increase factor. Stays stable for 1, decreases
   * for less than 1 and increases for more than 1.
   */
  public float getPopulationIncrease(int economySpending) {
    return 1.01f + (economySpending * 0.001f);
  }

  /**
   * Returns the upkeep cost for the given number of military units.
   *
   * @param military  The military units.
   * @param militarySpending  The military spending.
   * @return  The upkeep cost.
   */
  public long getMilitarySpending(long military, int militarySpending) {
    return (military / 5) * militarySpending / STANDARD_SPENDING_MILITARY;
  }

  /**
   * Returns the military increase for the given spending rate.
   *
   * @param militarySpending  The spending.
   * @return  The increase factor. Stays stable for 1, decreases
   * for less than 1 and increases for more than 1.
   */
  public float getMilitaryIncrease(int militarySpending) {
    return 1.0f + ((militarySpending - Market.STANDARD_SPENDING_MILITARY) * 0.5f / 100);
  }

Find below the menu screen layout for the single player version of the game:

Age of Conquest: Menu Screen

See below for current development screenshots for the iPad version (World Conquest). Please note, this is the medium-sized world map. The full-size world map will be available on desktop (PC, Mac, Linux) only due to memory limitations.

Age of Conquest III - Screenshot 1

Age of Conquest III - Screenshot 2

]]> http://blog.noblemaster.com/2010/07/28/latest-screenshots-for-aoc-version-iii/feed/ 0 http://blog.noblemaster.com/2010/07/13/age-of-conquest-progress-report/ http://blog.noblemaster.com/2010/07/13/age-of-conquest-progress-report/#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:11:53 +0000 noblemaster http://blog.noblemaster.com/?p=752

Battle!

After taking things easy for a few weeks, I am ready to re-start game development for Age of Conquest. I just received another set of graphics from the artist (Sergey). This is the final batch including about 30 icons.

I already started developing the various iPad screens. All that was missing were the graphics. Now, that I received the final batch from Sergey, I should be able to bring iPad development to a close within the next 4-6 weeks. After that, the desktop (PC, Macintosh & Linux) version is up next. I should be able to get the desktop version (single player) ready before December.

See below for the latest graphics (Winner’s Podium).

Age of Conquest Winner's Podium

Please provide feedback!

• Tax Rate: The tax rate affects morale. A tax rate of 10% will keep morale stable. Morale is a multiplier for tax income. Keeping the tax rate low, will increase morale and yield to a higher income in the future. Keeping the tax rate high will allow for short-term tax income gains, but reduce tax income in the future due to lowered morale.
• Economy: Economy spending can be used to grow both population and economy each turn.
• Military: Military spending of 80% will keep the number of military units stable. Increasing the spending will grow military units on all the provinces each turn. Decreased spending will do the opposite.

The empire screen is optional for all games and can be disabled as needed.

Empire Adjustment Screen

1. Make sure all the borders are located in a separate Photoshop layer. The border lines are preferably black and 1px wide. Please note that the Age of Conquest Map Editor can export all the border lines automatically. Otherwise, use either the Photoshop brush or line tool to draw the border lines beforehand.
2. Follow the instructions below and edit the border layer properties to enhance the look of the border lines.

Please note that the guidelines will work as well in other graphics tools such Gimp (free).

Border Line Enhancement /w Photoshop

]]> http://blog.noblemaster.com/2010/05/21/map-modding-nice-province-borders/feed/ 2 http://blog.noblemaster.com/2010/05/19/age-of-conquest-in-taiwan/ http://blog.noblemaster.com/2010/05/19/age-of-conquest-in-taiwan/#comments Wed, 19 May 2010 19:19:51 +0000 noblemaster http://blog.noblemaster.com/?p=653

S Mart Logo

Age of Conquest has been released in the S Mart Store in Taiwan for Android devices. The game has been translated to Chinese by my friend Alex.

I was going to post a direct link to the game in the store, unfortunately that is not possible as the site only uses HTTP POST to link pages. To find the game, click on the 3rd tab from the left and then select the bottommost item in the 2nd menu list on the left-hand side.

Store URL: http://www.smartapp.tw

Translator: Kin “The Dog” Wang a.k.a. Alex

Age of Conquest on SmartApp.tw

Age of Conquest

It’s May 17, 2010 – It’s the 10 year anniversary of Age of Conquest. The game started its humble origins ten years ago to the day (yes, I checked the database). Age of Conquest has been online most of the time since 2000 and managed to obtain a small group of followers over the years. The game has been ported to Windows, Macintosh, Linux, iPhone/iPod as well as Android.

The following releases have been slated for the upcoming months:

• Age of Conquest World Map Edition for iPad: This is a large size map featuring all the continents of Earth.
• Age of Conquest III for PC, Mac, Linux: This includes both a single player version of the game as well as an online version.

Graphics:  Robert Altbauer
Map & Modding: Travis Bowling

World Map Preview (Age of Conquest)

The session is scheduled for:

Thursday, May 6, 18:30pm – around mignight
Time Zone: Hawaii, GMT-10
Download & Install: SharedView
Session Name & Password: Live NOW (May 6, 18:30)

LiveStream Screenshot:

LiveStream Screenshot

Icons for AoC III

I got some of the icons ready for Age of Conquest III. Sergey our artist is drawing all the graphics for the upcoming installment of the game. So far, he is doing an excellent job.

In regards to coding; I am currently porting Age of Conquest from iPod/iPhone to the iPad. I am creating an Universal Binary which can be run both on small as well as big screens. I noted there are only a “few” games for the iPad available so far (unless I am mistaken?). If I get Age of Conquest in there soon, it might get extra exposure. I also started doing some initial GUI work for the desktop release (Windows, Macintosh, Linux).

Also note there is a higher number of users from Android devices who visited the site compared to iPhone users.

• WinXP – 41%
• Win7 – 17.2%
• Android – 15.8%
• WinVista -15.4%
• MacOSX – 6.8%
• iPhoneOS – 1.8%
• Linux – 1.6%
• Win2000 0.4%

Visitor Stats for Age of Conquest

Vassalization

I completed implementation of vassalage for Age of Conquest ONLINE on Android. A vassal is depicted with diagonal stripes:

• Duke/Duchess: thick stripes
• Count/Countess: thin stripes

Each empire can have one or more vassal. Each vassal can have exactly one liege. Vassals will pay 10% of their tax income to their liege. For the standard type game, goal points are assigned as follows:

• Self: 1
• Alliance points multiplier: 0.35
• Liege (vassal master) points multiplier: 0.29
• Direct vassal points multiplayer (level 1): 0.41
• Indirect vassal points multiplayer (level 2): 1/2 * 0.41

This basically means, you will get the full points for the provinces that you own yourself. You will receive 35% of the points from the provinces your allies own. A vassal will receive 29% of the points from his/her liege. A liege will receive 41% of the points from the direct vassal and 20.5% for the vassal below.

    // population: constant growth
    for (int i = 0; i < provinceList.size(); i++) {
      Province province = provinceList.get(i);
      int population = province.getPopulation();
      long increasePercent = 8;
      long increase = population * increasePercent / 100
                                 * province.getEconomy() / Province.MAX_ECONOMY
                                 * (province.isTown() ? 125 : 100) / 100;
      population += increase;
      province.setPopulation(population);
    }

    // population: migration
    List populations = new ArrayList();
    for (int i = 0; i < provinceList.size(); i++) {
      Province province = provinceList.get(i);
      populations.add(province.getPopulation());
    }
    for (int i = 0; i < provinceList.size(); i++) {
       Province province = provinceList.get(i);
       ProvinceList neighbors = province.getNeighbors();
       int population = populations.get(i);
       int neighborCount = neighbors.size();
       if (neighborCount > 0) {
        int migrationPercent = 15;
        int migrationPopulation = population * migrationPercent / 100 / neighborCount;
        for (int k = 0; k < neighborCount; k++) {
          Province neighbor = neighbors.get(k);
          neighbor.setPopulation(neighbor.getPopulation() + migrationPopulation);
          province.setPopulation(province.getPopulation() - migrationPopulation);
        }
      }
    }

    // economy: changes depending on population size difference to economy difference
    for (int i = 0; i < provinceList.size(); i++) {
      Province province = provinceList.get(i);
      int economy = province.getEconomy();
      long increasePercent = 2;
      long increase = (province.getPopulation() - economy) * increasePercent / 100;
      economy += increase;
      province.setEconomy(economy);
    }

Please note that the code sample does not include all the variables as of yet.

Private Messaging

Age of Conquest III is equipped with a private messaging system. Messages can be sent to any of the players of the game without them having to give away their email address. You can be notified of new messages by email if desired. In addition there is a friend list to manage friends and foes.

The new private messaging system will make it easier to organize games, organize clans & communities, get latest tournament updates, investigate cheaters and bother the game developer.

Profile Popup Window

Age of Conquest III will feature profile popup windows that display user information. The popup window will be made available by simply clicking on a username.

The popup window displays ratings, rankings and awards. Furthermore, it provides quick access to write private messages as well as adding and removing a contact from the personal friend list. The personal friend list can be utilized to invite people to a game or write bulk messages.

Still under development:

• The profile picture will be replaced by an actual avatar image.
• Awards will be added and depicted using medals/trophies.
• [Report] button to report a user as possible cheater.

Small armies will be depicted with one soldier icon, larger armies using more:

• Unit Size 1-999: 1 soldier icon
• Unit Size 1000-3999: 2 soldier icons
• Unit Size 4000-9999: 3 soldier icons
• Unit Size 10000-19999: 4 soldier icons
• Unit Size 20000+: 5 soldier icons

Attack animation for a large army (5 soldier icons):

The graphics production is financed by Android sales.

Possible reasons for a downtime include: running out of memory, database going down, loosing the connection to the database, file handles exhausted, other crashes and errors.

Although the code will not catch all server problems and will not be able to restart the server in all cases, it will still be able to take care of at least some of the cases listed above. The server monitor will be better than having nothing in place at all.

Java code to restart a computer:

String os = System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase();
boolean windows = os.indexOf( "win" ) >= 0;
Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
if (windows) {
   // for windows
   runtime.exec("cmd /c shutdown -r -t 0");
}
else {
   // for Linux and Mac OS X
   runtime.exec("/sbin/shutdown -r now");
}

Generally, if the server is up & running, no one will notice. The opposite is true when the server goes down. There were some problems with the new server (Age of Conquest V3) where the game server would not startup after a computer restart. It appears, the database connection pool would be locked. Everything that wasn’t database related would still work (e.g. server socket).  It would only occur every tenth time or so, which made it difficult to track. I believe the problem was related to the Bitronix transaction manager which would not properly startup but go into a deadlock situation. Multiple threads would try to access the transaction manager at startup preventing it from fully initializing. The transaction manager is now force-initialized before everything else preventing it from going into a deadlock. Things worked fine so far; keeping my fingers crossed!

The latest is a “Too many open files” error that happened yesterday. It appears the server was running out of file handles preventing it to respond to anyone connecting. A file handle under Linux can be an actual file handle but also includes socket connections as well. From the looks of things, it appears the file handle limit was set too low at 1024. I upped the limit to 65535 handles which should hopefully do the trick?

Also, in other news: Symbian is dead. I got the latest on Symbian smartphone development: Java ME on Symbian OS: Inside the Smartphone Model (ISBN: 978-0470743188). The book goes on to describe the various “options” to do development for Symbian. There is a separate SDK for every device type making development very time-consuming. There is no single place to publish a mobile application making selling an application or game a nightmare. Conclusively, there will be no Age of Conquest on Symbian unless things improve a lot.

Age of Conquest III - World Map

Titles in Evaluation for 2010:
Q2/2010: Age of Conquest World Map for iPhone/iPad (under evaluation)
Q2/2010: Age of Conquest for iPad (under evaluation)
Q3/2010: Age of Conquest for Symbian (under evaluation)
Q3/2010: Pandemic Game for Android (in planning, design phase)

Please note, maintenance releases and updates for existing titles on all platforms are not listed, but will be completed in addition to endeavors listed above.

The application and maps (currently Europe only) will be made available for free. You will need a paid subscription to join and create games. Games that have already been joined can be finished without the subscription.

Features:

1. Multiplayer games with up to 50 players per game.
2. Game turns ranging from 5 minutes to 28 days.
3. We-Go multiplayer system allowing players to enter their orders simultaneously.
4. Diplomacy including alliances, cease-fires and peace treaties.
5. Various game options including random placement and god mode option.
6. Option to make games private (password protected).
7. Private messaging between players.
8. Public game message board per game.
9. Multiplayer ELO-based rating and ranking system.
10. Chat lobby.
11. No advertisements.

Screenshots:

Check the Android Market for the latest release. There is a “Lite” version that can be tried for free before purchase.

Android Market: http://market.android.com
Noble Avatar: http://www.nobleavatar.com

The Multiplayer Engine is an industry leading network software product for cross-platform multiplayer and online computer game development. The Multiplayer Engine offers a complete solution that can directly be plugged into your client software, such as your game. The engine handles everything from user registration and game management to to credit card processing.

We offer both a single server license plus online version of our product:

• Standalone Product
• Online Services

Multiplayer Engine Web Site: http://www.wormware.com

The ZIP file listed below contains a set of Eclipse ICO and PNG files. You can use the  Eclipse icons to identify your Eclipse workspace such as:

• J = Java
• C = C/C++
• H = HTML/Web Development
• O = Open Source Projects
• F = File System
• etc.

You can manage multiple Eclipse workspaces as follows. Edit the shortcut icon in the Quick Launch folder for each of your Eclipse shortcuts and set the path to your workspace in question:

    <ECLIPSE_DIR>/eclipse.exe -data c:\path\workspace1

Unfortunately, this will not allow you to replace the icon in the taskbar/application icon. However, there is a quick and dirty solution for that. If you would like to display the same icon in the taskbar, replace eclipse.png in your Eclipse installation folder: <ECLIPSE_DIR>/plugins/org.eclipse.sdk_3.4.1_xxx/eclipse.png. Please note you will need one Eclipse installation folder per icon. Alternatively, the more complex solution is to create a custom Eclipse product if having multiple nearly duplicate Eclipse folders is not feasible for you.

Download the ZIP file: Eclipse ICO and PNG Files

Please note the procedure is very likly similar on Linux and Macintosh.

ECLIPSE_DIR