GTAC enhancements
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Davin
Dec 11, 2008, 10:35:08 PM12/11/08
to Galac-Tac
GTAC has gotten a new-old feature tonight. Some of you old-timers may
remember it from the DOS days. GTAC can now produce an "Empire Status
Report" that tells you all sorts of things about your empire. For
instance...
The summary section tells you how many production centers and colonies
you have, and what percentage of the galaxy you've conquered. It also
gives you total numbers, sizes, and firepower of all your ships, and
separate totals of just your warships.
The star system report shows all your production centers, how much PI
you have in each one, and how much more you'll be getting next turn.
Then it shows you all your colonies (and other systems you've
"claimed", such as by starting a colonize on them) and their PV values
and colonization status, so you can easily see if your economic
ambitions have left anything by the wayside.
The shuttle analysis report is probably the most useful portion of
this report. It lists all your shuttle runs and tells you if you have
any holes in your coverage, or have too much or too little cargo space
to pick things up, or if you've accidentally cross-linked multiple
routes. It also gives you extra information, such as a list of
colonies that aren't on shuttle runs or have multiple shuttles in them
or are shuttled to without being colonized.
A list of all your ships being used for scouting duty follows, along
with their projected routes, so you can see when they need more places
to visit and which places are already scheduled to be checked.
Finally, a simple list of all your sentry routes is also shown so you
can more easily manage your moving guard coverage.
You can view or print the report, or just look at one section that you
want to concentrate your attention on.
All in all a nice little report, and I'll be happy to take suggestions
for things to be added to it or new reports to be created.
To get the new functionality, just go to GTAC's Help menu and select
"Update GTAC program file".
I hope you like it!
remember it from the DOS days. GTAC can now produce an "Empire Status
Report" that tells you all sorts of things about your empire. For
instance...
The summary section tells you how many production centers and colonies
you have, and what percentage of the galaxy you've conquered. It also
gives you total numbers, sizes, and firepower of all your ships, and
separate totals of just your warships.
The star system report shows all your production centers, how much PI
you have in each one, and how much more you'll be getting next turn.
Then it shows you all your colonies (and other systems you've
"claimed", such as by starting a colonize on them) and their PV values
and colonization status, so you can easily see if your economic
ambitions have left anything by the wayside.
The shuttle analysis report is probably the most useful portion of
this report. It lists all your shuttle runs and tells you if you have
any holes in your coverage, or have too much or too little cargo space
to pick things up, or if you've accidentally cross-linked multiple
routes. It also gives you extra information, such as a list of
colonies that aren't on shuttle runs or have multiple shuttles in them
or are shuttled to without being colonized.
A list of all your ships being used for scouting duty follows, along
with their projected routes, so you can see when they need more places
to visit and which places are already scheduled to be checked.
Finally, a simple list of all your sentry routes is also shown so you
can more easily manage your moving guard coverage.
You can view or print the report, or just look at one section that you
want to concentrate your attention on.
All in all a nice little report, and I'll be happy to take suggestions
for things to be added to it or new reports to be created.
To get the new functionality, just go to GTAC's Help menu and select
"Update GTAC program file".
I hope you like it!
Genny White
Dec 11, 2008, 10:53:37 PM12/11/08
to Galac-Tac
At 09:35 PM 12/11/08, Davin wrote:
>GTAC has gotten a new-old feature tonight. Some of you old-timers may
>remember it from the DOS days. GTAC can now produce an "Empire Status
>Report" that tells you all sorts of things about your empire. For
>instance...
Folks, I'm one of the old-timers that remembers. And believe me, this
is a WONDERFUL tool for keeping track of things. We are all so busy
these days that we tend to put off our orders until the wee hours of
the last night, or rush through it between other tasks. Do take a
look at it. Davin has integrated the old report into the new code
beautifully. It reads the data you download with every turn - there's
no additional input required, no spreadsheets or lists to maintain.
It can really help! And... if you want to catch me, maybe you had
better equip yourself with the caliber of tools I'm using. Hey, it's
only fair - and now it's there for all to use.
See you in the stars...
Genny
fge...@airmail.net
Dec 12, 2008, 7:44:44 PM12/12/08
to gala...@googlegroups.com
One thing that might be good to include on the empire status report is tech level. You could show current level and the amount already spent. So far it looks pretty good!
f
On Thu 08/12/11 20:35 , Davin sent:
GTAC has gotten a new-old feature tonight. Some of you old-timers may
remember it from the DOS days. GTAC can now produce an "Empire Status
Report" that tells you all sorts of things about your empire. For
instance...
The summary section tells you how many production centers and colonies
you have, and what percentage of the galaxy you've conquered. It also
gives you total numbers, sizes, and firepower of all your ships, and
separate totals of just your warships.
The star system report shows all your production centers, how much PI
you have in each one, and how much more you'll be getting next turn.
Then it shows you all your colonies (and other systems you've
"claimed", such as by starting a colonize on them) and their PV values
and colonization status, so you can easily see if your economic
ambitions have left anything by the wayside.
The shuttle analysis report is probably the most useful portion of
this report. It lists all your shuttle runs and tells you if you have
any holes in your coverage, or have too much or too little cargo space
to pick things up, or if you've accidentally cross-linked multiple
routes. It also gives you extra information, such as a list of
colonies that aren't on shuttle runs or have multiple shuttles in them
or are shuttled to without being colonized.
A list of all your ships being used for scouting duty follows, along
with their projected routes, so you can see when they need more places
to visit and which places are already scheduled to be checked.
Finally, a simple list of all your sentry routes is also shown so you
can more easily manage your moving guard coverage.
You can view or print the report, or just look at one section that you
want to concentrate your attention on.
All in all a nice little report, and I'll be happy to take suggestions
for things to be added to it or new reports to be created.
To get the new functionality, just go to GTAC's Help menu and select
"Update GTAC program file".
I hope you like it!
Msg sent via Internet America Webmail - www.internetamerica.com
Davin Church
Dec 12, 2008, 11:33:59 PM12/12/08
to gala...@googlegroups.com
An excellent idea, Frank! (I'll have to arrange a little extra data
to track the research amount, though. It's printed on your report
anytime you'd like to see it.)
to track the research amount, though. It's printed on your report
anytime you'd like to see it.)
Anybody else have other things they'd like to see there?
Davin
Dec 27, 2008, 10:39:29 AM12/27/08
to Galac-Tac
Ok, GTAC has been updated again, so everyone can pick up a new version
using their Help > Update command. (BTW, I've had a report that Vista
security complains about this Help > Update process and asks for
permission. If someone can figure out why this is happening and how
to avoid it, I'd appreciate it.)
First, I've added Frank's request for research/tech information on the
status report, so see if y'all like the way I've done it. I've also
added a little more checking to the shuttle analysis section and
cleaned up a minor bug there. (If you haven't tried out this report
yet, please do. It's really handy, especially when you've got more
than a couple of shuttle runs set up.)
I added name-length checking to the action input screen so you don't
accidentally use too many (or bad) characters in names and codes.
Please keep in mind that all the action checking I'm doing is not
exhaustive, so it's still your responsibility to enter it right - I'm
just trying to help avoid the more common typos.
I've started working on multi-monitor support, so if you're using two
monitors please check it out. The little pop-up notes that say things
like "please wait" or "I'm working on xxx" should now appear on the
second screen if that's where you've put the main GTAC window. Please
let me know if this doesn't work right, or crashes, or anything like
that, so I can put in additional multi-monitor support.
Finally, one of the more important and useful changes is that now the
maps will do "tool tips" if you hover the mouse over a star on the
map. It tells you the star's location and know basic information
about it. More information will be available in the future (possibly
with clicks) so let me know what else you'd like to see there.
Have fun ... there's more to come!
using their Help > Update command. (BTW, I've had a report that Vista
security complains about this Help > Update process and asks for
permission. If someone can figure out why this is happening and how
to avoid it, I'd appreciate it.)
First, I've added Frank's request for research/tech information on the
status report, so see if y'all like the way I've done it. I've also
added a little more checking to the shuttle analysis section and
cleaned up a minor bug there. (If you haven't tried out this report
yet, please do. It's really handy, especially when you've got more
than a couple of shuttle runs set up.)
I added name-length checking to the action input screen so you don't
accidentally use too many (or bad) characters in names and codes.
Please keep in mind that all the action checking I'm doing is not
exhaustive, so it's still your responsibility to enter it right - I'm
just trying to help avoid the more common typos.
I've started working on multi-monitor support, so if you're using two
monitors please check it out. The little pop-up notes that say things
like "please wait" or "I'm working on xxx" should now appear on the
second screen if that's where you've put the main GTAC window. Please
let me know if this doesn't work right, or crashes, or anything like
that, so I can put in additional multi-monitor support.
Finally, one of the more important and useful changes is that now the
maps will do "tool tips" if you hover the mouse over a star on the
map. It tells you the star's location and know basic information
about it. More information will be available in the future (possibly
with clicks) so let me know what else you'd like to see there.
Have fun ... there's more to come!
Davin
Dec 28, 2008, 6:32:14 PM12/28/08
to Galac-Tac
Ok, here's the more that was to come soon...
GTAC's got yet another enhancement this weekend... actually two more,
both involving mapping.
First of all, a new "Small PV" choice has been added to the mapping
choices. This PV # will be a bit harder to read, but it's small
enough to show inside of a large circle or square, so you can use it
to indicate PV as well as some other symbols.
Secondly, there has been a request for some "default maps". Three of
these are now available in GTAC. You can now get your most useful map
information without having to build your own map designs from
scratch. The designs that are available now are:
* "PV", which shows PV inside squares and circles for everything that
you've charted.
* "Empire", which shows your systems in one color, enemy-owned systems
in another color, and unknown stars in plain white. Home worlds are
shown as extra-large stars, production systems as squares (hollow if
they're developing), and colonies as circles (hollow if they're
colonizing). This will help you see where you stand in relation to
the rest of the galaxy as a whole.
* "Enemies", which shows your systems in one color and each of your
enemies' systems in different colors, so you can more easily see where
each empire's territories lie.
More standard maps are possible, but I can't think of what else might
be generally useful, so please let me know if these fit to your
satisfaction and if you have any other suggestions that most players
would enjoy seeing.
Also, I had difficulty coming up with enough distinctly different
colors to show all possible enemies (15, at most) on the "Enemies" map
in visibly discernible colors. If someone would like to come up with
a better list of colors to use, I'd be happy to use those instead.
For starters, you can see all available colors shown on both a black
(for the display) and white (for printing) backgrounds, by visiting
the web links <http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_color_tryit.asp?
color=Black> and <http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_color_tryit.asp?
color=White> for samples of all the colors available.
So have fun with all the new stuff (not forgetting the map "tooltips")
and let me know what else you'd like to see!
GTAC's got yet another enhancement this weekend... actually two more,
both involving mapping.
First of all, a new "Small PV" choice has been added to the mapping
choices. This PV # will be a bit harder to read, but it's small
enough to show inside of a large circle or square, so you can use it
to indicate PV as well as some other symbols.
Secondly, there has been a request for some "default maps". Three of
these are now available in GTAC. You can now get your most useful map
information without having to build your own map designs from
scratch. The designs that are available now are:
* "PV", which shows PV inside squares and circles for everything that
you've charted.
* "Empire", which shows your systems in one color, enemy-owned systems
in another color, and unknown stars in plain white. Home worlds are
shown as extra-large stars, production systems as squares (hollow if
they're developing), and colonies as circles (hollow if they're
colonizing). This will help you see where you stand in relation to
the rest of the galaxy as a whole.
* "Enemies", which shows your systems in one color and each of your
enemies' systems in different colors, so you can more easily see where
each empire's territories lie.
More standard maps are possible, but I can't think of what else might
be generally useful, so please let me know if these fit to your
satisfaction and if you have any other suggestions that most players
would enjoy seeing.
Also, I had difficulty coming up with enough distinctly different
colors to show all possible enemies (15, at most) on the "Enemies" map
in visibly discernible colors. If someone would like to come up with
a better list of colors to use, I'd be happy to use those instead.
For starters, you can see all available colors shown on both a black
(for the display) and white (for printing) backgrounds, by visiting
the web links <http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_color_tryit.asp?
color=Black> and <http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_color_tryit.asp?
color=White> for samples of all the colors available.
So have fun with all the new stuff (not forgetting the map "tooltips")
and let me know what else you'd like to see!
Davin
Jan 3, 2009, 12:41:33 AM1/3/09
to Galac-Tac
Ok, GTAC's gotten some more updates this evening...
Multiple-monitor support has been extended to pop-up questions, so
hopefully that will work better for anyone with more than one
monitor. Please let me know if there are any additional changes that
need to be made for this environment.
The action editing screen now does some better checking on the MAP
command, for those of you that have had arguments with it before.
If you make an entry error now, the error message gives you the option
(a button, also activated by the escape key) to go right back to the
previous cell and fix your entry error. Please let me know if you run
into any problems with this not working right, because I've had some
non-reproducible reports of bad behavior here (repeating itself or
copying the data to the wrong cells).
You can now start the action editing screen with just a Ctrl-A
keypress. Many other keyboard shortcuts are also available, such as
Ctrl-M to open a map. See the menus for shortcut key notes.
GTAC's shuttle-tracking wasn't working quite right, causing some
people to get really strange shuttle analysis reports printed out.
This version should correct that problem, so everyone should get this
version so their data can be corrected.
The shuttle analysis report now also gives you a new list of routes
with ships that are too small to pick up all the PV in the route. You
may or may not consider this to be a problem, but it's there for those
that do.
I've added a little debugging support code to this version, so if you
need to use it get with me on how to make it work.
Keep up the bloodthirsty savagery!
Multiple-monitor support has been extended to pop-up questions, so
hopefully that will work better for anyone with more than one
monitor. Please let me know if there are any additional changes that
need to be made for this environment.
The action editing screen now does some better checking on the MAP
command, for those of you that have had arguments with it before.
If you make an entry error now, the error message gives you the option
(a button, also activated by the escape key) to go right back to the
previous cell and fix your entry error. Please let me know if you run
into any problems with this not working right, because I've had some
non-reproducible reports of bad behavior here (repeating itself or
copying the data to the wrong cells).
You can now start the action editing screen with just a Ctrl-A
keypress. Many other keyboard shortcuts are also available, such as
Ctrl-M to open a map. See the menus for shortcut key notes.
GTAC's shuttle-tracking wasn't working quite right, causing some
people to get really strange shuttle analysis reports printed out.
This version should correct that problem, so everyone should get this
version so their data can be corrected.
The shuttle analysis report now also gives you a new list of routes
with ships that are too small to pick up all the PV in the route. You
may or may not consider this to be a problem, but it's there for those
that do.
I've added a little debugging support code to this version, so if you
need to use it get with me on how to make it work.
Keep up the bloodthirsty savagery!
Davin
Jan 5, 2009, 11:13:51 AM1/5/09
to Galac-Tac
Sorry, but I had a downloading bug in that last update. Please grab
the corrected copy to run with this turn.
the corrected copy to run with this turn.
Davin
Jan 11, 2009, 6:48:57 PM1/11/09
to Galac-Tac
GTAC's gotten another update this weekend. In addition to some behind-
the-scenes improvements, there's a new feature that I think everyone
will like. In addition to the tooltips recently added to the maps,
now you may double-click on a star to open up a window with that
star's information. The window includes the information from the
tooltip, but also displays a complete history of events that have
occurred at that star. Plus, you also get a list of all the ships at
that location... and I have future plans for doing things with that
list. <diabolic grin>
So go pick up your new version of GTAC (with Help > Update) and see
what kind of fun stuff (trouble) you can get into now.
the-scenes improvements, there's a new feature that I think everyone
will like. In addition to the tooltips recently added to the maps,
now you may double-click on a star to open up a window with that
star's information. The window includes the information from the
tooltip, but also displays a complete history of events that have
occurred at that star. Plus, you also get a list of all the ships at
that location... and I have future plans for doing things with that
list. <diabolic grin>
So go pick up your new version of GTAC (with Help > Update) and see
what kind of fun stuff (trouble) you can get into now.
fge...@airmail.net
Jan 12, 2009, 8:46:18 AM1/12/09
to gala...@googlegroups.com
What if you haven't visited the star yet?
On Sun 09/01/11 16:48 , Davin sent:
On Sun 09/01/11 16:48 , Davin sent:
GTAC's gotten another update this weekend. In addition to some behind-
the-scenes improvements, there's a new feature that I think everyone
will like. In addition to the tooltips recently added to the maps,
now you may double-click on a star to open up a window with that
star's information. The window includes the information from the
tooltip, but also displays a complete history of events that have
occurred at that star. Plus, you also get a list of all the ships at
that location... and I have future plans for doing things with that
list.
So go pick up your new version of GTAC (with Help > Update) and see
what kind of fun stuff (trouble) you can get into now.
Genny White
Jan 12, 2009, 9:34:18 AM1/12/09
to gala...@googlegroups.com
At 07:46 AM 1/12/09, you wrote:
What if you haven't visited the star yet?
It just says "unknown star". Would you prefer something
flashier, like "THE GREAT UNKNOWN", or "TRACKLESS
VOID" or "HERE THERE BE DRAGONS"??? If your fly got
swatted, by the way, it says "Unknown Star as of 35mm-nn" -
which is different from just "unknown", and the history of that
star reports the lost fly.
This stuff is very, very cool. We couldn't have imagined it, Back In The Day. Every time Davin puts in something new, we get closer to Galac-tac for the 21st Century... same old game, same old concepts, same challenges and fun, but less and less dependence on pencil and paper and the hassle of looking things up and keeping track of what you did/meant to do.
Of course, I have a mountain of paper, and several different colored pencils....
(...but I do NOT have a wall map with a dozen colors of push pins. That was great fun, but too many of you are around the house from time to time. <grin> )
Genny
p.s. Yes, Frank, Vivaldi's Four Seasons is my background music for planning your destruction.
This stuff is very, very cool. We couldn't have imagined it, Back In The Day. Every time Davin puts in something new, we get closer to Galac-tac for the 21st Century... same old game, same old concepts, same challenges and fun, but less and less dependence on pencil and paper and the hassle of looking things up and keeping track of what you did/meant to do.
Of course, I have a mountain of paper, and several different colored pencils....
(...but I do NOT have a wall map with a dozen colors of push pins. That was great fun, but too many of you are around the house from time to time. <grin> )
Genny
p.s. Yes, Frank, Vivaldi's Four Seasons is my background music for planning your destruction.
Davin
Jan 20, 2009, 12:08:02 AM1/20/09
to Galac-Tac
I've put up a new version of GTAC this evening, but it only has a few
bug fixes and other minor cleanups. But it may be fixing something
that's been annoying you, so please use Help > Update to give it a
try.
By the way, has anyone noticed the menu shortcuts lately? Ctrl-D will
<D>ownload your turn, Ctrl-M will open a <M>ap to see your empire, and
Ctrl-A will bring up your <A>ctions for editing. There are a few
other shortcuts as well (listed in the menus) ... try 'em all out and
see if they make writing up your turns any easier.
bug fixes and other minor cleanups. But it may be fixing something
that's been annoying you, so please use Help > Update to give it a
try.
By the way, has anyone noticed the menu shortcuts lately? Ctrl-D will
<D>ownload your turn, Ctrl-M will open a <M>ap to see your empire, and
Ctrl-A will bring up your <A>ctions for editing. There are a few
other shortcuts as well (listed in the menus) ... try 'em all out and
see if they make writing up your turns any easier.
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