I started a new thread in the TA forum 1.99 bugs and issues

Got this up & running in as fast as the 10.4MBs worth of files could auto_install in the usual folder of TA; it also archived the entire TA setup, but i think this is normal since i have the option on.

Quick remarks from a swift try-out run....

1- All seem to be working properly and as hinted about in the earlier Journals stuff. New espionage, Planetary Governer, Starbase automation, the two new options of Galazy setup phase & the external Ship_Yard button on the init menu.

2- I understood that we should also have a new Research Governer but it ain't there yet, possibly coders forgot that one.

3- Scanned through the debug.err initial file and most things look to be at their regular places; except for a new set of repetitive warnings such as these;

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Debug Message:  Version v1.99 Twilight of the Arnor BETA 1 last updated on: Wed Sep 24 12:03:21 2008
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE\Stardock\ComponentManager\Drengin.net\GalCiv2UL
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE\Stardock\ComponentManager\Drengin.net\GC2EU
Debug Message:  Could not query reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE\Stardock\ComponentManager\Drengin.net value named Serial No
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software\Stardock\Drengin.net\GalCiv2UL
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software\Stardock\Drengin.net\GC2EU

*** (Skipping normal lines... No files found, masks, clears, etc.)

Debug Message:  No files found matching mask G:\GalCiv2\Twilight\Mods\CoSH/Campaigns/*.gc2Campaign
Debug Message:  Error loading map name from mission 16 from G:\GalCiv2\Twilight\./Data/English/Campaigns/DreadLords/Dread Lords Campaign.gc2campaign
Debug Message:  Error loading scenario name from mission 16 from G:\GalCiv2\Twilight\./Data/English/Campaigns/DreadLords/Dread Lords Campaign.gc2campaign
Debug Message:  Error loading map name from mission 8 from G:\GalCiv2\Twilight\./Data/English/Campaigns/Twilight of the Arnor.gc2campaign
Debug Message:  Error loading scenario name from mission 8 from G:\GalCiv2\Twilight\./Data/English/Campaigns/Twilight of the Arnor.gc2campaign
Debug Message:  GalaxyWnd: Cannot find OBJID Scenaro_MoreDetails_FText
Debug Message:  GalaxyWnd: Cannot find OBJID Scenaro_Details_FormattedText
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask ./Data/English/Scenarios/*.GC2Scenario
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask G:\GalCiv2\Twilight\Mods\CoSH\Data\Scenarios\*.gc2scenario
Debug Message:  CustomPersonalityWnd: Cannot find OBJID Personality_Special_Title
Debug Message:  CustomPersonalityWnd: Cannot find OBJID Personality_Special_Disctiption_Spinner_Back
Debug Message:  CustomPersonalityWnd: Cannot find OBJID Personality_Special_Disctiption_Title
Debug Message:  Creating Galaxy

*** (Continue...)

Debug Message:  Creating 3 minor races
Debug Error:  Starting tech NeutralHistory could not be given to Paulos because it was not found in their tech tree ().
Debug Error:  Starting tech Innovative History could not be given to Paulos because it was not found in their tech tree ().
Debug Error:  Starting tech NeutralHistory could not be given to Jessuins because it was not found in their tech tree ().
Debug Error:  Starting tech Innovative History could not be given to Jessuins because it was not found in their tech tree ().
Debug Error:  Starting tech NeutralHistory could not be given to Snathi because it was not found in their tech tree ().
Debug Error:  Starting tech Innovative History could not be given to Snathi because it was not found in their tech tree ().
Debug Message:  Creating ships...

*** (I believe the above Minors tree flaws have been around since 1.96 too...)

A bunch of 'Foreign buttons missing'.

***

Some OBJID weren't found during UPwnd calls for races 9 to 12.

***

Auto_saves worked...

***

Debug Message:  Main Shell terminating normally
Debug Message:  Unallocated Mem: 8 bytes of memory from line 1130 of H:\Projects\Twilight\LibKumquat\Source\editfields.cpp

... ... ...

Debug Message:  Unallocated Mem: 8 bytes of memory from line 1130 of H:\Projects\Twilight\LibKumquat\Source\editfields.cpp
Debug Message:  Not all memory has been freed from memory system EditFields.
Debug Message:     3192 bytes of memory still allocated.

(The above was repeated about 3192/8 times!!)

Done!

****

Arrrrrghhhh... secondly, i was somehow dissapointed to see that a number of things didn't get fixed;

1- ShrineoftheMithrilar & SymbiosisPlatform queries png files still have typos.

2- YOR Neutral bik still has its annoying white flashing frame near the end.

3- The re-naming of Tiles according to the query images when the planet surfaces are scanned has not been fixed. Back in July, Carielf & Codecritter mentioned that they had a solution.

4- CivEventWnd.dxpack still loads up without the bottom row of shorcut icons and i MUST copy a backup file (which has them) over your wrong installation version.

Some more testing to do, i'll let you know.

Anyone know how the planetry govenor is supposed to work ?

I don`t seem to be able to alter the build queue order . It reverts back to the order you click when creating a queue.

I sort of hoped it would be selectable from the colony managment screen.

Now it works, there is an option in the Preferences ... Show pre-release versions ...

Can anyone tell me what slider setting for extreme planets and random events would be equivalent to previous versions? And how much of an increase in frequency would a notch up or down be? Thanks.

Stardock has been busy this summer enhancing Galactic Civilizations II with lots of new features. Most of those features will be for players who have purchased Twilight of the Arnor. But Dark Avatar users will also see a revamped espionage system as well.

Stardock used the word revamped espionage system and yet there going back to giving us the choice from the old system of esionage vs the new? How can this be changed espionage system, there is nothing new !!!!!!!!!!!!

First thing I've noticed about the new passive spy system is that in order to reach the various intel levels, you must allocate more spies to the race.  The number of spy-weeks seem to match what I found prior, but when I let the races sit with 1 spy in it, they never went beyond Low.  I tossed another spy to a race and in 5 weeks I had Medium.  This would match the 9-10 spy-week change from Low to Medium I found in the past.

My post Espionage Intel Levels will be continually updated as I find more and more information about 2.0's espionage or even espionage in general.

Aye, the good ole MoO tech steal of picking a catagory was nice.

Yes but how many counter-espionage centers are you going to build? theres always going to be that one planet without the counter-espionage center and that were your enemy will be putting his spies and thats where there goign to be able to steal tech from you?

I'm trying to find out some strategies, at least everytime I used espionage not only I placed my spies on the closest race but their home planet which usually had the most bonuses? Their home planet which I haven't even explored  on the starmap and yet was able to put spies on them and most people put spies on planets which are class 10 and up. Because lets face it, thats where the meat and patatoe is regarding bonuses to shut down. So now, people are going to wait until they reached advanced level with their passive spies and unload them with other spies just to steal those techs? Would that be a strategy? In my opinion, I just don't see any new strategy we can use with this latest system. In fact all it does is to have extra spies to train which will cost even more to invest in espionage.

There is everything wrong with this post.

Let's begin.

If you don't want your spies nullified immediately, then don't put them where they'll matter.  Secondly, drop 5-10 spies at a time...if you just drop one, he's dead.  As far as placing them on the homeworld, that's up to personal preference-spying is done on a civ-wide level, so the number of tiles you've spyed on a per-planet basis is irrelevant.

In case you hadn't noticed, at this point in time you can't remove your passive spies.  With up to 9 majors and 8 minors, not even counting the Dread Lords or the occasional Vegans, you're looking at 68 spies down the drain to get to advanced on all of them.  But in general, you shouldn't need more than 27 (9x3; Advanced is largely irrelevant).

So: 1) You can't "unload" your passives to become tech stealers.  2) Your comment about how it makes you have to train extra spies is completely without merit.  For intelligence purposes a maximum of 27 spies per game are necessary; as passives cannot be nullified, you don't have to worry about training new ones to replace them when they get caught.

As for tech stealing in the old system vs. tech stealing in the new system-if anything, the new system saves you money, time, and spies, because not only do you now know who is worth attempting to steal techs from, but you didn't waste half a year getting to advanced on them while replacing a spy every other turn.

Did I miss anything?

You can't hurt their diplomacy unless they have Diplomatic Translators and you don't and you drop a spy on it.

That said, there are a few ways to ensure your diplomacy is higher than other races.  Firstly, build Diplomatic Translators as soon as possible.  Secondly, don't play against the Terrans.  Thirdly, don't trade the AIs any yellow techs (with the exception of Alliances, if you need an alliance with them).  They don't tend to research the yellow techs on their own, so their diplomacy will remain fairly low, relative to yours.

Morale is planet-specific, apart from trade goods, so either you're going to have to find their Ultra Spices/etc and drop a spy on each of them, or you're going to have to drop at least a spy PER PLANET that you want to knock the morale down on.  Given a decent setup of a medium galaxy, we're looking at easily 30+ spies here.

So, let me get this straight.  You're complaining that you can't do something with the new system that you couldn't do with the old system, EITHER?  And this is an argument that the old system was BETTER?

Yes and no.  If you'd been reading Loupdinour's comments, in this thread and the thread he made specifically regarding the espionage system, you'd see that with the passive system, the numbers remain the same (in terms of spy-weeks), with the exception that you can only reach the level of espionage on a civilization, via passive spies, equal to the amount of passive spies you have on them.  So if you want advanced, you'll need four passive spies on them.  And it'll take you somewhere in the vicinity of 40 weeks (IIRC).

So short answer is, yes, 4 passives @ 40 weeks = 40 actives @ 4 weeks.  1 passive @ 10 weeks can't get over the limit imposed, which means it needs to be 2 passives.  So, 2 passives @ 5 weeks = 10 actives @ 1 week (and the passives don't get killed).

This is Galactic Civilizations, not Galactic Espionage.

Have you noticed any of the other things they've done in the past year?  GCII is not all they do with their lives.

I fail to see how the new system is not better than the old.