Find a file
Markus Armbruster c1cdc7aa22 Clean up info Bugs
Add bug reporting instructions.

Drop the bugs documented as fixed.  File was last changed in Empire 2,
so these have been fixed for a while...

Remaining bugs:

    The classification scheme used by report is dumb.

It still is.

    You can make a sector temporarily useless by filling up all its
    fields with delivery and distribution information.  This is useful
    when an enemy is trying to capture the sector (his mil don't have
    room to move in :-) You have to halt some of the deliveries or
    distributions to make room for the military to move in.  (Mostly
    fixed by changing the number of available fields)

Fixed since 4.2.14 eliminated `variables'.  Delete.

    Warehouses can't distribute all commodities simultaneously, due to
    limited fields for this information.  This becomes a problem if
    you have a countrywide network of warehouses distributing to each
    other.  (Mostly fixed by changing the number of available fields)

Fixed since 4.2.14 eliminated `variables'.  Delete.

    You can sometimes move small quantities of certain items from
    warehouses at no mobility cost, even into mountains (this is my
    favorite bug, I'd hate to see it fixed :-)

Feature; delete.

    Guerrillas don't seem to carry the plague.

They still don't.

    You can sometimes trick someone into paying a huge price for
    commodities by changing the price suddenly.  Therefore one should
    always check prices when buying commodities.

You can't increase prices anymore.  Delete.

    When two countries are attacking each other simultaneously, you
    can sometimes move into a sector he is in the process of
    attacking.  If you get the timing right, he will take the sector
    but you will get it back, along with all his military.

Can't reproduce; delete.

    If a plane is out to trade, and gets shot down, it can still be
    bought until the next update.  If another country builds a new
    plane that gets the number of the plane that was shot down, the
    new plane will go on the trading market automatically.  Then if
    that plane is bought, the money goes to the country whose plane
    was shot down, not the country that built the plane.  I stole
    numerous planes (including nuclear missiles :-) this way (by
    deliberately putting low numbered planes up for trade, then having
    them shot down).

Planes on a trading block can't get shot down, because they can't fly.
They can get destroyed on the ground, though.  A new plane with the
same number still goes on the market automatically.  Same for ships,
land units and nukes.  check_trade() deletes a trade when the object's
owner changed.  Reword the paragraph accordingly.

    If a plane has negative mobility, then gets traded, mobility goes to 0.

Still correct.

    Firing on sectors with land-locked sunken ships does strange
    things.

Can't reproduce; delete.

    If two countries are cooperating, its possible to raid an enemy
    airport and steal the planes by putting them out to trade.

Still correct.

    You can also strip enemy sectors of commodities using "sell", if
    you have military control temporarily.

Requires mobility now.  Delete.

    One can make work go back to 100 everywhere in a country by moving
    all civil- ians in low-work sectors onto a bridge, then collapsing
    the bridge.  Work then goes to 100 at the next update, if you
    leave some mil in the vacated sectors.  Or you can move mil out
    too, letting the sector ownership change to the Deity, then move
    back in from a 100% working sector, and work goes immediately to
    100.

Feature; delete.

    Two cooperative countries can move commodities around at no
    mobility cost using the market.

Still correct.

    You can collapse enemy bridges by making a lightning raid on his
    bridgeheads and redesignating them, even if you only hold the
    bridgehead for a short time.  (In this games, bridges work
    differently, see info build, info bridges")

Still correct.  The parenthesis is cryptic, though; delete it.

    You can map out enemy territory by raiding his radar stations.

Feature; delete.

    Condition checking is very treacherous.  Global commands with
    conditions are unreliable.  I never figured out exactly what was
    wrong, although I think your method of putting conditions towards
    the front of the line helped sometimes.

Can't reproduce; delete.

    You can have more than 26 ships in a fleet, but only the first 26
    will move when you navigate the fleet (I think 26 is the right
    number, but I'm not cer- tain.  It might be 32).

Can't reproduce; delete.

    "Look" only spots subs (from destroyers) at a certain distance.
    If you are too close you won't see them (unless you are in the
    same sector).

Can't reproduce; delete.

    You can only fly as many planes on a mission as you can fit on the
    command line (so low numbered planes have an advantage this way).
    USE WINGS

The real issue here is truncation of long input lines.  Replace.

    When a sector has a visible ship, radar doesn't show whether the
    sector is land or sea, just the ship.  This has interesting
    possibilities for exploita- tion (like land-locking a battleship
    in your capital in order to deceive the enemy :-)

Feature; delete.

    I don't think you can land planes on a land-locked aircraft
    carrier anymore.

Yes, you can.  Is that good or bad?  Anyway, delete.

    Its common to mistakenly set the price of a plane or ship
    incorrectly so one should check trade after using set.

Pilot error; delete.

    The "must be accepted by" date on offered loans is bogus.

Why is it bogus?  The date looks good to me.  The offer expires at
that time.  Delete.

    "Turn off" doesn't stop updates.

Feature; delete.
2011-04-18 19:17:11 +02:00
doc Update change log again for 4.3.27 2011-04-17 18:20:34 +02:00
include Commit 44db5453 added a FIXME comment accidentally, drop it 2011-04-16 14:50:51 +02:00
info Clean up info Bugs 2011-04-18 19:17:11 +02:00
m4 Rename m4/my_termlib.m4 to m4/my_terminfo.m4 2009-04-25 13:57:45 +02:00
man License upgrade to GPL version 3 or later 2011-04-12 21:20:58 +02:00
scripts License upgrade to GPL version 3 or later 2011-04-12 21:20:58 +02:00
src Belatedly update designate's c_form 2011-04-17 17:52:31 +02:00
.gitignore Fix unintentionally broad patterns in .gitignore 2008-02-07 08:01:53 +01:00
bootstrap Replace other occurences of git-FOO by git FOO 2008-12-03 07:57:14 -05:00
compile Replace the build process. The new one requires GNU Make, Autoconf 2005-12-20 20:25:35 +00:00
config.guess Replace the build process. The new one requires GNU Make, Autoconf 2005-12-20 20:25:35 +00:00
config.sub Replace the build process. The new one requires GNU Make, Autoconf 2005-12-20 20:25:35 +00:00
configure.ac Update known contributors comments 2011-04-14 20:21:23 +02:00
COPYING License upgrade to GPL version 3 or later 2011-04-12 21:20:58 +02:00
CREDITS Fix trailing whitespace 2008-09-17 21:31:40 -04:00
depcomp Replace the build process. The new one requires GNU Make, Autoconf 2005-12-20 20:25:35 +00:00
GNUmakefile.in License upgrade to GPL version 3 or later 2011-04-12 21:20:58 +02:00
INSTALL Replace the build process. The new one requires GNU Make, Autoconf 2005-12-20 20:25:35 +00:00
install-sh Replace the build process. The new one requires GNU Make, Autoconf 2005-12-20 20:25:35 +00:00
Make.mk Update known contributors comments 2011-04-14 20:21:23 +02:00
README License upgrade to GPL version 3 or later 2011-04-12 21:20:58 +02:00

Welcome to Empire 4, code-named Wolfpack.

Empire is a multi-player, client/server Internet based war game.
Copyright (C) 1986-2011, Dave Pare, Jeff Bailey, Thomas Ruschak,
Ken Stevens, Steve McClure, Markus Armbruster

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License (in file
`COPYING'), or (at your option) any later version.

See file `CREDITS' for a list of contributors.

Directory `doc' has additional information.  File `doc/README'
describes the files there and what they talk about.

To build the server and set up a game, follow the steps below.

(1) Unpacking the source tree

    If you downloaded a tarball, unpack it.

    If you cloned a git repository, run bootstrap.  This requires
    recent versions of Autoconf and Automake to be installed.

(2) Building a server

    Prerequisites: IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (POSIX.1-2001), GNU make, a
    curses library, Perl, and either nroff or GNU troff (`groff').

    See file `INSTALL' for detailed compilation and installation
    instructions.  Quick guide for the impatient: run configure; make;
    make install.  The last step is optional; everything runs fine
    right from the build tree.

    If make fails without doing anything, you're probably not using
    GNU make.  Some systems have it installed as `gmake'.

    Solaris supports POSIX.1-2001, but you need to set up your
    environment for that.  Try passing
        SHELL=/usr/xpg4/bin/sh PATH=/usr/xpg6/bin:/usr/xpg4/bin:$PATH
    to make.  See standards(5) for details.

(3) Creating a game

    * Create a configuration for your game.  make install installs one
      in $prefix/etc/empire/econfig ($prefix is /usr/local unless you
      chose something else with configure).  You can use pconfig to
      create another one.

    * Edit your configuration file.  See doc/econfig for more
      information.

      Unless you put your configuration file in the default location
      (where make install installs it), you have to use -e with all
      programs to make them use your configuration.

    * Run files to set up your data directory.

    * Run fairland to create a world.  For a sample world, try
      `fairland 10 30'.  This creates file ./newcap_script, which will
      be used below.  You can edit it to change country names and
      passwords.

      Check out fairland's manual page for more information.

    * Start the server.  For development, you want to run it with -d
      in a debugger, see doc/debugging.  Do not use -d for a real
      game!

    * Log in as deity POGO with password peter.  This guide assumes
      you use the included client `empire', but other clients should
      work as well.

      For help, try `info'.

      To change the deity password, use `change re <password>'.

    * Create countries with `exec newcap_script'.

    Your game is now up!

Naturally, there's more to running a real game than that, but that's
beyond the scope of this file.

Please report bugs to <wolfpack@wolfpackempire.com> or via SourceForge
http://sourceforge.net/projects/empserver (registration required).

For more information or help, try rec.games.empire on Usenet, or send
e-mail to <wolfpack@wolfpackempire.com> and we'll try to answer if we
can.  Also check out our web site at "http://www.wolfpackempire.com".

Have fun!

Wolfpack!