The newest, experimental version (7.70), not yet available here on SourceForge, is now available from our "Experimental Version" link from our main web site. Here's the direct link:
I will make this the official late-August release here on SourceForge after it gets a few more days of additional testing.
What's new in Version 7.70?
*Numerous small bug fixes.
1- Flight Models tuned: We tweaked flight models of medium bombers and dive bombers. In prior versions, several of these bombers lacked power to climb acceptably when lugging their full bomb loads. Others needed increased durability to perform according to the best historic information. These problems have all been fixed.
2- Mission-Ending improvements: We improved handling of network messages responsible for ending missions when one of the HQ airfields is destroyed. In prior versions (especially on networks suffering packet loss), it was commonplace for one or more players to miss these messages and continue in a mission, unaware that it had ended because somebody had already destroyed one of those HQ airfields. Now those messages are more robustly propogated and everybody gets the message.
3- Player "Death" is now more realistic: MissionNetworkBattle01 and MissionNetworkBattle02 now implement more realistic handling of pilot/player death (but MissionNetworkBattle03 retains the prior, simpler and easier logic): In prior versions, unsophisticated players were sometimes using "kamikaze" tactics, committing deliberate suicide after dropping bombs or completing a gunnery pass when far away from their own airfield in order to short-circuit and avoid the long flight back home. In this more sophisticated implementation, getting killed, or killing yourself, (or starting out from a fresh, "dead" state) carries a penalty in terms of refueling time. Upon entry into MissionNetworkBattle01 or MissionNetworkBattle02, whether starting out fresh or restarting after being killed, the player is almost out of fuel and is forced to land as in prior verions, but when fuel levels are low, it now takes a lot longer to be refueled. On the other hand, because it is normal and commonplace for players returning from a successful mission to have significant, unused fuel in their tanks, they spend far less time grounded during the refueling process. The same is true for repairs: Players that return to base without aircraft damage experience no ground delays associated with repairs, but players returning a heavily damaged aircraft must wait while the ground crew fixes them back up. While waiting for these ground services, players are, of course, vulnerable to attack, and any damage they suffer while grounded will either kill them or delay their takeoff further while the additional damage is repaired. (The delays are much, much smaller if only a small amount of fuel or minor repairs are needed.) The consequence of all of this is that players that kill themselves or get killed in some other way suffer new delays on the runway while they are refueled and repaired, while players that land with undamaged aircraft and with fuel in their tanks suffer little or no delay. This adds a new dynamic to MissionNetworkBattle01 and MissionNetworkBattle02: in addition to the obvious incentives to return to base alive, undamaged, and with unused fuel ready for re-use, the change also subjects players to additional, realistic risks associated with exposure on the runway, vulnerable to enemy players that may have positioned themselves advantageously above in order to vulch them while they are stuck there. (For those that prefer no such punishment associated with getting killed, MissionNetworkBattle03 was left with the old system where refuel, repair, and rearm tasks are completed almost instantly. Beginners, in particular, are urged to start out with this system while they build up their skills for more realistic treatment in the more sophisticated missions.)
Players using prior versions should update to this new version before joining others in MissionNetworkBattle01 or MissionNetworkBattle02. On the other hand, MissionNetworkBattle03 remains operationally compatible with all LAC versions since 7.56.*
Last edit: bbosen 2019-08-14
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
19Aug2019: I just put the distribution archive for LAC Version 7.70 in the "Files" section of these SourceForge LAC pages. Version 7.70 is now the latest, greatest, official version.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
The newest, experimental version (7.70), not yet available here on SourceForge, is now available from our "Experimental Version" link from our main web site. Here's the direct link:
https://askmisterwizard.com/2019/LinuxAirCombat/Installers/index.htm
I will make this the official late-August release here on SourceForge after it gets a few more days of additional testing.
What's new in Version 7.70?
*Numerous small bug fixes.
1- Flight Models tuned: We tweaked flight models of medium bombers and dive bombers. In prior versions, several of these bombers lacked power to climb acceptably when lugging their full bomb loads. Others needed increased durability to perform according to the best historic information. These problems have all been fixed.
2- Mission-Ending improvements: We improved handling of network messages responsible for ending missions when one of the HQ airfields is destroyed. In prior versions (especially on networks suffering packet loss), it was commonplace for one or more players to miss these messages and continue in a mission, unaware that it had ended because somebody had already destroyed one of those HQ airfields. Now those messages are more robustly propogated and everybody gets the message.
3- Player "Death" is now more realistic: MissionNetworkBattle01 and MissionNetworkBattle02 now implement more realistic handling of pilot/player death (but MissionNetworkBattle03 retains the prior, simpler and easier logic): In prior versions, unsophisticated players were sometimes using "kamikaze" tactics, committing deliberate suicide after dropping bombs or completing a gunnery pass when far away from their own airfield in order to short-circuit and avoid the long flight back home. In this more sophisticated implementation, getting killed, or killing yourself, (or starting out from a fresh, "dead" state) carries a penalty in terms of refueling time. Upon entry into MissionNetworkBattle01 or MissionNetworkBattle02, whether starting out fresh or restarting after being killed, the player is almost out of fuel and is forced to land as in prior verions, but when fuel levels are low, it now takes a lot longer to be refueled. On the other hand, because it is normal and commonplace for players returning from a successful mission to have significant, unused fuel in their tanks, they spend far less time grounded during the refueling process. The same is true for repairs: Players that return to base without aircraft damage experience no ground delays associated with repairs, but players returning a heavily damaged aircraft must wait while the ground crew fixes them back up. While waiting for these ground services, players are, of course, vulnerable to attack, and any damage they suffer while grounded will either kill them or delay their takeoff further while the additional damage is repaired. (The delays are much, much smaller if only a small amount of fuel or minor repairs are needed.) The consequence of all of this is that players that kill themselves or get killed in some other way suffer new delays on the runway while they are refueled and repaired, while players that land with undamaged aircraft and with fuel in their tanks suffer little or no delay. This adds a new dynamic to MissionNetworkBattle01 and MissionNetworkBattle02: in addition to the obvious incentives to return to base alive, undamaged, and with unused fuel ready for re-use, the change also subjects players to additional, realistic risks associated with exposure on the runway, vulnerable to enemy players that may have positioned themselves advantageously above in order to vulch them while they are stuck there. (For those that prefer no such punishment associated with getting killed, MissionNetworkBattle03 was left with the old system where refuel, repair, and rearm tasks are completed almost instantly. Beginners, in particular, are urged to start out with this system while they build up their skills for more realistic treatment in the more sophisticated missions.)
Players using prior versions should update to this new version before joining others in MissionNetworkBattle01 or MissionNetworkBattle02. On the other hand, MissionNetworkBattle03 remains operationally compatible with all LAC versions since 7.56.*
Last edit: bbosen 2019-08-14
19Aug2019: I just put the distribution archive for LAC Version 7.70 in the "Files" section of these SourceForge LAC pages. Version 7.70 is now the latest, greatest, official version.