Join Game Tab, Team Games, Balanced Dice, Interface Changes

I've been waiting for something big to write a news update so now there's quite a number of news items to mention. [b]Join Game Tab[/b] We now have an entire tab devoted to joining a game which provides space to show all of the game options along with hover popup descriptions. It also highlights in red which options are advanced or rare which helps you not accidentally join a game with those settings. The contents of the tab are also now used in the Long Term Game Lobby giving you the same interface for joining games sitewide. There were several new game options that were waiting for this update because without it there was no way to communicate to the user that these options were being used. Matty deserves an extra measure of thanks for this one. Programming Credit: [b]Matty[/b] [b]Team Games[/b] Another all Matty production... Team games have been in beta for quite some time so many of you are already familiar. For those who aren't, teams can consist of 2, 3, or 4 players and are chosen by join order or randomly assigned. Teams can reinforce, fortify to and through, and even attack each others territories. However, one team member must hold an entire region to get the bonus. In sametime games it is currently possible to fortify to your teammate while they are still in the attack phase. Teams also have a private chat in a separate tab. Programming Credit: [b]Matty[/b] [b]Balanced Dice[/b] Many of you have been waiting for this game option for a long time. The backend has been coded for quite awhile but we were waiting for the new join game interface to release it so that players would know in advance which games were using it. Balanced dice are designed to retain unpredictability in small battles but gain consistency in large battles. Instead of simply choosing a random number between 1 and 6 for each die, an algorithm first randomly determines the outcome of the attack and then finds dice rolls to match. The random algorithm doubles the chances of each side losing 1 army in a 3 dice vs 2 dice battle (from 33% to 66%). The algorithm was carefully coded to retain the attackers advantage (54% in 3 vs 2 battles). This dice option will be particularly useful in capitals games because of the large battles. The effect will be less noticeable in 2 player games because most of the battles are small. You do lose an aspect of the game because of the increased consistency, however. While reducing really bad dice it also means no really lucky dice. It will NOT EVER be a good idea to attack someones capital with less troops than they have. Balanced dice have been thoroughly tested millions of times in a simulation but I would like to hear what happens in reality in case any modification needs to be made. If you get really bad dice in a large battle I want to hear about it so that I can get a sense about how often it occurs. You can post about balanced dice in this forum thread: http://www.dominating12.com/forum/?cmd=topic&act=view&id=2036 Programming Credit: [b]Vexer[/b] [b]Game Interface Change[/b] In order to accommodate the new game options we had to change the game interface. There is now a bar at the top of the game page that displays the gametype, number of players, game number, team setting and turn order. The bar at the bottom of the page now shows settings for cards, fortification, fog of war and dice. If you have any comments please leave them below. Programming Credit: [b]Vexer[/b] [b]Advanced Cards[/b] With the new join game interface it is no longer necessary to require a password for advanced cards games since the advanced card option is highlighted in red on the join game tab. The password was previously required in order to minimize the likelihood of someone unknowingly joining an advanced card game. Programming Credit: [b]Matty[/b] [b]New Maps[/b] Here's a list of all the new maps made since the last news article: Italia - The_Bishop, aeronautic World Reduced - Virtuosity98, Fendi Baltic Sea - PsymonStark Balkan Peninsula - PsymonStark South Africa - PsymonStark Brethren Coast - aeronautic Melee - aeronautic Anchor Bay - cbt711 [b]Updated Maps[/b] Maps that has received graphical improvements: Isthmus of Panama - updated by aeronautic and PsymonStark Central America - updated by PsymonStark and Vexer San Francisco - updated by PsymonStark and Vexer Eld World - updated by its author, Glanru Victron - updated by its author, Glanru As you can see we now have quite a Cartography Department. Map makers volunteer dozens of hours per map so lets remember to thank them. [b]Dominating 12[/b] We have a new list out: http://www.dominating12.com/forum/?cmd=topic&id=526&lastpost=1#post-30955 Congratulations to nikeboix69, slackbatter, maafi, BrewDog, menick55, zocpoc, davidechko123, 4960epic, Sygmassacre, descarado, Muzthebus, and hooboy11 for making the top 12. [b]Bug Fixes and Optimizations[/b] There have been many bug fixes and optimizations lately, especially to the game page. The game no longer freezes when there is an error, it will fix itself on the next refresh. The log now remembers if you want it to show 3 rounds or all when you switch tabs. Be mindful though, if you leave it on 'all' and there are a lot of log entries it will affect game performance. Programming Credit: [b]Vexer[/b] [b]Game Attendants[/b] Not all Game Attendants are considered official staff. They can help you fix some game related things but they do not speak for the site and they do not moderate games. Here's a list of what they can do for you: End Games Change live games to 24 hour turn games Change live game turn time to 3, 5 or 7 minutes Reset the timer Change the number of players in games that have not started yet Remove lines of chat Change the password for a game Modify point range limits You can find a game attendant by checking the who's online list. Programming Credit: [b]Vexer[/b] [b]Turn alerts[/b] Perhaps the most requested feature. We now have an audible sound alert whenever the turn changes and when time is running out. There's no excuse for missing your turn. You can disable the sounds on the game page in the Options Tab. Programming Credit: [b]Vexer[/b] [b]Sticky Messages[/b] Mark you messages as sticky so that they will stay on the first page of messages. Programming Credit: [b]Matty[/b] [b]9 Player Capitals[/b] The_Bishop deserves special thanks for choosing and inputting 9 player capitals for all the old maps so that I could enable 9 player capitals game on the Create Game Page. This is not easy work and requires the use of a lot of brainpower. Thanks to everyone who has provided feedback on these features as we have been working on them.

Thanks everyone for the extensive addition of some long-awaited improvements. Well Done :thumbs:

Wow. A huge amount of work - so a huge amount of thanks to all involved.

Whoops. Forgot the new winner icon. Credit: Fendi, Vexer

I should say that Cireon did a lot of the thinking and designing for the new join game tabs as well. Thank you buddy :)

Wow, that's a lot of updates. Thank you all =)

Incredible, thanks to the staff

Thanks a lot. This, in my opinion, is what truly raises this site up. That this site persists in continuing to get better in all sorts of ways. Thanks for all the hard work.

@Matty: it says "programming credit", so I can't complain. The design is mine though, mwuahaha.

if there is team battles 2-6 there must be more countries in the map around 173