Jun 5, 2018

SpyParty - checker (_**test**_"\"\n주🦑)

It's our first Steam Update! Hopefully I'm posting these release notes in the right place!

This build has a ton of fixes, but the really big stuff is:
finally you're not just a number in the lobby, you've got your real name!
we added statues and a bar on Terrace, which will separate it even farther from the old Double Modern map and from Balcony, excited to see how the meta evolves on this map now
the post-tutorial new user experience should be a lot better...it's not where it needs to be yet but it should be much more clear now
see below for the big list of fixes and features!

Enjoy, and let me know if there are bugs!
Chris

v0.1.6134.0:

code
- features
  - steam persona names displayed...utf8 chars are currently stomped to _ and if you have too many it defaults to your s76.../steam name still since client can't handle utf8 yet
  - much improved Beginner, Intermediate, Standard (nee Experienced) quickplay progression and UI clarity, level icon selector always visible, listbox text visible, disabled levels greyed out but teased
  - prompt for spectation or sniper playback in replays menu like in spectation
  - allow dragging spy portrait in tutorial on mouse down
  - allow invites to pop modal dialogs in practice and replays finally
  - better lobby disconnect notification instead of just returning to main menu
  - highlights and lowlights and book lights all have audio feedback now
  - resume auto-scrolling the replay timeline if haven't scrolled for 3 seconds
  - keep mission selections on mirror for fewer surprises
  - replay file v5 has displayname and num guests and start duration
  - incremental db writes on server so stats should be way more robust if server crashes
  - use all new art levels for menu background images
  - tooltips for how to drag roles on portraits until you've done it successfully
  - starburst to encourage people to push the Watch Replay button for the first time
  - custom groups required for quickplays, see file formats post
  - catch out of memory errors and just pop a dialog instead of crash
  - disable sticky/toggle/filter keys by default
  - /kick, /silence, and login message support
  - if / is first character typed in a message then rewind to command cycling
  - flirt always prioritized over check watch
- bug fixes
  - don't reset the sniper camera on replay seek
  - don't change character in dossier on portraits click on game setup screen
  - misc minor portraits bugs
  - clear accept ui so not stuck, more bandaids for these ui lock bugs
  - if in spectation/replay setup and cancel, don't get stuck in ui when switches to loading
  - fix ui bug where if dossier is up and get invite then ui locks up...will this fix other bugs?
  - fix tooltip showing up wrong on dossier level icon selector
  - if you're the spy, you can put the briefcase down without any animation queueing now, be aware!
  - fix broken books bounding box for changing color as sniper
  - amba don't get stuck if can't put down briefcase
  - fix the insta-fade AT bar on ST bail after first bail
  - filter watch checks by non-spies in replay timeline
  - fix bartender getting frozen on edges of bartending zone sometimes
  - take the waiter out of pathing before trying to find spot
  - delegated purloin to book holder should still work and put the book away, basically try really hard to purloin if you're the delegate
  - fix matches not updating to client and to non-first-match-quitter
  - don't allow resurrecting old levels with qpgroups
  - try hard to make replay filenames shorter than MAX_PATH
  - fix teleport bug on gallery oh boy
  - fix library walking weirdness epsilon pathing raycast bug
  - fixed old replays, oops
  - fix dossier crash because not keeping track of which roles are actually needed
  - don't destroy the gl context and hope it fixes obs exit crashes?
  - fix crash with first replay note of a match
  - always use locally generated anonymous uuid for telemetry id and anonymize ip for gdpr privacy

content
- gameplay
  - new terrace with statues and bar instead of waiter
  - fix statue pedestals for gallery so flirts are only between neighbors
  - new quickplay props for Beginner, Intermediate 1-3, Standard, and Old Art
  - darkened moderne kitchen counter a bit to make guestlist more visible
  - lowered the top railings a bit for sniper lean on library
- animations
  - slightly exaggerated left hand cane side only bug for papa danger
  - smoothing out the right arm on mr. a walk, and walking bug smoothness fixes
  - more work on hide microfilm animation to make the green test less poppy
  - making sure all the hidefilm anims start after 30 frames to work better with action tests
  - fixed weighting behind the ears of many characters to prevent holes on head turns
- aesthetics
  - lowering preview image of courtyard for the UI change so turing isnt cropped
  - extending wires of reception lights upward in gallery
  - moderne bar fixes, moved hard points back a little, backed up the bartender a little so he doesnt inner penetrate the bar as much, blocked in the bartender with hard colliders
  - some texture dilation work to help cover up seams while in med and low mode
- pathing
  - gallery plant pathing clean up, centered targets on paintings
  - softening the colliders on the benches of library
  - rounded corners of soft colliders on moderne for smoother paths
  - made library railings a seperate layer with pathing off so that the soft colliders will make the pathing more forgiving
- hittesting
  - making it so you can shoot thru the trees on courtyard
  - making library pillars and railing shoot thru-able
  - changing high-rise so that you can shoot thru the window dividers
  - adding ignore hit to the hard and soft collider layers of courtyard so that you can shoot people in the lower leg
  - changing colliders to hit ignore on library and moderne so you can shoot peoples feet through the railings and under deck chairs

These notes are for v0.1.6128.0 and v0.1.6134.0, the latter released a few hours after the former!

Jun 5, 2018

MEMORIES OF MARS - Out Now on Steam with a 10% discount for a limited time.

MEMORIES OF MARS - Memories of Mars

Dear Martians,

We wanted to remind you that 505 Games and Limbic Entertainment’s Memories of Mars launched today the 5th of June at 6AM PacificTime / 2PM GMT / 3PM CET into Early Access on Steam with a 10% launch discount off the price of $29.99 for a very limited time. A new trailer was also released today, showcasing the dark and desolate world you’ll awake to on the Red Planet as a clone trying to survive on the unforgiving planet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCArxCOoXnk

About Memories of Mars:

Featuring a rich and vast environment to explore and introducing a unique “seasons” mechanic to enhance the competition of surviving the Red Planet, Memories of Mars sets the stage for an otherworldly gaming experience designed to keep gameplay fresh. In the unique Seasons, which sets Memories of Mars apart from other survival games, death will be inevitable for even the most skilled players as periodic catastrophic solar flares wipe the planet’s surface of all life and player-made infrastructures on an ongoing basis. Some of the talents and abilities learned through the season can be backed up and carried over by a series of clones, allowing players the ability to download previous memories of how to build and craft to get a head start on surviving the next season.

Memories of Mars will task players with surviving the harsh and unforgiving landscape of the Red Planet while building a habitable homestead and competing against other players and enemy NPCs for resources and opportunities. Players can team up to explore, gather resources and build defense bases or go rogue and explore numerous locations including abandoned terraforming towers, mining sites, caves, canyons, meteor impact sites and more. Seasons will also serve to make the map feel new, with familiar places rearranged in new locations, exciting points of interest never-before-seen, added blueprints for creating different weapons and modules, novel enemies, updated events and more.

For more information please also have a read at the following articles:

Explaining the "Season" mechanic:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/644290/announcements/detail/1661145529699701561

All about FLOPS:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/644290/announcements/detail/1661145529685229258

Dev Diary YouTube Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_33Iw1GuSU&list=PLI01oy19ntNmh5guMN89LX7bLqq8m7eng

The game lore:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/644290/announcements/detail/2517951549929236168

FAQ #1
https://steamcommunity.com/games/644290/announcements/detail/1658882772766906800

FAQ #2
https://steamcommunity.com/games/644290/announcements/detail/1661145982855016450

Our Memories of Mars channels can be found below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MemoriesOfMars
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2055189578141815/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MemoriesOfMars
Official Discord Server (invite link): https://discord.gg/7c6rvnv
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/memoriesofmars
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/memoriesofmars/
TwitchTV: https://www.twitch.tv/memoriesofmars

Jun 5, 2018

The Story of Admiral Halsey

World of Warships - Ryuu

William Frederick Halsey Jr. (1882–1959), a U.S. naval officer, Fleet Admiral, also known as Bill Halsey, or "Bull" Halsey.

The future admiral was born on October 30, 1882 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. His parents were naval officer William F. Halsey and Anne Brewster Halsey. In 1900, he enrolled in the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and four years later began his service on battleships. On board USS Kansas he took part in the famous round-the-world 1907–1909 Great White Fleet voyage, and, upon returning, he received the rank of Lieutenant. The officer spent the following 10 years of his service on torpedo boats and destroyers. For his distinguished service during World War I, he was promoted and awarded with the Navy Cross.

The brave, energetic, and insightful Halsey lived a glorious life, full of victories, defeats, and mistakes that cost hundreds of lives. Here are a few memorable stories from his military biography.

In 1934, Admiral Ernest King, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics of the U.S. Navy, offered Halsey the chance to become commander of the aircraft carrier Saratoga, provided that he completed an air observer course. Halsey decided to test himself in a more complicated program and enrolled in the full 12-week training course of a naval pilot: "I thought it better to be able to fly the aircraft itself than to just sit back and be at the mercy of the pilot." On May 15, 1935, a 52-year-old Halsey received his well-deserved "wings" as a naval aviation pilot, becoming the oldest graduate in the course’s history, and on July 6, he took command of USS Saratoga. Later, he commanded the Naval Air Station Pensacola, where future carrier aviation pilots were trained. On March 1, 1938, Halsey was awarded with the title of Rear Admiral, and during this time, became commander of a division of aircraft carriers. Halsey had acquired a huge amount of command experience, and was well-aware of the power of aircraft carrier-based formations, saying: "The naval officer in the next war had better know his aviation, and know it well." In the summer of 1940, he was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and took command of the Pacific Navy Air Force.

During the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, Halsey's squadron was 200 miles out at sea, on their way back to the base, after delivering a fighter air group to Wake Island. Frustrated with the unfortunate start of the war, the energetic Admiral realized that the preponderance of forces in the region was not in favor of the U.S. Navy. The morale of his staff was at its lowest. At such dark times, the Navy needed any, even the smallest victory; any blow to the Japanese could reinvigorate the American sailors. Halsey suggested that Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, use hit-and-run tactics, suddenly striking Japanese bases. In early February 1942, operational forces of the Pacific Fleet attacked the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, in March, they struck Wake Island, and in April, B-25 bombers took off from the deck of aircraft carrier Hornet to carry out the famous Doolittle Raid on Tokyo.

Before the Battle of Midway, Halsey was sent to hospital with severe dermatitis, caused by the stress of the last six months the Admiral spent at sea. Later, Halsey commented on his forced dismissal from the command: "This has been the greatest disappointment of my career."

After returning to duty, on October 18, Halsey took command of all forces in the South Pacific area of operations. The Admiral's appointment was met with universal elation — he enjoyed unquestionable authority in the Navy for his combat qualities. At the same time, Japanese forces launched an offensive on land, attempting to drop the defenders of Guadalcanal into the sea. Almost simultaneously with the land forces, a large carrier group of the Imperial Navy was approaching the island, trying to force a battle. The Americans were fewer in number, so it was important for them to gain the initiative. At the dawn of October 26, Halsey gave his naval forces an order: "Attack! Repeat—Attack!" Thus began the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the fourth battle of aircraft carriers in the Pacific ocean. During the battle, Halsey lost aircraft carrier Hornet along with destroyer Porter — two other destroyers, plus carrier Enterprise, were damaged too. Japanese aircraft carriers Shōkaku and Zuihō as well as heavy cruiser Chikuma were incapacitated. Despite the tactical victory of the Imperial Navy, Japan suffered serious losses in flight crews — 148 people against 26 Americans. Thus, since the beginning of the war, Japan had already lost about 53% of their deck aviation pilots. In November, the Japanese attempted to attack Guadalcanal again. During two violent night battles, the American Navy completely seized the initiative from the Japanese. The Imperial Navy was forced to launch Operation Ke to evacuate all its troops from the island the next month.

Despite some "calm" in Halsey's sector of activity until the summer of 1943, he was constantly striving for dynamic actions to advance on the Solomon Islands. To overcome the barrier created by the Japanese in the Bismarck Archipelago, in June, the long-awaited American offensive began. A series of amphibious landings rolled one after another, accompanied by constant clashes with light forces of the Imperial Navy that, in most cases, did not end in favor of the latter. On November 26, 1943 at Cape St. George, the American Navy brought to a close the sea confrontation during the Solomon Islands Campaign, crushing the Japanese forces once again.

By the summer of 1944, the Third Fleet under the command of Halsey was a formidable force. During the Philippine operation, which began in September, his battle group was initially assigned to neutralize Japanese aviation and support ground forces. To repel the U.S. invasion, the Japanese command developed Operation Sho I: the Japanese planned to divert the attention of the American strike force with their aircraft carriers, while two other groups were to attack the ships carrying landing forces.

On October 24, the war's largest battle of the fleets began in the Leyte Gulf. The Japanese attacked first — around 150 aircraft raided the American forces. The wave of attackers was almost destroyed, but a single bomber broke through to light aircraft carrier Princeton, and the bomb it dropped exploded on the deck. The ship was set alight, her torpedo magazine exploded, and before the night set in, she sank. Admiral Kurita's force, located in the west, came under the Americans' retaliatory strike; Halsey's aircraft destroyed battleship Musashi, and damaged battleships Yamato, Nagato, and many escort ships. Halsey decided that this group of Japanese ships was done away with, and concentrated on pursuing the detected Northern Force aircraft carriers of Admiral Ozawa. The Japanese plan worked: for the first time, Halsey made a mistake. Kurita's squadron slipped through the uncontrolled San Bernardino Strait and soon, near Samar Island, stumbled across the group of escort aircraft carriers of Admiral Sprague with cover from the destroyers. Only the brave actions of American sailors helped them avoid defeat — Kurita thought that Sprague's aircraft had taken off from heavy carriers and opted to retreat, a step away from his goal. Subsequently, Halsey received a scolding from Nimitz for his mistake.

This wasn't the end of the admiral's misadventures — on December 17, 1944, the Third Fleet was to face Typhoon Cobra. The data received from meteorologists was inaccurate, and Halsey decided to hold formation, hitting the very heart of the typhoon. What the Japanese could not do, the elements did. Within two hours, the fleet lost three destroyers, 146 aircraft, and around 800 people. Halsey was summoned to court, presided by Nimitz himself. Despite the apparent mistake of the Admiral, he was not found guilty.

On September 2, 1945 on board Halsey's flagship — battleship Missouri — the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed, the war was over. In 1947 Fleet Admiral Halsey retired.

Jun 5, 2018

In Development: Merkava Mk.2B

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

The Merkava Mk.2B is an updated version of the Merkava Mk.2 and an upcoming Tier 6 Main Battle Tank of the Israeli branch.

In many ways, Merkava Mk.2 was what Mk.1 should have been. The Merkava Mk.1 was basically a limited production run that would under normal circumstances serve to solve any issues left from its development and prepare the tank for its real mass production run. Unfortunately, the Israelis didn’t have that kind of resources and so the Merkava Mk.1 went to war in its raw form.

Its introduction was, relatively speaking, a success – there were some issues with the Merkava though, such as:

Poor reliability of the transmission
Nasty shot trap at the rear of the turret

The latter issue gave birth to the iconic Merkava “hanging chains” that are still currently in use.

The Merkava Mk.2 production model came too late to participate in the last major war of Israel. Or, rather, it was the other way around – the 1983 Merkava Mk.2 was a result of the experience gained in the war, aimed at removing the most obvious Mk.1 vulnerabilities. First, there was the protection. The basic Merkava Mk.2 received additional armor around its turret, flanks and the left side of its upper frontal plate.

These areas were analyzed after the 1982 war and were deemed to not offer significant protection, hence the upgrade. The aim was to especially improve the protection of the vehicle’s driver, both frontally and from the sides (the areas around the engine air intake became thicker).

Another easily recognizable feature of the Merkava Mk.2 was the installation of the abovementioned hanging chains ending with a steel ball to the rear of the vehicle (below the bustle). These were installed as an easy solution to detonate incoming RPGs in order to fix the shot trap issue and were later on added to the already built Merkava Mk.1s (the presence of such chains in combination with a 105mm gun is not an automatic Mk.2 indicator).

The turret stowage basked actually appeared on late Mk.1 models as well, that’s where it originated – it was then retrofitted to the earlier Mk.1 tanks as well as added to the Mk.2 model. The advantages of having an additional layer of spaced armor around the turret are obvious, but there are potential downsides as well – it arguably makes the tank more conspicuous (the silhouette becomes larger) – whether this is really a considerable issue is, however, debatable. In any case, the crews welcomed the opportunity to store a lot of stuff in these baskets, including camouflage netting, additional supplies and their personal kit.

And then there were the hull side skirts – these acted as another layer of spaced armor protecting the sides of the vehicle and gradually grew thicker with their design changing from iteration to iteration.

Additional protection improvements included:

Spectronix automatic fire extinguisher (very effective, it practically eliminated all disabled Merkava crew burns between 1983 and 1997)
IMI CL-3030 smoke grenade launchers (frontally mounted)
Large turret stowage basket from high-grade steel, acting as low-level armor

As a result of these (and other) updates, the weight of the vehicle increased roughly from 60 and 63 tons.

Firepower-wise, there wasn’t all that big a difference between the Mk.1 and the initial Mk.2 model. The tank still used the M68 gun with the Matador FCS, manually loaded and fully stabilized. It was the mobility that was significantly improved, however – or, rather, the reliability.

The tank received a new automatic gearbox (license-produced improved Allison CD-850-6BX) as well as other upgrades to its drivetrain and suspension, resulting in a 25 percent increase to the vehicle’s operational range and a significant reliability increase. According to some sources, however, this change meant that the 900hp AVDS-1790-6A engine was not transmitting as much power to the tank’s drive sprocket. In other words, the Merkava Mk.2 was said to have worse acceleration than the Mk.1 model. The ride was, however, smoother thanks to further upgrades made to its suspension.

The Mk.2 Merkava was also, based on the 1982 experience, equipped with fittings for a mineclearing device (basically a big roller that was based design-wise on the Russian KMT series). This was due to the fact that in 1982, the Merkavas encountered a lot of minefields as well as other improvised fortifications that an engineering device would be very useful in dismantling.

Starting from 1984, a model with an upgraded Elbit Matador 2 FCS appeared. The upgrades included:

Modern Neodymium YAG laser rangefinder
Improved ballistics computer
Cross-wind sensor
Thermal optics

This variant is sometimes referred to as Merkava Mk.2A (or Mk.2 Alef) and it was an interim model at best – the fire control system had some issues early on, leading to a strange situation where older models of Israeli tanks actually had better accuracy. Additionally, a rotating episcope was added to the tank’s loading hatch as well.

From 1985 forwards, the Merkava Mk.2 received its final major upgrade to the Mk.2B (or Mk.2 Bet). This upgrade consisted of:

Improved (fixed) Matador 2 FCS from the earlier Mk.2 model
Improved side skirts (consisting of rather thick armor with modified hinges to cope with the weight)
Moked “Third Eye” Laser Warning Receiver, providing a warning to the crew if the tank becomes illuminated by a laser
60mm IMI mortar was moved to the inside of the vehicle (it came very handy for firing at enemy infantry and for firing support – illumination and smoke – rounds)
Improved commander’s hatch

The production of this model (and of the Merkava Mk.2 in general) ended in 1989 but it was subjected to further upgrades during its life span.

Starting from the early 1990s, Merkava Mk.2 vehicles were retrofitted with yet another heavy layer of turret roof armor in order to deal with situations where Hezbollah terrorists fired RPGs or ATGMs at vulnerable turret roofs. Some sources claim that this heavy armor also helped against top-attack missiles. This variant doesn’t have an official name; it’s still a Merkava Mk.2B.

Starting from the late 1990s, the Merkava Mk.2B tanks were armed with a new M114 105mm APFSDS round. The APFSDS round was effective, but the old 105mm gun was already reaching its limits at that point and despite a large number of resources that were poured into further ammunition development, it has essentially reached its limits, which was why the Israelis basically went the same way the Soviets did two decades earlier and attempted to improve the lethality of the Merkava using a gun-launched missile system, eventually resulting in the LAHAT gun-launched missile that appeared on later Merkava models.

There’s one more Merkava Mk.2 model – the Merkava Mk.2B Dor Dalet (sometimes referred to as Merkava IID or Merkava Mk.2D), featuring an upgraded armor kit, which is already present in Armored Warfare as a Tier 7 Premium MBT. However, please note that the Dor Dalet kit will not appear on this Tier 6 progression vehicle.

In Armored Warfare, the Merkava Mk.2B will be an Israeli Branch Tier 6 Progression Main Battle Tank and one of the most powerful vehicles of its Tier. It will represent a mixture of the “front line fighter” Mk.1 approach and the “sniper” Magach approach. Armor-wise, it will be a solid (albeit not the best) vehicle, but where it will really shine will be its firepower with the highest MBT DPM on its Tier thanks to a four-round Ready Rack mechanism and the HESH shells available to it.

The penetration value will also be quite high, although not the highest with the damage per shot being only average. Rate of fire will be the key to its success but this level of firepower will be compensated by mediocre mobility, just like in the case of the Tier 5 Mk.1.

We hope that you will enjoy it and will see you on the battlefield!