Hi guys, here's a list of the newest changes :D
Change Log:
1. Backend changes to streak calculation logic.
I moved the streak calculation mechanism from the scorepages to FBDj.
This was needed to introduce scoring changes based on current streak.
It will also allow us to easier make more changes in the future and should make score pages work faster, although I don't think the improvement will be visible.
In the next few days I will be switching the scorepages to use this new mechanism. This should not cause any problems and will be invisible to users.
2. Now we only have 4 streak values:
- Actual Air Streak (calculated including probable kills)
- Top Air Streak
- Actual Ground Streak
- Top Ground Streak
Actual Air Streak is now calculated including probable kills. I feel this is the most fair approach at the moment.
I have removed the following streak values:
- Death Streak
- Top Death Streak
- Air Streak with Probable kills (actually this is the same as the new Actual Air Streak)
If you feel that you would like to have those streak values back, we can make a vote. Personally I think this information is not needed, but I will bring them back if that is what the majority wants ;)
3. Calculation of score for each sortie now takes actual air streak and actual ground streak values into account.
Change #1 was needed to implement this.
Now your score for each sortie is increased if you have a non zero air/ground streak.
Here is an example:
Base score for sortie: 100 points
On the beginning of the sortie the pilot had:
- air streak: 15
- ground streak: 25
Calculation of additional points:
Additional score = (Base points * air streak factor * air streak) + (Base points * ground streak factor * ground streak) = (100 * 0.1 * 15) + (100 * 0.01 * 25) = 150 + 25 = 175
Total score = Base score + Additional score = 100 + 175 = 275 points
The air streak (0.1) and ground streak (0.01) factors are constant.
We can later change them if these values turn out to be inappropriate.
4. Monstr points
Those of you who played original WarBirds FreeHost must remember the monstr score :) Now we will also have it. The idea behind this score is that it promotes survivability. Besides giving you points for kills and destroyed ground objects, it will also reduce your score if you die, get captured or damage your airplane. If you don't want to get negative monstr points, you will have to learn to land on wheels and not get shot ;)
Here is a list of monstr points awarded for particular events. This list will also be available in the scorepages.
Kill 100
Friendly Kill -200
Field Capture 500
Cargo Dropped (per crate) 40
Destroy Enemy Ground Unit 30
Destroy Friendly Ground Unit -60
Damaged Plane -15
Bailed -60
Captured -120
Killed -120
Gun Hit 1
Rocket Hit 5
Bomb Hit 10
5. New statistics available and player details page layout changed
I have changed the layout of this page to make the page shorter in length. This will reduce the scrolling required to view the entire content.
Also I have compacted the large tables, so they now take up less space horizontally, which makes reading easier.
Pilot rank images have been removed. We can call a vote on this, but I think that they were not too nice looking. If we want them back, I would propose for someone to make pretty versions :)
Some statistics have been moved to small, separate boxes on top of the page. This will make them faster accessible, without scrolling, and the statistics are better grouped by similar type.
In the future some of these statistics will be available for sorting from the drop-down list on the main pilots and squadrons list pages.
6. Medals system has been completely reworked
The medals are awarded in 5 categories:
- Air Streak
- Ground Streak
- Total Air Kills
- Total Ground Kills
- Kills In One Sortie
- Captured Fields
In each category there are 6 milestones, after which a medal is awarded to the pilot.
air streak: 5, 15, 30, 50, 100, 150
ground streak: 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300
air kills in ToD: 25, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250
ground kills in ToD: 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500
kills in one sortie: 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 17
captured fields: 1, 15, 30, 50, 75, 100
In total a pilot can receive up to 36 medals.
For each milestone, another type of medal is awarded, but these medal images are the same for all categories, so we have 6 medal images. I decided to use American medals, as the most known, and most "famous".
Medals have small icons to represent the category.
I will not show you the images, you need to earn them first! :)
(ribbons are not ready yet, sorry about that but I didn't have time to make them)
(If anyone here is an artist and feels he can do a better job at making medal images - contact me!
I would love for them to be better, or for them to be more different, but I am no artist and I am pretty busy working on all these changes.)
Because medals can take up a lot of space on the pilot details page, I have introduced an option to display only medal ribbons, instead of the entire medal.
There is a link "Show only ribbons" right above the medal box. Clicking this will reload the page, showing only ribbons. The page will remember your selection and will load in this way every time you open it. I have used a cookie to implement this. The cookie is valid for 30 days and stores a value "1" or "0" on your computer. If you do not allow this cookie, the page will load in the default way every time, which is with entire medals.
Every medal has a mouseover pop-up with a short description containing the medal name and the type and milestone for which it was awarded. An even shorter description is provided under every medal.
For ribbons, only the pop-up text is available, to save space.
Also, Barmal is working on improving the <field fxx radio command. The result of the command will be more clear and take up less space. We hope to implement this soon :)
As you can see we are constantly working to improve our server. :)
We try to be very open to your suggestions and make this server very community friendly, so if you have any feedback concerning the listed changes, or any suggestions, please feel free to voice them in the forums.
We are sorry that our mod can not work with the 4.10.1 version of the game, or the UP3 mods, but we are doing the best we can to make it better with the 4.09 version. We appreciate that despite this incompatibility with the recent version you chose to fly with us.
We are in the process of enabling custom skins on our server. This option will not be available to everyone though.
We would like to use this to promote teamwork. Active squadrons will have the ability to use their own set of skins. We will probably limit this to 1 or 2 skins per airplane.
Individual pilots will also be able to use their own skin, but they will need to prove they are worthy :) We are thinking of making this available to pilots, who are placed 1st in score in a given ToD. We need to think of some fair criteria to not discriminate bomber pilots etc. As soon as we get this done, we will let you know in the forums and on the web page.
That's it :) Please post all found errors, suggestions and complaints ;)
http://www.war-birds.com