The Factions and Flags patch is finally live!

EDIT: Added a hotfix patch 1.2.1, 1.2.2 & 1.2.3. Scroll to the end for details

Player Factions

Factions are clans that players can form in multiplayer.



There are two kinds of factions - Unified Factions and Bloc Factions. In a Unified Factions all investment income goes into a pool and is split amongst the online players. In a Bloc factions individuals keep their money.

Individuals that are part of a faction are no longer independent and can no longer engage in diplomacy. Joining a faction will void any alliances, guarantees and warnings that you have. Instead, the faction itself can ally/guarantee/warn outside forces.

Factions have 3 tiers of membership. Normal members (can't do diplomacy), trustees (can do diplomacy), and leaders (can make trustees and more leaders, and can disband the faction).

Finally, faction members can do all the stuff that allies can do. So they can heal/respawn at friendly bases, do Co-Op missions together.

Flags

When you're playing a game with a lot of Gangs it can get confusing as to who is who. So I've added a Flag system to the game. When you first join a game you will be assigned a random flag.

In most places where your name is displayed your flag will be displayed alongside it. To make diplomacy easier I've made it so that when you click on a flag icon on the map it'll open up the relevant player's diplomacy screen.



The game has a full on flag editor. You can add up to 32 layers with lots of flag elements and emblems to chose. You can recolour and reposition them to your liking. You can also mark elements as "always vertical" so they don't get rotated when the flag is rotated and you can even enable "left canton mode", so the flag is flipped when its hanged vertically, so flags like the US Flag can be hanged correctly.



Flags are moddable up the wazoo. You can add more flag layers/emblems by defining a mods/YOUR_MOD/textures/flags/flaglayers.txt file and throwing in some textures. This won't change the client's checksum, multiplayer clients with different mod-flags are able to play together (uninstalled flag parts won't be visible, but MP sessions will work). If players have the same mod-flag-parts installed they will able to see them.

Finally I've added a heap of decorative flag blocks for you to place around your bases and other holdings.

Control Points

Control Points were earmarked for this patch, but I released it early (a month ago). For the uninitiated, Control Points are a cross between Bandit Bases and Special (Reward) Buildings. If you can capture one, you get bonuses. A crucial change in this update is that if a player who is a member of faction captures a Control Point, then the Control Point becomes owned by the faction itself, and ALL members get the bonus.

Full Dev Diary for Control Points:
https://www.indiedb.com/games/voxel-turf/news/dev-diary-16-control-points-vehicle-storage-base-escapes-renamable-bases

Map Generator Changes

As a last minute change to the map generator I've added an option to make maps islands and 2 sliders to adjust the amount of water and hills areas on the map. Below is an example of a map with the water cranked right up

Lets Build A City Server

This has definitely been the best city-building server the game has seen, but its time to move onto a new map. I'll be shortly replacing the server with a larger, archipelago map

Patch 1.2.3

This patch adds a "Mod Enable/Disable" screen to the main menu and fixes some MP issues.



VERSION: 1.2.3 - 06/07/18
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- - Added a "Mod Picker" screen to the main menu.
- The client will autodetect a preview image for installed mods. First MOD_PATH/thumbnail.tga/png/jpg is looked up, then MOD_PATH/preview.tga/png/jpg are loaded, then the first image file in the MOD_PATH/preview/ directory, then the first image in the MOD_PATH/thumbnail/ directory, then the first image in the MOD_PATH/ directory.
- - If a server requests you rejoin it should now make you rejoin the right port (in the case that there are multiple servers on the same machine).
- - Fixed some clientside frame rate dependent physics and graphics issues in multiplayer (ie, the Helicopters not flying bug, Helicopter blades acceleration no longer dependent on framerate, adjustments to Hovercrafts and Boats)

Hotfix 1.2.2

VERSION: 1.2.2 - 03/07/18
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- - Speculative bugfix for reported CTD on mission selection
- - Internal realignment of std::atomic's to work around GCC bug. (all instances of std::atomic replaced with alignas(16) std::atomic to prevent crashes)
- - Async Geometry Upload has been disabled and the option removed

Hotfix 1.2.1

Fixes some faction related issues, and a couple of lot flags for modders adds a QoL improvement: you get an estimate of how many customers a commercial lot is going to have before you place it.

VERSION: 1.2.1 - 26/06/18
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- - When placing a commercial lot, an estimate of the number of customers is displayed. If a lot is expected to have under 33% customers then a warning appears
- - Added a PLAYER_UNIQUE and a MAP_UNIQUE flag for lots. Limits 1 instance of a lot per player or map respectively
- - You can now attach roads to other faction member's roads (and members of allied factions)
- - The start and end tiles of a road construction may now connect to any player's road
- - Fixed mangled player list screen
- - Fixed members of allied factions now count as allies properly
- - Fixed base name alignment
- - You can no longer accept a faction invite if you are already in a faction
- - If a faction is disbanded or a player is eliminated and warnings and protections that they are receiving should now be eliminated
- - Any treaties with non-existant players or factions are removed on game load
- - You can no longer disband a faction while at war

Full Changelog

VERSION: 1.2.0 - 24/06/18
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- - Added an "island" option to the map generator - makes the borders of the map water, making the map an island
- - Added an "water mod" option to the map generator - lets you pick the amount of water on the map
- - Added an "hills mod" option to the map generator - lets you pick the amount of hills on the map


VERSION: 1.2.0-Beta2 - 23/06/18
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- - You can now repair faction owned lots
- - Stat bonuses due to faction owned control points are now correctly applied
- - Removed the OP_ALLIANCE_DEL console message
- - Control Point Goons now speak to faction members if the control point is owned by the faction


VERSION: 1.2.0-Beta1 - 23/06/18
==============
- - Added Player Factions
- Flags have their own flag and colour, any members will use the faction's colour and flag.
- There are 2 kinds of factions: Bloc Factions (basically a big alliance), and Unified Factions (big alliance that shares all net investment income).
- Factions are a seperate political entity. If you join a faction you are no longer independent - the faction is responsible for your diplomacy. If you are a leader or trustee of the faction you can engage in diplomacy on behalf of the faction
- Factions have 3 ranks - members, trustees and leaders.
- Members cannot engage in diplomacy, except to vote on peace deals, send money or show respect.
- Trustees can engage in diplomacy, edit the flag, invite/kick members.
- Leaders can appoint Trustees and more Leaders. Leaders can also kick trustees
- Joining a faction voids any alliances you currently have, as well as protections and warnings.
- Factions can have allies, protect players, issue warnings, etc, just like normal players can.
- Members of a faction are like allies, and can do all the stuff that allies can do (such as co-op missions, respawning on bases, storing vehicles in bases, etc)
- Showing Respect increases the AI opinion of your faction, allowing you to form alliances between the AI and your faction
- A Factions reputation is equal to the reputation of the member with the highest reputation - if a faction has two members, one with 25 rep and one with 5 rep then the faction will have 25 rep.
- A Factions aggression is equal to the aggression of the member with the highest aggression - if a faction has two members, one with 25 aggr and one with 5 aggr then the faction will have 25 aggr.
- Factions will have the yesman cheat enabled if any of the constituant players have yesman enabled
- AI factions will only join player factions if you have yesman enabled. They will do thier normal AI behaviour if part of a faction.
- If you capture a control point, then it comes under control of the faction and all faction members get the bonuses
- - You can no longer invite offline players into alliances
- - Fixed some issues with the flag editor, added a bit of polish
- - Fixed flag not appearing for a player that has just hotjoined onto a server
- - Fixed equipment (hats, armour) not appearing for a player that has just hotjoined onto a server


VERSION: 1.1.7
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- - If textures are set to high, then flags will be rasterised at double resolution (400x240).
- - Doubled flag element resolution for several elements (mainly emblems with stars + layers with diagonal pieces)


VERSION: 1.1.6
==============
- - Added Flags!
- Players and AI factions now have flags. These appear on the map when you select a lot they control and these are displayed next to player names in chat, popup banners and the player list.
- Your "spawn flag" in your bases will now display your flag
- You can now place a variety of flags decoratively in the world. The flag that is displayed will change to whoever occupies the lot and will change if a lot changes hands
- Flags you can place: 2 hanging banner types that can be used on streetlight poles
- 1x2 hanging, 2x3 hanging, 4x6 hanging
- 1x1 horizontal, 2x1.5 horizontal, 3x2 horizontal, 6x4 horizontal
- - Added a Flag Generator. You can make flags by placing different elements and emblems as layers ontop of a background
- Have 41 elements to choose from, as well as 25 emblems
- Flag Layers can be moved around and coloured
- Flags can appear either hoizontally or hanging vertically.
- Emblems on the flag can individually be set to always be vertical when the flag is hanging
- Flags can be hanged in "left-canton" mode, for situations where you want to correctly hang the flag (eg US Flag, Aus/Nz flags, etc)
- Players & AI Factions are assigned a random flag when the game is started
- This is moddable up the wazzo. You can add more flag layers/emblems by defining a mods/YOUR_MOD/textures/flags/flaglayers.txt and throwing in some textures. This won't change the client's checksum, multiplayer clients with different mod-flags are able to play together (uninstalled flag parts won't be visible, but MP sessions will work). If players have the same mod-flag-parts installed they will able to see them.
- - Added a "Sending money does not increase relations" message to the "send money" screen
- - Near Radius is now shown with a yellow line (for industrial lots with *_NEAR settings, such as the Sawmill, etc)
- - Commercial Radius is now shown with a yellow line (for Commercial Lots)
- - Fixed many instances of blocks dropping the wrong items.
- - Removing a multi-block block should now give the drop item if you are removing it from not the multiblock's origin block.