What realistically needs to happen to get this going?

[Hawkei]

Hi there,

There are threads which have brought up this questions before. But, I feel the need to re-iterate this question. When will Galactic War (GW) be operational again? and What realistically needs to happen to get it working?

I understand that the previous code was a buggy train wreck, and needed a lot of fixing. But, it also had a lot of good things going for it. I think that everyone is of one mind in saying that GW was an overwhelmingly positive addition to FAF and that they would like to see it return.

It was understandable that the previous GW needed to be taken off line for maintenance and improvement. Though, it is now two years later and we are no closer to seeing GW implemented - and I'd much rather see a problematic and buggy implementation then no implementation at all. I would also add that having this system operational is vital to maintaining a thriving and active community. As GW was a significant gameplay addition which FAF has to offer the SC:FA community.

So this brings me to the central question. Strip away all expectations of gameplay improvements. Strip away all unnecessary complications. Simplify the heck out of GW and take it back to some functioning core. What is required to get GW working? What contributions are required, and who could potentially perform these? When could GW be realistically implemented?

I hope that this doesn't appear as too demanding. As I was previously involved in the GW development team as a map tester, and would be prepared to make further contributions within time limits and capability... I'm just trying to express a common sentiment that GW was a very popular feature in FAF, and that many people would like to see it working again.

[speed2]

Someoe would have to start working on it. I think the current code doesnt work with the new server.
So someone who can make it work on the server, in the client, is required.

[biass]

ya think we could fill out every's entire gw map with (decent) maps?

[Hawkei]

ya think we could fill out every's entire gw map with (decent) maps?

I worked on the map testing team after the last galactic war. I still have access to that spreadsheet I think. So if I could develop a galactic planetary matrix according to the diagram you suggested, and then populate it with the maps which have been QA checked and approved for GW, I would be happy to do this.

Changes according to the diagram would be to decrease the number of planetary systems, and have a mix of 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 maps within the system. These maps would represent the different geographical locations within the planetary system - and along with the number of planetary systems being reduced the number of node connections between them would be increased. Battles on any or all of these maps contribute to the overall system control %. With each map only appearing once in the GW universe, and all maps within the same planetary system being grouped according to title set and theme similarity... So that even though players are fighting on different maps, it will still feel like they are fighting on the same planet. The result would be a much more interconnected 3D (as opposed to a 2D) galaxy map. Have I understood this correctly?

I can start work on the details for this and begin work on - and provide a database planet names and maps, along with a graphical image for the GUI.

[Brutus5000]

I have looked into it and made a list of tasks I see in terms of programming:

• Define a set of galactic war rules you want to start upon
• Create a database schema which represents the galactic war universe and your ruleset
• Describe the transactions and how these will affect database data. Create corresponding sql statements
• Invent algorithms which procedurally generate world content (i.e. create planets, connection between planets, set maps for planets)
• Implement user-based transactions and queries on the API server based on the sql statements
• sub-task: implement role auhtorization in api server
• Create a user interface which interacts with API server (web site or FAF client)
• Implement result parsing in server based on the sql statements
• Implement matchmaking in client and server (setting up lobby and game, this could be based upon the old codebase)

I hope this makes it a little bit clearer why it is more work than "just starting" it.
GW was currently no topic in the latest developer conferences, as the dev team is already lacking time to tackle the more severe issues (i.e. new website, proxy issues, ui-blocking issues, game launch-failed issue, map&mod upload, ...).

[Hawkei]

I'd agree with that list. Essentially, there are a few basic components which are required for GW to function. As it basically consists of:

1. A web accessible database. Which is managing all of the universe parameters in real time.
2. A graphical user interface (either embedded into a tab in FAF, or as a web accessible HTML) . Which allows player to access universe information and interact with it. According to pre-set limitations for that person's character.
3. A method for delivering the required universe information into a FAF game launch. Telling FAF which players to connect, identifying that it is a GW mod game, what map to load, what planetary defences to install, and what reinforcements each player is to be equipped with.
4. There needs to be a game mod which will handle all of this information, generate the game, and then report results to the database

***

So yes. Lots to do. Essentially, what I was talking about doing above was to populate a database with planet names/numbers, coordinates, and corresponding maps. In accordance with some meaningful theme - and then also checking those maps for playability, quality, and compatibility with the Even vs. Odd team pre-set requirement. As this isn't programming work, but consists of a lot of the grunt work required to get a functioning universe.

[Brutus5000]

As discussed in today's dev conference, I have documented my current approach on http://faf-gw.brutus5000.net/.
Everyone is welcoming to comment it.

Please note: Currently this is not an official project. However, there will be surveys soon, where you can vote for GW as high priority. Maybe then it might become an official project.

[Downlord]

Vote here: https://feedback.userreport.com/7a3715d ... cfd752647b

[Ze_PilOt]

I have looked into it and made a list of tasks I see in terms of programming:

• Define a set of galactic war rules you want to start upon
• Create a database schema which represents the galactic war universe and your ruleset
• Describe the transactions and how these will affect database data. Create corresponding sql statements
• Invent algorithms which procedurally generate world content (i.e. create planets, connection between planets, set maps for planets)
• Implement user-based transactions and queries on the API server based on the sql statements
• sub-task: implement role auhtorization in api server
• Create a user interface which interacts with API server (web site or FAF client)
• Implement result parsing in server based on the sql statements
• Implement matchmaking in client and server (setting up lobby and game, this could be based upon the old codebase)

All this is already implemented. It's really just a matter of starting it

[Downlord]

No, we're looking for an engineered implementation.