Chaos often breeds life,
when order breeds habit"
Henry Brooks Adams 1838-1918
April 15th, 2005 Feb
16th, 2005 April
5th, 2004 April
5th, 2004 Planets 4 Help Special Weapons and Hull Guide Basic Rules Of
The Universe |
| The version 4 internet news group News Group: alt.games.vgaplanets4 Para mirar la page del foro: http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/vgaplanets4_es Mailing List http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/VGAP-93/ |
| Current
Activity Computer AIal |
| Player
Guides Solar Federation (May 27th, 2001) Lizards (May 27, 2001) Birdmen (May 27, 2001) Stormers (May 27, 2001) Privateers (Aug 10, 2001) Cyborg
(May 27, 2001) Crystals (May 27, 2001) Evil Empire (May 27, 2001) Robots
(May 28, 2004) Colonies Of Man (April 24, 2002) Rebels (Jan 11, 2003) Ship Devices (April 24, 2002) University Alliance (Dec 1, 2000) Enforcers (July 2, 2001) |
| Do you have
a Planets 4 web site? Please let me know about it, email me at: I would like to add it to the planets 4 links page. |
Download the beta version here: New players start with this package: Oct 11th, 2004 Complete beta package v4beta20.exe (29 meg) A snap shot of the current files. Including host, master, raceview, vcr, and planets4.exe. Includes the races Feds, Lizards, Birds, Stormers, Cyborg, Crystals, Privateers, Evil Empire, Robots, Rebels, Colonies of Man, and 3rd party races. |
New Players read this first: Basic Rules Of The UniverseAnd this A Beginner's guide to playing VGAP4 The Latest Updates To install the updates
drop them into your planets4 directory and run the EXE, New! April 15th April 15th, 2005 HOST.EXE 4.000.193 host193.exe (865 k) Feb 16th, 2005 PLANETS4.EXE 4.000.059 p059.exe(1.65 meg) April 5th, 2004 Colonies of Man Race Pack Version 101 Revision 2 April 5th, 2004 Cyborg Race Pack Version 101 Revision 2 (Note: The SPK file goes
in the ships directory) Sept 29th, 2003 HOST.EXE 4.000.144 host144.exe (865 k) VCR.EXE 4.000.015 vcr15.exe (225 k) VCR.EXE 4.000.015 vcr15mix.exe (255 k) Aug 26th 2000 Download Version 4 Help File (Second Release) (6 meg) Online Planets 4 help files (HTML) Armin Trott's Achernar map Test RST files Sample RST file 1 Sample RST file 2 Sample RST file 3 Sample RST file 4 Mirror File Download Sites STC Germany File Download Site Problem: HOTSHEET CAUSES AN ERROR Cause:
Your TABCTL32.OCX is an older version that does not work
with planets4.exe to fix it do this: Collected Features: A list of all host changes up to current host April 15th, 2005 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.193 Fixed: Bug in ground combat that was causing less colonists, crew and troops to be lost then should be. Fixed: Bad transporter bug that produced large numbers of high guard. New: Robot Q Tanker can mask the sensor image of Robot ships within 100 LY, giving them a sesor image of only 5 New: Robots can cloak mines New: Colonists on Colony of Man ships produce an income of 200mc per 100000 colonists. New: All races can sweep cloaked mines with a 25% success rate New: Base ION Cannons only work when the shield is turned off New: Ships with a hull mass over 690 have improved PD systems, ships with a hull mass over 1200 have an improved PD system and ships with a hull mass over 1800 have an even better PD system New: Figher and ship combat logic improved. Changed: Base ION Cannons use 10 ord per shot Changed: Minefield power increased, they do more damage when you hit them. Changed: Glory device will only kill 15,000 worms per blast Changed: Spice production reduced Changed: Robot mine sweeping of cloaked mines only works 25% of the time instead of 100% of the time. Changed: Energized sand toned down. it does not work 100% of the time anymore
March 1st, 2005 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.189 Fixed: Labor camps over producing credits Fixed: Labor mines over producing credits Changed:
Colonists in pods have more importance when calculating
your number of resource points. They are now worth about Feb 16th, 2005 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.188 New: If warp chunnel fails do to lack of fuel you get a log message New: Gathering stuff from a planet rate now limited bay number of colonists Changed: You no longer get hit with crime for selling contraband Changed: The crime effects of selling contraband using a gold pod scaled back Fixed: Boarding laser causing boarding to fail do to a negative number error. Fixed: QTanker not refueling fighters Fixed: Having less than 100 Labor Mines on a planet caused 100% death rates among crew, troops and high guard prisoners. Feb 16th, 2005 What is new in Planets4.exe Version 4.000.059 Fixed: Minister enable and planet AVOID using the same data bit, you switch one your end up switching the other. Jan 29th, 2005 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.187 Fixed: Host crashes when wing trys to dock with itself New: RST file size should be much smaller now Jan 22nd, 2005 What is new in Planets4.exe Version 4.000.057 New: Ship have a new combat setting that allows them to AVOID combat with an enemy base they are over, when this attack setting is one the ship CAN NOT use its large weapons to damage the enemy base. New: Ground bases have a highly experimental attack option CAPTURE. Your troops kill far less enemy colonists and take 3 times normal losses. This attack is very useful when attacking enemy bases that are almost all colonists. Jan 22nd, 2005 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.186 Fixed: Wierd things happen when cyborg capture a ship that has high guard aboard. New: Ground base capture setting added New: Fighter wings that are NOT set to attack ground targets will STAY AWAY from the base to avoid AAA fire. New: Ships can avoid attacking the base under the ship, when the ship is set to avoid the base the large weapons can NOT be used to fire at the base. New:
Robot nest powers increased to taking 3% (was a random
0.00% to 3%) of all enemy colonists in range and has the
side effect of killing an extra 4.5%. New:
The range of the robot nest is based on turn number and
number of insects and colonists on the base. The nest
range has a minimum range of 30LY and a maximum range of
400 LY. At the beginning of the game the range will be
about 100LY around the home world at turn 60 the range
will be about 400 LY around all high population planets. B = 100 + Turn_Number * 5 If A
< B then nest range is A. The base will get a log message telling you the current nest range. New: Warrior Shuttle resistant to barbitic minefield detonations. New: The Robot Q Tanker is very hard to see, it has a sensor profile of only 5 at all times. New: The Robot Q Tanker refuels fighter wings out to a range of 100 LY Jan 6th, 2005 What is new in Planets4.exe Version 4.000.056 New: Crime shown on contraband sell/buy page New: Ministers avoid letting your crime level get above 100 when they are selling all your contraband New: Contraband page will show you how much crime will increase if you sale an item of contraband New: Ship and Base overview screens stay open when switching between enemy ships and bases New: Crime level shown on main overview screen New: When view destroyed planets using the data pads all data screens and buttons are now active New: The find object screen now has a clear boxes button. New: Resource ring display shows crime levels (Under misc) New: Ship and Base screen have red outlines when viewing enemy objects Jan 4th, 2005 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.185 Fixed: Transporter bug that causes ships without boarding lasers to fail to transfer cargo to and from a planet that they are leaving. New: Robot insect nest range reduced to 200 ly Jan 3rd, 2005 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.184 New: Gambling deck ships generate 2 points of crime on bases they are over. New: The power of weapons to push back an enemy ships decreased by 50% and ship with a mass over 900 are immune. New: Show lounge ships generate 2 points of crime on bases they are over. New: Crime rate no longer effects the amount you get from selling contraband New: Criminals steal contraband from bases with high crime. (50% chance that 5% will be taken if there is over100 crime) New: If you have a crime level above 100 contraband will be stolen when you launch a pod of contraband. New:
High Guard are much better at fighting crime, the more
you have the better they get. The more crime you have the
better they get. New:
Troops are much better at fighting crime. New: Privateers move crime around. . . if they have a base within 200LY they might take 10% of your crime away from you and give it out to another base in the area. New: If a ship has less than 50% crew its weapons will begin to malfunction during combat. The percentage crew that you have is the percentage chance that a weapon system will work. New: Robots have a new method of fighting crime New: Cyborg have a new method of fighting crime New: Robot insect nests kill more enemy colonists. Three times what they did before. Income and insect production remains the same. New: No more free lunch ( 5kt of food ) when beaming colonists down to a new world. You have to bring food with you now. If you beam down colonists and suddenly next turn they are all gone, it might be because you forgot to bring food. Fixed: People can beam fuel from friendly Solorian ships! Fixed: Some really pycho-wierd bonehead logic flaw in transporter attemps is causing transporting and boarding to fail most of the time. Master: Robot starting insectoid population changed to 50000 + 10% starting colonist population. Dec 25th, 2004 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.183 New:When a base is captured by ground combat the crime from the base is spread about to all bases belonging to the victim race with in 800 LY. (Not enemy bases.) Dec 25th, 2004 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.182
New: Cantinas can be removed from a base using the base command code "ATF" New: Crime rate increase by cantinas reduced. New: Selling contraband generates 5 points of crime per type of contraband sold
New: Crime rates of over 100 effects your income from cities (Undercities immune) Dec 18th, 2004 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.181 Fixed: Figher combat logic messed up. Fixed: Ship combat logic messed up. Fixed: Ship stand off range not working Fixed: Ships hitting two web mines in a single turn Fixed: Ships intercepting ships and object that they can not see Fixed: Cantinas produce the insane amounts of contraband and crime is a joke New: Wings only auto intercept pods when target soft is on New: Wings only auto intecept wings when target fighters is on New: Wreckage is no longer auto intercepted New: Mass effects how fast ship can change speed during combat New: High Guard (10 or more) decrease crime rate New: Troops (10000 or more) decrease crime rate. Nov 28th, 2004 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.180 Fixed: Captured ships end up at (0,0) Nov 28th, 2004 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.179 New: Ships and wings escorting ships with engines set at very high speed, but traveling a very short distance will us a special fuel saver mode to conserve fuel. Fixed: Reticulian med lab producing more cargo than the ship can hold Fixed: High guard blocking ground attacks when they should not be. Fixed: Ships with no fuel and no crew are able to over power tractor beams. Fixed: Host crashing due to "fuel from no where bug" being exploited. Fixed: Fuel robber producing fuel from nowhere Oct 23rd, 2004 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.178 New: Ship command code "REC" cause the ship to recharge a minefield within 200LY with fresh ord instead of dropping a new field. The type of minefield will be the type the ship is set to drop. New: Outfit pod launching moved to before ship building to prevent quick build ships from using the parts that were suppose to be on outfit pods causing all sorts of strangeness, like pods not launching and then launching a few turns later after the required parts are built. New: If a ship with a cloaking device makes over 400 point of sensor noise or gets tagged by a detonating laser mine gun zeros can target it. New: Ship making less than 400 points of sensor noise and not lit up by detonating laser mines can not be targeted by the Solorian Stellar matter launcher. Fixed: Prisoners not returning home after you took them back and prisoners not returning to your allies bases as they should. I keep getting a log message but nothing happens. Fixed: If a ship is blasted with a laser mine detontation and made visible, it is immune to combat. (It should NOT be immune!) Fixed: The Glory Device hull types 42 and 43 are not combat immune (as they SHOULD be) when the second wave switch is on. Oct 21th, 2004 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.177 Fixed: The Cyborg king keeps disappearing and moving around and doing weird things when I put him on a ship. Oct 20th, 2004 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.176 New: Virgo command code "LSD". If you have a waypoint that is less than 50 LY light speed cuts off to save fuel. The command code "LSD" (LIGHT SPEED DAG-NABIT!!!!) overrides lightspeed auto cut off so you can burn lots of fuel and go very short distances or no where at all. It also allows you to intercept or escort at light speed ships that begin the turn right next to you. If you do not use the LSD code your light speed will cut off if your waypoint is set to a distance less than 50 LY, because your ship thinks it is silly to burn all that fuel just to move 50 LY. New: Aczanny ground combat units and troops now protect colonists from insectoid attacks. New: Gun Zero and other special race buildings can be destroyed by blasting them from space. Fixed: Minefield recharge function turning on by mistake. Oct 11th, 2004 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.175 Fixed: Minefield load data error. Oct 11th, 2004 What is new in Host.exe Version 4.000.174 New: Command code WPP (Waypoint Priority) causes ships to go to their waypoint before going to their intercept target or escort target. The ship will switch to the intercept or escort target as soon as waypoint is reached. A ship can move to a waypoint and then move in an intercept course during the same turn. New: You can only launch a pod at an object that you can see. If you launch to an object that you can not see the pod will just go into orbit around the base that lauched it. Fixed: Chupanoid natives are showing up on my home world planet! Fixed: Robot ships taking too much damage from chain reaction nova barb mines. Fixed: Solorian green home star heat level corrected. They where getting a green star with the wrong heat. |
| General Overview of VGA
Planets 4 VGA Planets 4 (VGAP4) is a competitive, multiplayer Email game of Space Warfare. Each player controls one empire in a galaxy. As in other Space Wargames, players explore the area around them, gather or develop resources, research technologies, build infrastructure and create space and ground combat units to defeat their neighbors. However, VGAP4 differs significantly from most other Space Warfare games in several ways. VGAP4 is an Email game. The time between moves is more leisurely than real time games or games played on a single computer. The duration of a game long is usually long. A typical game might have a turn due two or three times per week, and the game as a whole take three to six months to reach its conclusion. VGAP4 is a multiplayer game. Skill at negotiating and diplomacy are important. Most of the other players will be enemies to be crushed. Some may be allies, temporary or permanent, and some may be members of pre-assigned teams. Skill at getting the most out of your partners, skill at creating a functioning alliance, and skill at leading your enemy into a committing disastrous blunders are all important. VGAP4 is a _competitive_ game between human beings. The objective is not to grow your empire to Tech Level 10, nor get a certain size of population or fleet. Those are only tools for achieving your real goal: beating the player in the empire next to yours. If you can defeat the other player by achieving Weapons Technology Level 10 before him, do so. If you can defeat him before either of you get to Weapons Technology 10, that's terrific too. The point is not how many "points" you have on any absolute scale, but that _you_ are defeating _him_ on a relative scale. Because you have human opponents, the winning strategy in VGAP4 tends to differ from the winning strategy in other Space Wargames. In many similar appearing games, the key to victory is well thought out, patterned play to maximize searching, to optimally develop technology, and to build infrastructure rapidly. In those games, players work out a "perfect plan" of the most efficient way to expand and develop. They then use that plan over and over in each successive game. Against human opponents, patterned predictable play will lead you into an ambush and a one-way trip to an enemy Labor Camp. Human players, unlike steady computer opponents, will confront you with a combination of brilliant threats, clever traps, and incredibly bone-headed blunders.VGAP4 rewards players who do the unexpected, whose next move cannot easily be foreseen, and who can react rapidly to opportunities or threats that suddenly arise. Any wargame favors aggressive, offensive play over a passive defense. In VGAP4, the player's empires are fairly robust, but the game system does allow attacks to develop rapidly. The game system is rich enough to provide many different ways to damage your enemy. Space battles, orbital bombardment, and ground infantry battles are all there. So are subtler ways to reduce your enemy's economy, happiness, income and productivity through covert, non-combat means. VGAP4 gives great advantage to the offensive minded player because you can combine ships, fighters and ground troops into a mutually supporting attack, and do this at a time when you have arranged that your enemy's economy is in ruins his a population in revolt. If you can get the most from your friends, deceive your enemies, seize sudden opportunities, respond rapidly to unforseen threats, and are tenacious and thoughtful enough to push relentlessly once you gain an advantage, you will do just fine here. It's as simple as that. |
