Forge 05/16 (Unofficial Beta version)

[DennisBergkamp]

(Quest icons used created by Teekatas, from his Legendora set http://raindropmemory.deviantart.com)

Only 10 new cards, mostly fixes and quest additions.

3220 cards in total.

Fixes/Features:

- Fixed Drowned Catacomb.
- Fixed Virulent Sliver.
- Jim fixed Cascade to work correctly with cards that have Kicker now, he also fixed a bug in the cascade/Isochron Scepter code.
- Made a number of AI combat improvements:
* Computer should take into account creatures with trample now, and block accordingly with multiple creatures.
* Computer will not care about human attackers the next turn quite as much, hopefully this will prevent the AI from stopping to attack altogether if it's low on life (it might be a bit much too much though, and leave himself a bit too open).
* AI shouldn't attack into multiple first strikers anymore if it would destroy his attacker off the bat.
* When keeping blockers back while assigning attackers, AI should consider his creatures with Vigilance safe to attack.
- AI (and player) shouldn't be able to cast Elephant Ambush multiple times from the graveyard anymore.
- Timetwister should not cause Megrim to trigger anymore.
- Fixed issues with using the ability of Sakura-Tribe Elder after changing controllership.
- Winning a quest match within a certain amount of turns should give the player a credits bonus (+1500 at turn 1, +250 by turn 5, +50 by turn 10 and +5 by turn 15).
- Added a new "shop" (the Library) to the Bazaar.
- Added a new item to the Treasury.
- Should be able to Mulligan to 0 now (winning a game in quest mode will give you +500 extra credits after doing this).
- Fixed some bug which caused a crash in the combat code.
- Fixed Ajani Vengeant (will not ask to pay mana for its second ability).
- Fixed Gatekeeper of Malakir (kicker should work for the AI now).
- Fixed Diamond Valley (can use it during the opponent's turn now).
- Mirri the Cursed and Spiritmonger should not get counters when damaging planeswalkers.
- Fixed an issue with Zur the Enchanter and Oblivion Ring.
- Sygg, River Guide shouldn't give "Protection from colorless" anymore.
- Added icon functionality for Quest opponents (just put a ~100x~100 sized jpeg of the opponent's name (minus the number) in /res/pics/icons, e.g. "Bart Simpson 3" would use a "Bart Simpson.jpg" filename).
- Slapshot5 fixed Umezawa's Jitte in combination with Threaten.
- Slapshot5 fixed Old Man of the Sea.
- Rob added support for multiple keywords using abPump (allowing Chris to add Scornful AEther-Lich and Power Matrix).
- Chris made a bunch of GUI changes in the New Game and Quest menus (they look great!)
- Slapshot5 made some fixes on Skullclamp.
- Threaten / Act of Treason should only be cast by the AI during Main1.
- Slapshot5 fixed double card descriptions for Unearth cards.
- Fixed Milling win condition (and a bunch of the others).
- Chris and Snacko made fixes on Angelsong.
- Chris fixed Serpent of the Endless Sea and Sedraxis Specter.
- Chris added various quest decks and another "Quest assignment".
- Slapshot5 fixed Gaea's Cradle crash when tapped with no creatures in play.
- Slapshot5 updated Ivory Tower to only use the stack when it actually triggers.
- Removed Counterbalance mana input.
- Chris converted a whole bunch of cards "This card/creature" => "CARDNAME".
- Chris fixed rarity of Phantom Warrior.
- Chris fixed Mawcor and Pirate Ship.

New Cards:

- Forbidden Orchard (not usable by AI), Broodwarden, Kargan Dragonlord.

Slapshot5 added:
- Moldervine Cloak, Dakmor Salvage, Recall.

Jim added:
- Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Expedition Map.

Chris added:
- Scornful AEther-Lich, Power Matrix

[slowe]

Nice -- I like the new credit bonuses! Fixes are good too, it'll be nice not to have to pay 0 for Ajani Vengeant and Counterbalance.
The biggest problem I've seen so far is that in letting us mulligan to 0 you've somehow given us a single free mulligan. The AI's still not too clever about attacking and blocking, but it's a little better, which is always good.
Also, when I first played the new version there were some problems in quest mode with doing the special quests and getting the bonus credits, but on closing and reopening Forge they went away, so not sure what to make of that.

[Corwin72]

I am getting a Java Heap space error when I try to access the shop. My Quest data file is 342KB and I have the Java run time parameter -Xmx1000m

Is there any thing else I can do?

[Chris H.]

I am getting a Java Heap space error when I try to access the shop. My Quest data file is 342KB and I have the Java run time parameter -Xmx1000m

Is there any thing else I can do?

`
I had a java heap space error about a week ago. I changed the pics folder from HQ to LQ pics and have not had any more of these types of errors.

[Chris H.]

all rarities for Forge 05-16-2010

This archive contains updated rarity files for Forge 05-16-2010. I added the missing rarity values for the new cards that were included in Forge version 05-16-2010. This set is not compatible with earlier versions of Forge.

This archive now contains only one set of rarity files. These files have had a rarity value assigned to all of the cards except for the basic lands, basic snow lands, and Rares three fantasy cards.

As of version 10-02-2009 these rarity files now go inside of the res folder and are now of no use to you if you place them in the root folder. You can place a copy inside of the res folder and a second copy inside of the quest folder.

As of version 04-11-2010 another set of rarity file appears in the /res/draft/ folder. You can if you want, move a copy of the all rarities into this folder but this will include every card your potential draft pool. Draft mode will likely be more fun if you place rarity files that include a limited set of cards into this folder.


`

[DennisBergkamp]

I am getting a Java Heap space error when I try to access the shop. My Quest data file is 342KB and I have the Java run time parameter -Xmx1000m

Is there any thing else I can do?

Wow, 342k!!! Yeah try switching over to LQ pics, sell a bunch of cards and try switching back to HQ.
By the way, could you pm me your questdata file? I'd like to try this and see if I get this error also.

[DennisBergkamp]

Nice -- I like the new credit bonuses! Fixes are good too, it'll be nice not to have to pay 0 for Ajani Vengeant and Counterbalance.
The biggest problem I've seen so far is that in letting us mulligan to 0 you've somehow given us a single free mulligan. The AI's still not too clever about attacking and blocking, but it's a little better, which is always good.
Also, when I first played the new version there were some problems in quest mode with doing the special quests and getting the bonus credits, but on closing and reopening Forge they went away, so not sure what to make of that.

Hmm, strange... the free mulligan is intentional, but it should only happen if you end up buying the upgrade in the Library for 2k credits. Did this happen during a quest match?

I know the AI is still pretty stupid (for example, he just blocked my 2/2 Flanking Wolf pet with a 2/2 and a 1/1 ) but there should be some definite improvements.

The initial quest problems *might* have happened because I'm using a bunch of extra variables to keep track of some of the new upgrades, which probably didn't exist yet in your old questdata file. If the crashes are gone, they probably got newly saved into your questdata file, and Forge stops complaining. Still, it's strange though since I did not have these errors when trying my old quest.

[LokiUndergod]

Thanks for the update, guys! Keep up the great work.

[slowe]

D'oh! I was wondering what that upgrade actually did

The quest mode problems reoccur if I try to start a special quest when I first open Forge. If I try, I can select which one I'd like, but nothing happens when I press the "Start Quest" button. If I return to the main quest menu and "Play Game", the first game is normal, but in the second game quest-specific items show up (e.g. Loyal Retainers and Seal of Cleansing for King's Contest). If I don't try to play a special quest first and just play as usual none of the problems come up. And yes, I copied my quest data from the last beta.

The only other thing not working for me is the turn 5 win bonus. I've won a handful of games on my third or fourth turn but I only got the turn 10 bonus.

On the subject of that wolf and stupid blocking, could you fix flanking with first strike? My wolf pet keeps getting killed by 2-power first striking blockers.

Edit: I just played a match against the Black Vise Howling Mine bounce spell deck and got murdered the first game, so I mulliganned to 0 the other two games and got that bonus (it didn't stack, though)

[DennisBergkamp]

Hmm, in testing this I actually got some crash happen (I wasn't even able to start a Quest Assignment)... will try to fix!

[DennisBergkamp]

So the "Mulliganed to 0" bonus only worked once?

[Chris H.]

The quest mode problems reoccur if I try to start a special quest when I first open Forge. If I try, I can select which one I'd like, but nothing happens when I press the "Start Quest" button.

`
I verified the problem. Trying this while peeking at the console in Eclipse I see this:

Code: Select all

java.lang.NullPointerException
   at java.io.File.<init>(File.java:305)
   at forge.GuiDisplay3.addObservers(GuiDisplay3.java:503)
   at forge.GuiDisplay3.<init>(GuiDisplay3.java:112)
   at forge.Gui_Quest_Assignments.startQuestButton_actionPerformed(Gui_Quest_Assignments.java:271)
   at forge.Gui_Quest_Assignments$1.actionPerformed(Gui_Quest_Assignments.java:81)
   at javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:2028)
   at javax.swing.AbstractButton$Handler.actionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:2351)
   at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed(DefaultButtonModel.java:387)
   at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.setPressed(DefaultButtonModel.java:242)
   at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicButtonListener.mouseReleased(BasicButtonListener.java:236)
   at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:6348)
   at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(JComponent.java:3255)
   at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:6113)
   at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:2085)
   at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:4714)
   at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2143)
   at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4544)
   at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Container.java:4618)
   at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Container.java:4282)
   at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Container.java:4212)
   at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2129)
   at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Window.java:2475)
   at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4544)
   at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:635)
   at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:296)
   at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:211)
   at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:201)
   at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:196)
   at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:188)
   at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:122)


[slowe]

So the "Mulliganed to 0" bonus only worked once?

Yes. Later I won a match where I mulliganed to 0 the first game and not the second (winning both games), and I didn't get any mull to 0 bonuses. Hope that's helpful!

[mtgrares]

Computer should take into account creatures with trample now, and block accordingly with multiple creatures.

I remember writing the trample code. Writing it for multiple blockers looked to be a pain so I figured at least it wouldn't come up too often. Thanks for the fix. The other AI combat fixes sound good too. (I'm not sure how to really improve the AI when attacking or blocking since the AI doesn't take into account abilities, so it can only "see" the creatures power and toughness.)

[atar]

Kudos to the team for updating and improving our favourite program.Please keep it up