PotBS Dev Tracker

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Taelorn
While the system doesn't allow us to setup a permanent PvP zone, but there are probably some adjustments we can make to have a similar result.
Taelorn
I have no idea what's in build 1.9, ships or otherwise. That's a ship that's in game now, just with a different name. Some of the stats are changing for the Pirates Hercules in 1.3, but there aren't any new end-game ship models in the pipeline aside from the replacement model for the Hercules.
ktatroe
Our very own Rusty shares some of the ongoing and upcoming releases throughout the world; you can check it out by following this link.

Enjoy! (Won't you?)
ktatroe
1 in thread Data Service API [In Concept]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taralin Snowden
I would rather not have to parse the output once an hour just to see if there are any changes, and I'm sure FLS would rather I not ask their servers to send me 11.5K of data once an hour when all I really want to know is "has the data changed?".]
We'd rather you didn't, as well. Your suggestion is great, and we'll look into how to make that happen in the best way possible.

Off the top of my head, I'd think we'd most likely implement it using HTTP header controls, rather than trying to roll something ourselves (better to use something time-tested and built just for this exact purpose), but we'll need to look at it in more depth (as well as write implementations against it in the various tools we test the API with, to be sure it's easy enough).
ktatroe
1 in thread Data Service API [In Concept]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taralin Snowden
that the encoding is apparently broken in some way because there's no reason that "?uot; U+00E0 shouldn't be representable in UTF-8 (as C3 A0).
You're absolutely right. I'm not sure what caused it, but that's definitely broken. I'll get it fixed tomorrow morning. A strict XML implementation is going to barf on the current feed, and that ain't good.
ktatroe
1 in thread Map status report for off line perusal [North America]
Quote:
Originally Posted by kpkortekaas
checking the unrest at all ports is kind of a pain as it takes all the information about all the ports. it'd require a bit of parsing to format correctly.
I use SimpleXML and XPath in PHP (5 and higher only) to get at the specific bits of data I want, and that is a huge help. I'll have some full sample code to show how that works soon, but whatever you're developing in, you should see if there's XPath support.

Non-programmers, feel free to cover your eyes right about... NOW.

For example, getting just the resource list for a given port is (again, PHP):

Code:
$xml = simplexml_load_file('/path/to/cached.xml');
$resourceNodes = $xml->xpath("/PortList/Port[@name='CatIsl']/resources/e");
Then you can just step through the nodes and get their info out of them.

The XPath (and interesting) bit is just:

Code:
/PortList/Port[@name='CatIsl']/resources/e]
That says, "Hey, go into the XML and grab the e elements inside the resources element inside the Port element with a name parameter with value CatIsl inside the global PortList element". Et voila, you've grabbed all the resources associated with the given port.

It's a bit arcane at first, but once you get the hang of it, it can really help dig into simple, structured data with (reasonably) known values.
ktatroe
1 in thread New Devlog: Sharing Game Data [Devlogs]
Quote:
Originally Posted by kwhitehead
Sure would be nice if you implemented that as a Web Service rather than a http POST and REQUEST. About ten years ago I new how to do it when Microsoft walked us through a http implementation of SOAP protocols before they had the api out but haven't touched this kind of code since Web Service came out.
For something this light-weight, using the two-ton hammer that is SOAP would be overkill, and would make developing against the API take a lot more bootstrapping.

Because HTTP POST is the original web service mechanism (it's as old as, well, HTTP itself!), there are robust tools for pretty much any platform and development environment. Is there a specific set of tools you're trying to hit it with that's causing difficulty? I can take a look and help you out, if possible.

(Now, if we were trying to make you use HTTP DELETE and HTTP PUT verbs, I'd be right there with you! Support for them ranges from dismal to non-existent, sadly.)

One thing I should note: to make things a bit simpler for folks, I'm working on a bunch of sample code, in ASP.NET, PHP (using both PEAR and Zend Framework), JavaScript, and, yes, Plain Old HTML (with no script engine at all!), but that probably won't get released until the next release of the API.
ktatroe
1 in thread New Devlog: Sharing Game Data [Devlogs]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taralin Snowden
at this point, should we be adding comments in this thread, or in Data Service API thread under "In Concept"?
Either works. I'm following both.
ktatroe
1 in thread Beta Forum Archive [News and Press Releases]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dinbasi
Never did get an answer to this Question, Are the Old Beta Forums deleted and gone for Good, I just tried to access them and got this for a reply:
They'll be back by the end of this week. They just didn't survive the transition to the new webserver cluster, and I have to put some muscle into getting them to work in the new environment.
Rusty
1 in thread Isildur on PotBS, July 2007 [Ask an FLS Developer!]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mercian
Wrong my friend.

You could be sailing quite happily past a town that currently has a Pirate PvP zone or (maybe even no contention at all) and sailing outside that circle. Unfortunately, you have logged in and launched AFTER the warning from a neighbouring town the other side of the island that has just gone into full contention - you are suddenly in an overlapping red zone.

Yes, Ok, bad planning on your part for being caught out like that but it does happen. As for being ganked in that situation yes there are groups who sit in areas just waiting for that overlapping red circle to appear.
Let me single you out, because I want to use it in reference to the response I just made.

You make an excellent point. I'm ok with a player being punished for bad planning, but our current system of contention makes it impossible to adequately plan to avoid PvP, because players can abuse the current contention system and throw a port into PvP with virtually no warning. And when players lurk near the edges, coordinating with the people who are about to throw the port into contention, this is what I think of as bad gameplay.

The solution (that we're working on now) is to change how contention works in order to provide a LOT more warning that a port may go over into PvP. This will make it so that, with reasonable planning, you won't be caught by accident in PvP.

Obviously, we think there's room for improvement in our system, and are currently working on it.