takeAplay.net site history

2007, December 30. New Void Patrol interface featuring an orders-input window, and chits-based moves. More info here. New icons for missiles, rockets and grenades.
2007, December 29. Void Patrol Rule levels are being re-arranged to make room for new features. Terrans and Aliens can now use (many) one-use weapons. More info here.
2007, April 2. Surrender & automove In an AoW game now you have the option of surrendering and voluntarily entering automove. This should speed up the games in the later stages, and you won't need to enter useless orders in the games where you are losing. More info here.
2007, March 31. Who am I at war with? Can't remember who you were at war in an AoW game? Now you can see how many armies you were attacked with, by each player, during all the previous turns.
2007, March 28. Database use. We just bought our second 50 MiB of database space. We have used up 40 MiB so far, averaging 20 KiB per game, including the forum, members data, and so on in the computation. Not too bad, taking into account that we save each game's history almost completely.
2007, March 23. Lots of new info on the active members page.
2007, March 14. Removed the infamous seasickness-effect in the VP fighter creation page, added info on units built in the AoW battle log.
2006, December 29. I have completed the definitive takeAplay addict's tool: an RSS feed containing info about your last 30 moves due, forum messages, game messages and chatroom messages. More info in the forum.
2006, December 21. A new AoW option, binding diplomacy, in which you are allowed to loosen your diplomacy requirements, but you cannot tighten them. See the AoW rules page for more info.
2006, December 9. Minor restyling in the statistics pages; added some images to the AoW rules page.
2006, October 14. Substituted icons for text in games description.
2006, October 5. Added all-time records for AoW and VP, including non-active players.
2006, September 29. Cleaned up the AoW battle report: more info on the damage dealt and received, better-organised information.
2006, September 28. New VP page with an AJAX function allowing to load several different fighter projects. You won't notice many differences, but the underlying code has been greatly improved: the page should load faster, now. In addition, you will be able to load a prebuilt fighter's project as a reference
2006, September 25. (Re)-enabled the possibility of viewing the whole game's history in Void Patrol! Sit back and enjoy the show!
2006, September 17. Added owning player's name in AoW territory's title to improve accessibility.
2006, September 10. Void Patrol: the last fighter you built is now loaded as a default when you join a new game. More info in the forum. Also did a bit of restyling in the game pages. Old users may have to reload to see the pages correctly.
2006, September 6. The Art of War: now you can specify how many players you wish to draw with. More info in the forum. Also restyled the site history page.
2006, July 9 VP new item: rocket clusters are now available! More info in the forum.
AoW: now, when you create a "one starting territory, World map game", the computer tries to assign non-adjacent territories to all players, to have more balanced games!
2006, July 7 VP: fourth and fifth weapon slots now available. Two new factions: imperian and the commonwealth of constellations (comcon). Restyling of the different game rules. More info in the forum.
AoW: now, when you create a "one starting territory, World map game", the computer tries to assign non-adjacent territories to all players, to have more balanced games!
2006, July 2 Fixed a bug in AoW messages.
2006, June 11 Fixed a minor glitch in items pricing. Armour price is now strictly proportional to how much you buy of it.
2006, May 3. AoW interface: fast attacks. Now, by clicking TWICE on the attacked territory, the order "attack with all units" is submitted at once. You can find all the interface shortcuts (so far) here! In addition, the AoW page is now lighter, and it should take slightly less time to load.
2006, April 29. VP: radio alert. You will now receive an alert on each turn, with the last radio message received, as soon as the VP page loads. More info in the forum.
2006, April 22. VP: leadership skill. Characters having this skill can send messages that are heard immediately! More info in the forum, here.
2006, April 17. VP: retired fighters are now marked with a silver cross.
2006, March 19. New VP feature: budget games. Now you can create games with different budgets per fighter. More info in the forum, here.
2006, March 16. New VP feature: current fighter's price. In a VP game, now you can see how much it would cost to build a fighter like the one you are playing with/against on the open market.
2006, March 14. New VP item: dual thrusters, available only in advanced games. More info in the rules page.
2006, March 13. New Aow rule: automovers now automatically surrender.
2006, March 9. Small improvements in the AoW interface: when you click on the territory to be attacked, the default number of attacking units is now the maximum (no longer zero). If you click on the territory you are issuing orders for, you get a "no attack" order. Also fixed a minor bug on the red arrow that would at times display "no attack" when an attack had been ordered. New VP prebuilt fighter: the badger. Added a VP combat tables page.
2006, February 9. Added a small aid for evaluating a fighter's battle value in Void Patrol.
2006, February 6.

Void Patrol characters and character skills

! Now you can create characters. For every kill you score, you will gain experience points to spend on skills! More info in the forum, here.
2006, January 31. Void Patrol Flash tutorial! This is the easiest way to get started playing Void Patrol. AoW odds computator, for evaluating the odds of a certain attack having success.
2006, January 30. New VP stats page. Records for most points scored in single games, and last month's rating changes!
2006, January 27. Piloting skill in Void Patrol. More info in the forum.
2006, January 10. Multi-language RPS game page. Boost movement mode in VP advanced games. More info on the rules page. New VP option: now you can create games without criticals.
2006, January 9. Pre-built fighters in Void Patrol. Now you are just one click away from joining a game!
2006, January 7. Inertial grenades in Void Patrol advanced games! More info on the rules page.
2006, January 4. New missiles in Void Patrol! More info here.
2006, January 3. Yet another AoW interface improvement: past orders shown as arrows also when viewing the map during the previous rounds! More info in the forum. Also introduced pilot gunnery skills in VP. More info here.
2006, January 2. Another AoW interface improvement: past orders shown as arrows by clicking on "show past orders" in the game page.
2005, December 30 Two new asteroid fields: "thick" and "sparse". More info in the forum.
2005, December 28. Changes to the allegiance and rating systems. Now you have more freedom choosing which type of fighter you want to fly. The rating system will take into account the relative strengths of the different allegiances. More info can be found here. Escaping rules: no escape from the arena. If you exit the ring of asteroids, you will be destroyed. No escaping from the wrong side in asteroid fields. You will be destroyed.
2005, December 17. New VP items. Now you get to choose from 3 sizes of propellant tanks. These determine your fighter's autonomy.
2005, December 16. Improvements in AoW interface: an orange preview arrow lets you see your current (unsubmitted) order; the system now also checks that you don't try to deliver meaningless orders such as attack with no units, or do not attack with 7 units, which players had to check by themselves so far.
2005, December 9. (today is a nice day ) Changed the Aow victory criterion: now 2/3 of the territories is enough to win.
2005, December 2. Further improved the AoW stats. Have a look here for more details.
2005, November 27. Brand new, retroactive

AoW statistics

.
2005, November 22. Fixed a few glitches in the forum. Now you can quote messages more easily.
2005, November 14. Automove time shortened to 15 days. If you are planning a longer vacation, you can enter holiday mode by clicking on the button in the top-right corner. Helmet-mounted-sights rules (modifiers on to-hit probability related to movement) are now active in all games: simple, standard and advanced. Have a look at the simple rules for more info.
2005, November 1. New Art of War Interface! now arrows display each of your territories' orders. More performance improvements in the Void Patrol game page. More info in the forum.
2005, October 27. Improved the Void Patrol game page a bit for performance. New fighter sheet.
2005, October 27. Three more public liveries added! Numbers 18,19,20. There is also a small present for one particular player who contributed many bug reports. When will he find out?
2005, October 25. Holiday mode implemented. While you are in holiday mode, you will not enter automove mode. You can be on holiday for a maximum of 45d. Edit this setting by clicking on "holiday mode" in the top-right corner.
2005, October 23. Further simplified the to-hit and damage probabilities: look up the simple rules for the new combat tables.
2005, October 21. A beta version of the new AoW interface has been released! This is available as a link in the browse game page. More than you want to know about statistics in the Void patrol statistics page!. Added a new Void Patrol livery!
2005, October 19. Changed the helmet-mounted sights (HMS) rules, and simplified the to-hit chances: look up the advanced rules (HMS), the simple rules (for the new combat tables) and the forum for more info.
2005, October 18. Void Patrol: lots of new, choosable liveries.
2005, October 15. Missiles' AI programme made public: look up the standard rules.
2005, October 14. Added helmet-mounted sights (HMS) rules to Void Patrol: look up the advanced rules and forum for more info. Small forum restyling, now in table format.
2005, October 13. Added a performance estimator in Void Patrol statistics.
2005, October 10. ZwZ official name decided: it is Space Wing: Void Patrol (VP).
2005, October 9. Two new zwz features: an advanced inerface lets you see also the other fighters' following turn positions, for an increased control over the game. Full fuel rules operative for all games. More info in the forum and game rules page.
2005, October 4. Retirement rules operative in ZwZ. Have a look at the simple and standard rules. Also added a new

statistics page for ZwZ

.
2005, October 3. Introduced a pilot rating system in ZwZ.
2005, September 29. Restyled the fighter creation sheet. Renewed and updated guide to fighter design.
2005, September 28. Introduced border lines in ZwZ game page. This preludes to fighter retirement rules: more info here.
2005, September 27. Restyled the active members page a bit.
2005, September 26. Inserted a confirm your move dialogue box in ZwZ.
2005, September 25. Changed pages organisation a bit. Now all pending games are grouped together (AoW, ZWZ and RPS).
2005, September 24. Minor improvement in AoW interface. When you are browsing a game in which you have already submitted a move, the number of units left to build is displayed automatically; in addition, if you submit your orders and still have units left to build, you will get a warning message. Changed the new messages tag in the forum: now they are marked with a spinning star. Fine tuning of ZwZ components. More info in the forum.
2005, September 23. Minor change in AoW turn resolution log. Any opinions/comments here.
2005, September 15. Fixed an old Explorer exploder chatroom visualisation bug.
2005, September 14. Fixed two old minor AoW bugs: now it's impossible to attack with zero armies, and an attacker whose units have been annihilated cannot advance in an annihilated territory. New interface feature: now the number of games in which you must move (if any) is listed in parenthesis in the active games page title.
2005, September 13. Coloured the player names in AoW and ZwZ to make rading the game history easier.
2005, September 10. AoW small new interface feature: clicking on a territory sets the focus on the corresponding orders form field. Opinions and comments in the forum.
2005, September 5. ZwZ bug fixed: now you shouldn't be able to build immobile fighters. Thanks to Elvesgod for pointing this out. New ZwZ option: formation starting positions.
2005, September 4. Fixed the ZwZ trade fighters bug.
2005, September 1. Variable zwz hex size width implemented. You can edit this in your profile!
2005, August 31. Small improvements in the ZwZ interface: onClick battle log, clearer lock-on info for missiles. Added time zones in user profile: if you select one, it will offset the times in the chatroom to fit your clock.
2005, August 29. Increased ZwZ maximum number of players per team. Now any combination is allowed up to 12 units total.
2005, August 28. Changed AoW victory criterion to 75% of territories.
2005, August 27. Experimenting with transparency in ZwZ. Do you like the effect? As always, feedback is welcome: in the forum or in chat!
2005, August 26. Experimenting new weapons with fixed fire arc together with flexible weapons in advanced games. Look up the advanced rules for more details.
2005, August 24. Introduced an attack value (AV) in the target choice procedure. Look up the forum for more details.
2005, August 23. Changed a bit the info about users part: now the info appears in a popup window. Also fine-tuned the masses and powers of all fighter parameters. Now there should be a greater variety of tactics!
2005, August 21. Introduced rules levels in ZwZ. This will allow more extensive playtesting of new features. Thanks to imdog for inspiration. Stay tuned. Also added a links page.
2005, August 20. Increased automove onset time to 30 days (was 15 days).
2005, August 19. Changed ZwZ missile lock-on routine. Now it is known at the beginning of the round who the missiles will seek and destroy, and a blinking crosshair has been added in the game page to make it even clearer. This should be a great help for newbies. Look up the missile tutorial for more info. Also added intrigue options to AoW: now you can create games in which private messages are disallowed for faster gameplay.
2005, August 18. Refined the automove procedure. Look up the frequently asked & anticipated questions section for more info.
2005, August 12. ZwZ: added more powerful shields; shields regeneration ability reduced; special QGP and LB damage increased.
2005, August 9. ZwZ fighter retirement implemented for the arena.
2005, August 8. After turn is solved now you are taken back to the game's page. Added a ScrollTo function in ZwZ: clicking on a fighter the map is centred on it (thanks to Hollander for inspiration). Inserted shooter identification for missiles. Added a couple of tags to forum messages.
2005, August 7. Introduced the first pre-built ZwZ fighter to make life easier for new players. Also introduced a new important item: the spinners: look up the forum for more details. Fixed the "shoot the imploded fighter" bug (thanks yrrah).
2005, August 6. Fixed end of game mails. More system mails options: look up the forum or click on "my profile" (upper left corner). Inserted superuser "revive game" function. Added a ZwZ missile tutorial.
2005, August 5. Fixed "missile doesn't explode bug". Inserted superuser "rollback & solve again turn" function.
2005, August 4. Playtesting new ZwZ fire option: fighters firing only straight. Added list of online users. Added page to browse ZwZ previous turns.
2005, August 3. Doubled asteroids damage. Added ZwZ tactical tips. Restored ZwZ game forums. Adjusted ZwZ item frequencies: bigger differences between terran and alien.
2005, August 2. New ZwZ arena asteroid field.
2005, August 1. Added a Frequently Asked & Anticipated Questions (FAAQ) section. Added the possibility to choose the asteroid field in ZwZ games.
2005, July 31. Everything is working as it should. We are working on some improvements in the interface and game rules explanations now.
2005, July 30...but we were wrong! In fact, we had to fix a few nasty bugs!

2005, July 30. After 9 months of intense work, we finally feel that the site is ready to be released.

2005, July 29. Changed the join game code. Now it's possible to book the join and choose the team in zwz, and confirmation is required for AoW.
2005, July 28. Fixed the footer aferload code (inspired by YouPlay).
2005, July 27. ZwZ and AoW: database tables unified.
2005, July 25. ZwZ: missiles now shot from hex in front of fighter.
2005, July 24. Zwz dynamic fighter sheet in fighter creation is being implemented (weapons missing).
2005, July 22. ZwZ berserk missiles introduced. New blood colour theme added.
2005, July 13. Fixed javascript/explorer dialect problems for ZwZ --- seems to be working fine.
2005, July 9.

Habemus chatroom.

2005, June 27. Geographically more correct names given to aow world map territories.
2005, June 25. Full automove implemented for AoW and ZwZ. Current automove time is one week (for playtesting, will probably be extended, or a holyday button will be implemented).
2005, June 24. Improved some cross-checks of turn-solving coherence for both zwz and aow. Now one cannot join while there are games waiting for him/her for more than 24 hours.
2005, June 21. Introduced new weapon in ZwZ, the LB.
2005, June 18. Introduced damage to shields and thrusters, and shields recovery, in ZwZ.
2005, June 16. Introduced line of sight in ZwZ shooting procedure.
2005, June 15. In fact2: fixed another collision bug: no collision on start point. Dynamic arrows interface implemented.
2005, June 13. In fact: healing asteroids bug fixed!
2005, June 12. (probably...) Fixed the tricky collision algorithm check.

ZwZ is coming out.

Now all TakeAplayers can play ZwZ. Remember this is a work in progress: rules suggestions are welcome!
2005, June 10. Completely restyled the ZwZ game interface. All sorts of informations wildly and unexpectedly pop-up on the screen!
2005, May 20. Inserted arrows in ZwZ game interface to clarify movement.
2005, May 18. Introduced variable units production in AoW (unprotected territories build just one unit). Also introduced automove-on-request feature for AoW.
2005, May 11. Introduced random damage in AoW.
2005, May 10. Introduced asteroid collisions in ZwZ, and personal liveries.
2005, April 20. Fixed the "Art of War: Alien Invasion" (funniest ever) bug.
2005, April 15. zwz game views keypress toggler implemented.
2005, April 8. Keypress interface implemented for zwz. Currently checked only for firefox.
2005, April 5. A new game, whose codename is currently z w z, is being playtested by the superusers. An alpha version will be made available soon.
2005, March 14. Lots of almost invisible, but very useful work done in the last month. Today aow tables were optimised---now one game takes up about 15KB of db space.
2005, January 29. AoW free units placement implemented... WOW!!!
2005, January 27. A few new emoticons, and more will be added. Thanks to falconeer for providing lots.
2005, January 19. Another AoW feature: now neutral territories can defend themselves (as an option). Thanks to aracno for the nice suggestion.
2005, January 18. New AoW feature: now in each AoW game starts out with each player owning one territory or with the whole map divided among the players.
2005, January 12. First version of the World Map now online.
2004, December 5. New home-made forum, with threading supported. Ugly interface, but better than nothing.
2004, December 3. New profile interfaces. Now you can know more about the other players by clicking on "members" in the navigation bar. It is also a good idea to edit your own profile now.
2004, November 19.

"the Art of War (alpha)" is now online.

Lots of things need be fixed, but the game engine seems to work. We have to find the definitive game's name: suggestions and ideas welcome!!!
2004, November 10. Huge problems from the ISP. Connections to database and ftp don't work very often. This means you won't be able to log in. Hope Aruba fixes everything soon.
2004, November 2. Working on "the Art of War (alpha)" version.
2004, November, 1. Lots of new players now online. Get to know each other in the FORUM!!! Brand new Rock-Paper-Scissors interface!
2004, October, 31. Double login bug fixed.
2004, October, 30.

Site is online. Rock-Paper-Scissors active.

zwz was the working codename of Space Wing: Void Patrol.
sup was the working codename of the Art of War.