29.12.2003 - New PC version!
A new version of Tales of Tamar has been released. In the past two
months, we were not lazy and have improved the game continuously.
What is new?
Registration screen improved:
Registering for Tales of Tamar has been a trouble for some players. So
we have improved the registration screen. It now contains a loop where
the user can enter and test the POP and SMTP server several times, if
needed. If the initialization fails, the entered data is now
preserved. Altogether, the whole process should be simpler now.
New autumn graphics:
Another improved area is the map. Besides the summer and winter
mode, we now ave an additional graphics set for the autumn. In the
third quarter of the year, all deciduous woodlands are glowing red,
brown and gold now. A really gorgeous view.
Cultivation:
This new version requires you to take care for the usage of every
acre of your country. Acres can be used in one of 4 ways:
1) Cultivating
2) Fishing
3) Wood production
4) Stone production
You have a certain number of workers to employ on each square to improve
the production for that acre. Especially important is cultivation as this
will determine the maximum harvest.
For big players, this is too much work. So you can set the button "automatic",
which will distribute the workers and jobs evenly. Of course, this setting
will not be as ideal as you could achieve by manual settings.
This version also adds a new source of food, fishing. On every water acre you
own, you can deploy workers as fishermen. The resulting production will be
converted to grain and added to the granary. The difference is that you have
income from fishing all year, not just in summer.
Players using the automatic mode don't get income from fishing. They will still
get grain production in summer from those acres.
Wood and stone will be produced too. These will be required for new buildings
in future. Wood and stones are new goods (now almost 100 tradeable
goods) that can be produced and traded among players.
Huge buildings like castles etc. will require a tremendous amount of those.
Plundering towns:
Pirates in Tales of Tamar have a new source of income. Ships with
armies on board can now plunder towns and steal gold from their
victim. Especially with big merchants, this is a lucrative income
Game start:
At the beginning, new players receive some wood, stones, weapons and
light armor, to be able to defend themselves and build their first
buildings.
Computer races:
The past has shown that especially small players have trouble with
computer races, if they don't have a marketplace (to receive support)
or barracks (to recruit troops) yet. In future, computer races will no
longer attacks small players (<7 acres of land).
Looking for more beta testers:
350 players and still growing. We are still looking for beta tester
for the systems Windows, Mac and Linux
Your ToT-Team
08.11.2003 - New Amiga version!
New features :
- capacity of ships changed again to 10000 per size level
(small trade ship 10000/medium 20000/big 30000)
- production and prices of furs and oil adapted to market situation
- new water hexagon incl. animation (water now shows depth,
preparation for sea monsters)
- waterfall sound added
- exercise grounds can now be built directly
Bugfixes:
- option screen adapted to new input routines
- ship loading fixed
- hit in map screen fixed
- negative values in input boxes not longer allowed
- demo mode for fog of war improved
07.11.2003 - New Linux version and team!
Wow! Only three weeks after two new Linux coders have joined our team,
the Linux train is picking up speed!
Version 0.09 for Linux has been released. It covers the requester
system to show textboxes and chiefmessages.
At the same time, I would like to say a hearty "Welcome to team" to
Stefan 'Ithron' Reinhold and Hauke Joachim Zuehl. At the moment, these
two are working on CD-ROM and SFX sound support.
Your ToT-Team
06.11.2003 - Tamar needs new land!
Tamar needs new land!
The time has come again. On November 15th 2003, Tamar will grow. With
280 players, the currently populated part of the world is full. Every
time that happens, new land will be added somewhere.
This is the perfect time to start into the game. Begin along with 20
to 50 new players and fight among equals for your share of this part
of Tamar. Since those new parts are separated from the rest for a
while, you can develop your realm without trouble from the older
countries.
Who will prevail? Who is the best strategist among you?
We are accepting testers (who play for free) for the platforms PC
(Windows) and Apple Macintosh.
Before November 15th, there will also be a new release of the PC
client software which will make the start a little more interesting.
You will find details in the update text.
Your ToT team
06.11.2003 - ToT goes Mac OS X!
The long awaited carbonized version of ToT for Macintosh is here!
Michal did a great job. Finally, we are compatible with MacOS X!
14.07.2003 - New PC version 0.50
Bigger, better, faster!
After months of hard work, we are proud the present the fifth update
for Tales of Tamar, version 0.50!
It not only the biggest one yet (13MB), but also contains some
substantial changes and extension to the game.
What has happened since V0.49?
Trade:
As of yet, you could only trade weapons, armor and ships. Upon
numerous requests, we have extended the trade system now to
incorporate raw resources and luxury goods.
Luxury goods are an important new feature. Especially large and
wealthy realms require certain luxury items over time. If those aren't
available, the people will lose confidence. Small countries, on the
other hand, do not need as much of those items and can earn money by
selling them to the larger ones.
Each item type is represented by a nicely rendered animation.
Production:
Besides the production of luxury goods, you can now also earn money
from selling raw resources. This version allows you to store unused
resources and to sell them to others. The buyers can thus increase their
own production.
Luxury screen:
There is a whole new screen for luxury goods and resources. The game
gains another level of complexity.
Fog of War:
As known from other games like Warcraft 2, Tales of Tamar now also
used a Fog of War. Before, all scouted terrain was visible to a
player. This new feature hides areas that are outside the visible
range of any player unit and allows to sneak up on enemies. This makes
wars more interesting (especially against big countries) and piracy
easier. Those sophisticated routines use the PPC, if available.
Annexing and besieging towns:
Tales of Tamar now has new rules regarding the attack of towns. Now,
all present troops of both attacker and defender are taken into
account (including artillery).
Names on the map:
This version allows to name any object on the map (woods, mountains,
rivers, lakes). Those names can ????a????A ???? be optionally shown.
Holy war:
Realms with churches and cathedrals can now call for a holy war! This
allows to have 5-10 % more recruits than usual. In large realms, this
can be in the order of 10.000 men. Be careful though, prolonged holy
wars will cost you the confidence of your people.
Additional new features:
- number of deserters is now shown
- port screen does no longer require an anim
- InitScreen: requester for SMTP-Auth
- annexing rewritten
- initrequesterbox
- setstringhighlite
- luxury screen and luxury goods
- map centers on active town
- ability to put names anywhere on the map
- waterfall anim added
- new title picture
- loaded units shown directly underneath the ship
- server uses two mailbox for increased reliability
Bugfixes since V0.49 :
- screenmode requester now checks the correct screen dimension.
- figures in water weren't always deleted
- armies with wrong figure were not recognized by chunkmachine
- map screen now deletes army chunk if last army node is deleted
- granary: values for backbuffer corrected
- map screen: optential bug fixed
- port screen no longer requires anim
- motion task has now semaphore
- buffer for buildings increased (thx ONeill)
- bugfix in market
- CheckPersonEvent was still buggy
- Bug in ChunkMachine fixed. Overflow if to many figures on the map
- SendeFileAsEmail rewritten
- townlevel doens't drop to 2 if castle or cathedral was built
- townlevel doens't drop to 2 if palace or circus was built
- Screenname under P96
- requester in barracks improved
- bug with "deleting figures in water" fixed
- town menu on map fixed
- menu in tavern
- 'To' added to turn mails again
- possible bug in trade screen (from PC version)
- bugfix in CheckOtherClient (thx Matador)
- pointers in luxury screen now shown correctly
Status of versions for other systems:
- PC Version: completed
- Mac Version: 90%
As you can see, a lot happens on Tamar, and we will not stop until we
have won you as a players as well! Unfortunately, sales numbers for
the Amiga version haven't exactly been breathtaking.
That's why we want to know how much interest for our game there is
within the Amiga community:
Tales of Tamar with 3D map?
Many of you requested a 3D map screen. While we are working on it, but
we are not sure if the work is worthwhile for the Amiga version.
First, take a look:
http://www.tamar.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=677&forum=27&14
Tell us how you like it, and show us your support by buying the game.
We need more players on the Amiga, and we are willing to work hard for
it. But with little or no support, we'll have a hard time to keep up
the motivation. This 3D map will be a lot of work. Send your opinion
to [email protected]. (For ordering visit www.tamar.net).
That all for now from Tales of Tamar,
With the best regards to the Amiga community, we remain,
Your ToT-Team
Martin Wolf
Eternity
BTW. Only seven years until V1.00 :)
30.05.2003 - Received Pegasos for testing purpose from Vesalia GmbH
With kindly support from Vesalia GmbH we can announce that we are currently
in possession of a pegasos to examine possible problems with ToT under MOS more in detail.
A cordially Thank to Vesalia GmbH.
Wolf
Managing director
22.04.2003 - New PC version 0.45
New base archive for the PC is online. Besides many bugfixes, it also
contains all AnimFX routines ported from the Amiga. Now the PC version
is able to use all the Amiga anims.
25.03.2003 - New Amiga public update 0.49R1
Dear players,
we are always especially pleased when we are able to release a new
update. Since V0.48R5, these changes have been made:
- the granary now takes the number of trade offices into account
- report for failed piracy
- report for successful piracy
- report for victims of piracy
- dragons and undead
- coronation screen
- third diplomacy screen
- tenth activated in tax screen
- vassal contracts in diplomacy
- new sounds for coronation and dragons
- AnimFX V2 (new animation subsystem)
Bugfixes:
- rebelling towns still could create scouts and settlers. fixed
- cargo can no longer be unloaded onto the ship itself
- fix in diplomacy
- scouts or settlers loaded on a ship can no longer be disbanded
- maximum confidence limited to 500
- figures in the water are deleted upon clicking if they are no loaded
onto a ship
- dependency on anims removed again
As a world premier, ToT now has a extensive system to manage vassals
and aftervassals. The players can now make vassal contracts, and climb
in the feudal ladder. There are eight different titles on Tamar:
Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquis, Duke, Archduke, King and Emperor. For
each ascending in title, there will be a separate animated screen.
But titles are not only a symbol of status, they are also worth real
money! Each rank is entitled to a number of free turns per month. If
you ascend high enough, you can play ToT almost for free.
The piracy reports were added upon numerous requests from players and
tester. Piracy should be an even better feature now.
Dragons were seen!
The dragons are a very old race of winged lizards. These enormous
creatures like to settle in far off regions. On Tamar, there are several
kinds of dragons, distinguishable by their skin color. They all have
some things in common: They hatch from eggs, are carnivore, use their
fiery breath as a weapon, love gold and gems and are very powerful.
Dragons live hundreds or even thousands of years. Because of their long
history, they tend to look down on younger races like men.
Tamar is the home of different kinds of dragons. Legend has it that some
can even be summoned by elves and dwarves if they are in danger.
The strongest and most powerful of them all is the Golden. His fire can
destroy whole towns. Fortunately, he is not very aggressive and of a
lawful disposition.
Contrary to the Red Dragon. This chaotic-evil creature has nothing in
mind but fiery death to all races. He is not as powerful as the Golden,
but his aggressiveness knows no limits. He sinks ships, destroys towns
and defeats large armies, if need be. Everybody be warned about this dragon.
Dragons usually appear in small flocks of 1 to 4.
Wolfen & the ToT-Team
26.02.2003 - New Mac version 0.30
A new Mac beta version has been released.
19.02.2003 - New PC version 0.34R1
Version V0.34 R1 adds the secondary map menu to the PC version. Even though
the version number differs quite a lot from the Amiga, the differences in
features are
minimal by now. The PC version is nearing release status quickly. We would also
like to
mention that we still need Pc betatesters.
18.02.2003 - New Press Archive 2003 Online
The seventh press archive is online. All graphics have been converted to
jpg, samples from the music were added, as was the library of Tamar. The
zip archive is now ready for different pc-games online-news sites.
02.02.2003 - New Amiga public update 0.48R1
Dear players,
it is our pleasure to announce the third official update to the Amiga
version.
New features in V0.48 R1:
- rebellion of town added
- new town anims
- executables are now crunched (Bitmap-Brothers- or Team17-Style :-))
- improved memory management in SetPeople, BlitFigur and Motion,
flickering
- start anim fixed
- Residencedownload now goes offline immediately after downloading the turn
and before decoding it
- ResidenceUpload shows more progress information
Bugfixes in V0.48 R1:
- hardware check bug with MorphOS/Pegasos fixed
- memory for CloseAllPattern is properly freed now
- bugfix with loading/unloading units
- slider in report screen activated
- training of armies with more than one part didn't create a figure. fixed
- towns at the worlds turning point can have ports now
- if the capital was lost and thus the town with ID 0 disappeared,
Bardstale
and diplomacy created a new town with Id 0
- SMTP Auth problem with some servers fixed
- If two or more towns were founded at the same time, names could be
messed
up
A word about rebellions:
Rebellions are a way of stopping players growing uncontrollably. From a
certain size of a realm onwards you need to have town guards or risk that
town
rebelling against you. A rebelling town can no longer be controlled. You
need to send
a big enough army to restore order. Rebelling towns are also easier to
take
over for other players of course.
Soon, there will be another update that will introduce the option of
taking
vassals. This makes it possible to extend your power even further and
ascend
through the ranks towards emperor. Unfortunately, the test phase of this
feature is not completed yet.
The current version should also please users of a Pegasos and MorphOS.
There
had been a problem with registration but this is now fixed.
What else is going on around Tales of Tamar? Quite a lot, actually...
First and foremost, we would like to thank AmigaFuture [a German Amiga
print
magazine] for the new "Messenger from Tamar" feature. It appears in every
issue and reports the current events on Tamar. Georg Breitsprecher sums up
updates, events, tips and tricks and rank lists. We are very pleased about
this
co-operation with this magazine.
We were also reviewed in the current issue of AmigaPlus [another German
magazine]. In the four page long report, we received 6 out of 6 points. A
very
gratifying result. Thanks to Nico Barbat and the team.
We would also like to thank the Amiga community for the award as Game Of
The
Year 2002, which was also hosted by AmigaPlus. Even if the sales don't
show
it yet, the still active Amiga users show us that it is still worthwhile
to
support the market. We know that there are more active users out there and
we
hope to convince some of you to buy this game as well :-)
Meanwhile the PC version is progressing equally well. We recently received
an offer from Vivendi Universal, which is a real honor for us. Vivendi
Universal is a publisher of high-quality games, the whole line of Blizzard
games,
for example.
Last but not least, we would like to point to another event. On February
28th 2003, the third Tales of Tamar con will take place at castle
Hessenstein.
This time, we will take it slow and just celebrate in a dignified way.
Unfortunately, the event is booked out completely already, but we will
report from
it.
Until the next update, we remain,
with best regards and saying "Amiga forever"
�
Wolfen & the ToT-Team
01.02.2003 - New PC version 0.33R1
The PC version is progressing steadily. Currently, we have about 85% of the
features of the Amiga version.
10.01.2003 - New PC version 0.32R1
With Version V0.32, the PC version gets closer to the Amiga feature-wise.
Recently added
were new animated figures and map elements.
We still have 50 vacant PC tester positions.
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