What's New - [EBP Help Contents]
This topic lists significant changes and new features as they are introduced. Details of minor changes can be found at the version history page at the Crayon Rail Fanatics web site at http://www.RailGameFans.com
What's new in EBP 2.0:
* the best-playing AI bots to date, on average winning 1 to 5 rounds sooner than in ver 1.7.x (amount varies with map and Game Options)
* if you find the improved AI often too difficult to beat, you can reduce its skill level in the Game Setup window
* the AI makes its game play decisions 2 to 7 times faster than version 1.7.17 (amount varies with map and Game Options)
* Play by Email now offers a manual option that works with all known email systems
* the Loads window now displays EBP's rating of each load's speculative value to you
* if more types of loads are available for pickup than fit across the Loads window, EBP will instead display the load names in a drop down list
* Deal in deck order tells EBP to hand out contracts in number order, useful for map testing as well as with Crayon Rails Deck Generator contract sets
* Randomize / Reprice from Game Setup can now recalculate delivery payoffs without otherwise changing the contracts.
* Equal events prevents an event from canceling the win of a player who has met victory conditions; Equal events is enabled by default, but can be toggled off via Game Options
* private warehousing allows the first player to build at each medium-sized city exclusive control of that city's warehouse
* you can scroll the player contracts (left of map) via the keyboard if you wish: first press the numeric keypad's Ins key, then any of that keypad's directional keys
* you can scroll the map via the keyboard if you wish: first press the numeric keypad's Del key, then any of that keypad's directional keys
* use the Game, Victory Conditions menu to find out how many big cities must be connected to win, and how many each player has connected
* adjusts Revolution event so it expires all dual-events (events that have alternate events), rather than expiring all Special Demands
* for more precise game replays, when a player drops and/or picks up a load, the history window now records the number of the "train car" (onboard load slot) involved
* new event effect: no movement allowed at intersections with opponent track
* enabling the "Bots: sum data" option now asks if you wish to automatically spawn additional game instances for "Bots: game repeat" stat collection purposes; this handy feature obviates manual start of additional EBP instances on devices that have multi-core processors
* the "Verify connectability" Game Options has been redesigned to run much more quickly than before
* the Event Info window permits events to be toggled on/off one by one; now all but one can be toggled by holding down the Shift key while clicking Toggle; use this to test one event at a time
* if "Bots: game repeat" and "Bots: halt on error" are both enabled in Game Options, if an error occurs EBP now attempts to save the match; saved games are placed in the AutoSave directory with names starting with "ebperr"
* if "Bots: halt on error" is enabled, if an error occurs, EBP automatically unminimizes the map window to call attention to the problem
* if "Bots: halt on error" is enabled, if an error occurs. EBP displays error info in the main and Game Status window captions to make that info visible in case the error causes the program to hang
* if "Bots: halt on error" is enabled, if the game history exceeds 32000 text lines, EBP treats it as an error and stops play
* new reports in Map Details window: each city's total distance to every other, and each city's total build cost to every other
* now disallows discarding of an extra starting contract if that contract has a locked demand (Honeymoon option)
* games can be saved in uncompressed form by suffixing their file name with .ebg in the File, Save Game window
* for play-by-email, 2.0 is cross-version compatible with opponents using version 1.7.x provided new play features (such as private warehousing and Equal events are not used), though such mixed-version play will hinder AI play improvement
* for live web and local play, new features render this version incompatible with prior ones, so all participants should upgrade to the same version
* upward compatibility with maps and saved games from all prior versions
What's new in EBP 1.7:
* different art displayed for each engine type, or custom art (if any) supplied with map
* engine upgrades roll (animate) into place (can be turned off via Display Settings)
* upon load delivery, your new contract is visually wiped into place
* AI can now play the "Connect-only" variant (connect big cities), to try it set WinCash to $0
* extra contracts tossed at start become Open Contracts, if that variant is enabled
* option to toggle text drop shadows off/on via Display Settings
* map display no longer drags/scrolls when unzoomed -- easier track building on large monitors
* displays unique symbol at city where loads cannot be picked up or delivered during match remainder
* performance improvements throughout UI and AI, this is the fastest EBP yet
* adds new Event effects to support game maps in development
* you can toggle specific events off/on via the Event Info window
* adds a new Help system (rgfhelp.exe) that displays help topics without the need for a browser
* the new Help offers topic-spanning text search and keyword list features
* the new Help can appear as your choice of separate app, integrated within EBP, or via browser
* auto-halts then saves continuous play matches that have stalled (assists map development)
* "Bots: halt on error" checkbox stops a continuous play match if a trappable error occurs so as to assist map debugging
* minor cosmetic changes and bug fixes
* cross-version compatible for Play by Email with opponents using version 1.6.x
* upward compatibility with maps and saved games from all prior versions