Waterworld!

[Kirov]

Yitzi, thank you indeed. I didn't find enough time to download the game and do the turn at my pace, besides I expected it to be cancelled. I'm going home tomorrow so I will give it a longer look. It would be great to be able to call the election! I lost all hope.

[Yitzi]

Well, it seems to be related to the use of needlejets...I still have to figure out why needlejets usually don't cause this problem...

[Kirov]

Yitzi, can you open this last turn you forwarded to me? I'm afraid the problem persists - the year is still 2199 and I can't call the election, which should be this year... Can we double-check this?

[Yitzi]

I see the problem: I accidentally posted the unmodified file.  This one should work.

[Geo]

That's Vishniac's file, the submariners.
I assume Vishniac needs to replay it then?

[Yitzi]

Whoops, posted the wrong file again.  (That was actually from a few turns before the bug, which I downloaded to help with my bughunting.)  This is the right one.

[Kirov]

Yitzi, what does it say when you open my turn? It's still 2199 and no election for me. I tried it with 3 SMAC copies and it's all the same. I asked a friend of mine to open this save on his computer, we'll see what he says.

Whatever happens, you guys will get a bajillion of reload warnings, as I tried it numerous times to make sure - don't worry, no movement, combat or other chance actions have been taken, it was just to check the date and the council.

Can I also ask some outside person like BU or tras to see my turn for himself? Maybe something's wrong with all the 3 copies of mine, but it seems dubious for me.

[Yitzi]

So it does, apparently what I thought changed the year didn't.  I'll look into it more...

[Yitzi]

I'm not sure, but what I think is happening is that multiplayer savefiles are encrypted to prevent exactly the sort of fiddling that I did.  So in order to fix it, I'll need to actually load the game, change it there, and then save it.  So, Kirov, if you can provide either a savegame after you're done managing all the beginning-of-turn stuff, or PM instructions on how I should do so, I should be able to fix it that way.

[Kirov]

This is my turn right after I select the research, before any movement. Is there anything else I should do before you tamper with it?

[Yitzi]

That should be fine.  The fixed-up version is attached.

[Kirov]

Nope, I can't say it works for me. I'm waiting for my friend to confirm this, but it seems nothing changed.

[Yitzi]

It works for me...are you sure you loaded the right file?  (I used the same name as yours, 2203sav.SAV, so it would have to overwrite your current one, and make sure you don't load 2203.SAV instead by mistake.)

[Yitzi]

I've been doing some examination/testing, and as best as I can tell, any turn in which anyone has a needlejet in the air (not crashing, not in-base) that had movement left at the end of its turn (which requires that it did not attack or destroy enhancements during its turn), the turn will fail to progress; furthermore (as closely related bugs), if there is more than one such needlejet (doesn't matter if it's the same owner or not), all but one of them will have their fuel fully restored, and if there is at least one such needlejet it may also cause some air units that should have crashed to not crash.

This is clearly a bug, and one where I have no clue what the programmer thought he was doing.  The question is whether the fix can be included in patch version 2.5 (which might be a while, as it'll be a big one), or I should put out 2.4d to fix it now.

[Kataphraktoi]

Uh oh, busted  I have to admit to cheesing a bit using the old infinite air movement bug to shuttle needles around easier..i thought for sure this bug would have been fixed and stumbled on it by accident again when sending out first needle patrols to look for bree units. Didnt expect to be causing a turn freeze issue

I think we can clear this issue up then, without further editing if i play a turn and put the needles back in realistic positions. As yitzi said the trick works by putting multiple needlejets on wait command with sufficient movement points and ending the turn while they are midair;they dont crash but regain all movement points on the next turn. (Not tactical needlejets though, they dont crash but dont refill movement either)