New Development Snapshot 0.47.0 for Megamek, MegaMekLab, and MekHQ

[Hammer]

Hi Everyone,
How's that saying go "Can't stop won't stop" :)

Here is the next release in the new development cycle. This builds off the latest stable so should be largely safe, but as always we need folks to play and find the issues. 

**FOR MAC USERS**
There isn't a Mac release and you'll have to use the Unix release. We are having issues with the Gradle packaging scripts and various security settings in MacOS.  We are working on the issue and have no ETA for a fix.

Megamek.
It begins, we've enrolled Princess at the Blackjack School of Conflict.  She's learning to shot at secondary targets, fly better, use field gun infantry, and is starting to learn that 
"BattleArmor win Firefights, Mechs win Battles, but Artillery win wars"

MegaMekLab.
Not much to see here.....yet......Did I mention Support Vee construction is coming soon'ish.

MekHQ.
Autosave anyone? Campaign Subset export? some AtB updates.

Also a reminder to drop into the Slack channel to meet other players and harass the devs that drop in and out.  

As a reminder when moving between versions:
1)   Make backups of your campaigns and customs.
2)   Always treat each release as a stand alone release and only copy your data forward from older versions.

There is a good chance you’ll have issues in MekHQ with unit name changes.  If you get errors loading your campaign as result of unit name errors please see this post.
Name Issues with units
The change log below lists all the changes in this release from the previous stable.

CHANGE LOGS AND DOWNLOAD LINKS
Megamek.
Download Here

Code: [Select]

Issue #1315: add support for map annotations and description to .board files.
PR #1323: implement "#sitrep" client command which can be used to display,
in the console, a list of units near the entity with the given ID.
PR #1329: Princess will now fire at multiple targets with units that have no secondary target penalty.
This should be most noticeable with dropships and other large spacecraft.
PR #1358: Princess properly operates really slow aircraft on ground maps and can actually drop thunder bombs now.
PR #1354: Support for detailed large craft parts (K-F boom, grav deck, CIC, etc)
PR #1401: Improved bot behavior using field gun infantry.
PR #1404: Princess can now use rapid-fire autocannons; will respect "no AMS as weapon" setting
PR #1405: Introduced Princess capability for indirect fire at spotted units
PR #1409: Dropship artillery bays now fully functional
Dropships can optionally load/fire alternate artillery munitions
Copperhead ammo functions as homing rounds
Issue #1351: When a homing round lands, the firing player will now get asked which tagged unit gets clobbered.
PR #1406: Princess can now spot units for indirect fire
PR #1413: Performance and functionality improvements for space sensors
PR #1419: Bearings-Only Missile Tweaks
PR #1430: Improvements to bot handling of aerospace units, especially on low-atmospheric maps.
PR #1440: Added ignore for YML files when loading units
PR #1436: Greater variety of primitive and civilian units for AtB and template scenarios
MegaMekLab.
Download Here

Code: [Select]

Issue #336: Quad Battlemechs are unable to allocate industrial physical weapons to their side torsos
MekHQ:
Download Here

Code: [Select]

Issue #1171: Adds autosave feature (daily or weekly, and/or before missions).
PR #1215: Minor updates to AtB:
opfor infantry transports now come loaded with infantry (if you have infantry turned on)
opfor infantry may now be field gunners
opfor aircraft may have bombs
allied dropships may now be non-Leopards
VTOLs are always on as the bot can handle them fairly well
PR #1210: Adds all remaining unimplemented Large Craft parts - CIC, Grav Decks, K-F Drive, K-F Boom and the like
PR #1227: Dropships can now load alternate munitions into artillery base if the game is configured for it
PR #1226: [Feature] Campaign Subset Export: export a subset of your current campaign into another, either new or existing, campaign file.
Overwrites units and personnel with the same guid. Option to remove exported personnel from source campaign. Obviously make backups before
using on an existing campaign.
Enjoy everyone.

[GreekFire]

Some pretty cool new features here, great job guys!

Been playing around with Princess and RACs, and I noticed a small bug: RACs currently build up 1 heat no matter at what rate of fire they're on.

[Hammer]

Some pretty cool new features here, great job guys!

Been playing around with Princess and RACs, and I noticed a small bug: RACs currently build up 1 heat no matter at what rate of fire they're on.

Best to open a bug report. Links in my sig.

[Iceweb]

Trying the new version
Checked on my prisoners and the skills for vehicle drivers are off the side of the window. 
Just seems to be occurring for prisoners who are vehicle drivers. 
My vehicle drivers are fine and prisoner with a different job is fine.   

Wondering if it is just me, or if anyone else is seeing this issue in which case report back and I will open a bug report.

[Iceweb]

Went to "ransom" my prisoners after completing a mission. 
On the pop up screen it used the acronym CSB when referring to the money I would get. 

I'm not familiar with the acronym CSB.   I could understand CBS to mean multiple C-Bills, but the S in the middle makes no sense to me. 

I was wondering if anyone knew what it stood for, or if I should open a bug report for a text change. 

[Padraig Tseng]

I would guess its ComStar Bills.

[plutonick]

Yeah it's C-Bills. I was stumped by this too and had to ask around :)

[Iceweb]

I'm noticing another weird issue in the new version. 

When doing missions in HQ that have aerial support, when moving into MegaMek all the planes transfer correctly, but upon moving to set up the battle value for that bot shows at significantly less than 100%.  It seems everything is there but the initial BV that is listed in MegaMek, is lower than the starting value which matches the number given in HQ.   

Anyone else seeing this?
 

[NickAragua]

I have not, but I don't pay much attention to BV by the time I get into MegaMek. As usual, chances are this will get lost in the shuffle here, so it's best to put a report in github with save game attached.

[Iceweb]

Does this version have a way to tell which prisoners are willing to defect? 

I think in previous versions they would have an * by their rank so you could see at a glance and sort them quickly. 

I am not seeing that feature on this version.

[Iceweb]

This is a minor thing but on the finance tab the pretty graphs on tabs 2 and 3 seem to be having a axis issue.   Right now I am in September in my game but the graphs only show up to May. 

I get that maybe showing current date might be difficult but I would think that the past month would be available since it is the past and all the data is known. 

I don't remember this being an issue in previous versions.

[Simon Landmine]

MM
Quick note on the reporting of indirect fire in the window - when playing double-blind, the combat outcome report doesn't mention the firing unit (quite rightly), but it might be clearer if there was a note to indicate that the damage is the result of indirect fire (source unspecified), as otherwise it appears that the LRM damage was caused by the previous firing unit.
(Obviously, I now can't find this in the log - I'll try to replicate.)

MM
Another thought - as Princess's hidden units currently only carry out point-blank attacks rather than revealing themselves for any other attack (I'm guessing that they are just ignored by the AI until someone walks into them), I presume that they currently can't spot for indirect fire while hidden? (https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=54749)

[Padraig Tseng]

Are command detonated mines implemented?  If so how do you set them up?

[Iceweb]

I've noticed that female people in HQ are showing up with the generic picture, while males are pulling from the male folder correctly.  Randomize portrait seems to have no effect on the women. 
If I change the picture manually I see the female folder and can grab from it no problem. 

Anyone know why this is happening?  Is there an easy fix?  Did a file name get messed up in this version?

[MoleMan]

I'm unsure where this problem has been introduced, but, I've just had a mechwarrior skill up from regular to veteran, and gain the gunnery specialisation (ballistic). This means the mechwarrior has actually decreased in proficiency in laser/missile. This strikes me as odd.

I think there used to be a special ability called gunnery mastery (ballistic) which you could then save up XP for that removed the -1's for laser & missile. I think this has been removed somewhere, making gunnery spec more like a permanent handicap, as very few mechs are ballistic only.

[Rince Wind]

I think it is more for mechs like the classic Hunchback. Yes, it has lasers and you are less likely to hit with them. But that AC20 will hit more often.
It is less useful on a Centurion with its more balanced weapons, probably makes it worse, and utterly useless on mechs which only have backup ballistics like MGs.

You can always give the MW another SPA, I frequently change them when they get something like a specialization in prototype weapons or something similar. Though with the amount of weapons it is annoying to scroll through the list.

For gunnery spec I usually look at the mech they are piloting, if they are in a HBK 4G and get missile spec I change it, because it doesn't make any sense.

[Sir Chaos]

I'm unsure where this problem has been introduced, but, I've just had a mechwarrior skill up from regular to veteran, and gain the gunnery specialisation (ballistic). This means the mechwarrior has actually decreased in proficiency in laser/missile. This strikes me as odd.

I think there used to be a special ability called gunnery mastery (ballistic) which you could then save up XP for that removed the -1's for laser & missile. I think this has been removed somewhere, making gunnery spec more like a permanent handicap, as very few mechs are ballistic only.

There´s "Gunnery: Ballistic", "Gunnery: Energy" and "Gunnery: Missile" further down the SPA list - at least in earlier versions of MHQ. Is it no longer there in this one?

[Rince Wind]

Was something about bombing changed? It always tells me the hex is out of range. Both for divebombings and altitude bombings.

[Hammer]

Was something about bombing changed? It always tells me the hex is out of range. Both for divebombings and altitude bombings.

Their is a bug in this version, that will be fixed in the next dev release.  So bombing is basically messed up right now.

[Rince Wind]

Good to know, thanks!

[Simon Landmine]

With all of the dev work going into other things (including enabling Princess to kill me in more varied and entertaining ways) being much appreciated, is there any hint as to how far down the development queue the following terrain features might be? (I've got some map ideas that would be more 'realistic' with at least some of them included.)

- dirt roads
- gravel roads
- railways
- walls
- fences
- cliffs

(Apologies if they're already there and I've completely missed them!)

[neoancient]

Railways should be implemented by the end of this year or early next. I haven't heard anyone say anything about the other types.