Update: Epoch Street v1.2.0

On October 1 we released v1.2.0 and the test build v1.2.0-test0. This update brings three new chance cards, a screen for sending your thoughts and bug reports about the game straight to the operators, switch achievements, and several board-editor features that used to be test-build only, now in the release build too. It also carries many fixes that answer tester reports and requests. The engine version goes up, so online play is between 1.2.0 builds.

New chance cards: switch malfunction, blackout, reversed motor

Building on card ideas from testers, we added three chance cards that play with the board's switches.

• No.190 Switch malfunction: the player who drew it rolls a die, and for that many turns (counted on the drawer's turns) the board's switches stop working. Stopping on or crossing a switch does not change the board
• No.501 Blackout: for as many turns as you roll, every shop closes (shopping fee 0) and the switches stop too. The board goes dark during the blackout (real-estate offices stay open)
• No.502 The motor runs in reverse: the board's states now change in reverse order, both from cycling switches and from timed changes. Drawing it again puts things back
• During a malfunction or blackout, a switch square's info says so ("Blackout: the switch is dead" and the like), and the overall status lists how many turns are left ("∞" for the reversed motor)
• If the same card is drawn again, the longer remaining time is kept. The malfunction and the blackout run on separate clocks
• State timers and triggers keep running. Stopping on a switch with a chance card still draws the card

No.190 appears like any other card in the board editor's card lists, the Encyclopedia and the custom chance-card deck.

No.501 and No.502 are hidden cards. Cards from 501 up appear in no list at all. Only people who know the number can put them on a board, by typing it into an ID box in the board editor's chance table or an event square.

• A hidden card joins your Encyclopedia once its effect has gone off in a match played on your profile (number, art and description all shown). It counts whoever triggered it: you, a CPU, another player, or a seat in online play. Replays, spectating and editor test play do not count
• Even after it is in your Encyclopedia, it stays out of the board editor's lists

Board editor: pass switches and second areas in the release build

These features were test-build only until now; the release build's board editor has them too.

• Switch (on pass): works when crossed. The board changes once the move ends
• Switch (on pass, at once): crossing it changes the board right away, and the rest of the move goes on over the new board
• Switch (on pass + chance): works when crossed; stopping on it is a chance square (you draw a chance card)
• Second area: a shop can belong to two areas (the square's "second area ID"). The "Two-area shop multiplier" rule works as before

Building and remodelling: any shortfall is settled at the end of the turn

Building and remodelling when you are short of cash (vacant-lot remodels included) now works the same way everywhere: it happens at once, and the shortfall is paid at the end of the turn (from a request).

• The building and its shopping fee change the moment you decide. Until now, a remodel opened the sell screen first and kept the old building until you had sold enough
• You carry on with negative money, and settle at the end of the turn on the sell screen. CPUs do the same and sell automatically at the end of their turn
• Whether you are allowed to build (could you pay by selling everything?) is checked as before

Arriving at the bank by warp

When a warp square's "Destination effects" is Pass effects only (default) and it leads to the bank, arriving now counts as passing the bank (the goal check, salary and buying stock). Until now only the lap was counted, so you did not win even with the target net worth (from a tester report). A None (pure teleport) warp still does nothing, as before.

Camera: stops at the edge of the background art

Following tester reports, the camera no longer shows what lies outside the background art.

• The camera for stock price changes, monopolies and area price changes
• Effects that move the camera: x5 buyouts, takeovers, capital increases, selling to the bank, doors, cannons, warp flights and more
• At the start of a match, the turn-order announcement and the goal check zoom in until the background art fills the screen (never past the point where the whole board fits)

Achievements: switches pressed

Two achievements now count how many times you press switches (from a request). Every way of pressing counts: stopping, crossing, at once, and remote (Skill Battle). Presses that do nothing because of a malfunction or blackout do not count.

• Button Masher: press switches 3 / 10 / 30 times in one match
• Career Switches: press switches 20 / 100 / 500 times in all
• Records -> Overall also shows "Switches pressed"

Review the game / Report a bug

Below "News" on the mode list there is now Review the game / Report a bug. Not a board or other work, but Epoch Street itself: send your thoughts, bug reports and requests straight to the operators.

• Kinds: Review, Bug report, Request and Other. A review can carry a 7-step score
• The game version, OS and language are sent with it. Sending needs an account (up to 10 a day)
• Replies from the operators arrive in News, marked "For you"

Fixes

• If "Max per turn" ran out while you were walking by hand past a fork, the relief could stand still and stop the match. Fixed
• Suspending and resuming could wipe a trade's "firm refusal" mark. Fixed
• Matches since 1.1.4 were not counted for achievements such as "Legacy Player" and "Modern Winner". Fixed; matches played on 1.1.4 and 1.1.5 are recounted from your records
• F5 (refresh) did not work on screens such as News. Fixed
• The CPU "Stop here?" setting now says so when your pacing or action-wait settings keep it from taking effect
• For a board whose name the operators corrected, the board list now picks the intro picture by the board's own name
• Holding a share code that no longer opens anything could block update checks and the like for a day. Fixed (the code is no longer sent; the work you installed stays)
• Piece / Texture Studio: a stroke that changed nothing no longer marks the picture as changed

Online play:

• In Number Nine, Tarot and Scratch, after the server played a timed-out choice for you, the screen could lag behind and your next press could land on the next question. Fixed (the server now also checks the kind of answer)
• Trades: fixed the previous trade's outcome replaying after a refusal, input being swallowed when a message was dropped, and the panel reopening right after you cancelled, among others. Trades can be started only before rolling the die (the server checks this too), and starting an auction closes a trade in progress
• At a casino on a CPU seat being played by a person, if that person disconnected, the game stalled for about two minutes per input. Fixed (the CPU carries on at once)
• A screen opened while spectating now closes when it is your own seat's turn at a casino
• Matchmaking tables now use the same rules as rooms by default (build limit 3, 10 minutes max per turn, starting money from the board)

Server stability

A batch of server-side fixes, around reviewing and publishing works and how upload limits are counted.

Compatibility and saves

• Saves (suspend and autosave) carry over. Saves made on v1.2.0 cannot be opened by v1.1.5 or earlier
• The engine version goes up (Core 0.6.54 -> 0.6.55). Online play works only between builds on the same engine version: the release build v1.2.0 and the test build v1.2.0-test0 can play together, v1.1.5 and earlier are turned away at the door. The servers are already updated. Start the launcher to update

Launcher (1.0.24)

• If a download stops partway, it now resumes where it left off even after you close and reopen the launcher
• If only the final step of a download fails, the launcher now uses the finished file instead of downloading it again
• Fixed switching accounts or "Remove from this PC" sometimes being undone later

Thanks

Once again, from new card ideas to "this gets in the way", many of these changes came from testers. Please send us anything you notice, now also through the new "Review the game / Report a bug".