Updating Stable

[Tom]

stable and testing have been growing further and further apart over the past months.

I plan to change that and return BM to something more similar to the ways it used to be. That means testing receiving things first, with them moving to stable as soon as they are, well, stable. Not two years later.

This means picking one moment and updating stable to what testing is right now. That moment is not yet come, as there are still too many bugs on testing, but it is coming.

This means a huge amount of changes for stable, all in one go. New estate system, new trade system, new taxes, food - well, everything. I will announce that some time before it happens, but I wanted to give you a warning as early as possible that it is going to happen.

[Draco Tanos]

I'm really looking forward to some of these changes on stable, Tom!

Any estimate as to when you think it'll be ready?

[Lefanis]

Really looking forward to new estate system on FEI  ;D

[Tom]

Any estimate as to when you think it'll be ready?

when it's stable again. There's a few elusive bugs that I absolutely want fixed before doing that.

[Anaris]

I think, though, that it's important not to push new features to stable just because they've been on testing for a while without blowing things up.

I'm thinking specifically of things like the new dynamic map. It's not a finished feature, so it should stay in testing until it is finished.

Other than that, I'm all for this. Once stuff has shaken out on testing for a maximum of a month or so, it should go to stable. Most stuff shouldn't need more than a few days to a week to make sure it's not going to cause massive issues.

[Tom]

That's where we have different development philosophies, Tim. :-)

I don't think "stable" should be behind testing too much, no matter how finished or unfinished things are - BM is never finished anyways. There are many reasons for this, the most important is that it's twice as hard to learn a game that has different sets of rules in different parts. There is a lot of confusion on both testing islands now for people moving there from stable islands. Requests for oaths, etc. - and time and time again players must explain other players that things work differently here.

Basically: "If it compiles, it is ready to ship", to quote someone famous. Not quite, but you get the idea.

[Anaris]

That's where we have different development philosophies, Tim. :-)

I don't think "stable" should be behind testing too much, no matter how finished or unfinished things are - BM is never finished anyways. There are many reasons for this, the most important is that it's twice as hard to learn a game that has different sets of rules in different parts. There is a lot of confusion on both testing islands now for people moving there from stable islands. Requests for oaths, etc. - and time and time again players must explain other players that things work differently here.

Basically: "If it compiles, it is ready to ship", to quote someone famous. Not quite, but you get the idea.

I feel that if people are playing on the stable islands, they have the right to expect things to be more, well, stable.

One thing that makes the players more angry than anything else is when we replace a solid, working feature with one that's incomplete and/or buggy, and isn't finished or fixed within a few days.  On testing islands, we can tell them, "Remember, you're on Testing. That's part of the deal." On stable, though, we've told them that things should more or less work.

If the new dynamic map had been introduced as "New Dynamic Map" or something, next to the existing Dynamic Map, rather than as a replacement for it, I would be all for rolling it out to stable. But it wasn't. It was introduced as a replacement, but one without many important features of the dynamic map that people relied upon, with the old dynamic map eventually moved over to where the static political map used to be.

[vonGenf]

What about the new treaty system? That's another feature that I would very much like to see finished and not ported as is.

[Indirik]

New treaty system has been completely removed. It needs a full overhaul before it can even go back on testing, let alone stable.

[vonGenf]

New treaty system has been completely removed. It needs a full overhaul before it can even go back on testing, let alone stable.

I can still draft and sign treaties in testing. Only the treaty friction has been removed.

And, well, unit behaviour doesn't follow the treaties yet, so it's not really useful at the moment except as an in-game record of texts. But it is there.

[Chenier]

I can still draft and sign treaties in testing. Only the treaty friction has been removed.

And, well, unit behaviour doesn't follow the treaties yet, so it's not really useful at the moment except as an in-game record of texts. But it is there.

Friction was the biggest irritant of the new system. Rulers not being able to sign their own stuff was an irritant for small realms as well. I think people were mostly satisfied with everything else... If the old system didn't require maintenance for relations, why should the new one?

[Dante Silverfire]

I'm really looking forward to the update to stable. I personally feel like Stable has fallen way too far behind the testing islands as far as things go. It does essentially feel like playing two different games, and while I'll play one character and enjoy the changes, I have others who simply are waiting for things to transfer over to pursue RP lines which are more easily opened up with the new changes. (such as the new estate system).

[Perth]

The New Estate System coming to stable will certainly mix things up. I'll be glad for it.

[Tom]

I'm moving forward as quickly as I can. Look at the bugtracker and you'll see we are hard at work fixing bugs - and not just the new ones. In the last 60 days, we have fixed 292 bugs, while only 151 new ones were reported - that means we closed 141 old bugs in addition to old ones. The amount of bugs has decreased over all time periods the bugtracker reports - including the entire past year.

I feel confident that stable won't have to wait too long.

[Velax]

What are the great things about the new estate system over the old? I don't have any nobles on the testing islands, so have had no experience with it yet.