Planets Command Center II NG

PCC2 Next Generation

PCC2 Next Generation (c2ng) is the next step in the evolution of PCC2. It is intended to be 100% compatible to PCC2. However, it does away with many self-imposed limitations of PCC2.

Version 2.40.11

Again, this version adds new features to get up to par with PCC2 and beyond:

• FLAK viewer, including a nice 3-D view;
• Multi-threaded battle simulator;
• VCR overview diagram;
• Ammo building;
• Hull specification details (i.e. detailed list of hull functions, weapon effects);
• Send messages;
• Build Queue summary dialog.

As usual, there are a bunch of invisible improvements to the back-ends and the server code.

Browsing and loading local and network games

Browse your hard disk as well as network. Support servers that do not have VGAP binary formats (Nu).

Manage multiple turns

Browse history while playing.

Manage multiple games

PCC2 used global variables. This one does not. This is not an end-user feature, but ultimately makes the program more efficient and robust.

Model/View/Presenter separation with multiple threads

More fluent GUI. No more "Application not responding".

Scripting engine

Controls most of the GUI.

Multithreaded combat simulation

We can use multiple threads for simulation and thus (again) offer the fastest and most feature-rich combat simulation ever.

Meaningful test coverage

PCC2 has a meager test coverage of around 10%. c2ng currently achieves >50% in the application, >80% in the foundation libraries. This, together with some newer coding styles, gives it a greater stability than PCC2, and some confidence that changing a feature does not break another. A few dozen PCC2 bugs have been uncovered by the PCC2ng port.

PlanetsCentral / PCC2 Web

PlanetsCentral now runs exclusively on servers provided by c2ng, in better quality than before. c2ng serves as an architectural blueprint for PCC2 Web.

SDL2 support

PCC2ng can be built with SDL2. This makes it integrate more nicely with modern operating systems. Note that the current Windows binaries are still built for SDL1.

What can you do with it?

c2ng(.exe) is the future pcc-v2.

When you start the program, you will be shown a browser starting with "My Computer".

(a) Use the browser to browse to a game directory on your hard disk.

(b) Press Ins to add a network account. c2ng will ask for

• user name
• server type (PlanetsCentral or Nu)
• server address (you can leave this blank)

A new entry will appear representing that account. You can enter it like a normal folder to browse your games; you will be asked for your password the first time you do that in a session. For PlanetsCentral, this will (for now) only show games for which you have used the Set up for online play function on the website, or which you have uploaded.

Use arrow keys and Enter to browse. When entering a game, you will first be asked to define a local directory; you can either control everything manually or let PCC2ng choose one automatically. This directory will keep local history files, for example. After entering a game, you will see a screen with F1/F2/F3 buttons. Use these to select a ship, planet, or base, and view its starchart. This proves that the program shows actual, real game data.

If you have configured PCC2 to make backups of your result files, Alt+Up will show the previous turn. (If you have not configured PCC2 to make backups, do so now.)

Aside from c2ng, you will get a bunch of utility programs that replace the similarily-named utilities from PCC2. When you build from source, you will also get PlanetsCentral servers and utilities.

Source Code

• PCC2 NG Source Code (4286k) (on GitHub)
• Foundation Library (673k) (on GitHub)
• Build System (21k)

Note that the source code also is pretty rough at some places; this is a refactoring of PCC2 (aka cut & paste & rework), and isn't complete yet.