New command to restart servers and select game mode in General

Ever wanted to be able to select specific game mode rather than waiting for the mercy of random? Now you can do it with new !restart command! All you need is to give it some description of the game mode you want. For example !restart citybuilder 3 hours temperate 1990.

However, there are some conditions for using it:

  • Server has to be empty. No companies other than server one and no other clients. Although, someday I'll probably add voting system to overcome this restriction.
  • Timetabled servers can't be restarted.
  • Game mode you want has to be allowed on this server.
  • Doesn't work on CB GS and FIRS servers yet (I'll fix it soon).

For specifying game mode you may need to include

  • Goal type: cb, city, balance, money, cash, quest
  • Industry set: ecs, firs, yeti
  • Goal value or game duration: 5k, 30k, 5000, 15m, 15 millions, 1h, 3h, blitz, 3 hours, etc...
  • Climate: temp, temperate, tropic, arctic, toy, toyland
  • Starting year: 90, 00, 1990, 2015, etc...

You don't have provide all of these, only what is enough to distinguish from other game modes. For example !restart 90 will be enough on 3h cb server, and !restart temperate will do for blitz. Finally, if you just want to restart server and don't care about game mode you can simply type !restart.

Also there is !listgm command to see available game modes, it accepts game mode description as well (!listgm cb temp for example).

2-way signal in General

true.. I hope xD

Quest / Goal servers? in General

Gelidis wrote:

I think you get this message because you have finished all available quests on one of the servers for current level, and you'll need to finish te remaining quests on the other server in order to level up and get more available quests.

Nah, there is a different message for that: "No more quests available on this Quest Server! Please play on our another Quest servers!". Exp needed for next quest level is slightly more that you can get with quests, so you need to play on goal servers sometimes.

Quest / Goal servers? in General

gruff wrote:

Hi, daft question... but how do I play a quest? I've not played this for a year or so and I forgot. !quest says to level up on other servers before I can play a quest. Is that really correct?

Indeed it is ;) Play few games on other citymania servers. Easiest for getting exp is probably goal server (#3) or CB 5k (#16).

What's new - changelog in General

List of important website/server changes

  • 2 Nov 2021 - Added TerraGenesis from 1.4.4 version of the game to keep map generation consistent with old games.
  • 17 Oct 2021 - Updated servers to 12.0
  • 26 Sep 2021 - Updated test servers to 12.0-RC1
  • 16 Sep 2021 - Added experimental minesweeper game mode.
  • 19 Aug 2021 - Updated test servers to 12.0-beta2
  • 15 Aug 2021 - Updated test servers to 12.0-beta1
  • 16 May 2021 - Started making a full recording of all games for better administration and desync debugging.
  • 3 May 2021 - Updated servers to 1.11.2
  • 25 Apr 2021 - Added arctic-tycooners to activity chart and separated private servers.
  • 24 Apr 2021 - Added a page with some game settings and estimated game duration to the storybook.
  • 24 Apr 2021 - Made funded industries exclusive to respective companies instead of protecting land around.
  • 24 Apr 2021 - Made secondary industries exclusive to whoever was first to deliver cargo.
  • 18 Apr 2021 - Updated servers to 1.11.1
  • 1 Apr 2021 - Updated servers to 1.11.0
  • 1 Apr 2021 - Added optional Zstandard(zstd) savegame compression to possibly improve connection time when using CityMania client.
  • 15 Mar 2021 - Updated test servers to 1.11.0-RC1
  • 22 Feb 2021 - Allow edditing individual trains in profit calculator.
  • 31 Jan 2021 - Switch the internal database to PostgreSQL. No visible changes except some stuff maybe broken for now.
  • 2 Jan 2021 - Added 1.11 mechanic to town simulation tool (house walking to town center).
  • 16 Aug 2020 - Added experimental train racing game mode.
  • 3 Aug 2020 - Added experimental battle royale game mode.
  • 2 Aug 2020 - Updated servers to 1.10.3
  • 22 Jul 2020 - Added starting moneyline estimation to profit calculation tool.
  • 4 Jul 2020 - Updated servers to 1.10.2
  • 6 Jun 2020 - Synchronize all the extra (non-vanilla) data with CityMania client on connection.
  • 17 Jun 2020 - Only show best scores for each team on the scoreboards.
  • 7 Jun 20020 - Show an estimation of town road layout performance in city-builder modes.
  • 25 May 2020 - Added !cv command that shows the scoreboard (same as !score).
  • 17 May 2020 - Allowed destruction of cities within the claimed town area.
  • 7 May 2020 - Added experimental 1 million city-builder game mode with tech progression.
  • 27 Apr 2020 - Added all-time high scores and game mechanics pages to the storybook.
  • 13 Apr 2020 - Updated servers to 1.10.1
  • 1 Apr 2020 - Updated servers to 1.10.0
  • 2 Oct 2019 - Store and show OpenTTD version for games on the website.
  • 1 Oct 2019 - Added all public server statistics page.
  • 17 Aug 2019 - Made server to only reset abandoned companies when it actually needs more slots.
  • 1 May 2019 - Added experimental town defense game mode (zombies!).
  • 21 Apr 2019 - Fixed user registration on the website.
  • 20 Apr 2019 - Added 10m/100m goals to 1000m cash mode.
  • 10 Apr 2019 - Added bot to translate in-game messages to and from CityMania discord server.
  • 8 Apr 2019 - Updated CityMania client to 1.9.1. Started gradually updating servers.
  • 1 Apr 2019 - Updated CityMania client to 1.9.0. Started gradually updating servers.
  • 20 Mar 2019 - Switched to new server controller. Can run multiple versions of OpenTTD.
  • 8 Apr 2018 - Updated CityMania client to 1.8.0. Started gradually updating servers.
  • 15 Jun 2017 - CityMania client updated to 1.7.1. Started gradually updating servers.
  • 23 May 2017 - CityMania servers updated to 1.7.0.
  • 15 Apr 2017 - CityMania client updated to 1.7.0.
  • 20 Nov 2016 - Funded industries are now being removed when the company closes (except for quest games).
  • 6 Nov 2016 - Optimal train profit calculation tool preview. [Discussion]
  • 10 Oct 2016 - Save company players separately for each completed goal.
  • 20 Aug 2016 - Faster and more accurate house replacement in town emulator.
  • 17 Aug 2016 - Updated town growth emulator. [Discussion]
  • 27 Jul 2016 - If the company didn't provide a password give it a random one.
  • 25 Jul 2016 - In multigoal modes store savegames for scores in top25.
  • 24 Jul 2016 - Renumber servers #8,#19(new cb)->#3,#4(cash goal)->#1,#2(quest)->#10,#11. Shut down GS CB servers. [Discussion]
  • 24 Jul 2016 - Updated all servers and client to 1.6.1.
  • 1 Jul 2016 - Updated test server to 1.6.1.
  • 14 Jun 2016 - Show road layout performance in new CB mode
  • 12 Jun 2016 - Started server 19 running our brand new CB mode with multiple goals.
  • 29 May 2016 - Significantly lower amount of money for server company.
  • 26 May 2016 - Fix extremely rare case of server crash.
  • 19 Apr 2016 - Revert terragen tune down in 1.6.0.
  • 15 Apr 2016 - Updated all servers to 1.6.0.
  • 14 Apr 2016 - Slightly adjusted server rules. [Discussion]
  • 2 Apr 2016 - Test server and CityMania client updated to 1.6.0.
  • 27 Mar 2016 - Don't let unserviced industries dry out and close in long games.
  • 25 Mar 2016 - Moved to new server machine.
  • 7 Feb 2016 - Added best scores and quests info to user profiles.
  • 31 Jan 2016 - Allow to demolish objects and industries in town border.
  • 20 Dec 2015 - Store save for end of each game (downloadable from game page).
  • 5 Dec 2015 - Completed switching to new server configuration system. Not much visible changes though.
  • 4 Dec 2015 - Updated all servers to 1.5.3. Notably extra house bug was fixed.
  • 3 Nov 2015 - Test server updated to 1.5.3-RC1, enabled all game modes on it. CityMania Client is also updated.
  • 25 Oct 2015 - Save guests in companies. Give users exp even if they left the game.
  • 19 Oct 2015 - Enabled all quest game modes (normal+ecs) on both quest servers. Changed server 1 to free runs (no timetable).
  • 18 Oct 2015 - Changed the way users are saved in companies, keeping track of unregistered users too.
  • 1 Oct 2015 - !restart and !listgm commands. [Discussion]
  • 28 Sep 2015 - Changed goal server settings. Featuring new game mode that is virtually frozen in time: no better vehicles introduction and no town growth. That means in-game starting date no longer has significant influence on game experience and highscores.
  • 11 Sep 2015 - Updated all servers to 1.5.2
  • 13 Aug 2015 - Extra houses bug workaround. [Discussion]
  • 17-24 Jun 2015 - Replaced 250 pop limit for claiming towns with 10 houses limit. Towns are generated mostly with 10 houses and don't grow if not claimed.
  • 17-24 Jun 2015 - Rejoin clients automatically after server restart.
map client in General

Hm, there was some impossible-to-setup "citybuilder client" on nova, but now it's hopelessly outdated and won't be coming back so I deleted that page.

map client in General

Probably outdated, I don't even know what that "map client" is supposed to be. Can you at least post link to where you found it?)

server version in General

Right, I totally forgot about that (both of). Added 1.5.1 to the downloads and will be updating servers tonight (if I don't forget it again ^^).

blitz scores in General

lol wrote:

Is this bug now fixed by the openttddevs?

No, not in 1.5.2 unfortunately :( But except requiring to build roads one tile further this workaround works quite well, town growth is same as in 1.5.0

save data in General

Yeah, it is possible, just don't have time to do it currently. Meanwhile, can you list all such data that needs to be saved?

blitz scores in General

Check news:

dP wrote:

Bug in town growth mechanics

Yesterday I discovered a bug that sometimes makes towns grow faster than they are supposed to. Since it gives unfair advantage I reset some scores that I found to be affected (mostly blitz ones). Unfortunately we'll have to wait for the next OpenTTD release to completely fix this bug, but for now I made a workaround. CityMania servers destroy those "extra" houses that were build so overall experience should be pretty close to normal.

Pro tip: build roads one tile (or 1.5 tiles) further than CB town border is until this bug is fixed. It may appear to be HR but in fact "next" counter will not be reset.

extra house bug workaround illustration

Server Features in Suggestions

Irc it is some internal server thingy that doesn't mean anything in particular, something like a number of packets received from client throughout the game. If client didn't do anything for a while it is shown with "AFK x min".

Server Features in Suggestions

It does show country for mods.

ACT is some activity measure.

credit system in Suggestions

I'm not sure what to do about that credit system yet. We definitely need features that it was supposed to enable like map reset, so I'll eventually implement them. But I think I might just allow them for free, without any credits. I guess we'll see how it goes once I do the features.

Server Features in Suggestions

!clients command you mean? ^^

2h City Builder in Suggestions

Novapolis code is ok, it's me not feeling familiar enough with it. And I have some vision of what I want to end up with, so some parts that don't fit it(like config system) I'will have to remake sooner or later. Regardless, I think I'll remove that TEST once I'm back home in a week.

2h City Builder in Suggestions

I do understand how it works but using it is a nightmare imo, let aside explaining it to someone else. Mb you had some kind of interface for it but I see only mess of tables in mysql. Sure it would be easier if I reuse existing 3h cb server (still more than just one setting) but I tried to do it with cm18 so had to configure it from scratch.

What I want to end up is a system that will take little to no time to maintain and where I can delegate most work to someone else (like server configuration).

2h City Builder in Suggestions

That freaking puzzle assembles server config from five places using some intricate logic :P I've spent few hours understading it and still can't quickly and reliably configure a server. So now I feel like remaking it would be a better thing to spend time on.

As for TEST, 10 days ago some servers were almost unplayable. There are still some major bugs left and I'm mostly afk now and can't react quickly enough if something breaks, so I'd like to keep TEST for a while. Though it doesn't really matter much imo, so if you think servers work good enough let's get rid of it.

2h City Builder in Suggestions

2h CB is a nice idea, but I don't like Novapolis way of server configuration and rather than use it want to remake it. However, that will take some time so new game modes have to wait.

[Fixed] fast server change in Bugs

Done already, will be in the next client update.