1.16.1 Stability Fixes

[Mr. D]

Hi all,

You may have noticed a new update appear on the App Store and Play Store; this is a maintenance release aimed at improving app stability and reducing the number of crashes among all devices.

Additionally, it features a bunch of GPS enhancements that should make it a bit more "responsive" and reduce the number of cases where an out-of-date set of coordinates is considered your current position.

I would be very grateful if you could upgrade to this version as soon as you can, as the fewer crashes we have the better is our reputation on the Play & App Store! 

[Masterman]

Game upgrade;) 

[Grizzlyfilms]

Nice

[Mr. D]

In regard to our "Play Store reputation" subject:
I'm afraid I've had to disable the attack wave notifications temporarily, as we are about to be punished by Google for an excessive amount of device "wakeups" (i.e. draining phone battery).
Accordingly, only the key notifications ("You're under attack!", "Combat has ended") will remain until a more efficient notification system is in place.

Additionally, I've disabled the notification for receiving shared resources; only the in-game Message will remain.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused!

[Ruvox]

To be honest, if you have one or more active allies those resources received messages could get a little bit out of hand very fast.

11 hours ago, Mr. D said:

Additionally, it features a bunch of GPS enhancements that should make it a bit more "responsive" and reduce the number of cases where an out-of-date set of coordinates is considered your current position.

I know I always come with the same things but let's say I am driving by train through Germany on some spots there is no or nearly no mobile data and at least with my device always weak GPS in a train. Before the update it sometimes happened that my GPS just placed me a few kilometers away from the railroads and let me stay there for an uncomfortable amount of time. What would happen now in such a scenario ? I beg you to don't do it the way some other AR-games ***cough***niantic***cough*** are doing it resulting in a bad GPS signal message for the whole ride and no ability to do anything on the way... 

Edited February 20, 2018 by Ruvox

[Mr. D]

4 hours ago, Ruvox said:

I know I always come with the same things but let's say I am driving by train through Germany on some spots there is no or nearly no mobile data and at least with my device always weak GPS in a train. Before the update it sometimes happened that my GPS just placed me a few kilometers away from the railroads and let me stay there for an uncomfortable amount of time. What would happen now in such a scenario ? I beg you to don't do it the way some other AR-games ***cough***niantic***cough*** are doing it resulting in a bad GPS signal message for the whole ride and no ability to do anything on the way... 

Haha, I'm hoping that won't be the case.

Let me explain how it worked before and what's changed!

In the previous version the update sequence of your position after launching the app was as follows:

1. Use sensors to determine whether the phone is stationary (i.e. laying around on a desk) or moving.
2. If it's moving, attempt to retrieve current coordinates from the active GPS signal. If it takes too long, use last known stationary position.
3. If the phone isn't moving, continue storing the "last known stationary position" for the next app launch, but don't actually update your in-game position as the active movement-triggered GPS is already doing that.

Because of the "if it takes too long use last known stationary position" step you've sometimes ended up in the "last known stationary position" for a while.
The new version works as follows:

Regardless of whether the phone is moving or stationary, keep using the available coordinates from any source as the current active position. Even if the phone is laying on a desk its position will be refreshed every 5 seconds and the latest estimated stationary position will reflect in the game. If the refresh fails, coordinates from the last successful update cycle are used (not from whenever the phone was last seen on a desk).

The original version was a tiny bit less battery consuming, as the stationary position wasn't frequently updated or used for that matter (just as a "loading placeholder" during the initial launch); and you've had to actively "wave around" your phone to update the coordinates.
However, some devices were a bit rubbish in determining their active state, so the stationary position is now used as another source of in-game location whenever it is provided.
This should guarantee a more frequent refresh rate, but shouldn't really affect your train journeys.

Please let me know if that doesn't make sense!