The Conquest of Go News

Update 0.14.0 - Opening Guides

New Features
- Opening Guides:
  - The Conquest of Go now features Opening Guides, which allow the player to explore viable moves and variations that take place at the start of the game.
  - Opening Guides are accessible through the "Learning Center" button located on the main menu.
  - Opening Guides are available for board sizes 9x9, 13x13, and 19x19, with and without handicap stones.
  - The moves within the Opening Guides are precomputed, and therefore load instantly.
  - The win rate and estimated score of each move are displayed as each move is played or as a move is hovered with the board cursor.
  - The first two moves of the match allow for up to 6 different moves, and up to 3 different moves after that, as long as the difference in win rate or score is not significant between the moves. Since each move branches it's own set of moves that follow, this leads to up to ~4000-5000 possible moves for each guide that can be explored. Once the end of a branch of moves is reached, a possible continuation is also shown with the ~6-12 moves that follow.
  - There are 17 different guides to choose from due to different board sizes and handicap values.
  - The Opening Guides take into account board symmetry where multiple coordinates may be equivalent depending on the arrangement of stones on the board.
  - Opening Guide Modes:
    - Explore Mode - This mode will display the the next set of moves on the board, allowing the player to choose between them. Hovering over a move will begin displaying a sequence of moves that follow the hovered move, as well as display the win rate and estimated score that results from the move. Clicking a move will play the move and display the next set of viable moves.
    - Play Mode - This mode hides the moves on the board, allowing the player to find the moves themselves. After playing a move, the opponent's next move will then be played automatically, allowing the player to continue finding their next move. For board positions that are symmetrical, where multiple coordinates of the board are equivalent, the unique area of the board will be highlighted where the player can select the next move.
    - A mode is initially selected when loading the Opening Guide, but it can be switched at any time with the click of a button while using the Opening Guide.
  - These are the initial versions of the Opening Guides. The Opening Guides may be updated as new versions of the game are released.
Updates
- The main menu "Tutorials" button has been renamed to "Learning Center" as it now contains the option to load tutorials, opening guides, and the glossary.
- On the main menu, the glossary has been relocated from the "Extras" menu to the "Learning Center" menu.
- After using the practice board feature and returning to the main menu, the practice board menu will be automatically reloaded, similar to how quick play or campaign menus are reloaded when returning to the main menu.
Fixes
- Fixed a bug causing folders in the quick play saved matches list to not load when clicked after returning to the main menu from a saved match.

Patch 0.13.2

Fixed an issue which was causing the Hybrid AI to be unresponsive for campaigns that were created prior to version 0.13.0 and had the Hybrid AI as an opponent.

Patch 0.13.1

Bug Fixes:

Fixed an issue with the Hybrid AI not playing the first move (playing as black in a non-handicap game, or playing as white in a handicap game) when switching rulesets from Japanese/Korean to Chinese, or Chinese to Japanese/Korean for the first game during the play session until switching rulesets again.
Fixed an issue when resuming play of a local match after the scoring phase which was re-enabling the pass button for both players instead of just the player that has the current turn.
Fixed an issue with the player stone indicator (black or white stone on the player details panel that enlarges and shrinks when it is the player's turn) not being stopped or started properly when navigating through saved matches through the previous and next buttons.

Update 0.13.0 - Chinese Rules & New Invasions

New Features
- Chinese Rules:
  - Matches played from the quick play menu or during campaigns now are able to support the Chinese ruleset. There are differences between the Chinese rules and Japanese/Korean rules such as scoring by area (empty points a player's stones surround + the the number of alive stones the player has on the board), board repetitions (super-ko) are forbidden, handicap stones add one point per stone to white's score, and more.
  - Within the quick play menu, there is a new ruleset setting allowing the player to choose whether the match should be played with Chinese rules or Japanese/Korean rules.
  - Within the campaign settings menu accessible from upper right of the campaign map, there is a new option to choose whether new matches should be played with Chinese or Japanese/Korean rules. This setting can be changed at any time during the campaign, and completed matches as well as matches in progress will retain the ruleset that was being used when the match was first created.
  - The default komi value for the Chinese ruleset is 7.5 as compared to 6.5 for the Japanese/Korean ruleset. The quick play menu will automatically adjust the komi if it is set to default when switching between rulesets.
- New Campaign Invasions:
  - Campaign invasions are matches that occur during the campaign when opposing nations invade land that you have previously conquered. These matches start from a predetermined board position with several moves already played out.
  - New invasions have been added for each board size (9x9, 13x13, and 19x19), bringing the total unique invasions to more than double the amount that was available in previous versions.
  - Video of new invasions on Twitter
Updates
- Added double hane to the glossary located in the extras menu.
- Updates have been made to the tutorial text and AI review text to prepare the game for future localization. For the time being, these changes should have no visible effect, as the game is still only available in English.
Fixes
- Fixed a bug which caused the order of files to be incorrect after loading a saved match from the quick play menu, and then using the left and right arrow icons in the match details panel to navigate to the previous and next files. The updated order is in reverse chronological order, which matches the order that the files are displayed in the saved matches list within the quick play menu.
- Fixed an issue when switching analysis AIs through the AI settings menu, causing a third instance of KataGo (in addition to the existing analysis and review instances) to be started and ended for matches that have KataGo as one of the players in a match until the game is reloaded.
- Fixed an issue with the double hane shape name not appearing in the move history list when played.

Update 0.12.0 - Campaign Settlements & Nation Matches

New Features
- Campaign Settlements:
  - The campaign map includes new graphics to show settlements that have formed as the result of battles in each region of the map.
  - The settlements are colored by the nation color that won the most recent battle in the respective region.
  - The campaign map objects such as trees and mountains have been slightly modified to make space for settlements.
- Fortifications:
  - Fortifications are a new concept introduced into the campaign mode which are regions that are safe from invasion.
  - A player's settlement is converted into a fortification once each neighboring region has been conquered by the player.
  - Fortifications have separate campaign map graphics, often featuring larger buildings, towers, and castles.
  - The fortification mechanic will be expanded upon in future updates.
- This update is compatible with existing campaigns, and existing land that has been conquered will automatically be populated with settlements and fortifications.
- Nation Matches:
  - The other nations will now play a more active role on the campaign map, and as the player plays matches, other nations will also periodically conquer regions of the map.
  - Other nations will target regions that have not had a battle before moving on to regions that have already been conquered.
  - The player's conquered regions will still only be targeted by other nations through the existing invasion mechanic.
  - To not overwhelm the player, nations conquering regions works on a countdown in which player match wins have more of an impact than player match losses.
Updates
- The campaign battle summary button to review matches will now be disabled for match records that have no moves.
- The credits section has been updated to reflect new assets.
- Various changes have been made behind the scenes in the Go board screen to prepare the game for future localization. For the time being, these changes should have no visible effect, as the game is still only available in English.
Fixes
- Fixed an issue with the Hybrid AI causing it to get out of sync with the state of the board, causing potential misplays, incorrect score calculation, and/or lack of response.
- Fixed an issue for online matches where moves were not being undone from the board when accepted if the player was only a spectator.
- Fixed an issue causing the board cursor to not reset to the proper stone color under some circumstances when restarting a match that is human vs. human.
- Fixed the display of tutorial titles in the Go board screen.
- Fixed the result text for match records of ignored invasions to display the correct color winner.