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The Conquest of Go News

Update 0.15.0 - Campaign Puzzles (Tsumego) & Campaign Tutorial

  • New Features
    • Campaign Puzzles:
      • A new mechanic has been added to the campaign mode which allows the player to solve puzzles (tsumego) in order to raise the fortification level of regions they have conquered.
      • Each puzzle solved will raise the fortification level by one, up to a maximum of ten, at which point the region is fully fortified and cannot be invaded.
      • Regions will periodically lose fortification levels after playing matches. When returning to the map screen, each region that lost a fortification level will briefly flash in a red outline.
      • Once a region reaches a fortification level of 0, the region is lost to an opposing nation.
      • Regions that have a fortification level of 2 or less will have a red warning outline around them until the level is increased or the region is lost to an opposing nation.
      • When hovering the mouse over a region, in addition to the board size and most recent match result being displayed, the fortification level is now also displayed.
      • The current difficulty level (AI type, AI level, handicap) of the campaign determines the difficulty level of the puzzles that are presented to the player.
      • There are currently ~1350 puzzles ranging through the various difficulty levels.
      • Puzzles are loaded in a random orientation, allowing them to flip horizontally, vertically, diagonally, and also change stone color.
      • A variety of puzzles are stored both locally on the player's PC as well as online via OGS. While not required to play puzzles, those that have an online connection will have access to a larger pool of puzzles, as they will not be restricted to only locally stored puzzles. The majority of the puzzles are stored offline however.
      • There is a new Steam stat and achievement for completing puzzles, which can be found within the Stats portion of the Extras menu.
      • Solving Puzzles:
        • Solving a puzzle without making any mistakes will award bonus resources to the player.
        • A button is available to display the correct move in a given position to the player. Using this method will however only allow the player to raise the fortification level up to a maximum of 7 of 10.
        • There are two different modes for solving a puzzle depending on the puzzle that is presented to the player:
          • There is a multiple choice mode, where each possible move is highlighted on the board, and it is up to the player to choose from the given moves.
          • The other mode simply shows the puzzle board position as-is with no highlighted moves, and it is up to the player to find the best move on their own. The majority of the puzzles fall into this category.
    • Campaign Tutorial:
      • A full tutorial has been added to walk through the different mechanics of the campaign mode.
      • The tutorial covers many aspects such as playing matches, abilities, resources, market exchange, reviews, fortifications, invasions, and more.
      • The tutorial can be accessed by clicking the Campaign button on the main menu and then clicking the Campaign Tutorial button.
  • Updates
    • The base resource value for the campaign mode has been slightly reduced to account for new resources that are able to be earned from fortification puzzles.
    • Campaign Invasions
      • Invasions can now be defended either by playing the remainder of the match from the starting position or by fully fortifying the region by raising the fortification level to 10.
      • If your regions are fully fortified, invasions can now occur in nearby regions to those that you've conquered. These invasions are optional to defend, as the player is not at risk of losing a region from their empire.
      • When clicking the invasion icon, instead of immediately loading directly into the match, a preview of the starting board position will be displayed, allowing the player to click the resume button to pick up the match at the starting position, defend the invasion through fortification, or ignore the invasion.
  • Fixes
    • Fixed an issue during review mode which was causing variations to not be displayed under some circumstances when using the AI Move Analysis feature.
    • Fixed an issue with the ko marker remaining displayed after loading a new file or tutorial.
    • Fixed an issue with the resource icon on the campaign map screen being able to be clicked when not intended.
    • Fixed an issue with the board recommendation icons from review being able to be clicked when not intended.
    • Fixed an issue playing online matches that were created on the Online Go Server (OGS) by creating a fork of a game in which the new board position starts with the white stones.

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.