Beta version 1.21h to 1.21m

[solops]

I moved this out of the new beta notification thread.

So many major changes have been introduced so quickly that I am uncertain about what is going on in my games, i.e. which of the many changes are responsible for some of the things I think I am seeing. I really like almost all of the concepts introduced, but taken all together so quickly it is difficult to evaluate the impact on game-play. One of the big things that complicates evaluation is the new ammo sub-economy. I do believe that the introduction of ammo factories and the multifaceted ammo effects (production, inventory, distribution, etc) was an unnecessary complication that I would rather not have. The game was fine before. Ammo supply was already accounted for and addressed adequately. At the very least,sorting out the whole new ammo sub-economy thing will certainly take longer when stacked upon all of the other changes to the game. I guess that I am pleading that we sort out all of the other stuff first (and the AIs ability to use them) and then re-look at ammo later and see if it is really worth doing. Just sorting out the energy/metal supply/usage is a big chore. With the further integration of the environment into game mechanics, changes to power and resource requirements and all of the other host of neat things, the plate of testing/balancing is truly full.

Vic gets a lot of different feedback views that we do not see, so he probably has a better grasp of things than I can tell from the player's view. So...never-mind?

<duck and cover>