Official SMACX v2 bug list. READ ONLY PLEASE! - Page 5

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 20:07

BugID: #0120, Datalinks_Impact
Submitter: Darkstar, darkstar@hiwaay.net
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: UI
Status: Pending
Priority: 4
Save before: N/A
Save after: N/A
Description: Impact Weapons are missing from the Weapons and Modules section in
Datalinks under Impact. They are listed as Particle Impactors, which is NOT what they
are listed in the Workshop. Players not be able to find it's appropriate tech or cost in the
Datalinks as a result of this odd naming.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 10, 2000).]

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 20:08

BugID: #0121, Maritime_Control_Center
Submitter: Aredhran, aredhran@swiftmove.com
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Movement
Status: Pending
Priority: 3
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:
Description: Prerequisite: You don't have Maritime Control Center.
1. One of your ship attacks.
2. You capture an enemy base that has MCC
3. Your ship gets another attack due to the extra 2 moves granted by the SP
Save File: Available

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 08, 2000).]

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 20:18

BugID: #0122, PBEM_Probe
Submitter: jimmytrick, michaelfour@lexcominc.net
MoSe, masque@tiscalinet.it
Darkstar, darkstar@hiwaay.net
Version: Alien Crossfire | Alpha Centauri v4 | Both AX and AC4
Category: MultiPlayer
Status: Pending
Priority: 2
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:
Description: In SMAC play by e-mail games the person doing the probing gets the dialog box message
where the decision is made to declared vendetta or let off with stern warning, not the
person being probed. This allows an easy cheat. I do not believe that this was changed
with Crossfire. Could you address this in a patch?

Genaciv: maybe NOT having the decision being made by the person who probes, but instead...
LETTING the VICTIM know what action was taken.. or alteast that a probe team had
committed SOMETHING. And then from there, the VICTIM, during HIS/HER turn can
decide what to do.. also, in single player, you can frame other people, right? Can this be
done in multiplayer? I doubt it, but am still pretty new to PBEM... If that were the case, my
idea would work great, cuz the VICTIM might think it were another faction that probed
him. Let me know if you get what I'm trying to say... maybe we could suggest this to
Firaxis, but I suspect it would be too much work to incorporate... hopefully they can
handle it better in CIV III...

MoSe: PBEM probe action bug?

Well, I guess we should think of a viable alternative handling of it, to propose it to FurXs.

You know, of course, the way it behaves now looks unresonable. But how can it be done?
Think that in PBEM the players can't interact *during* one's turn.
You can't *receive* immediate feedback *during* your turn.
But sometimes the game options would greatly differe whether you get to a state of
vendetta *immediately*, while you're still playing the end of your turn, or you'll have to
wait till your next turn to see the effects of your actions recorde in you diplomatic status.

Tkae the "demand withdrawal" issue. If you'll have to wait till the invader's turn to take
his units out or to get angry at you, your units movement in the zone will ne hindered, while
if the game reacts immediately on behalf of the other player, you can play *now* with the
opponent's units removed.
Same for probing. You perform NOW an action which could lead to vendetta. Your
subsequent actions in THIS turn will be different whether you find you in that vendetta or
not. So, this is to be decided NOW, immediatley after the probing action. It's goofy to ask
the offender how the offended would react. But what can we expect?
You'd have to save your turn halfway that interaction (now impossible), send it to the
porbed for just that reponse, and then continue it?
Of course, FurXs idea was that you should have know in advance what the probed action
would have been. But since you might not get spotted, asking him in advance would mean
unnecessarily reveal your intentions, so we decidet to adopt a default action, which
wonder why is always vendetta .

The ideal would be if you could be online with the probed, while you keep your turn open,
on hold. But that can't be reasonably expected.

The stupid thing, is that the probed doesn't even get a warning in his turn, this lack of
report could be easily fixed. Otherwise, which alternative do you propose when you get
spotted in probing a human player?

Darkstar: Simple answer: New State of Uncertain.

This is a temporary state in which the pacted/peaceful units get unfriendly. They exercise
their ZOC against the aggressor (or framed victim), do not permit the land to be worked,
protect against air drops, yadda yadda blah. This state would last until the *player* of their
faction get's to decide to declare war or not.

This would also cover the situation when a Pact-mate goes to war, rather then your side
automatically going into war with the offending faction, you and he go to Uncertain State.
Then, when your turn rolls around, you are presented with the choice of honoring your
Pact, or breaking it (as in single play).

It would require a touch up to the code, but it fits into the consistancy and spirit of the
game, as established by it's current MP IP and SP implementation.

That simple. A new temporary state that is resolved once the player of the faction get's his
turn. Thier are plenty of RL examples where allies and/or friendly powers acted more
cautiously and not at all like an ally or friendly power while their Leader decided what
OFFICIAL state of relations to go to.

Note that the state of "Uncertain" can only last until the player (who needs to decide) get's
their turn. They have to decide during their turn. No stalling and ending of their turn.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 10, 2000).]

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 20:20

BugID: #0123, Bonus_Stockpile
Submitter: zsozso, zsolt@simbiosys.ca
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Base
Status: Confirmed
Priority: 3
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:
Description: When the build-queue is empty and a base facility is
completed, the game switches to "Stockpile Energy" and
immediately awards the energy for a turn even though, the
production just finished and the user can setup a new building
order with the carry-over minerals included for next turn.
Therefore energy should not be awarded for this turn.
If the user leaves the "Stockpile Energy" on, then next turn
it is valid to award to energy points.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 08, 2000).]

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 20:21

BugID: #0124, Empaths
Submitter: gunf1ghter, jpage@diac.com
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Rules
Status: Pending
Priority: 3
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:
Description: After discovery
of Centauri Empathy you do not gain Empath Specialists. Specialists remain Doctors.
Have observed this in 4 seperate games now, as the Cybernetic Consciousness.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 08, 2000).]

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 20:22

BugID: #0125, Drone_crash
Submitter: fuzzy,
Version: Alien Crossfire
Category: Crash
Status: Pending
Priority: 1
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:
Description: I'm looking for confirmation on this. I'm playing the Morganites vs Spartans, Believers,
Hive, Pirates, Usurpers and Caretakers on Ironman (my first mistake, as you'll see) and I
had a city in drone riots for two turns consecutively. Now here's the bug: The game
produces a divide by zero error when processing the city in riot.
Could this be because the game is calculating the percentage chance of the city being
taken by the (non-existant) Drone faction?

Nehemiah Scudder: I have had this happen whilst playing as drones... usually when sending waves of probe
teams at computer cities to incite drone riots/destroy morale improvements. I haven't
bothered to send in a sav though, maybe I should since I probably have a few amongst the
mass of saves on my hdd.

fuzzy: Update- I started another game with the same settings (except this time I enabled the
autosave) and forced the situation by allowing a city to riot. Sure enough, the game
crashed. This time, I have the .sav file if anyone wants it. And indeed some of my libraries
may be differnet, as I have all kinds of **** on my computer, some of which has installed
updated various libraries. BTW: the game did not display a divide by zero, but rather I
recieved the error when I ran a debug program.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 08, 2000).]

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 20:24

BugID: #0126, Alien_Artifact
Submitter: Darkstar, darkstar@hiwaay.net
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Rules
Status: Pending
Priority: 3
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:
Description: I just sent JKM a set of saves of a game where I just had an Alien Artifact just APPEAR.
I had this occur to me in SMAC US v1.4, and now in SMACAX.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 08, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 10, 2000).]

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 20:25

BugID: #0127, Diplomatic_Victory
Submitter: AoA, akathisia@aol.com
Version: Alien Crossfire
Category: Rules
Status: Request
Priority: 5
Save before: N/A
Save after: N/A
Description: Enhancement proposal: Change Diplomatic victory to be: You can be elected Supreme Leader even when
Progenitors present. Then all humanity immediately signs Submissive (and unbreakable)
Pacts to serve you and band together to wipe out the aliens. This would be similar to the
current situation that any dissenters to your Supreme Leadership have to be beaten before
you can finally win.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 08, 2000).]

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 20:26

BugID: #0128, Tectonic_Payload
Submitter: SoHappy, sraymer@dc.com
Version: Alien Crossfire
Category: Rules
Status: Pending
Priority: 2
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:
Description: Desiring more land I decided to give up raising it and use the fun that is wrapped
within the Tectonic Payload missle. All good, worked a charm ..... but .... wait a minute ... all my bases are now polluting like
there is no tomorrow?
(Some background, I am a Hybrid player so I never have any pollution as this distracts and
who needs +100 minerals? All my bases have all the eco-friendly facilites and secret
projects (benefit of playing the Drones , and no factories etc. I have a planet rating of
+3, so this gives me my max of +2 on the pollution formula.)
I initially thought it may be population as some bases where getting onto 30+, No joy???

So then I relised through a bit of snooping, that Tectonic missles act like Planet Busters (go
figure that) by adding +5 to my pollution formula for each hit!!!! This gets very expensive
and has resulted in me having to sack all my workers and send them home.
Planet busters are a little higher on the harsh scale then a little tectonic missle as even the fungus one is more painful.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 08, 2000).]

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 20:29

BugID: #0129, Self_Aware_Colony
Submitter: Fistleaf, eng71043@nus.edu.sg
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Rules
Status: Pending
Priority: 3
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:
Description: Self-Aware Colony bug: Supposed to add 1 Police unit, but if your Police rating is high
enough for 3 Police units, you don't get any benefit. Even worse if you use Non-Lethal
methods, the 3rd actual Police unit loses the Non-lethal benefit.
I usually use 3 Non-lethal units to reduce 6 drones per base. After getting Self-Aware, I
ended up reducing only 5 drones.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 08, 2000).]

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 20:34

BugID: #0130, Friendly_Alert
Submitter: gnome, gn0me1@hotmail.com
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Movement
Status: Demonstrated
Priority: 3
Save before: http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home...C/ABL0130b.zip
Save after: N/A
Description: When placing an air unit on "alert" status, it flies out to intercept
friendly transports and air units, not just enemies. This causes the
problem of crusing a transport past your territory, all the "alert" planes
within range (and some out of range) will fly out towards the transport and
fly back. Similar to an air unit left in the air, all its "alert" cousins
will fly out there to meet it... this causes (a) game slowdown, with all
that useless moving around of planes, and (b) less effective air defense,
because next turn a real enemy could attack your base, and your plane could
be on its way back from chasing one of your own. This affects both SMAC
patch 4 and SMACX...

Saved game: Move the Chaos Tactical from University Base to just south of Mendelev
College and end the turn. If you keep hitting wait (skipping all the
other units that need to move) the Chaos Tactical on alert at Mendelev
College will fly out to intercept the Chaos Tactical from University
Base.

Alternatively, end the turn without moving the Chaos Tactical. Instead,
after the turn ends move the Destroyer Transport from Climactic Research
to the east, somewhere south of Mendelev College. When its turn comes
around, the Chaos Tactical on alert at Mendelev College will fly out to
intercept the transport.

Obviously this is useless and leaves the base vulnerable to attack by a
genuine opponent. It seems to me that the air units on alert simply
can't tell the difference between a friend or foe.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 15, 2000).]

zsozso · January 7, 2000, 21:01

BugID: #0131, Fake_Drones
Submitter: zsozso, zsolt@simbiosys.ca
Aredhran, aredhran@swiftmove.com
Fistandantilus, tencati@iol.it
Helium Pond, jesseclark@mindspring.com
Version: Alien Crossfire
Category: UI
Status: Demonstrated
Priority: 4
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after: http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home...C/ABL0131a.zip
http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home.../ABL0131a2.zip
http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home.../ABL0131a3.zip
http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home.../ABL0131a4.zip
Description: Some bases (population 4-7) display red drone pictures
on the base screen, even though the base has Punishment Sphere facility.
However, those drones never riot, and the psych display mode above shows
no drones at all. So, these are just fake drone-looking workers...

Aredhran (save ABL0131a.zip): I was playing my first SMACX game with the Pirates, and kept having drone
problems (or so it seemed). Captured bases with all anti-drone base
facilities (rec commons, holo theatre, research hospital, and so on, 20%
Psych), a police unit (with a +2 police rating) still showed some drones in
the main city display. The turning point was near the end of my game where I captured Alpha Prime,
which was a size 13 city. I elected to build a Punishment Sphere in there,
but upon completion the base screen still showed 8 "normal" citizens and 5
drones ! Curious, I thought, and ended the turn anyway. The base did not
riot ! The Base's Psych display shows the correct citizens, as does the F4
screen. Only the base's population display is incorrect.

Fistandantilus (save ABL0131a2.zip): Still present in SMACX v.2, I run in it in pratically every game I play
In the save the bug appears in Misericordia, Mu Crescent, Nu square and other bases

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited February 14, 2000).]

zsozso · January 8, 2000, 22:03

BugID: #0132, Patrolling_unit
Submitter: BustaMike, wordtoyourmother@hotmail.com
Version: Alien Crossfire
Category: Movement
Status: Pending
Priority: 3
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:
Description: A while ago I was happy to learn that patrolling units could have multiple points to patrol
from, allowing the unit to move in a circle instead of a line. After creating several patrol
routes like this, I have found that even though the initial route looks like a circle, when the unit
begins moving for itself it just runs away into oblivion, totally disregarding the original route.

zsozso · January 9, 2000, 02:15

BugID: #0133, Crawler_Crash
Submitter: Vi Vicdi, gderrick@dashlink.com
Version: Alien Crossfire
Category: Crash
Status: Demonstrated
Priority: 1
Save before: http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home...C/ABL0133b.zip
Save after: N/A
Description: The map cursor is conveniently located at the offending square.
Just click on the supply crawler in the unit bar or on the terrain info / resource
value window right above it and blammo.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 11, 2000).]

zsozso · January 9, 2000, 02:16

BugID: #0134, Amphibious_Probe
Submitter: Aredhran, aredhran@swiftmove.com
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Unit Design
Status: Confirmed
Priority: 3
Save before: N/A
Save after:
Description: When trying to probe a base with a team that's on a transport, I get the
message "Probe team must have amphibious pod blah blah", but this special
ability is not available when designing probe teams in the Design Workshop.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 11, 2000).]

zsozso · January 9, 2000, 10:20

BugID: #0135, TECHSTEAL
Submitter: Bblue, gsshell@aol.com
Version: Alien Crossfire
Category: Rules
Status: Demonstrated
Priority: 4
Save before: http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home...C/ABL0135b.zip
Save after: N/A
Description: The TECHSTEAL ability does not work. (This is the 'capture a base; steal a
tech' ability of the Cyborgs)
Note about the save: to complete the bug, all you
need to do is walk a unit into Data DeCentral, the Angels have 4 techs the
Cyborgs don't and you don't get a 'freebe' when you take the city.

Jeffrey Morris, FIRAXIS: We've found out what was going on with this. It turns out that the new alphax.txt
was the exact same size as the alphaxt.txt file on the CD, and thus didn't make it into the
patch (file compare 'okayed' it). A change however was made. If you open up alphax.txt and
go to the #BONUSNAMES section, you'll see TECHSTEAL is on a line with a total of 9
elements (separated by a comma). To fix the problem, put TECHSTEAL on a line by itself,
ending the line it WAS on with a comma. Voila, TECHSTEAL now works.

Note by zsozso: Priority lowered to 4 due to the known work-around.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 11, 2000).]

zsozso · January 10, 2000, 11:03

BugID: #0136, Crash_after_rules_select
Submitter: BustaMike, wordtoyourmother@hotmail.com
Version: Alien Crossfire
Category: Crash
Status: Pending
Priority: 1
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:
Description: The game crashes after the rules screen passes in
a regular start game. Quick start avoids this problem, but who wants to play the same game
over and over. If I reinstall SMACX the problem is temporarily fixed, but it comes back.

zsozso · January 10, 2000, 11:05

BugID: #0137, Elevation_editing
Submitter: BustaMike, wordtoyourmother@hotmail.com
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Scenario Editor
Status: Pending
Priority: 3
Save before: N/A (not available)
Save after:
Description: This apppears to be specific to my SMAC game, but every computer I have installed it on
has the same problem (maybe my CD?). The elevation editor is apparently broken. I cannot
raise or lower terrain; however, I can make flat sea level land squares and ocean shelf
squares. If I click on a preexisting land square to try and raise the terrain nothing happens.
Same goes for a sea square if I try and lower the terrain to an ocean or trench square. If I
lower terrain on any land square regardless of elevation it turns into an ocean shelf square. If
I raise an ocean square regardless of depth it turns into a sea level land square. This problem
basically makes it impossible for me to create my own maps unless I want every square to
look the same.

zsozso · January 10, 2000, 11:07

BugID: #0138, Brood_Pit
Submitter: Fistleaf, eng71043@nus.edu.sg
Version: Alien Crossfire
Category: Rules
Status: Pending
Priority: 3
Save before: N/A
Save after:
Description: Brood Pit does not give +1 Life Cycle. Instead, units get +1 Life Cycle only
when present inside city.(Similar to Children's Creche effect)

zsozso · January 11, 2000, 15:02

BugID: #0139, 1x1_Island_Start
Submitter: Bblue, gsshell@aol.com
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Rules
Status: Demonstrated
Priority: 3
Save before: N/A
Save after: http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home...C/ABL0139a.zip
Description: Both Miriam and Lal started on 1x1 island in this game.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 11, 2000).]

zsozso · January 11, 2000, 15:03

BugID: #0140, Elevation_Change_Display
Submitter: Kinjiru, jonathon_wood@rocketmail.com
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: UI
Status: Confirmed
Priority: 4
Save before: N/A
Save after:
Description: I was lowering some terrain up by the poles in order to build a sea base. The terrain to the
west was a large ridge running roughly to the south-southeast. When I lowered to sea level,
I was left with some bit of 'black' in the sqaures to the immediate northwest of my new base.
It wasn't the whole square though. It looks like the game still thinks the terrain is hilly, even
though it is now flat.

zsozso: I have seen the same effect when the sea was rising due to pollution.

zsozso · January 11, 2000, 15:05

BugID: #0141, Bomber_Air_Defense
Submitter: Vi Vicdi, gderrick@dashlink.com
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Combat
Status: Confirmed
Priority: 3
Save before:
Save after: N/A
Description: Air-to-air combat rules are inconsistent for a fighter attacking a bomber.
In a direct attack against a bomber, whether on the ground or in the air, the fighter gets a
100% air-to-air bonus and the bomber defends with its armor.
In an air defense scramble the fighter does NOT get its 100% air-to-air advantage and the
bomber defends with its weapon.

zsozso · January 11, 2000, 15:06

BugID: #0142, Amphibious_Helper
Submitter: Vi Vicdi, gderrick@dashlink.com
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: Combat
Status: Pending
Priority: 3
Save before:
Save after: N/A
Description: If you have a unit on land adjacent to a sea base units can move out of the sea base without
transport or amphibious ability.

[This message has been edited by zsozso (edited January 12, 2000).]

zsozso · January 13, 2000, 00:53

BugID: #0143, Punishment_Sphere_F2_Calculation
Submitter: korn469, korn469@mindless.com
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: UI
Status: Demonstrated
Priority: 4
Save before: N/A
Save after: http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home...AC/ABL0143.zip
Description: when a punishment sphere is present in a base the F2 screen displays the
wrong time until a new tech is discovered and the wrong amount of tech points per
turn...the F2 screen does not take into account that a punishment sphere halves the techs
per turn so the techs per turn are off by as much as double (depending on how many
bases have punishment spheres) so the time displayed until a new tech is discovered is
really as much as double what it should really be...however despite the display the techs
accumulated are correct and take into account the punishment sphere, and the when the
tech is actually discover is correct too

zsozso · January 15, 2000, 19:06

BugID: #0144, Adaptive_Doctrine
Submitter: Gnome, jareth@gate.net
Version: Alien Crossfire
Category: Unit Design
Status: Demonstrated
Priority: 3
Save before: http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home...C/ABL0144b.zip
Save after: N/A
Description: In one of my games, I learned Adaptive Doctrine, yet it would not
allow me to add a Marine Detatchment to my boats.

Saved game: marine.sav. Go into the unit workshop, and try to add
Marine Detatchment to unit 6: 3-res coastal. The option does not appear
in the list. (Checking Laboratory status will confirm that Adaptive
Doctrine is known.)

zsozso · January 15, 2000, 19:07

BugID: #0145, Pact_production
Submitter: Gnome, jareth@gate.net
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: UI
Status: Demonstrated
Priority: 4
Save before: N/A
Save after: http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home...C/ABL0145a.zip
Description: When you have a Pact with someone, you can tell what they are
producing only by clicking on the individual cities. You can tell how
much energy reserves they have only by checking their faction profile.
As long as this information is available to you, why not show it under
the city name, and on the negotiation screen, as though you had
infiltrator information?

Saved game: Click on "UN Headquarters" to see what they are
producing there. Click on the Peacekeeper's faction profile to see
their energy reserves. Speak to Brother Lal, the energy count is not
available while negotiating.

zsozso · January 15, 2000, 19:09

BugID: #0146, New_Tech_Window
Submitter: Gnome, jareth@gate.net
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: UI
Status: Demonstrated
Priority: 4
Save before: http://CR190515-A.hnsn1.on.wave.home...C/ABL0146b.zip
Save after: N/A
Description: When you gain a technology advance, the quote and the description
rearrange themselves as you scroll downwards (I have noticed this in
800x600 and 1024x768). This makes reading long quotes or descriptions
difficult.

Saved game: End the turn. You will learn the technology
"Centauri Ecology". If you scroll down in the quote, some of the words
from the first line are moved to the second line, etc.

zsozso · January 15, 2000, 19:10

BugID: #0147, SE_News
Submitter: Gnome, jareth@gate.net
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: UI
Status: Request
Priority: 5
Save before: N/A
Save after: N/A
Description: It would be nice if the news window contained
announcements of factions who change their social engineering choices
(at least those you have infiltration or alliance with).

zsozso · January 15, 2000, 19:11

BugID: #0148, Bunker_Terraform_Preference
Submitter: Gnome, jareth@gate.net
Version: Both AX and AC4
Category: UI
Status: Request
Priority: 5
Save before: N/A
Save after: N/A
Description: It would be useful to have an automation preference for
"Automated terraformers can build bunkers" so that you could turn it
off.

zsozso · January 15, 2000, 19:36

BugID: #0149, PBEM_save_and_exit
Submitter: Paul, paulvandenbelt@planet.nl
Version: Alpha Centauri v4
Category: UI
Status: Confirmed
Priority: 4
Save before: N/A
Save after: N/A
Description: at the end of a pbem turn when I choose save and exit the game will lock
after it has saved. The only thing I can do to get out of it is ctrl-alt-del.

Luckily the saved game still works, but it's still annoying. This happens every time in
all my pbem games.

warpage: I get the same thing, but only with a less-than-full install and the CD not present.
With a full install or the CD around, I can exit PBEM/hotseat games and not have to
CTRL-ALT-DEL my way back to the desktop.

zsozso: I can also confirm the behaviour as warpage described it.