How about some game mechanics info, something anything t get the ball rolling.
1. Will there be star bases?
2. How are they built and defened?
3. Can you attack them with Space Marines?
4. Will the combat be tactical?
Please no yes and no answers...we want detail.[;)]
Come on there has to be a lot of info availible for this game if its so close to production. Where are your Beta Testers? Do they have any AARs they can start posting?
Former War in the Pacific Test Team Manager and Beta Tester for War in the East.
Those of you who were either part of the beta test, or were active on the old Supremacy forums should know me. I am a Programmer on this project, and also managed the public beta testing process. When our forum was moved to the Matrix site, we lost all of the old posts (many of which had some great info). I would be glad to answer gameplay questions you have, and I'll do the best I can with what you've posted so far.
> 1. Will there be star bases?
I am not sure what you refer to, but Supremacy has two constructs that may be what you're looking for. First, each planet has a number of factories, which control how much that planet produces each turn. In addition, there are Science Stations scattered throughout space -- these stations can be docked by a Science Vessel, and upgrades can be purchased. Once a station has sold a player an upgrade, the station belongs to that player (and continues to provide this upgrade) unless docked by an enemy Science Vessel.
> 2. How are they built and defened?
If you mean factories, they are built from the space map view, by interacting with a planet during your turn. Building a factory expends that planet's turn (players have turns, and units have turns -- each unit gets one turn per player turn). If you mean Space Stations, they already exist and are not built. To defend them, you must prevent enemy Science Vessels from being able to dock. You do this by protecting grid tiles that adjoin the station.
> 3. Can you attack them with Space Marines?
You cannot attack an enemy's factories, but they are all destroyed if you capture the planet they are built on. You can certainly capture enemy Space Stations, and if you do so, the enemy loses the upgrade it previously provided.
One particularly entertaining example is if the enemy has an upgrade which allows additional factories to be safely built (Safety Protocols). If you capture the Space Station providing this upgrade, and they have excessive factories built, several of there planets may explode on their next turn -- depending on how overzealous they were with factory-building.
> 4. Will the combat be tactical?
Combat in Supremacy is about 60% tactical, and 40% strategic. We have aimed to create a play experience that is heavily combat-oriented, rather than long planning phases. There are many smaller maps, that encourage players to place units effectively to counter unavoidable offenses. In addition, every unit and action has at least one counter -- allowing for excellent tactical choices across the board. On the other hand, because there are many planets on a space map, each with its own ground map (battles happen on both levels), strategy is required to plan future battles. Will you bring a loadout of Groth ground troops from across the map to prepare for the oncoming Altan-heavy battle?
We aim to provide a rewarding experience for both the tactical and strategic player.
I would be glad to answer further questions. If you could start a thread for each major topic, it will make it easier to navigate.
> How do you take a planet?
> Do you first have to control the space over it and then land troops?
The basic sequence for how to capture a planet is as follows:
1) In space, create a freighter (there are 3 to choose from, with various sizes and abilities)
2) Build an army of ground troops
3) Transport the army into the freighter
4) Escort the freighter into enemy territory, destroying enemy vessels that are adjacent to the planet (you must be adjacent to the planet to transport troops to it)
5) Transport some/all troops from the freighter to the planet
6) A ground battle begins, and has its own turn structure while underway -- win it
7) You return to space, gain ownership of the planet, and may continue your turn
When you gain ownership of a new planet, you must wait until your next turn to execute commands from it (e.g. build a factory, a vessel, troops, etc.).
Some additional info: each planet type (there are four) produces several common space and ground units, but also has a set of units unique to that planet class that it can produce. For example, a class F planet can produce all the freighters, and the science vessel, but it can also produce the Cha'ar vessels (if you are skilled enough to possess all of the class F planets on the map, they can also produce a Cha'ar mothership, or if you possess one of each class of planet, it can produce a battle cruiser). The same is true for ground units, each planet class has many unique units it can produce.
It is sometimes worthwhile to send a freighter between different planets you own, to build an army of varied units to suit your playstyle. For example, you may wish to build a Cha'ar and Groth army, if you enjoy fighting your ground battles with both area effect and damage-over-time attacks.
> Do you take over a planet in one battle or are the planets divided up into diffrent sectors that have to be controled?
Ground battles are designed to be quick tactics-style battles. A single ground battle is all that is required to capture a planet should you succeed, but if you fail you can bring several other freighters in the same turn, and attempt to capture it repeatidly.
> Sounds great. I take it only one freighter at a time can unload and attack.
Correct. This gives the defender a possible advantage in a one or two freighter battle, since the planets can hold many more troops than a freighter. However, you can attack repeatidly (with additional freighters) and winnow down a planet's defenses.
> How is Intel handled. Do you have to explore and find the planets and then probe them > to find out what they can build?
There is no fog-of-war in Supremacy, all planets and space stations (as well as enemy troops) are revealed. You can always tell what a planet would produce by hovering over it with your mouse cursor. However, you cannot see how many factories or troops an enemy has on a given planet they control without a special technology upgrade.
In addition, instead of fog-of-war, there is a technology upgrade called "Decoys." This allows you to produce very inexpensive replicas of ships you can already make. Using decoys, you can amass (what appears to be) a giant fleet of ships. This can be countered by Science Vessels supported by a scanning technology upgrade.
> Is there any Tech Research? Can you research better Tech and build better ships and > troops over time?
There are several dozen technology upgrades available for purchase from Space Stations. Each Space Station can provide one upgrade, so you may wish to control several Space Stations to provide various upgrades. Upgrades cost an initial fee, and some may cost additional money as upkeep.
Some upgrades I enjoy are Cloaking (can be countered with scanning upgrade), Orbital Laser (lets your freighters blast planet surfaces during ground battles), and Safety Protocols (lets you safely produce one extra factory on each planet).
There are no upgrades that allow you to create new types of units, but there are several units that become available based on certain game conditions:
1) To gain a Battle Cruiser, the most lethal space vessel, you must control at least one of each class of planet (there are 4 classes).
2) Each race has a Mothership, and ONE of these massive vessels can be built when you control all of the planets on the map that belong to that race (for example, controlling all of the Fvost homeworlds lets you create a Fvost Mothership). Motherships act as slow mobile planets, allowing you to create space vessels that belong to that race, as well as the specialized ground units belonging to that race.
