Question Thread.

[Aroddo]

For widescreen support for older (and sometimes new) games visit http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/

There are plenty of solutions listed for widescreen and surround gaming and some guys are still actively modding (I released some patches for dungeon siege 2 and civilization 4 a loooong time ago).

[SeanD]

And getting Armada 2525 is easy, too. Just look for it on abandonware sites like BLANK

Please do not post abandonware sites.

[SeanD]

Are initial AI "strategies" randomly assigned toAI empires at startup? Is there a weighting process in which some races are more likely to be assigned a given initial strategy and, if so can this weight be modded by players?

I believe strategies can be modded by the player but races have the same overall "world view" / strategy - it isn't a randomly changing thing.

Are all initial strategies always available to all empires, or are some strategies limited so that only those empires with a specific starting race can be assigned them? If the latter, can players mod which strategies are available to which empires?

]I don't think "strategies" are implemented in the way that you're suggesting by your question. There aren't strategies like "aggressive" or "economics" or "technological" that you can select from a drop down box. Some races may have these types of overall goals but the strategies concept isn't really that "in your face" and it isn't central to the game.

Is ability to produce the larger warship hulls dependent to a significant extent on a colony's population?

Yes. Advanced structures need population to staff them. If you have a small population you won't have enough people to run an advanced shipyard that is needed for larger craft.

Roughly how many turns will it take before the populations of some indvidual colonies of an empire start to exceed the home world's population? I'd like your guess as to range, with "150-200 turns" being an example.

This is really hard to gauge to be honest. I've played the heck out of this game but these aren't things I pay particularly close attention to. This depends on the nature of the planet, your build order for a colony. You could theoretically make a planet exceed your home world's population very quickly if you conquer enemy planets and ship population in (or "import" population I guess you could say).

I don't want to give you exact turns but I believe a universe that has a few nice verdant planets lying around may allow you to balloon your population up in a few dozen turns. Don't hold me to this, please. I'm guessing because I want to field your questions as best I can.

Same question, but in terms of hours of play. How many hours of game play does it take, on the average, before the populations of some individual colonies of an empire start to exceed the home world's population? I'd like your guess as to range, with "15-20 hours" being an example.

Haha, if I paid attention to the clock I'd be ruining part of the game's appeal! A few hours I guess but really I have no idea. The advantage of working at Matrix is they can't yell at me when I sink half a day into "learning about our products." So I often don't glance up at the clock when I'm sitting down to do some serious gaming. [:D]

When you (Sean) are playing a game and, in your opinion, have a pretty good-sized empire, about how long does it take you to enter the average move and fight the average number of battles for that game period?

Wow you're laying on the tough questions. [;)] Again I will lead with the caveat that I don't watch the clock very closely so "how long does it take" queries I'm generally at a loss for. I can say that I like to micromanage EVERY flippin' colony I have. I want to know what they're producing, what's their defensive situation, are they making money, etc. etc. So for me a decent sized empire (with a couple dozen colonies maybe) may take a while to play. If you like to do "big picture" things and you don't want to sweat the small stuff even very large empires you could probably bang out a turn with plenty of fleet movement in only a few minutes. This is predicated on the assumption that you're letting the AI governors work their magic in lieu of your active involvement.

Does space combat involve any sensor and jamming issues (ECM & ECCM)?

No it does not. But there is cloaking which makes your ships harder to detect on the strategic side so they can slip past lurking enemy fleets.

[ypsylon]

ORIGINAL: martok

Damn, that sucks ypsylon. Can you still play it at all, or is the game's display too small on your screen now?

Native resolution for BOTF is 1024*768 and installation running smoothly. Starting game is the place where everything going wrong. My native res is 2048*1152 (23" 16/9) and I see splash screen for a brief moment but then game hangs. And only what left ctrl+alt+del > kill botf.exe.

I will check that WSforum later. I never thought that there is such thing. [:D] Could be worth a look.

ORIGINAL: SeanD

Haha, if I paid attention to the clock I'd be ruining part of the game's appeal! A few hours I guess but really I have no idea. The advantage of working at Matrix is they can't yell at me when I sink half a day into "learning about our products." So I often don't glance up at the clock when I'm sitting down to do some serious gaming.

'Oh dear is that 3.00 in the morning already?'

I bet A2526 is another game which fit this sentence perfectly. [;)]

[Aroddo]

ORIGINAL: ypsylon

'Oh dear is that 3.00 in the morning already?'

I bet A2526 is another game which fit this sentence perfectly. [;)]

Just ... one ... more ... turn.

http://civanon.org/members.shtml#

[Iceman]

Yes. Advanced structures need population to staff them. If you have a small population you won't have enough people to run an advanced shipyard that is needed for larger craft.

Hmm, not really. You need as much pop for a high level shipyard as for a low level one [;)]

[Iceman]

ORIGINAL: ypsylon
Is it really so obvious from just this one sentence??? [:'(]

The Cybernetic Republic gave you away [;)]

[ypsylon]

ORIGINAL: Iceman

ORIGINAL: ypsylon
Is it really so obvious from just this one sentence??? [:'(]

The Cybernetic Republic gave you away [;)]

Actually I was thinking about MOO3 Cybernetic form of Government. Just used word Republic. [;)] Still I love deep geo-politic background in every 4x game. To be frank it was the only thing which I enjoyed in Civilization.

I can play Victoria an Empire under the Sun for months every day. Socialism FTW! [:D] But I can't play Civ 4 longer than 15 minutes without losing my temper. Simply too warmongering-oriented without any real depth. It is a bit like DOOM 2D. He he.

[Dodanodo]

I have a question: are there any ships capable of 'eating' other ships or maybe fighters?
this ship looks like he has a mouth so maybe he can?

[Wade1000]

ORIGINAL: ypsylon

ORIGINAL: Iceman

ORIGINAL: ypsylon
Is it really so obvious from just this one sentence??? [:'(]

The Cybernetic Republic gave you away [;)]

Actually I was thinking about MOO3 Cybernetic form of Government. Just used word Republic. [;)] Still I love deep geo-politic background in every 4x game. To be frank it was the only thing which I enjoyed in Civilization.

I can play Victoria an Empire under the Sun for months every day. Socialism FTW! [:D] But I can't play Civ 4 longer than 15 minutes without losing my temper. Simply too warmongering-oriented without any real depth. It is a bit like DOOM 2D. He he.

I love Civilization 4 Beyond the Sword. The often war orientation in it is in relation to the time scope of the game. 4000 BC to modern time HAS resulted in a multitude of wars on the planet. Where as, a game set in a SPECIFIC time frame might have a slow build up of your military that MIGHT result in war.

Also, In Civilization 4 you could, of course, never war and still have several ways to win. The five victory conditions are optional. They are conquest, diplomatic, science, domination, and cultural.

[SeanD]

Ah yes, the space squid. No, he doesn't eat ships - the advantage of this guy is he's a decent ship that has very little upkeep cost. Since it's a living thing (for the most part) it can look out for itself so a lot of the maintenance that can get so expensive on your capital ships isn't really a factor here.

[Wade1000]

ORIGINAL: SeanD

Ah yes, the space squid. No, he doesn't eat ships - the advantage of this guy is he's a decent ship that has very little upkeep cost. Since it's a living thing (for the most part) it can look out for itself so a lot of the maintenance that can get so expensive on your capital ships isn't really a factor here.

Sweet! The space squid is a usable unit and not an encounter?. Sounds similiar to some science fiction that has ships that are alive with their own personalities.

Is the space squid constructed/grown by industry? Is it controlled or does it act on it's own for you in a battle?

[Aroddo]

The space squid is a pretty powerful and inexpensive system defense ship. It's one of a couple of ships that are going to be popular for "turtle"-strategy players.

[martok]

Another random question: Will other factions' fleets display their current heading, so that we can try and intercept them if we wish? (This is assuming, of course, that the player -- human or AI -- can detect them.)

I know it's a small thing overall, but it really bothers me that so many space 4X games seem to lack this feature. It's rather annoying that I have to try and guess where a fleet is going; since I can detect said fleet, it seems like I should also be able to determine its current vector as well.

[ypsylon]

ORIGINAL: martok

Another random question: Will other factions' fleets display their current heading, so that we can try and intercept them if we wish? (This is assuming, of course, that the player -- human or AI -- can detect them.)

I know it's a small thing overall, but it really bothers me that so many space 4X games seem to lack this feature. It's rather annoying that I have to try and guess where a fleet is going; since I can detect said fleet, it seems like I should also be able to determine its current vector as well.

Oh yes. Cardassian Obsidian Order Very Long Range Scanner (what was it range, 9 parsecs/sectors?). Nothing can hide from us. [:D] It would be reallllllly strange if you couldn't predict where enemy fleet is going when they are inside sensor range.

BTW. I just though about one thing which is in parts connected to classic MOO1, Star Trek and Star Wars. How is ground to fleet communication represented? Is it MOO1 style where you needed Hyperspace Communication tech in order to change flying path when fleet is already on the move, or maybe it is ST style where subspace comm is available right from the start and changing destination for already moving fleet is non-issue or SW style where ships moving from point to point without ability to change destination until end of the light speed jump?

And that Squid thingy looks like ship from 'Genesis Rising' where you morphing ship depending on what genes you own.

[martok]

ORIGINAL: ypsylon

Oh yes. Cardassian Obsidian Order Very Long Range Scanner (what was it range, 9 parsecs/sectors?). Nothing can hide from us. [:D]

It's the Covert Sensor Array, and it has a scanning range of a whopping 6 sectors. (Not to be confused with the Obsidian Order, which provides a hefty 35% bonus to all intel.) [8D]

ORIGINAL: ypsylon

It would be reallllllly strange if you couldn't predict where enemy fleet is going when they are inside sensor range.

I know, and yet it seems like many space strategy titles have this very issue: BOTF, the GalCiv series, the Space Empires series....none of these games allow for real fleet interception (on the strategic map, that is), and it drives me a little batty at times.

The only 4x titles where having no interception ability makes sense are games based on sci-fi universes where fleets aren't detectable while traveling at FTL speeds. Both Star Wars titles Rebellion (or Supremacy for European fans) and Empire at War are good examples of this, but they seem to be the exception to the rule.

[SeanD]

Sweet! The space squid is a usable unit and not an encounter?. Sounds similiar to some science fiction that has ships that are alive with their own personalities.

Is the space squid constructed/grown by industry? Is it controlled or does it act on it's own for you in a battle?

It's a usable unit. You can research it and everything. You can make it just like a regular ship and control it.

Another random question: Will other factions' fleets display their current heading, so that we can try and intercept them if we wish? (This is assuming, of course, that the player -- human or AI -- can detect them.)

No trajectory, sorry. It's hard to intercept something in the middle of deep space at any rate. While it's possible to do battle in deep space, most of the time if you can guess which planet the enemy fleet is headed for you'll want to meet them there as that's where the real strategic importance lies (plus if it's YOUR planet you have the added bonus of defenses.

How is ground to fleet communication represented? Is it MOO1 style where you needed Hyperspace Communication tech in order to change flying path when fleet is already on the move, or maybe it is ST style where subspace comm is available right from the start and changing destination for already moving fleet is non-issue or SW style where ships moving from point to point without ability to change destination until end of the light speed jump?

Initially you can't change the orders you've issued to a fleet that's already embarked on its trip but this is capability is researchable.

[Iceman]

ORIGINAL: martok
Another random question: Will other factions' fleets display their current heading, so that we can try and intercept them if we wish? (This is assuming, of course, that the player -- human or AI -- can detect them.)

I know it's a small thing overall, but it really bothers me that so many space 4X games seem to lack this feature. It's rather annoying that I have to try and guess where a fleet is going; since I can detect said fleet, it seems like I should also be able to determine its current vector as well.

You have this in Lost Empire: Immortals - intercept and knowing fleets' destinations - and in BotF2: Supremacy (still in the making) - interception.

Knowing a fleet's destination requires the movement path to be a straight line. It doesn't happen in all games... and guess what. [:)]

[Tom_Holsinger]

Birth of the Federation (original edition) allowed interceptions.  The feature was limited, but it did work.  It seemed to be most commonly effective in intercepting attempts to build outposts.

[Ntronium]

The game doesn't give you the exact destination of a fleet, but does show you where it came from last turn, so you can see the direction and speed it's going. In practice you can usually guess it's destination, particularly once it gets close. However, having to plan your moves without perfect information on what the enemy is going to do, is part of the charm of a WEGO system.