3 Questions

[Hetulik]

Hello,
I have a few questions when you have a free moment to respond.

1) I see on the Distant Worlds Matrix site there are 20 screenshots (http://www.matrixgames.com/products/379 ... ant.Worlds). Are these screenshots available anywhere else in a better resolution? I'm having trouble seeing the details. Usually to see screenshots on the matrix site i'll click "Buy Game" and those have a better resolution, but that's not available yet. The screenshots on the Codeforce website have an excellent resolution as well, but i'm not seeing the 20 there that are on the Matrix site. As a matrix site process improvement I'd love to see quality/resolution of the screenshots on the game information pages improved. But in the meantime i'm curious if those 20 screenshots are available anywhere else?

2) I'm not asking for the release date as last i heard it was early march. But i am curious what major steps are left before you can release the game? Is the final build done? Or is closed beta testing still underway. Or is it mostly a matter of getting the game to the warehouse / setup to be downloaded? I've always felt is was better to take more time to put a quality product out than rushing something to market. Did i hear somewhere that this game has a small dev team and has been in development for multiple years?

3) Last question regarding research. I remember reading there are something like 20 subject areas to research. Do you research one technology at a time exclusively like Civilization, or do you decide where to put your research effort, and that effort can be spread to multiple different places at the same time?

Thanks in advance for answering my questions. I'm impressed how the matrix staff and Distant World devs do an excellent job responding to the forum community.

Regards and thanks,
Hetulik

[drillerman]

Might be able to answer some of these:
 
1. Try the codeforce site: http://www.codeforce.co.nz/gallery.asp
2. AFAIK everything done and dusted. Beta is finished and the game is ready to go, hopefully 1st week in March.
3. Try this thread, it may answer your question/questions?: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2379285
 

[elliotg]

ORIGINAL: Hetulik
1) I see on the Distant Worlds Matrix site there are 20 screenshots (http://www.matrixgames.com/products/379 ... ant.Worlds). Are these screenshots available anywhere else in a better resolution?

Those are fairly new screenshots. They'll eventually make their way to the CodeForce website (www.codeforce.co.nz).

2) I'm not asking for the release date as last i heard it was early march...

We are moving rapidly towards completion. We're trying hard to make sure we get things right. We are a very small team, which has advantages and disadvantages, but you'll have the game as soon as we can get it to you [:)]

3) Last question regarding research. I remember reading there are something like 20 subject areas to research. Do you research one technology at a time exclusively like Civilization, or do you decide where to put your research effort, and that effort can be spread to multiple different places at the same time?

Research is generally spread across multiple areas at the same time. You don't usually have direct control over what is researched. You build different types of research stations to enable research into different areas. You can initiate crash research programs (ala Apollo moon program) to quickly unlock specific components by spending a lot of money.

[martok]

ORIGINAL: elliotg

Research is generally spread across multiple areas at the same time. You don't usually have direct control over what is researched. You build different types of research stations to enable research into different areas. You can initiate crash research programs (ala Apollo moon program) to quickly unlock specific components by spending a lot of money.

Fascinating; I was not aware that research in DW works this way. Having no direct control over normal research could potentially be frustrating, yet it's also more realistic. I'm very intrigued to see how this works!

[ASHBERY76]

Nice new screenshots if only we could see them Matrix.

http://www.matrixgames.com/files/games/ ... height=600

How many years into the game is this.The blue empire look very developed.

[PDiFolco]

Yeah I don't know why Matrix still post that low-res blurry screens instead of normal one ... even on my Iphone it doesn't look good !!

[cdbeck]

Martok, I guess I didn't make this clear in some of the things I said on other forums.

Research is sorta-kinda done like a deeper, cooler, EU3 style. You have different "bars" for different "genres" of research - defenses, beam weapons, hyperdrives, etc. These each require different types of research in certain fields, like Energy, Electronics, etc. Now to say you have "no control" or "little control" is inaccurate, really. Research in all fieds is generated in Spaceports, which build ships, act as star docks, etc. (and they come in small medium and large). However, you can also build specific research stations - High Energy Station, Electronics Station - that serve wholly to generate research points. These can be built near stars (neutron stars can give bonus to research, for example) at unoccupied moons and planets, or in gas fields. So building more and specific types of these tailors your overall research goals. You can also set a priority goal - a specific component - to speed this up.

Now I said it was deeper than EU3, the upgrades are distinct (better troop pod, better civilian transport pod, stuff like that) rather than EU3's "general bonus to trade" style. It's something like EU3 meets Lost Empire Immortals.

SoM

[Sarissofoi]

EU 3 style resarch.
Oh no.
That didnt sound good.
Now I am afraid.

[cdbeck]

Well, it isn't sliders or anything and I think I over simplified it. But it isn't MoO2 research where the scientist comes up and say "What Next Boss?" But to be fair, so many other 4X use the "Civilization" research model, this is something neat (and means you can get near simultaneous advances in different fields).

SoM

[Sarissofoi]

Did you played MoO I?
If not look here.
http://sirian.warpcore.org/moo1/tutorial/tut-7.html
Page about resarch in MoO from great tutorial made by Sirian.
Can you compare DW resarch system with this?

MoO I has the best resarch system ever. Seriously nothing cant compare to that. My personal opinion but hey anyone have favorites.

[martok]

ORIGINAL: Son_of_Montfort

Martok, I guess I didn't make this clear in some of the things I said on other forums.

That, or I'm just too thick-headed to understand what you were saying. (Goodness knows it wouldn't be the first time....)

ORIGINAL: Son_of_Montfort

Research is sorta-kinda done like a deeper, cooler, EU3 style. You have different "bars" for different "genres" of research - defenses, beam weapons, hyperdrives, etc. These each require different types of research in certain fields, like Energy, Electronics, etc. Now to say you have "no control" or "little control" is inaccurate, really. Research in all fieds is generated in Spaceports, which build ships, act as star docks, etc. (and they come in small medium and large). However, you can also build specific research stations - High Energy Station, Electronics Station - that serve wholly to generate research points. These can be built near stars (neutron stars can give bonus to research, for example) at unoccupied moons and planets, or in gas fields. So building more and specific types of these tailors your overall research goals. You can also set a priority goal - a specific component - to speed this up.

Ah, okay. I guess I really was a bit confused on research works then. Thanks SoM; that explains much!

ORIGINAL: Son_of_Montfort

Now I said it was deeper than EU3, the upgrades are distinct (better troop pod, better civilian transport pod, stuff like that) rather than EU3's "general bonus to trade" style. It's something like EU3 meets Lost Empire Immortals.

SoM

Interesting. While I've played a bit of LE:I, I've yet to get into EU3 -- I continue to hold out hope that a new "ultimate" edition including all 3 x-packs will be available on store shelves at some point -- so I have only a partial notion of what you're talking about. Still, you've given me at least somewhat of an idea of what to expect. Thank you, sir!




Finally, I have a slightly OT question: Are there any "civilian" techs in Distant Worlds, or are virtually all of them primarily military in nature?

[cdbeck]

There are some similarities to MoO 1, I hadn't thought of it that way because it has been SOOOO long since I played MoO 1. The general pool of research points going into a set of bars is similar. However, that fine tuned control of "put X points here, shut off these" and "choose the next tech" is not quite the same. You have to think in terms of larger scale macro-management, and with the sheer size of the universe, I think you will see why this is how you want it.

There are non-warfare techs, yes - I mentioned one above - the expanded passenger transportation module.

SoM

[Wade1000]

I can understand that for m of research and accept it. A vast galactic empire might have difficulty having ALL research centers cease researching one are and shift to another or splitting them all in different areas. More realistically, how I understand Distant Worlds to be, is that research would just continue according to how many centers you have with them all automatically reserching various things til a discovery is made; or you build the specialized centers to focus a certain way.

I think the real world is partly that way and partly the traditional gaming standard of allocated percentages.