Distant Worlds: Return of the Shakturi

[Joubarbe]

Do you plan to add other victory conditions ?

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Hi guys,

Some notes on modding support:

* races.txt has additional settings that can be used to control race behavior
o Overall Ship Design Focus: influences both research and design
o Tech Focus 1 & 2: emphasize certain tech areas in both research and design
o Special Government and Preferred Starting Government: allows you to assign any special government type to a race and determine which govt they start with (unless set otherwise in game start)
o Expanding: set to N to have a static empire that does not colonize and is quite reclusive
o Can Be Pirate: flag to indicate whether this race should be used as pirates
o Playable: indicates whether this race can be selected by the player in game setup7
* can now have additional ship image families in the folder images\units\ships. Up to 22 families supported, or limited by your computers memory. Map a race to use these new ship image families in races.txt (Designs picture family index)

MODDING SUPPORT PLANNED POST RELEASE

* file to enable modification of racial biases - customize each races natural disposition towards each other
* maybe other stuff if there's demand for it

Regards,

- Erik

Good start for the modders here...

especially the racial biases modification...that will go a long way for a lot of the mods here (Star Trek, Star Wars, etc)

And is there really any question? Of course we demand it! [:D]

[ASHBERY76]

I see no modding for actual gameplay factors on that list at all.I just see race manipulation options.

[Igard]

Well Shark, you and I discussed racial bias at great length as I recall, so I'm delighted to hear our efforts weren't for nothing.

These are superb additions for modding. I'm very pleased with the expansion setting, though I'm curious to see how it works in balance with the other races.

Up to 22 ship families = The most significant and most appreciated of all the updates for me. Thanks Codeforce and Matrix.[;)]

[Igard]

ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76

I see no modding for actual gameplay factors on that list at all.I just see race manipulation options.

Yes there is much that can still be done, Resource and Component modding would be my next big request.

[The_Great_Mustachio]

ORIGINAL: Wade1000

Fighter combat is cool and all but it's based off of modern times.

1. What are some uber futuristic advances for this science fiction game, beyond merely better levels of damage of various weapons and strength of defenses?

2. Again, what are some mega constructions, like population centers such as enormous ship city/factory modules, Orbital Habitats, Ringworlds, and Dyson Spheres/Sphere worlds? These could be thought of as "wonders" like in the civilization series game.

A future, or any time period, civilization can be measured by their military, economy, happiness, and great mega construction projects that stand the test of time. These projects are often above and beyond the level of grandness comonly known for their time.

In a science fiction, or any, civilization/empire game I like to feel like I am progressing through different ages or epocs in advances instead of merely incremental advances like months throughout a World War 2 game.

3. Oh yeah, also, can we destroy and create mega constructions, planets, and stars?

If the answers are "no" then simply say so. I can take it and still enjoying playing this game and others similiar to it.

I love these in a game because I grew up reading stuff like Freeman Dyson and it's captured my imagination as a child. I essentially start to drool when i see ring or sphere worlds as buildeable structures in a game.

That being said, these mega constructs are really only useful to civilisation that survive on into the second cosmic era where most stars have died or dimmed and red dwarf stars remain the only source of warmth and energy in the universe. At this level of evolution in the universe, it would become very imported for a civilisation bent on survival, to learn how to harness the full potential energy of a star.

Prior to the scarcity of main sequence stars I think it would always be more economic and efficient to simply colonise or terraform existing planets, even if a civilisation was able to technically build ring-worlds or even sphere-worlds. Then again, building these mega structures could offer an especially paranoid civilisation a means to put all their "eggs" into a small and concentrated (nice and xenophobic, easy to defend) area.

I guess it's a point of debate, all that being said I would still very much love to see these in DW, but i think i would prefer it if it were only available to truly advanced civilisations and it would have to offer enormous bonuses (seeing as how stupendously large these constructs are compared to planet surfaces).

Oh yeah... about the expansion

I love everything i've seen so far. It seems like just the other day i was posting about how the tech-tree could use a little love and we could use some more variation in fleets, and now here is exactly that! And I didn't even know this expansion was coming!! Pleasantly surprised is the phrase i would use... definitely excited as well.

[Simulation01]

What about wormholes and jumpgates?

[Igard]

ORIGINAL: Simulation01

What about wormholes and jumpgates?

I think wormholes might make the galaxy feel smaller having short cuts everywhere. On the other hand, strategically important locations are cool to fight over.

Jumpgates would be cool for an advanced, large empire. You could jump a fleet of ships from one side of your empire to respond to a threat on the other side of the empire, saving alot of time.

[Simulation01]

You're right about having too many wormholes making the game feel small, but to counter that you could make only one pair per game.....they would be hard fought gems in the crown of any empire.

[Simulation01]

Today is Saturday.....where is my product page?

[ASHBERY76]

I would have thought carriers ship type should have been factored into the summary and design screens now we have fighters.

[Erik Rutins]

The product page is up in the Coming Soon section. The box art is a placeholder and new screenshots are also on the way, but the information is up to date.

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/398 ... e.Shakturi

[Evil Steve]

Interesting list, Erik. As an aside, is there a way in the expansion to nuance your automated ship design? Design for speed, or defence,or attack, or range etc??

[:)]

Stevil

[Wade1000]

Thanks, Erik. It looks good.
 
I don't suppose either of the two new races are robotic and/or cyborg, or are they?

[ASHBERY76]

••Trace Scanners reveal internal details of enemy ships and bases

This I like.

[J HG T]

ORIGINAL: Wade1000

Thanks, Erik. It looks good.

I don't suppose either of the two new races are robotic and/or cyborg, or are they?

Hoping so. DWs races are well done but it needs more AI and robotics.

Nice list. It seems like Shakturi "may" return, so it's tied to galactic discoveries perhaps. Souns good.

[ASHBERY76]

Has the maximum number of starting Empires been increased for the 2 new races?

[WoodMan]

Sounds like maybe they arrive part way through the game, as they are part of the storyline.

[Arboris]

Erik,

Can you please answer the following question.....


I am still curious if fonts will be addressed in any way?

FONTS (More readable fonts when using higher resolutions) My Monitor's native resolution is 1920x1080.

My eyesight is just not what it use to be and the current fonts are a real struggle for me. Will this issue be addressed?

[Erik Rutins]

Hi guys,

The two new races are part of the storyline, so not playable races (at least at release). However, one of them is robotic - the other as you can probably guess is the Shakturi. I don't want to spoil the storyline, so I can't say much more than that.

Improving visibility is on our list. We hope the new revamped empire policy and empire summary screens will help with that, as well as some of the other interface improvements. We have not changed the font, but some of the other improvements make reading small text less necessary.

Regards,

- Erik