Distant Worlds: Shadows

[Mad Igor]

Erik Rutins,now i know how u made 30K posts [:D]

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: Mad Igor

Erik Rutins,now i know how u made 30K posts [:D]

He's probably worn out a keyboard or two just answering our questions. [:D]

[Bebop Cola]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: Bebop Cola
Will it be possible for an empire to transition back and forth between these states? For example, could a space-based empire capture a planet to become a traditional empire, then return to being spaced-based if their last planet is captured while they still retain say, a construction ship, in play?

Yes, there is a path that space-based empires can pursue (it's not easy though) that will give them control over a planet and they could also lose that planet and be entirely space-based again. It's difficult to eliminate a space-based faction entirely because as long as they have a space port or a resupply ship or a construction ship somewhere, they are still in the game. With the new ability to board and capture other ships and bases, they are quite resilient.

Regards,

- Erik

What about the other way around? Do planet-based empires have a similar opportunity to transition into a space-based empire?

It seems like it would not only fit in with the whole fleeing refugee theme with Legends, but would be a logical extension of a space-based empire's ability to do the same. Whereas the majority of an empire's surviving civilian and military fleet may raise the flag of their conqueror, maybe colonizers, supply ships, constructor, and mining ships(and remote bases) have a chance to remain loyal and form a government in exile. Toss in the rare military vessel and you can have a fun and compelling narrative of a refugee armada looking for a safe place to set down roots and plan the return to their home planets.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: Bebop Cola
I'd also like to see much more done with running costs. Not just raw cash, but resources as well. Large worlds need to be gluttons for resources and those resources need to disappear. Most times I feel like large stockpiles are just shuffled around currently.

We've been thinking along these lines too - the faction-specific resource bonuses in Legends were a step in that direction, but in Shadows each colony consumes strategic resources based on its size and development. If it doesn't get enough, it won't grow and it will keep demanding those resources even if nothing is being built there. We were a bit cautious about doing this earlier for various reasons, but it's working well in Shadows and I think it has a great effect on the economy and gameplay.

Regards,

- Erik

I am quite pleased to see this. I'm interested to see how it will affect gameplay and resource scarcity. Should be interesting. [:)]

[ASHBERY76]

Any love given to the living galaxy part of the game.New monsters,events,planet specials,space loot,new resources,ect.

Oh and a nice screenshot of that new animated ground combat screen would be nice.

[JosEPhII]

ORIGINAL: Kayoz

ORIGINAL: nelsonlee

- New expanded Ground Combat with new troop types and an animated ground battle resolution screen

is it something like Total War?

I think you're being dementedly hopeful.

I'm rather expecting something akin to MOO2's invasion graphics.

Has anyone pointed out to you that your sreenshot is from the 1st MoO not from II? Thought I'd point that out. In MoOII the Soldiers, Tanks, and Battleoids actually moved towards each other on the planets surface (looked like a field with a city in the background) while firing.

Too Many years playing both to let this one pass. [;)] [:D]

JosEPh (MoOIII Keeper of the Roll Call)

[tjhkkr]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: tjhkkr
Will we get a cool contest like last time?
I trully had fun reading all the cool ideas people had?

Hm, I've been thinking about this but hadn't come up with a good one yet. We could do another space monster, or perhaps a unique space-based faction. Any suggestions?
Regards,
- Erik

How about the name of the Pirate/Space Faction and a flag file, the metaphile kind?

[Cruis.In]

can we get clarification on the alternate play styles gameplay?

What does play as a mercenary mean? I control one ship? I get hired and paid to do jobs? Do jobs scaled in payment with difficulty. Is this one of those space based factions you mean? Do I directly control one ship?

Smuggler means smuggling things on a OR my ship through an empire? Again for money?

So I take it space based races will be like operating from a fortress of a space port surrounded by defensive batteries and your fleet. So do you buy/steal resources from other factions? Like ok do I send a fleet of 5 ships to raid a shipping lane, and see these ships individually shooting and disabling ships and board/raid for the resources, which incidentally go in the cargo ship I brought along as part of the fleet? Do you raid a planet? Send in a stealthy ship, orbit planet, beam down infiltrator then after some dice rolling he returns with loot?

Sine it is so complex as it is now to make sure you have the necessary resources to build stuff I am just wondering about the acquisition of resources to sustain yourself as a space based nation. I imagine jobs will have to pay well. Since a nice cruiser costs 15k a ship.

Ok please can you elaborate thanks

[Martian]

Thank you very much for your answers, Erik!

Would you please add more zoom level to the game?

Actually the game now have different close up limit for mouse scroll zoom and manual zoom through "page down" key. Please at least extend mouse scroll zoom to be as close as "page down" zoom. Thank you.

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: JosEPh_II
Has anyone pointed out to you that your sreenshot is from the 1st MoO not from II? Thought I'd point that out. In MoOII the Soldiers, Tanks, and Battleoids actually moved towards each other on the planets surface (looked like a field with a city in the background) while firing.

Too Many years playing both to let this one pass. [;)] [:D]

JosEPh (MoOIII Keeper of the Roll Call)

I bow before your harder and longer nerd gland. Mine is a sad and floppy thing in comparison.

You're right, it is indeed MOO, not MOO2.

[dejagore]

@Erik - please do tell me that there will be some tweaks in the 'colonization' aspect of the game. It's really too easy that You can just setup a colony and take no penalties from it at the beginning. There should be some serious maintenance costs!

[Buio]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Our holiday sale will start very soon and all existing Distant Worlds releases will be included. That means about 33% off until mid-January.
Regards,
- Erik

Rogntudju! I just bought the game and expansions for about 700SEK just a few days ago. Well, it doesn't really matter, appears to be worth the money anyway.

Looking forward to Distant Worlds: Shadows. The features I read about in this thread seems great.

[Ralzakark]

Erik, many thanks for taking the time to reply and for such detailed comments.

Looking forward to this one even more now!

[Cruis.In]

i bought dw 1 day before the sale. yay for me.

[Cruis.In]

how come DW won't or doesnt have a 3d engine? I don't mean isometric or pan all around like Sins necessarily but more like star drive. In DW you seem to zoom in with the mouse wheel in increments 3-6-9 which makes it stuttery, but with star drive and sins you zoom in and its smooth like a floating point increment. 0.1 > 0.2 etc as you scroll and it's fast. No stutter.

Is there plans to ever go with a different rendering engine? How hard would it be to simply render what we see in a more advanced 3d way while keeping the game as it is? I mean it is just the visuals.

SINS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWJT2rCABKs

Star drive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWV6Ky1xNog


see the view in Star drive is just like DW 2d top down, but its 3d. The ships are actual textured models, as you can see them turn and you see the side etc.

[adamsolo]

ORIGINAL: dejagore

@Erik - please do tell me that there will be some tweaks in the 'colonization' aspect of the game. It's really too easy that You can just setup a colony and take no penalties from it at the beginning. There should be some serious maintenance costs!

+1

[Martian]

ORIGINAL: Cruis.In

how come DW won't or doesnt have a 3d engine? I don't mean isometric or pan all around like Sins necessarily but more like star drive. In DW you seem to zoom in with the mouse wheel in increments 3-6-9 which makes it stuttery, but with star drive and sins you zoom in and its smooth like a floating point increment. 0.1 > 0.2 etc as you scroll and it's fast. No stutter.

Is there plans to ever go with a different rendering engine? How hard would it be to simply render what we see in a more advanced 3d way while keeping the game as it is? I mean it is just the visuals.

SINS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWJT2rCABKs

Star drive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWV6Ky1xNog

see the view in Star drive is just like DW 2d top down, but its 3d. The ships are actual textured models, as you can see them turn and you see the side etc.

I agree with you so much!!! Although I am completely happy with 2D ships and planets, but smooth "graphics card powered" engine is a must to fully enjoy DW's great features & mechanics. Unfortunately, right now it feels like using car's engine to propel an airplane (DW's gameplay) - enough to move it out of hangar, but not enough to take off and really fly! [;)]

I understand quite well that writing new engine is not a simple thing to do, but I do really hope Elliot & Erik will make it as one of highest priority for a next big release. [&o][&o][&o]

[Martian]

(removed double post)

[adecoy95]

i dont have a problem with distant worlds graphics personally, i think that sprites age pretty well as a graphics medium in gaming

[Martian]

ORIGINAL: adecoy95

i dont have a problem with distant worlds graphics personally, i think that sprites age pretty well as a graphics medium in gaming

No, sprites are completely ok. I am sure well made sprites can look more pleasant and nicer than 3d objects. I actually think that DW as well as most other strategy games don't need any 3d, unless its directly affecting game mechanics (like in Total War series). But powerful engine able to smoothly visualize, fluently zoom in & out, quickly managing all interface elements is very important in such GRAND SCALE REAL-TIME game as Distant Worlds.
Right now because of engine limits I cant play big maps with 20-30 races. After few hours of play the game's fps drops and interface's slow response becomes very very distracting. Because of that I could never finish any of my big galaxy games. (And although my PC's spec is not top, it's still quite decent: quadcore @ 3,6Ghz, 8Gb of RAM. It's a great pity DW doesn't use my Radeon HD6850, nor any of 3 other cores of my CPU.... [:(])

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: Martian

ORIGINAL: adecoy95

i dont have a problem with distant worlds graphics personally, i think that sprites age pretty well as a graphics medium in gaming

No, sprites are completely ok. I am sure well made sprites can look more pleasant and nicer than 3d objects. I actually think that DW as well as most other strategy games don't need any 3d, unless its directly affecting game mechanics (like in Total War series). But powerful engine able to smoothly visualize, fluently zoom in & out, quickly managing all interface elements is very important in such GRAND SCALE REAL-TIME game as Distant Worlds.
Right now because of engine limits I cant play big maps with 20-30 races. After few hours of play the game's fps drops and interface's slow response becomes very very distracting. Because of that I could never finish any of my big galaxy games. (And although my PC's spec is not top, it's still quite decent: quadcore @ 3,6Ghz, 8Gb of RAM. It's a great pity DW doesn't use my Radeon HD6850, nor any of 3 other cores of my CPU.... [:(])

Sprites are far better from a resource usage point of view. You can make very good looking 3d models for the game...but you have to do one of two things to accomplish it. Have polygon heavy meshes or very detailed, large textures. Both of these are very resource intensive to render on screen. Personally I'd rather have the sprites, easier on the CPU/GPU and more time can be spent on actual gameplay options.