Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
Moderator: maddog986
RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
Just read the concept and it looks very interesting.What are the plans for diplomacy and ship combat,design.
RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
Hello old chap..what happened to the space combat game? had loads of promise.
RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
Hey Ashbery76! I see you all the time on the DW forums!
Well, diplomacy is still in the planning stages, but it will involve creating diplomatic edicts. I haven't decided exactly what will be possible yet, but technology trading will not be one of them.
As far as ship combat and design, as an Emperor you won't be blueprinting your Empire's latest lethal designs ala Space Empires. Here's how it will work for the most part. First, you need to decide as the player what kind of Navy you want: small and fast? Large and ponderous fleets? Missile heavy? Beam and gauss dependent? Stealth capable?
You will then designate a research focus, say Fleet Protocol, and allocate research priority to that and maybe Missile Theory. You will eventually receive a breakthrough, but it will be a generated technology, so your missile technology might be a ASM-72 "Shrike" with long-range capability but with a small warhead, but a very high pK. You can then review the proposed weapon system for further development or scrap the project at this point, which keeps half the research in the area for potential additional ideas.
So if you like the basic idea of the weapon system, you can then designate the weapon system for Refinement status: higher range, higher pK, higher warhead? Higher stealth? You will have some more 'micro' control at that point, but you won't know exactly what improvement will occur until your research makes a breakthrough. Of course, all this takes time, money, and data (generated from labs). From there, you will have ship classes and the ability to designate roles, i.e missile fleet, beam fleet, carrier task force, etc. and your War Prime will create and deploy the fleets as he interprets your wishes.
To use a modern-day example, think of the President of the US saying to the Chairman of the JCOS, "We need fighter jets with better stealth technology that can put a missile in a bunker from 80 miles". Your design and science teams will take that general request and create the platform and weapons system from your request! Thus, you will have some control over the type of military without having to micromanage each design - and you won't quite know how each platform will turn out since they will be procedurally generated every game from your choices!
Ship combat will be very abstract for now. Think EU4/Victoria combat. As the Emperor, you can travel with your battle fleet for morale and inspiration, but you won't have direct control over the battle, nor will you manually move your fleets around the quadrant - that's what your admirals are for! You will instead issue War Plan Edicts.
War Plan Edicts are where basically you will be able to say, "Draw up a major fleet action in the Saragon Sector and execute within 6 months" - and your War Prime will create a battle plan based on your request and the amount of resources (read:ships and money) you allocate to his plan. The more time you give your War Prime to create and refine the war plan, the better your fleet will operate and the more ships he will be able to allocate.
War Plan Edicts can scope from a planet invasion to a sector assault, but failure to give your War Prime enough time or allocate enough ships to do the job properly could result in disaster (and your PoSup not looking too great) and if you repeatedly try to cut corners with your War Prime they can resign in protest at best - or simply plot to kill you at worst!
So that's Imperia's battle/ship system in a nutshell. Hope that helps!
-Steve
Well, diplomacy is still in the planning stages, but it will involve creating diplomatic edicts. I haven't decided exactly what will be possible yet, but technology trading will not be one of them.
As far as ship combat and design, as an Emperor you won't be blueprinting your Empire's latest lethal designs ala Space Empires. Here's how it will work for the most part. First, you need to decide as the player what kind of Navy you want: small and fast? Large and ponderous fleets? Missile heavy? Beam and gauss dependent? Stealth capable?
You will then designate a research focus, say Fleet Protocol, and allocate research priority to that and maybe Missile Theory. You will eventually receive a breakthrough, but it will be a generated technology, so your missile technology might be a ASM-72 "Shrike" with long-range capability but with a small warhead, but a very high pK. You can then review the proposed weapon system for further development or scrap the project at this point, which keeps half the research in the area for potential additional ideas.
So if you like the basic idea of the weapon system, you can then designate the weapon system for Refinement status: higher range, higher pK, higher warhead? Higher stealth? You will have some more 'micro' control at that point, but you won't know exactly what improvement will occur until your research makes a breakthrough. Of course, all this takes time, money, and data (generated from labs). From there, you will have ship classes and the ability to designate roles, i.e missile fleet, beam fleet, carrier task force, etc. and your War Prime will create and deploy the fleets as he interprets your wishes.
To use a modern-day example, think of the President of the US saying to the Chairman of the JCOS, "We need fighter jets with better stealth technology that can put a missile in a bunker from 80 miles". Your design and science teams will take that general request and create the platform and weapons system from your request! Thus, you will have some control over the type of military without having to micromanage each design - and you won't quite know how each platform will turn out since they will be procedurally generated every game from your choices!
Ship combat will be very abstract for now. Think EU4/Victoria combat. As the Emperor, you can travel with your battle fleet for morale and inspiration, but you won't have direct control over the battle, nor will you manually move your fleets around the quadrant - that's what your admirals are for! You will instead issue War Plan Edicts.
War Plan Edicts are where basically you will be able to say, "Draw up a major fleet action in the Saragon Sector and execute within 6 months" - and your War Prime will create a battle plan based on your request and the amount of resources (read:ships and money) you allocate to his plan. The more time you give your War Prime to create and refine the war plan, the better your fleet will operate and the more ships he will be able to allocate.
War Plan Edicts can scope from a planet invasion to a sector assault, but failure to give your War Prime enough time or allocate enough ships to do the job properly could result in disaster (and your PoSup not looking too great) and if you repeatedly try to cut corners with your War Prime they can resign in protest at best - or simply plot to kill you at worst!
So that's Imperia's battle/ship system in a nutshell. Hope that helps!
-Steve
ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76
Just read the concept and it looks very interesting.What are the plans for diplomacy and ship combat,design.
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RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
Hey Wodin! Long time no see!
Well... basically, I didn't back up as often as I should and I lost a lot of the code. [:@] But on the bright side, I got a ton of knowledge and experience that I am now using on Imperia! So... not a total loss!
Have you checked out the game blog? http://imperiagame.wordpress.com That's where I'm updating the state of the game, adding screenshots, etc. Check it out!
Steve
ORIGINAL: wodin
Hello old chap..what happened to the space combat game? had loads of promise.
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RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
How about bunch of entities without particular alignment to Empire, any other nation, sector, or system? Mercenaries, religions, merchant guilds, space pirates, business enterprises that spread all over the map etc. Those would be available for hire, either by player, by someone else in player's Empire, neutral/opposing party etc. One could also change status: unloyal military force becomes mercenary force, later pirate force, it conquers & occupies system and becomes independent system government...ORIGINAL: Texashawk
Some great ideas there... keep 'em coming, Matti!!
Would we like about political marriages to reinforce ties between regions or other entities? Player offers noble woman and her sector to commander of sizeable mercenary force, who then becomes player's senior general/admiral and his forces part of player's organization.
You know what they say, don't you? About how us MechWarriors are the modern knights, how warfare has become civilized now that we have to abide by conventions and rules of war. Don't believe it.
MekWars
MekWars
RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen
How about bunch of entities without particular alignment to Empire, any other nation, sector, or system? Mercenaries, religions, merchant guilds, space pirates, business enterprises that spread all over the map etc. Those would be available for hire, either by player, by someone else in player's Empire, neutral/opposing party etc. One could also change status: unloyal military force becomes mercenary force, later pirate force, it conquers & occupies system and becomes independent system government...ORIGINAL: Texashawk
Some great ideas there... keep 'em coming, Matti!!
Would we like about political marriages to reinforce ties between regions or other entities? Player offers noble woman and her sector to commander of sizeable mercenary force, who then becomes player's senior general/admiral and his forces part of player's organization.
Well, there will be splinter factions that you can reunite under your empire via various means. Doing so will not only add the benefits of the planets (or not, if they're in bad shape) but it will improve your popular support since your people are seeing you actually rebuild the Empire and seeing it in action. Pirates is a good idea - don't know if it would be actually something you could attack or come up as an event that you could mitigate if you spent more money on piracy patrols. Don't know about marriages. That might be a bit much for this version. But I like the pirates!
Thanks Matti!
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RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
Good news, Imperia Alpha v.0225 is now LIVE!! Please note that the resolution conversion is not complete - the planet screen still is fixed resolution, which will be in the next update. I did want to get the alpha out regardless so that people could at least see what it's all about... remember it's VERY early days for Imperia! The Sourceforge link is on the blog at http://imperiagame.wordpress.com
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RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
Excuse me, what does that mean?ORIGINAL: Texashawk
Please note that the resolution conversion is not complete - the planet screen still is fixed resolution.
You know what they say, don't you? About how us MechWarriors are the modern knights, how warfare has become civilized now that we have to abide by conventions and rules of war. Don't believe it.
MekWars
MekWars
RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen
Excuse me, what does that mean?ORIGINAL: Texashawk
Please note that the resolution conversion is not complete - the planet screen still is fixed resolution.
That folks who do not have a 1920 X 1080 display or above are going to have problems.
Darkspire
RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
ORIGINAL: Darkspire
ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen
Excuse me, what does that mean?ORIGINAL: Texashawk
Please note that the resolution conversion is not complete - the planet screen still is fixed resolution.
That folks who do not have a 1920 X 1080 display or above are going to have problems.
Darkspire
For this release. Next release will have universal resolution functionality across all screens.
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RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
Impressive...you really get Matrix to publish your game at some point.
RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
alpha build works well, music sounds really good, nice and easy to load and is quick to setup, looks good and i have had a quick look around, no idea what i'm doing so just pressing on anything and seeing what it does, looks like a lot of time and effort has gone onto this, will watch it's progress and see how you get on, and good luck to you, hope it goes well for you, fingers crossed....
Windows 11 Pro 64-bit (25H2) (26200.7309)
RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
I got home from work just moment ago and it is already 20:35 in this timezone. I'll try arrange some time for playtest in near future...
You know what they say, don't you? About how us MechWarriors are the modern knights, how warfare has become civilized now that we have to abide by conventions and rules of war. Don't believe it.
MekWars
MekWars
RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen
I got home from work just moment ago and it is already 20:35 in this timezone. I'll try arrange some time for playtest in near future...
Good luck! Check out the blog, I have posted some documentation links and a quick start guide... let me know if you have questions!
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RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
ORIGINAL: zakblood
alpha build works well, music sounds really good, nice and easy to load and is quick to setup, looks good and i have had a quick look around, no idea what i'm doing so just pressing on anything and seeing what it does, looks like a lot of time and effort has gone onto this, will watch it's progress and see how you get on, and good luck to you, hope it goes well for you, fingers crossed....
Thanks for the kind words zakblood! This is just the start...
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RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
Alpha .226 is released!! Lots of great changes...
Imperia V.226 Change Log
5.20.14
Fixes
* Fixed bug where deleting a system edict caused crash
* Fixed ‘rounding’ bug when adding Influence to an Edict
* Fixed rare bug where planets had identical populations and the Intel screen was accessed
* Fixed bug where crash occurs if you abandon a planet or system with active Edicts that are not completed that turn
* Fixed bug where viceroy would refuse to expand a sector based on the fact that the planet was losing money when it fact it was not
* Fixed bug where expanding a planet economy could cause the development level to go above the maximum
* Fixed bug where Edict ADM values in selection lists would not always match up with Edict Creation screen ADM values
* Fixed bug where if the system capital was abandoned and no other planet was in the sector, the sector would still remain active, even though there was no population, and the governors would still be assigned to an empty sector/system. Now all governors are removed from office, the sector is made inactive, and any money in the sector treasury goes into the Empire treasury.
* Fixed a few bugs relating to assassinations.
Changes/Additions
* Added full resolution support across all screens, including the planet screen
* Improved look of most resolutions by scaling all viewports and graphics more precisely – continued work on this will be ongoing
* Added some of Nadia’s awesome planets, especially gas giants
* Dimmed out buttons on button bar which don’t function yet to minimize confusion
* Changed economic model to now take planetary subsidies if needed from sector treasuries first before the Imperial treasury. This will promote developing stronger sectors while penalizing weak economic sectors in assisting their system’s projects, since if they go broke the sector will now receive a subsidy from the Empire with a small efficiency penalty depending on distance
* With this change, added AI for sector governors to adjust the sector tax as needed, depending on their intelligence, greed, and other traits
* Added right-click on system will center functionality on the quadrant map. This is experimental and may be removed or optioned depending on feedback.
* Added assigning system to new sector edict, and added UI functionality to allow other edicts with secondary choices (such as designations)
* Added new planetary edict – change primary designation
* Added 2 new designations – government nexus and material production world
* Added more system and planet names, and eliminated duplicate planet/system names - may have fixed a bug related to duplicate names
* Added basic designation effects – i.e. heavy production worlds now have negative terraforming modifiers, but greater wages, etc.
* Added attempt to assassinate character action – must have active informer network and costs 5 Tyrannical Influence. More informers improves chance; a high character Power and Intelligence lowers it. May take several turns to resolve.
* Some small calculating efficiency gains, especially between turns
* Added check to potentially add ADM for emperor every year
* Added more reactions to events and emperor Edicts that affect governors and viceroys, especially changing system assignments
* Some small graphics improvements/changes
Balance
* Some cost/edict balances; some items cost less ADM, some more (a few were 1 ADM for testing, those have been changed)
* Material production is now considerably more profitable per mTon (to counterbalance increased costs for setting up and maintaining manufacturing) ($10 vs. $4)
* Science production is more costly due to impending Science system addition, prepare for costs!
* Planet ADM has been tweaked upward for sectors and the Imperial capital
* ADM efficiency has been increased from 6:1 to 5:1 for Empire ADM used for planetary Edicts
* Increased empire possible minimum Base Engine Range so that missions are easier (will probably change once science is available, as this will be available to improve)
* Significantly increased effect of Loyalty on Edict completion. Now you will absolutely have to get your leaders into line somehow if you want your more advanced Edicts to be completed this decade. 
* Lowered cost of surveying and exploring to encourage it.
Check the blog for the download link!
Imperia V.226 Change Log
5.20.14
Fixes
* Fixed bug where deleting a system edict caused crash
* Fixed ‘rounding’ bug when adding Influence to an Edict
* Fixed rare bug where planets had identical populations and the Intel screen was accessed
* Fixed bug where crash occurs if you abandon a planet or system with active Edicts that are not completed that turn
* Fixed bug where viceroy would refuse to expand a sector based on the fact that the planet was losing money when it fact it was not
* Fixed bug where expanding a planet economy could cause the development level to go above the maximum
* Fixed bug where Edict ADM values in selection lists would not always match up with Edict Creation screen ADM values
* Fixed bug where if the system capital was abandoned and no other planet was in the sector, the sector would still remain active, even though there was no population, and the governors would still be assigned to an empty sector/system. Now all governors are removed from office, the sector is made inactive, and any money in the sector treasury goes into the Empire treasury.
* Fixed a few bugs relating to assassinations.
Changes/Additions
* Added full resolution support across all screens, including the planet screen
* Improved look of most resolutions by scaling all viewports and graphics more precisely – continued work on this will be ongoing
* Added some of Nadia’s awesome planets, especially gas giants
* Dimmed out buttons on button bar which don’t function yet to minimize confusion
* Changed economic model to now take planetary subsidies if needed from sector treasuries first before the Imperial treasury. This will promote developing stronger sectors while penalizing weak economic sectors in assisting their system’s projects, since if they go broke the sector will now receive a subsidy from the Empire with a small efficiency penalty depending on distance
* With this change, added AI for sector governors to adjust the sector tax as needed, depending on their intelligence, greed, and other traits
* Added right-click on system will center functionality on the quadrant map. This is experimental and may be removed or optioned depending on feedback.
* Added assigning system to new sector edict, and added UI functionality to allow other edicts with secondary choices (such as designations)
* Added new planetary edict – change primary designation
* Added 2 new designations – government nexus and material production world
* Added more system and planet names, and eliminated duplicate planet/system names - may have fixed a bug related to duplicate names
* Added basic designation effects – i.e. heavy production worlds now have negative terraforming modifiers, but greater wages, etc.
* Added attempt to assassinate character action – must have active informer network and costs 5 Tyrannical Influence. More informers improves chance; a high character Power and Intelligence lowers it. May take several turns to resolve.
* Some small calculating efficiency gains, especially between turns
* Added check to potentially add ADM for emperor every year
* Added more reactions to events and emperor Edicts that affect governors and viceroys, especially changing system assignments
* Some small graphics improvements/changes
Balance
* Some cost/edict balances; some items cost less ADM, some more (a few were 1 ADM for testing, those have been changed)
* Material production is now considerably more profitable per mTon (to counterbalance increased costs for setting up and maintaining manufacturing) ($10 vs. $4)
* Science production is more costly due to impending Science system addition, prepare for costs!
* Planet ADM has been tweaked upward for sectors and the Imperial capital
* ADM efficiency has been increased from 6:1 to 5:1 for Empire ADM used for planetary Edicts
* Increased empire possible minimum Base Engine Range so that missions are easier (will probably change once science is available, as this will be available to improve)
* Significantly increased effect of Loyalty on Edict completion. Now you will absolutely have to get your leaders into line somehow if you want your more advanced Edicts to be completed this decade. 
* Lowered cost of surveying and exploring to encourage it.
Check the blog for the download link!
Lifetime "You Magnificent Bastard!" callouts: 5
Lifetime slaps across the face by a female: 2
Lifetime games that hold my attention longer than a month: 3
Lifetime slaps across the face by a female: 2
Lifetime games that hold my attention longer than a month: 3
RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
Hotfix .227 is now out. Fixed an issue with the character screen crashing at very low resolutions.
Lifetime "You Magnificent Bastard!" callouts: 5
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Lifetime slaps across the face by a female: 2
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RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
I gave test run for 0.226, and damn thing keeps crashing. I get to as far as star map, I get to zoom in/out, but if I try do anything else, game will crash. Also some texts are difficult to read on 1920x1080 resolution.
You know what they say, don't you? About how us MechWarriors are the modern knights, how warfare has become civilized now that we have to abide by conventions and rules of war. Don't believe it.
MekWars
MekWars
RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen
I gave test run for 0.226, and damn thing keeps crashing. I get to as far as star map, I get to zoom in/out, but if I try do anything else, game will crash. Also some texts are difficult to read on 1920x1080 resolution.
Hey Matti..
Apparently there is an issue with the system display bar. Whenever you mouse over a system or star, the program will crash for some people. I have created a hotkey to toggle this functionality in the next build while I try to figure out what the issue is. It's not a programming logic issue, which leads me to believe it is a font/graphics issue. The next build will also have save/load capability! It'll be out Sunday sometime.
-Steve
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IainMcNeil
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RE: Announcing Imperia - my latest hobby project - the 5X 4X strategy game!
Looks very cool TexasHawk - you should send us a build to review when you get nearer completion
Iain McNeil
Director
Matrix Games
Director
Matrix Games