Distant Worlds 2 Christmas 2019 Sneak Peek!

[xan2622]

About the star field shown on the screenshots: there are way too many stars. I hope you'll lower the number of stars to make the background more realistic.
It currently makes your background image look like it has "grain" on it. [:(] You should also make some stars more bright (a few of them).

Also, nebulas are a bit shy.. I hope you'll make them bigger and more colourful, more vivid.

I know that everything is subject to change, that this is an Alpha preview of the game, but I just wanted to share with you my first impressions about graphics.

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[Webbco]

ORIGINAL: xan2622

Also, nebulas are a bit shy.. I hope you'll make them bigger and more colourful, more vivid.

Everything is so subjective...I happen to love the 'shy' nebulas. Gives a greater sense of being in the void of interstellar deep space. So many games over-do it on nebulas, making them all the colours of the rainbow. Guessing for fear of being 'boring'. Homeworld, for eg, is far too orange for me, it's off-putting!

[BlueTemplar]

ORIGINAL: Hanekem

Same goes for the cheap 3D, I prefer a more pleasing 2D than something that looks out of, dunno 2005? that wouldn't have been out of place from Space Empires 5

What's wrong with Space Empires (4/)5 models (or other games from circa [strike]2005[/strike] 2006 ?)
It's funny, wasn't Distant Worlds also criticized, when it came out in 2010 as "something that looks out of 1998" ? [:D]

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Katarkus87
- Will there be new Components to increase Empire Influence over nearby Systems? (for Starbases)
- Any Plans for an Ammunition System (Railguns,Torpedoes,Missiles) to increase importance of Resupply Ships and Ammo Storage Components for Ships and Starbases?
- Will it be possible for Colonies to Revolt against Player or AI because of Government Type? (f.E Colony X wants a Socialist Revolution instead of living under a Monarchy of the Player/AI)
- Can Player/AI charge Fee for Trade with other Empires to steer Relations in a Economic Way? (f.E as Ackdarian set 5% on Humans and 20% on Gizurean in Empire Policies)
- Can Player/AI enslave Minorities (or worse) in the Empire to Boost Construction Speed in General or field cheap Slave Armies? (Would be a nice Mechanic for a Evil Race like Dhayut or Boskara)

Very interesting questions! Unfortunately, I can only answer one of them at this point. We do not track ammunition for ships. This idea was brought up very early on in development but we decided against it for various reasons, among which the fact that "fuel" is already used up faster in combat and effectively represents the cost of firing your weapons and the need to resupply well enough for our purposes. We may revisit this at some future date, but not for this release.

The other questions are in areas I simply can't discuss yet. I realize we've opened the flood gates with our preview, but we are still working on a few final features and we're not yet in beta, so there's really a lot we are not yet prepared to discuss. Feel free to fish, but be prepared for this type of reply. [:)]

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: xan2622
About the star field shown on the screenshots: there are way too many stars. I hope you'll lower the number of stars to make the background more realistic.
It currently makes your background image look like it has "grain" on it. [:(] You should also make some stars more bright (a few of them).

Also, nebulas are a bit shy.. I hope you'll make them bigger and more colourful, more vivid.

I know that everything is subject to change, that this is an Alpha preview of the game, but I just wanted to share with you my first impressions about graphics.

Thanks, ultimately the final look on these will come together during testing, based on the feedback of customers like you. If we get sufficient feedback that folks don't like a particular part of the visuals, we'll change or improve that part.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: BlueTemplar
It's funny, wasn't Distant Worlds also criticized, when it came out in 2010 as "something that looks out of 1998" ? [:D]

Well, this is true. [8D] It's probably not surprising and it's feedback we're used to getting because it's just not possible for a team our size to really be on the cutting edge graphically. With that said, I do think DW2 looks much better than DW1 did and I think once folks get a chance to play it they'll agree.

[Cauldyth]

Gameplay first, graphics second. [:)]

That being said, whoever designed that Ackdarian space port, give them a Christmas bonus!

[xan2622]

ORIGINAL: Webbco
Everything is so subjective...I happen to love the 'shy' nebulas. Gives a greater sense of being in the void of interstellar deep space. So many games over-do it on nebulas, making them all the colours of the rainbow. Guessing for fear of being 'boring'. Homeworld, for eg, is far too orange for me, it's off-putting!

I also agree (to your opinion about the very colourful nebulas in some games).
What I would NOT like to see: https://www.google.com/search?q=nebulas&sxsrf=ACYBGNQaxzOZQPO2m8Xgl2W5nmPMtz_xkw:1576940671942&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjUydTkgcfmAhWk4YUKHbSnCVEQ_AUoAXoECA0QAw&biw=2128&bih=1303

Examples of star fields and nebulas that I like:

From Celestial Command:
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamco ... 286046.jpg
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamco ... b1b35b.png
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamco ... 22d17d.png

From Stellaris:
https://www.wargamer.com/assets/BlogPos ... 8dd526.jpg
https://i.redd.it/6gcrbofw18ly.jpg
https://i.redd.it/1l4cuwyisy541.jpg

[Webbco]

Yeah, I like all those examples too [8D]. Still quite subtle but there's a bit more oomph to them.

[BlueTemplar]

Too bright nebula can distract from gameplay indeed...

Homeworld gets more orange as in your quest you get closer to the center of the galaxy, so there's a good reason there !

Also Relic did an impressive job by making their ships legible both against a dark or light background !

[Katarkus87]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins


Very interesting questions! Unfortunately, I can only answer one of them at this point. We do not track ammunition for ships. This idea was brought up very early on in development but we decided against it for various reasons, among which the fact that "fuel" is already used up faster in combat and effectively represents the cost of firing your weapons and the need to resupply well enough for our purposes. We may revisit this at some future date, but not for this release.

The other questions are in areas I simply can't discuss yet. I realize we've opened the flood gates with our preview, but we are still working on a few final features and we're not yet in beta, so there's really a lot we are not yet prepared to discuss. Feel free to fish, but be prepared for this type of reply. [:)]

Thanks for the swift answer [:)]

[stuart3]

I get that we have to research hull sizes and that's good, but are ship hulls still infinitely expandable via retrofitting? That was always one of the most "gamey" aspects of DW1. In real life once a vessel's hull has been built then it's fixed. Retrofitting can cram it with advanced weaponry and other technology until it becomes inconveniently overfull, but eventually you have to build a bigger new vessel and relegate the obsolescent one to a secondary theatre and eventually scrap it. Triremes didn't morph into Napoleonic ships of the line and on into Dreadnoughts while remaining the same original ships. It would be nice if DW2 recognised this reality.

[Drumline2]

Hey Erik, love the quick responses to everyone's questions! We really appreciate it. Not sure if you'll be able to answer it because you've only gotten into the Ship Design but here goes.
Are there any plans for Megastructures? With the scale of the galaxy being what it is for DW2, Megastructures would be truly impressive to see/build. I know DWU had the Mega Shipyards buildable on planet but would be really cool to have it be an actual build-able project in space. Would introduce more interesting tactical/strategic value to these objects that could make for interesting scenarios

[Dipluz]

Thank You very much for the update Erik! I am really looking forward to play this long missed next chapter in the Distant Worlds :[8D][&o]

[darkriot]

That’s awesome! Another question will we be able to customize the ships any other way besides components? To be able to tweak colors or such?
And will the weapons look differently the ship depending on the types of weapon in the slot?

[WinzLer]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: WinzLer
also I guess I had two questions... Can you finally build star bases that act like trade hubs out in space rather than having to use the planets as the hubs only?

In DW1 you could build stations out in space, could you please elaborate on your question a bit?

Yes you could build star bases out in space but, if I wanted to build a star base out close to resources and have the private sector ships use that star base to drop those resources off they would ignore my star base and still transport those resources to the planet trade ports. Will D2 have the ability to use star bases in this way?

[Katarkus87]

Hey Erik,

Did you think of it, to set up an official Distant Worlds Discord Server for General Interaction with the Community?
You could reach more People nowadays and stuff like Bug Reports, Mod Discussions and Patch Notes could be handled over there.

[drillerman]

Hi Elliot,
Nice to hear from you again. I gotta say you haven't changed much in the last few years! You still look exactly the same, maybe a touch "greener".[:D]

[OnePercent]

ORIGINAL: Katarkus87

Hey Erik,

Did you think of it, to set up an official Distant Worlds Discord Server for General Interaction with the Community?
You could reach more People nowadays and stuff like Bug Reports, Mod Discussions and Patch Notes could be handled over there.

This is something the devs should seriously consider, Discord is an excellent means to draw a community together towards any game project in real time.

It would also be a very wise method of allocating play testers, as you can set private sections of the discord purely to play testers etc who can report directly to the devs.