Ground attack interface suggestion

[ReadeB]

I'm sure this is a bridge too far, but a great interface for DW2 Ground attack would be in the interface used in the Steam game ICBM.

Being able to simply zoom into the planet and interact with cities, ground and above ground forces, missiles and defenses would be amazing.

Would be pretty heavy on resources, not to mention managing the many terrains and randomized features.

[Miletkir]

I had been thinking about a simplified Shadow Empire-like version for an expansion of ground combat mechanics and planetary management, but I admit that using the same 3D engine to render those would be pretty darn cool. For performance sake, I guess it would still have to be a separate instance from the rest of the game though (no mixing onscreen of surface planetary and space structures information...).

[Hanekem]

That sounds like a modern Emperor of the fading suns, which would be all kinds of awesome, but don't think if it fits with Distant Worlds


Though, again, a modern Emperor of the Fading Suns would be an awesome game to be had, hint-hint at matrix

[Jorgen_CAB]

To be honest given the scope of the game any sort of involved ground combat model simply would not work well.

A good abstracted and semi involved ground combat model sure... but it would need to be resolved using the current GUI and not needing to drill down in several menus to resolve them.

Ground combat probably should be able to take a very long time to resolve as I guess that resolving ground combat would be highly complex and difficult... that is one reason why any form of detailed combat would be quite impossible to make for a game like this, or at least it should. Invading and taking full control of a world could potentially take years if it would be done right, that would not lend itself well to any form of detail... that would be an entire game on it's own.

[Hanekem]

Agreed and, if you are going to add extra level of detail to the invasion interface, pausable real time isn't the best method, but some form of turn based.
I think that having some more detail would be fine, as having some extra options, but it still needs to be mostly hands off for the player given that there might be other points of interest to oversee.
I'd love some more orbital impact on battle (ortillery at the very least)

I woulnd't be opposed for planetary invasions to take longer, though, could help with the idea of more limited wars, and making wars more expensive.
So most of the time you'd trade a couple of border worlds or the like, but an invasion against a regional capital or a core world would and should be a daunting proposition and give the bombardment options some extra value (either to soften up the planet for invasion or to just remove the planet from play, thought the latter would be very much a total war option)
I would like to see normal weapons having some incidence on bombardment (as ortillery) dedicated weapons should be an order of magnitude more efficient, obviously, but most missiles should have some effect (and same for some other weapons, like railguns and maybe some energy options as well)