DW2 FAQ/QnA megathread - Ask your question here!

[RgZera]

Hi, Erik

I have yet another question about modding. Does the game have a culture/religion mechanic?

I would like to create a custom race mostly focused on spreading their religion/culture (Ori from Stargate) that in return would boost their economy or even better, provide a unique resource that they can later use for "magic". In stellaris the closest thing to this is megacorporations with gospel of masses which basically makes it a megachurch. Sadly it does not have enough depth for my taste.

[muncuss]

ORIGINAL: RgZera

Hi, Erik

I have yet another question about modding. Does the game have a culture/religion mechanic?

I would like to create a custom race mostly focused on spreading their religion/culture (Ori from Stargate) that in return would boost their economy or even better, provide a unique resource that they can later use for "magic". In stellaris the closest thing to this is megacorporations with gospel of masses which basically makes it a megachurch. Sadly it does not have enough depth for my taste.

like papal state in total war game, they can or cannot build fleet, but can direct order any faction within their influence. this would be good but i don't think this is in the game

[Galaxy227]

AFAIK, DW2 will not be releasing with any cultural mechanics.

[SirHoraceHarkness]

Yeah DW has always been more about military expansion and trade than complex diplomatic and cultural solutions. Plenty of other games which heavily feature diplomacy and other cultural mechanics to provide a complex realpolitik experience. Sadly most of them seem to be based in ancient times when the city state was the biggest political entity. One rts like scifi space game that does feature a somewhat complex diplomatic and cultural mechanic is sins of a solar empire. Still regularly patched and there are some incredible mods for it for star trek and star wars.

[rmse17]

Will there be an easy way to search for a named object in the UI? (IE search for a star name, or fleet name, or for a rare resource, which would search in the discovered area and center/bring the object into focus).

Apologies if this was already asked, I searched for "Search" and it showed 0 results.

[fruitgnome]

DW2 will make me so happy.

This would be a must have:
A system respawner
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... =868694800

Then also an anomaly, event, race, pirate, crisis respawner and we can play one match forever.

I think off start on a middle map and then if performance is good add some new systems etc.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Galaxy227

ORIGINAL: SirHoraceHarkness

For normal players this could also be useful to start up a small galaxy and play around with ship designs they can then save and use for a 'real' game.

In addition, I'm just a huge nerd when it comes to designing ships in Distant Worlds. One of my favorite parts about the game is perfecting different designs for different roles & situations. I remember I had one war with another empire, and after the war was over, pretended to be a "historian" in the galaxy and talk about the effectiveness of each ship type on either side in the war (for example, "X ship was great for Y scenario, but when put up against Z, didn't do well"). I knew so much about each design in that war, of both my own ships and my enemy's, and to this day could tell you precisely the weaknesses and strengths of each navy...

Point being, I love playing around with fleets. I think a "sandbox mode" for ships could add so much to Distant Worlds. I could test out all sorts of different scenarios after wars in-game, and could also use it to learn more about ships in general. Also, as previously mentioned, it would be an extremely powerful tool for modders to have.

Rant over.

I agree. I think we'd like to add something like this in the future (I guess it's like a ship design combat simulator mode), but it won't be in the initial release, though you'll have a lot of ship design and evaluation tools within the design screen.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: RgZera
I have yet another question about modding. Does the game have a culture/religion mechanic?

I would like to create a custom race mostly focused on spreading their religion/culture (Ori from Stargate) that in return would boost their economy or even better, provide a unique resource that they can later use for "magic". In stellaris the closest thing to this is megacorporations with gospel of masses which basically makes it a megachurch. Sadly it does not have enough depth for my taste.

Not exactly, at least at this time. This type of thing is handled differently in Distant Worlds 2. First, each playable race has certain preferred government types and some that are also not allowed to be chosen. There is then a matrix of starting biases for relations based on which faction and government type you have chosen.

We do have the concepts of language, history, traditions and culture within the new diplomatic techs that can be researched to offset or remove those starting biases.

We also have the concept that your faction, through being succesful, happy and populous with plenty of space infrastructure, spreads its influence and puts pressure on the border systems around it, which may lead to them effectively switching to your control without a war (or you losing them to someone else without a fight).

Regards,

- Erik

[Mightymaster]

Hi
I am eagerly awaiting this great game. I am wondering are there any information on the sountrack of the game? Will it be like in DW1 or different? Or like the trailer music (which is really nice btw). Thanks

[historysteve]

Hey, I'm excited for this game and have been following the previews closely. One holdover from DW1 seems to be planet naming conventions, which is a small thing to be sure but nonetheless a bit of a bummer for me. Sorta takes me out of the game when an empire's homeworld is something like "Adare 3" rather than whatever they've been calling their homeworld since time immemorial. Are there empire planetary namelists, or are planet names customizable at all?

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Mightymaster
I am eagerly awaiting this great game. I am wondering are there any information on the sountrack of the game? Will it be like in DW1 or different? Or like the trailer music (which is really nice btw). Thanks

We worked with a composer on DW2 to create a completely original soundtrack.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: historysteve
Hey, I'm excited for this game and have been following the previews closely. One holdover from DW1 seems to be planet naming conventions, which is a small thing to be sure but nonetheless a bit of a bummer for me. Sorta takes me out of the game when an empire's homeworld is something like "Adare 3" rather than whatever they've been calling their homeworld since time immemorial. Are there empire planetary namelists, or are planet names customizable at all?

Thank you for the interest in DW2. As in DW1, worlds can be re-named as the player chooses, so you can have a home planet named whatever you want it to be named. Just click on the name and type in a new one and the game will use it. DW2 also comes with an in-game Editor like DW1.

Regards,

- Erik

[historysteve]

Great! Thanks - been a while since I played DW1 so I must be misremembering. Was excited before, even more excited now, can't wait to play!

[FrattonFreak]

When will pricing be announced?

With Release inside 7 weeks it seems strange no pricing has been confirmed for the various options

[Galaxy227]

Don't pressure the team to reveal prices when they clearly aren't ready to. I promise, Tank Commander, you will know exactly how much our beloved DW2 costs in the coming weeks. For now, I'd argue it's safe to say a digital key for DW2 will put you back $60 USD. Physical copies & collector's will obviously cost more, and my intuition screams no less than $80.

[FrattonFreak]

This is the place to ask questions of the Developers.
I'm not applying any pressure, they either answer or they dont, not like I have them in an headlock lock [;)]

Most companies selling a product which releases in 6 weeks would confirm the price. They havent so Im asking the question

Your guesses at pricing at not helpful in any way

[Mtxhat]

This would be much appreciated and leads to an immediate purchase.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: DWS360
Is DW2 going to be hard to be localized by modders? Is it XML-based?
I saw statements like "if it's not translated to my language, it's of no interest". Translations could be worth doing, I suppose. At least the most important ones, like Spanish, French and German.

We're trying to make sure that it's very moddable and localizable. Some of the beta testers have been localizing the game text during beta.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Tank Commander_MatrixForum
When will pricing be announced?

We'll be making pre-orders available in February, at which point pricing will be announced.

Regards,

- Erik

[VoidLord]

I wonder if its possible to abandon any world that is no longer desired, for example a useless conquered world or a lost colony if they still exist as such? whatever by evacuating the population or just leaving it independent?

[James80]

Hey,

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

We'll be making pre-orders available in February, at which point pricing will be announced.

Regards,

- Erik

are there any pre order bonus? Like early access, e. g.?

Regards

James