Matrix Games Forums

I read that it does take place on a plane with some slight 3D movement by the ships to maneuver. The main map is also a plane.

In real life, our star systems is generally viewed on a plane. I would imagine future system combat, God forbid, might mostly be on the plane of the planets, with..."some slight 3D movement by the ships to maneuver." On a grand scale spiral galaxies ARE generally a plane. The universe COULD be viewed that way too for better visualization.

I think 3D space in games is overated and often makes some games less fun.

3D means normally rendered and not a sphere as map ... sure. There were only two exceptions in the genre so far afaik which had cubes as combat maps.

w00t! Thanks for the questions. I'll take them in the order received.

Can anyone comment on how much control, if any, you have over ground combat on planets?

You have total control over ground combat. The defensive emplacements on the ground (missile silos, etc) you can't control but the militia, tanks, and marines you have full control over both on defense and offense.

While individual hot keys for particular complicated tasks would be nice, consider having a generic one too, or a player-customizable one. And make an effort to automate as much as possible.

That's a really interesting question. I can say that there are plenty of hotkeys in the game right now. In terms of automation I'm pretty sure there is not. I will say that the developer is super committed to community-driven game improvement and if this is something that there appears to be a demand for when the game is released I would not at all be surprised if it was implemented. So I guess the short response is, not yet - but it's definitely possible.

I'd like to know how important diplomacy between empires is in Armada 2526.

Agreed, and point well taken. A few points: The rules that govern the diplomatic system are quite interesting. If the player repeatedly dismisses foreign diplomats and doesn't even attempt to negotiate on simple things like map information, trade out posts, tech swaps, this reflects negatively on the player. More to the point, Armada 2526 has a deal balance dynamic which indicates who is getting the better half of a deal. It's not always a good thing to be screwing the AI in negotiations because this has a negative effect on relations. To cultivate long friendships and alliances you will need to take the short end of the stick some times because that's what a friendship really is - a two way street. There isn't any galactic council governing as much of space as they can, but AI very frequently engages you diplomatically and strikes up deals on their own just to see what you will say. Sometimes they just offer something and say "what can I get for this?" I would say that diplomacy is positively essential on the higher difficulty levels. You can cultivate truly well-meaning and powerful allies that can really save your bacon in a pinch.

Will it be possible to "turn off" or otherwise disable super high-level technologies? I agree they're often great fun, but frequently they're also (understandably) unbalancing.

The option isn't currently present but again, if there's a demand, I'm sure something can be worked out. I will say that these advanced techs take a REALLY long time to develop. Well over 100 turns (approaching 200 in some cases). Most "regular" games may not even see these techs enter the fray. If the high end techs are really killing the game for you, I would suggest a good workaround is to play less turns (like 200 as opposed to 400).

Will planets/colonies be able to build fixed defenses (either in orbit or on the surface)? While I realize that when it comes to protecting your worlds, there's no substitute for a powerful fleet, being able to construct planetary defenses can help ease one's peace of mind a little!

Oh hell yes. You have missile silos of varying sizes, orbital gun platforms that will attack enemy ships that get near the planet, and shield generators that protect ground defenses (and forces like marines) from taking orbital bombardments up above. All these defenses are full upgradable through research. Some of the high-end orbital gun platforms can trade blows with capital ships! (But they're of course extremely expensive.) There is also, and don't hold me to the exact name, a super laser I believe you can build on only certain planets with certain suns that harnesses the power of the sun to create a giant blast. I haven't used this tech yet so I can't really elaborate (or confirm its uses).

Is it moddable? How mod friendly has it been designed?

It's very moddable. All scenarios in the game are in XML files which can easily be edited. Additionally things like ship and ground unit types, technology, races, defense and facility types, and more are all in XML files and readily accessible and edited. There is also an additional modding tool which may be included in Armada 2526 that will thrill you modders. I can't go into details because we haven't confirmed things. When I know more I will post!

- How many elements does the resource system contain? Population, money, ...

Basically the goal of each colony for the money makers among us is to maximize income and this is generally best done by keeping upkeep (building and unit) and extracting resources. You can mine the planet itself at varying levels of complexity (researchable of course) and systems that are near asteroid belts can also mine asteroids for an income bonus and a ship product cost reduction. In terms of what a colony actually produces, right now it's income (money) and population. You can also build buildings and ships but that's not really what you're referring to. Resources are somewhat abstracted in this game only to mean "stuff that can be converted into cash".

- Is trade a diplomatic options that simply generates when enable between two factions a revenue in "cash" or is trade more a transfer of resources from one faction to another or is trade a revenue that is generate through buildings, e.g. spaceports?

I'm actually not very knowledgeable about the inner workings of trade so I can't say much. There definitely is diplomacy and trade in the game. Basically a race will come to you and request to build a trading outpost in your colony. You can do the same in other races' colonies. There are military and diplomatic implications here though. Trade outposts help foster relationships but having a foreign trade outpost in your colony allows the other race to see everything inside your colony (including defenses and any fleets you have stationed there).

- It looks as space combat takes place on plane and while the models are 3D rendered. Does that mean that the game basically takes place on a plane with maybe the exception of objects on planets which look as they were set on a second plane below the main game field?

Combat does take place mostly on a plane but ships very often break that plane. Also there is a cool formation called a caracole where the ships rotate in a vertical ("up and down" or perpendicular to the perspective of the plane) circle to spread out damage among them and to distribute firepower in multiple directions.

- How many planets and other objects does an average stellar system contain? Are the numbers variable?

A stellar system can contain multiple planets but you can only really have one colony per star system. There are also bells and whistles that can be on or around the system like an asteroid belt, a particular type of star (which can be mined for specific resources) and nebulae which can slow down the movement of all ships in the cloud.

[font="times new roman"]Sean, I have a major add-on suggestion for Armada 2526 that fortunately should be easy to retrofit as an optional module in the patch.  Alan Emrich, MOO3’s chief designer, found a solution to a major problem in turn-based 4x games which should probably be used in all further ones.  Emrich’s implementation of it in MOO3 is called “Heavy Foot of Government”, and basically consists of a multiplier of building costs for all empires based on their size.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The problem is that, in all these games, player empires eventually develop an overwhelming superiority such that further play no longer presents any challenge and the game just dies.  Most games try to solve this with difficulty levels where the AI empires get increasingly greater production advantages, but it is very difficult to balance those so player empires are not at too great a disadvantage early on.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Turn-based 4x games are most fun when the AI empires are sufficiently powerful to present a challenge to player empires without forcing players into a crabbed and cautious style of play.  Players like big challenging wars.  If the AI production advantages are too great, wars involving player empires are rarely big in scale, particularly in the middle game.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]It is very, very, desirable to extend the period of relative power parity between player and AI empires as that is when players tend to have the most fun in terms of sprawling wars and strategic challenges.  Use of AI empire production cheats produces at best a brief period of such parity, and I mean really brief – perhaps 20 turns.  This is a major problem for turn-based 4x games – just as they start to get really interesting, the challenge posed by AI empires dies.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Emrich’s solution was based on his insight that the only the bigger empires should be disadvantaged.  He devised a simple and elegant solution of a multiplier of building costs for all empires based on their size, and he made the multiplier customizable by the players based on a combination of population and numbers of planets.  Ships with the same default cost are far more expensive when built by bigger empires than by small empires.  He called this the “Heavy Foot of Government” because it is true that governments become more inefficient as they get bigger.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]And AI empires of course get an advantage in Heavy Foot of Government based on difficulty level.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Play of MOO3 has shown the Heavy Foot of Government concept to be an almost complete success.  The one, minor, problem in Emrich’s implementation of it is that the cost multiplier affects buildings on planets as well as ships and troops, which adversely affects new colonies in the middle and late games.  It is best done only as to ships.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I am still playing MOO3 as my primary strategy game because its challenging wars last so long.  It takes me about a hundred turns to build an empire capable of taking on the AI’s in head-to-head fights, at which point I can expect about another hundred turns of great fun.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I can’t recommend this feature enough.  It can be done by simply adding a multiplier for ship building costs for ALL empires based on the population and number of planets in that empire.  This should be easy to code in a patch.  It would be desirable to make this an optional feature with players being able to customize the settings.[/font]

Sean, I have a simple diplomacy question - is it possible for players to determine the treaties between and, for AI empires, attitudes by the various game empires?  MOO3 has both and this is very helpful in making strategic decisions.  I try to be nice to small AI empires that have strong & loyal allies who I'd rather not take on at the moment.  It is also helpful to know which AI empires hate each other.

here is this thing called Bureaucracy... Won't spoil the fun though.

And Ash, Lost Empire rocks!

It's very moddable. All scenarios in the game are in XML files which can easily be edited. Additionally things like ship and ground unit types, technology, races, defense and facility types, and more are all in XML files and readily accessible and edited. There is also an additional modding tool which may be included in Armada 2526 that will thrill you modders. I can't go into details because we haven't confirmed things. When I know more I will post!

Can new models be added? perhaps do you go to release a 3Dmax export/import plugin? or for other 3D tool?

Nomada, that's a good point. War in the Pacific - Admiral's Edition modders are having a great time importing ship and aircraft graphics. Allowing spaceship & alien race graphic mods would add a whole new dimension to space 4x games. I'm not interested in such a feature, but I can see how it would excite many gamers.

Sean, how about a feature letting gamers import their own audio files, both sound effects and music?

Sean, I have a simple diplomacy question - is it possible for players to determine the treaties between and, for AI empires, attitudes by the various game empires? MOO3 has both and this is very helpful in making strategic decisions. I try to be nice to small AI empires that have strong & loyal allies who I'd rather not take on at the moment. It is also helpful to know which AI empires hate each other.

The short answer is, yes, there is a way to determine that sort of stuff but it's not as simple as referring to a chart. You do have a screen which will tell you who is at war or allied with who but there's no indication as to how strong their inclinations to fight or cooperate are. What you can do is try to beguile the other races with some incentive (techs, money, etc.) and get them to give their opinion of a race. Most of the time only your closer allies will actually tell you what they think of someone else but if you coax the right way you can get neutral races to spill the beans. If you ask around enough you can probably get a pretty clear picture of who's tight and who's about to break apart and start fighting.

Can new models be added? perhaps do you go to release a 3Dmax export/import plugin? or for other 3D tool?

Sean, how about a feature letting gamers import their own audio files, both sound effects and music?

I honestly haven't spent that much time modding the game. I'm pretty sure that there are no plugins immediately available and I don't know of the status of being able to add sound files. Again we're very community-oriented here so if there's a demand then there's always a way. Ultimately Matrix would have to discuss this with the developer as this is a low level thing.

The game is very modable right of the bat. You can easily add new 3D models, as they're standard .X files that can be exported from 3DS Max with various free exporters. Adding audio, or new races shouldn't be hard either.

One of the great thing about working on TW was the incredible enthusiasm and dedication of the modders, and I hope this game could get at least a small fraction of that. As I said the game is very modable to start with, and I will definitely be doing what I can to support modders in post release patches. In fact, I'm really looking forward to seeing what people who have different visions can do with the system.

he game is very modable right of the bat. You can easily add new 3D models, as they're standard .X files that can be exported from 3DS Max with various free exporters. Adding audio, or new races shouldn't be hard either.

It would be fantastic.

Sean, I have a few more questions, about the intelligence/espionage and political systems.

First, is there a "political" system, by which I mean domestic politics inside a given empire, as opposed to diplomacy (external politics) and sabotage (directed by foreign enemies, which is part of the intelligence/espionage system)?  And I also exclude "leaders" from this as those just add static bonuses or debits.  Politics would include things such as domestic unrest, production modifiers for governments which change based on the type of government and, particularly, an empire's ability to "assimilate" conquered alien populations.  Some games even alllow rebellions and revolutions, with the latter creating new AI-controlled empires.  I'm only asking for general information at this point.

I have long advocated that turn-based space 4x games include assimilation policies ranging from "Be generous & nice" to "Eat 'em". Ken Burd toyed with that in MOO2 but it was very under-developed.

Does the intelligence system revolve around individual spies, a point system or something else and, if the latter, can you generally desribe it?  Does it allow for more than stealing technology?  Does it allow for inciting unrest in enemy empires?  Does it allow an empire to outright foster a revolution in other empires such that whole star systems break away from the target and form new AI-controlled empires?  I'd appreciate more detail about Armada 2526's intelligence system than I ask for about its political system (if the latter exists at all).

There are riots and revolts, yes. And splinter factions. And other faction-like players. And assimilated populations of other races, with production mods, and you can research stuff to improve those mods.
I think it has already been mentioned that there's no explicit espionge in the game, but there are ways to keep tabs on colonies.

Will there be a demo?  I plan to buy either way but a 50 or 100 turn demo would be nice.

Is space combat restricted to defined locations, e.g. systems? I assume combats are pausable, do we get hot keys and a pause function by spacebar?

ORIGINAL: Iceman

There are riots and revolts, yes. And splinter factions. And other faction-like players. And assimilated populations of other races, with production mods, and you can research stuff to improve those mods.
I think it has already been mentioned that there's no explicit espionge in the game, but there are ways to keep tabs on colonies.

No espionge is a shame -1 to game score.[;)]

Is space combat restricted to defined locations, e.g. systems? I assume combats are pausable, do we get hot keys and a pause function by spacebar?

You can meet enemy fleets in deep space and fight there. You can fight anywhere on the star map as far as I know.

Yup, plenty of hotkeys which will be listed in the manual and in game by pressing a button (I think it's F1). Yes you can pause the action at any point, issue orders, snap a screenshot, get a beer, etc. [:)]

First, is there a "political" system, by which I mean domestic politics inside a given empire, as opposed to diplomacy (external politics) and sabotage (directed by foreign enemies, which is part of the intelligence/espionage system)? And I also exclude "leaders" from this as those just add static bonuses or debits. Politics would include things such as domestic unrest, production modifiers for governments which change based on the type of government and, particularly, an empire's ability to "assimilate" conquered alien populations. Some games even alllow rebellions and revolutions, with the latter creating new AI-controlled empires. I'm only asking for general information at this point.

Phew, I'm glad you only want general info but unfortunately there's no short answer to your question. [:D] The political system is "there" in the rudimentary sense as in it's abstracted. As your empire grows there are modifiers to your popularity like "bureaucracy" for instance. The more planets in your empire the larger your bureaucracy, at some point your bureaucracy is so bloated that it starts eating into your popularity. Assimilating a conquered alien race is very much modeled. It can be helped along by technology but things like taxation, pollution, the planet's environment, amount of security forces, and much more go into determining unrest, happiness, and your popularity. If happiness and popularity drop low enough without enough security to put them back over a certain numerical threshold (the number is "behind the scenes" but you get plenty of indicators about this) then you get a drop in public order. This can just be some rumblings which can worsen to rioting (drop in income output, production) all the way to full on rebellion when you get kicked out of your colony (and, yes, a nasty AI-controlled force will make their bid for power in the region).

Overall the system to determine the public order in a colony has a lot of moving parts and factors that get plugged in and modified by other factors, etc. It's intuitive but also multi-faceted and somewhat complex (which is good, because a planet's population isn't exactly a simple thing to model). The system explained in considerable detail in the manual. I assure you that for the people who want to know what is going on behind the scenes they will know the factors that determine exactly what their colony is doing and why.

Great to see so manny answers from members of the development team ! Ive changed the title in something more suitable if you ladies and gentlemen don't mind !


Still, I'm a very curious person and really would like to know the following question:

- Being a Total War fan and thought Medieval II was the best TW out their, even better then Empire at the moment, why did Mr.Smith decide to leave CA-Oz ?

Additional to this one:

- What level of support can we expect after release ? Seems to me, these days developers/publishers are keen to get the product out, sell as manny as possible (understandable of course) and then bring out a few patches, some hotfixes and leave the game as is ! Problem is, most games still have lot's of problems (graphical glitches, obvious bugs, etc...) and they do not get fixed ever ! What is your take on this ?
Their are developers/publishers who are not like that ( Ironclad, CDProjekt/Stardock... to name a few) and keep on supporting their game even after several years, will you do the same ? For me, this shows a dedication not only to your fans, but also to your own creation !

- What is your vision for the future for Armada 2526 ? How do you see it grow ? Graphically ? AI wise ? Gameplay ? In other words, what will be your focus ?

Very nice, Sean. I'm glad you're giving us so many options. Please be sure include "Eat 'em" as an occupation policy.