Question Thread.

[Iceman]

Nope. But you'll probably like some other stuff you can get from the Psychic line of research [;)]

[balto]

No doubt that those of us that are experts in CIV 4 will have a huge initial advantage in grasping the game engine. CIV 4 is probably one of the greatest games of all time.., I cannot wait for this to come out. If you want a beta tester, I am here. I have spent about 10,000,000 hours on CIV 4.

Thanks

[PDiFolco]

ORIGINAL: SeanD

What are the system specs for the game ?

We're still in the process of hammering out exact system reqs. I'm not ready to say what they will be yet. I think you should be in good shape with your system, though.

Thanks ! The new screenies are very cool...If A2526 is what Moo3 should have been I'd buy it at least twice !![:D]

[Iceman]

The game engine is not that hard to grasp [;)]

[Zemke]

1.  In MOO you could design your own ships, can you do that in this game?
2.  How is the economic model, for example to have your industry run at full production are there key resources to import or export.  I think this would add a lot to the game if there was an economic aspect, and most wars are over resources.
3.  Is there any way to make the game a We-Go system, where several human players could PBEM the game, all do their turn at the same time, send back to the "master computer" which would resolve all and then generate a file to be sent to all players showing what happened during their turn, kind of like Combat Mission, but more players.

[Iceman]

ORIGINAL: elmo3

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

...As technology advances, the player will have opportunities to artificially enhance the environment on a planet through terraforming...

Popularity – Although similar to happiness, popularity is another distinct factor in determining a colony’s happiness and public order...

Fixed two minor typos above. Let me know if you need a proofreader. [;)]

Actually, Popularity doesn't determine Happiness, it's not correct. It's Happiness that determines Popularity, which is already explained in the description for Happiness.
Just a correction for Erik.

[Iceman]

ORIGINAL: Zemke_4

1.  In MOO you could design your own ships, can you do that in this game?
2.  How is the economic model, for example to have your industry run at full production are there key resources to import or export.  I think this would add a lot to the game if there was an economic aspect, and most wars are over resources.
3.  Is there any way to make the game a We-Go system, where several human players could PBEM the game, all do their turn at the same time, send back to the "master computer" which would resolve all and then generate a file to be sent to all players showing what happened during their turn, kind of like Combat Mission, but more players.

1. Nope. But each race has some distinct ships, with different stats.
2. You get money through taxes mostly. Then there's diplomacy trades, extortions, etc), and there's something else I'm not sure I can reveal.
3. There's a thread in these forums about PBEM.

[ASHBERY76]

I take it there are real tactical choices in the ships?

[SeanD]

I take it there are real tactical choices in the ships?

You've got a wide variety of ships that will make up your fleet when you get to mid-level/advanced techs. Just a few generic ship roles you can use to make up your fleet:

• long range missile carriers with awful protection but devastating attacks
• fighter carriers that launch tons of smaller aircraft which swarm the enemy
• light, quick, and resilient cutters that can skirmish and flank
• long range mega-laser ships that are essentially a big laser cannon with an engine attached. Again vulnerable but powerful support fire.
• assault ships which can fight in space-to-space but are better suited dropping some marines and then coasting along just above the surface and providing ground support (in this case you'd really need to gain space superiority in order for these ships to be effective).
• bio-attack ships that can spray viral infections into an enemy population (just because you can't take the planet doesn't mean you have to let the enemy use it too )

There are plenty more, this is just a fraction to give you an idea.

[Tom_Holsinger]

Sean, are there major racial differences between the ships of different empires, i.e., do one or more races not use carriers at all?  Furthermore are there racial differences in terms of who can develop which techs?  Do some races have major problems researching particular tech trees (such as the A.R.O.M. and Psychic as a hypothetical example) just as some races have advantages researching those trees?
 
Furthermore are existing ships automatically upgraded as new techs are researched?

[SeanD]

are there major racial differences between the ships of different empires, i.e., do one or more races not use carriers at all? Furthermore are there racial differences in terms of who can develop which techs? Do some races have major problems researching particular tech trees (such as the A.R.O.M. and Psychic as a hypothetical example) just as some races have advantages researching those trees?

Truth be told I've mostly played as the human player so I don't really know. I'm fairly sure the answer is "yes" but to what extent and in what way specifically I can't comment. Maybe Bob can illuminate things here.

Furthermore are existing ships automatically upgraded as new techs are researched?

That's a really good question and to be honest I can't remember off the top of my head if this is true. I will say that there are several "types" of ship that, even with a newer version available, still let you build the older type. For instance, ships that can found colonies do not replace one another when a new type is researched. It's not always economical to build the most advanced ship available. The same goes for assault ships (which can drop marines/tanks on to a planet for invasion). When you get armored assault ships (which are better) you can still build the regular assault ships because it may make more sense from a budgetary standpoint. The same goes for other ships as well. In some cases, however, when a next-gen ship of a particular type is researched the older ship is, in fact, replaced on the production queue and it can't be built any more. Whether the ship is upgraded automatically everywhere you have the older ship fielded, I don't know - I'd have to look.

[Tom_Holsinger]

I have a concern about scripts in Armada 2526, based on my experience with them in Space Empires III-IV and Master of Orion II, which may or may be justified for the new game.  My experience in the older games with this feature was that the AI empires just did not colonize fast enough to be competitive with player empires unless the AI’s were explicitly given an “expansionist” objective in a script.  This necessarily precluded use of some scripts.
 
It might be too early to predict if this will be the case with Armada 2526, but there are potential work-arounds for this problem it if is in there.
 
First, can players directly mod the default propensity of AI empires to send out colony ships?  By directly, I mean by some means other than scripts.
 
Second, if players can’t mod the default propensity of AI empires to send out colony ships without using scripts, can they at least do so by modding all the scripts?  Here that means adding, to every script, the particular code which makes the most expansionist AI empire so much more prone to colonize.
 
It would be unfortunate if the only way to get all AI empires to expand fast enough in the early game, through aggressive colonization, is to give them all the same script.  That would be unfortunate as use of different scripts by different AI empires is critical to role-playing, which Armada 2526 is weak in given that players may not design their own ships.
 
Hopefully it will be possible to mod the propensity of AI empires to colonize aggressively in the early game without having to give them the same script.

[Tom_Holsinger]

Simple question - will Armada 2526 have minor (non-player) races as in Birth of the Federation and Master of Orion III?

[Ntronium]

There are 12 races, you can play them all if you wish. Having non playable races only makes sense if you need them for a particular historical or fictional setting, and don't have the development resources to make them fully playable.

As for the A.I. if it has any significant shortcomings, we will fix them.

As I mentioned elsewhere, you can choose what strategies the A.I. uses in each scenario. The A.I. identifies a number of different game situations (opening, all out war, survival etc) and uses different strategy scripts for each, while there's no specific knob to dial up its fondness for sending out colony ships, you can give it an opening strategy that makes colonizing seem more attractive, which will only be in effect for the opening turns of the game.

[Wade1000]

I think some clarification needs to be made about the number of empires/races available to participate in a game. You just stated that there are 12. Yet, I've seen stated elsewhere that there are...dozens...or unlimited...I don't recall excactly.

You also mentioned the "scenario". Is that the typical "campaign mode" of these types of games and there ARE only 12 to participate; while the "sand box"/custom game has the many more empires participating if desired?

[Erik Rutins]

There are two "scenarios" which are really intended to learn the game. The first is the "Tutorial" scenario, the second is "Twelve Races", which starts you out in a nice corner of the galaxy and is recommended to play after the tutorial. After that, you can use the Custom Game settings to create any kind of galaxy you want. There are twelve unique races, but you can effectively have any number of players in a custom game, each set to one of those races, so you can have say 10 different Human factions or 5 different xenophobic Klurgu empires, etc.

[Tom_Holsinger]

Wade, the number of AI empires is limited only by computer processor speed and RAM, i.e., there could be thousands of star systems and hundreds of AI empires in a given game aka scenario if you could run the puppy on a mainframe. The number of different races, however, is presently limited to twelve. More can be added.

[Wade1000]

Thanks, Erik and Tom. That sounds great. Any number of players, AI or player, with the 12 races to choose from. I like that there can be multiple empires with the same race. Rebellions leading to that is nice too.

Will there be any in game suggestion or warning during number of players set up to let you know how your computer can handle it; or is it by trial?

[martok]

I've been meaning to ask: What happens to a colony if/when it rebels?

Does it automatically rejoin the previous faction that owned it? Can it join up with other rebellious colonies to form a new nation? Can it become its own separate faction, and proceed to build its own navy, expand (via colonization and/or conquest), etc.?



Some more random questions about the game:

Do colonies build just one ship at a time, or can they construct several simultaneously?

Do ships gain experience from combat, thereby improving their fighting abilities?

Do planetary defenses gain experience at all (should they successfully survive a planetary invasion), and/or can they be upgraded as the game progresses?

Will smaller vessels still be relevant and useful in the later stages of a game, or will everyone be constructing mostly battleships by then?

Is conquest the only way to win, or are there multiple paths to victory (i.e., alliance/diplomatic, research, etc.)?

[Ntronium]

Rebels. All three outcomes are possible.

The number of ships you can build at once, depends on the number of shipyards you've build. There can be up to 7.

There's no experience for units in the game. It's only a feature that makes sense if you can select ships of different experience levels, which would make the UI rather cumbersome.

You can win by domination, or by role playing your race, and playing for victory points. Different factions get points for different things.