Dynamic Campaigns?

LordGek · Post by **LordGek** » Wed Oct 10, 2001 3:22 am

Hey Gang,

One of the greatest aspects of ToS was its randomly generated maps and never knowing what to expect. Never the same game twice. Will the campaigns lose all of that for the sake of some scripted storyline?

firestorm · Post by **firestorm** » Wed Oct 10, 2001 5:45 am

oh god i hope not. IMO it should have an option to do the campaign and an option to do the random battles.

rosary · Post by **rosary** » Wed Oct 10, 2001 10:09 am

you nailed it on the head Firestorm.

The game will still feature the open ended RPG and Squad building that players like. Of course you can still design your titans from scratch. The campaigns will be available for players that really like a challenge. If you don't want to play the campaigns you can have endless random maps in 5 arena settings. there will be the classic arena style as well as the savannah, Polar regions, hell worlds and acid worlds. This game really has unlimited game play.

tarendelcymir · Post by **tarendelcymir** » Wed Oct 10, 2001 6:11 pm

Sounds pretty damn awesome to me. What sort of campaign ideas are there going to be? I'm very excited to hear as much detail as you can spare. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

firestorm · Post by **firestorm** » Wed Oct 10, 2001 7:04 pm

I'm with him.
what're teh campaigns going to be like??

OneEyedJack · Post by **OneEyedJack** » Wed Oct 10, 2001 10:42 pm

Originally posted by firestorm:
I'm with him.
what're teh campaigns going to be like??

Exactly! I've been playing ToS for a while by my lonesome and am tired of getting my butt kicked around by the AI <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

I'm excited to hear any tid-bits about what types of campaigns will be included and the scope; massive millitary campaigns or smaller guerilla style warfare.

p.s. - hi, all, the non-lurking Eric is in with a different display name. <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

LonChaneyJr · Post by **LonChaneyJr** » Thu Oct 11, 2001 3:08 am

I truly hope the campaign is not going to be pure linear.

IMHO the best campaign I've played is the one in Red Baron 3D. If your familiar with it I try for a brief description.

First location of bases are recorded on the sector map as well as which one are active and what type(fighter or recon/bomber). The computer assigns the players squadron mission and also generates missions for all enemy and friendly squadrons within 100 miles. I don't know if you can imagine the effect without playing the game but it makes it feel like you are really in war as you run across the squadrons going about their bussiness. You can leave your assigned flight path and still find action or the absolute best is when several flights run into each other and what starts as a simple dogfight snowballs into a major battle as more flights join in. Its not like the "canned" linear games where you know go to point X and encounter Y number of enemies each time you play it.

Anyway just a suggestion and not advertisment for another game just the campaign system <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

rosary · Post by **rosary** » Fri Oct 12, 2001 9:56 pm

Players will be able to do campaign maps in whatever order they wish from what I understand. they can take their squad and play in random scenarios (to build their team) or play online with their teams in some situations but death=death in TOS so I think most players will build a tourney team for online play. there will be some easy maps, intermediate, and difficult maps and the usual unlimited supply of random scenarios in the 5 arena styles though classic will not be used to make any campaign maps.

My main concern with the campaigns is to create maps which allow players to be in situations that they will never see in a random scenario. I also want to encourage players to use certain skills.

One example is a duel on a small map 3x3 hexes surrounded by mountains filled with swamp water. Close combat and movement will be the main skills encouraged.

LonChaneyJr · Post by **LonChaneyJr** » Sat Oct 13, 2001 1:08 am

Ok now I'm a bit confused. I got the impression that TOS:WS was going to shift the campaign focus more to a military campaign but from your reply it sounds like its going to stay with the duelling theme.

firestorm · Post by **firestorm** » Sat Oct 13, 2001 1:12 am

i think that was just an example; i don't think it's going to be all duels.

rosary · Post by **rosary** » Sat Oct 13, 2001 2:20 am

Firestorm is correct. that was just an example. The campaigns will be in all kinds of settings. I would say that the majority are Squad based (teams)

rosary · Post by **rosary** » Sat Oct 13, 2001 2:29 am

To continue with my last post:

A squad (team) can stop playing through the campaign maps and just do a few random maps to gain experience if you feel you need to increase some of your skills. they can return to the campaign where they left off and continue with better pilots. the more random maps you play the better your pilots will be for the harder maps at the end of the campaign. Of course, if you just want to build a squad and never play a campaign then you can always just play random maps. My guess is that most players will play the campaign at least once and use the random map feature to continue building their squads.

Or someone could just build up a team by playing random maps then later decide to do the campaigns. We are trying to keep the game very open in terms of what you can do with your squads.

LonChaneyJr · Post by **LonChaneyJr** » Sat Oct 13, 2001 4:23 am

From your descriptions it sounds less like a campaign and more like a bunch of separate battles that just happen to have the same characters participating. Would you care to clarify some more?

rosary · Post by **rosary** » Sat Oct 13, 2001 8:07 am

Because of the role that experience plays in squad building as well as money needed to repair and purchase Titan-At's; You have the choice to play the game more open ended. we aren't going to give you your pilot. You will create your pilot and squad from scratch. You'll also be able to design your own titans from scratch if you choose. Because of these aspects of gameplay there is a need for freedom in terms of what you can do in the game. the campaign will let you follow specific storylines within the TOS universe setting.

LonChaneyJr · Post by **LonChaneyJr** » Sat Oct 13, 2001 8:45 pm

It should be obvious by now that I'm trying to back you into a corner and get you to reveal more information than you probably want to at this time <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

So leaving out the part where you can remove your squad from the campaign to build experience. How would you now describe the campaign in general terms? Linear,linear branching or dynamic? Specifically will you be given a choice of one mission, several or all? Outside of the character building aspect how will good/poor performance or even failure affect future missions?

rosary · Post by **rosary** » Sat Oct 13, 2001 11:00 pm

The campaigns will include all aspects of gameplay including Arena style combat and Military settings. there will be intense duels and huge team battles. Players will find themselves in situations that they will likely never see in a random map scenario. Many of your pilots will die if you're not careful. If that happens you'll have to get a new recruit with low level skills. There will be 3 campaigns and all the free play you want.

LonChaneyJr · Post by **LonChaneyJr** » Sat Oct 13, 2001 11:55 pm

Have you considering going into politics? You're putting up responses but they seem to aimed at avoiding an answer to the question while giving an illusion of a response. I get enough of this from my elected officials thank you very much.

So once again focusing on the actual campaign itself and ignoring the character building aspects. Would the campaign be considered as linear, branching or dynamic? Will mission A have to be completed before mission B?

If mission A is failed do you have to keep doing it until you succeed? Or would you still go onto mission B just minus the resources lost in mission A? Or would failing mission A then cause you to have to start a new "defeat" plot line but with a chance to reverse it and return to the main plot?

The Happy Moron · Post by **The Happy Moron** » Sun Oct 14, 2001 12:25 am

It seems patience is a virtue some of us haven't mastered yet.

Anywho, is there a chance of there being a 'campaign editor'?

LarkinVB · Post by **LarkinVB** » Sun Oct 14, 2001 12:50 am

To give as much information as possible : We are currently in the process of defining missions/campaigns and how they will be implemeted in ToS - Warring Suns.
Fact is there will be missions. I call a mission a premade map with an objective and specially designed adversaries. I call a campaign a set of linked missions. Wether it will be dynamic, linear, branched or whatever is in the process of design. We can't give you more info. I'm the one who is coding them into the battel module and who is designing the needed AI around it. I can tell you that the AI will have more sets of behavoir like patrol, hunt, stand ground ....
I can tell you that we will have an inhouse mission/map editor. Wether it will be released or not is not decided yet. Is that enough for the moment ?

LonChaneyJr · Post by **LonChaneyJr** » Sun Oct 14, 2001 1:44 am

Thank you Larkin thats a more than acceptable answer I understand this project is still in its early stages. Although I have to say I was starting to impression the question was being evaded and IMHO thats not good marketing.

Anyway I hope you will choose to keep us informed on the details as they are fleshed out.