Turn Based Question

[Hanal]

Well this game certainly slipped in under the radar...Can someone provide a bit df detail as to how turn based combat is played out? I just want to avoid any real time proxy...thanks

[Erik Rutins]

Hi JP,

I should note that we are planning to release an updated demo by next week. In the meantime though, the way the turn-based combat works is as follows:

Each combat round you have a certain number of Action Points (APs). Each action costs APs. For example, you may have 6 APs and it could cost 3 APs to lock on and fire a missile. It may cost 2 APs to fire your laser, perhaps 2 or 3 APs to actively use ECM to try to jam an enemy missile, or 2 AP to focus your shields, etc. You have to choose each round how to use your APs given the mix of actions. Some actions give you lasting benefits, for example for 1 AP you can taunt the enemy which can affect his accuracy, that can last for several rounds. When you've used up your APs, you end the round, the enemy now gets his round and then it goes back to you.

The various improvements you can make to your ship and to your own abilities can give you more things to do with your APs, various special abilities, or can increase or decrease the AP cost of some of the existing actions. For example, you can upgrade to a turbo-laser that can fire with only 1 AP cost, but has a chance of overheating, you can get a much more effective ECM system but it may take more APs to use, and so on. Each ship type has different upgrades, each career has different options for skill/ability upgrades as well, so battles can end up quite different depending on the choices you make both before and during the battle.

As you get to bigger ships too, things like crew composition and boarding actions come into play as well.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

I should also note for those of you who will try the demo that the game starts small, with you effectively piloting a small fighter or fighter-sized transport and you may not get much past that in the demo. In the actual game, once you break into larger ships and as the storyline continues, things open up a lot more and get quite a bit more in depth.

[FeurerKrieg]

Turn based space combat... sounds fun.

Yet another reason I should really just give up on this whole work thing.

[DuckofTindalos]

Shades of Master of Orion...

[Erik Rutins]

... and it's up! Enjoy, it's a fun game and a great "casual" space game to entertain you when your brain needs a rest from grognard-level stuff. [8D]

[Hertston]

I thought 1024 x 768 was bad enough, but fixed 800 x 600?!! C'mon guys, this is just getting ridiculous. You'll be shipping 'new' games with a DOS emulator next.

[Erik Rutins]

Hertston,

It's not as bad as it sounds. The central play area stays at 800x600, but the star background expands to fill the available screen size. The net result is that it's not stretched or distorted and looks crisp and clear. This is not an ancient-looking DOS game and it runs fine on all the wide screen systems we've tested, it's a modern game but the main play area is small enough that it would work fine on a Netbook. I did not miss having a larger play area with this game, honestly if we'd described it as variable resolution I think no one would have noticed, but we felt it was more accurate to describe the size of the play area rather than how it scales the background to the whole screen.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

Here's how it looks on my 1440x900 laptop:

[Mike Parker]

When do you think the Demo will be up and where can we get it?  I wouldn't mind taking a look at this one.

[Erik Rutins]

Our updated demo will be up next week. There is also an older demo at the developer's site now, but we don't want to overload his site.

[Mike Parker]

No problem.  I have enough on my plate with messing with the WiF beta and WW2:ToW anyway I will be happy to wait till next weeks demo release!
 

[d0mbo]

Ninja edit: Please be advised the review is about Smugglers IV, not the doomsday Variant. I am curious if there is much difference?

I found this review interesting, especially when looking at what is osted in this thread.

http://www.outofeight.info/2008/09/smugglers-4-review.html

Regards,
d0mbo.

[Erik Rutins]

I think that's a decent review - it's definitely got a "casual game" style to it and that may not be everyone's cup of tea, though there is plenty of depth and replayability as well and it is a quality game within the sci-fi "space trading" sub genre. I would rate it a bit higher myself, it happened to go over well with us and we felt that it was under-rated and we should help that out by bringing it to our customers.

I will make one note about his review. He complains that the trade screen obscures the map and can't be moved off to the open background area on larger monitors. That has not been my experience with our release. I move the buy/sell screen over to the unused space and it works fine. That's part of why it's hard to really define the resolution on this game, the play area stays the same size, but it definitely scales the background to your native resolution.

Here's a screenshot that shows the trade screen moved over to the side of the map where it's not in the way of the main play area.

[killroyishere]

(nevermind on the open ended I read that it is) Best thing I read about it:

(Realistic supply-and-demand based pricing for those who love to trade)

When I read it has a realistic market that sold me as long as it's not linear. I just wanna space trade and pirate ships until I died. [:D]

EDIT: Also does the physical game come with a printed manual?

EDIT: What about random galaxies for new games do they change each new start or do the planets move within the galaxie(s) we play in?

EDIT: Can you show us a screenshot of boarding ships and innership combat? How many men/women can fight during innership battles? This part sounds a bit like X-Com in space. Will each member have their own stats like X-Com? That would be kewl. Can we name them?

[JudgeDredd]

Digital Express version m8...so no printed manual.

[kaybayray]

Sounds interesting for Beer & Pretzels sessions [8D]

I will check out the demo when it is up. I read through all the general game info stuff. Sounds like it may be kind of akin to some old games I really liked way back in the infant days of PC's. Stellar Crusade and Stellar Conquest. Old DOS games I ran on the first 286 I built. Although this is not quite the same scope but it looks like the same genre. Might be some casual fun. Could take a break from getting my head pounded in BTR or WITP [:D]

Later,
KayBay

[killroyishere]

I'm hoping the inner ship combat is like the old SSI games like Buck Rodgers or X-Com. Since it has no manual though I think I'm gonna wait and read the newer reviews. I didn't know this game has been out awhile and found some old reviews that weren't so good. Out of 8 only gave it a 5.

[Rosseau]

I am "up" for anything Matrix releases, but some of the comments in that Out of Eight review concern me. From what Erik says, the demo will not go so far as to fully flesh out the game. Unless this new version has addressed the "bland" nature of combat in the game, as described in the review, it's a wait-and-see for me.

[Hanal]

Well once I played Operation Barbarossa to death, then I'll pick this one up....[;)]