
Steam has it listed for Feb. 16, 2016. :-)
Just in time for me to start parental negl^H^H^H^H leave. Muahahaha.
I think I will prepare for a life where no more games are needed...
So far a must buy for me although, I do wish we could get a great 4x space game that's not on a 2D plane but that may be too complex for the average consumer.
So far a must buy for me although, I do wish we could get a great 4x space game that's not on a 2D plane but that may be too complex for the average consumer.
I dunno. Every space strategy game that has tried to go 3D star map has fallen kind of flat for me. MoO3 and Sword of the Stars II both had 3D maps and really struggled with them. (If there is a 4X that does 3D maps perfectly, Veloxi is probably going to mention it.)
Ironically, space being so open means that there's less of a difference between 2D and 3D maps as usually implemented in strategy games to begin with. It's an undirected graph of nodes. 3D matters on the small scale, like in Elite, or in the really grand scale. But when you're controlling individual stars as points in space with no hope of really policing the empty void you might as well map the whole thing down to 2D anyway.
I think a really good 3D galaxy map 4X would have to radically rethink how colonization and control in a three-dimensional space really works. If you can't force an engagement in the empty void you probably need to bump up a level so your main block of interaction is the cluster of stars rather than individual systems.
There's an analogy here in the history of warfare: Arthur Jones's The Art of War in the Western World describes evolving force projection from the army as a point on the map to a line (in WWI) to an area (in WWII). Space opera, because of star systems acting as natural strategic points and the lack of terrain obstacles in three dimensional space, tends away from WWI's fixed borders and towards earlier models, like the turning maneuvers in the Franco-Prussian war, or the medieval defense-in-depth model of the castle (star system) as a fixed, difficult-to-capture point of support for the mobile army.
StarCon 1 is one of the few games I can think of that had a 3D star map.
AI War's 2D map kind of feels 3D because of the way two neighboring systems might not actually have a connection between them.
I love Paradox grand strategy games, but I agree this sounds awfully ambitious. It makes me sad to say, but I'm reserving a real opinion until I hear a lot more about it.
I'm super excited... been waiting for Paradox to get into this space. Hopefully this will be the next evolution of the space 4X genre.
I love Paradox grand strategy games, but I agree this sounds awfully ambitious. It makes me sad to say, but I'm reserving a real opinion until I hear a lot more about it.
I am very excited for it but I think everyone will get a chance to learn more about the game before it ships. Paradox has become pretty good at marketing to their core audience.
The original Sword of the Stars and Sins of a Solar Empire both have outstanding 3D maps.
2D star maps just bug me. Especially when they try to divide space up into 2D "sectors". Ugh.
It's accessibility dude. Imagine the fustercluck Distant Worlds would be if it tried to be 3D.
I can see having a 2D overview map if you have to show a lot of stuff. But even Distant Worlds could use a 3D map at certain zoom levels.
2D space maps are dumb.
If I'm on a hilltop, shooting arrows at someone or watching them try to run up to me, 3D matters (because gravity). If I'm 17.8 light years away from them, what could it possibly matter if I'm also 1.3LY above them, relative to the galactic plane?
Height matters on planets because of gravity; that is, an external force that scales with distance and affects all in the conflict. I just don't see an analog to that in interstellar space. It *does* matter when you are in-system, because of the influence of the star and planets, but given the natural tendency of objects to sort themselves out into a 2D plane orbiting the star, it's not as varied an influence as it might be.
I'd say 3D is more important in games that model in-system or planetary surface encounters. At a galactic scale, movement might as well be 2D and combat non-existant. And locally within a system, it could still be modeled in 2D as a field effect trending towards one side - easily (and necessarily) accounted for by both sides and thus probably not worth implementing. (That latter is a first pass; maybe there's a good reason to model solar or planetary effects I'm missing but it's not obvious to me.)
For both Sword of the Stars and SOTSE I do not think the 3D maps changed the way I played. It makes more sense in a tactical game like Homeworld. I'm not saying that it isn't possible (game design along these line is important) but it is not a selling point to me.
Jump lanes in a space game make 3D space essentially an affectation. You fight over points connected by lines.
It's all graphs with systems as nodes.
Actually can I have a pure node/edge map? I would enjoy that.
If I'm on a hilltop, shooting arrows at someone or watching them try to run up to me, 3D matters (because gravity). If I'm 17.8 light years away from them, what could it possibly matter if I'm also 1.3LY above them, relative to the galactic plane?
Exactly. I think the only time 3D matters in a space 4x is tactically, and that's pretty much because in 3D you have four options for flanking instead of two. There's only a handful of games that have pulled it off successfully - the Homeworld series for RTS, and Ascendancy for turn-based (which tanked because of its incompetent AI, not because of the excellent 3D combat). And given that Paradox is not usually into tactical combat, they may not simply abstract it away.
It's all graphs with systems as nodes.
Actually can I have a pure node/edge map? I would enjoy that.
Play AI War. There are others, but that one is unique.
Hey folks, the PR person I'm in touch with said the dev team could take some questions for a written Q&A (sadly they're too busy to come on a podcast, apparently), so what questions did y'all have? I'll put together the best ones I get and send 'em over.
Hey folks, the PR person I'm in touch with said the dev team could take some questions for a written Q&A (sadly they're too busy to come on a podcast, apparently), so what questions did y'all have? I'll put together the best ones I get and send 'em over. ;)
How does travel within a solar system work compared to interstellar travel?
Can different planets within a solar system be owned by different empires?
Are moons colonizable just like planets are?
Can we use espionage to interfere with another empire's internal politics (e.g. fund rebels, rig elections)?
Can we use espionage to assassinate characters?
Will my ruler get possessed or think he's Jesus?
Will a pit to Hell open up?
Damn that seems ambitious...
Will my ruler get possessed or think he's Jesus?
Will a pit to Hell open up?
Well, they already said you could possibly create the Event Horizon, so item #2 isn't totally crazy.
Will my ruler get possessed or think he's Jesus?
Will a pit to Hell open up?
Will he be killed by a manure bomb or shoody railing installation at his capital?
It was the lone bowman on the grassy knoll!
Pages