3-D looks
 

So,

I was thinking that a good thing to have in the game would be a way model your own ships. Go ahead and have a base shipset, but then add a few dozen generic 3-D "legos" that you can add onto the stock ships to make classes within the same size group unique. One of the things about MOOII I loved was that there were several models for each size, so my various battleship designs did not all look the same.

.....
 

Hopefully, it would be possible to create ships and mecha like SDF-1(transforming battleship of Robotech fame) and the like...actually, that brings up a question/idea: Would it be possible for...say, a fighter to transform into a battle armor, or a battle ship to switch from "navigation" mode to "battle" mode?(Aka, going from fast-weak ship to slow-strong ship)

I figured I would ask...I mean, it might seem silly but I am a big fan of anime, Gundam, Robotech, and the fantastic.

Re: .....
 

That would have to involve losing engines and gaining weapons, or some wacky thing like that, would it not?

Re: Realtime or turnbased tactical combat?
 

I was concerned a good while ago about this awesome game series going to a RTS hybrid too. Let's face it, there are a ton of other RTS games out there... What I liked about the SE series is the fact that it still was a turn-based game. Very few these days, and none anywhere near as mod-able or good.
In fact, I was so concerned, I e-mailed support at Shrapnel, and Aaron himself e-mailed me back with a line asking "What's wrong with RTS?" So, I told him.

Hoping this game and series doesn't fly the way of MOO.
From what I see it looks good, and seems as deep, with the controls needed to be a TBG-hybrid. I'll wait until I see some solid reviews from those who like TBG's before buying...
-ZtG

Re: .....
 

Hrm...maybe a system of "Active" and "Inactive" components would be involved. I imagine that this can actually play a role for non-transforming ships and such, too...like a battleship making a long-range trip, needs fuel supplies and disables it's weapons and battle shields in supposedly friendly territory. It makes good distance, and suddenly a cloaked enemy ship ambushes it, causing great damage and such due to the weapons and shields being "Inactive".

The ship survives, and doesn't have much fuel, and poor hull integrity...it uses the fuel pods, and disables all non-critical functions, and enables "boosters" to increase it's warp speed/impulse power or the like to run to the nearest space dock as quickly as possible...

Yes, I guess it is somewhat crazy, heh.

Re: Realtime or turnbased tactical combat?
 

SE5 is in no way a RTS.

Think of it as combat being processed one turn per millisecond, and direct fire weapons now take multiple turns to reach their targets.
If you choose single player, sequential turn, AND tactical combat, then you provide/update your orders every 1000 combat "turns" or so.

In any other case, the computer is calling the shots according to your given strategies, and everybody is happy.

Re: Realtime or turnbased tactical combat?
 

Heck...Space Empires 3 is so much better than MOO3...

Kana

Re: Realtime or turnbased tactical combat?
 

Anime transformer ships? Hmm, how about anime battleships that transform into giant floating monkey heads with disembodied fists that punch at you and you have to hit them when the fists open up... and then once you destroy both hands the monkey inside says "Uncle Andross!" and blows up, and then the big surprise - that wasn't the end of the level, you still have to fight this giant bug thingy which shoots deadly radar beams out of its wings and sucks up rocks from the ground and flings them at you...

Darn it, I've been playing too much Starfox: Assault lately http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Ever realize how Nintendo games seem to borrow from one another, though? Like there was Andross with the hand thing, and then in Mario 64 there are these giant stone hands which you have to punch (yes, the only Mario game where you can punch!) them when they open up, and then back to Oikonny in Starfox: Assault... and Metroid Prime's grapple beam was controlled in the exact same way you use Link's grappling hook in The Wind Waker... not to mention all the bosses where you have to reflect their attacks back at them (Aghanim from A Link to the Past, Ganon's first appearance in The Wind Waker, and every Kirby boss known to man)... yet for some reason you have to kill BOwser a different way every time?

Oh yeah, SE5... can we have weapons with multiple fire modes, like Megaman's M-Buster? One mode where it's really weak but fires like a machine gun and another mode where it's really powerful but you have to wait for it to charge? Just have a variable "time since last shot" and factor that into the damage calculation... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Realtime or turnbased tactical combat?
 

The weapon-charging idea might have merit...for example, charging a weapon takes extra supplies, and if overcharged beyond the component's ability to store it, it can cause damage? The same can go for shields and the like...

Re: Realtime or turnbased tactical combat?
 

I just hope he gets it right. I've seen games where you give orders, then the AI's resolve it .... turn out really, really bad before. Nothing like cursing a really stupid UI and you don't have any options.

In general, I just hope that all the push towards fancy 3D and neat looking ships and RT combat don't take away from what I want in a strategy game. I want two things from combat in a strategy game. I want it to fit well with the rest of the strategy in the game, ie I want it to reflect and respond to the strategic choices in the game in a nice balanced way. I want it to support startegic choices, instead of driving everyone to one perfect weapon. And the second thing I want is reports/feedback from the combat that tells me what I need to know to make strategic choices in my turn. So if my fleet died because there wasn't enough Point Defense in the fleet, I want to know it. I don't want to be guessing about what happened or squinting at a screen trying to figure it out.

I don't care what the ships look like, and generally think the phrase "real-time" is the root of all evil.