Galatic Ruler?

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Slash78
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Galatic Ruler?

Post by Slash78 »

I know SR2010 hasn't shipped yet and SR1936 will probably be the next game after that, but will "Galatic Ruler" or whatever the intended Sci Fi based release will be named, will it be based on the same engine? If so, how will this be accomplished?

Will "Cities" become "Planets", "Land" become "Solar Systems" and "Ocean" become the vast interplanetary void?

One thing that I think is a must for such a game is the ability to design/modify your ships. In earlier posts I have advicated keeping the weaponry tech simple and just increasing its efficency with better science, instead of the usual "uber exotic death ray" replaces "death ray", which replaces "particle beam" which replaced etc.

And there is also the matter of getting from one solar system to the other. Will you have some sort of FTL (Faster Then Light) system (like Star Trek's Warp Drive) or some sort of "Jump" system (like Star Wars, B5 and Wing Commander's Hyperdrives/Jump Drives)?

Probably could go on and on with questions, however I'll leave it at that for now.
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Balthagor
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Post by Balthagor »

Honestly, I have no answers for you. With how close we are to going gold, we haven't even though about this...

Whenever we do start to look at design questions, I'm sure we'll come back here for ideas since everyone has already been so active in helping our development efforts.
Chris Latour
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Post by dust off »

Don't get me wrong Slash I like a good sci-fi game once in a while. One I enjoyed a lot was a Star Wars galaxy where you could hunt down rebel leaders with mighty fleets of star destroyers.

But a guy from slitherine had this to say (on wargamer page) about their
experience
Sci-fi & Fantasy are very hard to sell to retail. Publishers & retail don’t like taking them unless you are going to put a big marketing budget behind them. This makes sci-fi & fantasy less likely, though those are what we'd really like to do if we're honest :)
I would think that this sort of reality would factor into a young developer's decission making.
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Son of Moose
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Post by Son of Moose »

Although SciFi (and other fantasy games) do indeed allow the developers to adopt a truly expansive approach and to let their imagination run riot, the extremely detailed (and historically accurate) economic model that is so integral to SR2010 (and hopefully all of BG's future products) might not translate quite so well to the above genres. :(

Who knows, maybe BG might prove me wrong in this regard .... :wink:
Slash78
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Post by Slash78 »

I was under the impression that most of the people at BG Studios weren't that "young" and I do believe one of the them brought the idea up first.

As for the historic accuracy, etc, etc, you just replace that with templetes and let the players design there own units (like almost every other Sci Fi game).
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Post by dust off »

I was under the impression that most of the people at BG Studios weren't that "young"
:lol:

You are right, I think that they did mention it first.

Do you recommend any good sci-fi strategy games out there now?
Slash78
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Post by Slash78 »

Generic "Conquer the Galaxy" Sci Fi game? I don't think a really good one has came out since MOO2 (I still through it in every once in a while and play it). Pax Imperia: Eminatent Domain was ok. Star Wars: Rebellion and Star Trek TNG: Birth of the Federation were good, if you enjoyed the repective genres enough to overlook some of game play issues.

As for other Sci Fi games, the SFC series was good, really like SFC III, because you could set up ships how you wanted them. If that had been combined with BotF it would have been a much better game. Also enjoyed that ST: Armada series.

In a large "conquer the galaxy" game, the more of the ship info you leave to the players the better. Instead of the "hull templates" that other games use (frigate is X size, destroyer Y size, etc), just give hull shapes and allow the players to arm them and decide how big they want a Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Carrier, etc, to be. In games were the size of the hull is fixed to the class, as the game progresses the you have less and less of a reason to build the smaller hulls.

Such templates would be a good idea if you allow players to design fighter and missiles. "Light, Medium and Heavy" fighters, that have a internal space/volume limit as well as a mass limit. For missiles you would have the guidence system, warhead, motor (both speed and range, the fast it is the less the range, slower, greater the range) and maneuvering thrusters. Light being an analog to the AIM-9 Sidewinder, medium being an analog to the AMRAAM and Sparrow/ESSM and heavy being an analog to the Phoenix, Hawk, Harpoon and Standard Missile. (A larger missile to be fired from only warships might be an analog to the Tomahawk and Russian "Shipwreck" missiles).

Torpedoes would differ from missiles as they would be launched from an accelerator tube, meaning they would have a warhead, guidence system and maneuvering thrusters, but wouldn't need a rocket motor. The accelerator tube would take up more room then missile launchers and require more power, but torpedoes would carry more of a punch.

For missile launchers you should have the choice of arm launchers, box launchers (externally mounted) or a VLS analog.
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Post by aegisx »

Lets see.

Galactic Civilizations was a good game, recommended :) Sequel is in devel
Masters of Orion 3.... ehhhhh.
Space Empires 4, looks awesome (a sequel is in devel)
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Post by dust off »

Thanks guys. I like sci fi strategy games with a franchise as it helps my limited imagination. Star Wars Rebellion was my favourite, and I also liked MOO 1. Wish I'd given Star T' birth of the Fed' a go. Might search for a demo later.

Did any of you guys catch a short series called 'Space above and beyond'. That series rocked; but they never followed it up :(

What doe you guys make of Star Wars Empire at War? Looks like its got potential; but I read that the number of systems is going to be around 30, which does not sound like enough to me.
Slash78
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Post by Slash78 »

You have a link to Empire at War? Never heard of it.
aegisx
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Post by aegisx »

Empire at war looks awesome... but thats all Ive really seen about it.
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Post by dust off »

here's the link: feast your eyes.
http://www.lucasarts.com/games/swempireatwar/
Slash78
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Post by Slash78 »

looks pretty, though so did Force Commander and it was almost unplayable. Wish they would come out with a Rebellion 2 or something. I prefer grand strategy.
Paolo
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Post by Paolo »

Hi!

Have you ever played the first X-COM game? It has a very good real time strategic engine with rocksolid tactical battles, played in turns.
Then, Master of Orion 1; I don't like much the second, while I still don't know well the third.
A very challenging game was Homeworld, with a good story and an amazing graphics. Also the recent Nexus is not so bad; but what I don't like in these last two games is the missions are too scripted, too much linked to certain results.
I have GalCiv and HW2, but I can't find the time to play them!!!
pandora6969
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Post by pandora6969 »

STAR CONTROL............
Remember this game, this game was the stuff. I wish they would have made a star contrl 4.
I mean that game was a classic in itself.
They dont make them like they use too.
Strategy Gamer
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