Ships, Tech, Tactics?

Hello All,

I being what I am, have many many questions, given the length of my posts to date, can go on at some legnth at that. I will attempt to keep these shorter.

First up, just curiosity, I have seen some of the screens, and noticed( most likely incorrectly) that for each of the factions, not all the ships look as though the same mind crafted it. It looked almost as if there were different teirs of ships that could be researchd. It is hard to really explain, so I will jsut as the question.... When creating your fleet, do you unlock certain ships as you go done certain lines? For example, if you do extensive research into rocketry and missles, will you ships look different then say if you went down the way of energy based weapons or will there even be reasearch since you can customize your ships, what really is hte point to it?

If there is research, what areas are there to be researched and how will they effect he empire/ships/races...?

Is it possible ot specialize in certain areas? By that, I do mean specialize. In most RTS games I have seen that say you can specialize, they say something like we have 60 techs to research over 4 catagories, and you can specialize in any one of them. Well, what that acually means is that you can research one catagory and be specailzed but then you go and research all the rest and then, your just like everyone else; Or, your can do something similar to that, but then you can get plus 5!!!!! to your score at lasers (or something) yet the total range is 120, so while everone else is at 120, your at 125 and they call that specialized. I am asking if you can truely specialize in something or somethign to the effect of your have 50 standard techs, that everyone can research, and then like 60 tech in 6 catagories that you can only research one catagory and you wont know the others, unless you trade or conquer them or something. You know somehting fun.

That should be kinda ok to start with.

Still trying ot bring my post size done a bit.

Lharrs
103,518 views 58 replies
Reply #1 Top
What are the different formations you cna set?

Will you be allowed to create custom 3d formations out side of a MP match and then use them in game? The next step to RTS games are importeted designs, least I think so.

What will the level of badge/color customization be?

Given that there are currently only three announced races, and there are plans for I believe I saw 10 players in an MP to play at a time, how will the tech/racial bonuses/customization abilities if any, be put into the game so that each player feels that they are playing a some what unique faction?
Reply #2 Top
although the split tree sounds fun, I would like to have the option turned off on choice. additionally each branch should have less tech than your allowed to research, not more.

I would appreciate more of a "buy research points" related system, although not as cheezy.
simply because a person who is tech based should not be held to the same technological limits as someone who is military or economy based.
Reply #3 Top
as for the first part, I prolyl did not explain well( me trying ot be shorter on the posts). Let me try again. The first stage would be the general run of hte mills stuff that absolutally each race gets. they would be more of a jumble then defined paths. As certain techs are researched the second tier of tech starts to become availible. This is the stuff where( though techology) you begin to define your Factions style. Base exaples would be energy, porjectile, rocketry, fighters, bio-electrical, and maybe chemical. Bio-Electrical and chemical may be to closely related, but that is beside the point.
From there, will it be:
- Energy - pulse energey, sheilding, beam energy, and fleids.
- Projectile - Railguns, Cannons, Chain Guns, Gunnery.
---- Proj Cannon ---- Howitzer, Auto-Cannon, Morter


It would go for a few stages. It would also have a few little twisties to it, one would be, they are arranged in such a ways that by investing points in one path( say 60 points in a path) your start to reduce the points in its designated opposite. By that, 5 points out of 60 in energy weapons, and your down to 55/60 possibble for Projectile. With that, perhaps another twist would be to say that you only have enough points for maybe 30% out of hte total points in the 2nd tier reasearch, or perhaps the number of points you have depend on factors like the number of population you have, and total scientific stuctures that generate research. Those structures ould by no means be cheap.

That could all be added to or trimmed by the devs depeneding on how long they plan a game to be. If a standard game were perhaps 45-1hr then i would say perhaps 3 2nd tier Energy/Barrier, Projectile/armor, Rocketry/Fighter. The major sub groups being E/B - pulse/beam and Shield/feild, P/A - Howitzer/Autocannon and Plateing/Point Defense, R/F - Missles/Torpedoes and Mand/Drone. A lot more specifics are there, but I will leave it for now.

The whole point of that is so the yea, maybe two TEC fleets meet up, but they may not be the same, sure they look similar enough but they arent. You may encounter Advent and stock heavy in the anit-energy dept. yet they hit you with projectile weps and fight hordes.
Reply #4 Top
Yea, slightly shorter then before HUZZAH!
Reply #5 Top
I'm completely confused. but what I do understand I like.

but I still think that there really shouldnt be an upper limit (if there so happens to be one)
Reply #6 Top
Yea again, I am trying to shorten my points as per your request, however I dont think I am doing well at conveying my point.
Reply #7 Top
I got it and it sounds pretty nifty. But I don't think that Sins works this way.

To my understanding, in Sins the way the your fleets become differentiated from those of another player of the same faction is in what upgrades you choose. As your ships level up you have options of what upgrade to put on them so those choices shape your fleet and make it unique.

Outwardly your ships will look the same (structurally that is, colors may be different for each player) but their weapons loadout and ability set will differ.

What are the different formations you cna set?


As far as I know you don't manually set formations.
Reply #8 Top
I got it and it sounds pretty nifty. But I don't think that Sins works this way

some upgrades are bought though. its just that the special abilities are "earned"
Reply #9 Top
Will we actually see different techs reflected on the ship?

I.E. A TEC player focusing on armor over shielding would visibly have more hull mass a on the other side the shield focused player's ships wouldn't have as much.
Reply #10 Top
dont think so.

keep in mind this isn't an RTS based on shiny ships, its based specifically on strategy.
Reply #12 Top
Is there any limit on research, i mean can you get all tech or some point based so you
would have to concentrate on the things you want.

And how big is the map area going to be around planets. SotS blew that one pretty
badly they had way too small map areas around planets.. all the tactic was mostly in
sending your fleets head-on combat.

NEXT POINT IS IMPORTANT DEVS

Make sure the AI does not know what the player is doing, so it has to act on the
information at hand not some omniscient allseeing eye so it can see your units without
ever actually having a unit near them. Could we please get confirmation this is the case

Its one of the worst blewups in RTS's that almost everyone makes. Anyone remember cursing
when computer attacked your unit/building without ever having any means of "seeing"
him (having a unit near etc...)
Reply #13 Top
Please for the love of god, devs if you havent alerdy please listen to Umbra Evito's post! I cant stand it when the oppoent knows for no good reason where everything is. Though if you dont make this mistake then please also make sure they are good enough to scout/gather info instead of acting upon tiny bits of info.

Oh the point of tech, i would like a fairley diverse tech base with some form of limitation, but dont take this too far.
Reply #14 Top
hopefully there will be a random starting point option... I want my enemy to search for me , not know where I am right from the start...
Reply #15 Top
I want my enemy to search for me , not know where I am right from the start...


-Leutenant, begin deep space scans-

**um... sir**

-Don't "um" me Leutenant, begin those deep space scans-

**Sir yes sir**

()()10 minutes later()()

(cannon fire rocks the station)
-Where the hell did they come from?-

**Sir they had a base on our moon...**

-Why didn't you tell me this-

**I tried to, but I was to busy with the deep space scans**
Reply #16 Top
Schematicsninja its more like this:

Advent Commander - Marco!
TEC Commander - ...polo...
Advent Commander - Marco!
TEC Commander - ......
Advent Commander - Fish out of water.
Reply #17 Top

Make sure the AI does not know what the player is doing, so it has to act on the
information at hand not some omniscient allseeing eye so it can see your units without
ever actually having a unit near them. Could we please get confirmation this is the case

Its one of the worst blewups in RTS's that almost everyone makes. Anyone remember cursing
when computer attacked your unit/building without ever having any means of "seeing"
him (having a unit near etc...)

The AI has to scout, remember where things are and make predictions on where they will be in the future just like you. In otherwords, he doesn't cheat with his vision.

Reply #18 Top
Thank you Blair, got my vote right now. Pre-order on the way and really thank you.

I have seen "vision" cheating from AI in countless games and from dozens of devs teams
thank you for not making that mistake.

This game is really starting to look like THEE game ive been waiting for like 5years
Its sad theres not many space sims be it strategic or tactic and most of the ones out
have been rushed through the mill like - Its gotta sell alot its got graphics and its like space ya man


PS. You could use that somehow in your marketing.. it will catch a gamers eye like nothing
else (too many years in business school hehe)
Reply #19 Top
remember where things are

wouldnt it be awesome to have a "faulty memory" algorithm running? that would be awesome *discard .3% of memory data every 3 minutes*
Reply #20 Top
Well I am glad the AI doesn't "lame ass" cheat like in some games...
Reply #21 Top
Does each empire start out with shield technology or must it be researched?
Reply #22 Top
Each race starts with some level of ship shield technology. Other shield technology (e.g levels and types) are different per race and can be accessed either by custom ship upgrades, research, or certain structures.
Reply #23 Top
Is the Kol Battleship still the same model as from the first trailer? Yarlen had said that the models were updated. But I have to say the Kol looks awsome the way it is.
Reply #24 Top
speaking of shields

is the inverse relationship between shield strength and integrity still implemented? (pray)
Reply #25 Top
I remember this discussion from the old boards, was the inverse relationship where the shields are stronger the more damage that is applied to them? Or the reverse?