Population cap

[Naja]

I forget - have we seriously discussed a population cap, or gotten any legitimate response on it? Because I know that the question was more or less dodged in the last interview it was mentioned in...along with the SSD issue, which we plainly know to be not in.

 

Delphi, help a brotha out here. Is this going to be another Battle for Middle Earth; "EPIC" battles with a limited amount of units that can be in (oh, bitter irony! Endor with 10 ships!), or will you spare us from that awful fate and allow us limitless units on the battlefield?

[Nevets]

Yea, I hope we don't have one, I don't see why we would need one tho, these space areas sound huge from what we have heard and from the pics the land areas don't seem tiny.

 

doesn't matter if they do tho, there will definitely be a mod to take it out, and wouldn't be surprised if they had an option for it to be on in off right in the game.

[Gen.Vader]

i see the pop cap as unlimited, as long as you can provide the materials ^^

 

an endless sea of SDs.....*drool*

[Darkmark]

There rae bound to be limits. You can't expect an average to low computer to be able to handle that many units on screen at one time without problems. Also imagine lag during the multiplayer skirmish and campaigns.

 

The way I see it there will be a map limit, so only a certain amount can participate during one battle, but the galactic map limit will be infinite.

[Swiftdraw]

The galatic map can't be infinite since there are only so many smaller maps on the galatic map. I believe they're going for the C&C approach, that is no pop cap but you can only control so many units at once. Also note there is nothing indicating a pop cap in any of the screens.

[Ghostly_Substance]

I think there will be no limit and as many as you can afford but what you guys said on smaller planets only a limited amount if units are allowed.

 

As for low end computers needing a limit well maybe lower the settings and such? If your lucky there'll be a planet limit and unit limit production?

[Juggernaut1985]

Its more likely there will be no limit, people with low end comps will simply need to lower the graphics settings.

[Delphi-PG]

Yes there will be a pop cap, but not as harsh as other games. More details will follow in the next few weeks.

[AT-AP]

Will the next few weeks also see a resurgence of new material?

[Swiftdraw]

*sigh* so much for my million stormy march...

[Grand Moff Joyce]

Yes there will be a pop cap, but not as harsh as other games. More details will follow in the next few weeks.

 

Good. I was scared of a AOE pop cap. 200? Mummy! *Hide's under bed*

[Lytyr]

AoE wasn't bad, mainly because of the way the game worked. AoM was horrid.

 

I hope the limit is more EE-style, where's it's present but hugely big.

[Grand Moff Joyce]

AoM was horrid.

 

Why?

[Holly-Gan]

Well the fact that in AoM you had a pop-cap of 200. And that some units took more then one food, unlike AoE2 where all units all took just 1 food each. Or I guess that would be his reason considering the context.

[Naja]

Delphi: will the pop-cap be moddable, as some people have done with Battle for Middle Earth with outright -removing- it?

[Lytyr]

Well, pop-wise, I found AoM horrid, yes - 200 pop was unachievable in 1v1 games (settlements... grrrr), maps were tiny, and most good units took up 3+ pop, which made for dissapointingly small armies and a lack of much epic feeling to the game. It was graphically interesting (myth units were cool), but other then that, I was dissapointed.

 

AoE3 looks like it'll be great, though - I've only got the demo ATM, but it's great fun.

[Ghostly_Substance]

I like what Rise of Nations Expansion pack did with its population limit. 200 was normal then if you get either the Collosuss wonder (I think) or peacock resource you can up your population limit by 50 which actually helped me out win that 3 hour long game. I still cant believe the Aztecs still struggled that hard with me.

[Nevets]

Yea I hope it is moddable, or even just able to remove it if you want to. No use having it if your computer can handle any number of ships and troops.

[Jmaster3265]

i see the pop cap as unlimited, as long as you can provide the materials ^^

 

an endless sea of SDs.....*drool*

 

yeah i heard that as well.

[Naja]

So moddable...yes or no?

[Juggernaut1985]

Delphi, why is there a limit? C&C never had one.

[Grand Moff Joyce]

Delphi, why is there a limit? C&C never had one.

Becuase it could slow down the game and wreck low end computers.

[Moriarty101]

A pop. limit should be based on how many planets you control. You start off with 4 planets under your control with a limit of 200. Than every planet you take over adds 50 to your limit. Your lowest limit would be 200 units even if you have 1 planet left. I think this would be a good way to keep game play fierce and encourage you to take away your opponets planets.

[CTrooper1]

poo i was hopeing that we could have unlimited units but i guess your right that it isnt fair for the little guys...

[Delphi-PG]

Delphi, why is there a limit? C&C never had one.

 

 

For performance and game-play reasons. More on performance though. I promise you this, it will be barely noticeable. Oh, and there was a pop cap in C&C, we just didn't tell ya about it.