Questions Answered

[Delphi-PG]

Here are the questions I promised to answer and have back to ya guys today.

 

1. We remember hearing a interview from E3 about recording video from ingame. Exactly how will this work ? Will we be able to record freely or will it just be normally recorded and the user able to freeroam around it? Is this some sort of a fan movie tool?

 

Petroglyph – We were referring to our in-game “REPLAYâ€

[vasuba_pff]

Great stuff. Thanks for taking the time to answer

 

I live down the road from you guys think i could ever visit?

[Hadoken13]

thanx delphi!!!!!

[cmd. deron]

thank you delphi for your much needed info

[EJM]

Thanks Delphi, but just one thing in mind, so buildings will be constructed in galactic mode, so we place the Buildings like factories, etc... But what about the defences?, or entering a planet once it is captured?, cause' It would be better if we could place at least the defences and generators where we want...

[Ghostly_Substance]

500

10

 

That easy? Well then this should be a snap Oh and thanks for taking the time to get those questions answered

 

I knew there had to be some form of limit for AT-AT since it would of been to easy and to simple.

[Aegis_pff]

Delphi, thanks again

[OMEGA]

Lots of questions answered, you don't know me but thanks anyway!

 

3. Aside from having the tools to battle the enemy (moving your fleets around, building them, invading the planets, things like that), is there anything else that we've not seen yet? Something not as overt and aggressive like diplomacy, special ops, assassinations, etc?

 

Petroglyph – There are still a few items we don’t want to talk about in great detail just yet. I can say players will have access to units such as bounty hunters (not Boba Fett) who can track down and deal with heroes in their own unique way. Of course there are only a few planets that offer up these types of units. Protect them well.

 

What could this mean? Im confused. Im really hoping for diplomacy so I can maybe "hire" the wookiees to my side instead of have them enslaved.

[Zer_Teron]

Thanks Delphi, but just one thing in mind, so buildings will be constructed in galactic mode, so we place the Buildings like factories, etc... But what about the defences?, or entering a planet once it is captured?, cause' It would be better if we could place at least the defences and generators where we want...

 

From what ive read, they have specific build spots that where it automatiaclly places them. No idea what you do about turrets though

[Grand Admiral Thrawn 889]

thank You Delphi it's nice to get answers like these espcially around X-mas. but these answer some the questions that have been bothering us for months.

[Infinite_Xero]

Thanks alot Delphi!

you posts are always the best source of information

 

Replay feature: WOOOHOOO!

 

Modability: sweet!

 

Special Features: cool, but what about diplomacy? can we bribe, strongarm or talk our way into control of a planet?

 

AT-AT and ISD spawning units: excellent here come the swarms

 

Base building: sounds interesting and well thought out, no ultra planets

 

Repairs: bacta a repair stations, a very good thing R2D2 fixing rebel tanks, not so good for me but very cool

 

This should be more than enough for my EAW fix for today, but i need a demo!

[Grand Admiral Thrawn 889]

Xero i think theres a limit to how many fighters it can carry and the Reload timers going to be a decent length of time so that every few minutes doesnt just chuck out a new load of fighter/bombers.

[Teradyn_pff]

I am disappointed in the response to modding. It looks like Petroglyph may have spent alot of time on tools for moddability (that they used to make the game of course) that we may never see. I don't trust Lucas Arts in supporting full moddability. It is sad that it is in their court to allow this rather than Petroglyph's.

[Juggernaut1985]

I'm with Tera, its truly sad.

[Teradyn_pff]

I feel you Juggy ( um, not what it sounds like ), I was hoping that with the demo I would be able to get to work on the coding aspect of mods. It may be that they were talking about models and such when they answered this question, but I wonder if the XML and other datafiles are compressed, encoded or somesuch to prevent modifications otherwise. If this is the case, this would have to be something that LEC demanded that they do, because there would be no point in doing that while you are working on the game itself.

 

The whole key to the moddability of the game that alot of people probably don't understand is that if you build a game with a powerful engine that is very easy to manipulate (moddability), then it becomes easier and more efficient to build the content and data for that game. In other words, a well made game should be very moddable for the most part. The answer to that question makes me think that LEC made them hide most of that stuff to prevent modding to begin with. This would have been something that would have delayed release of the demo and game probably and was completely deliberate. And if I am right (and I hope that I am dead wrong here), then LEC will probably not support the level (if any) of moddability that Petroglyph is wanting to give us.

 

Delphi, if you are reading this, I think it important to contact someone as to what this means for the game itself. You guys have been touting its moddability for a while now and if LEC is going to step in and make all that untrue, I know alot of the people on this board at least are going to be very unmoved by the demo as the moddability is one of the things that was supposed to be a big feature.

 

We have all played the real time strategy gambit... anyone who has played Lords of the Realm 2 already has somewhat of a feel as to the ebb and flow of the galactic to strategic modes of play that are supposed to be so revolutionary. The world domination mode of Rise of Nations also blends those two elements (although not as directly), so the fact that it is Star Wars will be a plus, but the true longevity of this game will be moddability. Maybe someone needs to sit down with the guys at LEC and explain how this works. In the end though, if they are just counting on milking this for its initial release and using the moddability (kept from us of course) to produce a rapid expansion that takes it up to episode VI, then Petroglyph really can't legally do anything about it. And being a fledgling game producing company, they can't really stand up to LEC.

[Juggernaut1985]

The answer to that question makes me think that LEC made them hide most of that stuff to prevent modding to begin with. This would have been something that would have delayed release of the demo and game probably and was completely deliberate. And if I am right (and I hope that I am dead wrong here), then LEC will probably not support the level (if any) of moddability that Petroglyph is wanting to give us.

 

Or it could go a level deeper. LoW and IA 2 are modding in just about EVERYTHING a star wars fan could dream od, Clone Wars, Vong, Chiss, NR IR, so what is left for LEC to have an expansion on? NONE. This is a deliberate measure being taken to prevent mods such as this from being made so LEC can have their expansion. I HOPE Delphi proves me wrong.

[Zer_Teron]

Wonder how hard it will be to add new units. Would it be simple like this

 

<name>TIE Defender</name> 
<model>C:Program Files/Lucasarts/Defender.3ds</model>
<textures>C:Program Files/Lucasarts/Defendertx.opt</textures>
;if includes textures and model
<graphics>C:Program Files/Lucasarts/Defenderbt.gmax</graphics>  

 

Or like SWGBs very complicated way of adding them.

[Ghostly_Substance]

Wonder how hard it will be to add new units. Would it be simple like this

 

<name>TIE Defender</name> 
<model>C:Program Files/Lucasarts/Defender.3ds</model>
<textures>C:Program Files/Lucasarts/Defendertx.opt</textures>
;if includes textures and model
<graphics>C:Program Files/Lucasarts/Defenderbt.gmax</graphics>  

 

Or like SWGBs very complicated way of adding them.

 

I really hope its simple like that since people would add stuff to the game that it would be like a massive and almost near a living breathing world. Well we should waste how ever long it takes to add only one unit Well if we can add units on the fly and delete them and edit it within 10 minutes instead of 30 - 1 hour then thats cool.

[Wagamos]

Thanks for the info.

 

Not to thrilled about having only 8 spaces to build stuff and from how it sounds, u cant even position the buildings. I also dont like the not moddable out of the box aspect either.

[Delphi-PG]

Not to thrilled about having only 8 spaces to build stuff and from how it sounds.

 

There are 43+ planets and if we average say 5 slots per planet, that does = 215+ slots in the game. Seems like more than enough.

[Zer_Teron]

What about turrets? How would they work. And do you have a limit on how many spacestations or units can be in the space around 1 planet?

[Teradyn_pff]

Hey Delphi, don't know if I have stated so lately but we appreciate your presence on these boards...it has helped alot.

 

Anyway, could you clarify what was meant by the answer to question 2?

[Ismael]

Thank you Delphi You are the best community officer

 

This are great infos I wish that one day you will make us a video like you did the 43 min at E3 were you explain actions and such. I've seen that video so many times that I will love to see a second part. It will be again (like Mike said) a disturbance in the force

 

Maybe you will get to open the new pff EAW media subforum by presenting a legendary battle betwen the QA and the Designers or programmers That will be super cool to see how you guys play Maybe you could publish such a video in the same day with the demo. it will be super cool.

 

Edit; You didn't say in the interview how the bacta will repair ships after battle. Do we need to bring them to shypiards for that ?

[Phantom_pff]

What about turrets? How would they work. And do you have a limit on how many spacestations or units can be in the space around 1 planet?

That has already been said, there will be spots on the battle field (probably like the bacta tanks) where you can either build turrets or mines (to collect more credits)

[Foshjedi2004]

Ummm...Ismael Bacta is an Organic substance made from Blending Kavam and Alazhi. It can't be used on ships..