Live Chat Results

[Popcorn2008]

Well noboddy has posted anything about them yet, so I decided to go ahead

 

Live Chat Thread

 

There's where the results are at, nothing new really revealed. Though we do know now that if your the Empire and you build a death star and it gets destroyed it's end of game for you  . Oh by the way, if the orbital bombardment throws you for a spin, the answer was worded wrong, they are referring to bombing runs. A dev clarified this over at Lucas Forums.

[Sparky]

Transcript, now you don't have to scroll thourgh 6 pages of it. Though most of these questions are questions that shouldn't have been need to ask, but thats Lucas arts forums for ya.

 

quote

The demo has garnered much praise so far from many individuals who have played it. Is there anything you left out of the demo that you wish would of still been in it, or is there anything that you wish you could of placed into the demo at the last minute?

Thanks for the compliments.

 

We love hearing that the demo is too short because that means we can get more out to you in a couple of weeks.

 

Hi, i would like to know why did you choose this time period of the Star Wars Game for the game "Empire At War" and not making an RTS game that would spend on the entire Star Wars saga...

 

It allowed us to start before the classic trilogy and before what you know, but move into the the classics everyone loves.

 

We want this to be a strong franchise of games that could span more eras and this felt like a great place to start.

What was the most grueling part of the game to develop?

 

The strategic galactic layer started on day one and went all the way to the end because it has to think like a human to make it a fun game. If you screw up on that and the AI can be easily beaten then the game can be ruined.

 

If I had to vote, I'd say space tactical movement for capital ships. Getting big ships moving but never running into each other is really hard.

 

In the demo, I was able to complete the Vergasso Asteriods and Tatooine with just Han and Chewie (albiet with difficulty). Would this have been possible in the full game, and do all heros have such powerful combat potential?

In the full game, you wouldn't have been able to do it if there was any presence on the planet.

 

The heros don't have balances but have great special abilities that can tip the balance of the battle.

 

Do you have an estimated release date as to when the map editor will be released for Empire at War?

Once the game is out, we will lay out our plans for the release map any mod tools.

 

What is the most exciting aspect of the game in your eyes?

 

We all have our different takes.

 

The blending of space and land in one strategic game is awesome. I love that. The strategic mojo is the persistence. You live with them, you can lose them.

 

My fav aspect is the multiplayer campaign... being able to save it out and come back and revisit it. Good stuff. A lot of fun.

 

I love that we have targetable points on some units... choosing to targets shields, weapons, bays, etc. You can tactically choose different pieces for tactical reasons.

 

Will Damage always intant repair in Galactic Campaign as seen in the Demo or can we expect some form of repair?

Yes, but the galactic mode runs under a different time scale. A day isn't really an earth day. We wanted to take the work out and just get back to the fun.

There has been alot of talk of the hypervelocity gun and ion cannon being overpowered and having no counters, is there a way for an invading fleet to take them out or does teh invader just have to deal with them until they reach the ground?

As a rebel, you can mount a daring raid to bypass the gun... IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS.

 

Hi i was wondering what Empire At War has to offer for online. How many players can control battalions online around the world , Is there long fun online gameplay and also i like the Wampa character and im wondering if there are Wampas to control . Thnx - Brad Brown , Keep up the good work !

 

There will be up to 8 player skirming battles in space and land and also a 2 player head-to-head galactic conquest. Check out the recent dev diaries for much more detail.

Compared the the Ground Map of Tatooine in the Demo, How big are the maps going to be in the full version game?

 

They vary in size. Some are LARGER, some smaller and some about the same. There are over 80 maps to explore.

 

I don't know how you guys did it but you did! The Alamo engine works great! even on my crappy computer, I was wondering...how long did it take you to develop such a masterpiece?

 

The entire game was developed from scratch, everything from concept, design and code, took just over two years. And here we are today!

 

We wanted it to look fantastic on high end systems, but still good on the low end. We're glad to hear it. You just made all our work pay off!

 

Contrary to your question... the engine wasn't created specially for your crappy computer.

 

what added extras are there to the collectors edition if its been made

An exclusive 3d lenticular version of the box, first of all. On the bonus disc are 5 exclusive bonus maps, two screensavers (one with the Death Star that's awesome!), a gallery of concept art, and 4 exclusive wallpapers.

 

according to the demo, the rebel head hunters are terrible fighters that are only good against tie bombers and are weak even against regular Ties. The demo says its advantage is that its so cheap but its only 50 credits cheaper than a far better x-wing and for the same number of ships too. Plus, it costs more than a y-wing, so...what exactly is it good for if its not that cheap? or are the costs in the demo off?

 

The cylons were giving them too much trouble!

 

There's a good reason the rebels replaced them with X-wings.

 

I haven't been excited about a Star Wars game in a long time, but the demo really hooked me. I have a couple questions, feel free to answer all or none of them.

 

Are there any significant gameplay differences between the demo and the full game (build times, travel times, pathfinding etc.) that you could go over?

 

Were orbital bombardments ever implemented in the game, could they not be balanced within the game design, possibly an expansion option?

 

Thanks, and you've made me a Star Wars game fan again.

The differences between the demo and the full game are too long to list. There's no multiplayer in the demo, heroes and AI, ships, maps, campaigns like the Rebel and Empire's stories, and on and on.

 

There is space bombardment where you can call on fire from space.

How will indigenous life work? I saw the jawas and humans in the demo, but how will the game determine which side they fight for?

 

It's based on the kind of forces they are. They already know who they're going to fight for... that's not under player control. Wookiees always help the rebels, for example. The infantry eating rancor doesn't side with anyone... but it can be force corrupted by the Emperor.

 

My question to you guys is what college did you go to, to become a 3D designer, because I what to be a game designer for lucasart some day!

 

College??!???

 

Some of us went for a few years, but...

 

Does the dev team find the game addicting enough that they play it in their time off?

 

All the time. That's no lie.

 

Empire at War. Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft... that's our three.

In SP galactic mode you can pause and issue build orders and etc.

 

Will this be in MP? How will the ability to pause the game work in MP?

 

 

You can't pause in MP, just like in real life. You have to think.

 

love the demo and I have a question. What will base-building be like?

 

You build strategic structures (mining, research, etc) in galactic mode. In tactical mode you build tactical structures (like turrets, bacta tanks, etc) that persist... unless someone destroys it.

How many planets will we be able to play with in multiplayer?

 

In Galactic Campaign, there's 40+ planets.

 

You said you enjoyed the fact that you could target the different areas of some large units. Was this a feature that was planned from the beginning, or something that a developer thought of along the way?

 

That was there from the beginning. That was something we really wanted to get in there...

 

So this will not be a "classic" RTS? The base-building has been changed, and instead been replaced by an auto-placer?

 

Strategic structures are auto-placed since it's not as critical where they go. Tactical structures are up to you.

 

We're attempting to take some of the "work" out of the game.

 

Can you explain "choke points" on the galactic map and how they will work? Thx

 

Due to hyperspace distance restrictions, there are certain systems you have to conquer in order to open up remote parts of the galaxy.

 

Could you explain the significance of hitting supply docks and communication arrays?

 

Supply docks generate some income, so taking it out stops the flow of credits in skirmish mode. The communications array will knock out the players radar.

 

During the demo, the enemy made no attempts to attack me on a galactic scale. Will this be fixed in the full version? Also, why arent super star destroyers in? they wouldnt be that unbalanced if the price was right. If balance it the issue what about the death star?

The AI was intentionally turned off in the demo, to let people get oriented in the game and not overwhelmed.

 

In the full version, in hard mode, the AI will attack you relentlessly. You'll be lucky to survive.

 

Can u give us the full cast list of the voice actors please?

 

You can get the complete list when the game comes out. In our opinion, the voice acting is simply fantastic.

 

As a point of interest Temeura Morrison for Boba Fett. The son of the actor who played General Veers is General Veers in the game.

 

In Skirmish battles, specifically skirmish space battles, how will the population cap work? In space how do you increase the limit?

 

In space, it is present. Units above the cap are reserves that you can pull in as losses are taken.

 

One of Ptro employees said something about upgrading shield generators to particle shields. What is the difference?

 

The regular shield just stops energy weapons. The upgrade stops all other projectiles as well.

 

will the collectors edition be reeased in United Kingdom or is for America only

 

The Collector's Edition will also be available in Germany and the U.S.

Help me understand the Tech Tree. Do you start out with Headhunters (Z-95s), then upgrade to X-wings like in, say, Galactic Battlegrounds, or are the Z-95s and the X-wings two different types of starfighters?

 

They're different types of ships, some serve as an upgraded roll but they don't necessarily all upgrade. They can both fly at the same time. Z-95s are cheaper, so you might want to keep them tactically. They're good for scouting or taking out transports.

 

Will we be able to group our units (ex. ships, tanks ect.) with hot keys before battles? And if not, after grouping, will they stay grouped for the next battle?

 

Grouping is possible and encouraged. Because every battle has different units, keeping the groupings wasn't a good idea.

WIll the cinamatic camera be tweeked in the real game? it did a good job until it flew off and followed a womp-rat while my at-at was kicking butt and when it does get some good action it flys off again, the only way it is good is when I highlight a unit and hit "c" twice so that I can control the camera, will it be fixed?(otherwise good job!)

If you press and hold the cinematic hot key, the camera will hold on the selected unit, it won't switch away. If you press and release it switches immediately to another angle. So this is a great way to find a view you like and stick with it.

 

Can you create multiple death stars at once, or recreate death stars after one has been destroyed?

If the starbase building a Death Star is destroyed, then it's gone and you can start building again.

 

Once it's built and Luke and the pesky red squadron destroys it... then it's game over! Win or lose.

Just as a point of interest, What do feel to be the most interesting strategic element you added to the game (ie Raiding a plant to disable a hypervelocity gun/ ion cannon before attacking with a space fleet.)?

That each planet contributes something unique to the galaxy, depending on where you attack making the game come out differently.

 

Also, the fact that galactic mode runs in real-time rather than turn based is a really big point in our opinion.

 

Can you go into more depth of how the full verison of EaW has chnaged since the demo?

 

We finished the game in early December. Since then we've been fixing bugs, balancing and polishing.

 

What specific abilities does Mara Jade have. Will she be able to steal credits like Han and Chewie? Or do more dastardly deeds like assasinations and espionage?

 

She can set bombs and force corrupt infantry, using her charms and hot Dark Jedi chick mind control.

 

All the hero characters have unique abilities true to their established characters.

 

In the demo, if you brought more units into a space battle your forces were selected for you. Will it be possible to select your units before entering a battle, or will your forces always be selected for you?

 

You can control what's in the battle by selectively splitting your fleet into an initial invasion fleet and a follow-up second fleet.

 

Being the dev team had played this game a lot already would you mind sharing your most favorite unit combos? Land or space.

 

- Obi-Wan Kenobi and the droid, since you can force-protect the droids.

- Emperor Palpatine and the rancor.

 

Does kyle katarn stay or mercenay or does he get jedi powers?(like he does in the jedi knight series)

And are you saying that if the empire has all but one planet left and they build the death star just to completly own the rebels, and the rebels miraculously destroy it, the empire automatically loses?! no matter what?

 

Kyle is a mercenary in EAW.

 

Destroying the Death Star is a tactical situation. You'll have to protect Red Squadron and see the battle to completion. If you lose the Death Star, you lose the game. Of course, you're not required to build one.

 

We're thrilled by the excitement and can't wait for the game to come out and to hear what you think.

 

Thanks for your questions and keep posting in the forums. This makes all of the long hours really worth it. The dev team just LIVES off the positive feedback.

Edited January 24, 2006 by Cain

[Popcorn2008]

Thanks for making the transcript  , I was too lazy to go through it all. Yeah I was disapointed at the lack of new information as well. Though like you said, that's eaw.com forums for ya

[Darth Tyrant]

Can you create multiple death stars at once, or recreate death stars after one has been destroyed?

 

If the starbase building a Death Star is destroyed, then it's gone and you can start building again.

 

Once it's built and Luke and the pesky red squadron destroys it... then it's game over! Win or lose.

 

This is totally wrong. You have a big battle station that can destroy planets, but It can't defend itself nor your fleet by using its laser canon on capital ship and on top of it, when Luke destroy it the game is over for imperials, oh hell no. Then what is worth to build it anyways?, I could take the risk on building it if the death star could target capital ships , space stations and shipyards, but just to have it sit down on a planet like a fat cow waiting for Luke to screw my game, hell no.

[Teradyn_pff]

Um, the Death Star 1 could not fire on anything but planets.  Why do people keep failing to get that through their thick skulls?

[Foshjedi2004]

Because they are Noobs??

[LtKage]

This is totally wrong. You have a big battle station that can destroy planets, but It can't defend itself nor your fleet by using its laser canon on capital ship and on top of it, when Luke destroy it the game is over for imperials, oh hell no. Then what is worth to build it anyways?, I could take the risk on building it if the death star could target capital ships , space stations and shipyards, but just to have it sit down on a planet like a fat cow waiting for Luke to screw my game, hell no.

 

Perhaps this version of the deathstar did not have the targeting capacity to lock on moving targets, even capital ships move around alot. Planets don't tend to move much heh heh heh. ;D But why would a planet destroying weapons platform want to use its main weapon (which takes 24hrs to recharge in this timeframe) to take out a ship when in the film/game it has its own fleet to do so. The deathstar isn't a defensive weapon, its the "most terrifying force in the galaxy" used as an offensive tool, to subdue planets to Imperial rule. It had no need to blow up ships in the film that this game is set in. People cry about immersiveness (sp), well hows about that for immersiveness (sp). Use your fleet to defend it, and the deathstars own fleet...oh and just target Luke alot to get rid of him and you have nothing to worry about

[Cain]

I will like to see the full Log and not only a quote pls thanks.

[Teradyn_pff]

Right.  Any Imperial player that does not have a host of Tartan Patrol Craft around their Death Star at all times deserves to lose it.  And it would be wise to have a full garrison, along with a hypervelocity cannon at the planet you station it at.  And another thing... DON'T bring the Death Star in with a fleet to attack a planet.... Treat it like a transport, bring it after the main resistance has been wiped out.  The best thing to do (assuming the Death Star can retreat) is to send your main fleet first and then drag the Death Star behind it.  This way it should get there before the enemy can get reinforcements there to retaliate.  Pop the planet and then leave IMMEDIATELY. 

 

Remember that as it stands now, the Rebels can see where the Death Star is on the map at all times.  So they will see it coming if you send in a force with it attached first.  And given its slow speed, they can probably get luke there first and this is not what you want.

[Darth Tyrant]

Um, the Death Star 1 could not fire on anything but planets.  Why do people keep failing to get that through their thick skulls?

 

Wait a min my friend. The first Death Star could fire on cap ships and destroy planets, the reason why we didn't saw it on episode is because Grand Moff Tarkin use it to destroy planets. The death star II was build with the same schematics of the first death star. Palpatine use it to destroy cap ships in episode 6, because the second death star wasn't finish yet and he use it for defense. Why do you think tarking didn't brought with him the imperial fleet to attack yavin 4?,because the death star is " The ultimate power in the galaxy", it's self sufficient, it has defense and offense, it can destroy planets and defend itself from incoming enemy capital ships. Why do you think Jan doddona didn't ask the rebel fleet for aid when the death star was going to attack yavin 4?, because it was going to get destroyed, the only way they had a chance to destroy the death star was by fighter attack. The reason why the rebels brought the rebel fleet to attack the death star II was because they thought it wasn't operational, thats why Admiral ackbar call for retreat at the middle point of the battle. Death star I and Death Star II are the same, done with the same schematics, only that Tarkin use it for offense and Palpatine use it for defense, both stations can target cap ships, space stations and shipyards, plus destroying a planet.

 

Oh and btw, both death star had tie fighter and tie bomber squadrons as defense in case of fighter attack.

 

And the most important point here is that imperials that get their death star destroyed, loose the game. It's not fair, because when the first death star was destroyed, the empire didn't lost control over the galaxy, they continue to rule and when the second death star was destroyed along with palpatine, the empire didn't lost control over the galaxy, it was a few years later that the rebellion invade Coruscant and overthrow the empire's regime, so is not fair for a player to loose an entire game for just one death star that gets destroyed.

[Teradyn_pff]

Um, Darth Tyrant, what is the source for your arguments in that thread?  There are a few things in there that directly contradict continuity.

 

For one, the DS II was redesigned to remove the flaws in the first one that made it vulnerable to that attack.  It was made larger to accomodate a more sophisticated targetting system that would allow it to fire on ships (this would not be necessary if the first one could do it).  The new superlaser could fire less powerful bursts which allowed it to fire more often which made the targetting of capital ships a viable ability because if you could only fire once per day (like the first Death Star) then there would be no point.

 

Both Death Stars had multitudes of Turbolasers and Ion cannons on the surface.  The Death Star 1 didn't have many Laser cannons (anti-starfighter) but the second one had a **tt load of them.  The design of the second one was radically different than the first and the reasons were pretty obvious as were the results of those reasons.

 

By the way, if the exhaust shaft hadn't been a liability (and they didn't know this at the time), the Rebels would have been totally hosed.  By removing this liability, the DS 2 would have been virtually impossible to destroy.  This is the reason the entire Rebel fleet took the risk to attack the Death Star 2 before it was completed as they wouldn't have had a chance if it was.

 

Please see this link for refrences and the author also provides references from where he draws his conclusions:http://www.theforce.net/swtc/ds/

[Darth Tyrant]

Um, Darth Tyrant, what is the source for your arguments in that thread?  There are a few things in there that directly contradict continuity.

 

For one, the DS II was redesigned to remove the flaws in the first one that made it vulnerable to that attack.  It was made larger to accomodate a more sophisticated targetting system that would allow it to fire on ships (this would not be necessary if the first one could do it).  The new superlaser could fire less powerful bursts which allowed it to fire more often which made the targetting of capital ships a viable ability because if you could only fire once per day (like the first Death Star) then there would be no point.

 

Both Death Stars had multitudes of Turbolasers and Ion cannons on the surface.  The Death Star 1 didn't have many Laser cannons (anti-starfighter) but the second one had a **tt load of them.  The design of the second one was radically different than the first and the reasons were pretty obvious as were the results of those reasons.

 

By the way, if the exhaust shaft hadn't been a liability (and they didn't know this at the time), the Rebels would have been totally hosed.  By removing this liability, the DS 2 would have been virtually impossible to destroy.  This is the reason the entire Rebel fleet took the risk to attack the Death Star 2 before it was completed as they wouldn't have had a chance if it was.

 

Please see this link for refrences and the author also provides references from where he draws his conclusions:http://www.theforce.net/swtc/ds/

 

Nice web site, my source don't explain with great detail like this web site did. I apologize for my info, I thought it was right, but hey you learn something new everyday. Thanks for the info.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn 889]

these Questions were useless and a NooB asked about the SSD's what is the point in that and also they were asking about the AI we know that the AI is turned off! AND they asked about what the MP offers that makes no sense! we know what it does!

[Teradyn_pff]

Meh, remember what forum this came from.  They don't seem to be as well informed over there, so for them, some of this might be new info.

[Sven]

I asked wether there would be clan support, it even was accepted by the moderation (was the fourth (or so) posting) -  but no one answered

 

Anyway, we have translated most of the transcript (focused on the new things and the stuff the community is currently discussing the most) to german.

 

Here it is:

http://www.sw-eaw.de/index.htm?&shownews=260

[Grand Admiral Thrawn 889]

Fair enough Teradyn i forgot that! but if we were told about this we could have tried to change the host site to ours and have us asking more important questions!

[Teradyn_pff]

True, but I think we have been more than lucky in having Delphi and Ishmael here giving us info without formal chats.  They have been more than generous with us here.  Let the Lucas forums have a chat or two.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn 889]

ok then Teradyn i know that but if they want to host a Dev Chat at least give it to a forum that knows how to use it!

[Jmaster3265]

Well noboddy has posted anything about them yet, so I decided to go ahead

 

Live Chat Thread

 

There's where the results are at, nothing new really revealed. Though we do know now that if your the Empire and you build a death star and it gets destroyed it's end of game for you  . Oh by the way, if the orbital bombardment throws you for a spin, the answer was worded wrong, they are referring to bombing runs. A dev clarified this over at Lucas Forums.

 

Meh, a little bit more new info was made not much. What i don't understand is WHY! do the mods there choose questions that have been asked over and over (that we basically know)...... : ???

[noian]

I belive when playing the modded demo, I found that some planets bonus only worked if the rebels had the planet. The DS would be great to destroy all planets like those and then rebels wouldn't have any good bonuses.

[Star Wars Man]

Were orbital bombardments ever implemented in the game, could they not be balanced within the game design, possibly an expansion option?

 

There is space bombardment where you can call on fire from space.

 

This is what Delphi meant when he said:

"heh"

[Guest]

the death star is destroyed and you lose? that's @#$%ing gay!

[Mistrider]

Beowulf, this is the second time today I have said this to a person on this forum:

 

If this forum had an ignore list, you would be on it in a heartbeat.

 

Didn't your mommy ever teach you that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?

[Darthscharnhorst2]

Maybe he means its game over for the Death Star, as in you only get to build one.  Not its game over for the Empire.  Otherwise like others posted why even build the Death Star? 

[Teradyn_pff]

It has been confirmed that if you build a Death Star and lose it, you lose the game.