Lytyr

I don't think that ANYONE can leave the area if an inderdictor is activated - at least, they shouldn't be able to. If the Empire uses Interdictors, it's because they know quite securely that they will win - or that they saw a hero/unit/force that they really want to blow up. Anyway, I also think that having identical units with different graphics and names is very boring. The Empire is supposed to have weaker and more numerous ships (except ISDs, which are of good quality), and the Rebels are supposed to have expensive by more powerful vessels. The Empire also works by brute force, hence the Inderdictor (holding your enemy in one place so you can smash him to bits).

True enough, knowing your enemy is absolutely one of the most important factors in a battle - Thrawn knew that, and somehow (how? I truly wish I knew) managed to understand his enemies perfectly just by looking at their artwork. However, I don't think he built his tactics around that - rather, he built his tactics around what he had available or could easily aquire, and then adapted it to fit into his enemy's weaknesses.

Hehe, true enough - I hope it can make the distinction between a Death Star and a Tartan Patrol Cruiser. In the 1v1 multiplayer campaign it might also be useful, depending on whether your enemy knows you and knows the game well enough.

*begs hard for a NJO-era game* *begs some more*

I've got 1 GB of ram and a good card, however my processor is starting to look old these days (1.73 GHz). Should I upgrade it, and if so, how much does a good processor cost?

Nice to hear the Rebels don't have free reign over intelligence. Anyway, I would initially assume their main spying methods would be Bothans, plus Recon; however, I believe that the Bothans entered the Alliance with Fey'lya only, correct? And that was, IIRC, a little bit after the Battle of Yavin. so probably no bothans. Maybe certain planets will give spy bonuses?

Come to think of it, I'm curious about that, too. I hate it when units waste time getting into formation when you want them to get somewhere, for example - I wish there was just a "clump" option of something. I also dislike units getting stuck - very annoying. I hope unit stances will be varied, too - and maybe we can even make infantry go prone, take cover, etc. Would make for an interesting ground game, and space too (though, unless they include spacetroopers, we won't have infantry in space).

Wow, next week! Cool, thanks. I'll be looking forward to that day.

Yeah, about that... what are the rumors/official facts on when we get that massive update?

It just means the Rebels had more fighting spirit. Anyway, I too love those books - I own them, and am currently on Dark Force Rising for the third time (go Zahn go!). Thrawn is a genius, frankly - I'd love to have that kind of tactical mettle. However, I'm afraid that his victoy is not only due to on-the-field skill, but also to his recovery of Mount Tantiss (containing cloning cylinders and a cloaking device), as well as Joruus C'baoth to coordinate and improve his fleets - and, of course, the Katana fleet. Assuming those 3 factors were in-game and siezable (in fact, exit Joruus, he wasn't all that useful anyway and was a pain), then a player reading Thrawn-related novels would have some better Star Wars military theory behind him then the average Joe. Not to mention Thrawn's trick at Sluis Van was awesome, I never would have thought of that (as much as I like Lando - damn him! lol). On the other hand, I'm not sure whether EaW will offer such tactical depths. It's sure to be great, but whether it will be THAT great... we'll see.

Precisely what I'm wondering - it's certainly a tactic I'll be testing, assuming that DS destruction isn't instant death. It could be devastating to the enemy if he isn't cautious enough, particularly since the Rebels don't have hordes of units at their disposition.

OK, how will spying work, if it works at all? I've heard, among other things, that the Rebellion always knows where the Empire's forces are and that the Empire can find the rebels via probots. However, this gives me the impression that everyone always knows where everyone else is, so that luring your enemy into a trap would be impossible unless your enemy also happens to be 2 years old. Can someone clarify this for me, or is that about all that anyone else knows, too? Also, does the enemy's game snap to the combat map the second I send a unit into his territory, or only when I attack? For example, could I take a lone... I dunno, the Millenium Falcon, and scout out the Tatoo system without my enemy noticing, or will the slightest thing like that make his screen snap to the combat level? If a single unit engages the combat map, I could theoretically harass an enemy by sending puny, cheap units everywhere constantly until he gets angry, so I hope that isn't the case.

I've been contemplating this... obviously, a death star isn't something you want wandering around your back door. So would it be tactically viable to take the death star, surround him with Tartans and Acclamators, and then ship the group off to one end of the galaxy to draw your opponent's main force in that direction, so that you may strike at the enemy's other flank with fistfulls of Victory-class and Imperial-class Star destroyers and multiple other craft? Given the Empire's proficiency at building hordes of units, I would think that the unit part of this plan wouldn't be too hard to obtain. If the enemy is bad, they may even be defeated simple by running at the death star.

Assuming the events surrounding Thrawn's untimely demise had never happened, and his plans had gone well. Would the New Republic have had a shadow of a chance at defeating him? And if he hadn't died, what would the Yuzhaan Vong invasion have looked like? Would Thrawn have swept them aside like mere gnats, or would they have proven too strong even for the likes of him?

Yeah, as long as there is a conquest-only option for victories, I'm happy.

I would want the most amount of customisability possible, something like this: - Civ/race persistancy, like they are developing in AoE3. Your civ retains its characteristics and bonuses throughout different games, and in addition, certain elements in each game will allow you to add even more bonuses and abilities to your civ. - Civ tree-style developement, much in the same way you'd develop a character in an MMORPG. You can progress your civ, which is originally bland and without advantages or disadvantages, into different fighting styles, technological possibilities, etc (such as hordes of cruddy units, elite units, stealth/hit-and-run tactics, superweapons, etc). - Civ-specific hero developpement, where you could have a certain number of heros for your civ (say 5) and customize them all, including appearance, stats, abilities, bonuses, and type. In the Star Wars cnotext, then, I could make a male human Jedi with an affinity for capital ship combat, mad force skills, and a cool name. Not to mention that I'd also like the tactical possibilities to no longer be limited to point-and-click. If everything in the game world was treated as a shaped piece of a certain material, instead of as a unit, then bullets would one-shot troopers if they hit the head, or cripple them if they get the leg; you could blow engines off a ship and capture it; you could pull a Thrawn-mole-miner and have it actually work! Things like that, unconventional methods of winning, would add so much to a game for me.

I've heard countless times the phrase "the first death star couldn't target ships," or a variant of it. I was wondering: why? Seems to me it'd just be like shooting an oversized gun, you aim, you press the "Fire" button and the thing shoots. Surely a planet-obliterating blast could decimate a starship? Or is the problem not that it can't, but that is uses the energy to destroy a planet, hence incurring wasted energy (and by logic, an equally long cooldown?). Either way, I know I'd rather blow up an enemy space station then a planet unless there was a particularly dire situation at hand, because that way I can still keep the planet and its ressources.

If the game aims to be truly open-ended, the only victory condition would be to take all the planets from your enemy. For example, if Palpatine had died but had left Thrawn immediately in control... well, suffice to say that the imps WOULDN'T loose. Ditto for the Death Star. And the Rebels should/must have had other bases at the time - it woud be ludacris to have all your important figures at one location. On the other hand, no planets and no incoming ressources... well, you're screwed unless you've decided to build worldships somewhere, and I somehow doubt that would be implemented. P.S. while I'm here, is there a list somewhere here of all confirmed planets?

Surely, you've all thought to yourselves "I wish I could do this!" before, or noticed something and said "It would be better like that!". Well, here's your chance! For good fun, let's throw those notions of "usable interface", "CPU limitations" and "traditional gameplay"; let's each build our own RTS game, with all the features and pluses you can think of! You guys start posting, I've got little time at the moment, but I'll put mine here later.

In my personal opinion, they should expand the game all the way to around 20 ABY, tech-wise. The way progression could be handled seems simple enough for me: beef numbers. Sure, your Death Star might be fun... but compared to that Sun Crusher, pshh, it's no good. Like your Y-wing? That's nice... but the E-wing has 175% the firepower and durability. Obviously, the older ones would be cheaper too, so if you were desperate, well, you could dig up some relics. To compensate, techs could be developped to increase planetary income, so that you may field an equal amount of the newer ships (but balance it so that the prive/power ratios tip in the favor of the newer ships!). However, that may not be possible. Another way to do it would be to simply have different selectable eras - Clone Wars, Civil War, and Vong Invasion; others might also work.

The trailer section of what site?

I would assume that these ones will be guarenteed to be in - mainly because they are all either in the movies, or are referenced - with the exception of Mon Calamari, but then again that's a rebel stronghold and it's inhabitants play a HUGE part in the rebellion, as well as Episode VI. Alderaan Coruscant Tatooine Naboo Geonosis Mustafar Mon Calamari Hoth Yavin 4 Corellia Dagobah Dantooine Endor forest moon

Ah, sounds interesting! I was only worried about being forced into doing things a certain way, but from the sounds if it, that won't be the case. And definately good to hear it will all be real-time - adds to the strategic depth of the game.

While my experience in 3D combat in space is limited to Hegemonia: legions of Iron, I can't really see how it could be implemented otherwise (with the exception of a button that makes the ships go up/down), and the 3D fighting in that game was basically useless, and very difficult to use. And as has been said, in Start Wars, ships never really ran around each other in full 3D - rather, they went alongside each other and blasted each other to bits. Simpler. Anyway, on the topic of an expansion, I (personally), would like to see it add "ages" - well, to be precise, one other age. Meaning that, when you defeat your enemy, you get a choice: either end the game there, or continue in a later timeline. In this case, preferably the NJO. The Empire and the Rebellion would change to the Empire and the Republic, and third faction would also be added - the Yuhzaan Vong. Upon victory in the first timeline, you see a special cinematic (tailored to whatever faction won), and then another one - suddenly informing you that, a few years later (the timeline has changed, after all), your galaxy is being invaded. A close planets could randomly be given to the enemy (the looser of the previous timeline, if in multiplayer), and then it starts all over again, except that the Vong, unlike the rebellion, are very powerful, with many unique abilities. They could also "ruin" planets by turning them into coral growth facilities, rendering it useless like a Death Star presumably would, and at the same time recieve ship production bonuses. Just my 3 cents worth. Maybe the players could simply choose who wants to be what, or you could play exclusively in the second timeline as well.

A few questions I'd venture - I'll put down a bunch in the hopes one gets in! Can you give us a more detailed explanation on how the 2-player "campaign" will work? How does the Death Star work? How is it destroyed, does it have defenses against other ships, and what happens when planets are destroyed? What are the estimated minimum system specifications for the game? How are new unit type aquired? For example, the X-wing would be obtained by raiding the production facility. Are there any other similar "quests" for units? Is there a limit for how many units may be built? Do Mon Calamari capital ships have random appearences, or are there several different types which look different? Are big ships built in shipyards, or in the "galactic map" mode like other units? Is there any update on how many planets are going to be in the release version? Are there plans for an expansion of any type? Will the game be playable over LANs with only one CD?