Teradyn_pff

things like this aren't Petro's fault. Its LEC who can't keep track of their own timeline and such. Petro has to go along with what LEC tells them. If LEC tells them things that are wrong (based on their own accounts) then what is Petro to do? Research the facts and shove them in their producers face? Hardly. Heh, was meant as a joke mostly. And I know that LEC is the main culprit here. They can't keep anything straight it seems and it gets really bad when it comes to games. Dome shield generators on Star Destroyers anyone?

Best way to describe XML is that it is a very good standard for holding information, but how complex or deep that information is is up to the creator of the file. It is also helps alot if it is formated well, but that is just like HTML, or any other scripting or programming language for that matter. C++ can be written virtually all on one line if the given line is long enough, but makes it hard to debug. That kind of thing.

Um if you mean what tools they used to make the units that go in the game, then that is something that is most likely commercially available, like Photoshop, 3D-Studio Max, etc. The programs are prohibitively expensive but there are several that do as well in most aspects that are relatively cheap or shareware. The unit description files are xml so it shouldn't be a hard matter to build your own, given you are good with colors and models. The limitations are going to be whatever is in the game that is not in the xml configurations. Like for example, if it will be possible for you to leave debris after a ship explosion and have it be pulled into the planet or a large ship that is close enough due to gravity. (You know what Ep VI sequence I will be creating if this is possible:) )

Well, when you are, look me up. I will be waste deep in xml and whatever else I can extract *legally* out of the demo files.

Ok Delphi-PG, you just pulled out the big guns on me there. Anyone who wants to can look at the time stamps on my other posts before this one to confirm, but I am officially ending my campaign of armagedon. If this level of fidelity is available in this game, it will give the modders (one of which I will be becoming code-only, can't model or texture), the ability to make this game what we want timeline-wise. I know you don't owe me and may not be able to say, but I am hoping you can answer two questions in relation to your last post. 1. Does this mean that the Death Star is a unit in the game logic just like a star destroyer, with hardpoints, laser/ion/etc batteries, fighter complements, troop capacity, etc, but with extremely low movement speed and maneuverability? (with the obvious exceptions of only having one {modable?}, the countdown/distance timer, and superlaser) 2. The superlaser that we saw on the films, is there a way it can be targeted at capital ships and/or station by a modder? (I understand so far that in the release game you can not do this.) If these two questions are both in the affirmative, then I think we have ourselves alot of work ahead as a community, modding-wise, but overall it should be a very good game because of that. And maybe, just maybe, the timeline that this will ship with will sell enough copies to the Episode I-III fans that Petroglyph can afford to do EAW2 or at least provide updated mod tools and game patches to allow us to bring EAW to its full potential. Here is to hoping.*Fingers Crossed*

Um, Jan, better tell Petroglyph that, and QUICK!

@ Foshjedi2004 I wonder what the ratio of movie and "official canon" units vs made up units there will be here? And it may not be possible, but any way someone could ask Petroglyph what the prompting was for setting the game in this limited (IMO) timeframe? From a developer's point of view, purposely leaving off established units to have to create new ones doesn't make much sense. Of course that may not be the case when you take into account the time saved by not creating a valid, story-true (which Lucas can't even do ), balanced side/economy vs side/economy instead of a unit vs unit so called "balance".

I second that, but I do also have an impending feeling of doom as far as the game overall is concerned. It seems to me that the idea of a free form galaxy is an idea of the past. It looks like we will have to wait again for someone to develope a true Star Wars RTS for the time frame that we are really interested in*. I really would rather Lucas didn't make Episodes I-III if I had my way. And I think that if he hadn't, this point in computer graphics and power would see a game like EAW being created for the proper timeline, Episodes IV-VI +. *A majority of gamers who have been struggling with Rebellion for almost 8 years now. And are old enough to vote.

No SSD for you! Anyway, Jan Gaarni brings up an excellent point. What is the deal with the tie crawler? It seems to me that the game starts when it says it does and then from that point on they take whatever units seem to fill whatever cookie they are molding for the 1v1 balance they are doing apparently. So we could end up with B-Wings and no Tie Advanced. Or Mon Calimari Cruisers and no Lancer Frigates. Or A-Wings and no Tie Intercepters. This kind of drops EAW to the level of modding Star Wars on top of an existing RTS. I was hoping for something more inovative and complete. If the modding support is what they say it will be (and I have doubts given this current situation), I will probably be doing some coding myself. Can't model or skin at all but have slung a few pointers here and there from time to time. Anyway: UselessPostCount++

Yeah, that will be ANH for me now, the moddability. My old hope was dashed today. I am not a fan of balance per unit. And come on. It is not like we are asking for some new technique. Starcraft anyone? Would it have been as good if a zergling could take on a marine 1-1 and win? So what is wrong with having to build 4 Mon Cal to take out the ISDII if the Mon Cal are cheaper than the ISDII? That is what makes an awesome RTS vs a cookie cutter game. The difference between this and what it should have been is like Warcraft I the original with its Orc = Human (only with diff skins) and Starcraft.

I think that the stuff from the Expos was mostly set up and then saved so they could show different aspects of the game. We will most likely be starting from scratch or with some kind of random/contrived starting point. It also depends on what kind of demo will be released. Will it have campain play, skirmish, mutliplayer, etc.?

Meh, you are right on that part. I think it would be cool if the ships are built in the open where you can see their wireframes being constructed. A big difference between the DSII and DSI was the fact that an attack like the one at Yavin would have not been possible. The only way that the Alliance was able to kill the DSII was because they were able to fly directly into the superstructure when all of the defenses were not in place due to its being in construction. Also, the DSII had a better reactor and firing mechanism so it could target small things like capital ships and fire faster. Given what we have seen so far in the movies and with the SSD being out... we will not be seeing the DSII from Petroglyph in this game. From what I could tell, the Death Star in EAW is not a complete separately modelled ship. If it was, you would be able to select a target for it... unless it has turbolasers and the system destruction is a special feature tacked on to it. If this is the case, there may be hope for taking pieces of that to construct a mod DSII. Who knows.

The SSD not being in due to balance reasons is bull IMO. The balance can be maintained with Alliance fighters, cheaper Mon Cal, etc. And also by the cost and production time required. As for Vader's ship, it was the prototype and the A-Wing was developed after the battle of Yavin, not just finished like the SSD was. I am saddened at how much is going to be done out of timeline for .

I really hope you are correct in your optimism, but we have to wonder if they are not putting in post-ANH ships except for the ones for the Alliance (BS IMO), where the heck did the Broadside come from?

Please post why you chose the option you did. I chose option 2 because I am very leary of sinking my money into another game because it is Star Wars.

Heh, while that would be funny, I don't think that would be possible or if so, it would not be a wise use of the superlaser. Better to use it on the ship that deployed the A-Wing in the first place.

We may be seeing a shift by Petroglyph to 1-1 balancing. They have confirmed in the SSD thread that there is no SSD. I believe that a big part of that has to do with balance and if they are trying to do a 1-1 balance they would have to put the Bulwark Battlecruiser in like Rebellion did. I am very skeptical of the success of this game now that this disturbing news has been brought to light. It may sell well just because of the license and the fame of the "former Westwood employees", but I don't think it will be the true success that I had hoped it would be.

Yes, it has for me as well. I am extremely disappointed that the technology timeline will be cut off at ANH. A-Wings, B-Wings, Tie-Advanced, Tie-Defender, etc. should not show up if the Executor class Star Dreadnaught is not in. I think that alot of our hopes have been crushed with this news. I know that many others were hoping to play through the first trilogy from pre-ANH to at least RotJ technology-wise. We can only hope that the modability of this game lives up to its hype as it is apparent that it is up to the players to finish the game and make it what it should be. This being said. I hope that the Death Star has enough flexibility to be modded into the Death Star II. The skin shouldn't be too hard, except the background showing through might have to be simulated. The real problem will be making the superlaser able to target ships. As it stands now this game is slipping more and more into a promise of good things only to fall short on reality. This is more of a RTS and tech demo with Star Wars as a convenient theme than a really good Star Wars RTS game. Hopefully there are enough tools, like I said, that the fans of what we thought we were getting can make it into what we want.

Yeah, but the money is with all the snot dribbling whiney, "Jar Jar is cool" Ep I-III fan-babies. GAAARRRRGH I would like to see something like Alliance or Savage where you have cap ship combat controlled by players and fighters controlled by players as well. Almost like a EAW space portion where a commander is elected on each side and to the cap ships etc. What you think?

While all of the Rebel ships are concentrating their firepower on the SSD, wasting time due to its emmense armor and shields, the supporting fleet can destroy the attackers one by one and do so with impunity.

What, you mean like one where something happens to Petroglyphs funding and EAW dies in Beta?

Do you have a scan of that? Or does anyone have a picture of my command ship? Did they build it properly to scale?

Well, I say ole Pardner. Could ya spare a dabble of that there Grey Pup.. er the mustard?

This is my problem with the EU. The premiss of the whole idea of "wouldn't it be cool if" governs it, so you have things like Chewbacca getting killed by a moon! WTFHITS? I would be more than happy to leave the entire Star Wars story in the original Trilogy, especially when we see what Lucas is willing to do with his own back story. It would be nice to have a more fleshed out group of stories that told the behind the scenes stuff to the story in the trilogy and the stuff leading up to it, but apparently the creator can't even do that so I say leave it alone. I think it is a sickness of our society that creates this, the whole hollywood movie/story/flashy game/etc crap. Anyone ever read the books of the Lord of the Rings? Did you see the movies? Wierd things in there huh? Like the ever-sickening pustulent saturation of the maggot-ridden pox that is Liv Tyler? Lets make sure we sell these tickets so stick her in there and put her in every single movie all over the place when her character was barely mentioned until the END of the Return of the King? I mean come on! It was her brother that rode out to meet Aragorn and the hobbits and he put Frodo on his horse and Frodo rode past the river! And the river was enchanted by ELROND! You didn't have Liv F'ing Tyler there to summon up the power of the F'ing river against the Ring Raiths. And oh how strong she was yelling at them wasn't she? WTFGDFHWTS? Did we need some modern age equal rights message in there? Is that why they replaced her characters brother with Liv F'ing Tyler? I would have thought that that craq would have been satisfied with Aowyn and her defeat of the Witch King that no MAN could defeat. UUUGH. And then they had to put a F'ing environmental message in the second one about how the poor Tree Ents didn't have a GD F'ing clue about what the F was going on with their own trees (being tree herders, talking with the trees and all)? I am sorry, but not only did the Tree Ents know exactly what was going on, they took several days to decide that YES THEY WERE GOING TO HELP! Not oh my! Look what the evil Corporate Machinery did to our precious rain forest! I guess we are lucky we didn't have Capt. Planet show up about then. Sorry, I really shouldn't talk about the LotR movies. If you ever wondered whether the saying "makes my blood boil" was figurative or not... it isn't. Anyway, my point is that a story as good as the original Star Wars is somewhat sacred, I guess you could say. Like the Tolkien stories also. What burns me up about the new LotR movies is that he isn't alive to defend his work. Lucas did it to his own which is still bad but not as abhorent a desecration. Got to go turn on a fan to cool myself off.

Well, try doing the Queen's English when you from Texas. Ever heard the Queen say ya'll with a nice southern drawl?