Xenomorphine

They wouldn't have to! It would be far too high in the atmosphere to see. All which would be required is for a sort of 'artillery' graphic of where the turbolasers actually hit. The user wouldn't have to physically see the craft in any way.

I think that the grammer is misleading. That AT-AT is probably like every other one, in that it is able to deploy soldiers, but it's also 'special' in another way. Going from other information, the special ability is of being able to increase the magnitude of weapons power (to reflect the character's order on the second film, although, realistically, that should be an ability of all of them!)...

Then you build capital ships to accompany that squadron, in case of just such an eventuality.

I'm going to name one ship something silly, like the 'Spooky Mewlet' and the other one something ominous, like 'Executive Power' and see which racks up the most kills out of chance.

It is worth repeating that the people who experienced the demonstrations stated that there were no more than two groups of soldiers which could be expelled from the things and there is zero reason to think that situation has since changed.

That's what the Assault Gunboat would've been for...

Except that if you can make an army exclusively of them and the soldiers are also one point for every group, it would demand that a vehicle has to die before any of them can disembark. So, could that mean their soldiers, like fighters, are void of population slot cost? Perhaps so!

The Executor was measured, taking details from the original props, at around 17.6 KM, but guesstimations now seem to compromise on 19. The entire history of it is available over there: http://www.theforce.net/swtc/ssd5mile.html A lot of interesting reading.

Hurrah, I wondered about that! One of my questions for the impending session (which didn't get considered for the voting, for whatever reason), was whether all of this time has been taken up purely by overhauling the maps or if actual cleaning up of the game itself and the AI has simultaneously been taking place. Knowing this has really helped to raise my expectations of the mechanics and stability.

I'm going to ask a very important question here: Why do the TIEs need a huge amount of help? The main reason would be that the opposing craft are shielded, but I remember one GS preview which spoke of how the game would not necessarily follow the canon as we know it and literally used the example of how TIEs had shields. If that has changed or not, who knows? But if this game has shielded TIEs (if we're honest, what's seen strictly on screen seems to show them as no more vulnerable than the enemy's craft, regardless of what books and simulator games state), would that change our views, considering that the A-Wing's only main advantage, then, would be speed?

Is the AT-ST more suited for the pursuit and destruction of infantry? Yes. It's faster, has a much better field of fire and even seemed to be deployed specifically for that purpose on the Endor moon, implying it was meant to be their main role. Does that make the AT-AT incapable of doing so? No! They have a much more limited field of fire, but these aren't tank shells we're talking about here! An AT-AT and AT-ST both have direct energy weapons. Those on an AT-AT are simply of a far greater magnitude. That isn't the same as a tank, which has to choose between different ammunition which is meant for different targets. For instance, if a tank chose Sabot, then it would do very little, unless a soldier was in its direct path, since it's not explosive. You don't have that choice when firing a direct energy weapon! That means that the AT-AT would be more effective at killing infantry than an AT-ST. The only thing is that this only applies if the target is in range and in front! Remember, the AT-AT is meant for transporting a limited strike force and pounding through the most obvious defences. It's not a vehicle which is designed for seige warfare or dedicated assault mission. There are those types of walkers which are openly available, but they were never viewed in the films. The game, however, is using them for such a role. But that doesn't mean it would be bad at destroying infantry targets. If the target is in view, it would be much better, if anything. Where it comes into trouble is if the target is moving in an unpredictable route at very high speed. Think to yourself what Solo would have done if he had to attack one of those things. Would he go out on foot? No, he'd be loaded up on some type of vehicle capable of doing that! In fact, why not show Chewbacca taking over a speeder bike, loading himself and Han Solo on the back of it, then have them use that to approach the walker and do all the rest? More realistic and perhaps even more dramatic!

What are your feelings on the opening and closing cinematics for each side's campaign? I'd hope that the main one for the game as a whole would be along the lines of 'Warhammer', which was incredibly atmospheric, but I have an idea of what the final one for the Imperial campaign might be... The camera sweeps across strewn debris in space, the aftermath of galactic warfare. Fading in and out between positions, we venture along to some other new location. Several close-ups are seen of something being constructed at a vast ship yard. Components are being slotted into place. Patrolling TIE fighters scream overhead, diverting our attention towards an incoming shuttle, as they proceed to escort alongside it. "Code confirmed. Welcome, Lord Vader." That same shuttle is followed as it glides overhead what seems to be a large base of some type. Surely another Death Star, for the sheer size it seems to project? "Dispense with the pleasantries, Captain, I'm here to put you back on schedule..." The camera slows to a halt, even as the shuttle disappears into the yard's main hanger. The view slowly panning out to reveal... "The Emperor demands full readiness within the week. Failure will not be tolerated." The nose of the huge, mechanised leviathan finally shows itself for what it is and we realise that it's not a base at all. Vader's here to collect something far more ominous - the first of several. The Executor. Cue the inevitable expansion pack!

I keep hearing that the scale of it is one reason it might not have made it, but I personally don't believe that. Both of the 'Homeworld' games had maps which were more than big enough for something of that scale. But this leads one to wonder just how large the space maps could be. All we have seen, so far, are close quarter battles. Are there any clues, by looking at the overhead map in screen images, of just how comparable they are to those in games like the above? Just how much space will there be to create two-pronged pincer movements with huge capital ships and so on?

There are some interesting essays on various things to do with contrasting 'Star Trek' and 'Star Wars' over at www.stardestroyer.net and one of them dealt with the issue of just what the practicalities would be in a Star Destroyer capture attempt. Read on to see the Trek fantasy, DS9 writers' probable solution and then the reality of just how difficult such a thing would be (under 'Realistic Mission'). Sort of puts into perspective why the Alliance never had any such ships in their ranks, back in the early years! http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Tactics/TrekkieCombat-2.html

Ahh...! So, space stations are what could evolve into Death Stars. Interesting to know. As is the mention of 'weather control stations', which make me wonder if weather could be utilised as a form of weapon for whoever owns such an item.

Precisely. With a character like that, there are ways to make it seem feasable. Han Solo, on the other hand, is just an ordinary guy! Not even any armour. Just clothes and a lot of common sense.

Much like that in Rebellion. You probably control the time a day is, slow, medium, or fast. But how would one of them be estimated? Not every world would rotate in 24 hours or so.

What about the Assault Gunboat? I think I asked on another subject, but I can't seem to find it to know if anyone had answered that.

Or at least, that's what they like people to think...

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A 'galactic day'?

Thanks, Delphi! Was hoping you meant something like that, rather than being aware of a big and nasty surprise which isn't yet fixable.

I thought that the 'a hero mysteriously lives to fight another day' thing would be based around being able to evade firepower, rather than soak up ridiculous amounts of it, too. I don't think that even Lucas would have written Han Solo getting pelted by several volleys from an AT-AT and getting away unscathed from it!

I'm sure it's probably just semantics, but speaking of preparing for patches, plural, immediately upon release, puts me on edge. I'd hope it's just an announcement that contingency plans are there, in case it turns out not to be compatible with some piece of hardware or the other which they were unable to look at, but who knows? Look at 'Black And White 2' and 'X3' for recent examples of very famous products which seemed to be perfectly fine, then turned out to be far from it when they got public. As I said, it's probably nothing to worry about, but there's been too many such examples, recently, for me to not sit up and take notice when reading somehting along those lines.

The designer of that actually wanted more time to test and cut things from the game, because some were overly long.