Xyvik

I saw both Imperial and Rebel missions when I looked. I only played the first tutorial so I can't say for certain. I'll get more in-depth later.

Was going to post this on the LucasForums but they are, unfortunately, not available at the moment. Which means this is the place I will post it. Demo First Impressions This covers the installation, menu, graphics, sound, and tutorials of the Empire at War demo. Please feel free to leave your comments on our forums or here. I'll be busting the game apart to see what I can get ruining later -Xyvik

What I would give for a squadron of Defenders! To be fair, none of us have played the game, but I see your point Ter. However, at the same time, the sheer numbers of TIEs was one of the strategies of the Empire. Even Rogue Squadron lost members when they faced substantial odds, and the Empire is all about substantial odds.

Are there any provisions for random events or a random generator? IE, random weather, random weapon failure, etc.

Well, I had a five page reply written, but somehow my word processor coughed and I lost four of them. With that bitter taste in my mouth I am not going to rewrite them but will instead make a few comments here. Strategy and not tactics: putting low unit caps is not a balancing tactic. I know what balance is, and have a very exquisite understanding of balancing techniques, from simulations to slide rules to cut and paste to rock-paper-scissors. The only thing that lower unit numbers does is force the player to resort to the tactical level. Last time I checked, this is a real-time STRATEGY game. Focusing inwards instead of outwards is what has led this genre to the current stagnant state it is in. Need I mention the horrible atrocity that pretends it is a strategy game by the name of Warcraft 3? Infastructure: Base building should not be limited in any way. Half of the strategy of planning a war is making sure you have the backbone to do so, both production-wise and economic-wise. Planets are very large, and the planetary combat should be as important, if not more so, than the space combat. The Rebels at least twice made the mistake of situating their command center on one planet and paid dearly both times, with Yavin and Hoth. This proves the point that planetary infastructure is important: you need more than one command center, and you need your planets intact. To do that you need bases, large ones. And you need to protect them against potential invasions. That means a lot of planetary combat. Meh, that's all the heart I have to write at the moment. Maybe later I'll add some more.

Of course I know that. In fact, the kotors are very inaccurate. Especially kotor2 and its blasphemous "Basilisk". My mod is more akin to Exar Kun's rise to power which is before the Kotors.

Had high expectations and still do. We'll see. So all you people who are saying that your opinion has dropped: why, exactly? What piece of news has disheartened you? Be specific about your opinions, people!

While it doesn't follow the storyline nor is it exactly the same era as Kotor, The Sith War covers the ancient aspect of Star Wars history. Take a look if ya like!

Actually, to make sure that everybody gets their own way, there will be three seperate campaigns with different outcomes for each side (kind of like the good/bad campaigns in BFME). The -true- story of TSW is the one involving the Sith and the outcome that occurs there, and if there is ever a sequal the storyline will pick up based on that. However, just because I like the Sith does not mean they will be the dominant forces in the Galaxy. Each side has their own particular strategic backing, and based on a one-to-one unit ration, the Mandalorians are by far the most powerful. However, they have the least amount of units(the least diversity) are the slowest and cost the most. On the flip side of the coin is the Republic who has a vast array of infantry types to call upon to fit any situation, and due to mass production their units are all cheap and fast. However, they are extremely weak, and I have a few other things up my sleeves as well. The Sith sit in the middle and are probably the most well-rounded civilization, they have cloaking units, have alchemy units that can slowly heal over time, but are neither fast nor slow, and neither cheap nor expensive. I'm planning a few other things so as to not make them overly powerful. So yes, your Mandalorians will be powerhouse killers, just as it should be

Indeed I have, which is why I felt it was necassary to do my own little...rewrite I happen to be a fan of the Sith, so I had to put my own story in there where they actually didn't get defeated just because they are the so-called "bad guys"... The Sith War is what would really happen in a contest between the Jedi and the Sith, without having LucasArts or Lucas' approval.

Glad you find it interesting, Garbageben! We'll be releasing the Fleet info fairly soon, just got the Sith side hammered out and now working on the Mandalorians.

Your grasp of strategy is rather commendable, Shalashaska, and was along the same line of thinking of my own. Which is why I previously stated that I am renouncing my opinions on the heroes and am now looking forward to the challenges. Moving the battlefield from just one small map to an entire galaxy brings out the true meaning of strategy, including your mentioned sacraficial attacks, feints, flanks, you name it. I'm looking forward to this more than ever!

Which is why Tarkin invented the Death Star NOTE: I do not, under any circumstances, agree with the pile of twisted crap that Episode 2 pumped out about the Geo-bugs being the designers of the Death Star. Grand Moff Tarkin conceived the idea, and those of the Maw instution are the ones who designed it. Not little bug-eyed wannabe idiots. /endrant

Hmm...suddenly my idea on these matters has shifted. While I beleive that more ground unit types is still called for, I keep forgetting that EaW spans several planets and a Galaxy, in which case it'll be very hard for all 7/8 heroes to be in the same place at once, hence the strategicl considerations of the number isn't what it would be if we were dealing with one-map battles. Therefore I relinquish my doubts as to the number of heroes and bow gracefully to the whim of Petroglyph. However, the tactical consideration of all heroes being in the same place at once must be brought into consideration. Hopefully the bounty hunters will be enough, in combination with regular units. Time will tell.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the amount of hereos in EaW is a very very bad sign. Either lower the hero numbers, raise the regular troop numbers, or install hero death.

After a very long slumber, The Sith War has awoken with a vengeance, and with quite an excellent model from Rifter! Click on the thumbnail to gain a larger picture. http://sithwar.xyvik.com/renders/SithStationT.jpg Enter the Sith Arcane Station! This construct is for the development, and eventual release, of vacuum-ready alchemal creatures of terrible power, completely under the control of the Sith Casters. This station can be upgraded to accommodate the later Sith metal-based starships. Stay tuned for more models coming soon at The Sith War!

Didn't read that one, good catch Ghostly! Thanks for the info

Hopefully, EaW will include an option where you can choose between many mods, much like the original Half-Life where you simply chose which one you wanted to activate at the time. That would makes things insanely easier to handle. Otherwise, if that is not the case, I would recommend that a third-party tool to the same idea would be a better option that combining all the mods and TCs, simply because coding all the sides in, but making it so that they couldn't all fight, and only some could, would be a heckuva headache.

And of course the fact that you have to register here to post completely went past your notice, right? Notice how I, unlike you, have a hundreds of posts. That means I actually actively participate in this community. People who register just once to grab a sneak peek or to post a one-liner bring nothing to the table. . While I'm no fan of one-line posts in any extent, in this case I must point out a general flaw in your reasoning, JediIgor: just because you have hundreds of posts doesn't mean you actually contribute anything. If I went off and posted tons of spam or worthless comments and had a thousand posts, that wouldn't make my opinions any better just because I had a high post count next to my name. On the other hand, just registering for a single post, regardless of stature of post, is rarely a sign of an opinion worth remembering. Just presenting all sides o' the issue!

I'm not so sure about that. I mean, really, it takes a few moments of your time to register someplace. All he's saying is that if you want to see the stuff early, register. Otherwise wait until everyone else sees it. After all, do not these forums have stuff that not everybody can see?

That's 20 unit types, not 20 overall units. If it was just 20 overall units that would be horrible. In short, my plea is to make less of those 20 overall types dedicated to heroes. "I can only protect you...I can't fight a war for you." Those words were spoken by Qui-Gon, and those words are very true. Heroes do not fight wars. Heroes do not win wars. It is the everyday troops who do so, and they are later hailed as heroes. A military genius without his troops is nothing. Darth Vader without his Stormtroopers could not take on all the Rebels. Han Solo without the rest of the Rebels would have been nothing but a frozen popsicle on Jabba's wall. In other words, emphasis should be placed on the people who actually do the fighting: the infantry, the units, the regular "jarheads" who fight and die for their cause, and in the end, are the real heroes.

The thing is that there is a difference between strategy and tactics. Fewer units means more tactics and less strategy, and vice-versa. Strategy is about the grand scale, tactics is about the miniscule details (generally speaking, of course). The fact that there are more heroes than regular ground units per side (if I read the numbers right) means that this is looking like WC3 all over again. In TSW, the large number of regular units means that you are fighting a real war, with different specialties for different situations. Ever take a look at any Armed Forces, such as the United States? In the Army alone you have scouts, you have your regular grunts, you have artillery specialists, you have medics, you have snipers, you have heavy weapons experts, and that's just the Army. Throw in the Marines and the Navy and you have so many different types of infantry to fit any particular need of any situation. You need a scout, you got one, you need a sniper, you got one, you need a specialist? NAVY Seal time. THAT is strategy. On the flip side of the coin, not every single armed forces is able to field that kind of manpower. Hence why the Sith and Mandalorians have less units than the Republic in The Sith War. The Mandalorians condence their fighting into fewer forms because they have fewer people. These fewer forms mean that you don't have as much variety. For case in point, let's look at Age of Empires 3. The Ottomans have one infantry type: the Janissary. This means that you don't have to go around building all types of different infantry for different situations...BUT it limits you, because that one infantry type you have cannot cover all situations, which means if you focus on just that one guy you're doomed before the game even starts. On the other side you have the British, or the Portuguese, who have several infantry types to cover several situations, such as anti-cavalry, anti-infantry, etc. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there should be less heroes and more regular troops. In WC3 the heroes dominated the game, period. That was not strategy. That was a faint imitation of tactics. EaW is supposed to be about grand galaxy-spanning strategy, which means more units is better. Base building, however, is an entirely different subject that I will get to later.

WarCraft 3 did not have strategy. That's the brutal and unadulterated truth. WC3 was nothing but a glorified hero fest, with not enough role-playing to be an RPG and nowhere near enough strategy to qualify as an RTS. The limited number of units in EaW (and the large number of heroes) is indeed a very disturbing sign. Which is why I thank heaven for mods that will have more units in them. And let's hope we can modify the base-building so that its more, shall we say, "classic."

There is a very good possibility that the Star Forge will find its way into The Sith War, but it won't play a huge role. Actually...here's what we were thinking. If it's possible, there will be several MP game varieties involving the Star Forge, such as: (keep in mind that names will change) Star Forge Sovereign: There is a Star Forge somewhere in the middle of the Galactic Map, and the various players/teams must fight to hold it for as long as possible. Of course, the team who grabs it gets massive fleet adjustments, so we'll have to work on balancing it. Star Forge Holdings: One team gets the Star Forge and the Star Forge planet and absolutely nothing else. They get the amazing fleet possibilities of the Star Forge but cannot capture any additional planets. The other team, however, gains the ability to capture any and all planets in the Galaxy, up to and including the Star Forge planet, so it becomes a game of the Star Forge against the Galaxy. Star Forge Race: Instead of the Star Forge being up and running, as in Star Forge Sovereign, it has to be activated, much like the KOTOR game, probably by the capturing of the planets mentioned above, and all teams will be trying to capture and hold all the planets before the other teams can. Whoever grabs all the planets and activates the Star Forge first wins. Anyway, those are the ideas. Whether or not they can be done is a different story.

You are correct in noticing that The Sith War has no mentioning of the Leviathen or of the Star Forge. You are also, in your own way, correct in noticing that The Sith War is not as, how was it put, "professionally done." At the moment, lack of manpower is completely stopping production, but the few men I have are among the best at their jobs and we'll make do. The website itself has been re-designed and I recommend a glance at it for all those who saw the old one (which was designed with no previous experience by myself. Not half-bad for a first attempt, but not among pro level obviously) The Sith War The Sith War is pre-KOTOR but set in the general time period, involving Mandalorians, Sith, and Republic skirmishes. Also, the timeline and story of this mod are outside the bounds of normal Star Wars, with a storyline that does not have affects in later, established stories. With that said, the story is quite extensive and, if I do say so myself, quite excellent. We are preparing the Fleet lists (we only recently moved operations to EaW) and hopefully will have more models coming down the line. Any assistance, manpower-wise, would of course be appreciated