Space Sector Preview For Distant Worlds - Universe

[Wolfe1759]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins


We're not sitting on a finished treasure trove of marketing materials and just keeping it from you out of spite.

I thought I recognised Erik in this picture [:)]

[Tampa_Gamer]

As a modder, it is a must buy for me and I agree that the article is simply a press release teaser with no real information but it is what it is. But one of the key things I am looking for is how will the mods be loaded into the game and how will that process handle multiple iterations of the same file, etc. (i.e. priority). The current system of themes needs to be completely revamped to accommodate this since in my opinion it was a royal PITA to deal with (requiring serious mods to have both theme files as well as override original files. Which created problems when official released patches replaced original files. There are a number of space/strategy games that do this correctly and there are a number of them have seriously flawed systems which greatly hinder their ability for mass appeal.

[NightReaper]

+1 lol [:D]

[rabek_slith]

I greatly appreciate how the developers post in their forums.

I'll have to echo that the modding features do not excite me; I don't even play mods, let alone produce them.

But after past expansions, I have no reason to believe this one will be anything short of great. I'll eagerly wait for more information.

I was glad to see that there will be a discount for those of us that already have everything up until this point.

[hewwo]

Ha, yeah I agree, all the modders should be in the beta so we get some nice juicy mods asap

Also: I really hope that it will be possible for shipsets to progress through time, so we can have a star trek mod where the ship models update through the different eras. That would be EPIC! I will literally never play another game, ever.

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Folks, the first mention of this is not going to have all the information in detail. You can rest assured that before release, much more information will be made available.

Regards,

- Erik

Obviously.

Let me reword this in the most positive way I can. I hope the Marketing for Universe is an order of magnitude better than Shadows. An initial release with text only and that does not involve any major gaming site is not a good sign.

[Ares106]

ORIGINAL: Icemania


major gaming site

Do you mean those major gaming sites where sega and ea and activision pay thousands of dollars to have their CODs and Battlefields and Rome2s and Colonial Marines plastered all over the background and then pay even more thousands of dollars to have 10+ reviews on all their rushed broken games?

I doubt people that frequent those sites would be interested in Distant Worlds.

However, space sector is a perfect match in my opinion.

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: Ares106

ORIGINAL: Icemania

major gaming site

Do you mean those major gaming sites where sega and ea and activision pay thousands of dollars to have their CODs and Battlefields and Rome2s and Colonial Marines plastered all over the background and then pay even more thousands of dollars to have 10+ reviews on all their rushed broken games?

I doubt people that frequent those sites would be interested in Distant Worlds.

However, space sector is a perfect match in my opinion.

Space Sector is indeed a perfect match. But Space Sector alone? Because that is all Shadows had around release.

There is a lot more to gaming sites and social media than just your IGN's.

Personally I enjoy reading Polygon. No shortage of Stardrive, Endless Space, Gal Civ 3 news there. But not a hint of Distant Worlds. This can be done just as News if there is fear of unfavourable reviews.

And yes I also frequent IGN. For amusement!

[Canute0]

Personally I enjoy reading Polygon. No shortage of Stardrive, Endless Space, Gal Civ 3 news there. But not a hint of Distant Worlds.

Maybe DW isn't at the Steam hipe so they think it isn't on Steam it doesn't exist.
I think different, oh a new game on Steam, hmm bad not worth to look into it.

[tjhkkr]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Folks, the first mention of this is not going to have all the information in detail. You can rest assured that before release, much more information will be made available.
Regards,
- Erik

Looking forward to it. [8D]

[Buio]

I'll buy it whatever cost.

I'm a collector, so I need to get the last expansion too. And any improvements to the best 4x game is just icing on the cake.

[Lucian]

ORIGINAL: Wolfe

From I post I made over at Grogheads earlier today on the same subject:

From this preview and the limited prior information that Matrix have released on Universe I find my self less than excited and likely to skip this release even though I've bought everything upto and including Shadows so far.

I'm not a modder so the major part of the expansion is of no use to me, the new storyline and techs may be a bit more of interest but as a non-modder it is not going to have the content to be worth anything like the price that has been the norm for the previous expansions.

Also a bit concerned with Universe apparently being standalone and effectively the Game of the Year / Gold edition of Distant Worlds any subsequent mods or releases for DW are going to require it and if you only have up to Shadows then your out of luck.

Hope I'm wrong in my assumptions or if I'm right I hope there is a heavy discount for those that own all the previous expansions.

I find myself agreeing with you on this. I'm not a modder and I'm not interested in playing a modded version of the game. This will be one DW expansion that I will be giving a miss. Good thing too, I spend way too much on games already....

[rabek_slith]

It's a bit early to be writing it off, isn't it?

Plus the article said there will be a discount for those of us with the other games. I doubt it'll be the full-price of the other expansions after the discount.

[Lucian]

I'm not really concerned about the price, I'm more concerned about....

1/ I'm not a modder and therefore would never use the modding tools.

2/ I'm not interested in playing a modded version of DW. I haven't ever used any mods on DW and I don't ever intend to. The whole idea of replacing the ship icons with "Star Trek" ships, or adding a few new races just seems kinda pointless when the game play remains identical.

So there doesn't seem to be a lot in the new expansion that would be of any interest to me.

[rabek_slith]

I'm operating under the assumption that there is more than the modding tools. Since the guy earlier said there will be more news about it.

If it's only modding tools, I'll probably pass, too. I just can't imagine that's all they'll add.

[Spidey]

2/ I'm not interested in playing a modded version of DW. I haven't ever used any mods on DW and I don't ever intend to. The whole idea of replacing the ship icons with "Star Trek" ships, or adding a few new races just seems kinda pointless when the game play remains identical.

I think you're somewhat underestimating what mods can be. Granted, they can be fairly trivial and at times rather meaningless, but how about those that just discretely enhance aspects of the game? One of the best mods for the game so far only changes the icons of resources so that it's much more easy to figure out what's what. Instead of having to spend time memorizing how strat resources look different from luxury resources, it is suddenly very obvious whether a resource is strategic or a luxury.

One option we're apparently getting with the expansion is customized galaxy shapes. Right now you've got two circles, two clusters, and irregular. How about an hourglass? How about "continental" clusters? How about homeworld clusters on the galaxtic edge with narrow expansion paths to a honking big central core that's up for the taking? You can't tell me that you're willing to pay this much for the vanilla game and then not at all interested in simply having more options for your galaxy types.

Another option we're getting is the ability to trigger events like what happens in the campaign. We don't know how powerful this ability will be just yet, but there's at least a reasonable chance that it will feel like basic scripting, which with any luck would mean that we'll be able to design scenarios where one or more AI factions are accelerated through scripting to make them challenging despite the AI's inability to keep up with really determined players. Or how about a "bugs have overrun space" scenario that doesn't have the AI factions sailing your way and splattering your planet within the first hour?

We may even get the chance to customize space critters a bit and if that happens then please do imagine how much fun there can be had in not only having normal space crabs and space worms but also necron tombs and tyrannid nests with friendly greetings from the Warhammer 40k universe, and maybe the odd von Neumann Berserker or silicoid queen of SotS fame? How about that super-worm that lurked inside an asteroid in one of the original Star Wards movies?

I'm not that fond of space critters, to be honest, but adding some guest stars would mean that there's quite a bit more death out there in the universe. And it's not quite as awesome to scout every system in the galaxy within the first ten years if it means running the risk of awakening the necrons or inviting the tyrannids for a snack, is it? Who knows, maybe it will be possible to do this right and maybe it will even be fun to play with?

How about if super luxuries weren't just limited to swamps, deserts, and volcanic planets? What if you had to scout all six planet types? What if there was a tiny chance of a seventh super-rare luxury on floating rocks? Suddenly the reward of manually moving scouts instead wouldn't be somewhat reduced, since you'd have to move the scout near all celestial bodies in the system anyway.

How about if weapons were balanced out somewhat so heading straight down torpedo lane wasn't always the by far better option? Suppose we also make some armor branches that don't end up revolving around chromium? Would that really hurt the game at all, or would it simply improve it ever so slightly?

I'm not much of a modder myself, but I can se a huge pile of opportunities with this game. Things that don't twist it but simply enhance it. Code Force can only do so much in terms of balance and tweaks, but Universe would seem to give us, the players, a chance to get directly involved. This can be used to take the piss, to pay tribute to some tv-show, or to carefully adjust details in order to get exactly the right kind of gameplay one might want. What's not to like about that?

[Lucian]

ORIGINAL: Spidey
I think you're somewhat underestimating what mods can be.......

Yeah I honestly cant say I'm terribly impressed, a lot of the stuff you mentioned falls into the category of gimmicks or eye candy, the SOTS space monster is probably the only one that would interest me. I mean the last expansion gave us the ability to play a pre-warp civilization or a pirate clan. Big game changing alterations.

Do I really want to pay the price of an entire expansion to have the ability to re-cycle a SOTS space monster? If I were really bored I might download such a mod for free. Maybe. But there's no way I'd pay $20 for it. And none of this stuff is guaranteed, none of it is supplied by Matrix, just the tools to create it - maybe - if a modder gets around to it....

No, as Rabek stated above, unless they come up with something more substantial in this expansion, something that actually adds, enhances or refines the gameplay, I'll be giving it a miss.

[Ares106]

if you wish to see some impressive modding, you should check out the civilizations series, total war series, and mount&lade.

I personally think Distant worlds is the perfect platform for a comprehensive Star wars mod, that's probably what Erik would have wanted to do with distant worlds if he had the license. A major problem with many 4x games seems to be that the universe is usually something new that needs to be invented and not many people are invested in. If comprehensive and immersive mods come out, it could really increase the popularity of the game as these days a lot of awareness is generated by youtube lets plays and they are more likely to play a game if its set in their favorite universe then something they never heard about (just another 4x game mehh).

By comprehensive mod I mean a total conversion, all the ship models, weapons tech trees races resources "authentic" ship combat, and sounds and music and UI, "authentic" custom made universe with all the preset planet names and locations, character portraits/skills, story line triggers and so on based on your favorite sci-fi universe. (not just some star trek ship models)

Now, this all depends on two things, How easy it is to mod the game which we will soon see and how many dedicated modders with a lot of free time actually exist, the latter is a direct function of how popular the game is right now.

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: Ares106
Now, this all depends on two things, How easy it is to mod the game which we will soon see and how many dedicated modders with a lot of free time actually exist, the latter is a direct function of how popular the game is right now.

Which is precisely why we need a vastly improved marketing effort.

[Ares106]

ORIGINAL: Icemania

ORIGINAL: Ares106
Now, this all depends on two things, How easy it is to mod the game which we will soon see and how many dedicated modders with a lot of free time actually exist, the latter is a direct function of how popular the game is right now.

Which is precisely why we need a vastly improved marketing effort.

agreed.

I just don't think advertizing major gaming sites are a good investment. Because most of them are not trusted nor frequented by most people that would play matrix games (a somewhat more "hardcore" audience for the lack of a better word then those who play AAA titles).

Niche gaming sites, youtube and boards like reddit might be more suitable.

then again im not a marketing expert so I never studied this, just my feeling based on what ive been seeing lately.