SO SWEET

[lordxorn]

I can't wait to get my hands on this one. =-)

Forgot to ask, any hint as to a release date yet?

[SeanD]

No specific time locked down yet... but we're "close." The game isn't in alpha or anything.

[lordxorn]

This is a nice surprise having a intriguing looking 4x come out in a few weeks with little notice. I hope it get's more attention so the developers will continue to work on sequels. Maybe this one will be the next successor to MOO2 and GALCIV series.

I had to find out about this one on Wargamer.com

[Anguille]

I've played many space strategy games...and this one is absolutely a winner...

[lordxorn]

ORIGINAL: Anguille

I've played many space strategy games...and this one is absolutely a winner...

It does sound that way,

I mean by it's feature list and video, it has everything I pretty much look for in a 4x.

Colony Management
Research
Diplomacy
Ship Design and Customization
Tactical Combat
Real Time on a Strategic Level
*Multiplayer?
*Leaders or Heroes? Does it have anything like this?

I mean I find it funny that Moo2 created a good template and standard for others to follow, but yet few do.

[cdbeck]

ORIGINAL: Anguille

I've played many space strategy games...and this one is absolutely a winner...

I'm with Anguille here... This is one to really watch.

BTW - I was a tester.

I would like to note, that there is a customizable level of automation in Distant Worlds, and it works REALLY well. I haven't actually tested it to see, if I just sat back and only worked on diplomacy, if the automation would play a pretty good game (leaving all levels of automation turned on). What I CAN say is, that the automation REALLY helps you learn the game. What you can do is start with the advisers taking care of everything and slowly open stuff up and turn off pieces of automation when you learn the system. If you don't enjoy directing colony ship - by all means, leave colonizing automation on. This makes the difficulty and the learning curve, unlike games like War in the Pacific or Europa Universalis, scalable.

SoM

[martok]

How good is the diplomatic AI in DW? Does it generally honor treaties (and if it decides to break them, does it at least have a good reason for doing so?)? Is it smart enough to accept peace terms if it's losing a war? When in an alliance/mutual defense pact, does the AI offer material assistance & support, as opposed to just sitting there twiddling its thumbs?

[cdbeck]

ORIGINAL: martok

How good is the diplomatic AI in DW? Does it generally honor treaties (and if it decides to break them, does it at least have a good reason for doing so?)? Is it smart enough to accept peace terms if it's losing a war? When in an alliance/mutual defense pact, does the AI offer material assistance & support, as opposed to just sitting there twiddling its thumbs?

Hmm... that is hard to say, as the races tend to "roleplay" their particular ethos in diplomacy. Also, certain races like some races but don't like others, so you tend to get variable results.

SoM

[tgb]

SoM:

You know my tastes well enough, I think.  I found Armada 2526 bland and generic.  Will I enjoy this more?

[lordxorn]

ORIGINAL: tgb

SoM:

You know my tastes well enough, I think.  I found Armada 2526 bland and generic.  Will I enjoy this more?

Yes, I agree. Armada while not a failure by any means, is a couple patches from greatness. Whether they can fix the blandness, is another question.

[cdbeck]

ORIGINAL: tgb

SoM:

You know my tastes well enough, I think.  I found Armada 2526 bland and generic.  Will I enjoy this more?

Well, Armada may have lacked some distinguishing qualities from previous 4X games, sure. I still find Armada to have an enjoyably strategic style of play, however.

Now, in regards to Distant Worlds, I'm not going to flat out say "yes, you will enjoy this" because I don't want people to blame me for buying a game and being dissatisfied. That's what an official reviewer is for... [:D]

In all seriousness, in regards to unique style of gameplay - I can honestly say that Distant Worlds stands out as being something very new. I can also say, with pretty good conviction, that I haven't ever played a 4X space game quite like this before - and I mean that in a GOOD way (and let me confess, if there is a 4X game out there, I've probably played it). Comparisons will be drawn, inevitably, to the Europa Universalis series, had it been set in space. That is somewhat accurate, but misses some of the really neat "living space empire" feel of the game. Imperium Galactica, waaay back when, also had some similarities, but the scope of IG is FAR less than DW.

Let me give you a little taste:
What other game do you know of, where you have about 4 planets colonized over about 3 different solar systems (2 in your home, and 1 each in other places). You have built some space stations over these, and sent some builder ships out to rich gas giants and non-habitable planets in these systems to building mining outposts. After a while, you notice that the civilian dock of one of your space stations is building a mining transport ship (these are run by civilian companies) - it finishes and you watch it fly to pick up luxury resources from one of your non-habitable ice worlds (lets say a type of exotic animal fur). The ship wheels back into your space station - dropping of the goods, and increasing the happiness and economic growth of your colony.

During all this - you, as the player - did not order any action (well other than the initial building of the mining outpost and space station above your colony). You might have been sending a fleet to smash pirates, building a research station over an interesting moon, deciding what future worlds to colonize, conducting diplomacy, or just watching your empire grow. The mining took place all on its own - as part of a living empire.

How does that strike you as unique? [8D]

There is more about the "living empire" that I would like to talk about, but I don't want to get too detailed lest I overstep and lest things change before release (and don't ask me when, they don't give peons this information).

SoM

[lordxorn]

That sounds so intriging, love your little tidbits of inside info. keep them up Son of Montfort.[8D]

[ASHBERY76]

The problem with most 4X games apart from Sword of the Stars is that the galaxy is flat apart from competing empires.I look forward to hearing about what the devs have done to make the galaxy "living".

[lordxorn]

ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76

The problem with most 4X games apart from Sword of the Stars is that the galaxy is flat apart from competing empires.I look forward to hearing about what the devs have done to make the galaxy "living".

I understand your point of view, however I think it would be a challenge to create a fully realized 3d UI because of overlapping systems. There was some criticism in Swords and their map because of this. I think the 'living' galaxy comes from what son_of_montfort revealed to us about how the civilian sector will thrive on it's own.

That makes it living because since when did you need to tell people to go make some profit? They are pretty much self motivated right? So your role would be to create conditions in which a civilian sector can thrive, then it will 'grow' on it's own.

Then you have to worry about protecting it. [8D]

[cdbeck]

One more little hint in regards to a "living empire." I was involved in brainstorming for a tourism system that is part of the civilian economy. It includes ships. I'm not going to discuss it, because I'm not sure Elliot's plans for the future. [8D]

[PJL1973]

ORIGINAL: Son_of_Montfort
Let me give you a little taste:
What other game do you know of, where you have about 4 planets colonized over about 3 different solar systems (2 in your home, and 1 each in other places). You have built some space stations over these, and sent some builder ships out to rich gas giants and non-habitable planets in these systems to building mining outposts. After a while, you notice that the civilian dock of one of your space stations is building a mining transport ship (these are run by civilian companies) - it finishes and you watch it fly to pick up luxury resources from one of your non-habitable ice worlds (lets say a type of exotic animal fur). The ship wheels back into your space station - dropping of the goods, and increasing the happiness and economic growth of your colony.

During all this - you, as the player - did not order any action (well other than the initial building of the mining outpost and space station above your colony). You might have been sending a fleet to smash pirates, building a research station over an interesting moon, deciding what future worlds to colonize, conducting diplomacy, or just watching your empire grow. The mining took place all on its own - as part of a living empire.

How does that strike you as unique? [8D]

There is more about the "living empire" that I would like to talk about, but I don't want to get too detailed lest I overstep and lest things change before release (and don't ask me when, they don't give peons this information).

SoM

So am I right in thinking that as far as getting resources are concerned that as soon as you set up an mining outpost that is completed, then the game will automatically set up ships to get the resource and then send it back to the colonised / home planet within a solar system? What about inter-planetary trade routes? And will ships go to the nearest planet, or the one that most needs the resource? Is it possible to set up routes to transfer luxury resources between planets (I presume you can do that for non-luxury resources). And wil you be able to find out easily what planets need what to help improve quality of life / happiness at the planet?

[cdbeck]

AFAIK, the civilian docks will fire up transports when they see a need for it and once they have the resources/money necessary (so it might not be right away). Resources and trade is all done rather seamlessly, and you really, as the player, don't have to get too involved (think Paradox's Victoria and the system you have there). I do think that resources are shifted from planet to planet, but I would rather have Elliot discuss the intricate details of that.

There is a threshold to how many luxury goods can "up" the planet - I don't remember the exact number - but to have good quantities of 5 or so different types has a huge impact. So it isn't so much finding specific goods as it is finding nice quantities of different varieties of goods.

SoM

[ASHBERY76]

Can you cripple an A.I by destroying the trade network.Does the game have stealth ships to make this work.

[elliotg]

ORIGINAL: PJL
So am I right in thinking that as far as getting resources are concerned that as soon as you set up an mining outpost that is completed, then the game will automatically set up ships to get the resource and then send it back to the colonised / home planet within a solar system? What about inter-planetary trade routes? And will ships go to the nearest planet, or the one that most needs the resource? Is it possible to set up routes to transfer luxury resources between planets (I presume you can do that for non-luxury resources). And wil you be able to find out easily what planets need what to help improve quality of life / happiness at the planet?

Let me give you an overview of trade/mining/colony improvement areas:

You extract resources from planets/moons/asteroids by either:
1. building a fixed mining station base at the planet
2. letting your private sector mobile mining ships mine resources throughout the explored galaxy

Once the resources are mined they are automatically transferred to your nearest space port by privately-controlled freighters. Space ports are special bases that you build at important colonies - they are centers for trade and construction of new ships. The resources are then distributed automatically by privately-controlled freighters to wherever they are needed - i.e. your colonies that need luxury resources to grow will get shipments delivered to them.

Inter-system and inter-empire trading is all part of this network - freighters will transport resources to whoever wants them. Even independent alien colonies (not part of any empire) will trade their resources with you. This all happens seamlessly without your direction. Most of the gritty details of all of this are handled automatically by the private sector of your empire. So although all of this is really happening in-game - actual ships and bases doing all this stuff - it's not a management headache.

Your job is to seek out the resources so that they can then be exploited, and then to protect the private network that grows to exploit them. So patrolling mining stations, escorting mining ships and construction ships, wiping out pirates and dangerous space monsters, is all part of your job.

There are lots of powerful tools to identify new mining targets with valuable resources. And there's plenty of feedback on what resources colonies need - you can drill-down to see exactly what they have.

[elliotg]

ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76
Can you cripple an A.I by destroying the trade network.Does the game have stealth ships to make this work.

Yes - you can have a big impact on another empire by targetting their mining and trade network. This is a big part of the game - defending your economic infrastructure.

It's not just other empires that can threaten this either: pirates and space monsters can also cause a lot of damage if you let them.

There are also other mechanisms to disrupt an empire's trade: imposing Trade Sanctions on them (no trade between your two empires), or even blockading their colonies, space ports or mining stations.