Homeworld 2 Demo out!

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-09-04 07:10pm

Everyone should use Bit Torrent. Bit Torrent is your friend. It's allowing me to get the demo in 35 minutes instead of three and a half hours.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-09-04 07:13pm

Faram wrote:Just get it from bittorrent.

Here is a torrent linky:
http://www.aixgaming.com/filerush/

Why was the file I just DLed an 11k "torrent document"?

Post by **Colonel Olrik** » 2003-09-04 07:25pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
Faram wrote:Just get it from bittorrent.

Here is a torrent linky:
http://www.aixgaming.com/filerush/
Why was the file I just DLed an 11k "torrent document"?

bittorrent is a sharing program, ala kazaa. you'll need to download the software.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-09-04 07:42pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
Faram wrote:Just get it from bittorrent.

Here is a torrent linky:
http://www.aixgaming.com/filerush/
Why was the file I just DLed an 11k "torrent document"?

Look up bittorrent in google, find the site, and get the program. Install program.

Then, assuming you still have the torret document saved somewhere, double-click or do run on that file. The bittorrent program will then automatically connect to the appropriate peers and servers and, hopefully, start downloading the file.

That's how it works.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-09-04 07:44pm

Gah, fuck that.

I'll get the damn thing tomorrow...

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2003-09-04 08:14pm

Alyeska wrote:I only have one problem so far, but its fairly major. I am downright pissed that I can not build strike craft and capitalships at the same time. I want to be able to build defensive interceptors at the same time as frigates damnit.

So build your interceptors from your carrier and your frigates from your mothership, or vice-versa. It certainly makes carriers much more useful than before, as with HW1 carriers weren't really that useful overall. Now you need a carrier for versatility.

I miss the old build system myself, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just different.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-09-04 08:44pm

Hotfoot wrote:
Alyeska wrote:I only have one problem so far, but its fairly major. I am downright pissed that I can not build strike craft and capitalships at the same time. I want to be able to build defensive interceptors at the same time as frigates damnit.
So build your interceptors from your carrier and your frigates from your mothership, or vice-versa. It certainly makes carriers much more useful than before, as with HW1 carriers weren't really that useful overall. Now you need a carrier for versatility.

I miss the old build system myself, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just different.

It is very much a bad thing. For starters you have massive construction facilities on a Mothership and Carrier and you can only build one OR the other. That is bad.

Secondly, I already used carriers quite frequently. They are very handy for increasing your number of ships very quickly. Furthermore they are very good for use with resourcing. Self contained units to assist in resourcing which can also carry strike squadrons hidden within to surprise any attackers.

Datana · Post by **Datana** » 2003-09-04 08:56pm

In the two included missions, something that I missed was the ability to manually issue the hyperspace command. In the previous Homeworld, I'd always take time after the mission to repair units, build additional ships, and research stuff. In addition, I'd sometimes have to shuffle my strike craft around between carriers manually to prevent them from colliding with each other and other ships at the start of the next mission (poor Captain Ellison was killed by being in the way of a squad of launching Interceptors a few times).

As it stands, while the game engine harvests for you and completes any research you've left unfinished when you hyperspace out, it doesn't initiate anything else for you. Now, in terms of context, both missions had excellent in-story reasons for hyperspacing immediately, but I hope this doesn't persist through the game.

Overall, I'd also agree with Alyeska and Hotfoot in that I miss the old build system. Parallel production of different unit types was one of the best parts of the original Homeworld. Having to wait through a queue for each unit being produced seems a step back.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-09-04 10:42pm

Some of those complaints, particularly the manual hyperspace one, are probably just because it's a demo.

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2003-09-05 07:27am

I'm not impressed by how this game looks. I guess that may just be me, though, but... what's the fuss all about? It looks decent, I guess. No more.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-05 10:21am

It's not groundbreaking, granted, but it still looks good, IMHO. If you've got the hardware to do anti-aliasing it should look absolutely amazing.

Alan Bolte · Post by **Alan Bolte** » 2003-09-05 12:22pm

i'd say the self-shading is fairly impressive, but it could do with sharper textures and much better specular mapping.

Datana · Post by **Datana** » 2003-09-05 02:11pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:Some of those complaints, particularly the manual hyperspace one, are probably just because it's a demo.

Manual hyperspacing in single player is gone, as confirmed in this thread on the Relic forums. As for the build queue, I think it would have to be in the final product if it were in the demo in that case, as it was a key part of the gameplay engine. That might not prevent them from putting in a "multitask" module, though.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-09-05 06:21pm

Datana wrote:Manual hyperspacing in single player is gone, as confirmed in this thread on the Relic forums.

That is fucking bullshit. Resources are so fucking hard to come by, I want to be able to mine an area dry before I leave.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2003-09-05 06:42pm

Alyeska wrote:It is very much a bad thing. For starters you have massive construction facilities on a Mothership and Carrier and you can only build one OR the other. That is bad.

For terms of story and fluff, fine, it's bad. For terms of gameplay, it's just different. There's still the possibility for a multi-build module or something anyway, but even if not, as far as gameplay is concerned, it's not a terrible game-breaking problem.

Secondly, I already used carriers quite frequently. They are very handy for increasing your number of ships very quickly. Furthermore they are very good for use with resourcing. Self contained units to assist in resourcing which can also carry strike squadrons hidden within to surprise any attackers.

Well that's great, but in MP, most games were over before you could build a carrier, and there were often much more cost-effective methods of doing that same thing.

As for the lack of manual hyperspace, yes, that is annoying. However, going by the demo missions, the flow of the SP game is much different from the original.

The game is different from HW1. This much is obvious. No more do we have magic beams that repair ships or gather resources, physical contact is required for both, limiting the number of ships that can repair another ship or mine an asteroid. Frigates can no longer hyperspace on their own, but need to piggyback on the jump engine of a capital ship. The list goes on.

Additionally, the hyperspace core has turned into this magical, galaxy-altering artifact, instead of just the hyperdrive from the old exile ship. I seriously think that the original writers of Homeworld were fired sometime between the release of HW1 and Cataclysm...

Still, it looks to be a good game, and I've come up with some potent multiplayer tactics

Mitth`raw`nuruodo · Post by **Mitth`raw`nuruodo** » 2003-09-05 06:54pm

I just played this (it was my first Homeworld experience) and... wow. This demo makes me actually want to go out and buy the game, as opposed to getting it from my usual sources. This game takes the RTS genre and puts it in space (uhh, duh), but it does so VERY WELL! I love the 3d element to it, I stick my carriers way above the battle while the fighters/gunships duke it out in the middle, and the frigates hang out at the bottom. The whole Mothership thing is nice, you only get one, so you have to protect it. WHeee, I love this game!

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2003-09-05 07:16pm

Mitth`raw`nuruodo wrote:I just played this (it was my first Homeworld experience) and... wow. This demo makes me actually want to go out and buy the game, as opposed to getting it from my usual sources. This game takes the RTS genre and puts it in space (uhh, duh), but it does so VERY WELL! I love the 3d element to it, I stick my carriers way above the battle while the fighters/gunships duke it out in the middle, and the frigates hang out at the bottom. The whole Mothership thing is nice, you only get one, so you have to protect it. WHeee, I love this game!

Wow...I can only imagine what your reaction would have been four years ago with HW1.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-09-05 07:26pm

My single biggest gripe is that they removed the Time Compression feature. WTF? Unless they radicaly changed the game, there are still maddeningly slow moments to it, or speeding things up helps tremendously. I used TC in Cataclysm all the time regardless of the mission being over. Relic says they removed it because TCs only use was for resource gathering.

Super-Gagme · Post by **Super-Gagme** » 2003-09-05 07:37pm

Alyeska wrote:My single biggest gripe is that they removed the Time Compression feature. WTF? Unless they radicaly changed the game, there are still maddeningly slow moments to it, or speeding things up helps tremendously. I used TC in Cataclysm all the time regardless of the mission being over. Relic says they removed it because TCs only use was for resource gathering.

Yes and since resource gathering is done instantly for you at the end of missions before it automatically hyperspaces out it makes Time Compression useless in most peoples opinions. Honestly I only used it to gather resources at the end too

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-09-05 08:00pm

Super-Gagme wrote:
Alyeska wrote:My single biggest gripe is that they removed the Time Compression feature. WTF? Unless they radicaly changed the game, there are still maddeningly slow moments to it, or speeding things up helps tremendously. I used TC in Cataclysm all the time regardless of the mission being over. Relic says they removed it because TCs only use was for resource gathering.
Yes and since resource gathering is done instantly for you at the end of missions before it automatically hyperspaces out it makes Time Compression useless in most peoples opinions. Honestly I only used it to gather resources at the end too

I did NOT. I used it frequently in the missions. That is one of the things I loved about Cataclysm over the original and I was full well expecting it in HW2.

Mitth`raw`nuruodo · Post by **Mitth`raw`nuruodo** » 2003-09-05 08:26pm

What I'm getting from all this is: "HW2 is cool, but HW1 was better". Correct? If so, can HW1 still be found in stores, or do you think they took it off the shelves? *wanders over to ebGames to check*

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-09-05 08:28pm

Mitth`raw`nuruodo wrote:What I'm getting from all this is: "HW2 is cool, but HW1 was better". Correct? If so, can HW1 still be found in stores, or do you think they took it off the shelves? *wanders over to ebGames to check*

Better? Probably not. Just different. HW1 can still be found in stores for as low as $10. While your at it get HW: Cataclysm as well. It is a stand alone full game sized "add-on" to the original.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-09-05 08:38pm

Its pretty foolish to judge HW2 in its entirity based on a few days of playing the demo, IMHO. Saying it isn't as good as HW1 is just not a statement that can be supported yet.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-09-05 09:52pm

Howedar wrote:Its pretty foolish to judge HW2 in its entirity based on a few days of playing the demo, IMHO. Saying it isn't as good as HW1 is just not a statement that can be supported yet.

Fact of the matter is these are major points against the game itself and Relic fucking admitted it was going in the full game, not just the demo. This pisses me off. They fucking removed three options from HW1. They remove time to rebuild, they remove time compression, and they remove multiple unit construction. Those are big fucking changes for the worse. The game is good, but I dare say the gameplay is worse then the original.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2003-09-05 10:55pm

At some point, we shall have to play with each other online...even if it is to just beat down the AI.