E3 - SW: Empire at War

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2005-05-19 04:42pm

http://pc.ign.com/articles/616/616589p1.html

If you can I recommend downloading the larger quicktime version. It's looking pretty sweet!

General Brock · Post by **General Brock** » 2005-05-19 07:45pm

I hope this 'exploding star destroyers everywhere' thingy is just smoke. It should be a rare accomplishment, to mean something; the result of good battle planning and/or careful subtrefuge or sabotage. The ISD should not just be another boss ship.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2005-05-20 06:31am

General Brock wrote:I hope this 'exploding star destroyers everywhere' thingy is just smoke. It should be a rare accomplishment, to mean something; the result of good battle planning and/or careful subtrefuge or sabotage. The ISD should not just be another boss ship.

Well, this is a RTS. It's not going to be an accurate representation of what an ISD is capable of. Doing so would put the Rebel player in an EXTREME disadvantage.

Guy N. Cognito · Post by **Guy N. Cognito** » 2005-05-20 11:40am

If we are going to look at this game as accurate, have a look at the size of fighters in comparison to the cap ships. Last I checked, y-wings were only 10-15 m long, in the pic they look like they are 50-60 meters in comparison to the Mon Cal. Cruiser. Nope, the HW mod for SW had the most accurate ship sizes ever. A Tie-Fight was miniscule compared to the SD.

AniThyng · Post by **AniThyng** » 2005-05-20 12:42pm

Guy N. Cognito wrote:If we are going to look at this game as accurate, have a look at the size of fighters in comparison to the cap ships. Last I checked, y-wings were only 10-15 m long, in the pic they look like they are 50-60 meters in comparison to the Mon Cal. Cruiser. Nope, the HW mod for SW had the most accurate ship sizes ever. A Tie-Fight was miniscule compared to the SD.

I doubt an RTS that follows conventions like "shooting at point blank range" is going to care about scaling the fighers for accuracy over visibility, unfortunately.

I see a lot of Acclamators, I hope they have Venetor's in as well, those were nice ships.

Guy N. Cognito · Post by **Guy N. Cognito** » 2005-05-20 01:07pm

What? Are you saying parking your ship next to the enemies and firing at point plank range isn't a good tactic? What are you suggesting, coming in on his most vulnerable or least defended angle or something? What a bunch of poppy-cock!

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2005-05-20 01:34pm

talk about blowing up a planet at point blanc range

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2005-05-20 04:40pm

Dammit! I don't want Hoth or any famous planet in this game, I want some planet that wern't in the movie.

General Brock · Post by **General Brock** » 2005-05-24 03:49am

Kamakazie Sith wrote:

Well, this is a RTS. It's not going to be an accurate representation of what an ISD is capable of. Doing so would put the Rebel player in an EXTREME disadvantage.

Yea, I should be glad they're using cannon ships, not making up hulls. Still, you could get around the problem by making star destroyer construction dependent on large amounts of a rare resource, or very high tech level/chain, making them rare or even difficult to repair or maintain. There are ways to balance off its firepower advantage short of brute force. A lot of creative power goes into eyecandy when it might be better spent on gameplay sophistication.

Ace Pace wrote:

Dammit! I don't want Hoth or any famous planet in this game, I want some planet that wern't in the movie.

You've never had the ghost of an impulse to blow up Naboo, just for spawning Jar Jar?

Of course, canon planets might have 'character sheilds' of their own.

Post by **weemadando** » 2005-05-24 04:05am

Actually from what I understand, the Rebels will not have military parity with the Empire. If they try for a stand-up fight, they will be utterly demolished. Rebels win through guerilla tactics, judicious use of over-powering force at critical moments (spec ops, starfighter strikes etc) and crafty maneuvring to keep one step ahead of the Empires search groups.

As the Empire however, you just BDZ anyone you bloody well feel like, though it might make people more inclined to help the Rebels.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2005-05-24 08:28am

General Brock wrote:
Ace Pace wrote:

Dammit! I don't want Hoth or any famous planet in this game, I want some planet that wern't in the movie.
You've never had the ghost of an impulse to blow up Naboo, just for spawning Jar Jar?

Of course, canon planets might have 'character sheilds' of their own.

No, and I'd really like to keep Naboo there as the greatest planetery eye candy I remember in SW.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2005-05-24 10:08am

I wonder what they're going to do about resource collection? Will it be like Starcraft and you build a fleet of drones to eat an asteroid or something, or will be like Total Annihilation where you build a resource unit which is a building?

Or something else? So far all I get from the preview article is "Gee look! Whizbang graphics!" Nothing about the meat of the game.

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2005-05-24 10:18am

I wonder what they're going to do about resource collection? Will it be like Starcraft and you build a fleet of drones to eat an asteroid or something, or will be like Total Annihilation where you build a resource unit which is a building?

Or something else? So far all I get from the preview article is "Gee look! Whizbang graphics!" Nothing about the meat of the game.

Each planet will have a uniqe attribute or somesuch, there wont be any resource collecting ala' AOE or C&C series. i'm thinking this may mean we might have taxes or whatever, and each planet bonus will be something along the lines of 'Five pecent increase in fleet production if you hold Planet X'

something like that anyway

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2005-05-24 10:18am

Stofsk wrote:I wonder what they're going to do about resource collection? Will it be like Starcraft and you build a fleet of drones to eat an asteroid or something, or will be like Total Annihilation where you build a resource unit which is a building?

Or something else? So far all I get from the preview article is "Gee look! Whizbang graphics!" Nothing about the meat of the game.

The planets/trade routes will be your resources. Certain planets will generate more credits than others, and have other bonuses. An example would be faster construction.

Really, this game is going to be a lot like Rebellion. They will even have sabotage/recon missions.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2005-05-24 11:07am

A non-sucky version of Rebellion which doesnt have me fighting with the GUI which is actively resisting attempts to get an enjoyable game out of it would be nice.

But if this has anything like a Starcraft economy model(aka sweet fuck all resources which are depleated before you can blink), I'm not touching the fucker unless I was payed too (more than the game cost!

)

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2005-05-24 11:13am

ggs wrote:A non-sucky version of Rebellion which doesnt have me fighting with the GUI which is actively resisting attempts to get an enjoyable game out of it would be nice.

But if this has anything like a Starcraft economy model(aka sweet fuck all resources which are depleated before you can blink), I'm not touching the fucker unless I was payed too (more than the game cost! )

It's nothing like Starcraft. The planets have their own economy, therefore, you will always get x from y planet.

Fire Fly · Post by **Fire Fly** » 2005-05-24 01:23pm

The game looks promising so far. I don't really mind that not all the ships are accurate in size. It would be nice, yes, but how easy will it be to click on the right squadron? I hope they don't make each ship have ion cannons at spot X and shield generators at spot Y to knock out. It would, in my opinon, make the ship all the more weaker.

That aside, the Death Star was certainly close.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2005-05-24 01:47pm

Fire Fly wrote:The game looks promising so far. I don't really mind that not all the ships are accurate in size. It would be nice, yes, but how easy will it be to click on the right squadron? I hope they don't make each ship have ion cannons at spot X and shield generators at spot Y to knock out. It would, in my opinon, make the ship all the more weaker.

That aside, the Death Star was certainly close.

Yeah, I wish the Death Star would just be in the background.