quote:

ORIGINAL: Cauldyth
Hmm, will it be possible to spec out a ship that completely masks its empire of origin, even if it attacks? One of the coolest aspects of DW is that combat doesn't automatically trigger war. It would be an interesting form of subterfuge to anonymously raid your opponents shipping lines. [:D]

quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

The huge advantage stealth gives is that normally enemy ships and fleets can't be everywhere, so long range detection allows time for defense fleets to adjust to intercept an incoming attack. If they don't even know the attack is happening until the incoming fleet is almost there or already on top of the target, often the attack has a far greater chance of success.

Regards,

- Erik

quote:

ORIGINAL: SirHoraceHarkness
This begs the question of will the dw2 AI be significantly upgraded from dw1? If there was a real weakness to the first game then the AI would probably be the most pointed out past some of the UI shenanigans.

quote:

ORIGINAL: muncuss
hi Erik, i just thought, can u add sub fleet mechanic in future update? to make easier organizing something like commanding several task force or system defense fleets in X sector with one click

quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

quote:

ORIGINAL: muncuss
hi Erik, i just thought, can u add sub fleet mechanic in future update? to make easier organizing something like commanding several task force or system defense fleets in X sector with one click

I'm not sure I fully understand the question, could you elaborate?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jorgen_CAB
In Aurora 4x you can actually build a more or less infinite number of sub fleets... but that game have both admin, fleet and sub-fleet elements and then admirals assigned to them individually. The Admin command then give military and/or logistical bonuses to its fleet elements based on range.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ElanaAhova_slith
Are you going to have a 'season pass' purchase option? Subscribing to get all the DLC and expansions pre paid and a discount?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins


Sorry, understood now but I haven't played Aurora and we do not plan to have sub-fleets, which does not mean you can't have smaller fleets, larger ones, fleets with various roles and admirals assigned where you want, it's just not the exact same system you described.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jorgen_CAB
In Aurora 4x you can actually build a more or less infinite number of sub fleets... but that game have both admin, fleet and sub-fleet elements and then admirals assigned to them individually. The Admin command then give military and/or logistical bonuses to its fleet elements based on range.

Sorry, understood now but I haven't played Aurora and we do not plan to have sub-fleets, which does not mean you can't have smaller fleets, larger ones, fleets with various roles and admirals assigned where you want, it's just not the exact same system you described.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jorgen_CAB

quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jorgen_CAB
In Aurora 4x you can actually build a more or less infinite number of sub fleets... but that game have both admin, fleet and sub-fleet elements and then admirals assigned to them individually. The Admin command then give military and/or logistical bonuses to its fleet elements based on range.

Sorry, understood now but I haven't played Aurora and we do not plan to have sub-fleets, which does not mean you can't have smaller fleets, larger ones, fleets with various roles and admirals assigned where you want, it's just not the exact same system you described.

I understand that this late i development this would be allot to ask... but can we at least sort fleets by name so we can use a clever naming system to sort fleets by location, area of operation or similar things?

One of my major gripe with the way things worked in DW1 was that it was a horrible way to organise your fleets, task-force and squadrons and forced you to put them in just large fleets when you often wanted a bit more control but manage them in the interface was difficult and time consuming.

At a later date I would very much at least like to have some way to organise fleets and task-forces so they are easy to identify and manage that way. It does not need to have a mechanical impact on the game, just for ordering and structuring fleets and squadrons for the player.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ElanaAhova_slith
Question: My experience playing DW to DWU is that most of the time my home system doesn't even have the basic resources to to do much of anything. Hopefully, DW2 will have a better balanced distribution of resources in home systems. Is better balanced distribution implemented, or in the planning stages?

quote:

ORIGINAL: elliotg

quote:

ORIGINAL: ElanaAhova_slith
Question: My experience playing DW to DWU is that most of the time my home system doesn't even have the basic resources to to do much of anything. Hopefully, DW2 will have a better balanced distribution of resources in home systems. Is better balanced distribution implemented, or in the planning stages?

Yes, especially on the PreWarp start your home system has a guaranteed supply of the basic resources you need at the start of the game. There's been a lot of testing and balancing on resource prevalence and abundance. Resources are definitely more meaningful in DW2 - you need to ensure a good supply of them, especially for some of the high-demand resources.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

quote:

ORIGINAL: SirHoraceHarkness
This begs the question of will the dw2 AI be significantly upgraded from dw1? If there was a real weakness to the first game then the AI would probably be the most pointed out past some of the UI shenanigans.

We're certainly going to give it our best shot. I know of a lot of specific things the DW2 AI does much better than DW1, but the real question of whether it will give you a more competitive game remains to be seen.

quote:

ORIGINAL: SirHoraceHarkness
Another question. How many cores will the game use if they are available and will it use logical cores in addition to the physical cores?

quote:

Do you ever plan on expanding the controls of single ships? Perhaps implement a proper "ship mode?" (I'm thinking along the lines of expanded UI... maybe a few mechanics, say being able to pick up missions as a merchant, nothing too crazy). Or am I reaching too far, and DW will always remain focused on empire-wide control?

quote:

ORIGINAL: elliotg

quote:

ORIGINAL: SirHoraceHarkness
Another question. How many cores will the game use if they are available and will it use logical cores in addition to the physical cores?

The simple answer is that DW2 will use all the CPU cores, including logical cores (e.g. hyper-threading).

The more complex answer is that it depends on what is happening in the game at the time. There is a natural ebb and flow with the game logic where the load is sometimes higher and sometimes lower. So DW2 will use additional threads/tasks as needed. The game is built to support multi-threading and key parts can be offloaded to other cores.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Galaxy227
Quick question! DLC-related.

Erik recently revealed there are new camera angles specifically catered to following individual ships around (similar to the lock function in DW:U). In addition, DW:U was often advertised as a simulation in which the player can control everything from an entire empire to single ships. To me, it's clear the idea of "role-playing" as an admiral, scout, or trader is at least feasible, if not encouraged.

Do you ever plan on expanding the controls of single ships? Perhaps implement a proper "ship mode?"

I'm thinking along the lines of an expanded UI, catered towards refining pre-existing mechanics for this supposed "ship mode." Say being able to pick up a mission as a merchant, running spice across the galaxy. Or be a ship captain within a fleet, perhaps with an interface that displays the current fleet order. Nothing too crazy, just a few QOL enhancements for the already-established mechanics in DW2. It'd be cool to be able to start a war as a leader, then play as a merchant within your empire and see how hectic things get for your average civilian trader.

...Or perhaps I'm reaching way too far, and DW will always remain focused on empire-wide gameplay. Just curious.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Galaxy227
Another question... I promise, no more!

When showing off the ship designer, there was a button called "Generate Scene Fleet vs Fleet." I'm sure this button was a development tool, and I assume it was for testing ship combat. Would you be willing to implement this feature into the base game, allowing players to test their designs against other ships? And if not (I understand how that could feel like cheating), would you ever consider releasing it as a tool for modders? Being able to quickly test ship builds could go a long way with helping modders balance their modded ship components.

quote:

ORIGINAL: elliotg

So if we left it in, the player would have to understand that they are effectively 'polluting' their current game with this extra scene. I guess the process would be for the player to save their current game, generate the scene, do their testing, then reload their previous savegame to get back to their starting state.

Anyway, we'll see where we end up on this. I understand the desire to use it. The battles look pretty sweet too ;)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SirHoraceHarkness

For normal players this could also be useful to start up a small galaxy and play around with ship designs they can then save and use for a 'real' game.

quote:

ORIGINAL: elliotg

Sorting options on the Fleet list currently includes:
- Strength, highest first
- Strength, lowest first
- Size, highest first
- Size, lowest first
- Troop Attack Strength
- Name

...and we can add more as needed :)

There are also defined fleet types: Main Attack fleets, Raiding fleets, Invasion fleets, Defense fleets.

There's also a number of other tactical options that control how fleets work. So in summary, there's a lot more control over fleets in DW2 that didn't exist in DW1.