spaceships the simple way - not like in Homeworld

Implementation of Spaceships doesn`t need to be Homewordesque or even 3d at all.

As far as the games artistic direction is concerned a simple 2d + a limited vertical plane will work fine. You can do it all within the confines of how the game is already designed.

Also it can easily be done in a way that enhances the gameplay rather than just being a seperate layer.

1. Planets are defined with atmosphere and a gravity well
2. Orbital installations are being implemented
3. Asteroids for planetary bombardment are already in
3. Rockets for deploying single units and satellites into orbit and to moons are in.

The basics are already there.

Example:
Planetary invasions.

Planet A wants to invade planet B and launches a rocket with a construction unit. Planet B is defended by orbital and planetary defenses that destroy the rocket. It would make sense that you need to launch ships to clear the planetary defences.

Maybe there are no planetary defenses so you send the rocket, but the construction unit gets destroyed by AA fire after entering the atmosphere. It makes sense you might need a planetary bombardment to clear out AA.

You don`t need massive fleets like in Homeworld with all the micromanagement. Lets say you build a Fleet Carrier from an orbital shipyard. It comes with a complement of fighters and bombers. The on-board squadrons are managed by the ship AI and not by the player. They are a part of the ships weapons and operate according to the ships orders.

This doesn`t mean there needs to be an entirely different UI and menu system. The game is simple in it`s design. An implementation of spaceships would be equally simplistic.

There are countless ways to expand on it, but for now it seems like it`s a viability discussion more than a functionality brainstorm.

I don`t know anything about modelling or texturing, but i do know something about scripting after modding Homeworld 2 for some time. I`m confident i could script the required AI, UI additions and other script required for what i mentioned above.

I believe people are thinking about this in a much to complex manner. The art style of the game is simplistic, jovial and cartoonish. Any implementation of space based assets must be deliberated on in the same spirit.

Re: Galactic Conquest and idea for spaceships

I think uber ent should make a new banner for the Pa subforum with "THERE WILL BE NO SPACESHIPS IN PA!!! STOP SPAMMING TOPICS ABOUT IT GODDAMMMIT!!!" on it...

Re: Galactic Conquest and idea for spaceships

It has already been stated multiple times that 3d space combat will not be in the game because of the limited budget and the questionable benefit to the gameplay.

Re: Galactic Conquest and idea for spaceships

Along with(as the OP hinted on) the completely different UI and several Gameplay Mechnics that would be specific to space battles.

Mike

Re: Galactic Conquest and idea for spaceships

There's also no shortage of games about World War II Battleships: IN SPACE, but none as far as I know that have done Reaganesque satellite warfare.

Re: Galactic Conquest and idea for spaceships

Agree, I'd almost start a poll "Stop asking (spamming) for spaceships" just so people know that it's not appreciated. But that would be spamming itself.

Re: Galactic Conquest and idea for spaceships

That is inaccurate as far as I know. They said no space combat. But space combat =/= spaceships. I for one am also completely against space combat, as it would not fit the game. Spaceships for transporting units on the other hand is somethig I am all in favor of.

I rewrote the entire post as i believe people are just thinking about this in a far more complex manner than the ought to.

And i know the devs are currently not looking at this functionality. Doesn`t mean good ideas are wasted or that they won`t think about it later on.

Obviously it`s difficult to say for certain what can be done with the current code, but maybe it will be possible to play around with it when we get to beta.

To me this is more a question of "how" than "why"..

Yes, you could do space entirely in 2D, but that makes me sad because of how limiting that could be. And AI controlled squadrons on carriers is just going to frustrate people I think. Flying a bunch of protoss carriers (or whatever they're called) I feel does not add to what I think is going to make PA what it will be.

Forcing the game to be simple because the art is simple does not follow. Simple art is being used to enable complex and large scale game play.

One issue I see with space battles in general is that it feels like people are expecting this anime style WWII ships in space and I think that ignores a huge amount you can do with it. I think this game will be just fine without any of that.

I didn't put my money down for a 4X game. I put my money down for a RTS game. We do not want, or need your spaceships.

Thank you. Good day.

i think spaceship has become a bit of a rued word around here. but if it was more like a interplanetary aircraft carrier (that you could control the aircraft), it would be ok with the UI.

But then you'd end up with something like playing Starcraft 2 in a space terrain with battlecruisers and carriers...

If space combat is to be added later on, it might as well be fully fleshed out like Empire at war space battles or even Homeworld if you want all the upgrade complications.

Homeworld has shown us that RTS in space does work...

But I think adding that level of complexity to Planetary Annihilation would be just overkill. There would be far too much going on.

Oh, and like the other dozen people said... it just won't be done.

To be honest, the whole space ship thing WOULD be cool.
But at this point, it's not something I'd personally want, atleast not in the base game.
Mostly they'd have to allocate resouces, possibly worsening the game as a whole, so I'd rather have atmospheric battle that worked really well, rather than everything just being mediocre, or downright bad.

You are so narrow-minded that spaceships = 4X for you. What a shame.

I quite like the idea of the first post, but it may be too much.

we're not talking space ships as in
full range of movement in a 3d environment
but spaceships as in units that can move from 1 planets orbit to another (like rockets) and move within that planets orbit layer like aerial units or naval units move through the air and sea layers, given the nature of the game any mobile space units implementation couldnt really be done any other way, theres no point moving units out into deep space where theres nothing anyways so just remove that thought from your mind and picture space units as being player controlled only in the orbital spaces and moving to other bodies orbits under their ai control, ie. once you tell a unit to move to a new planets orbit you cant change that order or issue any orders at all once its underway, and nothing can intercept / affect it until it arrives at its destination. they dont need to be any different from planes, just operating in a ne higher layer than the air.

if we dont have orbital space units that can move from planet to planet then how are we expected to breakthrough enemy orbital defences? ground units couldnt do it, cause they cant fire while in space, so it'd have to be mobile orbital space units that break through before landing grouind troops. their implementation would no more break the game then the iplementation of aerial units broke any previous rts title

If we have some kind of unit that can
1) Go to another planet's orbital layer
2) Attack units/structures in that orbital layer
then I think that would end up satisfying this "space battle" thing for anyone who actually wanted to play a game like TA in the first place.

But hey, maybe I haven't considered this in the same way the devs have. Let's just see what they do. But there absolutely will not be any battles out in space (between planets).

Re: Galactic Conquest and idea for spaceships

This. I'm more excited to see a different approach to orbital warfare than "World War II Battleships: IN SPACE".

That's not to say space battleships are bad, but they've already been done before.

If they could pull of deep-space combat while maintaining the feel of an rts game, then kudos to Uber. I highly doubt it's possible though.

As a pure hypothetical, a completely 3-dimensional space rts could be sweet . Build your own 'space station' between planets to serve as a launch pad for protection/attack of both... interplanetary warp gates... interstellar combat... it could be like Eve, but more awesome

Solar systems aren't on perfectly flat 2D planes I don't see why anyone would think that.

I am getting blunt about it because this is something like the 6th thread I've responded to about this very subject. The problem is you're asking for another entire layer. We already have ground robots, ground vehicles, air, navy, and orbital. Orbital was a major stretch goal, as was Navy. You're asking for another, for free. You don't want much do you?

And a concern here shared by many, is that if you add space, it's going to end up eclipsing much more interesting features we are looking forward to having such as asteroids (KEWS!), interplanetary paratroopers, interplanetary cannons, etc. No matter how careful you are about balancing space, it's going to be cheaper and easier than using those features. It will replace them.

Do you really want that?