2005 year of the RTS

[Fishflesh]

At LucasArts president Jim Ward revealed that the Command & Conquer veterans at Petroglyph will develop a real-time strategy game set in starwars univers.

[DK_Viceroy]

Observe the top Pinned topic and the Topic about the new SW RTS and the "Force has not forgotten us" topics for the exact same thing in differently worded format.

 

Shouldn't this topic be changed to 2006 the year of the RTS since the game will inevitably get delayed till mid 2006

[Admiral Vostok]

Well they're planning for a 2005 release, but you're right in that most games get a delayed release.

[DK_Viceroy]

Especially since they'll most likely be making an engine from scratch. THANK GOD.

 

I wonder if this new game will actually be supported apart from throwing a half hearted path at us and saying to bog off.

[Admiral Vostok]

I wonder if this new game will actually be supported apart from throwing a half hearted path at us and saying to bog off.

Yes, I hope we'll get some support too. Petroglyph games are known for their ease of modability, so that indicates it would be easy to maintain... but you never know.

[DK_Viceroy]

Though why would we really need modability except to put more star wars things in it?

 

While some mods would be welcome with us though we'd propably spend more time playing the original product.

[Nairb Notneb]

I don't know, modability is always a big deal with Star Wars gamers. I think that if they build it into the game they will be doing its longevity a favor.

 

So, does this mean that it will most likely have a Command and Conquer flavor to it?

[DK_Viceroy]

I don't think so since it won't have the sidebar obviously they'll proapbly be fishing around in a barel of new ideas.

[Admiral Vostok]

Though why would we really need modability except to put more star wars things in it?

For that very reason. With decent modability people can actually have civs like Trandoshans, Mon Calamari, Chiss and Yuuzhan Vong without the professionals having to waste their time building in these unpopular civs properly.

 

I hope you're right Viceroy in that they're going to go for new ideas. I wouldn't mind the C&C style of play in general, but there are three major things I hope they don't carry over:

[*]A limited number of technologies. As I've said elsewhere, having a huge range of technologies and upgrades to chose from makes the game a bit more interesting to me. It means you won't necessarily play the game the same way all the time; if your opponent is using lots of air against you you'd upgrade you AA defences first, but if not you might upgrade something else instead. I don't remember the techs available in Red Alert 2, if indeed there were any at all, but in C&C Generals (although I know Petroglyph didn't make it) there was only half a dozen techs which were researched in the same order every time.

[*]Superweapons. All C&C games have superweapons, and I for one am not a huge fan of them. The games become an arms race to rush to get the superweapon. Not only is it bad for gameplay, but let's not forget that in Star Wars it just doesn't fit. The only civ with a superweapon was the Empire with the Death Star, and the reason they had it was because they were the ultimate evil force. If everyone has superweapons it doesn't have the same significance.

[*]Preset maps. My biggest gripe about C&C multiplayer and for that matter Blizzard multiplayer. A random map generator is essential to ensure decent multiplayer. Relying on map makers to produce new multiplayer maps to keep the game interesting is not a good idea. They should take the hint from Ensemble and their RTS's multiplayer success and get a random map generator.

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[DK_Viceroy]

Vostok did you properly explore Pre Generals C&C games they indeed had random map generators you actually had to put in your preferences though Which was a pretty good idea then.

 

RA2 didn't have any techs in it but then the Campaign showed clearly that you wern't researching but showed who/where Researhc was done.

 

Some superwapons could be in say if you had them on the scale of the Genetic Mutator, Iron Curtain and the Chronosphere.

 

You could have the Ares Class Tactical Missile for the Confederacy (Some kind of Biological weapon in the Clone wars Cartoon)

 

Turbolaser Bombardment Uplink center for the empire.

 

Ion Cannon for Rebels (Disable mechanical things)

 

For the Republic you could have a Radar Jammer (think how the Republic delivered such a suprise on Geonosis.

[lukeiamyourdad]

Wow. Give kick-ass biological weapon for the COnfed, deadly orbital bombardment for the Emprie, overpowered Ion Cannon for the Rebel and lame-ass Radar Jammer. Seriously, a Radar Jammer is very lame

[DK_Viceroy]

What would you rather have?

 

The Jedi Council using the force and destroying half of a planet's surface?

 

The Republic is the only Side that doesn't have some sort of Superweapons that fits them.

 

If you want a better idea come up with one.

[FroZticles]

Superweapons are a bad idea. They did not have random generators the maps were all pre-made.

[Darth Windu]

I agree, Superweapons are a horrible idea. While I have some semi-superweapons such as the Ion Cannon, they really arent offensive weapons, just base defence.

[Admiral Vostok]

It's agreed then that superweapons suck. Let's hope our good friends at Petroglyph know this.

[FroZticles]

Ok lets agree to agree that super weapons suck

 

Someone please explain this scissor-paper-rock thing I saw it in a Axis and Allies review but still am unclear of what purpose it has.

[DK_Viceroy]

I'll try and explain it.

 

Think having specific units counter another specific units like our Mech Destroyer owning any Mech and our Strike Mechs owning Troopers.

 

On RA2 there is a generator but you have to pick the preferences tileset and all the other details I think it's in the section which for some reason is called "Create Map" hwo strange I wonder why they called it that.

[Fishflesh]

lol

 

just that this developer makes these games does not mean its gonne be anything like any c&c game... just look at lord of the rings RTS.. c&c games have superweapons...why? becose it's c&c... this is NOT c&c.

[DK_Viceroy]

Here Here.

[Admiral Vostok]

I should point out that Battle for Middle Earth does have superweapons (kind of). The Army of the Dead and the Balrog and so forth are (kind of) superweapons. However it works in that context for Lord of the Rings, for Star Wars there is no equivalent.

 

Froz, just to expand on Viceroy's description of rock-paper-scissors: I'll assume you're familiar with the game of rock-paper-scissors where each item beats one particular item but is beaten by another. The same goes for SWGB:

Rock beats Scissors beats Paper beats Rock

Mech Destroyer beats Strike Mech beats Mounted Trooper beats Mech Destroyer

[DK_Viceroy]

Except AoT takes it to the extreme instead of having units that Are good against quite a few and a bonus versus one type AoT has units that are specifcally meant to counter one thing and arn't that wonderful against everything else.

[Fishflesh]

So it came as little surprise when Electronic Arts announced The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth, a PC RTS based on Peter Jackson's film threesome. The game--subject of a recent hands-on--is one of the most anticipated PC games of the year, and it has RTS addicts already exercising their mouse fingers in anticipation of the game's December 6 release.

 

Now it appears that Star Wars fans will be getting an RTS of their own. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter today, LucasArts president Jim Ward was discussing post-Episode III Star Wars properties. Besides talking about "new live-action and animated TV shows" (which will hopefully be better than the Droids and Ewoks series, or the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special), he also discussed LucasArts' future game plans.

 

Ward said the company's strategy was to create "original Star Wars games like a new real-time strategy PC game that Petroglyph is developing for next year. This game will take the genre in a new direction and will balance gameplay between the hardcore gamers who buy these games and the broader audience that's familiar with the Star Wars brand."

 

Unfortunately, that's all LucasArts is saying about the as-yet-unnamed Star Wars RTS. Representatives for the publisher declined further comment on the game, saying only that it would be "available next year." However, Ward's comments do reveal that LucasArts is continuing its transformation from a publisher with in-house development to one that farms out games to independent studios.

 

In the case of the Star Wars RTS, LucasArts has made an interesting choice. The game will be Petroglyph's first, and is most likely the "killer top-secret project" mentioned on its Web site. However, the independent studio has an impressive roster of veteran game designers, including many of the original Command & Conquer team from Westwood Studios.

 

GameSpot will bring you more on the Star Wars RTS as details emerge.

 

from gamespot

[Admiral Vostok]

Thanks for that Ackbar. It certainly sounds like we won't just be getting Red Alert: Star Wars Edition.

[DK_Viceroy]

Even if we got Red Alert Star wars edition with a 3d Engine I doubt they could do worse than Force Commander.

 

Besides anything Red Alert related is Property of EA so rest assured we won't be geting C&C flavour star wars.

[Nairb Notneb]

Te best news, by any means, is that its coming. I also think that it is good that it sounds like it will get here after the release of episode Three so that this time they will know what they are actually putting into the game this time.