Community idea's for a possible SW:GB 2

[Darth Windu]

This thread has been opned to collect the idea's from the community on what they would like to (or like not to) see in a possible SW:GB 2. Before i post my idea's though, i would just like to ask people to refrain from posting anything derogatory about anyone else on the board, and to keep the discussion to this topic.

 

1. Engine - Age of Mythology

2. Walls - make it so the ONLY units who can fire over walls are air, anti-air, artillery, canons, cruisers, and grenade troopers.

3. Unique Units - exapnd the number of unique units for each side, and add the Republic Gunship as the second unique unit alongside the Jedi Starfighter (please dont discuss this issue here)

4. Change the graphics of the Jedi to look more like...Jedi. Also, have the colour's of the lightsabre's for Jedi a 50/50 mix of green and blue. Change the Sith Master to have a lightsabre (think Dooku) and make the Sith Knight's sabre a single.

5. Keep the current civs, but change them so that some are denied certain weapons (ie no rebel/naboo assualt mech, no trade fed/empire adv fighter/bomber etc)

6. Change the graphics so that the canon unit is the ultimite form of upgrade (ie adv fighter = x-wing, N-1, TIE intercept etc) just to make the game more fun and 'realistic'.

 

Now i would like to see the idea's of everyone else here...

[polaris_crd]

I like your idea about the walls. Ground units shouldn't be able to fire through them until the wall is destroyed. Except for cannons, artilery, ect.

 

Hopefully Lucas can cut another deal with ES and Microsoft to use their engine for AoM.

 

Here are some suggestions for the civs

 

Trade Federation- Their battledroids should cost less, be faster to produce, and slightly weaker. Trade Federation should be able to have economic advantages over the other civs. After all they are the "Trade" Federation. The Trade Federation's assualt mech should have a lower attack then most civ's mechs but be able to produce battledroids from their mech. All the Trade Federation buildings would be slightly weaker but cheaper to build then most civs. The TF should also have the droid control ship as a capital ship and be able to add to the population limit.

 

The Empire. The Empire should be good with Air and have the star destroyer as a capital ship. Their star destroyers have a good attack and can also produce TIE fighters. The Empire's At-At can hold more men then other mechs and they add power to the At-At.

 

The Rebels. The rebels should have the strongest troops and buildings. They should also get good fighters but weaker capital ships. But Rebels can produce Jedi.

 

Jedi should be on the top of the tech tree. They should be like a super powerful unit that doesn't have a unit that can pick em off so easily. (Bounty Hunters)

[simwiz2]

I think they should make their own engine. It might silence the reviewers who call the game an AoK ripoff. And if they do use the AoM engine they should at least make it less obvious, by making the units different. One can tell immmediately that pummels=rams, cannon=trebuchet, fortress=castle, turret=tower, and it shouldnt be that way IMO.

 

Also they should keep all existing civs and add some more, such as the new republic and a few others.

[Compa_Mighty]

I don't think they'll do SWGB 2, and honestly, I'd prefer another expansion pack with say, 6 more civs, even if we had to pay for it as a new game. That would leave the game with 14 civs, it would be just great.

[Paragon_Leon]

i'd say keep the current engine, but make units more accurate in scale amongst themselves. That was one of the biggest gripes reviewers had. (i.e.: make men smaller)

 

also, i'd recommend some kind of veteran-system for units and buildings that survive attacks.

 

oh, and create complete living and breathing cities that you can walk in and smash.

 

am i expecting too much ?

[Fishflesh]

GB2 it wil be no aom engine

[Kryllith]

Said it before, I'll say it again: Multiplayer (co-op and/or vs.) campaign/scenarios. And toss the multiplayer option into the campaign/scenarios editor too so players can design them. Oh, and in vs. campaigns, design winner/loser scenario trees with multiple endings so the path of scenarios taken through a campaign is determined by who wins the individual scenarios.

 

Kryllith

[Jedi Dad]

If they do an other game, it would make better sense to use the AOM or some other RTS engine. The reasons:

 

1) Engine will be well honed and mostly bug free by the time they get it.

 

2) Lots of development time and money saved by not building your own engine

 

3) Using an engine that lots of gamers have used leads to familiarity and allows more gamers to get upto speed. Tweaks can be made, but not a complete overhaul. Trying to be to cute or unique with the UI can lead to disaster.

 

4) Don't listen to reviews that complain about being a clone but with different units. If the game plays well and is enjoyable, that's what should matter. After all, look at all the doom clones we have today (unreal, half-life...). Yea the graphics are better, but it is still a doom clone. I personally think reviewers have played so many games that they all run together and they have a hard time getting excited about certain types of games. Another reason to disregard some reviews(ers) is that months in advance they will hype a games uniqueness and then complain and rate it poorly because it didn't have the same features as the current standards. MAKE UP YOUR MIND!! Enought now on this subject.

 

5) having a ready made engine allows you to start testing different art, units and AI early so as to be better balanced in the end.

 

Only good can come from using a pre-exsisting engine IF you pick the right one. Ensemble has a good RTS track record and unless they shoot themselves in the foot, the AOM engine would be a safe and successful bet.

 

The bigger issue would be is this: Is there enough new or unique material to even create a SWBG 2? I don't really think so. I would like alot of enhancements and civs made to the existing game now rather than a new game. Build a strong base now so a SWBG 2 can be released after Episode 3.

[Compa_Mighty]

I agree with ya Jedi Dad

[theStupid1]

I would like to see mass destruction attacks along the lines of those portrayed Red Alert 2. You wouldn't need to add capital ships to the game just add a tech that calls in aerial bombardment from the capital ships in space, they would cause massive damage over a large radius! And have it regenerate over time. I think that would be awesome! It would open up several new avenues of strategy! The empire could call in a small scale of the death star laser, each tech would have its own capital ship. It would be beautiful.

[Crazy_dog no.3]

OK, I will now once again be the one to annoy everyone with my stupid remarks.

 

1) Engine: AOM - Well I suppose it could work.

2) OK

3) sorry but ...

The gunship would be way to powerful as a second UU. It could only work as a cheat unit or a hero.

4) There is no real argument against this, exept it just doesn't look right.

5) Why deny some civs certain wepons? Just becuase we didn't see them in the movies doesn't mean they don't exist! This would also make the game unbalanced. The less developed civs, like Wookiees, would have a disadvantage.

Besides, even if there is no Naboo assualt mech, it still looks like a Naboo vehicle.

6) The Cannon is stricly a ground vehicle. The airborne cannon is the cruiser.

[Darth Windu]

Crazydog - just remember that this is a thread where people can put down their views (ie, what you would like to see), not a forum for debate (i would like to keep the thread as civil as possible). Oh yeah, what did you mean by 'the canon is strickly a ground unit'? I know that, and it still would be able to fire over walls, besides I put down the cruiser and air cruiser as well. Having said that, i would like to clarify some of my previous comments.

 

1. The use of the AoM engine would give continuality for players of the first game, gameplay wouldnt be radically different from the first game, and the game could be played by more people, faster.

2. I dont think anyway has disagreed about this, self-explanitary anyway

3. Istill like this idea, but of course they would all have to be balanced, and i for one would LOVE to see a balanced gunship in the game.

4. This has been rather annoying to me since i got the game...

5. The main reason for this is to have greater diversity with the different civs. Peronally, i think 8 civs is plenty, but perhaps merge the gungans/naboo and the trade federation/confederacy and add two new civs. The exlcusion of certain units from certain sides would help to make every side very different, and would reflect their abilities (ie rebels on the run, no time for heavy, slow weapons)

6. Another thing that's annoyed me since i got the game, besides, i love seeing N-1's and TIE do combat...

[Guest DarthMaulUK]

When Lucasarts used the AoK game engine for this game, it still had lots of bugs in it on release. Since the AoK engine was 'tried and tested' I thought it was unforgiveable to release a game with some of these bugs.

 

Clone Campaigns has certainly improved the game in lots of areas and the addition of toy box units makes it alot more fun.

 

AoM seems to be coming along very well but I think Lucasarts need to move away from Battlegrounds and focus on a new Rebellion/Supremacy game.

 

Rebellion was a SW Space RTS game will so many options of attack, spying and was very addictive. I played it for 3 years and still do sometimes.

 

Personally, I think that this is the best SW strategy game out there. Ok, it had bad graphics and a silly control interface for commanding battles but it was excellent.

 

Why? The element of suprise. Using the spy net work to find out about your opponent, not knowing if the information is correct or, by the time you arrive to attack - out of date.

 

I even set a trap like in Return of the Jedi. Allowed my opponent a chance to attack my HQ planet (which I left undefended) but a couple of days before he arrived to attack me, I moved my entire fleet over - so engage him in battle. Of course, he had no idea of my fleet until he arrived.

 

So, it took hours to play it - but thats strategy for you. Battlegrounds lacks strategy in alot of areas - especially with 'rushing'. It's like a mad race to see who can hit Tech 2 or 3 then start attacking - game ends inside 30 minutes.

 

Ok, so i was pretty good at Rebellion but thats not the main reason why I liked it so much - it offered alot more than battlegrounds does in terms of real strategy.

 

People want to have long battles and struggles where the balance of power can shift during the game.

 

Rebellion 2!!!!

 

DMUK

[Fishflesh]

I totaly agree that Rebellion was one of the best RTS games out there!

 

and i stil play that somethimes online

the only problem whit rebellion was bad reviews and 1 online game thakes to long almost a hole day to finish

somethimes even more!

 

but i sertenly agree that a rebellion 2

would be a goddes gift

 

only with the bad reviews i dont think tay wil make a Rebellion 2

maby a MIX of Rebellion and GB would be a good idea!

 

Rebellion is 1 game that is forever in my hart!

[J-5]

I thought you'd never ask.....

 

 

 

 

 

1) A unique engine- 2d or 3d, but 2d allows for a larger pop cap right?

 

2) There shouldn't be more races than players available (such an 8 player game with 16 races). The same races are fine with me, but more diversity is a MUST. There is no way a naboo trooper should be capable of taking down a 8 ft tall wookie or a super battledroid. But he can because all troopers are created equal.

Trooper Diversity examples:

- Gungan troops can camouflage with trees or swamp marsh as long as they stand still, which renders them semi-invisible to the enemy (can see slight outline, but mostly invisible).

- Wookie troops have a melee attack, more hp, and move faster (in early tech lvls, later they get the bowcaster).

 

3) Aircraft changes:

- they land when they are idle, which means ground units can sneak up and attack them. If enemy unit enters the l-o-s of the aircraft, it will take off.

- they swarm around the unit they attack.

- transports can hold 10 troops, 5 mechs, 3 heavies etc

 

4) More unique units.. no two units should be alike !

Example:

- Empire get star destroyer, it can create tie fighters which attack for it (Protoss Carrier), also has a cannon used for building destruction (no other cruiser get these abilities).

 

5) Bounty Hunters cost carbon, food, AND nova, and are less effective against Jedi. They should get a special ability to cast a net over target unit, which entraps that unit for set period of time.

 

6) Jedi get spells such as force lightning, force speed, and such.

 

7) Frigates get repeater-like weapons that mows down troops.

 

8) Anti-Air units can attack ground, but are best used vs. air.

 

9) All Buildings are LESS DURABLE. And speed build come with some type of price.

 

10) Less workers are needed to field an army, prefabs equal +10 pop, not +5.

 

11) All units get unique names... Stormtroopers are called stormtroopers, not trooper recruit, etc.

 

12) Races receive some type of identity. Example "I'll chose this race for its rushing abilities, this race can mass units better, this race has the most raw power, this is a hit-and-run race, blah, blah, blah".

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I agree with all of Polaris_crd's ideas.

I agree with all of Darth windu's ideas except about the lightsabers.

[Kryllith]

The ability to suggest treaties... opponents who will give you materials or join your side if you quit pounding them....

 

Kryllith

[CorranHorn328]

I like the current engine, outdated or not. I agree that I'd rather see another X-Pack with more civs, units, and heroes.

[Darth Windu]

nl_ackbar, darthmaulUK - i would appreciate it if the posts in this thread were kept relevant to the thread, that being a place for people to post what they would like to see in a SW:GB 2, not about other games.

 

To everyone - there are some great ideas coming out here, keep them flowing...

 

Also i definately agree with many of J-5's points, such as names like 'stormtrooper recruit' instead of 'trooper recruit', and 'stromtrooper' instead of 'trooper'. Makes the game more 'starwars' to me.

[Darth Windu]

some points i forgot to put down-

 

7. Make the repeater trooper a deployed hvy trooper

8. make air transports have different unit quotas (ie 5 infantry, or 4 strike mechs, or 3 mech destroyers/heavy weapons, or 2 assault mechs etc)

 

more to come soon...

[Sithmaster_821]

Yeah! Another pointless thread by Darth Windu!

 

I doubt that Lucasarts will make their upcoming RTS a sequel to Battlegrounds. Sequels are usually made when the name is well known and will draw people. If the make a fresh name for the game with civs that have a unique set of units with different purposes. A very different game that is as balanced and as fun as GB would be excellent.

 

 

 

nl_ackbar, darthmaulUK - i would appreciate it if the posts in this thread were kept relevant to the thread

 

Seeing the current stae of your other threads, this one is a closer on topic.

[Darth Windu]

Sithmaster - this thread is for the community to express their idea's about what THEY want to see if a sequel, not a forum to abuse other members. If you have nothing constructive to say, dont say anything at all. You, and everyone else, are most welcome to express your wants for a sequel, but please do not post anything else here.

[Sithmaster_821]

I doubt that Lucasarts will make their upcoming RTS a sequel to Battlegrounds. Sequels are usually made when the name is well known and will draw people. If the make a fresh name for the game with civs that have a unique set of units with different purposes. A very different game that is as balanced and as fun as GB would be excellent.

this thread is for the community to express their idea's about what THEY want to see if a sequel, not a forum to abuse other members. If you have nothing constructive to say, dont say anything at all. You, and everyone else, are most welcome to express your wants for a sequel, but please do not post anything else here.

I was submitting ideas. I just said they probably wont call it a sequel, but instead make a new franchise. SWGB was Lucasarts testing the water. Now that they know what makes a great RTS, then they will be able to start fresh with their OWN state-of-the-art engine, incorporating many of the GB ideas with more mainstream ones like unique unit sets so AT-ATs can be AT-AT and you can finally get your beloved gunship.

[jcb231]

Before you read my post, know that I am not a huge Expanded Universe fan, I just think these civs would be fun and different to play in GB...

 

I think that SWGB2 should have:

 

-20 Civilizations (16 released in SWGB2, 4 in an X-pack)

I. The Galactic Empire

II. The Rebel Alliance

III. The Royal Naboo

IV. The Gungans

V. The Trade Federation

VI. The Wookies

VII. The Confederacy Of Independent Systems

VIII. The Galactic Republic

plus...

IX. The Geonosians (split off from confederacy, not like in CC...could send out picadors to capture animals, etc)

X. Hutt Clan Desilijic (Jabba The Hutt's forces as a full fledged civ)

XI. Bespin Security (Cloud City people: can build in the air, have superior air units, etc)

XII. The Mon Calamari Defense Force (Admiral Ackbar's ppl...can build underwater, etc.)

XIII. Black Sun (like in Shadows of the Empire)

XIV. The Ewoks (technologically simple, but have many advantages like the ability to move through forest areas, stealth, and fast reproductive rates, etc...air units are gliders or simple blimp-like vehicles, boats are sailboats with catapults, flaming arrows, etc)

XV. The Maruaders (like in the Ewoks movies...stranded band of galactic pirates with mix of high and low technology...were stupid in movie but would be fun to play in GB)

XVI. Trandoshan Slavers (like in some campaigns, but as a full civ...could enslave other civ's workers, etc.)

plus 4 x-pack civs....

XVII. The New Republic (more advanced than rebel alliance, sort of a combo of republic and rebels)

XVIII. The Imperial Remnant (rebelified version of Empire...lower tech, better hit and fade abilities, etc)

XIX. The Yuzahn Vong (much like the Zerg from Starcraft)

XX. The Karrde Organization (a smugglers union....trade advantages, etc)

 

In addition to all of these civs, I think there should be a better control interface that allows for more specific mission commands...such as ordering a bounty hunter to attempt to assasinate one hero character and then retreat immediately, or ordering a bomber to hit and fade several targets in a row and then fly back to base, or ordering a slaver to capture some workers and flee while another troop destroys an animal nursery and confiscates the banthas...you get the idea.

 

I also think there should be more spy and secret agent units....bothan spies and the like that could sneak in undetected and gain recon info or sabotage stuff.

 

I also think that any civ that can make standard battle droids...Confed, Geonosians, or TF, should be able to research an option that allows the manufacture of two droids at once (sort of like zerglings in starcraft) for a slight bit more of a cost than just one droid....example 60 food for two droids versus 50 for one or whatever.

 

The rest of my wish list rounds out like this....

-fully rendered cut scenes

-more toybox units

-the ability to "hire" bounty hunters and mercs rather than building them....you hire a specific hunter for a single job or for a merc detail, expending only nova crystals

-more unique units for civs and also unique techs and special skills for each civ, such as the ability for Bespin forces to pull gas from the air to make ore or something like that...maybe Gungans could cross water by swimming, etc

-"space" units that fight in a plane above the ground and could be used sparingly for orbital bombardment or to attack each other

-the ability for soldiers to storm and capture enemy buildings.

-increased team bonuses

-better balancing on the aircruisers, so that you can't win just by building a swarm of them

-more sensible civ designs, like no human jedi for the gungans or wookies, etc....perhaps even replace Ewok and Gungan Jedi temples with some sort of shamans

-undersea farms

-improved AI, with more intelligent choices and more levels of difficulty

-environmental factors....and the ability to adjust your play to them. Imagine snow storms on hoth, dust storms on Tatooine, lava flows on a volanic world, etc....certain civs could, for example, build special cold-weather troops that would have an advantage in snow, like the snowtroopers in Empire Strikes Back, or special desert troops and so on.

-the ability to allign with "mini-civs" such as Jawas or Tusken Raiders or so on

-A simpler, easier to use scenario editior with a tutorial explaing how it works

-Larger maps, also maps based on "actual" SW locales that are layed out just like in the movies

-population limit of 400

-no housing required for droids

-Jedi should not be able to turn droids.

-Only appropriate units can shoot over walls.

-Units can shoot while moving....allowing for better hit and fades, starfing runs, etc.

-troops can "dig in" to make trenches...or trenches could be built by workers or something. Basically I'd like to have seperate repeater troops that could make little machine gun nests to support trench warfare, WWI style.

-better diplomacy options

-troop names that actually are the name of the unit...ie "Stormtrooper"

-more units per transport....also better scale on units

-air units that don't hover all the time......landing pads or something?

 

That's about it....yeah, I know nobody probably read it all but I just got carried away....I've given this a lot of thought ever since I first played GB.

 

Man....I've been thinking about this for too long now. Too bad it'll be FOREVER before it ever happens, IF it ever happens.

 

In the meantime, how bout another little x-pack featuring the Hutt civ, the Mon Calamari or Bespin civ, and some general civ enhancements and such? I'd stop my whining for that, good Lucasarts people.

 

Let me know what everyone thinks......how about some ideas for more unique units or special civ abilities or techs, people?

[Sithmaster_821]

Lonnnnnngggg post. Hi, welcome to the forums here.

 

Doubt Lucasarts will add that many civs because of overlap, but a few more than those we have couldnt hurt.

 

I like your ideas though. It would make the game more diverse for the civs they do include. However, some of your ideas would add a bit too much micro.

 

Welcome again!

 

Oh and Windu, since you're so upset about people going off topic, I'll do exactly what you want and address your ideas at the top:

 

1. Own engine please. One of the main reasons the community is so small is that they copied the engine.

2. Make walls way too unbalanced and it makes them hard to defend.

3. Please dont mention your gunship in yet another thread!

4. I agree that there should be multi colored sabers but Dooku was just a knight in the sith order.

5. It would be better if they included a unique set of units per civ so that you dont have to worry if this unit isnt exactly like the generic one (eg. you and your gunship). Also it differenciates itself from battlegrounds if you include a different unit balance.

6. Read 5

7. Make repeaters separate in the other game and dont ask them to screw with our current one.

8. Just like before, good in the other game, hard to implement in this one. Also for sea transportation too. Always wondered how they could fit 5 ATATs in a trannie but only 5 troops.

[Crazy_dog no.3]

BTW guys what do u want the engine to be like?