Official SWGB 2 GB.com Thread

[CorranSec]

The Naboo and Gungans are both equally worthy of being civs. As people (including myself) have said, they played large roles in the movies and have plenty of material to work off, thus making them extremely viable for both gameplay and realism reasons.

They should not be merged in any way, apart from perhaps a little bit of graphical change (one culture's architecture rubbing off on the other).

 

However, I would support the removal (or integration) of the Wookies in exchange for a better civ, for example an Episode III civ or a good EU civ (eg. New Republic). The Wookies could easily be integrated into the Rebels and/or the New Republic as troopers or the like.

[Crazy_dog no.3]

U mean to say Kashyyykk is inhabited by humans?

[Darth Windu]

fergie - obviously you havent read some of my posts, otherwise you would not have made some of your statements.

 

THE REPUBLIC DROPSHIP AND GUNSHIP WOULD BE UNIQUE UNITS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Do you even know what the term 'Assault' means? What i am refering to with the Republic being able to mount quick battlefield assaults is that they can bring in forces to the battlefield quickly and provide air support for those forces. The other civs would still have transports and bombers, but they would not be as effective as the republic's air assault forces. However, the Republic would not have a base-attack bomber, and hence would have to make base assaults by land or sea.

 

Also, the Empire would still have the best mechs/heavy weapons etc, i never said they wouldnt, so again i suggest you read posts properly before replying.

[Lex]

well, a SWGB 2 would have to include TF, GE, Rebels, Confed and OR...wooks, naboo, and gungans can phase out....but since they should make more civs, they can also include em again...+1 Ep 3 civ and maybe Mon Cal and Yuuzhan Vong? i'd also use same engine again, coz everything else sux

[lukeiamyourdad]

The same engine:eek: What the?

[Crazy_dog no.3]

"The same engine" is 3 yrs old.

[CorranSec]

Crazy_dog: No, I mean to say that the Wookiees aren't quite worthy of being a civ, and that they could be integrated another civ.

 

Lex- Why should naboo and gungans 'phase out'?

And everybody else is right. No offense, but you must have very low standards indeed to think that the GB engine is the best around.

[Admiral Vostok]

Most arguments for other engines sucking can equally be applied to the AoK engine that we are currently using. LucasArts is a little smarter than to make a new game using an engine that will be more than half a decade old by the time SWGB2 is released. Sure they made a mistake with Force Commander and Rebel Assault but using the AoK engine again would be by far their biggest mistake ever. No-one would buy that game.

 

And CorranSec, I like to think that SWGB2 will appeal to more than just us few who post on these forums. If it doesn't, there really is no point making a sequel. I know other people who love this game but don't post on these forums.

 

Having re-read your post I may have taken your comments the wrong way, but my thoughts still stand...

[Sithmaster_821]

Here's my idea of what happened and why we're probably going to get a NEW engine:

1. FoComm is released. LA begins with the engine of another game, more than likely a FoComm2

2. FoComm is killed at the shelves and panned by the reviewers. LA suspends work on the new engine, and hey e-think their strategy. Do they leave the RTS genre? They decide against leaving, but instead borrowed a tried and true engine, and began making a game while still working on their new engine, in order to save time.

3. SWGB is released. It gets fairly good reviews and fairs much better than FoComm in sales. The only major complaint is that it wasnt original enough. LA sees that as a good go-ahead sign, because their new engine is just that. More people are shifted to the new engine

4. CC is released. LA shifts almost everybody, except for a handful of designers and playtesters for the patch, onto the new game. Thats why the patch came out so fast, and there wasnt any following patches.

5. LA announces formally its new game, and gives screenshots and basic information. I predict that this will happen about May of this year (a full year after CC) just in time for e3. The game will be nowhere near finished or even slgihtly polished

6. The new game is released (in about two years, just in time for Ep 3)

[CorranSec]

Vostok: I apologise, but I have to say I have no idea what you are talking about. Was that in relation to me saying that the GB engine isn't the best around?

 

Sith: Yay, now we have something to hope for. Just one thing that confuses me- are you trying to say that the hypothetically proposed engine for FoCom 2 was started when FoCom was released, and has since developed into the engine for GB2?

But why did Gaber only mention that he was starting work on a GB-related project a little while ago?

[Sithmaster_821]

They dont tell us everything you know

[CorranSec]

I do realise that (I'm not that stupid), but I don't think Gaber would just tell the whole forum that he just started work if he'd been working on it since its conception, or even since the release of CC.

[Admiral Vostok]

I agree with that Sithmaster, but isn't May this year a little early for the first screen shots?

 

CorranSec, sorry, I was referring to a post you made on the previous page in response to something DMUK said. You said you weren't sure how much appeal GB had outside of us, or something like that.

[CorranSec]

I'm not sure about the screenshots. Hypothetically, this game has been secretly in the works since FoCom, and I think they should have something to show for it by now.

 

But.. it all seems so weird to me.

Absolutely no mention of this game, which has (hypothetically) been in the works since FoCom, and suddenly screenshots appear? It doesn't quite make sense. No, I think that 'The Game' has only been started recently- perhaps a little while after CC was released.

 

Anyway...... all this hypothetical stuff is quite confusing and isn't really getting us anywhere. So.... anyone got any new ideas for GB2?

[Admiral Vostok]

Well I've often thought in the current SWGB that sometimes troopers aren't worth getting. For example, when playing Trade Federation I usually only buy a few troopers to garrison in my Fortress and use droidekas as my main anti-trooper units. Although the droidekas are much more expensive, I think they are by far a better buy than the battle droids you could have bought.

 

This is a bit of a shame, because I think you should want to buy troopers even if your civ has the worst in the galaxy. It just feels more like Star Wars.

 

Okay if you're following me so far, those who don't remember my post "How's this for a basic model..." should know this: I want to have units split into two basic groups, Personnel and War Machines. Personnel would be generic, in that all civs have an equivalent. War Machines would be unique units. Personnel is then subdivided into Troopers, Pilots and Officers. Troopers includes laser troopers, mounted troopers, heavy weapons teams (equivalent to repeater troopers, but consisting of two guys) and scout troopers (on speeder bikes). I'm aslo an advocate for simple weather phenomenon (a moving terrain feature that reduces movement and LOS), difficult terrain (we sort of have it already, slows down movement) and morale ( a simplified version that I won't go into here, but I know would work). Anyway, back to my new idea...

 

So I thought what if each civ's troopers have a special ability? These would not become available to the equivalent of Tech Level 3, when you can research them. So each civ has a unique trooper tech, which I've thought could be the following (they need tweaking):

 

Confederacy of Independent Systems: Soulless - The Super Battle Droids feel nothing and fear no-one. All Trooper units are unaffected by morale.

 

Galactic Empire: Specialists - The Empire keeps sqauds of Snowtroopers, Sandtroopers and others ready to brave whatever conditions they encounter on various planets. All laser troopers suffer no penalty to movement or LOS when moving through a weather phenomenon.

 

Galactic Republic: Extensive Training - Clone Troopers are trained in a wide variety of skills. All Laser Troopers can pilot War Machines, although the War Machines they pilot can only attack at 50% strength and move at 50% speed.

 

Gungan Grand Army: Amphibious - The Gungans are natural swimmers and can hold their breathe for extended periods under water. All Laser Troopers can move through water features, although they cannot shoot can move at 50% speed when doing so.

 

Rebel Alliance: Guerillas - The Rebel Alliance is greatly skilled at inflitration and working with the natural environment. All laser troopers suffer no penalty to movement when moving through difficult terrain.

 

Royal Naboo: Ascension Guns - Royal Naboo Security Guards carry ascension guns to scale walls. All Laser Troopers can move over walls, although they cannot shoot and move at 10% speed when doing so.

 

Trade Federation: Deactivation - Battle Droids can be powered down for easy storage when not being used. Deactivated Laser Troopers don't count towards your population limit so they can be kept in reserve to be reactivated instantly when needed.

 

Wookiees: Arboreal - Wookiees are tree-dwellers and have retractable claws with which to climb trees. All Laser Troopers can move through Forest and Woods, although they can not shoot and move at 50% speed when doing so.

 

So it's long and complicated but part of my ultimate vision. It makes for more characterful forces, makes buying troopers more attractive, and adds a bit of "know your foe" when you are setting up defences. Fighting Wookiees? Stick a turret near that forest, and you'll be fine. Fighting Naboo? As long as you can shoot them off your walls your fine. Fighting Rebels? Don't bother chasing them through those moguls.

[CorranSec]

Well, in the current GB, troopers are worth getting, but once you reach tech 4 I must admit they can be replaced by plenty of other things.

 

The Personnel/War Machines split- I'm not sure. What exactly are war machines? Everything else?

But yes, I do agree that most 'troopers' (ie basic infantry) will be generic.

 

Pilots- No. This is in no way making troopers more useful. It's just making War Machines harder to get running and making the game more complex all around. What's the point? Realism, sure, but in the interests of gameplay I think we can safely assume that there is a pilot already there and the mech is totally done, without having to actually deal with the operation. That's not what the game is about. Having to spend extra money on a guy whose only purpose is to pop out of the barracks and run over to the war machine.... no.

 

Officers- No. Too RoNish. More importantly, the whole 'morale' thing doesn't really fit in with GB or SW in general.

 

Trooper special abilities- it's a good concept, but there are better ways to make troopers more useful. Also, most of these may end up with civs being tailored for maps- ie Wookiees are the forest civ, Gungans are the water....

Confed ability: No, because it has to do with morale.

Empire: Yeah, though on the graphical I assumed most organic units would have a change of costume in different environments, not just the Imps.

Republic: No, it has to do with piloting. What's the point?

Gungans: No, it may turn the Gungans into a 'water-ruling' civ. But on the flip side, it may turn out pretty useless. Why do that when there are transports of all shapes and sizes? It'll become useless as soon as a better means of transport becomes available.

Rebels: Hmm. It seems that if you think about it, every civ has a reason for not moving through difficult terrain. Perhaps something a bit better? As before, it might become useless when transports come around... perhaps a basic increase in speed?

Naboo: Seems a bit too powerful. Other civs need a big, powerful War Machine to knock down walls- Naboo just climb over it. But, once again, it might turn out useless. Why do that when they're sitting ducks? It'd only be useful for taking out those bases with no turrets/defenses, and for those, you might as well just blast the walls down.

Wookiees: I don't want the Wookiees in the game at all, but I'll look at this anyway. Well.... it seems a bit like the Gungan one. Either too good (most people use trees as a kind of base wall), or too useless (transports!)

 

By the way... have you ever played a tabletop battle game called "Warhammer"?

 

In conclusion, I don't think that many of these special abilities help to make troopers more useful. Most of them will become obsolete quite quickly, and will only really be useful in the earlier parts of the game.

[lukeiamyourdad]

Personnel/War Machines- Seems as complex as someone else's ideas of shipping troopers and making.....you know check the thread about it.

 

Morale-Too complex in an RTS .

 

Special Abilities

Confed:Morale and look up

Empire: If weather has some effect then yes.

Republic:Sounds pretty useless to put your laser troopers in a war machine...it has no use.

Gungans: Rushes...rushes and rushes...

Rebs: That's the lousiest ability. They should just be faster, fire faster or something like that.

Naboo: Useless if your enemy doesn't have any walls...

Wookiees: sneek attacks can be done that way but...overpowered...

[Admiral Vostok]

Yes I do play Warhammer, and to be perfectly honest that's where I'm getting a lot of my inspiration from. Special abilities that make some civs good in certain situations... so what? You are not going to win a game with these abilities. They are merely added to make the game a bit more interesting, and make each civ a bit more characterful.

 

That's very important to me, characterful civs. At the moment they have nearly no character. But with these simple abilities I think it would add heaps of character. You at least need to be thinking a bit more about what you're fighting against. At the moment you just say "Well Naboo have good Air and Jedi so build AA and Bounty Hunters." This is a bit dull in my books. The same applies for Republic and Rebels, even when in the movies their fighting is totally different in character. But with this you'd have to say "Well Naboo have ascension guns so I need to have at least one trooper within LOS of my walls to pick off any scalers."

 

And while I can see that Pilots and Officers aren't all that popular, I'd like to say that even more important to me than character is to have a Star Wars feel. If you don't want pilots and officers, play another RTS. There are plenty out there. But a STAR WARS RTS will need them, because they are so evident in the movies. I've layed this out before, but just to prove my point:

 

Confederacy: Pilots - Geonosians. Officers - none (hence the special ability). NOTE: This is a bad example to start off with but I'm doing it alphabetically

 

Galactic Empire: Pilots - black jumpsuits and Imperial insignia on the helmets. Officers - olive grey uniforms.

 

Galactic Republic: Pilots - yellow trim clones with Republic insignia on the helmet. Officers - Red trim clones.

 

Gungan Grand Army: Pilots - well the closest they have is the guy who activates the shield so like a militiagung but with no shield. Officers - Like Tarpals.

 

Rebel Alliance: Pilots - orange jumpsuit. Officers - brown uniforms.

 

Royal Naboo: Pilots - like Ric Olie. Officers - like Panaka.

 

Trade Federation: Pilots - Battle Droids with blue trim. Officers - Battle Droids with yellow trim.

 

Since pretty much every civ has a significant uniform and role for pilots and officers, I think they deserve a place in a Star Wars RTS.

 

So now I've explained myself I think I'll separate rebuttals to your objections in a new post.

[Admiral Vostok]

Rebuttals

First CorranSec:

Confed ability: No, because it has to do with morale.

Well there is nothing wrong with morale as long as it isn't emphasised too much. My approach makes it not essential, but can help your troopers fight.

Empire: Yeah, though on the graphical I assumed most organic units would have a change of costume in different environments, not just the Imps.

A change of costume for each environment really is a bit much to ask the design team. And what about made-up scenarios where half the terrain is desert and half is snow? I'm glad this ability get's your approval but I vote no for different uniforms.

Republic: No, it has to do with piloting. What's the point?

I'm not too happy with the Republic's ability, it needs work. But pilots really are important in a Star Wars RTS, as I have said above.

Gungans: No, it may turn the Gungans into a 'water-ruling' civ. But on the flip side, it may turn out pretty useless. Why do that when there are transports of all shapes and sizes? It'll become useless as soon as a better means of transport becomes available.

It won't turn them into a water ruling civ. You stick one trooper on your coastline and he'll pick off any swimmers, who move slowly and can't attack. If a Gungan player swarms you with too many laser troopers so you can't pick them off before they reach land, well he deserves to win.

Rebels: Hmm. It seems that if you think about it, every civ has a reason for not moving through difficult terrain. Perhaps something a bit better? As before, it might become useless when transports come around... perhaps a basic increase in speed?

Agreed but that would make the Rebel troopers better in all situations, which is something I wanted to avoid with these special abilities.

Naboo: Seems a bit too powerful. Other civs need a big, powerful War Machine to knock down walls- Naboo just climb over it. But, once again, it might turn out useless. Why do that when they're sitting ducks? It'd only be useful for taking out those bases with no turrets/defenses, and for those, you might as well just blast the walls down.

See my comment about Gungans. Also just getting laser troopers over a wall isn't going to help. If your base can be destroyed just by laser troopers (not repeaters remember) well you deserve to die.

Wookiees: I don't want the Wookiees in the game at all, but I'll look at this anyway. Well.... it seems a bit like the Gungan one. Either too good (most people use trees as a kind of base wall), or too useless (transports!)

See my comments for Gungans. The most important thing to remember is character! The AoK people understood this - they made Celts with the ability that sheep aren't captured by enemies as long as you have them in LOS. Not very helpful! But very nice and characterful for the Celts.

 

Next lukeiamyourdad:

Well most has been said above so I only have to add:

Republic:Sounds pretty useless to put your laser troopers in a war machine...it has no use.

Well it does need work, and I'm open to suggestion. The more I think about it the more I don't like it.

Gungans: Rushes...rushes and rushes...

By the time Tech Level 3 comes along if you can be beaten by a laser trooper rush then you wouldn't have won anyway.

Rebs: That's the lousiest ability. They should just be faster, fire faster or something like that.

See my note about making them better all of the time. It's not a great ability, but then it won't cost very much comparitively.

Naboo: Useless if your enemy doesn't have any walls...

So don't research it then. Most of the special abilities are useless in certain situations. That's the way I wanted it.

Wookiees: sneek attacks can be done that way but...overpowered...

Just a little more strategy to consider... wait a minute... RTS means real time STRATEGY... I could be on to something...

 

And my way of morale is not too complex, but this post is long enough already.

[swphreak]

Originally posted by CorranSec

Are those "Something Else" civs Episode III civs? Because we have to make room for them. If there are any.

 

why, I think Ep 3 is basically the same. The Separatists and Republic and maybe the Empire is in it. They are already in the game.

 

If there is any civ that has to be added, it is the Yuzzhan Vong civ. It would be cool to be their civ or kil them.

 

Sorry if yall ended the discussion about civs long ago, but I was busy. I'm jus a big NJO fan, and I want to see the Vong as a civ.

[lukeiamyourdad]

Vostok-A rush is never meant to beat someone at the moment of the rush. It destroys your econ which if you can't counter that rush, you are pretty much dead. And rushes in swgb and rushes in StarCraft are very different.A rush in starcraft beats you right away while in GB you won't lose right away, just later.

 

If these special abilities are useless in most situations, why researching them?

 

Officers-Why? What's their use?

 

Morale-Micro...It's gonna be hard to monitor morale.

[CorranSec]

Vostok, you seem to have pointed out yourself that most of these abilities won't be all that useful, and do little but add character.

 

So I ask- why put pressure on devs and the like to include them, when character can be added in other ways?

You gave an example of what you considered dull (how to counter Naboo). But isn't this just a smaller version of that dullness? It's just another Naboo feature, and another way to counter it.

 

I think that there will already be plenty of specialties. GB2 will hopefully be overloaded with unique features, and these really won't be necessary.

For example, you showed how the Rebels and the Republic have different fighting styles. This will be reflected by many things- for example, the Rebels are faster, have lower health and higher damage, and they fight in small groups using hit-and-run tactics while the Republic overwhelms enemies with large armies of clones.

 

I'm not saying your special ability ideas are terrible. I just don't think they're all that necessary, and thus we don't need to include them.

 

 

Now, onto Pilots.

 

They seem just as unnecessary as the special abilities. As I said before, building men for the sole purpose of running a short distance to a War Machine and hopping in is a waste of time. And I really don't see how it improves the SW feel.

 

 

Officers+Morale

 

Once again. This game is not all about improving the SW feel. That might be an added bonus, but not at the expense of gameplay.

I really can't see how this does actually improve the SW feel. I'm probably making myself look stupid, but this is more of an intangible thing. Perhaps there could just be some officer units that improve damage or something like that? Or different heroes in campaigns/scenarios improving different aspects of normal units?

[Admiral Vostok]

Well, you're right about the special abilities. If done well, I'd like to think enough character is added to armies so you have to think differently when fighting each one. At the moment you build the same defences and counter-units to fight Naboo, Republic, and Rebels. You build a different set of defences and counter units against Empire, Confederacy, Trade Federation and Gungans, but the defences for those four are also the same. I want a lot more variation between civs - that is character - and I guess everyone else wants that too, so maybe the special abilities are a bit pointless.

 

But I'd still like pilots and officers. Let me explain some of my gameplay ideas concerning pilots.

 

Now several other RTS games have toyed with "experience" for their units. I think it would be nice for pilots to get experience, so that if their War Machine is destroyed they can take their skills, climb into a new War Machine, and you're better off than just buying a whole new crew/machine combined.

 

Another advantage is that you can easily rebuild an army after you've just been massacred. If you've got excess resources, you can build heaps and heaps of War Machines. This is because War Machines wouldn't count towards population. So you could have a whole new lot of War Machines building (and War Machines take a long time to build) and won't have to worry about a pop limit. Once you need reinforcements, all you need to do is build some pilots (which don't take long to build) or return your veterans to base, and you've got another army ready to throw at your foe. You could also have a feature to turn on that makes newly trained pilots run into the nearest unmanned War Machine, so you have virtually no microing.

 

Another advantage is the character it can give armies. At the moment the Trade Federation doesn't need prefabs, because the majority of their force are droids. The Confederacy has less droid units, but still quite a number, and they are required to build prefabs. I think it would be better if everyone needed to build buildings that provide population, but the Trade Fed and Confed have some civ bonuses that represent their droid armies. The Trade Federation's Air War Machines don't need pilots, as we see in the movies that they have droid brains hardwired in. But the Trade Fed's Ground War Machines do need pilots, which we've also seen. The Confederacy's Ground War Machines won't need pilots, but their Air War Machines will, again just like in the movies. Those War Machines not requiring pilots would cost population however, so you couldn't build a reserve army, and the Machines themselves would gain the experience, but can't transfer it to a new Machine. So this makes droid armies quicker and cheaper to produce because you don't need some pilots. This is very characterful in my opinion, and very true to the movies.

 

And Officers, well I'm of two minds about morale, but they are so prominent in the movies I feel they are needed (even if we don't have morale). New idea - what if by garrisoning Officers in buildings they increase production? Like populating in Empire Earth a bit. I do stress that Officers should make an appearance based on their significance in the movies.

 

It also makes things neat:

Two main classes (Personnel, War Machines) each with three sub-classes (Troopers, Pilots, Officers for Personnel; Ground, Sea and Air for War Machines).

[CorranSec]

We-ell. Let me think.

 

Pilots

 

I see some of your points, but I'm still reluctant to include such a large change. What would you say to still having pilots, but them only being needed for aircraft, and perhaps only fighter-type aircraft?

Think about it. You didn't see the whole crew climbing out of the collapsed AT-ATs on Hoth, but Luke leapt out of his downed snowspeeder and escaped. It's also viable for the pilots to gain experience for every enemy they slay, and thus improving their craft slightly.

Your special features would then be even more important- now the Trade Fed will be able to mobilise their Droid Starfighters a lot faster than other civs can get their aircraft up and running.

This would also increase the importance of fighter-type aircraft, which are (in my opinion) one of the most prominent types of unit shown in the movies.

It just makes a lot more sense and would be a lot more fun.

 

Officers

 

I like your new idea more, but it still has problems.

It seems a little pointless- every player will just start building officers and garrisoning them in buildings, and the person with the most officers (or money to build them) will be able to churn out units much faster than the other players. Where's the challenge and fun in a mere production race?

[darthfergie]

But I'd still like pilots and officers. Let me explain some of my gameplay ideas concerning pilots.

 

Now several other RTS games have toyed with "experience" for their units. I think it would be nice for pilots to get experience, so that if their War Machine is destroyed they can take their skills, climb into a new War Machine, and you're better off than just buying a whole new crew/machine combined.

 

If this ever happened I'd give them maybe a 10% chance of suvivability...some ships will blow to peices before touchdown and some will crash too soon...especially inside atmosphere. This feature just isn't worth the trouble I'd say. Maybe the pilot is in the Airship and gains XP and higher lvls, but when the ship goes down...so does he.

 

Another advantage is that you can easily rebuild an army after you've just been massacred. If you've got excess resources, you can build heaps and heaps of War Machines. This is because War Machines wouldn't count towards population. So you could have a whole new lot of War Machines building (and War Machines take a long time to build) and won't have to worry about a pop limit. Once you need reinforcements, all you need to do is build some pilots (which don't take long to build) or return your veterans to base, and you've got another army ready to throw at your foe. You could also have a feature to turn on that makes newly trained pilots run into the nearest unmanned War Machine, so you have virtually no microing.

 

ug...and I say again...ug...

That IS microing, making new pilots for every ship you make...you'd need two seperate places to build them from...more buildings, more research, more units, more animations, more more more more! QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. I'd rather not get attacked and say "OH S***! I FORGOT TO MAKE THE PILOTS BECAUSE I WAS MICROMANAGING THE (insert name here)!" and then soon die...while my oponent occupies the ships with his own pilots...

 

Another advantage is the character it can give armies. At the moment the Trade Federation doesn't need prefabs, because the majority of their force are droids. The Confederacy has less droid units, but still quite a number, and they are required to build prefabs.The Confederacy has MORE droid units. They have the combined power of many many great powers including the TF army and the one they built on Geonosis. Advanced droids, newer faster mechs and AA units. An improvement on TF. The TF is obsolete since they have JOINED the confederacy and become a central nerve to it's existance...Yes the Confederacy has to house it's civilians though since they are made up of MORE then just the TF. As for the arguement...it really has no relevance other than i minor correction on a mistake that many have made. -darthfergie I think it would be better if everyone needed to build buildings that provide population, but the Trade Fed and Confed have some civ bonuses that represent their droid armies. The Trade Federation's Air War Machines don't need pilots, as we see in the movies that they have droid brains hardwired in. But the Trade Fed's Ground War Machines do need pilots, which we've also seen. The Confederacy's Ground War Machines won't need pilots, but their Air War Machines will, again just like in the movies. Those War Machines not requiring pilots would cost population however, so you couldn't build a reserve army, and the Machines themselves would gain the experience, but can't transfer it to a new Machine. So this makes droid armies quicker and cheaper to produce because you don't need some pilots. This is very characterful in my opinion, and very true to the movies.

 

Pilots might be a decent idea in that regard...but still too selective...no, droid armies should have mucho faster production times and weaker HP...also droid armies should cost less. (no paychecks for droids and no expensive training)

 

And Officers, well I'm of two minds about morale, but they are so prominent in the movies I feel they are needed (even if we don't have morale). New idea - what if by garrisoning Officers in buildings they increase production? Like populating in Empire Earth a bit. I do stress that Officers should make an appearance based on their significance in the movies.

 

Well my favorite thing with officers is to give them a job with moral...combat bonuses to near troops, but make them susceptable to easy kill...unfortunatly since RTSs have very loose structures and fast paced action it would be nearly useless since officers would be killed within seconds. But garrisoning production is also not a good idea...maybe officers can be much like the generals in C&C Generals or Gods in AoM. You select one before the battle and he/she has certain skills to use. Also of course the ideal General can be made via the customize general tool assigning points and an image to the general of your choice (sorry just a bit too detailed...but it sounds kewl...because you ALL know you wanted Thrawn...with that kind of feature you can make him [sarcasm]because I seriously doubt with sticking to "cannon" they can do that.[/sarcasm])

 

It also makes things neat:

Two main classes (Personnel, War Machines) each with three sub-classes (Troopers, Pilots, Officers for Personnel; Ground, Sea and Air for War Machines).

 

Pilots= nono

Officers/Generals= maybe yes

WarMachines going unpiloted= definate nono