i understand where everyone who wants true 3D is coming from, i was slightly dissapointed myself. right now it's like the rogue squadron games, where you could move your fighter "upside down" but clearly there was an up and a down, and limits to space in the Z direction - your fighter would "right" itself whenever you rolled or turned, you'd be forced back down if you went too high, all the ships started on the same plane, etc. This is how soase feels right now, but this is one time where i don't think adding the 3rd dimension is going to change things much, if anything it will make chasing down and finishing off enemies frustrating (if they are hopping around planets and moving super high/low in the Z)

i've already given up on this game being good enough to replace the HW series for me, so with my hopes crushed i'd say don't push the 3rd dimension

I've moved my ships above planets, and I have made them move up and down. I've even seen my ships do it by them selves sometimes to get to the gravity well quicker..

If we could leave/enter a gravity well on any desired Z level, then there would be plenty of 3D movement and tactics. Add to that the ability to construct in the Z axis, and I think that is all it would take for realistic full use of 3D movement to occur.

Yeah, it would of course be nice if planets were on different planes. It would be even nicer if star systems were on different planes. Let's hope that this becomes the case.

well theres your problem.
what the hell did you expect? the two games are nothing alike.

???
what really?
thats awesome. I can place fleets better.

I say for the full 3-D movement in battles to actually have an effect, there would need to be 3-D placement of buildings. As it is now, the attacking ships stay on the base plane to attack the buildings, so the defending ships stay on the base plane to attack the attacking ships.

The 3-D placement of buildings could also add more stradegy (and more room to build!)

They already do that if you get enough of them together.

sentient: um, the hw series is space rts, so is this, they are very similar in concept, afay this just isn't on par with hw tactically, this could change when they add more stuff, i have to keep reminding myself they didn't plan on the beta-1 to be "fun"

This may be in poor taste, but it is my sincere hope that Sins attains the level of tactical freedom that the HW series had. As I see it, its basically HW, with empire building and a different universe/story.

If Sins is another HW with planets, economy and orbital structures, I'll be satisfied with my pre-order. If, on the other had, they go on to add another dimension of game play by exploiting the differences between Sins and HW, than, well... thats just icing.

I personally dont care if galaxy map itself is "flat", but inside the planet gravity well it would be nice to have full 3d movement, and structure placement within the grav wells radius. Free up the structure placement so you can use the z axis to place buildings, and defenses, and it will make a world of difference right there. I think most of the people here can agree on that.

yarlan:
ya, that's basically what i've concluded from the participation in homeworld cataclysm, it's got a huge skill curve (takes about a year of hardcore training to even get close to the best guys) and huge tactical depth, it's strategy is also great though you're right it focuses on small combat tactics

hardly anyone played what i consider the greatest strategy game of all time after the second year, i think it was because it took too much brain effort to enjoy it fully and most n00bs got creamed their first 100 games so it wasn't inviting to new peeps, the majority of sales go to people who just want to relax in front of their computer with a nice, visually attractive, mind-numbing game

Sounds like a fertile area for optional play, actually -

Depending on the development difficulties, particularly in the programming to deal with the 3rd dimension (general automated movement, AI, etc.), I could see where it MIGHT have to be an expansion (but I hope not).

In any case, development spent in this area could also be considered R&D for future titles....