Machina

Reply to Star Control: September 2015 update in Star Control LittleTinyFrogs Forums

Without access to the lore and races from the original games, why not just make a new IP? Without that, what's really going to make this Star Control 4 instead of, say, Starflight 3? It sounds like the game you're making is as much Star Control as Ashes of the Singularity is Supreme Commander or Total Annihilation. I think you'd be better off just making a new IP for it like was done with Ashes - it doesn't seem like there's any good reason outside of marketing to call it

Reply to Ashes of the Singularity: Don’t fight a battle, win the war in Ashes of the Singularity News AshesoftheSingularity Forums

Forged Alliance was the greatest RTS ever made. If this is following in its footsteps, I will be extremely happy. I was always disappointed that there was never a SupCom 2. THERE WAS NEVER A SUPCOM2 .

Reply to 1.1 Beta Impressions - After 5-6 Hours in War of Magic Elemental Forums

I'll add my impressions after 3 complete games instead of starting a new thread: First off, this is a huge improvement over release. The game is a lot better now, and I'm starting to actually have some fun playing it. Keep up the good work. One of the things I like is how my sovereign and adventures feel a lot more formidable in combat. Unfortunately, and I think this is more to do with the AI than mechanics, they feel a bit too powerful. They're all one-man armies, and I can

Reply to Taking Tactical Battles back to square one in War of Magic Elemental Forums

I was just about to make pretty much the same post (@OP), but since you beat me too it, I don't have to bother. I agree with most of the things you're saying though. Not getting rid of parties, though. One thing that you didn't mention that I think could make a big positive impact is in movement. Right now, the game seems to be based around a movement of 1 or 2. This should be at least doubled. Standard movement should be 5 squares, with cavalry getting 8-10 and things like catap

Reply to Farewell Goodie Huts in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

Charge: (passive) if the unit has moved at least 2 squares this round of combat, attack is multiplied by 1.5 Shield wall: Unit cannot attack this turn, but gets 2x defense Berserk Rage: Half defense added to attack, defense set to 0. Spear wall: Unit cannot move, but attack multiplied by 1.5 versus mounted units Basically, I'd like to see abilities available for mundane units. I'd imagine them being added through equipment. Polearms give spear wa

Reply to Distant Worlds; 4Ex Space Strategy; What do you think? in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

I've played it a bit more now, and think I have a good handle on how all the mechanics work. There's a lot happening in this game. Some quick early impressions for those still deciding: Overall, I think it's a pretty good game, but I do have some complaints. The UI is alright but not great. There is a lot of information that would be really useful that stays hidden to the player, or is hard to get at. It can also sometimes be hard to make things do what you want; stalled const

Reply to Distant Worlds; 4Ex Space Strategy; What do you think? in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

It's a 4X game that happens in real time. It's more in the Grand Strategy genre than the RTS genre. You can pause at any point (mapped to spacebar) to issue orders or look at things, and slow things down or speed things up to your own pace.

Reply to Distant Worlds; 4Ex Space Strategy; What do you think? in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

I'm not sure I know what's going on in this game yet, but I think I like it. Also, it keeps crashing in weird ways. Hopefully that'll be fixed up soon.

Reply to Elemental Player Input: Unit names and quotes in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

I tried to come up with a few, but everything came out kinda evil sounding. What does this say about me? "In service of the Sovereign, all means are justified." "While the Sovereign gives life, we give death. Both are necessary for the survival of the empire." "Death follows in our wake." "Let all the enemies of the empire know our name, and tremble at its mention." "Our weapons, our armor, and our very lives are on loan from the Sovereign. We will

Reply to Mass Effect 2 and DRM in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

[quote who="Raven X" reply="5" id="2555747"] I'd say it's pretty much common knowledge now that game sites like GameSpot get financial kickbacks to make some games sound better then they are to increase sales.[/quote] I don't think that's really fair. I doubt they're really recieving any direct financial incentives to increase review scores, but I do think they have some fear of the wrath the fanboys will bring if they are too harsh. Since game companies usually provide their ad

Reply to Sup Com 2 - No thank you in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

I think the OP is being a bit too harsh on the game, but as a fan of SupCom 1 & FA, I agree with the general gist of it, and more with what Hawawaa said. It's not really a bad game, it's just that I've played it many times before under dozens of different names. I just hope that one day we'll see a real sequel to SupCom/FA, which I still consider to be the best RTS made.

Reply to Distant Worlds; 4Ex Space Strategy; What do you think? in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

[quote who="Martok" reply="10" id="2556261"] Um....did we play the same game? I found Armada to have one of the better AI's I've seen in a TBS 4x title, rivalling even GalCiv2's. Not that I don't have any criticisms of the game (because I have several, actually), but the AI ain't one of them. [/quote] I'll pick it up again sometime soon and give it another shot, but after I figured out how to play and what the hell was going on, I couldn't stop steamro

Reply to Distant Worlds; 4Ex Space Strategy; What do you think? in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

I'm going to get this because I'm so desperate for any 4X, but I'm skeptical about how worthwhile it'll be. Armada 2526 was a let down (mostly due to poor AI for me). Here's hoping, though.

Reply to Impulse gets Total Annihilation! in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

You not only got the rights to distribute TA, but you're going to improve it? You guys are awesome. I actually kept this game installed and played it occasionally up until around SupCom (SupCom 1, which also sadly never got a sequel). I'm more than happy to pay again to support this.

Reply to Raven Reviews: Supreme Commander 2 in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

[quote who="Raven X" reply="3" id="2555834"] I don't see why anyone wouldn't think Sup Com 2 isn't an ok game. It doesn't look quite as good as the original but it still plays great and on a epic scale. Speaking of TA though, that was probably the second RTS game I ever bought after the original "Age of Empires". TA was and still is a great game, though seriously lagging behind in the graphics department compared to today's standards. [/quote] My complaint from only having s

Reply to Any news on Supreme commander 2? in Everything Else Elemental Forums

Report back when you get the full game, then. I won't be buying it unless I start hearing very good things about the full release. I could live with the worse graphics. I could tolerate the terrible writing and acting. I'd be willing to trust that the bugs would be fixed. But the gameplay is so generic; it's too similar to all the other RTS games over the years. There's nothing there for me now.

Reply to Any news on Supreme commander 2? in Everything Else Stardock Forums

Demo's out. I'm pretty disappointed.

Reply to The Elemental Box in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

Remember that this box art isn't really for the people in this forum. Face it, we'd buy the game no matter what was on the box. Most of us have already paid for it, even. This should really be about appealing to the common consumer, and getting their interest up enough to at least pick up the box and look at the back. Although I appreciate the art direction myself, I'm not sure how it'll play on the shelves. I think it could come off as kinda boring. There seem to be two routes you can go on

Reply to Armada 2526: New 4X space strategy game in November 2009. in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

I bought this game. It's an alright game, but it's really not worth $40. The learning curve is mostly about learning how to wrestle with the UI to get it to do what you want, but after you get that down there doesn't seem to be that much left to it. My biggest complaint right now is that I hit the difficulty ceiling way too early. With most 4X games, how long I can play them is closely related to how long they can challenge me. I only got all the way through two games in this one

Reply to "V" 2009 in Everything Else Elemental Forums

[quote who="Scoutdog" reply="55" id="2463744"] Am I completely blind to be missing all the subtext? I haven't really noticed any of the 'pokes at Democrats or Obama'. The whole thing is really just a variation on the theme of Brave New World, with the aliens trying to control us by giving us what we want. If you're saying it's an allegory for Obama, it seems equally suitable as an allegory for any given politician.It's pretty subtle, so much so that I'm not even sure if it's even there a

Reply to "V" 2009 in Everything Else Elemental Forums

[quote who="Bellack" reply="51" id="2463488"] At least it is not having the leftist bent to the show like so many others on TV these days. I like how it makes subtle pokes at the Democrats and the Obama Administration. I can so see Obama, as a V and the manipulation of the media by the V’s are so similar to what’s going on now in America and no I’m not a Republican (they are almost as bad as the Demosocilist (hey now that is a good name for them and accurately describes

Reply to Elemental: Pen & Paper in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

I'm pretty late to the party, but if more people are needed, I'd be interested. It's something I can even do during downtime at work, which is starting to come fairly frequently.

Reply to More lighting stuff in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

The ground looks best in soft 75, but all the more complicated models look better with 'No HDR'. Take a look at the city to the right - with the soft lighting pictures, the city appears fuzzy and details are lost. With the No HDR picture it's sharp and crisp. Personally, I'd rather have the objects I'm going to be paying attention to looking nice rather than have a better overall picture when I'm not playing the game, so for that reason my vote is going to the 'No HDR' picture.

Reply to Space Empires as Inspiration in WOM Ideas Elemental Forums

[quote who="BrotherAlpha" reply="4" id="2348159"]Sadly, no. It's been too long since I've played the game. Lost all my modding stuff in a recent crash and haven't found my backups. [/quote] From what I recall, almost all the data for SE4 was stored in plain-text files. I modded the game a good bit myself to suit my tastes, and it all seemed pretty self-explanatory at the time. I don't think I ever bothered going looking for guides. Mat - depending on what you're trying to do, you

Reply to Analyzation of New Pic in War of Magic Elemental Forums

I thought he'd meant that it's the leadership of the unit, and not the common manpower, that gets the experience. Every unit has to have someone in charge, right? He's the guy who has the experience. Extrapolating from that, that means that with the earlier question of what happens when you combine a 10 man squad with 900 experience and a 100 man squad with 100 experience, the result would be a 110 man squad with either 900 or 100 experience, depending on which way they decide to go w