The Next Generation

posted on December 14th, 2011, 6:12 am

In 325 there is size (large,medium,small), type of weaponry (pulse,torpedo,beam, and faction specific weaponry like Adapted Torpedoes, Projectile Weapons, etc), class (destroyer, cruiser, battleship, special, support, station, scout, freighter, constructor etc). The weapons effects are now seen on tooltips, and the size and class are condensed into the profiles to provide quick and easy reference points .

posted on December 14th, 2011, 6:27 am

pulse weapons and torpedo weapons still dont deal uniform damage. the modifications are just now done based on profiles instead of size. that's also good for gameplay, as it allows to bring us more diversity as we are no longer bound to the physical size of a ship. It's difficult, for example, to come up with an explanation of a small Borg ship.

At the end of the day, vessels even have more depth now, as there are better options to set them appart from each other. At the moment we don't immediately plan to add something like move and attack. That's one good use of defensive ships, for example. while your fleet is on the move, they will kind of buffer damage before your fragile ships are hit, but in order to designate targets you have to fight face to face, like in ds9

[kainalu]

posted on December 14th, 2011, 7:35 am

Last edited by kainalu on December 14th, 2011, 7:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thank you for this enlightening article, Optec, and the FO team. This is my absolute favorite game, and I love it that it is always changing and reinventing new things. This game really changes and evolves every year or so in such a dramatic way, it must be a labor of love. I can't believe this game has taken the engine and concept of Armada so far. As of last month, Armada 2 is now 10 years old. The graphics and gameplay show a depth comparable to games made in the last couple of years.

I look forward to the release... itll probably be my favorite thing I get for Christmas. Fingers crossed for a Dec25 release date   :thumbsup:

the original game ran on Windows95 on a PII @ 300MHz w/ 64mb ram!!!

posted on December 14th, 2011, 9:39 am

As requested, here are some early dev tooltips. If you hover a unit, its profile is displayed along with the attributes for quick reference. We will probably also add markings for the important profiles on the construction buttons, so you can easily see what ships you have available for construction.


If you hover the ship in the subsystem display, you will get a detailed analysis, including the native properties a profile provides


Please bear in mind that these are early development screenshots and the actual layout may change Yet a strong aim of all these redos is to make the game more accessible, by summarizing important game mechanics for quick reference.

posted on December 14th, 2011, 9:58 am

This is gonna upend the entire metagame, and in the best way possible. Looks like we'll be seeing lots of fast torpedo-equipped vessels, grouped separately to hammer through enemy tanks and then get the hell out of dodge.

posted on December 14th, 2011, 10:07 am

As requested, here are some early dev tooltips. If you hover a unit, its profile is displayed along with the attributes for quick reference. We will probably also add markings for the important profiles on the construction buttons, so you can easily see what ships you have available for construction.


If you hover the ship in the subsystem display, you will get a detailed analysis, including the native properties a profile provides


Please bear in mind that these are early development screenshots and the actual layout may change Yet a strong aim of all these redos is to make the game more accessible, by summarizing important game mechanics for quick reference.

Unranked monsoon with 25 def wtf?

[godsvoice]

posted on December 14th, 2011, 10:20 am

Last edited by godsvoice on December 14th, 2011, 10:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

oh yeah, kinda forgot about information from subsystem displays.

but the display offers good information.

as for comment on monsoon... dunno. but major redoes right? so more expensive. maybe new models in between sabre and monsoon/intrepid. monsoon is the new akira! akira and excelsior are in eraudi now.

anything's possible.

on a similar note, i.e. commentating on monsoon display... there is no image for the monsoon's weapon. But there is an image for the monsoon's weapon. it's a little torpedo thingy. leads me to think that the monsoon has a new weapon, a weapon that does not have an image...

edit: and thanks for providing pic optec

[Optec]

posted on December 14th, 2011, 10:43 am

Last edited by Optec on December 14th, 2011, 10:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

yea dont get confused by the attribute values ships have been rescaled a bit and many vessels have been shifted into new roles. I noted down to make a dedicated newspost to the techtrees and the new vessel lineup for each faction 

//edit:
Oh and the special ability button is our infamous "no image yet" dev placeholder button

posted on December 14th, 2011, 10:59 am

Sounds like the new system will require a whole new way of thinking and playing!

    *Sigh... If I HAVE to ...  =D    I'm so excited now that I have a new computer!

posted on December 14th, 2011, 11:22 am

It looks ever more interesting the upcoming patch. Thanks for the screenies.

posted on December 14th, 2011, 2:36 pm

yea dont get confused by the attribute values ships have been rescaled a bit and many vessels have been shifted into new roles. I noted down to make a dedicated newspost to the techtrees and the new vessel lineup for each faction 

//edit:
Oh and the special ability button is our infamous "no image yet" dev placeholder button

What the hell? so the monsoon has gone from 18 def to 25? so whats the vet def stats going to be? 48? or is that going even higher?  The monsoon is already a nasty torp soaker wonder what its gonna be like in the future. 

posted on December 14th, 2011, 2:46 pm

yay proximity torp is dead

posted on December 14th, 2011, 3:35 pm

All Defensive Profile units have their defensive capabilities boosted - and all Offensive Profile units have their offensive capabilities boosted - as Optec stated in the first post 

posted on December 14th, 2011, 3:38 pm

If the system has been completely changed, then comparing those values to ones in the current version is a futile gesture. 

Simply meaning that even though they still say Offensive value, the numbers have a completely different meaning than they do now.

posted on December 14th, 2011, 3:58 pm

If the system has been completely changed, then comparing those values to ones in the current version is a futile gesture. 

shhhhh you, monsoon is op already waaaaaaa.

if you need an idea for special weapon give it instant anywhere decomission (gives no resources back).