Call for trailer material

[keith.lamothe]

I mentioned this in the last release thread:

- We want to do a new trailer for the whole game. If you have any saves that show the game being awesome (whether that's the AI being clever, the explosions being massive, or whatever; up to you) please send them our way with instructions on where/how to see the awesomeness

But understandably there were other topics pursued there.  So I wanted to ask again separately as it really helps Kevin to have some real gamestates to work with.  I can dig up saves I've worked with in the past or make new ones, but I think "current" ones made by people who put more time into playing the game than I do would be a better reflection overall.

Thanks!

[Draco18s]

I saw it, I just couldn't think of anything I had going on that was all that interesting.

If you'd like, I could send over a savegame with nomads and fallen spire turned on.  'sbout all I got.

[keith.lamothe]

If you'd like, I could send over a savegame with nomads and fallen spire turned on.  'sbout all I got.

If you were trying to interest someone in the game, is there something in that save you'd show them?  Mainly in terms of something happening that only requires a short explanation (to grasp the basics), rather than mostly static shots with lots of explanation.

[Draco18s]

Like I said, I can't think of ANY save I have where something exciting is actively going on.  But the spire exos do show up and really pound one system.

[Kahuna]

Ok people who play with ultra high caps, 50 homeworlds, golems, spirecraft and 27 champions! Time to post your .sav files for a new trailer once again!

Because doing a surgical strike with Assault Transports and cloaked Warheads on an AI Homeworld doesn't look cool.

[keith.lamothe]

Because doing a surgical strike with Assault Transports and cloaked Warheads on an AI Homeworld doesn't look cool.

Actually I'm far more interested in stuff like that than "how many explosions can I cram onto one screen?", though I'll take the latter if that's what the submitting player finds most interesting at the time.

Some brief description to go along with the action is fine, and I think is helpful if it helps point out what sets AIW apart.

One potential "theme" for the trailer that comes to mind is a series of clips from a war journal or whatever.  Like:

(Intro with text fading in, black background)
We fought each other.
We built the AI to fight for us.
The AI fought, yes, but against us.
The AI Won.

(Shot of zooming in on home command station) 0:00:00   We barely escaped.  We may be the only survivors.
(Shot of human attack on adjacent planet) 0:02:11   The AI was distracted.  We struck back.
(Shot of one of the first few waves attacking the humans) 0:09:28   We survived the response.  We grew bolder.

I don't have time to flesh it out very much right now, but following that up with:

- a few time-lapse shots of the galaxy map as human territory grows

- an assault on a fairly beefy ARS planet, with a quick text-line and shot for each "layer" of defense the player had to deal with.  Smashing the Ions/Mass-Drivers, sending the right ships after each guard post, unable to bring in the whole fleet due to the eye, temporarily retreating in the face of the special forces arriving, then the actual capture.

- a defense against a cpa and/or multipart exo, with a few quick text-lines highlighting what's going on; some on the galaxy map showing the different directions the AI is coming from.  It'd be cool if the AI overran some planets before being stopped.

- more time-lapse galaxy map territory growth

- a hack on an Advanced Factory, again with a quick-text-line and shot for each interesting part of the planet being dismantled, and warheading the special forces when they show up

- possibly another big AI attack

- more time-lapse galaxy map territory growth

- an AI HW assault, highlighting the clever/brutal stuff on either side


We'd probably have to prune out some things to make it fit in a reasonable length, but the shot changes would be fairly quick so quite a few could fit in. 

Anyway, something like sounds like it could work, but it's not the only way it could be done.

[keith.lamothe]

Oh, and on the end of that example I'd probably have a sequence with the second AI HW being destroyed by a nomad planet, to plug the expansion


Edit: Or possibly nomad-smash the first AI HW, and then show the AI stampeding the player.  Since ending the trailer in you-lose is far more appropriate to the game

[Draco18s]

Oh, and on the end of that example I'd probably have a sequence with the second AI HW being destroyed by a nomad planet, to plug the expansion

I haven't found time to dig out a particular save from the giant list of autosaves I have, but I do have a nomad (nomad 1, actually) on its way to one of the AI homeworlds.  Judicious use of ilostat (sp?) should give it the military boost it needs to defend the beacon (I found that the amount of time it takes and the forces present, I am unable to do it legitimately, especially with the planet cut off from my home system).

[Draco18s]

Alright here we go.

Attached save is only a few minutes out from a pretty strong wave against Nomad 1 (far right of the map, right near the AI homeworld).  A couple minutes after that, the wormholes change to link up with said homeworld.  Beacon is fully repaired, all you need to do is supply the power (and hold off the AI).

The wave that's only a few minutes out ruined face several times,  which is why I was able to locate that save quickly: I have a save right after it called "post-wave" where it ruined face, but left me in a position that I could maintain control over Nomad 1.

About 1 hour out is a Spire Exo (as evidenced by the fact that two saves later loads into a 96% ready notification).  Defenses should be pretty solidly able to take care of normal waves, if you just want to fast-forward to the spire wave, or I can supply the 96% save.

Attached auto-save half-hour prior to the above instead: spire exo at 92% and gives you a little more time to prep Nomad 1 for a collision course with Bangarna.

Exo tends to pass through Ribme, left side.  There's a spire city there and it tends to get decimated all the way back to 1 hab module, so that would look pretty epic on camera.