Expansion

[Zulgaines]

I was just curious if you've thought about what you want to do with the planed expansion.

I see how much content you've been adding in just regular updates and I can't help but wonder what kind you're planing to drop on a large scale update like that.

[x4000]

The expansion will feature new AI Types, new Bonus Ship Types (for selection in the galaxy, etc), and it will also have some overall new things to find in the galaxy itself (Golems will be one cool new thing you can find out in the galaxy and then commandeer for your own use).

There will also probably be some other additions such as Comets and Comet Catchers, and Moons and a few other things that will have some impact on gameplay as well as visuals.  Also, I have some ideas about the players being able to get out to the AI's production facilities outside the galaxy, the ability to go through black holes and into asteroid fields, and a variety of other large-scale game mechanics (player-made wormholes, warpships for players, and various other ideas that will significantly expand the gameplay opportunities).

At the moment there is a lot of content coming out, that's for sure, but the idea is that basically the mechanics will be consistent between all of the expansions and the base games, plus all of the ongoing DLC.  And before too long, after player requests die down a bit, the DLC will be biweekly and will just have a ship or two in there, plus whatever little mechanics updates/requests players have.  The game will continue to grow over the long haul, don't get me wrong, but the pace of changes won't continue quite as it is now for too much longer (unless there's a huge new wave of requests).  I'll also have to be working on the expansion, and other future titles, which are all kind of on hold right now just due to the volume of requests and changes here.

Anyway, we'll still be updating more than the big-name RTS games out there (where else do you get free ships on a biweekly or monthly basis?), but presumably this rate of requests can't keep up forever.  And, in fact, my list is finally really shrinking down this week, thanks to most of the existing requestors seeming fairly sated by what's already out.  I'm sure there will be odd changes pretty much for years, but presumably five or six little changes per week, not 10-15 per day.

We'll see how it goes, I'm basically playing it by ear and responding based on what players ask at the moment.  I want to make sure that the existing game is as good as it possibly can be, but the true huge game-expanding stuff will be reserved for the expansions.  Hopefully that gives you an idea of my plans with this, anyway.

[Quitch]

All additions are cool, but the one thing I'd really love to see is AI allies. I also understand if that's way too much

[Zulgaines]

AI allies would be wonderful since getting a game together can be rough.


Dunno how difficult it would be though, I imagine at this point it may be a hefty undertaking.

Maybe if allied CPU didn't work quiet the same as players do it'd be easier, like how the enemy AI have their own set of rules.

[x4000]

AI allies would be wonderful since getting a game together can be rough.

Dunno how difficult it would be though, I imagine at this point it may be a hefty undertaking.

Yeah, having it work like the players would be a real bear, that would be a whole other AI system and one of the more traditional kinds that is harder to code.

Maybe if allied CPU didn't work quiet the same as players do it'd be easier, like how the enemy AI have their own set of rules.

Could be... doing something like that could definitely let me build off of what is already there.  This might indeed be a cool feature for an expansion, but I also do wonder a bit at what it would really add to the play of the game.  How would this really add new strategic depth for the human players, or provide a very different play experience?  I guess the cool thing about playing with other humans as allies is the fact that you can work together in such concert, but if I was programming emergent AI for this again it would be hard to make it work with you, it would mostly do its own thing.  I've added this to my "maybe" list for the expansions, but I'm curious as to what people think about this in general, what the expected benefits are, before I move that to a to-be-done list.  I'm a bit torn about this one, but it does have some intriguing aspects...

Any other thoughts from either of you guys (or anyone else) on this are much appreciated!

[Zulgaines]

AI tends to be there for human replacement(Most RTS's), or in the case of AI War- the actual point of the game. The game revolves around beating the AI- which plays like a totally different race.

An idea that popped into my head is a third side in the war, the game already hints at alien technology so what if there was a possible third AI in the game representing an alien species of some kind. It would play a different kind of game that effects both the player and the AI, it could be added as a way to introduce a missing factor to the game: Diplomacy.

[x4000]

AI tends to be there for human replacement(Most RTS's), or in the case of AI War- the actual point of the game. The game revolves around beating the AI- which plays like a totally different race.

Yep, having AI that just acts as a human stand-in is not something too exciting to play against, for me, and I'm not as good as programming that.  My AI articles talk about this to some extent, especially the first and third ones.  Having an AI ally would really require that you be able to talk to it and coordinate with it moreso than in other games, I think.  Using preset "voice commands" like have been otherwise suggested, I think this would be possible.  I'd still make it play like a completely different race, I think, but that could be really interesting.  Maybe this would make a good focal point for either the first or second expansion, though -- could really add a whole new dimension to single-player play, which is always a good thing for an expansion to do.

An idea that popped into my head is a third side in the war, the game already hints at alien technology so what if there was a possible third AI in the game representing an alien species of some kind. It would play a different kind of game that effects both the player and the AI, it could be added as a way to introduce a missing factor to the game: Diplomacy.

You know, I like this even better.  The Zinth Starship is indeed alien technology, but not much is explained beyond that.  I had thought about doing more with the alien angle, but ran out of time and art for that.  This could be a pretty cool, huge focal point for one of the expansions (possibly even the first one).  If the Zinth become a factor out there in the galaxy -- and possibly other races too, we'll see -- then interacting with them could be a new really interesting thing.  They would probably always start out as relatively hostile, but some sort of diplomacy subsystem could make them the sort of AI allies we were really talking about above.  So you wouldn't just start the game with an AI ally, but you could make an ally as you go, if you play your cards right.  Having the aliens work really differently, whether they are your allies or your enemies, could be huge... I'm really liking this more the more I think about it.

I wouldn't really say that diplomacy is "missing" per se in the current game, just that it is completely out of scope.  This is a military simulation, like SupCom or AoE3 or other games in that genre.  A few RTS games that I've played have tried diplomacy, but they were really pretty simple.  I enjoyed the diplomatic aspects in CivIV, and I think other 4X-inspired RTS titles like Sins of a Solar Empire have a diplomacy component, but to me those are genre bending a bit (which, incidentally, is always a good thing, I just chose to bend the genre in a different direction other than 4X).  Anyway, so I would see something like this as not "shoring up a weakness" but rather as "expanding the scope towards a new sub-genre," which is perfect for an expansion.

Anyway, bottom line is thanks for the idea, I think this is a really strong one to run with.

[Zulgaines]

Yeah having a third side to interact with could bring in some fun and intresting situations/choices.

Like maybe major Zinth planets have star bases that contain something like an advanced energy core that gives off a lot of power. When destroyed the core would remain in-tact due to a force field.

Now we have a fun little ball in play that can do a couple things. If you attack the energy core and kill it you get a massive explosion, if the AI captures the core and returns it to a home planet they get a progress boost, if the player opts to capture it they can integrate it into a facility to boost production speed or resource rates. The AI could play off the Zinth as a growth source, the human could play off them as an ally, a resource, or a weapon.

Just one idea of how the three sides could interact.

[x4000]

Cool ideas!  Added to my list of things to explore with the expansion.