(From Chris): A break from our regular programming for International Incidents.

[nas1m]

@jerith: Thanks for the screens, that's useful.  I've passed those and your notes on to Blue.  We need to get one version of the interface finished before we even consider branching it, but this will at least be in the back of her mind and we'll try to make time for it.  I agree it could be way cool if we have time to pull it off.

The important thing to note is that the content, layout, etc. are identical (minor differences in the CK2 screenshots are unrelated and apply to all variants). It's the same interface with a coat of paint -- or hardwood veneer, as the case may be -- applied to it. The very simple case could be just using different colours for the borders, but race-appropriate scrollwork and such would be fantastic. :-)

Shifting things around (like cockpit layouts in flight sims) is a lot more work and much less useful.

Right, for sure.  In other news, I tossed that idea to Blue like I mentioned, and she just pretty much freaked out with huge amounts of excitement.   She is totally all over that idea and just chomping at the bit.  There may be more time earlier in her schedule than I thought, based on her current work list and some of the things that she is currently having to wait on me for before she can move on to other elements.  So that's something that's coming for sure!

Cool stuff .

[crazyroosterman]

hey guys what are you most excited to see in this patch? for me its the international incidents and making the races more distinct also a question for Chris is their anything so far that you think you've got down perfectly(in the current state of this game) and if so what?.

[x4000]

@kasnavada: Thank you so much for that!  I haven't studied it in depth yet, but I have it marked for doing so and it looks very interesting from my first skim.  I do like seeing what other devs have done, because I tend to not do what they did anyway.   But it does help me think outside the box, and sometimes if someone else did something really well, it deserves to be done again in a different context.  I would be delighted for other strategy devs to take some of my ideas an incorporate them into their own designs.  I understand that one game from Stardock is taking some inspiration from AI War, so that's pretty sweet to me.

@crazyroosterman: In terms of things that I think are nailed at the moment?
- Citybuilding in a generalized sense, although balance is not remotely perfect yet.
- Tech tree in a general sense.
- Social stuff in a very general sense.
- I think that the design I have on paper for natural wonders and resources is nailed, but that remains to be seen in practice and is not there yet.
- I think that the combat itself is nailed, but all of the maneuvering leading up to it leaves it lacking.  But international incidents will largely resolve most of that, plus we have some other new things coming that will help with that, too.

In general I'm quite confident on this game at the moment.  I see where the holes are and I feel like I know what to do with them.  Right now it's a matter of having the time to get all that done, and then of course also having the time to get things balanced and polished.  An unbalanced feature that is otherwise nailed will feel very non-nailed indeed!

[crazyroosterman]

okay that's interesting but its not exactly what I meant what I meant is is their anything in this game in your eyes you have literally got down so perfectly that you cant think of a single thing that needs changing or improving with it?.

[Zebeast46]

I guess I am probably most excited for the races becoming more distinct, but honestly I am not sure what international incidents will look like so I cant say I am overly excited for them. I have a question however. How long is the early,mid and late game turn wise. For example is the early game 200 turns, is the mid game last 500 turns and so on.

[crazyroosterman]

well I am one social point from winning thia transcendence and I'm at 443 turns(I think not sure will edit this when I've checked that) though that is as the evuks who don't really get touched by diseases when you get a persifick social perk usually my games will get extended by a couple 100 hundreds of by diseases especially if you have no disease centres.

[kasnavada]

I would be delighted for other strategy devs to take some of my ideas an incorporate them into their own designs.  I understand that one game from Stardock is taking some inspiration from AI War, so that's pretty sweet to me.

One thing, I wish more people would do like you is asymetric AI, especially in 4X games. So many people waste time teaching their AI to play like players... and let's face it, I've not seen much success for games more complex than checkers. And, in the end, they modify their AI to play with huge ressource bonus and / or ignore game rules (like exploration, fleet cap, army upkeep and so on). So basically they try (sometimes very hard) to teach the AI to be symetric... and end up making it asymetric anyway.

Let's skip the first step, and make it fun to play against from the start .


On my free time I'm trying to make a 4X based on Dominions 4's combat system, and yes, I start with that assumption. It fits the style of the game anyway.