First Expansion, Betrayed Hope - Summer 2014

[LastDay]

I'm excited!
New quests? Outpost types? Weapons? Ships?

These are the things I'm realistically expecting!
Don't wanna hype and expect too much.


Although I will say that I'm hoping to one day see either an expansion or a fan mod that allows you to resurrect the Hydral race, either from some old gene banks floating around or just Hydral pirates hiding in a moon somewhere... Smuggle them as resistance fighters.
It'd be funny to flip things around and resurrect the one race everyone hates, then help the Hydrals wipe everyone out.
Alternative "victory"...


But yeah realistically what I expect is just more of what's already in the game.
There's so much that could be added to it in terms of missions, etc.

[x4000]

But yeah realistically what I expect is just more of what's already in the game.
There's so much that could be added to it in terms of missions, etc.

Mostly I'm actually trying to avoid that sort of thing, honestly.  I think it's fairly obvious to say there will be new ships, weapons, and abilities -- it's no grand surprise for me to say that, or that there will be new music.  There will be new quests, but probably not a huge number of them (most of the ones I plan to add during this time will go to the base game).

The really "big things" that are being added are not on the list of what you had there, and aren't likely to be on anyone's list.  We call them "anchor features" for expansions, and each expansion always has at least one these days.  For Nihon no Mura, for instance, one was the Japanese faction, and the other were the Hamlets.  For TZR it was golems.  For CoN it was minor factions.

This expansion has three anchor features.  I will leave you with three words: Betrayal.  Invasion.  Obscura.

And that's all you get from me for now.

[LastDay]

Well I'm just going by what I've seen expansions add in other games in the past!
Such as Starcraft getting new units and maps!
So likewise I don't really expect much else than more of what the game already has, weapons, quests/mission, ships... because that's what I've seen expansions in other games add.
(Or actually I think quests and missions are the same thing... Not sure why I've listed both!)

So even though my biggest wish for the game is what I said about the Hydrals I don't expect anyone to actually spend the amount of work that would take and I fully expect it to remain a daydream.


I've never actually played any of your other games, so I don't really know what your other games and expansions have been like.
Nice to get a better idea, though. surprising amount of community interaction. I appreciate it!


Sounds like we are getting something different than what I'm used to...
I have faith it will be interesting!

[x4000]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.   The Civilization V expansions are probably the most comparable to the AI War expansions that I can think of in terms of actually adding whole new game systems.

[Misery]

Hmm....

Betrayal, invasion, and..... obscura?  What the heck does that even mean?   I can think of "camera obscura" but considering what that is I cant imagine an expansion feature based on that.   Unless it means the camera with the same name in Fatal Frame, which could mean.... oh heck if I know.   Ghosts?  Why not?   That could be hilarious.

Well, I'm lost.

[x4000]

That one is a proper noun.

[LastDay]

Hmm....

Betrayal, invasion, and..... obscura?  What the heck does that even mean?   I can think of "camera obscura" but considering what that is I cant imagine an expansion feature based on that.   Unless it means the camera with the same name in Fatal Frame, which could mean.... oh heck if I know.   Ghosts?  Why not?   That could be hilarious.

Well, I'm lost.

Obscura is actually Latin and means something like "dark", "dark room", "dark one".
Something about dark or unkown things, really.

Camera Obscura is actually one of the earliest forms of camera, basically just a dark box thing that projects an image of the surroundings on a screen.
I don't claim to know too much about them.

I know what you are referring to with the same name, though! ... *shudder*
Oh crap!
They'll lock us in a dark tunnel full of ghosts of dead Thoraxians! ...Do hiveminds have ghosts?
...I think that the summer heat has made my brain melt a little...

Anyway, obscura could mean anything from a dark room with shady political dealings to the dark one (Cthulhu ftagn!) raising out of nowhere.
Quite an... obscure word.

Betrayal just makes me think of the Betrayed "faction" when you annoy your Federation guys too much and Invasion makes me think of attacking an another planet.

Maybe the expansion is about some sort of shady dealings.
I enjoy speculation, especially when I get it horribly wrong.

[x4000]

Fun facts to guide the speculation:
1. I took six years of Latin in school.
2. Etymology in general is important to me.

[chemical_art]

As far as invasion went, I heard amongst the rumor mill that ground combat will be expanded greatly. Perhaps even a sub mode like space combat.

[madcow]

I think I've figured it out. One of your own hydra heads is in fact an evil (dare I say DARK) Evuck in disguise. Betrayal is ineviditable before the impending invasion.

[x4000]

As far as invasion went, I heard amongst the rumor mill that ground combat will be expanded greatly. Perhaps even a sub mode like space combat.

I can definitely confirm that's not in this particular expansion, but it's something that I do want to explore in the future.  Right now I think that expanding that would be distracting from things that would better benefit from the attention, whereas later it would be a welcome extension.

[chemical_art]

Ok then regarding ground combat. As far as obscura I don't know, but the concept of information warfare to confuse enemy races, while unlikely, sounds fun

[Warpstorm]

...maybe an extension to the Black Market...maybe they become an actual team to be dealt with.

[chemical_art]

Glancing at the etymology that Chris mentioned, I see a pattern of not only hiding but also of covering...


Space terrian in the form of nebula clouds, etc, that hide units in combat from units outside?

[topper]

That one is a proper noun.

I'm nearly 100% sure Obscura is the name of a new race for the expansion.