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Phoenix Rising Turns One!


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#1 Phoenix Rising

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 12:14 AM

A little over a year ago, I came up with a few basic ideas on how to improve the gameplay of Empire at War by not only making it feel more like the movies, but also simply making it more fun to play. It started rather humbly, with changes being made directly to my personal copy of the game to address things like squadrons not having twelve ships and unrealistic scaling. As my ideas grew to encompass canonical stats, proper gun counts, and the asynchronous tech tree, I realized that this was bigger than just a personal mod. So on August 25, 2006, I decided to come up with a name and logo for this future mod. Phoenix Rising was born.

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One year and seven logo iterations later, Phoenix Rising is nearly ready for its first full release. The past year has seen the launch of the mini-mod, now with over 6000 combined downloads, the addition of or improvement to 64 ships with a staggering 2629 total hardpoints, 40 heroes, and 142 planets. Yes, 142 planets.

I would like to take this opportunity, while reflecting on the birth of the mod, to announce a rebirth, if you will, of something that I had not originally planned on doing last August. Fully unique campaigns will make their debut in version 1.0!

Unlike the vanilla campaigns, these are based on actual military campaigns within the Galactic Civil War, so they generally span a series of books, comics, or games. In fact, I've spent hours looking over source material in order to represent these conflicts as accurately as possible, from planet position to fleet makeup to hero availability. Combined with the planet revamp that I did, this really revolutionizes how you play the game.

The first campaign that I would like to showcase is called the "Thrawn Campaign," after that same conflict. This 61-planet affair between the Galactic Empire and the New Republic, which features hotspots from the Thrawn Trilogy, offers an unprecedented look at the state of the galaxy in 9 ABY. To highlight the level of accuracy that went into this, the Empire starts out with the Dark Force - 178 Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruisers - but you don't need to destroy all of them or conquer every planet in order to achieve victory. Instead, you only need to cripple the other's naval production by taking three key shipyards: Bilbringi, Ord Trasi, and Yaga Minor for the Empire and Coruscant, Kuat, and Sluis Van for the New Republic.

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As you can see, this doesn't exactly look like a regular EaW campaign; planets are not evenly spread out without regard to the model of the galaxy behind them, but arranged into sectors. Where planets used to be connected to their nearest neighbors, they are now largely connected by trade routes in Phoenix Rising, as you see parts of the Corellian Run and Hydian Way in the first screenshot. Control of these trade routes is vitally important to keeping your war machine mobile - in such a large galaxy, you must localize your forces and open multiple fronts - not to mention the income they provide. Additionally, all planetary advantages have been revamped and planets canonically scaled relative to each other (when such information is available).

Stay tuned for more exciting changes!

#2 Decay

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 04:36 AM

One word.

Beautiful

/tear

#3 Guest_RichtVIII_*

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 05:16 AM

WOW :closedeyes:

This mod is absolutely amazing, I have watched many mods for EaW develop, and I am no expert, but your mod is THE best that I have ever seen.

In any case, I love the make up of the new galactic map, and the new tactics involved. Particularly the difficulty in capturing a small cluster of planets/systems, what with them being able to send reinforcements caster. I am wondering though, is there any way to make the unit bubbles around the planets smaller? They seem to get in the way a bit, at least for me.

Beautiful mod, keep up the good work, and can't wait for v1.0! :thumbsupsmiley: :thumbsupsmiley:

#4 Phoenix Rising

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 06:32 AM

I am wondering though, is there any way to make the unit bubbles around the planets smaller? They seem to get in the way a bit, at least for me.

Yeah, I would tend to agree. There may be a way to mess with the UI components. I can look into it, but unless it's blatantly obvious, I'll probably save it for the next release (following 1.0). Then again, it may just be impossible.

Edit: By the way, in case it wasn't clear, the first screenshot is zoomed out to show the entire galaxy, while the second is to-scale.

Edited by Phoenix Rising, 14 September 2007 - 06:51 AM.


#5 Ghostrider

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 08:18 AM

OH MY GOD!

WE ARE NOT WORTHY.

Stunned like a Mynock that's chewed too many power cables.


Gotta go back and read it again. and again. I can't believe the scale of changes in just one year. Histoircal campaings sounds.... Amazing.

PS. Could you clarify 'you must localise your forces and open multiple fronts' I can't quite get my head around the new strategies. In fact, I cant quite get my head around all the changes in one short newsflash!

Please could you elaborate with another screenshot and explanation?

PPS. How in space did you work out the relative positions of each planet? I can't imagine where you worked that one out!

PPPS. Do blocades affect enemy trade route income even if you can't invade the planet?

Edited by Ghostrider, 14 September 2007 - 10:42 AM.


#6 Davis 65

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 11:12 AM

this is the best mod ever and it just keeps getting better i cant wait for the full release so keep up the good work

#7 slornie

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 11:43 AM

Looking awesome Phoenix :thumbsupsmiley:

How many/what campaigns will there be?
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#8 RoguePhoenix

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 01:44 PM

great job PR, really like the idea of the strategic trade routes and sectors brings much more realism intot he mod, giving it a much bigger foundation.

You should see about changing the name of the game now lol its no longer empire at war

#9 Imrix

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 02:54 PM

Oh... My... Goddess.

Phoenix, it occurs to me that if you can do this on your own, I can't even begin to fathom the kind of things you could do in a modding team that was dedicated.

This is freaking amazing. If you were anybody else, I'd wonder if you weren't taking on far too much, but considering your track record this is... Wow.

Sodding English language. We have at least three different words for almost everything when we could get by with one, but we need more words to express amazement and wonder.

#10 Phoenix Rising

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 06:05 PM

PS. Could you clarify 'you must localise your forces and open multiple fronts' I can't quite get my head around the new strategies. In fact, I cant quite get my head around all the changes in one short newsflash!

Well, hyperspace travel now takes a (realistically) long time, especially when you are blazing through uncharted routes between planets. It was stated somewhere that it takes two to three days to go from one end of the galaxy to the other, and, depending on your hyperdrive rating, this is now the case.

So the majority of Thrawn's gains were in only a handful of sectors: Dufilvian and Abrion in the lower right and Dolomar and Fakir just "northwest" of Coruscant. There's also a decent span of planets around Obroa-skai and Sluis Van. Basically, unless you have control over some of the major trade routes, there's no way you can fight in all of these sectors with the same fleet; it just takes too long to move them and you wouldn't be able to respond to threats in time (the AI will attack).

In this campaign, the New Republic has a strong presence around Coruscant/Kuat, Sluis Van, and Dufilvian/Abrion and the Empire around Bilbringi, Yaga Minor/Axxila, and Dufilvian/Abrion. So what generally ends up happening is that the NR will try to connect the Corellian Run and southern Hydian Way and the GE will take galactic north and the little stretches of the Perlemian and northern Hydian Way. Dufilvian/Abrion is hotly contested, followed by the stretch from Bilbringi to Coruscant, which is kind of a standoff due to the shear amount of force there.

PPS. How in space did you work out the relative positions of each planet? I can't imagine where you worked that one out!

If you follow enough obscure references, you can generally narrow one planet down to a sector, or at the very least, a region of the galaxy.

PPPS. Do blocades affect enemy trade route income even if you can't invade the planet?

Hm, good question. They should, but I don't know if EaW works that way. I know I've raided to connect a section of trade route and it doesn't light up until I clear out the space forces, so maybe.

How many/what campaigns will there be?

Right now there are four and they generally take a few weeks each, so I'm not expecting to start any more before the release. But with the amount of depth put into each one (no two pirate forces are identical), I think that's pretty good to start with. And obviously the following release won't have to take 6+ months.

Phoenix, it occurs to me that if you can do this on your own, I can't even begin to fathom the kind of things you could do in a modding team that was dedicated.

Well, I could certainly use some experienced mappers now. And I wouldn't be averse to taking on a dedicated modeler and skinner. But things like DAT and XML editing I don't need help with.

If you're not technically inclined, just spreading the word is one way to make a difference.

Sodding English language. We have at least three different words for almost everything when we could get by with one, but we need more words to express amazement and wonder.

Crikey? LOL.

Edited by Phoenix Rising, 14 September 2007 - 06:06 PM.


#11 Guest_that_guy_*

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 08:19 PM

Absolutly amazing!!!!!! xD

hope this helps at least a tiny bit

http://starwarsatlas.uw.hu/

#12 Phoenix Rising

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Posted 14 September 2007 - 09:53 PM

Yeah, I've been using that actually.

#13 Guest_Guest_*

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Posted 15 September 2007 - 02:56 AM

Additionally, all planetary advantages have been revamped and planets canonically scaled relative to each other (when such information is available).


Ok, first off lots of questions for me! Will these planet advantages be shown on the planet advantage page while the regular old advantages that aren't being used anymore be taken off so we can understand better all of the planetary advantages per a planet? Because Kuat said it reduced build time of ISDs in the name file and then said it reduced cost in the explanation, I don't know if it was only reduced cost or both of them,can you please explain all of the planetary advantages(if there are multiple ones, knowing you most of the planets will probably have multiple planetary advantages) for each planet on the planet info page. Also, will the old campigns be unavailble so it will be easier for us to only search through the realistic ones, especialy when there are more of them? Also, will you have a campign with all 142 planets???

This mod is getting better and better, when it's done I suggest you send your mod to Lucasarts along with your application :p!

#14 Phoenix Rising

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Posted 15 September 2007 - 04:04 AM

Will these planet advantages be shown on the planet advantage page while the regular old advantages that aren't being used anymore be taken off so we can understand better all of the planetary advantages per a planet?

That's already done. But as far as the paragraph description goes, don't look into it too technically.

can you please explain all of the planetary advantages(if there are multiple ones, knowing you most of the planets will probably have multiple planetary advantages) for each planet on the planet info page.

There's way too many right now to write them all out, but they're in-game in at least three different locations (icon tooltip, planetary info, and tactical load screen), so it won't be ambiguous.

Also, will the old campigns be unavailble so it will be easier for us to only search through the realistic ones, especialy when there are more of them?

Yeah, the planet position revamp kind of killed those off.

Also, will you have a campign with all 142 planets???

Yup, but I have to make this clear: don't attempt it unless you have a good computer.

This mod is getting better and better, when it's done I suggest you send your mod to Lucasarts along with your application :p!

Heh, I'll at least send it in to LucasFiles.

#15 Admiral_Antilles

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Posted 15 September 2007 - 06:57 AM

NO< DONT JOIN LA, Join Petroglyph XD

Anyways

Happy Birthday PR, heres a little Present for ya PR

just had some time sooo

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http://i115.photobuc...Antilles/PR.png


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#16 Phoenix Rising

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Posted 15 September 2007 - 07:23 AM

Heh, nice :crazed:. Bonus points if you can name that yet-unannounced ship :p.

#17 Ghostrider

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Posted 15 September 2007 - 07:53 AM

Yup, but I have to make this clear: don't attempt it unless you have a good computer.


How do you define 'good computer'?

#18 Pred the Penguin

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Posted 15 September 2007 - 12:47 PM

It's like a dream come true....

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My Work:[1],[2]


#19 Admiral_Antilles

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Posted 15 September 2007 - 03:58 PM

Everyone Calls it the Dominator Class Interdictor, but its actually just a Interdictor STAR DESTROYER, instead of a Interdictor CRUISER.

Atleast thats what it looks like to me.

Edited by Admiral_Antilles, 15 September 2007 - 03:58 PM.

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#20 Phoenix Rising

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Posted 15 September 2007 - 08:08 PM

How do you define 'good computer'?

Probably around 3.0 GHz to run smoothly, maybe not that much; it's not like I've benchmarked it, so I can't really say. I'm just pretty sure it's the processor that's lacking.

Everyone Calls it the Dominator Class Interdictor, but its actually just a Interdictor STAR DESTROYER, instead of a Interdictor CRUISER.

Good call, minus the gravity wells. Here's the template I used:

Dominator
EX-F
Mon Mothma
???



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