46 replies to this topic

[R-TEAM]

Hi,

i have just startet playing StarWars-EAW-FC with PR mod and it is amazing.
I play strategic games now over 35 years (yea - i am old ) and this is fun to play.

I play diff games and stumble over EAW last week ( i am not an big StarWars Fan boy - more an StarTreK - but this is more i liked the REAL first 3 episodes, have seen the movies and the "new" 3 are more for "kids" "I" think ...)

So it is the first StarWars game i installed on my PC .... and as i know - good games getting MUCH better with good mods (....mhhh i think nearly all my games i play are modded - way away from vanilla ...) i searching for an good mod for EAW-FC.
(have the gold pack)

I found 2 mods that looks interesting (and one sub-mod)
Phoenix Rising
Republic at War
and FOC Ultimate Galactic Conquest sub-mod

Have fist testet PR and was VERY pleased with the funy and atmospheric gameplay ... an excellent mod.
Then i test RaW .... not bad .... but like the 3 "new" episodes ... to colorful ... and to simply strategy centered ...
FOC Ultimate GC i have only read the descreption and i am unsure if it will work with PR ......

So i think i will stay (for the moment) with PR.
It gives an amazing gameplay for the after clone-wars aera and further ....
I like the research concept and have overall nothing big found i dislike.

Things that i have found better in RaW :
Death events of units (Ships) are not simply explosion effects ..
mmhhh ... thats maybe all ........

So - i have the question - if the FOC-UGC mod compatible with PR - or is big parts from FOC mod already included in PR ?

Regards
R-TEAM

[evilbobthebob]

Thanks for your feedback! There is a reason why we don't have fancy death effects for ships: we have so many, and nobody on our team has the time to go through every ship model we have and make an exploding version. We're aware of the problem, and we are slowly working on new explosions to make it better to look at.

I can't comment on the mod compatibility, but I suspect it will not be compatible, since PR modifies nearly every standard file.

[R-TEAM]

Hi,

Thanks for your answer
Yea - have thinked the same over this 2 things ...
(i make proffesional 3D-GFX with Maya and know, making death effects thats look good for every model simply double the work for every ship modell ..)

A couple of more questions (maybe not all PR related - as i have just startet play EaW-FC and have never played Vanilla ) :

It is not possible to see the way points my ships have ?
I dont see hints/icons/tooltypes who show me the order my ships have ATM (if he have one) - is this default ?
Additional i dont see how much fighter/bombers/watever the ships have left to launch ....? (and can i control this ? )
If i zoom to an planet, i see easyly the builded buildings(anf how much i can left build) on the surface and the units thats on the ground and one space ... but see only 2 stations that are here in orbit .... it is possible to get the info over all stations that are build(and how much left i can build) ?
If i understand this correct, if an trade route is going between planet a and b and i own a + b then i own the trade route .... as i play as empire - core worlds only, and at start i have in upper right of the map an planet that is connected with an independen planet over an thin withe line (a trade route i suspect) - after conquere this world the line is going blue.But in the droid overview over my planets, still no trade route is shown.
(yes - it would be more easy if i remember the names of the planets ... sorry ..)

additional:
It shows guarding is only usefull for non-movable units (space Combat) like stations ..
As i haved many fighters and set a couple of him to guard capital ships ... first it looks good,the fighters fly to the ships in guard position - but after i move my capital ships - the fighters stay on here place and dont move WITH the ships he sould guard ..??
(have not tested guarding in land combat ...)

mhh .. thats all for this time ... i think a couple of my questions will be answerded as "engine limmitation" - but dont know exactly - so thanks for answers.

Regards
R-TEAM

Edited by R-TEAM, 07 July 2012 - 02:16 AM.

[evilbobthebob]

Unfortunately, EaW is quite a backwards game engine since it was built back in 2005/2006 by guys who used to make Command and Conquer before they were bought out by EA. As a result, most of the answers are "no, sorry". But I'll go through anyway.

Assuming you mean health points, no you cannot see a numerical value.

There are no interface elements that show you what order your ships have. The only one is the waypoint system which is in the command button set.

The game doesn't display fighter/bomber numbers and you cannot control their launch. We are hoping to rework ship tooltips enough that we can include them there for the user.

If you want information on the stations you have built, mouse over the planet's credit income when you have it selected and the income breakdown will show you the stations in a list. We don't have a way to show you how many you can build yet, but the maximum on the most important planets is 8.

You understand trade routes correctly. However, in Phoenix Rising we have many grades of trade route, and the smallest ones do not provide trade income, they simply link planets together. That will be much more obvious when we release v1.3 with our overhauled galactic map.

Yeah, telling a fighter to guard a capital ship is difficult since they tend to stop after a while. There are a few bugs like this that are difficult/impossible to fix. When we improve the tactical battle AI that kind of thing might get fixed.

Thanks for your questions, they're really helpful to us

[R-TEAM]

Hi,

yea - was afraid that its an engine limitation ....
btw. nearly all games i use are older games (SupComFA/HomeWorld2/Rome-TotalWar/...) and have all the things I mentioned (show wat the unit is doing,show his waypoint[s],control launch from loaded units ..) so its not an good strategic/tactic control over my units inbuild .... but thats not the fault of the wounderfull mod
(and if i am correct most of the games i list have no numeric shown of HP at default - maybe with mods - but its not sooo important is the bar long enough )

so - i have additional questions

First - the game version ...
have read confused things over the goldpack (need or need not patching of FC ....) and so i better ask here, i have shown on the main menue screen version 1.01.58910 - IS this the last version ? (i am not surprised if the all mentioned version 1.1 for FC the 1.01 version i have ... a common handling)

Now - in the planet info - upper left a green number is shown."I" have understand the manual, this is the number the planet adds to my max unit cap, but in the droid log i see diff numbers which adds every planet to my unit cap ....?

As i have now understand - no real info screen for space stations is available, I fear it is not possible to self arange the place of the stations(like on the ground) or sell stations ...?

On the android log, the tab with planets have an section with "upgrades" - but i dont have seen here anything yet, if this functional ?
(have upgraded a couple of ships/units already ...)

And at last - its look (after a couple of wounderfull amazing ground battles ) the units on ground, espacialy the walkers tend to not stay at here position and walk brainless in bigg troubble and dies ... can i control this ? (diff unit AI behavor like stay here,wander only an small ring around or doing what you will)

Thanks for you answers and help

Regards
R-TEAM

[evilbobthebob]

Yes, that version of FoC is correct. You'd soon know if it was wrong because the mod wouldn't work

That is the unit cap provided by the basic planet only. It does not include your space colony. I think the one in the droid log does.

No, there is no interface for changing the location of space stations. I've hopefully improved that issue by editing the space maps directly. In v1.3, the first station you build should spawn near the space colony, and later stations will spawn further and further away. In v1.2 it's more...luck based.

Upgrades in PR work differently to those in the standard game so they do not display in that part of the log. In fact they won't display at all, but you will know they've worked because you will be able to build the new upgraded unit.

Yeah, unit/battle AI isn't very good. You just have to be patient and keep pressing the Stop command when they start moving off. This is something else we want to fix, though probably not in v1.3.

[R-TEAM]

Hi,

very thanks for your detailed answers - have now no questions more and happy to have an good community behind the game/mod

An suggestion:
The tech tree tab an droid log is very informative ... but the "highlight already reserched units" system is suboptimal ...
If an unit have an withe (or light gray) color it is good shown if it reserched over his darker counterpart, but if the unit is dark then it is hard to see the difference, it is now reserched or not ... maybe possible to set an frame around the picture to show this better ...

Tahnks for the answers

Regards
R-TEAM

[Phoenix Rising]

Thanks for the unbiased feedback. When you work on something this long, you tend to lose sight of what new players find confusing. We'll do what we can to address these issues, but as evilbob said, many are ones we have no other choice than to live with using EaW.

[R-TEAM]

Hi,

yea - i know from other games - modder cant rewrite the engine .... even if he wish

I have again a "newbee" questions ....
As i have read in the good PR manual , the fleet will fly in hyperspace with the speed of the worst hyperdrive ...
But - which is the "worst" ... 0.5/1.0 or 4.0 ??
And have this an effect on range or only on speed ?
And can i see the range on the galactic map or is this more an "training" thing - after X Games i know it

Thanks for the answers

Regards
R-TEAM

[evilbobthebob]

Hyperspace ratings affect only speed. The smaller the number, the better the hyperdrive. Jump range on the galactic map is very roughly indicated by the outer ring when you select a planet. In v1.3 we are removing jumps that do not use a hyperspace route so it will always be clear where your ships can travel from a planet.

[R-TEAM]

Hi,

thanks for your helpfull answers evilbobthebob

If you remove the ability to hyperspace offside from the routes you limit starategic movement and make this part more simple ....
One thing i dont like much
I am not aware of the reason this is changed (would more like to see an speed penalty for hyperspace not the routes as get full off with this posibbility ....) but i will try it if 1.3 relased

anyway - another question .... have now a couple of times getting the audio message "enemy fleet dedectet" (or anything similar ) ... and have then looking at the map to see who this happen ....... but have nothing found ..... after a short time an planet was attacked .....
So is this only an more or less senseless audio message (would me not surprised by the overall not so smart strategic design of the Game ) or can i realy see who the enemy fleet is coming ??

would your mod not bringing me an very strong and authentic StarWar ´s feeling .... i think i have already stopped playing EaW
( i am not surprised it is very unknown on strategic game oriented sites ...)
But with your mod it is even with the painfull limits of the engine an great Fun to play

Regards
R-TEAM

[Kitkun]

The game pops up a message from the droid at the same time telling you which planet the enemy is heading towards.

Edited by Kitkun, 10 July 2012 - 12:03 AM.

[R-TEAM]

Hi,

Thanks Kitkun
Have searched on the Map an "Flying Fleet" like my own or an Alert Ring over the planet that is the target (with countdown to araiving at best ) - but o.k. .. this is informative too ....

Regards
R-TEAM

[Kitkun]

Yeah, you don't see the enemy fleet on the map.

[Phoenix Rising]

The interface rings were true for vanilla, but I had to keep increasing the proximity jump distance as the galaxy got bigger, so they're mostly meaningless in v1.2.

[P.O._210877]

Just a question but, why is there a warning in the first place? I mean I don't think the Rebels would say to the Empire : Hey! you know, you left Carida with minimal defenses, I'm going there to beat the living crap out of you!

[evilbobthebob]

Hyperspace scanners of course!

[R-TEAM]

Hi,

@Phoenix Rising

yea - have seen - it is a larger distance the fleets fly

@kitkun

wow - the message disapear very quickly .... not an surprise i have seen it not before .... but its logged in the android log ..

Regards
R-TEAM

[Phoenix Rising]

Right, a sensor array built to detect Cronau radiation, or maybe some kind of deep-space probe network. In our case, I believe the warnings only show up when heroes are in orbit? I can't find anything that would control it in XML; it's kind of an engine quirk.

[P.O._210877]

Hyperspace scanners of course!

Ship in hyperspace are undetectable as far as I know. The Hyperwave signal interceptor is the closest thing I could find and it's a short distance device; it is designed to warn if something goes to or comes from hyperspace, pretty close to a system, some may find it too close...

Edited by P.O._210877, 12 July 2012 - 06:03 AM.