I'll try to post the questions below within the chat event (if i am present that time), but since they're somehow "complicated", i thought to post them here too...

[1] Will the AI be challenging or will we face the tactics of continuous small rushes with a bulk of forces (which are no threat), or will it play stratigically making moves that might seem "irrelevant" to ours (-with no direct impact in our moves)? In few words, will we have to "generate" AI actions-scripts, or will it be capable of "surprising" us?
(ps: of course a human rival cannot be compared with a pc, but the point is if the campaign will be challenging and long-lasting).

[2] Will the troops be able to take over/disable enemy building and vehicles? If yes, when within a building battle, will there be a symbolic view of what's going on inside (ie. flashing/moving coloured dots for battling troops etc).

[3] Are the buildings/units/ground (terrain) modifiable within the game (without file encoding)? In other words, the buildings are "compact" and indepentant structures with no upgrade option (turrets, subway linking with other buildings etc), the troops/vehicles/spaceships offer no upgrade option (new weapons, experience, stealth etc), the terrain -when logical to be done- unmodifiable with ditches, watered trenches etc?

[4] As far as the walls and "windowed" buildings are concered; will the units be visible from the windows/firing holes when inside a building? Also, will the units behind a wall be protected from lasers etc. that units shorter than the wall's max height fire?
(ps. It is not that realistic to see a troop firing another troop, while a 5m wall in interpolated. Of course, units taller than the wall's max height, should be able to fire the defenders.)

Some of the questions might have been already answered, but i haven't read them anywhere (apart from the fact that spaceships are technologically upgraded).

Regards ;)
Athanasios

Hi

Welcome to the forums! Some interesting questions - especially about the AI. AI tends to be the shortfall for many RTS games, all following the same route all the time. Galactic Battlegrounds was very guilty of this and even the new Age Of Empires 3 has appalling AI.

Having said that, the beauty of an RTS game, is the ability to play online against fellow human opponents, giving you the challenge, however, not everyone will play online. I do hope the AI is tough in the game.

Answering the capturing of units, we've read that you will be able to capture ships and structures - but how this will be achieved and in what state the unit must be in, is unknown. Remember Command & Conquer, you could capture a structure if it was in the 'red' state of its condition, so at a guess, this would apply for structures.

DMUK

Actually DMUK in C&C it changed a bit. In the original (Tiberian Dawn) you could capture a building regardless of its health. In Red Alert, it had to be in the red (ie nearly destroyed). Then in both Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2, they went back to the old system of being able to capture regardless of health.

[1] In my opinion, one of the most important aspects of the game Petro has to take seriously in consideration in the 4-5 coming months before the release, is AI. I have no itention to make "black advertisment" of Age of Empires III (and all the parts of the series) and many other games (bringing AOE for example due to its new release), but the AI falls in the same "genious" tactic of small attacks with a bulk of forces.

In contrary to many RTS, EaW promises long-time campaign. Multiplayer is half the game for every RTS (especial RTS for the smart AI we're talking), but we all know the difficulties found in this aspect: 1) finding someone that won't quit within 10mins -quitters-, 2) finding someone willing to play a whole campaign cooperative -if home LAN is absent-, 3) finding players at the same experience level that won't wipe you out in the first 10 mins, 4) finding players willing to play the time you want (problem with GMT,EST times) etc etc.

So, i think, Petro must make a smart AI which takes actions both juding from players moves and by "itself" (script generated). For example, if ie AI controls Imperials, it could take over planets others than we go for, form blockades, sending out spies etc.

[2] For the building/vehicle capture, personally i haven't played C&V series, but i did play Star Wars:Force Commander -the first RTS with full 3D graphics-. In FC the player was able to take over building, not matter its health; for example, a main base could carry 6 troops (of every type, infiltrator -for rebs-, simple troops, heavy troops etc). Depending on the type of units guarding the inside -and their experience (FC had this also)-, the enemy could send other 6 troops and either take out all defenders, or lose and send others. The players could see the inside units when clicking on the base (sound were also heard "Taking firing" coices, lasers etc), see the health of each side -and so to deside whether to send again forces in the base to wipe out what left-, and generally there was a well-done feature for taking over buildings. Adding the facts that when a medical droidi was in the troops health would refill, the more they defended the harder the base was to take over (due to experience points) and more, the system was excellent at this point.

Also, rebs had infiltrators (commandos) that could take over ATST and ATATs. Of course, sending an infiltrator in an ATAT with 6 troops (that was the max carriage for ATATs) was kind of suicide, but the players couldnt know this.

I would also like to mention another RTS -dont remeber the game right now, it was about World War II- that the player could actually see the inside of building and how the units were fight (the houses were very well designed, tables,windows, carpets, all where visible). The building's roof (or floor, if it was >2 floor building) would open and the player could control the inside battle.

I think something like this last one feature (full control of inside building battle) cannot be materialized in this stage of EaW (buildings look kind of "compact" as i said), but i think that Petro should -at least- keep the FC style.

---> One more thing i forgot to ask, is the native units of each planet, if the player can ally with them and what type of relationships can grow with them (and generally a conquered planet). This is more in the political aspect of the game. For example, it is logical some planets to be a constant problem for Imps to control (for high taxes for example, or just because they're not free) and so to help player -when playing as Rebels- to free them etc etc

---> Last but not the least, is the movement of units, especially troops. Juding from all the released trailer, i think (not sure, someone must confirm this...) that troops have 2 types of moving; running and walking. This is a very realistic and very usefull feature.

I just mention "Praetorians" RTS, were units could run and walk. The materialization of this feature within the game was simple; double quick click on the map and the units run to that location, simple one click and the units move there walking. Of course, there was also a "tiredness" factor, since the units wouldnt run forever (especially when carrying some kilos of steel armor).

It would just be very good to implement run and walking for troops. Also, mentiong "Desert Rats vs Afrika Korps" RTS, where the units would also crouch (and move crouching), making themselves hard to target and shoot.

If these features are also in the game, then we're in the good way ;)

Well that was a very comprehensive summary! My only comment is that I feel th A.I should live up to our expectations for single player, as we have seen in the trailers, the A.I does not appear to be rubbish, i even remember an instance of the A.I outsmarting a human once or twice. The A.I component will have to be of a scalable nature for beginners through to experts and I believe it will be a challange for the correct setting, at least, I hope so. Great points, and summary Athanasios.

i hope these questions are answered

can a rebels team fight aganst another rebel team in compain mode?

are the planets in the same locations in space every time you play a new game?

is a planet, like tatoone's map the same for each new game, or are the planatary maps randomly generated?

do both factions get the same technolagy or hero depinding on who owns a planet?

do you loose the unit if the planet gets stolen?

can star fighter like the x-wing do strafing runs on the planets surfice?

is there a milliniom falcon or other non-alined starships/units/heros?

can a rebels team fight aganst another rebel team in compain mode? I don't think that there is a reason for including such inter-factions wars in campaign. In multiplayer ofcourse, i suppose mixed-faction alliances are allowed.

are the planets in the same locations in space every time you play a new game?

is a planet, like tatoone's map the same for each new game, or are the planatary maps randomly generated? Well, a galaxy is supposed to be "steady", meaning that planets don't change positions. Ofcourse in a galaxy the planets are rotating (apart from their axis) around the galaxy's center. Yet, i think, this rotation may confuss players who would rather know "where is where"...imagine having a fleet in orbit on the top-left-corner planet and the next 2 hours to start looking the whole galaxy to see where this planet has moved. Still, the planets' spin could be remained just for visual effect.

do both factions get the same technolagy or hero depinding on who owns a planet? Maybe each planet "acts" differently, depending which faction control the planet (as far as technologies is concerned). Heroes might be given as "mission accomplished" bonuses.

do you loose the unit if the planet gets stolen? If you mean normal units (not heroes), then probably you do lose every unit on the planet (if conquering a planet means eradicating enemy forces in space and ground). Heroes might survive in a way, since Joe Bostic (lead programmer i think) mentioned that "star wars heroes know well how to survive in difficult situations, and this is one feature we kept in the game...".

can star fighter like the x-wing do strafing runs on the planets surfice?

is there a milliniom falcon or other non-alined starships/units/heros? In many screenshots we can obviously see both X-Wings, Y-Bombers, snowspeeders, TIE-Bombers in ground level. In others we can clearly see ground air bases (Imps' is just like in Force Commander). Adding these two, we probably can have both ground air units and the ability to call down from space ships/stations others to assist and then leave again.

Well, millenium etc -normally- stand for heroes units, but might be produced as bonus-tech when controlling a certain planet.