Garry Gaber held a chat with Games Domain and not many interesting questions were asked - although it was fun and I am sure Garry enjoyed it - he even stayed on alittle longer chatting.
Firstly, Clone Campaigns has gone gold! This means it is ready to be sent to the stores and the release date is to be Monday May 13th.
Check with your local store about release dates. Garry said they are aiming to release it at the same time around the world. So ignore Amazon who says June!
The full chat will be up soon, best parts from it are;
Confederacy has some great Nursery controllable units
such as the Acklay, Reek & Nexu
Team play bonuses includes discounts on production, example.
The Galactic Empire adds a 10% discount to itself and any
other civ it teams with for building mechs
There will be 2 campaigns for the Confederacy & Republic with 7 missions each. Should take around 40 hours.
One of the differences with these campaigns is that they have to be played in sequence, Cond first. This will provide a continious storyline.
Gungans buildings will auto regenerate when damaged
Watch out for the chat posting soon and also, Galactic battles will launch its Clone Campaigns section THIS weekend!! Full of screens and other info - PLUS - EXCLUSIVE to Galactic Battles.com we will be the ONLY website to have a 'Screenshot of the day' from Clone Campaigns. These will be NEW screenshots!!!!
Also, we will be ready totally for Clone Campaigns. Our unit & Civ sections will be launched on May 16th - with WALKTHROUGHS for both campaigns.
Enjoy
DarthMaulUK
Rah Rah Rah! Three cheers for DMUK ;)
hooray, hooray, hooray.
There. :D
Worldwide release.... looks like i can get the game AND see the movie in the same week....madness.
Sheer madness.
You hardly mentioned anything DarthMaulUK. ;) Here's some of the cool info from the Gary Gaber Chat Event: (I only retyped some stuff I felt important.)
JamesMartigo
Other than the new toybox units, will you be adding other features to assist the creative process of scenario designers? (Such as AI or random map scripting guides, scenario instruction bitmap editor, or features that will encourage modding)
Garry G
The scenario editor is fairly robust as is, but we did add a couple new triggers, as well as addressing features related to feedback from the original game. Most of our effort revolved around adding new units and functionality to the game itself.
....
yodawars
What bonuses and/or new units have you given to the Naboo civilization?
Gary G
We have replaced the art for the Naboo Mounted Trooper, so that it now looks different from the Gungan Mounted Trooper. We've also made some nova related changes.
....
Garry G
We changed the AT-AT in another way. Now when you research "Walker Research
Garry G
-sorry - they gain the ability to fire anti-air weapons as well.
Vampire Slayer
What other Shadows of the Empire toybox units will there be? (I'm going to be working on a SotE campaign.)
Garry G
The Outrider, the Virago, and IG-88 in addition to the aforementioned Dash Rendar.
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Mas
How many of the new Episode II units we get to see in the movie make it to the game and how many did you have to design
Gary G
We tried to use every unit that was in the movie as a combat unit on one of the two new civilizations. In fact, in some cases, unit had been planned for the movie, that didn't get used, but we used them anyway cause they were cool. We did design about half of the new uniits in the game (for instance, there are very few, if any sea ships represented in the new movie.)
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yodawars
What special abilities (if any) does the Republic's Jedi Starfighter get? Also - where is it constructed?
Gary G
It is contructed in the Fortress, since it is the Republic's unique unit. It is impervious to conversion by other Jedi, is very fast, and quite powerful in combat. Graphically, it also fires a slightly different projectile.
DarthMaulUK
After CC becomes popular - will you continue to add to Battlegrounds, maybe like patches, new units or even another expansion?
Gary G
We are very commited to doing balance patches if necessary (as we did with the original game).
Gary G
I should also take this opportunity to tell you all that "Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns" has gone gold. It should make it onto shelves the week of May 13th, which should beat "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" out of the gate.
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kanji69
Gary, did you or your team ever consider the possibility of incorporating the BIG ships into the game (star destroyers, ect)?
Gary G
Yes, we did consider this... :)
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RembrandtBrown
Is Ackbar available? You gotta love Ackbar.
Gary G
Unfortunately, no Mon Calamari are present in the new expansion. But the opportunity still exist for a player to create a mod...
Mas
Are there many new terrian elements in the scenario editor?
Gary G
We added Lava and Volcanic Ash, as well as supporting elements for Geonosis, including Stalagmite mountains and other terrain attributes. We've also added a cool new Lava Bubble and Lava Ripple. One of these does damage to passing units - the other gives life to the lava by having graphics of bubbling lava cycling. Weve done the same thing with Water Ripples. In addition, there are Lava Mountains and other goodies for the terrain.
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Chewitoy
could you explain a little bit about the Air Cruiser? Like what it can do such as carrying troops.
Gary G
it does not have the ability to carry troops, but has very cool capabilities otherwise. it moves slowly, but packs a huge punch - an area of effect of 4 tiles! It fires a massive (like the Cannon, sort of) which takes down troopers and buildings alike. It was originally created to have a weapon that outdistances anti-air turrets in range, mostly for space maps, but it is a very useful unit in al maps as realized.
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Vampire Slayer
Will Watto be in the Expansion? (I made a mod of him, but having the real unit in the game is always nice.)
Gary G
Sorry, although Watto is not in the Expansion, we have created quite a few new Tatooine units, including Jabba, Bib Fortuna, Gamorrean Guards, Sand Skiffs, and Jabba's Sail Barge amd Palace, in addition to many others.
newnewnewnew1
have any player-created maps/skins particularly impressed you so far? Not that I'm scalping for jobs *cough*
Gary G
We just had a contest for levels, and four of them really stood out - they're included on the Clone Campaigns CD. I am very impressed by some of the levels being created out there.
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kanji69
Could you tell us about Jabba's forces in the game?
Gary G
He has Sand Skiffs, his Sail Barge, all of the thugs (Klaatu, Barada, Nikto, ect.) from ROTJ, as well as some other Tatooine inhabitants, including the B'omarr monk.
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Rayek
Jango Fett. Please tell me how he will function in the upcomming expansion pack!
Gary G
He is a toybox unit exclusively. We had to include him though!
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Chewitoy
Could you tell use more about Controllable Predators?
Gary G
They are based on three of the new creatures from Episode II - the Acklay, Reek and Nexu. They are produced in the Animal Nursery in TL-3 and 4. They only cost Food, which makes them quite desirable, and each has a different advantage against specific other units.
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MJRedCat
Does every civ get controllable predators? can the previous civs from GB have them or just the 2 new civs?
Gary G
Actually, they are unique to just the Confederacy. We did however include a controllable Rancor in the toybox.
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DarthMaulUK
Have you done anything to improve the game AI? It seems at times that the units find it a chore to get to their destination - especially during combat.
Gary G
We have, as a matter or fact. The enemy AI is significantly smarter and a much more difficult enemy to face on moderate and hard modes. I had a difficult time facing two of these guys at once on a random map. We've also added a new "move while attack" mode for player units. Just hold down the shift while moving and your units will take opportunity fire on the way. We've also addressed some of the pathfinding issues from the original game in this expansion pack.
Rayek
....will we see som missions based on Anakin and Amidala?
Gary G
No, I'll leave these for players to create in the scenario editor... they are both in the toybox.
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erland
what would the air cruiser to the empire look like?
Gary G
It is very consistent with the look we've developed for other Empire air units.
.... (Chat Over)
Woah!!!
Really cool info. I Really am interested in how the "move attack" option is implemented. sounds interesting. If it works I think ES should consider keeping that option in AOM.
Well at least they din't give too much info about the game. I'm looking forward to it when it comes out in 2 weeks.
It will come by really quickly believe me. Just keep yourselves busy.
ACK! It comes out at the same time as SWGB WoW for May!!! I'm gonna be so torn... and I was shooting for 1st this month too. :D
YAY!!!! IG-88 AND CONTROLLABLE RANCOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but no vornskr....darnit.
My thanks goes to Garry Gaber and his team for taking time to make CC better and to enhance all the bugs... Way to go guys!
I'm wondering what 'all techs' will do, i'm wondering if it'll disable confederacy predators, or give every civ ability to create some rancors...
Nope, 'All Techs' doesn't affect unique units.
Just re-name a Tuskcat to use as a Vornskyr. In fact, you could have Vornskyr troopers with the new Naboo mounties!
New triggers sound good. I wounder what they'll be? Hopefully a 'Heal Object', having to cut/paste in the - sign is annoying.