Sword of the Stars: Q and A Vol. 1

[Mecron]

Welcome everyone!

Sword of the Stars is our cutting edge 4X strategy/combat game for the PC. If you have any questions post them here and either myself or one of the other HellHounds will be happy to answer them. Should we get enough questions or discussions about a specific subject then we will split those off into their own topics as needed.
Thanks for coming and enjoy your stay!

--Martin E. Cirulis
CEO/Lead Designer,
Kerberos Productions

[Strategia]

(When) will we be seeing screenshots of ships?

When is the projected release date?

Will it be a download or will we have to install it using a CD/DVD? If it will be a download, will it be shareware or will you have to buy it? If it is a CD/DVD, where can you order it and will it ship to Europe?

Could you give us a short overview of the diplomacy system?

Is there a political system for each race that goes further than a leader name and diplomatic relations? Will leaders change over time? Will there be government types, and, if so, will they give different bonuses?

What is the maximum level of detail you can set in the galaxy setup before startup?

Does the game come with a (reasonable) AI? Will the AI use advanced tactics and politics? Will they respond in a believable fashion to messages?

Can you set up a "Council" of multiple races, a UN-like multilateral alliance?

Does the game support modding? If so, how easily and how deep? Will you only be able to edit certain specifics like planet stats, or will you be able to edit the game "basics"?

Will you be able to build facilities on planets? If so, how fleshed-out is this system? Is it restricted to basic things like "Resource Extractor", "Construction Yard" and "Storage Compound" or will you have many construction options in many fields?

What do facilities do? Do they provide something absolute (i.e. they produce a set amount of resources), or do they enhance existing qualities (i.e. they boost planetary/galaxy-wide resource extraction by a certain percentage)?

Will you be able to invade planets with ground troops? If so, how detailed will this be?

Phew, I'm all out of questions for now.

[Mecron]

Welcome to the boards, strat!

Let's see if we can answer your first set of questions here...


Screenshots of ships? Look around the site a bit more and you will find plenty of screen shots. All of which are straight out of the game.

Release date and method of distribution are all up to the publisher but as soon as we know more, so will you! (though a birdie might tell you within 6 months)


When you set up a random galaxy you will be able to choose a basic size of the galaxy, economic and research efficiency and the number of words the player starts with in their empire.


And yes the game will be very moddable. As game makers we have always been big fans and believers in the modding community.


As for the rest of your questions, perhaps its easier for me to explain the design philosphy of SOTS first and then get down to some details. SOTS is an attempt to depart from the "spreadsheet" aspect of some 4X games and get back to concentrating on interstellar warfare using the power of modern computer and graphic cards. We wanted to put the player into the position of Stellar Emperor/Admiral and NOT a Bureaucrat/accountant and so we placed the strategic focus on aspects that gave you more tactical choices instead of just abstract number changes. The focus is on starships and fleet design, not on the planets themselves. And so each race has over 70 ship sections to mix and match and dozens of weapons to load into those sections but planets themselves are controlled with a handful of slider bars.
Diplomacy is a matter of alliances and non-aggresion pacts. The AI will seek political situations that are advantageous to itself but will not mindlessly seek peace treaties just because a race is rated as "peaceful". As far as internal politics goes, the player is the one making all the decisions. When played by the AI, each of the 4 races will have a distinct style of play but not so much so that they will be utterly predictable.


I hope this helped with some of your questions, look over the rest of the site and perhaps you will find a few more answers and some more questions.
Once again, welcome and enjoy your stay.
--MEC

[Strategia]

With "screenshots of ships", I actually meant (but failed to make clear) that I'd like to see them with the race descriptions. This way, we can get a feel for the look of each race's ships. Also, will you be posting s description of Humans? I mean, since it's set so far in the future, there's bound to be quite a lot of differences between us and them.

Also, do you have a GUI yet? If so, could you post screenshots of that?

I know that you won't be able to edit races, but will you be able to add races?

I like what you've done with the apparently Homeworld-like combat graphics.

[Guest]

I am a big fan of 4X games , but the one thing I dislike about them is the amount of time it takes to get any thing done , whether its building ships or researching tech it all takes so long. I get the impression that this game is going to be faster paced then other 4X games, is this true?

[Mecron]

Strat- Things are still coming together as far as the website goes but expect lots of linked pics of ships and background art in the race sections. We want you to be able to id those ships as fast as we can. Main starmap GUI is just undergoing final testing so expect some shots of that as well.
As for adding races, well the game is data driven and you wouldn't expect us to paint ourselves into a corner in regards to our own plans for future SOTS expansionsm, now would you?

Guest- Thanks for coming in...stay awhile and pick out a name next time! As for your question, indeed SOTS is an attempt to peel back some of the time consumining layers the genre has accrued over the years and put some of the pacing decisions back into the players hands. There's no doubt that the ships you can build a 100 turns in are very powerful but if you want to cobble together some initial tech and go out and hurt someone before turn 10, its up to you.

--MEC

[Strategia]

I really like the fact that you can go and clobber your neighbour ASAP, but just so you know; some (very experienced) players have had Space Empires IV games which lasted for a few turns.

Could you give us a general outline of the available weapons systems?

Also, in the game features overview on the site, you mention that you will be able to add "mission" components to your ships. What do you mean by this? Will we be able to build espionage ships, or luxury yachts, or other specialized ships like comet-miners, suicide ships, satellite layers?

[Mecron]

Strat- Yes, well in SOTS a quick attack will be less an issue of knowing a trick and more an aspect of spacial geography.

Hmmm weapon systems outline...thats a mighty big topic..same with ship sections. Perhaps I will start a discussion for detailed talks about both subjects!
--MEC

[Strategia]

What is the (recommended) min/max poly count for ships?

[Mecron]

lol, I like a guy who's lookin to mod us even before we are done

It depends on the ships size, strat. A couple 1-2K per section for destroyers is a good rule of thumb...higher for the largers ships.

[Strategia]

1-2k per section? And how much sections usually comprise a ship?

Also, do you know of a good program to export 3D models (preferably in .L3P format) to .X?

You see, I've recently heard that your ship models are in a .X format, which, coincidentally, is also the format used by Space Empires V, which is currently in beta. As I have already done one shipset for SEIV, and I liked it very much, I would like it very much to start making shipsets for SEV too when it comes out, and when SOTS works with the same file formats as SEV, well..... making new shipsets should be really easy.

[Mecron]

strat- 3 sections per ship. You should build a section like it were a ship unto itself, the game engine stitches them together. And I am told there is only one answer to the mystery of exporters...and that answer is ....PANDA!!!!!

Run!

--MEC

[Strategia]

Is this the Panda you mean?

[Auximines]

This is what Mecron's referring to, a simple .X file exporter for 3DS Max 6 & 7.

[Strategia]

One question:

Which download should I take, and how to install it?