The game looks AWESOME and possibly I'll get it, my only concern (or complaint, as you prefer) it's that the ships are moving on a flat surface, as if they were on a oceanic water surface, instead, if you are moving in the space, the movement directions should be tridimensional ..
.. I mean that ships in the space are tridimensional vectors. I know that, in the tabletop game, you move the pieces in the same way shown by the Armada's engine, as I know that the ships in game are simply wonderful, but, .. but, .. but we should consider that a PC game should offer more (and better) alternatives to depict space battles in 3D.
In my opinion the Homeworld's engine is still far superior, in Homeworld 2 the PERFECT AI by Relic is a real killer, the enemy in fact may come from above and from below your ships, the AI may come from any direction of the 3D sapce (once I was forced to flee vertically with my ships, with two or three vertical hyperspace jumps, almost impossible even to think, because the AI was attacking my fleet with tons of light ships and destroyers coming from below my position, and I wasn't expecting an attack from that direction, the map was almost like a gigantic sphere and the hyperspace jumps were a nightmare, I had no time to fix the right coordinates of the single jumps because I was under constant pressure from the enemy, all in all, it has been a real nightmare and also the best space battle I've ever fought in any RTS game I've played!), so, the gameplay in Homeworld is freaking awesome!!
Today, with the Remastered Edition, the Homeworld's engine is still simply PERFECT!!! Now look at the gigas of Homeworld 2: the engine is so small that it has the weight of a small fraction of any modern game on your machine, but the effect on the screen is still almost incredible and let me say once again: far superior in terms of gaming experience!
Conclusions?
Relic (before SEGA takeover) has been one of the greatest game developers of any time.
Well for starters.
1. It's based off on the Battlefleet Gothic table top game which in itself IS 2D.
2. Compared to homeworld this is close-range combat so I don't think it's necessary to have the 3D. In Homeworld I rarely bothered with it unless I wanted to do something cool.
3. It's heavy on the microing compared to Homeworld what with all the special abilities the ships can do and you can control from 3 - 15 I think depending on the map.
3D would be nice of course but it's not necessary and so far no one has ever taken Homeworld and expanded on it.
1. It's based off on the Battlefleet Gothic table top game which in itself IS 2D.
I don't know your age, nameless, but I was playing BFG on the table many, many, many years ago. So, in my post, that you have been so kind to quote, I explicitly wrote that ..
Originally Posted by Diocle
I knowthat, in the tabletop game, you move the pieces in the same way shown by the Armada's engine
but, then I added ..
Originally Posted by Diocle
but, .. but, .. but we should consider that a PC game should offer more (and better) alternatives to depict space battles in 3D.
.. and I still think that some more interest by the Team about the 3D space would add a lot to the game in terms of interest and fun.
Originally Posted by nameless
.. 3D would be nice of course but it's not necessary and so far no one has ever taken Homeworld and expanded on it.
I followed (and I'm still following) Relic Forums for years, and for years I followed a Mod which aimed to port Warhammer40k's ships onto Homeworld engine, sadly at some point the project has been suspended, and someone said it was for a unexpected issue about copyright, on which Games Workshop is (was?) very strict.
About 3D .. well, everyone has his own views on the matter, I find the tridimensional battles of Homeworld2 absolutely fun, the AI's ships always attack my fleet from unexpected angles, directions and trajectories, frequently from above or below the plan of my mothership, so that, if you don't follow very closely the action and you don't pay attention to what is ongoing all around your point of view, the damages taken by your mothership may be lathal, being very hard to control an attack coming from any direction of a tridimensional battlespace, anyway, as once said the divine Gaius Iulius Caesar in front of a plate of asparagus with butter: "De gustibus non disputandum est."
Last edited by Diocle; April 02, 2016 at 06:01 PM.
The main element of this game is pixel perfect maneuvering and small scale tactics so adding 3 dimensions would be stupid (why complicate yourself unnecessarily due to a gimmick) and contrary to the entire point of this game.
Homeworld had no maneuvering of any kind beyond simply ordering your ships to move to an advantageous position so it could pull off the 3 dimensions (and needed to so it would detract from the simplistic gameplay). Things tend to get overly complicated when you actually have to aim a specific gun at a specific hull point in 3 dimensions though.
Bringing up homeworld is like comparing CoD to ARMA, pointless and detrimental to both games.
Last edited by Sir Adrian; April 02, 2016 at 08:08 PM.
I don't think s it would be "stupid", instead I think it would be smart, beautiful and interesting having some form of 3D for space battles.
All in all, have you ever played Homeworld 2 Shuu?
I ask because actually the game is not so simple as you say about tactical and strategic maneuvering, in Homeworld2 the ships are organized in groups and the groups are organized into various kinds of formations (you can choose the formation you cansider more suited to your strategy of course) to attack the target, and the whole fleet must be organized in a smart way, to maximize the qualities of the various ships' types, you have to protect battle cruisers if you want to make so they survive to the waves of enemy fighters and interceptors and bombers, you need to place in the right position your destroyers (never underestimate thr role of destroyers in Homeworld 2!), then they come they Frigates and if you deploy them in the right way you could even succeeded in carrying them close to the enemy fleet, and there begins the fun!!! In Homeworld2 the guns fire on specified targets and on precise points of the ships, and you have to be careful about what point you choose, to optimize the effect of the various weapons, the AI by Relic is simply light years ahead compared to this game.
Try Homeworld Doc, you could discover a new world, maybe slightly more complex than you think.
I don't think s it would be "stupid", instead I think it would be smart, beautiful and interesting having some form of 3D for space battles.
All in all, have you ever played Homeworld 2 Shuu?
I ask because actually the game is not so simple as you say about tactical and strategic maneuvering, in Homeworld2 the ships are organized in groups and the groups are organized into various kinds of formations (you can choose the formation you cansider more suited to your strategy of course) to attack the target, and the whole fleet must be organized in a smart way, to maximize the qualities of the various ships' types, you have to protect battle cruisers if you want to make so they survive to the waves of enemy fighters and interceptors and bombers, you need to place in the right position your destroyers (never underestimate thr role of destroyers in Homeworld 2!), then they come they Frigates and if you deploy them in the right way you could even succeeded in carrying them close to the enemy fleet, and there begins the fun!!! In Homeworld2 the guns fire on specified targets and on precise points of the ships, and you have to be careful about what point you choose, to optimize the effect of the various weapons, the AI by Relic is simply light years ahead compared to this game.
Try Homeworld Doc, you could discover a new world, maybe slightly more complex than you think.
Diocle. I agree I was hoping that BFGA would advance a little for computers and have 3D movement at least in small height increments. But alas it did not. But it is still a decent game
What cheeses me off about BFGA is that trying to move the fleet is like herding cats. Their is no follow or formation order to keep things working and ordered. Ships just go to general melee with no
care really unless you micro like crazy but then the enemy AI has no order either. It's all auto skill and watch the fireworks while using a few of the more dangerous skills like torpedoes yourself.
As for homeworld. I am a big fan. But their idea of 3D was not perfect, although very good and revolutionary for it's time. To really use 3D you need to be able to roll ships and have properly modelled armour where sides matter. I suggest having a look at shallow space while you wait for homeworld3... which I really hope will be a thing.
But I am enjoying BFGA for what it is, a little 40k ship flavour with a lot of nice detail.
Last edited by Destraex; October 13, 2016 at 05:18 PM.
Sail your ship as part of a fleet. Devs previously worked on: Darthmod, World of Warplanes, World of Tanks, RaceRoom, IL2-Sturmovik, Metro, STALKER and many other great games..