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| Apolyton: | So you can apply different policies on each group? |
| Rantz Hoseley: | Exactly. In policies I can set it so that 'all border worlds' first build this, then do this, then do this'
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| Rantz Hoseley: | And since there are two definitions/classification that you give to each planet, it allows for greater granularity, while avoiding the tedium of having to dive down to every planet |
| Rantz Hoseley: | So a planet can be a 'border' world and a 'fred' world and when you make policy choices for both those categories, it will affect that planet |
| Apolyton: | So how fast does the end-game go, in terms of actual time? how long are full games? |
| Rantz Hoseley: | That depends... number of empires, number of systems, galaxy size... |
| Rantz Hoseley: | The main thing we really wanted to avoid was the feeling of half-hour or 15 minute turns. |
| Rantz Hoseley: | If the player WANTS to spend that degree of time fiddling with everything at that level, then fine... |
| Rantz Hoseley: | But it shouldn't be the way it HAS to go... so that the player feels like they are sloggin through molasses at the end |
| Apolyton: | I think most people dont want to spend more than 1-2 minutes... |
| Rantz Hoseley: | Yeah after 5-10 minutes I'm pretty annoyed, but I have short attention span...lol |
| Rantz Hoseley: | Ideally, a turn in mid to late game should be able to go as quickly as the beginning game, or not much longer |
| Apolyton: | Ideally. in real life? ;) |
| Rantz Hoseley: | Well what you shoot for in testing and tuning in real life ...lol |
| Apolyton: | hehehehe |
| Apolyton: | I believe an issue that will affect the total play time is combat |
| Rantz Hoseley: | Well combat slow down is handled in a couple of ways... first we're not turn-based for combat |
| Rantz Hoseley: | Second in Multiplayer you can set a time limit for combats and how many a player can participate in |
| Rantz Hoseley: | Now, you don't HAVE to do that, but if your friend has a penchant for... lengthy battle sessions and you'd like to finish the game sometime this year... |
| Rantz Hoseley: | This gives you an option without having to make the choice of NOT playing with him because he's crazy...lol |
| Apolyton: | How much can you automate combat if at all? |
| Rantz Hoseley: | You can auto combat completely |
| Rantz Hoseley: | In solo play you can auto all battles, you can fight in one, you can fight in 5, you can fight in 8... It's up to you |
| Apolyton: | But can you trust the AI to do a good job? :) |
| Rantz Hoseley: | I think so, the AI is driven largely by your policies towards combat. |
| Rantz Hoseley: | As well as their own nature and tendancies, which aren't "black box" items |
| Apolyton smells an interesting AI |
| Apolyton: | How so? |
| Rantz Hoseley: | Ok, if your policy is one of "beat them silly with a tire iron" (just making something up off the top of my head) they will assume a more aggressive, antagonistic stance. |
| Rantz Hoseley: | And then some races are more 'battle hardened', more agressive... |
| Rantz Hoseley: | Those are the elements that really make up the tuning and balance phase for space combat, making sure that all of those things are apparent to the player and that it feels ogical and right |
| Rantz Hoseley: | So if you get *your* butt kicked, you can kinda sheepishly say "well, I should have expected that..." rather than feeling like "why the hell did that happen?!?" |
| Apolyton: | Sounds good. so lets say i'm peacefull guy |
| Rantz Hoseley: | Of course you are |
| Rantz Hoseley: | lol |
| Apolyton: | Is there hope that i can actually win the game with as less war as possible? :) |
| Apolyton: | You know, expand expand expand, build build build |
| Rantz Hoseley: | Well from a personal standpoint, I like the political spect of the TBS genre... I like the deals, the intrigue |
