Master of Orion III

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by [LordLMP]
So to simply Watch may cost IFPs? What about checking the colonies, to simply look through to see what they are building, etc...?

I believe that just looking will cost IFP points.

Originally posted by [LordLMP]
Also, will there be an option to disable the IFP in single player in MOO3? atleast a cheat code for unlimited IFP? or do we have to Cheat/hack for it?

Will there be a Scenario editor?

-LMP

You will not be able to disable the IFP system. Also, there isn't a great need of a scenario editor, so I doubt there will be one.

[Stormhound]

No, it will not cost IFP just to review what your colonies are doing. Only to change what they're doing, and even then you've got the ability to give orders to groups of colonies at once.

You won't be able to disable IFP. Too much in the game relies on it. Likewise, unlimited IFP would break other parts of the game where you can put in multiple IFP to increase your chances of success.

A scenario editor would've been nice, but there's no time/budget for it.

[Master Marcus]

Thanks for the inputs, Stormhound. Just an additional question: Will there be an IFP category within the "custom race picks" ( or something like that ) where we can choose for a slower rate or higher rate ?

[Stormhound]

Actually, there WILL be a racial pick which affects this (but not only this; has something to do with the cohesion of your society if memory serves). Don't recall the details right off the top of my head, and I doubt it'll be cheap, but it's in there.

[[LordLMP]]

As for the need of a Scenario Editor, you may not need it Osweld, but i am sure, like me, people would like it.

Storm, if you people can't do a scenario editor, is it possible to have the game in a way easy for an independent to program their own Scenario Editor and distribute the Scenarios as saves?
Would there be any customization outside of the game? Like replace the animated Leaders/Emperors with pics? Create customize ship sets, etc? something like the rules.txt in Civ or alpha.txt in SMAC? custom build lists, etc? Atleast maybe leave 3d, animation, graphic, etc... files in standard formats like jpg, gif, odf, mp3, etc? Would definatly increase the lifespan of the game like customization did to Civ2, Total Annihilation, etc.... Don't have to create editors, scenario editor, etc... just maybe atleast leave the game "open" for independents to tweak the game and keep AI/programming secrets and other things in some confusing files within files, etc... it shouldn't be a big deal i would think.

sorry, just like to have the ability to customize things then just racial picks and ship designs. Would be nice to have a game like MOO3 to play around with like Civ2, Total Annihilation, Starcraft, Half-Life, Startrek: Armada and other games.

-LMP

...to create is a fabulous eXperience...

[ravagon]

Originally posted by [LordLMP]
Would be nice to have a game like MOO3 to play around with like Civ2, Total Annihilation, Starcraft, Half-Life, Startrek: Armada and other games.

I couldn't agree more!! You noticed, however that the editors for most of the above were 3rd-party editors, I take it?
Editting/modding of in-game files will almost certainly take place. Its just a question of whether or not the editting process is simple/timewise enough for everybody to do it (this would be a plus!) or so complex/time intensive that serious modifications will be restricted to far fewer players (this would be somewhat less of a plus).

On a personal note, I would also prefer gameplay options along the lines of being able to change/scale production, IFP's, research etc, for a particular game, akin to options in MP Civ2

[Stormhound]

The answer is "it depends".

Much of the game data is going to be in easily edited files. Costs, requirements, effects, that sort of stuff. You can mod that to your heart's content.

The artwork is another matter. While I don't pretend to be a graphic artist (or to understand the jargon), Rantz has said before that while doing custom art would be possible, it wouldn't be easy. I think in large part that's related to (a) the quality of the art, and (b) the steps they go through so that the art doesn't eat so much of the processor, like pre-rendering the ships for space combat.
Likewise, since my own programming background was mainframes, not PCs, I don't know how easy it'll be for someone to do a scenario editor.