Distant Worlds: Shadows

[Martok]

Erik has finally released some hard information on the next expansion pack.  Yaar!! 

Hi everyone,

Ok, here's the promised preview of what we are working on. We are still trying to get this finished for this year, but our priority is to make sure it's as good as we all want it to be, so I can't give you an exact release date yet.

The title comes from the "Age of Shadows".

<WARNING: SOME ORIGINAL DISTANT WORLDS STORY SPOILERS AHEAD>

In the original Distant Worlds, you play in a galaxy where civilizations have recently rebuilt themselves and returned to space in a galaxy that was nearly destroyed at the end of the last war against a great intergalactic foe. The time immediately after that great was was known as the Age of Darkness. During this time, there was very little left of the previous galactic civilizations. In addition to a few survivors on planets and colonies here and there, a very few survived on ships and remote stations. Many who survived the end of the war did not survive long into the future, but others managed to find a way. Generation after generation passed, even among the long-lived species.

In these early days, the survivors who had escaped the near-extermination of galactic life with some technology intact, especially those who still had working stations or ships and knowledge from the old empires, were in a better position than most on the planets, where the devastation and regression to a near-primitive state had been nearly complete and in many cases the plagues of the past war still periodically returned. Space seemed a much safer place to many.

During the Age of Darkness, these space-based survivors who still had the means (although in many cases limited and often decreasing with each generation) to travel space searched the galaxy for other remnants of civilization and the means to keep their technology working. In some cases, they formed beneficial relationship with those who were left here and there on the planets, even helping them to develop and rebuild. In other cases, they raided the planets and their remaining populations and took what they needed as plunder. Often, it was a bit of both.

Eventually, the balance of power began to shift. The space-based survivors had developed their own empires of sorts, usually as traders, warlords or pirates. Despite their access to some of the old technologies, their numbers remained few and the planets began to exert greater control over their own destinies. Some had even developed populations and civilization to the point where they were able to contest control over their local space. This is the Age of Shadows, in between the Age of Darkness and the Distant Worlds galaxy as you have known it to date.

What were previously "pirates" are now independent space-based factions that can pursue a variety of playstyles, ranging from trade, war and espionage to pure chaos and plunder.

</END STORY SPOILERS>

Note, I still can't tell you _everything_ but here are some substantive highlights:

- Play as an independent space-based faction, a very different play experience from the existing "Empire" gameplay.
-- Choose from several playstyles, including Smuggler, Pirate and Mercenary.
-- Compete in victory conditions against other space-based factions.
-- New Pirate Leader and Pirate Captain characters
- Choose to play in the existing Distant Worlds timeline or the pre-hyperspace "Age of Shadows"
- Assault pods and ship to ship or base boarding actions, including ship and base capture
- Gravitic Weapons and Tractor Beams
- New expanded Ground Combat with new troop types and an animated ground battle resolution screen
-- Infantry, Armor/Mech, Special Forces, Planetary Defense Units (multi-layered)
-- Resolution of the multiple stages of a planetary assault
-- Expanded troop experience
-- New Ground Combat technology tree
- Expanded and improved Area Weapons
- New planetary facilities
- Improved AI and new comprehensive difficulty settings

[FlickJax]

Damn, I think they need a gold version or atleast another sale as it is gonna be damn expensive to catch up on this series now at matrix prices!

[Jarhead0331]

Improved planetary invasion and ground combat!!! YES!

[Sparhawk]

I'm excited, Distant Worlds is my go to space 4x game. To tell the truth who could ever get excited about planetary invasion as it is watching your troop squares compete against theirs. This will really add depth to the game.
By the way, I'm looking forward to being part of the "Grogheads" community.

[LongBlade]

By the way, I'm looking forward to being part of the "Grogheads" community.

Welcome!

[Martok]

Welcome aboard, Sparhawk!  Good to see you here.  :D 

Improved planetary invasion and ground combat!!! YES!

That was my reaction as well, and in fact I look forward to it more than anything else.  Can't wait to see the tech tree for it! 

[Kushan]

Erik's been dropping hints here and there for a few months now. Like a few people around here, Distant World is my space 4x of choice. Ground combat is the one area of the game I think needed a major overhaul. Especially being able to tell exactly how many troops are defending a location. What I really hope they improve is the economic side of the game. During the mid to late game, I find I have more money they I know what to do with no matter how much I build, and the only thing I really have to worry about is having resources at the right shipyard. All while the AI seems to be constantly broke. I try not to take too much of an advantage of the AI vulnerabilities, but its hard not to do sometimes. I would also like the ability to tell the civilian AI to bring fuel and resources to a deep space outpost. I like to build space stations in unoccupied or dead system to serve as an advance fleet base is areas I need the fleet coverage, but the AI doesn't usually bring resources to those bases so I have to send my fleet all the way back home, or use a resupply ship.

[Yskonyn]

I am a big fan of DW as well and am very excited to read about the expansion!
More detailed ground combat and planetary invasion mechanics are the biggest point of the expansion. I care less for the independent faction stuff, but depending on how this will turn out it might be a nice gameplay option.
I am all for options! :)

I, too, hope that whatever they do, they will tweak the economy in the game. It's just too easy to build your economy without paying too much attention. If this doesn't get tweaked, then I expect the shinyness to wear off the x-pack rather quickly due to insufficient challenge.

Also, I hope they add some better functionality for unit control in battles. And figure out a way to get rid of the 'blob' effect. Formations would be nice.

If it does all work out as advertised, then DW has come pretty close to my dream 4x game.

Oh well, if they end up adding multiplayer that is! :D
One can dream...

[Sparhawk]

I'm with Kushan about needing supplies at those isolated stations. Have you ever queued up a string of ships and they get put into the build queue of a station with no supplies?

[solops]

I am glad to see improvements to the game, but the whole ground combat thing is wasted on me. It is a space empire game and I wanna build/fight spaceships while I expand my empire. If I want to see ground combat, I'll play Fire in the East or TOAW or Advanced Tactics. It looks like another level of complication for an AI that is already struggling.

[Yskonyn]

Well I don't think it will actually be like an RTS feature.
The notes talk about an 'animated battle resolution screen' and 'expanded ground combat with more unit types'.
I pretty sure it will be abstracted, only more detailed as it is now.
A system like Warlords of old comes to mind.

I find the current system bland and uninteresting and it could use some improvements. Hopefully they will keep it abstract enough to not increase the micromanagement beyond the fun level nor pose problems to the AI.
The game is a SP game, so I am sure Codeforce is aware that any system needs to be relevant for AI interaction. ;)
We'll have to wait and see what details will undoubtedly be revealed in the coming weeks.

[Jarhead0331]

I am glad to see improvements to the game, but the whole ground combat thing is wasted on me. It is a space empire game and I wanna build/fight spaceships while I expand my empire. If I want to see ground combat, I'll play Fire in the East or TOAW or Advanced Tactics. It looks like another level of complication for an AI that is already struggling.

Exactly...its a space EMPIRE game...that means building empires and fighting wars. That means invading and conquering alien worlds. No matter how far into the future we go, you still need to put boots on the ground and this should be modeled in any self-respecting 4x space empire game.  It does not need to be modeled on the scale of the games you cite, which are all WWII games, by the way, and very different from anything that one would expect to see in a space empire builder, but there should be concepts for developing Marine/Infantry technology, weapons and tactics and then building your forces up to prepare for invasion and defense.  I don't see why anyone would complain about this.

[son_of_montfort]

^+1

As it stands now, you send in bland ground troops and your best hope for success is in the pre-battle bombing. Then you might lose the battle but not know exactly why because the feedback for ground battles is a bit low. I think, having different techs and more feedback for ground battles would really improve the game. I'm not wanting anything on the Emperor of the Fading Suns scale, but I don't think that is even on the table.

[Martok]

+1 to both Jarhead and Monty. 


I wanna conquer alien worlds.  And I wanna do it in style. 

[panzerde]

Agreed, +1 on the ground combat changes.  Some more detailed level of planetary invasion will be a great addition.

I wasn't initially sure that I cared much about the space-based factions, but the more I thought about it, the more it seems like this will add an interesting twist on game play.  I haven't played DW for a few months now, but I think this will get me interested again.