Game Modes

So...hi. I haven't been in the loop for ages in the complex forum and also only kinda know why this mod was created (to streamline Complex and get rid of things that aren't needed). I don't really know what you already had/ have planned but I wanted to throw my jist into the whole thing about game modes.

I really liked the idea of the solar system map in Complex 8 (?). To have a longer scale game map with planets to colonise, etc. With it you could add cool features like the radiation that Bill and I had worked out ages ago (not sure if it was ever implemented). And other cool things like stations that can only orbit a planet etc.

The second game mode would essentially be Vanilla (or Caramel) HW2 with "fast" pasted maps. I say "fast" because compared to SC2 HW2 will always be a long and slow game :')

So yea, the idea was to split these two things from the beginning, map wise. Obviously both modes would have the same units, though both modes could also have exclusive units (orbital stations in the Solar System one, faster units in the normal, etc.)

I wanted to first hear the notion in the forums about the idea of having the solar system map as a larger focus, because the way it was done in Complex was very clumpsy back then. They designed a map and made the center of the map kill everything. yay -_-

I've been working on my own space based RTS (MMORTS that is) for the last 1 1/2 years where everything has an orbit that is at least twice as massive as the object itself but I wrote the game framework myself. I don't know how easy or painfully difficult that would be to implement in the Homeworld 2 engine. IMO it would be cool though

Thoughts?

Thoughts.

A game modes I would like to see would be one restricted to carriers only with no other capitals bigger than Cruisers.

The idea of a very large solar system map ought to be explored with the features you and Bill were working on (none of that was given any attention by Beghins afaik). And it should be bigger, without the death zone in its centre.
The practical limit for a map is around 1,300,000m — AI can't see objects farther away than that. This might be a game engine limitation, or might be adjustable. I'm currently doing a map 2,000,000m wide as a sort of test. There seems to be no practical limit to the size of a map other than this AI issue.

Personally I'd love to see a territory control-style map/game mode, Perhaps where income can be supplemented / based on how much you control.

Game modes as proposed are definitely possible. When defining maps for a game mode, you need to put them all in the same folder, so separation is real simple.
Creating the game modes however, is another story.

We could borrow the territories implementation from complex simple.

Nakamura wrote:We could borrow the territories implementation from complex simple.

What's that? I must have been gone by the time it came up

@ALC. Yea, I was thinking just that, the dynamics Bill and I worked out with radiation and sensory etc. would work great on larger maps

http://www.moddb.com/mods/territories-mod
Territories is an excellent game mode that divides up the map into control zones, similarly to the Risk board game. You can only move to other areas by using jump gates, which connect every area.

Please re-post the dynamics suggestions, too.

I remember trying that, it seemed kind of interesting ^^

Another mode I'd love would be one that would make larger / longer campaigns more feasible. Might take some doing, though. Basically you'd be dropped into the map and there'd be a pre-game mode where you input a set amount of RUs for each player, who then can spend it all on fleet / upgrades before starting the game proper.

Starting with a set amount of RUs ought to be interesting. A map similar to the territories map with one way jump gates to the combat zone ought to do the trick.

2x10^6m map is producing interesting test results, btw.

Another proposed game mode: Cruiser battles. Only cruisers and Light carriers can be built, plus all smaller ships. I think a gameplay with cruisers as the top ship would be quite interesting.

Hey, cruiser battles sound awesome
Well, I don't know what the base idea for CE was in comparison of Complex (except getting rid of some stuff ). But the idea with game modes was that we could have two different play experiences:

1. Streamlined Multiplayer with "fast" paste games. I don't mean Starcraft zergling rush fast. But like 45-60 minutes per game would be considerable "fast pasted"

2. Grand scale strategy mode with longer games à la "Sins of a solar Empire". More focus on details and smaller mechanics because we know that people that play that mode will potentially like them.