Yay, I got the HOTAS X working. I didn’t realize that you had to specifically choose it in the wxLauncher front end.
Still, I’m probably playing this on “for babies” mode, since there are just a bazillion controls, and unfortunately the game doesn’t let you interrupt the mission to check what a particular control is (one of those quality of life improvements of later single-player games that apparently eluded the designers back in 2000 or whenever).
IT does, you need to hit something like F2 or F4 to bring up the options screen, then you can go in and look at the controls. Yeah, there are a lot. :)
Oh good, thanks for the tip. You’d think they’d let you do that by hitting the ESC key but I guess there was some technical reason why they couldn’t back then.
In case you don’t follow the Kickstarter thread… The kickstarter campaign for AI War 2 is finally up.
tgb123
3807
Another week, another Space-based 4X from Iceberg.
Lords of Rigel, which I thought was a Q1 '17 title is actually saying today. Mr. Rubin? Your thoughts?
No idear, haven’t touched it since we had the devs on the podcast a year ago. I should hit up my contact at Iceberg to find out WTF is going on.
DeepT
3809
I think the biggest improvement for AI War 2 that is of interest to me is the promise of better multi-threading. The last time I played AI war, I just quit because by the mid or late game with a bazillion units fighting each other, the game slowed to a crawl and I just didn’t have the patience.
I like how the Kickstarter directly addresses my biggest issue with the game: the learning curve, which was more like a learning sheer cliff face.
Otagan
3811
My biggest overall issue was the total mess they made of the damage system. Having three or four different kinds of armor and then weapons that have varying levels of effectiveness against said armor has always made sense to me. Having Artillery, Close-Combat, Command-Grade, Composite, Heavy, Light, Medium, Neutron, Polycrystal, Refractive, Scout, Structural, Swarmer, Turret, Ultra-Heavy and Ultra-Light is just bloat, and it makes trying to figure out what ships actually do well against what other ships an exercise in futility.
That kind of bloat and feature creep was a fact of life over the development of the various AI War expansions, each one layering new systems onto a core game that wasn’t really ever intended to be developed to that extent. The sequel offers a chance to correct all of that.
tgb123
3812
I guess it was a hiccup because now the Lord of Rigel page is saying Q1 again.
Spock
3813
I loved AI War, so AI War 2 is probably a must-buy for me. The only thing that worries me is the move to 3D. It was pretty tough to manage things on just a 2D plane!
Gameplay is 2D. 3D is only visual flair.
There’s a part on their pitch where you fly a ship in 3D, but that’s an easter egg or minigame not related to the strategic gameplay.
Spock
3815
Ah OK, that’s reassuring news. Thanks!
Spock
3816
Edit again: oops, wrong thread! But anyway:
The devs are live-streaming Greece and Gorgo now. https://www.twitch.tv/firaxisgames
Edit: they’re playing on Emperor difficulty for the first time in a live stream. Quick mode.
RichVR
3817
Got Pulsar. Anything going on?
You just purchased Pulsar, Rich?
RichVR
3819
Yeah. Trying to figure things out. Looks like it could make for good times.
Oh, next time we do a session I’ll let you know. It’s SO fun with a crew.
tgb123
3822
What’s the skinny on Stable Orbit? I’ve been seeing it on sale at several places, and it releases today.
