The Vanguard Newsletter - Issue 4

Greetings once more. Both Brad ‘Muscles’ Nicholson and Jon ‘Neutrino’ Mavor were kind enough to fit in another meeting into their busy schedule pre-PAX and this time we had almost the polar opposite of our last conversation; this time, rather than a single topic dominating the proceedings, we had so many topics thrown that way and this, that we’d struggle to keep this newsletter on a cohesive track even if we tried. In an effort to at least keep a theme going we’ll be putting as much as we were able to learn into this newsletter.

Balance, Orbital Gameplay and You
There has been a recent explosion on the forums on the subject of balance, due in part to various experimental builds being livestreamed. Lots of people have strong opinions on some of the builds being tested. Jon didn’t want to say much about this, as it’s Scathis who is in charge of all the balancing and Scathis was extremely busy. The only thing that Jon really want’s to say is that we really shouldn’t read too much into these experiments for now. Jon’s concentration has been more directed towards fixing other aspects, such as orbital gameplay.

During the conversation with Jon it became readily apparent that he’s more than a little frustrated with how the current UI supports (or rather doesn’t support) elegant control over the orbital layer. Building mobile units in space via the orbital fabricator is a departure from the gameplay precedent set by all other layers. Jon is very keen to take back that lost consistency and experiment with the inclusion of an orbital factory that will handle the production of mobile units in space. This will allow for easily manageable infinite build queues of certain units and greater control without the hassle of having to build through a fabrication unit. They are also trying out lots of experiments with how the orbital units interact to see if there are any sensible ways to spice up orbital gameplay.

Part and parcel with that however comes the major problem of how to present the player with even half-way decent information about what your orbital units are currently doing, how to control said units or even just seeing where your satellites are to click on. Much of the work on orbital is being directed towards fixing the user interface issues that everyone is experiencing. Jon is very keen to have key points in the battle that could be swayed in your favour with orbital support if you could just get them to behave and control as easily and smoothly as your units in other layers.

Asteroids
Asteroid bombardment has always been a big part of the game’s unique selling point. However, Jon acknowledges that it still has a way to go. One of the improvements that Uber are working on is the implementation of asteroid belts, in order to make setting up asteroid-containing systems easier and more interesting. The idea for asteroid belts is that they, and the asteroids they contain, are likely to be differentiated slightly from planets in the way that they are generated. Players will have options in the system editor to specifically add in an “Asteroid Belt” entity with specific properties, like the number of asteroids, their size, metal richness and so on. In-game, an average belt might contain 10 or 12 asteroids that players can land on and commandeer. There would also likely be a much larger number of purely aesthetic asteroids in order to make the belt look like the kind of asteroid thicket that we all know and love.

As games scale up Jon believes that having a good number of asteroids in play is vitally important, both as a potential metal resource as well as weaponry to assault your opponents. To this end there have been various ideas for how to keep the belt relevant as the game progresses. Asteroids being able to respawn a short period after it is lost due to a strike, was one speculative idea. This would make capturing an asteroid and moving it into orbit around your own planet a very viable way to capture and control the resources of an asteroid belt, denying your opponent not only of its worth in metal but also its use as a destructive tool against you.

One feature that we asked about that we can confirm is still on Uber’s minds is the variable scale of damage that an asteroid can cause. This is still planned, but until recently, there have been some project management difficulties that, unfortunately, have delayed its implementation. Hopefully, once asteroid belts are part of the system editor interface Uber will have more time to work on spicing up the asteroid impact mechanics into the core feature it so rightly deserves to be.

A Galaxy at War
Galactic War has a long, interesting history with it’s development. The plan has always been that it would be a meta-game map, which would link together individual battles. There are mechanisms being worked on in order to add variety to those individual battles by mixing up the starting conditions.

However, plans often don’t survive contact with reality. Work on galactic war started some time ago, and the original vision didn’t pan out as Uber iterated on the concept. They started again, but this second version layered on more and more complexity until the developers realised that it was just unworkable. It is now starting from scratch a third time. The iterative process being what it is, each incarnation has shaped the next and Jon is optimistic about the team that is now working on it. Scathis and Pinbender as well as other heavy-hitters are taking Galactic War and devoting their energies into making it the best that it can be.

When it’s done, it will likely be released as a Big Update, possibly similar to the Gamma promotion. Uber want’s to focus on making it a single player experience first, and then integrating multiplayer and clans into it later.

The Road goes ever on and on…
The new launcher is still being worked on. It was released to Mac users some time ago as a test to ensure there were no problems with it. Although the current launcher is fairly stable, there are still some issues with speed, installers, and firewalls. The biggest part of the new launcher will be the ability for users to select different builds. This could have a huge impact on how we discuss things on the forums, as there might be a live “experimental balance” build, so we can see how any experiments play out for ourselves.

Jon also revealed that, since mid-Beta, they have been archiving every game played through the server side, expanding the capabilities and scope of the ChronoCam and forming a library of games that, at some point in the future, will be fully integrated into a browsable list that can be accessed and replayed back on your machine. The possibility of replaying a game and then jumping into the driver's seat, taking the place of one of the players seems to draw ever closer.

In the recent Vanguard Community Consultation, we gave any community members that attended the option to ask us questions on information we have heard from the developers, as well as the opportunity to raise any issues that they wanted to be discussed with the developers. One thing that was asked was “What would be the best areas for the community to focus feedback in?” Jon and Brad gave the question some thought and said that the best way that they have found for the community to give solid feedback was to keep playing the game. The developers at Uber keep a close eye on the streams and videos that the community are posting and are proving to be an invaluable resource not only for the developers to listen to immediate feedback on your gameplay experience, but also to observe the cause.

In closing
There are a few more points that were mentioned in passing by Jon and Brad as we poked and probed for information. Here are the ones we just couldn’t categorise for the newsletter:

• Ladders are being actively worked on. They will probably start out with a fairly simple collection of modes (1v1, 2v2 etc.) but the aim is to expand on them over time to include more types of configuration.
  
  
• We have temporarily inserted a spy into Uber’s offices. Reports are coming back that new UI features are being worked on which can be described only as “totally baller”.
  
  
• Line commands (distributing units along a line) are being worked on. If you know the mechanic from other games that took inspiration from the TA formula, know also that Uber considers it “Just the beginning”.
  
  
• Friend Lists chat, etc etc all coming along well. Will expand over time to include other chat functions like inter-clan chat.
  
  
• Jon mentioned that he is still very excited about developments within the VR side of gaming. He commented that he was ‘bullish’ on the idea of PA for Oculus.

Lastly, in our previous letter we hammered on the fact that Uber do not want the game to be in perpetual beta and that reaching a releasable version of PA is important. While this remains true, it is equally important to stress to the community that Uber are not going to let Planetary Annihilation release in a slipshod state. Uber have standards and as long as there is work to be done Uber is committed to doing it, and doing it right. This means that if some big features turn out to be needed in order to make the game fun, then release can be delayed if necessary. The game is going to be released “When It’s Done”, so please disregard any dates you may have already set aside to stay home from work. If PA needs another development phase, then there are plenty more letters in the greek alphabet.

As usual, if you have any questions please post them below, and if you have any suggestions on the format of this newsletter, please head over to the appropriate thread.

Back Issues of the Newsletter
Vanguard Newsletter #1
Vanguard Newsletter #2
Vanguard Newsletter #3​

Some really freaking awesome stuff are coming soon.

Can't wait!

Not sure if I'm more excited about astroid belts or the Galactic War.

There was a 3 week period of what is considered slow for patches and information. With PAX, it is hard to progress with this game, which is understandable and reasonable.

I suspect immediately after PAX is when stuff starts coming at us again. Who knows what or where (or when for those of you who don't want to be disappointed), but it's to be expected to come now that PAX is in fact over.

Yeah. PAX was a pretty big (and slightly annoying, if I'm gonna be selfish) time suck for Uber.

I've already talked with several people who have found PA because of PAX, and they're pretty excited about it. So that's pretty awesome.

Looking forward to the steady stream of builds from Uber! We've been pretty spoiled with patches at least once a week.

Want NEW BUILD NOWWW!!

Im so exited, and I just can't hide it!

Yeah, they are a company, so while PAX kills development time, it does showcase the game off to a bunch of people who were rich enough to take a trip to PAX and have a jolly time, and most those people are hardcore gamer enough to give a new RTS a look at, especially with shiny technology features and 3d multiplanet environment. Marketing idea was good.

We got regular patches before PAX interruption, I would reckon we will see one afterwards now. Though we shouldn't demand it lol.

ITS LIQUIUS!

''If PA needs another development phase, then there are plenty more letters in the greek alphabet.'' -lol as long as it comes with a discount on the price and some new commanders

First forest fires, now asteroid belts.
Awesome news all over the place

I think that it is a very good move on Uber's part to implement Galactic War as a single player "campaign," then expand it into the world-wide meta-game we all expect. It will probably satisfy a great deal of people, me included, and will provide a good base with which to work.

(Also, it bothers me that you use "have" instead of "has" when talking about Uber's plans. It doesn't flow properly. )

Orbital seems to be very spaceshippy and not very satellitey.

It seems to be becoming more and more of a naval/air clone.

I'm really unhappy with it all up.

Does Uber have any more info about it?

Sounds very good to me. Play it smart, Uber, and keep it up with the great work!

At the moment, Uber acknowledges that there are issues with orbital. However their first focus is fixing how awkward it is to control, while game-play and balance are things that can come later. However, as we have seen in the streams, Uber are experimenting with altering orbital units. These experiments are pretty speculative, as nobody has really done orbital units like this before, and we don't know what works. It's a case of throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.

On a personal level, I cannot say I disagree with your comments about orbital being similar to the other layers. It is my hope that successive iterations will mover the orbital game-play towards it's own unique style, as much as can be done without implementing more deep features, such as the orbital mechanics I would really like to see. Although I do understand why they are not on the table at the moment.

At the end of the day, it's just a case of patience to see what Uber come up with.

This is all great stuff. I'm particularly looking forward to rejiggered orbital and asteroid belts. On advice of Uber, I will try and start playing PA again too, but other commitments have sidetracked me recently

Sounds great! Asteroid belts will be epic and better orbital is something I've been waiting a long time for.

For Clarity, it's less so "better Orbital" and more so "Easier to Control Orbital", especially in the short term.

Mike

For me "Easier to Control Orbital" = "better Orbital"

i would normally agree with ya, LavaSnake, but I'll stay cautiously optimistic until the new changes

Wait... Does this mean that we'll be able to watch any and all games that have ever been played at some point?