Yuuzhan Vong at War Mod Spotlight

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on December 31, 2018

The Yuuzhan Vong at War Mod got an honourable mention in this years Best Upcoming Mod of the Year Awards and did so in 2016 in a similar category, so what is all the fuss about? 

 

The mod looks to bring a new era into the game, one talked about in Star Wars lore as being the greatest threat to the galaxy, we see Grand Admiral Thrawn mention it several times in the books and it brings genuine fear that a threat so large can come from the Unknown Regions that could destroy the entire galaxy. The mod is looking to be released as some point in 2019, with various stages of releases to accompany the different elements of the mod, it's a refreshing approach from the development team to release in stages and focus on the elements of getting those right whilst working on the larger incremental updates. 

 

 

 

By focusing on just one of the game modes, "Aftermath" below is the description of the game mode which describes it better than I ever could, source can be found here:

 

The Aftermath mode is a unique and exiting experience. You are the commander of a crippled battle cruiser that was left behind after a fleet engagement. Your job is it to not only protect the beings under your command but go even further and get your ship back up and running. Resources are scarce and limited, and you’ll have to send out your transports to gather resources from debris fields and wrecked ships on the battlefield.

Once you started to scour the battlefield for scraps and debris, you will make a scary discovery: It’s not only your ship that was left behind. An hostile battle cruiser suffered a similar fate, and its commander is trying to repair the ship as well.

This is the moment you will enter into an arms race and whoever manages to repair the ship first will have the fire power to defeat the enemy once and for all.

 

The mod even has its own technology upgrade structure which it has aligned to the Yuuzhan Vong war which lasts five years, aligning it with that makes much more sense and each faction will upgrade differently according to their own characteristics by lore. More information on the technology upgrade can be found on their Mod DB page here.

 

The mod also features updates to the galaxy map and adds realism and authenticity to it, it also adds in a concept of "nav points" they allow for re-routing during the longer hyperspace routes. So with all these exciting changes to the gameplay mechanics, new factions too, and adhering to the lore that captures the imagination of most Star Wars fans it is no surprise why this mod was an honourable mention for best upcoming mod category.We expect great things here!

 

If you want to get the latest updates for the mod make sure you stay tuned here and also visit their website and their Mod DB page. 

Players Choice Mod of the Year Awards 2018

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on December 31, 2018

The Players Choice Mod of the Year Awards hosted by MoD DB have been decided, over two weeks of voting and the top 10 have been announced! Gratefully the Empire at War games are well represented with two out of the top ten mods being from Empire at War: Forces of Corruption! Those two mods are Awakening of the Rebellion and Thrawns Revenge: Imperial Civil War. 

 

The two mods have a great following and we are as a community so proud of what these two mods, as well as all other mods for the game, have performed in these awards and I'd like to congratulate the two teams from Awakening of the Rebellion and Thrawns Revenge on behalf of the community here and at Revora for their dedication, hard work, and sheer brilliance for creating such mods that we enjoy playing so much. 

 

If you haven't heard of these fantastic mods I'll put a brief summary taken from their Mod DB pages with the relevant links and a helpful gameplay video to let you see the brilliance they have created.

 

Awakening of the Rebellion

 

Awakening of the Rebellion 2.7 is the upcoming Version and its a massive Update and Improvement then the actual release Version 2.6. The AI is almost rewritten and will be a challenge as ever before There are new Story Events and reworked existing ones. All Space and Ground-Units are updated and/or replaced with new Models/Textures. New Soundeffects and Music-Tracks, a New Galaxy Map that is almost Canon and new Space and Groundmaps.

 

 

Thrawns Revenge: Imperial Civil War

 

Thrawn's Revenge: Imperial Civil War is a total conversion mod for Forces of Corruption which brings the game into the Post-Endor period. The mod features a new era-based story progression system covering the timeline betwen the Battle of Endor and up until the start of the Yuuzhan Vong War. The mod includes hundreds of new planets accross almost 20 Galactic Conquest scenarios, hundreds of units and heroes, new particle and other graphic effects, and several new gameplay mechanics.

 

 

EaW Remake Mod - Review

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on December 28, 2018

I'm sure everyone has heard about Petroglyph re-mastering Command and Conquer and Blizzard working on remastering Warcraft 3, I'm sure a lot of people are wondering whether Petroglyph will ever remaster Empire at War - no need Petrgolyph, The Empire at War remake team have us covered!

 

The mod has overhauled the graphics of the game and has produced such quality and depth in design it really feels like a re-mastery, maybe if Jeroenimo, the creator of the mod reads this he may change the title to Empire at War Re-mastered! Before I go any further, I truly believe a picture, or in this case a video paints a thousand words so I'll just let you watch a video on Jeroenimos YouTube channel that was released a few days ago that shows off the new control ship and battleship skins:

 

 

The level of detail in the skins is completely out of this world and when playing the game it really gives you the feel of a modern day game and when you take down a ship you smile from ear to ear, just turn up the volume and play to your hearts content!

 

The mod also makes a big statement in trying to turn the world into an ever changing environment, we have seen big developers try and fail at this, we have seen others succeed. To quote the development team "The idea is to give the galaxy a more varied and alive ecosystem where you can build different units on different planets." This is a fantastic idea and to an extent EaW vanilla already has this concept but nowhere near the scale that this mod brings, you certainly do not want your enemy to be making those all powerful interdictor ships, this means expanding your empire in the campaign map and in the correct way is crucial. The level of thought required in your campaign has just increased tenfold and this, as gamers, is what we want. We want to be challenged, we want a living world that constantly changes and it brings into perspective the way we plan ahead in our campaigns. Different planets also have increased values in regards to your economy, so for example you want to go for Bespin alongside other climate planets that will give you income boosts according to its climate.

 

The gameplay itself is smooth, aggressive, and visually appealing with an expanded roster of ships. Many people will think just putting lots of ships in a game does not make it awesome, you're quite right but ensuring the factions are balanced with a large roster of ships does it make it awesome and this mod certainly does that. If you're undecided my advice would be to give the mod a go and I promise you won't turn back. A forewarning the mod is still in development stages, it has not been fully released yet so there is still some work to do and I think a top priority is to increase the stability of the game as it does crash from time to time, that is essentially the single drawback so far. It is on the Steam Workshop or you can find it on ModDB here. The Mod won an honourable mention in this years ModDB Mod of the Year Awards in the Players Choice Awards category, I'm a little sad it did not get into the top 10 but I'm sure next year upon even more work and exposure in the community it will. I've been watching Jeroenimos YouTube channel lately, particularly the tutorial videos on the mod which is essentially him doing a walkthrough playing the Empire campaign, there must be about 10 hours worth of footage in this walkthrough split into different videos so please give them a watch and by the end of the first walkthrough which is below I know you'll be hitting that download button.

 

Petrolutions official rating review of this mod is an 8/10

 

 

Petroglyph Announce Conan Unconquered!

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on December 27, 2018

 

The title says it all and the trailer certainly wets the appetite! Alongside Command and Conquer re-mastered Petroglyph are working on another title due to be released in the summer of 2019 called Conan Unconquered. 

 

Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert 1 being remastered by Petroglyph!

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on November 14, 2018

Some of you guys might think that this announcement belongs to our friends over CnC Guild than here, but we are truly thrilled to confirm that  Command & Conquer Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert 1 are being remastered at Petroglyph Studios and being published by EA. Frank Klepacki will be doing the music, of course. The announcement comes from the official source and we'll quote it below:

 

 

 

Fellow Command & Conquer fans,

A month ago, we let the Command & Conquer™ community know we were bringing the franchise back to the PC, starting with a remaster initiative.  The reaction from fans has been amazing, with many of you sharing your favorite C&C moments from the past 23 years. We have been reading these comments and listening intently.  And now, we are ready to reveal our first PC offering and how your suggestions are already influencing our approach.

 

Today, I’m thrilled to tell you we are going back to the beginning. We have decided to remaster Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn. And while this is incredibly exciting on its own, we’re also aware of how passionate the community is about the Red Alert universe.  So, we will also remaster the original Command & Conquer: Red Alert™.  But what about the classic expansion packs you may ask - Covert Ops, Counterstrike, and Aftermath?  Well, C&C and Red Alert wouldn’t be the same without them, so all three expansion packs will be bundled with the base games into one remastered collection - without microtransactions.

 

In addition to the excitement and support of this remaster initiative over the past month, there has also been a healthy skepticism that we can pull this off. How are we possibly going to remaster these titles while maintaining the authenticity of the original experiences? Bottom line, there is no better way to achieve this than to partner with some of the talented developers who brought these original games to life.

So, after years of the fans asking for their involvement, I am humbled to announce that EA is going to partner with Petroglyph Games to develop the C&C remastered collection.

 

 

Petroglyph Games includes many of the original developers from Westwood Studios, and some of the most influential members of the original Command & Conquer development team from 1995. Joe Bostic is known as the co-creator of C&C, having also served as the Lead Programmer on Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert. Steve Tall joined Joe as a Lead Programmer on Red Alert, and Mike Legg contributed to all forms of audio systems at Westwood, having been an employee since 1986!  All three members helped start Petroglyph Games in 2003 after the closure of Westwood and are joined by a veteran group of RTS developers from the past 15+ years. And don’t think we haven’t noticed the #1 request from the community in all the comments from the past month...  You want Frank Klepacki. So as a cherry on top for the fans, we are thrilled to announce that Frank will be re-joining Petroglyph Games to be our Composer and Audio Director for the remaster collection!

 

On a personal note, I can tell you the past few weeks have been surreal. During my first visit to Petroglyph, I was able to brainstorm “C&C feel” with Joe, sit with Frank and hear him recite Commando lines, and gab with Steve about whether we should fix the Tib Dawn Harvester AI.  Getting to chat C&C with the original developers has been one of the highlights of my gamer journey, and I can’t wait for all the incredible conversations to come.

In addition to the fantastic team at Petroglyph, we will also be partnering with Lemon Sky Studios to help bring these original games to 4k glory. Lemon Sky is one of the premier art studios around the world, with a unique specialty in remastering classic RTS titles.  After meeting their team and hearing their passion for C&C, we are incredibly lucky to have them team up with Petroglyph to develop the highest quality C&C possible.

The exciting part is that we haven’t started development yet. The community is literally getting in on the ground floor of this project and have every opportunity to help influence how we build this remastered experience. Please continue to engage on Reddit and community channels and help us create the best possible remasters of C&C and Red Alert!

Welcome Back, Commander!

 

Jim Vessella

 

Jimtern

 

 

 

Post your comments here and hint your C&C friends .

Phoenix Rising v2.0 Public Beta

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on April 8, 2018

After the success of the demo, I have decided to move forward with a public beta phase, released via update to the Steam version of the demo. This will introduce the full set of galactic conquests that are currently work-in-progress. You should expect more bugs than the demo version, but also many more opportunities to try out new parts of the mod.

Known issues:

Missing text

Poor performance in some GCs

Missing CSA units

Unit filter buttons may sometimes display an incorrect state if pressed rapidly

Sandbox missions may show incorrect information

 

Changelog from demo:
Full GC set (Work in progress)

New filter buttons: click to hide different classes of space units/research

Updated tech trees for Rebels and Empire

Fixed some weapons not firing from muzzles correctly

Space colonies now correctly show up in battle results

 

Please report bugs here or on the Steam discussion page.

Demo bugfixes

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on February 5, 2018

 

Forged Battalion Gameplay

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on January 4, 2018

For those wondering how will the next Petroglyph's RTS, Forged Battalion, looks like? Here's a 20+ minutes video featuring its gameplay, by Smash GaminG!:





Share your comments here. What do you think? Are you interested on joining its early access on Steam on january 16th?

Thanks Houseplant for the news tip.

v2.0 Changelog

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on December 18, 2017

Below is a summary of changes to v2.0, as well as notes regarding what will be included in the demo version, coming soon^TM

General

 

• Rewritten AI to be more intelligent and challenging
  • AI now has some factional differences in style
  • AI will correctly build units and structures based on its planetary bonuses
  • Improved AI in tactical mode
• Rebalanced tech trees
• Functional CSA faction (full release only)
• Sweeping optimization improvements
  • Addition of “light” campaign options for those who prefer high performance
• Many quality-of-life improvements
  • Tooltips for all units contain all the statistic information you need
  • Improved advisor hints to introduce you to the mod’s features
  • Building and shipyard tooltips tell you what they can produce
  • Improved research display
• Difficulty levels:
  • Easy: AI gets 10% fewer credits and takes 10% longer to build units
  • Normal: AI is exactly on par with the player
  • Hard: AI gets 10% more credits, takes 10% less time to build units, and units have 20% more damage, 20% more health, and 25% more shields.

Galactic Mode

 

• Rewritten galactic conquests (Demo featured: Operation Skyhook)
• All hyperspace travel now done via hyperlanes, with bonus speed and income from different sizes of route
• Starships now cost population proportional to their crew requirements
• Complete overhaul of planet locations, bonuses, and abilities
  • Planets now provide population carefully calculated from their statistics
  • Bonuses are rebalanced and clarified with improved tooltips
  • Planet info screens notify you of environmental or population conditions that affect production
• Many new planets added
• Overhaul of planet icons and base level display
• New planet textures
• Over 50 new ground maps for v2.0, many new space maps
• Restoration of classic EAW sandbox missions (full release only, not demo)
• Rebalanced freighters

Skirmish Mode

• Both land and space skirmish are available (though land skirmish is still unfinished for the CSA)
• Space skirmish has been completely rebalanced to be more of a competitive experience
  • Units build faster and are cheaper
  • Income scales better with station level
  • Unit costs and build times balanced per unit and per unit class
• AI greatly improved compared to v1.2

Space Combat

 

• New armor/shield/damage system for space combat, bringing it in line with our ground combat changes from v1.2.
  • Damage is now applied after armor subtraction e.g. laser damage 16 vs armor 12 does only 4 damage to a starship hull.
  • Torpedoes and some other weapons can pierce armor.
  • This means that light craft can barely damage capital ships. All weapons do a minimum of 0.5 damage if armor is equal to or greater than weapon damage.
  • Shields absorb a percentage of damage from incoming fire based on unit class
• New space units (* = buildable in demo): Lictor-class Dungeon Ship, Providence-class Destroyer*, Belbullab-22 starfighter, Defender Starfighter*, TIE Vanguard, Diamond-class courier ship, Manka-class war Frigate*, G-1A Starfighter, Sheathipede-class Transport Shuttle, Y-85 Titan Dropship*, YV-100 Light Freighter, YV-330 Light Freighter, YV-929 Armed Freighter
• Rebalanced starship and starfighter weapons for the new combat system, rewriting thousands of hardpoints
• Space Colonies are now armed with turbolasers at all levels, and provide minor fire support to defending fleets

Ground Combat

• New ground combat bunker system, with many civilian structures available to hide your infantry
• New ground vehicles (* = buildable in demo): AAT, HMP gunship, MTT, OG-9, S-1 Firehawke*, V-Wing Airspeeder*
• Improved weather system and atmospheric effects- don’t let infantry get stranded on planets with a Type IV atmosphere!
• Infantry carry appropriately-modeled weapons in most cases
• New ground structures: Bank, Listening Outpost

Heroes

• New hero system with consistent hero ratings and upgrade paths
  • Space heroes now require a flagship to attach to in many cases
• New heroes (* = playable in demo release): 4-LOM, Adar Tallon, Andoorni Hui, Apailana, Appo, Barrow Oicunn, Bevven*, Blitzer Harrsk, Bror Jace, Clyngunn, Cody, Comeg, Corran Horn, Crueya Vandron, Devlia, Erisi Dlarit, Evir Derricote, Gavin Darklighter, Ghorin, Haashn, Havet Storm, Hurst Romodi*, Kirtan Loor, Kosh Teradoc, Laryn Krefey, Lujayne Forge, Male Dee, Mawsh’iye, Meena Tills, Morteos, Nawara Ven, Odd Ball, Onara Kuat, Ooryl Qrygg, Osted Wermis, Peshk Vrisyk, Ragab, Rhysati Ynr, Riv Shiel, Rojahn, Sander Delvardus, Shaak Ti, Shea Hublin, Talon Karrde, Tensiger*, Terrinald Screed, Thaneespi, Theol Drost*, Treuten Teradoc, Tundra Dowmeia, Uwlla Iillor, Verrack, Zel Johans*, Zsinj, Zuckuss

Operation Skyhook- Demo Release GC

• Experience the lead-up to A New Hope from both sides of the Galactic Civil War, as told in the Legends universe
• Selection of missions provide guidance in the early stages of the campaign. The later stages are up to you!
• Command the Rebel Alliance from hidden fighter bases, striking against Imperial convoys and trying to discover the location of the Death Star construction site
• Lead the Galactic Empire to victory, protecting the Death Star and crushing the Rebellion across the galaxy
• The Galactic Empire is recommended for first time players of Phoenix Rising.

v2.0 Demo Coming Soon(tm)

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on December 8, 2017

As you may or may not be aware, I am still working reasonably regularly on the mod and have got it to a stage where I feel comfortable releasing a focused demo version of Phoenix Rising 2.0. Currently, the version is in testing, but you can get a sneak-peek from Corey, lead developer on the Thrawn's Revenge series of mods, who has graciously begun a series of videos of the demo test build on his Youtube channel. The first video is here
 
2.0 will include all the changes noted in previous news posts, but there will be a summary of changes around the release time.
 
There is no concrete release date for the demo build, so stay tuned.

Forged Battalion has been announced

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on October 17, 2017

Petroglyph Studios has announced a new RTS game for Steam known as Forged Battalion. Here's the trailer:



In this game, you're part of a resistance group, taking the world back from a military force called The Collective at the end of the 21st century.

It should come with the following features:

- Strong focus on unit customisation and building your own faction. You can alter every unit's chassis with different weapons, locomotor types and regenerative armor.
- There will be a 'persistent tech tree', meaning that each battle will contribute to your overall progress, helping to unlock new blueprints.
- There'll also be co-op and competitive multiplayer for up to eight players, also something that is being called a 'dynamic story campaign' and Steam Workshop support.
- Expect superweapons.
- The first early access version should include at least five campaign missions, different multiplayer modes and five multiplayer maps.

Forged Battalion will launch in 2018 on Steam Early Access. Thanks to Plokite_Wolf for the news tip.

Installing mods for Empire at War Gold Pack - Another method

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on September 10, 2017

I released a video many years ago on how to install mods via Steam for Empire at War and Forces of Corruption. With the release of the new patch bringing back multiplayer and whatnot I thought I'd give the game another go and try out some mods too!
 
I could not install them for the life of me from the steam workshop (game just kept crashing), by my old option or in the game via the "mods" option where people said it'd close the game then restart with the mod. So I went for a final push and created shortcuts instead and used the information you would put into the launch options on Steam but into the "target" box of your shortcut file of the main .exe for the game.
 
Watch the video below, this was the final straw before I just played online and a few campaigns and let the game rest. Fortunately it worked for me and I can enjoy some of the great mods the community has made!

New Patch for Star Wars: Empire at War (Steam)

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on September 4, 2017

It seems that Disney has recently made some kind of deal that made Petroglyph add some interesting updates to the Steam version of the game. Here's their developer note about this subject:

 

A note from the developer.


Hi Everyone,

We have continued to watch the EAW community closely over the years and appreciate all the excellent support you have given us and the game. Thanks to all of you for the great feedback, awesome mod packs, and overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Check out the full press release here.

Here is a list of improvements made to the game.

· Steam multiplayer support in both FOC and EAW
· Enabled selection/list of player mods on hard drive, including mods via Steamworks
· Enabled windowed mode support
· Additional bug fixes and optimizations

We hope you enjoy this special update.

- Petroglyph

 

 

In a small note: the original multiplayer worked with GameSpy, which is gone for a very long time already.

8-Bits Armies for Nintendo Switch

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on August 30, 2017

If you are a happy owner of Nintendo Switch, you'll be happy with this news: 8-Bit Armies is being ported to your video game soon. At least, according to this "Nindies" trailer.

 

Battle Blitz has been released.

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on July 29, 2017

Hello everyone. Today, while browsing the web, I've found out about something Petroglyph has just released. For modding, it is useless. But if you have a Gear VR, it might be fun if you have 5 dollars to spare. It is called Battle Blitz.

 

 

There isn't much material to share about this game yet and probably there won't be. Here's how the site I've linked above describes the project:

 

 

 

Embark on a fun and challenging "lite" Real-Time Strategy campaign against an AI bent on your destruction! Construct your base, build your army, and determine your strategy of attack. Every map provides a unique challenge with new units, obstacles, and traps to contend with. You can even advance your technology to build the fearsome nuclear silo and rain molten destruction on your enemy! As you level up your character, you’ll earn rewards for technology advancements that can be placed into your own custom maps to share with other players. Other features include Touch controller support, an in-game tutorial, leaderboards, map editor, and the classic base-building, economy management, and strategic battles that strategy players love to dig into.

 

 

 

 

 

It seems that any similarity with 8-Bits Armies is not a mere coincidence. If you are interested in the game, click in any of the pictures and have fun. Thanks to Plokite_Wolf for the tip.

Mike.nl's tools source code are now available on GitHub

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on January 24, 2017

Hello everyone! Our friend Mike.nl, from Petrolution Mod Tools, has posted the source code from pratically all his tools on GitHub. It uses the MIT License, so anyone can fork it follow this license... and yea, you'll need the latest Visual Studio to compile the code and some C++ skills to understand it.

 

 

His GlyphX Tools includes:

 

- alo-viewer

- particle-editor

- lua-converter

- string-editor

- mtd-editor

- animation-converter

- chunk-viewer

- map-preview-extractor

 

 

So, it's a jewel! Everything you need to know about the file formats used in the Alamo Engine, from Petroglyph Games, is there.  Have fun!

Happy Holidays: OS BIG Editor support for 8-Bit and Site Updated

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on December 25, 2016

Hello everyone! We wish you a happy holidays, regardless of your religion or if you even have holidays in the next days. And, in order to celebrate the occasion, we've decided to bring some life back to this place. Starting by the fact that many of you might be aware that Petroglyph Games has released 8-Bit Armies, 8-Bit Hordes and 8-Bit Invaders, in this year. In fact, 8-Bit Invaders was released only 9 days ago. You see? We are not that late into bring this news for you. Only miserable nine days. And of course, there is a trailer to explain to you what is it about and give a glimpse on the graphics and some of its features:

 

 

 

And, of course, we are adding support for these games here in Petrolution. Specially, because we do enjoy fun RTS games released by Petroglyph Games.

 

In fact, we've repaired all our content and updated the game icons for some of them, for the site revival.

 

But... some of you may be wondering... after all, isn't Petrolution a site about game modifications? Are these 8-Bit stuff moddable? To be honest, we don't know how much it could be modded. The Steam Discussions Forum for 8-Bit Invaders doesn't have a single topic about modding the game. If you browse its directory, you'll notice that it reminds a lot Empire at War in some sense. Afterall, both use the Alamo engine, except that it has received some upgrades in these years. And EAW is very modding friendly, which means that the current Alamo engine is still friendly with many things. However, so far I only could figure out that they allow you to customize the in game music quite easily there. However, we certainly want much more than tweaking the music of the game, right?

 

So, there is another occasional bonus of this place: we are offering you in first hand the latest version of OS: BIG Editor. This tool was supporting .MEG files for a while, but now it opens the encrypted config.meg files from Grey Goo and 8-Bit Armies, Hordes and Invaders. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out the Key and Initial Vectors from End of Nations beta, otherwise, I would have added support for that too .

 

 

 

Anyway, OS: BIG Editor is not the first tool to support these encrypted config.meg files, since Mike.nl was the one who figured it out and implemented this knowledge at his Mega File Editor.

 

So, that should allow you to modify the XML files that are used to specify the features, powers and weapons from each unit. Does the Alamo engine used in 8-Bit Armies reads external files? Is there any volunteer to figure it out and share this knowledge with us? Post your thoughts here and, if these games are really moddable as they seem to be, we'll create dedicated modding forums here.

 

So, share the word and enjoy the place: Petrolution lives!

AI Breakthrough

Posted by Ghostrider at Phoenix Rising News on June 7, 2016

After weeks and months of testing, and trying to figure out how to get the AI to react as a human does in a galactic environment, the PR team have finally achieved a significant AI breakthrough:

 

The AI now aggressively attacks independent planets, takes worlds, builds fleets, and stomps all over unwary humans if given half a chance. 

 

The AI equasions to do this have been in place do this for years, but for months the AI has lain dormant, effectively asleep. We have tried hundreds of different ideas to get the AI to activate - all to no effect. 

 

And how did we achieve this? 

 

The frustrating answer, familiar to most modders out there is simple. We changed 1 value in the XMLs, instead of increasing the value from 1.0 to 1.25 we should have decreased the value to 0.75. It just took 6 months of testing to realise that is what we needed to do!

 

WOW. Did the AI react or what?

It annihilated one of the testers in Core Worlds in under a quarter of the time taken for a human player to "WIN" Core Worlds if unopposed. 

 

Now that we know the AI is working, I have to go back and undo many of the campaign changes put in place that were an attempt to make the AI respond, but the mod is finally alive and kicking. We need to test and polish a bit more, but this makes us a lot closer to where we want to be. 

 

Ghost

8-Bit Armies

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on March 11, 2016

Petroglyph have just released a video announcing a new game they are working on and looks close to release from the games Steam page. It's features currently indicate a simple, back to basics retro-style RTS game that will get us playing what we love: a simple, fast paced RTS! Check out the video below they released:

 

 

Here's what Petroglyph are describing this game as on their Steam page:

 

 

A Blast from the Past 
8-Bit Armies is a classic, C&C-style Real-Time Strategy PC game. It's our most fast-paced, friendly, and accessible RTS game to date. Featuring offline single-player missions, co-op mode, skirmish, and PvP multiplayer modes running on dedicated servers. 

Initial release includes: 
 

• 25 offline campaign missions
• 10 co-op missions to play with your friends
• 10 multiplayer/skirmish maps that support up to 8 players online
• AI with multiple difficulty options to play with cooperatively or fight against
• Classic Base-Building mechanics let you construct the ultimate HQ from which to launch attacks against your foes
• Destructible environments on maps ranging from small to very large
• Easy to understand modern military units and structures lets RTS beginners jump right in
• From the same team that brought you RTS classics such as Star Wars: Empire at War, Universe at War, and Grey Goo

8-Bit Armies is for anyone that enjoys RTS games, or felt overwhelmed by more serious games. With hours of solo and co-op gameplay included, there's something here for everyone!

 

Source.

Campaign #1 - CORE WORLDS

Posted by Ghostrider at Phoenix Rising News on December 9, 2015

At the centre of the galaxy, you find the oldest, richest, most heavily populated... and the best defended planets in the galaxy. Single planets in the Core have more financial and military influence than whole sectors in the Outer Rim.

 

 

CORE WORLDS is the first of the campaigns in the Rise of the Empire Era, which is set at the end of the Clone Wars. The formation of the Galactic Empire has been announced, but many worlds are either actively opposed to the New Order or are highly independent planets that will resist the Imperialisation of trade, commerce and law. You get to rewrite history with either the early Galactic Empire, or the scattered elements of the Phoenix Rising Movement.

 

 

All of these campaigns start with a handful of planets and outdated Republic-era and Clone Wars technologies. Many of the neutral worlds will be far stronger at the start than your small fleets, and these campaigns are lengthy. It is vital to plan for long term growth, and in many cases your production capacity will far exceed your initial income, and it is important to grow both militarily and financially.

 

The political influence of leaders also cannot be underestimated, and many politicians give time reduction bonuses on construction (motivation), and best of all, price discounts for the most influential.

 

You should also be aware that the larger starbases need considerable fleet strength, with destroyer and capital-class warship support for the level 4 and 5 starbases, before an invasion can be considered. It is no longer feasible to effectively destroy a starbase with corvettes alone, but your Level 2 starbases are vital to continued financial growth, so don’t ignore them.

 

 

It is worth noting that the income created by light transports is a percentage of the planetary income, so make sure your light transports are in orbit over your wealthiest planets. You receive light transport revenues once units have made 1 trip into hyperspace. XQ5 platforms add 25% to your base planetary income, and are well worth the 3 week production time on your richer worlds. However, there is a limit of 2 per planet, and many of your Core holdings already contain at least one customs station, with a welcome boost to revenues. 

 

Before considering invasion, make sure you scout target worlds by espionage, stealth heroes, and attacks by a lone scout unit to ensure any invasion is feasible, and that you can escape if it gets too difficult. Many worlds have interdictors in their fleets, trapping invaders to certain doom. And don’t forget about small infantry raids with up to 3 infantry units. This can be a quick way to capture lightly defended units, with the advantage that you destroy the orbiting starbase if you manage to capture the planet.

In Core Worlds, you start with 6 influential planets : -

 

PRM Abregado Rae

The smuggler port of Abregado Rae is fiercely independent and highly resistant to being ruled, and is looking to Corellia for guidance in the growing opposition to the Galactic Empire. If the smugglers on Abregado-rae can join forces with the Corellians, they could form a powerful syndicate.

Strategic Considerations: Threat from Byss.
Heroes: Obi-Wan Kenobi

 

 

PRM Alderaan

Alderaan has been a staunch supporter of the republic in the fight against the Separatists, with the Royal Alderaanian Shipyards providing the engines for the Acclamator-class Assault ships. Both influential and with excellent facilities, Alderaan is politically opposed to the New Order and Bail Organa is one of the key figures in promoting the idea of active resistance to the ever-growing power of the Office of Chancellor.

Strategic Considerations: No Immediate threats.
Heroes: Bail Organa
 

PRM Chandrila

Chandrila is a world of free speech led by Senator Mon Mothma, who led the Delegation of 2000 to limit the powers of the Chancellor. Chandrila has a strong defence-fleet and is working with both Bail Organa and Garm Bel Iblis to take increasing military action to oppose the New Order.

Strategic Considerations: Major threat from Corulag.
Heroes: Mon Mothma

 

PRM Corellia

The free world of Corellia is the leading manufacturer of light freighters and corvettes with unrivalled construction facilities. Invoking an ancient law, legendary Senator Garm Bel Iblis has kept Corellia out of the Clone Wars and is strongly opposed to the changes imposed by the New Order.

Strategic Considerations: Major threat from Byss.
Heroes: Garm Bel Iblis

 

PRM Farrfin

This smuggler world has a vibrant underworld and finds the Galactic Empire and its new taxes a considerable threat – especially as this is increasingly backed up by the Imperial Fleet and a growing Imperial Customs Service.

Strategic Considerations: Major threat from Coruscant.
 

 

PRM Fresia

This tiny island population is the home to Incom – producers of one of the most popular basic fighters towards the last days of the Old Republic – the Z95 Headhunter. Incom’s fortunes have dramatically changed for the worse with the creation of the Galactic Empire and the move towards disposable TIEs – and disposable pilots, something that the Fresians object to morally.

Strategic Considerations: Isolated, but Coruscant could be a threat in the future.

 

IMPERIAL Coruscant

 

Coruscant has everything – vast research capabilities, diverse production, immense wealth and a huge pool of talented individuals to nurture and develop. 

 

 

In addition, both Sith lords – Darth Sidious and Darth Vader - are present on Coruscant, giving the Imperial faction a huge advantage. The political and financial influence of Darth Sidious is worth several star-systems, and Darth Vader frightens whole armies, both in space and in ground combat.

Strategic Considerations: Minor Threat from Farrfin.
Heroes: Darth Sidious, Darth Vader

 

 

While the temptation is to focus on military research, some effort should be spend to upgrade the trade fleet and add to Coruscant’s fleet in case the threat from Farrfin increases. Military expansion, both north to Dolomar and south to the Deep Core should be considered.

 

IMPERIAL Byss

Byss is the center of secret holdings in the Deep Core. With a massive 20bn population of immigrants tricked into travelling to a utopian world, Byss could become a major planet of influence.

Strategic Considerations: Major Threat from Abregado-rae and Corellia

Much effort should be made to consolidate holdings in the deep core and expand as if the smuggler fleet on Abregadoe Rae is able to merge with the Corellians, then the Deep Core is in danger.

 

IMPERIAL Corulag

This model Imperial world is isolated from Coruscant by the republic influences at the Naval Academy on Anaxes, and threatened by political activists on Chandrila. It must rapidly expand its fleet and defeat pro-republican sentiments.

Strategic Considerations: Major Threat from Chandrila
Heroes: Gilad Pellaeon

 

IMPERIAL Kuat

The Kuat Drive yards have unrivalled military production capacity – as long as you have the credits to spend. 

 

 

Kuat has strong neighbours, but no immediate threats, and while it may be tempting to immediately start construction of a destroyer fleet, current limited incomes may prove this be an unnecessary strain on finances. It may be wiser in the short term to divert funds to more vulnerable holdings until their security has been established.

Strategic Considerations: No immediate threats. Powerful neighbours.
Heroes: Onara Kuat

 

IMPERIAL Gandeal

Gandeal is a mineral-rich resource world with small freighter yards that supplies the shipyards of Fondor with raw materials. This should be considered as facility for financial rather than military growth.

Strategic Considerations: Weak Military. Powerful neighbours.
Heroes: Barrow Oicunn

 

IMPERIAL Prakith

Prakith is the secret headquarters of the Inquisitorius in the Deep Core. With no immediate threats, this facility should be expanded to a support facility, building fleet and trade units.

Strategic Considerations: Light Military. Powerful neighbours. Medium term strategy Corsucant should make efforts to connect to Prakith.
Heroes: Antinnis Tremayne

 

Overall, this is a campaign for long term strategy. You certainly have far higher incomes than any other campaign in this era, but early opportunities for expansion are limited – and most be considered carefully.  However, you have access to unsurpassed shipyards and with a solid financial base, your regions of influence should expand steadily.