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

 

 

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.

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.

We're on the workshop!

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on September 3, 2017

Hey guys

 

With the update(!) to Empire at War on Steam, turning multiplayer back on, fixing some bugs, and adding Steam workshop support, I worked all day yesterday getting Phoenix Rising onto the workshop. It's available for download here: http://steamcommunit...873&searchtext=

 

Please post in this thread if you have any troubles installing/running the workshop version, as I haven't had much chance to test it myself.

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

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. 

Anatomy of a Starship

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on June 22, 2014

Probably the best way to introduce the new space combat mechanics is to take a detailed look at our new (WIP) infobox layout. You may recognise many of the elements from the revamped land combat; many of the elements are also new. I'll go through each in the order they appear using the classic example of the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer. Please note that all values shown are WIP.

 

 

Tactical Population Cost

 

This is a new number based on the total volume of the hull (or hulls in the case of a starfighter squadron). It is balanced around the idea that an Executor-class Super Star Destroyer consists of 400 population points, the maximum available space population. For carriers, it also includes the volume of all the starfighter squadrons as in the case of the Imperial II. This means that you can field 5 Imperial II-class and their entire complements at one time. These values are currently in the process of testing and tweaking, and the exact values may be different in the released version.

 

Starship Icon

 

All the starship icons have been brought into lineusing uniform lighting and rendering settings to create a better quality icon set.

 

Starship Name

 

As usual, we retain the full names of all ships, including their upgrade version.

 

Starship Class

 

From Starfighter through to Dreadnaught, a starship's class helps shape its maneuverability and sensor range statistics. It also determines which shipyard type is needed to construct it.

 

Special Abilities

 

With the new version, we have many greatly improved autofire scripts for ship special abilities, so we feel comfortable including more than the two accessible from the GUI. In most cases, the tractor beam will be the hidden, autofired ability, and it will usually target whatever the ship has been told to attack. Note here the Imperial II has a Tractor Beam, Emergency Thrusters (power to engines ability) and Blast. Blast is a new ability we have added to many main-line combat ships. It moves the firepower of the main battery (in this case, the octuple turbolasers and turboions) up a notch, so that has increased range and firepower.

 

Manufacturer

 

We have always included manufacturer bonuses on various appropriate planets such as Kuat. Now you can see exactly which ships will benefit, with the inclusion of the Manufacturer in the infobox.

 

Cost

 

This is the base hull cost, not including complement (which is included in the final cost at a 50% discount). Costs have been modified across the board to provide a more challenging economic planning experience.

 

Time

 

This is the base hull construction time, measured in galactic time. For the Imperial II, this is 15 weeks. Note that building over a world with appropriate shipyard bonuses, or by building more of the same class of shipyard, this time can be dramatically reduced.

 

Dimensions

 

Width x length x height, in meters, the basic size of the hull.

 

Volume

 

The total volume of the hull in cubic meters, often using exponential notation. Here for example, the Imperial II is 121 million cubic meters in volume. This statistic informs hitpoint calculations and has a great effect on the likelihood for a ship to be hit by enemy fire.

 

Acceleration

 

With the change to the new space combat mechanics, we have moved towards a more "realistic" approach. While ships still have a capped top speed, it is directly proportional to their acceleration. This is measured in terms of G-force, the acceleration experienced by a being on the surface of a planet with standard gravity, roughly 10 m/s².

 

Maneuvrability

 

This statistic is the turning speed of the starship, measured in degrees per second. It is primarily class-based.

 

Hyperdrive

 

The class of the hyperdrive in the starship (if any), which determines its ability to travel across the galaxy in hyperspace. The smaller the better!

 

Shielding

 

Here is one of the new statistics. Shielding is now measured in Shield Points (SP) and has an absorption percentage shown after it. This is the amount of damage the shield can absorb from a single shot before it takes SP damage. So for example, a turbolaser shot hitting the Imperial II shield with a damage of 96 will do around 58 points of shield damage.

 

Hull

 

Hull has also changed a great deal. It is now measured in Hull Points (HP), like that of land combat. This value is primarily volume-based. Following the HP is the armour value and type. The Imperial II has 32 Vehicle armour. This means that it absorbs 32 damage from any incoming shot before the hull itself is damaged. For example, the same 96 damage turbolaser will do 64 points of hull damage on impact.

 

Range

 

This statistic shows the maximum and minimum ranges of the weapon systems on the ship, followed by its line of sight range. All values are in meters. In this case, the longest range weapons are the octuple turbolasers, while the shortest are the individual turbolaser cannons.

 

Armament

 

We have greatly condensed the weapons display into a shorthand that provides much more information. We have done away with "light", "heavy" and so on, instead simply telling you the weapon type, their number, and their damage output. So, here the Imperial II has 6 octuple turbolasers with 240 damage per bolt, 2 octuple turboions with 240 damage per bolt, 2 triple turbolasers with 144 damage per bolt, and so on. Note that ion weapons do 200% damage to shields, but cannot damage anything except Droid armour. The number of tractor beams is also noted, which adjusts the cooldown of the tractor beam ability.

 

 

I hope this little snippet has provided some insight to the changes we've been making over the past 18 months. If you have any questions, I will endeavour to answer below, however note that I did not implement these changes myself.

Grey Goo, the next game from Petroglyph

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on March 13, 2014

 

 

Petroglyph has recently announced their next real time strategy game: Grey Goo, which should be published by a mysterious company called Greybox. It should feature 3 new factions and all the good and solid mechanisms that makes real time strategy games fun, such as base building, resource collection and a focus on macro-management rather than micro-management. The game will be Windows only originally and it should be sold on Steam. It can be played online and offline (skirmish) and it should feature a story driven campaign. According to Petroglyph, the game should be available on late 2014 and it will feature soundtracks from Frank Klepacki. For more information, head to Grey Goo's Official Website.

Planets by numbers

Posted by Ghostrider at Phoenix Rising News on December 21, 2012

The key theme to V1.3 development is conforming to The Essential Atlas, which involves moving all the planets to their correct locations. In addition, a new theme has been added to this which has implications throughout the mod, some obvious, some hidden: Populations.

Planets vary enormously in their planetary populations, from the trillion on Coruscant to the airless uninhabited moon of Folor, and this now becomes the key economic driver for determining planetary income and industrial output. In general, heavily populated Core Worlds outclass anything else in terms of economic and military output (with a few notable exceptions), while some of the Outer Rim planets are so poor, one wonders if they are worth the military effort to take them. More on this later.

The second major change is fleet populations. Every unit now requires galactic population to build it. The more crew in a ship, the greater the Unit Population. Why? An Imperial-class Star Destroyer has 37,000 crew and requires consumables for 2.5 years. That's over 100 million meals stuck somewhere in the hold, and all this food, together with all the other consumables and parts required to cover every possible eventuality of running a Star Destroyer from spare rank cylinders to deflector shield parts has to be supplied from somewhere. Each planet you control will contribute to Galactic Population, and each land or space unit that is built consumes Galactic Population.

From a Campaign design perspective 2 points are immediately obvious. Firstly, while frigates and below have low crew requirements, the Clone Wars-era cruisers such as the Dreadnaught and the Acclamator Assault Ship are ridiculously crew-heavy designs, and it is not surprising that these designs were relegated to crew training and planetary defense roles out during the Imperial Era, especially with the advent of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer. While this certainly has a high Unit Population, a single Imperial is less demanding on Galactic Population than 2 Dreadnaught Heavy Cruisers, and with considerably more firepower. Yet another example of the technical breakthroughs achieved with the Imperial-class. It's not just a raw demonstration of firepower – it's also more efficient in crew requirements. Population is shown in yellow for negative numbers, such as unit population costs, and green for positive values, as per most planets.

So what defines Galactic Population?
Clearly food surplus is a key requirement to building a large fleet/army, but in addition a vibrant trade network is required to allow fleet supply to move goods around the galaxy to support front line military units wherever they are.

The current system of 10 population per planet is too uniform and simply was not going to work. But what do we replace it with? Answer – a full demographic model of each planet giving a picture of its food production, economy, trade network and industrial output that can then be used to determine a realistic figure for its weekly income and Galactic Population.

Actually this isn't quite as bad as it sounds as I had already started on a planetary demographic model during V1.2 development, but the model has grown and grown and is pretty complex. I'll attempt to break it down into manageable chunks.

Food Production
The first step in creating a picture of a planet and its economic output is food production, the mainstay of most civilisations. Planets are not just lumps in space, terrain is critical to food production, so we listed a set of primary terrain types, all with different features: Grassland, Oceans, Forests, Temperate, Mountains, Volcanic, Desert, Swamp, Urban, Arctic, Barren, Ruined urban and Primordial and Asteroid. To this we add the civilisation factors: Technology Level, ranging from Neolithic/Primitive through to Super-High Tech. I also wanted a measure of Industrialisation and Pollution, which I call Harmony. Planets with high Harmony scores are pretty, grow lots of food and are good for tourism, while planets with negative scores are increasingly polluted.

Both Tech and Harmony have significant impact on food production and industrial output. Low Tech worlds take big penalties for both economy and food production, while the polluting worlds are penalised on food production but have bigger economies and greater industrial output.

Now we apply the Agricultural Level (which is a separate but related concept to the Advantage of the same name) , which acts as a multiplier to the terrain type. While the normal level of Agriculture is set at 1, some harsher worlds (where the planetary description indicates a subsistence level economy) this may drop to 0.5 or 0.25 depending on the local conditions. High levels of urbanisation will also reduce the Agri-level. Planets with good food reserves increase to Agri-level 2 or 3, while 4 or 5 is reserved for the Agriworlds, where the entire planet is turned into a giant farm. The scale of food production varies enormously, with Tatooine's moisture farmers producing 2.3 units of food, up to the giant of Ukio's world farms producing over 200 food units.

We also decided that planetary diameters will have an impact on food production, so large planets have their food output increased, while small colonised moons with lower surface area produce less food. As a bonus, we've taken the planetary diameters and re-scaled the planets visually in Galactic Mode so you can see size differences now, where known.

And finally, we deduct a measure of food that is eaten by the planetary inhabitants, so that big urban worlds are net food importers, with Coruscant's trillion beings eating over 100 food units worth of population.

Trade
The other side of the credit chip is galactic trade. This is based on several areas of industry. First, we take the trade generated by industrial output, which includes mineral resources, general industrial output (with positive modifiers for factory worlds), art & tourism, crime, and population-based civilian demand, so urban worlds score well here. Furthermore, this is intrinsically linked to the galactic trade network, and each planet gets a special "Commercial" ranking depending on its galactic position and access to major trade routes. The Comms rank ranges from 1 to 8, with position on the Big 5 Hyperrroutes (Hydian Way, Perlemian etc) rating an automatic 4. Remote Outer Rim worlds may only rate 1-2, while the super-hubs are scoring 6 or more. This makes a massive difference to the trade created by a planet, and has a major impact on both planetary economy and Galactic Population.

Most of this data remains hidden (actually in a massive spreadsheet used for mod development), but the result is a very personalised planetary economy. Having gone this far, we decided to complete the task by calculating all the important game considerations using this data.

Land and Space slots are now calculated using all the information gathered so far. To build a base you need solid terrain and a local technological culture to build and maintain the base. Key factors for Base size are terrain type and planetary population. Harsh worlds reduce the base size, high populations increase base size. The number of space slots is a combination of local shipbuilding – ranging from general technical skill of the population to specialist shipyards as noted in the planetary advantages, with additional slots for high trade requirements and large colony size. The number of Turret mounts for Planetary Turbolaser Defenses are now biased towards urbanised centres, and low population worlds tend to have fewer turbolasers than high tech worlds. The number and frequency of build pads is often also linked to urbanisation, so don't expect too many build pads to help your troops if you invade a barren planet! And finally, when you capture a planet, you get to steal/plunder all the goods awaiting shipment, so trade planets, mining worlds and planets with medical exports will have higher capture values.

Planets by numbers
If this is confusing, let's illustrate with a few examples; Firstly we collect all the data we know about a planet: Diameter, Population, Terrain types, Atmosphere type, Description. From this we can determine a range of 18 data points that describe the planetary demographics and from with we calculate the number of Land and Space Slots, the weekly income, Galactic Population, Capture Value, Destroy value and a rough guide to the number of possible towers for all those planets with unique maps.

Overall, with 300 planets in the database that's over 5000 data points to determine that describe all the planets in the mod, and 2500 critical data points used by the mod data files. This has then been tested (hence the call for Alpha testers) and re-balanced. While both the economic and population systems worked, the initial scale estimates were a bit high and a quick scalar applied to all values. Incomes now range considerable from negative income scores for barren moons to thousands of credits for the key industrial and trade centres.

Changes to the Campaigns
So what does this mean for the campaigns? Firstly, fleets end up a bit smaller, and Capital-class warships just got a bit rarer as all the campaigns are re-balanced for the population cap. This also has the added benefit of improving game performance due to the reduction in fleet size. Unless you have a large number of Core Worlds or agri-worlds under your control to boost your population limits, those early Clone Wars-era cruisers will end up being unpopular and will put pressure on your research planets to develop more modern and more efficient designs. Overall, the dynamics of play should become even more interesting with this extra challenge.

Our Best Case Yet For Mod Of The Year

Posted by Phoenix Rising at Phoenix Rising News on December 3, 2012

2012 has been a transformative year for us. Version 1.2 premiered in March and we've been anything but idle since. After wrestling the engine for years over certain features, we've finally reached a point where our design is beginning to fall into place. There are plenty of updates to reveal over the next couple of weeks, but for now, please help get us into the Top 100 by voting in Mod DB's annual contest. Just click on the wrench and trophy image to visit our page, then click again on the "Vote For This Mod" button in green.

As you may know, Nertea was busy publishing his own mod for Battle for Middle-earth in between modeling our vehicles. Kindly consider voting for The Dwarf Holds, which also had a major release this year.

Traveling Through Hyperspace Ain't Like Dusting Crops

Posted by Phoenix Rising at Phoenix Rising News on November 29, 2012

Research has always been an integral part of our development process. No demand has been more of a challenge in that regard than our need to place each planet at a definite galactic location for strategy mode.

When I began the process in the alpha phase of v1.0, there were maybe four official maps available that held any degree of accuracy; all were clearly related by the reference angle. Beyond that were hundreds of raw sources netting thousands of remarks about regional or relative location. Had that been the end of it, my task would have been nearly impossible.

Fortunately, an adolescent Wookieepedia was available to help cut through much of the clutter. And then I found this fellow called Modi, who had translated the askew maps onto a Cartesian plane, allowing me to derive coordinates that could be fed to the engine. It was the Internet equivalent of striking gold - a starting point. Later, JustinGann expanded on Modi's work to include speculative placements, which afforded me a second opinion. The end result was an independent interpretation of the galaxy unique to Phoenix Rising.

It took the single most important update to the canon to void all that effort - for the better. Midway through v1.2, The Essential Atlas hit bookshelves. Every star system that had ever been mentioned was now bound to a region of space 1/576^th the area of the galaxy. A great many were placed with certainty. The unprecedented accuracy of the atlas created a dilemma though, as several campaigns had already been finalized for the release. Rather than scrapping them and starting over, we chose to forge on knowing that v1.2's astrography would be flawed. I am pleased to report that the next version will be anything but.

TEA contains dozens of maps, each with its own scale and set of planets. My first step in replotting the galaxy was to composite them at a scale of 1 pixel = 10 lightyears to create a supermap. The digital Mid Rim sector map served as the foundation, since it had no loss of precision from scanning and little artifacting.

With that done, the actual measuring was trivial. The results were better than I ever could have expected: the first planetary coordinates for Abregado-rae came in identical to those already in use. They were not alone. Although I had corrected our most glaring differences - generally those with no frame of reference or cases where TEA chose to reject Rebellion placements while I did not - when prudent in v1.2, our interpretation really held up to intense scrutiny. Only Spuma, which Children of the Jedi had confused with Protazk, and Orinackra were completely off.

The present and final representation of the galaxy is 20% larger than v1.2 and approximately 92 times the area of vanilla. That should be enough space to prevent planetary overlap in all future cases. Several worlds always have to be manually relocated regardless of scale, but not so much as to be a distraction.

As profound as it is to finally have set astrography, a different facet of TEA had an even greater impact on strategic gameplay. The once-sporadic and eclectic collection of hyperlanes was replaced with a vibrant trade network.

In v1.2, we had two kinds of routes: "the Big Five" and "other". There are now four classifications, the most I could objectively derive from official maps. These can be thought of colloquially as "super", "major", "minor", and "trace" routes. Their benefits are scaled linearly, so while traces provide only meager income, they are much quicker than using a navicomputer to punch though an unstable course, as is the case with non-route connections. Obviously not every system can be linked via hyperlane, so we have tried to balance between using intersections and minimizing campaign planet counts.

These connections are now critical to military operations in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. In the next release, fleets will not be able to travel from a planet unless there is an explicit line - we have eliminated proximity jumps. No longer can an invasion bypass Anaxes on the way to Coruscant, players need not guess where to attack and defend, and the AI has fewer perceptions to crunch when executing plans. This is arguably the single best change that has ever happened to strategy mode.

When FoC was released, I never imagined we would be able to deduce coordinates for every star system. If our trials and errors played even a miniscule part in affecting that change, then it was all worth it.

But I've learned so much!

Posted by Ghostrider at Phoenix Rising News on January 7, 2012

With the stunning potential of the Freerunner model in full view, combined with the skeletal structure of the land mod in place, Phoenix Rising approached me the end of 2010 with a challenge: resurrect the Training Manual for the mod.
I had initially tried to write a training manual during 2010, but the idea never had any real structure and the project was put back on the shelf to gather dust.

The need for a manual had been building unseen for months. When we started development of V1.2 all those months ago, the mod was still small enough to be able to play by instinct and a few basic tool tips. As mod development continued, we were able to keep track of the expansion in units through simple documentation. However, as time went on this became more involved, with some fairly complex spreadsheets to keep track of space forces, the expanding number of planets and their advantages.
Then we added heroes. Lots of heroes. The complement system changed and more independent space units were added. Somewhere in the future the sheer scale of the mod would be too great to simply play by instinct alone, and too complex to try and remember everything as a developer.

The decision to redo the land mechanic from scratch became the focus for some form of supporting literature. However, the new land combat system is so totally different in design and depth that it would be hard for even the most experienced players to learn how to fight well on land. Support literature was needed, for players and designers alike.

But what form should this documentation take?
The old concept of the Training Manual came back to life and this time it had real purpose – help explain the nuances of ground and space combat and help players to make the most of all the development work that has created Phoenix Rising. The Technical Manual was born.



As a graphic designer by trade with access to some high-end design software, I wanted the manual to be both informative and visually exciting. The design software can output to PDF, making it an ideal package to create an easy to read and near universal distribution format, and in shape I wanted the manual to fill the screen nicely and frame the new 3D renders created by Nertea. In addition, the copious library of screenshots could serve to illustrate units in action and key points of gameplay if required.
Once the basic structure of the manual was underway, a framing device was needed for the top and bottom of the page, and what better than an iconic screenshot of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer underbelly taken during initial testing of Operation Skyhook, deliberately taken to mimic the opening frames of “A New Hope”.
Tinted starscapes of Bespin space battles would initially serve as a background colour for the main text, but were since dropped in favour of another Skyhook screenshot featuring all the classic rebellion era units, including the DEATH STAR.
For the land pages, Phoenix Rising’s epic initial battle of Freerunners vs AT-AT’s on dusty Brentaal were unbeatable as background images and we simply had to include Nertea’s efforts in full detail.



But what of the text itself?
For me, nothing short of a full technical manual would do, as part of the fun of being involved in development is discovering what actually happens if you push the Power to Weapons button mid battle, or wondering exactly how much more firepower you get if you upgrade those Dual Laser cannons to Quads. There have also been a tremendous number of esoteric discussions about almost every aspect of the mod, for example wondering why Dark Empire-era AT-AT’s are so terrifyingly effective. With the manual we can add this information in and fill in all sorts of interesting details and share some of the development buzz.
It also gives us the opportunity to thank in detail the vast number of contributors to the mod, and highlight some of the hidden work that often goes unnoticed by testers and other members of the team.



Although it would be nice to have a full technical readout of every weapon, starship, upgrade, planet, hero and tank in the mod, clearly this would have to wait and to be built up chapter by chapter. For V1.2 an introductory General Overview and a Military Overview would suffice, hopefully giving players enough information to understand the basics of space and land combat, with the shorter space section covering useful updates while the Land section required a a complete breakdown of the new combat mechanic in its entirety, as trying to make the most of the new combat system would be a serious challenge without literature, and most players would miss out on critical tactical information this would make play harder and much less enjoyable.

Little did we know at the time that these two chapters would develop over the last year to over 100 pages, positively crammed with hints, tips, screenshots and enough technical data to keep an R2 unit happy for weeks. The manual also gives us an opportunity to thanks all the huge number of contributors to the mod over this lengthy development cycle, including the efforts of the various campaign testers and the output of our newest addition to the Phoenix Rising Team, evilbobthebob – our lead mapper.

The Space section of Chapter II includes data on all the space-based weapon systems, a detailed review of unit abilities and a look at the underpinning mechanics of space unit classes, covering armor types accuracy, damage control parties and other useful information. A full section describing all the different defensive and offensive abilities and a review of the compliment system rounds off the technical aspects of
space combat.



A Recent Addition
In the last month a new major section has been added to the manual. A rather innocuous comment on the forums – on a completely unrelated topic naturally – made me realise that there was a gap in the manual. Many players are not aware of the full potential and fleet roles of the huge variety of units in the Rebel and Imperial fleets.



This has now been resolved with a full 20 page review of all player fleet units, together with indications of their upgrade potential in the General Overview section. This and should provide commanders with greater insights into how to improve their combat skills, especially when paired with the technical briefings contained in Chapter II.

Discussion with the testers has since added a couple of pages of tactical notes and some great gameplay tips, together to make the General Overview complete.



The Land Section of the Military Overview provides complete details of the Land combat mechanic, describing the key difference between 5 units classes of Droids, Infantry, Walker, Crawler and Speeder, describing in detail the strengths and weaknesses of each class, how units are produced and full technical readouts of upgrades. Tips and strategy are included, indicating all the facets of gameplay, from bombing runs to infantry garrisons in vehicles.



You get to see the full weapon load-outs of all independent enemy units, and some stunning images of all the new units that have been introduced or converted for the intensity of planetary invasion as seen from a mud-hugging trooper or armoured assault carrier.



And if this was not enough, we have full listings of all land weapon systems with damage tables for the multitude of pistols, rifles, carbines, grenade launchers, flamethrowers, mines, and heavy vehicle-based weaponry that are now in regular use!



Future Chapters
These two chapters are just the beginning. As indicated earlier, the aim is to eventually put together a comprehensive technical manual for the mod, and the plan is to slowly release additional chapters as and when they are written!
The next chapter to be written will be Galactic Mode, used as a guide to help players make the most of all the information available to them, and this will also include details on hyperspace travel, trade routes, spying, information gathering and so on – but that won’t be started until after the release.
Following that will be chapters on Economy and Production at the very least – but this will all take months to complete, and as we progress into the development of V1.3, more time will be required to update existing chapters as well as writing new ones.
The V1.2 Manual will be included as a PDF with the release, and as always, we look forward to the ideas and comments this generates on the forums and I am sure V1.3 development will benefit as a result.

“I don’t like you!”

Posted by Ghostrider at Phoenix Rising News on September 10, 2010

Step into the wrong cantina, tell fat jokes to a Hutt, or fly against illegally modified fighters and transports are three quick ways to die.

As the campaigns have evolved, so have the pirate variants and assorted semi-legal and illegal starfighters, transports and even larger pirate vessels. Some of the semi-legal variants are simply custom modifications using more expensive shielding and standard weaponry components, but there are a handful of very unpleasant surprises in the galaxy, using some extremely illegal technologies.

Any planet with a shadowport or underworld is likely to have some of the shady or semi-legal units, but as the true illegal units carry an automatic death mark on most civilised worlds, these are seen only where organised crime has the upper hand.

Semi-legal or customised variants

Aggressor Assault Fighter
This large and rugged heavy fighter/transport is the perfect craft for bounty hunters, with heavy laser cannon, good shielding and a secure hold for up to 8 prisoners. Additional power cores gives this a Power to Weapons ability.
Era: 18BBY onwards

Preybird-class Starfighter
The original Soro Suub product is a very rugged fighter with medium Laser cannon and concussion missile launcher, while the Mark II upgrade is the staple production model of deep space pirates and features a major overhaul with increased shields and significantly upgraded weapons. Dual missile launchers and heavy laser cannon make this a raider to be feared.
Era: Mark I – 18BBY onwards. Mark II pirate production model: 7 ABY Onwards

Barloz Heavy Raider
This rugged transport is a favourite with deep space pirates and scavengers, and features a light turbolaser, 3 dual laser cannons and a rear-facing torpedo launcher to discourage active pursuit.
Era: 18BBY onwards

Delta-class DX-8 Transport
This older model troop transport is armed with forward facing laser cannon and torpedo launchers and is relatively easy to obtain on the grey-market.
Era: 18BBY onwards

Gamma-class ATR-5 Assault Transport
As a military specification transport, this usually requires excellent contacts to obtain, and often finds service as a heavily armed scout/exploration vessel or as a premium armoured courier sporting 3 turreted dual turbolasers and a proton torpedo launcher.
Era: 18BBY onwards

Guardian-Class Assault Shuttle
More gunship than light cruiser, this semi-legal variant packs in heavy lasers on every facing and adds a rapid firing missile system to counter heavy starfighters. Often deployed to protect shadowports from intruders.
Era: 18BBY onwards

HWK-290 Medium Raider
As true quads are illegal in the Empire, this craft mounts fixed forward facing quad blasters and quad ion cannon as well as a turreted octuple blaster cannon to comply with customs regulations – barely. Often used by opportunistic types to snag the odd cargo when no-one is looking.
Era: 18BBY onwards

YT-1300 Medium Raider
More armed smuggler than true pirate, this is still capable of packing a punch with top and bottom turreted quad blasters, side-firing concussion missiles and a forward facing laser cannon.
Era: 18BBY onwards

YT-2000 Blastboat
This custom upgrade is perfect for bounty hunters and smugglers alike. Heavily armed and manoeuverable, this performs more like a high performance self-escorting bomber with the added bonus that it carries a decent amount of contraband and can punch through most blockades with ease.
Era: 0ABY onwards

YV-666 Assault Transport
Very much the poor-man’s version of the ATR-5, it still hits corvettes hard with turreted dual turbolaser and turboion cannons and a modest torpedo armament.
Era: 18BBY onwards

Fire Ships
Some of the medium freighters have been packed with explosives and converted into Fire ships.
Explosions come in 3 sizes; small, large and very messy. Era: 18BBY onwards

Marauder Missile Cruiser
This is a rather expensive conversion as the standard armaments have been swopped out for 4 concussion missile launchers that each fire one missile every 3 seconds in a terrifiyingly deadly barrage. Although not illegal, this is definitely only obtainable on the black market!
Era: 18BBY onwards

Super Transport VII Interdictor Frigate
Perfect for pulling convoys out of hyperspace and stripping them of escorts, this converted heavy transport carries Dual Laser Cannon, Ion Cannon and multiple warhead launchers to make a killing as a pirate raider.
Era: 18BBY onwards

Super XI Fleet Carrier
A poor man’s Venator or a large pirate cruiser, this dumps multiple squadrons of cheap fighters supported by modest turbolaser, laser cannon and missile launcher emplacements, but is no match for a decent warship.
Era: 18BBY onwards

Illegal Fighters

Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-Wing (Illegal)
Readily available to those with contacts and cash, this is a superior Disruptor-armed dogfighter.
Era: 18BBY-0BBY

Cloakshape Fighter (Illegal)
Modest shielding, Disruptor cannons and an Advanced torpedo launcher make this multi-role heavy fighter a favourite craft for outlaws and pirates.
Era: 18BBY onwards

Mankvim Light Interceptor (Illegal)
Almost a contradiction in terms, this is a cheap, disposable illegal fighter with light shields and slugthrower cannon, and is a favourite of bargain-hunting crime-lords, such as the Hutts.
Era: 18BBY Onwards

Preybird-class Starfighter (Illegal)
As the Preybird eventually became the staple pirate raider, an illegal variant was swift to appear, and is deadly. Heavy Dual Disruptor cannons and 2 advanced concussion missile launchers usually result in a swift demise for any opponent.
Era: 4ABY onwards

R-41 Starchaser (Illegal)
Wingtip mounted Disruptor cannons and a rapid firing slugthrower cannon in the nose act like a chainsaw to opposing fighter squadrons. Advanced missile launchers add to the carnage.
Era: 18BBY onwards

StarViper-class Attack Platform (Illegal)
Modelled on Prince Xisor’s personal craft, this can blow away a medium bomber in a single burst from two Double Disruptor cannons. It’s probably the worst thing ever.
A cargo of Buzz Droids makes this craft a match even for Shadow Droids.
Era: 7ABY Onwards

T-65 X-Wing (Illegal)
4 fire linked Disruptor cannons and Advanced proton torpedoes mounted onto an Incom T-65 X-wing make for a very hard-hitting heavy fighter. These are normally extremely hard to get hold of, and as such are rare.
Era: 4ABY Onwards

T.I.E. Starfighter (Illegal)
With huge numbers of salvaged Republic T.I.E Starfighters left taken from Clone Wars battlefields, this rapidly became the basic Disruptor-armed fighter of choice for many early pirates, and is moderately dangerous when encountered in large numbers.
Era: 18BBY, very rare by 0BBY

TIE Fighter (Illegal)
Fast moving disruptor-fighter replacing the obsolete T.I.E Starfighter (Illegal)
Era: 0BBY onwards

TIE Interceptor (Illegal)
Exceptionally fast and agile this is a superb Disruptor-armed interceptor, normally commanding a very high black market price, and often limited to senior criminal commanders and renegade imperials.
Era: 4ABY Onwards

Z-95 Headhunter (Illegal)
Triple slugthrowers on each wingtip fire an average of 18 armor piercing slugs per trigger burst, making the illegal R41 look like a cheap toy in comparison. Cheap and very nasty en-masse.
Era: 18BBY – 10BBY

The semi-legal variants and illegal snubfighters are the most common form of custom pirate modifications on the black market.
Part II of this study will explore the heavy guns of the pirate world – illegal bombers and anything of corvette sized and larger that has been modified with illegal disruptor weaponry, mass drivers and the very expensive black market missile systems. . .

Thawns Revenge Imperial Civil War Released

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on September 3, 2010

The Imperial Civil War v1.0 has been released for Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption, please note that this mod requires a full installation of the latest version of Forces of Corruption in order to work.


Main Features of the mod:
-Conquer the galaxy as the Imperial Remnant, New Republic or Empire of the Hand.
-Revamped tech and ship building systems.
-8 new galactic conquest scenarios.
-18 new skirmish maps.
-Redone particles and effects.
-Redone GUI

To see a full list of units, planets and features click here

Download the mod at these locations:
Preferred Mirror: Fileplanet
Download Mirror #2: EaWFiles
Download Mirror #3: ModDB

**EaW Files Mirror currently doesn't work with IE or Chrome***


Moving Forward
The mod is released, but we aren't finished just yet. Several of the team have decided we're going to stick around and continue to do whatever we can to improve the mod. This includes fixing bugs, expanding the Empire of the Hand with more units and structures, more skirmish maps, more varied GC scenarios, and general gameplay improvements, so we'll give you a quick look at what's coming in the near future.

Currently Planned Unit Additions:
Space:
-Neutron Star Freighter (New Republic; Space)
-Hanla Freighter (EotH; Space)
-A9 Vigilance Interceptor (Empire, Daala; Space)
-Miy'til Bomber (Hapans; Space)
-Nirauan Star Destroyer (EotH; Space)
-Armoured Freerunner (New Republic; Ground)
-Nova Cruiser (Hapans; Space)

If you have any ideas for the mod or comments about the mod, you can post them directly in the mods forums here.

Petrolution: Remember we work for you!

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on January 31, 2010

To all existing hostees and potential new ones that are browsing around, I'd just like to remind you that we, at Petrolution work for you!

I'd like to take a few minutes of your time to tell all of you and the fans of your mods, what we are doing to get more exposure for your mods. Firstly, it's all about PR, over at Petroglyph forums lies the main user base for all EaW/UaW players left, that's why in my new sig and all other sigs I make I will link every single mod that Petrolution hosts. I will of course make my sigs look cool as always to attract the most attention.

Arguably, you're all thinking, what's that going to do? Well, Berek, the Community Manager at Petroglyph wants to make sure the community of these games stick together, I have proposed that we most mod news and spotlights in their monthly community newsletter which thousands of fans read, to get your mods on there is my top priority and it will give you a massive boost not only in downloads but fans participating in discussion and wanting to know more about your mod!

I'm also going to be publishing weekly news updates here on Petrolution about all of the updates and news about your mods, as well as other interesting things that are happening over at Petroglyph.

It's a fantastic time to be a hostee here at Petrolution, a time where you are going to get a lot more exposure rather than in the attic of the Petrolution forums. I have found the key and opening up that attic door, letting your mods flow out, but at the same time attracting new mods and fans in.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to PM/Email me or comment here and we can see what we can do for you!

Digz

...the more star systems slip through your fingers

Posted by Ghostrider at Phoenix Rising News on December 21, 2009

The spark that ignited the formation of the Rebel Alliance has become a roaring flame of defiance across many parts of the Mid and Outer-Rim. Insurgents in the Tion Hegemony are beginning to combine with Mon Calamari forces following the successful civil uprising that liberated the waterworld after a series of Imperial atrocities. The desperate struggle for freedom, equipped with stolen Imperial warships, privateer vessels and the secret conversion of liners to warships in underwater shipyards has forced the Imperials to withdraw from the region, and a large mixed fleet of Mon Calamari designs and human forces from the Allied Tion are gathering at Turkana. This fleet is being further strengthened by the presence of hand-made T-65A X-Wings stolen by defecting Incom scientists in a daring raid on Fresia, and technicians have now made schematics for the mass production T-65B model available to all Alliance forces.

The fleets of Turkana and Ralltiir raid Imperial bases



This news has had repercussions throughout the Empire, and the entire Kwymar Sector has rebelled and given total support to the Alliance Cause. This is not without its risks, as the Alliance leadership is concerned about potential reprisals, and while the Mon Calamari have contributed a large number of converted warships to the emerging rebel fleet, in many locations the meagre stock of civilian and trading starships lack the firepower to even deal with an Imperial cruiser, let alone any of the capital warships that are even now looking to suppress any world that shows anything other than total acceptance of Imperial law.

Taking losses from illegal warships



Worse still, recent intelligence reports are much more frightening. The existence of the DEATH STAR project casts a shadow of fear across the entire galaxy, although it is not known where this battlemoon is being built. While its final weapon systems are unknown, the test firing of a small prototype super-laser on Toprawa has been seen to easily destroy a Star-Destroyer in orbit, and the final weapon system for the DEATH STAR is said to be much more powerful. Bothan spies have found that huge amounts of material and funding have been diverted to a secret projects near Kessel and also to the prison world of Despayre. Listening posts in the Cron Drift have also seen a marked increase in freight traffic to both systems, suggesting that this could be where the project will be completed.

Charging an Imperial Star-Destroyer



However, Alliance High Command currently lacks the fleet firepower to undertake a assault on this scale. In the meantime, several tasks must be attempted, and the disruption of Imperial supply lines is a key goal. The Liberty and her task force have been dispatched to the Corporate Sector with orders to seek and destroy unprotected Imperial interests in the region. Mustafar is also vulnerable to raiding forces and is a good target for a starfighter strike from Polis Massa, and Bothuwai is near to open rebellion, although several resistance groups have recently been slaughtered by the Emperor in retaliation for information leaks.

Elsewhere in the galaxy entire corporations have sided with the Alliance, the Yutrane-Trakata plant at Doniphon, and the Koensayr facilities on Ralltiir are probably the best suppliers of war materiel. The call to arms has been heard and volunteers are joining the army ranks daily, though that alone may not be enough. The Force must be with us for the final confrontation, and the Rebellion has lacked a Jedi champion since Galen Marek. To that end, Bail Organa has secretly tasked his daughter with tracking down whatever remnants of the Jedi may still exist.

The Force must be with us for the final confrontation...

No, There Is Another

Posted by Phoenix Rising at Phoenix Rising News on September 3, 2009

Given the new mechanic for hero leadership, it would've been cruel to simply reform the existing heroes and leave it at that. Breaking up that news into two posts, however, is merely deceptive.

While working on the aforementioned changes, I concurrently took the opportunity to introduce a whopping 18 original heroes to the mod - 9 for each faction. This was mostly done with an eye towards fleshing out our historical campaigns, but it's a diverse lot and a few serve other purposes. Since most of them are leaders, some will provide complementary qualities to old heroes, while others will populate previously underrepresented service branches. Here's the list for the Alliance:

Afyon - ornery veteran of the Clone Wars who joined the Rebellion when his native Alderaan was obliterated. Afyon served as the commander of several starships throughout the war, including the Eridain and the Larkhess, the latter of which was eventually converted to run cargo from Sluis Van for the nascent New Republic. In spite of this duty, he still takes great pride in keeping his vessel in top form.

Arhul Narra & K-3PO - as wing commander of the venerable Renegade Flight, Narra saw plenty of action behind the stick for the early Alliance, all of which he recorded in his protocol droid, K-3PO. Storing this information accidentally made the droid into a tactical expert and it became one of the few droids to ever receive a commission. Narra is at his best when raiding Imperial interests, with K-3PO providing tactical advice.



Bria Tharen - pre-Alliance Rebel cell leader romantically linked to Han Solo, Tharen preys on slavers from the Retribution, having famously busted Hutt operations on Ylesia. She's known for her unrelenting brutality in combat and ability to complete a mission.



Hiram Drayson - formerly of the Chandrila Defense Fleet, Drayson was tapped by Mon Mothma to coordinate the overall security of her personal flotilla for the Rebellion. When the New Republic captured Coruscant, he was placed in charge of its space defenses, a position he still held upon Thrawn's reemergence. Drayson thrives in the relative peace, but would be outmatched by more militaristic flag officers.

Huoba Neva - female Sullustan officer in the Imperial Navy who defected to the Alliance only after seeing her career stagnate due to systematic prejudice. She now commands the Rebel Star as Imperial forces spew from the Deep Core. Neva is a promising tactician, with a business sense that comes from her connections to SoroSuub.

Judder Page - skilled SpecForce lieutenant who served in General Solo's strike team at Endor and would later go on to lead the prestigious Katarn Commandoes. As the ranking commander in the field, it's up to Page to orchestrate tactical deployment.

Sarin Virgilio - captain of the Quenfis under Admiral Drayson's Home Guard during the Thrawn Crisis. Virgilio is a competent starship pilot and gunner.

Syub Snunb - a senior officer of the Sullustan Home Guard, Snunb became a Rebel when allegiances shifted for his homeworld before Endor and he was given command of the Antares Six, the ship that would later rescue survivors of the Liberator caught in the Imperial Civil War. Snunb is skilled at counter-piracy and keeping his command in good working order.



Ten Numb - during the Battle of Endor, Numb led members of Blue Squadron in assaulting the Executor, actions that got him promoted to squadron leader. He's an aggressive commander who also has experience as a bounty hunter.

And Empire:



Bevel Lemelisk - father of the modern superweapon, Lemelisk is a genius at devising engines of doom, having famously worked on all iterations of the Death Star. His input provides inspiration for all technical and R&D staff.

Brandei - rose from a Fleet Support role to the captaincy of the Judicator on persistence and talent. His varied assignments have left him without a specialization though.

Dorja - an old guard star destroyer captain who led the Relentless in an auxiliary role in Thrawn's Offensive. Dorja is noted for his caution in battle.

Freja Covell - the ranking army officer of Thrawn's armada, Covell was groomed by Veers to be a walker prodigy, the two both commanding AT-ATs at Hoth. He's an innovative tactician who's respected by his subordinates.

Khabarakh - leader of the Death Commando team sent to capture Leia on Kashyyyk during the Thrawn Crisis; he would be the first to recognize her as the Mal'ary'ush, setting in motion Thrawn's downfall. Khabarakh is able to both protect friendly heroes and assassinate enemy ones.



Nahdonnis Praji - lieutenant colonel in charge of the Devastator's Stormtrooper complement while it served as Vader's flagship. A decade later, he would be part of a successful wave assault from Byss that would see him made governor of Kaikeilius. Praji excels at efficiently positioning his troops.

Raith Sienar - arguably the greatest engineer of his generation, Sienar pioneered countless innovations, among them the revolutionary twin ion engine. The mere presence of such a luminary is enough to put your engineers in top form.

Rukh - Thrawn's bodyguard following his return from the Unknown Regions. Rukh would exact the Noghri's revenge on the Empire by slaying Thrawn at Bilbringi. He's capable of performing, and protecting against, assassinations.



Titus Klev - model CompForce recruit who joined the Imperial Navy and became a prominent admiral in the early stages of Operation Shadow Hand; Klev would lead the World Devastator fleet against Mon Calamari at the behest of Executor Skywalker. His command style is a cross between political policing and shows of brutality.

Full details are listed on the hero pages for the Alliance and Empire.

P-05 announced: Panzer General®: Allied Assault

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on August 14, 2009

Yet another game from Petroglyph has been announced? Panzer General: Allied Assault, for XBox 360. This time they've learned the lesson. Announce a game with a name and some media (screenshots). It should be released before Mytheon. Here's the press release:

Panzer General®: Allied Assault key features:

CARD GAME MEETS BOARD GAME: Thanks to the Collectible Card Game mechanics, players can swap out Unit Cards in decks for the perfect mix of tanks, artillery and infantry. Add in special Action Cards to "break the rules” and surprise opponents with air strikes and reinforcements. Players can retool decks with new cards awarded after each single or multiplayer victory.

A TASTE OF HISTORY: Panzer General Allied Assault lets players dive into the history of World War II. 3D models of vehicles used during the War march across the board and players can discover the cities where desperate battles took place. It's a new and exciting way to learn history.

PLAYER V. PLAYER (PVP) MODE: Players can play with a friend and have access to the special Unit and Action Cards you have unlocked in the single player Campaign. The more you play, the more cards you unlock!

Panzer General®: Allied Assault is scheduled for release in Fall 2009.

In conjunction with the game's release, Petroglyph has licensed with Ubisoft to publish a physical board game based on Panzer General®: Allied Assault on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game. Combining the best of a card game and board game, this World War II "lite” wargame includes 240 action and unit cards, provides solo and 2 player scenarios and can be played in under an hour. This will be released in the Fall of 2009 with a MSRP of $59.99.

For more information, please visit - www.panzergeneralalliedassault.com

Find out more information about it at the game's official site and at TeamXBox.com. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be moddable.

Remember... No Disintegrations!

Posted by Ghostrider at Phoenix Rising News on January 6, 2009

For some time we have been hinting at the terrifying combat power of illegal warships and of criminals in general. Here is an insiders view of the worst a pirate fleet has to offer.

First, we take the view that all pirates have extensively modified the stock models, with major overhauls to engines, maneuverability, shielding and hull armour plate. This makes them tougher than normal, but what really sets them apart are the illegal weapon systems.

Pirates use a range of illegal weapons from the extremely expensive Diamond Boron Missiles, through to Slug Throwers and worst of all - Disruptor technology.

Diamond Boron Missiles are fast, expensive and have a wide range explosive effect in addition to high warhead damage. This makes them perfect anti-starfighter weapons and a good volley of DBM’s can wipe out entire squadrons of starfighters.

Slug Throwers are kinetic energy weapons, like rail guns, that bypass shields and damage the hull directly. They are most commonly used as quad guns to devastating anti-fighter effect.

The really scary weapons, however are the disruptors. These illegal guns consume huge quantities of tibanna gas and create a short range waveform that destroy the bonds holding atoms together. The result of this is that if you fire a disruptor pistol at a humanoid target, it is usually vapourised, leaving a small pile of ash behind. Mere possession of a disruptor pistol is an automatic death sentence on most civilised worlds. When Merr-Sonn developed the MSD-32 disruptor pistol, The weapon was so deadly and the company so horrified by what it had wrought that Merr-Sonn took steps to cover up the fact that the weapon ever existed; the design was purged from all company computers, the designers were sent to the spice mines, the managers were killed, and every weapon they could get their hands on was destroyed!

Enforcers, illegal mercenaries and marauder pirates carry disruptor pistols and disruptor rifles, making them deadly infantry. Starfighters are armed with disruptor cannon, and there are also very rare turbodisruptors that can be mounted on larger ships. All disruptor weapons sizzle straight through shields and vapourise large sections of starship hulls – causing huge damage.



The following illegal units are available to pirate forces:

Fighters
Alpha-3 Nimbus-class Starfighter (Illegal) - 2 Light Dual Disruptor Cannon.
A fast disruptor interceptor.
CloakShape Fighter (Illegal) - 2 Light Disruptor Cannon, 2 (3) Light Advanced Proton Torpedoes.
A cheap, tough-hulled illegal superiority fighter.
Mankvim Light Interceptor (Illegal) - with improved shield hull and maneuver, but no weapon upgrades.
Illegal spam fighter
R-41 Starchaser (Illegal) - 2 Light Disruptor Cannon +2, 2 Light Slug Thrower, 2 (4) Light Advanced Concussion Missile.
A Multi-purpose illegal dogfighter.
T.I.E. Starfighter (Illegal) - 1 Light Dual Disruptor Cannon.
A Maneuverable disruptor fighter (a worse/older choice than the Illegal Nimbus).
Z-95 Headhunter (Illegal) - 2 Light Triple Slug Thrower.
A Slugthrowing variant of the standard Headhunter.

Bombers
BTL Y-wing (Illegal) - 1 Triple Laser, 2 Light Slug Thrower, 2 (2) Light Proton Bombs.
A Self-escorting heavy bomber.
Rihkxyrk Attack Ship (Illegal) - 2 Disruptor Cannon, 2 Light Laser +2, 2 Light Ion Cannon +2, 2 (5) Light Proton Rockets.
An all-around illegal bomber a la B-wing.

Transports
Delta-class DX-8 Stormtrooper Transport (Illegal) - 8 Disruptor Cannon, 2 (4) Advanced Concussion Missile.
A deadly Anti-transport disruptor transport.
Gamma-class ATR-5 Assault Transport (Illegal) - 3 Light Dual Turbo-Disruptors, 1 Slug Thrower, 2 (6) Advanced Proton Torpedoes.
This tiny ship is a Frigate killer.
GAT-12 Skipray Blastboat (Illegal) - 6 Light TurboIon+4, 1 Dual Disruptor Cannon, 1 (16) Advanced Plasma Torpedo, 1 (16) MagnaPulse Torpedo. A Shipjacker special – designed to capture large warships intact.

Freighters
BFF-1 Fire Ship - exploding version. Twice as deadly as GR-75.
CTF-1 Container Transport (Illegal) – with 3 Dual Disruptor Cannon and Power to Engines, this is a blockade-running illegal freighter.
CTF-1 Fire Ship (Illegal) - Sensor Jamming (no double lasers).
With ionite explosives. Completely depletes all shields – something worthy of Han Solo himself – with one of these and a decent armed freighter, you could knock out the shields of an Imperial Star Destroyer, use an assault transport to blow the bridge windows and capture the ship intact!
GR-75 Fire Ship - non-upgraded, exploding version.
MCF-1 Modular Conveyor (Illegal) - 3 Dual Slug Thrower, 1 (12) Advanced Magnapulse Torpedoes, Sensor Jamming.
A Stealthy illegal freighter.

Corvettes
CR90 Corvette (Illegal) – 2 Dual Turbo-Disruptors and 4 Slug Throwers,
This is a dangerous multi-role illegal corvette.
IPV System Patrol Craft (Illegal) - 4 Dual Disruptor Cannon, 1 (24) Heavy Flechette Missile.
Flechette Missiles have a large effect area- making this a Hull-chewing counter-starfighter.
Marauder-class Missile Corvette (Illegal) - 4 (12) Heavy Diamond Boron Missiles, Full-Salvo.
A Squadron-killer.

Frigates and cruisers.
Carrack-class Light Missile Cruiser (Illegal) - 10 Heavy Mass-Driver Cannon, 20 Slug Throwers and 10 (10) HACM.
This is a mass-driving siege frigate, often used as a lesser flagship.
EF76 Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (Illegal) - 10 Turbo-disruptors, 10 Disruptor Cannon, 2 Tractor Beam. 2 Illegal Squadrons
General-purpose disruptor frigate, often encountered as a minor flagship.
Quazar-Fire-class Fire ship.
Big scary exploding version.

Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruiser (Illegal)
- 8 Heavy Dual Turbo-Disruptors, 16 Quad Laser Cannon, 8 Quad Ion Cannon, 2 (20) Heavy Diamond Boron Missiles, 2 Illegal squadrons. This is some kind of terrifying flagship. Under 10 exist in the entire galaxy, and all are unique.
Each is individually named for a person or criminal organisation and all of them have a different special ability, including proton beams, healing, cloaking, and shield leeching!



One final hint, the power of the disruptor is often misleading as it is sometimes hard to spot hull being damaged in tactical while shields are fully intact. It is very easy to lose a LOT of ships very fast when facing these behemoths. However, upgraded technology can handle even these monsters, so get your research hotting up!

Universe at War Map Pack 1.

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on October 25, 2008

Hello everyone! We have a new file for the UAW fans out there. It's the first Universe at War Map Pack ever. Evania, Scud and proffitt from Petroglyph used their never ever released map editor that is stuck somewhere in the backgrounds of a random lab from Microsoft to create these maps. Check out Evania's words on it:

The First UaW map pack has been completed!

3 four player maps:

Northern Heights
Peruvian Hills
Southern Lowlands


To install these maps go to the CustomMaps folder where your game is installed. The standard path is:

C: > Program Files > Sega > Universe At War Earth Assault > Data > CustomMaps

Save Both the .TGA and .TED files to this folder. Maps will appear in your Multiplayer map selections menu in game.


Enjoy!

Download the Universe at War Map Pack and dig up this game from its grave!