Wargear Customization Levels

[Fable]

This has been something I've been thinking of since I finally saw the PC gamer pictures. What degree of Wargear customization do we want on vehicles and characters? In one shot it looks like there's a character weilding a Thunderhammer, and in another it looks like there's a hunter killer missle tube strapped to a Rhino. Personally I would enjoy seeing a high level of customization for wargear, especially vehicles. The only worry I have is that some may become redundant (or totally useless) based on the way they choose to style the game (dozer blades do no good if tanks aren't affected by or just go around difficult terrain). This also leads to the question of what upgrades you would like to see which would be better represented in an RTS than on a turn based table top game (I can imagine the machine spirit being a severe pain to its enemies in the RTS world).

[Tribunal]

I'm HOPING for as much customization as possible, but we'll have to wait until closer to E3 time for more details, most likely (I can't wait until THQ permits them to shed more light on the game and what sort of decisions went into making it, it'd be really interesting I'm sure).

[Fable]

True, but I would like to know what races are in it as soon as possible and E3 is 4 months away. Actually purchasing the game pretty much hinges on wether or not Eldar are in the game. I hate the imperial emphasis on every game and (after final liberation tanked and never bothered coming out with the alternate armies) I have been very against anything that doesn't specifically include Eldar. Then Rites of War came out and not only was it incredibly lame, but it also forced you to play as the imperium as well as Eldar. I would like to see unit/character/vehicle customization on par with the table top game, where upgrades are unique to each instead of an across the board upgrade like in so many other RTS's.

[Maximus Decimus]

for heros in the game i can see u choosing what wargear they have in a similar way u choose what spell in warcraft but this way u dont have to get more wargear with more exp but just choose ur wargear. with tanks and stuff i doubt we will have a selection mybe a upgrade system like give tanks extra armor, give rhinos hunter killer missles(well mybe not these cause they ONLY fire once making them useless) or stormbolters which a marine mans. stuff like that could be worked out but i dont see how they can give u a "high" degree of customization like some of u demand, u ppl just are too demanding and u probebly wont see 50 choices for each unit but only see a couple or upgrades its not that easy to incorporate a high degree of customization in a RTS of this era.

[Tribunal]

They will probably allow what sort of off-weapon to have per unit, ala 40k, and grenades (if any) that the units will have. Also maybe allowing for coosing what heavy weapons your devastator squads will be equipped with, and possible targeters. Then for the hero, if any, there would be lots to choose from! Mmmmm... I can't wait to see some pics!

[DarthFelth]

maybe something like chaos gate would be ok

[Tribunal]

How did they handle it in Chaos Gate? I have XP, and couldn't play it even if I picked it up on ebay.

[DarthFelth]

i have xp, it works fine

[Tribunal]

Really? Hmmmm... Time to start searching around on ebay for a copy-- thanks for the heads up!!!

[black dragon]

I hope they do include customization. it would bring much more character to the game, making it stand out from others

[DarthFelth]

well would be nice if it work alot like the real game, well as best as possible anyways. If not then i hope thats something that modders can add in anyways

[Maximus Decimus]

erm i must protest, this is not the virtual table top 40k as it doesnt suit mass audience which this is targetted to and looking at the screens it doesnt look like it. note this is a RTS not a turn based, virtual 40k would not work real time unless its a good RTS title set in the fluff where u control armies. we will see but i doubt there will be a high degree of control for customization in game mybe upgrades for weapons on vechiles etc.

[DarthFelth]

well really thats you get in 40k anyways, i dont think all the extra things like spiky bits would work, would require alot more work than would be needed anyways

[Tribunal]

Ground Control is an RTS, and had quite a bit of customization before each game, but I think you know that already. It was all done in easy point and click style view menus, you could rename the squads and select the special weapons etc. It took moments to do, and could change your infantry slot from a great anti-personnel unit to one of the most efficient anti-tank units in the game. Hmmmm... Now I'm getting a hankering for some Ground Control. I can renale my units into some 40k squad sounding names and run amuck for a bit.

And as far as targeting the mass audiences, if they wanted to do that they would have made another first person shooter featuring a marine in terminator armor. Why? -- because the armor is big, and armored, and has powerfists with grenade launchers, a missile launcher on the back, an assault cannon on its other arm, and can kill just about anything (please note the sarcasm tags here). Seriously, it seems like the games that are getting the most attention nowadays are the FPS games, and I'm just about burned out on them. I am really, REALLY looking forward to a great RTS, and I am banking on DoW.

(as far as Firewarrior the game goes, I've seen it at almost budget bin level pricing, the reviews have said it is a decent game, what are your guys' opinions on it?)

[Fable]

it was pretty fun, and you're not an imperial stooge which is a plus. And for people who don't know 40k it's a good intro.

[Maximus Decimus]

well the 40k world has rlly great potential for a RTS title and another FPS i fear would turn out like firewarrior. RTS games are rlly popular well at least the ones made by Relic and especially Blizzard those things fly off shelves like hot cakes. cant wait till ground control 2 and cant wait till we get more god damn info on dawn of war.

[Tribunal]

Thanks for the opinion of Firewarrior -- I will probably pick it up sometime, it'll be fun having the humans as the 'bad guys,' if only for a bit!

[DarthFelth]

i never played firewarrior, as it never really, well looked that great

[Maximus Decimus]

yeah and it has a rep of the pc port being crap and it plainly being very buggy and crappy with bad repetative voice overs and dumb A.I.

[DarthFelth]

ahh, why wasnt i surprised

[Maximus Decimus]

lol! i also dont think it was a big budget like this. oh and the devs kujo? what games did they ever make?

[DarthFelth]

pass...

[Amur_Tiger]

RTS games are rlly popular well at least the ones made by Relic

Beg to differ but from what I've heard only Relics latest, Homeworld 2, was particularily popular. It's other PC titles, to my knowlage at least are somewhat obscure. The games are good no doubt but the Homeworld line is miles away from the ordinary and the more advanced nature of war in space makes it intinimidating to the average PC gamer. DoW is a departure from this trend as it challanges the normal RTS games like C&C and Starcraft, it will be interesting to see how it does.

[KamakaziBob]

:dyn: All hail Chaos!!!
I think that a point system would be a good idea. kinda like the game, at the end of the mission you gain thoes points to spen on war gear and new units. Maby even a mutation generator for all thoes chaos players to customize their Deamon Prince!
Blood for the Blood God!:flamer:

[Noir]

Originally posted by Amur_Tiger

Beg to differ but from what I've heard only Relics latest, Homeworld 2, was particularily popular. It's other PC titles, to my knowlage at least are somewhat obscure.

Homeworld wasn't that obscure outside of the mainstream,which seems to be eternally focused on SC and CS anyway.No game sells a half million copies and stays obscure.If you take a good,hard look at other forums with at least a games section,most of the time,you'll find at least one homeworld player out there,if not more.

[Maximus Decimus]

yes homeworld was rlly popular and was ground breaking at the time. no it did not sell as many copies as starcraft but hey blizzard worked long and hard for their reputation and believe theyv been around longer then relic. C&C was good for the original but now i think its just bad and horrible.

[Tribunal]

Also, Homeworld WAS the game of the year when it came out... Fun, great story, good multiplayer, and not just the standard WC/SC/CC sort of clone that was being done to death.

[Amur_Tiger]

.........and because of that it wasen't popular, ie. didn't make huge sales and isn't widly known. Just yesterday someone who's into gaming and is taking a course for making models for computer games stated that he didn't know about Homeworld until I mentioned it. Homeworld has a good number of copies but it's reputation is limited due to the fact that not every joe-blow can get their head around the 3d enviroment. Relic games so far have made their splash made some reviewers say cool and made some converts but has yet to have a widely known game.

[blood_angel]

Shadow of the Horned Rat had items that could be picked up and used by the units that carried them.
So I imagine it would be like that.

[Maximus Decimus]

yeah that would be cool to be able to pick up some remnent stuff but as for homeworld i dont rlly think the screens on the box represented the game very well, i was hesitent to buy it at first because the screens of the 1st homeworld box werent that promising to me. after i got it the game was great but it did lack some strategy that homeworld 2 has picked up on as far as i know. i havnt bought hw2 because i fear its just another expansion like cataclysim which i think was horrible, and u couldnt even be my fav race from the first one. any comments would be great but try to tie in ur post with the topic.

[Noir]

Originally posted by Amur_Tiger
.........and because of that it wasen't popular, ie. didn't make huge sales and isn't widly known. Just yesterday someone who's into gaming and is taking a course for making models for computer games stated that he didn't know about Homeworld until I mentioned it. Homeworld has a good number of copies but it's reputation is limited due to the fact that not every joe-blow can get their head around the 3d enviroment. Relic games so far have made their splash made some reviewers say cool and made some converts but has yet to have a widely known game.

Perhaps it's a little underated,I'll give you that,but sorry,no "obscure" game makes #6 on the GS top 10 RTS games of all times chart.Not to mention you're setting your standards for popularity a little high.Most RTS games are never as popular as you describe,the mainstream RTSes are basically SC,WCIII...that's it.As for HW,it's reputation as an excellent game and Flagship game of the space 3-D RTS genre is there,I definately saw it when I go to places like SB or that GS poll thread.

It's all about realizing you're not the only schmuck who discovered this game .

[Russian Ninja]

Homeworld wasn't too obscure, but you've got to remember that it wasn't totally groundbreaking as Amur said. But it doesn't really matter as the game was good anyway. Also, keep in mind that just because it sold half a million or so coppies, doesn't mean that just half a million or so people played it. Not everyone pays for the game. Many people will lend it to their mates, get it pirated or cracked, etc, so the actual number is a lot more. Take that number and multiply it by about 15. That's how many people have played the game.

Anyway, because it's a RTS I don't think that the customisation can go to fully in depth, especially for heroes. You'd probably be able to choose, say, the weapons they get, but not much more. But this is only if it's small scale, as large scale with hundreds of squads picking the configeration would take ages. Heroes might also just all be generically armed or maybe have a few possible upgrades, but probably the limit is something akin to GC.

If we've got Epic style gameplay, expect Generically armed hordes of poorly shaven and muddy Guardsmen. If not, then we may get to see multiple Commissar types with multiple weapon choices, but remember that for things like multiplayer it has to be fast and easy to configure.

[DarthFelth]

well, i bought homeworld cos my saw a b5 mod for, so i bought it to play that, then i discovered all the other mods for it, thats what made homeworld a good game i think, the mods, the gameplay was ok, but the single player could have been different when it came to playing the same campaign for the main rces when really they should of had two different campaigns

[Amur_Tiger]

Perhaps...... it just seems to me that very few people know of the game considering it's quality and signifigance. As to the customization, I'm no Warhammer player in fact the sum total of my knowlage of it is from info I've discovered online after hearing about Relic starting this game. However given proper managment of arming squads(namely the ability to have pre-armed settings for squads) it wouldn't be too hard, it would just require a good UI.