Heads Up - New Expansion (Distant Worlds: Legends) in the works for Distant Worlds

[wanderer27]

There is another Expansion in progress for Distant Worlds - a 4X Space game with a projected release between October & Christmas.

We don't know all the details yet, but it looks like Borders and Zones of Influence are being implemented.
They've also announced some changes in Diplomacy to take these and other features into account.

There's a Screen shot of the current Alpha version at the bottom of the first page here showing a few new features:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2882779

Be forewarned - it doesn't resize and it's a pretty good sized picture.


Here's a thread with some info on the original release of Distant Worlds:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2063215&highlight=


And here's the thread for the first Expansion - Return of the Shakturi:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2121587&highlight=


FYI for those that have DW and haven't played it in awhile - the vanilla version is at 1.0.7.0 and the RotS version is at 1.5.0.8.
They're said they plan on releasing another update to RotS before this latest Expansion is completed.


EDIT:

Title changed and details below.

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[Martimus]

Have they moved to a new digital distribution partner? I won't buy this game if it comes from Digital River again.

 

[wanderer27]

Have they moved to a new digital distribution partner? I won't buy this game if it comes from Digital River again.

They were supposed to move off Digital River last year, I think they use Plimus now or their own distribution network.

I had to do a new install a month ago and had to re-download my original version.
It's been well over a year since I first bought DW, and I had no issues re-downloading it.

The only Copy Protection on this is a Serial Number, so just save that and the installer and you should never have to worry.

The reason I had to re-download is I was Beta testing RotS and had a different vanilla version of DW for testing - accidentally saved that over my original version

 

[SunnyD]

Are they still asking WAAAAAAY to much for the price of the game? At last check they still wanted ~$40+ for it, sans any expansions.

edit: Yep. Still $39.99. Still not worth it.

 

[wanderer27]

Are they still asking WAAAAAAY to much for the price of the game? At last check they still wanted ~$40+ for it, sans any expansions.

edit: Yep. Still $39.99. Still not worth it.

Yeah, it's on the high side I can't argue with that.

This is put out by a small Developer that, for their size, really provides quite a bit of support/updates.
This is not put out as a AAA title with exposure to millions of players.

As such, I look at the re-playability and the longevity of this game.
I've been playing it pretty heavily for over a year, so I've definitely got my money's worth - but I do agree it is a little pricey.

I guess it also depends on your view of supporting a Dev that's not trying to screw you over with absurd levels of DRM - personally, I value that pretty high.


They'll likely have some promo pricing during release, though I have no idea what it'll be.

 

[wanderer27]

Title for the expansion has been announced - "Distant Worlds: Legends".

Some of the feature changes/additions can be found here (Post #107 ):

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2882779&mpage=4#





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[wanderer27]

Some more info on the Expansion has been released - Posts #299 through 302 (bottom page 10 through top page 11) :

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2882779&mpage=10&key=


Some more info and a Creature Contest on the Announcement page:

http://www.matrixgames.com/news/836...nounced.and.were.looking.for.a.Space.Creature!


Finally some more info and 12 Screen shots (not uber big like those in the thread):

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/415/details/Distant.Worlds.-.Legends


Sounds like the Beta is about to begin this week.


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[GoodRevrnd]

Did they ever do anything to make ship combat a bit more exciting?

 

[wanderer27]

Did they ever do anything to make ship combat a bit more exciting?

Which version?

The original version is at Patch level 1.0.7.x, and I'm not sure what was added to bring it to there from 1.0.6.x - which is the version I last played the original.
I haven't played 1.0.7.x.


I've been playing 1.5.0.8 (RotS) for about a year now, and I've had some pretty epic battles in this against the Shakturi.
The addition of Fighters and Missiles, as well as the change to the Tech Tree was a pretty good improvement.


A lot of it depends on how you set things up as to how challenging it is.


This new version they're working on is supposed to have dedicated Carriers, new weaponry (cutting lasers, rail guns, etc.), actual Territory (zone of control/influence), and quite a few other changes I don't know about yet.

From the new Screen shots I can tell the Tech Tree has been expanded, the Victory Conditions have had a major overhaul, and the UI has had some tweaks.

Some things I'm aware of from the forums:

- AI/Diplomacy improved.
- Diplomacy has more options.
- Empire Policy options have been expanded (I've barely used the existing one).
- Fleet management and control are supposedly better.
- Character System with Traits (Subordinates) . . . not sure how this is going to work.
- Factions, with some Bonuses for Race / Resource possesion.
- Random Events (natural disasters).
- Galaxy setup changes . . . larger maps and more Stars.
- - Galaxy Map up to 15 x 15 (at least) Sector map vs current 10 x 10.
- - More Star Systems, current has up to 1400 Stars and 50,000 Planets, I don't know what the new limits are .





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[wanderer27]

I know everyone's probably busy with Skyrim right now - for those that aren't here's an update.


A likely Gold candidate has been selected and final testing is under way.

They're currently targeting Wednesday 11/23 if all goes well . . .


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[GoodRevrnd]

Perhaps I got this game confused with another 4X, but didn't you just build your ships and after initiating combat you don't do very much past watching the two fleets duke it out on their own?

 

[wanderer27]

Perhaps I got this game confused with another 4X, but didn't you just build your ships and after initiating combat you don't do very much past watching the two fleets duke it out on their own?

It can be done that wat, but there's more too it.

You might be thinking of Galactic Civilizations, where yes, you can build and design your ships, but the battles are basically just a movie you can watch.

DW is probably closer to Sins of a Solar Empire than it is Galactic Civilizations as far as battles go, but it actually is far more in depth than that.


In DW you can design your ships and control them (to a degree), and the battles are real time.

There are (Militarily):

Escorts - for escorting civilian ships, patrolling stations
Frigates - escort and light defense duties
Destroyers - first level military ship
Cruisers - mid level military ship
Capital Ships - high firepower and support
Carriers (new) - heavy fighter / bomber support
Troop Transports - troop carriers for planetary assaults.

Off the top of my head I don't remember the exact logic for each class, but I believe they each have different primary missions, and there are also different postures and assignments.

There are probably over two dozen other types of ships and bases - all of which can be custom designs, or you can allow the AI to auto-design and upgrade as new Tech becomes available.


Here's a video clip showing some of the highlights of Legends:

http://www.matrixgames.com/products...Legends/#Distant Worlds Legends Preview Video

There are several shots of differing intensity battles in here.
At ~ 8+ min there is one showing off the new Phasor implementation, and around 9:30 there is a pretty sizable battle going on.
There are a few others throughout, but I didn't note the times on them.




Here's a video of the previous expansion, Return of the Shakturi:

http://www.matrixgames.com/products... Return of the Shakturi Promo Video (YouTube)

This clip shows a lot of battle clips and ends with a World Destroyer ship battle.



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[wanderer27]

They've just released the Legends expansion for Distant Worlds.

Here are the pricing details for new and existing owners:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2958898




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[GoodRevrnd]

$64... ech. Maybe I'll just play MOO2 lol.

 

[wanderer27]

$64... ech. Maybe I'll just play MOO2 lol.

It is a bit on the higher side, but that's for the original and two expansions, so it's not as bad as it first looks.

While this Launch/Holiday sale is going on is going to be the best opportunity to get it even at this price though.

I wish it been cheaper myself, but I wish that about a lot of other things too

 

[paperfist]

Is this game as hard to get into as a Paradox Strategy game?

 

[wanderer27]

Is this game as hard to get into as a Paradox Strategy game?

I'm only familiar with a few Paradox games, so I'm not sure if I know what you're referring too.


There's a lot under the hood with DW, and there can be a lot to learn, but there's also a lot of automation and varying degrees of automation.

On/Off Automation:

Colony Tax Rates
Colony Population Policies
Ship Design
Troop Recruitment
Fleet Formation
Research
Character Locations


Selectable (Fully Automate, Suggest Action, Manually Control) Automation:

Colonization
Ship Building
Intelligence Missions
Attacks Against Enemies
Sending Diplomatic Gifts
Treaties
War and Trade Sanctions
Colony Facility Building


There are also other areas where you can tweak what your preferred actions would be under Automated control.
A few examples of this:

You can adjust when you want your ships to refuel
Set Colony Colonization Policy - Assimilate, Relocate, or Exterminate (may be one more here)
When auto engaging enemy, preset how many ships you want to respond

These are just a few, there are literally dozens of tweaks you can make to the automation behavior.

Essentially, you can have the game run itself if you wish, and as you learn more you can change your automation level to suit your game style.


I'm not sure if I've answered your question or not, I've tried.

I've played Sins of a Solar Empire, Galactic Civilizations II, and a few other 4x Space games, and this is the one I've played long after the others have been shelved.








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