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Supreme Cmdr

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  15. Universal Combat CE v2.0 Released FREE on Steam

    in News

    Posted

    PRESS RELEASE HERE

    To mark the 25 year anniversary since I first conceived the world, characters and mythos of the Battlecruiser 3000AD game, and in an effort to introduce a new generation to these highly advanced capital space ship combat simulations, a remastered version of 2009's Universal Combat CE v2.0 will be released free on Steam today around 11am PST.

    You can read more about this here. And be sure to join the Universal Combat group on Steam! Also keep in touch via the Universal Combat pages on Facebook and Twitter for more exciting news about this and the upcoming Universal Combat Advanced refresh due out later this year.

    CHANGELOG

    SCENARIOS LIST

    UCCE20_free_on_Steam.jpg

    Here is an intense 12 minute fleet battle from the IA0402 scenario.

    http://youtu.be/iglzv146CZI

  18. Universal Combat Advanced

    in Universal Combat Series

    Posted

    As I've said before, I have no plans to make any gameplay changes in this game. All gameplay elements will be exactly as-is in the UCCE v2.0. I'm not planning on making this refresh a bigger deal what I've already planned.

    Also, the first page in the thread said "

    Below is what I am doing and is subject to change without notice.

    12. An all new 32 mission campaign based on the Insurgent incursion into Lyrius (sound familiar?) and which will feature both space and planetary combat missions. And of course the standard free flight scenario will also be available during which you can still trade, explore, go look for trouble etc".

    What I look forward to the most will be the new advanced campaign scenario. Combined with the new planetary graphics, I would buy the game just for that reason.

    I also think there should be more time in between missions to allow for mining and buying replacement fuel and missiles. Will the game still work with a 1 gigabyte memory graphics card?

    The campaign is a mission based one and will have the standard norm for completion between orders (missions). If you want to go mine and do all that other stuff, the free flight scenario will still be there.

    As I've said before, I have no plans to make any gameplay changes in this game. All gameplay elements will be exactly as-is in the UCCE v2.0. I'm not planning on making this refresh a bigger deal what I've already planned.

    And yes, engine and reactor upgrades do effect the hyperdrive recharge rate. Personnel AI has nothing to do with that.

    Well, you are emphatically denying, then a little more time and you can change your mind. :salute:

    I won't change my mind because I have a limited time and budget for this refresh. My primary focus is on LOD, especially now that it's been approved for and headed to Xbox One.

  19. Universal Combat Advanced

    in Universal Combat Series

    Posted

    I am going to do my best to integrate the fps elements (including UI) from AAW to the fps portion of UCADV. But remember, this game is a capital ship combat game, not a dedicated fps like AAW.

    All the planetary bases (at this point, I am not planning to have any cities) in UCADV are going to be recreated from scratch. The goal is to have them be a cross between the base scenes in AAW and those in LOD. That's why there probably won't be any cities, just individual bases on the pre-existing habitable planets.

    I can go all the way back to the first game released in 1996; and I have the source code going all the way back to the very first build back in 1990 I think.

    This is great news, I do realize that it isn't a dedicated FPS - but it always nice to have fully fleshed out features, they're far more satisfying. I think moving to normal bases is probably a better idea then the cities which a great concept lacked the complexity and the gameplay motivation that a city should bring with it. As a bonus, as the FPS parts get better the bases become more and more interesting.

    Twenty five years of source control? Thats is amazing - so many games and applications with lost source from the 90's and even the 2000's. Must have been nice moving from tapes to real source control. And, since you can go all the way back, you could always compile in a easter egg and have BC3K running on a console inside a base - you know so they have an excuse for when you destroy them - they were too busy playing it. ;)

    I just posted about the source control on Facebook actually.

  20. Universal Combat Advanced

    in Universal Combat Series

    Posted

    I can't wait for this release. It should be awesome!

    Derek, just please play-test it first and make sure that all the planets and moons in the game can planet-fall without a crash to desktop!

    Well.. except the hostile ones. We can't land on those anyway...

    Been there, done that.

    Not a good plan.

    I have no idea wtf you're going on about. The last time I checked, there wasn't a single planet in the game that would cause a CTD because you entered it.

    Since this is your mantra, I'll make you a deal.

    If you can - with the latest UCCE v2 game which this is based on - prove (and verified by myself and others) that there is such a planet and that it is a fault of the game and not your system setup, I will give you a free copy of the new game. But if you fail in this endeavor or you don't do it (you have until Mon, Feb 9th), you will be banned (again) from this forum, permanently this time.

    Over the years, I've adopted a zero tolerance for any sort of negativity (warranted or not) that serves no purpose other than to cause me undue angst.

  21. Universal Combat Advanced

    in Universal Combat Series

    Posted

    Wow! This is awesome news. I'm looking forward to it.

    One thing about the original game that always bugged me was that the hyperspace engines would drain after jumping through a gate or wormhole to a new system. When trying to pursue ships across systems, they would always outrun me while I waited for my engines to recharge after entering a new system.

    I wonder... Was I just playing it wrong all this time? Was this something that would improve over time with crew ability, and I just didn't give it enough time? Or is this how it was designed to operate?

    If it is by design, would you consider changing it so that hyserspace engines don't drain anymore after inter-system jumps? Only drain the engines if used within a system, because the ship is unaided by a gate or wormhole?

    Steve

    As I've said before, I have no plans to make any gameplay changes in this game. All gameplay elements will be exactly as-is in the UCCE v2.0. I'm not planning on making this refresh a bigger deal what I've already planned.

    And yes, engine and reactor upgrades do effect the hyperdrive recharge rate. Personnel AI has nothing to do with that.

  22. Universal Combat Advanced

    in Universal Combat Series

    Posted

    I am going to do my best to integrate the fps elements (including UI) from AAW to the fps portion of UCADV. But remember, this game is a capital ship combat game, not a dedicated fps like AAW.

    All the planetary bases (at this point, I am not planning to have any cities) in UCADV are going to be recreated from scratch. The goal is to have them be a cross between the base scenes in AAW and those in LOD. That's why there probably won't be any cities, just individual bases on the pre-existing habitable planets.

    I can go all the way back to the first game released in 1996; and I have the source code going all the way back to the very first build back in 1990 I think.

  25. Universal Combat Advanced

    in Universal Combat Series

    Posted

    In the event of an intruder breach into the bridge, do we see the crew slain, with blood puddles littering scene and bodies dropping lifelessly eveywhere?

    No. There won't be any depiction of intruders on the bridge in the bridge view

    Are you planning to still have it update every ~15 seconds?

    There is no reason for the update time to change. The underlying code will remain the same.

    As I've stated before, this is just an update to the core game. As such, I don't envision changing anything that currently works just fine. Since I have pretty much settled on what I want to do with UCADV, if it's not in the list I created above, then there is a very good chance that I'm not doing it.

    The biggest amount of work is going to be in migrating the Spec V engine suite to work with UCADV. And if that proves to be too much work, I won't do it. Instead, I will just make minor revisions to the Spec IV version in UCCE v2.0 and get it over with. Most of the Spec V engine suite was 90% focused on planet terrain rendering since AAW/AOA weren't space combat games and have no space access (without a hack).

    If you don't mind my input, I think a deck-by-deck representation in an isometric view might be the least amount work.

    An isometric view is more work and will cause more problems. If I end up doing this, as I said before, it will be a 2D top-down view like in LOD. The only problem I see with this is that unless you know the layout of the carrier, you won't be able to tell on the map what location those crew dots are in. Which means that the maps will have to be annotated with text showing the valid locations on the deck maps.

    The reason that I am even considering revising the Perscan screen is because the carrier is going to be the Engstrom class GCV-Starguard one since we already have a fully built model of it. The campaign story is going to be based on events that led to that carrier ending up in Lyrius with a missing crew. Pretty much the events leading up to the LOD game and GALCOM going back to the region to find out wtf the Insurgents are up to down there.

    I don't want to remake Battlecruiser 3000AD. But by focusing UCADV on a single carrier, support craft and crew for now, it will be the closest thing that we will get to a true sequel - and a full blown capital ship planetary/space combat game. In fact, if the Spec V engine wasn't so difficult to add an indoor renderer to, I would make the entire game in first/third person - pretty much what has been done with LOD.

    And no, the LOD engine can't be back ported to work for UCADV. And doing a capital ship game using that engine and which is true to all the features we have in the UC games, is about three years (think how long it took to get from BC to UCCE v2.0) and close to $3m investment. Not happening. And I'm not going to crowd fund it because as a space game, it stands very little success of getting funded at that amount. Before you say Star Citizen or Elite Dangerous, don't. If can't figure out what I mean by that and you want me to tell you why, just ask.

    I simply want to modernize the game as best as possible instead of just re-releasing it with minor updates.

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