omicron1

Reply to Update on memory use in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

One of the more common ways of addressing memory use is by partitioning and streaming. While typically regarded as a graphics technology, I see no reason why it couldn't apply to gameplay as well, especially as procedural content is made more prevalent. Say you have a person in your town who will go about his daily routine for you if you're zoomed in enough. This routine involves walking from a house to the town square, and from there to the library, and back. N

Reply to Light…is not your friend in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

One cheap, easy way to do things is to slap a full-screen shader (compositor, in Ogre-speak) over the top of things - the equivalent of using those photoshop filters in the actual game. Change the saturation and value curve and you've got yourself a more colorful game; perform additional modifications (for example, using value or specific colors to influence the saturation curve) and you can have different color schemas in different parts of the world. Sure, it's possible to construct a light

Reply to Making interesting worlds in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

I must say, I love working with terrain generation. It can take a while (depending mostly on the size of the world you're generating) but it doesn't take long to write, and you can do some really interesting stuff with it. I wrote a diamond-square (simple fractal) map generator once that did the following: * Cliff map decides where cliffs, valleys, and sloping terrain go. * Height map takes influence from cliff map. * Fertility, temperature maps take into accou

Reply to I Know who's chasing Vasari!!! in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

The Vasari were messing with chemical formulae to make people (or, aliens that the vasari had conquered) calmer and easier to control. Unfortunately, it made them too calm - 90% just sat down and died; while the other 10% became hyperviolent and took to the stars in a fleet of cannibalized warships. (With apologies to Whedon)

Reply to Sins Game Review Thread in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

And the opposite extreme is insisting that "BLAIR FRAZIER MUST DIE!!!1!!ONE1!" comments are actually NOT trolling.

Reply to Achievement Unlocked! ..what? in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

You'll know it when you FIND it.

Reply to Sins of a Solar Empire Official 1.02 change log in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

Whaddayamean it doesn't work? I'd try it, I was able to load my last game.

Reply to Inside the Stardock / Ironclad Sausage Factory in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

There's a few wierd things that look leftover from beta - such as an Artifact Research post-game stat. It never went up, even when I and my opponent each had an artifact - is that kind of research even in the game now?

Reply to Is there or will there be a campaign? in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

OR we modders could MAKE one with GALAXY FORGE, as it wouldn't be too HARD...

Reply to Should be getting the game tomorrow. What to expect? in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

From Kosc, "ponies" means something similar to "perfect." Anyway, it is a bit like a real-time GC2, and a bit not. The empire management is similar in some ways, but the combat... is like watching the Battle of Endor and being able to control all the ships. It's entertaining just locking the camera to a Bomber and watching the battle from a first-person viewpoint, but you can also decide to interact with your fleet.

Reply to Something seems wrong with this game... in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

"We won't be releasing a Campaign as a free update. If one comes, it will be part of an expansion pack (and won't be arriving for some time)." - I think we (the modders/fans) could probably Forge a campaign of sorts... especially if more of the lore is made available.

Reply to Ship Names in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

I claim the following: Post-Dated Check Loan Scepter of Insufferable Arrogance Sword of Inevitable Justice Serial Peacemaker Touch and Go Athens Athens II And, for good measure, Guan Yu.

Reply to this IS MADNESS!! in Sins Modding Stardock Forums

Sparta! Sorry... someone had to do it. Anyway... that looks like it would take AGES to play. Just think of the travel time between systems - multiplied over 100 systems. Can you say "boring?"

Reply to Moons, radiations storms, asteroid belts and asteroid fortresses, etc. in Beta Feedback Stardock Forums

Hmm... How about making gravity well size dependent on planet size? As an obvious point, asteroids should get smaller gravity wells than planets - they have less mass. Also, un-colonizable "gas giants" with large gravity wells might mix things up a big more. (And perhaps serve as handy pirate spawn points?)

Reply to LOTS of beta 2 suggestions in Beta Feedback Stardock Forums

Perhaps you could use colors to make class differences clear? For instance, make all icons with two colors. One as an outline, and one filling the ship icon itself. The filling color could be the team color (as it is now), but the outline could be a color variant depending on the type of ship (for instance, green for combat frigates; yellow for cruisers; red for caps; aqua for fighters; navy for bombers; etc.) But perhaps this would make for confusing battles; I really don't kn

Reply to Sins Beta 2 - Gameplay Feedback - *Post Here* in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

The AI's bounty system seems a bit ...odd. In my last game, one AI player ended up with over 40,000 in bounty - but he lost all his planets early on. I don't know why everyone dumped bounty on him, but...

Reply to my take on beta 2 so far in Beta Feedback Stardock Forums

That's a good thing, right? Easy is easy, medium is nicely challenging, and hard is hard.

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

"How many of YOUR prayers worked?" All of them were answered. I have seen, heard, and felt God's work in my life and others'. Although you will undoubtedly brush it off as circumstantial or false, I know people who have been cured by prayer - I know a young man in our congregation who recovered from internal injuries just hours after a severe football injury. I know of a Nigerian pastor who was raised from the dead. I have felt God's influence on my life, sirs! I have seen many examples

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

No matter what you believe, you should recognize that it is a matter of faith. I have faith that God is the God of the Bible. Atheists have faith that science will someday be able to explain the current impossibilities of existence. Same thing with every religion. The purpose of religious debate is to put all the facts on the table, so that we can make an educated choice as to the one which is right. "Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color." NO. Calling At

Reply to How old are you? in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

18

Reply to The most dangerous people alive. in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

"so you include the U.S. military, then?" The US military aren't the ones genociding thousands of their own people. (Saddam Hussein, whom the US Military helped to remove, for instance) " Let us not forget why I think we are really there: OIL. Oil drives our entire society. When gas prices rise, the entire economy suffers. I can understand where you guys might think we are evil because of this." And exactly why, then, have the oil prices been RISING since the start of the war? Why are t

Reply to The most dangerous people alive. in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

In which case America is dangerous because it attracts people like the 9-11 nuts. For that matter, banks are dangerous because they attract criminals!

Reply to The most dangerous people alive. in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

Ah, my mistake there, then.

Reply to The most dangerous people alive. in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

Oh, look - more Bush-bashing. How original. "Israeli leaders" Not likely. Why on earth would you think Israel (or Israeli leaders) are the world's most dangerous people? I mean, you're completely ignoring people like Hezbollah and blaming everything on the people who were attacked? As for this "So was Hilter when he turned things around economcially in Germany in the mid 1930's." Honestly, do you really believe George W. Bush is out to take over the world? <a href="http://www.e

Reply to Gamespot interview in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

It doesn't look that much like a megaship. I mean, we've got some dreadnoughts or summat in the background for compariso, and they look quite similar; and the image in question is taken from a quite close vantage point. "am I the ONLY one to see the HUGE MASSIVE WEAPON ARMS OF DOOM!!! ?" Yes. Those are frigates.