Rebirth Questions and Statements Thread

[Walkop]

First off, I wanted to thank the entire X dev team for all their hard work and devotion to this incredible series - the most incredible games that any company has ever made, in my opinion. Great work, I (and many others) are looking forward to Rebirth.

I've been following Rebirth for a while now, and the more I hear the more I seem to understand. It's shaping up to be a great game and there's a few things I would like to talk about (and I'm sure others would too).

I thought it would be a good idea to create a more centralized area for general, less specific discussion within the Rebirth forum. If a mod disagrees feel free to do whatever you wish to the thread. Otherwise, feel free to post away!

Anyway, first thing I would like to mention is the below:

If you have read above about you flying over the surface of a capital ship to take out turrets or other surface elements, as we call them, you may have wondered: 'Hey but what if the ship is moving or turning while I try this?'

Here is another of these big gameplay changes we had to do: When flying closer to large ships, your ship (or the drone you are remote controlling), will gradually be drawn into the influence of that ship. The closer you are to its surface, the more the ship will "drag you with it".

When a few people heard of this, to them it seemed like an annoying thing to do in a game like X. But if you think about it, it really does make sense - getting pulled along with a ship (ever so slightly) is realistic considering gravity, and it does make combat sense as well. If a ship is moving or turning, you can stay within it's influence much easier and it simply allows for a more specific experience (if that makes any sense).

Did anyone catch the other thing here, however?

This allows you to actually land on or in ships while they are moving. Even in the middle of a fight between two capital ships you can fly over the surface of one and watch the scenario of the battle like a passenger with the beautiful space background turning around you, while the capital ships move and turn.

Think about it! You can actually LAND on the outer hull or hangars of other ships! The implication that Drones can do this as well is also interesting. The possibilities with this system are endless - direct boarding, hull puncturing with specialized systems, etc. It implies an extremely advanced gaming engine as well, to allow for actual landing on space-based surfaces.

We also seem to know that there will be boarding in X:Rebirth, according to this passage of text:

Some examples of NPCs working for you:...

Boarding crew: Just one example of crew members working for you.

So, boarding is in in Rebirth. Good to know


But now, a few questions.

One of the biggest steps in developing an entire new engine was to design a true multithread-capable engine. X Rebirth will make full use of latest generation CPUs by spreading the work in many parallel running threads.

We know that Rebirth supports multi-threading, but on how many cores? 4? 6? 8? More? Quad-core is great, a massive improvement over X3 - but if Rebirth gets as heavily scripted as TC/RE was (read: 1GB mods (xTended), bonus packs) we might need even more power. I doubt that the game will even need a Quad-core CPU to run pefectly fluid, but there's still future-proofing, you know


Next, drones.

Will we only get tiny, remote-controllable drones the size of Fighter Drones now, or will we get full-size fighters, corvettes, frigates etc? This is a big thing - if we can't control larger ships at all, then many will be dissapointed. Although I myself am MORE than satisfied being able to land on larger ships and walk on their decks


Anyone else? Post away!

[Nanook]

...
When a few people heard of this, to them it seemed like an annoying thing to do in a game like X. But if you think about it, it really does make sense - getting pulled along with a ship (ever so slightly) is realistic considering gravity....

No, it doesn't. Gravitational attraction on that scale is miniscule, practically infinitesimal when compared to the power of engines and thrusters. What would make sense is if the small ship's AI automatically compensated for a capital's maneuvers, transparent to the pilot's controls, so that it matched relative speed and trajectory, while still allowing the pilot to make maneuvering changes. But gravity makes no sense whatsoever.

[X2-Illuminatus]

Btw. the name is Bernd not Burnd.

[Walkop]

...
When a few people heard of this, to them it seemed like an annoying thing to do in a game like X. But if you think about it, it really does make sense - getting pulled along with a ship (ever so slightly) is realistic considering gravity....

No, it doesn't. Gravitational attraction on that scale is miniscule, practically infinitesimal when compared to the power of engines and thrusters. What would make sense is if the small ship's AI automatically compensated for a capital's maneuvers, transparent to the pilot's controls, so that it matched relative speed and trajectory, while still allowing the pilot to make maneuvering changes. But gravity makes no sense whatsoever.

Hmm...yes, you are correct. Seems I messed up there but regardless, I do think that this system would add to gameplay - perhaps only to enrich the experience. It definitely depends on how strong and how gradual the effect is - I guess we'll have to actually play it to find out

Btw. the name is Bernd not Burnd.

I knew something looked wrong there! Thanks. Post edited.

[Shootist]

...
When a few people heard of this, to them it seemed like an annoying thing to do in a game like X. But if you think about it, it really does make sense - getting pulled along with a ship (ever so slightly) is realistic considering gravity....

No, it doesn't. Gravitational attraction on that scale is miniscule, practically infinitesimal when compared to the power of engines and thrusters. What would make sense is if the small ship's AI automatically compensated for a capital's maneuvers, transparent to the pilot's controls, so that it matched relative speed and trajectory, while still allowing the pilot to make maneuvering changes. But gravity makes no sense whatsoever.

Hmm...yes, you are correct. Seems I messed up there but regardless, I do think that this system would add to gameplay - perhaps only to enrich the experience. It definitely depends on how strong and how gradual the effect is - I guess we'll have to actually play it to find out

Btw. the name is Bernd not Burnd.

I knew something looked wrong there! Thanks. Post edited.

It make attacking the Death Star/Battlestar/Babylon station possible with small light attack craft. It also means your wing of death dealing drones won't fly all higglely-pigglely into every capital ship they attack. Or escorting light craft scattering every time the capship makes a turn.

This, I think, is going to work well.

[Eriru Drourojj]

Ok, easy question here, what is the origin of the players ship name and is this the final product name " The Pride of Albion, or as it is more recently known: The Albion Skunk."?
I only ask because it immediately made me think of the Fable series and thought that's quite distracting, why would i want to think about a game series that is in my opinion doesn't hold a candle to the infinitely superior X-series. Now don't get me wrong i like them i've played them, ignore the eccentricity i'll place it in the corner , now i did google Albion and found a possible wikipedia entry that may answer my question: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion

and while i just thought, has any more lore not included in the trailer been producing to give more depth to what happened leading up to what would be the current state of the X-universe just as X-rebirth begins oh oh and the origin of our very special ship

Love your work Ego and the whole community

[Syock]

Ok, easy question here, what is the origin of the players ship name and is this the final product name " The Pride of Albion, or as it is more recently known: The Albion Skunk."?
I only ask because it immediately made me think of the Fable series and thought that's quite distracting, ...

What I first thought was 'Why would I want to fly something called a skunk?'

[DJ0JJ]

...
When a few people heard of this, to them it seemed like an annoying thing to do in a game like X. But if you think about it, it really does make sense - getting pulled along with a ship (ever so slightly) is realistic considering gravity....

No, it doesn't. Gravitational attraction on that scale is miniscule, practically infinitesimal when compared to the power of engines and thrusters. What would make sense is if the small ship's AI automatically compensated for a capital's maneuvers, transparent to the pilot's controls, so that it matched relative speed and trajectory, while still allowing the pilot to make maneuvering changes. But gravity makes no sense whatsoever.

Could be electrical or magnetic attraction. Shields may use heated plasma and heated plasma means some charge.
*edit*Well, they need to trap the plasma arround the ship so again the electromagnetic attraction get in place and the bigger the ship the bigger the shield...*
Never considered that uh?

[DJ0JJ]

Ok, easy question here, what is the origin of the players ship name and is this the final product name " The Pride of Albion, or as it is more recently known: The Albion Skunk."?
I only ask because it immediately made me think of the Fable series and thought that's quite distracting, ...

What I first thought was 'Why would I want to fly something called a skunk?'

It makes me remember the "looks" of the Millennium Falcon for the SW characters.
Maybe people in the X Universe see it that way too.
Like a old piece of junk... Sad

[Syock]

Ok, easy question here, what is the origin of the players ship name and is this the final product name " The Pride of Albion, or as it is more recently known: The Albion Skunk."?
I only ask because it immediately made me think of the Fable series and thought that's quite distracting, ...

What I first thought was 'Why would I want to fly something called a skunk?'

It makes me remember the "looks" of the Millennium Falcon for the SW characters.
Maybe people in the X Universe see it that way too.
Like a old piece of junk... Sad

I wouldn't mind if it was rusted and beat up. The thought of being in a bar and saying "I have the fastest ship in the galaxy, it's called the 'skunk' ... No, it doesn't actually smell bad... Yeah I take showers..." How am I suppose to get taken seriously by potential clients?

[DJ0JJ]

Ok, easy question here, what is the origin of the players ship name and is this the final product name " The Pride of Albion, or as it is more recently known: The Albion Skunk."?
I only ask because it immediately made me think of the Fable series and thought that's quite distracting, ...

What I first thought was 'Why would I want to fly something called a skunk?'

It makes me remember the "looks" of the Millennium Falcon for the SW characters.
Maybe people in the X Universe see it that way too.
Like a old piece of junk... Sad

I wouldn't mind if it was rusted and beat up. The thought of being in a bar and saying "I have the fastest ship in the galaxy, it's called the 'skunk' ... No, it doesn't actually smell bad... Yeah I take showers..." How am I suppose to get taken seriously by potential clients?

Maybe the clients doesn't check your ship "nickname".
And maybe the nickname its made by the crew itself because it smells really bad? Witch is no surprising if the scrubbers are not working well and have not been given any maintenance in the last years...

[Bobucles]

What would make sense is if the small ship's AI automatically compensated for a capital's maneuvers, transparent to the pilot's controls, so that it matched relative speed and trajectory, while still allowing the pilot to make maneuvering changes.

This scenario would make the most sense.

When you fly close to a capital ship, your point of reference changes so that the cap is the "anchor" for all your maneuvers. When you hit full stop, your actual position would be more like "10 meters above the bridge", instead of "oh F#$@ it's turning into me ohgodohgod*BOOM*"

The explanation? The ship's computer- I.E. Space Wizards did it.

This is just like Chinese whispers, where a message is passed from person to person. The original "capital ship's influence" was warped into "OMG gravity on a subsolar scale what were you thinking Egosoft??"

[imperium3]

Ok, easy question here, what is the origin of the players ship name and is this the final product name " The Pride of Albion, or as it is more recently known: The Albion Skunk."?
I only ask because it immediately made me think of the Fable series and thought that's quite distracting, ...

What I first thought was 'Why would I want to fly something called a skunk?'

It makes me remember the "looks" of the Millennium Falcon for the SW characters.
Maybe people in the X Universe see it that way too.
Like a old piece of junk... Sad

I wouldn't mind if it was rusted and beat up. The thought of being in a bar and saying "I have the fastest ship in the galaxy, it's called the 'skunk' ... No, it doesn't actually smell bad... Yeah I take showers..." How am I suppose to get taken seriously by potential clients?

Maybe the clients doesn't check your ship "nickname".
And maybe the nickname its made by the crew itself because it smells really bad? Witch is no surprising if the scrubbers are not working well and have not been given any maintenance in the last years...

Yeah, hopefully.Because Albion Skunk just isn't a great name for the one starship you're in all the time. It's not exactly the Normandy, or the Ebon Hawk, or Spaceball One...

Of course, the ship itself is going to be cooler than any of them.

[Gazz]

Yeah, hopefully.Because Albion Skunk just isn't a great name for the one starship you're in all the time. It's not exactly the Normandy, or the Ebon Hawk, or Spaceball One...

Say what you want - I like Stinky.
Short and catchy.

[imperium3]

Yeah, hopefully.Because Albion Skunk just isn't a great name for the one starship you're in all the time. It's not exactly the Normandy, or the Ebon Hawk, or Spaceball One...

Say what you want - I like Stinky.
Short and catchy.

Suddenly I fear that's going to catch on