8 replies to this topic

[S3dition]

So, for those that don't know, a brand new company called Oxide has just hit the scene with an engine design specifically for the strategy genre. It only runs on 64 bit machines and is built from the ground up to natively support multi-threading.

What does that mean? Well, they're bragging up to 10,000 individual basic models or 1,000 individual advanced models displayed on the screen at one time. They're being bankrolled by Stardock and AMD, with veteran team members from both Microsoft and Firaxes game studios. Several developers have already signed on, though the only announced project I can find is Galactic Civilization 3.

Currently, the engine is planned to be compatible with Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC. They're being very selective with who they lease the engine to at this point, but the possibilities are pretty amazing when combined with piccoserver.

Here is a discussion about the technology:



And for those of you who just want to see shiny stuff blow up:



You can also play StarSwarm for free on Steam. But be warned, when I tried to run it, the game kicked me back out to windows, Leonidas style.

So, armed with this information, who would love to see Mech Commander come to life with giant battles involving mechs, infantry, armor, and aerospace fighters? Sounds like a worthwhile endeavor, especially with something like piccoserver allowing for up to 1000 concurrent connections in a single battle.

1000 mechs... on the battlefield... pew pewing...

Edited by S3dition, 31 January 2014 - 05:49 PM.

[StompingOnTanks]

S3dition, on 30 January 2014 - 04:37 PM, said:

1000 mechs... on the battlefield... pew pewing...

I want.

[Slate Slabrock]

Couple years ago they tried making a Battletech mod for Men of War, but don't think it got very far. But I would love a new Mech Commander game.

[990Dreams]

They released the source files for MC2.

[S3dition]

I should also add that this is currently only possible with AMD video cards that support Mantle. It's a developer/driver trust model that gives developers far more control over how their applications can access resources on your graphics cards. Nvidia currently doesn't have a similar feature available, but I bet they're watching this very closely and will build their own system if it starts to pan out.

The down side is the greater potential for fried video cards.

Slate Slabrock, on 31 January 2014 - 07:42 AM, said:

Couple years ago they tried making a Battletech mod for Men of War, but don't think it got very far. But I would love a new Mech Commander game.

Wargame: AirLand battle.

Alls I'm sayin.

Edited by S3dition, 31 January 2014 - 10:58 AM.

[Adridos]

S3dition, on 31 January 2014 - 10:57 AM, said:

I should also add that this is currently only possible with AMD video cards that support Mantle.

Well, at least they were decent enough to keep D3D support in it.

S3dition, on 31 January 2014 - 10:57 AM, said:

Wargame: AirLand battle.

Alls I'm sayin.

How moddable is that game, anyway?

I mean, it is perfect for TT board game conversions to real time and yet, I haven't seen a single daring mod for it.

[S3dition]

Adridos, on 31 January 2014 - 12:06 PM, said:

Well, at least they were decent enough to keep D3D support in it.



How moddable is that game, anyway?

I mean, it is perfect for TT board game conversions to real time and yet, I haven't seen a single daring mod for it.

It's not mod friendly at all, and not officially supported in any capacity. However, there are some 3rd party tools that people have created for European Escalation. Still nothing for airland battle. They also don't allow you to change textures or models in the game, so a battletech mod would be impossible.

Anyway, don't want to derail the thread too much, and there are ways to build it from the ground up using something like Unity or UDK, so mods aren't explicitly required anymore.

[Stepping Razor]

Thank you for post, great news just about to watch video, i am excited though that they are making steps, Strategy Genre, is my favorite game type. Anything that takes Knowledge tactics and skill. is what i look for, im just about done with Reaction based games. seems like a broken system to me if i want to play a reaction based game ill go play baseball or like a sport. so i look forward to watching video thank you very much.

[SaltBeef]

I still Play Sins of a solar empire! and expansions. Good Game. Supreme commander ( remakes of Total ANNHIALATION ) are friggin sweet too.