Here at Shattered Sun RTS we have been blessed with the development team taking notice of what the community has been asking for. Developer, Nine2, has been busy letting us know some of the confirmed features for Sanctuary Shattered Sun that people might not know about and might not expect, so without further ado, let's get to it:
"Our super genius art peoples have been hard at work delivering infinite terrain - there is no map border. Only part of the map is playable, after that it just keeps going off into the distance, no hard maps edge."
Unlike Supreme Commander, which had a hard and fake looking border, the maps in Sanctuary are much more realistic with the maps simply fading into the distance rather that having a hard wall surrounding the play area.
Whilst this is unlikely to effect gameplay too much it just shows the attention to details which the development team are putting into the game.
It. Will. Be. Beautiful.
"One of my favourite features is around all the commander upgrade stuff with the seperate chassis system. Players will be able to transfer their commander into a completely different vehicle with completely different specs ... like a bot turning into a tank instead, with slower movement and more hp, but with completely different upgrades. One of the reasons I like this is because it advertises the commander capabilities ... like he is tank mode now so he could have the scary epic gun upgrade. Having the chassis change is like a big warning."
I love this idea. Not only are the Kingpiece (not Commander!) units different for each faction, but they are customisable by changing their chassis. Why is this important? Well each different chassis unlocks a different 'tech tree' such as offensive, builder, intel. The key component of this feature is that the chassis chosen advertises to your opponent how you plan to use your commander. In Supreme Commander, an ACU with double-gun upgrade looked entirely similar to one with T3 engineering suite. In Sanctuary you'll be able to - at a glance - see what the threat rating is of your opponent.
"Our pathfinding is designed to support bridges. Units can travel on top of or below bridges. Bridges can be destroyed which would damage the units above which would take fall damage, and everything below which would get crushed. Perhaps bridges can be repaired, who knows?"
The option to traverse previously in accessible areas of the terrain by building bridges to access them is an interesting inclusion. Destructible and repairable bridges have been a feature of RTS games since - at least - 1995, but being able to build bridges would be an incredible tactical options for players. One thing to consider is the option for air dropping units. Will bridges be required at all? There will need to be some way to incentive the use of bridges to ensure they're a viable alternative to simply flying across chasms and gaps in the map.
"One of the more controversial features we are talking about is a second wind feature - in team games, when your commander dies, he is downed for a bit and your team mate can come over with his own commander and revive you. In other games - one of the frustrations is being sniped, you've played a game for 20 minutes and you are doing well then just suddenly die. Some people love it, some people hate it. Besides fixing an annoying issue, Second Wind will create lots of super excting gaming moments, where the main player is going really well, but he is downed! and then his teammates come to revive him! but then the area is nuked!
In Sanctuary players will have the option to be able to enable or disable Second Wind, which nerfs snipes a bit and provides excitement."
The death of the Commander Unit is the end of the game in Supreme Commander. In Sanctuary: Shattered Sun there is the option to have your Kingpiece revived by a team-mate to give a player another chance to engage the enemy. The finer details of the Second Wind feature are still to be worked out, but on paper the option to be revived is certainly interesting. Especially when Second Wind has a limited timer. Do you traverse the map to keep you comrade in the game and risk your own Kingpiece to do so? These and other tactical decisions with be the making of Sanctuary: Shattered Sun.
Would you like to know more? Would you like to influence the development of the game? Post your ideas in Sanctuary: Shattered Sun Game Suggestions
Infinite Terrain:
"Our super genius art peoples have been hard at work delivering infinite terrain - there is no map border. Only part of the map is playable, after that it just keeps going off into the distance, no hard maps edge."
Unlike Supreme Commander, which had a hard and fake looking border, the maps in Sanctuary are much more realistic with the maps simply fading into the distance rather that having a hard wall surrounding the play area.
Whilst this is unlikely to effect gameplay too much it just shows the attention to details which the development team are putting into the game.
It. Will. Be. Beautiful.
Commander Chassis System
"One of my favourite features is around all the commander upgrade stuff with the seperate chassis system. Players will be able to transfer their commander into a completely different vehicle with completely different specs ... like a bot turning into a tank instead, with slower movement and more hp, but with completely different upgrades. One of the reasons I like this is because it advertises the commander capabilities ... like he is tank mode now so he could have the scary epic gun upgrade. Having the chassis change is like a big warning."I love this idea. Not only are the Kingpiece (not Commander!) units different for each faction, but they are customisable by changing their chassis. Why is this important? Well each different chassis unlocks a different 'tech tree' such as offensive, builder, intel. The key component of this feature is that the chassis chosen advertises to your opponent how you plan to use your commander. In Supreme Commander, an ACU with double-gun upgrade looked entirely similar to one with T3 engineering suite. In Sanctuary you'll be able to - at a glance - see what the threat rating is of your opponent.
Bridges
"Our pathfinding is designed to support bridges. Units can travel on top of or below bridges. Bridges can be destroyed which would damage the units above which would take fall damage, and everything below which would get crushed. Perhaps bridges can be repaired, who knows?"The option to traverse previously in accessible areas of the terrain by building bridges to access them is an interesting inclusion. Destructible and repairable bridges have been a feature of RTS games since - at least - 1995, but being able to build bridges would be an incredible tactical options for players. One thing to consider is the option for air dropping units. Will bridges be required at all? There will need to be some way to incentive the use of bridges to ensure they're a viable alternative to simply flying across chasms and gaps in the map.
Second Wind
"One of the more controversial features we are talking about is a second wind feature - in team games, when your commander dies, he is downed for a bit and your team mate can come over with his own commander and revive you. In other games - one of the frustrations is being sniped, you've played a game for 20 minutes and you are doing well then just suddenly die. Some people love it, some people hate it. Besides fixing an annoying issue, Second Wind will create lots of super excting gaming moments, where the main player is going really well, but he is downed! and then his teammates come to revive him! but then the area is nuked!
In Sanctuary players will have the option to be able to enable or disable Second Wind, which nerfs snipes a bit and provides excitement."
The death of the Commander Unit is the end of the game in Supreme Commander. In Sanctuary: Shattered Sun there is the option to have your Kingpiece revived by a team-mate to give a player another chance to engage the enemy. The finer details of the Second Wind feature are still to be worked out, but on paper the option to be revived is certainly interesting. Especially when Second Wind has a limited timer. Do you traverse the map to keep you comrade in the game and risk your own Kingpiece to do so? These and other tactical decisions with be the making of Sanctuary: Shattered Sun.
Would you like to know more? Would you like to influence the development of the game? Post your ideas in Sanctuary: Shattered Sun Game Suggestions
