Chris' Replies

[Gobalopper]

Both Chris Rubyor(Delphi) and Chris Longpre posted in the official forum earlier today. Delphi was replying to the PC Zone review:

Good topic! I have played Emperor now everyday for the past two weeks, and I personally think this reviewer didn't play the game much. He is very broad and general and personally doesn't focus on many of the highlights. Emperor is gorgeous in 32bit color and 1024x768 resolution. The special effects for explosions and building animations are awesome! Hehe I do work for Westwood, so take that how you like.

Yes, the review does feel a bit anti-westwood, I'm glad someone ponted that out. Also, I wish the European guys didn't have to review beta code, sometimes tweaks are added before the game ships that they seem to miss. =(

...and...

Sadly it's the way the Euro press and the market works. If we could hold back and send them final code we would, but then they might not review the game (so less people would know about and buy our games). Sites like Game Spot, Game Spy & IGN (my personal favorites) prefer final code because it's FINAL code. It's a more fair perspective on the products and how they play.

As for the landscape shots, I wish you could see the game in action, it really is awesome. - LINK

Chris Longpre gives some details about the graphics and the different settings you can use depending on your computer speed:

I believe our minimum requirements are floating around ... in the FAQ I think too.

P2-400, 64MB Ram, 16MB Vram, 3D Card Required, 4X CD-ROM, mouse/keyboard, DirectX sound card, etc.

If you are right on the edge of the min-spec above, and you want to know what to upgrade first... I'd say your video card. Its one of the cheapest componants to upgrade, and gives you the best boost in visuals & performance. After that, memory & CPU.

Just so you know, I'm using a P2-400, 96MB ram with a TNT2 (16MB) at home. I put the Graphic settings on Medium and it runs great.

p.s. And yes, we run a full spectrum of video cards in our test labs to ensure the best possible support accross the myriad of chips & manuf. You would already know how your video card rates if you've playing any recent 3D games. We can't make the older cards faster than the new cards. :)

p.p.s. We do have a 'fast mode', the Low detail setting, which exchanges some visual quality for better framerates. This involves turning off rendered shadows, down-sampling textures, using the low-poly version of the models, 640x480, etc. In this mode, even the oldest 16MB 3D cards perform well, so you can always try that before going out to buy yourself a new card.

p.p.p.s. We also have a 'Highest' setting, and custom controls to play in 32bit color, 1600x1200 resolution, high-poly models, filtered shadows, fully multipass rendering, etc. Its definitely intended for those 'hot rod gaming machines' you've been reading about in the game mags... - LINK

And some more information on units as well:

The Lastanks from House Ordos are an interesting combination of technolgies. Regenerating armor, shields, hovering & lasers, plus all the circuitry needed to allow them to interact properly (i.e. shields need to drop for the brief instant the laser fires to avoid catastrophic failure).

Bottom line, these are fast & agile tanks capable of delivering fast pin-point raids on your defenses. Their main fatal flaw is that they are all about energy. Lasers, hovering, shields, regeneration .. that takes a lot of juice. When their shields drop, they quickly loose their ability to move, to fire, to do much of anything but limp away. Also remember, shields only stop projectile damage.

p.s. I can think of a few more ways to defend against them... a hint. You usually do not want lasers to shoot at a shielded unit.

p.p.s. Oh yeah, I was going to say they do not behave like Prism tanks, so your fears should be qwelled. - LINK

~-~

As you've noticed, infantry plays a big role in Emperor-Battle for Dune. The Ordos no not have a light infantry unit, but get the Chemical Trooper instead. This guy lugs 2 huge canisters of toxic gas on his back and pumps out billowing green smoke upon his enemies.

From a gameplay point of view, it fills a similar role as the light infantry units: anti-infantry support. They're a lot of fun to play too! Their green gas has a tendancy to linger a bit. I like to lead them up an opponant's ramp and let them take out their Kindjal and rocket troopers. - LINK

~-~

Both the Fremen & Sardaukar subhouses really rock and are entirely infantry based!

The Fremen get stealth, which means they can hide and remain unhidden until they attack. The Fremen Warrior uses a long range rifle and is expert at taking out Harkonnen soldiers. The Fremen Fedaykin have weirding modules that send out armor shaking sonic blasts.

The Imperial Sardaukar are tough armored soldiers, that never duck for cover, prefering to face their enemy without cowering. The Sardaukar use spinning barrel gattling guns to mow down infantry. The Advanced Sardaukar uses a lasgun for assualting armored vehicles and a deadly knife attack against nearby soldiers.

Either house is a powerful ally in your conquest of Arrakis. Or why not both? - LINK

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