Re: SuperNova

From: rtgames@aol.com (RTGames)

Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 00:00:00 +0000

>>
>> > Anyone heard anything about when Rolling Thunder is planning to
>> > release the new SuperNova game?  I've been waiting forever...

Well not forever, but....how about an ETA, EM(month)A, EY(year)A from RT
or
someone connected??

How about the bad news ....any news???
>>
>> I can also tell you that many of the things that are planned for
>> SuperNova: Rise of the Empire look very, very interesting, if they
should
>> ever happen to be executed in the form of an actual game.  It ought to
be
>> worth playing if they finish it.

==========

David, Aaron, etc...

I'm pretty well connected <grin> and would be happy to give you an
update...

Two weeks from now I will be taking over the design end of SN:ROTE from
Russ,
who has labored long and hard on this project but simply cannot create
enough time
to complete it. He's been very, very busy on all sorts of things over the
past few years
and we need full time work to complete this beast (Aaron knows how complex
the SN:ROTE
monster is!).

Terry is programming full time right now. There are still a host of design
issues to be
resolved and I will be devoting 100% of my time to them from here on out.
I have no
other responsibilities, so I'll be eating and breathing SN:ROTE until we
release it
Can't give you an honest release date estimation but I want this thing out
within
a year if at all possible (which I believe is indeed possible).

Some tidbits...there will be a fully-featured front-end setup program so
players will
be able to design their lifeforms, technology selections, homeworld and
other setup
choices and then email in their setup files. This will really help us to
crank out the
setups, which in games like this can be a real chore otherwise. This alone
will chop off
several weeks from development time since you will be able to tinker with
your setups
before the game actually begins. There will also be a front-end program to
enter your turns
and manage your empire. It will be much more than a simple turnsheet
editor.

As to game details, it's got just about everything you could imagine
<plug, plug> which
is why it has taken so long to develop. One of the really neat things
about the game is
that there are many thousands of technology advances--so many that you'll
never be
able to develop them all. Each empire will therefore be quite unique in
the galaxy. I
believe that it will be virtually impossible for players to determine
"only way to go"
technology strategies (like drones in SN II). I say this with some
confidence because
there are many land mines and branches in the tech trees. For all of you
SN II veterans,
each tech item is researched distinctly, so you can have really great
missiles but horrible
fighters, for instance. Additionally, many tech items rely on other
advances to avoid
land mines or walls, so for example if you don't develop, say,
superconductors, you
might not be able to advance past a certain level in a weapon that you
might imagine
needing a superior electrical system (lasers?).

There are tons of other details I could give you, but it would take a book
(gasp, a *rule* book! <g>)
to let you know about 'em all. One thing I can say for sure--we will get
SN:ROTE out as rapidly
as is possible. We know it will be a huge success, so we have lots of
incentive to release as
quickly as possible. Still, we do not release games that are not tested
and ready for market, so
you will not see bug-filled programs. Those of you familiar with the clean
Victory! programs know
just how picky Terry can be!

Pete
Rolling Thunder Games, Inc.

References

SuperNova
"David Nesbitt" <nesbi002@maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Mon, 15 Apr 1996 00:00:00 +0000