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Zero-k: A libre sci-fi RTS game, with an economy based on metal and energy

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Re: Zero-k: A libre sci-fi RTS game, with an economy based on metal and energy

#61

Post by BlueTemplar »

wheelerof4te wrote: post #54
notahacker wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tbf the unit designs (those solar panels!) were pretty weird at the time, looks like this has a similarly odd-looking ships and factories and the same penchant for big coloured panels on everything Looks like the big advantage of this is that the unit AI is supposed to be quite clever rather than really stupid at how it carries out the tasks you give it...

They are bragging about having a challenging AI. We will see, I've just downloaded the game. Hopefully, the AI is better than Blizzard's 98's Brood War brain-dead computer :)

Projects like these tend to attract AI programmers, compare SC1's native AI with what Brood War API users came up with :

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/01/skynet-meets-the-swar...

Speaking of which, you might be in luck, this just happened this weekend, and in my on-and-off experience with Spring games, I don't remember seeing AI exhibition matches very often compared to regular human competitions :

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1981220857

http://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/36943

P.S.: Don't confuse unit AI (that even players have direct access to) with general AI.

Re: Zero-k: A libre sci-fi RTS game, with an economy based on metal and energy

#62

Post by wheelerof4te »

BlueTemplar wrote: post #59
wheelerof4te wrote: post #37

Would I need a fairly powerful machine to run this? I can run Starcraft 2, is that enough? I've toyed with Total Annihilation, but the graphics were too old, even for Brood War fan such as myself.

It basically came out a few years before SC2, being even less graphically demanding. (At which point my own PC with a GeForce 4 which, for comparison to today, had either 0.064 or 0.128 Go of VRAM, would struggle to run it.) Some graphic improvements have happened since then of course, and the requirements are now somewhat higher. Now the issue is that it doesn't have the unit caps that SC2 does, and the number of pl…

Are there any popular 4vs4 games?

I will first start versus AI, then take it from there. Not really a competitive player anymore. Playing Brood War kinda makes you dislike multiplayer RTS after a while, haha.

Re: Zero-k: A libre sci-fi RTS game, with an economy based on metal and energy

#63

Post by BlueTemplar »

LordShredda wrote: post #43

This game is absolutely insane. There's so many tricks and plays possible with the selection of units available. Ever seen a commander rocket jump and shoot down a bomber plane mid air?

Zero-K = Noita RTS :

https://imgur.com/iCUnQy6

Re: Zero-k: A libre sci-fi RTS game, with an economy based on metal and energy

#64

Post by fho »

shoggouth wrote: post #42

Does Zero-k or another SpringRTS game support "strategic zoom" or building structures/units with real-time debt (as in you can construct a unit that requires 10000 mineral when you are only making 600 a minute) such as Supreme Commander?

I feel old now :-)

SpringRTS is actually older than the first Supreme Commander game.

Re: Zero-k: A libre sci-fi RTS game, with an economy based on metal and energy

#65

Post by fho »

ewy1 wrote: post #13

So happy to see this here! I used to play this a lot with my boyfriend - we were pretty evenly matched, and the game allowed for so much freedom which made every game wild. The most impressive feature is - in my opinion - the wide variety of commands you can provide to your units and how their AI interacts with them. For example, if you build a crowd of fast and agile grunts and make them match speed with a slower ta…

One of the features I used the most was the "distributed move/fight" command. That just made it so easy to deploy e.g. a line of heavy tanks in front of a line of artillery.

Or mines that were actually useful. I played a game were my opponent got super paranoid after running into the first mine field.

Good times :-)

Re: Zero-k: A libre sci-fi RTS game, with an economy based on metal and energy

#68

Post by LegibleCrimson »

wheelerof4te wrote: post #54
notahacker wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tbf the unit designs (those solar panels!) were pretty weird at the time, looks like this has a similarly odd-looking ships and factories and the same penchant for big coloured panels on everything Looks like the big advantage of this is that the unit AI is supposed to be quite clever rather than really stupid at how it carries out the tasks you give it...

They are bragging about having a challenging AI. We will see, I've just downloaded the game. Hopefully, the AI is better than Blizzard's 98's Brood War brain-dead computer :)

Note that the parent poster was referring to unit AI, not enemy AI. Units can do a lot more with a single command compared to something like StarCraft and StarCraft II, which forces you to do much more heavy micro (because your units will pretty much walk in a straight line to their goal, not attack unless they're A-walking, and then stand in a single place without moving as they attack). APM is not as important a factor in TA-heritage games, and many Spring games go to great lengths to reduce APM as much as possible, by doing things like automating "dancing".

Re: Zero-k: A libre sci-fi RTS game, with an economy based on metal and energy

#69

Post by russnewcomer »

fergal_reid wrote: post #51

I used to play Total Annihilation online back when I was in secondary school in the late 90s We'd hang out on IRC, and people would host a game on their IP. Eventually I got into creating new units for the game. You had to animate them with a C-like language, and I was trying to teach myself C at the time so that was part of my programming journey. The 'Swedish Yankspankers' were a clan that had a channel on the IRC…

It’s still some of the same folks - SJ and some of the other SYs wrote the Spring Engine that Zero-K uses.

I myself learned how to code writing .bos scripts and hanging out at Annihilated, TAU, and #gnug

If you want to see some of the stuff still possible and being done in the TA engine, check out TAUniverse.com

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