X Rebirth Trailer Analysis and Speculation

Demotruk · Post by **Demotruk** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 18:27

If the game is more about larger, more interactive space stations (the ones in the trailer looked like "space cities", that is something I would definitely appreciate.

Seleucius · Post by **Seleucius** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 18:29

Egosoft, Forumites, I raise my glass to you. Don't want to turn this thread away from its OT, but applause is due.

@CJ: You seem surprised... that was one of the major turn-offs for reviewers, if you remember, of even TC. And considering reviews drive sales, it's not a leap to imagine that a developer would emphasize the initial few hours with a game if not for a customer, than a one-and-done review that delves no deeper than the first few missions. I'm not suggesting Egosoft is kowtowing to The Critic for the sake of Profits, but it does make sense to make the initial pick-up-and-play moments as fluid as possible, even if the latter majority of the experience is as much of a mindflux as the previous games.

@Demotruk: A major CPU load from TC in particular was the presence of all those NPC traders and running scripts for their trading, navigation, etc. What are there, some few thousand of them out and about at a time? A few mods were made that removed the jobs entry for these 'flavor' ships in TC and R, to a noticeable CPU load improvement. I'm guessing that cue may have been taken. Likely the ships won't be 2D as seen in Earth, considering they were fully modeled and lit in the trailer, but I'm guessing they'll just be filler ships droning from point A to point B across the sector, and only created in the sector the player is in. Provided we're still dealing with sectors here, obviously.

Anyone else in love with what appeared to be an M1 in the trailer?

imperium3 · Post by **imperium3** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 18:29

Various things to note, some of which I may have already posted elsewhere

Game Engine: Very very strong hints have been dropped that Rebirth will be multithreaded. Given that this involves practically a complete engine rewrite anyway, I'd be surprised if they don't use the opportunity to redo the rest as well. After all, the X3 engine has an awful lot of limitations due to its age.

Models: It looks like they've used a lot of TC concepts for the new ships, there are two Xenon fighters shown in the trailer which look identical to the TC ships, also various bits of stations look like they were lifted from TC, eg here, the long projection surrounded by cylinders also appears on TC Terran stations, if I recall correctly.

Docking: Looks to me like proper-sized hangars are back, after those microscopic things in X3. This ship at least (also shown in the trailer, from a better angle) has a bloody massive hangar, of which I approve tremendously.

Trade lanes: Looks like they're in, unless Ego is pulling some video trickery on us. It seems like a sensible way to minimise autopillock issues while still having a lot of ships in the same area. @X2-Eliah, I don't think they're fake - round about 0:46 the camera is practically flying through them and they look fairly 3D to me.

That's about all from me for now. I think I'm going to go and squee for a bit

A5PECT · Post by **A5PECT** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 18:40

imperium3 wrote: @X2-Eliah, I don't think they're fake - round about 0:46 the camera is practically flying through them and they look fairly 3D to me.

I think he was referring to the very distant ships in the background of the opening scene. From a design standpoint it makes sense for them to be "prop" ships used as scenery, but personally I'm hoping Egosoft just pulled the fastest one of all time and bumped up the scale of the entire universe.

That was my biggest gripe in previous X-games' visual design, space didn't feel that big.

I'd like to draw attention to is the gate-like structure at 0:41 and the ship propulsion at 0:55. I think the sector system will be similar in concept to previous X-games, but stations and points of interest will be seperated by much larger distances and require the use of some kind of accelerator drives.

Basically you use the jump gate to get to the general area (aka a massive plot of space) then use a slipstream/ftl/hyperspace drive to get to the exact point you want to go.

Roguey · Post by **Roguey** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 18:48

well.. looks like my poor 6 year old pc will be killed by X rebirth! looking amazing! We had very few details announced although? ie. is the BBS back? sub-systems? shield effects? space-sim/arcade feel? multi-core support?

Looks good what's coming!

cj-spartacus · Post by **cj-spartacus** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 18:55

Roguey wrote:well.. looks like my poor 6 year old pc will be killed by X rebirth! looking amazing! We have never few details announced although? ie. is the BBS back? sub-systems? shield effects? space-sim/arcade feel? multi-core support?

Looks good what's coming!

I would love for there to be a proper storyline like in BTF,X2 and X3:R (even if the stories were a little thin and the characters poorly acted) There's just something to be said for a proper RPG feel to the beginning of the game to make me feel like I've earned the right to build my empire in this universe.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 18:57

You know, heres a theory. notice how the stations are much larger and there are only a few? perhaps they took complex construction to the next level and made it so that multiple stations are connected together together, just in a more realistic way than those tubey things in TC. so something like having a base station and then being able to append more stations to it in a modular style. those trade lanes could be running in between these superstations or between modules maybe? I hope they are real ships and not like the ones that fly around the earth torus. the first time i flew in close to look at one i had an odd suprise.

as for the gate, it did look more like a TOA. not sure why, it just has the look of an accelarator rather than a portal. so possibly this supernova affected the gates and shut them all down, the the Terran stepped in and set up super trans orbit accelarators. that sort of story would cause the political shake up and would leave many sectors stranded and dying, like mentioned in the voiceover. it would be a wholly different universe structure too.

Thoughts?

Wait a moment, 0:48! that station has chimneys shooting fire! Vaccum of space?

Also notice how only one sector shown seems to have planets? the others are all asteroids/ destroyed planets, and the X rebirth logo at the end only has stars in the background. perhaps it's a hint at the fate of the universe, after all the X2 logo had khaak ships on it and X3TC had a picture of earth. so stars could mean space has suddenly become a lot emptier? dont mind me, just analysing symbolism where it might not be...

StarSword · Post by **StarSword** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 18:59

Addendum to my last post re: AI pathfinding: if ships are attacking a stationary target, just have them stand still. No need to dance around unless they're being fired upon.

amtct · Post by **amtct** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 19:15

@X2-Eliah
You better edit everything you said because nothing is/was reused

http://www.egosoft.com/x/xnews/201104_44_xr_news.html

Trickmov · Post by **Trickmov** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 19:39

another question (not from the trailer, but from the news-thread-OP):

"Enter a young adventurer and his unlikely female ally travelling in an old, battered ship with a glorious past - two people alone against the galaxy, playing a key part in the events to come. "

together with the statement "it gets personal" (from the X-News)

does this mean we will see a story, where you're accompanied by your ally or does this mean some sort of AI-controlled behauviour of the ally (like a pet)?

I would like to see the second version... that would be something completly new at least

samjaza · Post by **samjaza** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 19:42

It looks awesome.
Hopefully it will fully support DX11 with tessellation, true soft particles etc.
It would also be nice if the planets were a bit more involved now.
I'm not sure how much i like it going back to one protagonist though.
Still day one purchase for me, same as i have from X2.

shireknight · Post by **shireknight** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 20:01

Er guys I wouldn't get too excited, it's the same game with a new storyline just like X2, X3 and X3TC were lol.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 20:05

shireknight wrote:Er guys I wouldn't get too excited, it's the same game with a new storyline just like X2, X3 and X3TC were lol.

SHUN THE NONBELIEVER!

Seriously though, they did say that they practically had to rebiuld from scratch, so it will be pretty different i think

Killjaeden · Post by **Killjaeden** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 20:07

The ship-highway is a nice thing i think. Declutters the area and might save ressources. Propably they are just "pulled" rather then flying with an AI on their own.
If you can interact with them they could switch on the AI once you get close and switch it of if you are far away.

VincentTH · Post by **VincentTH** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 20:10

Fully agreed on that observation. Trading Ships now no longer need their own script to fly from one place to another, rather, they are "moved" from one place to another on the trade lane. That should save a lot of CPU cycles (i.e. no <<gasp>> Collision detection).

It ensue that when we build a new station, we will have to build the trade lane leading to it?

Demotruk · Post by **Demotruk** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 20:13

VincentTH wrote:Fully agreed on that observation. Trading Ships now no longer need their own script to fly from one place to another, rather, they are "moved" from one place to another on the trade lane. That should save a lot of CPU cycles.

It ensue that when we build a new station, we will have to build the trade lane leading to it?

I would have said "alternatively, there may not be station building AT ALL", but then the X-News came out and said the game follows the Trade Fight Build Think ideas, so it probably will.

mr.WHO · Post by **mr.WHO** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 20:19

Maybe there will be a limitation where we can build stations (like far away from trade lane).

I hope that Terrans and Sol survive and prosper. It would be shame to do everything to bring them back to universe for 3 damn games, just to find out they are destroyed in forth

cobra mk2 · Post by **cobra mk2** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 20:20

The factory/station seen at 0:37 and 0:56 seems very 'terraformer-ish' and the two pursuing ships at 0:56 seemed likewise. I also really hope they will have turrets and defence fighters.

I think the trade lanes seen may just be background animations but i do agree they may be used by the players transporters etc and i liked how close to the surface the factory at 0:56 was, will we be able to dock on the planets surface this time?

The warpgate type thing seen at 0:41 definitely looks to me like the terran orbital accelerator.

The warp tunnel effect seen at 0:47 may be the SETA.

mr.WHO · Post by **mr.WHO** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 20:22

The warp tunnel effect seen at 0:47 may be the SETA.

Or Terran idea for fast & cheap sector travel. TOA was basically a stationary trade lane within star system. Maybe they find out the way to put them into ship, rather than in "gate" style.

EDIT: I wonder if nova cataclysm made Xenon somehow more civilised toward bio-life. in TC ANH plot there was a peacefull CPU so there is a chance for it.

Earth Ultimatum IV. · Post by **Earth Ultimatum IV.** » Wed, 20. Apr 11, 20:23

this game is gonna be the GAME OF THE YEAR 2011!!!! (at least for me)

X Rebirth Trailer Analysis and Speculation

Omg!!!!