Space Rangers HD: A War Apart Announced!

[Sneaksie]

We are proud to announce the development of Space Rangers HD: A War Apart. The legendary series returns in full HD glory and with new material offering a pirate’s point of view with new storyline.

This new title remasters the universe of Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators and Space Rangers 2: Reboot and allows players to revisit those games or take part in a thrilling new story.
Space Rangers HD: A War Apart takes place in 3300AD. Our galaxy is invaded by the Dominators, combat robots that come under the influence of an alien technology. The player finds themselves in a living, breathing world where they can engage multiple activities: fight in space and hyperspace, buy and sell goods, accomplish government missions, liberate planets from the Dominators in 3D RTS battles and complete text adventures leading to unique plot twists and rewards. The game ending is not set and players may find a victory of either side at the end. Everything depends on the actions taken in this developing world where anybody can live the life of a pirate as well as that of a hero.
Space Rangers HD: A War Apart features a dynamic game world where the balance of power between the Dominators and the Coalition can shift at any minute and can be tipped to either side by player actions. A wise criminal will wait before plundering the Coalition if it is losing the war. Additionally, the game has been updated including new upgrades for spaceships, new planetary battles, text quests and hyperspace engagements available to pirates and law abiding rangers. This enhanced edition brings full widescreen support up to 1920x1200 complete with updated graphics and interface. Subtle improvements like the ability to play hyperspace battles outside of the story mode help to provide the unique experience for which Space Rangers was revered.

For more information please visit http://www.spacerangershd.com and http://www.facebook.com/SpaceRangersHD.

[jake21]

Is this the same team who did space ranger 2? I've not followed space ranger lore (though I really really liked space ranger 2 reboot and was hopeful there would be a space ranger 3).
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I kind of sucked at the rts; but hopefully there will be 1000's of text puzzles instead of only a few as in the previous game (I know this is not realisitc but i liked that aspect and sapce combat a bit better than the rts).

[Sneaksie]

Not the same team, but some of its members did work on SR2.

[Puce Moose]

Fantastic news! I didn't think we'd ever see more Spacer Rangers content, so this is a pleasant surprise. This appears to be more of an expansion than a full game I guess; same original galaxy with mostly the same items/weapons/ships, but with some new graphics and some new content.


Here's the biggest changes from the "interesting features" section:

New pirate subplot. After completing any one of the story branches a player can either end the game, or continue playing to complete another branch. the player’s actions influence the entire Galaxy, while the balance in either of wars may be tipped not only by the player, but by AI actions as well. No two playthroughs will be the same.
Major technical overhaul. Display resolutions up to 1920×1200, multi-core processors, Windows® 7, and anti-aliasing in 3D planetary battles are now fully supported.
Extended soundtrack means you’ll hear more than 15 completely new musical themes specially created for deeper immersion into the amazing Space Rangers universe.
Other improvements include more than 10 new text adventures, 15+ planetary battle maps, 20+ government missions, unique non-story events, new equipment and micromodules, access to all hyperspace engagements from the main menu and more!

I hope we get some new ships, but I didn't see it listed.

This is exciting! Day One Purchase.

[cairn]

Originally Posted by jake21

I kind of sucked at the rts; but hopefully there will be 1000's of text puzzles instead of only a few as in the previous game (I know this is not realisitc but i liked that aspect and sapce combat a bit better than the rts).

The secret is that the option to personally command one of the robots is not an option. You have too if you expect to win most of those scenarios. But you have to figure out where you're the most effective, and work that into the rest of the strategy. For example, I found I'm best in one on one attacking enemies from range where either they can't catch up to me before I can destroy them as I'm backing away or I draw them into an ambush before they're ready for it. A lot of times, controlling one personally, you can be a lone scout who takes lightly guarded resource points because while the AI is too stupid to maintain range while attacking, you aren't. And you can do this while the rest of your group is doing whatever you told them too. It is essential that you be capable of switching in and out of a robot quickly because sometimes you only have seconds to do what you need to do in that robot before you need to pay attention to something on the other side of the map. A lot of times it becomes a one step back two steps forward kind of thing. Sometimes you just have to regroup, and you controlling that robot is literally the only thing that keeps the enemy robots from getting critical resource points before you're built up enough to fight back take them, and defend them.

Oh, and BTW, the RTS element was a very nice addition. In fact, they were amongst my favorite missions. It was all those text missions and delivery missions that annoyed me the most. I hated running from system to system and back again just to get paid pennies. I mean those missions take up a lot of time you need to defend a system, and there are just so many of them it's just absurd. I'm telling you, at one point it was like 90% of all the missions were delivery missions that had me running all over timbuktu. And you have to do them because the likelihood you'll get another mission anytime soon isn't. You can spend half an hour or more looking at every planet you come across through 3 or 4 different systems, and never get a single mission, not even a delivery one. And if the Dominators have taken all but 3 or 4 systems, you're pretty much relying on trade because you're not getting a mission but maybe once every so often.

[Tryan]

Was hoping for SR3 but this will do just fine =)

Sneaksie, a couple of questions:

(a) will there be any improvements to the AI? Or will this aspect not be touched;

(b) will the additional materials developed for the Revolutions expansion / mod be incorporated into A War Apart? They have done alot of work (but its in Russian) so it would be great if that could be included as well;

(c) will we see this by the end of this year or will this be a 2013 release?

Cheers.

[nutranurse]

Holy crap this is awesome. You guys are awesome.

[Sneaksie]

a) What aspects of the AI behaviour need to be improved in your opinion? It's pretty advanced already.
b) Yes!
c) We're aiming at Q4 2012.

More interesting details will be revealed later, along with the development progress.

[Tryan]

Originally Posted by Sneaksie

a) What aspects of the AI behaviour need to be improved in your opinion? It's pretty advanced already.
b) Yes!
c) We're aiming at Q4 2012.

More interesting details will be revealed later, along with the development progress.

On the AI, I am not so much referring to the space fight AI which I agree is great but the fact that within a relatively quick period, all Rangers are wiped out save for yourself. If that could be tweaked (so that the world feels a bit less "lonely"), that would be great.

Awesome news on revolutions! I've read many great things on that front.

Really looking forward to this!

Development blogs would be a great way for fans to follow the progress and spread the word around.

[ru_maniac]

I told you so, good news are on the way