Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection has been released!

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on June 6, 2020

Command & Conquer: Remastered collection has been released yesterday. Here's the press release:

 

 

 

Command & Conquer™ and Command & Conquer™ Red Alert defined the RTS genre 25 years ago, and now they’re back and fully remastered in 4k by the former Westwood Studios team members at Petroglyph. The Command & Conquer™ Remastered Collection includes all three expansion packs, rebuilt multiplayer, a modernized UI, Map Editor, bonus gallery of unreleased FMV footage, modding support, and over seven hours of legendary remastered music by Frank Klepacki.

Check out the remastered experience in the official launch trailer below:

 

 

Both the Origin and Steam digital Standard Editions include the remastered versions of Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert, plus all three expansion packs (Covert Operations, Counterstrike, and The Aftermath), and tons of bonus features and improvements.

Head over to the PC Specs and Requirements page to find out what you'll need to start your campaign on the battlefield. And if you have any questions about how modding will work in the game, check out our FAQ or dive deeper with the Remaster Update and Open Source / Mod Support article here.

Welcome back, Commander.

 

 

It is worth mentioning that we have added support for both Conan Unconquered and Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection here at Petrolution. Also, the OS .BIG Editor tool has been updated to its latest version, with 64 bits support, being able to load and save .meg files, and correctly displaying the high resolution textures (32 bits TGA files) used in C&C: Remastered Collection. Enjoy the game and happy modding!

Phoenix Rising v2.0 Public Beta

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on April 8, 2018

After the success of the demo, I have decided to move forward with a public beta phase, released via update to the Steam version of the demo. This will introduce the full set of galactic conquests that are currently work-in-progress. You should expect more bugs than the demo version, but also many more opportunities to try out new parts of the mod.

Known issues:

Missing text

Poor performance in some GCs

Missing CSA units

Unit filter buttons may sometimes display an incorrect state if pressed rapidly

Sandbox missions may show incorrect information

 

Changelog from demo:
Full GC set (Work in progress)

New filter buttons: click to hide different classes of space units/research

Updated tech trees for Rebels and Empire

Fixed some weapons not firing from muzzles correctly

Space colonies now correctly show up in battle results

 

Please report bugs here or on the Steam discussion page.

More Demo bugfixes

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on February 25, 2018

A new set of bugfixes and other improvements has made its way to the demo, both on Steam and ModDB.

 

Changelog for version 2.0.2

- Did a pass on ground unit AI combat power so the AI sends more reasonable amounts of units into land combat
- Added infantry highlight icons so that infantry are more visible in combat. Current icons are Red for Imperial infantry, Blue for Rebel infantry and White for Independent infantry.
- Fixed firing muzzle positions for AT-AT, T4 series, and ground-based turbolaser turrets.
- Improved AI starbase upgrade responsiveness, they should now tend to upgrade if the opponent does.
- Garrison structures are now visible through fog-of-war
- Kyle Katarn now uses a Stormtrooper One blaster rifle instead of the post-Dark Trooper campaign assault cannon.
- Golans and shipyards are now placed better on space maps. Golans should generally protect shipyards and the colony.
- Land combat camera now has full yaw rotation and adjusted zoom
- Added Skyhook fleet information in the startup dialogue box.
- Added TIE Starfighter specific skin (the TIE Starfighter is the first in the main TIE line)
- AI responds better to planetary bonuses.
- General scripting performance improvements
- Multiple attempts at reducing the prevalance of save game crashes.
- Updated space missile models for concussion, proton torpedo and proton rockets

Demo bugfixes

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on February 5, 2018

 

Phoenix Rising v2.0 Demo

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on January 13, 2018

After 5 years, we finally have v2.0 of Phoenix Rising ready to demo, with the Operation Skyhook Campaign.

Download here for a manual installation: http://www.moddb.com...rising-v20-dlt;/a>
Or find us on the Steam Workshop at: http://steamcommunit.../?id=1235783994

Experience the lead-up to A New Hope from both sides of the Galactic Civil War, as told in the Legends universe

Selection of missions provide guidance in the early stages of the campaign. The later stages are up to you!

Command the Rebel Alliance from hidden fighter bases, striking against Imperial convoys and trying to discover the location of the Death Star construction site

Lead the Galactic Empire to victory, protecting the Death Star and crushing the Rebellion across the galaxy

The Galactic Empire is recommended for first time players of Phoenix Rising.


Short summary of changes:

• Sweeping optimization improvements, including a "light" campaign for those having performance problems.
• Rewritten galactic conquests (Demo featured: Operation Skyhook)
• Rewritten AI to be more intelligent and challenging
• All hyperspace travel now done via hyperlanes, with bonus speed and income from different sizes of route
• Complete overhaul of planet locations, bonuses, and abilities
• Over 50 new ground maps for v2.0, many new space maps
• Both land and space skirmish are available (though land skirmish is still unfinished for the CSA)
• Space skirmish has been completely rebalanced to be more of a competitive experience
• New armor/shield/damage system for space combat, bringing it in line with our ground combat changes from v1.2. New space units and ground vehicle
• Improved weather system and atmospheric effect
• New hero system

For a full changelog, see https://forums.revor...-v20-changelog/

v2.0 Changelog

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on December 18, 2017

Below is a summary of changes to v2.0, as well as notes regarding what will be included in the demo version, coming soon^TM

General

 

• Rewritten AI to be more intelligent and challenging
  • AI now has some factional differences in style
  • AI will correctly build units and structures based on its planetary bonuses
  • Improved AI in tactical mode
• Rebalanced tech trees
• Functional CSA faction (full release only)
• Sweeping optimization improvements
  • Addition of “light” campaign options for those who prefer high performance
• Many quality-of-life improvements
  • Tooltips for all units contain all the statistic information you need
  • Improved advisor hints to introduce you to the mod’s features
  • Building and shipyard tooltips tell you what they can produce
  • Improved research display
• Difficulty levels:
  • Easy: AI gets 10% fewer credits and takes 10% longer to build units
  • Normal: AI is exactly on par with the player
  • Hard: AI gets 10% more credits, takes 10% less time to build units, and units have 20% more damage, 20% more health, and 25% more shields.

Galactic Mode

 

• Rewritten galactic conquests (Demo featured: Operation Skyhook)
• All hyperspace travel now done via hyperlanes, with bonus speed and income from different sizes of route
• Starships now cost population proportional to their crew requirements
• Complete overhaul of planet locations, bonuses, and abilities
  • Planets now provide population carefully calculated from their statistics
  • Bonuses are rebalanced and clarified with improved tooltips
  • Planet info screens notify you of environmental or population conditions that affect production
• Many new planets added
• Overhaul of planet icons and base level display
• New planet textures
• Over 50 new ground maps for v2.0, many new space maps
• Restoration of classic EAW sandbox missions (full release only, not demo)
• Rebalanced freighters

Skirmish Mode

• Both land and space skirmish are available (though land skirmish is still unfinished for the CSA)
• Space skirmish has been completely rebalanced to be more of a competitive experience
  • Units build faster and are cheaper
  • Income scales better with station level
  • Unit costs and build times balanced per unit and per unit class
• AI greatly improved compared to v1.2

Space Combat

 

• New armor/shield/damage system for space combat, bringing it in line with our ground combat changes from v1.2.
  • Damage is now applied after armor subtraction e.g. laser damage 16 vs armor 12 does only 4 damage to a starship hull.
  • Torpedoes and some other weapons can pierce armor.
  • This means that light craft can barely damage capital ships. All weapons do a minimum of 0.5 damage if armor is equal to or greater than weapon damage.
  • Shields absorb a percentage of damage from incoming fire based on unit class
• New space units (* = buildable in demo): Lictor-class Dungeon Ship, Providence-class Destroyer*, Belbullab-22 starfighter, Defender Starfighter*, TIE Vanguard, Diamond-class courier ship, Manka-class war Frigate*, G-1A Starfighter, Sheathipede-class Transport Shuttle, Y-85 Titan Dropship*, YV-100 Light Freighter, YV-330 Light Freighter, YV-929 Armed Freighter
• Rebalanced starship and starfighter weapons for the new combat system, rewriting thousands of hardpoints
• Space Colonies are now armed with turbolasers at all levels, and provide minor fire support to defending fleets

Ground Combat

• New ground combat bunker system, with many civilian structures available to hide your infantry
• New ground vehicles (* = buildable in demo): AAT, HMP gunship, MTT, OG-9, S-1 Firehawke*, V-Wing Airspeeder*
• Improved weather system and atmospheric effects- don’t let infantry get stranded on planets with a Type IV atmosphere!
• Infantry carry appropriately-modeled weapons in most cases
• New ground structures: Bank, Listening Outpost

Heroes

• New hero system with consistent hero ratings and upgrade paths
  • Space heroes now require a flagship to attach to in many cases
• New heroes (* = playable in demo release): 4-LOM, Adar Tallon, Andoorni Hui, Apailana, Appo, Barrow Oicunn, Bevven*, Blitzer Harrsk, Bror Jace, Clyngunn, Cody, Comeg, Corran Horn, Crueya Vandron, Devlia, Erisi Dlarit, Evir Derricote, Gavin Darklighter, Ghorin, Haashn, Havet Storm, Hurst Romodi*, Kirtan Loor, Kosh Teradoc, Laryn Krefey, Lujayne Forge, Male Dee, Mawsh’iye, Meena Tills, Morteos, Nawara Ven, Odd Ball, Onara Kuat, Ooryl Qrygg, Osted Wermis, Peshk Vrisyk, Ragab, Rhysati Ynr, Riv Shiel, Rojahn, Sander Delvardus, Shaak Ti, Shea Hublin, Talon Karrde, Tensiger*, Terrinald Screed, Thaneespi, Theol Drost*, Treuten Teradoc, Tundra Dowmeia, Uwlla Iillor, Verrack, Zel Johans*, Zsinj, Zuckuss

Operation Skyhook- Demo Release GC

• Experience the lead-up to A New Hope from both sides of the Galactic Civil War, as told in the Legends universe
• Selection of missions provide guidance in the early stages of the campaign. The later stages are up to you!
• Command the Rebel Alliance from hidden fighter bases, striking against Imperial convoys and trying to discover the location of the Death Star construction site
• Lead the Galactic Empire to victory, protecting the Death Star and crushing the Rebellion across the galaxy
• The Galactic Empire is recommended for first time players of Phoenix Rising.

8-Bits Armies for Nintendo Switch

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on August 30, 2017

If you are a happy owner of Nintendo Switch, you'll be happy with this news: 8-Bit Armies is being ported to your video game soon. At least, according to this "Nindies" trailer.

 

Battle Blitz has been released.

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on July 29, 2017

Hello everyone. Today, while browsing the web, I've found out about something Petroglyph has just released. For modding, it is useless. But if you have a Gear VR, it might be fun if you have 5 dollars to spare. It is called Battle Blitz.

 

 

There isn't much material to share about this game yet and probably there won't be. Here's how the site I've linked above describes the project:

 

 

 

Embark on a fun and challenging "lite" Real-Time Strategy campaign against an AI bent on your destruction! Construct your base, build your army, and determine your strategy of attack. Every map provides a unique challenge with new units, obstacles, and traps to contend with. You can even advance your technology to build the fearsome nuclear silo and rain molten destruction on your enemy! As you level up your character, you’ll earn rewards for technology advancements that can be placed into your own custom maps to share with other players. Other features include Touch controller support, an in-game tutorial, leaderboards, map editor, and the classic base-building, economy management, and strategic battles that strategy players love to dig into.

 

 

 

 

 

It seems that any similarity with 8-Bits Armies is not a mere coincidence. If you are interested in the game, click in any of the pictures and have fun. Thanks to Plokite_Wolf for the tip.

AI Breakthrough

Posted by Ghostrider at Phoenix Rising News on June 7, 2016

After weeks and months of testing, and trying to figure out how to get the AI to react as a human does in a galactic environment, the PR team have finally achieved a significant AI breakthrough:

 

The AI now aggressively attacks independent planets, takes worlds, builds fleets, and stomps all over unwary humans if given half a chance. 

 

The AI equasions to do this have been in place do this for years, but for months the AI has lain dormant, effectively asleep. We have tried hundreds of different ideas to get the AI to activate - all to no effect. 

 

And how did we achieve this? 

 

The frustrating answer, familiar to most modders out there is simple. We changed 1 value in the XMLs, instead of increasing the value from 1.0 to 1.25 we should have decreased the value to 0.75. It just took 6 months of testing to realise that is what we needed to do!

 

WOW. Did the AI react or what?

It annihilated one of the testers in Core Worlds in under a quarter of the time taken for a human player to "WIN" Core Worlds if unopposed. 

 

Now that we know the AI is working, I have to go back and undo many of the campaign changes put in place that were an attempt to make the AI respond, but the mod is finally alive and kicking. We need to test and polish a bit more, but this makes us a lot closer to where we want to be. 

 

Ghost

Campaign #1 - CORE WORLDS

Posted by Ghostrider at Phoenix Rising News on December 9, 2015

At the centre of the galaxy, you find the oldest, richest, most heavily populated... and the best defended planets in the galaxy. Single planets in the Core have more financial and military influence than whole sectors in the Outer Rim.

 

 

CORE WORLDS is the first of the campaigns in the Rise of the Empire Era, which is set at the end of the Clone Wars. The formation of the Galactic Empire has been announced, but many worlds are either actively opposed to the New Order or are highly independent planets that will resist the Imperialisation of trade, commerce and law. You get to rewrite history with either the early Galactic Empire, or the scattered elements of the Phoenix Rising Movement.

 

 

All of these campaigns start with a handful of planets and outdated Republic-era and Clone Wars technologies. Many of the neutral worlds will be far stronger at the start than your small fleets, and these campaigns are lengthy. It is vital to plan for long term growth, and in many cases your production capacity will far exceed your initial income, and it is important to grow both militarily and financially.

 

The political influence of leaders also cannot be underestimated, and many politicians give time reduction bonuses on construction (motivation), and best of all, price discounts for the most influential.

 

You should also be aware that the larger starbases need considerable fleet strength, with destroyer and capital-class warship support for the level 4 and 5 starbases, before an invasion can be considered. It is no longer feasible to effectively destroy a starbase with corvettes alone, but your Level 2 starbases are vital to continued financial growth, so don’t ignore them.

 

 

It is worth noting that the income created by light transports is a percentage of the planetary income, so make sure your light transports are in orbit over your wealthiest planets. You receive light transport revenues once units have made 1 trip into hyperspace. XQ5 platforms add 25% to your base planetary income, and are well worth the 3 week production time on your richer worlds. However, there is a limit of 2 per planet, and many of your Core holdings already contain at least one customs station, with a welcome boost to revenues. 

 

Before considering invasion, make sure you scout target worlds by espionage, stealth heroes, and attacks by a lone scout unit to ensure any invasion is feasible, and that you can escape if it gets too difficult. Many worlds have interdictors in their fleets, trapping invaders to certain doom. And don’t forget about small infantry raids with up to 3 infantry units. This can be a quick way to capture lightly defended units, with the advantage that you destroy the orbiting starbase if you manage to capture the planet.

In Core Worlds, you start with 6 influential planets : -

 

PRM Abregado Rae

The smuggler port of Abregado Rae is fiercely independent and highly resistant to being ruled, and is looking to Corellia for guidance in the growing opposition to the Galactic Empire. If the smugglers on Abregado-rae can join forces with the Corellians, they could form a powerful syndicate.

Strategic Considerations: Threat from Byss.
Heroes: Obi-Wan Kenobi

 

 

PRM Alderaan

Alderaan has been a staunch supporter of the republic in the fight against the Separatists, with the Royal Alderaanian Shipyards providing the engines for the Acclamator-class Assault ships. Both influential and with excellent facilities, Alderaan is politically opposed to the New Order and Bail Organa is one of the key figures in promoting the idea of active resistance to the ever-growing power of the Office of Chancellor.

Strategic Considerations: No Immediate threats.
Heroes: Bail Organa
 

PRM Chandrila

Chandrila is a world of free speech led by Senator Mon Mothma, who led the Delegation of 2000 to limit the powers of the Chancellor. Chandrila has a strong defence-fleet and is working with both Bail Organa and Garm Bel Iblis to take increasing military action to oppose the New Order.

Strategic Considerations: Major threat from Corulag.
Heroes: Mon Mothma

 

PRM Corellia

The free world of Corellia is the leading manufacturer of light freighters and corvettes with unrivalled construction facilities. Invoking an ancient law, legendary Senator Garm Bel Iblis has kept Corellia out of the Clone Wars and is strongly opposed to the changes imposed by the New Order.

Strategic Considerations: Major threat from Byss.
Heroes: Garm Bel Iblis

 

PRM Farrfin

This smuggler world has a vibrant underworld and finds the Galactic Empire and its new taxes a considerable threat – especially as this is increasingly backed up by the Imperial Fleet and a growing Imperial Customs Service.

Strategic Considerations: Major threat from Coruscant.
 

 

PRM Fresia

This tiny island population is the home to Incom – producers of one of the most popular basic fighters towards the last days of the Old Republic – the Z95 Headhunter. Incom’s fortunes have dramatically changed for the worse with the creation of the Galactic Empire and the move towards disposable TIEs – and disposable pilots, something that the Fresians object to morally.

Strategic Considerations: Isolated, but Coruscant could be a threat in the future.

 

IMPERIAL Coruscant

 

Coruscant has everything – vast research capabilities, diverse production, immense wealth and a huge pool of talented individuals to nurture and develop. 

 

 

In addition, both Sith lords – Darth Sidious and Darth Vader - are present on Coruscant, giving the Imperial faction a huge advantage. The political and financial influence of Darth Sidious is worth several star-systems, and Darth Vader frightens whole armies, both in space and in ground combat.

Strategic Considerations: Minor Threat from Farrfin.
Heroes: Darth Sidious, Darth Vader

 

 

While the temptation is to focus on military research, some effort should be spend to upgrade the trade fleet and add to Coruscant’s fleet in case the threat from Farrfin increases. Military expansion, both north to Dolomar and south to the Deep Core should be considered.

 

IMPERIAL Byss

Byss is the center of secret holdings in the Deep Core. With a massive 20bn population of immigrants tricked into travelling to a utopian world, Byss could become a major planet of influence.

Strategic Considerations: Major Threat from Abregado-rae and Corellia

Much effort should be made to consolidate holdings in the deep core and expand as if the smuggler fleet on Abregadoe Rae is able to merge with the Corellians, then the Deep Core is in danger.

 

IMPERIAL Corulag

This model Imperial world is isolated from Coruscant by the republic influences at the Naval Academy on Anaxes, and threatened by political activists on Chandrila. It must rapidly expand its fleet and defeat pro-republican sentiments.

Strategic Considerations: Major Threat from Chandrila
Heroes: Gilad Pellaeon

 

IMPERIAL Kuat

The Kuat Drive yards have unrivalled military production capacity – as long as you have the credits to spend. 

 

 

Kuat has strong neighbours, but no immediate threats, and while it may be tempting to immediately start construction of a destroyer fleet, current limited incomes may prove this be an unnecessary strain on finances. It may be wiser in the short term to divert funds to more vulnerable holdings until their security has been established.

Strategic Considerations: No immediate threats. Powerful neighbours.
Heroes: Onara Kuat

 

IMPERIAL Gandeal

Gandeal is a mineral-rich resource world with small freighter yards that supplies the shipyards of Fondor with raw materials. This should be considered as facility for financial rather than military growth.

Strategic Considerations: Weak Military. Powerful neighbours.
Heroes: Barrow Oicunn

 

IMPERIAL Prakith

Prakith is the secret headquarters of the Inquisitorius in the Deep Core. With no immediate threats, this facility should be expanded to a support facility, building fleet and trade units.

Strategic Considerations: Light Military. Powerful neighbours. Medium term strategy Corsucant should make efforts to connect to Prakith.
Heroes: Antinnis Tremayne

 

Overall, this is a campaign for long term strategy. You certainly have far higher incomes than any other campaign in this era, but early opportunities for expansion are limited – and most be considered carefully.  However, you have access to unsurpassed shipyards and with a solid financial base, your regions of influence should expand steadily. 

State of The Mod

Posted by Ghostrider at Phoenix Rising News on October 26, 2015

First of all, I would like to apologiese to all of the fans for the total neglect and lack of news in the last year.

 

You may be mistaken in thinking nothing is happening with the mod. - You would be wrong; progress has actually been quite positive recently, but real life cuts back on modding time for most of the team.

 

Before detailing some of the more exciting developments in the mod, it's probably worth a recap of what has happened to date, as this has profound implications on my particular area of focus - the campaigns.

 

Combat Mechanic

The entire basis os space comabt has been rebuilt to match the land mechanic, with a detailed and comprehensive armor and shielding system. Shileds now absorb laser fire, ranging frmo 20% to 45%, depending on unit class. Armor grades range from 8 points in fighters to 32 points for capital class warships, and all the weapons in the mod now have different damage ratings. HP are considerably increased.

The biggest change in tactical battles, is that laser cannons, and especially light laser cannons, are unable to penetrate heavy armor. This does not mean that your fighters are redundant, far from it. A cloud of snubfighters and transports can strip off the shields of destroyers and capital-grade warships, making them much more vulnerable to turbolaser fire, but you can't kill a star destroyer with snubfighters alone - you have to have turbolaser support. Bombers get proton rockets and proton bombs, and can be pretty nasty.

 

We have also added space population. The idea is that in order to crew and maintain a space-based unit, you need a support base. Your planets provide population and without spare population you can't build anything. This explains why the Acclamator and other crew-heavy designs, such as the Dreadnaught rapidly became obsolote. The Imperial class is much more effiecient in terms of deliverably combat power vs population support required.

 

On a strategic level this adds a new dimension to the campaign scenario. You need credits AND population to build warships. As a result, we have rebuilt the entire economy from scratch, with new pricing and a detailed planetary model that calculates planetary economies based on population, tech level, agricultural base, mineral resources, underworld and manufacturing capability. Agricultural wolrds are particularly important to feed and grow your fleets.

 

Proximity Jumps and Trade Routes

We have removed proximity jumps from the mod, so all space-based travel is based on the trade route. This makes strategic planning much more interesting, and you will find that key planets that lie at the junction of major trade routes are extremely important strategically, as these act as choke points to access different regions of the galaxy.

For example. Brentaal IV, which lies at the junction of the Hydian Way and the Perlemian Trade Route, is now probably the most imporatant piece of real-estate in the galaxy and is defended accordingly!

 

Armed colonies

All coloneis, from levels 1 to 5 are now armed with turbolaser cannons, and are heavily shielded and quite difficult to kill.

You will need cruiser support to take on a level 1 or level 2 colony, and multiple cruisers for a Level 3 Colony.

Level 4 colonies are extremely challenging, and need a large fleet, with at least destroyers, if not capital-class warships to have a chance of destroying the base.

Level 5 colonies are exceptionally challenging.

And if you think these are bad news, the asteroid bases are worse, so it is vital to send out expendable scouting parties to see what you are facing before you attempt an invasion.

 

Heroes

Heroes no longer come with elite warships. They now have command abilities but are just that - indivudal beings that need to be attached to a fleet to make a difference. So Darth Vader IV on his own is just a pilot in an TIE, but with a fleet he commands on the bridge of the largest warship.

 

Back to Basics

If we now wind the clock back to early 2014, we are in the process of updating all of the old campaigns with these points in mind. We have always had a goal of adding new campaigns to each release, but had no idea of the change that was about to take place.

Our concept at the time was to create a new campaign to show the difference in strategic planning due to the lack of proximity jumps and have a campaign based on the 5 Super-Hyperrroutes of Perlemian Trade Route, Hydian Way, Rimma Trade Route, Correlian Run, and the Corellian Trade Spine.

60% of the campaign was completed when the campaign crashed on install and it soon became apparent that nothing was going to fix it. The problem was simple - too many planets and too big a campaign. The EAW engine simply couldn't handle it.

 

So we made the critical decision to break up all the existing campaigns into smaller chunks, each with fewer planets.

 

So - Core Worlds lost the Expansion region and shrunk back to the Core Worlds and the Colonies. This was highly successful and led to a better campaign with faster frame rates and quicker load times and much less lag.

 

The roll-out pulled appart the entire campaign set and rebuilt everything from scratch.

Prelminary testing of all 12 campaigns is now complete and the results are rather exciting.

 

I'll let you have more news, in detail, about each campaign in due course....

 

 

Ghostrider

 

 

 

 

The site is now browsable.

Posted by Banshee at Petrolution News on November 4, 2013

Hello everyone. You may now browse all sections of Petrolution as you used to do some months ago. I've done a little workaround that redirects you into something that works. Unfortunately, the redirection problem persists and it may prevent you from submitting some data, except to edit items, which is a big thing. I'll still try to figure out how to fix it, but the problem seems to be beyond the scope of Petrolution at the moment. Have fun.

An Overview of Battle for Graxia and Lazarus

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on December 11, 2012

Watch my video on YouTube below about Battle for Graxia and Lazarus one of the Immortals in the game. Battle for Graxia is a re-development of Rise of Immortals and is a MOBA game which is constantly growing in popularity that is available on STEAM now for the open beta.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=438x7CwKjK0

Traveling Through Hyperspace Ain't Like Dusting Crops

Posted by Phoenix Rising at Phoenix Rising News on November 29, 2012

Research has always been an integral part of our development process. No demand has been more of a challenge in that regard than our need to place each planet at a definite galactic location for strategy mode.

When I began the process in the alpha phase of v1.0, there were maybe four official maps available that held any degree of accuracy; all were clearly related by the reference angle. Beyond that were hundreds of raw sources netting thousands of remarks about regional or relative location. Had that been the end of it, my task would have been nearly impossible.

Fortunately, an adolescent Wookieepedia was available to help cut through much of the clutter. And then I found this fellow called Modi, who had translated the askew maps onto a Cartesian plane, allowing me to derive coordinates that could be fed to the engine. It was the Internet equivalent of striking gold - a starting point. Later, JustinGann expanded on Modi's work to include speculative placements, which afforded me a second opinion. The end result was an independent interpretation of the galaxy unique to Phoenix Rising.

It took the single most important update to the canon to void all that effort - for the better. Midway through v1.2, The Essential Atlas hit bookshelves. Every star system that had ever been mentioned was now bound to a region of space 1/576^th the area of the galaxy. A great many were placed with certainty. The unprecedented accuracy of the atlas created a dilemma though, as several campaigns had already been finalized for the release. Rather than scrapping them and starting over, we chose to forge on knowing that v1.2's astrography would be flawed. I am pleased to report that the next version will be anything but.

TEA contains dozens of maps, each with its own scale and set of planets. My first step in replotting the galaxy was to composite them at a scale of 1 pixel = 10 lightyears to create a supermap. The digital Mid Rim sector map served as the foundation, since it had no loss of precision from scanning and little artifacting.

With that done, the actual measuring was trivial. The results were better than I ever could have expected: the first planetary coordinates for Abregado-rae came in identical to those already in use. They were not alone. Although I had corrected our most glaring differences - generally those with no frame of reference or cases where TEA chose to reject Rebellion placements while I did not - when prudent in v1.2, our interpretation really held up to intense scrutiny. Only Spuma, which Children of the Jedi had confused with Protazk, and Orinackra were completely off.

The present and final representation of the galaxy is 20% larger than v1.2 and approximately 92 times the area of vanilla. That should be enough space to prevent planetary overlap in all future cases. Several worlds always have to be manually relocated regardless of scale, but not so much as to be a distraction.

As profound as it is to finally have set astrography, a different facet of TEA had an even greater impact on strategic gameplay. The once-sporadic and eclectic collection of hyperlanes was replaced with a vibrant trade network.

In v1.2, we had two kinds of routes: "the Big Five" and "other". There are now four classifications, the most I could objectively derive from official maps. These can be thought of colloquially as "super", "major", "minor", and "trace" routes. Their benefits are scaled linearly, so while traces provide only meager income, they are much quicker than using a navicomputer to punch though an unstable course, as is the case with non-route connections. Obviously not every system can be linked via hyperlane, so we have tried to balance between using intersections and minimizing campaign planet counts.

These connections are now critical to military operations in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. In the next release, fleets will not be able to travel from a planet unless there is an explicit line - we have eliminated proximity jumps. No longer can an invasion bypass Anaxes on the way to Coruscant, players need not guess where to attack and defend, and the AI has fewer perceptions to crunch when executing plans. This is arguably the single best change that has ever happened to strategy mode.

When FoC was released, I never imagined we would be able to deduce coordinates for every star system. If our trials and errors played even a miniscule part in affecting that change, then it was all worth it.

The Revolution Is Here: Phoenix Rising v1.2!

Posted by Phoenix Rising at Phoenix Rising News on March 25, 2012

The culmination of 39 months of work. Hope you enjoy it! We look forward to your feedback.

If you've previously installed other mods, make sure they haven't put any files in XML or Scripts folders in EaW\GameData\Data and FoC\Data. PR v1.2 is fully compatible with other mods; it just looks like certain mods are incompatible with us!

If you've previously installed the LucasArts 64-bit OS, 2+ GB RAM patch found here, you must apply this compatibility fix after running the PR v1.2 installer. The LA patch alters the original files for FoC v1.1, creating an instability in mods with custom AI. PR v1.2 allows 2+ GB RAM natively.

• Mirror 1 - Mod DB
• Mirror 2 - FileFront/GameFront

Imperial Civil War 1.3 Download and Patch Release

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on February 24, 2012

Corey posted in our news thread for the Thrawn's Reven mod about a new update, 1.3 back in January. If you haven't tried out this mod yet I seriously suggest you do because it is brilliant!

To download version 1.3 hit the download button below (it takes you to ModDB):

And of course for the patch, 1.3.1 which was announced last week fixing some issues in the game, but please note you will need to install v1.3 above before you install the v1.3.1 patch, as the patch does not include the full version, you can download that below and also see the fixes:

Install directly on top of a clean install of 1.3. (Find your Imperial_Civil_War folder and use that as the installation directory). This installer works for both Steam and Disk installations.

Fixes:
-Easy AI difficulty lowered
-Corona collision mesh fixed
-Syca tech level issue fixed
-Thrawn and Tierce ground population fixed
-Corona and Venator balancing adjusted
-Marauder missile barrage removed
-Fixed issue with disabled tactical AI for minor factions in Art of War
-Fixed shadow mesh issue on New Republic soldier
-Changed several icons

Star Wars Empire at War: Full Mod

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on February 11, 2012

A new mod has been released for Empire at War, it's called the 'Full Mod' and it adds a lot to the game, with changes to the skins and textures of units, structures and planet landscapes this mod is already looking like a mod to download. However it also adds in some new heroes and it has changed the difficulty of the Galactic Conquest so you won't be able to just beat it like you used to (no matter what level you were playing it on!).

You can view the changes here.

Otherwise what are you waiting for?! Hit the download button below or go here to view to the mods ModDB page to check out the mod some more.

Prepare For Ground Assault

Posted by Phoenix Rising at Phoenix Rising News on November 30, 2011

In December 2009, I received an unexpected message from a fellow mod leader here at Revora that would alter the path of v1.2 development. Nertea, from The Dwarf Holds, offered his expertise on vehicle modeling. This set in motion a course of events that would come to define the release. What v0.1 was for space combat, v1.2 will be for land combat. In effect, this will be our Land Mini-Mod.



The last version was a false start for ground battles, more raw specs than mechanic. While there is still much work to be done before we can declare a PR v2.0, the essence of Land is here now. We have a robust framework in place that is just waiting to flourish into a complete game mode. Our goal? To bring epicness and accuracy planetside. And to do it even better than we did for space.

There are obvious drawbacks in our decision to delay ground development, but one of the benefits is veterancy: we're all better at this than we were five years ago. Given the opportunity to start again essentially from scratch, I'm certain we can craft a superior experience.



The difference between land and space, however, is more than a matter of gravity. There is a real dichotomy here for a number of reasons, at the root of which is the science fiction axiom of "why bother with land battles when you can fight in space". We know relatively little about ground combat during the Galactic Civil War - it just isn't written about. This leaves us with a fairly open canvas.

While depictions of army battles in our era are few, we fortunately have some phenomenal roleplaying material from which to draw individual units - great concepts that have been perpetually trapped in stat blocks and two dimensions. Given the movie models we had on-hand already from EaW, our most dire need was clear: the Armored Freerunner. That was the unit Nertea first set out to recreate that winter, thus commencing our renewed take on land combat.



The Freerunner is the product that put its manufacturer, Kelliak Arms and Armor Company, out of business. This nefarious distinction had little to do with battlefield performance - the medium repulsortank features great speed and fire coverage. Rather, it was the result of walker bias beginning to take hold on the Imperial Army following the Clone Wars. The Armored Freerunner never entered general deployment with the Empire and KAAC went bankrupt, forcing the units to be sold off to anyone who would pay. Ironically, the versatile Freerunner quickly showed up in the hands of dissidents, where it would become the foundation of the Alliance cavalry.

As the model neared completion in February 2010, I began jotting numbers down on my whiteboard, starting with damage values and recharge rates for blaster archetypes. The roleplaying literals used in v1.1 failed for us because that genre is handicapped for player characters; the new format would be customized and exclusive to PR. Small arms got weaker, while cannons became more powerful. Recharge times, which used to mimic relative cyclic rates, would return to the familiar two-second cooldown of space combat, with two notable exceptions: carbines and repeating blasters fire 50% faster; turbolasers fire 50% slower.



The next step was to come up with armor and shield classes. Normally, this is where EaW applies its rock-paper-scissors logic, but that's not us - our armor works by subtracting from damage received, while shields offer protection in terms of percentage. The mistake I made last time was allowing units to become invincible if armor exceeded damage, so a half-point minimum is now in place for any regular hit. The exception to this is special damage, which is tied to armor type: Organic, Droid, or Vehicle. An Organic attack, such as a poison, ignores armor reduction when used against Organic armor; however, it does no damage to other armor types and generally should not target them, in practice. Non-lethal effects, such as stun, are also largely based around armor type.

Ranges then rapidly fell into place. From v1.1, it was clear that literal distances and speeds would not work in a game that rarely represented more than 200 meters of a planet using its own scale. Authentic values could still be used for small arms, but they would need to be condensed. The range of cannons, which can even exceed the size of our biggest land maps when done exactly, would best be planned around the camera and how much can fit on-screen at a time. Once I decided that blaster accuracy should be inclined towards infantry and laser accuracy should be inclined towards vehicles - similar to the laser/turbolaser dynamic of space - the basis of combat was established.



Before anything could be put in data though, it would be prudent to go back to the source materials and reevaluate mechanized armaments under our new framework. Problematically, different titles use "blaster" and "laser" interchangeably, or seemingly at random. On top of that are RPG damage values, which tell another story of how the gun works, separate from the caliber descriptor. These inconsistencies were largely mediated by role and context, so while our armaments may not match every official claim, we stand behind their legitimacy.

At this point, I began updating the damage-to-armor matrices, projectile code, and hardpoints - enough to get vehicles running. By March, the new ground mechanic was ready for its first real test. I built Freerunners and headed for Brentaal. The ensuing battle was one of the most rewarding moments I've had as a developer. Land was playable again. And, for the first time ever, we had an exclusive unit that we alone took from paper to game, fighting on a map made for this mod.



With vindication came distress: the number of land models available to us was still terribly limited, perhaps unbalancingly so, and there was no quick way to remedy that. The best option, we decided, was to delay the release and commence work on upgrades, essentially adding the functionality for what we dub a "mini-mod". That meant that Ghostrider would more or less have to scrap the ground portion of the campaigns that were already finished. Nertea moved on to the next model and I went back to the whiteboard.

Just as space upgrades were originally metered by the prolific X-wing series, the AT-AT would serve as our gauge for land. Everything we needed to accomplish with a unit - both historically and for depth of gameplay - could be done in four variants. Breakthroughs for armies seemingly progress at a slower rate than they do for navies, so this represents only half the improvement of a fully upgraded space unit, but also costs half as much.

Once again, I've tried to ensure a niche role for each faction unit; however, in a departure from space, abilities are no longer mostly class-based. Instead, we have some innovative powers that might only be available to a single unit: self-healing armors, repulsorlift jammers, point-blank EMPs. Pure combat abilities in the style of Power to Weapons are less common and have been reserved for true battlefield juggernauts.



Dealing with upgrades gave me a chance to clean up unit tooltips as well. Obviously anything would be an improvement over the non-descriptions in current use, although the space unit block text isn't ideal either. I had naively thought that EaW would parse newlines for popup strings when I first started writing them for space; of course, it doesn't, and the format just stuck. The only way to get text on different lines is to use multiple strings, so I trialled a modular format this time to take advantage of that. The stat blocks are much more clean and readable now and buildable land units have even begun to show prose descriptions, for those that prefer words to numbers. Progress!

Hitpoints took a while to calibrate. We've normally used strict conversions from official figures to determine the amount of punishment a unit can take before it's considered destroyed. Those numbers were in place from the previous release and were immediately quadrupled for all vehicles. That gave them the longevity that was missing, but certain units still felt off during testing. On paper even, some of the canon stats just didn't make sense - speeder bikes were rated tougher than skyhoppers. It became necessary for us to find our own way. So, while I haven't abandoned our sources if they can fit, I will supersede anything that does not with a value that works in the engine. And the game plays better for it.



The vehicle focus up to this point is intentional, as infantry had suffered from longstanding coding complications dating back to retail EaW, when most land units and all infantry had perfect aim by virtue of non-working XML accuracy tags. This is the default implementation and was never acceptable to us. The alternative is to use hardpoints, which were not meant to go with containers, the "circles" that form infantry into squads, since they create a disconnect in targeting, among other issues. The jury-rigged fix for the previous release was to use the simplest container possible, but that meant that individual troops were doing their own pathfinding, were uncohesive, and were getting stuck all over the map. When I sorted out team targeting and locomotion in April and infantry started firing on their own, all the intricacy and nuance of our small arms design from v1.1 became apparent for the first time.



Is Han the same character without his DL-44? We think not: blasters are too varied in terms of damage, range, and capacity to simply call two pistols equal. Although lacking art and tooltips, our soldiers have always used specific weapon models where it counts, in data. And not just a single weapon like vanilla - thanks to hardpoints, combatants can brandish as many arms as they can realistically carry. In fact, we've simulated almost every weapon in existence for this era, down to the esoteric, from power hammers to wrist rockets to shatter guns, with special care taken to preserve connotation and rarity in how they are used.

These were essential in correcting my previous oversight of indigenous units and structures. Due to release expediency, many files were simply left in their original state. These have since either been converted or met the delete key, with the most noticeable changes for players being to indigenous. Houses are still in place on the maps, but nothing spawns from them, there is no associated bounty, and they're not destructable. Essentially, they're just ordinary props now, with mobs being placed exclusively through starting forces. 19 alien species were added under the civilian archetype, which will be the standard way of representing non-Humans to prevent excessive variantation. Civilians are also unique in that they come in double-strength platoons of 80 to showcase their numerical advantage.



Unfortunately, no one was ever missing in a firefight. I'd always thought of in-game accuracy as an angle and thus was sitting around doing trigonometry trying to figure out better values to use, until Ghost mentioned in May that it's actually a measurement of spread between a group of shots at maximum range. The last point is key, since that's what ultimately determines the fire cone. All land hardpoints were redone to account for the mistake. Infantry were divided into accuracy groups - civilian, military, elite, and hero - with each group using a consistent angle, irrespective to range to simulate shooting with the naked eye. In other words, at 100 meters, a pistol and a rifle are equally inaccurate, even though rifle fire likely has triple the effective range. The opposite approach was taken with vehicles: we've assumed that targeting computer quality is proportional to weapon range, so all mounted cannons are just as inaccurate at 50% of their respective maximums.

With ground combat in excellent shape for testing, my focus shifted to aiding Ghostrider with Operation Shadow Hand, which hadn't been overhauled since v1.0. By June, Nertea had completed his second vehicle, the Heavy Tracker.



The Mekuun Heavy Tracker is a repulsorlift support vehicle designed to house an omniprobe sensor array. This technological breakthrough in the wake of the Clone Wars allows for ground-level detection unimpeded by terrain, a blind spot for existing omnidirectional sensors. Long-range scanning is used to great effect with the topside artillery laser. Trackers typically double as command units for the Rebellion, where they are able to set up rogue reinforcement points with the aid of a landing zone beacon repeater. Although very well armored, the abundance of electronics makes them fat, somewhat fragile targets.

Much of the remaining year was consumed by countless attempts to implement a custom AI, although I continued to expand our projectile roster and convert vanilla units that had been missed. In total, five previously unused troopers, three droids, and eight vehicles were adapted from Petroglyph assets, while the T-16 Skyhopper, Luxury Sail Barge, B1 Battle Droid, B2 Super Battle Droid, Low Altitude Assault Transport, and Mygeeto land map were assimilated from community releases.



One of the last major changes was to reinvent the bombing run for PR. When bombardment was added in FoC, little was done to differentiate it from the carpet-bombing runs of EaW: both were indiscriminate area attacks. Additionally, there was only nominal difference between bomber types. Given our emphasis on statistical transparency, this grew intolerable in the new mechanic, so I devised a way to reliably bridge space and land. All ground bombers were afforded the same characteristics as their orbital counterparts, including weapon systems. There is now a huge difference between supporting an invasion with TIE Targeters and Scimitar Assault Bombers, although in case both are present, the game will automatically pick the better unit. Pilots strafe with energy weapons and actively target enemies with warheads - no more dumping the bomb bay. This is accomplished with conventional land projectiles; the only special case is for reloads: bombers can't launch more warheads on a run than they can carry.



The rest of the time was spent collaborating, documenting, experimenting, implementing, testing, fixing, balancing, and optimizing - the daily grind that often isn't newsworthy. Special thanks must go out to the testing team for a year and a half of silent toil. I put off announcing the land revamp this long to avoid a repeat of the last release, where when it came time to wrap up, land was barely a concept. This time, we ended up with something tremendously polished, yet still very much incomplete. Whether or not we can see this through to the end partially depends on fan and community support, so after you download the upcoming release, tell us what you think about it on the forums, and if you like it, tell a friend! That friend might just be the next member of our team.

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy...

Posted by evilbobthebob at Phoenix Rising News on August 31, 2011

I have the honour of writing the first news post for Phoenix Rising for a few months. I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I'm evilbobthebob, the new mapping lead for the mod. If you frequent the forums, you may have seen some of my posts. I had a hiatus from modding Empire at War for roughly a year before taking up this position. So why did I end that hiatus? Well, Phoenix Rising is a mod that aims for accurate depiction of an era we all love: the Galactic Civil War, and the events that followed. That made it stand out to me. First I was just submitting suggestions here and there, then bug testing. Well, one thing led to another, and here I am as the mapping lead.

I have already produced a number of maps for the mod since I joined. I've also tweaked nearly every vanilla map, smoothing out bugs and improving the placement of space structures. In v1.2, Imperial-Class Star Destroyers will be able to navigate maps with ease, and defence is no longer a case of clumping your fleet around your space colony. In fact, this change is possibly one of the more profound adjustments coming to v1.2. Playing in space battles now feels like it has the scale this mod deserves.

However, land has not been neglected. In fact, that is the real focus of this news: one of the most well-known planets in the galaxy has a new map.


Tatooine. The desert world. Dunes, mesas, tusken raiders, banthas, jedi. The beginning of the Skywalker line, and the birthplace of many excellent pilots. In this image is Anchorhead. A small town scraping by, the cantina is an excellent place to find freelance pilots that are trying to hide from prying eyes in Mos Eisley or another of the larger spaceports. Don't forget to pick up some power converters at Tosche Station.


The local Rebel base, located on the edge of the Great Mesa. This spot provides some respite from the sandstorms that rage across the dune sea.


Some tusken raiders have made camp in the entrance to this canyon. Perhaps they will cause trouble later.


A moisture farm, where a family scrapes a living growing crops with what water they can gather from the vaporators.


The Great Salt Flats. A wasteland of little interest, though the collapse of the mesa wall makes this an attractive prospect for invaders, especially if they capture this makeshift landing area.

So that's Tatooine. I'm sure you'll enjoy both invading and defending this backwater world in its strategic location near Geonosis.

Part two of this map announcement will be released soon, with news of planets a little closer to the galactic core. Also coming soon: one of the most significant news posts in the history of the mod

Guardians of Graxia: Elves & Dwarves Expansion Released

Posted by Digz at Petrolution News on February 2, 2011

The expansion to Guardians of Graxia has been released (yesterday in fact). Head over to the STEAM store, Impulse to purchase the expansion and soon to be on GamersGate. Please be aware that you must buy the original first in order to play the expansion pack. You can read the press release below:

PETROGLYPH ANNOUNCES IMMEDIATE AVAILABILITY OF ELVES & DWARVES, THE FIRST COMPLETE EXPANSION FOR GUARDIANS OF GRAXIA™ PC

Elves & Dwarves is currently on major Direct Download services at 10% off during the first week.

Las Vegas, NV (February 1, 2011) -- Today Petroglyph announced immediate availability of Elves & Dwarves complete expansion for Guardians of Graxia™ PC, a fantasy turn-based strategy game based on the Graxia intellectual property by Petroglyph. Guardians of Graxia is also offered as a board game.

In the first major expansion for the game, Elves & Dwarves, the world of Graxia is greeted by two new Guardians from faraway islands, Flist the deceitful Elf and Broxin the greedy Dwarf. They bring with them even more powerful units and abilities to engage on six additional skirmish maps, some of which have random tile generation for unique gameplay.

"With the success of Guardians of Graxia and its first map pack, we're excited to announce the most compelling content update to the game yet,” said Tony Mullins, Associate Producer. “While Flist and Broxin are worthy Guardians to command into battle, winning a game on the new randomly generated tiled maps is sure to put a twist in your previous strategies!"

Guardians of Graxia features fantasy turn-based strategic gameplay using cards that are your units and actions, on a tiled map representing floating islands. The PC version combines the best of both online and board game aspects, and contains more than 240 unique units and spells. The game supports a single player campaign and numerous skirmish maps. Currently released are the core game, Map Pack 1, and today's expansion.

“Guardians of Graxia now provides even more engaging encounters the community has been waiting for, starting with the Elf and Dwarf races on expansive new maps," said Mathew Anderson, Community Manager at Petroglyph. " Haven't played Guardians of Graxia yet? Give the new demo a try!”

About Guardians of Graxia

Graxia is a planet with mystical energies allowing for entire continents to drift high in the sky. These floating landmasses are filled with the cities and dens of many magical races. Guardians create enchanted portals which are the only means to cross from one drifting continent to another. The portals are used by Guardians to transport armies to conquer the land found on the other side. In time, Guardians have become Heroes of Graxia through conquering their neighbors and saving the lands from tyranny.

To learn more about Guardians of Graxia, please visit http://www.guardiansofgraxia.com.

About Petroglyph

Founded in 2003, Petroglyph is an award-winning, independent game development studio located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Petroglyph team specializes in the Online Real-Time Strategy (RTS) and Action RPG genres, leveraging the experience gained from developing original hit franchises for PC and consoles. Petroglyph uses their proprietary GLYPHX® Online game engine, tools and technology to power their next-generation titles.

For more information about Petroglyph, please visit http://www.petroglyphgames.com.

Facebook: http://www.facebook....ardiansofgraxia
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/petroglyphgames
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/petroglyphgames