Knapp zwei Jahre ist es her, dass der Vorgänger Star Trek Armada im GameStar-Test respektable 78 Prozent erzielte. War jenes Spiel mehr auf Action-Strategie gemünzt, ist Armada 2 jetzt deutlich komplexer: "Volle Phaser voraus!" klappt nur noch eingeschränkt. Sie spielen jetzt nicht nur auf zwei Ebenen, sondern können auch ein wenig nach oben und unten schweben. Der Nutzen dieser Funktion beschränkt sich lediglich auf Angriffe von oben oder unten; zum Überwinden von Hindernissen wie Asteroidenfeldern ist er nicht zu gebrauchen. Nach dem sechsteiligen Tutorial sollten Sie sich noch im Soforteinsatz warm spielen, in dem Sie unter allen sechs Rassen wählen können, eine Karte sowie die Missionsart aussuchen und dann in den Einsatz gelangen.

Doug: Armada II Update in progress (i.e. v1.1)

We'll it's been several weeks since the game came out. We've evaluated the posts, feedback, and responses. We are now developing a v1.1 update for Armada II. Some of the key areas (top 5) we are working on are shown below:

* Adjustments to combat system to allow ships to last longer in battles. This will also impact build rates. These might exist as separate settings in the menu or tied to the same slider/control.

* Reduction in overall strength of Fusion Cube and Tactical Fusion Cube. These changes will not NERF the unit completely, but make it slightly less effective for gameplay balance reasons.

* Tweaks for graphics cards exhibiting issues with colonization and also minor tweaks for Radeon card users.

* Several stop-gap measures to block exploits involving the "Gemini-Effect" for Fusion Cubes and Galaxy-class vessels.

* Tweaks in strategic view to scale object size to make all ships or stations visible from full height range. This will resolve the issue of people having trouble seeing some units when they are far away from the camera position in the z-axis.

* plus several other smaller tweaks, adjustments, and minor fixes.

We plan for all the revisions to be complete and for it to be available to consumers for download in the first couple weeks of January.

Außerdem hat uns leider von einem Leser die Nachricht erreicht, dass Armada 2 im Media Markt in Mannheim erst am 14.12.01 erscheinen soll. Tut mir echt leid für die, die es noch nicht haben .

Activisions/Mad Doc Softwares kürzlich erschienenes Echtzeit-Strategie-Sequel Star Trek: Armada II kann ab heute auch kostenlos angetestet werden. Die rund 87 MB große Demo erlaubt erste Gehversuche im Alpha und Delta Quadranten.

Das 89 MB Große File ist seinen Download auf jeden fall wert! Lest dazu auch unserem Testbericht welchen ihr hier findet....

Star Trek Armada 2 Demo (Englisch) Windows Program Größe: 86.92 Mb

Webmaster: bitte linkt immer nur auf dieses Dokument - nicht auf das File selbst...

Doug Pearson: Sorry guys, but we ran into an installer bug that will require us to do an installer revision and a full installation testing sweep again.

This is going to bump the demo till Monday. We really wanted to get it out today, but unforunately things like this can happen.

Sorry for the inconvenience. I'm going to be out of town for the following week (finally a vacation!), but ATVI_Iggy will be in the forums monitoring everything and getting the demo ready for Monday.

The intention is still to release it on both the Armada2.com site and on FilePlanet. The overall download is a little smaller then we originally thought it would be and is weighing in at 87MB.

ATVI_Iggy will be making a post regarding it's release as soon as it's available online.

Armada II improves nearly every aspect of the original. It is more tactically challenging, includes more ships and special weapons for old races, plus includes two additional races. Armada fans will simply eat it up, and newcomers are sure to enjoy its more sophisticated and fleshed out gameplay.

As of 3pm/PST today we have officially gone gold with Star Trek: Armada II. The game was developed for Activision by Mad Doc Software. It will be shipping to stores nationwide on November 13th and be in stores on the 14th. We will have a more detailed Gold announcement in the next day or so.

=======================
Doug Pearson
Producer
Star Trek: Armada II
Activision, Inc.

Am Ende des Previews knüpft der Rezensent der Beta-Version an Armada 1 an und beschwöhrt, dass die Programmierungsfehler von Armada 1 nicht im Nachfolger enthalten sein sollen:
Star Fleet Armada should have received more critical praise when it was released. Really, the only thing stopping that was a few pesky bugs, with more quality control this time out this new improved Armada could be the RTS sensation gaming, particularly Star Trek gaming, needs right now. This beta build Activision sent us is a compelling play, even if it is unfinished. It promises good things to come…

The game is rapidly coming to a close. We still have some issues to resolve, but the game is shapping up nicely. I'd like to thank all our Visioneer testers who have been very helpful in testing the game along with our internal testing teams at Activision and at Mad Doc Software.

The Development Team at Mad Doc Software have been amazing over the past several weeks as well. The game is very fun and I wish I had more time to just sit back and play.

We ran into some issues during our testing of the Multiplayer Test build which delayed our launch of the Test. As those issues were resolved it became quite apparent that we were spending too much time focusing on that separate Test build and not enough time on getting the WHOLE game done.

In short there will be no Multiplayer Test. We've been able to utilize our internal QA, Mad Doc testing group, external testing labs, and our Visioneers to cover the remaining issues in the multiplayer and single player game.

We are still planning on having a demo of Armada II available around the same time we launch the product. We are evaluating the potential addition of multiplayer as well for the demo version of the game, which should be available when the game hits the shelves.

There are only a couple weeks left now till we are done based on the current state of the game. I've told my relatives that i'll be home for Thanksgiving rather then working this year. I'd also like that Pumpkin day off, but that's unlikely. ;)

AU: The Borg have undergone a considerable change from Armada I. Could you tell us a little about the creative process you used to come up with the new designs for this race?

Mark: Yes, a few ships were renovated, but most were completely rethought. The creative process certainly didn’t happen in a vacuum. The designers, fellow artists, and even programmers were especially helpful in providing feedback and resources. Mad Doc’s hierarchy is virtually flat…this helps with feedback and spread of ideas.
I began conceptualizing new ships & stations by studying the physical and cultural content of the Borg. Images of existing ships, stations, and artifacts as well as sociopolitical tendencies and technologies were interpreted and extrapolated. From this analysis, a basic understanding of the race’s morphology emerged. Once an understanding was reached of how the Borg would manifest itself in form, space, material, and structure, the process flowed.
Although a strongly identifiable race, the number of Borg vessels represented in Paramount’s movies, television series, and publications is limited. However, by cross-analyzing the culture of Borg Collective with its primary vessel, the Cube, I began to find an armature for design. One could argue that the Borgian concepts of the collective consciousness, the cyborg (a dialectic of technological and biological), and assimilation find themselves reified in the Borg Cube.

Although a platonic form (singular and abstract) at one scale, the Cube exhibits a complex matrix of aggregates at another. In its form, it is directionless & non-hierarchical, while in its depth it is pure structure without bounding surface.
Observations and connections such as these acted as a starting point for the design of the Borg. The rest of the process involved morphological and typological explorations in three-dimensions, depth & material study in two, and of course guidance from Paramount.

Zur Einführung knüpfen die Interviewer an Star Trek Armada Teil 1 an.
HomeLAN - The first Armada game became the best selling Star Trek game for Activision. How do you feel about following up on such a popular game?


Steve Nadeau - Our team is very excited about making a sequel to Star Trek Armada. While it's a challenge making a sequel to a best selling game, we believe we've come up with a solid formula that will make Star Trek Armada II a very successful title in its own right. We've added tons of new features (such as new playable races, new ship types, new resources, bigger maps with more topography, and a deeper technology tree) and refined and polished many existing features from the first game (such as tactical mode, multiplayer, and resource balancing).

Und endet mit einem Blick in die Zukunft.
HomeLAN - Finally, what are Mad Doc's plans after Armada II is released?


Steve Nadeau - We're really looking forward to working with Activision again and have a couple of different projects we are currently discussing with them. We also have a Mad Doc team at work right now completing Jane's Attack Squadron, a World War II flight simulation for Xicat Interactive.