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What Inner Sphere Wars is All About
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Inner Sphere Wars developer chat (26/04/2003)
by MaSaKaRi
Battletech Mod Productions talked with Primus
Vermatrix, leader of Inner Sphere Wars, about the
development of this interesting project.
BMP: Thanks for taking the time for this
interview, Primus Vermatrix. To start, can you tell
us who you are and what exactly do you do at ISW?
Primus Vermatrix:
I am the person that started it all. My position
is President and CEO of ISW's parent corporation,
InnerSphere Design Studios or ISDS. At present I
am writing the requirements documents for the Planet
Capture Aspect of ISW.
My continuing role in ISW will be to write the various
aspects and phases of the game. I am also the Primus
or Lead COMSTAR within the ISW Community, this is
the capacity that most players know me by.
BMP: You mentioned Inner Sphere Design Studios.
Who or what is it?
Primus Vermatrix:
ISDS is the parent corporation we have set up in
order to provide legal and professional precedence
for the game. It also allows us to relate with other
corporations and businesses that we will have to
work with in the future.
BMP: Does that mean that ISW is a commercial
enterprise?
Primus Vermatrix:
No, ISW was never intended to be that. However it
is a wise step to make sure that you are covered
legally when creating something of this magnitude.
Since we are planning on this game becoming very
large in as far as player-base goes it makes sense
to have a structure in the background that can take
care of business related aspects of it. ISDS was
created to Support ISW. Not the other way around.
BMP: Can you tell us what is that structure?
Are you fearing Microsoft (holders of rights for
Battletech electronic products) will come after
you?
Primus Vermatrix:
The corporate structure is setup more to organize
our team members that work on the game. But we will
appoint the appropriate Directors and officers if/when
it is necessary.
We have Full permission from Microsoft to Use Mech
Warrior 4 for ISW. But in the un-likely event that
there was legal action taken against the creators
of ISW, a corporate presence completely changes
the legal playing field in that regard and provides
a good measure of protection for the people involved.
BMP: Full permission from Microsoft? Aren't
they the ones that don't support modding?
Primus Vermatrix:
ISW is not a mod. We use MW4 for the combat resolution,
but we are creating our own GUI and interface for
ISW itself. We are using only our own unique code
and designs for the program itself. We require the
players to own a legal copy of MW4 to play ISW.
Although after a certain level of Chain of Command
is achieved, it is not necessary to have MW4 anymore.
BMP: So, that brings us to the million dollar
question - what is Inner Sphere Wars?
Primus Vermatrix:
ISW is a self contained Multiplayer Strategic Battle
Tech based game integrating Planet Capture, Gladiatorial
dueling, Mercenaries, Role Playing, Full Economy
and Logistical support. It consists of a Client
that will run on windows platforms as a stand alone
program and is 0% web based. It will support up
to 23,000 players spanned across the globe with
real time interactions, communications and combat.
BMP: So, basically what Multiplayer Battletech
3025 was supposed to be?
Primus Vermatrix:
That would be a good analogy, but I am taking Inner
Sphere Wars (ISW) beyond the scope of what 3025
was planned to be, including full Chain of Command
control and authority and other things that will
make for a true Battle Tech experience.
BMP: You have mentioned the Chain of Command
before, while also stating that at some point the
combat engine (MW4) will not be needed. What does
that mean? Can a player be, say, Archon of House
Steiner, and command everything from menus?
Primus Vermatrix:
Each Individual step on the Chain of Command will
have certain authority levels that will directly
impact the gameplay for those in that chain. Once
you reach a certain level you may prefer to spend
your time in a planning/strategic/role playing aspect
over dropping in battles to actually fight with
the "grunts". However the game is setup so you can
fight if you want to, or sit back and guide the
campaigns via menus and or direct communications.
Once you are at a certain level, you will have a
lot to do. I would not expect to see to many instances
of House Leaders dropping routinely in combat, because
that means they are probably not making time for
all the duties that go with the office.
BMP: Lets talk about each of the different
aspects of the project. You have already covered
the Chain of Command. Tell us about Planet Capture.
Primus Vermatrix:
Planet Capture is the portion of ISW that is where
the actual House vs House and or merc unit battles
will be derived from. Its based on a take over the
map strategy. Each House will start with roughly
the standard borders and will move out from there.
I cannot discuss the details as to how many planets
will be playable, that is still being determined
BMP: Which Era's standard borders? 3025's?
Also, what happens when a House conquers a planet?
Is there a garrison?
Primus Vermatrix:
3025 Era more then likely, without the clan influence
on periphery locations. It is up to the House to
garrison the planet, although a basic level of defense
will be automatically established by the occupation
effort.
BMP: Does that mean that the Clans will not
be featured in ISW?
Primus Vermatrix:
Clans will not likely start in ISW, however keep
in mind that we are still in very early stages of
BETA and based on playerbase input that can be changed.
It is possible that the clan invasion would occur
at a later time, once sufficient player base existed
to support it. Again though, its to early to say
definitively.
BMP: What happens to a planet if no garrison
players are online when it's attacked?
Primus Vermatrix:
Each attack will give the attackers a certain control
of that particular "Sector" of that planet. Once
the center "Sector" is reached the attackers would
face the base defenses, which can be set up in varying
levels of strength based on the commander of the
planet. Also ISW supports Player Proxy, which should
minimize this problem.
BMP: Ah, so that means a battle for a planet
can last for awhile. How does this sector system
work?
Primus Vermatrix:
Each Planet has a certain number of sectors, based
on its classification. For example, if a planet
had 5 sectors, the attackers would have to fight
there way through the outer 4 sectors before being
able to attack the HQ or Capitol sector to take
total control of the planet. Each Sector is worth
a fixed percentage of that planets resource production
ability, but only the owner of the center sector
can use any of the RP.
This supports multiple Houses/Units occupying a
planet and provides an accurate way to track planet
occupation and status. More details on this will
become obvious to the players during BETA and into
public release.
BMP: That brings us to another subject -
Economics and Logistics. How will those work?
Primus Vermatrix:
ISW has a floating economy with paydays for individual
players, Houses and Merc Units. Gambling is already
supported in the current BETA as players can bet
for and against other players in duels, including
themselves. Terra will control the IS Tax Rate via
COMSTAR.
Logistics will include Jumpship/Dropship Supply
Line integration concerning Resource Points and
/ or C-Bills cost for operation as well as full
abilities to supply units, build mechs, build ships,
provide for increased defense on planets, etc.
BMP: You mentioned Gambling. Is that part
of the Gladiatorial Dueling system?
Primus Vermatrix:
Yes, it is already functional and fairly bug free.
It seems to work very well. This system will be
improved throughout BETA.
So for those that just want to fight, they can strive
to be a Champion on ISW. Which was sort of the only
real thing to do on MPBT Solaris.
BMP: I guess all this is a part of the Roleplay
aspect of ISW, right?
Primus Vermatrix:
Can you be more specific?
BMP: Okay. All the happenings in the game
affect your character, be it climbing in the Gladiatorial
ranks, or getting promoted in the regular military.
Is this the Roleplay system you mentioned?
Primus Vermatrix:
Yes, good analogy. Although the Role Playing aspect
is all done internally, there is no "rolling of
the dice" or "I am the dungeon master" in ISW. Everything
you achieve, everything you earn, is from your demonstrated
skill in combat, tactics or planning. There are
also personal stats that will be tracked including
Infamy, Nobility, Charisma, Piloting Skill and other
things that will affect how others perceive you
as a warrior.
BMP: Those traits remind me of something
- how will Mercenaries be included in the game?
Will there be a Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission?
Primus Vermatrix:
Yes, there will be something similar to that. Mercs
will be part of the Game before Public release.
Mercs are very important to me concerning ISW. They
add that special flavor that the mech warrior universe
needs.
I prefer not to go into details on mercs at this
time, as there may be some changes as we move forward,
but safe to say that mercs will be different then
houses, and will for sure have stealth jump ships.
BMP: Just a simple question - will they be
regular units from the Battletech universe, or can
i just start my "MaSa's Bandits" Mercenary unit
in ISW?
Primus Vermatrix:
Eventually that will be able to occur, with sufficient
player base. However, the starting mercenary units
will actually be the considered "Core" merc units
as indicated by the Houses. Also there are safeguards
built into ISW to control the number of mercs in
the game, as House Integrity is my top priority.
BMP: Since you have mentioned Naval assets
more than once, including "stealth" Jumpships, will
space battles be featured in ISW?
Primus Vermatrix:
At this time there are no plans of having space
combat, this subtracts from the Battle Tech theme
in my view and could make the game over complicated.
Manipulation of Starships will be limited to construction,
assignments and navigation. Dropships can be destroyed
in ISW. However as with most aspects of ISW the
opinion of the community is very important to me
and Space Naval combat could be introduced at a
later time with sufficient interest. Perhaps as
a patch or a separate game all together concentrating
on this aspect alone.
BMP: The combat engine is currently MechWarrior
4. Will that change further down the line?
Primus Vermatrix:
The combat engine can be changed at a later time.
This depends on what is available and the legal
side of it. We already have the basic groundwork
laid for development of our own internal engine.
However we are concentrating on getting a working
version of ISW out with what we have available now.
Public release will be with MW4. However as we move
forward we may explore other options with Microsoft
assistance if possible.
BMP: Is integration with other projects considered?
For example, the Battletech Space Wars project,
or the Battletech Unlimited project?
Primus Vermatrix:
Not at this time. It has not been discussed.
BMP: Lets talk Hardware. What supports ISW?
Primus Vermatrix:
ISW is currently supported by 3 separate servers
in a Data Center with Multi-Homing on an OC-48 Connection.
The primary server is a Quad XEON P-4 at 2.2 GHZ
with 1 MB of PC-800 RDRAM. The Secondary server
is a 2.4 Ghz Athlon MP with Redundant Hard Drives
in Raid Configuration. The 3rd Server is for Communications
and runs a lesser processor and memory.
All of this hardware was built by me and is used
ONLY for ISW and ISDS functions. Most of the hardware
was paid for in whole or in part by the Community
itself, through donations made to ISDS.
BMP: Any ideas on the ideal specs for playing
ISW?
Primus Vermatrix:
The minimum specs would be the minimum system requirements
for MW4, as that is part of ISW. However the ISW
client itself would require much less. Only a windows
OS that .net technology supports and a 56 K modem.
Ideal would be a system that can play MW4 with no
choppiness and a fast internet connection.
We are keeping the requirements simple, so everyone
can play, with no or little lag or graphics problems.
Screenshots are available at http://www.iswars.com
We are currently working hard to release the current
version, which is much smoother in form and function.
BMP: Any release date set?
Primus Vermatrix:
We are looking at the next phase in a few weeks,
which is full Team Based Dueling support and also
our new Interface as stated above. After that we
start development on Planet Capture and all that
entails. A good projection for Public release might
be the end of summer or early fall. But this is
not firm. Gameplay will remain free until Public
release.
BMP: In closing, anything more you'd like
to say?
Primus Vermatrix:
Just that I am happy to have the opportunity and
honor to bring ISW to the community. It has been
to long that the community has been told something
like this was coming. I am pleased to be the one
to bring it to them. Our websites are at:
Corporate (ISDS) - http://www.isds.us/
Inner Sphere Wars (ISW) - http://www.iswars.com/
ISW Discussion Forums - http://forums.iswars.com/
BMP: Thanks for your time, Primus Vermatrix,
and good luck with ISW!
Primus Vermatrix:
Thanks, I hope you will be there!
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Current Game Status
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OPEN BETA
ISW is on OPEN BETA right now because it is a good thing
to allow people to play. However before you starting playing
ISW you should understand that the game is in a stage of
development and will be changing. Also you will be testing
the features and abilities of the game as it develops, and
not viewing it from a personal or player perspective as
it relates to what House or Unit you are in. The object
right now is to ensure the betterment of ISW, not yourself,
your unit or even your House. You are here for ISW right
now. Later when ISW is complete, ISW will be here for you.
It is possible that people may be moved around during this
phase of testing to balance out the houses whereas active
players are concerned. It is also possible that Planetary
Combat might be suspended from time to time to test specific
things. You are welcome to join the BETA group and help
us test, or you can wait until the game is finished or in
the final stage of BETA.
To Join open beta, start here >>
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