I gotta look this up some more, somehow this ain't complete, newsflash spacelings this game is "Joystick Enabled" ...drooling...

Poojah just copy and paste the hole FAQ off the forums!

1. You said there are about 2000 missions in the game, are the story missions included in that number and if not how many story missions can we approximately expect? Just wondering how many hours of campaign gameplay we can expect next to the free mode.

No, 2000 are only the side quests:
Destroy building
Counterstrike
Destroy capital ships (big battle, war)
Hacking (hack buidling)
Head hunter
Infected planet (clean planet atmosphere)
Orbital cannon (protect planet from pirate attack and destroy cannon)
Protect (protect cargo ship from attack)
Operate satelite

There are more than 20 story missions. I didn't count how many hours does it tako to complete all missions but it's long. That depends on many factors. For example if you only play main story quests this can be much faster. But this is hard because for some missions you need better ship and help from your wingmen and you can't acquire that fast. Maybe 10-20 hours I guess and this is not official.

2. Will each system have its distinctive look next to different colors/textures for planets and space stations within that system?
Yes every system has different look (objects (count, type, position, scale), sky textures, clouds, nebulas, planets, sub systems, anomalies, buildings, ruins, ships). There is no same planet in any system. Every sector has 0 or more than one station. Also you can find another civilisation station in same system but only if they are friends. For example you can't find pirate station in solar system. All civilisations have same look main station except makkinist and draglon race so you can expect min 14 unique stations in game.

3. Can you explain a bit more indept the difference between the professions and give some examples of what certain professions can't and can do?

This is from my head. I will add if I think of anything else.

Trader - Better chance to trade with other hostile civilisations with ID cards. Bonus on cargo space and weight,
id cards, mining tools and nano bots.
Wingmen: 2

Spy - Can hide himself better. Less attacking ships when hacking or attacking buidling.
Lower negative diplomacy point when killing other races. Bonus on ID cards, speed and afterburner.
Wingmen: 1

Soldier - Bonus on damage booster. 20% higher refund from dismissing wingmen. Bonus on armor, weaponary and maneuverability.
Wingmen: 3

Scientist - Better crafting and mining deals. Bonus on shield, nano bots and jammer.
Wingmen: 1

Headhunter - Better reward when solving headhunter and counter strike quests. Bonus on weaponary and maneuverability.
Wingmen: 2

Engineer - Price 20% off for repairing. Can modify mining tool to repair other ships (Heal wingmen). Bonus on speed, afterburner
and cargo space.
Wingmen: 2

Pirate - Better faction with the pirates. Bonus on speed, afterburner, cargo space ad ID cards. Better chance for someone to drop his cargo to you.
Wingmen: 3

Policeman - Lower diplomacy points if attacked by someone first. Better chance for someone to drop his cargo to you.
Bonus on weaponary, maneuverability, speed and afterburner.
Wingmen: 3

Adventurer - Better advance in experience. Nothing special. Not good in anything specific but not bad.
Wingmen: 3

4. How does the handling feel on the different types of ships we'll get to fly in SF2? Will they all feel the same or will we have to take certain things into account?

No it's not the same. We have light, medium and heavy types of fighters. Here starts the first defference. Larger fighter is more heavy and has better resistance to angular velocity. When ship gets hit by a laser or a projectile he gets kicked and gets a small angular velocity (spin). Bigger ship will get smaller influence. Capital ships don't have angular velocity.
Also manoeuvre depends on ship manoeuvre level. Some ships have better starting stats on weapons and other on speed or cargo space.
If our cargo is full our rotation was slower so it's better to dont go into battle with full cargo. You are gamble to loose it. Better leave it at repository. And ship with bigger cargo space and weight will have smaller influance on agility. And difficult on which you are plaing also influnce manoeuvre. For easy mode friction is much higher and is inertia is much lower so controling ship is easy. In hard mode you will much more glide before you kill engine and because of that battle is much more harder.

5. Is the LtJamesWatts bar implemented in the game? (J/K )

6. Correct me if I'm wrong but haven't you told us recently that ship customization will be in the game? How much can we customize it then to give it our own personal touch?

No. There is a talk about ship customization but but in SF2 will not be in game ship editing. You can just choose name for you ship.

7. Is there a possibility after or still before release that you guys implement coop play as in playing the single player free mode with a buddy via the net?

8. Will you allow players in free mode to setup their own faction and hire NPC's to work for/with you? If the answer to question 7 is yes, will you be able to do this together with a buddy?

You can't make faction. You can hire wingmans and call your squadron as you like.

9. What can we expect out of rank advancement? Can you tell us how many ranks you can gain and give an example or two?

You can gain 30 ranks/levels and some of them (names) you can find here on forum. On forum ranks depends on post count and in game rank depends on experience.

10. Suppose you have gained a very high reputation in the galaxy what kind of advantages does that give us?

Higher reputation = lower chance to be attacked by that civilisation. So you can more safely fly on that sector and you have more ally to help you.
Better chance to trade with that civilisation, buy specific weapon from that civilisation or use specific building of that civilisation. Better chance to get wingman from that civilisation to help you. Every buidling has specific purpose. We building can repair you armor, other repair durability, ... rise diplomacy, clear map fog, trade minerals, trade ships by lower price, leave items repository etc.

11. When you are in battle you said that NPC's will communicate with each other. Can we hear them talk or will you keep it as realistic as possible and we won't be able to hear a thing?

Yes you can read and hear what they are talking. Maybe it's not the most realistic but game is much more alive in that way.

12. You seem to have a very qualified team there looking at the beautiful graphics in the screenshots and the trailer and the tests that have been posted on the boards before which show us that even somewhat older computers can still run this game with a decent FPS. How did you manage to do that and still keep those graphics crisp and clean?

The key is in optimisation. Draw less as you can, optimise shaders.
Sort everything as you can and don't draw or calculate something that is not important or it's no visible. Discard all unnecessary object before drawing. Put invisible objects to sleep and don't calculate nothing that you don't need. Also make several type of lightings so people with slower cards can still run game in decent frame rate.

13. Who is your "secret" publisher?

I'm not allowed to tell. When it's time, publisher will tell.

14. When will we get the new trailer?

Sorry! When it's time, publisher will tell.

15. When will SF2 really launch?

Sorry! When it's time, publisher will tell.

16. What copy-protection, if any, will you use?

This will decide publisher. But our opinionis clear. We don't like it. Search forum for detailed answer (extended FAQ also).

17.What category of gamers are you going for, mainstream casual, or oldschool hardcore, and how will that affect the gameplay?

Something between casual and oldschool hardcore. I think that everybody will find something for themselves.

18. Looking at the votes in the MP thread and numerous discussions that appeared on the boards, is there a higher possibility that we'll get to see a MP part for SF2 in an add-on?

19. If the answer to question 18 is no, could you please give us the main reason why you guys decided not to go MP with SF2 and why there is a chance that you'll keep it for SF3 i.e.?

Right now I can only tell you that if we make SF3 i will be 100% game with support for MP.

20. If the answer to question 18 is yes, what could we expect out of SF2 MP? Meaning which modes would you guys implement i.e. coop, team deathmatch, last pilot flying (variable to last man standing ) etc.?

21. Are you guys considering add-ons in the future for SF2 which add new systems, new races, new factions, new weapons, new ships, new textures for your ships, a new story and new side missions or would you rather consider SF2 as the main game followed by several episodes instead of add-ons?

This will decide publisher and popularity of SF2. But we will like to do something like that.

22. At the start of the game will players be able to choose out of different modes to play the game i.e. arcade or sim?

Yes and in SF2 we call it difficult (Easy, Normal, Hard). This will influance physics, AI, experience and difficult of game in global.

23. When gamers buy the boxed version, will there be a galaxy map included as well as a keyboard layout card?

This will decide publisher. I will edit this if I get more informations.

24. Are you guys considering a collector's edition and if yes what kinda of extras can gamers expect?

This will publisher decide but we support that idea.

25. When can we expect the official minimum and recommended system requirements? I'm sure a lot of readers will feel more secure if they can see those.
Still this is a minimal confguration (but check this out NON-STANDARD TEST - Celeron 2,6,256 Ram 9800 xt):

Minimal configuration
Processor min 1.4 GHz
DirectX 9 compatible graphics card 128 MB
16 bit sound card
512 MB of RAM
2.2 GB free hard disk space
Mouse
Keyboard
Installed DirectX 9.0d

26. Will different species go to war witheachother out of the story. As in u might be flying and get a messge saying that like the machines declare war on the emd and from then on they are at war, until they declare peace.

27. When we look around in the cockpit with our hatswitch (joystick) or with the mouse/keyboard buttons do we only get to look sideways or can we turn 360°?
If we can turn around 360° do we get to see the seat and when we look down our legs and feet as in a flight simulator game?

No you can't see your legs and seat. We can't trun 360°. But we can look behind with special key. Or we can enter orbital camera view and see ship from different angles.

28. Who composed the music for SF2? How are the ingame sounds handled and created?

Music was composed by various artist including ours (two songs made by Provox you can find here: http://www.spaceforce2.com/downloads.aspx).
All sound effects are also done here by Provox.

29. Will there be different sound effects for each weapon?

Naturally.

30. Do you know already who will be taking care of the voice acting for the English version of SF2 and do they already have experience in voice acting for games?


No we don't know. This is the publisher's job.

31. What will exactly happen when we approach a station we would like to land on? Do we have to select different options on a communication channel to get clearance for landing?

Similar to Freelancer. You must be near station gate to see the enter sign. Then you just pres "Dock" key and short cut scene of entering will bring you in.

32. Will we play with the same character in the story mode till the end or did you make the story in a way that we'll play different characters?


You will play only with one main character but with other characters on your side.

33. What status is the game in now and is there still room to make changes in case someone came up with a refreshing and amazing new idea to implement?

Game is at finish so big changes are impossible. We can maybe change just small balance stuff, maps, ikons textures and maybe add some new weapons.
34. will all factions be playable or just the humans?

Almost all Factions are playable just not the Collective and Yah-ra-a.

35. Once the game has been released and everyone has enjoyed playing it to death they will then hopefully start to look at playing with any mods or scripts which will hopefully be produced.
Q...If a part of a mod/script proves to be popular with the players would the developers be prepared to look into adding the popular part into either an official addon for SF2 or, as a part of SF3.

Of course. This is not a problem. But everything depends on SF2 popularity. This only has sense if the game is accepted by the players and the community.

36. I'm not expecting an exact date on this because I know you won't be able to give me one for now, but any idea approximately when the publicity campaign will start? In a couple of days, in a couple of weeks, in a couple of months?

No we don't know. This is the publisher's job. But I think is more like weeks than mounts.

37. Will sound be implemented to be able to use: EAX, 5.1, 7.1 speakers?
Specially will it be possible to have positional sound?

Yes game supports 5.1, 7.1 speakers and EAX.

38. Do you also get the option to choose a certain profession in the story mode or is that predefined to fit into the story?

Yes, in story mode you can choose class(profession) and ship name. You can't select the ship, character and civilisation.

39. Can you tell us in which faction you start in the story mode and is there a possibility that it'll change during the story line? Without revealing too much of course about the story line.

You start as EMD (your favorite faction James ). No, you can't change faction once you choose it. But maybe you change your opinion about them and start fighting on the other side.

40. Will there be a flight recorder mode? I would like to be able to record my massives battles and then play it back later and be able to adjust where I see the battle from!

No. In engine there is recorder but only for camera. Not for other entityes. In console you can type RecordDemo Demo001 and then move camera. After that StopRecording. PlayDemo Demo001 will play it. We are using this for benchmark demo.

41. Is it wrong to love this game so much you have a tatoo of the logo on your body?

No, there is no problem! But you must send us a picture of that tatoo

42. How will mining actually take place and can you let us know which kind of materials we get to mine?

First buy mining tools. When you spend all mining tools you must buy new ones. When you have the mining tools you must approach an asteorid and target it. After that press mining key and with a yellow beam you start damaging the asteroid. After a few seconds the asteroid will be destroid and you can maybe find minerals between debrises. If you see something, teleport it with your teleport key as any other cargo. You will loose one mining tool only if you find something Chance to find something depends on your class and mining experience. More you mine, you have better chance to find something and loose less time. You can mine only bigger asteroids but not to big. If you find good mining field somewhere its good to mark this field with a bookmark. Collect materials for crafting or selling. If you don't want to carry all cargo leave it at the repository. Next time I will write some material names that we can mine.

43. Will the player get to see visually the changes to his/her ship after upgrading it with different parts? Meaning will your ship look different in the end than when he/she purchased it?

No.

44. How many different ships will the player purchase/receive(?) in the story mode?

Same like in free mode: 14

45. How many different ships can the player purchase in free mode?

Same like in story mode: 14


46. Will it be required during the course of the game to purchase all available ships to be able to survive in the universe or can the player upgrade the first ship he/she purchases/repairs enough with upgrades that he/she won't have need of another one?

You will need to buy at least one more ship because you starting with light fighter and this fighter can go more than level 5. Medium fighter can upgrade to level 7 and heavy to level 10. And you don't need to buy medium fighter before heavy.

47. When you enter a new discovered system, will it be up to the player to discover special items or will you get notified on screen that there are special items to be found within that system and you just have to look for them (think about Darkstar One here)?

You will not be notified. You will need to discoverd them by yourself.

48. What is money called in the SF2 universe? Is it credits or have you guys invented a new term for this?

In game you we call it credits but I like to call it "kuna"

49. How free will the player be in exploring/visiting other systems than the one he/she starts in when looking specifically at the story mode?

Totaly free. There is no restriction.

50. Will ships have turrets and if so, will it be possible to have a turret camera to be able to shoot at behind or up/down enemies?


Ships does not have turrets so there is no turet camera.

51. Do we have a flyway path with the map as in freelancer to make long trips allmost automatic?

We have something like this but is not same like in freelancer.

52. How does it work to make a ship to drop the cargo for you?

You need to open comm channel and tell "Drop your cargo" . He will decide if he will do that. And this depends on your , rank, his rank, your class, his civilisation etc. or he will attack you.


53. Will Quests just be available at Station or Bases or can you talk to a battleship or some friendly ships to get some?

You can only get quest on station.

54. About the Bountyhunters. Said that the names for Bounty Hunters will be used in game. So, I'm just wondering...
If we just eliminate one of the Bounty Hunters, let's say [HeadHunter CidoQ, will he respawn again later time?

No if name appear in quest list, this name will not respawn again. There is only one quest with that name. But we also added names to regular name database so your name can appear on any bot/NPC from that civilisation. For example Lt.James is in EMD data base so you can meet him there more than once. Angga is also EMD and e.g. Veki is Makkinist

55. Will different levels of armor make a ship look different? (if not add it. all you need to add is a few(14xamount of levels=a few) slightly adjusted texture files, and a tiny bit of code.)

No. It's not tiny bit of code.

56. Will there be a rainbow canon?

No.

57. Will different weapons have different gun fixtures? how different will they be?

No.

58. Will there be drunken drivers(pilots)?

No.

59. Will NPCs taunt you for things like, shooting them, running away, asking them to drop cargo, fixing there ship?

Yes.

60. since engineers can fix ships is it possible that damaged NPC will request a quick fix, and maybe even offer some cash?

No.

61. how will the jumping system work? will all gates be accessible? will it be possible to temporarily kill a jump gate(like trade lanes in FL)? how will we travel around within a system, will there be trade lanes, highways or just empty space and a big fat cruise engines on the back of you're ship? How long do we have to travel, on average, to get to our objectives?

62. About channel com feature, What kind of usefull commands do we have? Orders to wingmens, droping cargo, anything else?

Send insult, request truce, join formation.

63. Do we have "mach speed with enemy" option? For the dog figthing...

Yes.

64. Do some missiles have kind of "lock systems"? I mean a system that you have to aim them for some seconds and after "Locked" is activated...or they lock enemy automaticly.

Yes.

65. Are you conscience how much are we expecting this game to be released? (This one you dont have to add it, just kidding leva)

no

66. How smart will the AI actually be? Can you give us a few examples of what you encountered while playing the game and that totally amazed you?

Hmmm... this one is good.
I was tried to attack one EMD fighter and he call for backup (i din't look around). I could not handle three fighters at once and I was weak in armor and shield. Because of that I was try to hide myself in the middle of the ruin and recharge my shield. And I made to enter between two walls but from top I was still vulnerable. And he nail me through that hole with his friends.

67. Will the modding tools be released together with the game or do you plan to release them afterwards?

If we release it, this will be afterwards.

70. Will missile, laser, torpedo, mines & counter measure mounts be interchangeable? (for example in FL you could switch missiles and lasers but mines, countermeasures and torpedoes/cruise distributors had their own special mounts.)

Something like that. Nano bots have special mount slot, mining tools, also. Primary weapons (laser) special slot and projectiles special slot. You can't mix them. You have special key to cycle through primary weapons(lasers) and special key through secondary(projectiles) wepons. Last selection is always full guns or full projectiles.

71. Will guns have recoil? (i.e. if you shoot a powerfully weapon will you get a slight push back? or will the gun mounts themselves recoil(like in FL))

Only biggest one.

72. because gun mounts do not change appearance, does this mean a ship without any weapons mill look from the outside exactly the same as a ship of the same type with the most 1337 set of accessories available?

Yes.

73. Can you dock inside large cruisers or carriers like with space stations? (It would be cool if you sign up to work for someone as a hired gun and dock in his cruiser while he flies to his destination.)

No. They are not so large but is cool idea for future versions.

74. What inspired u guys to make this game? Also any games or things that influenced u guys with this game?

75. Can you explain more about the "repository"? What it is, how it works?

This is a small building that can be found near station or other buildings. You can dock to that building and leave there your items. There is no restriction on item count but if you leave something in one system in one repository you can't see that items in other repository. They don't share same space. So if you leave something i Solar you must pick that up in same place. Those items will wait for you there. This is good feature if you are collecting some items for crafting or leaving something before battle. In battle you can loose items that you carry. Or leave there weapons that you don't want to use, sell or carry around at that time.

76. Will there be 'cruise engines' that allow fast travel within a system when not in combat?

Yes something like that and only if combat is not active.

77. Will there be secert systems that you find a jumpgate to get there hidden somewhere deep inside a dangerous place to get too?

Yes.

What about multiplayer? Quests don't last forever.

There was talk of adding it on as an expansaion if SF2 sells good but that was several months ago.

They want people to play it as is first. If it were released right up front some people would not play singleplayer and the work would be for nothing.

So do like me spread the word then play it when it comes out and spread the word some more, the more it will sell the more chances we have of getting our MP...

Edited by - Poojah Nazol on 3/24/2007 2:46:56 PM

Yep i think your right, MP will most likely go in game later after release but for now they just want us to enjoy SP and come on after the Plot is finished and 2000 quests to do, i really dont think some people would brother with MP at the door.

It looks like FS2 will be the best space sim in many years!

I can't wait to get my hands on this game. I will be doing some serious upgrading just to play it with all the gadgets turned on.

Will we be able to change our career paths, i.e., from say Adventurer to Pirate?


Edited by - Slayerhawk on 4/22/2007 12:12:44 PM

Edited by - Slayerhawk on 4/22/2007 12:13:33 PM

Sure thing, there's so many different races, that buying reps is a necessity...

[color=lime"There are those who believe that life here began out there" "loot is free"[/color

Edited by - Poojah Nazol on 4/22/2007 1:07:23 PM

Planetary Landings???

An insane amount of quest and fights but no planetairy landings, you can go down a little bit into some planets atmosphere and even burn up on re-entry or even fight there a bit but without going far.

If and when we can do mods depending on the flexibility of the software maybe it'll be possible.

The main focus of this game is storyline, 10 races worth, and space combat in a flexible way never done before, even seeing your pilot fry inside the cockpit.

"There are those who believe that life here began out there"

Well instead of landing on planets.... YOU BLOW THEM UP INSTEAD MUHUHUHUHU!!!! well some quests lets you blow up planets in the new trailer which i must post!

http://www.spaceforce-game.com/downloads.aspx

Trailer here!