ROTP Project Update... Feb 2022
I'm probably not going to give an update every month since ROTP 1 is essentially in maintenance mode, but I'd like to do one here.
Version 1.03 will be coming soon with some bug fixes and a French translation. I was sort of hoping an additional translation would be ready as well but I'm not going to wait much longer. I'm also going to finish adding code for custom numeric characters to support a Bengali translation and then push it out.
I have been experimenting with some changes to spying and trade routes to fix large-map exploits but ultimately decided against adding those into ROTP 1.x. The primary reason is that they are basically outside of the original design scope of the game and were requiring more test time than I can currently commit to the project, especially since I need most of my ROTP attention to go towards ROTP 2. I have complete trust in the modding community to address any design issues that crop up in advanced play.
With regards to ROTP 2, artwork is underway for the first of several additional races to be added. In addition, quite a bit coding has been done to support a more varied planet type and terraforming model. And currently a lot of thinking has being going towards improving/overhauling the exploration phase of the game. There is definitely real room for improvement here.
The ROTP Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/rayfowler is growing modestly - 12 patrons so far! For $5/month, you can show your support for continued development of ROTP 2 while getting an insider view as progress is being made. You can see Petar's artwork as it develops, more detailed descriptions of the design changes as they progress, and eventually access to internal builds. I think I also posted an excerpt of the Silicoid lore/backstory that will eventually find its way into ROTP sourcebook. And you get a "Patron" tag in this subreddit if you want. All contributions are completely voluntary, of course, and everyone will get the same ROTP 2 whenever it is finally completed.
If anyone has any questions about ROTP 2 development, please ask in this post. Obviously I'm not going to copy/paste the details from my Patreon posts, but I can certainly answer general questions about what's going on.
Posted Feb 16, 2022, 4:55 AM UTC
How much a departure from the ROTP 1 are we looking at? Is this more of an expansion of the base concepts of RotP 1 with new additions or a radically different game?
(Also I don't suppose we could get something about building star gates? I primarily swtiched to the govenor mod primarily just because I hated building star gates once I researched it. :D)
It's not going to be ROTP 1.x. There are going to be real changes to the game, so it will play differently. Which is fine! ROTP 1.x is always going to be around, after all, so there's no need to make it again.
Will it be radically different? That's hard to say. What seems incremental to one player may look radical to another. The game will, however, continue to avoid both excessive management and micro-management, if only because I hate both of those things, lol.
There were a few Patreon posts in January about an updated planet type and terraforming model, as well as new resources to increase distinctiveness among the systems. This month I am really focusing on improving the exploration phase of the game. Not just simply adding to the variety of things you see, but adjusting even the basic mechanical gameplay of that phase.
Stargates are a good example of something that doesn't scale properly on large ROTP maps but it was perfectly satisfactory in MOO1 because of the smaller maps. They are definitely getting a rework in ROTP 2 with lore-based constraints on their construction, but that's further down the road.
Thanks for the write up. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I'm always looking for that perfect 4x. I still have my MoO2 CD from wayback when and I've enjoyed RotP quite a bit. It's a bit hard to say what things I'd like to see in a 2 without knowing what it'll be like, but I will say just based on 1 some things I would definitely enjoy seeing in a sequel.