Will there be any races other than human?
No. There may be an option down the line within the live development system, but there are no plans for this at launch.
How will Legions run?
Legions will only run through the InstantAction service. It will connect to other games via listen server. Plans are currently underway for dedicated servers, however the process is not set yet so this cannot be answered. You will need to log into your IA account to play Legions. This process is subject to change as we get closer to launch.
Will Legions integrate with the IA front-end or be stand-alone?
Legions will be heavily integrated with the IA front-end, so you will be using a lot of web-side context menus for many obvious things, as well as some non-obvious things we haven't released yet.
Any possibility on having custom skins and maps?
Yes, eventually, however this will not be available on launch. We are currently working closely with the IA Plugin and Web team to find the best possible way to handle this, but it's unlikely it will an easily transparent process for our core 1.0 release.
What is the core 1.0 release?
We will be launching a core 1.0 release sometime mid-spring. This release will be playable by the general user base of IA and will include basic weapons, maps, and gameplay modes. Immediately after this core 1.0 release is out, a new system that is heavily integrated with the IA web front end will be unveiled, and will allow for some exciting opportunities to expand the core game.
When playing IA Beta games, the back button killed my game, will this be addressed?
The IA team is aware of this problem and is currently working on a solution.
Is there "skiing" and "jetting" in Legions?
There is a completely new movement model. It will feel familiar, but is controlled differently.
What are the core release weapons?
Laser Rifle, Grenade Launcher, Chaingun, and Rocket Launcher.
What no spinfusor?
Not in the traditional sense. We have studied that weapon however and have tried to find a close medium that fits within our new gameplay design.
Will there be armor classes?
Yes and no. We do not have armor sets, however there will be a class system which is described as a "happy medium between the TeamFortress style setup, and the Tribes setup".
Are there packs?
No, however we do have an inventory system that is controlled a bit differently. We are not ready to release the details of the items we are testing however, as we are still determining what is best for the core release gameplay.
When does the beta start?
We will be rolling out the beta fairly soon, but no exact date can be set at this time. The beta will be started with a friends and family group, then we will hand-select beta testers from the IA user registration pool, than once we feel secure there we will roll out groups of 50, 100, 500, 1000, and so forth as stability increases.
How will you determine who is in the hand-selected beta group?
We will most likely evaluate who has been giving the best and most effective feedback on the existing InstantAction beta and games.
As far as core gameplay goes, how far are you edging into original-Tribes territory? Is this really a spiritual sequel?
We don't own or have a license to anything having to do with the Tribes games, though of course we love them and GG was founded by some key members of the Tribes teams. Still, we'd never set out to create a simple rip-off.
We're trying to build a game we've always wanted to play, taking the best of games we love and hopefully adding some unique and cool things of our own. We are trying to emphasize team play and strategic combat, and our design rewards good team play and strategic thinking. We're not doing a real successor to Tribes... We can't, but we are taking to heart the spirit of innovation and fun gameplay from Tribes.
Will there be vehicles? Arming stations? Deployables?
Vehicles...no, not right now. We think most of the time vehicles are tacked onto FPS games as a marketing bullet point more than a vital piece of the gameplay. Most of the time they are unbalanced, unfair, and they don't even work that well. It's like developers go, "Hey, after Halo and the Warthog, people expect vehicles in FPSs, we just gotta do it." Forget that.
Same thing with deployables. Sometimes, they're great and for larger maps and big team battles in strategic game modes, they can make sense, as they did in Tribes. But we really don't want to spend a bunch of time doing deployables and the like when job one is to make sure the core of the gameplay is fun. Is moving around cool? Is combat fun? Will players sit down to play this for 10 minutes and look up 3 hours later and realize they're going to be late for work in the morning if they don't stop...and then keep playing anyway? That's the piece we want to make sure we get down first.
Is there multi-directional jetting?
Yes, right now we have the ability to jet in six directions, not just up. Not all directions have the same jet strength, so it's not just a free-for-all glide fest There is a sweet-spot where new players never feel gimped, but experienced players can use the movement to their advantage. We definitely do not want the player movement to feel light and floaty, but it should feel fast and the players should feel their momentum.
How will bases factor into things? Will they be the large, elaborate flag-holding fortresses of Tribes, or something else?
In testing right now we are finding the most fun with the movement model is located somewhere between medium and small buildings. We are finding indoor combat withing bases tends to be tense, but anything too huge or sprawling gets boring and confusing fast.
The current design dictates that interior spaces should allow the player to move freely, and never feel constrained or claustrophobic. But the buildings need to let you get in and out fast if there is no solid defense in place, or quickly engage in an intense fire fight when there are good defenses.
How large will the largest maps be? Will it take only a few moments to cross a battlefield, or are we talking about a significant trek?
Our first set of maps will most likely be designed around 4, 8, and 16 player games. Our engine can handle up to 64 players, but working within the InstantAction platform by the time we are in beta, we will mostly likely be able to handle 16 player maps. Larger 32 and 64 player will most likely be shown as options for our live development model once the platform can support these type of games withing player lobbies, servers and etc.
Our maps design dictates that there should never be a dull moment while playing this game where you're just wandering around, yet you shouldn't be confined and unable to get away from the fire or set up strategic runs. Both freedom of movement and strategic combat are important to the gameplay, so for the maps to feel good we need well designed levels with clear objectives and choke points that also give players enough space to move around a lot and fight it out.
What are the minimum system specs?
This has not be determined yet. We will require at least a shader model 2.0 video card, however we want to include as many options as possible to allow Legions to run on a variety of systems, old and new.
Any plans to support user-based content, such as mods and custom maps?
We are considering our options, but step one is to get games launched with a bunch players. Once there's a big community, we'll definitely want to provide tools to create customizations, mods, and hopefully new stuff no one has done before.
Full-screen?
Yes, this is something the IA and IA Plugin team are working hard on getting right. Currently the ingame legions bind for full-screen is Alt+Enter. This is subject to change however.
How much will it cost?
This has yet to be determined. Once we know more we will pass this information on.
What engine is this being created on?
We are building Legions upon a customized version of Torque Juggernaut.
Can we customize our controls?
Yes, definitely. This is currently not implemented within the current InstantAction beta release, but is on the InstantAction development schedule and is planned to be implemented before the Core release of Legions.
How soon after Core 1.0 can we expect tools for community modifications?
This has yet to be determined, there are a variety of factors that influence this and is heavily reliant on the plug and IA web team. Once we know more we will pass this info along.
What browser are currently supported?
As of right now, January 29th, Windows XP & Vista, and Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer 6 & 7.
Class specific faq with munge:
Will we be able to change classes on the fly?
Yes. You'll hopefully be able to create new loadouts via the IA interface during a game aswell.
How many classes are we looking at for release (approx)?
I've got 9 on my list, so hopefully at least 9.
How varied will class appearances be?
Ideally, enough to tell from medium range. You'll get class and equipment info in the info box aswell.
Will all "specialist" classes have to be unlocked?
According to the original design, all but one class (recruit) will need to be unlocked.
If they do have to be unlocked what will the progression be like in terms of time taken (approx)?
Some of the requirements overlap in significant ways, but the idea is that the basic classes would be about an hour and a half of normal play and the weapon specialist classes would be about 3 hours of normal play with that weapon. Better players will be able to unlock classes quicker because you'll need to spend game points to unlock them (mentioned in the voting thread).
Will you be able to unlock all classes?
Yes.
Will any class have an ability similar to the shield pack from T:v (or possibly T1/T2) i.e. activated invulnerability?
Maybe. This could be in the form of an item that only a certain class can use. We've also toyed with the idea of each class having a class ability in adition to their traits that could be activated at any time and then have a cross-class 10 or 15 minute cooldown (even if you die or switch classes). I was always extremely fond of the two-hour abilities that all classes had in FFXI. It added an extra dynamic to intense battles that if you had this ability ready and you timed it just right you could save yourself and your team from almost certain doom. The idea for the sentinel was a 10 second invincibility.
Other class abilities we came up with included temporary damage multipliers with primary weapon for weapon specialists, temporary infinite energy for the savant (item specialist sort of dude), full reload and a temporary fire period with no ammo used for the raider (can carry more weapons), and an instant overdrive that lasts 4 seconds with extra shockwave force/damage that ends in a huge explosion for the outrider (I wanted to call this one 'overload').
