Why was 3D space combat chosen?

[Uziush Vielky]

I was wondering why did you choose 3D space combat? After All it's going to be on a single plane that means all the 3D is just for the "good" looks.

Personally I don't like 3D in strategy games it just makes things look messy, not good looking. A well made 2D strategy game (Starcraft 1 and Tiberian Sun when we're talking about classic RTS') is alway better than 3D and is much less work for the developers in terms of graphics (no 3D models and textures, just simple sprites).

I liked the2D combat in MoO2 in the early game. Too bad it changed into a "go forward and kill the nemy clickfest" in the late game phase.

But back to my question: Why was 3D space combat chosen after all?


2D is more KISS in my opinion in terms of development/modding/playability and readability.

[eleazar]

I wasn't around then, but have a look at the design archive:
viewforum.php?f=13

[MikkoM]

2D is more KISS in my opinion in terms of development/modding/playability and readability.

And probably the most KISS option that could have been chosen would have been a Galactic Civilizations (the first one) styled combat system where the combat occurs on the galaxy map and a single ship model can represent multiple ships. However I am glad that such a sytem was not chosen, since it was mainly the poor quality combat system that killed my intrest to Galactic Civilizations. And if you ask me one of the major shortcomings of many of the recently released 4X space games has been an awful combat system. Either there is no player control of combat, the combat is of very small scale, or the combat visuals are like they could have been taken from an 80`s computer game. Now you are of course right about 3D taking more work, but if done properly I think that a beautiful, large scale 3D combat system that allows the player to control battles can be a major selling point against the kinds of 4X space games that I mentioned earlier.

However it needs to be said also that just having pretty 3D visuals doesn`t make a great game, but like for example in this case the combat engine should also be good and versatile.