Earth and Beyond Preview

AT: Every ship will have its own unique look and will be customizable, therefore making the game quite demanding. Can you tell us what will the system requirements be for this game?

EW: We are still finalizing the system requirements so I think it would be premature to quote exact system specs but we are aiming for a very low system spec. Something along the lines of a P2 266 with a TNT2 card.

AT: Specializing in certain skills and abilities the player gets a chance to advance his character, thus making him a more efficient warrior (explorer or trader). Could you reveal some of the attributes the player gets to enhance and how do they function?

EW: This is not set yet. Some of the things that we have stated in earlier interviews are: Warriors will get things like critical targeting, traders will get negotiate and repair, and explorers will get cloaking.

AT: Gamers are going to have the possibility of trading, fighting, and exploring. Explain how a particular task will look like, give us a small example of a certain mission.

EW: Regardless of the race and profession the player chooses, he will be able to get missions in exploration, trade, or combat. There are two types of missions in Earth and Beyond, personalized and crafted. Players get personalized missions from any of the mission generators found in the space stations. These generators scan the player's character and skill level and return with any of hundreds of missions, tailor made for that player. The crafted missions are in place to advance the overall story of Earth and Beyond and usually require the player to get help to complete. The missions range from combat-oriented, such as assassinating an NPC, to exploration, such as discovering a new Star Gate, to trade, such as delivering vital supplies to a far-flung outpost.

AT: Your official game-faq's seem to speak about players using various things such as cloaking devices and so on. Name some similar items and weapons we'll be able to use in Earth and Beyond.

EW: Actually, this has not been finalized yet, and I'd rather not speculate on what we might include. Stay tuned for details though.

AT: Earth and beyond takes a great step into the gaming industry by presenting a huge and pretty complex universe for players to compete in. How do you plan to handle potential troublemakers?

EW: We are working very diligently with EA.com to come up with policies and procedures to deal with grief players. We will have a dedicated customer service department which will be investigating reports of troublemakers and we will be quite aggressive when dealing with players who are violating our Terms of Service.

AT: Tell us something about the PvP modes in Earth and Beyond?

EW: Players will be able to engage in PvP if they choose, but they will only be able to do so on the fringes of space. The PvP areas only make up about 20 percent of the total playing area.

AT: Up to how many players will be able to engage in combat when the beta version comes out?

EW: Our first open beta will support about 1000 players.

AT: Currently, what's your crew working on?

EW: Right now, we are in the middle of our first internal beta, where 300 people are playing Earth and Beyond together for the first time. It's a big step for the game and we're all really excited about it.