Oh, sorry, right. I actually have the same experience as Kevin - I’m just used to pressing the hotkeys to bring up those tabs. I don’t think we changed any UI behavior there, but I couldn’t swear to it or anything.
It could be my lack of playing recently as well. For some reason I don’t remember having to dig to find those buttons before. Not a big deal, I just was lost for a few seconds when it yelled at me about my logistics. I quite likely knew the hotkey before :)
Logistics specifically has a little button you can press right up next to the logistics display as well.
Whats up with all the recent negative reviews on Steam for Escalation?
For Escalation? I don’t see any without expanding the review list. 93 reviews, Very Positive rating.
EDIT: I see a shitton of negative for the base game. This about sums it up:
i.e. typical entitled gamer outrage. Especially since he’s completely wrong on the price, it’s $20, not $40. I fucking hate this faux outrage anytime a developer charges for anything.
Maybe I was looking at the base game page, that’s right, I was checking to see if any of the dlc was on sale.
Anyway, I was surprised to see the game had a negative rating.
So they are upset because the game got a huge expansion and it wasn’t free? WTF is that shit.
That vast mage is huge :)
Was playing a comp stomp on it and it took a while to kill the others. I kept having trouble telling if some black areas were from los or impassable so I had very leaky borders and they kept raiding my territory.
Had a lan party this weekend and we ended up buying 6 copies of Escalation. We had a blast and it sure fit a hole we had for RTS games. We like playing coop vs AI due to the different skill levels of the players. We could do 6vs6 with most RTS having only 8 players its 6vs2 or they make you have balanced teams.
I haven’t played a typical RTS in a while. How is this for non-RTS players?
Also, I see there is DLC for the the ‘non Escalation’ version of the game. If I buy Escalation, can I buy the DLC or do you need the original version?
I believe it was clarified a little upthread that DLC purchases carry over to Escalation, but don’t take that as gospel.
As far as how it is for non-RTS players… not sure how to answer that. Is there anything specific you’re concerned about? It’s not a twitchy/fast RTS like Starcraft. Speed will improve your game, but it’s about slow-moving armies, not microing unit abilities or dodging attacks. Does that help at all?
I think so Kevin, thanks.
As far as the DLC…
I know that if you own the base game (non-Escalation) and buy the DLC that you have access to it from Escalation if you buy that too. I guess I don’t understand if you only buy Escalation - can you buy the DLC without buying the non-Escalation version?
Since I pretty much only do single player, is the DLC even applicable or is it all multiplayer stuff?
I haven’t purchased any of the DLC, so hopefully someone can chime in.
When you say you play single player, is it a campaign/story you’re interested in or is it skirmish? My interest is solely on the latter, and I find that Escalation is great without any need for DLC. I can’t comment on the campaign though.
I usually like playing through campaigns and possibly do skirmish afterwards.
I’ve been following your comments for a while now @robc04 because I think you and I have similar tastes and I’ve got to say, Ashes looks like my next RTS, mostly because of the focus on the macro over the micro, and I hear the AI is great.
If you’ve bought the dlc for the original it will carry over to Escalation. It wasn’t clear from earlier posts if they haven’t been ported yet, or if there was just a flag that needed to be flipped somewhere for it to happen.
I think it is a good game for skirmish, and while you can still get into information overload it isn’t a twitchy/apm game. It is more of a case that you are potentially trying to manage battles on 2 or more fronts, and trying to funnel units to those fights and other targets you might have. I’ve only played the beginner and novice AIs so far. Beginner for the most part just sits there, or is very slow to expand. Novice does expand and will attack from multiple directions. There are another 5-6? levels of ai beyond that.
Edit: The DLC is a mix of different gameplay scenarios (similar to the king of the hill or whatever it is called where you have to see how long you can hold out against the ai in the original) and new maps.
Hmm, it may be something I like. I used to love Age of Empires and a few other RTSs but my tastes have become less hectic - although Aoe wasn’t really fast paced. The focus on the macro seems like it’s more up my alley. I was too slow to consider it during this sale I guess :-)
I never really played the Age of Empires games, but I adored Age of Mythology (I’m a sucker for that kind of thing) but my tastes have also become less hectic since then!
The different gameplay scenarios sound interesting, are they skirmish modes that the AI can play?
Scenarios included in the dlc packs:
- Implosion - Race against three enemies to be the first to crack the defenses of a crashed Post-Human and their experimental Turinium Generator.
- Eruption - Cut off from your factories, you must command a single Hyperion Dreadnought and a scattering of defensive structures to turn the tides of battle.
- Mountaintop - Exploit your resource-heavy advantage and create massive forces to climb the mountain to the enemy entrenchment and wipe them out.
- Turtle Wars - Hold off the frigates swarming from indestructible factories and survive the siege. Reprogram the factories to your advantage before the enemy crosses the mountain and finishes you off.
- Oblivion: A powerful Substrate entity driven mad with power emerges and has turned against even its own kind. With the assistance of your PHC ally, Valen, you must capture and hold the hidden generators in order to call in enough air support to end Nihilon’s threat. Hurry; you don’t have much time before it smashes its way through its former Substrate allies and crushes your base.
- Against all Odds - Intruder, alert! You’ve hacked your way into the Nexus that controls both Turinium generators on the planet Qoshyk, but the 4 Substrate entities controlling the planet are now aware of your presence. Mac has subverted the nearby Substrate Guardian and the automated construct swarms are being held in check for now, but how long will that last?
- Gauntlet Scenario - Two Substrate entities are fighting an ongoing war with tremendous armies you can’t possibly hope to match. Can you somehow cross the battlefront to capture - and hold - the lone Turinium Generator in the far north?
- Overlord - An overpowering Substrate entity controls the only Turinium Generator on the map. The PHC has managed to hack one of the Substrate’s assemblies, allowing you to build their units in addition to your own. Can you and your two AI allies smash through the enemy’s defenses before the planetary conversion is complete?
- Assault - Massive waves of enemy frigates are flooding and controlling the world of Pythos. Combining your PHC forces with hacked Substrate forces - including a powerful Avatar unit - you will need to fight to turn the tables and take back the world.
Plus the original one that came with the game, where you have a base and see how long you can survive increasingly powerful waves of ai forces attacking it. As far as I know they all are games against the ai.
Was hoping to have the replay system would be in before Christmas. Unfortunately, our lead developer on Escalation is ill. Once she’s back, we will get it out asap.
We have an update to the base game of Ashes coming out shortly.
But in terms of what is what:
Escalation = Ashes (base game, no DLC) + Escalation