Yes, I have it and it looked like my cup of tea… but never clicked, and I tried, seriously.
WEGO space battles in 3 dimensional space, with a fantastic replay feature for battles that perfectly captures the aesthetic of the new series space battles. Solid and engaging tactical battles with decent variety.
If you have any enjoyment of the series and strategy games, you owe it to yourself to try.
That’s a shame. There are a number of us here who love it, but that happens I suppose.
It was my favorite video game I played last year, by a significant margin. What didn’t work for you, if you don’t mind?
Yes, it’s a shame because I really wanted to enjoy it, and I’m glad the game exists! But not worked for me.
I think my main problem was the combination of the emptiness of the space setting and the wego system that felt too slow and samey and ultimately boring.
I’m realizing that in strategy games I’d prefer mountains, lakes, cities, forests, etc. It may seem silly, but I can do nothing. And I’m glad you asked because made me wonder and now I can see why I bounced other games like Space Rangers, Drox Operative, Endless Space and wow! a lot more!
I didn’t like it either. I only ever advanced in a blob and focussed fire on a target as far as I remember. And advancing has to be done ship… by… ship. Camera shaking replays didn’t fix that for me.
You can group select! And it will hold relative position. So I might have 2 flight groups for fighters, two staggered formation capital ships, and a floating scout/ decoy. I can select my group of 3 capital ships and move them in formation. You can also filter the drag select to pick only fighters, only capital ships, or all ships. So once you have formation, you can move your entire fleet in seconds, if you’d like to leave it as is.
Maybe this wasn’t in the game at launch, I only played it last year for the first time. And friendly fire can be brutal, so thinking of positioning and which ships to place as shields, how to get firing solutions first, and when to break a formation all felt engaging.
And there is effective formations, rather than a blob. Especially important if you use missiles or fighters, as flak can destroy your own fighters. A blob would lead to my missile boat ranger firing into the rear engines of an Adamant, or through a flak screen. Or would see them taking the focus enemy fire, and get blown up.
Plus firing fields matter. Being above or below an enemy has significant real impacts, some ships lose a lot of effectiveness if you are at the wrong zone.
I wonder if the extra ships from the DLC packs really helped. A few more ships leads to a lot more tactical variety. I can see how having more battles against Nemesis and Atlas ships well into the mid game, without unlocking some of the more interesting mid tier Cylon ships, could feel samey. There is definitely a exponential growth in engagement and variety from simply adding a few more ships.
I do wonder how much the game evolved over the years. It is entirely possible that there is some improvements they made to the core game engine that shaped the experience for me. Were there gas clouds, nebula, and asteroids in the game when you played? Because the game currently does have some (unrealistically dense) space terrain in it now. And playing in a mine field around an ionized gas cloud can have huge implications to how an evenly matched battle plays out.
But I do get the preference thing. The barrier for a fantasy game to hold my interest is vastly higher than historical or sci fi. It’s why Napoleon Total War is much more enjoyable than Warhammer, even if the later is probably ‘objectively’ a better game mechanically.
Don’t think so, no…
And all those things sound amazing, but at the end didn’t work for me.
I don’t remember those things, I bought the game at release, but don’t think they would make a difference for me.
I can see your enthusiasm of some who really likes the game and want others to enjoy it, I really appreciate it, but somethings there are games/movies/shows/books that we can simply enjoy even if we try it really hard. And life is too short and the backlog too long ;)
What? No? When did this happen?
Couldn’t swear to it but I don’t think this was in when I played either…
Dunno! Sometime in the season 1 DLC I imagine then.
The gas/ dust clouds reduce DRAEDIS range, and prevent firing solutions through them for missiles. So a ship behind/ in one can’t fire missiles, but also is safe from them. Ionized gas clouds do continual damage to electronic subsystems, plus damage fighters. If you send a squad through them, they will all pop within 2 turns. Asteroids are, well, asteroids. They block missiles, but also make ships go boom real good.
And mine fields are, well, they create good zone denial tools. But the first time you find one, you’re probably going to be losing a Manticore to it because, whoops, they forgot to turn on IFF for Colonial units on those mines. At which point you’re going to Ackbar it with emergency evasive maneuvers.
Oh I hear you. There are plenty of games that are beloved by many, that I simply do not care for. Any given Rockstar game, for example. I know people love them, and know why, I just simply can not stand them personally. GTA IV was the last time I tried, before accepting that these were well made games that I simply never would enjoy playing.
Well then they certainly did a lot of work improving the game post release. I had no idea! I didn’t realize it until maybe 5-10 hours in though. The first few battles I was managing each ship individually.
Oh right I remember the clouds and asteroids, derp. I never really had to deal with mine fields because sheer luck.
Reminds me I need to play the season 2 things.
I see Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2 is on sale at the moment for US$7.50 (historical low).
For those that have played both, how does it compare to BSG Deadlock?
Sunless Sea is currently free on the Epic Games Store: Sunless Sea
Wargame: Red Dragon is the next free title.
That’s the one where Hannibal Lechter makes a dude eat his own brain, right?
Nah, that’s Hannibal: Total War.
IIRC this was the one they teased a while ago but then pulled?
Yes, they’ve twice brought back games they had previously pulled (Escapists 2 was the other). Maybe there’s hope yet for Conan Exiles!
Although there’s still time for them to pull Wargame again, I suppose.
Fanatical has launched a Guardian Bundle with three tiers:
Pay $1 for Steam keys to:
- Tesla vs. Lovecraft
- Rec Center Tycoon
- Out of the Box
Pay $3.99 and add:
- The Vagrant
- Sin Slayers
- OPUS : Rocket of Whispers
- Detective Di : The Silk Road Murders
- Alwa’s Awakening
- Windscape
Pay $6.99 and unlock:
- Iconoclasts
- Moonlighter
$7 is a pretty nice deal on Iconoclasts and Moonlighter if you own neither. Some of the other stuff in the bundle is decent as well, Detective Di is supposed to be excellent, Windscape is a cool little exploration/crafting game, Sin Slayers looks interesting and Tesla vs. Lovecraft is great.
Fanatical also has the Mega Bundle Reloaded which is a relaunch of one of their big indie bundles. 19 games for $2.99, including good titles like The Signal From Tolva, Gemcraft : Chasing Shadows, The Keep, Star Wolves 3, Lichdom : Battle Mage and more.
The Star Deal today is Shadow of the Tomb Raider : Definitive Edition for $12.59 (70%)
IndieGala has Imperator : Rome for $5.99 (85%), a historic low. Get the Deluxe Edition for $8.24 (85%)
If you bite on the Imperator : Rome deal (or already own it), you may want to pick up the new Heirs of Alexander Content Pack from WinGameStore for $6.99 (30%), a historic low. I would wait on the Epirus and Magna Graecia Content Packs though as both have been on sale for much lower than they are currently available anywhere right now.
WinGameStore also has Cardaclysm for $7.49 (50%), a historic low.
Part of that Steam Slitherine Sale is Fantasy General II for $19.59 (51%), a historic low. You can also purchase the Complete Edition which includes all 3 currently released expansions for $50.00 (41%).
Also part of the sale, Order of Battle : Complete Edition is $88.95 (60%). At $90 it may not seem like much of deal, but then you realize all of the DLC combined retails for $225 and it doesn’t all go on sale all that regularly.
Almost forgot, Humble has added a Stardock Wayfarer’s Bundle. Three tiers:
Pay $1 for Steam keys to:
- Fallen Enchantress : Legendary Edition
- Sins of a Solar Empire : Rebellion
BTA (currently $8.60) and add:
- The Political Machine 2020
- Siege of Centauri
- Ashes of the Singularity : Escalation
Pay $12 and unlock:
- Star Control Origins : Galactic Edition (includes Earth Rising Expansion, OST and SC 1,2 & 3)
- Offworld Trading Company
- Offworld Trading Company : Jupiter’s Forge Expansion
- Offworld Trading Company : Limited Supply DLC
The sheer number of deals and bundles is overwhelming these days and I wanted to say I appreciate you going to the effort you do to highlight the good ones.