Shadow Empire - Mad Max meets Operation Barbarossa

Games
#899

Two tips. First, here are the settings I use for a good learning game. Not too hard, just enough of a challenge for me.

Siwa. Alien Life. Spread Out
FOW: Know map, then complete
2 zone start
1 army per zone
All syndicates
Tech 4 (middle)
Development: Slower (or else they go too quick)
Difficulty: Regular
“Give AI More time to think”
“Only supreme council”

And here is the workflow I use per turn. I adapted it from someone in the game’s unofficial Discord, and refined it myself over a game.

  1. History: Next battle
  2. Reports: Dashboard, Urgent Issues, Demands, Treasury (Tot In & Out), Letterbox
  3. SHQ: check inventory bar on left-hand side + SHQ icon “supply received” button
  4. Trade: Sell to make cash, buy what SHQ needs
  5. Management → Profile: Check government status
  6. Decisions:
  7. Stratagems: What is your goal? Scrap cards (300 max)
  8. Cities: Main view and Items (red items should align to SHQ supply view)
  9. Assets: Are they progressing? Are new ones needed?
  10. Fight/Move (‘8’ & ‘9’ cycle units): Check APs, Readiness, Entrenchment
  11. Replace Troops / Mass Upgrade/Replace units
  12. Recruit Troops
  13. Models: Check Field testing, Create new models after fighting
  14. Build Roads/Rail: Set Traffic Lights
  15. Adjust Zone Borders

Maybe that helps someone else looking to jump back in. :-)

#900

Nice, I’m gonna bookmark this.

#901

Thanks, milspec, this looks handy!

#902

What mods do you have active?

#903

I use these three graphics / UI mods, which I consider to be essential:

UI mod: The Eddy Vegas UI Mod - V3.1 small update

Map terrain mod: DasTactic Icons - Mroyer Terrain Combined Mod

Stratagem cards mod: [Mod] Pymous Shadow Stratagems Artpack (v4) - May 2021

EDIT: And these beveled unit cards, so I can more easily see multiple unit stacks: Beveled Units Mod (v4.1) - Critters Update

#904

Ta!45

#905

I started a new game as well - all the art mods makes a massive difference!

There are rumours of rats of unusual size roaming the wastelands - this is of course complete nonsense!

2022-01-18 21_11_37-Shadow Empire _ Planetary Conquest

#906

It’s comments like this that make me want to try this game.

I just worry it will be too much of a mental investment to understand it and too full of painful micro.

#907

Me, too, but that post made me reinstall it anyway.

#908

I haven’t played in about a year, but I was able to mostly get a handle on things. I would just play, learn a few new things, then quit/restart when I decided the new things I’d learned would help on a restart. The game was interesting enough that I enjoyed that ride. But I can see many others not enjoying it enough to go thru this sort of cycle.

#909

I treat each turn and game like a learning sandbox. The first few hours were very confusing. Watching a “getting started” video helped. By 10 hours I understood the basics (40% of the game). By 20 hours I was experimenting with multi-player with friends. By 40 hours I felt confident, but still did not understand 25% of the game (advanced model creation, logistics and Human Resources).

I stopped playing for about one year. This time it took 5 hours to get back to basics, and by 10 total hours I was learning new things. I binged this week and played almost 30 hours. I love it, it’s great. It’s very immersive, there is a lot to juggle, making progress is very rewarding.

Will try and record a “normal” turn or two and upload it so people can see what is takes. I follow my script above very closely each turn. So far it’s working. :-)

#910

It’s less complex than Dwarf Fortress but more complex than Dominions.

I like the fact I can dig into details and see every shot and every counter attack from every troop in a massive battle between hundreds of units that lasts 10 rounds. Or I can just watch the little pictures and see who lives or dies. It scales well from macro to micro.

#911

Which one?

#912

That one is the right balance of a good overview but not too much detail. 35 mins total.

Das Tactics has great ones, but they are 30 mins per topic across 10+ topics. Save those for later.

#913

Excellent, thanks. And thanks for your own guide posted earlier. Time to get back into this!

#914

Added this mod. Edited my post above to link to all four mods:

Beveled unit cards, so I can more easily see multiple unit stacks: Beveled Units Mod (v4.1) - Critters Update

#915

Alien wildlife is easy, they said. No match for modern troops.

image

image
image2119×527 365 KB

image

image
image2120×361 266 KB

The first chitinous 3 bird-beaks had skin as hard as armor plates. (Infantry used their hard attack, ugh.)

The second nasty platypus / mollusk things got four attacks per round. Four! My troops panicked instantly.

(Yes, those fights were somewhat staged - look at the low readiness, I would not have pressed those attacks.)

#916

Boats! (but not yet).

#917

I watched that “bare essentials” video up above and that was enough to get started. I feel like I understand barely the essentials, but I’m not dead yet and start each turn with an idea for something to do. So many layers I don’t have a clue about.

Craigswhite_1
Craigswhite_11849×924 392 KB

#918

You appear to be well supplied, nice work. :-) Feel free to ask questions.

Am starting a competitive 1 vs 1 game with a friend soon, so I need all of the practice I can get.