I am hesitant to post about another game, but it may help someone else. I love the idea of Shadow Empire but struggled with the execution. I have switched to the Old World Blues total conversion mod for Hearts of Iron 4. It’s a similar premise (post apoc, military, etc) and similar rules (formations, equipment, logistics, industry, etc) but for me OWB is more accessible, more polished and less frustrating.
I looked at that just the other day but it wasn’t really clear to me how the mod differed aside from setting. Thanks for the heads up, I’ll have to check it out.
My last full game, I had a major declare war on me and push hard into my territory, conquering one of my border cities on either the first or second turn of the war. Their advance eventually stalled out and we ended up fighting a long grinding war where I slowly pushed the line back to their core territories.
Old world blues is a major conversion. Definitely worth your time.
Beta 1.10 brings a lot of changes. You can subscribe to it via Steam (or copy into the Matrix install). My quick paste of the biggest changes:
-Added “Spread Out” History Class to Planet Generation.
-Added Bunkerization Asset Types level I to VII. Each bunker point halves one structural damage point the hex it is in suffers and adds ‘extra entrenchment bonus’ to troops defending the hex.
-Populace migration between Zones now also takes QOL, Unrest, Danger, Private Credits reserves and Loyalty into account as well as modelling some peeps just like certain outback Zones.
-Improved AI speed by probably around 20%
-Some map scroll speed improvements (especially in later game upto 33% faster)
It will release in Jan. And the developer is teasing Navies on his official website.
Great news, looking forward to sinking some time into this over the winter
I hope the naval stuff is true. I know it won out in the polling he did but it also seemed like he didn’t really want to do it. Either way, I like the changes in this patch and look forward to more content coming!
I’ll give Shadow another shot after it releases, especially if I see some positive reports.
But honestly, the last thing the game needs is Navies. I have yet to see a grand strategic game get navies correct, and it is entirely plausible that liquid water doesn’t exist on 90% of the random worlds.
I really wish he had spent more time on QOL, AI, and documentation rather than adding more features.
Again, 100% agreed, and in fact I was going to ask you specifically if you felt like giving it another shot! I’m seriously considering one last try, which is far more than the game really deserves at this point, dammit. But I do so want to love it. I can hear that music now, and the gritty sound effects and unit voices as I issue commands. It ought to be the perfect game to while away the winter with.
Sigh. I fear my heart will be broken all over again, but I know I won’t be able to resist one last time…
The manual was updated after 1.09 (in case you didn’t know).
So, the very first thing I notice in just rolling a planet to start this one is (unless I’m missing it and with this game missing things seems to be part of the adventure), you can’t navigate the map using WASD and you can’t remap the keys.
Yep, the lack of configurable hotkeys is my pet peeve with the game. (I actually love the logistics.) I used Autohotkeys to bind WASD.
Someone on the Matrix Forums says SE is a Windows Forms app, which seems strange to me, but who knows.
Anyway, the game is fun and innovative, so I hope you give it a chance, notwithstanding this glaring flaw.
No weirder than Vic Davis’s games being made in Adobe Director, I guess.
The full 1.10 patch is officially released. I have jumped back in and am enjoying myself. I learn more each time. Its still lots to manage, but at the moment its exactly what I need.
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=5128178
Same highlights for me as the beta patches. This all improved my latest game, especially “Spread Out”, bunkers and AI speed.
-Added “Spread Out” History Class to Planet Generation.
-Added Bunkerization Asset Types level I to VII. Each bunker point halves one structural damage point the hex it is in suffers and adds ‘extra entrenchment bonus’ to troops defending the hex.
-Populace migration between Zones now also takes QOL, Unrest, Danger, Private Credits reserves and Loyalty into account as well as modelling some peeps just like certain outback Zones.
-Improved AI speed by probably around 20%
-Some map scroll speed improvements (especially in later game upto 33% faster)
I lost my first return game (on 1.10). That’s OK, I understood what was happening and why I lost. Some tips in the next post.
Here was the final view of the map. It was a Siwa class planet (Earth like), with some radiation, desolate wastes, and high mountains. Alien worms lived in the mountains, and I think they wiped out some minor factions because I encountered few. Here is a zoomed out view of my four zones.
To my south was a major regime that I befriended early on. Republicans, and pretty easy going neighbors. We agreed a non-aggression pact - which was my biggest mistake. Later on I needed to invade them to win, and I took a massive loyalty hit from my most senior advisors for breaking the pact. Militarily things went well during the invasion. Upgraded infantry and tanks won most fights. I had fun sending infantry through the mountains to circle while my tanks rolled through the valleys. I think it was a low pop world because the cities and the defending units were not that massive. This is a close up view of my push south (I am green). I paired tanks with anti-tank guns, supported by mobile infantry in trucks.
I managed logistics just fine. I am no expert! The biggest thing I learned since last attempt was to build truck stations and other “logistics extenders” one hex off of the main route. This helped fix a lot of my issues, where sometimes dropping a truck station right on the long road had previously made things worse. Here is a partially zoomed out view of that same front, the logistics lines in grey. Notice the two small indents in the road to the north - those are truck stations.
I got beat because a third major was already big, and they also invaded my southern neighbor at the same time. The third major grabbed more lands than I did, and triggered the “higher than 50%, and greater than 25% more than second place” victory condition. Nasty people, theocrats, I should have attacked them first. Good work, AI (on Regular difficulty).
Ran for 72 rounds, a great learning experience.
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.
- History: Next battle
- Reports: Dashboard, Urgent Issues, Demands, Treasury (Tot In & Out), Letterbox
- SHQ: check inventory bar on left-hand side + SHQ icon “supply received” button
- Trade: Sell to make cash, buy what SHQ needs
- Management → Profile: Check government status
- Decisions:
- Stratagems: What is your goal? Scrap cards (300 max)
- Cities: Main view and Items (red items should align to SHQ supply view)
- Assets: Are they progressing? Are new ones needed?
- Fight/Move (‘8’ & ‘9’ cycle units): Check APs, Readiness, Entrenchment
- Replace Troops / Mass Upgrade/Replace units
- Recruit Troops
- Models: Check Field testing, Create new models after fighting
- Build Roads/Rail: Set Traffic Lights
- Adjust Zone Borders
Maybe that helps someone else looking to jump back in. :-)
Nice, I’m gonna bookmark this.
Thanks, milspec, this looks handy!
What mods do you have active?
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