Yeah, this clearly took a lot of work to do without real navies so I’m okay with it, especially since navies need proper attention to have any hope of being implemented well.
Oh, I’m not complaining, just trying to get clarification, so, thanks for that! It’s definitely looking like it’s worth ten bucks.
I think this expansion adds oceanic worlds to the game setup, with some local floral/fauna, and related trade and transport mechanics.
More importantly, and similar to Distant Worlds 2, the Shadow Empire developer has been steadily issuing updates to the base game for nearly 3 (?) years now. The few times I’ve dipped in since my first binged in 2020 it was quite obvious how much love has gone into further development since 1.0. At least my opinion is that is well above the call of duty, and since I’m a huge fan I’m happy to support that via the expansion - trusting he’ll keep plugging away for quite some time to come.
I truly, sincerely hope that if and when he puts in actual ships, he improves the goddamn model design workflow. Having to make five or six (or whatever) sequential decisions with no memory of what you did before, and only then finding out that your plane won’t get off the ground is horrendous. It would be so much better if it were instead a single form with a dropdown for each item that updated as you went.
That out of the way, I will absolutely pick this up and dive in (har har).
Yes thank you for this, I’ll watch it at work tomorrow. I loaded the game up today to see the new planet generation stuff, and once I got in the game proper I just…stared at it. I also need to read the manual again.
The ocean worlds make a huge difference because even on a continental planet, you now have lots of choke points and narrow isthmus paths to fight along. Makes a big difference to the old open Thunderdome style of the base game.
Steam says the last update was April 2022 to the base game - is that incorrect?
Yep it is incorrect. Today/yesterday, the game was updated to version 1.20. That is meant to be for the base game too, not just for those with the DLC.
Regular updates are seen mostly in the openbeta, couple hotfixes for 1.20 there already.
ok thanks.
I’ve toyed with buying this since release, but I know if I do…
It’s really, really worth learning.
My problem is the following. I own it. I love the idea of it. But - I now have a five year old child. And so whenever I have some precious time I could label “my own” it is:
(1) as fragmented as a well used 90’s era harddrive
(2) limited in duration, with the duration itself uncertain
I am beset by what I term “parental opportunity cost anxiety syndrome” (POCAS) - do I grab the delicious bite sized treat that can be simply ingested on the run ? And which could even - sound of trumpets - be amenable to being played in bed on that wondrous machine known as the “steam deck”, gift to beleaguered parents everywhere?
Or… do I sink precious, precious time in intermittent unknown duration drips, oftentimes requiring one to cover old ground to remember prior learnings - and hope that the long term payoff of this concentrated spend of that rarest of resources (time) will be rewarded by gaming nirvana, and not the reality that I sank hours into something I could not eventually bring myself to like?
Truly, being a parent is as rewarding as it is a vast sacrifice for the keen gamer. In my mind, THIS GAME is the one that has my POCAS up in arms, as I think I’d love it. Reading about you guys playing it brings me a great deal of pleasure. I’ll probably continue to do that regardless. Perhaps I could beg someone for an AAR? 🤣
There’s this AAR from back in the Beta:
If you can get one block of time to kind of get settled with the game the rest of it is pretty amenable to intermittent time availability. I’ve often left it running and just walk away from the computer as needed
I bought the base game last sale. Since then I’ve been trying to learn it in small chunks. I really like it, but at the same time there is still a barrier there that has prevented me from really diving into this. Dastactic and Ben from Explorminate say the expansion is a big improvement. This and that it’s only $10 means I’ll pick it up. And if you have the Steam version, it’s $8 on GMG.
One thing to note for people trying to get into this is that the planet generation is all over the place as far as what kind of start you’ll get. Keep generating until you find a good looking start. If you have alien fauna on the planet it’s worth paying attention to their description too to avoid anything too hostile.
I did a short AAR upthread where I tried to explain (my understanding of) some key concepts, but I think it was pretty incomplete.
If you buy the base game from matrix/slitherine then you get a Steam key as well; Oceania from Greenmangaming works fine in that case too.
Thanks! Unfortunately I have the Gog version. But I only paid $10 for the base game.
I should add that a few beta testers have posted Steam reviews, and they are very positive.
From the manual:
A new kind of points, that only become available two rounds after you finish the building? Never change, Shadow Empire, never change…