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RTS They Are Billions - steampunk/zombie RTS from Lords of Xulima dev

axx

Savant
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Messages
804
Got to the final wave on my third try (helped a lot by a titan from a mayor), and got crushed. Are the titans really worth it for base defence? They seem great for clearing the map or pulling zombies, but the rocket launcher guys seem better at actually killing zombies. Any use for the flamers?
Start increasing number of thanatos (rocket guys) towards the end of game. After you clear the map try to build as many oil wells as possible just to get more thanatos (you don't have to protect those wells). Concetrate thanatos behind double walls on points where the final swarm comes. They are slow but deal massive damage.
 
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Siberia
Lucifers are ok at tanking and burning basic zombies down (they can't shoot through the walls so defensively they are useless). The only real problem in this game are spitters, hence why I ended up with archers/snipers combo for clearing. Archers do fine against everything (as soon as you have about 30 of them) and a couple of snipers pick spitters off while you kite shit around.

I almost beat it at 380% without pauses, but zombies are apparently smart enough to COMPLETELY (literally none went there and the rare few that did TURNED AROUND) ignore small chokes and just rushing to the widest areas, spent a lot of resources on nothing basically and base was pretty huge, so thanatos' rotations took a long time, zombs got through the first line of defense and it was quickly over by the time support got in position. Not sure if it's a bug or a feature, but that was mildly infuriating.

My biggest gripe with the game atm is UI and UX in general. You can't move camera to an unit by clicking on its icon, resources and time between income bursts are not very visible, groups unbind themselves every now and then or refuse to be binded in the first place. The simcity and collision/pathfinding (units bump and get stuck in/to each other all the time) aspects of it too, every second building has some sort of 'can't build closer than X tiles to other buildings of certain type' limitation that's almost always different than the others (i.e. shocking towers have 3 tiles requirement while ballistas have one afaik), so you can't really plan ahead the way your construction will go unless you have the technology unlocked (or invest inappropriate amount of time into learning every building's requirements), not to mention random map gen (with weird ass chokes with a random tree or a rock on 2x2 grids, so you can't build anything except basic towers) and indestructable mountains/woods (that also cut the attack angles of towers even with vision).

With that being said game's pretty addictive and (not to repeat myself) with campaign and a bit of content would be glorious. Especially if they get around implementing mod support. Roguelike aspect of it is kinda fun as well, hence why it doesn't get old too fast. In one game I got ballista tech really early from the mayor, went 100% into production (map was generous with a lot of small chokes and plenty of resources), but got a little cocky, aggroed the nearest infected town and got rekt.
 
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Destroid

Arcane
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Australia
Crushed 100% on the first map this time, you really just have to keep expanding hard and make sure you clear the map. Claim all the resources you can and build two big blobs of housing, only one is a completely inadequate gold income. Zombies didn't breach the inner wall of any area, all protected by 1x Ballista, 1x Executor, 2x Sniper towers & 5x Thanatos.
 

Shackleton

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Judging by the Steam top seller lists, this game is a massive success for Numantian Games. It's still number 2 just behind PUBG even this long after (early access) release. I must admit I'm staggered as I would never have believed there was such a demand for an early access zombie RTS, but it seems somehow there is. Is it being promoted heavily by streamers?

Must give hope to every indie dev. Don't go spending it all on booze and hookers!

:excellent:
 

Infinitron

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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-01-18-they-are-billions-is-an-unputdownable-rts-revelation

They Are Billions is an unputdownable RTS revelation
"Infected horde approaching from the west!"

How long can you survive? It's so simple and so effective: build a base and protect it from the enemy zombie hordes. Not the ones milling about on the map, although they do trickle towards your base and sometimes with proper intent, but the actual hordes. When they approach they get a special announcement and a clock ticks down to their arrival, and a big skull represents them marching across the map. So much drama! When they turn up, you'll know why.

Zombies that are harmless in ones or twos are devastating in their hundreds, and if your walls and traps and troops aren't strong enough, and the zombies reach your vulnerable workers, they will infect them and the wave will get stronger. If you don't patch the hole quickly, zombies will sweep through your base like sea through a sandcastle. Dying in They Are Billions is an inevitability, and death comes quick.

jpg

A familiar screen. It was my first go.

But the difficulty is a masterstroke, as is the speed at which The End comes. Keeping you on the back foot compels you to do better, and dying quickly means you don't lose much, attempts are brisk, and you aren't overwhelmed by wiping the board clean and starting again. It also naturally breaks the learning into digestible chunks.

At the beginning, when you don't know how things work and you die quickly, you have a smaller base, so fewer variables to consider when you die. You easily see where you can do better next time. And so next time you survive for longer, bringing a few more variables into play. Rinse, repeat, each time learning incrementally more.

The bit-by-bit approach makes the game's content go further by rationing it out. Because you'll only see a fraction of the available buildings and units, naturally you'll play again to see more. You can lower the difficulty to bypass this but you won't want to, because at the end of each attempt you're awarded a score. If you lower the difficulty, your score modifier drops with it. Even though I survived much longer on a lower difficulty, building a bigger and more advanced base, my finishing score wasn't much better than my first I-don't-know-what-I'm-doing attempt. I won't drop the difficulty again because I want a better score. Over and over again, the desire to try again is reinforced.

They Are Billions takes a little getting used to. On the surface it's a familiar real-time strategy game: a kind of steampunk Warcraft RTS, with similar clean lines and character, and it behaves very similarly. You harvest resources to build with and slowly research better things. Instinctively, you'll know more or less what to do.

What take some getting used to are the upkeep mechanics: workers, food and energy. You need workers to operate buildings - the more advanced, the more workers you need - and to create troops, but you also need to feed workers and power buildings. Balancing all three isn't easy. Workers come from building tents, but you can't build loads of tents because you won't be producing enough food. Food comes from hunter's lodges and fisheries, but you can't build loads of them because of their energy upkeep and space requirements (two of the same kind cannot be near each other). It's a similar story for energy, which requires workers, and that's on top of base resource costs.

jpg

The best base I've managed, stuck in the perilous phase of having to expand but not wanting to.

What the upkeep systems do is stop you having everything. You can't simply or easily amass an army, as the trade-off will mean limping towards researching stronger walls, for example. You must focus and choose either or, but not both. It's in many systems like these, as well as constantly trickling enemies in from all sides - probing to find even the smallest hole in your defences - that They Are Billions keeps you thinking. Let just one zombie in and you could begin an infection chain-reaction which will quickly get out of control. You will need to be sharp to survive, and know immediately - when the approaching horde is announced - which are your easts and wests (dramatic sigh).

In They Are Billions, Numantian Games has an irresistibly moreish mix of tower defence, real-time strategy and survival, and I'm only scratching the surface of the £20 Steam Early Access build. The fledgling challenges I've faced are piddly in comparison to the exhilarating apocalyptic hordes others have seen, hence the game's name. And They Are Billions is still missing its main event, the 40-hour-plus Campaign mode, expected sometime in the spring. A full release date, however, is unknown.
 

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,810
Tried it. I must say it is fucking great.

It is basically turtle up your base and hit it with waves of enemies. But it is not only turtle up your base one trick pony. Exploration matters. Economy matters. Even getting your units to get veteran status matters a lot (they do like twice damage). Also it is doing most of RTS games forgot with time, manage place to build, it is not finite and you will quickly run out of it if you don't plan correctly ahead of time.

In the end whole game basically follows your mistakes, and when something happens it is not because game is bullshit but because there was mistake in what you did and you have this AHA! moment.

It is also really well done strategy game on grand scale. In RTS games you rarely think about expansion vs defense because in most of RTS games RUSH is the answer that kills most of strategies. In game here you constantly ask yourself if you should expand or not, should you try to go for that oil well or make few lines of defenses first. Because unlike in most of RTS games failure isn't lost well but your whole colony as you stretched too thin.

Honestly after playing TAB i hope Factorio devs also will play it and revise a bit their game and Biters. Game is really similar with key differences but TAB manages to actually make you sweat to expand game where in Factorio expanding your base is either chore (because you can't really without end game weapons) or boring (when you get them) and needles (because you have either way ample resources).
Same with keeping army. I would love to see Factorio getting some proper defenses instead of some bullshit automated gatling gun towers made out of 2 scraps of iron and duct tape.

Either way it is really great game and i hope few other studios notice it and release something similar. Far to long RTS were ruled by shitty Starcraft multiplayer meta.

As for tactics i noticed that choke points especially those small ones) can be unbelievably tricky. Yes you get smaller amount of zombies attacking you at the time but at the same time you get WAY less firepower to deal with them. In my 5 colonies, 2 of them went down because of those very small choke points bigger ones held very well once properly staffed.
 

thesheeep

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Perkel did you play Rise To Ruins? Another game in the same vein (but also different, more settlers like I'd say).

I think those three really showcase how different you can make a game that basically has the exact same starting situation, threat and goal.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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My god, it's only been a month. And it's still in Early Access!

send_in_the_clones.jpg

How many people work at Numantian anyway? Does the game have credits?
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
14,982
Guys, you don't defend a choke point from within the choke point. You defend it from the mouth of the choke point so you have a much higher ratio of guns to zombies than you would on a flat wall.

Though there is something to be said for the extra AoE efficiency of shock towers out in the open, if you're willing to risk them getting destroyed.
 

Cross

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Oct 14, 2017
Messages
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Haven't played it yet, but it looks very promising and it's nice to see an RTS become the indie darling du jour for once.
 
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Alienman

Retro-Fascist
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55 hours in and I still haven't successfully defended the first map. Not sure how I feel about this :)
 
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Frusciante

Cipher
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Aug 24, 2012
Messages
716
Project: Eternity
When is this campaign supposed to be released? I'm thinking about postponing playing the survival mode so that the campaign still feels fresh and challenging.
 

Perkel

Arcane
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Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,810
Heh about 30 hours and i am yet to unlock even one new map. Always at the end wave something gets me.

This time i had fantastic map but i got sidetracked and lost ton of time trying to clear map instead of trying to rise my economy.
In the end they got through one of walls and my city design didn't allow me for quick re-position of units and from that everything spiraled.

Before end though i had 2 very close shaves. 1 my walls at west side broke while i was fighting wave on east. Lost about half village but managed to get about 30 soldiers (mostly vets) to take on whole wave on themselves only like 15 survived.
Second one was similar but south. This time i had 4 titans and somehow i managed to stop on slaught with Thanatos units firing at their back from far away.

Lessons from this game.

Flamethrower units are fucking amazing dealing with masses. 4-5 of them in small tunnel can completely dead stop wave as long as there is sniper support to get those quick fuckers. They also are pretty resistant to those spitting zombies and have pretty great armor to withstand for a good while wave.

Soldiers are pretty great at stopping even huge waves of zombies with their bodies especially veterans. I think it is due to how slow zombies attack and by the time zombie gets into striking range it has half a second delay or something where Veteran unit will just fire about twice sometimes getting hit or not.

Shock towers. Didn't know they were so useful. Their energy requirement is great but once zombie wave is in range all normal zombies die with 1 hit. Next time i am thinking about making them standalone with double walls and spike traps to slow down enemy. With such setup 2 towers like that and 2 veteran sniper towers should be really efficient.

Redesign parts of you village. Tesla towers can be removed once you get nice coverage and you can redesign where to put them. Once you get outside wall think about inside wall and layers etc. Creating last stand city centre is neat idea.
 

Alienman

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Managed to finally win. Built the most epic defense mankind had ever seen. It was like the Atlantic wall combined with the maginot line filled with snipers, soldiers and titans. I went full turtle with a first, second and third defensive line on each flank. The difficulty setting was on easy though :oops: It will be my shame, but still, it felt good to finally win.

The map that comes afterwards is totally different. Wide open spaces, which makes it a lot easier to build. I guess the first map was meant to be some kind of baptism of fire. Makes me really curious about the remaining maps. Might add the main difference I've noticed between the maps is a big increase in special zombies, and zombie towns. Went for a stroll with my little commando squad and was attacked by 10+ red headed shredder zombies. Didn't end well.
 

Reapa

Doom Preacher
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OmG! A brAnd New zomBie surVivaL shOotEr tOweR deFeNse gamE!!! BeSt tHinG eVa!!!! wiTh fEatuRes liKe no aI to chAllEngE yoU, You caN jUst pLay thE gAme wIthoUt anY chaLLenGe!!! tOp nOtcH wrItinG wIll iMMerse yOu iN An ePic StOry aBouT hOw sOme ViruS cOnVeniEntLy tUrneD pEoPle iNto miNdlEs pRedicTablE zOmbiEs foR yoU tO kilL!!! 10/10 gOTy rTS!!! seT uP tOweRs tO dEfenD yOuR BasE! lEt tHe TowErs kiLl ZoMbIes! waTch tHe nEveRenDiNg waVes oF zOmbIes gEt kIlLed bY yoUr toWErs aNd fEel GoOd AboUt yoUrSelf fOr BeinG thE geNius tHat bUilT tHeM iN tHe wAy oF thE zOmbiEs!
paT yOurSelF oN thE b
Ack FoR SpeNdiNg mOney oN thIs tO mAke sUre tHe gAminG inDusTry iS goInG iN thE RIghT DireCtiOn rEplaCinG tHat StuPid oLd RtS GenRe wiTh thE aLl NeW anD iMproVed toWer deFenSe geNRe aNd taKinG oVeR itS NaME!!!
 

Perkel

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Yay won my first time. Barely on 30% score.....
Second map looks fun. Holy fuck two doom villages next to city centre...
 

agris

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OmG! A brAnd New zomBie surVivaL shOotEr tOweR deFeNse gamE!!! BeSt tHinG eVa!!!! wiTh fEatuRes liKe no aI to chAllEngE yoU, You caN jUst pLay thE gAme wIthoUt anY chaLLenGe!!! tOp nOtcH wrItinG wIll iMMerse yOu iN An ePic StOry aBouT hOw sOme ViruS cOnVeniEntLy tUrneD pEoPle iNto miNdlEs pRedicTablE zOmbiEs foR yoU tO kilL!!! 10/10 gOTy rTS!!! seT uP tOweRs tO dEfenD yOuR BasE! lEt tHe TowErs kiLl ZoMbIes! waTch tHe nEveRenDiNg waVes oF zOmbIes gEt kIlLed bY yoUr toWErs aNd fEel GoOd AboUt yoUrSelf fOr BeinG thE geNius tHat bUilT tHeM iN tHe wAy oF thE zOmbiEs!
paT yOurSelF oN thE b
Ack FoR SpeNdiNg mOney oN thIs tO mAke sUre tHe gAminG inDusTry iS goInG iN thE RIghT DireCtiOn rEplaCinG tHat StuPid oLd RtS GenRe wiTh thE aLl NeW anD iMproVed toWer deFenSe geNRe aNd taKinG oVeR itS NaME!!!
solid Malk diatribe.

:salute:
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
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My god, it's only been a month. And it's still in Early Access!

send_in_the_clones.jpg

How many people work at Numantian anyway? Does the game have credits?
Does this mean that Pierre Begue was right to follow up his throwback, Codex-approved RPG with a real-time strategy game? Like most visionaries, he just didn't time things right.

[EDIT: I see I am third come to this quip.]
 

Sizzle

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Feb 17, 2012
Messages
2,471
Does this mean that Pierre Begue was right to follow up his throwback, Codex-approved RPG with a real-time strategy game? Like most visionaries, he just didn't time things right.

[EDIT: I see I am third come to this quip.]

You also made a Codex-approved classic (an adventure game, but still), you, too, should think about getting on the RTS bandwagon :D
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,886
I knew this game would sell well and unless devs get completely carried away by its success it should, at least in theory, secure funds for much better sequel to Lords of Xulima then initially planned. Who knows, if both They are Billions and Lords of Xulima II find success on the market (They are Billions already has after less then a month with over 5 times bigger sales number then first Lords of Xulima has after three years on Steam) and Lords of Xulima II doesn't get dumbed down significantly but instead expanded, refined and improved I think that we might have here a potential new major player on the RPG scene in the making. At bare minimum in the category of Stygian Software and Iron Tower Studio when it comes to sales and hopefully level of RPG incline as well. I also have a gut feeling that what They are Billions is for Numantian Games will be Copper Dreams for Whalenought Studios. None of my friends believed me when I told them this game would explode and catch attention of so many players, so feel free to be sceptical abot these predictions as well.

Dw4hedW.png

Stairway to Salesven
Are you on drugs? You are comparing a mobile tower defense game with a hardcore full fledged cRPG focusing on providing hardcore tabletop experience.

There is 0 chance Copper Dreams achieves even a part of the success of this casual time waster. Why? Because it is not made for same audience.
 
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DeepOcean

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
7,394
OmG! A brAnd New zomBie surVivaL shOotEr tOweR deFeNse gamE!!! BeSt tHinG eVa!!!! wiTh fEatuRes liKe no aI to chAllEngE yoU, You caN jUst pLay thE gAme wIthoUt anY chaLLenGe!!! tOp nOtcH wrItinG wIll iMMerse yOu iN An ePic StOry aBouT hOw sOme ViruS cOnVeniEntLy tUrneD pEoPle iNto miNdlEs pRedicTablE zOmbiEs foR yoU tO kilL!!! 10/10 gOTy rTS!!! seT uP tOweRs tO dEfenD yOuR BasE! lEt tHe TowErs kiLl ZoMbIes! waTch tHe nEveRenDiNg waVes oF zOmbIes gEt kIlLed bY yoUr toWErs aNd fEel GoOd AboUt yoUrSelf fOr BeinG thE geNius tHat bUilT tHeM iN tHe wAy oF thE zOmbiEs!
paT yOurSelF oN thE b
Ack FoR SpeNdiNg mOney oN thIs tO mAke sUre tHe gAminG inDusTry iS goInG iN thE RIghT DireCtiOn rEplaCinG tHat StuPid oLd RtS GenRe wiTh thE aLl NeW anD iMproVed toWer deFenSe geNRe aNd taKinG oVeR itS NaME!!!
Well, you could try to convince your Malkavian primogen to deposit 10 million dollars on the account of those guys and they will make a traditional RTS for you, another option is for you to use mass mind domination to make all those F2P Moba players wanting to pay for it.
 

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