4X ZEPHON - post-apocalyptic 4X by Warhammer 40K: Gladius developer

[std::namespace]

i just clicked around in a vidoe and this game is like an 1a example of SOVLLESS
every second of the video playing was just sipping away my will to live...

 

[Feyd Rautha]

I always thought Post-Apocalypse was woefully under-used in 4X. The only Post-Apoc 4X experiences I remember are mods

Ever heard about a little game called Punk Wars?

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

I always thought Post-Apocalypse was woefully under-used in 4X. The only Post-Apoc 4X experiences I remember are mods

Ever heard about a little game called Punk Wars?

But is good, tho?

 

[Removal]

new demo is out
more of the same, but now you can play as a lovecraft human and there's an ayyy ai faction.

 

[coldcrow]

For them announcing they'd do something new in strategy games they sure made an almost 1:1 gladius copy.

 

[Mortmal]

For them announcing they'd do something new in strategy games they sure made an almost 1:1 gladius copy.

Wouldnt be able to tell the games apart with screenshots.

 

[Lacrymas]

It's basically Gladius in a homebrewed setting. The biggest difference is there aren't different factions, you only have one that you can specialize in different things.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

It's basically Gladius in a homebrewed setting. The biggest difference is there aren't different factions, you only have one that you can specialize in different things.

From what I see the difference between factions is just one initial tech tree and some random modifier? That's kinda... lame?

No stopping you picking the human soldier and just splruge into becoming Robot faction?

 

[Galdred]

It's basically Gladius in a homebrewed setting. The biggest difference is there aren't different factions, you only have one that you can specialize in different things.

But being set in 40K was one of the main reasons for the success of Gladius...

 

[Desman]

There is some diplomacy too. But honestly they need to add more terraforming features and peaceful playstyle like in SMAC, the demo is still very combat heavy like Gladius and even if they have improved their engine and the UI if all you can do is war might as well play the game with the cool 40K factions.

I'm not even sure they understand that this game need to be way better than gladius to be as successful just because it doesn't have the warhammer brandname.
Still a day one purchase tho.

 

[coldcrow]

They created Pandora, which was an interesting and focused take on SMAC-like 4X.
Then they made Gladius, which nailed the WH40K thing and threw all strategic considerations out of the window.
And now they confuse the success of Gladius with it being a barebones slow wargame with an atiquated control scheme (seriously a holdover from Pandora) instead of a good WH40K product.
IMMERSHUN you do not force on one, it is a result of varied, intelligent and coherent game mechanics. Adding good and believable gfx and sound design can elevate an otherwise game to greatness, but can never be the base - except they are so out of this world that they transcend. But that they aren't in Zephon.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

As someone who's interest in wh40k is very superficial I think this game looks and sounds way more interesting and cool than gladius (and gladius is imo poor with "immersion" - crappy music, no unit barks, meh animations, very little art and what is there seems 100% recycled). But yeah, it ends at that and the gameplay is just gladius with some minor stuff bolted on so people who like that one might as well just keep playing it.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

As someone who's interest in wh40k is very superficial I think this game looks and sounds way more interesting and cool than gladius (and gladius is imo poor with "immersion" - crappy music, no unit barks, meh animations, very little art and what is there seems 100% recycled). But yeah, it ends at that and the gameplay is just gladius with some minor stuff bolted on so people who like that one might as well just keep playing it.

The problem is that the faction is less than Gladius

I tried playing into the midgame, basically different leaders have few unique tech tree (usually buffing their thematic units/econimy), got access to certain tech at different phase (e.g. Soldier got early access to Human boosting tech) and 1 unique units but they are fundamentally ended up samey

Was playing the Alien God cultist, found that nearby AI is spamming heli and I ended up just teching Human tech to get good anti air

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeah, I wasn't particularly impressed with the demo last time I played it. The lack of playable factions really puts a damper on the whole thing. I might try it again today to better articulate what I feel like is missing, but I'm not going to be replacing Gladius in my rotation for this any time soon. Technically, the vast majority of 4Xs don't have different factions, so that shouldn't be an issue, I might just be overreacting due to lack of experience in the game.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Yeah, I wasn't particularly impressed with the demo last time I played it. The lack of playable factions really puts a damper on the whole thing. I might try it again today to better articulate what I feel like is missing, but I'm not going to be replacing Gladius in my rotation for this any time soon. Technically, the vast majority of 4Xs don't have different factions, so that shouldn't be an issue, I might just be overreacting due to lack of experience in the game.

At the end of the day, it's Human vs AI issue too

Against another human the tech difference including the timing might actually be important: you will get rushed down and economy crippled

But against AI, even hard one, the player has a lot of leeway in managing opportunity cost

And the thing is this game much like Gladius is very combat heavy but the fact that all factions is the same feels bad, especially after Gladius

 

[Lord of Riva]

I found Gladius to be rather Bland, why should I care?

 

[Lacrymas]

If Gladius is bland, I don't know if there's a 4X you won't find bland.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

If Gladius is bland, I don't know if there's a 4X you won't find bland.

Gladius is just way too combat heavy

For some people it's a good thing but it's not for all people to have such a heavy combat focused 4x

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

It's p. much a wargame with a very rudimentary 4X aspect so it all hinges on how one finds the wargaming part. Personally, I'm yet to play a 4X where combat played on strategic map would feel decently enjoyable and going to a separate tactical screen seems like a clearly superior choice. But this approach does seem to have its dedicated fans, it was a similar case with Warlock 1/2.

 

[Lacrymas]

This approach doesn't run into the AoW problem of only having a maximum amount of units in a battlefield at once and it's just a matter of surprising our opponent with more stacks.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I'm not sure how it solves a "problem" (which is not a problem at all) of surprising your opponents with superior force. And while it technically doesn't have hard caps like AoW does, I highly doubt that the number of units actually engaged at any given time is that much bigger than what you can do there.

The only real advantage that I see is a better reflection of logistics and controlled withdrawals versus "loser gets annihilated". But it's nowhere near enough to make up for the fact that, looking at the genre in its entirety, games with separate tactical layer are way more fun and better on average, at least when it comes to combat.

 

[Lacrymas]

The only examples of this we have as a wargame are Gladius and tentatively Warlock 1/2, so there's not a big enough sample size for us to judge whether the others are better fundamentally.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

so you people kept preaching how gladius was a great game. this seems to be gladius just without the wh40k license, and you say it's shit.

 

[coldcrow]

so you people kept preaching how gladius was a great game. this seems to be gladius just without the wh40k license, and you say it's shit.

Exactly. Also Lacrymas you talk outta your ass. Pandora was the initial Proxy studios game and it was a much better game than Gladius.

 

[Lacrymas]

Nobody is saying it's shit, just not as impressive as Gladius. As for the WH40k license carrying Gladius - duuuuh. It has 11 (!) well-known factions that all play differently and have more than 1 build within them which are dependent on map settings and terrain. It's also unapologetically a PvP game and is even better when played with/against other people. Zephon has 1 faction you can build in a few ways and I'm not super impressed with it. Maybe it's going to be great, but I need to play more to form a concrete opinion.