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Squad-based tactical shooters that utilize a Real-Time with Pause system

Zanzoken

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Obviously there are tons of turn-based squad shooters out there.

I also know a few that are strictly real-time.

But I don't recall ever seeing a squad-based, tactical shooter that utilized a RTwP battle system. And while I am a firm believer in the superiority of TB in most applications, I feel like you could make a fun game by adapting something like X-Com or Syndicate to RTwP.

Are there any games like this that aren't shit?
 
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Beowulf

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The best examples of what you are looking for are:

And its sequel:

It's what you'd expect from a Russian dev - great ideas, but it was too much to handle and it can be very buggy and some systems are going too far.
But they are true Jagged Alliance successors.




I think that the Jagged Alliance remakes also featured some kind of a system where you'd issue orders and they were executed simultaneously in real-time, but I never played more than the beginning and don't really remember the details.

Also might be worth to take a look at games like:

And:
 
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Beowulf

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And from older titles, there was:
Shadow Company
Though I think you couldn't issue orders while paused.
I remember that it had really high system requirements and looked very good for that time.
The maps were really large.
But I didn't really like the gameplay that much, grenade throw range was only slightly lower than assault rifle range.
You could get through most missions by luring patrols to your prepared positions. But you could control your sniper in FPS (it was very clunky) and use vehicles. And you constantly had to babysit your mercs.

There is also this:
The Fall: Last Days of gaia
But it's more of an RPG, than squad tactics game. The devs released Soldiers of Anarchy before The Fall, might be more of interest to you.

I think that in the X-Com Apocalypse you could also play in real-time mode.
The UFO series also had RTwP:



You could also play Hidden & Dangerous games using strictly only tactical view (but you are limited to 4 commandos and playing it in FPS is sometimes mandatory to finish missions due to AI deficiencies). You could also do the same with older R6 titles, but they were also always best played as FPS/tactical planning hybrid, especially in later missions, were you couldn't rely on planning that much (without a lot of trial and error at least).

From newer games you might want to take a look at Satellite Reign.
There is no pause, but a gimmick that slows time to a crawl (by default its uses are limited, but you can change that in the options). It plays more like a Commandos clone in an open city sci-fi setting.


And M.E.R.C.
But this one has pretty bad reviews and I lost interest in the project due to slow as hell development. Might buy it when it goes to inevitable -90%.
 

Zanzoken

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Thanks Beowulf. Brigade and 7.62 look the most similar to what I'm thinking of... shame that they have issues.

My thought process on this stems from watching an LP of Satellite Reign. And I started thinking about how the game could be so much better if you had the ability to pause and issue orders, because while real-time action is cool and different, it requires a lot of streamlining because the game can quickly become too much for the player to manage. But by introducing a pause mechanic, you can make the game more tactically challenging because the player has time to analyze, plan, and react. And it was surprising to me that I couldn't think of any games that took that approach, considering how popular RTwP is with RPGs.



Edit: The first couple minutes of this video are a good example of what I mean. Satellite Reign's gunplay is retarded -- but with RTwP, proper cover mechanics, and good level design, it could be entertaining popamole.
 
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Beowulf

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Thanks Beowulf. Brigade and 7.62 look the most similar to what I'm thinking of... shame that they have issues.

Just install and play, they are fun. 7.62 also has some fan patches and mods (but best to avoid Hard Life for new players), so it might be the best place to start.
I was thinking that Myth games might also fit the description, but unless you really want to micromanage and go for a no damage/no casualties run you usually issue commands to small squads of units, sometimes individual units.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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I was thinking that Myth games might also fit the description, but unless you really want to micromanage and go for a no damage/no casualties run you usually issue commands to small squads of units, sometimes individual units.
Soldiers: Heroes of World War 2 and other Ostfront-series games also fit these.
Both Ostfronts and Myths use time dilution instead of RTwP.
 

Beowulf

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I was thinking that Myth games might also fit the description, but unless you really want to micromanage and go for a no damage/no casualties run you usually issue commands to small squads of units, sometimes individual units.
Soldiers: Heroes of World War 2 and other Ostfront-series games also fit these.
Both Ostfronts and Myths use time dilution instead of RTwP.

That is nitpicking, but I think you could issue orders in pause/esacpe menu in Myth :D But yeah, that might not have been the intended way to play.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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I was thinking that Myth games might also fit the description, but unless you really want to micromanage and go for a no damage/no casualties run you usually issue commands to small squads of units, sometimes individual units.
Soldiers: Heroes of World War 2 and other Ostfront-series games also fit these.
Both Ostfronts and Myths use time dilution instead of RTwP.

That is nitpicking, but I think you could issue orders in pause/esacpe menu in Myth :D But yeah, that might not have been the intended way to play.
I never spotted that possibility on Soulblighter, that said I've never played un-modded Fallen Lords.
 

Zanzoken

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The UFO series also had RTwP:



So I actually ending up buying the middle game of this trilogy (on GOG)...



... and I am liking it a lot so far! It's dated and a bit clunky as one would expect for a mid-2000s game, but the game is fun and the RTwP system works quite well in this context.
 

ValeVelKal

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Do you mean a game where you give your orders and they are rhen solved at the same time ?
 

laclongquan

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UFO Aftershock is very nice.

UFO Afterlight is nicer, but its con is the background: it happen on Mars. While it has many great point to Mars, I firmly believed it's the biggest reason why this game is not better received than AS.

DONT try Aftermath though. AM is the worse version of Aftershock. AM is more repetitive (less maps) and has big problem with game pacing, especially end game stage. When you have played AS, there's absolutely no need to play AM.

With Aftershock, the biggest fun you can have is to build up teams of super veterans instead of wasting tons of noobs. You can waste them, but seriously, each map participant slot is an important resource to build up super veterans, you dont want to waste them on mayflies.
 

Zanzoken

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Do you mean a game where you give your orders and they are rhen solved at the same time ?

If you mean simultaneous execution or "phase-based" -- like what they use in Frozen Synapse -- then that's not what I mean.

I was just looking for regular RTwP like exists in many fantasy RPGs such as Darklands, Baldur's Gate, Pillars of Eternity, etc. Where the game plays out in real time but you have the ability to pause at will and issue orders.
 

Zanzoken

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UFO Aftershock is very nice.

UFO Afterlight is nicer, but its con is the background: it happen on Mars. While it has many great point to Mars, I firmly believed it's the biggest reason why this game is not better received than AS.

DONT try Aftermath though. AM is the worse version of Aftershock. AM is more repetitive (less maps) and has big problem with game pacing, especially end game stage. When you have played AS, there's absolutely no need to play AM.

With Aftershock, the biggest fun you can have is to build up teams of super veterans instead of wasting tons of noobs. You can waste them, but seriously, each map participant slot is an important resource to build up super veterans, you dont want to waste them on mayflies.

Good info. I would have probably gone with Afterlight since it's the most recent release, but they don't have it on GOG for some reason, and in my experience Steam is not a good platform for buying older games.

I am happy with Aftershock so far though. You can't expect JA2 in a RTwP game but I am finding it surprisingly intelligent, the game flows well once you get the auto-pause tuned correctly.

I love that they included friendly fire, which forces you to pay more attention to your squad's formation, zones of fire, etc. It took me a few tries to beat the third mission because I was getting in too big of a hurry and letting my guys get bunched up. The maps really aren't that big, so it pays dividends to slow down and play each character individually. In a way it gives me vibes of the old Rainbow Six games, where you've got to really think about how you clear building interiors, corners, and stuff in a controlled manner.
 

Vityaz

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Brigade E5 and 7.62 are crazy good, especially if you install The Blue Sun mod. Yeah, there are some bugs and the game suffers from some serious Russian jank, but whatever issues you think it might have, I believe the positivies outweight them clearly.

Also the gun (and equipment) porn is unmatched.

dLpdE.jpg



There is also Marauder: Man of Prey - also from Russia and in the vein of 7.62:

https://lparchive.org/Marauder-Man-of-Prey/

I thought that you control only a single character in this one, and they wanted to make it more of a SP RPG.

You get more squadmates later on.
 
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Zanzoken

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Brigade E5 and 7.62 are crazy good, especially if you install The Blue Sun mod.

Sounds like one of these will be my next stop, probably 7.62.

I think I am nearing the end of my stamina for UFO: Aftershock. I am just getting into the mid-game now -- conquered much of Europe, parts of SA and Africa, and had my first few skirmishes with Cultists -- but it's starting to get pretty repetitive.

Quick and dirty review:

+ Combat feels good and the system is flexible yet still fairly easy to learn
+ Maps are interesting
+ Encounters are short but have weight to them
+ Waypoint system on tactical map makes it easy to manage what your team is doing
+ Good art design
+ Soldiers say funny stuff in combat sometimes

- Mission types and enemy design are quite limited and soon become repetitive
- Combat could really benefit from cover mechanics that are present in more modern tactical games
- Basic squad AI would also be a nice addition
- Strategy layer isn't very interesting, gets to be a chore after a while
- Faction system is shallow, not much you can really do with them
- Quite annoying when factions don't want to ally with you and you are forced to capture their territory to make progress in the game
- Equipment variety is meh (guns all feel samey, armor is linear, weapon mods look goofy)
When I read it back, the review looks bad but I actually like the game a lot. It's proof that RTwP works for squad-based shooters, which makes it all the more curious to me that we don't have more RTwP games in the tactics genre.
 

Moose23

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ALFA: Antiterror, but I think it was one of those where you give orders for about 20 seconds of real-time before pausing for another orders phase. I've had it installed for years and never actually gave it a shot. brb
 

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