Shadow Empire - planetary conquest from Advanced Tactics/Decisive Campaigns dev

[thesecret1]

I'm hearing the supply system is a clusterfuck of micromanagment. That true?

Doesn't seem that way to me. Just build roads and make sure you have enough truck points. Build truck depots if you don't have enough. That's more or less it, in my experience

 

[Alpharius]

I'm hearing the supply system is a clusterfuck of micromanagment. That true?

It can be a hassle if you counqer AI territory, it likes to build roads eveywhere which decreases throughput compared to a single roads leading to where resources are actually needed. Though you need to block redundant roads only once, and just upgrading the truckstation also works.

Found some artifacts

 

[Edija]

You can apparently also delete roads if you install the latest beta patch. So, the answer to the clusterfuck question is a no. You can literally spam truck stations every 10 hexes or so and never give a fuck or you can micromanage a bit with traffic signs. The rumors started with Wargame autists having a problem with supplies being pushed down a road even if there is no need for supplies on that specific road (which can be prevented with traffic signs). The other more real problem is the AI spagheti road network, because it tends to build roads for free, but now you can remove the roads you dislike and there you go.

 

[Stone Dog]

Goddamn, I was looking for a reason to wait for a price drop or a russian special.

 

[razvedchiki]

hows late game? do you get civil wars? invasions?

 

[Alpharius]

hows late game? do you get civil wars? invasions?

There are rebelions if unrest in one of the cities is high, they spawn a bunch of militia, not too dangerours if you have sufficient troops nearby. Also there are various diseases, one ran its course after killing like 40% population in one of my cities (which is 'uge) in one turn after unsuccessful roll by the governor. Another one was killing like 10% per turn until the governor managed to roll a succesful quarantine (other options were to ignore it and to try to study it and look for a cure). Also there are lots of random events, some of which may result in a bunch of mutants or rogue AI infantry spawning.

In my current game on a medium sized map i've managed to defeat one major regime on turn 66 and some minor raiders, now i'm at war with another major but its so inconvenient to reach the border that i've just left some troops to guard it for now. Got more problems with random giant scorpions, mutants or raiders cutting of the road to my city near that border which results in, at a minimum, no power, water, building materials and fuel for the city for two turns and no supplies for the border guard for three turns because it takes that much for intermediate supply station and then city truck station to reactivate once the fuel becomes available. Planning on building a railroad to improve the situation.

Perhaps i've had no problems with enemy AI's yet in this game beacuse the planet is full of mountains, netural raiders and mutans, no fuel deposits and minimal metal. There is never enough troops to protect all borders and never enough resources to fuel the economy. I've planned to switch to mechanized army composition after its resarched but the first light tank battalion ran out of fuel in three turns and almost crashed my economy, because there wan't enough fuel for logistic trucks.

On earth-like planets with small map sizes it was much more common for me to become quickly hemmed in on all sides by aggressive major regimes.

 

[Mortmal]

hows late game? do you get civil wars? invasions?

There are rebelions if unrest in one of the cities is high, they spawn a bunch of militia, not too dangerours if you have sufficient troops nearby. Also there are various diseases, one ran its course after killing like 40% population in one of my cities (which is 'uge) in one turn after unsuccessful roll by the governor. Another one was killing like 10% per turn until the governor managed to roll a succesful quarantine (other options were to ignore it and to try to study it and look for a cure). Also there are lots of random events, some of which may result in a bunch of mutants or rogue AI infantry spawning.

In my current game on a medium sized map i've managed to defeat one major regime on turn 66 and some minor raiders, now i'm at war with another major but its so inconvenient to reach the border that i've just left some troops to guard it for now. Got more problems with random giant scorpions, mutants or raiders cutting of the road to my city near that border which results in, at a minimum, no power, water, building materials and fuel for the city for two turns and no supplies for the border guard for three turns because it takes that much for intermediate supply station and then city truck station to reactivate once the fuel becomes available. Planning on building a railroad to improve the situation.

Perhaps i've had no problems with enemy AI's yet in this game beacuse the planet is full of mountains, netural raiders and mutans, no fuel deposits and minimal metal. There is never enough troops to protect all borders and never enough resources to fuel the economy. I've planned to switch to mechanized army composition after its resarched but the first light tank battalion ran out of fuel in three turns and almost crashed my economy, because there wan't enough fuel for logistic trucks.

On earth-like planets with small map sizes it was much more common for me to become quickly hemmed in on all sides by aggressive major regimes.

Dont worry AI will not bother you till the day it cross those mountain with infantries eqipued with gauss rifles and heavy combat armor...Oh and if theres even one path it will use tanks.

 

[Beowulf]

hows late game? do you get civil wars? invasions?

There are rebelions if unrest in one of the cities is high, they spawn a bunch of militia, not too dangerours if you have sufficient troops nearby. Also there are various diseases, one ran its course after killing like 40% population in one of my cities (which is 'uge) in one turn after unsuccessful roll by the governor. Another one was killing like 10% per turn until the governor managed to roll a succesful quarantine (other options were to ignore it and to try to study it and look for a cure). Also there are lots of random events, some of which may result in a bunch of mutants or rogue AI infantry spawning.

In my current game on a medium sized map i've managed to defeat one major regime on turn 66 and some minor raiders, now i'm at war with another major but its so inconvenient to reach the border that i've just left some troops to guard it for now. Got more problems with random giant scorpions, mutants or raiders cutting of the road to my city near that border which results in, at a minimum, no power, water, building materials and fuel for the city for two turns and no supplies for the border guard for three turns because it takes that much for intermediate supply station and then city truck station to reactivate once the fuel becomes available. Planning on building a railroad to improve the situation.

Perhaps i've had no problems with enemy AI's yet in this game beacuse the planet is full of mountains, netural raiders and mutans, no fuel deposits and minimal metal. There is never enough troops to protect all borders and never enough resources to fuel the economy. I've planned to switch to mechanized army composition after its resarched but the first light tank battalion ran out of fuel in three turns and almost crashed my economy, because there wan't enough fuel for logistic trucks.

On earth-like planets with small map sizes it was much more common for me to become quickly hemmed in on all sides by aggressive major regimes.

Yeah, the difficulty varies a lot by the type of planet and starting positions. Lack of metal severely limits the offensive possibilities, so the AI builds a bunch of infantry units, until they get the tech to extract metal from soil. They can be aggressive and attack you, but infantry is slow. The AI can also get an unlucky and start in a zone cut off by mountain ranges.

You also can get early into a fight with a minor without a city, like mutants, or a slaver invasion, and that can mean ~10 turns wasted. Or you can get two neighbours that are farmers, and you can just fart in their general direction and their army will crumble giving you early lead in the manpower.

In my recent game I managed to get eyes on one of the Major Regimes cities around turn 6. Seemed like AI went exploring and left it undefended. But after I conquered it, I got a Slavers invasion.
Slavers are just a bunch of Mad Max LARPers with their motley crew on buggies and motorbikes. They slowly deplete the populations of the zone while increasing their numbers slightly.

That was around turn 9. I was fielding only a bunch of starting militias and one or two motorized brigades to cut their supply lines. If not for the GR equipment I found, that would have been a game over for me, I believe.

Besides, not only your cites can rebel, but also your generals. But they also spawn some low level militias that could be dangerous only at the early stages.

As for the logistics network micromanagement - yeah, the option to the delete the roads is in the beta patch. It is much needed though. I play only on regular, but the AI builds roads for free and leave a really nasty spaghetti network, that you sometimes (especially fighting on plains) have to play the traffic cop turn after turn - if you want to keep up the momentum, that is. It can get daunting at times, but it's not overly frustrating. And it's not a matter of min-maxing of wargamer autism, the difficulty of managing the supply also depends on the planet conditions. With no rains, no open-air farming and no fuel deposits (I haven't seen any so far in my games - but I'm rolling mostly desert planets, so I guess no organic life means no hydrocarbons) you will need to squeeze every last drop from your supply networks in order to beat the AI.

The developer also considers adding some options, so the AI will have to adhere to more rules that now only concern the human players. I'm not so sure that'd be a good idea, as once you know what you're doing, the AI Regimes can be beaten rather consistently.

Also:

 

[Stone Dog]

Fuck this shit, I caved in, good job selling me the game, guys.

 

[oscar]

Traffic sign management isn't too bad once you get the hang of it. I disliked it as needless micromanagement at first but now I can see it's situational uses. Example: You're critically low on oil so you can cut off resupply to an motorised group that has plenty stocked up to ensure more gets to an armoured brigade that's about to run completely dry

A road deletion system is definitely needed (and thankfully rapidly being added, this dev is super speedy and reactive). The AI tends to go nuts on building unnecessary roads that siphon off supply.

 

[Galdred]

One of the worst UIs I have ever seen. Card system is retarded. Game relies too much on random events which are garbage. Research system is a piece of shit.

Combat is reasonable, though it needs some improvement, specially in UI.

Overall it is a much worse eofs.

The UI can be bad at times indeed, but the combat is really great, because there are not that many non wargames in which getting cut out is a big deal. Usually, strategic encirclement brings absolutely nothing. Here, it is a death sentence for you or the opponent.

 

[Mortmal]

It's not just traffic sign management you need to worry, i got it sorted, logistic flowing till i see i had poor efficiency. Reasons were administrative strain, more than 6 hexes from a settlement and you get huge penalties. Also leader stats matter a lot.

 

[oscar]

Though I just got my first serious defeat in a long time from assaulting a pocket I had encircled for a turn. They must still have had supplies in reserve so his numerous entrenched infantry inflicted heavy losses (1700!) and suffered almost no losses despite me having decent attack odds.

I like recruits being directly drawn from population. I wondered why my capital wasn't growing much in comparison to the provinces and then realised because all my recruits came from there so I rejigged my zones to ensure the losses and new formations could be spread more evenly. Conquest, certain cards and events can also cause serious depopulation of zones (the Free Folk mechanism here helps, the population doesn't strictly die off so much as go "fuck this shit" and pack up to go live in the mountains until things calm down).

 

[Beowulf]

Though I just got my first serious defeat in a long time from assaulting a pocket I had encircled for a turn. They must still have had supplies in reserve so his numerous entrenched infantry inflicted heavy losses (1700!) and suffered almost no losses despite me having decent attack odds.

I like recruits being directly drawn from population. I wondered why my capital wasn't growing much in comparison to the provinces and then realised because all my recruits came from there so I rejigged my zones to ensure the losses and new formations could be spread more evenly. Conquest, certain cards and events can also cause serious depopulation of zones (the Free Folk mechanism here helps, the population doesn't strictly die off so much as go "fuck this shit" and pack up to go live in the mountains until things calm down).

I think your fully supply units will have supplies for about 2 turns? Not sure about the AI units, though. You can always try using an offensive posture to increase the odds of success. Bunker busters are also low in the Empire Profile, I think it's the Democracy profile first step, easy to increase through resolving worker strikes by giving in to some of their demands. But it's best to mix in some artillery units in the attack to reduce their entrenchment bonus.

 

[Beowulf]

One of the worst UIs I have ever seen. Card system is retarded. Game relies too much on random events which are garbage. Research system is a piece of shit.

Combat is reasonable, though it needs some improvement, specially in UI.

Overall it is a much worse eofs.

The UI can be bad at times indeed, but the combat is really great, because there are not that many non wargames in which getting cut out is a big deal. Usually, strategic encirclement brings absolutely nothing. Here, it is a death sentence for you or the opponent.

The UI could use some QOL improvements (especially trade), but there are also some actions that you do every turn that nevertheless need multiple clicks on different windows.
On the other hand - the UI is vast and gives you comprehensive info about many things happening in the game, and that's quite a feat.
There are also some nice things like multiple filters still being applied to the map while you are checking other menus.

 

[Galdred]

One of the worst UIs I have ever seen. Card system is retarded. Game relies too much on random events which are garbage. Research system is a piece of shit.

Combat is reasonable, though it needs some improvement, specially in UI.

Overall it is a much worse eofs.

The UI can be bad at times indeed, but the combat is really great, because there are not that many non wargames in which getting cut out is a big deal. Usually, strategic encirclement brings absolutely nothing. Here, it is a death sentence for you or the opponent.

The UI could use some QOL improvements (especially trade), but there are also some actions that you do every turn that nevertheless need multiple clicks on different windows.
On the other hand - the UI is vast and gives you comprehensive info about many things happening in the game, and that's quite a feat.
There are also some nice things like multiple filters still being applied to the map while you are checking other menus.

What I dislike is the number of back and forth clicks needed for trivial things:
Like: You ask your advisor to change research item.
You then need to leave the management screen to go back to the map, and select the relevant decision to change the research item.

Or when you design a new model, you cannot go back, so if you notice that your engine won't be good enough to propel your tank given the amount of armor and the size of the guns you tried to fit in, you have to restart from scratch. It is not a long process, but still, it is needlessly annoying.

But what makes the game so good is the way supply, combat and production interact.
Here, light tanks really make sense compared to the heavier ones, because they consume much less oil, and are better at cutting supplies, so you end up getting a mix of both, while in most 4x, you just mass produce the most cost effective ones, and that's it. No need for an artificial rock paper scissor tacked on here.

 

[asfasdf]

This game is broken beyond belief. Zone management is some micromanagement hell, who had the brilliant idea to add worker migration and this nonsensical retarded 'strain' garbage? I have to fucking deploy colonists and delegate stuff every damn turn just to keep industries working.

Whoever made this zone borders tool can go get shot. Really, I have to manually 'paint' 1 hex everywhere just to make this game even remotely functional.

Also fuck you with these retarded 'decisions' every turn. Having to click confirm on the endless budgets every turn is what I always wanted. Just let me set the budget once and fuck off. Character 'relations' are stupid, like in any game which includes these garbage.

Logistical system is also nightmarish, wtf are maglev points and how do they work. I add a billion rail stations everywhere and still there are 'bottlenecks'. Also drawing parallel railroads is a nightmare, game refuses to let me build to the adjacent hex.

Maybe in a decade or so this game will be anywhere near good.

 

[Edija]

This game is broken beyond belief. Zone management is some micromanagement hell, who had the brilliant idea to add worker migration and this nonsensical retarded 'strain' garbage? I have to fucking deploy colonists and delegate stuff every damn turn just to keep industries working.

Whoever made this zone borders tool can go get shot. Really, I have to manually 'paint' 1 hex everywhere just to make this game even remotely functional.

Also fuck you with these retarded 'decisions' every turn. Having to click confirm on the endless budgets every turn is what I always wanted. Just let me set the budget once and fuck off. Character 'relations' are stupid, like in any game which includes these garbage.

Logistical system is also nightmarish, wtf are maglev points and how do they work. I add a billion rail stations everywhere and still there are 'bottlenecks'. Also drawing parallel railroads is a nightmare, game refuses to let me build to the adjacent hex.

Maybe in a decade or so this game will be anywhere near good.

Half of the points you've made are not even remotely true. Like for example, setting the budgets every turn. Not the case.
You don't even have to resolve all the decisions you get and you can leave them for your secretary to decide. But why would you, I can't imagine you didn't know what you're going into when you bought this game.

Imagine chimping out at the logistics when 99% of the time it is enough to build sealed roads and truck stations every 10 or so hexes without even using traffic signs. There is a literal blind guy on the Matrix forum grasping the game better than you do. The game is far from perfect but it's the closest we got to a real and creative passion project since forever.

Read the manual or get a refund you absolute nagger.

 

[Beowulf]

This game is broken beyond belief. Zone management is some micromanagement hell, who had the brilliant idea to add worker migration and this nonsensical retarded 'strain' garbage? I have to fucking deploy colonists and delegate stuff every damn turn just to keep industries working.

Whoever made this zone borders tool can go get shot. Really, I have to manually 'paint' 1 hex everywhere just to make this game even remotely functional.

Also fuck you with these retarded 'decisions' every turn. Having to click confirm on the endless budgets every turn is what I always wanted. Just let me set the budget once and fuck off. Character 'relations' are stupid, like in any game which includes these garbage.

Logistical system is also nightmarish, wtf are maglev points and how do they work. I add a billion rail stations everywhere and still there are 'bottlenecks'. Also drawing parallel railroads is a nightmare, game refuses to let me build to the adjacent hex.

Maybe in a decade or so this game will be anywhere near good.

Half of the points you've made are not even remotely true. Like for example, setting the budgets every turn. Not the case.
You don't even have to resolve all the decisions you get and you can leave them for your secretary to decide. But why would you, I can't imagine you didn't know what you're going into when you bought this game.

Imagine chimping out at the logistics when 99% of the time it is enough to build sealed roads and truck stations every 10 or so hexes without even using traffic signs. There is a literal blind guy on the Matrix forum grasping the game better than you do. The game is far from perfect but it's the closest we got to a real and creative passion project since forever.

Read the manual or get a refund you absolute nagger.

Well, he has a point with difficulties drawing roads. But why would you want parallel roads?

 

[Edija]

This game is broken beyond belief. Zone management is some micromanagement hell, who had the brilliant idea to add worker migration and this nonsensical retarded 'strain' garbage? I have to fucking deploy colonists and delegate stuff every damn turn just to keep industries working.

Whoever made this zone borders tool can go get shot. Really, I have to manually 'paint' 1 hex everywhere just to make this game even remotely functional.

Also fuck you with these retarded 'decisions' every turn. Having to click confirm on the endless budgets every turn is what I always wanted. Just let me set the budget once and fuck off. Character 'relations' are stupid, like in any game which includes these garbage.

Logistical system is also nightmarish, wtf are maglev points and how do they work. I add a billion rail stations everywhere and still there are 'bottlenecks'. Also drawing parallel railroads is a nightmare, game refuses to let me build to the adjacent hex.

Maybe in a decade or so this game will be anywhere near good.

Half of the points you've made are not even remotely true. Like for example, setting the budgets every turn. Not the case.
You don't even have to resolve all the decisions you get and you can leave them for your secretary to decide. But why would you, I can't imagine you didn't know what you're going into when you bought this game.

Imagine chimping out at the logistics when 99% of the time it is enough to build sealed roads and truck stations every 10 or so hexes without even using traffic signs. There is a literal blind guy on the Matrix forum grasping the game better than you do. The game is far from perfect but it's the closest we got to a real and creative passion project since forever.

Read the manual or get a refund you absolute nagger.

Well, he has a point with difficulties drawing roads. But why would you want parallel roads?

Why is it hard to draw roads? The only difficulty I see is part of the system that it costs more to put roads or rails through certain terrain types?

 

[Beowulf]

This game is broken beyond belief. Zone management is some micromanagement hell, who had the brilliant idea to add worker migration and this nonsensical retarded 'strain' garbage? I have to fucking deploy colonists and delegate stuff every damn turn just to keep industries working.

Whoever made this zone borders tool can go get shot. Really, I have to manually 'paint' 1 hex everywhere just to make this game even remotely functional.

Also fuck you with these retarded 'decisions' every turn. Having to click confirm on the endless budgets every turn is what I always wanted. Just let me set the budget once and fuck off. Character 'relations' are stupid, like in any game which includes these garbage.

Logistical system is also nightmarish, wtf are maglev points and how do they work. I add a billion rail stations everywhere and still there are 'bottlenecks'. Also drawing parallel railroads is a nightmare, game refuses to let me build to the adjacent hex.

Maybe in a decade or so this game will be anywhere near good.

Half of the points you've made are not even remotely true. Like for example, setting the budgets every turn. Not the case.
You don't even have to resolve all the decisions you get and you can leave them for your secretary to decide. But why would you, I can't imagine you didn't know what you're going into when you bought this game.

Imagine chimping out at the logistics when 99% of the time it is enough to build sealed roads and truck stations every 10 or so hexes without even using traffic signs. There is a literal blind guy on the Matrix forum grasping the game better than you do. The game is far from perfect but it's the closest we got to a real and creative passion project since forever.

Read the manual or get a refund you absolute nagger.

Well, he has a point with difficulties drawing roads. But why would you want parallel roads?

Why is it hard to draw roads? The only difficulty I see is part of the system that it costs more to put roads or rails through certain terrain types?

It snaps the road to some hexes you don't want them to go. Even when you are constructing the road on a hex by hex basis. Not very often, but it is noticeable. I've seen it tweaked in the patch notes, so we will see if it has been fixed.

 

[Edija]

This game is broken beyond belief. Zone management is some micromanagement hell, who had the brilliant idea to add worker migration and this nonsensical retarded 'strain' garbage? I have to fucking deploy colonists and delegate stuff every damn turn just to keep industries working.

Whoever made this zone borders tool can go get shot. Really, I have to manually 'paint' 1 hex everywhere just to make this game even remotely functional.

Also fuck you with these retarded 'decisions' every turn. Having to click confirm on the endless budgets every turn is what I always wanted. Just let me set the budget once and fuck off. Character 'relations' are stupid, like in any game which includes these garbage.

Logistical system is also nightmarish, wtf are maglev points and how do they work. I add a billion rail stations everywhere and still there are 'bottlenecks'. Also drawing parallel railroads is a nightmare, game refuses to let me build to the adjacent hex.

Maybe in a decade or so this game will be anywhere near good.

Half of the points you've made are not even remotely true. Like for example, setting the budgets every turn. Not the case.
You don't even have to resolve all the decisions you get and you can leave them for your secretary to decide. But why would you, I can't imagine you didn't know what you're going into when you bought this game.

Imagine chimping out at the logistics when 99% of the time it is enough to build sealed roads and truck stations every 10 or so hexes without even using traffic signs. There is a literal blind guy on the Matrix forum grasping the game better than you do. The game is far from perfect but it's the closest we got to a real and creative passion project since forever.

Read the manual or get a refund you absolute nagger.

Well, he has a point with difficulties drawing roads. But why would you want parallel roads?

Why is it hard to draw roads? The only difficulty I see is part of the system that it costs more to put roads or rails through certain terrain types?

It snaps the road to some hexes you don't want them to go. Even when you are constructing the road on a hex by hex basis. Not very often, but it is noticeable. I've seen it tweaked in the patch notes, so we will see if it has been fixed.

Granted. But it didn't really impact any games I had. Also as you've said, the dev is really on top of stuff, for example the latest beta patch introduced deleting roads.

 

[asfasdf]

Half of the points you've made are not even remotely true. Like for example, setting the budgets every turn. Not the case.
You don't even have to resolve all the decisions you get and you can leave them for your secretary to decide. But why would you, I can't imagine you didn't know what you're going into when you bought this game.

Let me ignore decisions to appoint governors, I am sure that won't screw up the game at all.

Imagine chimping out at the logistics when 99% of the time it is enough to build sealed roads and truck stations every 10 or so hexes without even using traffic signs. There is a literal blind guy on the Matrix forum grasping the game better than you do. The game is far from perfect but it's the closest we got to a real and creative passion project since forever.

Read the manual or get a refund you absolute nagger.

Funny, I see you played like 10 turns then quit. Try keeping functional stations in the whole map while zones fuck up your workers.

 

[asfasdf]

Why is it hard to draw roads? The only difficulty I see is part of the system that it costs more to put roads or rails through certain terrain types?

Someone had the brilliant idea of not letting you simply path to the adjacent hex.

Also to whoever asked why parallel roads, because you can transport more stuff.

 

[Edija]

Half of the points you've made are not even remotely true. Like for example, setting the budgets every turn. Not the case.
You don't even have to resolve all the decisions you get and you can leave them for your secretary to decide. But why would you, I can't imagine you didn't know what you're going into when you bought this game.

Let me ignore decisions to appoint governors, I am sure that won't screw up the game at all.

Imagine chimping out at the logistics when 99% of the time it is enough to build sealed roads and truck stations every 10 or so hexes without even using traffic signs. There is a literal blind guy on the Matrix forum grasping the game better than you do. The game is far from perfect but it's the closest we got to a real and creative passion project since forever.

Read the manual or get a refund you absolute nagger.

Funny, I see you played like 10 turns then quit. Try keeping functional stations in the whole map while zones fuck up your workers.

Had no problem with that, finished multiple games, you just don't understand the game enough - as I've said, read the manual.