Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

RTS Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2

Joined
Nov 21, 2014
Messages
410
cutscenes
P.S. Armada I had magnificent voice acting, perfectly captivating the apthmosphere. Armada II had REALLy shitty voice acting. They simply put no effort in it.


This is most dispiriting. Much of the first game's appeal for me was its glorious art style in its cutscenes, which when combined with the impeccable dialogue and musical direction, made the game so iconic for me. In fact, I can still recite many of the cutscenes by heart. This, on the other hand... :negative:
 

Alpharius

Scholar
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
585
Didn't like the voice acting too. The campaign prologue wasn't that bad though.

Played some MP and it seems necrons are absolute garbage, even worse than SM in the first game, while tyranids are like orks v 2.0. There is even a synapse thing. I've especially enjoyed sucking off Ark Mechanicus with feeder tentacles until it ran out of crew.:bounce:
 
Last edited:

Removal

Scholar
Joined
Jun 23, 2017
Messages
204
It's an open beta for preorders until the 12th, then a second beta in January
 

Jaedar

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
9,838
Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker

I remain cautiously optimistic. Good to see there are only 3 single player factions (imperium (sm+navy+admech), necron and nids) each with its own mechanics, rather than some soulstormian mess of blandness.

Voice acting and cinematics looked a bit better in this trailer than before, but that might just be cherrypicking.

Really hoping the online features some more robust options (what I'd really like to see is a blood bowl-esque league system).
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,886
Bland soulless half-assed cashgrab...with godawful voice acting
I don't agree, sounds like a step forwards since the last game. Sounds like the next best RTS with Starcraft 2 now done and no new content being added and no other proper RTS announced.
 

Thane Solus

Arcane
Joined
Apr 29, 2012
Messages
1,681
Location
X-COM Base
the previous one sucked ass, clueless useless skills and mechanics, the rest was Cutscenes and model viewers, but not really a game. This seems similar but a little better, will see how it goes, but beside some cutscenes (80% of their videos), and mediocre to bad gameplay, i dont see much there. I am talking about a good ships to ship mechanic with decent, balanced and skills. They fucking made all on one plane, since they are too busy making cutscenes... hopefully they did it better this time, but it disgusting, how they render their videos with 80% cutscenes, and a few seconds of gameplay. The UI seems a bit shitty compared to the previous, but i ve seens more upgrades for sectors, thats something.
 
Last edited:

kris

Arcane
Joined
Oct 27, 2004
Messages
8,835
Location
Lulea, Sweden
I wasn't a big fan of the first campaign, this one seems way better. Most of all you improve things instead of stop things from degrading.
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,886
the previous one sucked ass, clueless useless skills and mechanics, the rest was Cutscenes and model viewers, but not really a game. This seems similar but a little better, will see how it goes, but beside some cutscenes (80% of their videos), and mediocre to bad gameplay, i dont see much there. I am talking about a good ships to ship mechanic with decent, balanced and skills. They fucking made all on one plane, since they are too busy making cutscenes... hopefully they did it better this time, but it disgusting, how they render their videos with 80% cutscenes, and a few seconds of gameplay. The UI seems a bit shitty compared to the previous, but i ve seens more upgrades for sectors, thats something.

They kinda know their gameplay its mediocre at best, and they only show it for a few seconds then BAM CUTSCENE!
Don't agree about 2d plane. It was there so the game could be played in real time without needing to be a korean progamer since in MP you could not pause the game. And all the "useless" skills were less useless in MP.
 

Alpharius

Scholar
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
585
the previous one sucked ass, clueless useless skills and mechanics, the rest was Cutscenes and model viewers, but not really a game. This seems similar but a little better, will see how it goes, but beside some cutscenes (80% of their videos), and mediocre to bad gameplay, i dont see much there. I am talking about a good ships to ship mechanic with decent, balanced and skills. They fucking made all on one plane, since they are too busy making cutscenes... hopefully they did it better this time, but it disgusting, how they render their videos with 80% cutscenes, and a few seconds of gameplay. The UI seems a bit shitty compared to the previous, but i ve seens more upgrades for sectors, thats something.

They kinda know their gameplay its mediocre at best, and they only show it for a few seconds then BAM CUTSCENE!
Don't agree about 2d plane. It was there so the game could be played in real time without needing to be a korean progamer since in MP you could not pause the game. And all the "useless" skills were less useless in MP.
Afaik, one didn't need to be a korean progamer to play Homeworld in MP. Which not only has third dimension but also is a "real" RTS with economy, unit production and research.
 

Jaedar

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
9,838
Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
the previous one sucked ass, clueless useless skills and mechanics, the rest was Cutscenes and model viewers, but not really a game. This seems similar but a little better, will see how it goes, but beside some cutscenes (80% of their videos), and mediocre to bad gameplay, i dont see much there. I am talking about a good ships to ship mechanic with decent, balanced and skills. They fucking made all on one plane, since they are too busy making cutscenes... hopefully they did it better this time, but it disgusting, how they render their videos with 80% cutscenes, and a few seconds of gameplay. The UI seems a bit shitty compared to the previous, but i ve seens more upgrades for sectors, thats something.

They kinda know their gameplay its mediocre at best, and they only show it for a few seconds then BAM CUTSCENE!
Don't agree about 2d plane. It was there so the game could be played in real time without needing to be a korean progamer since in MP you could not pause the game. And all the "useless" skills were less useless in MP.
Afaik, one didn't need to be a korean progamer to play Homeworld in MP. Which not only has third dimension but also is a "real" RTS with economy, unit production and research.
The gameplay still occurs on one plane, cause cutscenes are easier to make than gameplay. Purty Astarte Cruiser, whats gameplay? I think this game is made by modelers, with no game deisngers.
The game is 2d because it is an adaptation of the old tabletop game, which is 2d.

Also homeworld is pretty shit and it having a 3rd dimension was a dumb gimmick that added no depth but made it way more annoying to handle basic commands.
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,886
the previous one sucked ass, clueless useless skills and mechanics, the rest was Cutscenes and model viewers, but not really a game. This seems similar but a little better, will see how it goes, but beside some cutscenes (80% of their videos), and mediocre to bad gameplay, i dont see much there. I am talking about a good ships to ship mechanic with decent, balanced and skills. They fucking made all on one plane, since they are too busy making cutscenes... hopefully they did it better this time, but it disgusting, how they render their videos with 80% cutscenes, and a few seconds of gameplay. The UI seems a bit shitty compared to the previous, but i ve seens more upgrades for sectors, thats something.

They kinda know their gameplay its mediocre at best, and they only show it for a few seconds then BAM CUTSCENE!
Don't agree about 2d plane. It was there so the game could be played in real time without needing to be a korean progamer since in MP you could not pause the game. And all the "useless" skills were less useless in MP.
Afaik, one didn't need to be a korean progamer to play Homeworld in MP. Which not only has third dimension but also is a "real" RTS with economy, unit production and research.
Homeworld is designed around collecting and building shit, Battlefleet Gothic around blowing up shit. You get units on both sides and you go blow up stuff. It is a RTS that focuses only on tactical part and little on strategy part. Homeworld is an RTS that focuses on strategy part and little on tactical part.
It is like comparing deathmatch in Doom with team vs team in Counter Strike. Yea in both games you got a FP view and you shoot at stuff but this is where similarities end.

You just proved you know shit about RTS games boy. And same for your gay friend Thane Solus that quotes you like an idiot instead of using his brain.
 

Alpharius

Scholar
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
585
The game is 2d because it is an adaptation of the old tabletop game, which is 2d.
I'm pretty sure the tabletop is also turn-based(or phase-based), not real time. So i don't see any issues with adding a third dimension if the devs wanted to.
Also homeworld is pretty shit and it having a 3rd dimension was a dumb gimmick that added no depth but made it way more annoying to handle basic commands.
What about wall or half sphere formation instead of a line? Was also useful for avoiding detection and taking positions to attack the enemy fleet from several angles.

Anyway, i'm sure they could have thought of a lot of new stuff thats possible to do in 3d as opposed to 2d if they wanted to. Say, some races could have had decreased keel armor and\or number of weapons able to shoot at that direction (e.g. imperium, chaos, orks and tyranids), while others (necrons, tau and eldar) could have had equall number of weaponry on all sides but lower overall damage in each direction. Could have thought of something with movement too, like some barell roll manuver that allows to shoot all the weapons at the same target, but decreases forward acceleration and makes the ship vulnerable to shots from the rear, since it can't turn around while spinning. Etc.

Homeworld is designed around collecting and building shit, Battlefleet Gothic around blowing up shit. You get units on both sides and you go blow up stuff. It is a RTS that focuses only on tactical part and little on strategy part. Homeworld is an RTS that focuses on strategy part and little on tactical part.
It is like comparing deathmatch in Doom with team vs team in Counter Strike. Yea in both games you got a FP view and you shoot at stuff but this is where similarities end.

You just proved you know shit about RTS games boy. And same for your gay friend Thane Solus that quotes you like an idiot instead of using his brain.

So what? Macro requires way more APM than having to manage 3rd dimension. I'd rather spend my APM on that than on these dumb MOBA-ish active skills(thankfully the devs largely removed them from the 2nd game).
 

Jaedar

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
9,838
Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Anyway, i'm sure they could have thought of a lot of new stuff thats possible to do in 3d as opposed to 2d if they wanted to. Say, some races could have had decreased keel armor and\or number of weapons able to shoot at that direction (e.g. imperium, chaos, orks and tyranids), while others (necrons, tau and eldar) could have had equall number of weaponry on all sides but lower overall damage in each direction. Could have thought of something with movement too, like some barell roll manuver that allows to shoot all the weapons at the same target, but decreases forward acceleration and makes the ship vulnerable to shots from the rear, since it can't turn around while spinning. Etc.
The game already has all of this in 2d. I don't see how piling on more directions would make it more interesting.

What about wall or half sphere formation instead of a line? Was also useful for avoiding detection and taking positions to attack the enemy fleet from several angles.
Admittedly I am no homeworld expert, but when I played it I can't say formations or attacking enemy fleet from several angles seemed to matter in the slightest.
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,886
Homeworld is designed around collecting and building shit, Battlefleet Gothic around blowing up shit. You get units on both sides and you go blow up stuff. It is a RTS that focuses only on tactical part and little on strategy part. Homeworld is an RTS that focuses on strategy part and little on tactical part.
It is like comparing deathmatch in Doom with team vs team in Counter Strike. Yea in both games you got a FP view and you shoot at stuff but this is where similarities end.

You just proved you know shit about RTS games boy. And same for your gay friend Thane Solus that quotes you like an idiot instead of using his brain.

So what? Macro requires way more APM than having to manage 3rd dimension. I'd rather spend my APM on that than on these dumb MOBA-ish active skills(thankfully the devs largely removed them from the 2nd game).
Then why are you in this topic when it is clear to anyone with a brain what kind of game this is.. go find a RTS that has lots of macro tasks to do.
 

Alpharius

Scholar
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
585
Anyway, i'm sure they could have thought of a lot of new stuff thats possible to do in 3d as opposed to 2d if they wanted to. Say, some races could have had decreased keel armor and\or number of weapons able to shoot at that direction (e.g. imperium, chaos, orks and tyranids), while others (necrons, tau and eldar) could have had equall number of weaponry on all sides but lower overall damage in each direction. Could have thought of something with movement too, like some barell roll manuver that allows to shoot all the weapons at the same target, but decreases forward acceleration and makes the ship vulnerable to shots from the rear, since it can't turn around while spinning. Etc.
The game already has all of this in 2d. I don't see how piling on more directions would make it more interesting.
:what:
Not sure what game have you played but the one i did didn't have top\bottom armor or weapon facing, cause only 2 dimension and all that. No barrel roll manuver either. (I actually meant spinning along the the axis that goes from the nose to the engine, not that barell roll that aircraft do, but the game doesn't have either of thouse obviously.)

What it does have is forward, rear and side armor and weapon facing, which was largely irrelevant in the first game due to abundance of magic teleports and high energy turn manuvers. Should be a bit better in the second game due to teleport being available only to flagship, and no "refill manuver gauge" active skill.

What about wall or half sphere formation instead of a line? Was also useful for avoiding detection and taking positions to attack the enemy fleet from several angles.
Admittedly I am no homeworld expert, but when I played it I can't say formations or attacking enemy fleet from several angles seemed to matter in the slightest.
I'd say ships arrayed in a wall or half-sphere would beat similar ships arrayed in line 100% of the time due to being able to focus their fire on single target more efficently. Doesn't matter much with small number of ships or agains AI ofc.
As for attacking from several angles, i remeber that attacking enemy battleships from behind with my own battleships allowed me not to suffer much losses in Homeworld 2. Esp if i managed to damage their engines with bombers before attacking, since they took forver to turn around in that case.

Ofc Homeworld devs should have made more to make 3rd dimension relevant, but its better than nothing.

Homeworld is designed around collecting and building shit, Battlefleet Gothic around blowing up shit. You get units on both sides and you go blow up stuff. It is a RTS that focuses only on tactical part and little on strategy part. Homeworld is an RTS that focuses on strategy part and little on tactical part.
It is like comparing deathmatch in Doom with team vs team in Counter Strike. Yea in both games you got a FP view and you shoot at stuff but this is where similarities end.

You just proved you know shit about RTS games boy. And same for your gay friend Thane Solus that quotes you like an idiot instead of using his brain.

So what? Macro requires way more APM than having to manage 3rd dimension. I'd rather spend my APM on that than on these dumb MOBA-ish active skills(thankfully the devs largely removed them from the 2nd game).
Then why are you in this topic when it is clear to anyone with a brain what kind of game this is.. go find a RTS that has lots of macro tasks to do.
I sure would rather play a space RTS with macro and 3 dimensions, and, preferably, realistic physics if there was (not dead) one.

As it is i will play this shit and curse the dumbfucks that made it every moment.
 
Last edited:

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,886
Homeworld is designed around collecting and building shit, Battlefleet Gothic around blowing up shit. You get units on both sides and you go blow up stuff. It is a RTS that focuses only on tactical part and little on strategy part. Homeworld is an RTS that focuses on strategy part and little on tactical part.
It is like comparing deathmatch in Doom with team vs team in Counter Strike. Yea in both games you got a FP view and you shoot at stuff but this is where similarities end.

You just proved you know shit about RTS games boy. And same for your gay friend Thane Solus that quotes you like an idiot instead of using his brain.

So what? Macro requires way more APM than having to manage 3rd dimension. I'd rather spend my APM on that than on these dumb MOBA-ish active skills(thankfully the devs largely removed them from the 2nd game).
Then why are you in this topic when it is clear to anyone with a brain what kind of game this is.. go find a RTS that has lots of macro tasks to do.
I sure would rather play a space RTS with macro and 3 dimensions, and, preferably, realistic physics if there was (not dead) one.

As it is i will play this shit and curse the dumbfucks that made it every moment.
And I would rather play C&C Generals 2. Just because nobody is making one and no other RTS coming out is similar to it, it does not mean I go into other RTS topics and complain that those game are not like C&C Generals.
 

grimace

Arcane
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
1,959

Is this a movie masquerading as a game?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/01/24/battlefleet-gothic-armada-2-review/

Wot I Think: Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2

70


In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. This is a lie, of course. There’s also fancy hats, for example. I know this because I’ve seen the admirals of Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 wearing them while they command their giant space cathedrals to do a murder at other giant space cathedrals, in a sequel that veers fairly close to the original, but with some vastly updated visuals, and some surprisingly gripping storytelling.

Armada 2’s Imperial campaign gives you combined control of the Imperial Guard and Adeptus Astartes and Mechanicus (that’s Space Marines and Robot Space Marines) in an effort to defeat Mighty Chaos Warlord Abbadon the Despoiler, who is much less terrifying if you call him “Abby D” like I do. There are sizeable campaigns for both Necrons and Tyranids too, along with a skirmish mode that lets you choose any of the tabletop game’s factions and go prow-to-prow against AI or other humans. It’s a hefty, generous package altogether. The Imperial campaign alone took me about 25 hours skipping some of the side missions, if you include the time I had to restart the whole thing due to bollocksing it up.



For those unfamiliar with the premise, in standard matches you’ll be controlling small fleets of very, very big ships and using them to capture strategic points, or in the story missions you’ll be completing a variety of objectives. Most ships are monstrous, unwieldy things, difficult to maneuver, and hosting abilities that only work from certain angles. So you’ll need to be constantly thinking ahead and reacting to your opponent to get the best out of them. Some may call it micromanaging, but I think Daniel Starkey summed it up perfectly in his review of the first Battlefleet Gothic: Armada by saying that he “always had something to do”. The sheer amount of choice often turns relatively slow-paced battles into frantic, involved skirmishes.



And it’s bloody beautiful, it is. Battles are a cacophony of clashing bulkheads and sizzling plasma, a carnival of pyrotechnic flair. At one point, I noticed that destroyed ships not only leave floating, smouldering wrecks behind, but that the wrecks have their own physics. One of the biggest models available in tabletop 40k is the Thunderhawk Gunship. Here, you’ll be launching squadrons of Thunderhawks no bigger than gnats. Zoom in far enough, and you’ll see each one individually animated. It’s dozens of tiny details like this that make Armada 2’s battles some of the most gloriously escapist science fiction naval conflicts I’ve ever had the joy to command.



40k’s considerably vast lore is well portioned out, too. Each new faction encounter is preceded by a cutscene outlining their place in their universe. The history of the Necrons, the fall of the Aelderi, the birth of Slaanesh and the Eye of Terror, and the terrifying psychic effect of Tyranid invasions are all given due place. It makes for a great entry point, and I can see those familiar with the lore just soaking up how magnificent it is to see it all brought to life on such a grand scale.

What’s most surprising for a 40k game, however, is how convincingly Armada 2 pulls off human drama. The baroque excess of the tabletop games’ best fluff can easily veer into ham-and-cheese toastie territory when actual humans have to growl lines like ‘blood for the blood god’ out loud .This universe has always teetered on a fine line between gripping space horror and utter silliness, but restrained and confident voice acting lifted by a fittingly epic score make for some genuinely desperate feeling encounters.



This is bolstered by noticeable tactical differences between the factions. I’m not entirely sure if Armada 2 has legs as a serious competitive multiplayer game, since so much of what I enjoyed from the campaign arises from asymmetric scenarios. The upside of this is how well the game captures the differing tactics of the individual factions, how those playstyles translate into personality, and how those personalities inform mission design.

The Aeldari, for example, are sneaky sausages. Fragile, but also extremely mobile and potentially deadly as a result. As the Imperium, you can’t outmaneuver them, and if you let yourself become disorientated or distracted by the graceful, dragonfly-wing sails on their vessels, you’re done for. The solution? Think, and play, like a stalwart imperial Admiral. Have confidence in your shields and armour, create a bulwark, focus targets, and swat them like flies. I often found myself having to hold positions tightly, weathering fire and trusting my vessels to take a few big hits in service of a larger plan. Times like this, it wasn’t hard to imagine the admirals at the helm of my ships gritting their teeth in the same way.



Such moments of high drama are somewhat diminished by a limp, if functional, 4X layer. Each turn between missions you can build and move fleets, take systems, upgrade planets for buffs, or upgrade your ships along a largely unexciting tech tree. I can see that some sort of strategy layer was needed, since the way ship damage carries over throughout the campaign provides an extra source of tension and continuity between battles. I seem to remember Homeworld pulling the same trick along a traditional campaign structure though, and I think that a string of missions, with optional side missions and upgrades from a hub à la Starcraft 2, would have worked just as well here. It’s not offensive, but it’s not especially exciting either.



What is a bit rubbish is that the campaigns won’t let you pick exactly which ships you go into battle with. You can fit a maximum of three fleets in any one star system (two if the opponent has built a space station there), and each battle has a set point limit, which increase as the game goes on. So you bring three 750-point fleets into a 1000-point battle, and choose a priority order before you go in. When you go into battle, it takes the whole first fleet, 250 points worth of random ships from the second fleet, and nothing from the third. All this instead of doing the cool, smart thing I would have done, which is let you pick 100 points worth of ships from all three fleets. You can warp ships out part way through a fight, to be replaced by ships in the same system that didn’t get used. Maybe this randomness is the point, but I’m getting older by the day, and strategy war games add about forty years to my actual age and make me at least twice as salty. Such uncertainty makes me pull at my moustache in outrage, shout phrases like “Damn their eyes!”, and gnaw agitatedly at my mouse like a pipe stem.



It does at least stop you relying on the same tactics throughout, mostly. I say “mostly” because from about the middle point of the Imperium campaign, I found I could utterly obliterate any ship from halfway across the map by spamming the squadrons of smaller ships your big uns’ can release. Oh look, it’s Abbadon the Despoiler, terror of the galaxy, and he’s getting clos…oh, no, actually, he’s dead, isn’t he? Killed by a thousand tiny shaving accidents. It’s a tad anticlimactic, to say the least. I will say that by the time I got to the Necron and Tyranid campaigns, each race played differently enough from the Imperium to put me on my toes again. It’s fair to see it as a tutorial campaign, then, even if it is has the most actual story and mission variety of the three.



I’m going to shove in a few technical complaints here, because they’re worth mentioning. Battles are generally smooth, but I often knew exactly when a ship was about to explode because everyone in the universe suddenly froze completely still. Initial load-up times are abysmal. The menu you use to build ships in the campaign freezes for a few seconds every time you use it, and towards the end of the campaign, things would occasionally just stop responding altogether. If you’re not the patient type, I’d say these problems are noticeable enough that you’re better off waiting for a patch before purchase.



So, that said, is this particular endless space war worth enlisting in? If you’re looking for an incredibly deep 4x – no. If you’re up for some big, beautiful, dramatic RTS campaigns with weighty, satisfying combat, and don’t mind waiting for a patch to iron out a few creases – then yes. Either way, you should recommend this review to your friends, because I’m in talks with the RPS hivemind about doing that All the Fallouts thing but with the other 39,999 Warhammers. That’s roughly 526.3 tweets for every one of Nate’s, so the amount of good jokes should hopefully balance out.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom