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

[Beowulf]

The mechanics are solid, but the game is indeed very RNG heavy. Rolls upon rolls on every decision and combat.
Sadly, the most important part - i.e. the player's start, is also almost totally dependent on RNG.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

is water a meme?

In most strategy games yes, can't even remember one where it worked properly.

its true, doing amphibious landing stuff almost never works correctly, or something with the movement, supply, submarine systems do not work right, especially in single player vs. computer..

 

[Galdred]

is water a meme?

In most strategy games yes, can't even remember one where it worked properly.

It worked fine in World in Flames, and World At War: a world divided, but yes, most of the time, naval combat sucks in land games.
Tangentially, it is one of the games where AI art could improve character portraits a lot, because the layered design doesn't work here.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

is water a meme?

In most strategy games yes, can't even remember one where it worked properly.

It worked fine in World in Flames, and World At War: a world divided, but yes, most of the time, naval combat sucks in land games.

funny, I was thinking world of flames but figured nobody else really would have played it so did not mention it. Yes it works, and more games should use board game rules because I play board war games and the rules actually work, but I guess they are hard to code or something I suppose.

 

[Galdred]

is water a meme?

In most strategy games yes, can't even remember one where it worked properly.

It worked fine in World in Flames, and World At War: a world divided, but yes, most of the time, naval combat sucks in land games.

funny, I was thinking world of flames but figured nobody else really would have played it so did not mention it. Yes it works, and more games should use board game rules because I play board war games and the rules actually work, but I guess they are hard to code or something I suppose.

I haven't tried the Slitherine version, but it looked barely functional when I was considering it(no AI and no PBEM, so I guess you can play against yourself or with something like remote control of PC?). I had read the Vassal module was quite good, but I only played the tabletop version ages ago, but it requires a full room and some friends with a lot of time. I actually liked the sea minigame (and the sea box abstraction over having ships be on their own hexagons).

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

is water a meme?

In most strategy games yes, can't even remember one where it worked properly.

It worked fine in World in Flames, and World At War: a world divided, but yes, most of the time, naval combat sucks in land games.

funny, I was thinking world of flames but figured nobody else really would have played it so did not mention it. Yes it works, and more games should use board game rules because I play board war games and the rules actually work, but I guess they are hard to code or something I suppose.

I haven't tried the Slitherine version, but it looked barely functional when I was considering it(no AI and no PBEM, so I guess you can play against yourself or with something like remote control of PC?). I had read the Vassal module was quite good, but I only played the tabletop version ages ago, but it requires a full room and some friends with a lot of time. I actually liked the sea minigame (and the sea box abstraction over having ships be on their own hexagons).

the sea minigame is very cool, fun and ingenious, I have not played for years though.

The matrix version is sort of playable....its best to learn the rules for someone who does not know them, and its playable solo if you are into that. I do think two players can now link computers and play live and also the PBEM works..supposedly the guy who programed the game is still activly making an AI. Lsst time I checked which was maybe 3-4 months ago he was still releasing monthly updates and a few people were play testing the AI, but honestly I don't have much hope that a true working AI will ever be completed...its just too much for one person I think. I am shocked he is still doing it, but supposedly he loves working on the AI and its the main reason he took on the challenege of programing the game at all..

 

[Axioms]

There's a famous card in SE that gives you 50 PP for 1 Fate. There's also Supreme Leader Day. 4 PP. And it provides 6D6 PP modified by popularity. So a max of 36? WTF.

 

[Malakal]

There's a famous card in SE that gives you 50 PP for 1 Fate. There's also Supreme Leader Day. 4 PP. And it provides 6D6 PP modified by popularity. So a max of 36? WTF.

Yea some cards are obviously better than others, sometimes locked by government stats tho.

 

[Axioms]

There's a famous card in SE that gives you 50 PP for 1 Fate. There's also Supreme Leader Day. 4 PP. And it provides 6D6 PP modified by popularity. So a max of 36? WTF.

Yea some cards are obviously better than others, sometimes locked by government stats tho.

Pretty sure that the 50PP card that costs 1 Fate is a core card. You can get it on your first turn. Same as the 1000 credit card. Meanwhile you can get Banker for 2 Fate that is 2D20 Cash. Not sure if that one is locked.

My real complaint is why do I never see a fucking Sage? I have top tier Merit and Government I think. I could get top tier Mind if I thought it mattered.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

is water a meme?

In most strategy games yes, can't even remember one where it worked properly.

It worked fine in World in Flames, and World At War: a world divided, but yes, most of the time, naval combat sucks in land games.
Tangentially, it is one of the games where AI art could improve character portraits a lot, because the layered design doesn't work here.

When it comes to player vs player hoi2 and hoi3 had good supply mechanics with your option to create supply pools anywhere in the world given you set it properly.

 

[Axioms]

Finally got around to winning a game of this on a max size world with giant ruins and 4-5mil starting pop. Vast majority of my pop based victory was from cloning facilities and a slave trader. Having 20+ zones with cloning gives you a massive pop boost. Probably grew close to 1mil free pop from cloning. I won with 65% pop and 35% land.

I ran out of research by the end as well.

I had over 80 Unit Artifacts, none of which I deployed because it wasn't super clear how good they were and I am a hoarder and didn't want to deploy them on trashy units. I won in about 90 turns. Gotta say it is kinda boring as fuck in the late game. It turns out that Government is actually a super mediocre profile. Sure it can be good early but late game you are losing most of your BP to big bureaucracy penalties and you have way more industrial points than you can feasibly use. Commerce is probably more useful because of how strong money is. Plus you can synergize hard with slave traders for that extra 2k pop and 3 commerce profile per turn and you have tons of money.

Balancing your money vs pop vs private vs public jobs vs military and so forth is a huge pain. I definitely ran into issues because I had too many government jobs which heavily lowers income.

The primary pain in the ass is logistics, though. This game really needs a superior UI to deal with this crap. Your whole army can get stranded because of some pain in the ass micromanagement you whiffed on or forgot.

 

[Galdred]

The primary pain in the ass is logistics, though. This game really needs a superior UI to deal with this crap. Your whole army can get stranded because of some pain in the ass micromanagement you whiffed on or forgot.

Indeed. I really liked what the game was trying to do, but the UI is really inadequate, and it takes forever indeed to correct an economic or logistic mistake.

 

[HeroMarine]

Oceania DLC out on March 30th!

 

[Malakal]

Oceania DLC out in March 30th!

MEH.

I'll still probably buy it.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Oceania DLC out now.

 

[Alienman]

Oceania DLC out now.

You would think it had ships, but nope.

 

[Axioms]

It is surprisingly good for lacking ships. Pretty amusing.

 

[Demo.Graph]

I've kinda skipped through the release stream and it's full of decline.

There're still no customizable planets. Saving seeds, picking planet generation options? Nope, plebe, no QOL for you.
Planet generation is as random as usual - on the video there's an animal rush on the player during first turns.
Combat, cards and social engineering balance all seem to be unchanged.
And the new mechanic is but a scripted railway over the water + events.

Also, dev doesn't seem to know his own scripting.
He made an event that spawns barbarian invasion on player territory. It was dropped on player's capitol. Here he excuses himself by saying that the script drops raiders on the hex that is the most weakly defended. It's obviously wrong, since it could be seen that the player had an HQ at his capitol with reinforcements and a completely empty hex with a village to the east of it.

It's a goddamn disgrace.

 

[Alpharius]

Started a game on an island map with oceania dlc and got totally fucked by amphibious wildlife in early game cause it can retreat into the sea so i cant eradicate it.
Seems like it always stays on the coast too. Are there some kind of grav tanks later on that can deal with it or do i need an airforce?

Also got lucky with cults. My starting city has an anima circle and the neighborging minor city that i conquered has a shadow sect. So now the shadow sect keeps doing pogroms agains anima circle cultists with large civilian and military casaulties, raises unrest and spawns rebellions cause i presecute them obviously.

Seems like the setting of this game would imply an easy solution to these kind of problems but nope.

Finally got around to winning a game of this on a max size world with giant ruins and 4-5mil starting pop. Vast majority of my pop based victory was from cloning facilities and a slave trader. Having 20+ zones with cloning gives you a massive pop boost. Probably grew close to 1mil free pop from cloning. I won with 65% pop and 35% land.

Also won my last game like that. It seems that the AI keeps recruiting too many troops and gets fucked when it has no more free folk and cant conquer new territories.

Maybe it can't produce enough food too at some point, like real life commie regimes.

I think i was at war with the largest major but we didn't share a border and his population was decreasing faster than mine was increasing.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

Also facing that issue to a lesser extend, i made a small tactical bomber to deal with they while at the sea and put some auto turrets on the "beach" hex. Besides that i use the local militia to deal with the lost territory. Tanks wise a simple light tank with a 40mm mortar will deal with mostly of they, at least on my world so far, bugs with with the second armour level and improved mg's can also deal with they for the most part.
On cults, try to improve relationship with they, on my game i have good relations with the 3 cults (so far) and they keep to themselves. You can check information and possible issues with they on the report page.

 

[Alpharius]

On cults, try to improve relationship with they, on my game i have good relations with the 3 cults (so far) and they keep to themselves. You can check information and possible issues with they on the report page.

The shadow cult is all about cultural enrichement, killing them jews and unspeakable acts performed with cattle in public.

Shadow Cult
Profile: Autocracy, Fist
Leader feat: +10 Int
Bonuses: cultural adaptation
Penalty: extra unrest in zones, population losses if paired with Anima cult
Event cost: loss of population
Priest: ignore retreat result of enemy hit in combat

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=353910

They'll probably stop doing rebellions if i stop suppresing them but will likely acquire more members and keep doing pogroms & unrest events.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

"if paired with Anima cult" in the city region, not nation wise. At least from what i understand.

 

[Alpharius]

"if paired with Anima cult" in the city region, not nation wise. At least from what i understand.

Yeah but they spread between cities. I have both cults now in two of my cities.

 

[Alpharius]

Update: after about 50 turns of suppressing the shadow cult it have finally been eradicated.
Their population share eventually decreased to 8% after about 25 turns and after another 25 to 3% and 0%.

 

[Sinilevä]

It's a little bit strange, that in the game that gives so much emphasis to logistics, you can just insta build roads. This makes cutting major supply arteries pointless if the enemy has enough IP to just build the new road during his turn.