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

[Mortmal]

Is it true that this game is better than smac?

Hard to tell yet, but it's certainly playing in the same league. This game is an UFO, first time since decades i had to read the manual , and its 349 pages. It has nothing in common with any strategy game you could find on steam ,gog or epic . Much deeper and very complex,maybe a classic .

 

[Shog-goth]

Bought as soon as it was available. Sadly I've very little time to dig deeper in, but your opinions seems to confirm my hype about this little trip down to the nineties. Glad to support this developer.

 

[Lagi]

They shouldnt give manual for free, not with this quality.

I was wondering what unit types are in game and I start reading. I read 16 page of lore from manual (i dont do that). Im hooked. This is fantastic timeline of events, with marvelous explanations. Even the "shadow", when i read the title name, and someone mention it, i was like "another mumbo jumbo bullshit", now Im wondering if the player as a being in front of his computer suppose to be the "avatar" of Anubis?

I promise to myself not buying it yet.



p.s.
is this some trick to make me buy it ?! I understand now why people burn books.

 

[coldcrow]

Printed out the manual, 175 pages printed on both sides. Magnificent pile of paper. (If you print it, choose landscape format and 125% size.)

Gotta dig my teeth into this gem.

 

[Baptismbyfire]

For those sitting on the fence, the Wargamer coupon supposedly only lasts until 9th. Not the 19th. At least that's what the comment to the article says.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Is this game going to be released on steam or not?
I am waiting for regional prices.

 

[thesecret1]

Is this game going to be released on steam or not?

it will be released on Steam, but only after a year. It is exclusive to Matrix for that year.

 

[Beowulf]

No, I didn't edit the screenshot, and none of the factions in my Empire is called that way.


Anyway, I got the "one more turn" syndrome with this. I wouldn't compare this with Alpha Centauri, as Shadow Empire is more of a wargame. You can't terraform, there is no aliens lifecycle and combat and grabbing hexes is what you'll be doing the most.
Like all operational scale wargames this game is mainly about creating good logistics system and solving supply problems.

But it also has some nice grand-strategy/4x features. With full FOW there is an exploration aspect that's not boring. You mainly just find remnants from previous era of prosperity (called GR- Galactic Republic here) which apart from a brief description give you a static bonus to some area, usually research, or you find equipment allowing you to arm your troops with pre-apocalypse weaponry (which is superior). There is a static research tree, so it doesn't compare favourable here with Alpha Centauri, so I'm going to drop that comparison all together. The tech descriptions are brief and uninspired and not really detailing what you are researching, but you can infer it from the tech name usually.

Research is conducted in a way that makes sense and really grew on me. First - you have to create research committees, that are called Organisations, and you have to allocate your national budget between them (your budget is basically Bureaucratic Points that you generate every turn), then you have to balance your allocated budget between that organisation's needs. You also have to first discover the tech, and only once you know that, e.g. there is a possibility to harness heat from volcanic activity, you can start researching that topic. I think it's really neat. Shame the tech tree is static.

Unit types are predefined, but you can equip them how you want, based on the technologies you have developed.
Same goes for unit formations.

The forums are acting up on me, so I'll cut this short here.

The faces you see on the first screenshot are you leaders. They usually come from the factions of your empire (later on you can recruit other people). They have their own sympathies and religious views, they also have some events attached to them, usually small political scandals or requests. You have to manage their loyalty (not that hard, but it can force you to make decisions you wouldn't make otherwise, just for the sake of having happy cabinet for the coming war, for example). Disloyal leaders can start revolts, but they are not the Total War revolts, where the faction suddenly raises a high-tech army your whole empire barely could. It's much more reasonable here.

Some screens and more text

Combat is pretty detailed, but since the game is IGO-YGO hex wargame it comes down to exploiting unit positioning in your turn to conduct those sweet flanking attack and cutting the enemy from supply lines before they do the same to you in their turn.

Fighting some bugs. Bugs are tough.

Combat Bards that were blessing my units got killed. Oh well ...

Got some tech-priests for my units

Another unit equipped with GR tech:

Logistics system is pretty detailed and there are useful statistic for almost everything in the game.

Happiness crisis and worker strikes after conquest.

Supply usage overlay - the filter you will be using the most, if you want to win.

Some artefacts of the long lost prosperity era:

That's it, those are the full descriptions. It's functional, but I wish someone helped the lone dev to flesh those out.


You can engage in diplomacy and make some decisions through the "Stratagems" - cards that you get every turn, depending on how you decided to allocate the budget of your organisations:

It also means, that diplomacy is card-based. It's very hard to maintain good relations and if you are at war you need to have relevant cards if you want to make peace. I think that's one of the few beefs I have with the game.

There are 2 pages of the manual detailing what rules the AI is using. So far it seems competent and is not very demanding, but is providing a nice challenge (I decided to start on the 2-nd level, that doesn't give bonuses to the player). As usual, the diplomacy is not that usable, but I managed to make one of the minor nations my client state.

There is some in-game help with answers for what seems to be most frequent questions and a lot of tooltips, but it's best to read the manual when you are playing and encounter something new. Once you get use to the clunky UI the game is fairly intuitive to play and the systems are logically interlinked, so you can focus on playing and having fun rather than struggling with obtuse and unexplained features.

There are still some bugs here and there that can cause a crash.

Anyway, I'm hooked. It's a very good strategy game that is a nice mix on the fringes of 4x genre. Just don't forget that is a wargame through and through and ultimately you will have to conquer everything, and the micromanagement is already getting on my nerves, where I'm nearing the finish of my current game. But the game itself is very customisable, so you can have large planet, lush with vegetation and plenty of water and food - resources necessary to field large bodies of troops; or you can decide to start on a small moon with high starting levels of technology so you can recreate some future war novella.
I decided to play on a volcanic planet with toxic atmosphere (no open-air farming) and no water on the surface and I can see big difference with other people's playthroughs from Earth-like planets regarding scale of the conflict.

 

[Harthwain]

Is this game going to be released on steam or not?

it will be released on Steam, but only after a year. It is exclusive to Matrix for that year.

Really? On Steam it says "LATER THIS (EARTH-LIKE) YEAR", which suggests up to 6 months, not 12.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Is this game going to be released on steam or not?

it will be released on Steam, but only after a year. It is exclusive to Matrix for that year.

Really? On Steam it says "LATER THIS (EARTH-LIKE) YEAR", which suggests up to 6 months, not 12.

The dev is saying on steamforums that the game was delayed on steam dye to coronavirus related delays in steam reviewing process, which makes it sound like he is planning to release it as soon as steam empolees approve it...
Correction, it wasn't the dev, just some guy.

 

[Beowulf]

Yeah, I think the plan was to release on both platforms at the same time, Matrix so far didn't have any exclusivity policy outside for the fact, that they didn't want to spend resources on bringing older titles to steam.
All their newer titles are released at the same time, or are brought to steam at some later date.

 

[Edija]

First open beta patch released for those who want to try before the official patch

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4824133

 

[Baptismbyfire]

Yeah, I think the plan was to release on both platforms at the same time, Matrix so far didn't have any exclusivity policy outside for the fact, that they didn't want to spend resources on bringing older titles to steam.
All their newer titles are released at the same time, or are brought to steam at some later date.

How is the AI towards the end?

 

[Mortmal]

Yeah, I think the plan was to release on both platforms at the same time, Matrix so far didn't have any exclusivity policy outside for the fact, that they didn't want to spend resources on bringing older titles to steam.
All their newer titles are released at the same time, or are brought to steam at some later date.

How is the AI towards the end?

Imagine a parallel universe of incline where they never stopped after the 90's and continue to improve except on the graphical side, yes like the parallel universe in star trek, something escaped that dread universe of incline and slipped in our reality. Thats this game, the AI is good from the beggining to the end , even on lowest difficulties, i have not the balls to try harder yet. it's not just a wargame, its more like a roguelike hybrid, some starts could be impossible, once i got horde of slavers rushing in before i could do anything , the terrain can completely fuck up your logistics too. AI always do it best to cut of your supplie lines and know how to use terrain.

 

[Edija]

Yeah, I think the plan was to release on both platforms at the same time, Matrix so far didn't have any exclusivity policy outside for the fact, that they didn't want to spend resources on bringing older titles to steam.
All their newer titles are released at the same time, or are brought to steam at some later date.

How is the AI towards the end?

Imagine a parallel universe of incline where they never stopped after the 90's and continue to improve except on the graphical side, yes like the parallel universe in star trek, something escaped that dread universe of incline and slipped in our reality. Thats this game, the AI is good from the beggining to the end , even on lowest difficulties, i have not the balls to try harder yet. it's not just a wargame, its more like a roguelike hybrid, some starts could be impossible, once i got horde of slavers rushing in before i could do anything , the terrain can completely fuck up your logistics too. AI always do it best to cut of your supplie lines and know how to use terrain.

It is not uncommon to get your ass kicked on beginner (lowest difficulty) by the first major regime you face. I have some German larpers that are extorting me, I have a bigger army but they have tech.
Also, the AI is ruthless with surrounding, breaking encirclements where it makes the most sense (using encircled and relief troops), also driving anything with wheels into your rear to fuck up your supply. And mind you, I never went beyond beginner.

 

[Lagi]

Im unwatching this thread.

 

[Baptismbyfire]

Yeah, I think the plan was to release on both platforms at the same time, Matrix so far didn't have any exclusivity policy outside for the fact, that they didn't want to spend resources on bringing older titles to steam.
All their newer titles are released at the same time, or are brought to steam at some later date.

How is the AI towards the end?

Imagine a parallel universe of incline where they never stopped after the 90's and continue to improve except on the graphical side, yes like the parallel universe in star trek, something escaped that dread universe of incline and slipped in our reality. Thats this game, the AI is good from the beggining to the end , even on lowest difficulties, i have not the balls to try harder yet. it's not just a wargame, its more like a roguelike hybrid, some starts could be impossible, once i got horde of slavers rushing in before i could do anything , the terrain can completely fuck up your logistics too. AI always do it best to cut of your supplie lines and know how to use terrain.

Nice! Supposedly it's Matrixgames' policy to give Steam key along with the DRM free download. Can anyone confirm?

::edit:: Confirmed by Matrix staff - https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4823589

 

[manassassas]

Yeah, I think the plan was to release on both platforms at the same time, Matrix so far didn't have any exclusivity policy outside for the fact, that they didn't want to spend resources on bringing older titles to steam.
All their newer titles are released at the same time, or are brought to steam at some later date.

How is the AI towards the end?

Imagine a parallel universe of incline where they never stopped after the 90's and continue to improve except on the graphical side, yes like the parallel universe in star trek, something escaped that dread universe of incline and slipped in our reality. Thats this game, the AI is good from the beggining to the end , even on lowest difficulties, i have not the balls to try harder yet. it's not just a wargame, its more like a roguelike hybrid, some starts could be impossible, once i got horde of slavers rushing in before i could do anything , the terrain can completely fuck up your logistics too. AI always do it best to cut of your supplie lines and know how to use terrain.

It is not uncommon to get your ass kicked on beginner (lowest difficulty) by the first major regime you face. I have some German larpers that are extorting me, I have a bigger army but they have tech.
Also, the AI is ruthless with surrounding, breaking encirclements where it makes the most sense (using encircled and relief troops), also driving anything with wheels into your rear to fuck up your supply. And mind you, I never went beyond beginner.

I'd echo this. The game seems to reward patient expansion and protection of supply lines. In my current game I was too aggressive against one of my minor regime neighbours and while I was concentrating on them another minor regime swept up some of those free folk towns which I'd previously imagined were completely safe as they were practically in my back yard, meaning I had to divert troops from the other end of the zone to recapture those. I've also made the mistake of overextending myself on building projects and seen construction grind to a halt when I'd have been better off concentrating on one improvement at a time. This is definitely a game where I'm gonna lose (or at least give up) several times before I feel like I've ironed out my mistakes.

 

[Mortmal]

Yeah, I think the plan was to release on both platforms at the same time, Matrix so far didn't have any exclusivity policy outside for the fact, that they didn't want to spend resources on bringing older titles to steam.
All their newer titles are released at the same time, or are brought to steam at some later date.

How is the AI towards the end?

Imagine a parallel universe of incline where they never stopped after the 90's and continue to improve except on the graphical side, yes like the parallel universe in star trek, something escaped that dread universe of incline and slipped in our reality. Thats this game, the AI is good from the beggining to the end , even on lowest difficulties, i have not the balls to try harder yet. it's not just a wargame, its more like a roguelike hybrid, some starts could be impossible, once i got horde of slavers rushing in before i could do anything , the terrain can completely fuck up your logistics too. AI always do it best to cut of your supplie lines and know how to use terrain.

It is not uncommon to get your ass kicked on beginner (lowest difficulty) by the first major regime you face. I have some German larpers that are extorting me, I have a bigger army but they have tech.
Also, the AI is ruthless with surrounding, breaking encirclements where it makes the most sense (using encircled and relief troops), also driving anything with wheels into your rear to fuck up your supply. And mind you, I never went beyond beginner.

Yes i encounter same troubles. I struggle to understand how to get an efficient economy going , got half the world other half is occupied by a major, strangely no railroads or anything but after using cov ops stratagems i can see they are considerably ahead in development , they field ton of tanks everywhere and siege infantry , after seeing that i restarted . Never been so challenged in a 4X that at begginer level too.

 

[Galdred]

Yeah, I think the plan was to release on both platforms at the same time, Matrix so far didn't have any exclusivity policy outside for the fact, that they didn't want to spend resources on bringing older titles to steam.
All their newer titles are released at the same time, or are brought to steam at some later date.

How is the AI towards the end?

Imagine a parallel universe of incline where they never stopped after the 90's and continue to improve except on the graphical side, yes like the parallel universe in star trek, something escaped that dread universe of incline and slipped in our reality. Thats this game, the AI is good from the beggining to the end , even on lowest difficulties, i have not the balls to try harder yet. it's not just a wargame, its more like a roguelike hybrid, some starts could be impossible, once i got horde of slavers rushing in before i could do anything , the terrain can completely fuck up your logistics too. AI always do it best to cut of your supplie lines and know how to use terrain.

It is not uncommon to get your ass kicked on beginner (lowest difficulty) by the first major regime you face. I have some German larpers that are extorting me, I have a bigger army but they have tech.
Also, the AI is ruthless with surrounding, breaking encirclements where it makes the most sense (using encircled and relief troops), also driving anything with wheels into your rear to fuck up your supply. And mind you, I never went beyond beginner.

Yes i encounter same troubles. I struggle to understand how to get an efficient economy going , got half the world other half is occupied by a major, strangely no railroads or anything but after using cov ops stratagems i can see they are considerably ahead in development , they field ton of tanks everywhere and siege infantry , after seeing that i restarted . Never been so challenged in a 4X that at begginer level too.

Can't you just "No step back" in cities with RPGs infantry against tanks? The RPG is relatively low in the tech tree.
That said, it feels like my own produced troops are only playing cheerleaders for the units I could create with the Galactic Republic artifacts I found.

 

[Beowulf]

Yeah, this game can be tough.
The Major regime that was leading in my game was fielding far more technologically advanced infantry than I could. But I temporarily closed the tech gap with my limited, but tougher armour and arty managed to make around 10k of his troops rebel. That allowed me to capture one of his cities literally on the other side of the globe. And it turned out that it was defended by obsolete forces. Seems like the AI upgraded only frontline troops. That's pretty smart prioritising, I'd say.

Anyway - you can try investing in Secret Service Council and order Supreme Council to focus on producing Political Points.

 

[Rarre]

Has this gem a working multiplayer?

 

[Edija]

Muties, when will they learn

Also the neighboring Major Regime are literally a bunch of wannabe Germans and larpers

 

[razvedchiki]

Also the neighboring Major Regime are literally a bunch of wannabe Germans and larpers

the time for deep battle has come comrade.

 

[Edija]

Anybody had some cool and rare stuff in their games yet? The rarest thing I had were some kind of bugs that were inhabiting my planet. They were not wildlife (non aligned) but had their own little regime. They were actually pretty docile, staying in their two hexes. I tried fighting them with my militia but they would absolutely rip them to shreds, eventually I hoarded them all into all hex. They were there for some turns while I was trying to engage in some diplomacy with them but it seems the bugs aren't too much into that.

Then I found a GR missile launcher and just nuked their hex. Man, I know I bitched about the prize but I don't regret buying this at all and it's worth the money tbh.