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

[Beowulf]

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

the time for deep battle has come comrade.

Seems like a lot of code regarding unit name generation comes from their previous efforts - most opposing regimes have Jaegers, Shutzen and so on.

Has this gem a working multiplayer?

Yeas, but it's PBEM. It's not even using their PBEM++ servers at the moment. But there are some measures implemented to check if others players are reloading their turns if you check that in the options.

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

Game is amazing. You literally can play for hours just with planet generation.

In my current game A LOT of nukes went of during apocalypse and sure enough to the west of my empire there is nothing but irradiated wasteland stretching all the way from north to south dotted with some ruins, occasional band of raiders and packs of huge unfriendly flesh eating worms.

Anybody had some cool and rare stuff in their games yet?

Well other than GR infantry with combat armor and laser rifles I also found these:

In previous game I found GR monitor class tanks with beam cannon and mobile shield generator. Don't have screenshots for those.
I also for the first time found nuke launchers, probably exact same unit you found.

I found 2 of them very early in the game, haven't used them on anything yet. Still it's nice to have 20 MT of ordnance in case I need to nuke capital of major regime or something.

Also in one of previous games I found ancient AI complex under my capital. It would give me free tech discoveries if I passed oratory check. Pretty neat since I could repeat event by talking to zone governor. What wasn't neat is that I had no one even remotely decent at that so ultimately I didn't manage to get much out of it.

 

[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.

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.

yes i can, i fill ruins and townsquares with rpg and machine gun for defenses, but the IA can still give me the middlefinger and pick up my supply lines with buggies.

 

[Hoggypare]

yes i can, i fill ruins and townsquares with rpg and machine gun for defenses, but the IA can still give me the middlefinger and pick up my supply lines with buggies.

Have You tried paying Your troops? Wages affect morale, and morale affects how long do they stay in battle. Most battles where armour really achieves great results are because the tanks break through and the defenders panick. If they hold ground, You may suffer more casualties (as Your cannon fodder is weak and squishy), but are also more likely to hurt the tanks back - especially anywhere outside plains.

And a couple cool things I noticed to add to the thread:
- A sensei opened a dojo in one of my cities. Thanks to that I can recruit high quality leaders for 700 cr a pop. I can also recruit him for 7000... haven't done that yet, but I wonder if that can be worth it.
- I am unsure whether that was the case, but I think AI tried to pull schlieffen maneuver on me. One of my flanks was covered by a border of a neutral major regime, and a turn after declaring war on me, the war between the agressor and the neutral AI started and they flanked my lines with their tanks. It might have been that the neutral Ai just sensed to opportunity to pile on and just did not have their forces ready, but... I believe it to be the former
- As You noticed the leaders have various skills. One of the military skills is called 'Lead from the front' and You might think, the higher it goes the better, right? Wrong! That skill is a measure of how much of a bloodthirsty psychopath Your general is. When they do use it, it gives the forces they lead massive bonuses, but gives also a chance of them dying in the field (which additionally results in the whole attack collapsing). I lost 2 generals that way so far.

 

[Mortmal]

yes i can, i fill ruins and townsquares with rpg and machine gun for defenses, but the IA can still give me the middlefinger and pick up my supply lines with buggies.

Have You tried paying Your troops? Wages affect morale, and morale affects how long do they stay in battle. Most battles where armour really achieves great results are because the tanks break through and the defenders panick. If they hold ground, You may suffer more casualties (as Your cannon fodder is weak and squishy), but are also more likely to hurt the tanks back - especially anywhere outside plains.

And a couple cool things I noticed to add to the thread:
- A sensei opened a dojo in one of my cities. Thanks to that I can recruit high quality leaders for 700 cr a pop. I can also recruit him for 7000... haven't done that yet, but I wonder if that can be worth it.
- I am unsure whether that was the case, but I think AI tried to pull schlieffen maneuver on me. One of my flanks was covered by a border of a neutral major regime, and a turn after declaring war on me, the war between the agressor and the neutral AI started and they flanked my lines with their tanks. It might have been that the neutral Ai just sensed to opportunity to pile on and just did not have their forces ready, but... I believe it to be the former
- As You noticed the leaders have various skills. One of the military skills is called 'Lead from the front' and You might think, the higher it goes the better, right? Wrong! That skill is a measure of how much of a bloodthirsty psychopath Your general is. When they do use it, it gives the forces they lead massive bonuses, but gives also a chance of them dying in the field (which additionally results in the whole attack collapsing). I lost 2 generals that way so far.

Fighting for their glorious leader should be incentive enough ! What next paying my workers too ? That said theres indeed lot of surprises , optimizing the nation is a hell of a task.Just maanged to won once at begginer level , i am getting there.

 

[Bigg Boss]

I just found out about this. I'm excited but it will be some time before I will be able to play it. Any good Youtube videos on this?

 

[hoothoot]

Game

 

[Harthwain]

Deadman ?

 

[PrettyDeadman]

I am still thinking about buying this game right now for 4x of it's price vs buying it later on steam.
I was planning to donate to kotc2 kickstarter...
But I am definitely interested in playing it in multiplayer later.

 

[Edija]

I am still thinking about buying this game right now for 4x of it's price vs buying it later on steam.
I was planning to donate to kotc2 kickstarter...
But I am definitely interested in playing it in multiplayer later.

I don't know about that, there certainly will be discounts but there won't be much bigger discounts soon than the one's you have with the Wargamer code (20%?). I distinctively remember that Distant Worlds Universe was expensive for a long time after it stopped being updated and went to steam.

I just found out about this. I'm excited but it will be some time before I will be able to play it. Any good Youtube videos on this?

Check out DasTactic's tutorial series.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Are there any discounts left? It says Wargamer20 coupon has expired

I don't know about that, there certainly will be discounts but there won't be much bigger discounts soon than the one's you have with the Wargamer code (20%?). I distinctively remember that Distant Worlds Universe was expensive for a long time after it stopped being updated and went to steam.

Even wihout discounts, regional prices for matrix games on steam is roughly 4x cheaper than prices in their shop.

 

[Edija]

Are there any discounts left? It says Wargamer20 coupon has expired

I don't know about that, there certainly will be discounts but there won't be much bigger discounts soon than the one's you have with the Wargamer code (20%?). I distinctively remember that Distant Worlds Universe was expensive for a long time after it stopped being updated and went to steam.

Even wihout discounts, regional prices for matrix games on steam is roughly 4x cheaper than prices in their shop.

Oh yeah, it might be worth the wait if you get regional pricing, I'm a Balkanoid but we get EU prizes so fuck us I guess...

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Why do I need to re-enter my credentials after every page refresh on matrix/slitherine shop websites?

 

[dehimos]

Because Sliherine think like old british gentlemen, they are still the british empire and Churchill will rise from his grave to save them from the napoleonic coronavirus.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

If I will get 20% discount I will buy it from their shop.

 

[oscar]

Is there any way to return to the default posture?

I'm also fairly deep into my present game and have yet to encounter another Major Regime (I've uncovered a good 60% of the map too and control about half of the usable terrain). My gauss rifle-armed infantry can make mincemeat of the raiders and farmboys surrounding me. Though the raiders gave my guys a bit of an ass-whooping in the early game.

I think I got quite lucky and had an excellent start (heaps of scavenging opportunities) on a pretty good planet (warm and suitable for Earth-style agriculture albeit with a slightly toxic atmosphere and quite a lot of low-level radiation from the Dissolution War). I have many thousands of credits just from selling my huge stockpiles of rare earth metals alone.

The cults are pretty cool too. There's a harmonic one that makes your workers more docile albeit slightly less productive. A violent jihadist one that will murder members of other cults but increases your people's casualty tolerance. A anti-Shadow cult that gives XP bonuses but damages relations with leaders who have a high Egoism score (leaders in this game are great btw, a boat-load of stats and you really become attached to your proteges). It resembles Crusader Kings II system but is deeper and more interesting in my opinion (where parking your chancellor, using sway and sending gifts could generally smooth over any non-religious dispute with a vassal). The difficulty of actually finding enough leaders to cover all your councils and districts seems to mean you'll definitely end up having to give roles to trouble-making dummies now and then.

 

[Mortmal]

I have not found how to return to default posture as well, put a defense stratagem on OHQ and it stays forever. maybe its intended to speciliaze troops. As for start you get widely different thing, this time i got an habitable planet with hordes of bat riding raiders..For those asking, this game really exists w e are not larping.

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

Is there any way to return to the default posture?

Unit admin screen, button for it is in the right side bar. Cancel posture should be somewhere there.

 

[Beowulf]

I'm still fighting my game on Regular when a second Major Regime declared war on me. I'm considering resigning and starting a new one. I sure made many mistakes at the start but at least got a better understanding of the game mechanics now.

The UI could use some QOL featues, but the game is great. And yeah, I could start a MP if some people here are interested.

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

You can remove unit posture in unit admin screen, there should be an option for this below renaming button.

Meanwhile in my game I've been exploring wasteland to the west.

It seems to take up about 1/3 of the planet surface... and I haven't seen the other end yet. In related news I've been finding useful stuff in the ruins.

Stuff like this:

My elite battlegroup decked out with GR gear is growing stronger.

I've been doing some diplomacy, cultural exchange and scientific cooperation with one of neighbouring major regimes, more than anything to test things out in practice. They are at the bottom of the standings and their only city is right on my border so these guys pose no threat whatsoever to me anyway.

They seem to be a bunch of french larpers.

Anyway diplomacy with major regimes seems to be bit borked at the moment, for instance in practical terms only way to peace out is to shower your enemies with gift cards to the point where they will actually like you. Dev is looking at it though so hopefully in a patch or two it will work a bit better.

 

[Galdred]

Regarding diplomacy, do you also have ridiculously impossible target number for any action?
I usually need to score 600+ on D100+40 to initiate any diplomatic action with a major power, so my diplomacy has been mostly to answer their proposal and send lots of spies.

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

Yep that's the issue.

 

[Beowulf]

Regarding diplomacy, do you also have ridiculously impossible target number for any action?
I usually need to score 600+ on D100+40 to initiate any diplomatic action with a major power, so my diplomacy has been mostly to answer their proposal and send lots of spies.

Diplomacy needs the most work. I managed to make one of the minors my client state, but the majors seem to be hell bent on engaging in eternal war.

In the open beta patch the odds calculations have been tweaked in some way

Severely tuned the Difficulty for Major Diplomatic Stratagems, though there remain some impossible rolls if the AI Major in question is just not willing at all to accept

Not sure what this means, but yeah, in my game I see ods of seemingly neutral requests, like opening relations or sending diplomats to go up to 600-900 difficulty.

 

[Beowulf]

I think I know now from where the comparison to Alpha Centauri came from.
This game creates stories. I have not been enthralled by any strategy game in that way for quite a long while.

Spoiler

I decided to tray to stay and learn what I can from my Regular game being in a war against two Major Regimes.
I put most of my budget into military research, discovered and researched lasers, and learnt how to upgrade my infantry on the frontline (that's the hardest part, as it takes a lot of your industrial output).

The manual states that the AI doesn't use spies, but has a vague overview of the player's empire. So why not have a detailed overview of theirs. That's the effect of sending dozens of spies into a zone:

You are able to see many vital informations about their cites, but most importantly their troops dislocation.


I've also been spending my budget on Covert Ops. I was helping my Secret Service Director by assigning him some able spies:

So I could spam the rebellions among enemies troops:

The description for call to power seems wrong. It states that some of their troops will rebel, but when I got recon on them, they seemed to be poorly equipped militias, rather than high tech infantry that my enemy was fielding.

Anyway, thanks to all those spies I send I knew where his town was and when I saw the enemy making a break in his lines I made mad dash for it.
Managed to surround it thanks to better mobility. The AI brought some troops closer, but was surprised by the turn of events.

The biggest battle I've had in this game so far, the animations for the exchange of fire were actually lagging.

It's not that the AI is incapable. It actually pulled a similar trick on me:
Here it managed to surround my city with some GR rated troops, and it even brought two armoured regiments, that broke through my lines and cut my supply line to the city. The screen is from the turn after that, when I somewhat managed to push them back and re-establish the line.

My scientist were also busy in their basements and manged to come up with this, to help me build a cheap defence against armour on the fronts where I need to be defensive:

An RPG with nuclear payload.

Americans were actually developing man portable nuclear warheads, but not to be used in an anti-tank role:

The game is wonderful hodgepodge of ideas. I think I need to take care of the Fremen Velociraptor Cavalry once and for all now:

On a side note - where can I mark unit types as obsolete?

 

[Hoggypare]

On a side note - where can I mark unit types as obsolete?

Go to management tab and choose model overview (the tab where You can check the design quality of your models). There, in one of the tabs You will have a table with qualities (if You did not change anything, all models would be set to none), just click the right column then