Starship Troopers: Terran Command - survival RTS from Order of Battle devs

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[RaggleFraggle]

On RTS discussions I’ve seen people say this is too similar to starcraft. Le sigh

 

[Irata]

There was a tabletop rpg released in the early 2000s. That’s pretty much the most we got.

There was an earlier board wargame back in the 70's from Avalon Hill. We had a copy of it when I was a kid, but I don't know why. My dad didn't play these games, I was just a wee lad and I only had sisters. Sadly, unless my mom sold it in a garage sale, it has turned to mush after sitting in a landfill for over 40 years.

https://img1.etsystatic.com/140/0/10492561/il_570xN.921491199_iun2.jpg

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

Weak Woke Shit based on Verhoffen

Fits him nicely then.

 

[lightbane]

The link above tells me it's not safe. Does someone have an alternative to see what shit got lost?

 

[RaggleFraggle]

The link above tells me it's not safe. Does someone have an alternative to see what shit got lost?

It says under features:

Dynamically generated campaigns for virtually limitless replayability.
Dozens of unique unit types, each with their own special abilities.
Terrain elevation, True Line of Sight & True Line of Fire provide deep tactical gameplay.
An extensive technology tree to develop and customize your forces.
Persistent leaders can be attached to units and upgraded throughout the campaign.
Heroics, explosions, gore, and Bugs. Lots of Bugs.

Honestly, I don’t think these features were removed because wokeness. The devs were just too ambitious and had to cut it later. This is normal for devs: more ambition than sense.

Weak Woke Shit based on Verhoffen

Fits him nicely then.

Some non-woke people I’ve talked to un-ironically enjoy the Verhoven aesthetics. I don’t. Verhoven’s antifa message gets lost under b-movie silliness and Poe’s Law, while the script itself doesn’t offer any kind of criticism of fascism. It’s also hypocritical and tone-deaf, because now we know lefties would be fascist warmongers in power. I shudder to think what Verhoven would have done if he got his hands on old leftist milscifi like Forever War, Old Man’s War, or The Vang.

Anyway, In particular I think the bug design of “scissors strapped to tripod” looks stupid compared to the endless majesty of nature. The artist who worked on the Roughnecks cartoon thought the same, which is why the original designs in that cartoon look better.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

So this is an RTS... with 1 playable faction and only campaign map? What?

I can understand if it has that promised proc-gen campaign just to have "infinite" content I guess but with 1 playable faction vs exactly 1 enemy faction game gonna be stale real fast

 

[RaggleFraggle]

So this is an RTS... with 1 playable faction and only campaign map? What?

I can understand if it has that promised proc-gen campaign just to have "infinite" content I guess but with 1 playable faction vs exactly 1 enemy faction game gonna be stale real fast

Slytherin had to scale back their ambitions when reality kicked in. I think they were trying to mimic They Are Billions.

Alien Marauder has the same premise, except you’re space miners fighting off bugs on the planets you’re harvesting. According to the artbook DLC the bugs are apparently responsible for creating the valuable minerals, neatly explaining the premise.

 

[J1M]

From what I played before uninstalling it seems like an RTS designed for a tablet audience.

Aside: I wonder if this game resets the clock on some sort of licensing deal or if they need to release a movie of some kind in the next year or so.

 

[thesheeep]

I think this one is probably fun enough for one playthrough... but I've seen 1-dev RTS games with more ambition.
Not necessarily bad, especially if you dig the setting and parody. A good filler.

But certainly doesn't seem to be worth the asking price. Maybe half that.

 

[Alienman]

I'm having some fun with it, but I got to say, it's a missed opportunity. The engine is fine, the units are fun to use, you recognize stuff from the 3 movies, etc. All that is great, but what makes me sad is what could have been. See, they have the building blocks and stuff like that for a more classical RTS, because you frequently visit bases, set up cool looking defenses and then watch the horde coming. But it's all scripted in the campaign. I'm constantly imagining while playing if they would just let me build shit instead, maybe allow me to build my own base, like the one in the movies. Nope, you are just dragged along for the ride, and if you do anything out of script, you will fail the mission. Areas are usually pretty linear too, with only one approach.

Yet, as I said, I'm having fun, it's just a shame there isn't much more to it, because I personally think it could have been a mini-rts hit.

Oh, and yeah. Fuck those scorpion bugs, Jesus. Probably my only real annoyance with the game.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

I watched some of the ArchCast review. He didn't like the technical limitations either. As a book purist, he also mentioned that he didn't like the portrayal of the Federation as a fascist dystopia that executes workers for unionizing.

I would love to see a parody of SST depicting the Federation as openly communist... but in practice nearly identical to the fascist version except with hammers and sickles everywhere. Wokies would probably hate it just as much as they love the fascist version.

 

[orcinator]

He says it's okay. Given bong game reviewers are ALWAYS wrong that means it's shit.

it would make for a good power armor tactics game, whether it's in first person Terranova style, turn-based or even RTS.
There were more alien species than the insects, so there's no shortage for enemy factions if necessary.

E
D
F

 

[gerey]

he didn't like the portrayal of the Federation as a fascist dystopia that executes workers for unionizing

So it's made by leftist vermin. Pass.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Cover art is kind of crappy and generic and made me not want to buy it but the game itself looks solid. That asian-looking goon on the YT channel that put together the mod-pack for Daggerfall Unity for GOG complained bitterly that the game runs like crap on his "custom made" gaming laptop" ergo it must be an unoptimized mess, yet it runs like freshly churned butter on my i9 RTX 3070-based rig.

 

[exe]

he didn't like the portrayal of the Federation as a fascist dystopia that executes workers for unionizing

So it's made by leftist vermin. Pass.

Not actually. Unionizing is just the last crime they mention for the guy.
They are basically redoing the movie. They kind of flanderize the Feds by copying the first part of the movie; arrogance and completely underestimating the bugs for like a dozen missions, except they should already know better. It's post Klendathu. After halfassing the fight against the bugs they almost lose the planet, but they find out about brain parasites, then slowly start pushing back the bugs till they capture the brain bug. Kind of lazy. But I had fun, and on normal it's not microhell either.
Fuck scorpions tho, there is only one way to counter them. Their range should be halved, so you can see them coming and you could stun them with grenades, now you just need at least 3 rocket trooper squads.
Sniper are probably the only unit without any niche. Make them attack spitters automatically and that would be their niche.

It is just a campaign and 2 scenarios. No skirmish or coop. No map/scenario editor either, which would be the easiest way for the game to get more content: let players make it themselves. So like 10 or 15 hours and you're done.

 

[Alienman]

Down below is my review for Starship Troopers that I wrote for my blog. It's not yet published, so consider it a Codex preview

Edit:
It's up now.

Spoiler

Starship Troopers: Terran Command is a real time strategy game by The Artistocrats, published by Slitherine. People with bug-phobia stay away, this game is absolutely riddled with them. No, not technical bugs, but bugs to shoot, maim and burn. Just likes the movies! And as you might have guessed, this game is based on the movie IP, and not the book. Which is fine with me. I do enjoy Heinlein's book, but I find the movie setting better. It has that brutal WW1 feeling to it, and the bugs you are massacring are actually evil. It also has one of the hottest military chicks in any movie ever. R.I.P. Dizzy!

In Terran Command, you play as the Mobile Infantry, and you have been called to the desert mining planet Kwalasha. The local population is having a serious bug problem, and you are here to help. If all goes well, you will eradicate the bug infestation, and once again restore mining operations. The story starts rather small with a small set of skirmishes, but it escalates quickly, having you facing off hundreds of bugs attacking your fortifications. I would say it's not the most interesting campaign, since it's very by the books with big throwbacks to the movies. The plot also feels very similar, but maybe you can only do a bug story in so many ways?

Still, it's enjoyable, and it takes you all over the desert planet. From arid desert landscapes, to war-torn cityscapes and hostile underground hives. There are some characters to keep tabs on, but unfortunately, they don't make much noise, so you never get to know them. They are mostly there to propel the story forward, and make the narrative come together. The devs also went all out on the television propaganda part of the movies, which means every mission is presented in that style. It's amusing, but it does make the tone feel a bit cartoonish at times. There are no real missions briefings except what command tells you in all haste in the beginning of each mission. I think it would have been nice with a real mission briefing from time to time to segment the seriousness of it all - considering the amount of human casualties sustained. Yet, it works, but don't expect any deep philosophizing about war, not that the movie did that either, other than they tried to make it satirical, but unintentionally made the world seem cool instead with interesting values.

Gameplay-wise, it plays like your classical RTS, with a pretty big focus on "micromanagement". All units gain skills when they level up, but most of these skills require your input. I'm absolutely worthless when it comes to micro. I'm more of the build-big-army kind of guy and then A click on enemy base. What I'm saying is, most of the cool micro stuff was lost on me. These old bones just don't have it in them anymore, but I did manage to throw a grenade or two. I would assume these things are crucial on the higher difficulties. Myself, I played on normal mode, and at times the bugs actually handed my ass back to me, so I can only imagine what suffering will be displayed on higher difficulties if you can't master the micro.

While unit control is fairly standard, the other parts that usually come with RTS-titles are unfortunately missing. I'm talking about base building, and economy. It does not exist at all, except that your engineers can build different kind of turrets, but I wouldn't call that base building. There is some form of resource that limit what you can call in the form of reinforcements, but these resources are mission scripted, as in you only have what the designer intended you to have. You can find extra resources on the map, usually you find these resources in places you would travel anyway, so often it's not something you have to go out of your way for.

I do find this disappointing, because throughout the game, you get the feeling that the building blocks are there for a real RTS experience. You constantly come across cool looking bases, and the outposts you can take over have small build segments, as in having you to chose what kind of specialization you want to go for. While I think the game is fun, I can't help to think what it could have been if it actually had base building. I think it could have been a sleeper RTS hit, maybe not a major one, but at least a noticeable one. Now, Terran Command feels more like a one-off game, something you play once and never again.

There isn't too much difference between the missions beside the look and feel, since your actual choices of what to bring to the fight is rather limited. A more sandbox:y experience would have been preferable, but alas, it was not to be. But like I said, the game is entertaining still, the firefights against the bugs are awesome, and the feeling of being overwhelmed is always close at hand. The Marine units are cool, and come in many flavors. You have the standard marines with Morita Assault Rifles, but later on you get dudes that come equipped with E-pulse 44 Rifles for short range bug slaughtering. There are also mechs with all kind of weaponry, specialized commanders that can call in airstrikes, radiomen for reinforcements in the field & more.

The same goes for the enemy side. Not to spoil anything you will go up against, but I think most of the stuff can be found in the movies, so if you have seen those, you know what you are up against. I just have to say - I really hate the scorpions. I'm fine with them being tough to kill, and I'm even fine with them having a really deadly weapon at their disposal. But man, please tone down the spawn rate for these giant arachnids! I don't even want to imagine what it's like on higher difficulties.

Visually, the game looks fantastic with lots of detail in environments, and the best part in my opinion - the sense of scale. It just looks right, from bases to underground caverns. The abandon cities look amazing as well. Going by animations, they are fine too, but I would like to have seen a bit more blood and kill animations when it comes to the human side. It feels way too sanitized compared to the movies, but the bugs do die in nice ways, though.

Sound is great. It's everything what you expect, the weapons sound like they should and both marines and bugs scream for dear life when they get attacked… and it just feels good, if you can say it like that. The voice acting (even if the characters themselves don't leave much of an impression) are excellent, too. I especially liked the officer from the Ministry of Paranormal Warfare.

Do I recommend it? Yes, I had a lot of fun with it, and at the end I was hoping for more. Just remember if you decide to jump in, the game is missing base building, and the missions at times can feel a bit too heavy on scripting, not leaving you much choice to decide what to do. Yet, it's still good, and has me yearning for more, and it makes me wish the RTS genre wasn't dead. Terran Command had the potential to revive it, but it never reached higher than a budget title, which is a real shame.

 

[Acrux]

The game seems to be very modder friendly, with everything managed through txt files. There's a really extensive discussion on what's possible to mod (it seems like a lot).

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1202130/discussions/0/3418809548722382927/

 

[RaggleFraggle]

The SST ttrpg has vanished off Drivethrurpg. According to google cache this happened sometime after April. I’m guessing that some stupid legal agreement related to the video game forced it to be taken down even though it’s been up since 2005. Fuck, I forgot to buy the ebook. I’m so unlucky!

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

https://pdfcoffee.com/sst-rpg-mi-field-manual-pdf-free.html this one? RaggleFraggle

 

[RaggleFraggle]

https://pdfcoffee.com/sst-rpg-mi-field-manual-pdf-free.html this one? RaggleFraggle

This: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers:_The_Roleplaying_Game
There were several ebooks being sold up (8, I think?) until a few days ago, but now they're lost to time unless somebody had the foresight to buy and download them in advance (lucky for me, I was able to buy everything except the rulebook and floorplans before the publisher realized they missed a few). Pirate sites aren't reliable since they can go down at any time, don't have complete libraries for obscure games, and are infested with malware. It's a pity, since those books offered a lot of worldbuilding detail that the shitty antifa Sony movies weren't interested in. There was also a miniatures game made by the same company that did the RPG, which is no longer sold either.

Fucking Sony. They don't give a fuck about this IP and aren't interested in preserving it's history. Well, fuck Sony then. Those damn corpos would burn libraries just because they couldn't be bothered to maintain it. Not only has SST been fucked up by Verhoven, other similar franchises like Starcraft and Alien have been driven into the ground by incompetent writing. Sometimes it's enough to make me physically sick. We should really be making our own IPs that aren't beholden to corporate malfeasance, indifference, and incompetence.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

Pirate sites aren't reliable since they can go down at any time, don't have complete libraries for obscure games, and are infested with malware.

oh my sweet summer child.
look at how ea and ubi treat their own games, almost all the pirate sites last longer than official support.
it's not easy to learn where to look, but once you find your lode you can keep mining for years.

 

[zapotec]

I found most of the pdfs in 10 seconds

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

https://pdfcoffee.com/sst-rpg-mi-field-manual-pdf-free.html this one? RaggleFraggle

This: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers:_The_Roleplaying_Game
There were several ebooks being sold up (8, I think?) until a few days ago, but now they're lost to time unless somebody had the foresight to buy and download them in advance (lucky for me, I was able to buy everything except the rulebook and floorplans before the publisher realized they missed a few). Pirate sites aren't reliable since they can go down at any time, don't have complete libraries for obscure games, and are infested with malware. It's a pity, since those books offered a lot of worldbuilding detail that the shitty antifa Sony movies weren't interested in. There was also a miniatures game made by the same company that did the RPG, which is no longer sold either.

Fucking Sony. They don't give a fuck about this IP and aren't interested in preserving it's history. Well, fuck Sony then. Those damn corpos would burn libraries just because they couldn't be bothered to maintain it. Not only has SST been fucked up by Verhoven, other similar franchises like Starcraft and Alien have been driven into the ground by incompetent writing. Sometimes it's enough to make me physically sick. We should really be making our own IPs that aren't beholden to corporate malfeasance, indifference, and incompetence.

https://pdfcoffee.com/starship-troopers-rpg-pdf-free.html

https://www.docdroid.net/12541/starship-troopers-rpg-core-rulebook-pdf#page=2

https://paizo.com/products/btpy7d1z?Starship-Troopers-RPG-Floorplans

 

[RaggleFraggle]

https://pdfcoffee.com/sst-rpg-mi-field-manual-pdf-free.html this one? RaggleFraggle

This: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers:_The_Roleplaying_Game
There were several ebooks being sold up (8, I think?) until a few days ago, but now they're lost to time unless somebody had the foresight to buy and download them in advance (lucky for me, I was able to buy everything except the rulebook and floorplans before the publisher realized they missed a few). Pirate sites aren't reliable since they can go down at any time, don't have complete libraries for obscure games, and are infested with malware. It's a pity, since those books offered a lot of worldbuilding detail that the shitty antifa Sony movies weren't interested in. There was also a miniatures game made by the same company that did the RPG, which is no longer sold either.

Fucking Sony. They don't give a fuck about this IP and aren't interested in preserving it's history. Well, fuck Sony then. Those damn corpos would burn libraries just because they couldn't be bothered to maintain it. Not only has SST been fucked up by Verhoven, other similar franchises like Starcraft and Alien have been driven into the ground by incompetent writing. Sometimes it's enough to make me physically sick. We should really be making our own IPs that aren't beholden to corporate malfeasance, indifference, and incompetence.

https://pdfcoffee.com/starship-troopers-rpg-pdf-free.html

https://www.docdroid.net/12541/starship-troopers-rpg-core-rulebook-pdf#page=2

https://paizo.com/products/btpy7d1z?Starship-Troopers-RPG-Floorplans

Those are physical floorplans, not pdf. Believe me, I already checked for hours. Nobody pirated it in the decade and a half it was available to buy. (Btw I feel really stupid now that I didn’t buy it before. It never occurred to me that there was a fucking time limit.)

Anyway, it’s the fucking principle of the matter. It’s just more convenient for me to download off Drivethrurpg rather than shady warez sites. I can share the store links with other people if I need to. I know that at least some of my money is actually going to the people making the product and other products I’d like to buy in the future.

Sony are fucking assholes for getting in the way of my convenience, among the many many other shitty corporate things they’ve done. I’m gonna protest by making my own scifi universe with space marines, space bugs, space blackjack, and space hookers. Wish me luck, I damn well need it.