Shadow Empire

[spelk]

Been away from the scene for quite some time now folks (waves to all the Grogs), but I've had my beady eye on Shadow Empire for a long time, since it was announced by Vic.

I've got the added trauma of trying to get this to work under Linux, it does not. Nor does any of Vic's games sadly, I thought perhaps Steam and the Proton thing may do it, but alas no. So I have a crappy old laptop stuggling with Win10 just to play this game.

Anyways, I thought Shadow Empire would tickle a need of mine to go grim sci fi future into wargaming, and what with Decisive Campaigns:Blitzkrieg from Warsaw to Paris (and a good deal of support and encouragement from the Grogs here) being the game that broke through the opaque curtain of operational wargaming, I thought I might be able to digest this new era of VR Designs goodness.

Oh boy, this is quite a shift in complexity for this old man..

I did watch a number of DasTactic's videos and they are helpful, along with some other folks who have and are now doing more Shadow Empire content:

TortugaPower

Nookrium

ManTheMaker

Wadestar

to name a few. But I can see, this is one for the long haul and I'll probably have to take in a lot of tuition from the lets players out there to actually grok the scope of this game.

[Boggit]

Anyways, I thought Shadow Empire would tickle a need of mine to go grim sci fi future into wargaming, ...

If you want a grim Sci Fi future into Wargaming have a look at Gladius by Slitherine. It's Warhammer 40K, and a grim world of endless war.

It is said to run on Linux so is likely to play OK on your set up.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/489630/Warhammer_40000_Gladius__Relics_of_War/

[spelk]

Oh yeah, I've got that Boggit, have played it a bit, somehow I always end up as Space Marines, I can't help it.. but I did get the latest DLC for the (a)Eldar(i) and started exploring their nuances. It's from the devs of Pandora: First Contact I think and they've really polished Gladius up.

I thought Shadow Empire would take the niche slot where Armageddon Empires left (and Last Days of Old Earth failed to fill), but it seems so much more "Grand Strategy" mixed with 4X. That may not be the case later on, once you've grok'd all the systems at play, I haven't been able to get enough time or brainpower onto it yet. :)

[W8taminute]

Today I learned two valuable lessons. 1: Do NOT overbuild the city closest to your front line or your army will be paralyzed by supply shortages.
2: When your army is paralyzed by supply shortages, Nukes are your FRIEND. You nuke the nearest big enemy troop concentrations and a couple of his cities and voila! He has the same problem you do AND if you are clever you can walk into his nearest city ( well, its glowing ruins) and start prepping a new supply point!

Haha!  Nukes are always your friend...as long as you're the one using them.   ;D

[Gusington]

Holy crap - welcome back spelk!

[Lotti Fuehrscheim]

I've got the added trauma of trying to get this to work under Linux, it does not. Nor does any of Vic's games sadly, I thought perhaps Steam and the Proton thing may do it, but alas no. So I have a crappy old laptop stuggling with Win10 just to play this game.
actually grok the scope of this game.

I came upon this:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1154840/discussions/0/2293968408149035586/

It ruuuuuns !

Thanks to https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4831720

- install the game via wine
- don't install the redist at the end
- winetricks gdiplus
- winetricks dotnet472
- go to the game folder ( something like ~/.wine/drive_c/ShadowEmpire/)
- graphics/shadowmodgraphics/defaultcounterbig.png has to be converted to workaround a setpixel error. In gimp menu's: Image -> Mode -> RGB. export as png and overwrite

- Play !

[Boggit]

Good find! O0

Wine and Cider seems a good way to get games working on OS;s not designed for them. I have a PC, but my wife and son often use a Mac and have got plenty of Windows games to run using that.

[al_infierno]

Welcome back, Spelk!  I'm 408Lurker on /r/computerwargames

[spelk]

Holy crap - welcome back spelk!

Thanks Gus! Good to see so many of the old guard still on parade! :)

[spelk]

I came upon this:
Thanks to https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4831720

- install the game via wine
- don't install the redist at the end
- winetricks gdiplus
- winetricks dotnet472
- go to the game folder ( something like ~/.wine/drive_c/ShadowEmpire/)
- graphics/shadowmodgraphics/defaultcounterbig.png has to be converted to workaround a setpixel error. In gimp menu's: Image -> Mode -> RGB. export as png and overwrite

- Play !

Thanks for this Lotti, been trying this method and the one that uses Protontricks. The winetricks one stumbled at a point that looks to be tied to issues with something missing from my distribution (MXLinux). The Protontricks one sent a script into an infinite loop of some sort. So I've resigned myself to playing the game on my old laptop because thats the only one that has Win10 on it. It works. It's just a bit slow and the odd screen resolution supported by that laptop means theres not much map estate to ponder over, unless you remove all the info panels.. still, I can play it, once I get my head around it.

[spelk]

Welcome back, Spelk!  I'm 408Lurker on /r/computerwargames

Ah cool, I've noticed you over on the sub-reddit, helping out and participating in the discussions there. Keep it up soldier. The place has really taken off in terms of the readers now post the majority of the content, so I eased off a bit in terms of posting news from my RSS feeds.

Good to see you signed up to the Grogs, they'll look after you here!

[Jarhead0331]

Yeah...really good to see you spelk. I hope all is well and I hope you stick around!

[FarAway Sooner]

Spelk, it's good to see you again.  I've been wondering what your user name means for all these years, and I'd hate to think of a chance of never getting to ask you.  Is it a rural Danish breakfast cereal?  A shortened version of your last name?  A byproduct in the wheat-threshing process? 

I'm loving the game as well, even if I struggle with how generic a lot of the names are.  I really wish Vic would put tooltips in for each Council, because I'll be danged if I can remember what more than half of them do without looking it up in a bookmarked thread on the Matrix forums.   :D

[Geezer]

I just watched a couple of DasTactic's tutorial videos on supply and the road network.  It really looked like a mess, and micromanagement hell.  Can anyone comment on whether the system has been significantly improved over the last few months?  Thanks.

[fabius]

I just watched a couple of DasTactic's tutorial videos on supply and the road network.  It really looked like a mess, and micromanagement hell.  Can anyone comment on whether the system has been significantly improved over the last few months?  Thanks.

I read that it has improved.
I'm still playing deep into a game on first version.
The logistics looks micro mess, but when you get the hang of it it's ok. There's some threads on basics, like nationalise truckstop asap. Improve levels.
I'm well advanced into a game, and just most turns at the end I click preview logistics points and skim round quick to change a few traffic lights if needed.
The game isn't perfect but very rewarding in immersion. Just wish the AI was a little better