Shadow Empire

[Lotti Fuehrscheim]

I have just spent the evening starting up a new Empire with the newest patch, with aircraft.

Even though I was playing a rather fertile planet, with a water and food surplus, the whole evening was spent building up a basic economy, paying through the nose to collect all the iron to bootstrap my industry. That meant an underfunded military was suppressing alien lifeforms and limited to securing a single viable zone, while peacing out with the two civilized minor neighbours.

Next session I will build an army to conquer one of them, though.

This is a good game: it creates a story with WWII into SF technology while you have leaders with their own stupid opinions and incompetencies. The human management game is true to real life.

[airboy]

This is a very challenging game.  I spent the first dozen turns building a metal mine and an industrial plant.  I've now built two regiments and have been clobbering independents - and building my road network.

You really start slow in the game if there is no existing road net at your start point.

[Geezer]

I've been resisting this, or any game really, due to too many games and too little time.  However with my 50% off Matrix coupon coming in 10 days, and the 20% off sale on now, resistance will be futile.

[solops]

I am having a blast. On a medium planet I have turtled up with six cities and am building everything out. I have finished the tech tree and as soon as I have a few more hi-tech plants operating ( so I can replace those expensive losses) I am going to roll into the #1 nation behind a wave of thermonuclear missile barrages. There are, I think, only three other majors left, two huge and one my size. we will see if those aircraft are worth their cost.

[airboy]

I've found out that mounted nomads eat slug throwing infantry.

But mounted nomads hate artillery and MG buggies with even light armor.   

I'm only about 18 turns in the game.  It has a slow start and then ramps up.  You can really screw yourself if you don't develop your industry and raw materials properly early on.

[al_infierno]

What organizational level do you guys usually start with?  I waffle between Only Supreme and starting with Basic 4.  Seems like with Only Supreme, it can take a long time to get new techs and OOBs moving.

[airboy]

A great source for info on the game is DasTactic.

His tutorial playlist (20 videos !) : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGB6RkFB7ZmPoXDAaR8FbM3xujwMsDgEv

He also played a number of games on his Twitch channel : https://www.twitch.tv/dastactic/videos?filter=archives&sort=time

I read most of the manual before playing.  This includes all of the "how to" chapters through where he dives deep under the hood of the engine to explain the various parts.

I did not understand the game very well from all of this reading.  I played Advanced Tactics Gold a lot - and the military and logistics model is similar.  Still, I kept blowing it.

Then I started watching Das Tactics Videos.  Wow!

I hate game videos.  But this guy gets to the point and clarifies a very complicated game.

If you buy this game, or have not been satisfied with your play I strongly recommend these videos!

[jamus34]

Right on the nose AB - I like how Das gives you a quick and dirty answer or suggestion on some things and then will dig into the nuts and bolts of it.

[Lotti Fuehrscheim]

I sometimes watch Das, and sometimes he explains something explicitly, but I learn more from him making big mistakes.

Like yesterday he started a war with a major, with lots of good new tanks, who cut through the enemy lines like a knife through butter in the opening of the offensive. And then all his fuel was spent, and they became sitting ducks, while there was no way he could bring up fuel production on short notice. That was funny and a deliciously useful lesson :-)

[jamus34]

Yup, the one game I went long on I found metal being my major bottleneck. I couldn't find / generate enough of it so I had to rely on a lot of infantry and use my armor in "tip of the spear" approach along with some artillery. I could win most battles / wars but it really slowed me down.

[Father Ted]

I sometimes watch Das, and sometimes he explains something explicitly, but I learn more from him making big mistakes.

Like yesterday he started a war with a major, with lots of good new tanks, who cut through the enemy lines like a knife through butter in the opening of the offensive. And then all his fuel was spent, and they became sitting ducks, while there was no way he could bring up fuel production on short notice. That was funny and a deliciously useful lesson :-)

Spoiler alert!  I haven't seen that one yet!  Only joking of course.  I watched all of the first "season" before starting to play the game and it was invaluable.  I'm catching up now on season two to remind me how to play before starting a new game.

[Lotti Fuehrscheim]

I sometimes watch Das, and sometimes he explains something explicitly, but I learn more from him making big mistakes.

Like yesterday he started a war with a major, with lots of good new tanks, who cut through the enemy lines like a knife through butter in the opening of the offensive. And then all his fuel was spent, and they became sitting ducks, while there was no way he could bring up fuel production on short notice. That was funny and a deliciously useful lesson :-)

Spoiler alert!  I haven't seen that one yet!  Only joking of course.  I watched all of the first "season" before starting to play the game and it was invaluable.  I'm catching up now on season two to remind me how to play before starting a new game.

This is a case where I think it can be more amusing to see it coming while it is being played out.

[al_infierno]

Out on Steam now.

[Pete Dero]

Out on Steam now.

https://www.twitch.tv/slitherinegroup - Steam Release Stream with Hexaboo

[solops]

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!