I've just had this press release from Slitherine.
Slitherine are due to release this interesting looking take about the human resistance to the Terminator machines takeover of the world. It's a RTS game.
"Slitherine just announced a new game Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839950/Terminator_Dark_Fate__Defiance/
Live Gameplay Reveal. Join them next week, on Tuesday May 30th, at 5 PM BST on Slitherine Twitch Channel!"
https://www.twitch.tv/slitherinetv
More here: https://www.slitherine.com/news/terminator-dark-fate-defiance-live-gameplay-reveal-announced
If I hear more I'll let you know.
I've often wondered how to model low-intensity conflict well in a wargaming setting.
The most common approach seems to be X-COM style games featuring tactical missions where there is a "You are the resistance" storyline and strategic layer but little actual emphasis on tactics. I'm familiar with a couple titles out there but none that I've played.
The original AI Wars had an interesting take, where the remnants of humanity are left on isolated planets, like rats living between the walls of an AI-dominated house, where you have to carefully choose the rewards of specific decisions (blow up an AI base, activate an Ancient Secret Weapon that one of your ships discovered, etc.) versus the penalty of increasing AI readiness.
It featured great atmospheric feel, because you could usually see enough AI forces clustered in nearby systems to know that, if they ever got mobilized and decided to come after you in full force, you were totally dead meat. This gave more depth to the strategic layer of the game, while still leaving the tactical depth of the individual battles fully intact.
The first time I ran across this dynamic was in a board game, SPI's ambitious "Freedom In the Galaxy", released in 1979, where the vastly superior Imperial Forces largely had their hands tied due to "Imperial Readiness Level" penalties.
One could raise the Readiness level of various planets and systems through Imperial missions (often Diplomacy-related), detecting Rebel characters on planets doing missions, planetary rebellions in nearby systems, etc. One could let it subside by leaving planets alone for a long time.
It was the first effort I'm aware of to portray asymmetrical warfare in a wargame. The fact that two of the main Rebel characters were named "Adam Starlight" and "Zina Adora" and their portraits looked a lot like Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia made the game seem derivative, but the gaming mechanics were quite groundbreaking.
I've wondered why more games don't try to introduce some sort of a "How into this effort are your people and institutions?" dynamic. Even when it's done, it seems pretty heavy-handed and simplistic.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/09/Cover_of_Freedom_in_the_Galaxy.png)
Meh, the Dark Fate universe doesn't really get me going.
SCHWING
Okay, I may have to search TTS to see if Freedom in the Galaxy / Star Rebellions has been ported by some fan...!
Like a lot of those SPI games, it would probably be a hugely complicated, unwieldy mess to folks used to modern games (PC or board). But I remember marveling at the game system when I first read it. I only ever played it solitaire. Between me and my friends, none of us ever wanted to play The Empire.
Still single player only?
Demo is finally out on steam. PVP and single player missions... but only single player skirmish and campaign in demo.
Pretty impressed so far apart from the performance.. which seems laggy.
Great unit selection and great atmosphere so far.
Quote from: Destraex on October 12, 2023, 03:24:15 AMDemo is finally out on steam. PVP and single player missions... but only single player skirmish and campaign in demo.
Pretty impressed so far apart from the performance.. which seems laggy.
Great unit selection and great atmosphere so far.
I've enjoyed the campaign missions, but I do feel that they are too scripted and linear. Hopefully, later missions open up and present the player with a few more options to achieve objectives.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 12, 2023, 03:48:16 AMQuote from: Destraex on October 12, 2023, 03:24:15 AMDemo is finally out on steam. PVP and single player missions... but only single player skirmish and campaign in demo.
Pretty impressed so far apart from the performance.. which seems laggy.
Great unit selection and great atmosphere so far.
I've enjoyed the campaign missions, but I do feel that they are too scripted and linear. Hopefully, later missions open up and present the player with a few more options to achieve objectives.
Alternately, in the next scenario to be released, they could discover a time machine, but only after the AI had sent some units back to an earlier scenario, and then the Resistance would have to send units back, and you'd pick up right on Turn 3 of your second scenario.
THEN, after winning the campaign, you'd realize that there were alternate timelines, sending in their own units to try and thwart the Resistance, and you'd have to go back to Turn 4 of your third scenario (the second time around) to try to...
Sorry. I got off track there.
I watched a "Let's play" video covering the demo. There did not seem to be any resource management or production aspects to the game.
Is it possible to play as the terminators in a campaign game?
Is the full version nothing but a collection of missions that are called a campaign?
I have to say, I find the current trend of "time limited" demos to be infuriating and very off-putting. What is the benefit to the publisher?
"Want to see what the game is like? Oh, sorry, the demo only worked last week."
The game doesn't even have a release date yet, but in the meantime no one can even play the demo while they wait.
I did have fun with it this weekend, but like Jarhead mentioned, I also thought it was too scripted. The atmosphere and sounds were great... the dialog and voice-acting, not so much.
I'll probably hold off on purchasing until at least a 50% off sale.
I have to agree with you Sigwolf that time limited demos are very off putting. They are designed to get you all hyped up. Then when the demo expires you're left with wanting more but since the demo is gone the next best thing is to pre-order. And so people fall for it.
Frankly, I'm sick and tired of these marketers that study human emotion and abuse the knowledge they gain in order to exploit human emotion. This is what the world has come to. Let's think up of some crafty ways to extract every last penny from the sheeple.
Sorry if I sound like am ranting, I'm not I assure you. But I am calling out this dastardly behavior when I see it.
^It will be ok.
Unfortunately, this has been delayed from an expected release of this December 7 to February 21st, 2024.
It's out.
I'm playing through the campaign again. It is a very polished game and they did a particularly good job on unit variety. I'm looking forward to exploring this thing in more detail...especially when I can't get into Hell Divers II...
Jarhead I am loving this game. Just a little bummed they promised multiplayer skirmish coop approx two weeks from release and nothing yet (EDIT: I just looked and multiplayer improvements are listed in the patche after next as a focus). Only 4 missions or so into the campaign so no spoilers. I was not going to post here until I had finished the campaign, but as I am now distracted by Warthunder events I thought I would express my SUPREME satisfaction with this game. It has everything I want from a RTS game and a Terminator one. Absolutely brilliant story telling and company of heroes or men of war 2 assault squad features such as use of cover and picking up or scavenging weapons from the battlefield.
This is what starships troopers terran command should have been.
By the way has anybody noticed that a lot of the best games have been coming out of eastern countries for many years now? I think these guys might be Hungarian? It's like the western studios are paralised by high wages and brain drain to higher paid jobs outside of the game industry. Additionally Western overheads seem to include a lot of social elements which water things down. For example Homeworld3 devs 4 day working week and focus on social events more than game updates.
To illustrate here are the tutorial pages that turn up throughout the campaign and are also available I believe in the main menu. There is also an encyclopdia of vehicles etc. Very well done. What more could you want? You can basically do whatever tactical method you wish with all of these features.
(https://i.imgur.com/Cl0KQwR.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/pXnheIR.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/cm3feCI.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/vAWGquU.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/c6bDSPI.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/B7RbYyL.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Kh4yZFa.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Wg6Vo0q.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/bfqRNC9.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/uWKnjKr.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/3n5K0l7.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/BCbZtMZ.jpeg)