From the Depths

[Huw the Poo]

Done.  I also grabbed two extra keys which I will offer in the members-only forum.

[Huw the Poo]

Holy shit!  I fired it up for a moment just to "have a quick look" and got rather more than I bargained for.  I think I'll wait until the kids are in bed and I can devote a good couple of hours to it!

[ArizonaTank]

Holy shit!  I fired it up for a moment just to "have a quick look" and got rather more than I bargained for.  I think I'll wait until the kids are in bed and I can devote a good couple of hours to it!

The game is....well....deep...:) 

But you should be able to jump into the story missions quickly. 

Still, you will probably want to go through the tutorials in the knowledge base section.  The game takes a little bit to learn, but the payout is huge.

[Huw the Poo]

Yeah, I'm definitely going to go through the tutorials first.  Which control method do you use?  Is it worth putting in the "two hours" required to learn the mouse method?

[ArizonaTank]

Yeah, I'm definitely going to go through the tutorials first.  Which control method do you use?  Is it worth putting in the "two hours" required to learn the mouse method?

I seem to recall that I found the mouse method to be intuitive for me.  But that may be because I have had experience with applications that used a similar scheme.

[Zulu1966]

...and its on sale over at BundleStars for $5.99 for the next ~3 days.  Tempted to grab it myself, but don't really have time to put into it.

Yes thanks for this, did look it over due to this thread, but wasn't sure at the steam price I wanted to add it to a growing list of interesting but unplayed games. That price made it a no brainer

[Huw the Poo]

Christ this game is involved isn't it?  I'm overwhelmed just going through the basic tutorials.  Running a sky fortress is cool - I'm going to have the best sky fortress.

I can't wait to start a proper fleet campaign, but I think I'd better watch some tutorial videos now; I'm still not quite sure how to build engines correctly yet.

[ArizonaTank]

Christ this game is involved isn't it?  I'm overwhelmed just going through the basic tutorials.  Running a sky fortress is cool - I'm going to have the best sky fortress.

I can't wait to start a proper fleet campaign, but I think I'd better watch some tutorial videos now; I'm still not quite sure how to build engines correctly yet.

If you just want to run the campaign with "stock" vehicles, you can probably jump right in.  As you can see, the game comes with tons of pre-built craft of all types and capability.

However, for me, half the fun is "rolling my own".  I spend a great deal of time in the vehicle designer.  Then I use the X key to port in an enemy craft.  There are a few 1 point enemy craft that are good first targets.  You can also build your own target craft, just to have something to practice against.

One tactic I like is to board when facing a gaggle of enemy craft.  I let mine run on AI, then I use my avatar to board and take over the best enemy ship.  A good way to practice this is in the vehicle designer as well.  As your "character" gains levels, you will get equipment like a pistol, or SMG that will let you damage enemy ships.  Board them, hunt for the AI, then kill it....ship is yours.

Playing the story scenarios will help get some good experience points to advance level.  Also to unlock some special function blocks.

[Ubercat]

Interface wise, is ship design anything like the bigger 3D modelling applications?

[Huw the Poo]

Thanks for the tips AT.  Boarding and capturing sounds really fun.  In games like GalCiv I generally dislike having to design my own ships, but it's clearly half the fun of From the Depths so I'm determined to get stuck in.

[ArizonaTank]

Yeah, I'm definitely going to go through the tutorials first.  Which control method do you use?  Is it worth putting in the "two hours" required to learn the mouse method?

I seem to recall that I found the mouse method to be intuitive for me.  But that may be because I have had experience with applications that used a similar scheme.

I fiddled around a bit more last night.  And actually realized I have been using the "key based" method.  BTW, if you haven't got to it already, "N" and "F" are your friends in the build mode. 

[ArizonaTank]

Interface wise, is ship design anything like the bigger 3D modelling applications?

Somewhat.  But the game is block based, so the basic mechanic is to pick a block, like 45 degree sloped wood, and using a mirror mode, and fill functions, placing the blocks down.  Probably more like minecraft than 3D modeling.