Armada 2526 Supernova PBEM campaigns

[W8taminute]

The Teyes Flock of Seagulls declared war on me for declaring war on the Tree People.

...And I in turn declared war on the Teyes for declaring war on you.  Was thinking of trying to sign a peace treaty with them, but obviously wanted to consult with you before I made any attempt. 

I also saw a diplomatic message stating that the Forians declared against our brothers the Jellutions.

Yeah, when it rains it pours! 

Fortunately, I was able to get them to agree to a 10-turn truce.  Not sure if it'll hold, of course, but it at least gives me a small amount of breathing room.

What we have here now is a WW1 style chain reaction of war declarations!  First the Waldens hit you so you hit back, but then that angers me so I hit the Waldens for hitting you and then the Teyes hit me for hitting the Waldens.  It's almost a full fledged bar room brawl.  Shelldrake is down the road about 5 miles away from the bar but he does not have a car so he's walking.  He'll eventually make it to the party though.  I'm wondering if I should sign a relay treaty with the Linkin.  I do believe that is a diplomatic option.

[W8taminute]

Got my turn this morning.  Tried to attack the Walden holding of Dunkerque and decided to break off the attack.  See screen shot attached for the reason why. 

The Walden may not have any fleets of significance in my area, but if all of their colonies are defended like this I'm gonna need a bigger boat.

[Shelldrake]

W8taminute,
4 or 5 cruisers and the same number of devastators will even the odds nicely or you can screen a big assault fleet with corvettes and take out the ground defenses with space marines but you will take heavy losses.

BTW the Linkin just declared war on the Teyes to honor our treaty obligations with the humans. Once I build a relay station I will be able to join the party!  :D

[W8taminute]

Great advice Shelldrake and thanks.  I'll go with the former suggestion since I only have one planet that produces ships.  It will take some time to assemble that type of fleet but I won't have to constantly replace Corvette cannon fodder.

[Martok]

Got my turn this morning.  Tried to attack the Walden holding of Dunkerque and decided to break off the attack.  See screen shot attached for the reason why. 

The Walden may not have any fleets of significance in my area, but if all of their colonies are defended like this I'm gonna need a bigger boat.

I suspect that is indeed rather typical of their defense setup; Champagne has similarly heavy defenses (more so, actually).  It's the main reason I switched from building Corvettes to Escort Carriers (and I intend to add a few Cruisers to the mix as well). 

BTW the Linkin just declared war on the Teyes to honor our treaty obligations with the humans. Once I build a relay station I will be able to join the party!  :D

All right!  Now we can have some fun.  8) 

[Windigo]

This totally rocks you guys, love the way you are describing this PBEM ...how is the single player game? On steam it didn't get that great a rating

[W8taminute]

I bought this game about a year ago now and enjoyed the single player game a lot.  My initial impression was that this is like total war medieval in space. 

After playing for many hours I realized that I was wrong and that this game, in single player, is simple enough to play, but requires a lot of thought in planning out your moves.  What I mean is that you need to build up your empire carefully and not just spam buildings all over your planets.  I still have a 4 player hotseat game that I play from time to time by myself.  That's how much I like this game.

Now when you start playing against other humans in a PBEM, it gets real interesting.  ;)

[Martok]

Besides which, if I do end up needing direct military assistance from you, it'll likely be with the Florians.  Given their continued refusal to accept my offers of a nonaggression treaty, I won't be at all surprised if they attempt to take advantage of my preoccupation with the Walden to attack my far-flung (and woefully under-defended) eastern colonies.  :-\

By the by, this is precisely what happened:  The damn Florians declared war only two turns after the Walden had done so.  Fortunately, I was able to persuade them to sign a truce, but I fear it won't last. 

This totally rocks you guys, love the way you are describing this PBEM ...how is the single player game? On steam it didn't get that great a rating

I continue to find singleplayer to be a very enjoyable experience. 


As W8taminute indicated, one must put a good deal of thought into your strategy -- where to colonize, which buildings to construct on your planets, which techs to research (including which field(s) to focus on), etc.  Armada 2526 Supernova is one of those relative handful of strategy titles that requires, you know, actual *strategy*.  :) 

Also, since the AI is actually decent in this game, I feel a sense of genuine accomplishment when I win (which admittedly doesn't always happen!).  I won't call it brilliant, but it is generally competent, and does a better job of exhibiting "human-like" behavior than in most strategy/wargames I've played. 



To play devil's advocate, however, I would surmise the game hasn't done so well on Steam (or even overall, unfortunately) for largely 2 reasons: 

1.)  The combat (which I'm sure you've heard me criticize before). 

2.)  The visuals, especially in terms of art style:  It's painfully obvious that Armada had only a miniscule art budget, which led Bob Smith to (understandably) give the game a rather minimalist visual style -- there are no beautiful planets or moons to admire close up, the UI is intuitive but has a rather utilitarian appearance, and the races all share the same shipset (with a handful of exceptions).  It's easy for me to overlook these things because of the excellent gameplay, but it admittedly detracts from the atmosphere & immersion -- two factors that often make or break a game. 


That being said, those two critiques aren't nearly sufficient enough to drag me away from Armada.  Unless & until I get around to trying out the 4x titles being released this year (most notably, Endless Space, Legends of Pegasus, and StarDrive), it easily remains my favorite space strategy game I've played in the last several years.  :D 

[Windigo]

Thanks for the responses. I actually d/l the game from Steam last night .... and the bugger gives me the message "Game not available at this time, try agin later" ... that is a serious WTF?

didn't find a fix so if you Grogs have possible ideas...

I am playing warlock from steam with no probs so WTF indeed

[Martok]

Hey guys, a thousand apologies for my absence the last few days.  I was experiencing...difficulties with my computer, and have only now finally gotten things up and running again.  (At the same time, I was suffering what has been one of the worst migraines I've had so far this year.  Not a fun week. :-\ ) 

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that I should have my turns sent out for our PBEM games sometime tomorrow.  Thanks for being patient with me! 

Thanks for the responses. I actually d/l the game from Steam last night .... and the bugger gives me the message "Game not available at this time, try agin later" ... that is a serious WTF?

didn't find a fix so if you Grogs have possible ideas...

I am playing warlock from steam with no probs so WTF indeed

Windy, are you still having problems with this?  Have you tried re-downloading the game since then? 

[Shelldrake]

No worries Martok. I occasionally suffer from migraines too. Glad you and your computer are back in the zone. :)

[W8taminute]

Martok, I hope you're feeling better.  We will always be here so don't worry about us but do take care of yourself. 

[Shelldrake]

The Linkin have now entered the fray in our 3-way co-op game. One Linkin fleet has subjugated a world belonging to the Forest and a second battle fleet is on the way.

[Martok]

Excellent; thank goodness for the Linkin and Humans!  I'm still too damn broke to do anything other than just sit there.  >:( 

[W8taminute]

Nice work Linkin Empire!  I've been at peace with the Waldens for the past 4 or 5 turns now while I re-assemble a fleet capable of punching through their ground and orbital defenses.  I have a feeling the Linkin will pick apart the Walden before I re-declare.  :D

To our brothers the Jellutions: The Human Alliance can send some funds on our next turn.  ;)