Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance

[Boggit]

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.

[FarAway Sooner]

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.

[SirAndrewD]

Meh, the Dark Fate universe doesn't really get me going. 

[Gusington]

SCHWING

[JasonPratt]

Okay, I may have to search TTS to see if Freedom in the Galaxy / Star Rebellions has been ported by some fan...!

[FarAway Sooner]

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.

[Destraex]

Still single player only?