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Not a 4X, but I don't think there's a generic strategy game thread, so I thought I'd put in a good word for Mechanicus. I'm not particularly a Warhammer fan, but this is just a well put together, tightly scoped small squad TBS. You have a squad of cyborgs, you run missions to level them up and access new skills, implants, weapons, squad members, spells, etc. It's more chill than XCOM, partly just due to it not having the same game design goals of maintaining tension, and partly because the RNG is less pronounced - attacks never miss (with the odd exception), the only variance is on damage dealt. Put in about 15 hours so far and have been really pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable it's been. Also I really like the sound design, the soundtrack is nice unobtrusive dark ambient/industrial, and the sound and vocal effects are pretty cool. I'll note that the only reason I bought this was because I happened on this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGnQ98qwlAg) randomly during the autumn sale when it cost 7 bucks, and some of the other games in the video I already had and were Extremely My poo poo so I gave it a chance. Recommend wishlisting for a sale if it sounds good.
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Dec 5, 2021 04:46
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metasynthetic posted:Not a 4X, but I don't think there's a generic strategy game thread, so I thought I'd put in a good word for Mechanicus. I'm not particularly a Warhammer fan, but this is just a well put together, tightly scoped small squad TBS. You have a squad of cyborgs, you run missions to level them up and access new skills, implants, weapons, squad members, spells, etc. It's more chill than XCOM, partly just due to it not having the same game design goals of maintaining tension, and partly because the RNG is less pronounced - attacks never miss (with the odd exception), the only variance is on damage dealt. Put in about 15 hours so far and have been really pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable it's been. Also I really like the sound design, the soundtrack is nice unobtrusive dark ambient/industrial, and the sound and vocal effects are pretty cool. Fyi there is a strategy games thread https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3869771&pagenumber=36&perpage=40 Thanks for the review though I bet the venn diagram of people with these two threads bookmarked is a circle, in any case
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Dec 5, 2021 06:47
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Ah, thanks for the heads up, I only ever check back 5 pages and turns out it was on 6.
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Dec 5, 2021 06:53
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Mechanicus is good as gently caress, my only complaint was lack of replayability — ymmv though, the game really is fun. I hope that one gets made in an Xcom kinda way with more strategic resource management/choices to be made.
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Dec 5, 2021 13:41
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Battlesector is also pretty good but Mechanicus is the better of the two. It's a shame that the dlc for battlesector is 2-3 new units and not an entire faction and campaign since giving me some terminators and 3 new enemies isn't enough for a replay. Obviously that's way more work but it's an unusually good 40k game so I want more of it Edit: the Mechanicus soundtrack is fantastic. Gothic, dark, kind of dubstep inspired.
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Dec 5, 2021 14:06
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Brandfarlig posted:Battlesector is also pretty good but Mechanicus is the better of the two. It's a shame that the dlc for battlesector is 2-3 new units and not an entire faction and campaign since giving me some terminators and 3 new enemies isn't enough for a replay. Obviously that's way more work but it's an unusually good 40k game so I want more of it I just finished Mechanicus not too long ago and it's amazing how good sound and music design can absolutely make a game. Like Darkest Dungeon. Game already rules and the sound design just takes it over the top
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Dec 5, 2021 15:26
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Brandfarlig posted:Battlesector is also pretty good but Mechanicus is the better of the two. It's a shame that the dlc for battlesector is 2-3 new units and not an entire faction and campaign since giving me some terminators and 3 new enemies isn't enough for a replay. Obviously that's way more work but it's an unusually good 40k game so I want more of it They are definitely going to be new factions however. In fact I think they're doing the official annoucement as part of some pre-Xmas GW event. Edit: December the 14th.
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Dec 5, 2021 16:11
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Anyone tried out the Galactic Civilizations 4 alpha?
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Dec 5, 2021 16:11
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orangelex44 posted:Anyone tried out the Galactic Civilizations 4 alpha? Its been mentioned a few times in the thread already, but do not give money to Stardock.
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Dec 5, 2021 16:59
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After like five or six years of development the much-anticipated 4X Eador followup by designer Alexey Bokulev, Spire of Sorcery, has released into early access aaaaaand.... It's flopped onto steam as a deckbuilding roguelike FTL ripoff, with precisely zero of the features advertised during the many years it was in development?! Feels like the devs couldn't finish the original vision so they just decided to rip off Slay the Spire (which seems to be a common trend right now) and say gently caress it. Post-mortem on this one is gonna be interesting. 
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Dec 5, 2021 17:54
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orangelex44 posted:Anyone tried out the Galactic Civilizations 4 alpha? From what I've read it doesn't seem that different from Gal Civ 3 with the expansions, maybe it will be interesting enough to pick up on a sale one day.
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Dec 5, 2021 18:31
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Bug Squash posted:Its been mentioned a few times in the thread already, but do not give money to Stardock. By all means, make an exception for Offworld Trading Company. It's just published by them, and it's an exceptional game which deserved a lot better than the niche status it ended up with.
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Dec 5, 2021 18:44
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Rime posted:After like five or six years of development the much-anticipated 4X Eador followup by designer Alexey Bokulev, Spire of Sorcery, has released into early access aaaaaand.... Slaying the Spire of Sorcery.
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Dec 5, 2021 18:55
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Rime posted:After like five or six years of development the much-anticipated 4X Eador followup by designer Alexey Bokulev, Spire of Sorcery, has released into early access aaaaaand.... Are we thinking about the same game? https://store.steampowered.com/app/637050/Spire_of_Sorcery/ This one? It plays nothing like a deck builder or FTL besides the very basic roguelike ideas. Anyways, it's kind of funny having three mages eating random herb that makes them look high and turn their hair blue then struggle to open the most mundane chest and blowing up ruins and choking on dust then set themselves on fire. pedro0930 fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Dec 5, 2021 |
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Dec 5, 2021 19:07
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So it was on sale for a fiver so I got Distant Worlds Universe. But it wont launch. like I get the little splash screen popup thing and then nada. I know my laptop while not the best in the world has even more than the recommended specs, let alone required. What gives?
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Dec 5, 2021 19:56
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:So it was on sale for a fiver so I got Distant Worlds Universe. But it wont launch. like I get the little splash screen popup thing and then nada. I know my laptop while not the best in the world has even more than the recommended specs, let alone required. Graphic drivers updated and/or are you using a dedicated graphics card?
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Dec 5, 2021 20:18
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Thom12255 posted:From what I've read it doesn't seem that different from Gal Civ 3 with the expansions, maybe it will be interesting enough to pick up on a sale one day. Which looked basically the same as GalCiv2. Who do they think they are? Illwinter?
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Dec 5, 2021 20:20
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Most 4xes end up feeling dead and soulless, because of course a computer game can't replicate a living universe. But Gal Civ is the deadest of the lot.
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Dec 5, 2021 20:57
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Pharnakes posted:Most 4xes end up feeling dead and soulless, because of course a computer game can't replicate a living universe. But Gal Civ is the deadest of the lot. An economy running on libertarian assumptions is pretty funny tho. My favorite part of that is how actual people have no economic value. Work is done by the factory complex itself.
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Dec 5, 2021 21:49
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THE BAR posted:Which looked basically the same as GalCiv2. Who do they think they are? Illwinter? Looking the same doesn't necessarily mean it's the same game really (although perhaps that's your point in the first place). The Dominions series has very much revamped itself under the hood while seeming to be the same at a casual glance.
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Dec 5, 2021 21:57
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Pharnakes posted:Most 4xes end up feeling dead and soulless, because of course a computer game can't replicate a living universe. But Gal Civ is the deadest of the lot. That brings up an interesting topic. Which are the least deadest 4Xes?
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Dec 5, 2021 21:58
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orangelex44 posted:Looking the same doesn't necessarily mean it's the same game really (although perhaps that's your point in the first place). The Dominions series has very much revamped itself under the hood while seeming to be the same at a casual glance. Yeah, it was the visual aspect. GalCiv3 added a bunch of mechanics and things to stick on your ships, and the Dominions series only get better. Still looking the exact same way for a decade. Jack Trades posted:That brings up an interesting topic. Stellaris is pretty alive for the first quarter of any playthrough. 
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Dec 5, 2021 21:58
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:So it was on sale for a fiver so I got Distant Worlds Universe. But it wont launch. like I get the little splash screen popup thing and then nada. I know my laptop while not the best in the world has even more than the recommended specs, let alone required. There's a known issue with trying to launch it on a modern system. I'd like you to some relevant threads in the steam discussions page but it seems to be down. FAKE EDIT: Found a thread on GOG about it, YMMV though I know I tried the solutions people presented the last time I tried to play it and couldn't get it to work.
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Dec 5, 2021 22:23
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THE BAR posted:Stellaris is pretty alive for the first quarter of any playthrough. I can't pin point where it happens but every Stellaris playthrough becomes mind-numbingly boring and pointless and it's long before the late-game.
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Dec 5, 2021 22:31
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In my experience it's when there are no unclaimed systems in reach. The very moment when all my borders butt up against other borders is the moment when there's nothing exciting left to do It's a drat shame because it feels to me like the best star trek empire management game that doesn't use any star trek IP (instead just the high concepts). So I think the game really just needs a whole lot more events (meaningful events) that revolve around diplomacy. There needs to be more to interaction with your neighbours than making your army number bigger than theirs and shuffling different numbers over at the UN (where your vote barely matters anyway) Microplastics fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Dec 5, 2021 |
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Dec 5, 2021 22:35
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It seems to me, that since the game has some excellent explorative events and story chains, maybe you shouldn't be completely blocked off from those the second the map painter part of the game kicks in.
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Dec 5, 2021 22:40
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It's just weird that Stellaris is so lifeless yet I can quite easily finish a CK3 or EU4 game. I've never once finished Stellaris.
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Dec 5, 2021 22:42
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Probably Sword of the Stars? Always some random events happening, and many of the events will escalate or not depending on your action. Lots of different ship parts that actually changes your tactic instead of just making your numbers bigger, allowing more interesting interaction instead of just putting shield on your ship against laser, put armor on your ship against ballistic.
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Dec 5, 2021 22:55
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Jack Trades posted:That brings up an interesting topic. X4 as well takes that to an even further extreme with an absolute ton of traffic flying around actually fulfilling material requirements for all the different factions. It might not look like a 4X game but when you play it as an empire-builder you can spend most of your time in the map directing your ships, fleets and stations around.
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Dec 5, 2021 23:21
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JeremoudCorbynejad posted:In my experience it's when there are no unclaimed systems in reach. The very moment when all my borders butt up against other borders is the moment when there's nothing exciting left to do If only a studio that was good at politics and intrigue did Stellaris instead (I look at the label) oh gently caress. What the gently caress.
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Dec 5, 2021 23:44
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Jack Trades posted:That brings up an interesting topic. Alpha Centauri from a few decades ago. Endless Legend has good distinct factions and seasons so the world remains active. It has other issues so it’s been a long time since I played it, but I don’t remember feeling like I am just victory lapping the way I do in their latest effort, Humankind.
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Dec 6, 2021 01:01
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pedro0930 posted:Probably Sword of the Stars? Always some random events happening, and many of the events will escalate or not depending on your action. Lots of different ship parts that actually changes your tactic instead of just making your numbers bigger, allowing more interesting interaction instead of just putting shield on your ship against laser, put armor on your ship against ballistic. Seconding this. For some reason SotS1 continually sticks in my memory as the 4X where I played a shitload of games but very rarely ever got into the "I'm bored because nothing is happening but map painting/research, time to restart" loop that most 4Xes fall into. The grand menaces were tuned very well to keep things dangerous even if you were rolling, and the AI could occasionally be very mean about pulling out hard counter techs if you got complacent.
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Dec 6, 2021 01:09
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:So it was on sale for a fiver so I got Distant Worlds Universe. But it wont launch. like I get the little splash screen popup thing and then nada. I know my laptop while not the best in the world has even more than the recommended specs, let alone required. In your Distant Worlds install folder there is a 'startup.ini' file. Change 'playmovie 1' to 'playmovie 0'.
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Dec 6, 2021 01:22
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JeremoudCorbynejad posted:In my experience it's when there are no unclaimed systems in reach. The very moment when all my borders butt up against other borders is the moment when there's nothing exciting left to do Does the Wild Space mod help with that at all? I mean, for me, the game stales out just after the first war. Or after you have in some other way grown large enough that the AIs will never be able to threaten you again. But I think the Wild Space mod is designed specifically to fix your thing. ----- Anyhoo, Stellar Monarch 2 goes into EA tomorrow. If you don't remember or haven't heard of Stellar Monarch before, it's this plucky little one-man 4X. I haven't been following the development of the sequel too closely, so I'm not 100% sure what to expect, but the original has a bunch of that people are always saying they want to see more of in the genre; asymmetric mechanics, military automation, internal politics (kind of)? It's fast and light and definitely tries to put the player into the role of a Galactic Emperor specifically, rather letting them micromanagement every aspect of the state. I'm interested to see what's new in this version. KOGAHAZAN!! fucked around with this message at 01:25 on Dec 6, 2021 |
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Dec 6, 2021 01:23
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Oh I liked Stellar Monarch. First game I saw which had a “fronts” system (that is, you assign units to a front instead of controlling them directly). Vicky 3 is introducing a similar concept; will be good to see how Paradox approaches it. I hope the SM dev gets a proofreader this time though.
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Dec 6, 2021 04:24
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:So it was on sale for a fiver so I got Distant Worlds Universe. But it wont launch. like I get the little splash screen popup thing and then nada. I know my laptop while not the best in the world has even more than the recommended specs, let alone required. Try this: https://steamcommunity.com/app/261470/discussions/0/3307213006832926359/ I had the same problem quite a time ago and iirc installing these DirectX files did the trick for me. Disabling the intro movies can't hurt either.
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Dec 6, 2021 14:37
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 I love early access 
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Dec 6, 2021 20:26
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KOGAHAZAN!! posted:
Not gonna lie, that's pretty rad.
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Dec 7, 2021 01:20
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/889080/Deity_Empires/ Has anyone here tried this? Looks like a cheapo Dominions, and therefore sorta interesting.
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Dec 7, 2021 09:12
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"Cheapo Dominions" is a terrifying phrase
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Dec 7, 2021 09:32
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