General Strategy & Sim thread

[Brian Boru]

For posts probably not worth their own thread, but we don't want to get lost in the weekly random threads either. Fyi there's a useful "in this thread" function in the forum search at the top, if you think some obscure Strat-Sim game or topic might be in this thread.

 

[Brian Boru]

Paths to Supremacy

I just watched a captivating 12-minute video—with labeled sections & timestamps—about this RTS, which isn't playable yet, and may be years from fruition. But I love the ideas, and what he's done in the last 3 years looks phenomenal.

"RTS game with Base building, a project Inspired by Command and Conquer, Supreme Commander and Earth 2140, made in the Unreal Engine 4 by a solo ex modder, turned amateur indie developer"

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dufE4HGQbf0


Links to the devs properties are in the description, and he's interacting in the comments.

 

[Brian Boru]

One of my fav YT strat people says:
"RTS in 2023 is looking good - and beyond is looking incredible"

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLxbJ41i2J0
7m vid

 

[Brian Boru]

RTS on Console

Huh? Whaat??

Apparently it works, and works very well for some titles.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN965Y-3a84

12m

This could be great for the genre if it brings a wider audience.

 

[Pifanjr]

Haven't watches the video, but it made me remember playing Starcraft on a Nintendo 64 once as a kid. It wasn't great, but it existed.

And I think it was World in Conflict who was one of the first games to support voice commands to make it easier to play on consoles.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Command and Conquer/Red Alert was on the original Playstation. I hear it was terrible compared to PC versions but I never played it.

I remember playing a Warhammer RTS on the PS One that was actually pretty good for the time. Looks like it was Dark Omen, M+K way better of course but it was functional enough as I remember it.

 

[Brian Boru]

This 6yo Reddit mentions a few RTSs as console-friendly:

Command and Conquer 3(Xbox 360)
Halo Wars 1 & 2 (Xbox One)
Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth 2(Xbox 360)
Red Alert
Red Alert 3(Xbox 360 & PS3)
Starcraft
Supreme Commander
Tooth and Tail
Universe at War(Xbox 360)

ETA—GamesRadar 2017 article:

Command & Conquer
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
Dune: The Battle for Arrakis
Halo Wars
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth 2
Warcraft 2

 

[Brian Boru]

Epic games can have Steam Workshop mods! Edge's Bing AI tells me:
—…—
Yes, you can use Steam Workshop mods with an Epic Games Store purchase of Civilization VI. You can browse the Steam Workshop to find the mod you are looking for and copy the URL of the mod. Then, use a Steam Workshop Downloader and paste the URL you have from the Workshop. After downloading the mod, extract it to the Civilization VI mod folder — typically `\\Documents\\my games\\Sid Meier's Civilization VI (Epic)\\Mods\\`
—…—
I don't know yet if this applies to other Epic games, but I assume it does. I guess it should also apply to other stores like GOG & Ubi, but don't know.

Post what you know!

 

[Brian Boru]

Gameranx 15m vid:

10 Realistic Games That BEHAVE Like REAL LIFE​

 

[Zloth]

ROFL at the cop car at 6:00!

 

[Brian Boru]

Free Weekend
August 04-06 2023 on Steam

Global Conflagration RTS

Blitz playtest for this Early Access game for the weekend.

perafilozof 9m video

 

[Brian Boru]

Free RTS game Beyond All Reason, currently in alpha. 13m review video author Zade is impressed.

BAR is part of the Total Annihilation & Supreme Commander family:

Back in the GODs, TA was my 3rd-fav RTS series, after C&C and RA.

 

[Zed Clampet]

This strategy series that I've never heard of looks kind of interesting and I think all the games have demos (will post to demo thread). The latest one is scheduled to release on 8/23. All the previous games except for one have Very Positive Steam reviews.

Link to the game releasing soon:

Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty on Steam

Prove to have a true Strategic Mind! Spirit of Liberty will put your strategic planning skills to the test. It’s a hardcore, turn-based, historically accurate strategy game set in WWII. Lead Finnish forces against an overwhelming threat through the Winter War, Continuation War, and Lapland War.

store.steampowered.com

Link to the "Complete Collection":

Strategic Mind Complete Collection on Steam

store.steampowered.com

 

[Zed Clampet]

Total War Warhammer 3 is getting review bombed and rightfully so. Charging $25 for a minor DLC is shameful. It will be the first TWW DLC I don't buy. They can stop supporting the game, which is what they are threatening. That's fine with me. We'll stop supporting your future games, as well, and you all can just go home and file unemployment.

 

[Brian Boru]

Charging $25 for a minor DLC is shameful

Would this be Sega's influence?

 

[Zed Clampet]

Would this be Sega's influence?

They're the bosses. Whether they are behind this, though, I couldn't say.

 

[Pifanjr]

Total War Warhammer 3 is getting review bombed and rightfully so. Charging $25 for a minor DLC is shameful. It will be the first TWW DLC I don't buy. They can stop supporting the game, which is what they are threatening. That's fine with me. We'll stop supporting your future games, as well, and you all can just go home and file unemployment.

With how terrible the launch of Warhammer 3 was and how many bugs have existed in the engine for years now, I get the feeling that their code has become too messy to properly work with. At least something in their development process seems to be going wrong if the new DLC suddenly costs twice as much as previous DLCs, while seemingly containing less content than a lot of older ones.

 

[Zed Clampet]

With how terrible the launch of Warhammer 3 was and how many bugs have existed in the engine for years now, I get the feeling that their code has become too messy to properly work with. At least something in their development process seems to be going wrong if the new DLC suddenly costs twice as much as previous DLCs, while seemingly containing less content than a lot of older ones.

Their explanation for the price increase was that their costs had gone up. It's all just corporate greed, though, because their costs, per their own quarterly reports, are the same as in 2017, and their net profits are going up roughly 25 percent a year. Pretty much all/most large gaming companies are making more than ever, which makes all the price increases complete BS.

Don't know about the code. Going through the files, you find things for other games inside the Warhammer files, and the tables are the same way, so I have long considered it sort of a mess. No idea what their process is for a new game, but I suspect they start with the last one and start adding/deleting/modifying. Probably is faster that way, but more confusing.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I just looked at the store page and if you had paid full price for the 3 games and all the DLC's it'd be €440 for everything. That Immortal Empires campaign must be pretty intense.

Guess theyre just trying to get the last few drops out of it from the die hards who have to have everything. Do they have all the races in there now? If so maybe not much more to add to make it worth the money anyway.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I just looked at the store page and if you had paid full price for the 3 games and all the DLC's it'd be €440 for everything. That Immortal Empires campaign must be pretty intense.

Guess theyre just trying to get the last few drops out of it from the die hards who have to have everything. Do they have all the races in there now? If so maybe not much more to add to make it worth the money anyway.

I got both the first and second game on sale, as I did nearly all the DLC, so I have no idea how much I paid. TWW3 and it's DLC I bought at full price.

So far as I know, all the factions are present. This new $25 DLC is a pack of 3 lords and a hero for existing factions.

The Immortal Empires campaign is the one nearly everyone plays. It's just a map-wide free-for-all. Nobody (but me) liked the campaign that launched with the game. Too many people failed the campaign, and people don't like losing. It's been softened up substantially from the way it was at launch.

The Immortal Empires lets you play as any faction, so it has a ton of replayability. The campaign that came with the game restricts you to just a few factions.

 

[Pifanjr]

I just looked at the store page and if you had paid full price for the 3 games and all the DLC's it'd be €440 for everything. That Immortal Empires campaign must be pretty intense.

I think most people who buy all the DLC full price have at least 1000 hours in the game and a lot of them probably more than 5000 hours over all three games. There is a massive amount of content.

Do they have all the races in there now? If so maybe not much more to add to make it worth the money anyway.

All of the races with army books are in the game now as far as I'm aware, but there's a bunch of races that exist in the Warhammer universe that they could still add, either as separate factions or as a mercenary faction/mechanic.

 

[Zloth]

Charging $25 for a minor DLC is shameful.

?? Wouldn't you down-vote the DLC for that instead of the game? I don't see why anyone would down-vote an entire game for a bad/overpriced DLC, as long as the base game is still good.

 

[Zed Clampet]

?? Wouldn't you down-vote the DLC for that instead of the game? I don't see why anyone would down-vote an entire game for a bad/overpriced DLC, as long as the base game is still good.

How can you downvote a DLC on Steam if you don't own it? And there are no refunds for DLC.

Personally, I didn't change my positive review, so no review bombing for me.

 

[Zloth]

Oh!!! Of course not! I guess people can only vote with their wallets.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I got both the first and second game on sale, as I did nearly all the DLC, so I have no idea how much I paid. TWW3 and it's DLC I bought at full price.

So far as I know, all the factions are present. This new $25 DLC is a pack of 3 lords and a hero for existing factions.

The Immortal Empires campaign is the one nearly everyone plays. It's just a map-wide free-for-all. Nobody (but me) liked the campaign that launched with the game. Too many people failed the campaign, and people don't like losing. It's been softened up substantially from the way it was at launch.

The Immortal Empires lets you play as any faction, so it has a ton of replayability. The campaign that came with the game restricts you to just a few factions.

I think most people who buy all the DLC full price have at least 1000 hours in the game and a lot of them probably more than 5000 hours over all three games. There is a massive amount of content.



All of the races with army books are in the game now as far as I'm aware, but there's a bunch of races that exist in the Warhammer universe that they could still add, either as separate factions or as a mercenary faction/mechanic.

I have some history with TW WH. Played a bit of Mortal Empires but I preferred the story campaigns and in the end the MP battles. I own all the DLC for 1 and everything in 2 up to Vampire Coast because I wanted the lords as options in quick battles. Didnt play pretty much anything else in 2017 and got 2 on release day.

Checked out the CA forums and theres a bit of outrage going on. I dont personally see any veiled threat in their messaging, but I'm not invested anymore so maybe its just I'm not that bothered. Lord packs used to be €9.99 so doubling the price does seem a lot. Looks like the Chaos Dwarfs faction pack was the same price and I imagine that would have had much more content.

Theyve always been milking it though, from the start.