Sid Meier, the granddaddy of turn based strategy, has bestowed upon us a new game.
A 4x nerd as myself of course purchased it within minutes of its release. As I would have anyway, regardless of the reviews. However, despite my fanboy-esque fascination with all things Sid, the game has a couple of disappointments.
A 4x nerd as myself of course purchased it within minutes of its release. As I would have anyway, regardless of the reviews. However, despite my fanboy-esque fascination with all things Sid, the game has a couple of disappointments.
Why, oh why didn’t they add multiplayer to this game? It’s turn-based for crying out loud. Can’t be that hard. Oh, and advanced graphics settings please. There are none. None at all. Even for fullscreen you have to maximize the window, there’s no built-in feature.
Apart from these technicalities, and the fact you’re limited to one (1) fleet in total, it’s basically solid.
The story is your old civ-meets-space, conquers space-type. The civs are selected through a system taken from Beyond Earth (Affinity/Sponsor) and gives you certain starting benefits. You have your basic planets, which you can assimilate into your empire by completing missions. Then you can build stuff to improve your raw materials output - energy being the most important, as it’s used for equipping, repairing and purchasing your starships.
Metals can be used for buildings and wonders, food for cities (boost all output levels) and science for purchasing tech upgrades. Interesting: All these upgrades are insta-buy, so they don’t take a couple of turns to complete (as is traditional for a 4x). The last resource, credits, is particularly valuable and scarce (all factions except ARC can only gain it by selling other resources on the market). Credits can be used for purchasing resources and, most importantly, influence on planets.
Apart from these technicalities, and the fact you’re limited to one (1) fleet in total, it’s basically solid.
The story is your old civ-meets-space, conquers space-type. The civs are selected through a system taken from Beyond Earth (Affinity/Sponsor) and gives you certain starting benefits. You have your basic planets, which you can assimilate into your empire by completing missions. Then you can build stuff to improve your raw materials output - energy being the most important, as it’s used for equipping, repairing and purchasing your starships.
Metals can be used for buildings and wonders, food for cities (boost all output levels) and science for purchasing tech upgrades. Interesting: All these upgrades are insta-buy, so they don’t take a couple of turns to complete (as is traditional for a 4x). The last resource, credits, is particularly valuable and scarce (all factions except ARC can only gain it by selling other resources on the market). Credits can be used for purchasing resources and, most importantly, influence on planets.
Make no mistake, this is very much a war-game. There’s basically no way to win without engaging the other empires in a tit-for-tat jostling for planets. This is where the limitation to one fleet is particularly painful: Besides one defensive option (Megabots) there’s really no way to defend one front while being aggressive on another.
The tactical combat, which takes place on a 2d map with added asteroids for giggles, involves loads of maneuvering, taking cover and blasting the other ships to bits. There are three weapon types, plasma (short range), lasers (long range) and torpedoes (mostly useless). Equipping your ships with loads of plasma cannonry and decent speed is a good tactic, having a carrier with some fighters hang back is also not bad. Laser snipers are somewhat limited because of the fact that there’s mostly an asteroid in the way. Asteroids reduce damage, and multiple asteroids in your line of fire can block the shot totally. Torpedoes are mostly useless except for shooing ships out of cover.
Fighters. Ahhh, fighters. Fighters are fun, fast and fragile. Upgrading tech can lead to them actually stomaching a shot or two. Carriers can deploy exactly one squadron per turn, which means having loads of fighters on one ship is not that efficient. Using the fighters as disposable killers shooting close range plasma right up the enemy’s rump is very much entertaining, however. Fighters cannot be designed and their tech tier gives random upgrades - designing the little buggers would have been fun.
The tactical combat, which takes place on a 2d map with added asteroids for giggles, involves loads of maneuvering, taking cover and blasting the other ships to bits. There are three weapon types, plasma (short range), lasers (long range) and torpedoes (mostly useless). Equipping your ships with loads of plasma cannonry and decent speed is a good tactic, having a carrier with some fighters hang back is also not bad. Laser snipers are somewhat limited because of the fact that there’s mostly an asteroid in the way. Asteroids reduce damage, and multiple asteroids in your line of fire can block the shot totally. Torpedoes are mostly useless except for shooing ships out of cover.
Fighters. Ahhh, fighters. Fighters are fun, fast and fragile. Upgrading tech can lead to them actually stomaching a shot or two. Carriers can deploy exactly one squadron per turn, which means having loads of fighters on one ship is not that efficient. Using the fighters as disposable killers shooting close range plasma right up the enemy’s rump is very much entertaining, however. Fighters cannot be designed and their tech tier gives random upgrades - designing the little buggers would have been fun.
There’s supposed to be interconnectivity with Beyond Earth too, but I haven’t gotten it working yet. Might need some ironing.
I’m Dave, 4X and TBS nerd. I also write stuff.
I’ll contribute to Twinstiq from time to time with 4X and TBS reviews. Obviously.
Summing up:
Starships is a fairly fast 4x with a casual feel. Most hardcore TBS enthusiasts will find the lack of depth somewhat limiting the enjoyment, however.
I’m Dave, 4X and TBS nerd. I also write stuff.
I’ll contribute to Twinstiq from time to time with 4X and TBS reviews. Obviously.