http://positech.co.uk/gratuitousspacebattles/index.html
Now in beta (to which you get access if you pre-order - 20$).
You build spaceships, put them in formations, give them marching order and then watch as they fight it out with the enemy.
QuoteGSB is the next game from UK developer 'Positech Games'. It's a strategy / management / simulation game that does away with all the base building and delays and gets straight to the meat and potatoes of science-fiction games : The big space battles fought by huge spaceships with tons of laser beams and things going 'zap!', 'ka-boom!' and 'ka-pow!'. In GSB you put your ships together from modular components, arrange them into fleets, give your ships orders of engagement and then hope they emerge victorious from battle (or at least blow to bits in aesthetically pleasing ways).
Gratuitous Space Battles aims to bring the over-the-top explodiness back into space games. The game is for everyone who has watched big space armadas battle it out on TV and thought to themselves 'I could have done a much better job as admiral'. This is not a game of real-time arcade twitch reflexes. GSB is about what ships you design, and what you tell them to do. Your individual ship commanders have total autonomy during the chaotic battle that unfolds. This is not a tactical game, it is a strategic one. These gratuitous space battles are not won by plucky heroes with perfect teeth, but by the geeky starship builders who know exactly what ratio of plasma-cannons to engines each ship in the fleet will need.
Gameplay preview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1QYMFGEv5M
Looks rather promising, although the graphics are dissapointingly cartoonish.
Quote from: Berkut on September 07, 2009, 10:44:52 AM
Looks rather promising, although the graphics are dissapointingly cartoonish.
Cartoonish is good. Means possibly GSB won't rape my PC like HOI3.
It is not that cartoonish.
What this game needs to be awesome is multiplayer, and a point system like in warhammer games or the total war custom battles have for creating fleets for battles.
Looks really enjoyable, but ultimately shallow of course..
Space battles fought on one plane. Great.
Cool, a new game in the Lego franchise. I was already getting bored with Lego Batman.
Quote from: Warspite on September 08, 2009, 05:32:01 AM
Space battles fought on one plane. Great.
It's much easier to do it in 2d, and 3d doesn't really add anything to mass fleet combat games in space.
Quote from: Neil on September 08, 2009, 07:51:48 AM
Quote from: Warspite on September 08, 2009, 05:32:01 AM
Space battles fought on one plane. Great.
It's much easier to do it in 2d, and 3d doesn't really add anything to mass fleet combat games in space.
Have you ever played Homeworld?
Quote from: Cerr on September 08, 2009, 09:44:08 AM
Quote from: Neil on September 08, 2009, 07:51:48 AM
Quote from: Warspite on September 08, 2009, 05:32:01 AM
Space battles fought on one plane. Great.
It's much easier to do it in 2d, and 3d doesn't really add anything to mass fleet combat games in space.
Have you ever played Homeworld?
Negative.
Quote from: Neil on September 08, 2009, 05:10:58 PM
Quote from: Cerr on September 08, 2009, 09:44:08 AM
Quote from: Neil on September 08, 2009, 07:51:48 AM
Quote from: Warspite on September 08, 2009, 05:32:01 AM
Space battles fought on one plane. Great.
It's much easier to do it in 2d, and 3d doesn't really add anything to mass fleet combat games in space.
Have you ever played Homeworld?
Negative.
Try it. I'm sure there's a demo for the original game. It's great and you might change your mind about 3d not adding anything to mass fleet combat games in space.
QuoteHomeworld
Such memories. :weep:
Quote from: Cerr on September 08, 2009, 05:34:53 PM
Try it. I'm sure there's a demo for the original game. It's great and you might change your mind about 3d not adding anything to mass fleet combat games in space.
Before I go to the effort, would you care to explain what was so interesting about it?
Quote from: Neil on September 08, 2009, 06:54:34 PM
Quote from: Cerr on September 08, 2009, 05:34:53 PM
Try it. I'm sure there's a demo for the original game. It's great and you might change your mind about 3d not adding anything to mass fleet combat games in space.
Before I go to the effort, would you care to explain what was so interesting about it?
Space ships from Corvette to Dreadnought(sp) etc in a 3d environment
Unless they are using 2d sprites (which would silly nowadays), 3d isn't that much harder than 2d. And yeah, Homeworld was great. Although it is just pseudo-3D (there is up and there is down).
Sounds interesting.
Now, what I really want is a game like that with historical battles. I want to lay my plans, give orders to my commanders, arrange my troops and then have the battle be simulated.
Quote from: ulmont on September 07, 2009, 11:10:14 AM
Quote from: Berkut on September 07, 2009, 10:44:52 AM
Looks rather promising, although the graphics are dissapointingly cartoonish.
Cartoonish is good. Means possibly GSB won't rape my PC like HOI3.
That's not your PC's fault, that's the fact that it was coded terribly inefficiently. I've heard of Quattros and i7s with GTXs and HDs having difficulty with the game. It still runs slowly on mine, although maybe max speed is really just slow.
I'll echo that space combat in 2d doesn't sound very cool. It would probably be more fun if it were Gratuitous Early 20th Century Naval Battles.
See, but what's the real advantage of 3d? From a strategic and tactical perspective, it just doesn't matter.
Tried the demo. Amusing, but with no control during battle, it feels like watching porn. Just not that fun.
Quote from: Neil on September 09, 2009, 09:32:47 PM
See, but what's the real advantage of 3d? From a strategic and tactical perspective, it just doesn't matter.
Adds more options for stealth and pincer movements. Also, it was nice to be able to mine resources a few klicks up the Z-axis from the enemy mothership without having enemy ion frigates raping all my harvesters.
Has anyone bought it yet? I am kinda intriqued by the demo
Haven't had the time/will to download the full version yet, though I paid for it couple weeks back.
Quote from: DontSayBanana on November 08, 2009, 10:35:59 AM
Quote from: Neil on September 09, 2009, 09:32:47 PM
See, but what's the real advantage of 3d? From a strategic and tactical perspective, it just doesn't matter.
Adds more options for stealth and pincer movements. Also, it was nice to be able to mine resources a few klicks up the Z-axis from the enemy mothership without having enemy ion frigates raping all my harvesters.
So, shitty AI?
Quote from: Neil on November 20, 2009, 09:06:01 AM
Quote from: DontSayBanana on November 08, 2009, 10:35:59 AM
Quote from: Neil on September 09, 2009, 09:32:47 PM
See, but what's the real advantage of 3d? From a strategic and tactical perspective, it just doesn't matter.
Adds more options for stealth and pincer movements. Also, it was nice to be able to mine resources a few klicks up the Z-axis from the enemy mothership without having enemy ion frigates raping all my harvesters.
So, shitty AI?
Yeah, and AI blind to the Z-axis would definitely make a 3-D map "better" than a 2-D one! :lol:
Quote from: Neil on November 20, 2009, 09:06:01 AM
Quote from: DontSayBanana on November 08, 2009, 10:35:59 AM
Quote from: Neil on September 09, 2009, 09:32:47 PM
See, but what's the real advantage of 3d? From a strategic and tactical perspective, it just doesn't matter.
Adds more options for stealth and pincer movements. Also, it was nice to be able to mine resources a few klicks up the Z-axis from the enemy mothership without having enemy ion frigates raping all my harvesters.
So, shitty AI?
"Khan" AI
Quote from: Tonitrus on November 20, 2009, 08:21:11 PM
"Khan" AI
:lol: The AI could be tuned, but it was pretty "Khan" in gameplay, especially with the Trek-themed Sacrifice of Angels mod. ;)
I am not going to buy it until I can't defeat the second tutorial mission in the demo. :blush: