Armada 2526 (4x space strategy)

zakhal

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I played my second game to 7am yesterday. This game is seriously addictive. I actually quit playing dragon age for this. Its a space oprah in the style of Master of orion. Well atleast the strategic turn-based map part. The tactical battles are done in realtime in the style of empire at war/sword of the stars but I like it. If they were done any more detailed I would never finish these games.

The developer of the game is actually the same person as lead developer in Total war series. That might mean poor AI but theres no such thing in this game. Unlike in total war I have lost plenty of battles in this game.

The production values of the game arent all top-notch (you can notice it from lack of marketing allready) but they are adequete. The UI needs som time to get used to allthough "it works" once you get it. One person descriped this game as 90s game with improved graphics.

Ive played perhaps 20-25 hours and I think its now my favorite 4x game together with sword of the stars. So if you like oldschool 4x games check it out:

t was pitched to me as "Total War meets Master of Orion." Typically, when you hear that kind of statement, it's easy to dismiss it as an obvious, market-minded exaggeration. But when you hear that the project is being headed up by none other than R.T. Smith, designer for most of Creative Assembly's Total War games and the old DOS 4x classic, Armada 2525, it's enough to make even the most jaded strategy gamer sit up and take notice.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/104/1047834p1.html

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwezfFS2Idg

Homepage:
http://www.matrixgames.com/products/376/details/Armada.2526

Developers homepage:
http://www.ntronium.com/Armada2526 Home.html

Features

Armada 2526 continues the great tradition of space opera games. You guide your race from its first interstellar journeys, until it becomes a mighty galactic empire. Along the way, you'll explore the galaxy, conduct research, diplomacy and trade, found new colonies, maneuver mighty star fleets, and fight epic battles. Although the game is complex, and the possible strategies endless, powerful help and advisor features help you get up to speed quickly.

* Turn-Based Strategy Map – Maneuver your fleets, manage your colonies, and grow your empire.
* Epic Space Battles - Battles can be epic and are presented with glowing energy beams, shimmering shields, and spectacular explosions.
* Diplomacy - Negotiate alliances and trade agreements or trade money, technology, colonies, ships and information.
* Technology - There are many different technology items to research. The game system encourages you to specialize in particular areas of tech, so as you expand and meet new players, you will find that they have radically different capabilities. Many of the technologies are disruptive, and force you to radically alter your strategy and tactics to utilize them, or to cope with the lack of.
* Powerful AI - The artificial intelligence routines have been created by an expert in the field, to provide AI players that are both worthy adversaries, and opponents that are fun to play against. The A.I. has been built into the game from the beginning of development and updated to take advantage of new game features as they are added.
* Supports Large Universes and Many Players - Armada 2526 has been designed to cope with a large number of A.I. players, and to handle a large enough area of space to accommodate them. This means you'll continually be finding new allies or trading partners, and always wondering if there's some powerful unknown enemy lurking just beyond the next star system.
* Streamlined Economic System - Armada 2526's system is designed to let you make the major decisions about the development of each colony, without having to micro-manage every little detail. This way you can manage a large empire, play the game in a reasonable amount of time, and concentrate on strategy.
* Strategy and Intelligence - Fleets maneuver against each other, seeking to force or avoid a decisive confrontation, or to pick off a weakly defended planet. Technology and infrastructure can give you an edge in the information war, but only a bold and cunning admiral can exploit it.
* Game-Play Driven Development - Although Armada 2526 has glorious sound and graphics that inspire and immerse the player, the main focus is providing a great game play experiences.

This actually a sequel to very old 90s (?) 4x game called 2525:
http://ntronium.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=204.0

You can digital d/l it through the homepage for 27€ pr physical 44€ or you can buy it from gamestop.
 
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Thanks, Zakhal. I'll check this one out a little later. Looks good though. It sounds a little like Imperium Galactica 2. I loved that game, but the AI was too wonky for my tastes. Hopefully this one will be much better.
 
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I bought both imperium galactica 1 & 2 last summer and have played only the first one so Im not sure how to comment that but you might be right.

This is CV of the person who designed Armada 2526:

R.T.Smith (aka Bob) has been creating strategy and war games for more than 20 years. Most recently he was the project director and lead designer for Medieval 2 Total War, having previously served as designer and programmer on the previous Total War Games.

He also created a number of acclaimed strategy and wargames for publishers such as Lothlorien, CCS, Linel and Interstel.

Main Titles
* Medieval 2: Total War
* Rome: Total War
* Medieval: Total War
* Shogun: Total War
* Armada 2525
* Encyclopedia of War:Ancient Battles
* Vulcan
* Desert Rats
* Arnhem
* Confrontation

He has also worked on the development of console games, and been involved with the design of a 3D graphics chip.

http://www.ntronium.com/About.html

One of his design goals is strong AI and they say the AI was built from the start to support all features of the game. However I dont know who the expert behind it is. I havent found any name.
 
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I may have been a little too harsh with my desciption of Imperium Galactica 2. I did enjoy it and loved how they mixed in quests with a 4x space strategy, but I got frustrated with that game a lot. I found a little snippet from a review for it over at gamespot that highlights my frustration. Maybe it had less to do with the AI and more to do with my little ships being useless later on in the game. I loved those little x-wing fighters that you could make. Sorta looked like bees swarming over a bigger ship, but they were next to useless later in the game.

Unfortunately, strategy is minimal later in the game. When every race is attacking each other with battleships and mobile bases, there is no reason to move - your ships will fire with greater frequency and accuracy if they remain motionless. There is no reason to zigzag, because more advanced torpedoes track their targets effortlessly. Building destroyer- and corvette-class ships is rarely time-efficient or cost-effective, because they cannot house enough firepower, and enemy battleships and cruisers can destroy them in a few shots. Moreover, fighters are ineffective against any ship larger than a heavy corvette, so they are effectively phased out.

I will definitely check Armada out a little later. I am not a Total War fan at all (Mark of Chaos kicks their butt left and right ;)), but I like that he has a lot of experience in making games, which most definitely counts for something.
 
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It looks very interesting although i wonder why they don't make those games real time like Europa Universalis , turn based is old fashion .

ZOMGH I wish they'd stop using out-dated concepts like real-time that have been used in video games since 1958.

As for the game at hand, I'm not that much into 4X games, but this one did pique my interest enough to look for information on it.
 
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KazikluBey & zakhal do you have any experience with other turn based 4x games ?
Real time + Pause is the way to go , none likes to wait for a turn to be generated .

4x genre is defined by turn-based games like master of orion and civilization: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4X

If you like real time stategy games more than turn-based it doesnt mean that others do. Its all about what kind of taste one has. One likes vanilla more than chocolate and vice versa. I for one burned out on realtime strategies 10 years ago. Turn-based though never gets old for me.
 
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4x genre is defined by turn-based games like master of orion and civilization: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4X

If you like real time stategy games more than turn-based it doesnt mean that others do. Its all about what kind of taste one has. One likes vanilla more than chocolate and vice versa. I for one burned out on realtime strategies 10 years ago. Turn-based though never gets old for me.

I didn't question your right to like whatever you want , better hardware capabilities allow games to run real time doing complex calculations on the go instead of processing them in a specific moment and this is the bases of my "way to go" post.

I am a "Paradoxian" playing Europa Universalis , Rome, Victoria , East India trading company and others , all could easily be turn based but they are much more enjoyable as real time .
 
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I didn't question your right to like whatever you want , better hardware capabilities allow games to run real time doing complex calculations on the go instead of processing them in a specific moment and this is the bases of my "way to go" post.

I think there is much more to a good game than just how much processing power it utilizes constantly. Other than that Im not really interested of such argument. Im not a game developer and nor do I dont want to become one! Nowadays I just play whatever I like best without further analysis. :)

I am a "Paradoxian" playing Europa Universalis , Rome, Victoria , East India trading company and others , all could easily be turn based but they are much more enjoyable as real time .

I wouldnt mind a paradioxian 4x space oprah if it had proper tacical battles. It might be interesting.
 
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Second patch is coming and first mods have arrived - one been master of orion conversion!

The next patch will cover the following.

Improved Bureaucracy. Effect reduced and capped. Scales with size of map. Additional settings to reduce or disable.
Mod System. Fully or partially replaces files for mods. Use multiple mods at once. Even supports mods for mods.
Cost and factor re-balance to increase fleet sizes and make ground units more important.
Ability to place transports under ai control to automatically distribute population. Immigration and emigration controls for each planet
Hopefully, some improvement in problems saving large games.
Saves custom game settings

Should be done early in the new year.

The patch after will probably be concerned with the following
Bug fixes
Improved UI features
More things exposed for modders, plus one or two feature requests
Improved A.I.

MooUniverse Mod

* 10 planet types (gaia, terran, arid, swamp, ocean, barren, tundra, desert, radiated, toxic) with completely new textures
* 14 new races (Alkari, Antaran, Bulrathi, Darlock, Elerian, Gnolam, Human, Klackon, Meklar, Mrrshan, Psilon, Sakkra, Silicoid, Trilarian) with sounds and animations
* new facilities and upgrade lines:
Marine Barracks->Armor Barracks
Radiation Shield->Atmosphere Generator->Weather Controller
Terraformer->Gaia Tranformation Facility
Cloning Center
Research Lab->Supercomputer->Autolab->Galactic Cybernet
Holo Simulator->Pleasure Dome
Colony Base->Colony Center->Automated Factory->Robotic Factory->Recyclotron
Mine->Robo Miner Plant->Deep Core Mine->Core Waste Dump
Asteroid Mines
Comet Mines
Space Scanner->Neutron Scanner->Tachyon Scanner->Sensors
Spaceport
Jump Gate->Star Gate
Surface Shipyard->Small Orbital Shipyard->Orbital Shipyard->Huge Orbital Shipyard
Relay Station
Alien Management Center
Decontamination Center
Stock Exchange->Galactic Currency Exchange
* new abilities for races
* reworked ground combat
* some retextures

http://ntronium.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=311.0

Hyper Expansion Mod

-Added additional 6 new planets (paradise, ocean, tundra, toxic swamp, desert and barren amended).
-Changes to the tactical combat which makes it more realistic space combat.
-New technology tree.
-13 New buildings

http://ntronium.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=377.0
 
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