| 1 |
I agree, sadly. I got the game on a mega-sale some years ago and I think I played three games of the campaign and a skirmish game. I thought about writing some feedback but did not end up posting it. As with any RTS the game can approximately be split into combat and the economy, and both had deep issues.
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1 |
I agree, sadly. I got the game on a mega-sale some years ago and I think I played three games of the campaign and a skirmish game. I thought about writing some feedback but did not end up posting it. As with any RTS the game can approximately be split into combat and the economy, and both had deep issues.
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| 2 |
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| 3 |
The ground units are all floaty, difficult to control, hovercraft. There are at least three tech-levels with a few units each, per faction, and the counters between the units seem heavily dependent on tech-level based armour types. The projectiles in the game may well be physically simulated, but the amount that unit physics affects combat seems even lower than a game like Starcraft. In Starcraft range is important because the units are controllable, in Ashes the units float around and end up mushing together. It is as if every unit is a Locust, but stuck on the ground and much slower.
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3 |
The ground units are all floaty, difficult to control, hovercraft. There are at least three tech-levels with a few units each, per faction, and the counters between the units seem heavily dependent on tech-level based armour types. The projectiles in the game may well be physically simulated, but the amount that unit physics affects combat seems even lower than a game like Starcraft. In Starcraft range is important because the units are controllable, in Ashes the units float around and end up mushing together. It is as if every unit is a Locust, but stuck on the ground and much slower.
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| 4 |
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| 5 |
I remember taking a look at the two mainline (non-scout, AA etc..) tier 1 units of one of the factions. One of them was designated as an anti-heavy while the other was meant to kill tier 1 units. This was done via damage modifiers. The anti-heavy was faster and had more range than the unit that was meant to counter it, however I could not make these stats pay out their implications. I couldn't even do it with a one-on-one unit battle because the units are unresponsive and the longer ranged one could not be prevented from diving into range. The fact that one unit had superior physical stats - range and speed - barely mattered.
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5 |
I remember taking a look at the two mainline (non-scout, AA etc..) tier 1 units of one of the factions. One of them was designated as an anti-heavy while the other was meant to kill tier 1 units. This was done via damage modifiers. The anti-heavy was faster and had more range than the unit that was meant to counter it, however I could not make these stats pay out their implications. I couldn't even do it with a one-on-one unit battle because the units are unresponsive and the longer ranged one could not be prevented from diving into range. The fact that one unit had superior physical stats - range and speed - barely mattered.
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| 6 |
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| 7 |
The
Grand
Strategy
aspect
of
the
game
is
realised
with
the
army
system.
Armies
are
essentially
control
groups
with
extra
UI
support,
such
as
easy
selection
and
a
merged
strategic
icon.
They
can
also
do
cool
things
such
as
receive
rally
points
(
much
like
autogroups)
.
Overall
I
found
this
system
to
get
in
the
way
and
give
"powerful
UI"
a
bad
name.
Splitting
armies
in
all
the
ways
you
might
commonly
desire
was
not
fluid,
and
the
armies
make
combat
even
less
controllable.
Combat
seemed
to
boil
down
to
selecting
the
right
armour
types
and
weapon
damage
modifiers
to
put
in
your
big
ball
of
health
so
that
your
ball
comes
out
on
top
when
you
literally
mush
it
into
the
opponent's
ball.
I
have
written
here
that
armies
can
spend
10
seconds
rotating
and
gathering
themselves
together
before
responding
to
an
order.
|
7 |
The
Grand
Strategy
aspect
of
the
game
is
realised
with
the
army
system.
Armies
are
essentially
control
groups
with
extra
UI
support,
such
as
easy
selection
and
a
merged
strategic
icon.
They
can
also
do
cool
things
such
as
receive
rally
points
(
much
like
autogroups)
.
Overall
I
found
this
system
to
get
in
the
way
and
give
"powerful
UI"
a
bad
name.
Splitting
armies
in
all
the
ways
you
might
commonly
desire
was
not
fluid,
and
the
armies
make
combat
even
less
controllable.
Combat
seemed
to
boil
down
to
selecting
the
right
armour
types
and
weapon
damage
modifiers
to
put
in
your
big
ball
of
health
so
that
your
ball
comes
out
on
top
when
you
literally
mush
it
into
the
opponent's
ball.
Armies
can
spend
10
seconds
rotating
and
gathering
themselves
together
before
responding
to
an
order.
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| 8 |
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8 |
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| 9 |
The interface really wants you to use armies. When I ordered a group of constructors to do anything they would automatically form an army, making me have to go through the process of splitting them later.
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9 |
The interface really wants you to use armies. When I ordered a group of constructors to do anything they would automatically form an army, making me have to go through the process of splitting them later.
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| 10 |
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10 |
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| 11 |
The economy was barely better. There are two construction resources that both serve the purpose of Metal and are gathered in essentially the same way. There is a technology resource for giving %-boosts and using special abilities that (iirc) is gathered much like Energy. There is a logistics resource because this game has a quite-reachable population limit. There is a lot more to fiddle with, and less control.
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11 |
The economy was barely better. There are two construction resources that both serve the purpose of Metal and are gathered in essentially the same way. There is a technology resource for giving %-boosts and using special abilities that (iirc) is gathered much like Energy. There is a logistics resource because this game has a quite-reachable population limit. There is a lot more to fiddle with, and less control.
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| 12 |
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12 |
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| 13 |
Imagine Zero-K but:
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13 |
Imagine Zero-K but:
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| 14 |
* Two types of metal extractor.
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14 |
* Two types of metal extractor.
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| 15 |
* A Company of Heroes-style sector control system that determines where you are allowed to build metal extractors, with about three per sector.
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15 |
* A Company of Heroes-style sector control system that determines where you are allowed to build metal extractors, with about three per sector.
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| 16 |
* Neutral creeps defending each of the sectors.
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16 |
* Neutral creeps defending each of the sectors.
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| 17 |
* Multiple ways to spend resource or use special abilities that upgrade the output of individual metal extractors.
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17 |
* Multiple ways to spend resource or use special abilities that upgrade the output of individual metal extractors.
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| 18 |
* No tools such as priority or area mex. Every single upgrade has to be clicked individually.
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18 |
* No tools such as priority or area mex. Every single upgrade has to be clicked individually.
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| 19 |
Do you upgrade your extractors to adv extractors, make the thing that boosts production in a sector, or spend an ability to permanently boost an extractor? I don't see the interesting choice in this.
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19 |
Do you upgrade your extractors to adv extractors, make the thing that boosts production in a sector, or spend an ability to permanently boost an extractor? I don't see the interesting choice in this.
|
| 20 |
[q]I spent far too long with my engineers upgrading resource nodes. I have to zoom in on the point slightly, select the mex/rad structure build option (another overhead) then successfully make 3 or 4 reasonably precise click. Even with hotkeys this can take a few seconds. It takes even longer to upgrade a series of nodes because you often need to switch between placing the mex structure and the rad structure.[/q]
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20 |
[q]I spent far too long with my engineers upgrading resource nodes. I have to zoom in on the point slightly, select the mex/rad structure build option (another overhead) then successfully make 3 or 4 reasonably precise click. Even with hotkeys this can take a few seconds. It takes even longer to upgrade a series of nodes because you often need to switch between placing the mex structure and the rad structure.[/q]
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How to do Total Annihilation wrong - Ashes of the Singularity