14-08-2002 23:38									#1
	kick ass RTS: Conquest Frontier Wars Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

After a friend showed me the game, I have been playing the demo. This game kicks ass.

It is a space RTS, but with a few twists.

First, it has a cool supply system. Ships require supplies to fire weapons. When their supplies are gone, the ships cannot fire. You can resupply ships with supply platforms that are built on planets. You can also build supply ships that can go with your fleet and resupply them on the move. Of course, supply ships will need to be resupplied at supply platforms eventually, but they can greatly extend the endurance of yor fleet.

This system adds a lot of strategy, since you will need to bring supply ships with your fleet when sending them far from home. You have to protect your supplies, or your fleet may be left stranded.

The game plays on multiple maps. Eacn map represents a star system, with a certain number of planets and asteroids, nebulas etc...

Maps are linked by wormholes. So the player can jump between maps by using wormholes. You can build jumgates on a wormhole which will prevent enemy ships from using the wormhole. Of course, the enemy can attack the jumpgate from the other end, so jumpgates must be protected.

Like most space RTS, you have cool ships like battleships and dreadnoughts. There are really cool special weapons.

The game is a lot of fun. The game absolutely rocks.

	16-08-2002 19:01									#2
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

I played the Demo, found it to be a fairly dull game, actually. Just didn't seem to have much variety after a little while.

	16-08-2002 19:25									#3
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

quote: Originally posted by Boris Godunov I played the Demo, found it to be a fairly dull game, actually. Just didn't seem to have much variety after a little while.

Well, the demo does only let you play terran vs terran. That will limit your variety a bit. The full game includes the terrans, the Mantis and the Celereons which do play very differently. The mantis specialize in swarming tactics with lots of fighters. The Celereons have excellent at defense and surprise attacks. When my friend was showing me the game, I got a taste for the campaign missions. They are much more than just "quick battles" tied together.

In mission 3 of the Terrans, the player has to liberate Admiral Hawkes who has been captured by the Mantis. The mission is split into several sub-missions. First the player has to capture a Mantis base in order to interrogate a Mantis as to Hawkes whereabouts. Once that is done, the player finds about that he is being held on the other side of the ribbon. The trick is that there is no passage through the ribbon, so the player has to find a wormhole that leads to a different system, then find another wormhole to another system, then another wormhole that leads back to his first system, but opens up on the other side of the ribbon. Then the players can go in and rescue Hawkes. The mission is fairly challenging because it sets a cap of 100 command points which limits how many ships to build. So you can't just build a huge fleet and kick some mantis butt. You have to disband maybe 1 or 2 ships to get the command points to build the troop ships needed for the rescue.

Anyway, I have been playing the demo a lot and I like it. I have found that the game really does encourage the player to have a diversified fleet and to use each type of ship differently. You can't just build lots of dreadnoughts and expect to win easily.

	16-08-2002 22:22									#4
	Remove this text

RTS as in click-fest? Or is it more like what RoN should be like, a mix between RTS and TBS, where being peacefull is an option.
And is there some form of diplomacy?

	17-08-2002 00:02									#5
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Originally posted by Lemmy RTS as in click-fest? Or is it more like what RoN should be like, a mix between RTS and TBS, where being peacefull is an option. And is there some form of diplomacy?

The game is not an empire-builder. It is about conquest. So, there is no peace option. At its core, it is about gathering ressources and building fleets to subdue to enemy.

However, I would not call it a click-fest per se. The game does have a lot of features to help the player manage their fleets to avoid a click fest.

I have played many quick battles, and none of them were click-fests.

For example, the game lets you recruit "heroes" called admirals. You can form a fleet, and transfer your admiral to a ship to make it the flagship. The fleet then gets certain bonuses depensing on the admiral.

In addition to bonuses, admirals do reduce some micromanagement and click-fest, because they give the player special commands. You can tell an admiral to do something, and it will conduct the fighting for you, resupply the fleet and fight, without your input.

I have also found that the game does require good tactics. You can't just fling lots of ships at the enemy and hope to win. You have to know your naval strategies. Each ship really plays differently. Missile cruisers are weak ships but have powerful long range missiles and can cloak. You can build lots of them, keep them off to the side, and launch lots of missiles at the enemy's unprotected flank. Battleships are powerful ships with the tempest charge. When the tempest charge detonates, it sends out an wave in all direction that will severely damage everything in its wake. Dreadnoughts are the largest and most powerful terran ship. Their special weapon is the aegis shield which renders the dreadnough temporarily invulnerable as long as supplies last. However, the dreadnough takes a long time to build, is very expensive, and is painfully slow, with little to no maneuvrability. These are just some examples of the terran ships.

Don't get me wrong: CFW is not an empire builder. It is a RTS where you gather ressources and go kick some ass.

I am like most of you. I despise click-fests and most RTS games. That is why I was suprised that I like this game and that I am having fun with it. It is a RTS but I am really enjoying so far.