Armageddon Empires - Part 2
I played my first game yesterday. To say that i had no idea what was going on and what i was supposed to do would be an understatement. Simply put, the game does not have a very user friendly interface or a Civilopedia kind of feature. Fortunately Bill Harris at Dubious Quality has some detailed playthrough posts for gamers first try with the game. It helps you understand firstly the interface, then the units and then how it all plays together. You should play your first session while reading this - click here.
In any case i choose the Humans and whithin 45mins my unguarded HQ was captures by the Xenopods. Didn’t really understand the battle mechanism, i mean how it all works out.
It definitely has an element of luck due to the dice rolls for most events and also at the start of the turn to decide which faction goes first and how many action points each faction has available to play in that turn. However, you do have some important decisions to make like sacrificing resources (which you use to build units) to increase your chances of getting a higher roll and therefore more action points to use during your turn.
One of the most interesting aspects of the game is that you a very limited amount of resources and units at your disposal. This creates a connection with your units and makes every decision you make even more critical.
Right now i am in my second game (again chose the Humans), and was doing better for a while as i managed to establish another base nearby (my recon units discovered some friendly people who joined my faction). I was able to build more units and armies but i lost a very big battle. Lost 1 Hero, 1 Unit of Artillery and 1 Unit of Fanatics against some independent units i thought i could take on. To take revenge i sent an Air Unit but was intercepted by Xenopods and was destroyed. So in just two turns i lost most of my units.
Despite its unfriendliness to newcomers this game really draws you in. All PC strategy game fans should download the demo and have a go.
Me, i am thinking of how to quickly set up my defenses against the incoming Indepenents and Xenopods.