This is the story of a violent and stupid wolf, a stupid but honest also bear and a clever but devious man. Except that it is neither a fable by La Fontaine or a Disney cartoon and even less of Reynard the Fox, but Stardrive.
Times change and with them the object of desire. Rather than send dross in order to recover any sheep before roasting on a spit, our three friends spent the next level and is now struggling to blow laser cannons for the supremacy of their race on the Way Milky, no less. Within the confines of space, they meet other previously unknown species moult which they will have to be wary. Welcome to the wonderful world of Stardrive, funded on Kickstarter a peccadillo space 4X, programmed by one man and sold thirty euros on Steam, a substantial amount that will have to justify.
THE SMELL OF NAPALM
Rome was not built in a day and yet it is only a city. Then an interstellar empire ... Like any self-respecting 4X, Stardrive based on the promise of long and complex parts in which the main objective is to ensure our supremacy over the rest of the universe. Accordance with the standards of the genre, it begins around our home planet with the only possessions a shuttle colonization, a scout, and just good to be reduced to ashes at the first touch hostile fighter. If we are lucky, our world orbiting in a dense solar system and provided immediately habitable planets. Otherwise, it will go on an adventure in the icy depths of the ether and pray that the stars cross the road are more welcoming than the pile of rocks nearby. For humans, the exploits of Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong mingle with prehistory and the small planet Earth has become too narrow to satisfy the runaway ambitions of its dominant race. Meanwhile, in another corner of the galaxy, seven unknown species feed on the same desires for expansion.
Each new section begins with the selection of people to lead and define the rules of the game size is selected to conquer the land, the number of antagonists, the density of solar systems, the difficulty ... The parameters which influence and many are already used to create relatively diverse scenarios. The player will have the same opportunity to change the features specific to its species to draw in three categories. These bonuses and penalties determine industrial efficiency, diplomatic or needs of our elected officials. The Opteris example offend the smell of other species and suffer from a relational disadvantage result. In return, their body is fully synthetic and provides organic matter to survive. Instead, the population can be maintained by the fruit mineral extractions. Need to watch for fertile land to implement. While other darkspawn must ensure the viability of the soil before colonizing a planet, cyber insects can be established everywhere and really play like insatiable parasites. In very little time, their empire extends far beyond their original borders and a glimmer of fear turns into the eyes of their enemies. A first step towards victory.
HARDLY THICK
In Stardrive, diplomacy is at least as important as military power, which it also depends greatly. Terrorize his opponents, but also ensure that they will not try anything stupid against us, except perhaps Vulfar and Humans. The first, belligerent and devoid of common sense wolves, do not learn their lesson that blow on the nose. The latter are driven by an imperialist desire and, as their commander repeat itself regularly, xenophobic possible. Very often, however, the mere fact of having a more developed than its competitors is enough to put them in the pocket arsenal. The Pollops and Cordrazines are too poor to refuse warlike openings borders or free commercial exchange. Pasting them enough livers, while being magnanimous course, they will soon come begging an alliance. A few laps later, they accept without flinching the annexation of their empire ours in a super conglomerate headed by our apple. Kulrathi the other hand, are very sensitive to bullying and ask for pledges of good faith before agreeing to any agreement. Each race has its own little character, and it is always interesting to try a peaceful victory playing with confidence bars, animosity and fear present in the diplomatic game interface
Unfortunately, when the exchange of knowledge and other touches are not enough to make allies, there's only one solution to consolidate its position as ruler of the universe. Those who do not realize that perish in a total war doomed to destroy any form of resistance. Unlike the modern nuclear arsenal to look pretty in a display case, our strike force also has a practical interest. Daniel DiCicco, the lawyer who developed the title, this also fighting and customization of vessels as the heart of the game and we must admit that seeing grow its fleet and lead them into battle is rather nice at first . Unfortunately, after two or three hours to marner our scientists on military projects or send spies steal adverse findings, the battles are no longer a means of artificially delaying victory or defeat. Let our empire is militarily superior and exterminate any fleet, or it is in a rush and there will be powerless to lower its borders to its pure and simple disappearance. The fault in skirmishes that have strategic the name.
KILLER EARLY
As the player fights with frigates, not enough space on the hull to use multiple types of weapons effectively. The choice of technology is so important because it will affect the outcome of the fighting. Attacking a pirate fleet with simple machine guns reports of suicide, even if the enemy is three times less likely than us. But at the onset of cruisers, and even more so after the release of the titans, any constraint disappears and we are flying monsters can unleash the fires of hell in all their variations. Altercations consist subsequently send the largest packet units in the same place and wait for the enemies explode over their home planet before bombing it to turn into a radioactive desert. It is still possible to send ground troops to take charge of the infrastructure already present win without bloodshed, but attacks in turn are so tedious that it is easier to demolish and rebuild everything from zero, if the heart tells us.
This is just the biggest flaw Stardrive: where competitors offer a long and exciting experience, it offers only a beginning and middle part of intense and pleasant before collapsing in the final kilometer. The military side is affected, as well as research, economy and design sowers of death. If a general survives until the final confrontation, the latest scientific advances it will probably be of no use to win. Similarly, if it has sufficient capital, it may well see his bank account melt like snow in the sun when he manages to defeat his nemesis before being discovered. And to do that, he must fill out all of his Titans hand, piece by piece, in a kind of simulation of mechanical daunting and unintuitive. Besides that, once out of the hangar, the invincible armada creates delays in execrable slightest movement. On the achievements of six hours, we must be prepared to take the first five before bored during the last.
URBI ET ORBIT
This, however, after a period spent learning to experiment with actually quite effective interface, but completely devoid of indication. Useful buttons are at the top of the screen, at the bottom right next to the minimap, after a right-click on a camera ... It's a bit generalized brothel and the lack of a tutorial or scripted campaign for beginners does not invite frankly to keep calm. Therefore, the only way to get out in the long term is to let the opponent roll over us in our first steps while we experimented with different menus. Soon, some good ideas emerge, such as the ability to increase the speed of the game by thirty or more, or otherwise divide by two, or even switch to active break, a blessing in a game of real-time management. After some experimentation, we also learn to delegate the development of some planets AI and freight management or space highways. We can then focus on the search tree rather provided and basic but efficient economy by varying the tab taxes and the allocation of settlers to the production, or food science.
difficult beginnings make the game rather pushing for a neophyte and simplistic endgame will not rejoice and regulars. The target audience is rather vague, and it is better to play as a little tidbit able to enjoy the old pros a good thirty hours rather than as a new reference type. For now, multiplayer announced the Kickstarter page is also still present, which would have lengthened a little life. Similarly, the promise of a customizable envy game is not quite met, the manager mods are far from being as simple as Skyrim and rather cranky when it comes to activate several additions simultaneously. At the current price of thirty euros, the pill can be a little hard to swallow, unless a fan of the genre or lacking on the lookout for a way able to relax until a new, more complex license. Balances in hand, and even more so once the fighting Integrated line should be no harm to any amateur Emperor wishing to spend a good time to palaver with bears and ninjas stab Ancient Ones in the back.
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