I was having fun, then I won. Are there plans to expand the game? Or maybe release a for-pay sequel with more features? "Papers, Please" has more features and depth, which is why I didn't mind paying for it.
I forgot to mention-- the computer doesn't take advantage of the Boarding ability nearly enough. Every time an AI frigate or galleon is near a smaller enemy ship, the frigate or galleon should fire cannon, then move and board.
The AI isn't smart enough to handle how the game works. It's possible to steamroll the computer from the start of the game, both strategically and tactically. 1) The computer usually attacks and defends with just a couple ships, especially at the start of the game. 2) Even when the computer does defend properly, it doesn't seem to matter, as I just beat 2 galleons, 2 frigates and a sloop with 6 brigantines with some basic tactical sense (e.g. stay out of range of whichever ship you're not actively trying to destroy) and a bit of luck with critical hits. Overall, great concept, but the mechanics could use work. Oh! Also, why are bigger ships slower than smaller ships? It's the exact opposite in the real world.
Surprisingly fun concept. I tell my guys how to farm, then I sit back and see how well it works. In theory, after watching for a bit, I should be able to revise my strategy-- and I'd love to see this idea expanded. For example, suppose fighters had the combat styles Heavy (good against armored foes) and Fast (good against unarmored foes), and that the player could toggle between them while at base. "Oh, this farm area is kicking my butt? Maybe I'd better change my combat styles around!" Anyway, cool concept; I look forward to seeing how the game grows.
Cleric: Who needs healing?
Farmer: I do!
Archer: Me too!
Cleric: Wait, hang on. I need to attack the monsters first.
Farmer: I already killed the ones that were getting close. You're free to heal us.
Cleric: What? But I wanted to kill them!
Archer: No problem. I'll leak some eventually; you'll get your chance to do some killing. Meanwhile, please heal us.
Cleric: But I want to kill monsters NOW! I REFUSE to heal anyone until I've spent at least five minutes attacking monsters!
... and that's the story of how the cleric became the second-most-hated person in town (the most-hated being the paranoid would-be witch-burner).
**Strategy Spoiler** Population and food are key. 10-15% threat is fine when it means your population is growing fast (and it's essential for fast enough growth on Deity difficulty). Cattle are the best food source (thanks, zzxxzz3); 4-5 ranks per cattle tech. Ignore fishing and farming techs (except when needed as a prereq). Take +max population techs as needed. 1 level of every other tech. You can save tech points to use when better techs are unlocked at 4,000 BC and 3,000 BC. Endgame: You should be upgrading Selection, City Planning, and Bronze Working to maximize your Production. This strategy got me 5 stars on Deity without much trouble.
Sweet! The dev is responding to comments. Any word on whether we'll see a hard mode? I know it's not for everyone, but enough people have requested it that I think it would be worth putting in.
The game is great, but I beat it on my second life. It's easily good enough that I want a Hard Mode. Possible changes for Hard Mode: All hits deal 1 heart of damage (instead of 1/2 heart). All ranged enemies get double (or triple) projectiles. You can carry 2 potions, BUT potions are 1/3rd as effective (e.g. short shield duration, short freeze duration, poison only drains half HP, heal gives 3-5 hearts). Anyway, just some possibilities. Keep up the good work!
When I tell my guys to go somewhere (without holding the A key), why do they sometimes decide that, no, it's probably cool for them to stop and fight (and possibly get themselves killed) along the way?
Wow! That's a lot of developer responses. I decided to give this game another try, and I'm glad I did! I don't normally associate "Fun RTS" with "small studio", but this game pulls it off. The game feels minimalist, and the controls take a bit of getting used to, but it has what it needs, and I loved the Quick Menu once I got the hang of it. The game feels a bit like Rebuild 2 with howitzers. I actually wonder if it would be possible to make Heroic difficulty harder. Maybe have tiles spawn ships that rush your base when their monster population gets too high. Also, have towers automatically shoot at empty (unsecured) tiles to reduce their monster population.
Thanks gorbadoc! Yeah, the monster AI could use some work, and the towers are rather stupid atm. A few players suggested some tower AI options (so it targets weakest or strongest first), so I think I can add in shooting at empty tiles too as an extra option.
"Anytime" and "any time" mean two different things, and the first mission got it wrong. It's not a big deal; apparently the furry giving the tutorial didn't go to a school that hammered "proper" spelling. If I'm meant to dislike him, well done! I dislike him. There are lots of people I dislike. Bottom line for this game, though, is that I got a bad impression within two minutes of starting.
I'll admit, there are probably a couple more grammar issues and misspellings in game that have slipped past my last test run. I do recall suffering from broken "engrish" every now and then, lol. But I'm glad you at least took the time to check the game out.
I remember a time, long long ago, when games pretended to have a point. Granted, they didn't ACTUALLY have a point; you were ultimately just pushing buttons on a plastic controller until your thumbs hurt. Nevertheless, there was at least purportedly some princess to save or battle to win or whatever. Here, I seem to be-- actually, I have no idea what I'm doing. A monster stands in a box and waits for me to click it to death. I'm just not feeling it; however, given how successful Idle Mine was, this will probably stay on the "Popular Games" on Kongregate for a few months.
After a painfully easy first sector and a so-so second sector, the campaign finally started throwing consistent challenges at me. It was great, right up until I ran out of lives. This is a poor game design choice. When I try to tackle a difficult map (and lose as a result), the fact that I'm not winning rewards should be punishment enough. I shouldn't be further punished with not being allowed to play the game.
In a multiplayer game, equipment loadouts are fine, but I don't want myself or my opponent to have any advantage apart from our skill at the game. This game embodies the exact opposite of that principle.
I'm liking a lot of the core concepts. For a zombie game, though, this could stand to be a lot scarier/harder. On a mission, you get 1. Health regen, 2. Solid ranged damage with 3. Unlimited ammo, and 4. No real threat of zombies surrounding/overwhelming you. On the strategy screen, it seems pretty straightforward to keep up with the zombie threat in every sector (maybe I'm just not far enough into the game, but other people have been suggesting it's pretty easy, too). I'm having fun with this game; I'm just suggesting that any sequels be made scarier, because I think that would be even more fun.
@xsEGOist, to get three stars in level 35, **Puzzle Spoiler** you have to use one bullet to get a quadruple headshot on the guards on the platforms. After the bullet bounces off the fourth guard's face, it smashes a piece of glass (that's blocked by the "walkthrough" button), dropping acid on the guards below. Then, kill the mutant by ricocheting a bullet to smash the glass to drop the box on him.
Solid puzzle game. My only "complaint" is that I want more: getting all stars should give something, plus there could stand to be a few "extreme challenge" levels. For example, there were missions that required timing a grenade to land in a car, and there were missions that required a tricky grenade trajectory to make it drop into a particular hole-- combine the two.
 "Apocashop"){kind=icon}
 "Battle Sails"){kind=icon}
 "Idle Raiders"){kind=icon}
 "Last Town"){kind=icon}
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 "Demons Down Under"){kind=icon}
 "Royal Warfare"){kind=icon}
 "Peacefree Tactical Warfare"){kind=icon}
 "Clicker Heroes"){kind=icon}
 "Obliterate Everything 3"){kind=icon}
 "Decision:Medieval"){kind=icon}
 "Cerberus: Lord of the Underworld"){kind=icon}
 "Puzzle Legends"){kind=icon}
 "Death lab"){kind=icon}
Enemies are attacking themselves, if they come too close.