Air Mech is a game in alpha with a private Windows version (now also on Steam with keys in the current Indie Royale bundle) and a open Google Chrome app version. In the game you control a Humongous Mecha that can trasform between a figther plane and a ground mech.

Anyone here plays it? I tried the tutorial but it didn't give me a clear idea of how you have to destroy the enemie base.

Yeah got the beta code from Royale Bundle...I still have no idea if I can order my units to move toward enemy base or not...

edited 2nd Jul '12 6:46:16 PM by onyhow

This game reminds me of the conquest mode from Future Cop: LAPD.

You had a base, your transforming mech, and a limited amount of points, and the goal was to get enough of your units into the perimeter of the enemy base to win. The way you earned points was by taking over one of the four outposts or killing enemy units. The points could be used to build units, base defenses, reload your weapons, or build super bombers or tanks. The challenge of the game came from the fact that the enemy side would have their own mech too (or in the comp's case, a jet piloted by an AI named Sky-Captain) that could easily shred up your units and was capable of the same abilities as you. Therefore, you had to watch out for the enemy hero unit while at the same protecting your ground units so they can reach the enemy base and capture it. That mode was probably the single best thing about the game.

I wouldn't be surprised

I have tried some more matchs and from what I get you can't give the units specific orders like in a traditional RTS but you are suposed to micro the units with the five comands attack enemy, capture outpost, link to unit, another one I can't remember and hold position. The closest I got to send toward the enemy base was from the last outpost and attack enemy comand or droping them in front of it and the attack enemy.

The shield abality is ridicusly useful, it let me drop units in front of the enemy base and escape alive :) That match ended in a Death of a Thousand Cuts because of all the Scratch Damage made with this strategy Of course it was against the AI so I don't know how well this will work against another player.

After seeing a video about it, yeah it seems similar and it is a kind of MOBA, maybe one of the first examples of it.

@sgt Ricko

...

...

you are my new favorite person. I played that once at a friend's house what seemed like decades ago, had a wonderful time, and then COMPLETELY forgot about it but wanted to find it anyway. THANK YOU.

@Ricko: Ahaha Future Cop...man that's an darn old game...although I only remember playing splitscreen co-op with my cousin with it (on PC mind), and not that mode...I might have played that mode but I can't really remember it...

Also, can you order your tanks and stuff to move by themselves so you don't have to manually reposition each of them? I tried pressing the order button and it does jack shit...

edited 2nd Jul '12 10:02:06 PM by onyhow

I think you can only order units you hold, not sure about that. Tomorrow I will try some more games and tell you what I learn from that but clicking the attack enemy base (y) should start moving the units to attack.

After some more games and reading some guides, no you can't. What you can do if you want to reposition a group of units is to link them to a unit and then reposition only that unit, the rest of them will go to the comand unit after you drop it.

How do you link units?

It is the one that is from the four comands, the one that is down (by default is used by pressing F). It will link the unit you are holding to another one and if you want to change to which units it is linked just pick up the unit with the link comand and press right click over the unit you want to link it with.

The game has been released on Steam, albeit in a beta state.

You'll have to pay for it (it cost $9.99 USD for me), but in exchange for the cost you'll get several thousand diamonds and kudos points, Gold VIP status, and a 9-day exp buff that stacks with others who have the buff as well.

The game plays a lot more like an action-RTS than a MOBA. for one, it's not the heroes, but the "creeps" who are supposed to do all the heavy damage. Your mechs are actually better at doing support roles, such as air-lift, repairs, scouting, hit-and-run, etc instead of being the vanguard of the assault. Also, you get to choose up to 9 different units to take into battle with you, such as tanks, recon bikes, infantry, defense turrets, artillery cannons, repair vehicles, suicide drones, support structures and more. Also, it's possible to replace the units with upgrades for your mech instead, such as improved boosters, heavy bombs, mini-defenes drones that follow you around, or improved cannons, all to give your mech an increased punch at the cost of having few to none combat creep units.

Only problems so far though is that the playerbase is really small: expect only a little over a dozen players interested in the matchmaker at a time. And for some reason, it has the worst lag I have EVER seen in any game. It's possible that the issue might be on my side, but there are several other folks out there whose lag averaged around 400-500 ping throughout the match!

BTW, you don't have to pay for the game. You can download it for free on this site: Link Here.

edited 8th Oct '12 5:27:28 AM by SgtRicko

I think the lag has to do that because there are not a lot of people in the matchmaking, you end up matched with people from around the world. And maybe the net code is not yet completly optimized.

I just downloaded this game it has been pretty cool so far. My only problem with it is that there's almost no people to play with.

Agreed. Good thing this game has a comp stomp mode which actually gives you some exp, or else it would be almost impossible to play at all.

Some of the alternative pilot choices are pretty hilarious, like the PA crew and Husky.

Me, friend of mines, and Onyhow yesterday tried to play a game using the Singapore server. And given the fact that we're all located nearby the Pacific (or living IN the Pacific, in my case) there shouldn't have been any connection issues. Yet, our lag hit averaged over 400 ping, and we couldn't even host a game for more than a minute! I'm capable of playing C&C Generals (a game whose official servers are now defunct) with 3 kids from Syria with almost no lag. Christ, what is up with the netcode in this game?!

edited 9th Oct '12 11:56:52 PM by SgtRicko

It's more an issue of relative network quality, I think. Singapore does have optic lines to places outside SEA but as far as I know there hasn't been a move to run one into or through Malaysia. Probably due to TM Net hijinx.

edited 10th Oct '12 12:33:26 AM by Recon5

Well at least in the end we got it work through Japan...still ping can still spike up pretty badly though...

edited 10th Oct '12 3:05:43 AM by onyhow