Planetary Annihilation - Kickstarter

I am glad to hear this game was moving forward.

Metal Fatigue was unique. Sort of a Giant Robots game with more battle space to the War Zone 2100.

Does Metal Fatigue have anything to do with this game?

Nope. This is a closer spiritual successor to Total Annihilation than Supreme Commander was supposed to be.

It doesn't have that much to do with it, I was just reminded of it by the orbital mechanics.

Sounds almost exactly like Sup Com did, gameplay-wise. That's not good news for me because I hated the fact that the whole game was decided not by tactics, but entirely by economy instead. That meant that whichever player managed to create a more powerful, stable economy boom first was basically guaranteed to win no matter how good the other opponent was.

The game is closer to Total Annihilation than Sup Com.

so, total biscuit did a quick look at the alpha.

Just watching the vid now. This is TA 2 under new unit skins and names unless they decide to differentiate it even further. They're even using the exact same style of metal patch (again, unless they decide to change it), build animations, economy and micromanagement options.

I like the visibly curved planet surfaces even if that does mean the planets themselves are woefully undersized at the current scale of everything. It's just one of the touches I've developed a taste for. I also like that the Commander is of a similar relative scale to the TA Krogoth rather than being one of the smaller units. That was one thing Sup Com did better than TA in my opinion.

One thing I'm curious about is this: Both TA and Sup Com were hailed as being technological and graphical marvels when they first came out. Will PA shoot for that after they've nailed all the gameplay? I'm sure that bringing in the actual metallic textures that TA Spring uses (as a graphic option rather than the sole setting) would improve the game's appeal. Of course fans would eventually mod them in but community mods don't bring the developers money.

The game has been added to Steam's Early Access Program, but there's a bit of an issue - namely, it's $89 dollar price tag.

And no, you're not getting a collector's edition either. Just the game in it's early alpha state, and whether you get anything for buying it at that price or not is still undetermined. Yeah, I'm totally not touching this.

Wasn't it cheaper if you bought it directly from their site?

I believe the issue with that is that was the price level from the moment the kickstarter started in which one would be given an early access key, so eventually the cost will go down significantly. Besides, it'll really piss off those who paid that much to get the early access when it appeared on Kickstarter. Essentially, it concerns having a monetary/time investment to be willing to test out. The game certainly looks cool but buggy (no surprise since it's a very early build), but since I'm not invested in either, I'd give this one a miss until release.

edited 14th Jun '13 3:09:23 AM by EarlOfSandvich

Sounds a bit like Prison Architect alpha...more expensive, not cheaper during alpha to only get those who'll actually test the game...

Okay, does activated keys count towards "Top Sellers" or are there really enough people willing to spend 89 to get it third top seller of the today?

So this is like Space Stage Spore done right?

edited 14th Jun '13 1:50:24 PM by Ninety

There's no diplomacy or exploration (apart from removing Fog of War on unreached planets, of course). It's a nonstop robot war like in Total Annihilation and Sup Com.

edited 14th Jun '13 2:06:50 PM by Recon5

Sounds like my kind of game.

I saw the thread title and my first thought was 'any relation to Total Annihilation'? XD

I see it is so. This pleases me. :)

This game's on sale right now on Steam for $5.99. Some time ago, I would have bought this in a heartbeat, but considering the stuff I've read about the game (it seems to be really lacking in updates at the moment, it's apparently still unfinished despite getting out of Early Access, and the devs tried to pull a fast one on us by starting another Kickstarter without fully completing this game first), I have since become hesitant about going through with it. Anyone willing to convince me otherwise?

edited 26th Dec '14 6:08:14 PM by Nettacki

Sadly a lot of the reviews on the Steam page for the game, plus word of mouth from players I know are saying similar things. It's because of that I'm hesitant to purchase the game, even though it's at 6 bucks for today only.

I'll wait until the next major Steam sale rolls around and then jump on one of their offers... provided they get the game out in a more complete and polished state.

I'm not really a fan of the always online thing (though that's been fixed) and you having to gather technology, but I think it's fun as long as there's balance (such as when I'm fighting someone I don't want to be limited to ground vehicles while the enemy has planes foot troops and vehicles). The unit cannon is a nice addition, though, and Human Resources looks very novel. I hope they continue making it.

edited 26th Dec '14 6:06:17 PM by theLibrarian