History VideoGame / TheyAreBillions

''They Are Billions'' is a PostApocalyptic SteamPunk [[SurvivalSandbox survival]] [[RealTimeStrategy real-time strategy game]] by developed and published by Spanish independent studio Numantian Games, known previously for the ''VideoGame/LordsOfXulima''. The game was initially released for [[Platform/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] on Platform/{{Steam}}'s Early Access in December 2017 with survival mode. The full game was officially launched with the addition of a "New Empire" campaign on June 18, 2019. Ports for the Platform/XboxOne and Platform/PlayStation4 followed on July 1st, 2019.

In the 22nd century a ZombieApocalypse has destroyed civilization and nearly the entire human population of Earth. Technology for those who survived has regressed to somewhere around late 19th/early 20th century tech in a SteamPunk plus TeslaTechTimeline. General Quintus Crane is attempting to establish a new Human civilization capable of withstanding zombie attacks and slowly reclaiming the planet. You are one of his field commanders, tasked with reconquering lands from the Infected and building new colonies.

''They Are Billions'' is a PostApocalyptic SteamPunk [[SurvivalSandbox survival]] [[RealTimeStrategy real-time strategy game]] by developed and published by Spanish independent studio Numantian Games, known previously for the ''VideoGame/LordsOfXulima''. The game was initially released for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}'s Early Access in December 2017 with survival mode. The full game was officially launched with the addition of a "New Empire" campaign on June 18, 2019. Ports for the UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 followed on July 1st, 2019.

* ClownCarBase: Villages of Doom have a big case of this when disturbed. A small house will spawn a dozen or so while a Town Hall will spawn hundreds. Player houses also apparently house a large number of colonists each, although this isn't visual represented.

* SocipathicHero: Caelus' battle chatter paints him as very enthusiastic to put bullets in skulls. The Sniper unit speaks similarly, but is explicitly noted as being a psychopath, while Caelus is treated as a hero.

** Wooden walls are available from the beginning of the game. They're not particularly interesting, but they're critical for ensuring that zombies don't slip in past your perimeter as even a single infected can [[DisasterDominoes snowball into losing the game]].

** The second type are the result of mobs of Infected crowding the roads between mission areas. In order to reach the mission on the far side, you'll set up and outpost and requisition forces based on how many Empire points you've accumulated. Once the mission starts, you can't buy anything else. If the Outpost falls, you lose. If you kill all the Infected (and all but the first few of these missions sees them numbered in the thousands), you win.

* ScoringPoints: Survival maps have a final score based on a number of factors including: Number of infected killed; maximum colony population; and number of colonists infected. An overall score modifier is applied to this score based on the difficulty settings.

* BaselessMission: There are some campaign missions in which you will only control your hero unit and maybe some units you find during the mission and have to accomplish specific goals like obtaining technological advances from the ruins of the old human fortress and cities.

* TitleDrop: When the adviser warns you of the final horde approaching, he mentions "they are billions".

* FogOfWar: Of the standard variant, with the map being completely hidden until you map it out and any zombies only showing up when units or buildings can see them. Lookouts remove larger portions of the fog than standard buildings, while Radars reveal even more; this is useful for last minute unit adjustments when a horde arrives.

* DifficultySpike: In Survival there is a massive difference in the size of the second-to-last and last hordes.

** The Lucifer gets a double helping as its flamethrower is one of the most powerful weapons in the game, but it has extremely slow speed and inflicts a permanent -1 penalty on oil production for every unit in service. They can't fire from behind walls, making it significantly harder to use than most other units in a game centered around hiding behind your walls. They can also fry your own men with friendly fire, meaning they require significant micromanagement when working with other troop types. They can, however, serve as a very effective final protective line in the event that your walls are breeched.

** The Great Crater in campaign mode is this UpToEleven. It has held fast for two centuries, while attempts to settle beyond it have failed constantly for 13 years.

* NotHyperbole: While a single player will most likely never face such numbers, the game can track a total of Infected killed across ''all'' players, and at the time of this writing the count is ''seven hundred billion''. So yes, They ''are'', quite literally, Billions.

* CannonFodder: Your Soldier and Ranger units are the only units available without further research and will make up the bulk of your early game army. Rangers in particular can be produced cheaply in huge numbers. By the end of the game they're so outclassed by higher tier units that they're basically worthless, however.

** When filled with four of the upgraded veteran soldiers, the simple stone tower does more single target damage per second than anything in the entire game, including twenty foot tall Infected Giants and gatling cannons the size of trains.

* ArtificialStupidity:
** Unless one your combat units aggro some infected, their default behavior, once they make a beeline to your colony, is to attack the nearest unit or building, even if it is a wall or an empty tower. So it is possible for zombies to stupidly strike your walls and ignoring the very obvious gaping hole nearby. Even the Infected Venoms will stupidly try to attack your walls rather than a building behind it. Your actual combat units aren't much better. They fire at nearby targets, but will otherwise just stand there and let the infected kill them
** Likewise, zombies who wander the open world will always attack the closest human, with no concern for anyone else. Thus the player can use a ranger to literally run circles around huge mobs of zombies, drawing all their attention while soldiers behind the ranger safely gun them all down.

** Due to upgrades available in the campaign, the humble Soldiers are likely to be backbone of your army on every difficulty and every map. They have a fast rate of fire that prevents overkill, a very low cost, good single target damage, are among the easiest units to produce, and have exceptional durability for their cost. The Academy of Immortals turns every one of them into [[MasterOfAll veterans]], making them inflict twice as much damage per second.

* ImAHumanitarian: In the campaign, a news report titled "World Leaders Turn to Biotechnology to Fight Hunger" explains that facilities are being set up to convert recently deceased humans into consumable meat in order to combat a global famine.

* ArtificialStupidity: Unless one your combat units aggro some infected, their default behavior, once they make a beeline to your colony, is to attack the nearest unit or building, even if it is a wall or an empty tower. So it is possible for zombies to stupidly strike your walls and ignoring the very obvious gaping hole nearby. Even the Infected Venoms will stupidly try to attack your walls rather than a building behind it. Your actual combat units aren't much better. They fire at nearby targets, but will otherwise just stand there and let the infected kill them