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[miljan]

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada - Overview Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT2xIqF8amY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La97j3EUtME

[Retropunch]

I imagine there will be a big enough crowd interested outside of W40K fans. It's massive spaceships smashing the hell out of each other - whats not to like!?

My issue is mostly that the balance looks like it'll be a bitch to get right. I'm sure it's possible, but as the studio isn't particularly well known, I don't know if they'll either have the ability or the sustainability to fix it if it comes out a bit wonky (unless it's a big hit). Whilst I'm not often too bothered about proper balance, this seems so tactically focused that if it's not got a good balance then multiplayer will be rubbish.

No preorder from me, but it'll be bought (or not) shortly after the first reviews I think.

[Dansmithers]

(Bought the beta, then played for 2 hours before posting this.)

This game is a wonder. Currently, I'd say it isn't worth the asking price, but it isn't even out yet and I could play the pseudorandom skirmish mode for 20 more hours without seeing everything it has to offer. Combat is visceral, the skills have real impact on the battlefield, and while the ships look similar, each has a unique identity based on its armament and chosen skills. The only gripes I have are that the leveling (both of ship crews and your admiral, based on the amount of money you earn) is a bit slow, wiht me being at the third level after maybe an hour of play and 10 battles. This might also be solved by making the levels worth a little less, so you got more levels, but the same amount of stuff in total. The other gripe is that there is no "restart mission" option, either in or out of battle. This irritates me, as its easy to screw up and die.

[Mech#4]

I agree, combat is very fun with a level of franticness that isn't too much but at the same time it pushes you to make use of your ships abilities. The "tactical cogitator" is a neat mechanic that, rather than pausing the game, slows it down meaning that even during the middle of a battle you have to keep thinking and acting. Also, slowing down time to watch ships ramming into each other is so neat.

My gripes are more to do with the U.I. than anything else. The U.I. doesn't scale properly with ratios other than 16:9 (being all squished with text too small and under other icons), there's a few placeholder texts around as well as some areas it could be improved upon (I would like the image of your ship in the U.I to show red on which weapons are destroyed during a battle).

People are having issues with the games performance, experiences crashes when sometimes joining multiplayer games or trying to play as a certain faction. While I have not played multiplayer, I have not had any crashes.

If you do think of getting it during this beta, be aware that the campaign is only the first 4ish missions that make up a tutorial. You can only play as the Imperial Navy and Chaos (though one of the campaign missions does have you against an Ork fleet) and while you do get the Space Marine faction, they're scheduled to be released a few weeks after the game comes out propery which at this time is the 24th of March.


Edit: Also, I will mention what someone found on the Steam forums; if you find that the textures in the game are a bit blurry or loading in from low to high a bit slowly you can turn down the AA in the settings to remedy this.

[Majestic7]

Well, I bought it and the battles are very fun. I'm positively surprised.

I guess my only complaint is that I wish boarding was more decisive. My memories from the figurine game are hazy, but I think if you started boarding, it was an extended maneuver that got the ships stuck together for an extended time. Likewise, it feels like all of my battles become close range slugging matches. AI seems to suck in spatial awareness; if you set ships to attack a target they will drive into asteroids, mines and each other. So I only use attack orders for escorts while micromanaging my capital ships by hand.

We shall see how the Eldars do; unless their ships are extremely fast (and possibly OP due to that fact) they might be too easy to catch and pound into submission by the brute force types.

[Mech#4]

It will be interesting with the Eldar. One of the missions is assassination where you have to defeat an enemy command ship before they warp out. If the Eldar are faster than the other factions, getting within range before they warp out could be a problem.

[Drakale]

I was also surprised that it was quite enjoyable despite the limited nature of the beta. Ramming is especially good, being not an activated ability but an actual game mechanic.

I'm not too sold on the boarding mechanic as they are now, it's just an instant damage dealer at the moment and it does not really feel right. I would prefer a sort of longer duration boarded status that get longer as you repeat boarding maneuvers on the same ship, and over time they may do a bunch of things like disabling systems, fire etc... Basically just not make it instant.

[Mech#4]

It does feel a little weird sending a lightning strike over to a ship and having it detonate near instantly. Maybe they could use the subsystem targeting you get when you click on enemy vessels to tell the assault crews to target specific ship systems, or it could reduce their effectiveness temporarily (lower speed, accuracy, shield regeneration etc).


I have found myself using the lightning strikes more often than the assault teams. Range is the biggest reason, with the assault teams needing the ships nearly right next to each other, which isn't a problem to do but not really the best spot to be in. I do not know how the actual rulebook for Battlefleet Gothic handles boarding actions.

[Majestic7]

It has been over a decade since I played Gothic, but IIRC you need ships to be next to each other to start boarding. There are some exceptions to this like Chaos ships that can gain tentacles as a favor from the Gods, then use tentacles to pull enemy ships into them for boarding. Incidentally, best way to board an enemy is to ram them. (Since you get ram damage first before starting the melee.) Boarding usually lasts several turns, keeping the ships locked together. Assault shuttles and lightning strikes work like in the computer game.

[ZebioLizard2]

Well, I bought it and the battles are very fun. I'm positively surprised.

I guess my only complaint is that I wish boarding was more decisive. My memories from the figurine game are hazy, but I think if you started boarding, it was an extended maneuver that got the ships stuck together for an extended time. Likewise, it feels like all of my battles become close range slugging matches. AI seems to suck in spatial awareness; if you set ships to attack a target they will drive into asteroids, mines and each other. So I only use attack orders for escorts while micromanaging my capital ships by hand.

We shall see how the Eldars do; unless their ships are extremely fast (and possibly OP due to that fact) they might be too easy to catch and pound into submission by the brute force types.

They did have fast movement, but it was strange as it relied on the "Solar Winds" that they basically had three speeds based on where their arcs were located towards the sun table edge, they pretty much had no real max movement. Though they also had special Holofields which protected their fragile ships, they also had powerful torpedos, strong flyers, and powerful multi-hit lances.

If it wasn't for Necrons on the tabletop they would be the strongest faction there. I'm curious to see how they'll do holofields for them.

[Greenbane]

It has been over a decade since I played Gothic, but IIRC you need ships to be next to each other to start boarding. There are some exceptions to this like Chaos ships that can gain tentacles as a favor from the Gods, then use tentacles to pull enemy ships into them for boarding. Incidentally, best way to board an enemy is to ram them. (Since you get ram damage first before starting the melee.) Boarding usually lasts several turns, keeping the ships locked together. Assault shuttles and lightning strikes work like in the computer game.

Boarding was also a ranged thing in the tabletop game last time I read the rules.

If I keep hearing good things about it, I might shell out, seizing the fairly palatable GMG discount. It's still a bit of a hefty price tag for me, for an unknown quality preorder.

[Silent_Thunder]

The big thing I'll add is, quite simply do not be afraid to retreat. This game, much like the tabletop and other tabletop games like it (by which I mean skirmish games where units carry over) rewards long term play over short term gains. Losing a ship or two in a battle is managable, losing the whole fleet is positivly punishing. While destroyed ships do not get destroyed forever (well technically they do in that their # battles cosmetic stat resets and they get a new name), retaining their upgrades, you must wait a few turns to get them back, which is either turns on the solo play campaign, or matches in MP. This can leave you crippled if most of your high level ships are dead, or possibly in a dead state if every Line Ship is dead, althouh this shouldn't happen as I can't think of any point value that would let you field every ship you own unless you've been refusing new ship tiers. But yeah, keep that in mind. It's much like Blood Bowl or Mordheim in that respect TBH, where at some point you need to minimize losses.

Also one of the biggest decisions in game I find is to attempt to stop a warping ship or not. Once a ship retreats to the warp that's it, it's gone for the match, BUT, you get less XP for a heavily damaged ship than a destroyed one, and if it retreats before even reaching that state you get no bonus XP. So it's a risk reward of going for the XP vs keeping a combat unit on the field, especially as synergetic buffs from allies could help revitalize it for a short while, or it could be used in a suicide ram.

As to the boarding confusion, there are two types of boarding. Lightning Strikes and Boarding Craft. I'm not entirely sur eon the exact differences, but Boarding is far more devastating, and really the only time you use Lightning (as they share a cooldown) is when you dont think you can close the gap to do it proper, have the Adaptus Astartes favor for an Imperial ship, or need to stop a warping ship from escaping.

EDIT: Also, I'm not 100% sure but I think so, having a ship destroyed resets the xp progress that's its gained twords it's next level, which can be quite painful if you were say 400xp to a 450xp levelup.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Very tempted to buy this. USD28.80 on GMG after 10% off and 20% further GMG discount.

I love Imperial designs, but very intrigued by Chaos fleet. With their superior speed and range, and the fact that module damage (e.g. engine, deck, etc.) cannot be repaired, they can cripple Imperial ships' engines, making them sitting ducks while the Chaos ships keeps their distance and snipe them.

[EnigmaticHat]

Is the SP worth it?  I don't like MP games where there is gameplay persistence between matches, but on the other hand I think everything is better in space so...

[Majestic7]

I've been entertained by playing the skirmish campaign for ten hours in single player. I suppose the real campaign will be better once it comes out. A shame that it will likely be only playable as Imps.