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[Sean Mirrsen]

Carrier Command: Gaea Mission is 90% off right now. First/Third person/top-down tactical action-RTS with management elements. If you had a Spectrum at some point, you have to have played the original. The remake is quite good.

Is that the one made by Bohemia? I remember I watched a video of it a while ago. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that,like the rest of their games, I won't be able to run it on my PoS computer.

It's poorly optimised. I'd suggest avoiding it unless you have newer, stronger rig.

EDIT: Don't buy this game. On top of poor optimisation, it has terribad pathfinding AI and no multiplayer. The game plays really blandly as a single in my experience. I am occupied making sure my vehicles don't get suck instead of giving commands.

It wasn't meant for multiplayer. This is a game that cannot be played in a "quick match" - in a typical strategic game, you don't encounter the other side of the conflict for hours, and you can't control anything not slaved to your carrier - so two players actually meeting would only happen at the very end of an 8+ hour campaign.

The pathfinding I didn't find any more excruciatingly dumb than in any other typical RTS, and honestly the game is not a typical RTS. In singleplayer, I am more occupied dodging incoming fire and artillery shells than watching the units crawl from the overhead view. I only normally use the AI for getting around long-distance on the islands, and for fire support when I lead the attacks, so while the pathfinding may freak out here and there on difficult terrain, it does a pretty good job of sticking to the roads and firing accurately, which is everything I need it to do. Maybe it just boils down to playing style, I don't know.

About the only thing I agree on is the performance. It really is poorly optimized. While my laptop is far from a powerful rig, it does run games like Skyrim admirably, and for Carrier Command I have to turn the quality options down past "medium" to keep the control lag to a manageable level. If you don't have a very powerful machine, I'd suggest you look at Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising, which is based on the same original game (though it takes far more liberties with the premise) and is rather less graphically intensive.
(though at a 90% discount, I am rather happy to look past Gaea Mission's various failings even more than normally)

[Glloyd]

Looks like Take On Helicopters, also by Bohemia, is 90% off as well.

[Sinistar]

I have only played for few hours, so my opinion might not have much weight, but here is what I think about Carrier Command: Gaea Mission.
This game is certainly a strange beast. Part of me loves it simply due to fact of it being a remake of an old, forgotten classic (which I never played, ha), which was a unique hybrid even by today's standards. On the other hand, it has it's quirks. Pathfinding problems were mentioned, but it really depends on YOU how much damaging are to the game. If this was a plain strategy game, then yes, this would be problematic in many cases (but not all as this issues are not present all the tame). Then there's voice acting which I'm also on the fence on what to think about. It is generally ok, but sometimes feels a bit off? And graphics...yeah, they are no Crysis killer allright. But at the same game might lag with too high settings.

But all that being said, there's just something...likeable about this game. You choose the island to invade yourself. It frowns upon rushing tactics, encourages scouting, careful assessing of situation, yours and enemy's equipment and with it's limited numbers of vehicles it feels almost as some sort of tactical squad-based strategy (like SWAT or Rainbow Six, you understand). If you fail though, you soon get the ability to replace your loses without much hassle. In a way, it's very forgiving, at least once you get you full production capabilities up (that might change in future missions, as said I'm not to far into this game). But there IS a satisfaction in besting the opponent.
Game lacks polish, but I love it, no, I secretly adore it for what it is. It's an ugly duckling of a game, if there ever was one.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Once you get to the heavier-defended islands, the losses start stacking up and you either have to wait around while your replacement units are rebuilt and sent to you, or go into battle understaffed. Some special island features make combat more difficult (walruses have trouble in swamp terrain, some defenses interfere with your unit control so you have to keep them in range of the carrier, exceedingly good air defense on some islands, etc), which makes you shuffle up your strategic approach, there's lots of such things. About the only real issue I have with the gameplay side of things is the occasional FPS segment, which make sense story-wise and is a pretty neat diversion from the usual game pace, but are neither terribly entertaining or well-done, at least the one I so far made it to. It's a game about tanks and gunships on a giant carrier versus an archipelago of robotic enemies, squishy people have no place here.

[Mephisto]

One Way Heroics is "on sale." It's quite fun so far. Even though it's only -15%, it's only $2.96. Pick it up, ya bums.

[Sirus]

One Way Heroics is "on sale." It's quite fun so far. Even though it's only -15%, it's only $2.96. Pick it up, ya bums.

According to the reviews, it seems rather unstable.

[Niveras]

Planetary Annihilation early access is on sale for a reasonable price finally, 29.99 (40% off 49.99). I forget if it was most recently 49.99 or something else and been 'bumped down' to a new early access tier, but whatever. Really, their model really confuses me. Usually early access is cheaper, or normal price but with bonuses. PA's been more-expensive-than-release even if it does include some bonuses.

Still don't think I'll get it yet, though, mostly because I don't like supporting this model of early access purchasing, even if they meet and exceed all expectations on release.

[Hugehead]

One Way Heroics is "on sale." It's quite fun so far. Even though it's only -15%, it's only $2.96. Pick it up, ya bums.

It's on Playism for $2, if you can live without the cloud saves it's more stable and cheaper.

[Mephisto]

The game itself isn't really unstable. The problem is with the online component (look what other people are doing, even if you can't play with them!). I disabled it and it's run fine ever since.

[WealthyRadish]

So I noticed that Hearts of Iron III's 75% off, figured it's now or never to get into it. Anyone know if the expansions are worth it?

[Chaoswizkid]

So I noticed that Hearts of Iron III's 75% off, figured it's now or never to get into it. Anyone know if the expansions are worth it?

They are. They definitely improve the gameplay (IMO anyway), and unlike expansions for the Clauswitz 2.0/2.5/whatever engine that CK2 and EU4 use, the game is not automatically updated but the expansions restrict features. Those are more like traditional expansions that add/change a bunch of content that you don't have access to otherwise.

Not sure if you want to go HoI3 now though, given that EvW is likely to be released this year and HoI4 is in active, press-released development. Idk how much it is normally, but if it's pretty cheap and you want to get into the experience that way without buying into EvW or HoI4 when it comes out, go for it.

[PrimusRibbus]

One Way Heroics is "on sale." It's quite fun so far. Even though it's only -15%, it's only $2.96. Pick it up, ya bums.

According to the reviews, it seems rather unstable.

I've put 5 hours into One Way Heroics so far without a crash or any bugs. YMMV

[WealthyRadish]

They are. They definitely improve the gameplay (IMO anyway), and unlike expansions for the Clauswitz 2.0/2.5/whatever engine that CK2 and EU4 use, the game is not automatically updated but the expansions restrict features. Those are more like traditional expansions that add/change a bunch of content that you don't have access to otherwise.

Not sure if you want to go HoI3 now though, given that EvW is likely to be released this year and HoI4 is in active, press-released development. Idk how much it is normally, but if it's pretty cheap and you want to get into the experience that way without buying into EvW or HoI4 when it comes out, go for it.

Alright, good to know. I don't think I'd buy HOI4 without waiting for a couple expansions and a wicked sale anyway, and I remember buying EU3 right before EU4's release and still getting tons of value. Really seems to be the best strategy with paradox games, to wait like, a year.

[umiman]

Yeah, go ahead and get HoI3.

HoI4 will come out as a base game anyway and will have nowhere near the amount of content as HoI3.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Yeah, go ahead and get HoI3.

HoI4 will come out as a base game anyway and will have nowhere near the amount of content as HoI3.

I have the same attitude towards Cliffs of Dover at the moment. No matter how much better graphically and mechanically it may be, Il2 Sturmovik:1946 still has it beat ten times over for content, not even counting the fanmade expansions.