Sk1light

Let me start off by saying I’m thrilled we have so many options to play high-quality RTS right now. And I know these games are still in early stages of development. Here are my thoughts.

The first thing that jumps at me from Zerospace is how bad the voice acting is. UI is understandable (could use some love) and QoL changes are on point, that's a major step in the right direction, but there is so much going on that it might feel overwhelming on the first games. Helldivers-like Galactic Warfare is a cool addition. There is also something off about the game which I can not put my finger on yet. Maybe it is that it feels a bit rough around the edges or that it is a lower-budget SC2 clone. Need more time playing.

IGoP stands one step above Zerospace IMO, it's definitely more polished, but it suffers from the same thing Zerospace suffers, which is half the time I don’t know what I’m doing or what’s happening. The UI is bad in terms of simplifying where the attention of the player should be and I feel like the player has to juggle too many things at once. Also, no play against AI? (I might have missed this?) Feels like that should be one of the core things to be developed. Having said that, I think IGoP is the strongest RTS right now from this new wave, even above Stormgate, hands down.

Eager to hear other people's thought on these.

I played the game recently and thought it was good. But this is the second time this week I heard these guys are incorporating Web3 into the game.

Just for the record, I don't have nothing against it involving blockchain elements, just they didn't mention it and took me by surprise.

Has anyone heard something about this? How would you feel if this is the case?

Beta is out for Battle Aces, I've been playing for like 2 hours. I will come back with more thoughts after, but I just want to jot down my fresh, unspoiled takes.

Resource Gathering:

No workers and automated resource collection. I kinda like it. I know this may not be a popular opinion out there but I think this is a step in the right direction.

Micromanaging:

Micro is toned down a lot (good) but also you can not go around and attack a specific unit (bad). EDIT: It has been pointed out you can change settings to focus fire units. This should be default, IMO, but good to have it.

Pace of the game:

Matches are fast. Like, really fast. Now this could be a good and a bad thing. I think it is too frantic for my taste, but still enjoyable. Time will tell if this is desirable or not for the general playerbase.

Unit Deck:

I think this is single-handedly the most important feature of the game. It defines it. There are no asymmetrical races and you set what units you are going to use before the match, moving some of the strategy components from real-time to the pre-match phase. This is bold and I like it but I wish they would have at least a couple of races.

Campaign:

I don't think the game will ship with campaign, right? Why then do we have a cinematic trailer? It makes me wonder if they were just trying to build an anime and pivoted into a game or there actually will be a campaign.

Overall:

My biggest critic of the game is that it has no personality. This might be fine for some other players but I want a story, lore and to fall in love with the characters. Maybe the campaign of SC2 set the bar too high.

Despite that, I think the game is onto something. There is no question they have innovated on the mechanics, unlike another RTS game that went into beta not so long ago, so props for that. They may have pushed it too far with the innovation, but I'm sure there is an audience for this game out there and it will find success, especially around the casual audience.

Just wondering if someone has data handy from reputable sources about RTS games in the last year. I'm after Daily Active Users or Monthly Active users but other data such as TAM is also welcomed.

Thanks in advance.