Offworld Trading Company (RTS)

[QuantumPion]

New game available in early access - Offworld Trading Company. Made by Soren Johnson, whom was the lead designer of Civ 4 (best TBS of all time IMO) and published by Stardock. It's on steam but I'm hesitant to buy early access games these days unless they are in a nearly complete state. Anyone try it out yet or hear anything more about it? The game looks vaguely reminiscent of Rise of Nations to me with all the different resources.

IGN preview video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ha_HgbRLwk

 

[Subyman]

I noticed this too. Looks interesting, but I don't do EA much any more. I'll likely wait until its closer to release.

 

[Elcs]

Looked interesting but pricey and I'm not sure that RTS fits the genre/style of game.

Something that made it to my watchlist as soon as I saw it though.

 

[QuantumPion]

A good preview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4VnW2i0VTU

Looks like a competitive economic game with simple mechanics but lots of strategies.

 

[Subyman]

A good preview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4VnW2i0VTU

Looks like a competitive economic game with simple mechanics but lots of strategies.

I like the idea of economic progress instead of warfare. Is there not any combat? I'd like a purely economic game without any war.

 

[JTsyo]

I like the idea of economic progress instead of warfare. Is there not any combat? I'd like a purely economic game without any war.

There's no war at all, just economy.

 

[Subyman]

There's no war at all, just economy.

Looking forward to this game then.

 

[ThinClient]

There IS war, but it's subversive tactics. You can buy debuffs to apply to your enemies to disrupt their economy.

 

[acheron]

(double post)

 

[acheron]

I've been following this for awhile and it looks pretty great, but yeah I don't do early access games. Once it's actually released I'll probably be all over it though.

 

[DeathReborn]

My dad will love this once it's released, it'll probably find its way into my collection too but only after release.

 

[ThinClient]

Well, it's fun for a while, that's for sure. Choosing what kind of base to start with dictates your strategy and where you decide to set up shop on the map. I can see getting 20 hours out of this game, maybe 30 at the minimum. This will be interesting playing multiplayer. I'd say it's worth the price even at this point and I don't have a clue what else they plan on adding later.

It's well put together. The list of bugs and malfunctions is so amazingly small. It's so rare to find an early-access game that isn't riddled with the normal list of "nothing works yet, but we hope ..." sort of garbage.

 

[QuantumPion]

This is early access in the sense that they are giving beta access to pre-orderers for the purpose of improving game balance, not "we have this awesome idea for a new zombie game and just need your money to make it".

 

[ThinClient]

Sounds like someone's still bitter :awe:

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Is the game considered feature complete? Price seems awfully high for what's actually in there, but I am very much intrigued.

 

[QuantumPion]

I went ahead and bought it since it looked pretty interesting. As far as I can tell it is feature complete. I don't know if they will ever add a single player campaign or not.

The AI is pretty good but I have not tried multiplayer yet. There are a few bugs like the sound sometimes cuts out and the UI is sometimes laggy. Also it's crashed on me once, but it feels like a fairly solid beta.

As for the gameplay, it is pretty simple but fast paced and requires quick thinking and good strategy. I don't know if the game will stand up to long term popularity based on how simple it is, I feel like I would get tired of it after 20 hours or so.

 

[Rhezuss]

Look really good and I like the no-war part of the game. Reminds me of the board game "Merchant of Venus" where you simply roam the galaxy and try to be the wealthiest by the end of the game.

The no-war aspect is really good since you can actually focus your game a lot more and build your engine to be more efficient. A new take on the genre, sounds good.

But, no singleplayer mode? It's only multiplayer?

 

[QuantumPion]

Look really good and I like the no-war part of the game. Reminds me of the board game "Merchant of Venus" where you simply roam the galaxy and try to be the wealthiest by the end of the game.

The no-war aspect is really good since you can actually focus your game a lot more and build your engine to be more efficient. A new take on the genre, sounds good.

But, no singleplayer mode? It's only multiplayer?

There is single player vs AI. What I said previously is there is no campaign/story mode. At least not yet, dunno if that is something being worked on or not. And while there is no combat, it is a trade war where you try to sabotage your opponents.

 

[Rhezuss]

There is single player vs AI. What I said previously is there is no campaign/story mode. At least not yet, dunno if that is something being worked on or not. And while there is no combat, it is a trade war where you try to sabotage your opponents.

Oh good to know!

 

[xantub]

I'd love it if it wasn't an RTS. I love all the planning and trading aspects, but I don't like having to quickly pan the map back and forth all around and quickly do stuff. I guess it's just not my type of game, but I would love to see something like this but turn based or at least slower paced.

 

[ThinClient]

There are speed controls, xantub.

 

[Rhezuss]

I played a bit yesterday, did the first tutorial where you're asked to upgrade your HQ to a level 2 or 3...they don't tell you too much in their tutorials...didn't realised I could buy/sell mats only after too long.

Second tutorial is the same thing but I started paying attention to the mechanics. I was rolling in debts and was only paying it and could not do too much until I realised that every negative ressource production goes directly in your debts. I like this sort of mechanics in these games. I was building too much stuff and didn't paid attention to my revenues until I was on the brink of bankruptcy hahah

One thing I still don't understand is sometimes I can't build certain buildings and I get a message that says "You need more lot" or something like that...like I had too much buildings for the size of my colony. I know that you can have more when you upgrade your HQ but what happens past level 5?

Overall, it's an awesome game!

 

[QuantumPion]

I played a bit yesterday, did the first tutorial where you're asked to upgrade your HQ to a level 2 or 3...they don't tell you too much in their tutorials...didn't realised I could buy/sell mats only after too long.

Second tutorial is the same thing but I started paying attention to the mechanics. I was rolling in debts and was only paying it and could not do too much until I realised that every negative ressource production goes directly in your debts. I like this sort of mechanics in these games. I was building too much stuff and didn't paid attention to my revenues until I was on the brink of bankruptcy hahah

One thing I still don't understand is sometimes I can't build certain buildings and I get a message that says "You need more lot" or something like that...like I had too much buildings for the size of my colony. I know that you can have more when you upgrade your HQ but what happens past level 5?

Overall, it's an awesome game!

To build anything you need a claim on a tile. You start with 3 claims and get more by upgrading your colony or buying them through auctions or the black market. Once you claim a tile you can bulldoze and rebuild different buildings on it whenever you want to adapt to the current economy but tile position is important.

If you claim a bunch of random isolated iron mines or wind mills, they will be useless if the price of iron or power is low. If you build a cluster of steel factories in your base and steel gets cheap you can bulldoze them and replace with electronics factories or whatever. Remember that buildings get a 50% adjacency bonus for each building so you want to have groups of 3 buildings of the same type for maximum production.

 

[SunnyD]

So, basically Railroad Tycoon in space?

 

[Rhezuss]

To build anything you need a claim on a tile. You start with 3 claims and get more by upgrading your colony or buying them through auctions or the black market. Once you claim a tile you can bulldoze and rebuild different buildings on it whenever you want to adapt to the current economy but tile position is important.

If you claim a bunch of random isolated iron mines or wind mills, they will be useless if the price of iron or power is low. If you build a cluster of steel factories in your base and steel gets cheap you can bulldoze them and replace with electronics factories or whatever. Remember that buildings get a 50% adjacency bonus for each building so you want to have groups of 3 buildings of the same type for maximum production.

Ah ok I see and the Black MArket is not opened for me in the second tutorial.