After the Empire

EDIT: Developers have stopped responding in the forums and there are bugs that haven't been fixed. The game is still fun and playable for me, but it is disappointing to imagine how much further this game could go with a few small updates. Pretty great little strategy game. Watching the colored fleets surround each territory and battle for victory is soothingly satisfying. I have yet to beat the hardest difficulty, which shows how the AI is pretty smart (and as the game states, they do NOT cheat with resources).

The game features randomized maps populated by factions with different religions, cultures, and ideals. A significant portion of the strategy involves the initial faction customization options, ensuring to choose complementary attributes. Taking place in either real-time or turn-based modes, most of After the Empire is automated (namely ship and building construction), so a lot of the interaction involves choosing the next territory to invade and where to focus defenses. Construction can be focused on specific buildings in each territory, while tax rates and government policies can be altered. The AI plays the game using the same rules you do, and does a good job maximizing bonuses to increase production and income. After the Empire plays more like a simulation than a traditional strategy game, since most of the important decisions are made before a game has begun and a lot of the mechanics are automated. That said, it can be engaging once you comes to grips with the interface and simulation rules. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58nm_keb4ww

Game looks interesting, sadly it is not playable due to the combination of fonttype and size. Maybe i will give it an other try when dev fixed this.

Pros: this is a neat little game. For a game that only takes a couple hours to beat (after I learned it), it is effective at giving the feel of a very-high-level empire ruler scenario. The lore and names are quite compelling for something that only represents AIs/religions/cultures with little icons. The game presents interesting tactical problems, and outside of the strategic realm choosing where to attack, emphasize attacking, defend, etc. is quite fun. The cons below are pretty specific but don't take them to be a lack of a recommendation. This costs half what a movie does and I got more entertainment out of it than most movies. --- Cons: The gameplay seems...built to be deep, but doesn't present choices as effective as I'd like. 1. The styles of military conquest aren't different enough that I play them differently: there are three types of warfare (glory/fleet/crypto), and always a sort of cultural and religious ranking about which is most preferred, not so preferred, and hated. Call it good war/ok war/bad war, regardless of how fleet, crypto, or glory is ranked. There's nothing intrinsically different about playing a military empire regardless of which you choose. 2. I don't see any penalty or reason not to economically blockade all 3 types of trade routes (guilds/routes/pilgrimages) if you're going to do any one of them. It's not like wars where one kind of war makes more rebellion. Why would I keep goods flowing through one type of trade route if I'm blocking another? I don't get it. 3. Maybe I'm not playing right, but the economic presets seem not to matter too much either. Just go with the tutorial recommended auto allocation and you can win at least up to hard (which is the middle difficulty). I felt like I miiiiight get some benefit by reallocating rearguard territories for economic or civic...but not really. Considering this is a game I want the feel of big strategy from without the endless time sink of a big 4x space game, I felt like the time to figure out a new preset for territories that might get threatened or attacked at a moment's notice and then switch them back wasn't worth it. But then again some territories are effectively at peace because their bordering factions don't care to war with you. If you could assign and deassign territories to custom groups and *then* allocate presets (instead of to the automatic border/near border/interior groups) this might be more worth it. Either way, I beat the game without fussing with it.

Absolutely not. N.O. People like to write wishy-washy reviews where they say, "I wish there was a kinda-sorta rating..." That's not what this review is about. This is an unequivacal "no!" No way! No how! By no means should you get this game! The critical fail here is that the font size is so incredibly small as to make the game unplayable. I don't remember what the game costs, but it is not worth your eyesight. Silly me, I thought when the developer came out recognizing the issue that we'd see a fix for it. I waited too long though, and when I gave up and tried to return it Steam said I was past the return window and my return request was rejected. Ugh! That burns! Please let my disappointment be mitigated by serving as a warning to others.

Having played a few games and winning one, there is an a ton of depth driving the gameplay, which can seem simple until you get your ass handed to you, and start to play with the command commands and looking at your rivals to understand how religion and culture affect buildings and how you can blockade, sabotage, use the three differnt forms of warfare. I have enjoyed what little time I have put into, it, and using the help mode and tutorial is a must. Also, try playing in 720p if the font bothers you. Really like this game. price is more than fair.

Auf der Suche nach einem kurzweiligen 4X-SciFi Spiel, welches ich auch an meinem betagten Laptop auf meiner Sonnenterrasse im Urlaubsdomizil genießen konnte, stieß ich auf "After the Empire". Der günstige Preis und die für mich ansprechende visuelle Darstellung taten ihr übriges. Und was soll ich sagen? Bin echt überrascht... das Spiel entpuppte sich als elegantes und intelligentes kleines Meisterwerk. Die Spielmechaniken sind recht unkonventionell, so dass ich nicht ganz umher kam, das etwas verwirrende Tutorial zweimal hintereinander durchzuspielen. Das Spiel hat auch bei weitem mehr Tiefgang als man aus dem ersten Blick anzunehmen mag. Aber keine Sorge, man muss nicht gleich alles verstehen, um erfolgreich zu sein. Die Details kamen bei mir nach einiges Durchläufen. Denn in der Tat dauert ein Match, je nach Kartengröße und Schwierigkeitsgrad, nur ein bis vielleicht drei Stunden. Sollte in keiner Weltraum 4X Sammlung fehlen, vorausgesetzt man mag Spiele, die abseits vom üblichen Civilization/Master of Orion Einheitsbrei operieren. Die Hintergrundmusik ist ausgezeichnet, die Einstellungsmöglichkeiten umfangreich und somit der Wiederspielwert recht hoch. Wer mit der englischen Sprache Schwierigkeiten hat, sollte aber vielleicht die Finger davon lassen. Man muss am Anfang wirklich jeden Tooltip lesen, und davon gibt es nicht gerade wenige. P.S.: Bin bei Steam auch als Kurator unterwegs und freue mich über jeden Follower: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/2370797-7IDGaming.de/?appid=275290

Having played this game for almost 4 hours I can now write a review. Initially the game looks very complex but if you persevere with the tutorial and take your time reading all the text the game can be more easily grasped. It does have a steep learning curve but I assure you once you get the basics it can be quite compelling. You start off by choosing a territory amongst a list on the top right of the screen. This is in order with the strongest territory at the top so you can guage which territory will have the easiest start. Then you choose one of six archetypes which, as far as I can tell are a kind of philosophy which provides various bonuses to different things. As there are 3 types of attack (Military, Crypto and Glory) these choices affect the bonuses for each of these attacks. So if you prefer to win with military force you choose an archetype geared towards military bonuses. This helps with the production of fleets etc... I found the easy level of play quite comfortable to learn the game but not really that challenging. On the normal level it was more challenging and fun. Graphically the game is not really great,although I personally find the graphics ok for this kind of game. Actually I quite like the graphics. You can tilt the galaxy map for aesthetics if you wish. When a war is declared on a territory you see your little fleets surrounding the enemy territory and you see a percentage going up towards 100, The more past 100% the faster the civilization loss in the territory. When the civilizations are reduced to zero the territory is taken over by the attacker, or whoever contributed the most attack power. You can also research and build buildings in each territory which help your faction. I know that I have merely skimmed the surface with this basic review but there is so much depth to this game that I cant possibly explain everything. In summary I love this game and I found it very addicting and I am looking forward to playing more. Also the price is very low compared to other similar games. Excellent value for money. I think I will purchase the Viceroy also from the same developer. Thanks for reading this.

The game provides a grand strategy experience in an abstract and exciting way. Still the game is full of problems. The resolution issue makes it so hard to read whats going on its frustrating. The UI is so clunky its like you get to time travel back into early 00s.

No option to change resolution. Text and the gazillion icons are too small. EVERYTHING IS AUTOMATED in the game, only thing you're allowed to do is declare war and then wait to see if your dots capture it, then repeat that over and over. Tutorial is garbage. You can't get anywhere in the tutorial (which is difficult to follow). Restarted the game several times, however the AI just conquers everything around you so you can't get anywhere. The turotial doesn't explain anything. There are too many obscure meanings to be able to understand your choices at the beginning. What is a civilazation build, what does it do? What is a crypto building, what does it do? What's the differnce between the 3 differnt types of war options? What the hell does anything do? It took me a while just to figure out how to declar war because the tutorial really doesn't tell you. It's just mostly trial and error, click this, see what it does. The first task in the tutorial is to conquer 1-2 territories around you. Unfortunately all the AI's around you do that. Cheating AI, it gets priority over you, so if you and another AI go for the same territory, the AI will get it everytime. My 10th tutorial restart, I tried to atleast capture one territory (I let it run for 15 minutes), again, I watched as the AI captured territory after territory, while I got nothing, and I was even attacking a small AI with hardly any ships (dots) and it was capturing territory after territory with no problem. After a while, I was attacked and wiped out, and this was on EASY level, WTF! Every other game tutorial I've ever played, the player was actually given the opportunity to get somewhere so they can learn the game. After an hour I had enough. But if you're into games that give the AI a huge advantage, then this game is for you. Utter waste of money.