Astro Protocol

Highlights of this game after trying it out for +10 hours and ~10 won games (most in "high" difficulty, the one where the player and the AI play by the same rules), every faction, and various map sizes: * END GAMES - One of the few games I've seen where the endgame doesn't turn into a slog. The victory points mechanic lets the obvious victor win before everything gets tedious, and because the sources of victory points are random every game, it doesn't hurt replayability. * FIGHTS - Fights are quick, and when they aren't, they're fun; if you're caught in a stalemate, you can start adding new mechanics to your battle: a new technology might give you the type of ship you need, or a building (shield matrix, etc) or you may find something to turn the tide inside an anomaly. Other times? Maybe just focus on gaining victory points to try to win, or someone else will before you, and then you can move on to another game anyway. FUN. * GOODY HUTS (ANOMALIES) - Speaking of anomalies, the rewards are kind of imbalanced. Very rarely you want to pick the resource, when you could instead pick-up a science breakthrough, which is immensely valuable since you can't just go and pick exactly what you want from the science tree. That said, because the rewards are really good, you are encouraged to go and explore them quickly, an actual good "goody hut" mechanic. FUN. * SCIENCE - So, about the science tree: like other space games (say, Stellaris), this game never tells you what all the different technologies are (there's the wiki but that's another thing), but it gives you an idea of what the 3 fields of research give you; and, because the choices of discoveries are random every run as well, each playthrough is different. Fun! * FACTIONS - The factions aren't very well balanced, some have extremely painful drawbacks that make them only viable in certain types of maps; I won't spoil which ones I think have problems, but nevertheless, this doesn't really get in the way of enjoying the game, just pick whatever you want (and you can choose your opponents too, like in other games in this genre) * MAP CONFIG - it's great, changing something as simple as the map geometry changes the game so much, and you can config pretty much anything, for extra replay value. Long story short, a game that respects your time, and doesn't drown you with overdesigned mechanics and awfully slow endgames. You will ACTUALLY be able to finish your playthrough in an hour most of the time, what other 4X game gives you that? The music is serviceable, just like the graphics. The gameplay is tight and excellently scoped, a breath of fresh air. Recommended! (you can always try out the demo if you're unsure)

Well, I worked on the game's AI because I really like the core gameplay-loop, so I of course would recommend it to other players. It has the important core-parts of a 4x without a lot of the tedious parts. And it has decent AI which will only become more decent the more time I spend on it.

An amazing gem. Have played a few hours and will keep the game in my active library. It does a wonderful job of scratching the itch of a purely 4X game, while also not taking up days for one playthrough. Roguelike it is, as every playthrough is slightly different. In these 18 hours I played and reached the final screen (with one race I lost rather quickly;) on all races, mostly winning. I plan to start increasing the difficulty above equal resources for the AI and me though. All races are distinct, the techtree is always different (will you focus on cruisers, battleships or carriers?), roguelike is that not all techs seem to be present for all races/playthroughs. Colonizing is simply a landing and you cannibalizing the ship, no matter the size. The start can make or break you, be aware of energy and its runaway consumption by every ship for every move outside of your influence. Colonization is also more expensive, the further away you are (so no real use to sneaking to the other end of the map at the beginning;) Just play the demo, and you will know, Cheers.

I expected there to be some more strategy involved but it is extremely simplified and basic to the point that my brain disengaged. RNG plays a pretty big role in almost every last similar game but most have potential workarounds, alternative paths one can pick to stand a chance, etc. Here the RNG is both tech and mapgen with very little choice beyond what to fill the non-resource spots with and steering ships. It just felt a bit to weak to me as a game baseline and nothing stood out at all.

Great little game, not too deep. While it doesn't really bring me back to replay any further at this stage, I got my money's worth and I think this really shows off what a strong but well scoped game can do, well done.

Good, verging on great 4x. At $12, definitely worth a buy for 4x fans. Different races have distinct differences in their play and are not perfectly balanced. This lack of balance is not something that hurts enjoyment. The randomized tech research sometimes causes much more of a problem. You'll just need to capture that key network or other tech from an enemy. The win conditions of each game are somewhat randomized. This is a very nice feature. Planet terraforming is another great feature and is wonderfully presented. Confusing back story but this can be ignored. Also, ships don't really look like their design. Carriers do not look like carriers. Corvettes are the same size as battleships and look similar. The game is a little crashy at the moment. CTD during end turn processing. Not a big problem. Game autosaves each turn. Again, this is a very nice 4x.

This is it. Gaia Project meets Master of Orion 2. Finally, a 4X board game in video game form. Don't let the indie graphics deceive you. This is easily an 8/10 game (could really go a long way with some more polish and funding). Gives Stellaris a run for its money. The Happy 😃 ✔️ Easy to pick up, hard to put down ✔️ Incredibly simple, surprisingly deep ✔️ Practically infinite replayability ✔️ Tech tree and terraforming! ✔️ Competent AI + diplomacy ✔️ Plays in under 1 hour ✔️ Devs that listen The Sad 🥲 ❌ No mod support ❌ No multiplayer If only it had just a little bit more budget 🤏🏻

A fun, fast 4X. At first, I made the mistake of playing this game like a "regular" 4X game and was frustrated by the RNG tech tree options. However, when I realized this is a fast-paced development/expansion game, then I found the game fun. There's no messing around, you need to get going and do the best with what you get. That means a fun game easily finish-able in a couple hours. The faction differences are good.

Finally, a MoO-like that doesn't require tedious min/maxing economy tricks to play well. I never was able to get into the MoO series or Remnants, but this game plays fast while retaining enough strategy to stay interesting. I'm not finding the AI to be as brilliant as advertised, but its competent enough. For the price point, more than acceptable. There are issues for colorblind players. I find it hard to see the red faction's borders, and hard to tell the yellow and green faction's ships apart. Framerate seems locked to 60 FPS.

quick simple , not very replayable