Massive Assault: Phantom Renaissance

This is one of my favourite games to come back to every so often. Not for the production values obviously: Both audio and graphics are spartan, which makes the "slow mo zoom in glory cam" when an expensive unit is blown up rather hillarious. But the gameplay is one of the most addictive one-more-turn-ers I know. It's amazing how much milleage this game gets out of some basic but original rules. This is really a puzzle game, even more so than other TBS games. There's no RNG in the battles (although there is one in setup, more on that later). When a unit shoots, it always does the same amount of damage with no misses, or any special defense bonuses. At the start of the turn, you can know exactly which unit can fire at which, and how much damage each shot will do. The trick is thus to have the right units with the right amount of firepower at the right location at the right moment. For a game that uses no morale, supply, ammo or fatigue meters, this is one of my favourite illustrations of the adage "Amateurs study tactics, experts study logistics". I've rarely played a game where mastering the transport units is this vital. One thing that makes this so vital is the way the economy works. When you control a nation, you get income per turn. At the end of the turn you can buy any units you can afford with that income, but it must be placed in that region. so the units may have to spend time getting to where they're needed. But you can't buy units if any enemies are in your region at the end of the turn. This is the key to conquering them. Fortunately (or unfortunately, if you're attacking) there's two systems to help. The first is that units (excluding helicopters) can't move through units, or the wrecks of units that were killed on the current player's turn. This helps you to wall-off enemies. The second system is that, the first time a region is invaded, you get a Guerillia income bonus which you can spend at the start of your turn on units that may immediately attack. And if the region was neutral before, it immediately side with the enemy. So attacking with a weak force is just handing your opponent free units and income. Since there is no multiplayer, it's a good thing that the AI knows how to handle these systems. Sometimes painfully so, I've lost more cities full of bombers to Guerillia-bought transports, or fully loaded transports to artillery loaded in long-ranged AI transports, than I can count. The AI will pounce on any openings you leave. And if you don't leave any, it understands the other systems well enough to drag you into attritional slugging matches, or in a pinch placing the guerillia forces in a doomed province in hard-to-reach corners of the region to at least make you lose turns. The main weakness of the AI you need to learn to exploit is its long-term planning. It does the best it can every turn, which makes it focus on cost-effective cheap units. But with good use of the more expensive units, you can win the attritional cycle and grind the enemy down until the income of the regions runs out. Speaking of the units, they're not high in number, but offer a good amount of variation nonetheless. And almost every unit is useful, from the cheapest, slowest armored car to the devestating leviathan warship. The two sides mostly have the same units with cosmetic differences, but there are three unique units. I personally feel the Phantom League has slightly better units (mostly because the Free Nation's submarine unique unit is so similar to their unique attack helicopter in stats, but without the latter's all-terrain capability), but the difference is minor. And finally, I want to talk about the mode that I spend nearly all my time in: World War. This is the one place where there's an RNG element, but it actually works out. How this mode works is that you start on a map with all regions seemingly neutral. However, several regions are secret allies of one of the two sides. Every turn, you can disclose one region, get a startup income bonus, and buy units to start invading neighbouring units. But until several turns in, you won't know which of those regions are your enemies' secret allies. Perhaps the region you invade will suddenly produce a second army. Or the region behind it will flip, and pour reinforcements into your target to turn a quick win into a slogging match. Or it'll be the region behind you, conveniently away from all your good units at the front. What's really cool about this system is that it makes the limited number of maps highly replayable. During one game on a map, you might find yourself evenly matched everywhere. Another game, your allies will be unevenly distributed so that you need one part of the map to hold out against a superior force until you can send reinforcements from where you were strong. My only regret is that by far the most interestin map is also the biggest one, with the longest battles. If you want a quick battle, you're stuck with the duller, more symmetric maps. Still, overall I give this game a hearty thumbs up.

Massive Assault has always been a favorite for me in the strategy games genre, and Phantom Renaissance is a fantastic sequal. MA is a world domination RTS without the politics. Simply war and strategy. To take over the world, conquer your neighboring countries and protect your own while the enemy ai does the same. Each country provides revenue, and with revenue you build your army, and with your army you take more countries. The only probability in the game is which countries you and your opponent gets at the start of each game. Everything else is straightforward planning. For those who've played the first MA, a few updates: [list] [*] Asymmetric units: The FNU and Phantom League now have few unique units of their own that the other lacks. The FNU's are focused on flexibility and maneuverability while the Phantom's have robust, destructive land and sea war machines. [*] Improved AI: The enemy is smart. They have a better understanding of naval warfare and use land transportation to its fullest potential. [*] Story Campaign! (nuff said) [/list]

It's one of those “OK, one more turn and I’m done" kind of games. You can even CTRL+Z! I wish wargaming.net made a newer version.

Yeah. I play this a lot. Listen to music and relax while playing against the pc. Been a fan since the original MA. Although that first endeavor was buggy as heck! LOL What, a couple decades now?

Игра - шедевр, бессмертная классика, но в этой версии полностью вырезаны все виды мультиплеера и русский язык. Рефанд.

[h1]The Forgotten child of Wargaming[/h1] [hr][/hr][i]It is surprising to see Wargaming to be actual developers of this title. A company such massive being responsible for a game this tiny. It reminds me that huge companies often have a humble beginnings. First this and then that sorry looking F2P World of Tanks open beta. This game comes from a different era which even Wargaming itself would want to forget as they do not feature, support or advertise their own 'beloved' game. Probably for a good reason too.[/i][hr][/hr] [h1]💖My own Childhood💖[/h1] I tried demo of this game long time ago. I remember that I was impressed. I loved the idea of secret allies where you can have secret alliances which you could use to deceive your opponent. I did liked how smoothly game played. However, coming back now it seems that past me was just a stupid child. As all stupid children, I allowed my imagination to run wild with what these 'secret allies' were without being able to actually play them. Gameplay itself was only good, because there weren't any alternatives. It is one of those games which people might remember fondly due to nostalgia and speak BS how good it is then in fact, it is just bad by today's standards. [h1]📋Board game at its Core📋[/h1] Massive Assault plays as a board game at its core. It seems simplistic and ill suited for PC format. There are countless design problems with this formula and it just feels simplistic for a PC game. I was felt wanting more from it, because even judging by board game standards, gameplay has its issues. [list] [b][i]Secret Allies[/i][/b] [*]It sounds like a cool idea. I was fascinated by the possibilities as a kid. You have a diplomacy system where neutral or enemies can be your actual allies and turn on you at an instant. That was what I was imagining them to be back then and why I came back to play this game again. In reality, you merely choose additional cities which are yours. These cities then will give you money which you burn for initial deployments. Often you cannot have them in your own island or nearby. Gameplay then devolves into building turrets to slow down and hopefully inflict minimal loses on an enemy and its overwhelming force which wants to capture your allies. It is inevitable and there is nothing you can do about it. It captures your allies and get resources and gameplay from that point devolves into two areas which had cleared each other through overwhelming numbers mobilizing everything into a big clash. There is no depth to your allies and they might as welll be removed from the game. It is a cool idea on paper which might work slightly better on a board game. [b][i]Units Overflowing[/i][/b] [*]Gameplay is completely stagnant. You destroy the frontline and enemy just fills it up with cannon fodder again. It can last for entire game. It feels really cheap and makes gameplay very cheesy. You can capture enemy cities only if you rush them. Later on enemy AI will just replenish every tile which you clear with new units. Since your units cannot shoot and move, it is impossible to capture those tiles. Entire frontline will be full of stuck units and no matter if you destroy all of the enemies, AI will just repopulate the entire province to the brim with cheap cannon fodder. This results in a really bad gameplay where you cannot progress despite absolutely crushing your enemies. [b][i]Death Timer[/i][/b] [*]Well, it is not a literal timer. It is finite amount of money which you can spend from each city. A fixed amount is generated each turn for a certain amount of turns. This puts a hard cap of how much you can produce and capturing cities kinda pointless. It is pointless, because you will never be able to muster enough of a force to capture it before its resources runs out and then it is kinda pointless to control it anyways. Gameplay devolves around the most efficient combination of units. Usually it is artillery which dominates the battlefield, but planes and walkers are also good while you deploy bikes or tanks at the front to soak up damage. There is no depth to the gameplay neither from economical nor military perspective. Its entire economic system feels so simplistic that it could outright be used for board game, except that you end up controlling so many units that you clog the entire map. Then you just proceed to sacrifice everything in a meatgrinder. [/list] [h1]🧨No Virtue Mode🧨[/h1] There is nothing good in this game. Campaign is silly. World domination modes are tiresome. Skirmish maps are simplistic. If you want a good story, it is not here. If you want good gameplay, it is not here. If you want a challenge, it is not here. There is nothing of interest in this game. On top of it, it has several issues. [list] [b][i]Cheating AI[/i][/b] [*]Enemy AI not only gets a lot more resources on normal difficulty levels, but they are not playing by the same rules as you do. Enemy can deploy their troops globally whille you cannot. You can only deploy your troops at the city where they are purchased and surrounding tiles. Enemy can deploy them at any ally at will. Enemy can deploy units from captured city while you can only gain bounty from capturing the city. Enemy AI cheats so much hard that it is impossible to play against it without constantly rolfstomping it. Forget any tactics or experimentation. This game is solely about cheesing or losing. [b][i]In need of Remaster[/i][/b] [*]Game suffers from same issues as many old games. It hardly runs if runs at all. Many things are broken or not there in a first place. It is missing sound effects. Game crashes from time to time. It is not a good experience to play it. [/list] [h1]The Definition of Exceedingly Mediocre[/h1] Is Massive Assault: Phantom Renaissance. Every aspect of this game is painfully mediocre no matter how you would look at it. Does the game run well? No. Does it run badly? No. It is somewhere in between. Is gameplay fun? No. Is it painful? No. This can be applied to every aspect of the game. It is pointless, unexciting game with no redeeming qualities for a player to go and check it out. I played this game for you that you could save your money and more importantly - time. [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Calicifer/discussions/0/3875967397716748701/][i]Calicifer's Reviews[/i][/url] [quote]If you are interested reading full review or want to discuss something with me, please follow the provided link. I will only allow one post to which I will respond to and will ask to post in the forum. I retain the right to delete any disrespectful or argumentative comments at my discretion from comment section.[/quote]

It's much more complex than it looks. This game is like chess, you need to think ahead. One should define your strategy from the beginning but also manage resources, movement, and your troops. An interesting addition to gameplay is neutral and secret allies. These can add more resources and strategically they are key to winning the game but also adding a layer of surprise. If you, like me, love turn-based games: this is a game for you.

an excellent turn based military strategy game.

The BEST A.I. in a Turn-Based Strategy

game is great for replay need more games and maps please for massive assault