Nodwar

Амбициозная и динамичная стратегия в реальном времени, стирающая грани между аркадным захватом территорий и масштабным симулятором глобальной войны ------------------------------ An ambitious and dynamic real-time strategy game that blurs the lines between arcade-style territory capture and a large-scale global war simulator.

[h1]Interesting Concept, Needs More Time in the Oven[/h1] I played the Aeon: Crux* mode, and while the concept is interesting, it doesn't quite hit the mark yet. It feels like it's aiming for something similar to Planetary Annihilation, but currently comes across as a much more limited version of that experience. I only had a short amount of time to play, so I focused on single-player. My first match was on a huge map. After spending a significant amount of time manually exploring, I never found the AI opponent. Since there doesn't appear to be an auto-explore option, scouting became tedious and ultimately led me to quit that match. I then switched to the smallest map. Even there, I spent roughly 30 minutes building and expanding before finally unlocking the scanner feature and locating the enemy through the fog of war. Unfortunately, the game ended almost immediately after that. The AI had clustered its entire base into a single compact area, making it vulnerable to a single hydrogen bomb strike that instantly ended the match. The only apparent bug I encountered involved harvesters. At some point they simply stopped functioning. I first noticed it after building walls, but they weren't trapped inside or outside the walls. Adding gates and opening them made no difference. The harvesters just stopped working entirely. [hr][/hr] [h2]What Worked[/h2] [list] [*]The overall concept has potential. [*]The scale of the maps is impressive. [*]The game appears to be trying something larger than a traditional RTS. [/list] [h2]Issues I Encountered[/h2] [list] [*]Finding the AI on large maps was extremely time-consuming. [*]No apparent auto-explore functionality for scouts. [*]The AI base layout made the match end abruptly once discovered. [*]Harvesters stopped functioning and could not be recovered. [*]Several important UI features were difficult to discover. [/list] [h2]Things I'd Like to See Improved[/h2] [h3]Better UI[/h3] [list] [*]Larger, clearer icons. [*]More information presented at a glance. [*]Better visual feedback for important actions. [*]Key features should be easier to discover. I didn't realize there were separate building categories for defenses, power, and other structures until I checked the manual. [/list] [h3]Expanded Research Tree[/h3] [list] [*]More technologies to unlock. [*]Economic upgrades. [*]Defensive upgrades. [*]Unit and equipment enhancements. [*]More long-term progression to support the grand strategy theme. [/list] [h3]Defensive Structures[/h3] [list] [*]Defenses should interact more naturally with walls. [*]I couldn't tell whether defensive structures could be placed behind walls. [*]I'd like to see defenses function more like games such as Age of Empires II, where towers and walls complement each other. [/list] [h3]Auto-Explore Options[/h3] [list] [*]Scout vehicles should have an auto-explore command. [*]Aircraft similar to AWACS could automatically reveal large portions of the map. [*]Naval equivalents could perform the same role on water-heavy maps. [/list] [h3]Single-Player Improvements[/h3] [list] [*]Skirmish mode appeared to support only one AI opponent. [*]Additional AI slots would make larger maps and longer matches much more interesting. [/list] [h3]Large-Scale Units[/h3] [list] [*]The scale of the game makes me want something truly massive to build toward. [*]Walkers, crawlers, mechs, super-heavy carriers, or other endgame units would help create memorable late-game moments. [/list] [h3]Multiple Building Placement[/h3] [list] [*]I couldn't find a way to continuously place the same structure. [*]I tried common shortcuts such as Shift and Ctrl but had no success. [*]A drag-build or continuous placement option would significantly improve base construction. [/list] [hr][/hr] [b]Overall:[/b] I don't regret trying it, and I think there's potential here. Right now, however, it feels unfinished and could benefit from additional depth, quality-of-life features, AI improvements, and a stronger UI before it fully realizes its vision. I hate to give it a good/bad score. There's just not enough to tip it into the good, though, but I can see it becoming that after some additions. I'm going to try the other modes out and see how those are. *I'm launching the game to try more modes and there was an error where I listed it as the Grand Strategy Mode when in fact it was the Crux mode. --- I've spent more time in some of the other modes and I think that it's the AI that's making the experience lackluster. I still think the above comments stand about improvements to that specific game mode, but I think playing against others is what would turn the experience around. So considering the AI vs PVP aspect I think that does enough to turn it into a positive experience. It has a lot of room to grow, and it's packed with game modes, just not every one of them is a hit. While I don't think I'll invest a lot of time in it, I do think that it's something I'll keep an eye on. Lastly, and I didn't mention it above, I have REALLY enjoyed the music in the game. So kudos to the team on that.