Abandon Ship
Version 0.5.something…
It’s… Okay.
A lot of it is very comfortable fun. You find yourself a combat, you watch your little micro managed crew and you snot your enemy. It’s fun in a non challenging sense. You buy 6 crew as quickly as possible, keep them alive with a bit of micro management and use the play style that amuses you most at the time. Simple really. Learning curve is a bit steep at the start but flattens out after a few combats.
The rest of the game at this stage of it’s release? Yeah…
– Real player with 57.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Naval Choose Your Own Adventure Games.
So the first major update hit, Treasures of the Deep, it wasn’t as big of a shift as compared to pre-release builds versus the first EA build. The update itself is not an expansion per say, but more of a refinement to what we already had, aside the two new mechanics that count, you could say that there are more, but it boils down to just two major ones(more on that later).
Here’s the run down of the refinement from when I last edited the review:
-Improved fps on not so amazing computers
-Plenty of bug fixes
– Real player with 48.8 hrs in game
Of Ships & Scoundrels
Did you like Pirates? Do you like turn-based combat? Do you like random maps and exploring?
Then this game could be something for you. For an early access Indie title, it’s got surprisingly good graphics (especially the sea), a real story in single player mode, and some funny mystic creatures. There’s a touch of Age of Wonders, but the battles are less tactical.
POSITIVE
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good graphics
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mystic creatures pimp the pirates scenario
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nice story (no Heavy Rain, though)
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high replay value (random quests, random maps, hotseat mode)
– Real player with 9.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Naval Action RTS Games.
Looks amazing, nice atmosphere and unique interesting game mechanics. I like it!
You know where the journey is heading. With some little improvements in EA and more content I will be able to put hours in this :)!
Good strategy will lead you to your victory and will demolish your friends, but don’t forget about the immersive story though. Good price for a good game! Go on like this.
– Real player with 4.6 hrs in game
Airship: Academy
Airship: Academy is a fantasy airship skyfaring simulation game with hyper-rich lore and narrative. Inspired by many space-sim and pirate-sim such as Star Control, Freelancer, and Sid Meier’s Pirates.
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You are a veteran airship commander enlisted for a job in a Kingdom far from home
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Navigate a vast open-world and explore the sky of a shattered continent
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Engage in spectacular airship battles with insurmountable depth and complexity
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Fight pirates, rob merchants, repel law enforcers, and challenge the military
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Buy, build, and upgrade your airships and parts. Enlist, level up, and build relationships with your crews
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Traverse the skyscape and learn about the history and recent events through helping and listening to people
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Visit ports, towns, villages, and cities to collect resources and build industries
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Over 70 ports and 150 NPCs each with unique storylines
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Over 30 different airships with more than 150 parts to fit into them
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More than 100 questlines to follow and unravel lore and mysteries of the world
YOU ARE THE COMMANDER
The Great Sky War has stalled, it has been almost a year since the last battle. War has been a good business. Without it, you have been resorting to freelancing to get by. An offer arrived one morning, from some big-name trade and security company. It is an honest and stable job, so you took it right away. Now you found yourself at the Segson Archipelago, unknowingly involved in something far greater than you ever wished for.
THE SHATTERED WORLD
Eons ago, the Great Cataclysm shattered Spheara into pieces. Wild magic wind engulfed the globe, lifting the grounds hanging afloat in the sky. Spheara is the world in the sky above the deadly and dark ocean. Life in such a world is difficult and perilous but humanity and civilizations found ways to prosper.
THE MAGICAL CONTINENT
The place in the center of our focus is the continental group of landmass called Europa. These landmasses above the great ocean below is classified into three belts or rings by their vastly different distance above the sea level. Different nations and cultures developed on different archipelagos, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, they struggle to define their coexistence.
THE KINGDOM IN TURMOIL
The Kingdom of Suthseg has long been the sovereignty over the Sagson Archipelago, a cluster of three major drifting landmasses with plenty of rich minor isles. The Archipelago also holds the key prominent point of interest, that is the Great Mana Coil, the largest gateway allowing airships to descend and ascend across belts.
THE CHARACTERS
Destiny has brought about two young souls and two patriarchs together. All strive towards different things in life and want a better world for themselves and those who come after them. What will be their legacies?
UPGRADE YOUR SHIPS
You can make, buy, or take ship parts from many sources and fit them into a wide variety of airship frames. The balance between speed, agility, durability, firepower, and transport efficiency are key to various strategies and tactics once entered into battle.
BATTLE ADVERSARIES
Exercise the best use of tactics and skills of the crewmen. Push the capability of an airship to its limit and seize the day to enjoy the spoil of victory.
TRAVEL ACROSS EUROPA
The continent is vast. It has many things to offer, many stories to tell, treasures to collect, and mysteries to unravel. The measurement unit and time taken during travel are measured in real-time and real units. Even though the player can accelerate time, this can infuse them with a strong sense of immersion.
TRADE WITH MERCHANTS
Many ports and merchants offer parts, ships, and all sorts of other items that would aid the player in their quests for fame and fortune. Merchants sell and buy specific things, demand and supplies are also limited to the nature of the settlement they are from.
BUILD INDUSTRIES
Producing, processing, transporting, assembling, and manufacturing goods and weapons are beats that keep Europa going. While skyfaring, freelancing, and privateering could earn a ship captain a good fortune; supporting and arming a fleet would require other kinds of ingenuity.
Read More: Best Naval Exploration Games.
NAVYFIELD
This is the father of all naval games, yes it may be grindy but that’s all MMOs.
Pros:
FANTASTIC ship customization(no custom paints or skins but you can fully customize your weapon load, ammo, etc)
Friendly graphics that are still appeasing but easy on low end PCs
Great sounds/music
Sim-cade gameplay (combines realistic and arcady style of play) You can choose if you want to set your gun angles by ourself instead of the auto aim function, along with things like belt armour, deck armour, etc.
Huge selection of ships in which some can be remodeled into more powerful or different ships of it’s class (ex: The Admiral Hipper CA can be remodeled to Prinz Eugen)
– Real player with 217.7 hrs in game
Do i enjoy the game? YES!
Old vet since start of the game and played nfeu later on. Now back thanks to steam.
Pro’s
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arcade style battles (quick)
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low demands on pc requirements (to low for todays standards)
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diverse community
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games 24/7 cause people from the whole world are in 1 server (does have lag when chinese play )
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for old players its mostly the nostalgic value that counts.
Con’s
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The game is so old that you cant run fullscreen unless you force it through your monitor
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alot of crashing (not for me personally)
– Real player with 110.4 hrs in game
Sea Power : Naval Combat in the Missile Age
After hostilities have broken out in Central Europe, the race is on as a pressured US Navy escort force battle off Soviet bomber and submarine attacks on a perilous quest to reinforce NATO defenders in Europe. Meanwhile, in the Persian Gulf, the conflict between Iran and Iraq risks escalating into a larger confrontation between superpowers as both sides indiscriminately attack neutral merchant shipping. And in the Norwegian Sea, an outnumbered Soviet surface force challenges the might of a massive US Navy amphibious force bound for occupied Norway…
Brought to you by the lead designer of Cold Waters, Sea Power lets you control NATO and Warsaw Pact forces in a modern naval conflict. Whether it’s gunning it out with Boghammars in a surface duel, fighting off aerial attackers armed with long-range missiles, or hunting for enemy submarines with aircraft and surface ships, advanced weaponry and sensors are at your disposal. Can you successfully hide your forces while detecting and tracking theirs? It is up to you to play an advanced game of cat and mouse on the high seas, to seize the initiative and attack with the advantage of surprise on your side. And at all times, you have to observe rules of engagement and take care not to cause an unnecessary incident that could lead to escalation. After all, you cannot really be sure just who that radar contact at 30.000 feet is, can you?
Features List
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Cold war era between the ’60s and ’80s
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Theatres including North Atlantic, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Tonkin and Mediterranean Area
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Dynamic campaign - theatre scale
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Historical and fictional single scenarios
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Dynamic time of day and weather per engagement
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Dynamic soundtrack
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Realtime combat
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Advanced flight and ship physics
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Scalable realism such as weapons malfunctions, advanced sensor modeling
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Pausable real-time, time compression
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Full user scenario editor and quick mission builder
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Advanced in-game tutorial
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Save games everywhere/every time
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Detailed and accurate 3D graphics
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Over 50 original ships and more than 30 original aircraft
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Land facilities and real-world terrain
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Post-battle replay
Victory At Sea Pacific
Dev activity
They’re quite active. They reply promptly to direct contact on the Discord and are equally ready to implement suggestions into the game. Most notably when it comes to expanding modding support. Some reviews claim the game is dead or the devs have run off so the patch history follows.
9-14-2018 Public release, 9-19-2018 Patch 1.0.4, 9-20-2018 Patch 1.0.5, 9-25-2018 Patch 1.0.6, 9-28-2018 Patch 1.0.7, 10-5-2018 Patch 1.1, 10-11-2018 Patch 1.1.1, 10-18-2018 Patch 1.1.2, 10-26-2018 Patch 1.1.3, 10-30-2018 Patch 1.1.4, 11-8-2018 Patch 1.1.5, 11-23-2018 Patch 1.2 (introduced modding), 11-26-2018 Patch 1.2.0p2, 11-27-2018 Patch 1.2.0p3, 12-17-2018 Patch 1.2.1, 12-20-2018 Patch 1.2.1p3, 12-21-2018 Patch 1.2.1p4, 1-9-2019 Patch 1.2.2, 1-11-2019 Patch 1.2.2p1, 1-23-2019 Patch 1.2.3, 3-4-2019 Patch 1.3.1 Royal Navy added, 4-2-2019 Patch 1.4 Custom battles, 6-19-2019 Patch 1.5 Minor factions, 10-30-2019 Patch 1.6, 11-4-2019 Patch 1.6.1, 11-13-2019 Patch 1.6.2, 2-6-2020 Patch 1.7, 2-7-2020 Patch 1.7.0p1, 2-26-2020 Patch 1.7.1
– Real player with 181.7 hrs in game
As someone who really want’s to like this game, and I truly do want to like it, I’m sorry to say that I can’t really recommend this game in it’s current state. The gameplay is fine and can be fun, specifically when your right up in the action having the ship maneuver to avoid torpedoes and air attacks, and launching submarine attacks on convoys and task forces.
But while the core gameplay is really solid, the fact that it is so filled with bugs and glitches makes it really difficult to enjoy what’s there. Ships can just disappear from a taskforce, even though it is possible to find their models and still click and control them manually. I’ve had a case where I lost an entire taskforce of submarines to limbo because of a glitch despite the fact I was able to use said submarines to sink a flotilla’s worth of destroyers. I’ve had a similar case where I lost three battleships to limbo when I tried to control them manually.
– Real player with 133.5 hrs in game
Crash Dive 2
THIS GAME DESERVES A GOOD REVIEW!
Reasons for a cheap price tag:
Graphics are interesting, even though simplified in appearance there is much detail in the game.
U-Boat modeling very simple and almost toyish, in appearance but it is all there.
Modeling on objects in distance of being observed don’t have that realistic emergence into view, just that don’t see it now and you do see it thing but it works. You won’t spot smoke on the horizon in other words, just modeled if you see them or not and then scaled according to view and size. There is debris, fires, oil slicks, smoke, fog, rain. clouds are a bit unrealistic in presentation.
– Real player with 130.8 hrs in game
Crash Dive II, it’s about the closest recent game that I have found as a sub sim to Silent Hunter III, Wolves of the Pacific.
It will be a game that will be compared because they are both based in the Pacific region during WW2, but there are differences, for instance, Crash Dive II is much easier to get straight into and overall is an easier sim to play, its not as in depth as SH II and does not have a choice of subs or starting zone to choose from, does not have historically dodgy torpedoes that don’t work (all these do) and the graphics in Crash Dive II could be better, but are still ok for the fact this isn’t a big developer.
– Real player with 29.9 hrs in game
Field of Arms: Tactics
Field of Arms: Tactics is a strategy game set in the 18th century Caribbean, recreating clashes between the empires of the time for control of territories, with a unique board game aesthetic, players will face the enemy in a tactical map to defend or attack strongholds in sieges and maneuver units during tense battles.
Using a real time with pause system where every move and action counts, the player will need to be aware of each of their unit’s defensive and offensive capabilities, and also the type of terrain they are standing on.
Features
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Play as different empires (England, Spain)
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Play through Scenarios in Historical Battles
– Command different units, each one with unique gameplay elements and abilities. Unit types: Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, and Naval vessels.
- 18th Century maneuver warfare: Take into account unit properties like fields of fire and broadsides of ships.
–Battlefields with different objectives and plenty of opportunities for a variety of tactics and approaches
– Use different tactics taking into account the terrain. Also be wary of enemy fortifications and Structures.
– Built on Unreal Engine 4
Gameplay Mechanics
Units have the following characteristics:
-Firing arc: Units can only fire in their respective arcs. Infantry fires forward and ships sideways.
-Facing: The unit has to rotate to bring weapons to bear, during which it will be unable to move or fire.
-Terrain properties: Each terrain has defensive bonuses and movement speed depending on the type.
-Unit damage dynamics: Each unit has different damage bonuses depending on the unit they attack.
Unit Flanks: Depending on where the unit is attacked (front, flanks or rear) it will receive damage accordingly.
Roles and gameplay variety
Careful use and positioning of units make the base gameplay for the tactical battles in Field of Arms: Tactics.
Infantry: Main units, makes up the bulk of the armed forces. Exercise a variety of roles and are used to control territory.
Artillery: Long Range units focused on attacking enemy fortifications.
Naval Units: One of the most important features in Field of Arms: Tactics is that you can not only play with the soldiers on the ground but also command the available ships on the sea bombarding from afar and help your army achieve victory.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2
Sadly I can’t recommend this game. Battlefleet Gothic is what got me in to Warhammer 40k back in the 1990s. I have nearly two hundred hours playing this too, but it now crashes with in a few minutes every time I play, no message just crashes. The Dev abandoned it right after launch, much Like Games Workshop abandoned the tabletop version too. DO NOT BUY, IT NO LONGER WORKS
– Real player with 182.2 hrs in game
God, i wish they made ships just a little more unique. Instead of x amount of points for x amount of damage, have ships be either customizable or start off with different traits. What happened to all the uniqueness of BFGA 1? Seriously, ships could be tailored so well to your personal preference in that game. Why change that?
The skalgrim mod appears to fix these problems.
– Real player with 180.5 hrs in game
Uboat Commander
“U-boat Commander” is an upcoming strategy game in which players take a Wolfpack commander role in the Second World War. Their task is to plan, synchronize, and execute u-boat attacks on Allied convoys in the Atlantic Ocean.
Use the tactical map to give orders to your u-boats. Find enemy convoys and plan your ambush.
Use existing Wolfpack tactics and synchronize attacks for maximum effect.
If you wish, you can take direct control over any of your u-boats and execute the attack yourself. Load and flood torpedos, manage the crew, aim with observation or attack periscope, fire, and watch enemies sink.
Recruit crewmembers, assign and manage crew roles to optimize the performance of your u-boats.
Use the Enigma machine to send encoded messages to your Wolfpacks.
Evade being discovered, try to escape or obey “Standing War Order 483” and fight off enemy aircraft.
Assure the safe return of your ships and become a real u-boat commander!