Love it

[tomdini]

Just a quick note to say I finished the tutorial campaign in RPG and bought Elite right away. I was all like, "I'ma play the free version and explore it and stuff, take my time yeaaaahh" but that never works out with your games, they're way too cool. This is only my fourth TB game after ST, CK and AoP, so I'm way behind the curve but I'm sort of obsessive about games and I'm always away from home so TB universes are where my imagination lives these days.

Anyway, TA is amazing, I love it!!!! The tension is incredible, by the Maker, when I realize we don't have enough ammo to hold them off and the monsters are closing in from all sides and we clench our collective Storm Fists together, utter a Shalun battle mantra and prepare to clobber our way out of the four-person room to the extraction zone.... I can hardly breathe, haha!!!!!

The atmosphere is incredible, the gameplay is diverse and entertaining, the difficulty curve is right on and the range of effective tactics is impressive. My current favorite squad is a melee-focused expeditionary force led by a Chaplain, one reverent Captain Astynax. My general strategy has been to train my outermost two Templar, Captain and Berserker, (assuming a common line formation down corridors) into titanic melee monsters, and the innermost Templar are better shooters but still very capable in a brawling tangle of xenoforms.

Sometimes I like to put a sniper (Exo Scout with Leviathan Cannon or similar) in the third position so he can still cover the tile in front of the Captain if an enemy won't go down in the defense phase, or take a pot shot to soften up a tough xeno coming up from the rear.

I'm toying around with the idea of creating an all-scout melee squad who can sprint about with a free move, beat the crap out of stuff, snipe at long range and in general outmaneuver and outmuscle the crap out of xenos.

I tend to use lots of ammo kit wargear to compensate for my generally mediocre but workable shooting skills, so I can spray bullets everywhere if I start to lose control of the situation, but generally we slice and crush our way through the Quadrant. Replacing the Berserker in the fourth position with a Neptune Gunner or a Hydra also makes for an unstoppable maelstrom of devastation.

In general I'm a fan of tactical strategy games so CK and TA are right up my alley. I'm still totally learning this game but it is ridiculous amounts of fun. Astynax is my third Captain and I'm already duking it out on Crazy in the Moderate campaigns.

Tom

[slayernz]

tomdini I'm glad you love the old classic TA. It's a brilliant game and for all its limitations because of its age, it holds up very very well. The challenge that you get because ammunition is scarce certainly encourages you to beef up your melee capabilities. Having an all melee squad (or at least a melee team within your squad) makes sense. I don't know if I would have the scouts specialize in melee though. Consider training up some Berserkers. They are awesome at melee and make short work of Xenos.

If you use a hydra, get used to him walking backwards because suppression fire is a strength, but also a weakness as you don't really want your squad to walk through the fire after him

Finally - it would be good for you to try BF as well - fresh eyes contrasting BF to TA would be interesting

[fallen]

May 27, 2016 22:24:10 GMT -5 tomdini said:

Just a quick note to say I finished the tutorial campaign in RPG and bought Elite right away. I was all like, "I'ma play the free version and explore it and stuff, take my time yeaaaahh" but that never works out with your games, they're way too cool. This is only my fourth TB game after ST, CK and AoP, so I'm way behind the curve but I'm sort of obsessive about games and I'm always away from home so TB universes are where my imagination lives these days.

Very excited to see you working your way through the catalog! Don't miss the other games, there is more amazing and even better tactical goodness to come!

Sounds like you really love the type of games we are making. If you ever want to support us above and beyond picking up Elite right away, check out our Patreon and the rewards available there.

[tomdini]

Just added my first weapons specialist to my roster - a Templar Hydra!!! Haha, I'm such a luddite - I had no idea what a Templar Hydra (a la Star Traders officers) was in relation to other Templar before now. So much fun to fill a room with plasma blasts and watch the xeno combust!!!!!!

This is a really addictive and fun game, I'm incredibly pleased with how much satisfaction comes with battling the Alien and defending humankind from their demonic incursions. I will totes check out the Patreon link. As someone who played a lot of MechWarrior, Privateer, Alpha Centauri and other such games growing up, your games remind me of what it was like to be truly terrified while playing a video game, back when there was no auto-heal, medkits were limited, sometimes a couple bullets would drop you and you needed a Plan A, B and C just to stand a chance of making it through the next mission.

Tom

[fallen]

Jul 1, 2016 15:45:10 GMT -5 tomdini said:

Just added my first weapons specialist to my roster - a Templar Hydra!!! Haha, I'm such a luddite - I had no idea what a Templar Hydra (a la Star Traders officers) was in relation to other Templar before now. So much fun to fill a room with plasma blasts and watch the xeno combust!!!!!!

This is a really addictive and fun game, I'm incredibly pleased with how much satisfaction comes with battling the Alien and defending humankind from their demonic incursions. I will totes check out the Patreon link. As someone who played a lot of MechWarrior, Privateer, Alpha Centauri and other such games growing up, your games remind me of what it was like to be truly terrified while playing a video game, back when there was no auto-heal, medkits were limited, sometimes a couple bullets would drop you and you needed a Plan A, B and C just to stand a chance of making it through the next mission.

Tom

So glad you are enjoying it and discovering the many links between the games. With 4, going on 5, games in the Star Traders universe, its getting richer all the time. Don't miss Templar Battleforce when you're ready

Thanks for checking out the Patreon link -- we'd love to have you on board!

[tomdini]

Quick rules question - I understand Tactics is tied to your Captain's special ability range, with a max range of 3 tiles for Chaplains and Naval Vets and 6 tiles for the Exo-Scout Officer.

The Tutorial Squad Captain begins with 3 Tactics and it appears this maximizes the special ability range right off the bat for the Chaplain and Naval Veteran. Thus, you must raise it higher if you want an Exo-Scout Captain to gain his full special ability range, and with such a useful skill the ability to provide an AP boost at a distance is definitely desirable!!!

What is the math for calculating how much Tactics you need? I assumed it would probably be 1 for 1 - since I started with 3 Tactics, my Chaplain captain has his max heal range before gaining even 1 XP. But my Exo-Scout Officer needs more Tactics!!! But it would seem she does not require 6 Tactics to maximize her range to 6 tiles. Near as I can tell, the formula must be: (Tactics) + 1 = Special Ability Range

But only because of one older thread I found in searching the forum in which slayernz stated that your Captain has a minimum special ability range of "about 2." Not sure what "about" could possibly mean unless fractions are involved in calculating the special ability range. But if your Captain starts with a special ability range of 2 tiles with Tactics at 1, that means you need to raise an Exo-Scout's Tactics skill to 5 to maximize the AP Boost special ability.

I've looked for a definite answer but otherwise came up empty.

Tom

[fallen]

tomdini - scouts get their range in tactics maxing out at 6 + any bonus for war gear.

All other Templars get their range in tactics maxing out at 3 + any bonus from war gear.

[redartrats]

tomdini My current favorite tactic (still using tutorial squad, lol) is scout captain + 2 soldiers + 1 scout. The scout is a master of ranged combat, and the captain and 2 soldiers specialize in melee. Depending on the situation at hand, I have different configurations for them:

1) If there's a need to split up, I usually have the captain pair up with 1 soldier and the scout with another, with the soldier on the front and the captain / scout as rear guard. I find that in spite of the name, scouts are much better as rear guard because soldiers withstand frontal attacks better, whereas scouts have more AP so they are more adaptable to point and shoot at trailing enemies while still keeping up with the soldier.

2) On some occasions, if a mission is best done with two routes, one long and the other short, I would pair up the captain with the scout to do the long route, while the two soldiers do the short route. Generally they end up at the destination more-or-less at the same time due to the faster movement of the scouts.

3) If we're not splitting up and going down a narrow corridor, I'd have the two soldiers in the front and the captain in the back. The middle is usually the 2nd soldier first then the scout, so that the scout can alternate with the captain as rear guard when the corridor widens out. Sometimes I'd have the scout first then the 2nd soldier to help the captain hold off attacks from the rear, because the scout has good long-range skills to provide cover fire for the front soldier.

4) If we're in a wide corridor, I generally just put the 2 soldiers in the front and the captain and scout in the back.

[Cory Trese]

Definitely play Templar Battleforce instead of Templar Assault.

Battleforce is so much better.

[Zer0Winds]

Assault is fun too! I still play Assault even after buying Battleforce. They're both good. Battleforce may be "better" but assault is original. And cool.