Update: I played a bit more 1v1. The progression / unlock system is sooooooooooooooo bad. It needs to be absolutely nuked from orbit and revamped from the ground up. Absolutely horrid system blocking what seems like might be good fun.
I went vs you! I tried to spell out Hi with my wasps xd. And completely agree with your statement on progression, seems to be about 1-2 credits per game with units costing a median of 700 credits. (20-50 xp per game, 1000xp per level, 140 credits per 3 levels).
two major issues with this game imo - units aren't visually distinct enough "commander, a blob of big somethings approaches our base" - literally pay/grind to win, as demonstrated in the ballista game where it turned out no one had yellow money to buy the anti-big unit in the in-game shop before battle i can't imagine doing multiplayer where one side is too poor to afford unit counters
Arguably, you should be able to build an army with a counter to every unit type. It'd be very pay2win indeed if the only anti-big unit is behind the paywall
I actually thought the units were very visually distinct. Ive played two matches, and only watched this video, and i can pick out units from the enemy comp (AND guess what they do) already. In AoE like games for example, I really can't. Even after watching approx a dozen hours
@@calebadam2576 Corruptor is actually anti-massive, which is why they get so absolutely shredded by vikings (which *do* have a bonus vs. armoured). The Z units with a bonus vs armoured are the Lurker and for some reason the Spine Crawler. Meanwhile the Phoenix is anti-light, which is why it always seems like the odd one out of the three air-to-air units.
@@galomir833 Grant and Supcom qould be so great. There are *so* many RTS games I'd love to see Grant play, though. Spellforce 3, AI War, Homeworld, Act of War, Perimeter, C&C, Godsworn... The list goes on and on.
Game as far as RTS go feels reasonably basic and super fast pace. Its cool and and pretty simplistic game (I'm not really a PvP person though). I will note: I will be SHOCKED if this doesn't turn into a mobile game. This setting and even the UI screams that it will get a Mobile Port. Edit: 6:04 You beat me to it good sir!
I do like the very fast paced nature of it. It cuts out almost all the economic macro which lowers the bar for entry and I think the very fast games also blunts the pain of losing. For a traditional RTS game you could spend ~10 minutes building up and churning out the build order you practiced, only to get stomped by a player you never had a chance against. In this game a severely mismatched skill level game will be over within 90 seconds. You lick your wounds and go back to queue. But it also means that ability to make a comeback is very low and it seems that in a lot of games it's over before you unlock to tier 3 and that can cause issues in balance where it seems that all that matters is the first 2-3 minutes, you either have a good compositionpicked or you don't. Might as well have a 5 minute timer in the game's current state. And of course the freemium model will only exacerbate this issue as low level players will basically all have variations of the same unit comps while veteran or buy in players could have access to units that hard counter the starter units which makes players choose between quit, buy in, or suffer.
I was really waiting for him to build up that name reveal and then just announce that he's playing with Timmy Two Toes or something. "And of course, since we're playing Battle *ACES* who better to play with than... Timmy Two Toes."
A note on unit counters. It looks like there's a (very bad) rule of thumb in the bottom right of the unit screen where blue square (small) beats red triangle (anti-big...) beats green circle (big) beats yellow diamond (splash) beats blue square. Then above it the traits of each unit are noted as you spotted. But the actual stats would be much better than the little rock-paper-scissors diagram.
@ and how much of it came out more that ten years after the series started, with games that aren’t even mainline, like BMC? I am not saying that a lack of lore is a bad thing, but the developers of BTD clearly care much more about their gameplay, compared to the lore of why monkey pops bloon.
@@naplockblubba5369 I feel sorry for you and the lack of lore that you find in most of the games that you play. Lore is some of the best parts of most games!
@@samuelhawkins3820 I'm not saying I don't play games with lore, I'm saying that BTD has plenty of lore and using it as the baseline for "games without lore" is incredibly weird and honestly just feels like that one "Boss Baby vibes" tweet
If you're doing the round of RTS games (new and old) then I highly recommend the Supreme Commander series. Tons of base building, tons of units, visually distinct factions, huge maps, large singleplayer campaign with a sequel (Forged Alliance) that has community COOP. SupCom2 is a more streamlined simplified experience but more modern experience as well.
The channel is focused on Starcraft 2, and newer RTS games. Supreme Commander hasn't had a release in like 15 years, and isn't going to get one. He probably knows of the game, but theres not much reason for him to do a video on it, because the focus on the non starcraft videos on the channel are largely showing off new indie RTS games that don't have much of a platform. But I can see him checking out newer games similar to and inspired by it though, like Beyond All Reason. I would say that BAR is your best bet if you want to advocate for him to play a game like SupCom.
@@notapplicable292 Correct, no releases in years and entirely unlikely to ever get a new release since the studio closed. But since when has he never played old games before? He's focused on RTS games, not just new ones.
@@Jackintosh117 He's played a couple, like reviewing the original Age of Mythology before the re-release, and a playthrough of Dawn of War, but that's pretty much it for the older games, not counting Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 1. And a big focus of his videos, other than just playing fun SC2 campaigns, is the future of RTS. The larger releases, like ZeroSpace, Stormgate, and Company of Heroes, and the smaller, indie titles like Last Train Home and D.O.R.F. And a good few videos are focused entirely on his vision for what the future of RTS could look like, what he would want to see, what he looks forward to, etc. I would love to see him play Supreme Commander -- my favorite RTS probably -- but I doubt he will because older RTS just isn't really what the channel focuses on. But like I said, I wouldn't put it past him to cover games like Beyond All Reason. Matter of fact if you look in the comments of the videos talking about future RTS games, a lot of people are already recommending it. I would look into it if you don't know about it and want something new. It's community focused, heavily moddable, completely open source, and entirely free. Highly recommend it!
I love the 10 minute games and simplification of macro letting you really think about what units you wanna go. The biggest issue with the grind for new units is making sure the starting roster is capable of keeping up with everything else or players who can’t afford premium currency can still have a good time
While designs are... okay and not visually interesting enough (needs a bit more visual flare [mostly in form of bits and patterns) and ADD MORE OF INITIAL COLORS FOR THEM ALREADY, DEVS!), I can't stop thinking how most of them are SO cute! Especially that little crab, he's so cute! *Is it normal if I almost immediatly started thinking on how it would look and function (gameplay-wise) as a Port-mod to Starcraft 2? Cause I already did... and it's cool, although I'm unsure on the building aspect of it, both for units and structures (or the lack of structures)...* Maybe repurposing Map bits would help, alongside using neutral "Terran-looking" stuff from Starcraft 2 will help... *Unit selection into roster is an requirement still!*
The team monobattle maps/mods have the unit selection roster thing figured out. Unit production seems trivial as everything comes out of the main. Base placement would probably have to be point-targeted in an Extension Mod because I doubt a reasonable script template could deal with non-standard bases and mineral walls, but an auto-build would be easy if you modify the map itself (and thus can just place spawn points specifically on each base location in the terrain). And no cash shop!
@Photoloss Here is several things I thought of when looking at your reply here, and responses to some of what you said (in no particular order): About Cash Shop - It's porting every unit and structure (maybe even some map stuff), so it should be free by default, and adding Cash Shop is just overcomplicated and unneeded. About Minerals and Vespene - Auto-extractors for Vespene (Resource Base could be it), and Warcraft 3-style 3-slot Mine for each Mineral field, both built out of main, with workers also build at the main but separatly. About Buildings and Unit production - I see 2 ways about it - either basic units out of main, "Foundry" for Advanced ground units, "Aeronautics Depot" for all air units or Advanced air units, and "Tech Forge" for upgrades and building requirement of both Unit structures; or all units out of main, but you need several tech/upgrade structures for tiers and Units (or their specific upgrades)! About selection - I already seen different examples of Unit roster selection in several mods/maps, so it's just the matter of picking the most fitting for this. About supply - I'm still not sure how Supply works, but here is 2 ideas for it in the mod - first is simple, Main gives you supply, you need to build more mains to have more supply; second is interesting, as I propose essentially a mash-up of Supply Depo, an Overlord and what I assume is buildable defensive turret - so Supply Depo on tracks, that has an ability to deploy into extra armored turret at a cost of half-supply when deployed, with ability to fully go underground and become cloaked for 1-2 minutes! About building structures - just do it Red Alert 3 Soviet style construction and give it cheap sensor-tower-like building; alternativly, just have workers build it Warcraft 3 Peon style, but with the requirement of several workers, with their amount depending on the building + an ability for 1 worker build a building, but slower than usual and sacrifice itself in a proccess. Thanks for the reply!
If they can make unlocking and knowing what units do better, I can see this being a pretty good fast paced micro RTS, which is actually pretty cool. I like the idea of being able to get a quick, simplified RTS experience with some decent "custom faction" "build your own composition" elements before queuing up. Great way to scratch the itch, and the forced timer practically guarantees you wont get stuck or forced to concede a winning game because of time constraints.
Something about this feels like a mobile game to me, the very simple core mechanics, limited unit roster, short time limit, near-absence of macro, etc. Maybe the devs originally aimed for a "SC2 but on mobile" (there was a game like that aaages ago iirc) but realized they wanted the micro to be fun and couldn't find a workable solution for a mobile interface, so moved to make it for PC and now don't really know what to do with all the freed up design space.
I agree with you. It seems to do what it means to do well but my favorite part of an RTS is the base construction and the teching up through it. A solid story is important for me too.
Fun fact: The world of Galactia would be covered in milk! Does that make it an RTS cash cow? How far can I milk these puns? Yes, I am a serial milk pun offender.
1:22 both resources are actually collected together simultaneously but the same workers. The only difference is that blue being more rare forces you to actually use your red only units. 3:32 the red is called matter, and the blue is called energy Also, the game does in fact have a lot of lore. Currently however, the lore only is shared in 2 places: in game through unit voicelines, and on the official website which has in-universe descriptions of the units.
There's definitely a lot of potential here, but yeah the pay to unlock nature is really painful to see. I think there's so much range of units, similar to Mechabellum, that can be used to make a unique composition. I hope they genuinely take feedback and alter the progression so people take it more seriously.
Hey Grant! Happy Friday! I'm not sure if you're thinking about reviewing more RTS, but if you are, I wanted to add 'Godsworn' to the pile. Imagine AoM but plays like Warcraft 3 with a bunch of QoL for more modern sensibilities. And there are god powers, wonderful God powers. I feel it is criminally under-reviewed, and I've been very impressed with it.
A game I could see myself more casually playing for an afternoon here and there, but not a "lifestyle" game type commitment. It's not going to unseat the established RTS gamers but it might be a good on-ramp for newer rts players or those with less time to play. Still really don't like not having unit stats visible on the main menu, let alone in game tooltips.
I just noticed the idle animation on the crabs are very lively and expressive. This made me think that maybe the units just need a little bit of color to make them flash out properly.
I will disiento with the majority and say I really like the units: they are solid, they are clear on what they evoke but still look reasonable for a robot army.
The last time it was in beta or alpha a couple months ago and I played. I saw a lot of comments (and i thought to0) about it being like a mobile game, but after playing it, I think its really not. Its one of those games you really have to play to appreciate it. Of course there are a lot of things they need to improve, but the gameplay to me was extremely fun. I was even able to get all my friends who played SC2 back in 2010 to play a couple dozen matches with me. - I guess my point is, to anyone thinking that this is a mobile game... Its really not
been playing RTS's since Dune 2 & this is the game that turned me off of the RTS genre lol there's nothing wrong with it (or at least the flaws it has don't bother me). it's a fine game, it's just so distilled down to the essence of what makes an RTS a "starcraft-like" that playing it made me realize that the reason I like games like Warcraft 3 & Starship Troopers: Terran Command is *despite* the things they share with Starcraft, not because of them. The run-bys, the worker harass that ignores your army, the spamming a build key & select-all/a-moving units across the map, the blinks and the stutter stepping. Turns out I hate that stuff! And that's all this game is. And therefor, because of this game, going forward I will no longer be giving a game my interest or time based purely on "it's like starcraft". It will now need to explain to me how it's fundamentally different from the parts of starcraft that I don't actively (or am not forced to) engage with.
The gameplay looks like a simplified RTS half-way in-between a SC2-like RTS and a Moba. Interesting! Might not have as high of a ceiling, but might be more popular with more casual players
In the first open play test, it's all nice an easy stomping people until you come across the more experienced players. One mistake and you're on the back foot. I personally really like the gameplay. I think the unit types strike a good balance, and victory tends to come down to skill. I've had some great moments where the opponent has been on top and a gamble has paid off and got me back in the mix and turned the tide. I also like that the games are short enough that a loss doesn't hurt that bad, you can learn from it. There's not too much to manage which makes it a bit more approachable.
"Game that takes 10 minutes at most" sounds like something that would be a staple of internet cafes when kids have 5-15 minutes left and don't want to play any "serious" game that needs like 5 minutes alone to skip all the intros and start the game(plus like 20 minutes to get to gameplay from cutscenes and tutorials). Back in our time it was racing games like ReVolt, a match in 1,5/1,6 or maybe a run at one of those tower defense WC3 maps that always felt like 10 minutes are too long 😅
From the more simplified base building and picking a roster before going into a game, it looks like starcraft with some mechanics from Battleforge. Interesting if you really want that turbo -ADD-speed RTS experience, but it doesn't really seem like it adds anything new?
This game is very much "babies first RTS". Or, well, maybe that title goes to something like bug wars or stick war (original or legacy, whichever you prefer), but this js still very much "hey, have you played an RTS before? No? Well try this out, see if you like playing it", and then you'll move on to more complex games. The major issue is of course the progression system. I can accept that they want to make money, and that given the style of game paying to unlock units is perfectly reasonable, although I always prefer just paying for skins because you feel less pressure to do so. But your options are so restricted to begin with and the progression is so fucking slow that it just feels terrible, even just looking at it Double the units initially avaliable, offer the first purchased one in each category for half price, and like double the rate at which credits are gained, and then it'd be reasonable.
I really like the look of this game. Obviously has a lot of issues, but still in early development so hopefully they'll listen to the community. But like the fast paced nature of it, jumping straight into the action without too much thought into macro
While I've always been a campaign/skirmish focused player in RTS, this definitely has some appeal. The streamlining of the macro side of things makes it way easier to focus on the fight and understand whats going on, and the shortness of the matches should make it easy to just drop in a play a few rounds whenever. If they can just get their heads out of their butts on the progression, this might have some legs...
I think there is a world in which they have enough units in their arsenal that it is still fun and fair to play even if you don't have every unit unlocked. There are always only a maximum of 16 different units in any given game. If there are enough cheap unlocks to make a competetive deck, that you like, then thats all you need. It is really not that different from how moba progression works, even though people like to pretend that rts is completely different in that regard.
Looks to have the same core ideas as c&c rivals, which is a fun game to play, if you ignore paywalls and pay to win. We all saw how that one turned out
You didnt notice but near the units there is like an icon for weapon triangle (square really) - one is weak against the other. In 7:11 you see: Anti big, big, green icon - meaning green icom stronger than yellow weaker than red.. dunno if its explained what each is but I'm sure with a little experimenting you'd see that the balista thing is strong vs the tanks. Though there is too little explanations but I've played enough Fire Emblem to recognize a weapon triangle when I see one :D
I'm not a fan of how the macro aspect of the game is (I don't even play pvp but base building is what brings me to RTS, curse you, dawn of war 2) but the combat seems good.
Personally this feels too arena-y for me. Like rhe entire game is focused on short pvp matches. Which isnt what i think of when k think of RTS. I want campaigns, custom maps, varied terrain layouts, custom mission rules etc..not just a pvp arena.
This seems like the most utilitarian RTS anyone could possibly make. Great for people who only care about mechanics, mechanics, mechanics, and nothing for people who want a neat setting or to care about a specific, defined faction. Definitely not for me. Wishing it luck though, I imagine there's a niche market who will absolutely love it.
The fundamental mechanics of this game might be good but the meta-progression and unlocks and lack of campaign or lore or even visual interest (the units actually do look different but they're all just grey blobs) just make it look kind of awful. I don't like to hate on this new wave of RTSs because I think it's toxic to the community as a whole, but I'm very far from sold at this point.
There is actually a lore for this, and apparently in an interview the lore has been fleshed out quite a bit which leads me to believe they might have a campaign in the works. Anyway the main lore is mostly just about how humans have started exploring space and have colonized the solar system however the vastness of space has made expanding further difficult. There are several companies which make and distribute military bots which are what you battle with. In the unit shorts on the battle aces TH-cam the company that makes the units are shown
Hey Grant, have you considered playing Beyond all reason? It is very good, and fairly complex. More importantly, it is currently into an open free alpha stage
Wow blocking units in RTS behind a paywall, its A GREAT IDEA! Also lets just throw out anything else, its not fun for "broad audience", who FOR SURE will play an rts and pay for new units!
I predict that Battle Aces will have a small fan base but won’t achieve the massive success that people might have anticipated or hoped for. The reasons for this are simple. People who want a classic RTS like StarCraft, WarCraft, Age of Empires, or Command & Conquer mainly want it for the story, the single-player campaign, and the immersion through interesting factions set within a world rich with atmospheric sound, music, and graphics. The story provides further immersion and identification possibilities. This is not a factor to underestimate, as players enjoy identifying with a hero, a faction, and the gameplay style associated with it. Additionally, classic RTS games offer a great deal of variety and diversity. This includes a range of different missions, procedurally generated maps, multiplayer modes, multiple factions, a wide variety of units, many different soundtracks, modding options, and, last but not least, various ways to showcase one's skill. Skill can be demonstrated through intelligent scouting, consistently monitoring the minimap, pattern recognition to predict the flow and location of important points on unexplored parts of the map, micro-management, clever tactics, smart strategies, effective economy management, smart walling, intelligent expansion, aesthetically pleasing or intelligent base building, and much more. Battle Aces lacks almost all of this. However, RTS has always thrived on this variety to reach as many target audiences as possible. So, the small target audience can enjoy the game, but let me make it unmistakably clear that I’m smarter-smarter than the developers-and can easily predict that this game won’t be a big success. It will not reach the player numbers of Age of Empires II or StarCraft II. It will fade into obscurity relatively quickly, and most players will wonder why, or attribute it to other reasons-none of which are the real causes or the true issues. These are the reasons and problems of a very small niche, and nothing more. So remember my words, and try to pass this feedback to RTS developers worldwide if you ever truly want to see a great new RTS. I’ll be proven right, and you’ll see it someday too, even if it takes 20 more years and 100 more subpar RTS games before this realization comes. You can ignore me and my arguments, but it will not help any of you. May the truth be with you.
6:30+ - Welp, that's an instant "nope" from me. Mobile (this is very obviously going to be released on mobile) pay-to-win game = into the trash it goes.
sounds like CnC Rivals, I wonder if they will fix the issues that CnC Rivals has or if it's gonna be more of the same? btw if it weren't for some p2w aspects of the game, i would say CnC Rivals is really fun. So this title looks promising.
Well it looks like a game you can play with a younger crowd to allow them to get used to playing RTS games. Lets face it, if we didn't grow up in wasteland of RTS options we would not have learned the way we did. The young are spoiled for choice, and some of those options are literally made to trigger your dopamine.
I think "Real-Time Tactics" is a decent umbrella term for this kind of game, leaning more towards the "strategy" side since you do still get to pick when to expand and tech instead of _just_ microing cost-balanced armies. Really wish the VFX were less "mobile-y"/"cartoonish", the units and terrain actually look pretty good but giving _everyone_ a pewpew LAZOR doesn't fit those aesthetics. Any kind of grind wall, pay2win or other real money shenanigans is an instant no though.
Update: I played a bit more 1v1. The progression / unlock system is sooooooooooooooo bad. It needs to be absolutely nuked from orbit and revamped from the ground up. Absolutely horrid system blocking what seems like might be good fun.
I went vs you! I tried to spell out Hi with my wasps xd. And completely agree with your statement on progression, seems to be about 1-2 credits per game with units costing a median of 700 credits. (20-50 xp per game, 1000xp per level, 140 credits per 3 levels).
In the end siege tank wins
@@THECHEESELORD69 But the seige unit has seige and unsiege hotkey on the same key making controlling them annoying as hell :(
Question can someone play enhanced swarm with out heart of the swarm?
you should try BAR (beyond all reason) its a RTS and i think you would have fun (also Uthermal plays it)
Finally… CrabCraft
Carcinisation is inevitable!
Victory in a pinch
Don't you mean StarCrab?
Merge 2 Templar to a MIGHTY ARCHON for only $2.99
two major issues with this game imo
- units aren't visually distinct enough "commander, a blob of big somethings approaches our base"
- literally pay/grind to win, as demonstrated in the ballista game where it turned out no one had yellow money to buy the anti-big unit in the in-game shop before battle
i can't imagine doing multiplayer where one side is too poor to afford unit counters
It wasn't in the first beta so I assume it was done to test public reception. I think they definitely know public reception now lol.
Arguably, you should be able to build an army with a counter to every unit type.
It'd be very pay2win indeed if the only anti-big unit is behind the paywall
@grinm1899 Something I'm not certain of but does Zerg have an anti-armor unit other than the corruptor?
I actually thought the units were very visually distinct. Ive played two matches, and only watched this video, and i can pick out units from the enemy comp (AND guess what they do) already.
In AoE like games for example, I really can't. Even after watching approx a dozen hours
@@calebadam2576 Corruptor is actually anti-massive, which is why they get so absolutely shredded by vikings (which *do* have a bonus vs. armoured). The Z units with a bonus vs armoured are the Lurker and for some reason the Spine Crawler.
Meanwhile the Phoenix is anti-light, which is why it always seems like the odd one out of the three air-to-air units.
Alright Mr. Big Grant Videogames, we need you to try and review absolutely every single RTS ever.
Agreed. And he should start with KKND
Grant can embark on a great journey to find the "Worst RTS Ever" by playing them all, just like Josh Strife Hayes in "Worst MMO's Ever".
I don't know, that doesn't sound unique enough... maybe if the RTSes were guarded by progressively more rabid groups of fans?
grant on supreme commander ? YES
i would love seing that
@@galomir833 Grant and Supcom qould be so great.
There are *so* many RTS games I'd love to see Grant play, though. Spellforce 3, AI War, Homeworld, Act of War, Perimeter, C&C, Godsworn... The list goes on and on.
Real money unlocks do not belong in any PvP game
Or in any game for that matter
@@silverhand9965 No need to throw out the concept of DLC entirely, only when it's harmful to the experience
@@iamravenous_ So long as people with DLC do not go up against people without DLC.
Game as far as RTS go feels reasonably basic and super fast pace. Its cool and and pretty simplistic game (I'm not really a PvP person though).
I will note: I will be SHOCKED if this doesn't turn into a mobile game. This setting and even the UI screams that it will get a Mobile Port.
Edit: 6:04 You beat me to it good sir!
It does have a very mobile game resource system, so that's 100% a possibility.
I do like the very fast paced nature of it. It cuts out almost all the economic macro which lowers the bar for entry and I think the very fast games also blunts the pain of losing. For a traditional RTS game you could spend ~10 minutes building up and churning out the build order you practiced, only to get stomped by a player you never had a chance against. In this game a severely mismatched skill level game will be over within 90 seconds. You lick your wounds and go back to queue.
But it also means that ability to make a comeback is very low and it seems that in a lot of games it's over before you unlock to tier 3 and that can cause issues in balance where it seems that all that matters is the first 2-3 minutes, you either have a good compositionpicked or you don't. Might as well have a 5 minute timer in the game's current state.
And of course the freemium model will only exacerbate this issue as low level players will basically all have variations of the same unit comps while veteran or buy in players could have access to units that hard counter the starter units which makes players choose between quit, buy in, or suffer.
No? Its impossible to make a game like this on mobile
there's a 0% chance this becomes a mobile game lmao how would it even control?
@@irobot661 the Best matches i played was the 8-9 minutes long ones, however is pretty satisfying to absolute destroy your enemy in 1-2 minutes lol
I very much appreciate the crabs. They are ADORABLE.
Battle Aces, and Ace makes an appearance! Coincidence? I think not!
We all know you sponsored them to make this game for grant to make video on it and say that it is not sponsored. You can't fool us.
An unknown source told me that the game was initally supposed to be called Battle Grants, what say you in your defense??
I was really waiting for him to build up that name reveal and then just announce that he's playing with Timmy Two Toes or something. "And of course, since we're playing Battle *ACES* who better to play with than... Timmy Two Toes."
In the Grimdark future, there is only CRABS
A note on unit counters. It looks like there's a (very bad) rule of thumb in the bottom right of the unit screen where blue square (small) beats red triangle (anti-big...) beats green circle (big) beats yellow diamond (splash) beats blue square. Then above it the traits of each unit are noted as you spotted. But the actual stats would be much better than the little rock-paper-scissors diagram.
Never thought I would find a game with less lore than the Bloons TD series. This still looks like a very fun game
Bloons TD has plenty of lore, wtf are you talking about
@ and how much of it came out more that ten years after the series started, with games that aren’t even mainline, like BMC? I am not saying that a lack of lore is a bad thing, but the developers of BTD clearly care much more about their gameplay, compared to the lore of why monkey pops bloon.
@@samuelhawkins3820 I'm just saying it's weird that THAT'S your baseline for "lack of lore", when it has a fairly normal amount of lore IMO
@@naplockblubba5369 I feel sorry for you and the lack of lore that you find in most of the games that you play.
Lore is some of the best parts of most games!
@@samuelhawkins3820 I'm not saying I don't play games with lore, I'm saying that BTD has plenty of lore and using it as the baseline for "games without lore" is incredibly weird and honestly just feels like that one "Boss Baby vibes" tweet
If you're doing the round of RTS games (new and old) then I highly recommend the Supreme Commander series.
Tons of base building, tons of units, visually distinct factions, huge maps, large singleplayer campaign with a sequel (Forged Alliance) that has community COOP. SupCom2 is a more streamlined simplified experience but more modern experience as well.
He won't.
Why? Well he could've done it ages ago.
Clearly not worth his time.
@@tiberazur3 I'm sure he appreciates you deciding on his behalf what games he can and can't play. Saves him lots of time im sure.
The channel is focused on Starcraft 2, and newer RTS games. Supreme Commander hasn't had a release in like 15 years, and isn't going to get one. He probably knows of the game, but theres not much reason for him to do a video on it, because the focus on the non starcraft videos on the channel are largely showing off new indie RTS games that don't have much of a platform. But I can see him checking out newer games similar to and inspired by it though, like Beyond All Reason. I would say that BAR is your best bet if you want to advocate for him to play a game like SupCom.
@@notapplicable292 Correct, no releases in years and entirely unlikely to ever get a new release since the studio closed.
But since when has he never played old games before? He's focused on RTS games, not just new ones.
@@Jackintosh117 He's played a couple, like reviewing the original Age of Mythology before the re-release, and a playthrough of Dawn of War, but that's pretty much it for the older games, not counting Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 1. And a big focus of his videos, other than just playing fun SC2 campaigns, is the future of RTS. The larger releases, like ZeroSpace, Stormgate, and Company of Heroes, and the smaller, indie titles like Last Train Home and D.O.R.F. And a good few videos are focused entirely on his vision for what the future of RTS could look like, what he would want to see, what he looks forward to, etc. I would love to see him play Supreme Commander -- my favorite RTS probably -- but I doubt he will because older RTS just isn't really what the channel focuses on. But like I said, I wouldn't put it past him to cover games like Beyond All Reason. Matter of fact if you look in the comments of the videos talking about future RTS games, a lot of people are already recommending it. I would look into it if you don't know about it and want something new. It's community focused, heavily moddable, completely open source, and entirely free. Highly recommend it!
The game looks to be just as complex as it needs to be for some simple arcadey fun
I love the 10 minute games and simplification of macro letting you really think about what units you wanna go. The biggest issue with the grind for new units is making sure the starting roster is capable of keeping up with everything else or players who can’t afford premium currency can still have a good time
FYI: If you press space and hover over a unit, you can see what they are effective / bad against.
Only in-game or also in the shop? Does it also show at least some crucial stats, such as range?
It be funny if the added a lore section somewhere and all it said was your the battle ace
Battle Aces units keep getting developed into Crabs
While designs are... okay and not visually interesting enough (needs a bit more visual flare [mostly in form of bits and patterns) and ADD MORE OF INITIAL COLORS FOR THEM ALREADY, DEVS!), I can't stop thinking how most of them are SO cute! Especially that little crab, he's so cute!
*Is it normal if I almost immediatly started thinking on how it would look and function (gameplay-wise) as a Port-mod to Starcraft 2? Cause I already did... and it's cool, although I'm unsure on the building aspect of it, both for units and structures (or the lack of structures)...*
Maybe repurposing Map bits would help, alongside using neutral "Terran-looking" stuff from Starcraft 2 will help...
*Unit selection into roster is an requirement still!*
The team monobattle maps/mods have the unit selection roster thing figured out. Unit production seems trivial as everything comes out of the main. Base placement would probably have to be point-targeted in an Extension Mod because I doubt a reasonable script template could deal with non-standard bases and mineral walls, but an auto-build would be easy if you modify the map itself (and thus can just place spawn points specifically on each base location in the terrain).
And no cash shop!
@Photoloss Here is several things I thought of when looking at your reply here, and responses to some of what you said (in no particular order):
About Cash Shop - It's porting every unit and structure (maybe even some map stuff), so it should be free by default, and adding Cash Shop is just overcomplicated and unneeded.
About Minerals and Vespene - Auto-extractors for Vespene (Resource Base could be it), and Warcraft 3-style 3-slot Mine for each Mineral field, both built out of main, with workers also build at the main but separatly.
About Buildings and Unit production - I see 2 ways about it - either basic units out of main, "Foundry" for Advanced ground units, "Aeronautics Depot" for all air units or Advanced air units, and "Tech Forge" for upgrades and building requirement of both Unit structures; or all units out of main, but you need several tech/upgrade structures for tiers and Units (or their specific upgrades)!
About selection - I already seen different examples of Unit roster selection in several mods/maps, so it's just the matter of picking the most fitting for this.
About supply - I'm still not sure how Supply works, but here is 2 ideas for it in the mod - first is simple, Main gives you supply, you need to build more mains to have more supply; second is interesting, as I propose essentially a mash-up of Supply Depo, an Overlord and what I assume is buildable defensive turret - so Supply Depo on tracks, that has an ability to deploy into extra armored turret at a cost of half-supply when deployed, with ability to fully go underground and become cloaked for 1-2 minutes!
About building structures - just do it Red Alert 3 Soviet style construction and give it cheap sensor-tower-like building; alternativly, just have workers build it Warcraft 3 Peon style, but with the requirement of several workers, with their amount depending on the building + an ability for 1 worker build a building, but slower than usual and sacrifice itself in a proccess.
Thanks for the reply!
If they can make unlocking and knowing what units do better, I can see this being a pretty good fast paced micro RTS, which is actually pretty cool. I like the idea of being able to get a quick, simplified RTS experience with some decent "custom faction" "build your own composition" elements before queuing up. Great way to scratch the itch, and the forced timer practically guarantees you wont get stuck or forced to concede a winning game because of time constraints.
Something about this feels like a mobile game to me, the very simple core mechanics, limited unit roster, short time limit, near-absence of macro, etc. Maybe the devs originally aimed for a "SC2 but on mobile" (there was a game like that aaages ago iirc) but realized they wanted the micro to be fun and couldn't find a workable solution for a mobile interface, so moved to make it for PC and now don't really know what to do with all the freed up design space.
Not my type of RTS, but seems well made for what it is.
I agree with you. It seems to do what it means to do well but my favorite part of an RTS is the base construction and the teching up through it. A solid story is important for me too.
Yes, ill pass on this
Fun fact: The world of Galactia would be covered in milk! Does that make it an RTS cash cow? How far can I milk these puns?
Yes, I am a serial milk pun offender.
those joke aged like milk! in fact rare cheesy
@@omeka8842 Great jokes are made of cheese!
Who am I to diss a brie?
The number of units you own just grows exponentially. 2 minutes in and you've already got a maxed out sc2 army feels like.
1:22 both resources are actually collected together simultaneously but the same workers. The only difference is that blue being more rare forces you to actually use your red only units.
3:32 the red is called matter, and the blue is called energy
Also, the game does in fact have a lot of lore. Currently however, the lore only is shared in 2 places: in game through unit voicelines, and on the official website which has in-universe descriptions of the units.
I must say, I really liked the Fog of War-animation! Rolls in and out like fog, no pun intended
There's definitely a lot of potential here, but yeah the pay to unlock nature is really painful to see. I think there's so much range of units, similar to Mechabellum, that can be used to make a unique composition. I hope they genuinely take feedback and alter the progression so people take it more seriously.
Hey Grant! Happy Friday!
I'm not sure if you're thinking about reviewing more RTS, but if you are, I wanted to add 'Godsworn' to the pile.
Imagine AoM but plays like Warcraft 3 with a bunch of QoL for more modern sensibilities. And there are god powers, wonderful God powers.
I feel it is criminally under-reviewed, and I've been very impressed with it.
A game I could see myself more casually playing for an afternoon here and there, but not a "lifestyle" game type commitment. It's not going to unseat the established RTS gamers but it might be a good on-ramp for newer rts players or those with less time to play. Still really don't like not having unit stats visible on the main menu, let alone in game tooltips.
Ah, yes, the pinnacle of Elder Scrolls characters, Werewolf Archmage.
This post is about crabs, and in-jokes so in it's only one person.
Every joke about crabs eventually turns into a joke about evolution
Full circle.
Seems like a cute lil game. Seems like something I'd have fun bringing some friends along for. Just hope it's either free or something like $10
Grant truly is the battle ace
I just noticed the idle animation on the crabs are very lively and expressive.
This made me think that maybe the units just need a little bit of color to make them flash out properly.
Thes unit design for this game isn't super dense with sex appeal, but I love how intuitive each unit is to its' model
The fog of war being actual fog is cute
I will disiento with the majority and say I really like the units: they are solid, they are clear on what they evoke but still look reasonable for a robot army.
that game looks actually fun to watch. it has some flaws in the unlock section but its only an alpha yet
The last time it was in beta or alpha a couple months ago and I played. I saw a lot of comments (and i thought to0) about it being like a mobile game, but after playing it, I think its really not. Its one of those games you really have to play to appreciate it. Of course there are a lot of things they need to improve, but the gameplay to me was extremely fun. I was even able to get all my friends who played SC2 back in 2010 to play a couple dozen matches with me.
- I guess my point is, to anyone thinking that this is a mobile game... Its really not
been playing RTS's since Dune 2 & this is the game that turned me off of the RTS genre lol
there's nothing wrong with it (or at least the flaws it has don't bother me). it's a fine game, it's just so distilled down to the essence of what makes an RTS a "starcraft-like" that playing it made me realize that the reason I like games like Warcraft 3 & Starship Troopers: Terran Command is *despite* the things they share with Starcraft, not because of them.
The run-bys, the worker harass that ignores your army, the spamming a build key & select-all/a-moving units across the map, the blinks and the stutter stepping. Turns out I hate that stuff! And that's all this game is.
And therefor, because of this game, going forward I will no longer be giving a game my interest or time based purely on "it's like starcraft". It will now need to explain to me how it's fundamentally different from the parts of starcraft that I don't actively (or am not forced to) engage with.
This is actually quite enjoyable to watch. Didn't expect it to be.
The gameplay looks like a simplified RTS half-way in-between a SC2-like RTS and a Moba. Interesting! Might not have as high of a ceiling, but might be more popular with more casual players
It looks pretty cool. I hope it does well.
In the first open play test, it's all nice an easy stomping people until you come across the more experienced players. One mistake and you're on the back foot. I personally really like the gameplay. I think the unit types strike a good balance, and victory tends to come down to skill. I've had some great moments where the opponent has been on top and a gamble has paid off and got me back in the mix and turned the tide. I also like that the games are short enough that a loss doesn't hurt that bad, you can learn from it. There's not too much to manage which makes it a bit more approachable.
"Game that takes 10 minutes at most" sounds like something that would be a staple of internet cafes when kids have 5-15 minutes left and don't want to play any "serious" game that needs like 5 minutes alone to skip all the intros and start the game(plus like 20 minutes to get to gameplay from cutscenes and tutorials). Back in our time it was racing games like ReVolt, a match in 1,5/1,6 or maybe a run at one of those tower defense WC3 maps that always felt like 10 minutes are too long 😅
From the more simplified base building and picking a roster before going into a game, it looks like starcraft with some mechanics from Battleforge. Interesting if you really want that turbo -ADD-speed RTS experience, but it doesn't really seem like it adds anything new?
Grant, you should try Northgard
Hi Grant, you should Check Out the RTS Mod reign of Nether for Minecraft, pretty nice!
This game is very much "babies first RTS". Or, well, maybe that title goes to something like bug wars or stick war (original or legacy, whichever you prefer), but this js still very much "hey, have you played an RTS before? No? Well try this out, see if you like playing it", and then you'll move on to more complex games.
The major issue is of course the progression system. I can accept that they want to make money, and that given the style of game paying to unlock units is perfectly reasonable, although I always prefer just paying for skins because you feel less pressure to do so. But your options are so restricted to begin with and the progression is so fucking slow that it just feels terrible, even just looking at it
Double the units initially avaliable, offer the first purchased one in each category for half price, and like double the rate at which credits are gained, and then it'd be reasonable.
I really like the look of this game. Obviously has a lot of issues, but still in early development so hopefully they'll listen to the community. But like the fast paced nature of it, jumping straight into the action without too much thought into macro
The unit and enviroment design looks way better than Stormgate.
While I've always been a campaign/skirmish focused player in RTS, this definitely has some appeal. The streamlining of the macro side of things makes it way easier to focus on the fight and understand whats going on, and the shortness of the matches should make it easy to just drop in a play a few rounds whenever. If they can just get their heads out of their butts on the progression, this might have some legs...
I think there is a world in which they have enough units in their arsenal that it is still fun and fair to play even if you don't have every unit unlocked.
There are always only a maximum of 16 different units in any given game. If there are enough cheap unlocks to make a competetive deck, that you like, then thats all you need.
It is really not that different from how moba progression works, even though people like to pretend that rts is completely different in that regard.
Looks to have the same core ideas as c&c rivals, which is a fun game to play, if you ignore paywalls and pay to win. We all saw how that one turned out
The entire game gives me pay to win mobile game vibes which is depressing
Play Beyond All Reason for crying out loud!
Just so you know, the first mandatory games in 1v1 are all against bots, but they don't tell you first :)
You didnt notice but near the units there is like an icon for weapon triangle (square really) - one is weak against the other.
In 7:11 you see: Anti big, big, green icon - meaning green icom stronger than yellow weaker than red.. dunno if its explained what each is but I'm sure with a little experimenting you'd see that the balista thing is strong vs the tanks.
Though there is too little explanations but I've played enough Fire Emblem to recognize a weapon triangle when I see one :D
I'm not a fan of how the macro aspect of the game is (I don't even play pvp but base building is what brings me to RTS, curse you, dawn of war 2) but the combat seems good.
Really excited to play this. Hope they fix the unit progress issues
I hope one day Grant will check out War Selection and play a 32 player FFA in it, cuz it's freaking cool.
I love the game so far. I just hope Tencent doesn't kill it from the start with their weird idea of monetization
I think with this engine and graphics the game can be a base to a real RTS game in the future
Personally this feels too arena-y for me. Like rhe entire game is focused on short pvp matches. Which isnt what i think of when k think of RTS. I want campaigns, custom maps, varied terrain layouts, custom mission rules etc..not just a pvp arena.
Maybe not a main game but a fun filler.
This seems like the most utilitarian RTS anyone could possibly make. Great for people who only care about mechanics, mechanics, mechanics, and nothing for people who want a neat setting or to care about a specific, defined faction. Definitely not for me. Wishing it luck though, I imagine there's a niche market who will absolutely love it.
The fundamental mechanics of this game might be good but the meta-progression and unlocks and lack of campaign or lore or even visual interest (the units actually do look different but they're all just grey blobs) just make it look kind of awful. I don't like to hate on this new wave of RTSs because I think it's toxic to the community as a whole, but I'm very far from sold at this point.
There is actually a lore for this, and apparently in an interview the lore has been fleshed out quite a bit which leads me to believe they might have a campaign in the works.
Anyway the main lore is mostly just about how humans have started exploring space and have colonized the solar system however the vastness of space has made expanding further difficult. There are several companies which make and distribute military bots which are what you battle with.
In the unit shorts on the battle aces TH-cam the company that makes the units are shown
I see the Drifter got a side job casting Battle ace games
The unit designs seems hard to differenciate them
The unit designs are kinda bland.
The crab is very cute though, but I've kinda got a bias for crabs.
Hey Grant, have you considered playing Beyond all reason? It is very good, and fairly complex. More importantly, it is currently into an open free alpha stage
Wow blocking units in RTS behind a paywall, its A GREAT IDEA! Also lets just throw out anything else, its not fun for "broad audience", who FOR SURE will play an rts and pay for new units!
I predict that Battle Aces will have a small fan base but won’t achieve the massive success that people might have anticipated or hoped for.
The reasons for this are simple. People who want a classic RTS like StarCraft, WarCraft, Age of Empires, or Command & Conquer mainly want it for the story, the single-player campaign, and the immersion through interesting factions set within a world rich with atmospheric sound, music, and graphics. The story provides further immersion and identification possibilities. This is not a factor to underestimate, as players enjoy identifying with a hero, a faction, and the gameplay style associated with it. Additionally, classic RTS games offer a great deal of variety and diversity. This includes a range of different missions, procedurally generated maps, multiplayer modes, multiple factions, a wide variety of units, many different soundtracks, modding options, and, last but not least, various ways to showcase one's skill. Skill can be demonstrated through intelligent scouting, consistently monitoring the minimap, pattern recognition to predict the flow and location of important points on unexplored parts of the map, micro-management, clever tactics, smart strategies, effective economy management, smart walling, intelligent expansion, aesthetically pleasing or intelligent base building, and much more.
Battle Aces lacks almost all of this.
However, RTS has always thrived on this variety to reach as many target audiences as possible.
So, the small target audience can enjoy the game, but let me make it unmistakably clear that I’m smarter-smarter than the developers-and can easily predict that this game won’t be a big success. It will not reach the player numbers of Age of Empires II or StarCraft II. It will fade into obscurity relatively quickly, and most players will wonder why, or attribute it to other reasons-none of which are the real causes or the true issues. These are the reasons and problems of a very small niche, and nothing more.
So remember my words, and try to pass this feedback to RTS developers worldwide if you ever truly want to see a great new RTS. I’ll be proven right, and you’ll see it someday too, even if it takes 20 more years and 100 more subpar RTS games before this realization comes.
You can ignore me and my arguments, but it will not help any of you. May the truth be with you.
Between the unit unlock and simplified RTS, this reminds me of CnC 4 Tiberian Twilight. Which tanked despite IP, or was it because of it
auuuugh this looks so good! I really hope they fix the monetization
GGG sending scientists into the battle!
i don't understand pinnacle of evolution, i only understand niche GGG references xD
I thought we only settled that scientists are crabs, not that crabs are necessarily scientists too.
@@Photoloss ah, yes xD
Looks like Airmech Arena, just no mechs and more control over units
I like how Grant cant really say anything bad about this and Stormgate because he's working on another game.
Uuhh, have you read the pinned comment? He doesn't normally talk about using nukes willy-nilly, outside of the Haven missions anyway.
Queue the crab meme song!
This is a mobile game, even the predatory monetization is included
Game has crabs in it, automatic 9/10
RTS with microtransactions to unlock units? Welp, it's (hopefully) dead on arrival.
One of these days he'll check out Zero-K
GGG how come you never play westwood rts?
Stuck with blizzard.
Probably did ot bother learning other games.
Fail for him but it is what it is.
6:30+ - Welp, that's an instant "nope" from me. Mobile (this is very obviously going to be released on mobile) pay-to-win game = into the trash it goes.
Seeing just makes me me want to play dawn of war 2
sounds like CnC Rivals, I wonder if they will fix the issues that CnC Rivals has or if it's gonna be more of the same? btw if it weren't for some p2w aspects of the game, i would say CnC Rivals is really fun. So this title looks promising.
Well it looks like a game you can play with a younger crowd to allow them to get used to playing RTS games. Lets face it, if we didn't grow up in wasteland of RTS options we would not have learned the way we did. The young are spoiled for choice, and some of those options are literally made to trigger your dopamine.
I think "Real-Time Tactics" is a decent umbrella term for this kind of game, leaning more towards the "strategy" side since you do still get to pick when to expand and tech instead of _just_ microing cost-balanced armies.
Really wish the VFX were less "mobile-y"/"cartoonish", the units and terrain actually look pretty good but giving _everyone_ a pewpew LAZOR doesn't fit those aesthetics.
Any kind of grind wall, pay2win or other real money shenanigans is an instant no though.
Is one of those announcers....General Brasch????
Have you ever checked out beyond all reason?
I honestly cannot stand that it is exclusively versus mode. the target audience is gonna be so niche
"my first rts" ahh stuff
pinnacle of evolution? I barely know 'er
I would consider playing if it wasn't so freemium
First thing come to mind looking at the title is Battle cats. Yeah.
Give me 100 Million USD and I build you the best rts in the world.
If I wanted to play a game like this I'd just go back to Dawn of War 2...
Zerospace review for beta?