Is SE a sequel to Advanced Tactics ?

[PDiFolco]

I recall this game, it was fun but lacked "flesh", was a bit generic ...
It was the same dev as well, hey Vic [:D]?
SE seems to have many similarities, but more fleshed out and with more strategic aspects.

[balto]

Watch YouTube (check out DasTactic), you will see this is not the sequel. Advanced Tactics was a 10, Shadow Empires will be another separate 10.

[DasTactic]

There are some similarities and SE could be considered a spiritual successor to ATG, but there is so much more in SE that takes it away from being a war-game to being a full 4X strategy game. I think the biggest mistakes I've made with SE has been making ATG assumptions on the way things used to work. You still have Supreme HQ's and Operational HQ's. The Order of Battle has a familar feel to it but you no longer have the open slather approach of ATG adding in whatever units you like. There are now many different resources rather than just two. Unit models are now much more complex and now require a combination of tech as well as field-testing to make them effective. Other aspects have been simplified, like you no longer need engineers to build things.

TBH, there isn't one change in SE that I think isn't an improvement over the game mechanics of ATG other than perhaps the AI being able to build roads for free. And I think it would be good if the combat was a little clearer as to what was going on.

[Vic]

I can clearly answer this one with a very sure "no".

There are many differences, but as said above ATG is a much more generic game, focussed more on competitive play as well a functioning as a wargame design toolbox.

SE is really about a more about trying to make a world that feels real (albeit being fictional) and solidifying thematics and creating an immersive experience. For me as a designer SE scratches a completely different itch and it is a game i'll be able to keep adding content to for a long time.

That being said I still hope to do an Advanced Tactics 2 one day.

Best wishes,
Vic