Matrix Games Forums

Hey folks!
Like many others around here I am very interested in this game, it sounds fascinating.

But I'm a bit worried about the military systems. To be honest, I am more interested in the non-military part of the game, although the combination with traditional 4X sounds great[:)]

Would I be able to get enjoyment from this game even if am not a full-on grognard? Note that I play and enjoy Panzer Corps 2 (on standard difficulty) so I get (and enjoy) the basic concepts of the genre even though I'm not any sort of masterful tactician. I am also a big fan of the Conflict of Heroes tabletop game so, even if that's at a smaller tactical scale, I am comfortable with LoS, range, terrain/unit modifiers as long as they do not get to complex. I suppose that's my experience so far in terms of wargaming.

My only other 'big' game from Slitherine/Matrix is Field of Glory:Empires (which I love)...just to give you a sense of the complexity level I am confortable with.

Put differently: if I'm not very good with the military tactics of the game and don't want to spend a lot of time on that, can I compensate that with a larger focus on the other systems, or would the AI roll over me? Only interested in single-player btw.

Cheers!
Thanks so much!

Hmmm... difficult to answer.

I think if you can manage Panzer Corps 2 and enjoy it, you've got a better chance than most, but the warfare in this is an order of magnitude more complex and if you're not willing to spend many turns ordering dozens of units in a huge war, you might not like the endgame as you'll usually be facing off against a powerful Regime and the game AI is very strong in this. Check out my current game as an example of this: HERE

I'd watch some Let's Plays to find out if it's your kind of thing.

As KingHalford said, it's a bit hard to give you a clear answer.

But I would like to add to his answer that you can choose the size of the planet : it could help reducing the "huge wargame" feeling. For my first game I started on a Moon (smallest "planet" amongst others), of small size (you can choose small, normal or big), to understand mechanics. I'm putting a screenshot to show you : you'll see almost the full "planet" on it (it's missing only two columns of hexes). And I'm easily at 8-10 hours of play, really enjoying my game
But the wargaming side is really strong, so you have to want to play a wargame (in short)

I would suggest you to take a look at some let's play from
Tortuga Power : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MEZTw3 ... Xc&index=1
or
DasTactic : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QbPel4 ... BmfPumt7eY
(maybe skip to advanced episodes when there are wars ? Or more recent playlists ?)

And take a look at Halford article ? https://explorminate.co/what-to-expect-shadow-empire/

Hope this will help !

Both this game and Empires seem to have a lot of management in them. If you have played both, which is easier as far as how much management is in them?
Thanks for any opinions.

Thanks for the input, I think I'll take your advice and find some time to watch a playthrough and maybe look at the manuak before buying the game.

There is actually a 20% discount from matrixs in house publication Wargamer which expired tomorrow so better decide quick! (Code is 'wargamer20')

Yes, I'm aware[:)]
But I'd rather pay 100% with confidence that'll play the game, rather than 80% and have it sit on my computer.

You might want to look over Das Tactic's channel, he and other YouTubers have done and exhaustive amount of video on game play, it might help you decide.

https://youtu.be/FpqglzMWQ7w

I love FoG:E and am enjoying SE a great deal, but I'm from the wargaming side so my opinions would be somewhat biased! [;)]