Do you play Oceania?

[GreyCryohall]

I've just my first play-through with Oceania enabled and I'm curious how many of you Shadow Empire die hards play with this DLC enabled.
I loved it in the early to mid game, but boy, this DLC is creating so many decisions each turn that I feel like a call center worker.
The MTH requests, especially the IP purchase ones, are so numerous. Couldn't they buy it once from SHQ and not from a specific zone or just have a contract for providing x of IP per turn? Only surviving MTH could generate 5 IP requests per turn!

AI was assaulting my islands a lot which was exciting, but they were leaving deserted cities and I couldn't keep up to merge them. Each turn I was dismissing several decisions to appoint governors in ghost cities. I got completely lost with amount of my zones. Cities without pops should decay to ruins or at least merge PP cost should be based on the city size (though it would still generate pointless appoint governor decision).

Oceania wa generating for me 10+ decisions per turn during last turns before I finally reached 50% VPs. I want to play more of it as I really like the transport contract idea, but this decision spam is punishing...

So where do you stand on the Oceania topic?

[nadia911]

Hi, I played around with Oceania a bit when it was released but I soon stopped using the DLC, I didn't like it

[pauls2271]

No. I never much liked the MTH concept to begin with. But a couple months ago, I decided to try it again and activated it. On Turn 2, before I had even met anyone or even talked to a MTH, a huge invasion from across the sea came and setup next to my capital. That was game over for that game. I turned it back off again after that.

I don't think Oceania was well thought out (or play tested). Similar to when Vic put in airpower - the AI would build nothing but air defense and was brain dead (I turned Air off for a very long time). Eventually he fixed the problems with air, maybe he will revisit Oceania and fix it. I'm still waiting for ships to be added.

[mattpilot]

Nope.. stopped after 2 games. Hate the MTH and how they work. I want my own ships to move around

[Xxzard]

I enjoyed that it opened up potential for different play style and tactical/strategic challenges. Plus it made Earth-like planets with large oceans feasible from a mechanics perspective.

I play with it enabled all the time, but I still find invasions/contracting very challenging to manage and the MTH events rather time consuming to go through due to quantity as the game goes on. I probably play fewer MTH-heavy games to completion than others.

There is no question gameplay would be more engaging and perhaps straightforward as a player if we could build our own ships and manage our own routes and perhaps trade more effectively. Oceania takes a swing at enabling maritime mechanics, but it did not try to tackle those bigger, trickier, mechanics. Vic has said he would like to add player ships etc., but we have to bear in mind the scope of changes to mechanics would be large. There are so many design questions: do ships work like land units, or like aircraft? Maybe necessarily they work like neither and need whole new, very complex mechanics. How would player shipborne trade work, given there is no existing concept of units which perform trade, or specific trade routes, or time to traverse trade routes. Oceania was an attempt to create a workable maritime system where all of the combat, trade, and traversal happens off-screen. Essentially no new core system was added. Most everything is handled via events and backend rolls. And still, it took a decent time to develop, test, and balance, with a lot of the balance fine tuning happening after release, and arguably the fine balance is still problematic now and could use tweaks.

[BlueWombats]

I'm enjoying it in my current game.

I think it does need a setting to auto deny population recruitment and IP purchase requests.

I really like the idea of an entity you don't directly control in the game. I think MTH is an interesting idea, but I don't have enough games under my belt to critique it properly.

[Xmudder]

I'm enjoying it in my current game.

I think it does need a setting to auto deny population recruitment and IP purchase requests.

I really like the idea of an entity you don't directly control in the game. I think MTH is an interesting idea, but I don't have enough games under my belt to critique it properly.

Agreed. I never want to sell my population, and I only want to sell IP if I have a shortage of, like Metal, in return. I'd also like to have simplified movement / logistics / city building in coastal maritime zones (islands and straits) where you already control the relevant coasts. As it is small islands are a pain.

[ShadowEmpireHost]

Yes, but I aim to generate no MTHs. Oceania is capable of making some really beautiful maps in a way the base game templates tend not to. So far, I have failed to create my dream map of having an inland sea capable sustaining an MTH while letting the player choose if they want to settle next to it and deal with the smell and mess.

[Squarehead]

I like Oceania, with caveats.

The planet types are a fun addition. The MTHs I like for what they are and they create an additional interesting game as you try to back one against the others and try to influence their own independent contest for control. The need to transport units and supplies over sea lanes also makes 'lighter' equipment options like laser weapons more valuable and feel more distinct from the 'heavier' ammo consuming ones. That's all good.

Less good:
The new zone spam with every naval landing is a pain. Zones will disappear if they have no assets and no population which you can make happen by reducing the zone area to just the city and demolish the assets (the unhappy people left will all leave). But it would be nice if zone merging rules were relaxed for Oceania games.

The inability to contest or hold sea control is a problem and it gives Oceania something of a missing endgame. Terrestrial empires reach the point where they have enough power and industrial might that challenging the MTHs should be an option but the player is forever at the mercy of the MTHs. And ultimately, anyone can sign contracts with MTHs to land anywhere - even if it's extremely expensive. There is no way at all for an empire to contest or hold sea control anywhere and thus their coastline is always vulnerable to yet more naval invasions. That missing endgame where you challenge for and attain real sea control is the biggest problem with Oceania IMO.

As it stands I like to play on Oceania maps sometimes, but I wouldn't play on an 'islands' map again. 'Pangaea' type maps with a spindly continent and some islands are probably my favorite, but 'continents' type maps are okay too. With islands the MTHs are too important and too annoying and the missing endgame too glaring for me to enjoy it.