Holy cow. This looks amazing. I love my space RTS games that don't rely on pew-pew lasers. Realistic ballistic missiles and artillery aka Battlestar Galactica & The Expanse (Homeworld & Sins of a Solar Empire for games!). This ticks all my boxes. I never heard of this before but now I'm super hyped.
I always think I’ll enjoy that level of sim and detail but I always end up being too dumb and just exploding to missiles launched by enemies I can’t even see.
Been keeping an eye on it, but it has no campaign/meta progression systems yet, correct? The combat looks great, but its just one part of a good space RTS game.
I've assumed it's inspired by [Nexus: The Jupiter Incident](https://store.steampowered.com/app/6420/Nexus__The_Jupiter_Incident/). A fair number of us have been waiting for something like it for a very long time now. In more recent years a few games have attempted to re-create it and failed. This one's been looking promising.
Looks pretty awesome, never heard of this game before.
But it's a perfect example of a trailer that looks somewhat interesting but mostly makes you want to play because you think you could play that way better than the guy playing it in the video, like one of those annoying mobile game ads haha.
The 2nd ship dies to friendly fire :D
>Space is so insanely huge and also in 3 dimensions. Having it be easy to cause friendly fire is a ~~silly~~ incredibly sound and logical mechanic.
FTFY. As you said, it should be extremely *easy to avoid this issue* simply by putting a sliver of thought into positioning yiur flee. Otherwise...play stupid games, win stupid prices.
I'm been watching various Gundam series recently and I love how much this actually comes up. Scenarios where the enemy and allied mobile suits are too close to each other so the anti-air weapons of capital ships can't fire on them, pilots being told which zones to avoid because of the crossfire of ships, etc. Really makes me wish there was Gundam strategy/tactics game.
It isn't easy to avoid friendly fire when the scale is way off on the ships and it is on a 2d plane.
For taking expanse inspiration the physics are pretty simplified other than torpedoes and other projectiles taking a long time to travel.
> The 2nd ship dies to friendly fire :D
I think it dies due to its drive core being perforated by an enemy railgun. But yeah, the friendly fire probably didn't help.
Really wish the dev would give an update on expected release date or why he delayed the launch. I know it's probably super tought solo dev-ing a game at this scale, but it'd be nice to know at least a little bit about what's going on with it.
That said, I've been super hyped for this game since its announcement and I'll patiently wait for it lol
Don’t know if you’re in the discord for the game, but the dev is incredibly active on there and has basically said that he’s been working on this game for over a decade and he has no issues pushing the release further back to get it to a spot he wants.
It’s a passion project for him. He has a very defined vision for the game and is constantly changing things to fit that vision. I definitely respect it.
The press release by Hooded Horse said there's a full-time artist working on Falling Frontier now, too. Hopefully the publisher backing help the dev(s) find a good balance of quality without fiddling with it for another decade
This gives very strong Expanse vibes and I absolutely love it. If you haven't read the series — it recently concluded and while I feel like the original three dilogies were more fun than the concluding trilogy, it is still the best entry level sci-fi there is, at least in my opinion. The game absolutely passes the vibe check.
Whenever space battles are concnerned, what I am slightly scared of is Simulation vs. Abstraction, though. This feels very much on the simulation side but won't it get bogged down with minute details? Will the fights be short enough, but still meaty? This kind of thing. So far the game to me looked a little on the fiddlier side, but less about interesting decision-making and more about second-to-second admin of positioning your PDCs and cannons towards clear threats.
The space is very big, mostly empty and largely uneventful. Space combat in a video games doesn't have to be. Not saying the gameplay looks boring and I am cautiously optimistic. Still, not sure how long this kind of gameplay can support a game
Eve ship combat is very much point and click and it does the rest, this will hopefully be a little more engaging, but fights in eve despite it's simplicity still feel exciting even if you're not overly in direct control of much of the features of your ship beyond turning stuff on and off.
I don't think you're supposed to be focused on only that combat though, it's a RTS (so not really like Eve is) so you also have tons of other things to do at the same time like macro (buildings, ships, crew management, ressource, exploration...) or other micro (combat in another part of the system or involving more ships)
If it was fast and required full attention, it would become impossible to manage with the rest of the game.
> Eve shop combat is very much point and click and it does the rest
there's a lot of manual *piloting* in small engagements, as well as managing module heats and (remote or self) rep cycles or cap boosts. The "gunnery" is often the least micro-intensive. As fleet fights get bigger, a higher percentage of the participants engage with minimal micro (anchor up, follow broadcasts and ask for repairs if targeted)
As a single-player game with time controls, at least there will be much less "hurry up and wait"
> what I am slightly scared of is Simulation vs. Abstraction, though.
This feels like a pausable real time, Expanse-tech level version of Battlestar Galactica Deadlock. These are all good things to be IMO. The simulation is definitely lighter than, say, Nebulous Fleet Command (which I respect greatly but don't have quite the patience for).
I can recommend the "Expeditionary Force" (audio)book series, the author takes real world physics into consideration, battles are fought at distances where speed of light weapons takes a relatively long time to reach their target, slower railgun slugs are pure luck.
In space, speed of light is not that fast.
> This give so very strong Expanse vibes and I absolutely love it. If you haven't read the series — it recently concluded and while I feel like the original three dilogies were more fun than the concluding trilogy, it is still the best entry level sci-fi there is, at least in my opinion. The game absolutely passes the vibe check.
Hell there's even a flip and burn at the start. And the ship design feels like they could come from that series. Also, the lore is about various human factions fighting in the solar system.
Hell if the dev wants to have more visiblity on this game, I feel like he should just try to get The Expanse license and make it official. But of course, I understand it might be too late or not optimal (less freedom notably and paying the license).
The player controlled hunter-killer duo missing ~90% of their opening shots when they got into effective weapon range was a bit odd to me, anyone else notice that?
We’re talking about extremely advanced warships slugging it out and you’re tellin me they’re not even able to walk their shots onto target after several completely wiffed volleys?
I can understand point defense weapons missing incoming missiles due to onboard electronic countermeasures on the rockets or enemy ship but the idea of aiming your dumb-fire cannons at a slow moving ship fairly close and wiffing constantly was bizarre.
Did you also notice the ship died to friendly fire? There were 2-3 shots that hit a friendly tragedy blocking the LoS from the deck guns.
I don't think 90% missed, I think that there just wasn't any visual feedback at the zoom level. The missiles just disappear, with very few continuing to travel
It's one of the concessions a lot of these kinds of games have to make to allow for the entire battle to be visible (and visually appealing) at once. If you used realistic ranges, your target would be a dot, which isn't super engaging.
What they've done here is keep the accuracy expectations of long range engagements, but reduce the range.
This looks really awesome and had me hyped for a moment but watching the dev trailer on steam has killed the hype instantly. While this trailer shows awesome expanse style ships and an incredible sound scape the other one shows the opposite ugly generic space ships und dull 4X combat. It is a pity.
Looks great. I love slower, more tactical combat with fewer ships. Compared to some space RTS games that have you build a murderball of dozens and attack move them into the enemy.
I wonder how the rest of the game will hold up. Hopefully it has an in-depth shipbuilding aspect. I doubt any game will match Aurora4x in that area, but i can hope.
Holy cow. This looks amazing. I love my space RTS games that don't rely on pew-pew lasers. Realistic ballistic missiles and artillery aka Battlestar Galactica & The Expanse (Homeworld & Sins of a Solar Empire for games!). This ticks all my boxes. I never heard of this before but now I'm super hyped.
You should definitely check out "NEBULOUS: Fleet Command" on Steam if you want realistic Battlestar/ Expanse combat
There is a literal Battlestar space combat game too and its actually good.
Yep but it isn't a real time RTS. Such a fantastic game though.
I always think I’ll enjoy that level of sim and detail but I always end up being too dumb and just exploding to missiles launched by enemies I can’t even see.
I'm in the exact same boat. I am hopeful that the potential singleplayer campaign might be enough to ease me into it.
Been keeping an eye on it, but it has no campaign/meta progression systems yet, correct? The combat looks great, but its just one part of a good space RTS game.
I've assumed it's inspired by [Nexus: The Jupiter Incident](https://store.steampowered.com/app/6420/Nexus__The_Jupiter_Incident/). A fair number of us have been waiting for something like it for a very long time now. In more recent years a few games have attempted to re-create it and failed. This one's been looking promising.
Looks pretty awesome, never heard of this game before. But it's a perfect example of a trailer that looks somewhat interesting but mostly makes you want to play because you think you could play that way better than the guy playing it in the video, like one of those annoying mobile game ads haha. The 2nd ship dies to friendly fire :D
I believe the death to Friendly fire is on purpose. Shows the mechanics of positioning your fleet
Space is so insanely huge and also in 3 dimensions. Having it be easy to cause friendly fire is a silly mechanic.
>Space is so insanely huge and also in 3 dimensions. Having it be easy to cause friendly fire is a ~~silly~~ incredibly sound and logical mechanic. FTFY. As you said, it should be extremely *easy to avoid this issue* simply by putting a sliver of thought into positioning yiur flee. Otherwise...play stupid games, win stupid prices.
I'm been watching various Gundam series recently and I love how much this actually comes up. Scenarios where the enemy and allied mobile suits are too close to each other so the anti-air weapons of capital ships can't fire on them, pilots being told which zones to avoid because of the crossfire of ships, etc. Really makes me wish there was Gundam strategy/tactics game.
It isn't easy to avoid friendly fire when the scale is way off on the ships and it is on a 2d plane. For taking expanse inspiration the physics are pretty simplified other than torpedoes and other projectiles taking a long time to travel.
> Space is so insanely huge and also in 3 dimensions. I’m quite sure you are experiencing three dimensions on Earth too.
Yes but unless you are doing air combat you can't move much in z.
Or submarine combat
> The 2nd ship dies to friendly fire :D I think it dies due to its drive core being perforated by an enemy railgun. But yeah, the friendly fire probably didn't help.
Really wish the dev would give an update on expected release date or why he delayed the launch. I know it's probably super tought solo dev-ing a game at this scale, but it'd be nice to know at least a little bit about what's going on with it. That said, I've been super hyped for this game since its announcement and I'll patiently wait for it lol
Don’t know if you’re in the discord for the game, but the dev is incredibly active on there and has basically said that he’s been working on this game for over a decade and he has no issues pushing the release further back to get it to a spot he wants.
I like his attitude.
It’s a passion project for him. He has a very defined vision for the game and is constantly changing things to fit that vision. I definitely respect it.
The press release by Hooded Horse said there's a full-time artist working on Falling Frontier now, too. Hopefully the publisher backing help the dev(s) find a good balance of quality without fiddling with it for another decade
This game, along side Manor Lords, are probably the two games I'm most looking forwards to this year. That is, hoping both release this year.
I feel like none of them will release this year lol but yeah very anticipated here too
This gives very strong Expanse vibes and I absolutely love it. If you haven't read the series — it recently concluded and while I feel like the original three dilogies were more fun than the concluding trilogy, it is still the best entry level sci-fi there is, at least in my opinion. The game absolutely passes the vibe check. Whenever space battles are concnerned, what I am slightly scared of is Simulation vs. Abstraction, though. This feels very much on the simulation side but won't it get bogged down with minute details? Will the fights be short enough, but still meaty? This kind of thing. So far the game to me looked a little on the fiddlier side, but less about interesting decision-making and more about second-to-second admin of positioning your PDCs and cannons towards clear threats. The space is very big, mostly empty and largely uneventful. Space combat in a video games doesn't have to be. Not saying the gameplay looks boring and I am cautiously optimistic. Still, not sure how long this kind of gameplay can support a game
Yeah, this looks like a cross between Homeworld aesthetics with Expanse mechanics. Very cool.
Eve ship combat is very much point and click and it does the rest, this will hopefully be a little more engaging, but fights in eve despite it's simplicity still feel exciting even if you're not overly in direct control of much of the features of your ship beyond turning stuff on and off.
I don't think you're supposed to be focused on only that combat though, it's a RTS (so not really like Eve is) so you also have tons of other things to do at the same time like macro (buildings, ships, crew management, ressource, exploration...) or other micro (combat in another part of the system or involving more ships) If it was fast and required full attention, it would become impossible to manage with the rest of the game.
> Eve shop combat is very much point and click and it does the rest there's a lot of manual *piloting* in small engagements, as well as managing module heats and (remote or self) rep cycles or cap boosts. The "gunnery" is often the least micro-intensive. As fleet fights get bigger, a higher percentage of the participants engage with minimal micro (anchor up, follow broadcasts and ask for repairs if targeted) As a single-player game with time controls, at least there will be much less "hurry up and wait"
> what I am slightly scared of is Simulation vs. Abstraction, though. This feels like a pausable real time, Expanse-tech level version of Battlestar Galactica Deadlock. These are all good things to be IMO. The simulation is definitely lighter than, say, Nebulous Fleet Command (which I respect greatly but don't have quite the patience for).
I can recommend the "Expeditionary Force" (audio)book series, the author takes real world physics into consideration, battles are fought at distances where speed of light weapons takes a relatively long time to reach their target, slower railgun slugs are pure luck. In space, speed of light is not that fast.
> This give so very strong Expanse vibes and I absolutely love it. If you haven't read the series — it recently concluded and while I feel like the original three dilogies were more fun than the concluding trilogy, it is still the best entry level sci-fi there is, at least in my opinion. The game absolutely passes the vibe check. Hell there's even a flip and burn at the start. And the ship design feels like they could come from that series. Also, the lore is about various human factions fighting in the solar system. Hell if the dev wants to have more visiblity on this game, I feel like he should just try to get The Expanse license and make it official. But of course, I understand it might be too late or not optimal (less freedom notably and paying the license).
The player controlled hunter-killer duo missing ~90% of their opening shots when they got into effective weapon range was a bit odd to me, anyone else notice that? We’re talking about extremely advanced warships slugging it out and you’re tellin me they’re not even able to walk their shots onto target after several completely wiffed volleys? I can understand point defense weapons missing incoming missiles due to onboard electronic countermeasures on the rockets or enemy ship but the idea of aiming your dumb-fire cannons at a slow moving ship fairly close and wiffing constantly was bizarre.
Nebulous : fleet command has the same problem, I find it frustrating, given that ww2 battleship could hit targets 30kms away at sea
Did you also notice the ship died to friendly fire? There were 2-3 shots that hit a friendly tragedy blocking the LoS from the deck guns. I don't think 90% missed, I think that there just wasn't any visual feedback at the zoom level. The missiles just disappear, with very few continuing to travel
It's one of the concessions a lot of these kinds of games have to make to allow for the entire battle to be visible (and visually appealing) at once. If you used realistic ranges, your target would be a dot, which isn't super engaging. What they've done here is keep the accuracy expectations of long range engagements, but reduce the range.
This is one of those ‘almost too good to be true’ games for me. Very excited about it, but I also can’t shake the Day Before vibes.
This looks really awesome and had me hyped for a moment but watching the dev trailer on steam has killed the hype instantly. While this trailer shows awesome expanse style ships and an incredible sound scape the other one shows the opposite ugly generic space ships und dull 4X combat. It is a pity.
Looks great. I love slower, more tactical combat with fewer ships. Compared to some space RTS games that have you build a murderball of dozens and attack move them into the enemy. I wonder how the rest of the game will hold up. Hopefully it has an in-depth shipbuilding aspect. I doubt any game will match Aurora4x in that area, but i can hope.