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Pandora: First Contact?
With Civilization: Beyond Earth on the horizon, I decided to pick up a game that was recently released that calls Alpha Centauri a spiritual successor. Pandora: First Contact, is the second game by Proxy Studios, a very small independent company with only one other game other their belt according to their website. Conquest: Divide and Conquer, was released and 2010 and reads like a hex-based war game. The game barely got any press, and the only review for that game I could find was from Out of Eight, which gave the game 6/8 (75%). The reviewer said the following about that game.
Pandora: First Contact was released in 2013, and made it to Steam just before the 2014 Summer Sale, where it went only 10% deep.
What is going on?
Pandora: First Contact has the player taking charge of one of six factions and leading said faction to technological, military, and economic dominance of Pandora. There are six factions: Mercenary Guys, Social Network Cultists, Corporation, theTogra University, Eco Guys, and China. Reading the backstory for the six factions touches on one of my peeves with the game: The weak writing.
The Imperium were mercenaries back on Earth who ended up becoming the only military on the planet (apparently). The idea was that the West became increasingly casualty-averse, while the developing world and non-state actors continued growing in their military capabilities. The Imperium was the West's, and then the world's (except China) way of handling things. Battles and wars were decided by whoever paid the Imperium the best.
The Imperium made a deal with the Noxium Corporation and divided up space between the two of them. The Noxium Corporation, using Togra University-based technology, used the Imperium to solidify their hold. Then you have Terra Salvum, which got to space somehow (I forgot). China, aka the Solar Dynasty ran by a clone, also into space and boring.
Really, the only interesting faction is the Divine Ascendancy. The basic idea behind the DA and its matriarch is that it become a major religion in the 2040's, and kept members with a combination of blackmail and legitimate belief.
But that is the problem. The narrative of what is going on on Pandora just isn't that great. In-game, each AI leader does have its own way of doing things, but because the game's diplomatic system is so limited, there isn't many ways for these countries to express themselves.
The Good
The game has a lot going for it. The tech tree is randomized, and you have the option of making research as blind as you want. You can even set the tech tree so you can only see what techs you can research at that moment. There are a lot of techs, but each tech usually only unlocks a unit type, a building, an operation (more on later) and the matching building, equipment for your units, or a project. Projects are like National Wonders in Civilization, in that building them gives your faction nifty and useful bonuses.
The game's economy is also very similar to Civilization. Being hexed-based and having beakers, production, and food, it is almost easy to think the game is just Civilization V, but there are a few key differences. For starters, you pops are divided into Farmers, Miners, Workers, and Scientists. Farmers grow food, miners mine minerals, workers take minerals and turn them into production, and scientists produce science. All pops pay taxes, and you can set a tax rate to individual cities.
Food and minerals are pooled globally, which means you can specialize your cities to produce food, mine, etc. Other key city stats are pollution, morale, habitat, and growth. Morale is like happiness, but not global. Habitat is how well your city can "hold" people. Growth is how fast your population is growing.
The combat system does not use 1UPT. Instead, you can stack to your heart's content, but it is almost better to flank your enemy. Not only does flanking give hefty bonuses, but artillery units have ranged bombard, giving them an almost disgusting advantage versus stacks.
Speaking of which, when I say "artillery", I mean "a unit equipped with an artillery weapon". In my current game, I have two. I have a tank with an artillery piece equipped, and a sea unit with an artillery gun equipped. This is one of Pandora's biggest draws; The unit workshop.
For the most part, there are several types of units: Troopers, ATVs, Tanks, Air Units, Mechs, Ship unit. In the unit workshop, your choice of unit type determines the kind of strengths and weaknesses it has, as well as the kind of weapons it can equip.
Do you want an infantry unit with a powerful anti-biological attack? An infantry unit with a flamethrower is a good deal. Carrying our a guerrilla war in the hills on the cheap? Just give an infantry unit an anti-armor weapon and start producing it. Your choice of weapons and armor modifies the strength and bonuses of a unit, but also the costs.
A unit can also have a device. Devices range from "bonus to attacking" to "can capture alien life, but the unit is overall weaker."
Speaking of alien life, it sucks. If you screw up and set alien aggression too high, you will lose. A gigantic elephant-monster will rampage and destroy your cities. Gigantic birds will fly across the plains and eat your soldiers and tanks with impunity. Massive leviathans will roam your coasts, and given sea units can attack any unit on the coast, this could be problematic.
The real war is the war against alien life. At least early on. Imagine barbarian camps in Civilization V, only instead of camps, hives, and instead of barbarians, something that actually threatens your ability to survive the game. I lose more times to aliens than other factions more often than not, but this is also a problem as I will explain later.
In short, combat is fun. Combat feels weighty. And the game's UI makes it easy to understand what is going on across the board.
Another mechanic the game has is Operations. Operations range from using spy satellites to an operation that increases the level of units in the field at the cost of their health to orbital bombardment. Some operations are "built" and once used, are used. Others come from buildings, meaning the more op buildings you build, the more times you can order orbital bombardment or something. It is simple, very easy to use, but weighty in the effects it can have. Also, and this might just be me, but the AI is actually pretty competent at all this.
The AI, for example, will launch an orbital bombardment on a stack before attacking it, and it knows to do this against stacks since ODs are anti-stack. The AI is also pretty good at selecting a good combination of weapons, armor, and devices for units that maximizes the benefit while minimizing the costs. I started throwing a bunch of armors against one AI, and all of a sudden there are a lot of missile troops.
All this stuff works. Pretty well.
The Bad
Diplomacy is bad.
You know how in Civilization V you can make pretty detailed peace agreements, or at least customization ones? Yeah, no. That doesn't exist. Peace is asking for a peace treaty and, if asked for one, maybe demanding reparations (which you can't even set). Research agreements work just like trade agreements, only instead of credits it is beakers. Open borders...open borders.
There's not a lot to do. Worse yet, if you have a powerful enough military, most AIs will just spam you with gifts and praises. Praises are like Declaration of Friendships in Civilization V, only I don't actually care if I get them because at that point my army can level half the planet.
Or can it? Cities don't have health, but your units do not automatically enter hexes when they defeat a unit on that hex, sometimes leading to awful things like a counterattack against your units stuck on the plains outside a city.
The second problem is that things in Civilization like religion, civics, ideologies, and all that jazz isn't present. There does not appear to be a UN-type organization.
And the limited number of factions can actually lead to problems. In my current game, the Imperium has rampaged and annexed two entire factions, and I've been waging a war for the last hundred or so turns across two continents, now on my third. The war is fun, but my inability to do things like liberate cities and grant independence to bring factions back to the game isn't. I've always been one of those players that liked having tons and tons of NPCs on a map, and having only six because there is only six factions kinda sucks.
Final Verdict
Game is solid. The game's combat system is very enjoyable, and being able to set tax sliders for individual cities adds another level of micromanagement that isn't painful (and you can set a global rate anyway). The basic economic system of the game is solid as well. The lack of, I don't know, civilian aspects such as civics, ideologies, and a non-boring trade system is disappointing, and the game's diplomacy system is even worse.
Overall, I'd give this game a 7/10 (Good). There is an expansion due soon apparently. If you have cash just burning through your wallet, consider picking it up for 25% off on Steam if it comes up. Otherwise, 50%.
The game is currently $30 on Steam.
With Civilization: Beyond Earth on the horizon, I decided to pick up a game that was recently released that calls Alpha Centauri a spiritual successor. Pandora: First Contact, is the second game by Proxy Studios, a very small independent company with only one other game other their belt according to their website. Conquest: Divide and Conquer, was released and 2010 and reads like a hex-based war game. The game barely got any press, and the only review for that game I could find was from Out of Eight, which gave the game 6/8 (75%). The reviewer said the following about that game.
Pandora: First Contact was released in 2013, and made it to Steam just before the 2014 Summer Sale, where it went only 10% deep.
What is going on?
Pandora: First Contact has the player taking charge of one of six factions and leading said faction to technological, military, and economic dominance of Pandora. There are six factions: Mercenary Guys, Social Network Cultists, Corporation, the
The Imperium were mercenaries back on Earth who ended up becoming the only military on the planet (apparently). The idea was that the West became increasingly casualty-averse, while the developing world and non-state actors continued growing in their military capabilities. The Imperium was the West's, and then the world's (except China) way of handling things. Battles and wars were decided by whoever paid the Imperium the best.
The Imperium made a deal with the Noxium Corporation and divided up space between the two of them. The Noxium Corporation, using Togra University-based technology, used the Imperium to solidify their hold. Then you have Terra Salvum, which got to space somehow (I forgot). China, aka the Solar Dynasty ran by a clone, also into space and boring.
Really, the only interesting faction is the Divine Ascendancy. The basic idea behind the DA and its matriarch is that it become a major religion in the 2040's, and kept members with a combination of blackmail and legitimate belief.
But that is the problem. The narrative of what is going on on Pandora just isn't that great. In-game, each AI leader does have its own way of doing things, but because the game's diplomatic system is so limited, there isn't many ways for these countries to express themselves.
The Good
The game has a lot going for it. The tech tree is randomized, and you have the option of making research as blind as you want. You can even set the tech tree so you can only see what techs you can research at that moment. There are a lot of techs, but each tech usually only unlocks a unit type, a building, an operation (more on later) and the matching building, equipment for your units, or a project. Projects are like National Wonders in Civilization, in that building them gives your faction nifty and useful bonuses.
The game's economy is also very similar to Civilization. Being hexed-based and having beakers, production, and food, it is almost easy to think the game is just Civilization V, but there are a few key differences. For starters, you pops are divided into Farmers, Miners, Workers, and Scientists. Farmers grow food, miners mine minerals, workers take minerals and turn them into production, and scientists produce science. All pops pay taxes, and you can set a tax rate to individual cities.
Food and minerals are pooled globally, which means you can specialize your cities to produce food, mine, etc. Other key city stats are pollution, morale, habitat, and growth. Morale is like happiness, but not global. Habitat is how well your city can "hold" people. Growth is how fast your population is growing.
The combat system does not use 1UPT. Instead, you can stack to your heart's content, but it is almost better to flank your enemy. Not only does flanking give hefty bonuses, but artillery units have ranged bombard, giving them an almost disgusting advantage versus stacks.
Speaking of which, when I say "artillery", I mean "a unit equipped with an artillery weapon". In my current game, I have two. I have a tank with an artillery piece equipped, and a sea unit with an artillery gun equipped. This is one of Pandora's biggest draws; The unit workshop.
For the most part, there are several types of units: Troopers, ATVs, Tanks, Air Units, Mechs, Ship unit. In the unit workshop, your choice of unit type determines the kind of strengths and weaknesses it has, as well as the kind of weapons it can equip.
Do you want an infantry unit with a powerful anti-biological attack? An infantry unit with a flamethrower is a good deal. Carrying our a guerrilla war in the hills on the cheap? Just give an infantry unit an anti-armor weapon and start producing it. Your choice of weapons and armor modifies the strength and bonuses of a unit, but also the costs.
A unit can also have a device. Devices range from "bonus to attacking" to "can capture alien life, but the unit is overall weaker."
Speaking of alien life, it sucks. If you screw up and set alien aggression too high, you will lose. A gigantic elephant-monster will rampage and destroy your cities. Gigantic birds will fly across the plains and eat your soldiers and tanks with impunity. Massive leviathans will roam your coasts, and given sea units can attack any unit on the coast, this could be problematic.
The real war is the war against alien life. At least early on. Imagine barbarian camps in Civilization V, only instead of camps, hives, and instead of barbarians, something that actually threatens your ability to survive the game. I lose more times to aliens than other factions more often than not, but this is also a problem as I will explain later.
In short, combat is fun. Combat feels weighty. And the game's UI makes it easy to understand what is going on across the board.
Another mechanic the game has is Operations. Operations range from using spy satellites to an operation that increases the level of units in the field at the cost of their health to orbital bombardment. Some operations are "built" and once used, are used. Others come from buildings, meaning the more op buildings you build, the more times you can order orbital bombardment or something. It is simple, very easy to use, but weighty in the effects it can have. Also, and this might just be me, but the AI is actually pretty competent at all this.
The AI, for example, will launch an orbital bombardment on a stack before attacking it, and it knows to do this against stacks since ODs are anti-stack. The AI is also pretty good at selecting a good combination of weapons, armor, and devices for units that maximizes the benefit while minimizing the costs. I started throwing a bunch of armors against one AI, and all of a sudden there are a lot of missile troops.
All this stuff works. Pretty well.
The Bad
Diplomacy is bad.
You know how in Civilization V you can make pretty detailed peace agreements, or at least customization ones? Yeah, no. That doesn't exist. Peace is asking for a peace treaty and, if asked for one, maybe demanding reparations (which you can't even set). Research agreements work just like trade agreements, only instead of credits it is beakers. Open borders...open borders.
There's not a lot to do. Worse yet, if you have a powerful enough military, most AIs will just spam you with gifts and praises. Praises are like Declaration of Friendships in Civilization V, only I don't actually care if I get them because at that point my army can level half the planet.
Or can it? Cities don't have health, but your units do not automatically enter hexes when they defeat a unit on that hex, sometimes leading to awful things like a counterattack against your units stuck on the plains outside a city.
The second problem is that things in Civilization like religion, civics, ideologies, and all that jazz isn't present. There does not appear to be a UN-type organization.
And the limited number of factions can actually lead to problems. In my current game, the Imperium has rampaged and annexed two entire factions, and I've been waging a war for the last hundred or so turns across two continents, now on my third. The war is fun, but my inability to do things like liberate cities and grant independence to bring factions back to the game isn't. I've always been one of those players that liked having tons and tons of NPCs on a map, and having only six because there is only six factions kinda sucks.
Final Verdict
Game is solid. The game's combat system is very enjoyable, and being able to set tax sliders for individual cities adds another level of micromanagement that isn't painful (and you can set a global rate anyway). The basic economic system of the game is solid as well. The lack of, I don't know, civilian aspects such as civics, ideologies, and a non-boring trade system is disappointing, and the game's diplomacy system is even worse.
Overall, I'd give this game a 7/10 (Good). There is an expansion due soon apparently. If you have cash just burning through your wallet, consider picking it up for 25% off on Steam if it comes up. Otherwise, 50%.
The game is currently $30 on Steam.
). From there Lara has to learn to survive, first against the elements and then some wild animals and finally against hostile island natives. I don't want to give too much away but basically there's weird storms going on that crash all these planes and ships on the island and prevent everyone from leaving and Lara has to uncover what's going on while battling a bunch of cultist like survivors on the island.
