Ixamyakxim: So on the fence about this one! Kind of like the idea of it (enough that I bought Star Hammer which is a similar game - but unfortunately you don't blow up vessels, apparently it's giant space jellyfish - just not the same!) but have been holding off...
Probably play space jellyfish first and see if I dig the system - guessing I will as Combat Mission was a classic - and I'm thinking this is like space combat mission with RPG ship character (and a metagame right? assigning fleets / crew and such?).
You're probably aware Star Hammer is made by the same studio and acts as a kind of prototype. It's quite a significant jump. Deadlock is miles ahead in terms of production values, content, and tactics.
- Sounding uncannily like the 2004 show, BG has a unique soundtrack clocking in at just under 3 hours of material compared to Star Hammer's 30 minutes. The story is told through quality voice acting rather than text logs.
- BG has 11 capital ships (21 with the expansions) between the two races, many of which look like elegant killing machines. Star Hammer has 6 ships that look like they were sold by that shifty junk dealer from The Phantom Menace. BG also has a bunch of munitions, and let me tell ya, you haven't lived until you've unloaded a volley of unguided torpedoes at point blank range.
- Battles in BG involve a dozen ships in a game where positioning is everything. There's no regenerating armour and no shields at all. The six individual armour values are all that stand between you and annihilation, so its important to protect those injured sides like a boxer. There's also a bunch more subsystems. It feels like chess compared to Star Hammer, which tries to compensate for the weakness of the enemy by trying to crash your computer with 30+ squid.
One thing I don't necessarily count as a positive or a negative is the format of the campaigns. Star Hammer offers a simple mission select screen, whereas BG has story missions scattered throughout an open ended campaign map where you shuffle models around on a board, assign fleet groups, add ships to the build queue, etc. Its serviceable but not especially deep, and the game can feel grindy against endless cylon fleets who have no bases that can be destroyed to stem the tide. Being able to rename officers and level them up is a plus though, and they do a decent job of encouraging a mixed ship configuration.
If you do get the game I would recommend including the Broken Alliance expansion at least. It does a lot to supplement the main campaign.
