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Space Tyrant

Space Tyrant - Early Access Impressions

We tasked one of our finest 4X generals with taking over the galaxy.

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When using the term 4X, one tends to have certain assumptions about what a 4X game is going to be like. Space Tyrant is, in a way, a 4X, with unapologetic and cartoonishly cruel possibilities that help the game stand out thematically, but there are plenty of things it isn't: it has no multiplayer, it rarely has scenarios where two empires clash, and it is a game based solely on scenarios and those scenarios fit into a meta-campaign that is a nest of unlocks, where you can't even play as another species until you've first finished the campaign. This isn't to imply that the 4X genre can't expand, but it comes down to the specific combination of mechanics as to whether or not this is the game for you, 4X fan or not.

As the Space Tyrant, the player runs a budding empire opposed to the ubiquitous galactic senate. As the Senate encroaches upon each species' systems, players complete scenarios to push back the Senate's advance. Each scenario is a map that consists of interlinked planets that supply your empire, populated by fleets that are headed by various commanders, each with slots for ships that grow in number as the commander gains experience. Fleet combat is in real time, and the player picks one of three randomised in-battle powers they can use once that, for example, give small ships better firepower, let one ship escape (escape is otherwise impossible during space battles), or remove half the health of a target ship. The fleets clash automatically, chipping away at each other's hitpoints using their main attacks which the AI aims for both sides, and a growing energy resource lets the player use a given ship's special ability (some of which can be targeted), such as indirect fire, an extra shot, or health regeneration. These resource uses can be triggered once per ship unless the ship is randomly rewarded with inspiration, and your invulnerable command ship can repeatedly spend energy to activate the commander's special ability. Each ship class can be upgraded with research points as well, to have several improvements to their class role (though the latter are lost when starting a new scenario). These battles allow no pause, proceeding automatically whether or not you spend energy at all, only allowing you to speed up or slow down the action until one fleet remains.

Space Tyrant
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Planetary conquest is quite a gearshift by comparison. It is entirely turn-based, with each fleet normally getting one planet's worth of movement, and one action that concludes their turn. There are resource planets that produce money that lets you hire commanders and buy ships for fleets, research that upgrades ships, or crystals that can be spent to play cards that allow for a wide range of advantages depending on what primary commander's deck is in play. There are also prison planets that let you recruit a commander for free, cannon planets that let you snipe fleets at a distance, barracks that increase your conquest dice, and capitals which, if conquered, mean an instant loss for the owner. All of these planet types can have modifiers that affect their resource output or what you can do with them every turn (though on a big map you can sometimes forget you have these options, as they're labels on the planets themselves).

Each planet, whether held by player or AI, has a defence rating that is reduced by the value of your species' conquest die roll (done through an unskippable animation that might grate after a while). When it's zero, you own the thing and are treated to an exploration event that may alter your resources, ships, or traits, the latter of which can allow more choices further along in the campaign. Every planet conquered or attacked also adds to a tyranny rating; if high enough you are allowed one blast per turn that eliminates random ships in an enemy fleet, though it acts as a pressure valve that keeps the player moving, as every turn your tyranny drops, threatening empire-wide rebellion. The strategic map feels like the single best aspect of the game, as it's elegant and has plenty of surprises, at least until you've seen the many exploration events more than a few times. The battles, by comparison, could be considered a nice distraction for some, but for us it often felt like it took us out of the fun strategic element of the main map.

Scenario map is where the campaign itself is won or lost. You can lose commanders in space combat (and you often will against space beasts, one of which seems a bit too strong even when you have a massive fleet), and they'll respawn at your homeworld with a fresh fleet in a few rounds, but if you lose your homeworld or fail to meet the map's objectives, you lose the scenario, and if you don't have spare primary commanders, which must be unlocked as you progress, you lose the entire campaign and have to start over. The relative difficulty of the game is low, so making logical choices will usually lead to success - some maps are just a matter of rote conquering actions, and many space battles will often feel a bit perfunctory. But there are situations where the game's randomness seems to conspire to erase the player's hard-fought campaign progress. While most of the scenario types, which require resources or planet conquering, are usually hard to lose, there are maps that require you to find and secure two of three special planets while competing with an enemy fleet that has an obvious material advantage. If you fail to find the planets before the computer does, or lack the fleet strength against an AI that seems to have a significant head start, you could lose the entire campaign in what feels like an arbitrary way.

On any map, too, there is a specific effect that planets that align with the Galactic Senate can enact that increases unrest in your empire. When these effects stack the player will struggle to conquer new worlds to keep their empire's tyranny level above the unrest level, as this will end the map, and possibly the game. One winds up having to prioritise going after these planets. While this can be fun when it's closely fought, when these senate-aligned planets are out of sight, taking many turns to reach, even if you conquer them, your tyranny drops by the unrest value every turn, forcing constant conquering which will likely stall at some point, dooming your game.

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Space Tyrant

With all the perks you gain each completed scenario, artefacts that modify all sorts of rules, special cards that are awarded when achieving character-specific objectives on a map (including LOSING battles), species abilities, commander abilities, ship abilities, planet abilities, exploration events, enemy types, empire perks, and card abilities there are a lot of interesting combinations that can be made. It's too bad that many of the unlocks and difficulty ramping means you are following through a specific set of choices through hours of the campaign that hopefully gets you to the Galactic Senate itself and victory. Having more choices early on might help reduce the sting of having to start a campaign over. As said, the fleet combat feels very different than the main map and can at times feel like a weak distraction and a bit tedious to nurse all the ships' powers to make sure you come out on top, although there were a few very big fleet battles that were exciting to watch unfold. The strategy isn't terribly complicated but it's fun to conquer and explore world, although those who prefer a more ethical stance for choices will find only a few, or maybe no, options for given exploration events though, and the dark humour about labour camps and slaughtering innocents may not sit well, though the aim seems to be a jab at the implied cruelty behind the 4X genre itself.

As to whether or not the game we've described seems like a 4X to you, we hope these details will help you work out whether or not it fits within that genre, and whether or not it might be something you want to check out. The potentially unearned crushing defeats that erase all progress are something to be wary of, as is the unpausable space combat. If you're not deterred, though, it's at least very different than most of what's on offer, whatever its genre.

Space Tyrant

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