Author Topic: Offworld Trading Company  (Read 9041 times)

Offline doctorfrog

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 591
Offworld Trading Company
« on: January 28, 2015, 01:40:46 pm »
Soren Johnson, lead designer of Civ 4, is creating his own strategy game, and it looks intriguing:

http://www.offworldgame.com/

It's an RTS, it's full of subterfuge and sabotage, and no combat units, and economic/industrial bases, and lots of things to click at, and generally looks like a unique, fascinating outspring of the strategy genre instead of just repeating what came before with slightly different graphics.

Oh, and I believe this is new since last I checked, but they're putting some weight behind developing a competitive AI, to the point where they'll support co-op and single player play, which is basically a do-or-die feature for me. The last thing I'll ever want in a strategy game is to have the only viable way to enjoy it being playing against the last 30 guys who have been playing it since day one.

Offline Cyborg

  • Master Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,957
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2015, 06:54:15 pm »
Looks boring to me. Any good?
Kahuna strategy guide:
http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,13369.0.html

Suggestions, bugs? Don't be lazy, give back:
http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/

Planetcracker. Believe it.

The stigma of hunger. http://wayw.re/Vi12BK

Offline Alex Heartnet

  • Full Member Mark II
  • ***
  • Posts: 154
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2015, 06:55:55 pm »
co-op

Why is it that I picture a big company splitting apart into two smaller, competing ones?   :P

Offline Mick

  • Hero Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 911
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2015, 01:02:36 pm »
Well this just hit early access. Looks somewhat interesting, especially since it appears to be focused on economy over military.

If's affiliation with Stardock gives me reservations I hate to say.

Offline Kahuna

  • Core Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,222
  • Kahuna Matata!
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2015, 01:44:42 pm »
"New directives received and confirmed. Replicators online. Upgrade in progress. Standby."
-Microsoft Sam

Other than that it looks interesting imo. Gonna keep an eye on it. Thanks.
set /A diff=10
if %diff%==max (
   set /A me=:)
) else (
   set /A me=SadPanda
)
echo Check out my AI War strategy guide and find your inner Super Cat!
echo 2592 hours of AI War and counting!
echo Kahuna matata!

Offline Misery

  • Arcen Volunteer
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,109
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2015, 09:37:16 am »
Huh, well, I hadnt randomly impulse-purchased a game in a few days, so this'll do nicely for that purpose! 

Makes me think of Anno.  RTS-type game that isnt all military stuff.  And Anno is freaking excellent.  Well, Anno 2070 anyway, the other games never seem to come to anywhere I can get them.

Watched the little preview video, sounds excellent.

Stardock I have no problem with; I've been playing their stuff for awhile now, never had any real issues aside from back when the original Elemental came out (which was MADE OF issues).

Kinda bothers me that it took me all of 4 minutes to decide to chuck money at something again, but whatever... 

I'll post some impressions after I've had some time with it.   

Offline Aklyon

  • Core Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,089
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2015, 03:52:56 pm »
I'd say 1404 was better, but I haven't played 2070. I've seen someone play it though.

Offline Mick

  • Hero Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 911
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2015, 08:29:19 am »
Some observations, in no particular order:

The AI in this game is brutal! It's refreshing to play against a competent AI opponent in a strategy game. My initial worry about this game was that since it has somewhat of a board game feel, that it would be one of those games where you would HAVE to play multiplayer to get fun game out of it. Worry not, the AI can hold its own.

Most players are going to hate hate hate hate hate the tutorial, lol. Basically, there are five tutorials, and they are less of a tutorial and more of a series of challenges that get harder. The first is simply a solo game where you poke around with the interface and once you build up enough you win. The second is a vs. match against a brain dead opponent and you playing the most straight forward faction. They get progressively harder where the fifth is playing the most complicated faction against essentially the normal AI in a full game. The fifth "tutorial" is actually quite a challenge, and it took me many attempts to get through it! I did a victory lap when I finally won. Even watching Soren play the 5th tutorial in a video shows that it isn't a cakewalk for him. He ends up winning it, but he certainly didn't roll over it.

The game is very dynamic. There are thirteen resources, and any of them can be the 'key' to a game depending on the situation. I remember on another thread complaining about games like Endless Legend because you essentially reach a point where you've won, but you're going through the motions anyway to finish the victory. This game made me realize what a lot of other strategy games are missing, the need to adapt to what happens. In such games, you are essentially playing solitaire during the opening where you try to have as efficient opening as possible. When you meet the other players, if you played solitaire better than they did, then you steamroll over them and eventually win. Sometimes the combat might have essentially a rock-paper-scissors aspect (where you want to try to build units that essentially counter theirs), but most of the time such mechanics aren't a huge factor when you can just outproduce them drastically.

That's what makes this game so much different. There is no one 'build' that's going to be the most efficient, because resource prices can differ *drastically* between each game.  You really need to pay attention to the map, which factions your opponents pick (since that will influence which resources they need more), and what they are building. For example, if resources are spread out, then a lot of fuel is going to be used to transport them back to bases. If you get the teleportation patent (once you own a patent, no one else can get it!), you can avoid consuming fuel yourself and make profit selling it to the other players. When I finally beat the fifth tutorial, it was basically I focused heavily on the life support resources (water, food, O2, fuel). I essentially cornered the market because one of the AI plops their base on half the water on the map (meaning they get an initial boost of water, but no one can 'mine' those tiles again for the entire game).

What is the game, exactly?

The mechanics of the game are pretty simple. Every player places a headquarters somewhere on the map. This is done in real time. The first player to place theirs obviously gets first choice of location, but later players get access to the black market quicker, and the last half the players to place get an extra claim.

What are claims? Claims are the most important resources a player has. They are essentially the number of tiles on the map that you own. Oh, so it's just a rushing game where you player who clicks fastest gets the best stuff? NO! Placing all your tiles claims first might give you what you think are the best ones, but the other players are then able to react to you. You don't need to produce every resource on your own, if the other players are overproducing something you need, you can buy it on the market cheap.

The claims you get are very limited, and you get a handful of them whenever you upgrade your headquarters. HQ can only go to level 5, so after that, you can no longer gain claims in this manner. You can buy a single claim off the black market, but the prices on the black market go up every time any player buys something. Black market claims tend to be bought very fast, so the price can get very high very quickly.

The black market is a series of offensive options, one defensive, and claims. Every time you buy something on the market, you enter a cooldown where you can't buy another market thing for a minute, and the price of that specific item goes up forever. Some of these are very nasty. Every tile that has a resource has 1-3 pips showing how efficiently that resource is gathered on that square. The underground nuke will take a resource tile down to .25 pips... PERMANENTLY! An opponent grabbed the best water tile before you, well not anymore! There is a defensive item you can buy on the black market which will shield a tile of your choice until it is attacked. It also has the effect of giving you the item used in the attack it prevented. So if you defend your best resource tile, you might effectively steal a free underground nuke from your opponent who tries to destroy it. Or, maybe you don't defend it, cause your opponent simply assumes that defending it is what you'd do. Oooo bluffing!

Now, how do you actually win the game. You do so by buying all the stock in all of your opponent's companies. You can buy 10% of the stock at a time at whatever the current value is. The value of stock is based on many factors, how many resources the have, the value of their buildings, cash on hand, debt, and how much stock already owned. All stock is 'unowned' at the start. After you buy all the unowned stock, you have to pay double the value for all the owned stock (this is a forced purchase, no one can refuse to sell it). This can lead to an interesting end game where you buy out all the remaining stock to take over one company, and another company can you the windfall cash you just gained them to buyout another company. You can buy your own stock as a defensive measure, since it will be harder to buy you out if they need to pay double for all your shares. Also, simply improving the value of your company will drive your price up. Minimizing debt can also be important because it drives your stock price down.

Phew, that was a lot. If any of you have specific questions about the game, I'll be glad to answer them.

Offline zespri

  • Hero Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,109
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2015, 05:07:20 pm »
Some observations, in no particular order:
Uhm, where is this "like" button again?

Offline Billick

  • Full Member Mark III
  • ***
  • Posts: 244
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #9 on: March 11, 2015, 01:39:23 pm »
This game looks right up my alley.  I'll probably give it a shot when it's fully released.

Offline zespri

  • Hero Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,109
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2015, 07:08:58 am »
So I played it a bit today, did all the "tutorial" but the last one. Took me about 3 hours - I had to restart 3 or 4 times the Scavenger one, where you entirely dependant on Carbon, and there are only single high and a few low carbon deposits on the map.

The "tutorails" do not really provide real challenge, once you get the engine going (which usually happens by HQ level 5) you just sell all resource you have and you buy the AI out. Game over. It could be that the "real" game is more difficult than that tough.

The game overall seems simplistic/shallow to me. And I personally do not enjoy the whole sabotage aspect. It does not feel good because you cannot cause any real damage so all this dynamites and building disabling feels to me like pissing on someone things on your feet - annoying, but not really dangerous.

I'll give it another try in the "full" game - not tutorial, and then another when it releases, - the proper release can change alot. But so far there is not much to look at.

Offline Cyborg

  • Master Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,957
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #11 on: May 10, 2015, 04:02:34 pm »
So I played it a bit today, did all the "tutorial" but the last one. Took me about 3 hours - I had to restart 3 or 4 times the Scavenger one, where you entirely dependant on Carbon, and there are only single high and a few low carbon deposits on the map.

The "tutorails" do not really provide real challenge, once you get the engine going (which usually happens by HQ level 5) you just sell all resource you have and you buy the AI out. Game over. It could be that the "real" game is more difficult than that tough.

The game overall seems simplistic/shallow to me. And I personally do not enjoy the whole sabotage aspect. It does not feel good because you cannot cause any real damage so all this dynamites and building disabling feels to me like pissing on someone thing on your foots - annoying, but not really dangerous.

I'll give it another try in the "full" game - not tutorial, and then another when it releases, - the proper release can change alot. But so far there is not much to look at.


Tutorial took me just over two hours. If you are having trouble with the last tutorial, there are two pieces of advice I would give you. One is to put the headquarters on the resource squares that are giving double bonuses near the bottom, so grab those. The next piece of advice is, the entire point of the scientific track is that you don't need primitive resources to build advanced resources. Advance resources typically give good payouts. The other thing that I did was monopolize the water squares. Yes, there are a lot of them, but it's easy to plop a bunch of farms on top (remember, this gives you water because you are playing as the scientific faction). Sooner or later, all of these free resources from placing your more complicated resource buildings on top pays well, and you can start doing buyouts. When you do a buyout, you can upgrade those headquarters and start putting down more resource blocks (by now, you should know what pays the most), and you will be ready to win the game.


It's fun, going to move on to multiplayer (and try the AI) for a challenge. I don't think it's shallow at all right now. There are a lot of different kinds of buildings to affect other players and keep things dynamic.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2015, 04:05:03 pm by Cyborg »
Kahuna strategy guide:
http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,13369.0.html

Suggestions, bugs? Don't be lazy, give back:
http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/

Planetcracker. Believe it.

The stigma of hunger. http://wayw.re/Vi12BK

Offline Draco18s

  • Resident Velociraptor
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,251
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2015, 05:03:16 pm »
This looks intriguing.  I would probably be terrible at it, but I'm wishlisting it.

(Steam has it 25% off for the next day, fyi)

Edit:
Got a review from a trusted friend who owned it, game purchased.
Beat all five tutorials in one sitting, no losses.  Even my friend was surprised by this (last one took him 3 attempts).
No, I have no idea what I did "right" as I felt like I had worked myself into a resourceless corner, but given the map I think the three AIs were in similar situations; there were all of four or so of the 3-pip resource nodes available (and one that got auctioned off).  The science-faction's bonus is super slick though; not needing an iron mine to make steel?  Turns a 1-pip iron resource into a steel warhorse.  That probably saved my butt, due to the utter lack of water pips (built farms directly on two of the 1-pips).
« Last Edit: May 11, 2015, 12:38:01 am by Draco18s »

Offline kasnavada

  • Hero Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 986
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #13 on: May 11, 2015, 01:57:30 am »
I bought it a while ago, played a bit, finished tutorial and campaign...

And forgot it.

To me it's a very bland game. I'd enjoy it if it were a board game, but as a computer game... things are missing. Basically for me it has low replayability in the sense that once you've figured the simple mechanics, the only thing left to do is compete against other humans, learn to play the game like a reflex, and learn to play faster. And that's about it. The AI is "smart" only in the sense that it can calculate way faster than a human does, but it fails at finding out shortages in the first place. So it's basically a pure multiplayer game and will die once the few players playing in multi leave.

I would have enjoyed other game modes and the like. I need some time to restart a campaign since they changed in a few patches back.

I enjoy the genre but the execution left me disappointed. I got lured by "civ4 designer". I shouldn't have, I prefer civ5 to civ4.

Offline Draco18s

  • Resident Velociraptor
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,251
Re: Offworld Trading Company
« Reply #14 on: May 13, 2015, 11:23:04 pm »
So I finally won a campaign map where you need to buy modules of the colony, not buy out the other factions.



Yeah, that blue line is me.  Can't be bought out: debt is irrelevant: produce and sell-for-cash auto-purchased goods (that's not power), using the funds to buy the moduels.

I feel dirty.

 

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk