Over the weekend, I folded and pre-purchased Battlefleet Gothic: Armada. It wasn’t so much that I was enticed by the pre-purchase guarantee of access to the Space Marines fleet, it was more that I’ve had my eye on this game since it blipped on my radar last year while I was compiling this list of PC exclusives for 2016. Oh, that and pre-purchase secured instant access to the so-called multiplayer beta.
I say “so-called multiplayer beta” because while there is the option to play 1v1 (a 2v2 option is greyed out, as well) against human or AI opponents, there’s also the first few levels of the campaign on offer, too. This is where I spent the majority of my time, after initially fumbling around in an ill-fated skirmish against an AI foe (set on normal difficulty, which is apparently quite tough). While generic RTS skills certainly aid in wrapping one’s head around the basics of Armada, there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface of what’s shaping up to be a deep, tactical experience.
As was expected (and welcomed), the opening campaign mission is dedicated to teaching some of this depth beyond the usual ‘right click to move here’ fare. As the title suggests, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada revolves around pitting beautifully designed spaceships against other beautifully designed spaceships.
There are two factions available at this pre-release time—Imperial Navy and Chaos—both of which have specific strengths and weaknesses that are listed before you select one. I chose to play as Imperial Navy, mostly because their spaceships look like flying cathedrals, and the level of detail when zoomed in with graphics settings pushed to ‘Epic’ is sufficiently gorgeous. Of course, the catch is that there’s very little time to admire the eye candy when battle commences.
Ships are controlled on a 2D plane, which is actually a relief given the multiple tactical nuances that can be used to gain a competitive edge during battles. Players can set engagement ranges, perform speed boosts and emergency turns, and decide whether their ships should engage head-on, which is perfect for torpedo attacks and lower-profile firing, or side-on, which makes your ship a bigger target but opens up satisfying broadside possibilities.
Set the engagement range to the minimum distance, and watch as your powerful capital ships close the distance before firing, which also happens to be a great tactic for the Lightning Strike ability that teleports a squad of elite troops onto a nearby enemy ship to cause internal damage. True to the source material, this ability operates on an RNG system, which only help add to the intensity of battle when it fails at a crucial moment.
On top of this, specific parts of an enemy ship such as engines or turrets can be prioritised, and you can even get down to the nitty-gritty of micro-ing your individual ships to the point where you force them to engage on the port or starboard side. Push your ships in too aggressively against overwhelming odds, as I have a tendency to do in most strategy games, and you’ll find that certain ship captains will want abandon their post and warp away to safety.
There’s a time limit before they can successfully get away, and in true brutal fashion, you can choose to execute the mutinous and cowardly captain to regain control of their fleeing ship. You can also use probes to spot enemy ships before they spot you, to engage them at greater distances, or hide your fleet in gaseous clouds to ambush unsuspecting foes as they pass by.
On top of this, there are hints of grand strategy in the campaign overview section. Similar to the Total War games, the lead-up to each mission is controlled in a turn-based overview of a galaxy map. The more territory you control, the better perks you have access to, and the inverse is seemingly true, too. Ship commanders level up based on veterancy, and ships can be upgraded in a variety of areas to match your preferred gameplay tactics, all of which is limited by a ship’s total tonnage.
After a couple of hours of playing, I felt like I had only scratched the surface of Battlefleet Gothic: Armada’s depth and fun potentiality, and was left hungry for a whole lot more. It’s a good thing, then, that it’s scheduled to ship later this month.
