73 people found this review helpful
9 people found this review funny
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Not Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 12.4 hrs on record (10.5 hrs at review time)
Posted: 19 Mar, 2023 @ 3:54pm

The idea behind this game is simply awesome, however the realization is rather lackluster.
What is good :

* Game doesn't lag ,stutter or freeze
* Fresh RTS mechanic with how you control units from terminals on your mobile carrier base
* Game looks pretty
What is bad :

* The AI is a joke, both enemy AI and the one that controls your units. After a heavy fight I have watched all of my air fleet simlpy crash into the ocean unable to land ( as far as I am concerned there is no damage mechanic that impaires mobility of units, just hp)
One by one all of my planes just crashed into the ocean near my carrier, while all of my helicopters were hovering above the carrier for so long that they ran out of fuel and also crashed. Or the other time when I ordered two of my planes to engage one enemy plane, they both went head on, missed some shots, lost control and crashed into the ocean at full hp.
Enemy ground forces just wander around the island aimlessly and can barely damage air units, making air spam the only tactic, since while being agonizingly slow it is still way faster than ground assult.
Most of the time enemy air units can't even take off but when they do god help you, it appears that enemy planes have infinite fuel and ammo ( I am not exaggerating they do not need to land) I have wasted 12 rockets to took down 1 enemy aircraft while if flexed on my ground and air forces ( it is the time when my planes crashed into the ocean after a head on) taking out most of them. ( I know that you can have support ships with aa guns and also have some aa guns at ground forces but I was foolish enough to assume that having 8 aa rockets ready is enough to take down one enemy aircraft.

* Game does not feature autosave and on top of that frequently crashes ( some are less lucky with that than others). I had a 5 hours long first session that ended with a crash, didn't even think to check if there was an autosave because I assumed that there obviously was one.

* The speed - the game is VERY slow it takes ages to travel between points of interest and the fact that you have to manually set up logistics such as fuel delivery and wait for it to be dilivered does not help. The fights are also very slow, especially ground fights because of low accuracy, high hp, low dps and slow unit speed.
Also deploying air units takes a good half of a century,since you can only deploy ONE AT A TIME(there is only one elevator) and even one takes ages to deploy. And while deployment of ground units is quicker, you will spend most of your youth waiting for them to reach land ( and don't forget that you also have to wait for them to return back, however it would seem that only your grandchildren will witness their arrival back to the carrier.)

* The game features manual control of units which sounds nice but it is very hard to use, you can do some maneuvering but hitting targets or landing seems impossible.

* The game does poor job of introducing new players, most of the stuff is written in the manual. And you might think since it takes so long to go from one point to another you can spend your time reading the manual. The manual pauses the game *insert mexican laughter*.

* All of the chassis are vey much the same and there are not enough of them.

Overall the game is not ready, and being out of early access is misleading. And from what I've read in the community forums suggests that the development is rather slow. I just hope that this game is not abandoned.
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7 Comments
Kazzik 10 Sep, 2023 @ 11:46am 
The fifth complaint: poor teaching of the game, by the game.
Fair. Check out YouTube videos. I have posted some to teach several stations/mechanics.

The sixth complaint: chassis are too similar.
Quite fair, Albatross and Mantas with a good mod are nicely separated into niche roles (see Thumblegudget's AWACS with UI mod, here on Steam)
Some mods just make the game a bit better.

Overall the game is plenty "ready." There are taste differences for sure, but there are quite a few mods to address things if you prefer some differences.

Please do not believe that this is the case for the game (as he described them). I understand the OP's frustrations, but the game works as it should (mostly). I have 419.5 hours in game (at the time of this comment) and co-run a YouTube channel based on this game with three other people. Come see us on YouTube: Grim Reapers Naval Ops. We'll happily show you all how to play. :steamhappy:
(part 3)
Kazzik 10 Sep, 2023 @ 11:46am 
The third problem: pace.
Honestly this is a fair-ish complaint, but this is a multiplayer PvP game. You cannot have time warp in it, so... I am not sure what you expect? It does take a while to travel from island to island if you are not doing other things along the way. Mostly you can stay busy with logistics and scouting with an aircraft. Aircraft launching speed is about a minute per. If that's too long for you, how did you get this far into my comment?!?

The fourth complaint: too hard.
It isn't really. It just seemed that you didn't give it enough time/practice to learn how to and develop those skills. Also some islands (rated by the number of shields) have strong defenses where others have very weak defenses. This is part of the learning curve which isn't terribly steep but definitely there.
(part 2)
Kazzik 10 Sep, 2023 @ 11:46am 
I have to break this up because of the 1000 character limit.

The first problem he is describing: stuff wouldn't land/AI bad
The most likely problem: He built more air units in the 8 bays in the hangar and had NO ROOM for those units to land, so they just wait in the pattern until they run out of fuel. (This is not communicated to you in game. It is something that you need to know. It isn't hard to figure out, but you have to notice it.) Also, rockets are an air to ground weapon, so using them to attack aircraft and you "wasted" 12 to kill an air unit?!? NICE SHOT DUDE!

Enemy units do indeed have infinite fuel/ammo. I echo this complaint.

The second problem: no auto-save.
You assumed, and now complain, at the devs for not doing what you expected? Eh... I mean he's right, there isn't an auto-save, but you play five hours and don't save? That's on you, man.
xilian 14 Apr, 2023 @ 2:57pm 
I personally didn't have any of your issues with the AI. I don't know if I just got lucky but I have played this game A LOT and this has never happened to me.

Hitting things in manual control of vehicles does take practice but it's far from impossible. I can consitently hit targets and the HOTAS support that recently dropped also helps with that. ´

I must also disagree with your point with the chassis. The only chassis that are quite similiar are the Seals and Walrus. They serve the same purpose while Walrus just have more armor. Every other chassis has their one purpose and feel.

One thing I definetly agree with you is the speed. I can see that this can turn people down because it is quite slow. The map is big and everything takes it's time. But that is just the pace of the game and I believe this was done on purpose and is not a flaw so to say. It's just something some people like and some don't.
PrimeNoodles 12 Apr, 2023 @ 11:55am 
So, you can't handle with planning and logistics...which is core to the game...so you're whining about it as a con? That's literally part of the game. However, the complaints about AI are valid
Kidney 25 Mar, 2023 @ 4:14am 
Dont ever aSSUME anything, always check, cant fault someone else for not thinking about saving your progress ( that is all on you ) ^^
But i was thinking about buying this game, and your cons actually make a lot of sense and im going to wait for bug fixes ty
23452298 21 Mar, 2023 @ 5:09am 
none of my air vehicles are hovering over the carrier when i give the order to land. All other problems described are related to the player. Sir i think you are too inept to play this game. Just like the russian army.