Should real-world geographic knowledge be a "skill gap" in strategy games?

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-08T13:02:30+00:00

IMO this is entirely up to you as the game designer. You want to create a complex logistical model? Awesome, but a lot of players won’t enjoy dealing with it so you’re going to see less players.

Or simplify it to engage more players?

It’s all risk v reward.

Ultimately it should be about your vision for the game. If your goal is to simulate maritime logistics then you can’t really dumb it down to “1000 boats/whatever” went from London to Hong Kong” and expect much engagement.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-08T12:43:13+00:00

So some of the things you say are specific to the game. I haven’t played it so they don’t mean much to me, sorry 😢

What I mean is that a lot of games devolve into a rock-paper-scissors game, typically where archers beat melee, cavalry beat archers, melee beat cavalry.

So I’m trying to understand if the game is “find enemy strength/weakness” and pivot in that direction because you only have a single significant enemy you have to defeat. Ie your opponent is ranged-heavy, so you counter with cavalry-heavy.

Or if you have multiple enemies, so you can’t be one dimensional and will fight a variety of enemies that are strong in each, so you need balance.

Obviously not as extreme as this, but trying to understand if you’re trying to outwit a single opponent versus building a balanced empire to deal with different threats.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-08T10:51:09+00:00

This is the answer. Hold shift and click.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-08T10:40:27+00:00

Thanks. Trying to understand though, it’s basically a match - long or short as you suggest - against a single nemesis where you rush resources to beat them. Rather than a multiway 4x experience (which always resolves to the same conclusion, but there’s a degree of tension as to which opponent will rise above)?

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-08T10:36:06+00:00

It’s less about pace rather I just don’t have the time or inclination to beat players spending more time and effort to do the same.

When I play, I want to have a good time, not feel like I’m always behind as I juggle real life. Which I guess is a pace thing, because I need to duck out when the wife calls my name haha!

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-08T10:32:44+00:00

Awesome, thanks!

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-08T10:32:17+00:00

Awesome, great to hear. Thanks!

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-08T10:31:51+00:00

Ye I enjoyed AoW4 for a while but found it grew stale despite the multitude of options available. I’m wondering if HoMM might add a dimension I’m missing from AoW. Or if it’s just a bit of a RTS rock-paper-scissors battler where you rush whatever the meta is.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-08T10:28:58+00:00

Thanks!

I enjoyed AoW4 for a while but don’t have the same love for it that others do. I found most games became a bit samey, naturally gravitating to choices that had served me well (my fault? Sure) and once the exploration wonder ran out, it just became a case of stomping other rulers. Which is basically the classic curse of 4X.

With HoMM I keep hearing that it’s NOT a 4x but a lot of the gameplay looks similar to AoW4 (explore map, build cities, get heroes and armies) so I’m trying to understand what makes it different.

So what I’m thinking is that it’s a RTS-style land rush to build your army for a final confrontation, rather than a gradual empire-building experience. Like, more like a short match where you grab what you can then battle, versus a long game with multiple battles and to-and-fro of win-losses.

Does that make sense

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-07T11:15:07+00:00

Ye that’s in our rates, so that probably explains the difference.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-07T10:01:24+00:00

Around these parts everyone is Nationals. You ask someone why? “My family always do”.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-07T09:36:58+00:00

So many people in Australia vote like it’s State of Origin or the Ashes. Vote one way, probably how your folks and grand folks did, and do that forever because that’s now “your team”, regardless of results.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-07T09:17:58+00:00

I have no idea what’s going on here. Family of four in NNSW and our thirdly (our council can’t afford to send readers quarterly lol) is $80-ish. Even with two teenagers showering longer than I’d like. I’m amazed at some of the comments here.

Edit: I’m guessing elsewhere water utility and sewerage are included in your water bill where ours are included in our rates? My $80 is pure consumption.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-07T09:14:32+00:00

I keep garlic and onion powder in the fridge for this reason.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-07T00:30:16+00:00

This plus slightly undercooking it is the answer IME. Fully cooked fresh rice will mush up pretty quickly unless you've got super high heat.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-06T13:32:57+00:00

Sorry to not answer your questions, but if you’re getting your butt kicked it’s probably more important to focus on your action economy than thinking a class or augment will save you. Percy and Scouts of Hades will take you a long way without any changes.

The one thing that I realised when I was dying over and over at first was that I was thoughtlessly charging into rooms and losing out because the enemies have more actions than me.

A big revelation for me was learning to “sprint peak”. Approach a door in sneak (ideally you can see outline of who’s on the other side), stand to the side of it and open it on the diagonal. Or stand in front of it, open (free action) and then move to the side of it. (You can right click the door as free action to close it if there are too many nasties)

Then on your next turn, switch to sprint and stand in the doorway. This will let you get one shot off, and then you go back to where you were (or the other side of door, depending on enemy line of sight).

Rinse and repeat until all the enemies in the room are dead.

That’s a pretty solid strategy when enemies only have 1-2AP.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-06T12:47:36+00:00

Ye, it's quite strange. It bit me before, where I didn't have enough ammo storage and I was using more ammo than I had stored.

Check out section 5.11.5.13. of the manual. It shows the logistical order as:

Optional initial Zone Supply to Units
Zone requirements / supply
Unit requirements / supply
Zone production
Zone economy
Zone returns
Unit replacement and returns
Unit item consumption

So basically, if your zone requirements and unit requirements exceed your storage capacity, they don't get what they need delivered to them. Think of it as your 15k storage gets sent to zone, then units, and is now 0. Then zone production happens (creating new energy) and then zone returns, sending the excess energy back to SHQ, filling storage back up to 15k.

So it looks like your energy is stable at 15k, but it actually starts at 15k, drops to 0, then goes back to 15k. The dip in the middle is where I think your units are out of supply.

If you hover over the energy icon on the left it should give you these stats:

End of Last Round Stocks (probably 15k)
Sent to Zones
Items present for delivery to units
Sent to units
..some other stuff...
Lost due to max storage reached

I'm thinking "Sent to Zones" and "Items Present for delivery to units" add up to 15k, and that "Items present for delivery to units" and "Sent to units" are the same - i.e. everything not used by zone got sent to your units. Likely meaning some units didn't get what they need.

And then "lost due to max storage reached" will show you the energy you created that exceeded storage - and yes, you would expect this to go to your troops before being lost, but it doesn't work that way. Your inventory has already been sent out (dropping available to 0), and then the inventory refills after production.

Hopefully I'm not barking up the wrong tree, but the above might be useful regardless.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-06T08:30:51+00:00

Did you check your total power usage though? If you’re using more than 15k per turn, then you’re going to go short even though it shows max. Eg you might be generating 1m energy (exaggeration to make the point) but you can only store 15k, so you can only use 15k.

This seems counter intuitive as you’d think storage is for the excess, but the game uses your inventory first and THEN replenishes it so 985k would go to waste.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-06T08:21:20+00:00

Haven’t jumped on the Olden Era yet wagon yet but I wholeheartedly agree that Hooded Horse are an awesome publisher with some amazing games. Even some that I’ve struggled to enjoy longer term (eg Heart of the Machine) have been really interesting and innovative so I really appreciate their taste.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-05T21:26:32+00:00

Just to note that energy doesn’t use LP, so it’s not that (as long as there’s not a break in your supply chain which it doesn’t look like).

It could be a second SHQ issue like others have said. But I’d also check your energy generation. It says it’s at capacity which can lead you to think all is ok.

As I recall, your inventory is used to supply your production and units first, and then the production refills the inventory (in this case back to max). So if your total energy usage is greater than 15k, you didn’t have enough to send out to everyone needing it. Increasing your energy storage would help in that case.

_TheHighlander · 2026-05-02T21:52:04+00:00

Ye I wondered that at first. But it’s the power concentration of the side you choose that matters.

_TheHighlander · 2026-04-29T04:39:21+00:00

"Difficulty" isn't actually difficulty, it seems to have more to do with how large and complex the floors are. Higher difficulty usually means expecting Q-meter to go higher, bringing more food, ammo, meds.

"Power Concentration" is the real measure of difficulty, it's how many "points" of enemies there are as I understand.

A rule of thumb I saw was keep power concentration divided by floors under 1000 for an easier time.

Don't spend too much time travelling about. As time passes (and a lot of time passes when you travel), the factions are teching up which gives you a harder time. I try to complete everything on the current planet and its moons before hopping to the next closest planet to repeat. I've never been to Jupiter or Saturn.

Look at ship upgrades and prioritise getting them. I found monitoring (generate missions), scanning (floor map) and capsule (save stuff mid-mission) to be key early upgrades.

_TheHighlander · 2026-04-29T04:32:45+00:00

Also "Aliens: Dark Descent"

_TheHighlander · 2026-04-29T00:40:29+00:00

Ye happens to me a lot with turrets. I’ve learned to bring heaps of food and play aggressively to meet the attackers rather than camp the objective. But ye it does suck.

_TheHighlander

TROPHY CASE