Starfall Tactics

Starfall Tactics
Developer(s)	Snowforged Entertainment
Engine	Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	Q4 2016[1]
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy, Wargame
Mode(s)	multiplayer

Starfall Tactics — is an upcoming real-time strategy video game with wargame elements, that mixes intense tactical combat with in-depth spaceship customization.^[2][3] Project is developed by independent Siberian company Snowforged Entertainment.^[4]

Gameplay

In Starfall Tactics players participate in centuries-old confrontation between three rival factions - Eclipse, Vanguard and Deprived.^[5][6][7] One can assemble a unique fleet using a variety of blueprints^[8] and travel across the galaxy or battle against other players in quick and Ranked matches.^[9][10][11]

Thanks to the elaborate physical model, the game provides a variety of interesting tactical choices. Collision system allows ships to ram each other very effectively, line of fire - to evade flying projectiles and be attentive to the positioning of all units in the fleet, tactical units - to run the ship self-destruction system right in a crowd of enemies, create a couple of invisible scouts, make quick tactical moves via warp jumps and much more!^[12][13][14] Also, absolutely all components of the spacecraft in Starfall Tactics can be destroyed - from shield generators and special modules to weapons and engines. Enemy ship is trying to escape? Take out engines!^[15][16]

Every player, his fleet and individual ship in this fleet will have their own progression, opening additional opportunities for customization and creating unique playstyle.

Developers also announced their intention to create a clan system^[17][18] with a war for territories and precious resources in the Outer space.^[19]

Spaceships

The whole gameplay in Starfall Tactics is built around a Commander who has a fleet consisting of several ships. All ships can be fully customized - from choosing weapons, to installing engines, armor and special modules. There is no special separation for ships to "tank, support and damage dealer" - instead, ships divided into several classes depending on their size:^[20]

• Frigate - a 250m long ship. Very fast and maneuverable.
• Cruiser - a 400m long ship. There are no cruisers in the game at the moment.
• Battlecruiser - a 500m long ship, serving as the main strike force in most fleets.
• Battleship - a 750m long ship.
• Dreadnought - a 1000m long ship, able to equip biggest weapons and modules.
• Carrier - a huge ship which can carry squads of smaller vessels. Currently under development.

Each individual ship can have 4 modifications, chosen from five: Standard, Long Range modification, Assault, Spec Ops and Stealth. in addition to size every ship in Starfall Tactics has a set of characteristics: Shields hit points, Armor hit points, Structure hit points, Maximum speed, Angular speed, acceleration time, deceleration time, mass, capacity and crew - all of them can be changed through installing different modules.

Customization

Everything in the game, from the hull of your ship down to the individual engines, can be customized. Each ship has weapon bays, engineering bays and engine bays which can be filled with hundreds of different modules, all divided to several classes:

• Engines - defines ships' maximum speed, angular speed, acceleration and deceleration time.
• Shields - the first energy layer of defence. Protects your ship from energy damage.
• Shield Regenerator - allows your shields regenerate with time, passively.
• Armor - protects your ship from kinetic damage, allows ram more effectively, but takes more energy damage.
• Weapons - Beams, Cannons and Missiles - can be installed on your ship and basically help you killing enemy units.
• Special Equipment - modules which give you additional active or passive abilities. Like warping, boarding, stealth, advanced sensors, self-destruction, anti-missile system, mines, stasis, kinetic wall and many others.

Each module and ship hull is represented via cards - blueprints. A huge number of module combinations allows to create truly unique fleets and directly influence your strategy against opponents by creating new ship builds.

Development

Development of Starfall Tactics has begun in late 2014. Starfall Tactics was first announced in January 2015,^[21] at the same time the first trailer released. In May 2015 the game was released for the additional funding on Kickstarter,^[22][23] which was planned to be spent on the development and extension of MMO-component of the game. The project was only half-funded, but according to the developers of the game, their goal - to attract world attention to the project - have been achieved.^[24][25]

At the same time, Starfall Tactics has been Greenlit in just 9 days^[26] and will be available on Steam.^[27]

The game is being developed using Unreal Engine 4.^[28][29]

External links

• Official website

References