4X ZEPHON - post-apocalyptic 4X by Warhammer 40K: Gladius developer

[Hydro]

How many factions are there? I mean Gladius had four

 

[Lacrymas]

How many factions are there? I mean Gladius had four

1.

 

[Hydro]

How many factions are there? I mean Gladius had four

1.

What’s their bet then? Builds variety? Honestly I’d trade many factions for a bigger emphasis on economy and a more prominent strategic layer.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

How many factions are there? I mean Gladius had four

1.

What’s their bet then? Builds variety? Honestly I’d trade many factions for a bigger emphasis on economy and a more prominent strategic layer.

There are 3 different tech trees. Each Faction Leader besides having their own traits and gimmicks has different affinity to each of the tech trees. Better affinities = faster access for something (e.g. whether you can unlock Medic unit at Tier 1 or Tier, etc)

Strategic layers from the demos are pretty much like Gladius but maybe full version will be different as we have more complex tech

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Hydro]

How many factions are there? I mean Gladius had four

1.

What’s their bet then? Builds variety? Honestly I’d trade many factions for a bigger emphasis on economy and a more prominent strategic layer.

There are 3 different tech trees. Each Faction Leader besides having their own traits and gimmicks has different affinity to each of the tech trees. Better affinities = faster access for something (e.g. whether you can unlock Medic unit at Tier 1 or Tier, etc)

Strategic layers from the demos are pretty much like Gladius but maybe full version will be different as we have more complex tech

Hmmm, looks curious. Might that happen, I wonder, if this game has the prerequisites to eventually become a good 4X?

 

[InD_ImaginE]

How many factions are there? I mean Gladius had four

1.

What’s their bet then? Builds variety? Honestly I’d trade many factions for a bigger emphasis on economy and a more prominent strategic layer.

There are 3 different tech trees. Each Faction Leader besides having their own traits and gimmicks has different affinity to each of the tech trees. Better affinities = faster access for something (e.g. whether you can unlock Medic unit at Tier 1 or Tier, etc)

Strategic layers from the demos are pretty much like Gladius but maybe full version will be different as we have more complex tech

Hmmm, looks curious. Might that happen, I wonder, if this game has the prerequisites to eventually become a good 4X?

This game like Gladius is a very combat focused 4X and it delivered that during my time with the Demo. There are now random events + diplomacy which makes single-player games more fun as well compared to the slugfest that Gladius. And like Gladius, this game biggest flaw is that in bigger map with multi factions your game will be like grinding against a meat wall as you are pushing units one by one through the map, slugging out slowly. Game probably woluld works better in smaller map but I haven't tried

 

[Hydro]

It’s too early to draw any conclusions now, but the reviews currently are generally favorable.

UI design is such a boner killer in this one though. Gaming UI seems to be a lost art nowadays. Functional overall, but sterile and uninspiring. Very mobile OSs-like I’d say.

 

[Lord of Riva]

I have too many strategy games to play now

Spoiler

From more recent stuff, I'm tempted to get


Dig the aesthetics. Dunno if you've played it.

I played the OG it was a weird experience. I wonder if it is more enjoyable together instead of the time I played against the AI. It certainly does things differently compared to normal games in the genre.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

I have too many strategy games to play now

Spoiler

From more recent stuff, I'm tempted to get


Dig the aesthetics. Dunno if you've played it.

I played the OG it was a weird experience. I wonder if it is more enjoyable together instead of the time I played against the AI. It certainly does things differently compared to normal games in the genre.

Multiplayer seems to be good going by Steam reviews. There's also a thread for the game on the 'dex.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

this game actually looks pretty good, I bet it will be even better after a few DLC's and on sale for 50% in a year. I have some many games to catch up on too in the mean time, but this actually does look cool. Did not play the Demo.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

I doubt the game is big enough to get DLCs

But I guess it can be done cheap as half of their assets are probably rework of Gladius

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

I doubt the game is big enough to get DLCs

But I guess it can be done cheap as half of their assets are probably rework of Gladius

I don't know, its hard to find a slitherine game without at least a couple DLC's. I am guessing they had some in mind when they developed the game and how many they do will be dependent on how well the game sells. I would be surprised if it did not get 1 or 2 at minimum, but I suppose it could do so poorly they would drop the game.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

slitherine game without at least a couple DLC'

this game is self-published tho, hence my doubt

the MoM Remake did get DLCs even when it sold teribly but that's Siltherine's MO. This game is self published like Pandora

 

[Removal]

Enjoying it more than I thought I would. They put in a end game trigger around turn 100 or so where the bots and ayys ask you to pick a side and then you have to kill the other side's titan units, or go independent and kill both side's titans.

 

[Sunri]

Is there only one endgame scenario?

 

[Fedora Master]

The game seems to be an iteration of Gladius, which is good.
Who the fuck wrote those diplomacy dialogues though, specifically your own answers?

 

[Hydro]

The game seems to be an iteration of Gladius, which is good.
Who the fuck wrote those diplomacy dialogues though, specifically your own answers?
View attachment 57509

They’ve copy-pasted Trump’s speeches obviously

 

[Herumor]

The game seems to be an iteration of Gladius, which is good.
Who the fuck wrote those diplomacy dialogues though, specifically your own answers?
View attachment 57509

They're dependent on your chosen leader. You should see what the Emulated Mind has for dialogue.

 

[mediocrepoet]

The game seems to be an iteration of Gladius, which is good.
Who the fuck wrote those diplomacy dialogues though, specifically your own answers?
View attachment 57509

They're dependent on your chosen leader. You should see what the Emulated Mind has for dialogue.

01000110 01110101 01100011 01101011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100001

 

[oldbonebrown]

The leader portraits look too much like concept art, and not something that should be on a diplomacy portrait

 

[Serious_Business]

The game seems to be an iteration of Gladius, which is good.
Who the fuck wrote those diplomacy dialogues though, specifically your own answers?

They are pretty great, love it.

I would say that, while understanding the intensity of the situation, we should not precisely agree to disagree, but rather, put things under diverging mental categories in order to affirm concrete difference which will no doubt, in time, transform into an insurmountable divide.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

The leader portraits look too much like concept art, and not something that should be on a diplomacy portrait

I prefer this than whatever 3D portrait that's in Civ games

Something like Endless Space 2 is probably better but I don't dislike the "concept art" style to be honest

 

[Hobo Elf]

The beta left me feeling lukewarm but having played the full game now I think the base game is a much richer experience than Gladius was. And as much as I enjoy Warhams, I think ZEPHON has some great potential for DLC factions and units. The devs don't need to answer to Games Workshop or Slitherine for that matter so they have more freedom when developing the game further down the line. Unforutnately due to looking a bit too derivative on the surface level I'm not sure it'll see the same success as Gladius, but with less hands in the pie it doesn't need to.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I've played one full map and it's... OK. Just an honest wargame-slash-4X with no bs and no stronk wymyn of minority with "sims meets saturday morning cartoon" designs etc. That being said, after finishing that one map I don't exactly feel an urge to roll another one and I don't think it's just me not being a fan of nu-civ carpet of doom combat. It really is just a Gladius reskin... even calling it a "total conversion" would be a bit of an exaggeration.

Some basic and very obvious issues:

1. Forget how UI looks, it lacks a lot of baseline or simply necessary info. Simple example: there are multiple techs that fill the template of "building A gives +B of a resource C if condition D/E/F is met" and then you get no visual cues for it. Sorry, but ain't nobody gonna do that shit, even if autistic.
2. They've added diplomacy, but it's just as basic as you can get and there's not a single interesting aspect to it.
3. The game has a bit of a better atmosphere and feel to it due to better production values, ok art, unit barks etc., but the map itself not only just looks like Gladius, but in general I don't get an "eldritch post-apo Earth" from it at-fecking-all, which is a bummer, as I feel like this should be the game's biggest strength atmosphere-wise.

Oh, they've also left the intro as-was from the demo, so you get that voice over that not only was done by someone's gf/niece/aunt in one take wit no prep, but also recorded on a motorola flip-phone in a toilet, which is p funny.

It also seems that the game hit 1k peak on steam versus over 11k for Gladius, so not sure how much post-launch support is this gonna get.