this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2025
43 points (100.0% liked)

Games

21182 readers
296 users here now

Tabletop, DnD, board games, and minecraft. Also Animal Crossing.

Rules

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

It's the sort of game I've been wanting for a long time, a (simple but functional) 4x where you design your own units

The design process is simple enough to be accessible but complex enough to involve meaningful tradeoffs and compromises. Armor makes a ship sturdier but slower, heavier, and more expensive. Big guns can inflict monstrous damage at long range but they are likewise heavy and expensive and eat a lot of ammo, which means more ammo storage, which takes up space and can explode if hit. Soldiers have to move around the ship to do things like fuel engines, put out fires, and reload cannons, so you have to keep traffic flow in mind and try to avoid situations where e.g. a single destroyed corridor effectively makes an entire section inaccessible.

Pictured above is my latest design, the Dreadnought, a monster of a ship with four heavy gun turrets and a thick coating of steel armor. It costs a fortune and moves like continental drift, but it's very good at what it does (dishing out and taking a whole lot of damage).

top 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Doubledee@hexbear.net 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I ended up building a lot of small and specialized designs, on both offense and defense, bombers that rely on staying out of engagement range, torpedo ships that destroy defenders from across the map while escorted by capable strike craft that sort of thing. Easy to add to the fleet and no loss hits too hard.

On the other side I build a bunch of fortified pillboxes with minimal crew and ammo on the same assumption. Just plop more down on a front you know is gonna be intense. Maintenance stays low and it becomes harder to dislodge you.

But that was a while ago. The meta could be really different now.

[–] BeanisBrain@hexbear.net 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

This is what I often do too!

I recently made a new airship design, the Drayman (thanks Wing Commander for the name to steal). It's basically just a deck for a torpedo bomber with the shittiest engine and tiny coal store attached, all wrapped up in the flimsiest canvas. It has one job, and that is to keep launching that torpedo bomber for as long as it's alive. It's a surprisingly robust design - even if it gets its engine and cockpit knocked out and it's reduced to an inert wreck on the ground, as long as its flight deck is intact, it can keep launching its bomber. And I can build 5-6 of these things for the price of one more conventional warship. The only cost-effective encounter I've found for it is dedicated gatling/flak heavy AA builds.

Burned through, grounded, in pieces, and still 100% combat effective.

[–] KoL_Enjoyer@hexbear.net 6 points 17 hours ago

If you ever feel like moving to 3D, there's a game called From the Depths that scratches a very similar itch. Fair warning though, it is not simple and after spending a long time in the designer, I gave up, because I was simply overwhelmed by all the different systems and mechanics (armor layering, gun/laser/missile/engine/autopilot construction, the actual physics etc. etc.). It's amazing to see what some players can create and the game gives you tools to build essentially anything you want.

[–] oscardejarjayes@hexbear.net 5 points 18 hours ago

Oh yeah, I love that game.

[–] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 10 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Have you tried Cosmoteer? No 4x campaign (it's basically one guy making his dream game, so development is slow). But you do design ships from scratch. It's like Dwarf Fortress if the fortresses could fly. Some weapons are modular. There's a lot of design tricks people have cooked up. Competitive multi-player is a thing if you're into that.

[–] BeanisBrain@hexbear.net 6 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I have! I didn't end up enjoying it because I found the difficulty curve too unforgiving. I wound up in situations where I had to keep doing repeating missions with pitifully small rewards to be able to progress.

[–] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 5 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

Ah yeah. The dev has mentioned he wants to completely overhaul the campaign to be more like Faster Than Light, Alpha Centauri, or a full-blown RPG, but it's a long ways off since he hasn't even added aliens or proper docking/carriers yet.

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 6 points 21 hours ago

Heya I remember playing this ages ago. I think It got some updates since then. I didnt play it that much but I enjoyed what I played of it.

[–] Collatz_problem@hexbear.net 4 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Have you played Highfleet? It is vaguely similar in its gameplay.

[–] BeanisBrain@hexbear.net 2 points 21 hours ago

A long time ago. I might revisit it at some point.

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

That game looked a bit more complex and it scared me.

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 2 points 16 hours ago

Its basically a cross between joust and asteroid.

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago

I love the modding community for it. You can make steampunk Warhammer 40k titans that boop the troops.