Realpolitiks - Modern Global Strategy

Started by Ian C, February 16, 2017, 02:17:47 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Ian C

Saw this pop up on steam. http://store.steampowered.com/app/553260/


Anyone know anything at all about this? I'm staved of a good modern strategic game but a bit wary of taking the plunge. EDIT: just realised there's a demo.


Here's the blurb:

Realpolitiks is a streamlined real-time grand strategy game that allows you to become the ruler of any contemporary nation. Dive deep into the issues of the modern world, with its current geopolitical borders, using your country's power and economic strength to engage in military conflicts and international affairs. Choose your own method of coping with other nations' interests, unexpected events, global threats and various crises. Deal with the disintegration of the European Union, the expansion of Islamic State, the aftermath of World War III and many other real and fictional scenarios.

Based on three main political systems (democracy, authoritarianism, totalitarianism), Realpolitiks allows you to extend the influence of your country through various means, all in order to win the race for global domination. Use your diplomatic skills, economic advantages, military power and the full freedom of moral and ethical decision-making to become a world superpower and ensure the well-being of your citizens.

Grow and develop your nation to the highest possible levels of economic power, technological competitiveness and military supremacy in globally-ranked charts. The choice is yours as to whether you become a valued member of the United Nations, or a nuclear tyrant, bullying all those around you. Expand your territory any way you like with the whole-world sandbox gameplay of Realpolitiks, even creating colonies out at sea. And if that's not enough, try spreading the seed of our civilization to outer space...

Key Features:

    Lead any country in the world to global domination in various game scenarios.
    Shape your country's political system and determine its relations with other nations.
    Deal with internal and external affairs and face threats from natural disasters, terrorism, financial crises and more.
    Make use of common political instruments in your international relations, including spy tactics and espionage to directly influence other nations' internal affairs.
    Take the moral and ethical high road in your dealings with others, or not...
    High replay value ensured by a broad decision tree in all matters, as well as diverse mini-scenarios and random events.

Jarhead0331

I've had my eye on it, but the descriptions make it seem a bit too simple and the videos and screenshots make it look a bit too much like a spreadsheet.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Ian C

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on February 16, 2017, 02:44:54 PM
I've had my eye on it, but the descriptions make it seem a bit too simple and the videos and screenshots make it look a bit too much like a spreadsheet.

Played the tutorial demo. It is kind of. It will appeal to that kind of strategy gamer and it's a bit gamey but I enjoyed the first part. I'd guess it's a purchase for the real hardcore die-hard modern global gamers. There was a moment in the demo where Sweden attacked Finland but I think it was scripted to show the game mechanics (I hope). The demo seems robust and bug-free and you get to play a few years as Russia or Germany in the post-tutorial scenario.

Jarhead0331

How does combat work? Do you build, deploy and move units around?
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Ian C

#4
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on February 16, 2017, 03:42:05 PM
How does combat work? Do you build, deploy and move units around?

No units on map. Abstracted but plausible combat with events (like in Paradox games). You commit forces (Infantry, Armor, Aircraft, Navy) and choose an action. Each action brings you closer to winning the battle. it sounds simple but when you see it in action is quite good and original. There seems to be dice-rolling going on under the hood (D6's I think) since there are modifiers for weather and terrain.

To see other nation's wars, you click on the on-map icon of the battle.

Below you can see the battle window for the Pakistan / India war. After a while they threw a nuke and an 'HQ Attacked warning' came up.
Not all units are committed but only what is needed for each action. A list of actions allows you when at war to choose the action, see the cost in forces, and the various modifiers before you commit. The greater the action, the more score you get towards victory. You can fail and actions can drag on long. It is very abstract but kind of works and looks and feel plausible.




It's not a war game. More of an armchair politician's sim with some gamey elements but it seems to be rooted in realism. It's a sandbox environment. However...there are some negative reviews already and this seems to be rooted in the fictional side of the game. There is a U.N. but no NATO etc.
Alliances are called Blocs and they can be easily broken by espionage. If certain things are fine-tuned by the devs, I think it can be more realistic.

There are game events that are plausible and coherent. It's not a shoddy or ill-conceived game.

Some things you have to search for or stumble upon: for example, when choosing a scenario, clicking on a certain nations will bring up additional scenarios for that nation in tabs.
Also, there are interactive icons that pop up over nations on-map. You have to look out for these.

Implementing different projects/policies is kind of like a research tree similar to civilization.

I'm pleasantly surprised. I've previously played Superpower 1 & 2 and all the Eversim Geopolitical games and this is so far the best, but without any units on map. If you can take the abstract nature of that it's worth trying the demo.

My verdict: It's not an accurate sim or wargame but if you take it at face value, it's ok, not bad. It's surprisingly deeper than it looks and I've had fun with it so far. It scratches an itch for me that I've had since Eversim's games.

I'll strongly suggest trying the demo as you will get an accurate feel for the game from it. Note: the construction/research times in the tutorial are greatly accelerated for learning the game and are not representative of the full game.

Jarhead0331

Very cool. Thanks for the impressions, Ian.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

jomni


solops

It is 25% off until Feb 23. I just bought it. It appears to be much like some games I used to play (Confrontation, Nuclear Destruction, Risk). It will have to wait a bit as I just started my first game of Stars in Shadow since the last 4 patches.
"I could have conquered Europe, all of it, but I had women in my life." - King Henry II of England
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly. - Winston Churchill
Wine is sure proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. - Benjamin Franklin

Ian C

Played the heck out of it last night and some today. It is fun but don't take it too seriously. It's definitely not a simulator or war game.
It's well coded, still no bugs. This puts it ahead of previous games in the same niche.


mikeck

 I would kill for a "Gary Grigsby War in the West" style game dealing with a hypothetical NATOv Warsaw Pact conflict. I will pick this up likely because any post world war2 operational or strategy game interests me...but I'm not excited
"A government large enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have."--Thomas Jefferson

bbmike

Quote from: Ian C on February 17, 2017, 03:38:14 PM
Played the heck out of it last night and some today. It is fun but don't take it too seriously. It's definitely not a simulator or war game.
It's well coded, still no bugs. This puts it ahead of previous games in the same niche.

What about replayability?
"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplace of existence."
-Sherlock Holmes

"You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets."
-Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

"There's a horror movie called Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you!"
-The Doctor

"Before Man goes to the stars he should learn how to live on Earth."
-Clifford D. Simak

Ian C

Quote from: bbmike on February 17, 2017, 04:22:14 PM
What about replayability?

I started another game and it seemed ok. It's something I'll play the hell out of for a week and then move on, then pick up for a random game a while later.

solops

Realpolitik got its second patch in a week. I am still playing Stars in Shadow, so I don't have a report on Realpolitik yet.

Patch notes:
Major patch released
FEBRUARY 23   - JAN_1C
Patch v1.3.3 has been released - save game bug and army disappearance bug have been fixed along with many others. New features has been added. More details below:

General:
We are aware of the economical 'problems' in the second part of the game. Players will reach a point where they have so much money, they don't even know what to spent it on. Projects' maintenance costs should constantly scale to the economical level of the country which should work as an inflation element. Currently, there is a serious bug that is preventing this scaling from taking place. It will be fixed in the next patch.
Various windows should now be more transparent and less confusing.
Shortcuts are now in the game:
F1 – Menu
F6 – Autosave
1, 2, 3 – time control
Space – pause
Num+, Num- - zoom in, zoom out
Arrow keys/WSAD – moving around the map

Bug fixes:
Fixed an issue with huge save files loading times
Fixed an issue with random disappearing of units after war
Fixed various issues with resources
Forming Scandinavia will now properly include player's country in the new nation
Changing political system during wars will now effectively change requirements for nuclear attacks
Implementing unique projects won't block deactivation of the other projects anymore
Fixed various typos, wrong strings and minor bugs

Balance:
Going bankrupt will now set money and AP to 0
AI should now be more effective during wars
Costs and effects of some diplomatic and spy actions has been revisited
United Nation's coalitions should now attack more often and with more units
High Warmonger will now more drastically decrease relations with the rest of the world
Environmental damage will now decrease slower
Block members should now be less likely to leave player's block, when the notification about leaving possibility is active

Important info regarding existing savegames: If you have already noticed that your game takes a long time to load a savegame, this patch won't fix it. We recommend starting a new game as the fix works only for newly created saves.

In case of trouble, you can roll back to the previous build, by right-clicking the game in the library, going into properties -> betas and entering beta password february21build. Then enable the feb21build beta branch and restart Steam.
"I could have conquered Europe, all of it, but I had women in my life." - King Henry II of England
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly. - Winston Churchill
Wine is sure proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. - Benjamin Franklin

Ian C

I played a couple of games and moved on. It's one of those games that has value in small doses, months apart.