AI War: Fleet Command

This is a great game, but if you're buying it for the first time you should realize that the developer and fans kind of fetishize its difficulty. Lots of fans say the game doesn't get interesting until difficulty 7, which is the default setting. DON'T LISTEN! You may find this to be true eventually, but difficulty 7 is pretty hard, and if you start there the gap between the tutorial and the game will be way too wide. Start at difficulty 1 or 2, get a feel for the game, and work your way up.

This game is one I probably would like if I had the time a patience for it. However, it is undoubtedly a game that is pretty much limited to people that have a summer to burn. It's graphics and ship designs are so bland and mish-mashed that I bring it up even though I generally dislike reviews that put emphasis on graphics. It's just a hard game to get captivated by. It's incredibly slow, tedious, aesthetically dull, and unlike many space games the universe feels dead. A lot of people say you should pause the game all the time to send orders, etc. I don't want to play a game were I am constantly pausing to keep up. Bottom line, just not an immersive game or atmosphere that takes getting Stockholm syndrome to enjoy.

7 years on since its release and still playing it. The game still blows my mind. It's tough, but satisfying. Over the years I've lost more times to the AI than I've won. A game where a direct assault against the AI will end in your own demise. The only proviso is there's a steep learning curve, but it's worth the time to learn. Also the co-op multiplayer is great if you can get someone to devote the time to play with you.

Game relies to much on RNG to "simulate" variety be objectively fun. Yes, you can have some fun maps, but you can also have some unfun maps where advanced factories can spaw several systems away, turret/ship fabricators are useless ones, or terrible module awards from Champion missions. I went through 7 missions in one game and never got the spire ship or the photon modules awarded to me. Another game gave them to me on the 1st mission success. Too much "what you get" randomness in a way that impacts gameplay too much. I have had systems spawn with loads of advance level 4 stations just 2 jumps away. I have also had the systmes surrounding my home system with 1 & 2 metel production making them worthless to capture increasing AI and dragging out my initial start of the game. It is a terrible experience to play for a couple of hours and realize that this map seed and RNG options just suck to much to enjoy the game play and thinking about starting over... no wait... now I am thinking about not playing anymore. The game does have lots of interesting ways to play and ship types but the RNG for what you get just does not make for a quality game play experience. I enjoyed the game for a while, but the middle of the journey was the best. The more I learn about the game and it's mechanics the more bored I get with it. But like I said... since I can't know what I am going to be allowed to have... I just cannot feel comelled to play the game further. What a massive let down because the game would be a great replacement to SINS... This goes down as a game ruined by bad RNG decisions for me.

I always liked strategy games to play, to plan, to conquer etc.. This game brought something new to me, new experience, new ways of thinking. Not just to choose your preferred types of units, mass them as many as you can and throw into the battle. No, it's not the case. Here you've got to choose your tactic with great caution, choose what forces will guard your bases, how many units and of which type to maintain here and there, unit amount is limited for you but not for the AI. I have to say, that AI is great. It really learns from your actions. If you mindlessly attack it, it will respond, with the way it defends and the way it attacks. At one moment I've realized, that AI's fleet with more than 10 000 units attacks my border from one side, while a smaller but not too much response fleet (yes, there are also different AI fleets) attacks me from the other side. Well, that was a situation I've barely handled, with great loses up to 75 percent of my territory. Of course, AI's wake up speed depends on campaign difficulty settings, but easy win is not a challenge, is it? I've played for more than 100 hours in it and I'm going to play further. Best thing ever! P.S. I've seen some people here say about fonts and resolution. Well, I've struggled with this also and didn't find the settings at first glance, it took several minutes to find where are those settings at all :) But this game is worthy to dig in even if it takes some precious time.