ANNO 2070: Back to the Future

[bhodi]

Well, something fucked up. Apparently the steam version is unplayable and is giving errors (possibly due to still being encrypted).

People who got it for D2D are reporting that the ubisoft authentication servers (for your first time install cd-key shit) are flapping up and down as well.

All in all, a good release. Nice job, Ubisoft!

[Paelos]

Keeping people from playing the game means the DRM is working, duh.

[ghost]

 

[Ratman_tf]

Oh well. Lemme know if they get their heads out of their asses.

[schild]

Christ, it has a new version of Tages.

Won't be buying that. Back to Skyrim!

[jakonovski]

So the game joins the exclusive club of releases that can only be played by pirates.   

[ghost]

It's funny.  I've never had the urge to even consider playing a "cracked" version of a game until this shit.  What a bunch of idiots.  

Edit:  Steam now has the game to where it at least decrypts.  We'll see if it actually works.

[Gunzwei]

It's funny.  I've never had the urge to even consider playing a "cracked" version of a game until this shit.  What a bunch of idiots. 

Edit:  Steam now has the game to where it at least decrypts.  We'll see if it actually works.

Got it this evening and so far no problems.

[luckton]

Finally got to play this.  While a lot of review sites do rave about the game, I'm not really that impressed.  It really is just 1404 with a fresh coat of paint and many of the nuances removed/fixed. 

Like 1404, you start off building a base colony and start meeting needs.  There's two main factions (Corporates and Tree-Huggers), with the same number of requirements to tech up, just different named things.  Corps, for example want coffee while the Tree-huggers want Tea.  Corps want fast-food, Tree-Huggers want sushi.  The third 'tech' faction is the Orients from 1404, in which they have their own unique set of needs independent from your faction's. 

So let's talk about the new stuff and improvements.

A big plus for me was the logistics improvements.  When you build multiple ship ports on an island, you no longer have to declare the port in your trade routes.  The game will automatically find the closest port between the two islands it's trading.

The underwater sea is mostly for getting underwater resources, like algae-farms, oil and stuff.  You navigate underwater just like above land.

The Techs actually do shit, unlike their Oriental cousins.  By building laboratories, you can build your own ship/island upgrades instead of playing Honor roulette with your trade partners.

That's about it.  The single-player campaign was overtly short (more like an overly long tutorial that ends and then dumps you into multiplayer. 

Is it worth $50?  If you never played 1404 and want a great sim/strategy experience, and you have nothing else you want/need to play, yeah, $50 could be justified.  For everyone else, hell no.  I'd pay $20 for a copy that allows legit multiplayer gaming, if that.  There's nothing really 'revolutionary' when compared to it's predecessor, just modest improvements and upgrades.  Feels almost like an expansion.

[tmp]

Like 1404, you start off building a base colony and start meeting needs.  There's two main factions (Corporates and Tree-Huggers), with the same number of requirements to tech up, just different named things.  Corps, for example want coffee while the Tree-huggers want Tea.

These two also have some sort of performance/cost thing going. The corporate stuff is high performance but has negative impact on the environment quality, and that starts affecting outputs/attitudes and whatnot negatively if left unchecked. THe tree-hugger stuff has less impact on environment, but gives quite less bang for the spent buck, in some cases drastically so.

[kildorn]

I find the factions to not mirror at all beyond the first five minutes or so. I actually think the Tycoons have it harder due to the sheer pain in the ass that Oil rigs are to progress from tier 2->3 compared to the Eco copper desire.

I'm enjoying this game far more than I should be. But it's best played mutli or in it's open ended mode. The campaign is not only short, but randomly bugs out due to trying to carry over your island from the prior mission. I started one where I could no longer use Fish for food because all the fisheries were bugged from an event in the prior mission. That ended my game right quick.

[schild]

I would be ALL up in this games shit if they'd dump that copy protection.

[Tairnyn]

Been playing a lot over the past few days and really enjoying it. Getting to the late game resources is a bit overwhelming since you have no idea which islands will be valuable early on, but overall I'm loving it as much as 1404. Only played some of the campaign and one peaceful scenarios so time will tell if the competitive maps are frustrating. The community voting stuff is a bit meaningless from what I can tell, but it has enough charm to make me pay attention to it. Not a fan of the DRM but I haven't had any issues so far.

[Xerapis]

Yeah, this game is pretty much the designated time sink for my winter break.

The World Event was rather badass. Can't wait to see how often they run those.

[Tairnyn]

Didn't realize the World Event would end so fast. Got caught up in the first scenario and never even got a chance to check it out. 

[kildorn]

They apparently also have regular "quests" from the main UI where you get a goal from a faction and can complete it in any game mode. Mine was given 30t of electronics to a ship for +50 points with that faction.

I kind of like the metagame carry over stuff.

[Xerapis]

Yeah, basically they have dailies and you can choose which faction to which you apply the points.

Sometimes it's "just" delivery (not so easy if you don't have the faction that makes those items built up in a game).

Also, don't forget to vote 

[kildorn]

I want to see metrics on what percentage of the playerbase votes. Does direct democracy only work in videogames? ;)

Also, Keto is a huge bitch. I tried that achievement. DEAR GOD.

[Xerapis]

Oh, yeah, Keto has quite the vicious rep. I haven't even tried that one.

Hell, I fired up Hector on Hard and he is just awful. I had my ARK upgraded specifically to enhance commando ships and he could still almost take me one-on-one. And his ships never stop following mine. :(

[Xerapis]

New patch is up. Quay walls and decorative elements added :)

[Phred]

Anyone else feel like they're spending half their time fighting the damned "smart" placement algorithm? Sure wish I could turn that feature off. Also, I don't know about anyone else but I usually make a lot of money off trade but unfortunately the game doesn't track trade profits so I get the ridiculous situation where the tychoon populous were threatening to strike if I didn't get my tax income up to 75 a turn. I make enough money off trade that I can make my net gain at -2000 or so but had to scramble around to up my taxable income positive. grr.
 

[luckton]

Anyone else feel like they're spending half their time fighting the damned "smart" placement algorithm?

Are you talking about placing buildings outright or the production fields for production buildings?  If it's the latter, and you're being lazy  by clicking the auto-plant button, you're doing it wrong.

[Phred]

Anyone else feel like they're spending half their time fighting the damned "smart" placement algorithm?

Are you talking about placing buildings outright or the production fields for production buildings?  If it's the latter, and you're being lazy  by clicking the auto-plant button, you're doing it wrong.

No, I do much tighter placement than the game is capable of so I guess I meant the placing buildings smart placement. You know where the building tries to help you by rotating randomly just before you place the building.

[Jade Falcon]

Click the mouse wheel,orient the building the way you like and it should stop that auto rotate long enough to put the building the way you want.

[bhodi]

Yeah their smart placement algo is always awful.

btw you can use , and . to rotate.

[Phred]

Yeah their smart placement algo is always awful.

btw you can use , and . to rotate.

Hence the fighting feeling. Heh.

[K9]

DRM with prevent reinstalls if you change your graphics card.

 

[luckton]

DRM with prevent reinstalls if you change your graphics card.

 

They apparently kicked out a patch that addresses this.  You can now have unlimited activations, but you cannot deactivate any previous activations