First Impressions Thread - Sidius Nova

First: Showering You with Praise.

The more I play Sidius Nova, the more taken aback I am by how utterly perfect this game plays. It has all the simplicity of checkers, but is deep enough to reward experimenting with dozens of strategies. Most of all, it fully leverages the advantages of iOS and creates an incredibly epic RTS experience that is both more accessible and rewarding than its desktop counterparts.

This game makes me wish I was famous and popular so I could tell everyone about it. It's the first kickstarter game to actually get in my hands and the end-to-end experience has been incredible.

Second: As a Strategy game (and more praise)

Sidius Nova is the indie game that makes me love indie games, because it outclasses its higher profile competition with elegant solutions to legacy problems. By dividng the game into turn based and real time sections, it makes the macroeconomy meaningful, but not repetative or twitch-based as it is in Starcraft and other, traditional, dirt-farming RTSes. At the same time, the simple button presses of lane selection reward situational awareness and timing (core RTS skills) without requiring gnat-like reaction time or pixel-perfect precision. It's hands-down one of the freshest takes I've seen on RTS and fixes the issues that have kept me away from the genre in the past.

Third: Moment-to-moment experience.

The ease of getting started is definitely a strength of the game. I vaguely remember some tutorial handholding and button explanation, but that memory faded away as I explored the vast, openness of space just seconds later. One large issue I ran into was not realizing I could have more than one division of my fleet until the third galaxy. This didn't prevent me from winning games, and it was a joy to discover I could park my mothership in the most lucrative spot and have fighters exploring in all directions - but because this is such a definitive 4x experience, I wish I had known about it sooner.

Forth: Hard Counters and Soft Counters (Balance Discussion)

This is the real heart and soul of an RTS game, having not only direct counters between units, but weaker, more proximate counters, allows for a wide variety of solid strategies with distinguishing characteristics. This is why RTS games are the best digital spectator sport. For my analysis, I'm goint to distinguish Force Counters, which you lead off with, with Response Counters, which are done defensively.

Fighter:

Hard Response Counters: On no-mothership maps (henceforth referred to as NM-maps) quickly amassing a lot of fighters in a single lane can be a fast route to victory. This is best excecuted as a response to one or more ships just having recently spawned in, since the timers limit the enemy's ability to concoct a defense. On NM-maps, fighters also make short work of mine layers, although the bomber-minelayer combo can quickly lock down a lane, if you don't respond to it in time.

Soft Response Counters: On mothership maps (henceforth referred to as M-maps) fighters dispatched quickly can still neutralize mine layers, but will not damage the enemy mothership significantly if they break free. A quick double-dispatch will prevent enemy fighters from accumulating in a lane. Lastly, in bomber vs bomber battles, they can act as an advancing, disposible shield wall, letting your bombers kill the enemies at a very cost effective ratio. Thus, while fighters have no hard counters and deal insignificant direct damage to motherships, they are actually one of the best units to have in M-maps because of their immense versatility.

Force Counters: none discovered. Leading off with fighters is dangerous, since they are fragile and their greatest strength is fast response time.

Bomber:

Hard Reponse Counter: Fighters, they will destroy them at a very high ratio, although you must respond quickly on NM-maps to avoid being overrun. On M-maps, zerging the enemy with many bombers in an empty lane can make for a quick lead, but is very dangerous, since they are so expensive, not particularly fast, and vulnerable to mines.

Soft Response Counters: Paired with fighters, they can take down other bombers, and even mine layers on occasion, although they will usually suicide in the process.

Hard Force Counter: Paired with mine layers, bombers have one of the most effective leading strategies in the game. The best way I've foundto answer it it is to wait for the slow mine layers to separate from the faster bombers and engage them individually.

Soft Force Counters: Leading with fighters and bombers is relatively decent as a force counter, but a single mine layer can and will ruin your lane control.

Mine Layer:

Response Counters: Sometimes Mine Layers can be a response to a glut of bombers, more often you will not have enough time to get the mines out.

Force Counters: Here we go! On M-maps mine layers are great to have in any lane, as they will force you opponent to split up their army. Support them with bombers if you see a pure fighter force coming, but mostly just be sure to have them up as much as your economy allows and you can quickly put your foe on the defensive. The relative weakness of mine layers on NM-maps and their vulnerability to fighters mean they create an opportunity for you to press the advantage of a bigger army, even while the more versatile fighters may better serve a smaller one.

Balance Conclusion:

Even with just the three basic units, Sidius Nova creates a surprising number of unit interactions. I hope and suspect future units will introduce more force counters, since the large number of soft counters supports the defensive playstyle common to RTS newbies.

Fifth: Criticism and Concerns

The absense of a surrender option in battles seems to be a gross oversight. When you can conquer a galaxy in under ten minutes, waiting thirty seconds for your fleet to finish loosing feels like an eternity. RTS games are often decided before they are over and having no way of hastening the end is the only time in my hours of play that I have felt frustration.

The turn-based macro economy also may lack some depth, even after unlocking warp gates. Do later stages introduce planets with different resource values?

I like the idea of adding in-game purchases, but research points are too abstract and too hard to get to. I should be able to unlock units by buying them and I should be able to unlock them from the same unit production screen I use to build my army. The sound and visual design of Sidius Nova are at such a high level, and the monetization of the game needs just as much attention.

Finally, this game looks great on my ipad mini, but a full resolution bump and ipad-only hotseat and same-screen multiplayer would make this a blast to show off to my friends.

In Conclusion:

I am squealingly-happy to be in the beta, I'm overwhelmed with the quality of this game, and I can't wait to see what you guys do next!

-Marcus