Incline MENACE - sci-fi turn-based tactical RPG from Battle Brothers devs

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://videogames.si.com/features/menace-first-look

 

[Alienman]

https://videogames.si.com/features/menace-first-look

The team wants to create a lot of back and forth on the battlefield and avoid static situations, with the Taaks remarking: “We tried to avoid Overwatch, because we hate it and it really just freezes the game.”

Hmm, wonder how you will ambush/punish the computer doing dumb moves when there is no overwatch system. It's my favorite thing in tactical-turn-based games - setting up traps and ambushes, either with overwatches or some kind of reaction fire system. Will be sad if it is totally removed.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Hmm, wonder how you will ambush/punish the computer doing dumb moves when there is no overwatch system

Interrupts, maybe. Wonder why most no one does that shit these days.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Just imagine how stressful that kind of combat would be, beyond the usual combat stress. Pretty women that you shower with, now maimed and screaming for dear life on the battlefield.

That's part of why they're not frontline troops, iirc they found that men overly protected the female soldiers.

 

[Tyranicon]

Melee combat is not a huge feature – though some alien units will try to get close and personal. Vehicles can also ram into infantry, sending squads flying. “We toyed a lot with it,” the Taaks say regarding melee, “because Warhammer 40,000 is a big inspiration, but it pushed the setting too far into Warhammer.” Visualizing this type of fight proved quite difficult as well. There’ll still be some great weapon categories for close combat, though, like submachine guns.

I kinda wish they leaned into 40k more, not gonna lie. But melee in a hard scifi setting is hard to justify sometimes.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

But melee in a hard scifi setting is hard to justify sometimes.

Nix, always rush the guy with the gun. Against the knife you run.

 

[Alienman]

Hmm, wonder how you will ambush/punish the computer doing dumb moves when there is no overwatch system

Interrupts, maybe. Wonder why most no one does that shit these days.

Yeah, that's what I mean by reaction fire. I really hope there is something more than just move and shoot.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Just imagine how stressful that kind of combat would be, beyond the usual combat stress. Pretty women that you shower with, now maimed and screaming for dear life on the battlefield.

IIRC there was some study done in Israel that showed that male soldiers tended to act irrationaly in combat when females were present in the unit - basicaly trying to white knight and keep the wahmin alive while neglecting other stuff, like trying to actually win the fight. There were also studies showing that female presence is beneficial during training (ie. guys trying to show themselves in the best possible light in front of wahmin), so there is some use for women in the military for sure, it just aint of the battlefield.

Of course low effort sci-fi authors will always want to go for "look, mixed units shower together and fuck all the time when outside of combat," but the reality is again very different from this. I read an article a while back about a US army unit holding a FOB somewhere in Afghanistan, which was visited by something "Female Engagement Team," which was supposed to stay at the FOB at the time.

This lead to the following:

• wahmin refused to be quartered together with men, there were two bunkers serving as barracks, one was given over to wahmin while the guys had to overcrowd the other one
• wahmin refused to use the same designated shitting area as the men, men had to dig a new designated shitting area for the wahmin in their free time
• soon, the Female Engagement Team was ordered out of the FOB, because commanders became concerned about the sharp fall in the morale of the men

Apparently, the whole "shower together and fuck off-duty" thing doesnt work too well when there are no showers and everybode is dirty and stinky...


But oh well... maybe the devs come up with some nice sex scenes or something to go along with the turn based combat.

 

[PanteraNera]

"shower together and fuck off-duty"

Funnily enough when I served my four years in the german army, I was there when they opened up on woman's joining troops besides non-combat units.
In the beginning there was mixed showering but they banned it two/three months later at the base I was stationed in.
Also kinda everyone was fucking with everyone. Crazy times.
Supposedly there was a female Sergeant which was guaranteed to fuck you if you were on guard duty with her, I can't tell as I was a Sergeant myself so I wouldn't be on duty with her.

 

[thesecret1]

Just imagine how stressful that kind of combat would be, beyond the usual combat stress. Pretty women that you shower with, now maimed and screaming for dear life on the battlefield.

IIRC there was some study done in Israel that showed that male soldiers tended to act irrationaly in combat when females were present in the unit - basicaly trying to white knight and keep the wahmin alive while neglecting other stuff, like trying to actually win the fight. There were also studies showing that female presence is beneficial during training (ie. guys trying to show themselves in the best possible light in front of wahmin), so there is some use for women in the military for sure, it just aint of the battlefield.

Of course low effort sci-fi authors will always want to go for "look, mixed units shower together and fuck all the time when outside of combat," but the reality is again very different from this. I read an article a while back about a US army unit holding a FOB somewhere in Afghanistan, which was visited by something "Female Engagement Team," which was supposed to stay at the FOB at the time.

This lead to the following:

• wahmin refused to be quartered together with men, there were two bunkers serving as barracks, one was given over to wahmin while the guys had to overcrowd the other one
• wahmin refused to use the same designated shitting area as the men, men had to dig a new designated shitting area for the wahmin in their free time
• soon, the Female Engagement Team was ordered out of the FOB, because commanders became concerned about the sharp fall in the morale of the men

Apparently, the whole "shower together and fuck off-duty" thing doesnt work too well when there are no showers and everybode is dirty and stinky...


But oh well... maybe the devs come up with some nice sex scenes or something to go along with the turn based combat.

Sounds like women in the army would be best suited for the role of camp followers... As they have been historically.

 

[Sarissofoi]

That is why you go for Killer Maid Robots as basic model for your Sci-Fi troops. Or full bio robot clones, grown in vats and taught from tapes and simulation.
Its Sci-Fi - no reason to have normal females in it.
You guys just think to small.
Anyway, I am little worried about these in game between character reactions. Its obviously weak point - a place where we can get plenty of cringe dialogues. We will see obviously.

 

[PanteraNera]

Form their discord

 

[ArchAngel]

Form their discord

They still look better than what Phoenix Point has :D

 

[Gromoer]

Recon (stealth) units wearing a hood is such a lame and beaten up cliche. Not to mention it has 0 sense since it narrows line of sight dramatically.

 

[Zombra]

Recon (stealth) units wearing a hood is such a lame and beaten up cliche. Not to mention it has 0 sense since it narrows line of sight dramatically.

Complaining about "my realism" but more worried about fashion choices than the fact that the guy has FOUR EYES and the other guys have ZERO EYES

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Recon (stealth) units wearing a hood is such a lame and beaten up cliche. Not to mention it has 0 sense since it narrows line of sight dramatically.

Complaining about "my realism" but more worried about fashion choices than the fact that the guy has FOUR EYES and the other guys have ZERO EYES

You do know that those are supposed to be helmets?

 

[Nortar]

Recon (stealth) units wearing a hood is such a lame and beaten up cliche. Not to mention it has 0 sense since it narrows line of sight dramatically.

Complaining about "my realism" but more worried about fashion choices than the fact that the guy has FOUR EYES and the other guys have ZERO EYES

So they would average to a pair of eyes per guy in a squad.
A better ratio then they with legs in BB.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/the-next-ga...-spirit-and-transplants-it-into-an-xcom-like/

The next game from the Battle Brothers devs keeps its spirit and transplants it into an XCOM-like​

Menace will see you try to bring a renegade region of space back into the fold.

Coming to Menace from Battle Brothers, you'll immediately notice two things. The first? Someone's gone and replaced your gritty, vaguely European medieval warfare with a load of spacemen and laser guns. The second? Someone's gone and added a whole other dimension: The paper cut-outs that made up your infantry in Overhype's previous game have been replaced by troops that extend sumptuously along the Z-axis.

But those trifles aside? Menace seemed very much like an evolution of the Battle Brothers formula at this year's Gamescom. That's not to say there aren't significant changes, but that I think anyone who poured hours (and hours, and hours) into that game will soon find themselves at home in the new one.

War stories​

Menace trades in the grim, bloody drudgery of medieval warfare for the exciting, bloody spectacle of sci-fi violence. You play the head honcho of a mercenary company sent into a region of space—the Wayback System—which has lost contact with the rest of the galaxy and has no particular interest in resuming it. There's a way in but no way out, and your job is to bring the region back into the fold by engaging the local factions: To bludgeon, harangue, and cajole the wayward remnants back into civilisation and unify them against the titular Menace, an ever-spreading cyborg threat. They aren't enthusiastic about the prospect.

Menace has more of an emphasis on its narrative than its predecessor game, but Overhype's Jan and Paul Taaks were keen to point out that the game is still very much focused on its sandbox, choices, and emergent storytelling. The tactical maps are procedurally generated, there are around 26 different leaders you can pick up and mix and match to helm your squads, and making nice with one faction risks angering another.

Plus, Overhype tells me that your ship—effectively your XCOM base layer—has around 40 different upgrades but only 10 slots for them, so hard choices are afoot. It sounds like there are still plenty of variables meant to keep the stories you swap with your friends fresh.

But there is a narrative, and with it Overhype to offer some sense of direction to those players who bounced off Battle Brothers when that game left them to fend for themselves in its medieval warzone, pointing them at objectives and giving them a clear sense of urgency with its always-ticking doomsday clock (again, think XCOM, specifically the Avatar Project timer).

A lot of the Taaks' presentation on Menace focused on how they tried to find a balance between this aspect of the game and the challenging, perhaps grognardy appeal of Battle Brothers. They think they're managing it, though. Sure, there's a story now, but Overhype still wants you to obsess over your kit and builds and the game will have a "very high skill limit," I'm told. There are still plenty of stats for you to delve into as you dole out weapons and armour to your assembled grunts, and the progression you'll experience will be mostly a "lateral" affair rather than a string of straightforward upgrades.

Meanwhile, when it comes to the factions you'll be trying to butter up, you'll have to choose between missions that offer different, but equally valuable strategic rewards. It all sounds quite agonising, basically.

Life is a battlefield​

In terms of combat, Overhype is calling Menace a "hardcore" turn-based tactics game. You gear up your squad—consisting of three to nine hapless rubes—give them a leader (one of the aforementioned 26), and you're off to the races across procgen tactical maps. Intel will be crucial, the devs tell me, and knowing where your enemies are going to be before you even set foot on the battlefield will be essential to pulling off flawless victory. Then again, you can always destroy chunks of the environment to uncover them.

So it'll be tough, but hopefully not unfair. The Taaks told me that in their previous game, it sometimes felt as if "Battle Brothers was punishing you for no reason," a feeling they want to avoid in Menace.

Your troops won't have classes; you'll be free to equip them with whatever gear you think best fits the occasion, but the type of gear you have access to will change the longer you spend in the Wayback System. The longer you're there, the more you'll have to rely on the weapons and gear wielded by the region's native denizens, and the more sophisticated will become the cyborg threat you're meant to actually be warring against.

The war to come​

So consider me interested. We won't know how these pieces all fit together until the game actually hits some time next year, but everything Overhype is saying has me excited to get my hands on the studio's take on XCOM. Everything I ever played of Battle Brothers ended in all sorts of gore and tragedy. I expect my time with Menace will be much the same. Past or future, some things never change.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[The Wall]

Can you play as white straight guy? It's feature that used to be present in old games, prior to: 2030. I know it's not legal everywhere now, in America you get jailed for it, but it's still allowed here on the Moon

 

[Sarissofoi]

I am not sure that there is even a player character. If anything you are again leading from the back - although this time it actually make sense - no more captain of mercenary company hiding in the bushes and screaming orders. Quite lame that was. Now you scream from space ship. Now that is cool, is't it?
That saying we don't know if there will be any avatar for a player or any customization for him if there is one. May be you will be able to choose a prefix so finally you will be called a madam instead of sir(I bet some folks will wet their pants thinking about it).

 

[PanteraNera]

 

[Sarissofoi]

Black girl look QT and well dressed, Chang look pretty solid, Pike look tired of this shit(no wonder he need to work with females and PoC) but what the hell is wrong with this latina girl? And no I don't mean scars or visible disfigurements but all that bandages and ''treatment''. Like what the hell? Also it looks like the zip is on the wrong hight.

 

[ArchAngel]

Black girl look QT and well dressed, Chang look pretty solid, Pike look tired of this shit(no wonder he need to work with females and PoC) but what the hell is wrong with this latina girl? And no I don't mean scars or visible disfigurements but all that bandages and ''treatment''. Like what the hell? Also it looks like the zip is on the wrong hight.

She does not like to rest and recover.

 

[thesecret1]

what the hell is wrong with this latina girl?

Burned coal, paid toll.