Templar Battleforce - Squad level tactical RPG in an universe heavily influenced by W40K

[Alienman]

Just bought this for 10 euros and so far I have to say it's really damn awesome. It's basically Warhammer 40k. Not officially of course, but it has the same premise. Space, marines in big armor and alien hordes that want to eat your innards. Space Hulk I guess

I have played 3 missions so far, and I'm really impressed so far. Loads and loads of upgrades to be researched, good graphics (for what it is), and all units have many different stats. Every soldier also have his own statistics, so you can follow how the guys perform. You can also rename and customize the looks of the space marines. I haven't lost anyone yet, so I'm not sure how it works, if death is permanent or not. And yeah, you will get to level up each soldier as well, and there seems to be several different classes.

Bought this on a whim, and just want to share if anyone else is in the mood for some X-com combat since it's not very expensive.



Oh, the story is also pleasantly fun (so far).

 

[Burning Bridges]

Looks great, thanks.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Not-Space Marines fighting not-Tyranids, looks good.

 

[almondblight]

I haven't lost anyone yet, so I'm not sure how it works, if death is permanent or not.

It depends on the difficulty level. At the higher difficulties they have perma-death for party members, at the highest ones it's iron-man (lose a mission and it's game over).

 

[Alienman]

It depends on the difficulty level. At the higher difficulties they have perma-death for party members, at the highest ones it's iron-man (lose a mission and it's game over).

Ah okay, playing on normal atm. No deaths so far.

 

[Aothan]

yes although I have not played as much as I should the game has appeal

I'm not sure whether to focus on one side of the skills and class tree or try to expand more generally to open up a few general selections first before trying to reach one of the specialisations

for a strategy game there is a lot of 'rpg-ish' emphasis on unit design, for now I've taken preliminary levels across the Paladin side for healing and shield use, and might focus on some more general selections for all units

I'm still trying to figure out how auras work, even within range of the unit's radius it does not always appear that other units in line of sigh receive the same bonuses, at least by visual indication of the activation effect

 

[Alienman]

With auras you mean buffs?

 

[Aothan]

yes, the animation is not always evident, but actually it may be issues with line of sight or even one unit standing in the way of another. If so then units need to be if not directly adjacent then not obstructed by another unit. As it so happens a new update was just introduced in the last few hours, including additions for animations on effects:

"The version 1.1.23 update also includes all new rendered equipment screens for your Templars. On the battlefield, you'll see improved animations for buffing throughout your Captain and Soldiers."

 

[lightbane]

So, not-Space Hulk/Deathwatch. Quite strange that GW's Adeptus Lawyerstarters haven't noticed and sued this game yet. In any case, I'm sure this is probably better than the latest Space Hulk game, ironically enough. Too bad I haven't been able to find a demo so far, I would like to try the game before doing anything, but that's not an option it seems.

 

[Norfleet]

So, not-Space Hulk/Deathwatch. Quite strange that GW's Adeptus Lawyerstarters haven't noticed and sued this game yet.

Well, sure. Because "Dudes In Power Suits Fighting Hordes of Bugs" predates 40K. The most prominent example I can think of is Heinlein, but I know that wasn't the first...

 

[Alienman]

So, not-Space Hulk/Deathwatch. Quite strange that GW's Adeptus Lawyerstarters haven't noticed and sued this game yet. In any case, I'm sure this is probably better than the latest Space Hulk game, ironically enough. Too bad I haven't been able to find a demo so far, I would like to try the game before doing anything, but that's not an option it seems.

You have the option of refund on steam. Just make sure you don't play for more than 2 hours.

 

[Aothan]

anyone know if the missions have random objective patterns, such as those where a series of power nodes need to be activated, because it seems I am frequently activating the wrong nodes

 

[Aothan]

Ferarai: Power Relay Grid

56 turns -_-

 

[Mychkine]

As the title says, I'm currently playing Tactical Battleroce, a little gem of a tactical game

http://www.templarbattleforce.com/.

I found about the game in French RPG site RPGFrance, who gave it a straight 8/10, a very good grade around there.

A good ten hours into the game I must say this is a very vell designed game. Game systems are simple but efficent, a big upgrade tree means there is choice in how you develop your squad. People say that there is a lot of replayability thanks to this and to a branching story.

The storyline may be a bit derivative, but so far I'm enjoying it enough that it drives me from mission to mission. Variety of objectives, primary and secondary, also enhence the game expercience.

The game systems are much more simple than X-COM, with no real cover or stealth mechanisms, but the game somewhat counterbalances that with swarms of ennemies and manages to acheve a well amount of tension while fightings the wawes of non-xenomorphs and non-Tyrannids. At the moment, it plays like a mix between a X-COM like game and a Fire Emblem game.
Note that there are 4 difficulty levels with both permadeath and non-permadeath modes.

Graphics are functionnal, in-battle ones work reasonabily well at least. The mobile game roots of the game sometimes shows, but there is nothing unbearable.

I think this game deserves more attention here, for it has a lot of good points and few weaknesses.

 

[Archibald]

There is another thread for this game: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/templar-battleforce.103632/page-2

Maybe some mod could merge these two or something like that.

 

[Aothan]

I have been playing and enjoying Battleforce for a few months now, it is still too early for me to properly decide on some elements but overall the quality is good with a lot of emphasis on unit design and as mentioned the tech tree

for the unit combination I am presently trying a lot of focus went to the Engineer to see whether an early skill advancement along the engineering side would balance the relative limitations of this unit in other roles. But it may be the Engineer's capabilities are more evident in later parts of the game, specifically the ability to vent heat which can accumulate very quickly and noticeably on some units for certain missions

I strongly recommend the Paladin which can equally support the most naturally effective unit, the captain, whilst also ensuring the Engineer and Scout classes (and all other units) can be healed if they get focused by the xenos. The Paladin is also a very effective front line unit and can take advanced shield and defensive skills which means they can serve a pivotal role by supporting all units, taking the front line with or without the captain, and sometimes even running alone towards one of the objectives

the game has a lot of potential and whilst I think there are a few issues worth considering the same don't really limit playability and could be improved in time anyway; the developers have the uncanny ability to presage what players (such as myself) would consider areas for improvement and adjust or improve content within a day or so of players thinking about these issues (it is rather uncanny how often they do this)

 

[spectre]

I got it recently, haven't finished whole yet, but I made decent progress (nearing end of mini-campaign 2), good enough for a first impression I think.

My biggest fear was the interface. While it shows its tablet origins, and is a bit quirky, it's not that bad. I had to figure out how to work some of the skils.
Biggest gripe so far is that it's not always clear to me if an attack that's supposed to hit adjacent stuff will hit what I need it to hit.

The "cutscenes" are very low budget, but the actual meat of the game is serviceable.

Gameplay wise, I have to say that I enjoyed it way better than the other Space Hulks and similar games.
It actually reminds me of Incubation a lot, and in a good way. The missions are quite varied so I wasn't bored to death by the same rows of 1x1 corridors.
The not-actually-terminators also feel just right - dishing death left and right, but can also take a few scratches.
They will die quicky when overwhelmed, though, but when it happens I felt it being my fault and not because of fudged dice - quite a welcome feeling.

The game's other main attraction is the big ass tree of unlockables to customize your squad. It's pretty intimidating at first, and it's not easy to decide
which shit is important and which isn't. On the one hand, I find it naturally attractive, letting me to specialize my fighting force the way I want,
unlocking new skills, new units and even relic gear.
However, I must recognize that it also has lots of stuff that feels like filler. Very often you find that the upgrade is a mere +1 to something,
and while that +1 is actually an additional die (I can't say I got the hang of the system just yet, but it's only because I didn't feel like doing the reading,
the game uses a pool of "soft" and "hard" d10 dice for checks - comparing the number of successes "hard" dice have approx. double chance to score a success)
Sadly, I began to feel diminishing returns quite early.

So how does it all come together? I won't deny, I had a fun time with it, and will probably come back to it.
It works as a much better version of full control's Space Hulk, gameplay wise.
The campaign seems to be branching (as in - you get to choose some stuff, but didn't have time to check how much it actually changes, most likely it's just a different insertion point),
but the missions play similarly, so most of the replay value is in how you develop your fighting force.
That's nothing to sneeze at, cause there is quite a bit of combinations (even though it seems some of them only differ in flavor).

All in all, it has its charm, but it can be clunky at times.
One thing that rubbed me the wrong way in particular is that while the game is big on squad customization, it sometimes leaves you surprisingly little room to maneuver.
The squad limit is not particularly big (unless I am missing an upgrade option there somewhere - that tech tree is vast, mang) and the gametime has a habit of
filling the precious soldier slots for you with manadatory characters.

 

[Aothan]

speaking of the multiple pathways on the tree, I'm yet to even access the Neptune, so I don't know what type of abilities they offer compared to the Hydra. I've relinquished trying to focus on the Engineer, skills have already moved past character level and not much is really showing for an early focus on the Engineer class. For skill choices I think some beginning points in a number of areas can help to open up early to mid-level ranges of itemisation.

 

[spectre]

Swear to dog, there's plenty of good stuff crammed in that tree, but navigating it is a bitch. I just found a +1 move suit for the captain amongst the scout stuff.
Will be fucking ridiculous when stacked with all the other buffs.

Engineer is a support class, so he's only as good as the rest of your guys. IMO, his best early use is heat dissipation and the shield. Heat spikes like crazy once you start upgrading your units' movement and use high level abilities.
I've heard his turrets become crazy good once you max engineering, but I've yet to try it.
It also looks like delving deep into the engineer tree can help your hydras a lot. I've seen a bunch of really swell +heat reactors that can be shared with them.

Neptune seems to be similar to the Soldier, looking at their primary abilities. I think I'd still take the soldier for the movement buff, unless in a purely defensive scenario. Neptunes can also vent their own heat which can be a big bonus
given the amount of heat generated by overwatch fire (which I find ridiculously good in all scenarios btw).

Hydra I haven't tried Hydras at all (some of that aoe looks crazy), which bit me in the ass in the campaign as I had to suffer an unupgraded and severely underpowered mandatory hydra for a bunch of missions.
Makes me wanna start the whole thing over, AGAIN. I'll never beat this thing at this rate.

 

[Aothan]

that was part of my original theory with the Engineer, in conjunction with other support and special ability skills, they could also effectively fulfil the role of a Soldier with turret placements, but the number of turrets remains limited and there is a bottleneck on training because of character level (so early advancement in these directions along the tree has not been very useful)

the turrets are relatively strong however, they have almost twice the range of a soldier using overwatch which can be great for some areas, yet overall the same class focus could reliably be given to Scouts (with their high mobility and range as support units)

I am also interested in starting anew but will do after completing the current game and then move to a higher difficulty, it would also be useful to see how the earlier lineup of missions have been changed with all various changes since included

edit: I would also like to potentially test the Paladin + other unit type combination with classes that already perform well, e.g. the Captain with a secondary firearm in place of a shield, so they can fire at range and then hold the line for multiple counter-attacks whilst relying on the Paladin's support and healing abilities to ensure they are not overwhelmed for want of defence

 

[spectre]

Yeah, you get a lot of benefit from having prior knowledge of the missions, I found that my experience was much smoother and overall satisfying when I replayed the tutorial missions.
Not sure if I like this approach, given that the game's to playing go mode seems to be blind ironman.
I think the game was conceived to accomodate randomly generated campaigns, and I do hope the devs are planning on something like this down the line.
give me a more informative briefing screen and the game will really take off for me.

So you're saying melee does it for you. I've been toying around with the idea of melee scouts (5 attacks, that's almost equivalent to the aoe blade wave) though I prefer to rely
on soldiers in overwatch who simply never let the xenos get within arms reach. Haven't had much success with the Paladin so far, healing proved useful on one mission, but med drops proved much more flexible for me so far.
(he also randomly exploded on me, I am still wondering why) Not to mention, the cost is pretty hefty and I am a sucker for meeting turn limits - I can often get a scout + soldier combo down and press on (still not sure yet if it's worth it,
there's definitely more than one way to play this game).

 

[Dayyālu]

Hydra I haven't tried Hydras at all (some of that aoe looks crazy), which bit me in the ass in the campaign as I had to suffer an unupgraded and severely underpowered mandatory hydra for a bunch of missions.
Makes me wanna start the whole thing over, AGAIN. I'll never beat this thing at this rate.

I liek this game. It's a dumb, big love letter to Space Hulk. Money well spent, bar the tablet interface. The amount of builds and things you can experiment on is very nice.

Hydras are godly. At least I love them, the Flame denial is golden in a ton of situations (Grenades+flamestorm can knock out even heavy turrets in an istant). Plus the damage and the area fire is excellent to kill the smaller critters, or to weaken new incoming ones: one of my favouirite tactics is to even charge with my HtH troops and fire resist armour while the whole area is in flames. And the image of heavy power armoured troops chargin' in while the area is a blazing inferno never fails to amuse me.

Against human soldiers, they are even more awesome, as they have good range and all their attacks are instakill, with the denial even more effective.

the turrets are relatively strong however, they have almost twice the range of a soldier using overwatch which can be great for some areas, yet overall the same class focus could reliably be given to Scouts (with their high mobility and range as support units)

Turrets are better than scouts. A lot of missions force you an engineer for capture reasons, and high-level turrets can hold chokepoints, tac points and even be employed as distractions against HtH xenos. And they are cheap as fuck.

Scouts, I don't know how to use well. Great for getting objectives in a short time or for sniping, but sniping is not that good compared to Soldiers or Neptune fire.

 

[Aothan]

with Scouts my reasoning follows that they support other units, much like the different units serve special roles within a squad. So when moving across distances the squad has to keep a perimeter, and the more situations arise the more this border begins to be challenged and typically more than one side simultaneously. Scouts are very useful for supporting across the distance between areas where a Soldier or Captain might be not be able to reach, let alone move out of the zone they are keeping in check. A Scout's mobility and range means they can stay within the border and move within range of any xenos that will likely start compromising the perimeter (i.e. attacking units and forcing additional measures), they also have a number of abilities to reduce movement speed and armour as I recall

Scouts are also useful for reconnaissance and revealing areas ahead with scanning but I'm yet to try to make use of their stealth capabilities

Engineers' turrets are useful in very specific scenarios and of course Engineers are designed around utilities for capturing resource nodes and the like, and they have also have some very useful abilities they can use to increase squad defences.

 

[Zetor]

I picked this up on android to have something to play during long commutes / flights, and it's pretty damn good! How long is the campaign, btw? I'm just about to finish things up on Rychart Prime, I think.

Regarding classes: so far I'd say Hydra is definitely the MVP due to crazy good AOE combined with area denial and spawn point disabling (yeah, if you light up a xeno spawning hole, it'll be disabled until the fire burns out). Only problem is the relative squishiness, he seems to die almost as fast as an engineer or scout. My second best unit is the Neptune... essentially a better soldier with the ability to vent their own heat. Soldiers, on the other hand, seem to be a bit lackluster. I still use the one I started the game with, but he's usually relegated to "overwatch behind the group" duty, and I'm very tempted to just dump him for a new Neptune instead. Neptunes are waaay better at overwatching with their extended range and heat venting, and then there are the various long-range AOE gun abilities. Scouts are... okay. They faceplant really quickly in actual combat, but their movement range allows them to kite xenos with impunity, and the debuff on their shots can come in handy too. However, they're mainly useful as "that guy who activates all the objective tiles". Engineers are mandatory and do OK (definitely get sentry turret asap, if only to have some extra targets for the xenos), but they seem to overheat way too quickly, which renders the 'drain heat' ability not as useful as it looks at first glance. Haven't tried paladins and berserks yet, but paladin looks like it could be useful in missions where you need to split your team so that both teams can have a meatshield up front.

As for mobility, I guess the bonus move ability from soldiers could be handy, but in the missions where you gotta go fast I just used a scout and the captain stacking all the speed boosts they could for like 9 MP. At that point you're going to overheat in 3 turns anyway...

 

[Aothan]

they say approximately 30 missions, although that may have increased since launch

I use Scouts to ensure the entire squad can keep mobile, their flexibility in range and movement means they can help the different units keep their relative formations, and yes a Scout that becomes isolated or focused on is extremely vulnerable

as to Paladins, a good example of their prowess comes from the missions where the Commander (I think it is the Commander) is added to the squad (which I think is an issue with game design, since they tend to be of an advanced level and not usually necessary), they can block upwards of four or more attacks, both in melee and at range