More on Gameplay

The Big Ships

Bombers are just that - bombers. Huge, lumbering, turreted and tough. They are the preferred assault craft as they are relatively cheap and capable of taking out an enemy installation with limited support. The problem is that as soon as one is spotted, everyone goes for it. Fortunately, bombers are capable and can handle themselves.

Capital Ships are the game-breakers. If there's a stalemate and everyone has a lot of resources, it's usually a race to who can get a cruiser or frigate first. Impossibly tough, the only things they should ever fear are bombers and other Cap Ships.

When you lag bad, it's hard to dock

All that red text means trouble

The drawbacks to both heavy types of craft are identical: manpower. Both need to have a crew of gunners before they can launch. Once they launch, it takes them a long, long time to reach their targets. This means that the crew is usually totally unproductive for the first 5 minutes of its voyage as they try and reach enemy space, and that once they reach their destination, they'd better take something big out. You see, if you get shot, you're in an escape pod and have to go back to your own base which takes a very long time. If a big ship gets blasted, that means at least 2 or 3 crewers are floating out there uselessly. If all they've done is take out enemy fighters, then nothing has been accomplished since those fighters are closer to their own base and can get back into combat sooner. If they've taken out an installation, great job. Building losses hurt, especially the really valuable buildings that need special (eg, uranium) asteroids to build on.

Huge... massive... furball...

AHHH! Not again!

In addition to the standard craft, there is also a researchable advanced/heavy variant which is typically a significant improvement over its predecessor.

Final Thoughts

Allegiance looks great - it has tons of potential. There are only a few technical glitches we've encountered (a rare random lockup, a few issues with ICQ and Internet Connection Sharing), but that's easily forgiveable since this is still a beta. In fact, the only reason we're mentioning this is so that you know and will turn off ICQ/ICS to have a better experience.

Grrr! DIE BOMBER!

Dude, do I suck or what?

Gameplay is excellent with a clearly different twist on the space and team-game genres. This coupled with above-average graphics, sound and an excellent interface makes Allegiance look like a sure-fire hit.