Gameplay

With 25% more meat

Shattered Galaxy is split into two modes, Hero and Battle. Hero mode is like a role-playing game -- you can buy/sell/upgrade units, check status, form the squads you take into battle, check on your political standing, and distribute skill points. It's also how you travel around the planet. No taxies here; you have to walk your ass everywhere. The RPG elements in Hero mode are addicting; as you gain experience in battle, you upgrade your units so they kick more ass, so you go back into battle to gain more experience, upgrade your units...

Biodrives, engines for cyborgs

The who's who list

Battle mode is the meat of Shattered Galaxy. If an enemy enters your territory or vice versa, the battle starts. Your hero character disappears like Optimus Prime's trailer, and is replaced with your Mechs. Controlling Mechs is a standard RTS affair; click to move, shoot, and use special abilities. There is a fog of war shared by all units of a faction.

The distinguishing aspect of Shattered Galaxy is the "massively multiplayer" angle. We've been in battles with up to 40 people; the engine can support over 50 players at a time. Average battles involve more than 20 players, with about 120 units on the battlefield. If your faction is getting whooped, you can always call for help. Each faction has "Overlords", players with high experience who are elected to their position. They have the ability to send messages to all active faction members. You'll commonly see, "24 needs AA (anti-air)," or "Entrance to 15 is Arbed (covered by artillery), wait for them to clear it out," or "37 attack 26."

Artillery weapons

Archers standing guard

Leaders wanted

The player with the highest Tactics is the commander of the battle for his faction. The higher the Tactics level, the more people the commander can lead. So battles with 20 players on a side must have a commander with a high Tactics level leading. There are times when you can't jump into a fight because the battle commander's Tactics level isn't high enough.

Artillery setup

Peregines refueling

Shattered Galaxy is a constant fight for territories. To capture a territory, the invading faction must control the Points of Contention (POC). To control a POC, an invading ground unit must stand on it for a minute. A defending ground unit may interrupt the countdown at any time by standing on the POC. To defend a territory, a faction must destroy all invading units. Defense is much harder than invasion, since you can capture the POCs without destroying all of the defenders.

The battle commander (or whoever speaks up) can "order" other players around to coordinate fights. This is important since most units specialize in either air or ground attacks. Teamwork is necessary to defend POCs; artillery defend against incoming ground, while anti-air defends against incoming planes. On the other side, infiltrators (units disguised as another faction) can sneak in a take out artillery before the faction launches a ground assault. Mind you the tactics in Shattered Galaxy are much more complex than these few examples.

Owls taking out Arbalests

Mobbing a portal