DonPrestoni

If you enjoy city/resource management sims and strategy games, this is one you really should pick up. I picked this game up 10 days ago and have already clocked up around 120 hours. First off, a bit of appreciation for the games difficulty settings. The frequency, size and strength of enemy attacks can be varied anywhere from "Off"/(x 0.5) to "Double"/(x 2). You can also further choose to vary what enemies attack you on a type by type basis. don't like spiders? Turn them off. Only want to fight zombies, go for it. Ok, lets start with your Gnomes. You control a band of gnomes, and the level of stats and attributes is impressive. It almost gives your gnomes a personality. Oh, and they all have names, so get them killed and you may feel guilty. BUT. Your Gnomes are pretty dumb. The AI isn't bad, but it isn't great. They will try to do things they can't, seal themselves in rooms they built, dig themselves into pits. But you only have yourself to blame. Careful use of commands and doing things in order can avoid all this trouble. Give your gnomes smart commands and see your efficiency sore. The graphics are basic but perfectly adequate, but don't let that put you off. Where this game truly shines is the depth. The economy is deep and varied, but based on a common and simple set of principles. This combines to give you a huge variety of things to do in your sandbox, but lets you learn the mechanics relatively easily. As a result, no play through is the same, your city/fortress will always look different. From improvements to efficiency made simply by giving your population access to bags, wheelbarrows and buckets to complex production lines where the forge produces metal which is worked by machine shops to be used by the engineers to build the devices you invented. And there are a good variety of industries to get involved in. The other aspect of this game that shines is the mechanics system. A solid addition to the tech research trees (you gain access to more mechanical do-hickeys as you complete research), you can build machines limited only by your imagination, and I guess to an extent by the tools available. So far, while the game is in beta there are 3 devices, hatches which close holes when powered, mechanical walls which block passages when powered and pumps which move liquid from one place to another. There are all sorts of switches and power sources you can use from hand cranks to engines and levers to pressure plates, but put them together and you can do some awesome things. Working purely in 2D I have so far made 1 way doors which can be locked from both directions, drawbridges, goblin crushers (a cunning combination of a mechanical wall and a roof...) and pitfalls. Yesterday I ventured into 3D and my machines gained a whole level of complexity. Yes, the game is 3D, didn't I mention that? You can build up or down as well as outwards. The military side of things has not been forgotten either. And you have options. Will you live in isolation in a walled off and sealed city forgoing trade and immigration? Will you have a small force of elite troops? A larger but less focused military? No military at all but have every citizen able to join the armed militia if the need arises? Will you use traps and mechanics to fight for you? The options are there for you to use. Lastly, the information. The level of detail behind the scenes is staggering. But the game does it's best to make anything sensible visible to you. This is helped by the flexibility of the UI. everything can be renamed. And everything can be viewed where appropriate. The UI takes a short while to learn, but is pretty intuitive. There are action bars and a right click menu, both letting you do anything. Things are generally in sensible places. And the UI is being worked on all the time. Resizeable windows, extra options and settings on your resources for prioritisation and stock forwarding. So go for it, your city is in your hands.