Price : $29.99 or $39.99 with Titans Exansion
Website : http://store.steampowered.com/app/233250/ (original)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/386070/ (Titans Expansion)
I was a little hesitant to put Planetary Annihilation on my Recommendation list. It was over-hyped in production as an Indie kick-starter success story that raised well beyond the stretch goals but turned out to be a different game than what the funding crowd had anticipated. The launch was plagued by bugs and Uber Entertainment's difficulty in communicating with the community / their questionable marketing practices. The game also had a some features that different review sites took issue with. For these reasons there have been a lot of negative and angry reviews on this game.
I still recommend it though as a fun and refreshingly different RTS, one that I thoroughly enjoyed playing and wish I had time to play more of. I've regrettably never played the Titans Expansion so everything here is for original PA.
So PA is an innovative RTS whereby advanced robotic commanders are awakening all across the galaxy to wage endless war upon each other across the stars. Humanity is long gone, it's just the robots now, and there is no story line to play through except that all the other robot commanders are hostile so it's either you or them. If you kill the enemy commander then all of their stuff blows up. If your commander dies then all of your stuff blows up. Your objective? Kill the enemy commanders by any means necessary. How is this innovative? Spherical maps. Travel (and combat) in orbit around and in between said spherical maps. No unit cap. The ability to destroy entire spherical maps (and everything on / around them). There's also a full set of units with unique properties that give the game balance but every RTS worth playing has that. What makes PA's balance stand out is that creates what some enthusiasts have called a 'pure RTS'.
So let's talk about the spherical maps. In most cases RTS maps are flat with Planetary Annihilation being an exception. Flat maps allow you to see everything at a glance via a mini map that usually hangs out in a corner of the UI. Flat maps allow you to see all the possible routes you or your enemy could take towards each other and there is no confusion about which way is up. Spherical maps by contrast mean that you will never be able to see everything at a glance. Nobody can be cornered, enemy movements can be difficult to predict, and sneaky enemies can simply attack your base from a direction you weren't expecting. You can't see what you're units are doing half the time and said units could reach their destination and then be lost out of sight until you randomly spin the map and find them again. Uber added the option of using minimaps that could display the part of the planet that you were currently not focusing on but many gamers found spherical maps frustrating and thought that they should have just stayed an interesting concept and put forth arguments for why they take away from the game in practicality. I disagree. I love spherical maps. I love the ability to expand attack or be attacked from any direction at any time. I love the tactical options they provide. I love taking my enemies by surprise, hitting them from a direction they weren't expecting. I love how you get a huge advantage just by scouting your enemy to see where his troops / buildings are. Spherical maps aren't for everybody, but I loved them and maybe you will too.
The action isn't just on the surface of the planets, it is also taking place in orbit around them. If you zoom out far enough you go into 'orbit mode' which allows you to see the entire planet (or at least the side currently facing the screen) along with what is taking place in space around it. Your units and buildings become too small to identify and are replaced by minimalist icons that (once you get used to them) will easily distinguish what is what and allow you to command your forces without needing to go back down to the planet. Not only can you expand, attack, and be attacked in any direction, "any direction" also includes "up". Take care not to neglect the orbital game because a clever player may begin building orbital guns platforms above your base (I literally cackled with glee when I did this to another player for the first time) or build a mobile death laser satellite to snipe your commander out of the game. You can avoid this fate by building an interplanetary radar system (on the ground) early which will let you see what's going on in space as long as it has power. You can also build 'umbrella' turrets to shoot down orbital enemies or simply go into orbit yourself and create a fleet of spacecraft or construct your own orbital gun platforms.
This is strategy in three dimensions... or at least an outer spherical map around the smaller planet-side spherical map. But it doesn't stop there. Depending on the solar system there may be multiple planets, each a spherical map of its own that can be traveled to.
The level of destruction in Planetary Annihilation is unparalleled by any RTS title. With no unit cap you will be routinely commanding hundreds if not thousands of units at a time. Imagine that your opponent has an entire planet swarming with of bots, tanks, and aircraft. How would you attack that player? Well, to start a full scale planetary invasion all you need to do is build a gateway on the surface (which you can do from orbit) and start sending your forces through. Keep in mind that you only need to kill their commander and PA gives you a few options for how to do that when conventional forces aren't going to do the trick. There is the 'bombard them from orbit' option, but this can be countered by umbrella turrets and orbital defenses. There is the 'Planetary Canon' option which which you can literally shoot your army at a specific location on another planet. They do damage when landing and then more damage once they start shooting and three dozen advanced combat bots will make short work of a commander. Interplanetary nukes can end a game pretty quickly once deployed but they can be countered by anti-nuke missiles (assuming your opponent has them). If things are still not working out then it may be time to consider building thrusters on the moon so that you can SMASH THE MOON INTO THEIR BASE!!! (there is no defense against the moon smashing into your base) Or, if the solar system includes a metal planet, turn it into The Death Star and BLOW UP EVERY PLANET IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM!!! MWUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! All of this to an orchestral soundtrack and robotic affirmation noises that just sound so epic together.
So those are the innovative things that make PA unique. Now let's talk about what an actual game of PA typically looks like. Depending on the game settings your commander is either automatically deployed to a location on a planet or you get to choose your starting location manually. Auto-deployment ensures a mostly equal start for all players while manual deployment is a lot more... interesting. If everyone picks one planet while the last player picks another he will be able to expand and build up undeterred and will probably win the game. If you are unlucky enough to land right beside another commander then you may just die within the first minute of the game or have your start severely slowed down.
In any case, the first objective for new players is to start harvesting minerals and generating energy, the two resources of PA. Minerals are automatically harvested by mining stations built on mineral nodes scattered throughout the map (small green triangle icons). Energy is generated automatically by power generators that can be placed nearly anywhere. Your commander can quickly construct these.
The second objective is to start unit production through one of the four factory types, land vehicles, mechs, air, or water. Each of these factories can construct the basic units of their type in addition to fabricators that can build new buildings or speed up production of factories. Land vehicles are your tanks, flame throwers, and mobile anti-air. They are slower but pack a punch and have a lot of staying power for front line combat. Mechs are weaker but faster than land vehicles and are ideal for raiding. Air factories can build fighters and bombers which are very fast and pack a heavy punch but are expensive and have few hit points. Ships are expensive and slow but carry a lot of firepower and boast exceptionally long range (ideal for leveling coastal bases).
You'll build a few scouts and set them to auto-explore to find where your enemies are. If you're aggressive you'll send some bots to go mess up their resource nodes while using fabricators to claim your own. Depending on what your enemy is doing you may want to build some static defense turrets and you will definitely want to put up radars to let you know if any enemies are incoming.
The economy works on an income / depletion ratio. Units and buildings, whether you are building them or upkeeping them do not cost lump sum of resources (as opposed to StarCraft or Age of Empires) but deplete them over time. If you have resources incoming at a faster rate than they are being depleted then your stockpile gradually goes up. If you are spending resources faster than they are coming in then your stockpile starts to go down. If you run out of either minerals or energy all of your factories keep producing, just at a reduced rate. Radars (and I think turrets) go offline if there is no power left in your stockpile. The 'macro' of PA is to keep expanding your income and while also keeping up production to use all those resources to maximize efficiency.
Once you have secured your position it's time to pick a target and look for ways to kill their commander. Massing tanks is an easy and effective tactic, especially if your target is otherwise occupied fighting another player. If you can't see any way to quickly kill a commander then you need to assess whether it is better to go after his base, keep to raiding, or lie low to build up your forces.
If you can take out a commander or two with your early units then all the more power to you. If they prove difficult to remove then you may want to consider either going orbital or investing into advanced factories. Advanced factories can build advanced units (which are very expensive but exponentially better than standard units) and advanced fabricators which unlock all of the other advanced buildings. This is a true investment as your first advanced factory will take a long time to build and be a huge drain on your economy. The advanced units will greatly improve the effectiveness of your army though and the advanced fabricators can upgrade existing mining nodes and build advanced power generators to send your economy soaring. As for the advanced buildings, they include a variety of of defensive structures, heavy artillery that can shoot across half a planet, nuclear missile silos, anti-nuke silos, planetary canons, Hailey planetary thrusters, and catalysts that can turn metal planets into planet destroying Death Stars.
You always need to be assessing your enemy, trying to figure out his weak spot. Could you overrun him with tanks and just demolish his base? Does he have Anti-air? If not, then 25 bombers will kill his commander awfully quickly. Does he rely too much on air units? They die very quickly if countered. Does he have surveillance? If not then it would sure be frustrating and confusing for him to be attacked on two or three fronts at once. Are his power generators vulnerable? It would be a terrible shame if something where to happen to them... Does he have orbital? No? Time to build some orbital gun platforms over his base. Does he have anti-nukes yet? Is his commander susceptible to a swarm of suicidal boom bots? Remember, once you kill the commander, all of his units and all of his buildings are also destroyed and if you are clever you can put things in motion to kill a commander before the enemy can react to stop you.
Just remember that when a commander dies the blast will destroy everything within a large radius and you may want to pull half your army back when victory is assured.
If you are lucky enough to kick everyone else off your planet then you will have time to scout out the other players, identify their weaknesses, and then also have the sort of economic might to leverage them. Just don't neglect your own defenses, as your enemies can still snipe your commander whilst your are unaware...
Planetary Annihilation isn't perfect but it is innovative, unique, and put together well. I have a few personal caveats that I should put here though. Once your forces get beyond a hundred (as will often happen when there is no unit cap) it is difficult to manage such a large force beyond basic "everyone go this way and shoot all the things" type of instructions. Thankfully none of your units have deployable abilities except for your commander, so it's not a huge issue. Managing bases on two or three planets at once is a real hassle though. I think most players just manage a main base on one planet and then also a forward base on your chosen front of combat. Transport units (at least when I used them) are a real nightmare to use and may just get shot down while you fiddle with their finicky load and unload options.
The campaign is... lacking. You get a map of the galaxy and can travel from system to system. If the system is empty you get to unlock a new technology to take with you, if the system is occupied then you fight the AI using what technologies you have acquired so far to hopefully pick up another new technology. It was an interesting challenge at first to adapt strategies against the AI with a gibbled tech tree but got boring and samey half way through a medium sized galaxy. You can unlock additional commander skins by playing through the campaign but even though I've done half a dozen compaigns I've never had the opportunity to unlock said skins... either the planet required to conquer didn't spawn or it was owned by the wrong faction.
Personally I have had the most fun with playing 6 - 12 player free for all and the 1v1 competitive matches. Other players have really gotten into the alliance mode where you play with a friend to control your faction together. If I had any friends played this game then I would have been all over that.
Overall I think Planetary Annihilation is a fine game. It is a lean mean and streamlined RTS that 'cuts the fat' by getting back to doing the basics well and there's no point in being upset because its different than its predecessors. Anyone who poopoos it for not having more unit types / factions, for using spherical maps, or for Uber's marketing techniques either never understood what PA was before purchasing or felt entitled for some reason. Nobody forced people to purchase the beta for the full price of the finished game and nobody forced people to purchase additional cosmetic commander skins for an exorbitant price. If you're not happy with how much something costs then either wait for a sale or just don't buy it.
In any case I really enjoyed PA and if the user reviews on STEAM are any indication then Uber seems to have appeased their critics with the Titans expansion. I wish I could justify spending the time to play this game again.
So let's talk about the spherical maps. In most cases RTS maps are flat with Planetary Annihilation being an exception. Flat maps allow you to see everything at a glance via a mini map that usually hangs out in a corner of the UI. Flat maps allow you to see all the possible routes you or your enemy could take towards each other and there is no confusion about which way is up. Spherical maps by contrast mean that you will never be able to see everything at a glance. Nobody can be cornered, enemy movements can be difficult to predict, and sneaky enemies can simply attack your base from a direction you weren't expecting. You can't see what you're units are doing half the time and said units could reach their destination and then be lost out of sight until you randomly spin the map and find them again. Uber added the option of using minimaps that could display the part of the planet that you were currently not focusing on but many gamers found spherical maps frustrating and thought that they should have just stayed an interesting concept and put forth arguments for why they take away from the game in practicality. I disagree. I love spherical maps. I love the ability to expand attack or be attacked from any direction at any time. I love the tactical options they provide. I love taking my enemies by surprise, hitting them from a direction they weren't expecting. I love how you get a huge advantage just by scouting your enemy to see where his troops / buildings are. Spherical maps aren't for everybody, but I loved them and maybe you will too.
The action isn't just on the surface of the planets, it is also taking place in orbit around them. If you zoom out far enough you go into 'orbit mode' which allows you to see the entire planet (or at least the side currently facing the screen) along with what is taking place in space around it. Your units and buildings become too small to identify and are replaced by minimalist icons that (once you get used to them) will easily distinguish what is what and allow you to command your forces without needing to go back down to the planet. Not only can you expand, attack, and be attacked in any direction, "any direction" also includes "up". Take care not to neglect the orbital game because a clever player may begin building orbital guns platforms above your base (I literally cackled with glee when I did this to another player for the first time) or build a mobile death laser satellite to snipe your commander out of the game. You can avoid this fate by building an interplanetary radar system (on the ground) early which will let you see what's going on in space as long as it has power. You can also build 'umbrella' turrets to shoot down orbital enemies or simply go into orbit yourself and create a fleet of spacecraft or construct your own orbital gun platforms.
This is strategy in three dimensions... or at least an outer spherical map around the smaller planet-side spherical map. But it doesn't stop there. Depending on the solar system there may be multiple planets, each a spherical map of its own that can be traveled to.
The level of destruction in Planetary Annihilation is unparalleled by any RTS title. With no unit cap you will be routinely commanding hundreds if not thousands of units at a time. Imagine that your opponent has an entire planet swarming with of bots, tanks, and aircraft. How would you attack that player? Well, to start a full scale planetary invasion all you need to do is build a gateway on the surface (which you can do from orbit) and start sending your forces through. Keep in mind that you only need to kill their commander and PA gives you a few options for how to do that when conventional forces aren't going to do the trick. There is the 'bombard them from orbit' option, but this can be countered by umbrella turrets and orbital defenses. There is the 'Planetary Canon' option which which you can literally shoot your army at a specific location on another planet. They do damage when landing and then more damage once they start shooting and three dozen advanced combat bots will make short work of a commander. Interplanetary nukes can end a game pretty quickly once deployed but they can be countered by anti-nuke missiles (assuming your opponent has them). If things are still not working out then it may be time to consider building thrusters on the moon so that you can SMASH THE MOON INTO THEIR BASE!!! (there is no defense against the moon smashing into your base) Or, if the solar system includes a metal planet, turn it into The Death Star and BLOW UP EVERY PLANET IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM!!! MWUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! All of this to an orchestral soundtrack and robotic affirmation noises that just sound so epic together.
So those are the innovative things that make PA unique. Now let's talk about what an actual game of PA typically looks like. Depending on the game settings your commander is either automatically deployed to a location on a planet or you get to choose your starting location manually. Auto-deployment ensures a mostly equal start for all players while manual deployment is a lot more... interesting. If everyone picks one planet while the last player picks another he will be able to expand and build up undeterred and will probably win the game. If you are unlucky enough to land right beside another commander then you may just die within the first minute of the game or have your start severely slowed down.
In any case, the first objective for new players is to start harvesting minerals and generating energy, the two resources of PA. Minerals are automatically harvested by mining stations built on mineral nodes scattered throughout the map (small green triangle icons). Energy is generated automatically by power generators that can be placed nearly anywhere. Your commander can quickly construct these.
The second objective is to start unit production through one of the four factory types, land vehicles, mechs, air, or water. Each of these factories can construct the basic units of their type in addition to fabricators that can build new buildings or speed up production of factories. Land vehicles are your tanks, flame throwers, and mobile anti-air. They are slower but pack a punch and have a lot of staying power for front line combat. Mechs are weaker but faster than land vehicles and are ideal for raiding. Air factories can build fighters and bombers which are very fast and pack a heavy punch but are expensive and have few hit points. Ships are expensive and slow but carry a lot of firepower and boast exceptionally long range (ideal for leveling coastal bases).
You'll build a few scouts and set them to auto-explore to find where your enemies are. If you're aggressive you'll send some bots to go mess up their resource nodes while using fabricators to claim your own. Depending on what your enemy is doing you may want to build some static defense turrets and you will definitely want to put up radars to let you know if any enemies are incoming.
The economy works on an income / depletion ratio. Units and buildings, whether you are building them or upkeeping them do not cost lump sum of resources (as opposed to StarCraft or Age of Empires) but deplete them over time. If you have resources incoming at a faster rate than they are being depleted then your stockpile gradually goes up. If you are spending resources faster than they are coming in then your stockpile starts to go down. If you run out of either minerals or energy all of your factories keep producing, just at a reduced rate. Radars (and I think turrets) go offline if there is no power left in your stockpile. The 'macro' of PA is to keep expanding your income and while also keeping up production to use all those resources to maximize efficiency.
Once you have secured your position it's time to pick a target and look for ways to kill their commander. Massing tanks is an easy and effective tactic, especially if your target is otherwise occupied fighting another player. If you can't see any way to quickly kill a commander then you need to assess whether it is better to go after his base, keep to raiding, or lie low to build up your forces.
If you can take out a commander or two with your early units then all the more power to you. If they prove difficult to remove then you may want to consider either going orbital or investing into advanced factories. Advanced factories can build advanced units (which are very expensive but exponentially better than standard units) and advanced fabricators which unlock all of the other advanced buildings. This is a true investment as your first advanced factory will take a long time to build and be a huge drain on your economy. The advanced units will greatly improve the effectiveness of your army though and the advanced fabricators can upgrade existing mining nodes and build advanced power generators to send your economy soaring. As for the advanced buildings, they include a variety of of defensive structures, heavy artillery that can shoot across half a planet, nuclear missile silos, anti-nuke silos, planetary canons, Hailey planetary thrusters, and catalysts that can turn metal planets into planet destroying Death Stars.
You always need to be assessing your enemy, trying to figure out his weak spot. Could you overrun him with tanks and just demolish his base? Does he have Anti-air? If not, then 25 bombers will kill his commander awfully quickly. Does he rely too much on air units? They die very quickly if countered. Does he have surveillance? If not then it would sure be frustrating and confusing for him to be attacked on two or three fronts at once. Are his power generators vulnerable? It would be a terrible shame if something where to happen to them... Does he have orbital? No? Time to build some orbital gun platforms over his base. Does he have anti-nukes yet? Is his commander susceptible to a swarm of suicidal boom bots? Remember, once you kill the commander, all of his units and all of his buildings are also destroyed and if you are clever you can put things in motion to kill a commander before the enemy can react to stop you.
Just remember that when a commander dies the blast will destroy everything within a large radius and you may want to pull half your army back when victory is assured.
If you are lucky enough to kick everyone else off your planet then you will have time to scout out the other players, identify their weaknesses, and then also have the sort of economic might to leverage them. Just don't neglect your own defenses, as your enemies can still snipe your commander whilst your are unaware...
Planetary Annihilation isn't perfect but it is innovative, unique, and put together well. I have a few personal caveats that I should put here though. Once your forces get beyond a hundred (as will often happen when there is no unit cap) it is difficult to manage such a large force beyond basic "everyone go this way and shoot all the things" type of instructions. Thankfully none of your units have deployable abilities except for your commander, so it's not a huge issue. Managing bases on two or three planets at once is a real hassle though. I think most players just manage a main base on one planet and then also a forward base on your chosen front of combat. Transport units (at least when I used them) are a real nightmare to use and may just get shot down while you fiddle with their finicky load and unload options.
The campaign is... lacking. You get a map of the galaxy and can travel from system to system. If the system is empty you get to unlock a new technology to take with you, if the system is occupied then you fight the AI using what technologies you have acquired so far to hopefully pick up another new technology. It was an interesting challenge at first to adapt strategies against the AI with a gibbled tech tree but got boring and samey half way through a medium sized galaxy. You can unlock additional commander skins by playing through the campaign but even though I've done half a dozen compaigns I've never had the opportunity to unlock said skins... either the planet required to conquer didn't spawn or it was owned by the wrong faction.
Personally I have had the most fun with playing 6 - 12 player free for all and the 1v1 competitive matches. Other players have really gotten into the alliance mode where you play with a friend to control your faction together. If I had any friends played this game then I would have been all over that.
Overall I think Planetary Annihilation is a fine game. It is a lean mean and streamlined RTS that 'cuts the fat' by getting back to doing the basics well and there's no point in being upset because its different than its predecessors. Anyone who poopoos it for not having more unit types / factions, for using spherical maps, or for Uber's marketing techniques either never understood what PA was before purchasing or felt entitled for some reason. Nobody forced people to purchase the beta for the full price of the finished game and nobody forced people to purchase additional cosmetic commander skins for an exorbitant price. If you're not happy with how much something costs then either wait for a sale or just don't buy it.
In any case I really enjoyed PA and if the user reviews on STEAM are any indication then Uber seems to have appeased their critics with the Titans expansion. I wish I could justify spending the time to play this game again.
