What's the Deal? Gallius IV- a newly-discovered planet rich with natural resouces, has quickly gained the attention of nine spacefaring races: the ChCh't, Maug, Re'Lu, Tarth, Uva Mosk, Skirineen, and the Tolnans. Each race has its own reasons for wanting Gallius IV, but basically, it can satisfy their greatest desires. The only thing stopping an all-out war for the ownership of this planet is the hastily drawn-up Compact of Gallius IV. Instead of continuing the battles in space, the conflicts will be settled on the planet itself. Colonies will be developed, and the first one to make the most city centers, or to drive off the other colonies through warfare, will get the planet. The Review
As you can tell, these are pretty minor points, so they really don't detract from the game at all. Countering these bad points, Deadlock has some pretty good features as well. There is a help library in the form of the peaceful Tolnans. If you right-click on a square of land, a structure, or troops, a help screen will popup with a female Tolnan to explain characteristics or other important facts. It's also important to remember the left double click. You can do this on a square in the close-up view of your colony's land, and find out what squares are best for what resouces, so you can maximize resources easily. There is, of course, the option to play Deadlock over the modem. You can do this the traditional network way with friends, or you can join a service and pay to play with people all over the world. I didn't want to spend the money, so I didn't try it, but it sounds great! Basic Strategy In war, the one with the best technology will win. Plain and simple. Therefore, many universities and tech centers need to be functioning. I recommend a minimum of at least five throughout your colonies. If you find yourself with a lot of money on hand and don't know where to spend it, build tech centers! Factories are also very important to have, not only to churn out tank after tank, but they also bring in money through trade. I also really like to have a lot of missile bases - they can cause damage to other colonies with no risk, but they are fairly cheap. Very important in a colony: laser or energy defense! I made the mistake a couple of times of not building these, and lost a couple of colonies. It's a real uphill battle to retake lost colonies! If you opt to build a lot of city centers, you need to get as much money as you can get, as fast as you can get it. Once again, use factories for this, and use most of them exclusively for trade. You can also build up a surplus of resources, and then sell them off to the Skirineen, who are the Black Market on Gallius IV. This is somewhat risky, because it causes the colonists to be unhappy with you. They will stay at home and not work, albeit for a short time. Morale is kind of tricky, but reasonably easy to take care of. I was finding that a lot of my colonista were staying at home because they were angry over overpopulation. This will simply happen no matter what! Just build a museum and a cultural center in every colony, and that will satisfy them, even to the point where you can raise taxes! I'm a slow learner, so it took me awhile to get over this aggravating problem... The Rating --Cris |