Slick wrote on Nov 4, 2015, 03:53:
eRe4s3r wrote on Nov 3, 2015, 23:28:
The game is a sandbox by default now, the "story" is just things that guide you. You can literally ignore all combat missions (by just pushing your corporation level up by 1) and build however you want. That said, it seems advisable to maybe do the missions anyway
This works because the sector you pick defines which corporation "guides" you. There are 9 sectors (3 arctic, 3 normal, 3 moon) and getting the last 3 moon sectors to profitable state is .. super, SUPER, end-game.
That said I can see what people mean with stuff missing. The feeling of interacting with AI players is totally gone. It makes the world much less alive. The combat missions on the other hand are a lot more than that, they are nearly puzzles and often have their own mini story. I don't love them, but they are a nice diversion after an hour of building. The main challenge behind the game is definitely electricity and money. (I play on "advanced" or whatever)
I am only barely scratching the end of stage 3 (moon -> Fusion Generator is built but off because of the insane costs of that cycle) so not sure what else is to come, but it's already a fact that without module creation and the ark the complexity went down (at the same time, heat management in the arctic is a TOUGH nut to crack, it'll take you FOREVER to get that profitable, and even longer for Moon (where every "route" of wares to or from costs a flat 3000 credits. And you may be swimming in money for a time in this, but the Moon makes you realize that +100k profits is really nothing ^^
So far I enjoy it greatly. I mean I am playing it and I want to play it.. I am going to remain skeptical of the season pass though... it was part of the key I purchased apparently (no way to tell in uPlay anyway)
The best part of Anno 2205? Moving buildings around at no cost this improves the game immensely.
excellent synopsis.
and i didn't know you could move buildings around after "plopping", what is the command to do so? I don't even know how to rotate buildings... My ADD cities are pretty messy, i was considering restarting, but If i can rotate and re-plop buildings, that will save me.
*and for what it's worth, I apologize for digging into you for your "snarky comment" on the Justin Trudeau thread a couple weeks back, I wasn't feeling the sarcasm at the time. And was in hyper Canada defensive mode, hockeysticks half drawn from their tubesock sheaths
The command to move stuff is
M (or the little hand icon to the bottom left) and rotate with middle mouse button. You can even move modules as long as they are all connected to the building.
D is bulldoze btw. Which you will need more than move (because roads..)
After a bit more playing I can safely say.. don't build hospitals on the moon when they unlock, seriously. Fusion generator seems to be absolutely vital for the 150k investor goal as well. I got mine now running and beaming energy up everywhere.. but to give you an idea about profit vs cost margins on "medium" difficulty (which seems REALLY hard on the moon)
(Numbers are not 100% accurate) at Corporate level
34 (it's the first time I am truly profitable ever since I went to the Moon) the way to there was .. often periods where I was -3k in the red followed by periods where I was 2k+
Arctic: Costs 48k Profit 29k
Temperate: Costs 98k Profit 219k
Moon: Costs 81k Profit 27k
(Trade routes: A lofty 20k costs on top)
With a few export trade-routes I can
barely manage 21k~ profits (it actually varies depending on world market prices) now and I am stage 4 (so fusion generator +3 modules built and energy beaming on 3 start "areas" basically. About 71k investors.. of 150k which is the end-goal. 130k~ people altogether.
No idea how to ever get the arctic or moon profitable. Energy is only existing because of the moon though (the entire fusion/gravity/helium cycle costs 60k+ maintenance alone) but energy is a hard barrier. Without the moon you *will* run out of space to produce electricity. The energy saving and credits reduction modules are absolutely vital. As it makes a HUGE difference whether you have to build a new fusion generator module or just a few energy saving modules... the latter don't cost maintenance.
Well.. last but not least. The heat mechanic makes making the arctic profitable tricky.... so tricky in fact, that I am not entirely sure how to do that. Since the needs for the arctic peeps are.. very peculiar if you have to share them with your investors. Generally speaking, ignore needs on moon/arctic if you have to decide about something on temperate. Temperate makes you money, moon and arctic.. not so much. At least not at the beginning.. also not in the middle
One thing I am absolutely and totally missing is module creation (I mean like in Anno 2070, global boosts or stuff like that). Also the in-sector missions (which are basically huge side-missions) are quite fun and require TONS of things you wouldn't normally have laying about on that particular island.
And what's missing? Well, sandbox in the sense of random maps, that is definitely missing. Some more AI interaction (there is basically none). Dynamic events (for some reason this doesn't exist at all) no disasters (fire/sickness/crime) etc. Imo if you liked Anno 2070 then you should see this as a totally different game. The gameplay and focus is.. different. But it's still Anno...