Flash game: Star Baron

A heavy name for a heavy game. Star Baron seems to have its imperfections, but the gameplay is more than smooth.

First the bad things(?). The interface is simplistic, the controls minimal. In the age where everything beeps and barks, this game doesn't have sound. Now with most games the music/sounds get annoying sooner or later, but that is still a surprise. Something, that is a bit of a downer, is the final victory screen... You Win, shown for three seconds, if that.


But let's get to the good parts. The basic gameplay resembles Nano War quite a bit. You have your bases/stars, where your units/ships are made in. With these you take over neutral and hostile bases, until it's only you out there.

The biggest difference is probably the 'Economy' variable, it directly puts a top limit on the number of your ships. This reduces the massing of units to huge numbers. However, there is an interesting twist to it: attacking from several sides multiplies the attack force (and it is necessary, as attacking from one side may just not be enough.) Of course, bigger stars produce more; but each star needs to 'grow' into its full capacity first, which takes some time after takeover or change of function.

There are several types of stars to make it more interesting:
* Standard - offers some economy, produces ships, with enough time and size has even defensive capabilities. You want to be careful with those if they are close to the enemy.
* Defensive - has only defensive abilities, but can withstand massive attacks if well developed. It is vulnerable to attacks from multiple sides.
* Naval - probably the least useful, produces only ships and does it quickly. A computer AI favorite, but it has no defenses.
* Economy - produces only economy, no ships. Doesn't have any defenses either. If at all, it should be kept in the rear.
* Mine Field - destroys everything around, including friendly units. It's hard to position correctly (the computer usually ends up taking out many of its own ships). Can soak up many attacks if it is allowed to grow; but it can be limited by defensive stars around it.

Points:
* The defensive stars make a good border against invasions, just watch those angles.
* Due to the setup of the screen, one neighbor will initially share a longer border with you... that is the natural enemy to deal with first.
* The AI seems to be unwilling to change the type of the mine fields, if isolated, they may be ignored until later when you have enough ships to take them out.
* On occasion, you may be able to do 'island jumping', quickly moving between undefended stars of an opponent, with little losses. While his units will probably follow right behind, capturing the stars again, this will cause a significant distraction (not to speak damage) and some stars may stay captured, advancing the cause. Disrupting economy-producing stars destroys the ships that are built due to them.
* For all sides, there is a nice interplay between trying to defend their rear and keep the attack routes open.
* Start with a lower speed; a higher difficulty rating does not change much in the end (although the opponents seem to be more aggressive in the beginning). Less stars is usually a harder game, more stars a longer game.