Shrunk to Excellence

I often write about the 4X genre (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) of games here on this blog.  Stellaris, Master of Orion, Space Empires and the long-running Civilzation series are some of the go-to examples, but as I have mentioned in the past none of them were my introduction to this particular strategy subgenre.  That honor belongs to Spaceward Ho!  Originally launched in 1990 the game has since gone through a number of revisions and updates with the current version 5.0.5 released in 2003.  As one might notice, it's an old game, and fairly simple despite all the updates.  In-game technological advances are represented by simple numerical values with bigger being better than smaller.  There aren't any alien species to choose from just different styles of cowboy hats to represent each faction.  Heck...the "galaxies" don't even have stars, just planets floating in the void of space.  Any notion of realism is discarded; starships can look like giant cybernetic sharks or have a giant boxing glove on a spring strapped to the front of them.  The appeal of the game doesn't lie in its presentation, but rather the underlying mechanics.  Many times over the years, I have wondered if there could be a game that bridges the gap between the simplicity of Spaceward Ho! and the modern sleekness that has since been introduced to more recent 4X games.  Tactical battles, for example, consist of nothing more than rival vessels blasting each other back and forth with no way to implement maneuvers or formations.  Perhaps a bit more could be done there...?  Until recently this sort of game was merely a hypothetical concept born out of wishful thinking and an overactive imagination on my part.  As it turns out though, such a game exists and is appropriately named The Final Theory.

In fact the title of the game is less about the meta aspects of 4X design and has more to do with the in-game goal itself.  In order to win, the player must develop an unproven scientific device capable of remaking the entire galaxy.  There's a lot to do before getting to that point though so let me go over the gameplay.  Much like "metal" in  Spaceward Ho! starship construction requires a finite resource called "tacknium" found in certain sectors of the galaxy.  Final Theory doesn't bother with individual planets or even star systems, nor does it care about colonization.  Instead, it cuts off the beginning and end bits of most 4X games in order to focus on the most exciting parts that tend to happen in the midgame.

Much like Isaac Asimov's original "Foundation" trilogy, the galaxy has already been fully populated and now consists of four renegade factions as well as the remnants of a once all-encompassing interstellar empire.  Color coding is the only visual difference between each of these five rival entities (unless you want to buy some cosmetic DLC that provides alternate looks to each faction's starships).  Incidentally, the ships themselves are divided into traditional nautical nomenclature: frigate, destroyer, cruiser, battlecruiser, battleship and dreadnaught.  Each ship type is made distinct by the offensive and defensive weaponry at its disposal.  Battles take place on a two-dimensional hexagonal plain.  Ranges, firing arcs, movement speeds and the potential to inflict damage (based on whether a particular weapon system is more effective against shields or armor) are all factors to consider.  Thankfully, turn-based combat means that the player can take as much time as they like weighing the pros and cons of each of their many options.  The hulks of destroyed ships act as obstacles, adding another dynamic to the battlefield.  This variety of things-to-be-considered also extends to the strategic layer of the game in that each sector has a specialization.  Sometimes this consists of the ability to construct ships of a certain class.  Interestingly enough, once built, the vessel is moved to a "reserve" from which it can be deployed to any sector containing construction facilities regardless of the category.  This is an especially important mechanic to keep in mind since each faction (including the player's) can only move one fleet per turn on the galactic map.  So, sometimes deploying an all new fleet is quicker than moving an existing one to a desired location.  The size of individual fleets is also limited, but can be expanded by taking control of sectors that specialize in increasing that particular stat.

One aspect of The Final Theory that initially confused me was the various resources that the player accumulates and spends.  Aside from the aforementioned tacknium (needed for ship construction) there are engineering points, development points, and enriched tacknium.  All three can be acquired simply by controlling sectors that produce them in small, but never ending quantities.  Engineering and development points can also be gained through victory in combat.  The former is used to upgrade a particular class of ship, unlocking new abilities and allowing players to tweak the relative strength levels of armor, weapons and shields.  Development points work similarly, but are for smaller more specific upgrades.  Typically these sorts of modifications increase the damage or reduce the cooldown time for one ability found on a particular ship class.  Despite the name, enriched tacknium is only tangentially related to regular tacknium and is used solely to detonate a special bomb capable of wiping out an entire fleet (while simultaneously creating a nice new deposit of tacknium to mine).  There's also "data" that is gained through conquest and needed to trigger the final theory device that ends the game.

A few other gameplay mechanics worthy of note are as follows:

• A new harvester can only be placed in a sector every other turn.  This somewhat limits how fast any of the four upstart factions can expand their fleets.
• Access to a sector can temporarily be blocked once every four turns using a FTL disruptor.
• Starships can be recycled for half their original value in tacknium.
• Once a faction reaches a certain size they can launch a propaganda campaign once every other turn in an attempt to gain control of a neighboring sector.  The chances of success depend on a number of factors that I won't bother going into here.  Needless to say, it serves as  a nifty way to snatch up sectors of limited strategical value.

As you can see, there are a number of subsystems at work in The Final Theory.  Overall, it's still less complicated than say Stellaris, and yet not as simple as Spaceward Ho!  Some of the mechanics might feel needlessly restrictive but, much like rules for a well thought out board game, they exist to present the player with lots of meaningful decisions...and at the heart of it, isn't that what strategy gaming is all about?