Flotilla: Random Space-Based Adventures are the Best Adventures
 

So, a little while ago, I stumbled across a little gameplay trailer for an indie game called Flotilla.

Intrigued, I I found the website and picked up the demo.

I enjoyed myself enough that I payed the $10 for the full game.

Man, forget the space combat (which is pretty fun), half the fun of the game is what they throw at you in the "adventure mode".

Sure, if you want, you can have nothing but battles in adventure mode, if you choose to only navigate to planets with with only red auras. But if you travel to planets with green auras...well...hijinks ensue. You could be thrown into a battle, you could be given a piece of cargo/equipment, you could have a choice between helping someone or stealing cargo from them, all kinds of stuff.

Basically, what happened in my last adventure is that I picked up some hitchhikers, gambled away my ships but chose to make a daring escape (3 hours and 3000 bullets later) and become a fugitive, refused to pay a toll at a Cerdivian (space deer) checkpoint and destroyed the ships that attacked me, helped some cats on the run escape from the authorities, slugged it out with a hostile space hippo which had space madness, got hired by some scientist to carry them around, helped my weapons officer cover up the murder of a diplomat, fended off an assassin flotilla, defeated the Cerdivian strike force that came to hunt me down, won cargo in karaoke contest, declawed and defanged some baby yetis who were chewing on my power conduits...which made them resentful of me (the other choice was to throw them out the airlock), encountered a celestial aurora but choose not to stare into it because it would make me go made, and got yelled at by the scientists I was toting around because I didn't stare into said aurora...all in my last 7 months of life.

Yeah, the plot of the "adventure mode" is that you have 7 months to live, so you embark on a last great adventure. So...well...you always die. Well, maybe not always, but I haven't found a way out yet.

So, yeah, I would recommend Flotilla to anyone who has $10 burning a whole in their pocket and is looking for half-hour sized bites of random space adventures.

Has anyone else played this yet?
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EDIT:
I forgot to mention that it is also available on Xbox Live under the indie game category.

I just downloaded the demo, but for some reason every time I open the tab the screen is off centre to the left and I can't seem to move it across, so half of it is obscured and un-playable.

Tis annoying.


Game looks good too, from what I've seen of it. The only problem I have is the graphics. Yes I know graphics don't really matter muhc in games, but even I'm having trouble with the blandness of the ships. Also why is space brown??

EDIT; Never mind, resolution and fullscreen options were off. Works now.

EDIT EDIT; So I just spent the better part of an hour with the demo. My first adventure, I got attacked by pirates on the first planet and got slaughtered. Epic adventure was a fail.

2nd adventure I found a derelict warship and got myself some better missiles, then I ran into a Cerdivian controlled planet who wanted my new cargo as payment. I refused, they sent a Star Destroyer to deal with me. I barely scratched its paintwork.

3rd adventure I ran into Cerdivians again and they let me go because I had nothing of value, then I found some hitchikers whose cargo I stole off them, but then I had to use it as payment to get past ANOTHER Cerdivian planet. Then I go hired by some xenobiologists who gave me a new ship, which came in handy a short while later when I accidentally interrupted a family reuinion of marauding space penguins. After dealing with the waddling blighters I was ambushed by an assassin, who may or may not have been hired by penguins, and lost 2 of my ships in the ensuing battle, but pulled a win by the skin of my teeth in a superb flanking maneouver worthy of Han Solo himself!

So yeah, this game is pretty good. I just wish I could keep hold of my cargo for more than 10 seconds!

Holy crap I love this game. Well the demo at least, I'm probably going to buy it later today when I'm done writing an essay and wasting time won't screw me over.

The combat tactics took me a bit to get used to, and it's neat that you always have to be thinking "where will the AI move? How do I take advantage of what they might do?"

But yeah, good times with the demo so far, though it was only on my fourth adventure that I finally got the hang of things. My first adventure I was killed by Penguin Bandits that I found on the second planet I explored, after losing some of my crew to Brulags (I think that's what the name was, don't remember) on an abandoned ship that I was exploring.

My second adventure I was killed by a group of assassins on the very first planet I explored.

My third adventure I was killed by a mad space crocodile, who I found on the third planet I went to.

Finally my fourth adventure saw some luck. I salvaged a derelict haunted ship (I forget the name but it was disc-like and had 2 beam cannons) and added it to my fleet. Killed a group of assassins. Won at karaoke. Picked up some hitchhikers. Killed and robbed some white collar pig criminals. Then I was attacked by a Cerdivian fleet, who were upset that I took the derelict ship. They had two Battleships (I dunno if that's what they were called. But they were big, slow, fired green missiles as well as closer ranged machine guns) and a Beam Frigate. Thanks to some lucky/clever maneuvering I cleared out the Beam Frigate, then sent my Destroyers under the Battleships to chip away at their health while my other ship drew their fire while maneuvering into a firing position. I took out the battleships, but lost the ship I had salvaged. Then the universe imploded.

Man, all I've ever gotten from exploring derelicts was to have my salvage crew eaten by bruj.

And yeah, the combat take a bit of getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be tearing apart almost anything with your two starting destroyers. I've only started to experiment with manually adjusting my pitch/roll/angle of my ships, which allows me to present my armored sides to the enemy, but I haven't really mastered it yet. Besides, it seems like every time I try, I just present my weak spots to incoming fire.

I salvaged one of those dreadnaught ships yesterday too. Dual beam weapons. Awesome. Though it did have a large underside so if anything got beneath it they would tear it up with ease.

I also got given a torpedo ship (I think that's what it was called) by the Crisium. Not as large as the beam ship, but impressive none the less.

Oh and I also looked into an aurora. Nothing major happened. I only think I might have gone insane.

Right well I bought the game yesterday and I'm so glad that I did. I've also discovered that Hardcore mode is the best thing ever. Instead of only being able to encounter 17 events (I think that's how many is in the normal adventure mode, I counted twice but I forget if they were both 17) you get to explore almost every single planet. I succumbed to my illness when I went to the second last planet I had to explore.

My hardcore adventure was so awesome too. It was a little hard starting out, and I had to restart a few times within the first two planets 'cause I would get attacked by pirates or assassins and I would lose a Destroyer, thus crippling me for the rest of my journey if I didn't get a ship really soon.

But by about half way through of it I had a sweet flotilla, consisting of two destroyers, a dreadnought, a beam gunship, a torpedo gunship, and a battleship. Nothing stood a chance against me.

EDIT -- Also, I'm ranked 109th in regular Adventure and 22nd in Hardcore, under the name Mike. What about you guys?

Honestly, manual control is the way to go, especially if you're moving below or above the opponent, which is like 90% of the time. I found that using the basic orientation would screw me over more often than a manual orientation.


That's what I love about the dreadnought though, because with that large underside comes a large topside. Careful use of the manual control can ensure that no missiles will hit your bottom or back, and gratuitous use of the flank order will get it into a position where you can take out the enemy's heavier ships, or play decoy for their destroyers.

Also I love the torpedo gunship. Mainly because at the start of any combat scenario, my first move is to either send the torpedo ship straight up and slightly forward (if the enemy started above me) or straight down and slightly forward (if the enemy started below me) while firing away. Normally that first move doesn't do anything, but it puts the ship in a perfect position to attack the other ships' weak spots as the move down/up at my flotilla.

Is there an option to speed up the combat? Some of these fights go on for goddamn ever, especially when you don't have a heavy-hitting ship on your side.

Ok so I caved and finally bought the full game, but I'm wondering; is there a set limit on the number of planets you can visit, or is your succumbing to your terminal illness random? I was expecting the full game to last a bit longer than the demo, but it seems to be about the same length, which is dissapointing, I can barely get started upgrading or expanding my fleet and then it's over.

I can't help but feel a little cheated, even if it was just a tenner.

If you play the normal Adventure, you die after 17 events. If you play Hardcore Adventure you get 35-40 events (I forget the exact number) before you die. Sooo if you want a longer game, play hardcore. The combat isn't even that much harder.

Oh and also, visiting the Crippled Flamingo Trading Outpost counts as an event each time you visit, so don't make frequent visits.



Sadly, no, I don't think there is. Which is something I really hope gets added in a future patch.

Ah ok, that's better then, I'd been wondering what hardcore mode meant. I thought it was just increased difficulty, but after facing off against 6 beam dreadnoughts and a destroyer with only my un-upgraded pair of destroyers before, how much harder can it get??!



Btw I won that battle.