BattleSpace

from Steam

 

I am not usually a big fan of online MMORPG’s. Quite usually they are unbalanced, they require too much of your attention too often, the people who pay to play have an unfair advantage, there are potty-mouthed tweens, and usually a small group of losers with no real friends IRL band together and make the game unplayable for other players. You can usually spot these games a mile away because they are rife with inactive accounts. In my opinion though, BattleSpace is an MMO so far apart from these that it’s sad to know it’s a game at risk of disappearing.

Home System from gamerevolution.com

It is rather simple. You play as an Admiral of your own space forces. Your main goals are to collect resources, strengthening your home system by colonizing the planets and developing the planetary cities, building up your fleet, and conquering the Galaxy!!

Planetary Resource Centers from idcgames.com

Enemy System from mmo-play.com

Expedition Screen from idcgames.com

There are 3 ways to gather the basic resources you need to play the game. The first is to develop your Planetary Resource Centers that mine energy, gas, and metal from your planet as well as the all-important Market Centers that gather the funds you need to expand. In fact, the only way to gain funds in the game is from your Market Centers so pay special attention to them but don’t make them your sole focus. You also need to invade Enemy Systems that are swarming with NPC  Fleets, these lifeless systems contain plenty of resources and each system you conquer furthers your path to victory. Finally, you can send your commanders who aren’t assigned to the front lines on Expeditions. Not only does this occasionally produce small amounts of resources, it can also produce parts and experience for the commander you send as well as yourself.

Planetary City from idcgames.com

Now that you have the resources you need you should develop your cities. They have the necessary facilities needed to grow and fight your enemies. Your Capital City will be home to your Research Labs, your Center of Government, Recruitment Offices, Fleet HQ, and other necessary facilities. Use your Research Lab to study and obtain the instructions for different and higher level Facilities and Ships. Some facilities may only exist in your Capital City but you can build Hangers, Settlement Centers, Storage Facilities, Defense Bases, and Shipyards to build your fleet ships on any of the planets in your Home System. And some Facilities can only be built on your Colonized Planets. Each Home System has 9 Planets.

Commander Screen from 2pcdn.com

Now you are ready to build your fleet, but first, you need to assign Commanders to the front line. This is really fun, BattleSpace commanders come from 5 exciting races. There are the elven looking Ezra, the beastlike Seria Grad, the fish or reptile-like Gredia, the cold and unfeeling Androids, and of course the warmly familiar Humans. Commanders each sport different deck slots that determine how many ships or squadrons can be assigned to them. They also come in 7 different levels of Rarity. They are Common (C), Uncommon (UC), Rare (R), Rare + (R+), Super Rare (SR), Super Rare + (SR+), and the almost unattainable Ultra Rare (UR) Commanders. The rarer the commander, the stronger it is.

Fleet Battle from riotpixels.net

Now that everything is ready and your fleets are being led by powerful commanders you can engage in battle!! The Battle System works like Rock Paper Scissors with stats added. Small Fighters beat Large Battle Ships, Medium Frigates beat Small Fighters, and Large Battleships beat Medium Frigates. But of course, it’s not so simple as that. Depending on the stats of your ships you can totally defy those rules and still crush the enemy. Ships of a Higher Technology Tier have higher stats.

Ship Enhancement from idcgames.com

You can also enhance your ships stats at the Weapons Laboratory using Parts obtained during battle, from Daily Quests, and during Expeditions. You can use them to enhance many aspects of the ship. Enhance your engines to reduce the time it takes to sortie with enemy targets, or your shields to raise your defenses. Enhancing the weapons raises your torpedo attack or plasma attack depending on which weapon you choose to enhance. Keep in mind though, you aren’t enhancing individual ships but rather that entire class of ship you have selected.

Galaxy Map from gamerevolution.com

Asteroid Base from riotpixels.net

As you see the planets surrounding your Home System turn blue when you occupy them you will probably feel really proud. But keep in mind, ships aren’t just for war. Deploying your ships, you can colonize not only the planets within your Home System but also Asteroid Bases held by your allies or which you yourself have conquered. You can also reinforce your allies Home Systems when they are under attack. Joining up with Unions in-game helps you and your new-found comrades become powerful a lot faster.

There is a lot more to discover and explore in this game and to me, it is a lot of fun. I don’t at all exaggerate when I say the game map is GIGANTIC!! The one screenshot of the galaxy map I posted here is only a tiny fraction of the in-game galaxy as a whole. That might be why, as I said at the start of this post, this is an endangered game. Maybe it’s the timer based gameplay where you have to watch the clock tick down whenever you construct a facility or deploy a fleet or research something, maybe it’s the vast galaxy map that requires a few days wait if you decide to attack a player on the other side of the Galaxy but haven’t colonized any Asteroids near their Home System. Whatever the reason, this game has faced hard times and could disappear any day now.

When I started playing in 2013 it was on the American Servers. Sadly those were shut down nearly a year after I started playing partially cause Atlas was acquired by another company or something, partially because there were very few players. More recently I have started playing the EU Servers. Those are still up but you will soon realize there are a lot of Japanese players. This is because Japan shut down their BattleSpace Server last year. The last server is the EU Server I am playing on now and that could go away any day now really.

I never thought I would ever do this but I am asking you, my readers, in fact begging you to try this game out and give it a serious chance. Maybe you’ll learn to love it just as much as I do. You can play BattleSpace by clicking this link here. I hope you enjoy it.

Hopefully Happy Gaming. 🙂