Celetania: Preview Friv Game
Do you remember the Master of Orion ? Stars, planets. Colonies, different races, friendly and hostile. Espionage, trade and space combat, after all. Have you ever wanted a real player to stand behind each of your opponents? Try to collect a full-fledged batch in MOO2 , especially now.
Your wishes were heard and taken into account. The Friv2Online Games company very soon - on February 13, 2009 - will provide everyone with the opportunity to become the ruler of an entire star race in MMOG Celetania, online space strategy. Almost a classic of the genre: we get the planet at our disposal, rebuild it to our liking, expand the territory. Sooner or later you will have to face opponents, and all of them, imagine, will be live players.
What exactly will the players in Celetania expect ? Two species and, accordingly, two factions: Grogg and SECCTS It's a pity, but the ability to create subordinates to your liking is missing. But the technique of each race has been worked out in sufficient detail, and the balance, I want to believe, will be close to ideal, otherwise the total galactic domination of representatives of one of the factions cannot be avoided.
It is possible to design ships yourself using hulls, weapons and subsystems. There is nothing new here, but the "feature" is extremely pleasant and gives a turn for both tactical and strategic genius. Hang up the merchant fleet with weapons, or send several heavy ships with it, and save money on the armament of the "traders"? Difficult choice: a few heavy missile carriers or a dozen frigates with autocannons? The enemy uses energy weapons, which means you need to strengthen the shields and weaken the armor. Will he not switch to a non-energetic type in this case? Perhaps his fleet, specially designed for this, is already hidden away on a nearby planet. You can expect anything.
In Celetania very good for space schedule strategy. But precisely for the strategy. look much better, so those space lovers who care about beauty in the first place should turn to these Friv games.
The controls, judging by the few screenshots available, look quite cumbersome. How easy it will be to master it is unclear. The most mysterious part so far remains space battles, both in terms of control and in other aspects. The developers do not give an unambiguous answer whether the battlefield will be available for all players, or only for those who initially entered the battle. The first option provides significantly more strategic opportunities, but complicates the coordination of actions.
The same goes for running an empire. If automatic management tools are not introduced, for example, with the ability to indicate the general direction (science, military affairs, economics), then the Friv game will require the constant presence of players online, which will scare off many. According to Friv2Online, the empire will not be "frozen" during the absence of the owner, and this can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. It’s not very pleasant, returning to the Friv game after a day of offline, to find that during this time half of the occupied territory was taken away from you. This is a common occurrence in online browser strategies these days. And if the player seriously annoyed someone, then overnight several offended opponents can completely rid the virtual universe of its existence. How it is planned to solve this problem is still unknown.
For those who prefer a peaceful path, mutually beneficial trade will be available, and expansion will not necessarily require an armed conflict. Situations such as the purchase of a planet or an entire system by one player from another are quite likely.
I would especially like to note the support for Linux OS. Thanks to this, the Friv game will attract many fans using Linux for one reason or another, and as a result, deprived of access to a significant part of new projects.
Real diplomacy, a huge world with thousands of rivals, a very good appearance - this is what Celetania looks like at the moment. After the release, which is not long to wait, it will be possible to evaluate the result of the rather long work of the developers. In the meantime, the chances of success can be assessed as average, mainly due to the small number of representatives of this genre.