![]() Unlike an RTS, and more like a 4X game, the game does give you civilian units like scientists, who can gain you a science boost by assigning them to research or sending them out into abandoned and ruined cities to find something that might take you tens of turns to research yourself. Expanding your base, racing up the tech tree, and using your army to gain territory are all staples of the RTS genre, whereas 4X relies equally on more civil pursuits like developing trade and diplomacy. ![]() Contradictory, yes, but the best way to describe it. After all, even a few Navy SEALs are unlikely to win a battle against hundreds of inexperienced troops.Īll the aspects combined make the gameplay feel like a turn-based/RTS hybrid. However, keep them on the front lines too long and you risk their ranks depleting to the point no amount of experience will enable them to win. Taking a cue from the Total War series, as your units win battles they gain experience, making them more valuable as they become capable of tearing through lower-level enemy units. The turn-based strategizing follows through to combat, allowing you to find the optimal path to skirmish glory. You can send units to explore, others to occupy territory, all while building a new structure and advancing along your tech tree with a good long tea break in between. Like any good 4X game, each turn has weight and consequence. Luckily, you can take your time to make these decisions and weigh all the options. It makes for an interesting if frustrating upgrade path. Each tech tree will also force you into the occasional dilemma, with some upgrades offering the choice between upgrading a unit or gaining a small economic or stat boost. The Steel Punks, for instance, start with no scientific production – a huge disadvantage that should have you prioritising that tree as soon as possible. The game has you manage two tech trees – a combined science and civilian tree, and a military one – and each faction campaign starts you in a different position. A careful balance of exploration to expand and deny your opponent resources, coupled with careful spending and upgrade planning, are the keys to victory. The late-game stage requires massive amounts of resources to purchase the powerful units and upgrades that you will require to make a final push for victory. Exploring and finding your own resources on the map is vital, but conquering and holding a rival faction’s resource will win you the scenario as you starve them of the currency to expand their base or race up the tech trees.ĭue to the scarcity of resources, managing your spending, just like in real life, is vital. However, as befits a post-apocalyptic world, resources are scarce. This removes one aspect common in the RTS genre – competing for the same resources. The Atom Punks race along the science tech tree, making them formidable early in the game and their starting unit, the Watchmen, have a range advantage that no other faction possesses.Įach faction’s resource is unique to them, so an Atom Punk cannot use the Steel Punk’s iron ore deposits, who, in turn, cannot use the Diesel Punk’s oil reserves. They just want to be left alone and, if you favour the adage the “best defence is a strong defence”, this is the faction for you. The Steel Punks are the almost Swiss-like faction. The Diesel Punks are an inexorable mass, slowly conquering the map with their soldiers who can also exploit the scarce oil they find. As an example, their Combat Zeppelin allows you to zoom across the map opening new avenues. ![]() The Steam Punks reward the adventurous spirit, those who love exploration. By far the most interesting is the Atom Punks, the mad scientists seeking to dominate via experimentation on both willing and unwilling subjects.Įach faction allows you to experience and hone in on a different play style. The Steel Punks mine iron ore and base their economy on steel. The Diesel Punks are typically grimy and mucky as befits an oil-based faction. Their aesthetic is the obvious – Victorian London gears and cogs designed with a leather fetish. The Steam Punk faction relies on the generation of steam to power their cities and armies. Punk Wars imagines a post-nuclear war earth where four factions, each inspired by a retro-futuristic philosophy, vie for domination of the barren wastelands. Punk Wars seeks to build on this reputation, but blends some of the aspects of the RTS genre with the more thoughtful turn-based mechanics of the 4X genre. Just look at any Paradox game or the granddaddy of all 4X games, Civilisation (with Civ 6 even getting a good Switch port). Having said that, the genre can still produce hits. Where once the genre was a staple of every LAN, these days it is the domain of the truly hardcore fan. Strategy games are no longer as popular or important as they used to be.
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