Universal Block Fortress: War - (by Foursaken Media)

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by Sanuku, Mar 5, 2014.

  1. JCho133

    JCho133 Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    I just beat lvl 3 on gobbo and Planet Z. Haven't tried B'ock or Mecha yet
     
  2. explosive

    explosive Well-Known Member

    Feb 18, 2011
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    Yeh, level 3 where quite challenging but I'm doing the level 4 ones now and they are really tough especially gobbo lvl 4.

    Loving the game so far. :cool:
     
  3. ste86uk

    ste86uk Well-Known Member

    May 9, 2012
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    So far the controls are my only annoyance also, but I haven't played for too long yet so may get better. Mainly just the joystick whenever I go to drag to move along the screen it ends up clicking to send my hero over to the corner where the joystick is instead.

    But like I said hopefully it'll get better with practice, mainly for rotating and zoom I only use it building and don't seem to during combat too much as it's usually fine to set once and leave it.
     
  4. Zunda

    Zunda Well-Known Member

    Mar 6, 2014
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    I'll try the one you felt easier, Gobbo or Planet Z
     
  5. GR3NADE

    GR3NADE Well-Known Member

    Aug 10, 2011
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    Levels 3 were easy, I have to finish some levels 4 (one hard, one "almost there" :D), I almost beated goblocks 5 which would unlock them but the last wave was so big..
     
  6. strivemind

    strivemind Well-Known Member

    Ok tough question: Which is more fun, Block Fortress, or this new Block Fortress War?
     
  7. heringer

    heringer Well-Known Member

    Oct 2, 2011
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    Camera is weird. Any reason why the traditional and intuitive way to move camera in touchscreens isn't available?
     
  8. GR3NADE

    GR3NADE Well-Known Member

    Aug 10, 2011
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    There are 2 styles in options .. I didn't like one of them so I chose the other one called "control" or something similar, it's the one that was in original BF

    BF War :)
     
  9. Ayjona

    Ayjona Well-Known Member

    Sep 8, 2009
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    Freelance journalist and writer, amateur musician
    Stockholm, Sweden
    #109 Ayjona, Mar 6, 2014
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2014
    Game Impressions

    Block Fortress War certainly exhibits Foursaken's signature polish, and iconic genre-mashing. And it really is fun. And really, really good value for the asking price, like any other FM product.

    But I'm not so certain it also features that deceptive depth that has become a hallmark of their core titles.

    Strangely, because the freebuilding mechanism really should add tons of intricacy thanks to the huge number of possible combinations. The precursor, Block Fortress, was probably one of the most sophisticated defense strategy games ever created, and even if only a small fraction of the millions of possible fortresses were viable, that still left hundreds of possible strategies for each map, with noticeable differences between the more and the less effective.

    But it doesn't really seem to me that defensive layouts beyond the most obvious make much of a, or sometimes any, difference in BFW. As long as you get your turrets up high for elevation bonuses and good firing arcs, support long-distance turrets with AoE-based or otherwise powerful close-distance turrets, and build some rather simple block walls in front of your armaments, there seems to be little else to do to bolster your bases.

    Part of this is probably the result of much simpler movement and origin patterns for enemies. In the original, the player had to defend a base that could potentially be attacked from all directions, and possibly also keep track of forward bases and resource points. In addition, there was a huge number of very different enemy types and behavioural patterns that necessitated very varied and flexible defenses. In Block Fortress War, with rather few exceptions, the player mostly has to defend the one or two most forward resource points, usually only from one side. And mostly against very similar enemies that mostly get bigger and angrier (even enemy AI heroes do little to mix up their own patterns).

    (This latter part is a bit surprising. Foursaken seems to really have grasped just how much fun a vast gallery of drastically different enemies can be, as seen in Block Fortress, BH 1 and 2, and Heroes & Castles. BH2, in particular, features scores of enemy creeps with huge differences in behaviour, abilities and required tactics, requiring the player to handle almost every enemy unit differently. The Fungus Druid, in particular, has four or five different abilities, much like a boss in most other games.

    Of course, in BFW, every enemy is a also a playable unit, and the battles take place in a MOBA-like environment, and this might limit freedom in unit behaviour design. And there is also equipment, of course, that do have a profound effect on unit stats and attack ranges. But even with that taken into account, creeps on both sides mostly simply walk forward, and either shoot at or bash anything in their path.)

    Together with the simpler building principles, resource limitations and simplified turret and block mechanics, the planning and strategic stages of BFW does not seem to offer much space for feasible experimentation.

    Additional races, heroes, blocks and equipment certainly adds variety, but (a bit surprisingly) not much depth as far as I can tell. The framework in which all these differences take place is perhaps too limited to allow for much flexibility.

    I haven't dabbled in PvP yet, and perhaps the discrepancy between AI-controlled heroes and players will make careful design far more important. But judging from my experimentation in single player, it seems unlikely. Even if your opponent smartly moves past obstructions and bottlenecks to attack a fortification from the rear, it is very easy to build turrets with a 360 degree swivel capacity. Additionally, that player will be without the protection of hiding behind her units, and will probably be so quickly cut down that you will probably benefit more from her brave rush than her own team.

    With all this in mind, there really doesn’t seem to be much more to BFW than to erect your own favourite standardized base design over and over, with some small allowances for environment, possibly fiddle a little bit with creep equipment (with less feasible choice than how the system might appear at first glance), and then control one single hero through very simplified MOBA-like mechanics. And this doesn’t make for a game with strategic depth or variety.

    But it is still fun. That’s the talent of Foursaken Media at work.
     
  10. JCho133

    JCho133 Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    Gobbo definitely.

    Make sure you have 3 different weapons equipped when doing planet Z lvl 3 though. Once you beat gobbo lvl 3, buy the mini gun equipment.

    Then equip your lvl 1 units with machine guns, lvl 2 with mini guns, and lvl 3 with snipers
     
  11. Zunda

    Zunda Well-Known Member

    Mar 6, 2014
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    I beat Gobbo, Planet Z and on top of B'ock. Snipers especially did a great job.
    Thanks a lot to everyone!
     
  12. Foursaken_Media

    Foursaken_Media Well-Known Member
    Patreon Indie

    Have you tried switching control schemes in the options? There is a tradtional joystick option, and a "drag and 2 finger rotate" option.

    Thanks for the write up. A lot of the skill in BFW is definitely nuanced, but its definitely there. Out of curiosity, how deep have you gotten into the campaign? Have you unlocked any other races? Humans are admittedly the most straight forward, by design.

    Your description of PvP though is really just theory :p Players strategic and tactical choices in PvP can result in a slaughter, or an epic 20 minute back and forth battle. Being able to quickly adapt to your opponent's race, hero, and equipment choices is also very important.

    In fact, I actually REALLY enjoy BFW 1v1 because its not fast reaction, twitch based gameplay like many of our other games - its just pure strategy and tactical decisions.
     
  13. brothamannp11911

    brothamannp11911 Well-Known Member

    Aug 6, 2011
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    Several reactions here, think of them as bullet point thoughts versus a coherent write-up :)

    I can start to see nuanced on the later Block Men levels. I just barely took down the Blockoids on the aqueduct level. It STINKS being on the receiving end of a Stun statis thing then getting wiped out by BF1's Plasma Cannon :) I definitely had to use a hit-and-run tactic, with my minigunners creeping along. I do not know if Snipers are better for lvl 3 or lvl 2, kinda had to stop playing and get on with real life today haha!!!

    There is some strategy, too, in when to actually capture a node. I lost a couple of missions on other planets because I took them too early in a round and then was unable to defend them. We simply were not strong enough yet with a lvl 2 Barracks and higher weapons to defend.

    It is really a different game than any other Foursaken one.. you are sending out the right weapons/equipment to specialize, while at the same time moving your hero ever closer to the enemy barracks....

    There are times I'd like to be able to click a group of soldiers and give them a simple "move here, guys" order :) Then again, I've never really played a MOBA-style game before so this is probably standard, with the emphasis on leading the hero?

    Definitely would be fun to build our own maps, that is for sure.

    I could see endless being similar to original BF, too... having your barracks in the middle of the map, with troops coming from all sides... having to capture nodes out in the field for bonus minerals but having a steady stream... but Foursaken will do it right :)
     
  14. brothamannp11911

    brothamannp11911 Well-Known Member

    Aug 6, 2011
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    Zomblock mission 3

    This is how I took down mission 3 of Humans on Zomblock planet....

    The screen was shaking with so much focused firepower up front.

    I also played around with LESS equipment, getting the soldiers out faster. Five or ten seconds makes a big difference with ah horde of Zomblocks!
     

    Attached Files:

  15. WunDaii

    WunDaii Well-Known Member

    How do I earn more money (the 'm' in the top right) to buy more units? I admit I skipped over the tutorial so I'm not sure.
     
  16. Foursaken_Media

    Foursaken_Media Well-Known Member
    Patreon Indie

    If you ever want you can replay the tutorial by going back to Goblock 1 :p

    But, basically you have to capture the resource points and it will give you a chunk of minerals.
     
  17. Myndflame

    Myndflame Well-Known Member

    Apr 18, 2013
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    And I don't know, but if you keep control of it, then it keeps contributing Minerals, right?
     
  18. CzechCongo

    CzechCongo Well-Known Member

    Jul 17, 2013
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    Nope, although that's how it works in MP, as resources usually do in MP RTS.

    However, you can remove blocks and things to regain their material cost.
     
  19. Myndflame

    Myndflame Well-Known Member

    Apr 18, 2013
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    Aw man. I thought that was how it woulda worked in SP. It really gives me that awesome Command and Conquer feel when I control multiple Mineral desposits at once. Oh, how I miss doing that to slowly creep over my unfortunate enemy when I'm Scrin.
    oh well.
     
  20. x999x

    x999x Well-Known Member

    Oct 6, 2009
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    Dear baby Jesus up in heaven reading his baby Einstein books: please tell me the zomboids are a good homage to my beloved Undead...

    The Pact is Sealed
     

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