Starship Battle Views
The basic goal of Gratuitous Space Battles is to create an armada of ships capable of taking out the enemy fleet. This sounds simple enough until you realize what's missing from the equation: player control. You don't actually participate in the battles. Once you set your armada loose, it's up to your starship design, placement, and initial orders to decide the outcome. It's like the old table-top games where once the battle has commenced, you roll the dice and hope for the best. No reinforcements if things look grim, no chance to take other ships and force an end-run in the middle of the battle. Once you set things in motion, all you can do is sit back and enjoy the show. And what a show it is.
Gratuitous Space Battles really lives up to its name. The visual feast to be had while combat is being played out is superb. Imagine the space battles from Stargate or the recent Battlestar Galactica series. Now imagine that you can view any part of the battle, zoom in on any ship, see anything in the skirmish that you want to see. You can focus tight in on one of the enemy battle cruisers, ready to buckle under the heavy fire of your battalion of gunships, or watch as a squadron of small fighters swarm a larger enemy vessel like wasps slowly picking at their prey. Beam weapons slice through starship hulls like a hot knife through butter, and concussion missiles rock the area with blasts that would rip a hole through anything but the toughest of armor plating. There's more explosions here than the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C. It is truly a sight to behold.
Starship Battle Images
