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Grey Goo |OT| Nanomachines son!

If there is any truth to this not being a twitch strategy game and strategy over tactics than I think I may have to grab this. I absolutely cannot stand twich strategy games, I'm not quick enough for them and I never feel like I can enact well thought out plans.

According to Total Biscuit's assessment, they've done a bunch of different things to reduce tedious tasks like excess clicking, hotkeys, and micromanagement. Resource gatherers are apparently automatically trained once a resource production building is placed, for example, and much like in the old C&C games you can construct buildings and train units via predefined hot keys rather than having to manually hotkey workers and buildings. The units appear to move quite slowly as well. Overall, the game looks to be significantly slower paced than something as frenetic as Starcraft.
 

Hylian7

Member
I had never even heard of this game until I got to PAX South...wtf...how was this game not a bigger deal?!

Anyway, I have a 50% chance to win a free copy of it tomorrow at PAX.
 
All installed and ready to go. So excited to try this. Looking forward to the game mechanics and music with ex-Westwood at the helm. The reviews so far are looking good. High scores all round. So what's the GAF consensus so far on the game? How does it compare to the classics of the genre like the old CNC games?

Would love to read some more impressions. I'll return to post my own impressions later.
 

Haunted

Member
I had never even heard of this game until I got to PAX South...wtf...how was this game not a bigger deal?!

Anyway, I have a 50% chance to win a free copy of it tomorrow at PAX.
Good luck! Gotta start your professional Grey Goo commentator career early.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
This game looks and sounds fantastic to me! I've added it to my wishlist but I have zero time to play something new right now, what with Elite Dangerous taking up my time and Starbound updating this week and Kerbal Space Program going to 1.0 very soon. Not to mention Rogue Legacy, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm in my usual rotation right now too. Just....too many games I'm playing right now.


But I'll be buying this eventually, no question. These kinds of RTS's are my favorites!
 
These campaign missions are no joke! Only half way through and they usually require 1 or 2 retries. I like that the AI isn't passive like a lot of other RTSs (in campaign) and is always on the offensive and building like a real player would. It really wants you to aggressively expand and build up huge armies before attacking, small time forces even if you are fast don't seem to get very far.
 

Hylian7

Member
Good luck! Gotta start your professional Grey Goo commentator career early.

I won, the 13th guy dropped out and 12 keys were given out to BYOC people at PAX, so we were all winners!

About to play in a tournament once everyone's games finish installing!
 
I'm calling shenanigans on AI. I think the devs cheesed some of the AI units.

I'm currently on the last mission for the goo. tried several times on normal, died a lot. I put it on easy and my units are still being cut down like butter. When in the beta missions, those goo units didnt die that fast.
 
I'm calling shenanigans on AI. I think the devs cheesed some of the AI units.

I'm currently on the last mission for the goo. tried several times on normal, died a lot. I put it on easy and my units are still being cut down like butter. When in the beta missions, those goo units didnt die that fast.
I definitely feel like enemy units take a lot more punishment than yours on normal, but I can't confirm it. Mostly I just suck, but it'd be nice knowing there's a reason for that.
 

Hylian7

Member
Congrats! Enjoy the game! :D

The tournament is teams of 2, we just played a match and my team won. It was a 30 minute foray of "Nobody knows what they are doing!"

I was playing goo and it took me 15 minutes to figure out how to get the heavy units :/

I sent an army of light units to the enemy base and was attacking it for 5 minutes like "Why aren't they doing any damage?"

It was a fun experience though and I'm enjoying the game. As soon as more matches, my team should have our next opponent.
 

Nokterian

Member
The tournament is teams of 2, we just played a match and my team won. It was a 30 minute foray of "Nobody knows what they are doing!"

I was playing goo and it took me 15 minutes to figure out how to get the heavy units :/

I sent an army of light units to the enemy base and was attacking it for 5 minutes like "Why aren't they doing any damage?"

It was a fun experience though and I'm enjoying the game. As soon as more matches, my team should have our next opponent.

The Goo is different then any other faction i played in a RTS. Off course it would be i have no idea what i am doing. But you will learn over time what faction is more suitable for you.
 
Preordered the physical copy today. Want to get it as soon as possible but for whatever reason the physical game (in steelbox) is 10 bucks cheaper than on steam lol.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Good god, I killed *1500* enemy units on mission 5. Took for bloody ever to hunt down all the freaking mothergoos.
 

Texar

Banned
Been playing all weekend. Campaign missions are glorious. They are no joke even on medium.

its a great game that has a lot of potential
 

Nokterian

Member
Good god, I killed *1500* enemy units on mission 5. Took for bloody ever to hunt down all the freaking mothergoos.

Good grief i am not there yet but that's gonna be fun!

obama_sweating_answer_2_xlarge.jpeg
 
For mission 5 mounting your walls with guardians is a real big help. If you have some extra cash then build another row of walls and man those too. And of course keep your Hand of Ruk hotkeyed and use it's attack ground to clear out big waves.

Yep, I made the mistake the first time of trying to build up my base, but there's no real point early on if you have a Hand of Ruk. Just build enough guardians to man the walls then pump out hailstorms until you feel your secure. I then built up to a repair pad to keep my hailstorms in good condition.

The biggest death spiral you can get into is having to repair too many parts of the wall at once as it eats up all your resources.

Aircraft are invaluable in hunting down the mothergoos too, so once the second Hand arrives build some.
 

Stevey

Member
Finished the Beta campaign, good stuff.
Just started the second Human mission, I think I prefer their base building.
Not played the Goo yet.
 

Kinthalis

Banned
Picked it up, doing the first mission.

Who did the CGI work on this? IT's top notch, something that wouldn't look out of place coming out of say Blizzard.
 

Laieon

Member
Before I pick this up, does it require me to always be online (I'm assuming not...). I only ask because I'm in a temporary apartment right now and didn't feel like having internet installed since I'll be moving to a better one in a week or two. Right now, I've just been using my phone as a hotspot, but unlimited data is fairly expensive in Korea.
 
Preordered the physical copy today. Want to get it as soon as possible but for whatever reason the physical game (in steelbox) is 10 bucks cheaper than on steam lol.

That available in the US? I basically never buy PC games physically, but since I still buy Starcraft games physically, it felt weird not to be a box for this game. But it doesn't look like there is even any physical edition here... I wonder if an import will work.
 

Fantastapotamus

Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
How's the SP campaign? Are the missions varied? Is the story interesting?
I'm not interested in MP but I always loved the some of the crazy missions in C&C. Starcraft II also did a very good job of mixing up what you had to do in the campaign.
 
Loving all these super positive impressions! Sounds like this is a great game. After Universe At War failed to set the world on fire as Petroglyph's first game after leaving EA I lost all hope for the studio so I'm extremely glad their more recent RTS here is being so warmly received. Hopefully it sells a metric tonne to green light a sequel.

I'll be playing through the SP campaign shortly so I'll post some impressions once I've completed a few missions.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
How's the SP campaign? Are the missions varied? Is the story interesting?
I'm not interested in MP but I always loved the some of the crazy missions in C&C. Starcraft II also did a very good job of mixing up what you had to do in the campaign.

Well if the only thing you're going to do is the campaign, then you may want to wait for a sale. It's very well made, but it's not terribly long.
 
Finished the Beta campaign, good stuff.
Just started the second Human mission, I think I prefer their base building.
Not played the Goo yet.

Don't know if its a bug or I'm missing something but Humans seems to have no option to build expansion bases. I got stuck on a level which surrounded my main base in ramps. and the connector things didnt want to be built on ramps. So I was stuck with 2-3 resource nodes while my ally and enemy had access to all of them. Not a fun way if youre going for a long mission.
 

Savitar

Member
Started to hear good things about this game like everyone else, can't help but feel the name though has done it a disservice and helped make some to pass it over not realizing there is a lot of good stuff here.
 

Hylian7

Member
Started to hear good things about this game like everyone else, can't help but feel the name though has done it a disservice and helped make some to pass it over not realizing there is a lot of good stuff here.
Sadly it probably has.

Interesting little tidbit I heard today. I was talking to a guy in line at PAX, and he said he played this earlier and the CEO of Petroglyph was right there, and said "Looks like you're getting it." And he said how it was similar to C&C. The CEO said "Funny you mention that, a lot of our developers are former C&C developers."
 

Memory

Member
Don't know if its a bug or I'm missing something but Humans seems to have no option to build expansion bases. I got stuck on a level which surrounded my main base in ramps. and the connector things didnt want to be built on ramps. So I was stuck with 2-3 resource nodes while my ally and enemy had access to all of them. Not a fun way if youre going for a long mission.

Nope not a bug, Humans are restricted to one central hub kinda like Earth 2160. Haven't hit that mission yet (still playing skirmish mainly) but maybe they want you to win with a resource handicap and thats why the boxed you in with ramps?
 

Bastables

Member
Don't know if its a bug or I'm missing something but Humans seems to have no option to build expansion bases. I got stuck on a level which surrounded my main base in ramps. and the connector things didnt want to be built on ramps. So I was stuck with 2-3 resource nodes while my ally and enemy had access to all of them. Not a fun way if youre going for a long mission.

You can still place extractors on outside nodes, the number of harvesters scales to maintain the 10 or 13 or 8 resources a min (there is no time advantage building a resource building closer to nodes. Plus humans can build teleporters to use as quick reaction forces to protect the nodes. If you want actual expansion bases you're better off playing Beta's or the goo.
 
Finally got past the final Beta mission on the campaign. That was rough, but once you figure it out, it's a fun struggle.

Basically, build up your defenses at the start. Put Guardians on the northwest-most wall, since the Goo doesn't really attack en masse from the south. Definitely upgrade them with the artillery shots tech, since it makes short work of those critters attacking your walls. Repair your walls when needed. I expanded once the reinforcements arrive at either the top left or bottom right corner of the map; whichever you clear first.

I made two hangars, with the tech which repairs your flyers when they dock. Made eight bomber jets, so they could zip around and take care of any mother goos that were hanging around. Also make a repair bay for your hurting Hand of Ruk at the start of the mission, these guys with six mounted Predators will help you go on the offensive, repair them when needed.


I'm on what I believe is the final Human mission now. Haven't played it yet, but I'm guessing it'll be just as tough as the others. Still loving this game~!
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Onto the 4th human mission and I'm thinking I like them more then the Beta, though I do wish their units were a little more visually diverse. Their airforce sucks balls though, Beta has them beat there.
 

Timeaisis

Member
Mission 5...I have no idea how to beat this. It's so frustrating because I have no idea how many I have to beat, and I just wasted like 2 hours thinking I won, only to lose.

They just keep spawning...
 

Bastables

Member
Mission 5...I have no idea how to beat this. It's so frustrating because I have no idea how many I have to beat, and I just wasted like 2 hours thinking I won, only to lose.

They just keep spawning...

Repair the ruk, use it's nuck gun to kill the nests, as the nest add to the swarm. From their it's about cutting down the number of mother goos which can be handled by your tier one units en mass.
 
How's the SP campaign? Are the missions varied? Is the story interesting?
I'm not interested in MP but I always loved the some of the crazy missions in C&C. Starcraft II also did a very good job of mixing up what you had to do in the campaign.

It's good, I'm ~75% through but if the missions continue as they are I don't agree with the other poster that said it'd be short. The missions themselves should take 30-45 mins and some are tough enough that they take 2 or 3 tries. They're pretty varied and it has a story throughline, its not just a series of skirmishes (though it does have some missions that are simply extermination).

There hasn't been any missions so far with the small focused group going through a scripted level like you'd get from Starcraft, because it's not really that type of game. Units don't have any active abilities so a mission like that would be really boring.

Don't know if its a bug or I'm missing something but Humans seems to have no option to build expansion bases. I got stuck on a level which surrounded my main base in ramps. and the connector things didnt want to be built on ramps. So I was stuck with 2-3 resource nodes while my ally and enemy had access to all of them. Not a fun way if youre going for a long mission.

I figured this out recently but they don't need to, you can just drop your refinery in your base and build the extractor on any resource you have vision on and the gatherers will make their way there and build a nice supply line. It looks really cool once you have half the map being mined and have a huge supply network going everywhere.

As for expansion bases for unit production, I believe that is because the Human faction can warp units to anywhere they have vision to with the warp building, which is probably to make up for not having expansion bases. I haven't used it much yet but that seems like a big deal.

Mission 5...I have no idea how to beat this. It's so frustrating because I have no idea how many I have to beat, and I just wasted like 2 hours thinking I won, only to lose.

They just keep spawning...

Check the last few pages of this thread there have been some posts with tips, but here is some of mine:
-Man walls with guardians
-Build more walls
-Repair your Hand of Ruk and use its attack ground ability on big waves
-Make sure to put some units on the hard points of your hand of Ruk
 

Stevey

Member
Don't know if its a bug or I'm missing something but Humans seems to have no option to build expansion bases. I got stuck on a level which surrounded my main base in ramps. and the connector things didnt want to be built on ramps. So I was stuck with 2-3 resource nodes while my ally and enemy had access to all of them. Not a fun way if youre going for a long mission.

Yeah I don't think you can expand up ramps, just got to protect your harvesters.
There's a tech upgrade that
stealths them
which should help.
 

Hylian7

Member
Wanted to give a bit more of my thoughts on this game.

My main experience playing it has been in the tournament I talked about earlier, which was a lot of fun!

I think part of the reason it was so much fun, was because not a single person in it knew what they were doing in this game. I'm sure I sabotaged myself a bit by picking Goo, but it was fun figuring it out. The first match of the tournament was 30 minutes of none of us knowing what we were doing, so things progressed slowly, but then my partner and myself managed to get a decent rush out to get the gg call.

This game is great, and honestly I really hope it has a lasting community, because sadly I don't think it will have one for a multitude of reasons: The name, the lack of advertising for it (seriously, I have never seen it advertised outside of PAX South), the fact that it isn't StarCraft. Honestly I really want to hope it will have a good lasting community, at least a casual play one, because the game is quite good.
 
Wanted to give a bit more of my thoughts on this game.

My main experience playing it has been in the tournament I talked about earlier, which was a lot of fun!

I think part of the reason it was so much fun, was because not a single person in it knew what they were doing in this game. I'm sure I sabotaged myself a bit by picking Goo, but it was fun figuring it out. The first match of the tournament was 30 minutes of none of us knowing what we were doing, so things progressed slowly, but then my partner and myself managed to get a decent rush out to get the gg call.

This game is great, and honestly I really hope it has a lasting community, because sadly I don't think it will have one for a multitude of reasons: The name, the lack of advertising for it (seriously, I have never seen it advertised outside of PAX South), the fact that it isn't StarCraft. Honestly I really want to hope it will have a good lasting community, at least a casual play one, because the game is quite good.

I see a lot of complaints about the name and it being a turn off, but on the other hand it could be a thing that draws eyes as it is pretty unique. If they went for a more generic war-themed name it would just be another one in the list of thousands that you scroll through in Steam, at least 'Grey Goo' is intriguing.

Maybe it should have had a subtitle to get across it's an RTS.
 
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