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Grey Goo |OT| Nanomachines son!

Hylian7

Member
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.

Well all the advertising sayas "Grey Goo: War is Evolved" That doesn't sound too bad...
 
On the fourth or fifth Goo mission on the campaign.

You run a gauntlet, and the mission throws
two Hands of Ruk
against you. Needless to say, I lost. Gotta rethink my attack plan.
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
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.

Grey Goo was what caught my eye in the fist place. Although that was only due to me be familiar with the theory/concept.


Best part of that Deus Ex fan sequel.
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iFirez

Member
I haven't played a Petroglyth game since Universe at War but this seems like a game I can get behind, reminds me a lot of UaW actually. Think I'll have to pick it up.
 

patapuf

Member
Are there any impressions on the MP part?

How is the match length? Is there a ladder? I know it's very early but i'm fine if i get a hundred matches of fun out of it.
 

Interfectum

Member
For people who are saying the campaign is too hard, the best advice I can give is turtle up as quick as possible (walls, artillery, patrolling bombers) so you have some breathing room to build a massive offense. I've gone through the first five missions on hard like this.
 

Timeaisis

Member
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

Yeah, doing all that minus the building more walls. My problem is I never have enough offensive capabilities to hunt down the goo because I'm always focused on repairing/building defense.
 

Interfectum

Member
Yeah, doing all that minus the building more walls. My problem is I never have enough offensive capabilities to hunt down the goo because I'm always focused on repairing/building defense.

You can cheese it by using your Hand of Ruk(s) to hunt down and kill the Mother Goos one by one and heading back to base for repairs if need be.

You can also leave one Hand of Ruk at the base and set it to defend (or put on a "guard path") so it automatically bombs the shit out of any enemies that come close to your walls.
 
So what's the best Beta unit to garrison on wall pillars? I've tried commandos and predators but neither seem to have the attack range to deal with most threats attacking the wall they're garrisoned on. They'll just sit there while the pillar they're standing on gets destroyed. I really feel like utilizing wall garrisons is the key to success with the Beta but it's just not working for me.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
So what's the best Beta unit to garrison on wall pillars? I've tried commandos and predators but neither seem to have the attack range to deal with most threats attacking the wall they're garrisoned on. They'll just sit there while the pillar they're standing on gets destroyed. I really feel like utilizing wall garrisons is the key to success with the Beta but it's just not working for me.

I alternate between Predators and Guardians with an artillery piece behind them to deal with long range threats.
 

Timeaisis

Member
So what's the best Beta unit to garrison on wall pillars? I've tried commandos and predators but neither seem to have the attack range to deal with most threats attacking the wall they're garrisoned on. They'll just sit there while the pillar they're standing on gets destroyed. I really feel like utilizing wall garrisons is the key to success with the Beta but it's just not working for me.

Guardians with the artillery upgrade works pretty well. You can alternate guardians w/ artillery and predators on your walls for dealing with long range and close range threats.
 

Bastables

Member
Yeah, doing all that minus the building more walls. My problem is I never have enough offensive capabilities to hunt down the goo because I'm always focused on repairing/building defense.

Remember you can put guardians on the ruk, (about 6 of them) meaning it'll auto destroy all the smaller units while you're hunting down goo nests and the mothers.
 

Timeaisis

Member
Remember you can put guardians on the ruk, (about 6 of them) meaning it'll auto destroy all the smaller units while you're hunting down goo nests and the mothers.

Yeah, just switched to easy and did that (I was too frustrated to try a normal run again). Probably will try again next time on normal. Ruk is so damn slow, it's hard to hunt down all the goo.

I guess I should go for the nests first with my 2nd Ruk + guardians.
 

Bastables

Member
Yeah, just switched to easy and did that (I was too frustrated to try a normal run again). Probably will try again next time on normal. Ruk is so damn slow, it's hard to hunt down all the goo.

I guess I should go for the nests first with my 2nd Ruk + guardians.

Took me three tries, and it's the nests that really cause the issues as they are free units for the goo, all the mother goos are still semiresitricted in having to use resources to make combat goo. The nests are just monster closets.

Best to get the goo nests near your base with the first ruk, in my memory you can kill 1 or 2 of the nests from within your base with the starter ruk. if you have scouting to see them.
 

BadTaste

Member
The fuck? On the 4th mission during the first campaign, within 2 minutes of starting the mission I get assaulted by about 8-10 Goo. I only had 1 unit at my disposal, there was no way I could get more units from the factory in that time. Playing on Hard.
 

eznark

Banned
Took me awhile to remember that oh shit, walls! is a good tactic. Now I'm remembering how much fun it was to turtle up in C&C then go out and fuck shit up.

God damn it I love this game.
 

Ala Alba

Member
Took me awhile to remember that oh shit, walls! is a good tactic. Now I'm remembering how much fun it was to turtle up in C&C then go out and fuck shit up.

God damn it I love this game.

Even a single wall provides a lot of survivability for the mounted unit (plus easy repairs), and makes an acceptable turret. The problem with the Beta that makes them unsuited for defense IMO is the fact that the units on your walls eat up your popcap (I don't believe the human turrets do the same?).
 

Interfectum

Member
Human campaign down, I found it much easier then the Beta campaign. Onto the Goooooooooooooo.

Yeah I'm not sure if I'm getting used to the mechanics or what but I had a much easier time with the Human campaign. Maybe they are easier to turtle/cheese with because of their fantastic base defense capabilities.
 
Damn I keep meaning to fire this up and check it out but time seems to keep escaping me. It does appear Petroglyph have finally created a critical hit given this game's quite impressive Metacritic. I'm really glad for them since they've struggled to find success since leaving Westwood/EA and going independent. From what I remember Universe At War was a competent game but a misfire both critically and commercially. I'm so glad Grey Goo is getting a better reception.

Anyway I have two questions before I try the game later:

1: Any word on how this game is performing sales-wise? I know the Steam rankings are quite impressive but do we have any sales numbers yet? Is this game a hit for Petroglyph? It's important because this will determine whether Grey Goo gets sequels and becomes a franchise (something that unfortunately didn't happen for their first game Universe At War).

2: How is the single player campaign? How does it compare to the Westwood games like old school CNC and more recently Starcraft 2? I watched the Giantbomb quick look and that left with me with a really positive impression. The game looks beautiful and has a stunning soundtrack. How does the single player campaign however compare to other examples of the genre?
 
2: How is the single player campaign? How does it compare to the Westwood games like old school CNC and more recently Starcraft 2? I watched the Giantbomb quick look and that left with me with a really positive impression. The game looks beautiful and has a stunning soundtrack. How does the single player campaign however compare to other examples of the genre?

The missions arent as epic or variable as say starcraft 2, but there are one or two missions per race that makes you think about how to properly use the race's unique playstyle to win.
 
PCGamesN Review 9/10 http://www.pcgamesn.com/grey-goo/grey-goo-pc-review

1: Any word on how this game is performing sales-wise? I know the Steam rankings are quite impressive but do we have any sales numbers yet? Is this game a hit for Petroglyph? It's important because this will determine whether Grey Goo gets sequels and becomes a franchise (something that unfortunately didn't happen for their first game Universe At War).

Hard to say, it's lingered in the top sellers but I haven't seen a lot of forum and community activity. People that play multi say they haven't had trouble finding games though.

2: How is the single player campaign? How does it compare to the Westwood games like old school CNC and more recently Starcraft 2? I watched the Giantbomb quick look and that left with me with a really positive impression. The game looks beautiful and has a stunning soundtrack. How does the single player campaign however compare to other examples of the genre?

It's a pretty good campaign but it might feel a bit rushed due to going through 3 races in 15 missions. It's just as long if not longer than a regular RTS campaign but the fact you go through all three factions means it doesn't waste time giving you one new unit per mission, you ramp up quick and are at some really giant scale battles by the 4th and 5th mission in each side.
 
Holy shit, it took me an hour and a half to beat the fourth Goo misson(misson 14) on the campaign.

It was a slough, but looking back on it, there's an easy way to mitigate the difficulty:

The two biggest obstacles on this mission are the two Hands of Ruk that are put in your way, and the two cliffside bases that have Artillery Guardian-armed walls that chew through your units should you try to advance up there. Research the tech that makes it so your Crescent's shots can't be shot down by anti-air, and perch them on some cliffs or in brush alongside some Tempests for defense against air, and just wait for the walls to fall. The Hands of Ruk are handled by luring them into empty spaces and smothering them with a couple Mother Goos. After that, run roughshod on the Beta.

Spoilering that just in case you folks want to be surprised by what you face, but help is in there just in case.
 
Made it through Beta mission 4 with just a shred of health left on the Hand of Ruk.

That was a lot of goo.

Edit: On to mission 5. Hold the line for 15 minutes, I can do that! Walls breached, but we're so close. 15 minutes elapse...backup is one lousy Hand of Ruk. Welp.
 
Game looks good and fun. But I'm not much of an rts player so I was wondering about the single player. Is the story mode good or is it just vs AI skirmishes weakly dressed up as a story?
 

funkypie

Banned
Downloaded today. Will play when I get home. Would love to play some skirmish with some gaffers against the ai to figure it out lol.
 
Game looks good and fun. But I'm not much of an rts player so I was wondering about the single player. Is the story mode good or is it just vs AI skirmishes weakly dressed up as a story?

I'm only 5 missions in to the campaign, but so far the objectives have all been pretty diverse. Everything from straight up wiping out the enemy to a timed race for resources to a walled siege.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Yea the missions are rarely just 'go kill the enemy base', the bonus objectives add more wrinkles on top of it as well.
 

Bastables

Member
They even place you in positions that sort of force you to realise how the sides operate:
First human mission goes a lot smoother with their drop down turrets and ability to relocate the turrets.

First goo mission is a lot easier when you realise the goo mother is a mobile extractor (it collects the geyser plumes which it then digests over a period of time so you can just creep over to various resource points growing stronger) as well as a factory and combat unit itself.
 
Beta mission 5...noooope.

I'll entertain your notion of destroying these scattered goo nests, but I'm not going to hunt down those remaining mother goos. They can survive a Ruk nuking to the face and just slither off to recover before I can nuke them again, if I'm even lucky enough to find them again. That in and of itself wouldn't be too bad, were it not for the fact that they keep reproducing. The mission ceased being fun when I realized that by the time I find another mother, on the opposite end of the map another one is going to pop up. This is pure-grade tedium.

Probably done with the campaign unless it delivers in huge ways down the line.

If this the hand of rouk mission, i think the artillery upgrade for the guardians help a lot. Also repaired my hand of rouk

No how on earth do you do that?
 
Beta mission 5...noooope.

I'll entertain your notion of destroying these scattered goo nests, but I'm not going to hunt down those remaining mother goos. They can survive a Ruk nuking to the face and just slither off to recover before I can nuke them again, if I'm even lucky enough to find them again. That in and of itself wouldn't be too bad, were it not for the fact that they keep reproducing. The mission ceased being fun when I realized that by the time I find another mother, on the opposite end of the map another one is going to pop up. This is pure-grade tedium.

Probably done with the campaign unless it delivers in huge ways down the line.



No how on earth do you do that?

Build a repair pad. Believe it or not, the Hand of Ruk counts as a ground unit. Once you do that, you can keep your Hands of Ruk healthy for killing some Goo.

Also, bulding a medium hub with two hangars and 6-8 bomber jets will help immensly with taking out those pesky Mother Goos. Just be aware that in the top right corner of the map is where the Goo are concentrated the most. Bringing your Hands of Ruk to help quell that section of the map will help a lot.

There will come a point where eventually you won't have to worry about your base defense, and you can just invest all your resources and squad cap on units specifically to take out the straggling Goo. Also remember that your Hands of Ruk can also pump out units. Once I have them on the attack, I just have them rotate between two Predators and two Stalkers and rally them right on the Hands so that they join the fight immediately.

It is tedious, but you can get through it.
 

Dolor

Member
Man, I am having a bear of a time of the beta mission 5. The biggest problem is that I have to expand out just to find room to put the Hand of Ruk (can't do it North or South, so have to go East). Keep getting annhilated by the goo artillery that I can't see.
 
You don't need to kill the entire enemy base at the end of Beta mission five, you just need to fly the Ruk over it and you'll succeed.
 

Timeaisis

Member
Beta mission 5...noooope.

I'll entertain your notion of destroying these scattered goo nests, but I'm not going to hunt down those remaining mother goos. They can survive a Ruk nuking to the face and just slither off to recover before I can nuke them again, if I'm even lucky enough to find them again. That in and of itself wouldn't be too bad, were it not for the fact that they keep reproducing. The mission ceased being fun when I realized that by the time I find another mother, on the opposite end of the map another one is going to pop up. This is pure-grade tedium.

Probably done with the campaign unless it delivers in huge ways down the line.



No how on earth do you do that?

I switched to easy for this mission. I feel your pain.
 
Finally beat mission 5. I've found it's won or lost at around minute 15-20. The rest is just mopping up. Very tedious mopping up. Setting a few more patrols up besides my Hands of Ruk made all the difference.
 

Interfectum

Member
Holy... shit. The final mission in the campaign (5th Grey Goo mission) is rough as hell. Easily the hardest mission in the game.

Save early, save often. o_O
 

Nokterian

Member
Holy... shit. The final mission in the campaign (5th Grey Goo mission) is rough as hell. Easily the hardest mission in the game.

Save early, save often. o_O

Looks like they took it to the next level of being tough in singleplayer haha. They uploaded a video that there AI is adaptive and there learning what your are doing.
 
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