Over eXplanation: Top Tips for Starting Out in Shadow Empire

[@SinOfAugust]

End of video summary of all tips was a very good addition.

[@jpryau6976]

This video is a gold mine.

[@explorminate]

Thanks :)

[@johnbrown6782]

One tip I'd add is to liberally use spies stratagems. Along with more information about the regime of the zone, it also helps you get some initial recon on the hexes of the spied upon zones and regimes before you actually get there with units.

[@treasurehunt7812]

Honestly, your quick guide was far more useful than anything I have seen Das do on this game. Thanks

[@explorminate]

Hey thanks, I'm pleased you found it helpful. I should probably do a new one of these now I'm even more familiar with the game!

[@deexet351]

@@explorminate would be fantastic of you :D

[@Meister_Mogul]

A bit late, but cracker jack work with this short tips guide! It certainly relieved a lot of headaches on my end.

[@wanderingsurvivor]

Excellent tips here. The tech section explained at last why I have been boned in my games. Could use some tips on when to colonize or create new zones.

[@mazirian9332]

I looked everywhere to see how strat move works and here it is!

[@blackcoffee8132]

The first discovery you need to make is the tech tree itself, i played for 10 hours and needed this video to find it. Btw the DasTactic link does not work.

[@explorminate]

I'll fix that, thank you!

[@antonionotmyrealnamo6333]

Wow. This was incredibly useful. Thank you ever so much.

[@explorminate]

Anytime, glad you found it helpful. Go check DasTactic's tutorials as well, they're excellent and most comprehensive.

[@touko_nanami]

Making rolling columns of tanks and motorized infantry is usually a good idea in most games but in shadow empire it is more likely they will run out of fuel or supply from your dirt roads. Nothing wrong with using good old fashion leg infantry

[@explorminate]

And infantry can become VERY powerful in Shadow Empire! Add Charged Gauss Rifles, Jetpacks and Heavy Combat Armour and you've some Assault Space Marines right there!

[@cragnamorra]

Yeah it's a few years on now, but superb video nonetheless. I like the emphasis on exploring and learning the UI. SE is overwhelming at first in its complexity; I was (somewhat still am) bewildered. Am beginning, however, to appreciate its nuances...how Victor created such a subtly deep game, but the complexity lies mostly in posing different "set-up" decisions (both game-start and early/mid emprire-building) and problem-solving. As opposed to loads of repetitive "routine" unit/asset micromanagement, to which so many other strategy/war games often devolve in later game stages.

[@SundiataWTF]

Would have been a better guide if you didn't always use the hotkeys. I couldn't really follow what you were doing. Good information, though.

[@explorminate]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll perhaps do another where I explain them. I get quite severe RSI if I overuse the mouse so I gravitate towards hotkeys and keyboard play if I can!

[@FA-tq9ip]

Really helpful video thank you!

[@aconnagan3680]

Very useful, thank you.

[@explorminate]

Glad it was helpful, thanks very much for watching!

[@RamblingMaddGod]

Thanks for the guide mate

[@A_Toastonawhiteplate]

the games learning curve is a wall but it is still so much fun to learn it and make mistakes

[@misterblort]

Thanks for this :)

[@jelliottii]

Thanks for the 411 !!! :)

[@monkeyjackmonkeyjack3779]

liked for saying jiggery pokey

[@Blefiz]

Nah, 8 to 1 are good odds. People pestered Tortuga because he surrounded enemies from all sides AND had 8 to 1 and still wouldn't attack. I played this a lot and never had a full surround 8 to 1 where I lost the battle.

[@kneecaps2000]

It depends on recon and sometimes the modifiers are hard to account for. You can lose easily on 8:1 if your recon is bad!

[@Blefiz]

@@kneecaps2000 nah, played enough of this to know that a full surround with a 8 to 1 odds provides enough recon. Losing in that scenario is akin to lose in the ol' 99% chance to win in civ IV, so yeah, although I love Tortuga power content, people where absolutely right to pester him about his indecisiveness most of the time.

[@explorminate]

In my current game, I'm regularly losing fights that are showing as 30:1 and more. The odds are just not reliable on first glance, but you're right that surrounding an enemy will generally assist. It's not a dead certain win though, I've lost some battles that I was sure I'd win! With Tortuga's situation it wasn't that he'd lose, it was that he expected to take casualties, and he certainly would have. In that game, losing too many people early on might have been a game over.

[@kneecaps2000]

@@explorminate Yeah..what's a "win" if you lose your army? Definition of Pyrrhic victory.

[@Vormithrax]

My current record loss is 75:1 with me getting absolutely crushed during a live-stream. The odds do NOT take into account things like armor penetration. Attacking an armored unit with 50 light infantry that cannot penetrate the armor leads to this kind of loss. I complain regularly about the odds indicator being a noob trap. You absolutely cannot rely on the odds indicator unless you also understand the underlying combat system or play enough to recognize the dangerous match-ups. All that odds indicator is showing is relative ATTACK power for both sides after modifiers are applied...it does not take into account armor penetration that may make one side effectively immune to damage.

[@trikkinikki970]

Step 1: Join the shadow empire discord. Details on Matrix forums or in the steam shadow empire discussion hub.

[@A_Simple_Neurose]

I want to like this game but the UI is so unfortunately amateur and the information is so poorly (being generous here) communicated to the player that I have a hard time recommending this to anyone that's looking for a good 4X experience. I really wish the developer took time to redesign the entire interface and looked up some tutorials on how they should work because it feels like he's been designing this with standards from the 1990s.

[@explorminate]

I, Rob, don't disagree here at all. Shadow Empire could greatly benefit from a modern user experience.