Dawn of the Reapers (Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion mod) v.0.2

Zach Goodier

In honor of n7 Day, I wanted to share a fun public alpha mod for one of my favorite space empire-building real-time strategy games, Sins of a Solar Empire.  You can play as Cerberus, who use strictly Alliance technology, the Council races, who use a mix of Alliance, Turian, and Asari vessels, or the Reapers, who use… well, themselves, mostly.  Each race has their own “rebel” classes that allow some subdivision based on how you want to play that race, usually between offense/defense, or maybe military/civil specialties.

Time to live out some more of my nerdy dreams.

One major difference (aside from the reskins) is the use of kinetic barriers.  Instead of functioning as a “shield,” these deduct a certain percentage (70% seems the norm) from the base damage applied when a ship is hit by enemy fire.  This is an interesting mechanic, but it can seem rather counter to lore, which does have kinetic barriers intended to completely block incoming attacks. 

New load screens are always a nice extra touch.

Many of the vanilla units have been redone, but not all.  I found a few dead research items that did not give me the ships specified (likely because they were vanilla ships not meant to be included in the mod at all), and some items still use vanilla textures because of a lack of lore-friendly replacements at this time.  There is also a lack of abilities for capital ships and titans to spend points on, so those are presently useless to improve your lead ships.  However, it is important to remember that this is still in alpha, and is not yet any sort of final product.

Reaper models don't quite capture that same feeling that they do in the series, but they're still a force to be feared.

Cerberus and Council races are fairly straight-forward, with their own frigates and cruisers taken from the ME universe.  The most interesting race to play as is presently the Reapers.  Both the strength and weakness of the Reapers is their size.  I say this, because other than unarmed Collector ships used as scouts, there are only a few varieties of Reapers to choose from, and all of them are expensive.  Building up fleets with the Reapers is not at all impossible, but once you start using them in combat, you quickly realize that they don’t usually need fleet support due to high survivability and potent firepower.  As a started out fighting local pirates and militia, I quickly realized that a lone Reaper was more than adequate to sweep aside regional resistance groups.  Once you start facing rival empires, then you might have to form a wolf pack to get the job done, but the Reapers trade in quantity for quality, that’s for sure.  Still, I would rather see the Reapers themselves as capital ships, and use the Geth as the frigates/cruisers in the Reaper fleet.

Many structures have been redone to fit the universe.

There is still a ways to go before this mod is ready to be considered a full, complete package, but it’s off to a great start.  I do wish that Cerberus was reserved for the rebel side of an Alliance race, but then I suppose we would want to see every race independent, but I like the idea of the Alliance being separate, since I always liked their ship designs, but never really felt like a Cerberus fan. 

Markings all fit the factions, so even Alliance style ships will have Cerberus markings if that's the faction you're playing as.

In terms of the Reapers, despite what initially appears to be a balance issue on the part of the Reapers, they’re not at all unbeatable.  That may seem like a grievous sin in terms of ME lore, but for the sake of keeping this game fair, it seems to work for now.  There are several areas where I would like to see more of what’s in store, but as it stands, this is a good starting point.  There’s a lot of detail work to do, and those details could make or break this in terms of depth and immersion.  The Normandy doesn’t itself appear as far as I’ve seen, but there is a class modeled after the first version that is fairly weak and feels disappointing.  With the inclusion of ship abilities and additional content, as well as the one ship we all want to command, this can be the Mass Effect game I never knew I wanted.

Good:

-Cerberus, Council, and Reapers all appear faithfully and well-balanced.

-Units look good for the most part, just don't zoom in too close.

-A Mass Effect-themed RTS, ‘nuff said.

Bad:

-Reapers could use some support ships, maybe Geth or something, and keep the Reapers themselves as capital ships/titans.  This one is very debatable so I won’t really take off for it.

-Some dead research items and missing/vanilla unit icons in the menu, and the expected bug here and there.

-No Normandy, there is a class modeled after the first one, but they’re weak corvettes/scouts, and a bitter disappointment to watch get shot out of the sky.

Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Attack on Titan

Zach Goodier

Premise:

Attack on Titan is a show that has humanity struggling to survive against their ultimate predators, the titans.  Titans are giant humanoids that devour humans without exception.  To protect what was left of humanity, the survivors built 3 walls to protect themselves, and have lived in relative peace for a century.  However, that all changes when a colossal titan appears and destroys part of the outer wall, allowing the titans to attack once more.  Eren Yeager, a young boy living within the outer wall, witnesses the death of his mother at the hands of a titan, and vows to exterminate them all.  But in a world where humans are on the brink of extinction, and with endless hordes of monsters that we have never beaten, can Eren make a difference?  And what is the origin of these new titans, who have evolved beyond the capabilities of normal titans?

While this titan may have had more Wheaties than the rest, this still gives you an idea how small we are next to these monsters.

From the start, there are a lot of unanswered questions, but this is part of the reason to keep with it.  The titans themselves are strangely human, but some of the most alien creatures to appear on-screen.  From the start, you know nothing about them, but neither do the survivors, so it all helps add mystery to what these beings are, a mystery that only gets more complicated later on in the series.

Eren, our not-so-noble hero of the series.

Characters:

Eren Yeager has help from a couple of his friends Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert.  While Eren is a young man with the heart and the will, Mikasa is a young lady who is always composed and strong, and is the most skilled natural fighter of the trio, while Armin is a timid young man who is the brains of the group, and is always quick to come up with a plan in a tight spot.  This trio is pretty formulaic on the surface,  but their stories work well to explain their nature, and why they are who they are.  There are a list of other characters who are important in the story, but these three are the main crew you follow throughout the series.

Mikasa's beauty is only matched by her skill and composure in combat.

Many of the side characters each bring something forward, whether they face issues of courage, commitment, loyalty, etc.  However, you realize very quickly going into the middle part of the series that these characters aren't off-limits for a quick and decisive demise.  While I like the idea that nobody is exempt from death on a chaotic battlefield full of monsters, you quickly realize that it's mostly half-hearted, and key characters have the traditional plot-armor you expect in most series. 

A more detailed look at the sizes of titans in relation to humans and buildings.

Story:

Where this show really hits its' stride is in the themes.  While the titans aren't anything complicated in terms of themes or story, it's the struggles of the survivors that makes the whole story more enticing.  Everyone wants to survive, but it's how they survive that makes the show compelling.  Some believe they should hide, find posts far behind the walls so they never have to face the titans, others feel that they should push forward, find ways to defeat the titans so that they can reclaim their world and live completely free of titans.  However, this is only the basic struggle.  Throughout the series, characters are challenged to make difficult decisions between duty, friendship, trust, and simple survival.  The twist is that you frequently find that there is no "right" answer to these dilemmas, they are moral issues that all the characters struggle with in the hopes that they can save themselves and humanity.  There are also several twists and turns along the way to keep things exciting.

Later on in the series you get to see some titan vs titan action.

Action:

This is mainly an action series, with the military using "3-demensional maneuvering gear" to fight the titans.  This gear uses compressed air and a pair of cables to propel the soldiers through the air so that they can strike at the oversized titans' weak points in combat with their swords with replaceable blades.  The action uses a lot of martial arts-style action mixed with swords and an epic scale.  Overall, the action is very well done, and never feels too over-the-top or overplayed. 

These guys will all carry out most of the ass-kicking in the show.

Animation:

The animation style feels a lot darker than normal shows, but this is a darker story.  Character outlines and shading sometimes feeling a little heavy-handed, but it all fits the overall style.  There is a great deal of blood and violence, so this isn't much of a kids series.  The eyes on these characters are a major strong point to the animation, with some of the most life-like eyes I have ever seen on animated characters.

Overall:

This series is a must-watch for 2013, without a doubt.  The action is great, the plot has lots of excellent themes and twists along the way.  The tension mounts as threats both external and internal start to reveal themselves, and the characters face difficult moral dilemmas that have no right answer.  This series doesn't try to tell you what's right, it only shows that sometimes what seems right can still end very badly.  Just think of all the times you watch or read a story and the hero only wins because of sheer dumb luck; while these characters have a lot of luck, that doesn't mean that they aren't forced to sacrifice along the way to accomplish their goals.  Wars involve casualties, sacrifice, and generally the only "heroes" are the ones who avoided death long enough to make it back home.  These characters are not out to be heroes, but in the process they will do things that few heroes would be willing to live with.  So in short, this is a show with depth, but still has the action to keep you involved throughout. 

The Good:

-Action, action, action... On a large scale.

-Some of the greatest facial and eye animations I've seen this year in anime.

-Great character development

-Themes that feel more grounded in reality and less in idealism, giving the show a much more gritty and realistic feel than others.

The Bad:

-Tries for that GoT angle where anyone can die, but the half-hearted approach means that you notice a lot of the characters that die were only fodder in the first place.  Meanwhile, the main cast has some good ol' fashioned plot armor, made of unobtainium and titan tears.

Scully Rating: 9.5 out of 10