Story Campaigns

[JohnRa]

I want to put down here some thoughts on single player story campaigns.

As we are all aware Battlesector was quite well received and if we rewatch those first review videos what stood out shining was the campaign. Good story telling, great voice acting, maybe a bit repetetive missions in the stretch. For me it grew quite a bit towards the end and I really loved the game for that.

Now I wonder a bit in which direction everything is going. The Necrons have no campaign, instead planetary supremacy came. From what I saw so far, it seems to me that the Sisters of Battle will also be missing a campaign. With them or closely with them will the horde/ last stand mode come. While planetary supremacy will be worked on and it might even become quite good, I get the feeling that "my game" was just switched to another kind of game.

Is this now becoming another more tactical Gladius, where just all sorts of fractions happen to meet on one planet now in a plotless string of skirmishes campaign? And what planet is that actually? Are we still on Baal secundus?

You see, as great as the Necrons look as little are they plotted into the game.

So I played through the campaign. And now? All characters I played with are gone. Instead I play with nameless interchangeable ones, again against the Tyranids - or the Necrons. Why and how again showed they up on the theatre?

There is quite a narrative missing. That should be told in campaigns - for my taste at least. For me it's confusing why this is happening. I mean, the base campaign is quite good and I think that other fractions deserve that as well. I want to see the story continue or see it from a different perspective or a different story - but something.

I'm aware that players are somewhat split into people like me and multiplayer skirmisher who want as much choice to put into skirmishes as possible, not caring for a story whatsoever. But for me that game started as one kind and now seems to turn into another.

The compareable Sanctus Reach had a campaign with every DLC. Sure, without cut scenes or voice acting, much simpler, but they were there - including a great progression system.

I understand that a good campaign like the base campaign is work, but in my opinion that's what is needed for a complete product. I like beautiful books with great illustrations more than paperbacks, but in the end I want to read them.

[Bee1976]

I can agree. I miss PVE stuff aswell, the campaign was challenging, planetary supremancy is not. Its just multiplayer skirmishes against the AI.
No story, nothing.

I really love Battlesector, its a great game. But without real PVE content there is no point for me to buy more DLCs. I bought the necrons, because i was hoping for the PS-Mode, i know this was a free update, but i wanted to support the game and the team.
But right now, PS dont fit for me.

[eric7237cire]

I second this point. In fact I started playing sanctus reach once I finished the battlesector campaign.

I like what SR did to use skirmish missions to help lengthen the campaign. But because in the sanctus reach, skirmish missions, you could level up your units, it maintained a connection between the player in the units. Having unit specific upgrades was also interesting, though I prefer battlesector letting me choose the upgrade.

That being said, I prefer the battlesector level up mechanic where any unit alive when the mission ends gets the credit. It's a pain to have to kill a unit for XP, particularly a support / healer.

TLDR -- Story campaigns are really great.

One idea to help lengthen them is have generated missions be optional. Doing them can give additional upgrade points, more units, etc. Though depending on the campaign story, it might break immersion.

At least this way, you are doing generated content with the same units as in the campaign. It creates more connection between the player and the army. This seems closer to the tabletop experience where the players actually physically paint their units, also creating a connection between the player and their units.

[Winterbourne]

Add Sisters campaign, please. Let that DLC take a longer time to complete but we'll get another great story and not just faction to play in rather boring skirmishes. It would be great to have Sisters vs Necrons campaign going on other planet.

[JohnRa]

Well, it took two years of disappointing waiting, but finally there's the announcement that more story campaigns will follow - at last. Great news! Thank you for not forgetting us single players!

[VirgilInTheSKY]

Well, it took two years of disappointing waiting, but finally there's the announcement that more story campaigns will follow - at last. Great news! Thank you for not forgetting us single players!

Indeed. They said they can't talk about it for now, but I guess it would involve the Astra Militarum, since they are going to release them as the next playable faction.