Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 updates with silly-huge skirmish battles
Davey Jones's space-locker is full
What's the point of a Warhammer game (40k or otherwise) if you can't smash irresponsibly large armies together, just to watch them burn? Today, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 added a new Massive Fleet skirmish mode as part of a big update. Developers Tindalos Interactive say that it's inherently unbalanced - the game was never made for encounters on this scale - but it sure is nice to look at, and potentially a lot of fun. The new mode even allows players to casually mess around with Titan-class vessels. Below, a developer stream showing off some of these big, daft battles.
From the peek we get at it below, the new mode (which current players can jump into right now) does look like a good time. They specifically mention that this mode is exempt from the normal system requirements of the game, so it could make your PC chug if it's on the verge of struggling normally. It's similar to the Total War: Warhammer 2 Laboratory mode, minus the option to fiddle around with the game rules and unit scaling. If anyone at Tindalos is watching, that'd be a nice new feature to have. That, or a an optional Grand Campaign mode with unlocked fleet sizes.
Balance-wise, they've done a lot of buffing and nerfing, the most important-looking change being an overhaul to Micro Warp Jumps. They now take time to cast, can be cancelled out of, and have a number of charges based on ship tonnage. Nic Reuben reviewed Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 at launch, and reckons that it's a good, if slightly shallow excuse to smash big piles of cathedral-ships together. He also mentioned that it was perhaps best to wait until a few patches in, to iron out technical and balance tweaks. Given the massive list of changes in today's update, and promise of another new campaign coming as a free update in the near future, perhaps the game has ripened enough to be an easier recommendation.
The Massive Fleets Update is live now. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is available on Steam and Humble for £35/€40/$40.