Strategy & Cylons: Battlestar Galactica - Deadlock
There's Cylons on the starboard bow
Strategy publishers Slitherine have sent word that they're working on a Battlestar Galactica game. It goes by the name Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock [official site] and is under development at Black Lab Games, creators of 3D tactical fleet battler Star Hammer. Galactica looks to be similarly based around ship-to-ship combat, focusing on the defense of the Twelve Colonies during the first Cylon war. Expect fleet building as well as tactical combat, and characters old and new. It's coming this summer and you'll find more details and a trailer below.
I loved new flavour Galactica even during its prolonged detours, spiritual and otherwise. The key thing that I enjoyed was the odyssey of the Galactica itself, which will presumably be entirely absent here, but that tie into the whole military structure of the fleet. Even when I stopped caring quite as much about the politics, of the makeshift government and hastily remilitarised Battlestar, the actual dogfighting with the backdrop of enormous ships tearing holes in one another was grand. We should be getting plenty of that in the game:
"Battlestar Galactica Deadlock is a deep strategy game that also features a strong narrative with an extensive cast of characters, both new and from the existing lore. Fans will find all their favorite ships from Vipers, Raptors and Battlestars, to Cylon Raiders and Basestars, in addition to a brand-new range of ships designed exclusively for the game."
For the uninitiated, that's some massive ships that carry smaller ships, and the smaller ships that they carry. We're talking one-seater small, or in the case of the Cylon fighters, non-seaters because a Cylon doesn't need to have a bum at all. Though they often choose to.
The press release does tell us that you'll "fight tactical battles" while "strategically defend[ing] the Twelve Colonies" which gives me hope that there will be strong, separate tactical and strategic layers. What we do know is that you'll be controlling the action from the bridge of a new ship, and engaging in some of the political fiddling as well.
"Take control of the Colonial Fleet from the bridge of the mobile shipyard, Daidalos, and free the Twelve Colonies from the Cylon threat. Build your fleets, protect the Quorum alliance and prepare to dig deeper into the conspiracies of this heroic conflict."
The actual combat will be pausable real-time, and will involve all of the expected missile barrages, as well as boarding parties and even nasty hack attacks. I can't say for sure whether we'll be able to get old Adama back in for review duties, because there's an obvious conflict of interest there, but I'll sound him out to see what he has to say in passing.