The Phasmids have reprogrammed cyborgs originally created by humans, and now those androids want revenge! A new Space Crew must battle its way through the Alpha Centauri system, against a new foe with new abilities and an unknown end goal.
I needed a break from UFO Defense, so I decided to try out Space Crew’s second campaign. I was worried that it would just be a carbon copy of the first but harder, but it’s already throwing some interesting challenges.
With a new campaign, you have a new crew and a new ship. You seem to start with more technology unlocked, but you still have to do missions to earn research and gold, just like the base campaign. I’m not sure if there are any new unlocks in this campaign, but so far I haven’t seen any.
One thing I noticed is that the jumpgates seem to be further away from each other in each map, increasing the chance of having two encounters as you traverse an area. A small, but simple way, of making the campaign a little more challenging.
Boarders Don’t Breathe
When Phasmids boarded my ship in the main campaign, my favourite strategy was to open the airlocks. They would be sucked out into space where they would suffocate, and it would save me from pulling a crew member away from their guns to kill the enemy.
I’d also use magnetic boots and disable the gravity generator, so that even if I sent crew to fight them they’d be at a disadvantage. My crew could walk around and shoot, but they would have to float slowly through the air.
Unfortunately these strategies don’t work on androids. They don’t breathe, so blasting them out into space doesn’t kill them. It can delay their attack for a moment, but since they are small drones they can just fly back to your ship and board again. And the fact that they don’t rely on gravity means they are at an advantage fighting crewmen relying on magnetic boots.
The other advantage they have is that they are small and can enter the ship through the airlocks. They don’t have to have a ship attach to the docking bay, they are simply launched form a drone ship and they do the boarding themselves.
The strategy of destroying this ship before they get launched is still effective if you can pull it off. But as soon as I see the drones get launched, I make sure my heavily armed Security Officer is waiting by the airlocks before they board.
These new boarding drones are a clever way of upping the challenge in a way that fits with campaign’s story. They aren’t just Phasmids with higher health and damage. They behave differently and force the player to adapt their strategy to fight this new foe.
Hacking a Cloak
Another type of enemy ship I’ve encountered is a cloaking ship. These ships are invisible, until they decide to lower their cloak and attack. You fight back, but as soon as their shields go down, they cloak again and retreat, ready for their next attack run.
It took me a while to figure out how to defeat these ships. My first thought was to destroy them so quickly that they couldn’t re-cloak. This didn’t work very effectively, and led to a very prolonged fight.
Then I noticed there was a target on the ships. I set it as a waypoint for my pilot, and discovered that my Comms Officer could hack it. Now they had something to do in the heat of battle. Once they had a connection they could continue the hack even if the ship cloaked. As long as it didn’t go to far, the Comms Officer could send their commands.
After a successful hack, their cloaking ability was disabled. I could continue hacking and their cloaks would remain disabled. This was the way to destroy them. They were still tough, but I eventually prevailed.
I loved this new enemy. A little frustrating at first, but when you have that Eureka! moment, it feels great. And even after you know how to defeat them, it doesn’t eliminate the challenge they pose. It’s one extra thing you have to keep an eye on during a battle, and it’s very satisfying when you finally defeat these ships.
They Have a What!?
Early on in the campaign you are sent on a mission to destroy a Cruiser that has fallen to the androids. This is the type of ship you control during the campaign, so it’s fun to fight another ship that operates the same way yours does.
It turns out this fight doesn’t feel very unique or challenging, it’s interesting to fight a ship with the same capabilities as your own. It’s mainly interesting for the story, which I won’t spoil here. I’m about halfway through the campaign at the time of writing, so I’m interested to see where this all leads.
I’m also excited to see what new challenges the game has in store. The boarding drones and cloaked ships already add a lot of flavour, and I’m hoping there will be more to come.
