Offworld Trading Company from Soren Johnson's Mohawk Games

Island Dog · Post by **Island Dog** » Mon May 19, 2014 2:39 pm

The first game from Civ IV lead designer Soren Johnson’s Mohawk Games is official: Offworld Trading Company. Ars Technica wrote a great piece introducing it.

No military units exist in this sci-fi RTS, but the constant changes in the player-driven marketplace require truly adaptive strategy to come out on top of the cutthroat corporate warfare that shapes Mars in the near future.

There's more info about the game in a blog post by Soren Johnson here.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon May 19, 2014 8:48 pm

Soren Johnson? OK, I'm interested; just not enough to plop down money right now.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Sat May 24, 2014 12:44 am

The RTS route worked so well for Brian Reynolds, didn't it? One moderately successful release, followed by a turd in the swimming pool sequel, followed by years of being The Can in a game of corporate kick-the-can, to...well, I hear he's working on another Rise of Nations/Age of Empires RTS Civ-like game, again.

I like trading games, but I like trading games that give me time to think and that I can play for minutes at a time like, say, Civ 5. I don't have an hour to focus on a RTS game, so I likely will skip this.

Island Dog · Post by **Island Dog** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 1:56 pm

Just a note that the Founder's edition will be discontinued this week, so it won't be available for purchase again until it hits Steam.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 5:12 pm

Island Dog wrote:Just a note that the Founder's edition will be discontinued this week, so it won't be available for purchase again until it hits Steam.

Can you say anything about proposed time for the beta to open?

Island Dog · Post by **Island Dog** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:42 am

baelthazar wrote:
Island Dog wrote:Just a note that the Founder's edition will be discontinued this week, so it won't be available for purchase again until it hits Steam.
Can you say anything about proposed time for the beta to open?

Not yet.....

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 9:51 am

I was given a gift code that dropped the founder's price down to $20, so I grabbed it while I could still get it for cheap. Normally this would be a wait-and-see, but I have faith in Soren.

I don't understand everything that's going on, but I can see that there's a skeleton of a really good game here. I plan to read the alpha build stater guide later.

Other than a request not to publish photos or videos, there's doesn't seem to be an NDA, so if anyone has questions, fire away.

[edit]Gift codes drop the price of the Founders Edition from $80 to $20. If anyone else wants to grab it before the beta comes out and the price goes up again, there's a whole slew of people handing them out like candy over at Qt3.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 11:30 am

Jeff V wrote:The RTS route worked so well for Brian Reynolds, didn't it?

In fairness, there's a difference between trying to fit a square peg in a round hole (real-time Civ) and making a real-time "spiritual successor" to a game that was real-time to begin with (M.U.L.E.).

Island Dog · Post by **Island Dog** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 1:34 pm

The "official" reveal was today and we finally have screenshots and a video available for Offworld Trading Company. It's also coming to Early Access on Steam on February 12.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsayg87_Y2s

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 2:55 pm

Soren? Over here Soren. No, the audience is here. This way. Soren??? SOREN!!!

Pro tip: Cue cards go behind the camera, not off to the side.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 3:35 pm

I note in their FAQ that they plan on an official release in 2016. So maybe I'll wait a bit beyond February 12th.

killbot737 · Post by **killbot737** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:26 pm

Sounds a bit MULE-ish, with even more realtime than the original.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:31 pm

I'm interested in a good resource trading game but too old, slow, and stupid for RTS anymore. If someone gets in describe the pace and how much control you have over it.

Though I'm not sure this is the avenue I like for "the market"

Stock Purchases

Buying up your competitors' stock is the ultimate win condition in Offworld Trading Company. Be careful, though; money put into stock purchases doesn't help you make more money until you fully buy out a rival – at which point you take ownership of all their assets.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 5:52 pm

I'm looking for two things in the features. One would be a fun long term single player experience (I don't usually do MP anymore) and also that it has to be pausible real-time.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 5:56 pm

No good single player for me would make any game a non starter.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 3:18 am

If you don't have the game, or, like me, have it but don't quite grok it yet, this may help. It's Soren playing an actual single-player campaign, and I find it goes a long way towards clarifying the core concepts:

Twitch feed

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 1:40 pm

Looked a bit at the feed. Good that the game is pausible, but sheesh, I really would have been jumping all over this if it was turned based. As it it... I'll wait and see.

dbemont · Post by **dbemont** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 2:26 pm

From what I have played, the game speed can be moved up or down (or paused) and single player seemed good.

On the whole, I had a positive vibe, but some things were going on that I could not understand (not sure if that tutorial wasn't done, or whether it's just very weak). Also, I am taking a wait-and-see attitude towards the way the economic sim and the sabotage/black market sim fit together. From what I have seen to this point, the sabotage game becomes the more important half of the game, and given that defense against sabotage seems to be extremely limited by design it felt a lot like kids gleefully wrecking each others' sand castles... which is fine, but jarring if you thought you were playing an in-depth economic sim.

On the other hand, you can turn that part of the game off... and I may have been experiencing things before they were balanced... and I may have been missing things.

Doubts aside, though, I am very much looking forward to the final product.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 10:55 pm

I played a couple of the tutorials, and was able to keep up at normal speed and even win. Then again, these were tutorials so the AI was extremely passive.

I'm a bit more perturbed that, once again, you can't save in the middle of a game. Yes, I know a game doesn't take more than half and hour or so, yadda yadda, but some times I don't even have that much free time.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:48 am

tgb wrote:I'm a bit more perturbed that, once again, you can't save in the middle of a game. Yes, I know a game doesn't take more than half and hour or so, yadda yadda, but some times I don't even have that much free time.

Wow, that's a no-sale for me. I'll keep following this topic in case this situation changes, but if it's not, then I won't be getting it.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:25 am

jztemple2 wrote:
tgb wrote:I'm a bit more perturbed that, once again, you can't save in the middle of a game. Yes, I know a game doesn't take more than half and hour or so, yadda yadda, but some times I don't even have that much free time.
Wow, that's a no-sale for me. I'll keep following this topic in case this situation changes, but if it's not, then I won't be getting it.

Same here. With a baby, I have to be able to leave the game without notice and sometimes not get back to it for days.

Island Dog · Post by **Island Dog** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:44 pm

I'll have to ask about the game saving, not sure what the plan going forward is for that.

But speaking of single-player, Soren has a game up on YouTube to check out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_LTR5m3yiU

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 2:51 pm

Soren is active over at Qt3, and I posted this morning asking if his arm could be twisted into adding mid-game saves, or even a single save slot when quitting. Here is his response:

we're working on that today, in fact!

So yay. And JeffV I thought you weren't interested in the game anyway since it's real time.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 12:25 am

I could possibly be suckered into it like I was with Rise of Nations, but no save would be an absolute deal-killer. As it is, it's very much a wait-and-see.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:49 am

I've been slowly working my way through the tutorials, and like the fact that they take a learning by doing/failing approach rather than the more conventional "Build this here, Dummy".

Island Dog · Post by **Island Dog** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:10 pm

Soren has been putting up a bunch of OTC tutorials on their YouTube page this past week.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 1:55 pm

And it's on Steam! If you pre-ordered, go to your stardock account, get your Steam key and install! Installing now, can't wait!!

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 3:27 pm

Pre-order price of $35.99 only good through Feb 19. So far the game is very board gamey and very brain burnery.

Island Dog · Post by **Island Dog** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 4:03 pm

Lorini wrote:Pre-order price of $35.99 only good through Feb 19. So far the game is very board gamey and very brain burnery.

I like your description.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 3:26 pm

I went back and forth on this one before I picked it up as I wasn't sure I'd like it that much, but it's been surprisingly more fun than I expected. Definitely needs a lot of balancing and UI cleanup, and I've had a few crashes, but the game itself is enjoyable.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 3:40 pm

I thought the real-time aspect would be a problem for me, but I find the pacing at normal speed to be just right. Of course, I'm still exploring the tutorials, so that probably makes a difference.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 12:25 am

I was all onboard with this, but then I saw the release date was set for NEXT YEAR and now I am wondering if waiting might be smarter. Soren even basically said that the Early Access was only to be an active part in the development and people wanting balance and fun should wait until later.

Still, it looks like a great concept and the type of game I love.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 8:21 am

baelthazar wrote:I was all onboard with this, but then I saw the release date was set for NEXT YEAR and now I am wondering if waiting might be smarter. Soren even basically said that the Early Access was only to be an active part in the development and people wanting balance and fun should wait until later.

Still, it looks like a great concept and the type of game I love.

I don't know when he said that but the game is pretty complete now. Even Tom has good things to say.

I just wish he would get the promised in-game save system working, since last night was a perfect example of why the game needs one - the match was going on and on until I finally had to get ready to take the wife out for VD and had to just quit.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 11:06 am

tgb wrote: the match was going on and on until I finally had to get ready to take the wife out for VD and had to just quit.

Couldn't you have just given her that at home?

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 11:19 am

hepcat wrote:
tgb wrote: the match was going on and on until I finally had to get ready to take the wife out for VD and had to just quit.
Couldn't you have just given her that at home?

I suppose. I used to have the distributorship for California, Nevada, and Arizona.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 1:25 pm

tgb wrote:
baelthazar wrote:I was all onboard with this, but then I saw the release date was set for NEXT YEAR and now I am wondering if waiting might be smarter. Soren even basically said that the Early Access was only to be an active part in the development and people wanting balance and fun should wait until later.

Still, it looks like a great concept and the type of game I love.
I don't know when he said that but the game is pretty complete now. Even Tom has good things to say.

I just wish he would get the promised in-game save system working, since last night was a perfect example of why the game needs one - the match was going on and on until I finally had to get ready to take the wife out for VD and had to just quit.

Alright... I'll bite. But I'm after you if this is a disaster!

And at least you weren't taking another guy's wife out for VD...

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:14 pm

Baelthazar, you can be mad at me as well, I love the game, just gotta post some of my suggestions on their forum. For one, I'd like to see a purely timed mode without the stock buying and the First World Consortium.

Also be sure to watch Mohawk Games Tutorials on Youtube first to get an understanding of how to play.

dbemont · Post by **dbemont** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:37 pm

I tried the game a few build back and thought is was promising, but one thing troubled me. The stock game and the building game seemed subtle and detailed, but the black market stuff seemed to overwhelm the game... easy offense, little defense. It was kind of like playing chess with a special rule that you could throw rocks at the playing board.

For those playing now, does the (offensive uses of the) black market seem balanced?

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 4:05 pm

dbemont wrote:I tried the game a few build back and thought is was promising, but one thing troubled me. The stock game and the building game seemed subtle and detailed, but the black market stuff seemed to overwhelm the game... easy offense, little defense. It was kind of like playing chess with a special rule that you could throw rocks at the playing board.

For those playing now, does the (offensive uses of the) black market seem balanced?

Frankly I barely notice it, but that's because I go for redundancy, and don't build critical stuff right next to each other. In fact I think one of the UI changes they are going to make is to make the attacks more noticeable. In at least the early difficulties there's enough stuff to change over to some other resource if someone's bombed you out of a resource. I haven't seen where there's a resource without which you'll die.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 7:20 pm

Lorini wrote:Baelthazar, you can be mad at me as well, I love the game, just gotta post some of my suggestions on their forum. For one, I'd like to see a purely timed mode without the stock buying and the First World Consortium.

Also be sure to watch Mohawk Games Tutorials on Youtube first to get an understanding of how to play.

I managed to get this on Greenmangaming with a 20% off coupon, so that was a reasonable price. Thanks for the tip about the Youtube tutorials, I will go there first thing!

Impression to follow at some point.