There are so many games set in space, willingly limiting their scope to new instances of Star Wars-style ships, blasters and myths. Devouring Stars is an attempt at expanding the horizon of "celestial" games, focusing on the eerie beauty and poetry of distant stars, blackholes and mysterious corners of our universe. What if you could litterally unhook the stars? What if you could be a galactic-sized entity? In Devouring Stars you play a tribe of godlike entities trapped in Tartarus, a corner of the universe as far beneath hell as heaven is high above the earth. Hunted by 4 other tribes, you have been given the ability to draw your own fate. But to what extent? Devouring Stars uses a couple of unique mechanics to create a different experience on the RTS and space exploration genre. Your entities have the ability to "devour" starfields, creating dynamic nebulas that will protect them. There's no tech tree or building facilities in Devouring Stars: your entities are able to merge in order to create advanced units with special abilities. Depending on the set of entities you start the game with, you will be able to go for different strategies that will evolve during the game. Devouring Stars is mainly inspired by Dan Simmons' Illium but also by games like Homeworld, Eufloria, Starcraft or Faster Than Light.FEATURES 15 advanced entities to unlock by merging the 4 basic ones (earth, air, fire, water). Each advanced unit has a specific ability like freezing enemies, controling them, attacking them from afar... Generated starfields offering a wide range of beautiful and differently balanced layouts Thousands of different settings through generated scenarios Direct attack, escape route, diversion... many ways to go through the game depending on your strategic choices, your entities and your enemies 4 enemy tribes with specific features and behaviors Unique particule system able to display thousands of dynamic stars And some well hidden secrets...
Inspired by some of the most iconic and classic attractions from fairgrounds and theme parks around the world, Classic Rides Collections comes to Planet Coaster to add a touch of nostalgia and class to your park. This collection includes nine new rides and coasters with one variant, including the Macchina Classica vintage roadster, Armada the water-based boat ride, and the graceful Sky Temple, plus more rides and coasters to help you build the park of your dreams!Key FeaturesWith nine new rides and one variation, now there are even more ways to entertain your park's guests! These include:Flat RidesSky Temple: A unique observation platform ride that’s beautifully themed in traditional Qin Dynasty architecture. The ride can be set at 3 spectacular heights as it gracefully ascends and descends.Rising Raptor: The Rising Raptor is one of the largest and most complex rides to appear in the game. This ride uses the all-new customizable height system which allows players to tailor the ride between easy-going guests in search of impressive views or hardy thrill-seekers in need of a more intense ride experience. This ride can be built from 22 meters to an impressive 58 meters.Golden Eagle: The sister of the Rising Raptor has the suspended swinging cars of its counterpart but also offers a more thrilling outward-facing gondola arrangement. The ride also utilizes the new customizable height system.Free Flyer: A very popular and beautifully elegant, vintage attraction in many parks around the world. There are two operations modes offering varying intensities of ride experience from a gentle swing to an intense spin.Swift Drifters: This ride has 16 free-wheeling cars that are pulled around an oval track by a large chain. The cars are flung outwards under the centripetal force as they reach the apex of each corner, weaving along the track under their momentum as they go. The force pins the guests to their seats and creates a thrilling experience.Roller CoastersInterdimensional: Your guests will have a unique experience on every ride of this spinning coaster. The track has a unique feature that allows you to lock and unlock the free rotation at any point and a track section that can spin the cars in the direction of your choosing.Infinite: The overhanging car carries up to eight guests per car and two cars per train and has a wide variety of lift and launch options including a regular lift hill, a vertical chain lift tower, and a block sectioned chain lift dive tower, and an LSM launch system.Tracked RidesArmada: A high-capacity boat ride that has front-facing seating and had been specifically designed for dark ride experiences. The Armada has chain lift and drop sections to allow more flexibility and guest excitement and is perfect for recreating your favorite water-based dark rides.Macchina Classica: Take your guests for an unforgettable day out in a beautiful vintage roadster. This car ride seats four guests and has the highest top speed of any tracked ride in Planet Coaster.Transport RidesGondola: The Gondola is a new transport ride that can elevate your guests over your parks inside modern and sleek suspended cabins. Each cabin offers amazing views and carries up to 4 passengers per car. Planet Coaster is a registered trademark of Frontier Developments plc. Planet Coaster © 2016 Frontier Developments plc. All rights reserved.
Close Combat: Gateway to Caen is a great release in the critically-acclaimed Close Combat series. Gateway to Caen focuses on the largest, concentrated British offensive since the Normandy landings in an attempt to penetrate the German lines west of Caen and cross the Odon River to get the stalled advance moving again. With Close Combat: Gateway to Caen you can play at the strategic and tactical level, putting yourself in the boots of both the generals and the platoon commanders. You can move or combine your battlegroups on the strategic level and decide the outcome of battles on the tactical level. You will command squads in close combat situations, using small arms, mortars, machine guns, armored cars, and tanks to triumph against the enemy. You command artillery and mortar barrages and even air strikes. You will get to know individual solders, platoons, battalions, and the larger brigades and battle groups which they comprise. Players can experience the desperate situation of the outnumbered, but well-armed Panzergrenadiers, or the daunting offensive mission of the fully-supported British infantry advancing across the treacherous Odon Valley. At your command are Churchill, Cromwell, Firefly, Sherman, Stuart tanks and more. Panther, Tiger, Stug, and Mk.IV tanks will arrive to support German Panzergrenadiers as they try to hold the line against a concerted British attack. The historic scope of Operation Epsom is captured in single battles, operations, and the grand campaign. The strategic battlefield offers over two dozen individual battlefields with over three dozen accurately portrayed German and British battle groups. British infantry regimental history is reflected in name among the various battalions. You can deploy your battalions as they actually fought in the struggle for the Odon. The game includes all new maps and a range of upgraded effects. The Setting With the success of the Allied landings at Normandy and their domination of air and sea, expectations were high that the momentum would continue on land. It was not to be so. Though initially surprised and overwhelmed, the German Army quickly recovered, mobilized, and, counterattacked. Field Marshal Rommel formed a capable defense in Normandy that made the Allied advance costly. Superior Allied artillery and air power failed to crack the German lines. Though the Norman City of Caen was originally a British D-Day objective, its capture would elude and frustrate Montgomery’s 21st Army for weeks to come. Operation Epsom was Field Marshall Montgomery’s first concentrated attempt to go around the city and the Odon River, and break through the strengthening German bulwark. The newly-arrived British VIII Corps, supported by 700 guns of the Royal Artillery made a go of it along a four-mile front between Rauray and Carpiquet. Defending that front was the infamous 12th SS Panzer Division. Though reduced by weeks of heavy fighting they remained a potent and experienced foe. The Germans had offensive plans too, but the British struck first, and the 2nd SS Panzer Corps, the last of Germany’s offensive reserves in Normandy, was instead committed to stopping the British breakthrough along the Odon. Can you, as Montgomery and his commanders, re-chart the course of the Normandy campaign and prevail against Germany’s SS Panzer divisions? Can you as the Germans, once again stop Montgomery, or eclipse history and push the British back entirely?FeaturesThirty new battlefield maps accurately reflect the Odon Valley west of Caen, France. 65 vehicles, 36 infantry units, 77 weapons. New vehicles and guns including Churchill, Cromwell, M-10 Achilles, and Firefly tanks; 17-pdr AT guns, Loyd Carriers, and more. Revised terrain files that represent the specific conditions of the Odon battlefield: tall cornfields and hindered, muddy movement during rainy weather. New features including Rolling barrages and dug-in/camouflaged tanks and anti-tank guns. Historic regimental names and battalion organization. Mount troops or guns on vehicles. Integrated multi-player lobby and match-making forums. Enhanced Scenario Editor - Create your own "what if" Scenarios.
From the late 1300s some Swiss started to carry the long pike, at first as a minority weapon, the bulk of their soldiers still carrying the halberd. In 1422, a small Swiss army was beaten at Arbedo by a Milanese army containing a large number of men-at-arms, who dismounted after their initial mounted charge failed. It was noticed that the pikemen fared better in combat against dismounted men-at-arms than the halberdiers, due to the longer reach of their weapons. From that time onwards the proportion of pikemen in Swiss armies was steadily increased, so that by the end of the fifteenth century it had become the dominant weapon. The halberd was only retained by a small number of experienced soldiers to defend the banners, and to break up an enemy's formation if the pike advance was halted. The new Swiss system proved an astounding success on the battlefield: victorious in the Burgundian Wars, defeating the Holy Roman Empire in the Swabian War, and as mercenaries they were a key component of French King Charles VIII's armies in Italy. Soon pike formations were adopted in many western European countries, notably in Germany by the famous 'landsknechts'. In Bohemia, war had broken out between the followers of Jan Hus, a Proto-Protestant religious reformer, and the Catholic royalists. The Hussites were mainly common people, and they had few nobles to provide heavily armoured men-at-arms. To counter the royalists’ advantage in heavy cavalry, they adapted simple agricultural wagons into the 'Wagenburg', a mobile fortress, from within which the Hussite soldiers could fight. This was mainly a defensive weapon, although at the Battle of Kutna Hora in 1421 it was used to break through a royalist army. In Spain, the Reconquista was finally completed when the Kingdom of Granada was conquered in 1492. Here, the armies of Castile and Aragon had also adopted the pike, but Castile had in addition revived the use of sword and buckler men, in imitation of the ancient Roman legionaries. England saw a series of wars between the Lancastrian and Yorkist branches of the Plantagenet royal family. Today these are known as the Wars of the Roses. Here the battlefield was still dominated by the longbow and dismounted men-at-arms, although a few mercenary pikemen were recruited for some campaigns. Another backwater was Scandinavia, where Sweden fought to break free from the Kalmar Union, which was dominated by Denmark. Additional coverage for the following nations and factions from the introduction of Swiss-style pike tactics or Hussite war wagons by themselves or their opponents until 1500 AD: Aragonese, Berber (Wattasid), Bohemian (Catholic), Burgundian, Castilian, Danish, English (Lancastrian, Yorkist and Tudor), Florentine, French, German (Imperial, Feudal and City armies), Granadine, Hungarian, Hussite (Taborite and Utraquist), Low Countries, Milanese, Neapolitan, Papal, Polish, Rus, Scots, Swiss, Venetian. Each of these has their own historically-based banner. (Several European nations are already covered up to 1500 AD by previous DLC). 22 new units. 60 more army lists allowing historically realistic armies for each of the above factions and their allies at different dates during the period, and bringing the total number of Medieval army lists to 303. In addition armies can include contingents from historical allies. This gives over three hundred thousand permutations. You will never run out of new matchups to try.o Aragonese 1450-1479 AD o Berber (Wattasid) 1466-1500 AD o Bohemian (Catholic) 1419-1449 AD o Bohemian (Catholic) 1450-1500 AD o Breton 1456-1465 AD o Breton 1466-1491 AD o Burgundian 1450-1464 AD o Burgundian 1465-1470 AD o Burgundian 1471-1477 AD o Castilian 1476-1497 AD o Danish 1488-1500 AD o English (Britain) 1450-1454 AD o English (Lancastrian) 1455-1484 AD o English (Yorkist) 1455-1482 AD o English (Continental) 1475 AD o English (Yorkist) 1483-1485 AD o English (Yorkist) 1486-1497 AD o English (Tudor) 1485-1500 AD o Florentine 1400-1414 AD o Florentine 1415-1439 AD o Florentine 1424 AD o Florentine 1440-1500 AD o French 1466-1479 AD o French 1480-1483 AD o French 1484-1500 AD o German (Imperial) 1425-1449 AD o German (Imperial) 1450-1487 AD o German (Imperial) 1488-1500 AD o German (Feudal) 1450-1489 AD o German (Feudal) 1490-1500 AD o German (City N & W) 1450-1487 AD o German (City N & W) 1488-1500 AD o German (City S & E) 1425-1449 AD o German (City S & E) 1450-1487 AD o German (City S & E) 1488-1500 AD o Hungarian 1441-1500 AD o Hussite (Taborite) 1419-1434 AD o Hussite (Utraquist) 1419-1479 AD o Low Countries 1450-1477 AD o Low Countries 1478-1487 AD o Low Countries 1488-1500 AD o Milanese 1400-1439 AD o Milanese 1440-1500 AD o Neapolitan 1400-1439 AD o Neapolitan 1440-1500 AD o Papal 1400-1439 AD o Papal 1440-1500 AD o Polish 1455-1500 AD o Rus 1470-1500 AD o Scots 1438-1500 AD o Swiss 1360-1399 AD o Swiss 1400-1422 AD o Swiss 1423-1424 AD o Swiss 1425-1475 AD o Swiss 1476-1477 AD o Swiss 1478-1490 AD o Swiss 1491-1500 AD o Venetian 1400-1414 AD o Venetian 1415-1439 AD o Venetian 1440-1500 AD 8 more historical scenarios covering key engagements of the period on an epic scale: Kutna Hora 1421, Towton 1461, Brunkeberg 1471, Grandson 1476, Loja 1482, Bosworth 1485, Fornovo 1495, Dornach 1499. 41 more historical matchups added to Quick Battle mode, increasing the total to 239, most playable from either side. 4 more historically-based campaigns covering major leaders and conflicts of the era: Rise of the Swiss, Hussite Wars, Charles the Bold, Louis XI. Sandbox campaign expanded to include all the new army lists, allowing you to lead any nation (and their historical allies) against any other nation (and their allies) – giving over eighty thousand permutations. Time Warp modules expanded to include the new army lists.
