is this game worth buying right now?

[No]

I've been watching this game for many years and I've always wanted to buy it but I've always heard that it has problems and that I should wait for the full re-release. well the game is released and to what some review say has actually gained more bugs and on top of that it's only going to get six more months of support. should I wait for a sale or has all that been fixed?

[DoctorDanny]

No, you should really wait for bugs to get fixed. As it stands the campaign is a frustrating mess and the pathfinding AI in battles is also atrocious.

[Picknick]

How should I answer?
I bought it as early access. I play only campain - and I have fun. (but that's me)
Bugs? Yes, existing.
Features which needed an overhaul? Yes, existing.
Missing Features? Yes.

[MishaTX]

Whew, that's a hard question to answer.

Do you love naval combat, designing ships, the thunderous booms and flashes of volleys going off, the exhilaration of scoring a really "HMS Hood" style hit, and also enjoy the "aw shucks" when the enemy does the same? Do you enjoy building up your fleet and trying your new designs out against enemies. Then this game has all of that.

But here's why it's hard to just say GET IT, NAOW! Does it have an absolute mountain of frustrating bugs that keep getting fixed and then coming back from the dead, yes. Does it have a clunky UI, yes. Does it have less than lackluster (to call it lackluster would be an insult to all things lackluster) performance, yes. Does it take absolute ages sometimes to simply go from one screen of the interface to another thanks to, I suspect, the more than clunky and unoptimized save files and how they're handled, yes.

But here I am, having an absolute whale of a time after a few weeks of amassing 240+ hrs of playing and I just can't stop. Even if I were to say, right this moment, "OK, that's it, I'm done with this forever", I'd still have got my money's worth.

My main, MAIN problem with this game is that I see all of the things that it COULD be, it could be the end all and be all of naval combat games, hands down, and I'm incredibly frustrated that it's not there. I WANT this game to be the best ever in its genre, I personally believe that it CAN be, but it's not there yet.

[BoredViking]

Originally posted by Picknick:

How should I answer?
I bought it as early access. I play only campain - and I have fun. (but that's me)
Bugs? Yes, existing.
Features which needed an overhaul? Yes, existing.
Missing Features? Yes.

+1

[dilvish]

I'm playing this game since early acces, before it was on steam.
There are some bugs : YES
The campaign has to be improved : YES ! there are still a lot of things to add to make the campaign more balanced and interesting.

but since day one, the developers have been working hard to improve the game, reduce bugs, and respond to player requests! So yes, as it stands, just for the pleasure of creating your own fleet and sending it into battle, the game is worth it!

[MeowThai]

well the game is fun. no question there
but game campaign is really nothing. need serious re-do. well you still can enjoy to some point till you realize that campaign is actually nothing to give you... which will take your 40-50 hours.
its so fun to invent a technology and use it against the nations. but again at some point you will understand campaign really need re-do.

i would say buy it but dont expect strategy game aspect. it is really fun if you have nothing to do.

[veracsthane]

yes and no. you arent missing out if you skip it like others have said the bugs need to be fixed and the fleet movement ai really needs a quality of life change aside from that its fine so far. i have high hopes but what little i know suggests a flop of sorts.

[sandman2575]

Originally posted by Picknick:

How should I answer?
I bought it as early access. I play only campain - and I have fun. (but that's me)
Bugs? Yes, existing.
Features which needed an overhaul? Yes, existing.
Missing Features? Yes.

+1 to this. I put myself in the same category. I think the game is very much worth buying. It's a mark of how good it is *in concept and initial execution* that I'm willing to put up with the million+ bugs and still play the game.

That said, devs still have A LOT to do to get this to where it should be, especially on the level of the campaigns. And I think they'd be doing themselves and the players an enormous favor by opening this up to modding, a la Paradox or other naval games like War at Sea.

[flagpoint]

IF you want to play a grand campaign and expect that to make for some immersive and enjoyable experience based on strategy and logic....well then, I'd suggest you forget about it.

If you just want to build stuff, chuck some big old guns on and go sink stuff, you'll probably be o.k. If you have some patience for the odd update breaking accuracy and guns not shooting from time to time, that is. Until the next patch rumbles through and fixes the fix that was supposed to fix the fix that was meant to fix...something, probably? Anyway, it might be a bit of work and a bit of wait and it will eventualy return to being some fun, mostly, if sinking stuff with guns is what keeps your ship afloat, so to speak.

Whereas, in contrast, the campaign tends to take your brain out and to dissolve it in inexpensive high-percentage alcohol, Royal Navy issue, with a shot of lemon but no ice, because they didn't have fridges on their 1st rates back then and they just can't stand to do away with tradition. On the plus side, at least there's SOME connection to navy matters there...

[bkrrrrr]

Let me tell you a couple secrets about Early Access games:

1) The earlier you buy the game the longer you get to play the game, and therefore the more value you get for your money.

2) Some games are actually at their best in the "early access" period.

You need to watch some youtubes and look at the state of the game as it is right now, and decide based on that. Make your own opinion, rather than relying on the tastes of others. "I've been watching this game for many years" - well, you could have been playing it for many years already like a lot of us have.

[MishaTX]

Originally posted by Oggmeista:

Would concur with almost all of this, but one part i can't agree with, and that is where you seemingly "suggest" the game lets you test ships out against each other, that's just not the case in a pure sense, that's actually a feature that i believe needs to be added, where you can use ships designed for skirmish, in the campaign, and even better ships designed in the campaign able to be used in skirmishes to allow you the player the CIC the admiral, which ship is better what disadvantages and advantages can be found where it matters most, out in the field in actual combat or in this case on the ocean waves..

I meant more in a sense of "test your own design against whatever the AI throws at you."

I'd LOVE to see something along the lines of what you suggest, that would be even better!

[No]

thank you all for giving me the information I will be getting the game. I do hope this game becomes moddable

[godspeedthunder]

This game is like the jelly beans in Harry Potter "bertie botts every flavour beans".

A bag of all the nicest flavours and most disgusting flavours all mixed together.

One minute you can be enjoying the nicest thing you ever tasted, the next minute you're chowing down on bogeys and vomit.

It's so hard to stop grabbing another handful because so much of it is so good, but you know in the back of your mind that at any moment you are going to regret your decision.

You will pray and beg for them to release a version which gives you only nice flavours, but instead, with each release they seem to add more of the bad flavours, and what's worse is they actually replace some of the old flavours that you used to love with these gross ones.

[mzielin]

Originally posted by godspeedthunder:

This game is like the jelly beans in Harry Potter "bertie botts every flavour beans".

A bag of all the nicest flavours and most disgusting flavours all mixed together.

One minute you can be enjoying the nicest thing you ever tasted, the next minute you're chowing down on bogeys and vomit.

It's so hard to stop grabbing another handful because so much of it is so good, but you know in the back of your mind that at any moment you are going to regret your decision.

You will pray and beg for them to release a version which gives you only nice flavours, but instead, with each release they seem to add more of the bad flavours, and what's worse is they actually replace some of the old flavours that you used to love with these gross ones.

I have to admit, that's about the best way to sum it up... I've spent some 2000+ hours playing, and given the wonky alliance mechanics and ship pathfinding and the "magical" AI torpedoes that exist now, I just can't get excited to fire it up again. Those gross flavors...

[flagpoint]

In one of my last campaigns I got blockaded by a bunch of firm allies who were 100% aligned with me politically - and remained so throughout the entire blockade! A blockade which was, naturally, impossible to fight, because how would you go about fighting your allies? Who, by the way, are apparently your biggest fans as well as hell-bent to remain your best buddies...so, how could you even think about it, bloody barbarian that you are?
Luckily, it didn't matter in the slightest, seeing that I had so much money in the bank I would never have managed to spend it anyway until 1950.

Still: If you generally like to make use of logical thought while playing games, such things might throw a wrench into the machinery at some point...