What's there to say, what's there to say...

I bought this in 2017, in it's early years - I played a tiny bit, can barely remember what I did. I just remember not understanding anything, running around trying to learn how the shooting works, with a cometa revolver. It wasn't for me, so I didn't play it. It was in early access, so I kept in on my library.

July 2021, I came back, as Colonial, and I spawned in at Loch Mor - I spent the weekend helping fight up to Mercy's wish - and I had a great time. I learned basic shooting skills here, I saw all sorts of tanks and I admired how immersive it all felt, especially for a semi-isometric game. I played solo with some friends, and I didn't get into much because I wasn't involved with any regiments. As a woman, I felt a bit intimidated, like I was entering a guy's space - sort of the same shyness issue I had with Squad. So, after I got distracted, I put the game down - and went back to working on other games I was developing maps and mods on.

July 2024, I came back - and met more people this time. I got picked up by a regiment called Waifu, a self-proclaimed "queer club" but a space with much more feminine people... so I felt a little bit less shy, and got involved. They taught me basically everything, and I became attached to running logistics, and working on facilities. I love the feeling of feeling needed, when I run supplies to the frontline. It was nice to meet all sorts of different people, even if I don't completely relate to them - but being social in this game is something I really deeply enjoy.

As time went on, I met some guys from another regiment, when I helped a friend purchase a locomotive from them, since their objective was to set up a large facility near a coal field, and produce large vehicles that they'd sell in exchange for components. They'd also started getting into naval operations, and had some ships. The guys I first met were total sweethearts who showed me how to work the locomotive, and made sure that I got back safely. So, after a few weeks of talking to them, I decided to join them after I was invited :)

Nowadays, I really enjoy this game. I spend a lot of my time on it. I don't particularly do frontline infantry or combat medical like how I was doing before, I spend a great deal of time working in the facility, and helping people in the far backlines get their vehicles put together, helping produce the necessary materials and fuels to make those vehicles possible, and also taking care of our home facility. There's not many other women on this game, but people are such sweethearts and I truly enjoy being helpful for them, and taking part in helping them make supplies for the guys at the front to push <3 In a sense, I feel like a bit of a wartime housewife. But I enjoy that, and I fill the role well. Being social in this game is easy and quite fun.

The reddit can be a little toxic, but not for any other reason than the fact that this a game about spending a LOT of time making expensive machines, and then using them to fight the enemy, a persistent war that can either make you or break you. People burn out, people take break wars. But I have had so much fun helping out here.

This game has a specific art-style, it's reminiscent of the time period between 1900 and 1940 - it looks like WW2 and WW1 if you had a dream about it. Things are vaguely familiar, but ultimately are completely different. Places and vehicles are named with incredibly creative names, and the entire landscape, which is a little bit smaller than the actual irl square kilometer-age of San Francisco - so it's a damn big map. It's so pretty. It's all vaguely reminiscent of places like the french countryside, switzerland, germany, places in Europe. There are cities big and small, and rural areas. There's the snow in the north, and the warm sunny shores of the south. It's incredible.

It's a big place. And driving around takes a while. And there's a very realistic way that the landscape transitions between cities and countryside, shorelines and mountains, beaches and ports and docks in the city... it's all incredibly immersive. And when you put hundreds of people fighting one big persistent war, ENORMOUS large ships sailing across the water, people being sneaky and stealthy in the backlines attempting to perform acts of sabotage, it creates a vibe that is incredibly interesting, but a little tough to learn.

This game doesn't hold your hand. But there are many people willing to teach you. I spend some time teaching new players the basics of logistics in both the backlines and the frontlines.

When your entire faction is losing, you can feel the negative vibes in the air. But when you're winning... when you turn the war around? It's like a party, it's a ton of fun. There's organized operations that larger regiments will set up for anyone to partake in. There's organized operations that are more private, for specific regiments. Regiments are really easy to join, and they help people band together their materials in order to set up really neat persistent bases and conduct big operations.

This game is difficult - it requires some time to learn. Not just the shooting and the frontline stuff, but the backline stuff, too. There are entire strategies and metas for defensive bunker building. There are entire strategies for building backline production facilities. Each side has an entire faction-wide collective organization that actively seeks to make it so that at war-start, regiments can respectfully and easily "claim" lands to set their bases up in, which will be there for the next 45-ish irl days. The community has really come together to try and make it easier for everyone, and keep things respectful.

All in all, I love this game - I really do. But it's very easy to alllow it to become a "second job." There's been a lot of talk about how logistics work is almost like a second job - things take time. Multiple days to have a specific vehicle or part of a ship print, and a lot of time spent checking on specific supply queues and waiting for mass production facilities to make your goods so you can stockpile them.

This game has an extremely heavy level of detail to it that you won't find anywhere else. Surely, there are war simulators out there... But nothing as comprehensive as this. This game simulates war not at just the tactical, infantryman level, but at the strategic decision-making level, at the level of supply lines which will be producing things for the next month and a half. Things really, really do matter in this game, and so every decision counts. So, it's immensely important that people cooperate together. There's a lot of opportunities to be a salty vet here. There's a lot of opportunities to learn something new, here. Every single thing you do in this game is on someone else's dime - no matter how casually you play. If you decide to log on to spend an hour just shooting at the enemy on a random front, a real player took the time to supply your spawn-point with not only the spawn tickets, but the guns, the ammo, the medical gear, the grenades. Every single last person counts in this game, and yet, thousands of people are working together. And so you'd think that just one extra person wouldn't matter.... but you'd be wrong. Every single new player has the opportunity to contribute to the war effort in some way, whether it's helping push or hold the line, or perhaps it's helping gather resources to create materials that are then used to build vehicles that go on to assist in operations that could potentially turn the tide of the war... forever.

I recommend this game deeply... but really, it blurs the line between a game and a job for a lot of the content. And it doesn't muck around when it comes to requiring from you, a lot of time and effort and tedium in exchange for some of the most fun that you can have. For every extremely fun and bad-@ss thing you can do in this game, there's equal tedium.

What's there to say, what's there to say... I bought this in 2017, in it's early years - I played a tiny bit, can barely remember what I did. I just remember not understanding anything, running around trying to learn how the shooting works, with a cometa revolver. It wasn't for me, so I didn't play it. It was in early access, so I kept in on my library. July 2021, I came back, as Colonial, and I spawned in at Loch Mor - I spent the weekend helping fight up to Mercy's wish - and I had a great time. I learned basic shooting skills here, I saw all sorts of tanks and I admired how immersive it all felt, especially for a semi-isometric game. I played solo with some friends, and I didn't get into much because I wasn't involved with any regiments. As a woman, I felt a bit intimidated, like I was entering a guy's space - sort of the same shyness issue I had with Squad. So, after I got distracted, I put the game down - and went back to working on other games I was developing maps and mods on. July 2024, I came back - and met more people this time. I got picked up by a regiment called Waifu, a self-proclaimed "queer club" but a space with much more feminine people... so I felt a little bit less shy, and got involved. They taught me basically everything, and I became attached to running logistics, and working on facilities. I love the feeling of feeling needed, when I run supplies to the frontline. It was nice to meet all sorts of different people, even if I don't completely relate to them - but being social in this game is something I really deeply enjoy. As time went on, I met some guys from another regiment, when I helped a friend purchase a locomotive from them, since their objective was to set up a large facility near a coal field, and produce large vehicles that they'd sell in exchange for components. They'd also started getting into naval operations, and had some ships. The guys I first met were total sweethearts who showed me how to work the locomotive, and made sure that I got back safely. So, after a few weeks of talking to them, I decided to join them after I was invited :) Nowadays, I really enjoy this game. I spend a lot of my time on it. I don't particularly do frontline infantry or combat medical like how I was doing before, I spend a great deal of time working in the facility, and helping people in the far backlines get their vehicles put together, helping produce the necessary materials and fuels to make those vehicles possible, and also taking care of our home facility. There's not many other women on this game, but people are such sweethearts and I truly enjoy being helpful for them, and taking part in helping them make supplies for the guys at the front to push <3 In a sense, I feel like a bit of a wartime housewife. But I enjoy that, and I fill the role well. Being social in this game is easy and quite fun. The reddit can be a little toxic, but not for any other reason than the fact that this a game about spending a LOT of time making expensive machines, and then using them to fight the enemy, a persistent war that can either make you or break you. People burn out, people take break wars. But I have had so much fun helping out here. This game has a specific art-style, it's reminiscent of the time period between 1900 and 1940 - it looks like WW2 and WW1 if you had a dream about it. Things are vaguely familiar, but ultimately are completely different. Places and vehicles are named with incredibly creative names, and the entire landscape, which is a little bit smaller than the actual irl square kilometer-age of San Francisco - so it's a damn big map. It's so pretty. It's all vaguely reminiscent of places like the french countryside, switzerland, germany, places in Europe. There are cities big and small, and rural areas. There's the snow in the north, and the warm sunny shores of the south. It's incredible. It's a big place. And driving around takes a while. And there's a very realistic way that the landscape transitions between cities and countryside, shorelines and mountains, beaches and ports and docks in the city... it's all incredibly immersive. And when you put hundreds of people fighting one big persistent war, ENORMOUS large ships sailing across the water, people being sneaky and stealthy in the backlines attempting to perform acts of sabotage, it creates a vibe that is incredibly interesting, but a little tough to learn. This game doesn't hold your hand. But there are many people willing to teach you. I spend some time teaching new players the basics of logistics in both the backlines and the frontlines. When your entire faction is losing, you can feel the negative vibes in the air. But when you're winning... when you turn the war around? It's like a party, it's a ton of fun. There's organized operations that larger regiments will set up for anyone to partake in. There's organized operations that are more private, for specific regiments. Regiments are really easy to join, and they help people band together their materials in order to set up really neat persistent bases and conduct big operations. This game is difficult - it requires some time to learn. Not just the shooting and the frontline stuff, but the backline stuff, too. There are entire strategies and metas for defensive bunker building. There are entire strategies for building backline production facilities. Each side has an entire faction-wide collective organization that actively seeks to make it so that at war-start, regiments can respectfully and easily "claim" lands to set their bases up in, which will be there for the next 45-ish irl days. The community has really come together to try and make it easier for everyone, and keep things respectful. All in all, I love this game - I really do. But it's very easy to alllow it to become a "second job." There's been a lot of talk about how logistics work is almost like a second job - things take time. Multiple days to have a specific vehicle or part of a ship print, and a lot of time spent checking on specific supply queues and waiting for mass production facilities to make your goods so you can stockpile them. This game has an extremely heavy level of detail to it that you won't find anywhere else. Surely, there are war simulators out there... But nothing as comprehensive as this. This game simulates war not at just the tactical, infantryman level, but at the strategic decision-making level, at the level of supply lines which will be producing things for the next month and a half. Things really, really do matter in this game, and so every decision counts. So, it's immensely important that people cooperate together. There's a lot of opportunities to be a salty vet here. There's a lot of opportunities to learn something new, here. Every single thing you do in this game is on someone else's dime - no matter how casually you play. If you decide to log on to spend an hour just shooting at the enemy on a random front, a real player took the time to supply your spawn-point with not only the spawn tickets, but the guns, the ammo, the medical gear, the grenades. Every single last person counts in this game, and yet, thousands of people are working together. And so you'd think that just one extra person wouldn't matter.... but you'd be wrong. Every single new player has the opportunity to contribute to the war effort in some way, whether it's helping push or hold the line, or perhaps it's helping gather resources to create materials that are then used to build vehicles that go on to assist in operations that could potentially turn the tide of the war... forever. I recommend this game deeply... but really, it blurs the line between a game and a job for a lot of the content. And it doesn't muck around when it comes to requiring from you, a lot of time and effort and tedium in exchange for some of the most fun that you can have. For every extremely fun and bad-@ss thing you can do in this game, there's equal tedium.