AirMech

I loved playing AirMech Arena back in the Xbox 360 days, so I was going on a bit of a nostalgia trip and found AirMech Strike. Game looks great, and I'll definitely start playing, but what are your thoughts on it? Is it the same thing as Arena / A PC port or something different?

There's also other games in the franchise like Wastelands and Command, but they have mixed reviews and are pretty unpopular sadly. I'll still keep an eye on them though.

This is a review/summation of most of the things I'd want to know going into this game. Sorry for the lack of screenshots/video!

For those not aware, AirMech Command is an RTS recently for the Vive. It's the first AirMech game I've played, and I wasn't familiar with the series before buying beyond reading a few Steam reviews where the reviewers seemed to have good things to say + a high playtime.

If you've played a lot of RTS games like Starcraft: AMC is a simplified version of the traditional RTS formula in the sense that you build and control units, right down to build orders, but you do not control where these buildings are. Instead, maps are laid out with pre-built control points, similar to Warhammer DoW, that you capture. Once you capture a control point, you can build units from said point, in addition to gaining a boost in income. Each player has a 'main' base on their respective corner of the map that the other player must destroy to win, leading to a sort of tug-of-war struggle for control of the map. To win, you simply build enough momentum by making efficient unit trades and capturing bases, such that you can eventually push through and destroy the other player's base.

If you've played a lot of MOBAS/Clash Royale: Though the maps are fairly large, if you zoom out, you'll notice there are essentially a series of lanes (punctuated by control points) winding between either player's base. A wave of creeps spawns every 10 seconds or so and marches down the lanes toward the front lines. This is important largely because these little dudes are the ones who capture control points once you clear them a path. These auto-spawning, auto-marching, auto-capturing creeps are nice in the sense that they make the game more VR-control friendly by removing a lot of RTS micro-tedium (by virtue of their capturing), while not feeling out of place to players who've played MOBAs. The lane-like construction of the maps has a similar effect, simplifying while not feeling dumbed down. Also similar to a MOBA, as I mentioned earlier, is the 'Destroy the Nexus'-like victory condition.

However, the most MOBA-like comparison is the fact that each player has a hero unit, an AirMech, that they can control at any time (otherwise it fights automatically via AI). There is no leveling or experience in this game, though between build orders, unit micro and capturing bases, you won't miss it. What is cool, however, is the utility of the hero unit. It behaves much in the same way as the Medivac in Starcraft 2: It can fly around, pick up and drop off units, as well as heal units with a beam. The heal beam alone, should you chose to leave the battle's main view and assume control of your mech, can make or break a battle, I've found. The mech can also transform into a land unit, adding firepower to your ground team. Similar to a MOBA, returning to your nexus will heal your AirMech.

The meat: The game has a lot of units, such that I haven't had a great chance to assess them despite several hours in the game. Part of the reason for this is because the skirmish matches give you currency which you use to unlock said units, which you can them take into battle with you (you have a limited number of unit slots). From what I've seen though, there's a cool mix. Some units heal, some shoot flak...there's even a 'necrotank' that does what you'd think it does. One tank that sticks out for me is the Devastator, which is absurdly expensive to build in-game (35k, compared to most units which are in the 1-5k range), but indicates that the game has lots of room for different play styles.

In addition to skirmish and campaign missions (some of which offer unique models for your mech, as well as cosmetic mods) for in-game currency (no realworld micro-transactions, just to be clear), there is an online mode where you can play co-op or pvp. Online is pretty neat in the sense that the other player is this looming VR figure in the background with 1:1 tracked movement, which adds a sort of 'me and this dude are about to battle yo!' vibe. It's a lot of fun thus far.

Beyond that, the game itself is a joy to look at. It's exactly what you'd hope: a giant 3D sandbox to bash exploding toys against one another. When the battlefield popped into view the first time, I did a pretty giddy laugh. Camera movement is easy in the sense that you can pinch zoom, or just grab and drag. But most of all, the game is fun to play. I only stopped to write this review and get some food in my before hopping back in, in fact. I've had the Vive since May and, at $20, I can already tell I'm going to get more than my money's worth out of this one. Paired with Arizona Sunshine and a few others now, it's finally starting to feel like I have a nice crop of highly polished, deep experiences to dive into for VR. Couldn't be happier.

TL;DR: The game is dope, and $20. But more to the point, there's a game here--lots of it--and it's actually fun to play. If you have any interest in strategy games, I suggest picking it up.

The Alpha Strike Commander manual (pp 178) says:

"Target Movement Modifiers: Attacks against LAMs use the target movement modifiers appropriate to their current mode of operation. Add an additional +1 modifier to LAMs in AirMech mode. LAMs in Fighter and AirMech mode are considered airborne units for targeting purposes, with attacks against AirMech-mode LAMs treated as an attack against an airborne BattleMech, and attacks against Fighter-mode LAMs treated as an attack against an airborne aerospace fighter."

Is the +1 in the paragraph the same as the "Target is airborne VTOL or WIGE +1" or in addition to that modifier? Is it because they are treated as an "airborne Battlemech" and there's no entry in the "Target" table for an airborne Battlemech, so it is just a single +1?

The Alpha Strike cards on MUL list the TMM that seems to correspond to Mech mode (e.g. 12" -> TMM:2)

but the Stinger has a 36g move in AirMech mode - should be a TMM of 5 for 36". Is that just a shortfall of the Alpha Strike card format? Other WIGE vehicles have a TMM that corresponds to their move distance (e.g 20"->4).

First of all, hello everyone! I'm a returning player to the game and hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! I purchased the AirMech collection on Steam and I'm trying to run the game on the Steam Deck's gaming mode.

When Gaming Mode is on and Proton is off, the game will attempt to run only to pull up a page on Carbon's website saying that my GPU doesn't meet requirements (when it does). Running the game with Gaming Mode off and Proton off does the same thing.

When Gaming mode is On and Proton is ON, the game will launch to the Log-in screen, however, no matter what controller bindings you use the game won't detect controls (at least for me). I've tried Mouse only, WASD and Mouse, the Steam Recommended Layout, and the top community-made layout. No effect.

In Desktop mode (Gaming mode off) with Proton On, the game launches, it detects my PHYSICAL MOUSE AND KEYBOARD (not steam deck controls) and I can play the game. The main issue with desktop mode is I can't use gaming mode's features.

If anyone out there is on the Steam Deck and has ideas, I'd love to hear them! With the release and rapid distribution of the Steam Deck, a lot of people are getting their hands on cheap gaming PCs. Additionally, the black friday and cyber monday deals are getting players the tools to get started with gaming on Steam.

If it's bringing me back into the game... I hope many others get back into the game.

Just finished updating.

No-one seems to be talking about this game: I think it is brilliant. It's a slick mix of RTS and Tower Defense, with a bit of board game and twin-stick shooter on the side!

Loads of nice touches and great fun.

My friends and I love AirMech, but we noticed several things that could either be fixed or improved. Hopefully they still care and didn't just take the money and run! :) If anyone knows how to reach the devs and you also love this game and would like to them to consider these ideas please call them in or send the thread with the additional community suggestions. Thanks!

• Improve the social experience. We have been able to play a few coop games together but there isn't an invite feature so it seems really random when we are actually able to play with each other.

• Enable 2v2

• Enable end of game scoring. Victory and Defeat is nice and all, but it would be really cool if we could see the struggle. How much money was generated? Spent? Units killed? Units created? Buildings captured. ect.

• Enable unit presets. 60 units is a lot! Rotating the little boxes in an intense battle is really annoying. I probably only use 15-20 units a game if that..it would be really nice if I could go into a game with my preset units with limited tile spin.

• Give us more data! Right now its a complete guessing game on which units have a better fire rate, damage, and health.

• Way down the list, a leaderboard.

• edit thanks to RALLY POINTS!

As a whole I'd say this game is pretty damn solid and a really fun experience in VR. Can anyone else think of anything else?

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Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I thought it was going to be some free to play cash grab, but it's actually an incredibly deep, yet easy to learn RTS.

It plays like league of legends in a sense that there's "Pilots" instead of Champions (or whatever their called in league). Minions are called creeps. But the difference here is that there's actually units you can somewhat command and give orders to. But you have to build fast, because before you know it, the enemy team has hundreds of units. You can also mount turrets to your base or on the battlefield.

From what I've played so far, there's only a few cosmetic things that require micro transactions, so it is definitely not pay to win .

Very fun game. If your bored with the games you have and want something fresh, try this game out.

Here is two steam beta keys for the game AirMech:

7NEC7-PYB3Q-BCLFW

PAZAF-LXI2E-IQ44C

Have fun!

Hi there, I have 2 copies of Dota 2 and 2 copies of AirMech to give out, to qualify you must meet the standard PiF rules:

• Account has to be older than 2 months

• Account has to have at least 300 combined karma

In order to enter into the draw you must do the following:

• Specify which game you want

• Say why you want the game (don't worry you don't have to pour your heart out with bs just because you want free stuff, I will choose the winner at random)

• Since both games are on steam you must have a steam account

I will choose the winners on Saturday 27th of October at 6PM GMT. Good luck and have fun

EDIT: The winners are :

• evilphotosynthesis (Airmech)

• XeroPeace (Dota 2)

• KaptainKow (Dota 2)