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The intricacy of space combat brings a lot of factors to the table, and games such as Eve Online, Star Citizen, No Man’s Sky, Elite Dangerous, and Sins of a Solar Empire each bring their own perspective to bear on the format. For those who love rich, rewarding tactics and interlocking, simulation-driven systems, multiplayer strategy game Nebulous: Fleet Command might be just what you’re looking for. In a new video blog, developer Eridanus Industries lifts the curtain on its next update, which brings powerful carrier ships into play.
Nebulous: Fleet Command emphasizes putting control in your hands, from the broad strategies of your fleet right down to the construction and tailoring of your individual warships. It’s a demanding but fulfilling space strategy game, and its next update is set to build on that even more with the introduction of carriers. “I’ve been absolutely itching to make this one,” lead designer Jon Schiavo says, “I have never been more confident in an update than I am at this point for carriers.”
While Schiavo admits that it’s “impossible to add carriers to the game without changing it in some way,” he’s satisfied after testing that it won’t dramatically alter the experience people already love. “The game is still absolutely recognizable as Nebulous but with some new, cool features added on.” You can watch the full video below, which kicks off with a little showreel before diving into the new features in detail.
The update also includes a new spacecraft designer, which gives you more control over your ship loadouts. You’ll be able to coordinate the fixed components that are fitted across all instances of that craft type, along with individual mission profiles that allow you to tweak the weapon and utility options you want to roll with for each specific situation.
We then get a look at the carriers in action, which come with a mix of smaller and larger mounts. The Alliance carrier shown, for example, is a backline ship that only has basic radar functions and is designed to steer clear from being near active combat. From there we see a range of ships flying out into action – an interceptor, a skiff, a bomber, and a SEWAC (spaceborne early warning and control, essentially a recon ship).
Over on the OSP side, we see a fleet carrier with four large hangar bays fitted, each of which features three launch pads. Crucially, these bays can launch craft not just from their individual containers, but from the carrier’s internal hanger as well, giving you more carrying capacity and flexibility than the Alliance carriers. As a tradeoff, the OSP ship loading times are slower due to their less well-trained deck crews.
“It’s been really interesting to see our testers all jumping to play OSP now – that team fills up way faster than the Alliance one does now,” Schiavo remarks. “I think that’s a really good sign because the Alliance has always been more popular despite changes that we’ve made to the OSP – but the Alliance is good at a lot of stuff, so we wanted to give the Protectorates something special, which is why they get the fleet carrier versus the Alliance’s escort carrier.” We also get an in-depth dive into some of the new OSP ship designs up-close.
Carriers will join Nebulous: Fleet Command with the next major update. “A game as complex as this and that people are as invested in as this is obviously going to have a lot of strong opinions,” Schiavo says in closing, “and there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done in terms of fixing the bugs and making sure everything is stable and in a good balance state. But I’m confident that we’re going to make it there sooner rather than later.”
For plenty more ways to experience the great beyond, here are the best space games on PC right now. Or if you want to put your strategy skills to the test, take a look at the best RTS games.
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