They Are Billions Update: The Old Human Fortresses

Greetings! As you know, we are currently working on the development of the campaign of They Are Billions. As we have many (too many) interesting ideas to implement, we have a lot of work ahead of us: lots of new graphics assets, buildings, structures, environments, new features to program and much more. But don’t worry, the development is progressing very well.

Let’s talk a bit about the campaign

In our opinion, modern strategy games seem to belong to two big groups.

First, the ones that focus on survival, crafting, and simulation. In these games, one would play random or customized levels. Many times, they are without a specific goal so that the player can play them indefinitely. Games like Prison Architect, Civilization, Factorio… belong to this type. They Are Billions has its own survival mode that while being very addictive, is not the main goal of this game.

The other type is multiplayer RTS: competitive or cooperative. There are many games like this. They Are Billions won’t have this mode – at least in the beginning. If the game turns to be very successful, we will consider implementing and include it in the game. Either way, multiplayer is our last priority right now.

Both game types are great. We enjoy both a lot, especially the first one. But it seems that all single player campaigns have almost disappeared or has been reduced to the minimal expression like a pack of single crafted levels to play in order. There are exceptions of course. And, They Are Billions will be one of them. : )

In the campaign, you will just have one goal, reconquest an infected region of the world by creating well-defended colonies connected by a train railways network. How will you achieve that? That’s up to you! You can decide where to expand your territory, which missions to try, and even in where to focus your advancement. In every mission, you can choose several types of rewards:

  • Engineering Points: you can use to research new structures and units. You have more than 60 to discover. It is impossible to get all in a single campaign. Therefore, you must decide which are the best for your gameplay style.
  • Science Points: The science tree has more than 150 advances you can research to improve your units and buildings in many different ways. Again, it is impossible to research all of them. You will have to decide your own way: Are you a tactic military leader with elite units or massive armies of soldiers, or do you prefer to trust in automated machines to defend the colonies? Would you rather create big industrial colonies focusing in the resources production or getting rich to improve the relations with the empire?…
  • Empire Points: They represent your reputation in the New Empire. We will talk about this more in a later update…

We will talk in the next updates about the campaign/world elements. Today, we will talk about the Old Human Fortress.

The Old Human Fortresses

After the infection devastated the big metropolis in the 22nd century, the humans decided to create an impregnable fortress to defend the remaining cities from the infected. But even with their advanced technology, they failed, and the fortress succumbed to the infection. What happened? No one knows what happened these days… You will have to play the campaign to find out the answers. The fortresses are now abandoned with the infected roaming around them. Their big ruined and rusted structures remain as a silent witness of the failure of the old humans had to contain the infection in the past.

And… if they failed to defend their cities with their high technology and tons of resources, how are you going to survive with steam machines, wood, stone walls, and crazy mercenaries?…

During the campaign, you will find these old fortresses and be able to use them to your advantage. Their walls and structures are indestructible, so they are terrific tactical places to contain the swarms. It is also worth it to explore them, as they frequently contain resources for the colony, useful items you can use against the infected (explosive barrels, oil…), and valuable documents about science and engineering you can use to advance in the technology trees.

And that’s all for now. In the next update, we will talk more about the campaign and will show you a new interesting video!

See you soon!

  • Posted by Julie
  • On August 7, 2017
  • 12 Comments
Tags: numantian games, they are billions

12 Comments

Aidan Brenkovich
Hi Team, I love your ideas, even if there are too many of them. I recall a lot of nostalgia for these types of campaigns, I would only add, that given the survival element of the game, the open world should feel alive, there should be an "eb and flow" of control of the map i.e. you've conquered territory 'x' but a new enemy has arisen on an already conquered territory - this could also be tied into a general campaign difficulty setting, so those masochists could have their impossible challenges. Anyway best of luck with development, I'll be eagerly awaiting any and all releases!
Tom
I really like this whole game. It is loking really good. I would just like to point out it would be great if there would be setting on start of the survival game with type of enemy can be found in the game .. all games of this gender are missing this kind of stuf. Also i am really lokking forword for beta even tho i know ut will take some time.
Ryan
Heya! Once more. Awesome stuff to read, i do like the idea's of other people where you can edit how many zombies spawn and what types when you play freeroam. So you can peaceful build with a slight sense of danger. Beside that. Nice nice!
Menorbriam [Numantian Games]
Hi! We will add many options to customize the Survival mode, so all players can play it the way they like the most.
Hyperion
Hey dear dev's, i found your game on steam and iam in love with it. This game reminds me on a great anime, called "Kabanerie of the iron Fortress". Dont know, but if you like anime, you should watch it. I read something about railways to connect the colonies?! The infos about the game here, and on steam, promises good things!. Iam looking forward for this game:) Keep it up!
norabSeven
"It is impossible to get all (engineering/research) in a single campaign" I really hope you decide to revert that point, or at least put in a method to get around the 'expected route' so that everything is accessible, you just have to work a little harder for it. Nothing puts me off playing a game more than getting over 50% through it and realising that I've selected a couple wrong point now I need to either struggle on with a build I don't want/can't finish or restart the entire game. Put in some side missions or extra objectives, something that you can repeat (at a scale-able difficulty) to generate more of the engineering/research points. So if people want to unlock everything they have to go sideways away from the main campaign missions to get them, whereas people who want to smash straight through your game and get to the end quickly will be limited. I am a completionist on games, I want to unlock/ do/ find everything that the game can give, probably the reason why i'm still to finish the main quest in skyrim, so not being able to unlock everything in the one campaign would annoy me to bits. This is under the assumption that each play through of the game will be much the same and the only deviation to the core campaign will be what the play chooses to do. If the campaign has a procedural or randomised campaign then this may not be an issue. In fact even with all the above, i think putting in random missions/ encounters into your game would only make it better anyway, it could increase the length of the campaign from XX-hours to infinite if the player so desired. I will be buying this game regardless as it reminds me of the one Starship Troopers scene when they are fighting off hordes of bugs, not a single game yet has captured the idea of protecting yourself from hordes of enemies like that, to which i think your game might just do it. Also, I have a small youtube, if there is any pre-purchase options for this i will stream the sh*t out of it.
    Vystyk
    "It is impossible to get all (engineering/research) in a single campaign" I would actually prefer this mechanic. The whole 'completionist' methodology of playing bothers me. If there's side missions to subvert every potential feeling that you've missed something, then there's too much temptation to try and get everything before getting to the end, and maybe you never get to the end because if that, like in Skyrim (which I still have yet to beat.) I'd prefer the vision the developers have laid out where you can specialize in industry/horde/elite units. Its kind of like how there are separate races in Starcraft, Warcraft, Earth 2150 etc. Strengths and weaknesses, you shouldn't be able to have it all. Having to make choices and sacrifices also fits well with the theme of this game.
Menorbriam [Numantian Games]
Hi NorabSeven, Thanks for the suggestion, we will test all the possibilities. Anyway we are speaking about the development. Think about it as if it were a RPG where you can level up and you strengthen the skills that best fits to your gameplay style.
LeviathanTamer
Menorbriam, a suggestion to help with deciding what to do for the Campaign. Perhaps you could have two (or more) modes that will limit or expand the amount of Engineering and Science Points you can accumulate? Ideas for the names of these modes could be: Full Steam: Through hard work and much more than a little elbow grease, you can attain enough points to gain access to all the upgrades. True Survivor: This world is unforgiving and unfair, points are in fewer numbers. Pick your upgrades wisely... This gives both sides something to work with. The ones who want to work hard and bend over sideways to get every last upgrade can do so, and the ones who want to be forced to make harder decisions can do so as well. You already give players the option (in Free Play at least) on how tough they want their map to be, so this kind of option wouldn't be too out of place.
robert mcleod
Hello, I just wanted to share a few ideas for units and gameplay machanics I think it would be cool. Firslty if there was too many infected at the walls they can start climbing over (like in world war Z) or maybe killed infected don't disaper and their bodies pile up and form a ramp to prevent this there could be a technology research would let you build walls and towers higher, or the flamerthrower unit has to go out and burn away the dead zombies. Secondly some more early game military units would be nice for example a two man machine gun team, they would be slow and have a set up time and only 2 teams can be placed in a tower maybe even a set firing arch, but once set up could really thin out a horde. Thirdly when I think steampunk I think airships or zeplins for example a non combat scouting type blimp, a transpot ship, and for late game a battle ship.
Blaise
Im a big RTS player and ive never left a comment on a website and ive never written a review for a game...(just lazy) but this one i have gone out of my way to applaud the this game..it is truly a great piece of work and i hope there is more content..(i have beaten every setting)..thanks alot! please make it harder too :)
Spankadog
you write words "like multiplayer is our last priority right now." & "and If the game turns to be very successful". the only way to have success in this day and age is to have multiplayer. single player campaign games are a thing of the past. this game would succeed by at the very least 5%+ growth. i know for a fact that if this game were to go multiplayer. my mates and my fiance would instant buy it and play it out with me. this game is good and has potential. but i feel you might not be listening to your audience

Leave Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *