I thought this game could really use its own thread.
Mechabellum is an interesting strategy auto-battler. A game of back-and-forth hard and soft counters where your mechs and other vehicles wage war.
Trailer:
The game is positively addicting (even Day9 can't stop playing it) and despite it still being in early access it's almost feature complete and surprisingly well balanced. You get a nice tutorial, solo and multiplayer modes. Matchmaking for PvP takes seconds so it's really easy to get the games going. Both 1v1 and 2v2 matches are fun (and their approach to 2v2 is also pretty innovative IMO).
Basic gameplay is fairly straightforward, in the beginning you pick your speciality and associated starting units and then within the game you spend your resources to: 1) unlock new units (can unlock 1/turn) 2) buy new units 3) upgrade your units 4) buy consumables (shields, nukes etc.)
Every turn you place your newly acquired units (units placed during previous turns can't be moved) and see what happens as they're pitted against your opponent. Whichever side wins deals damage to the player based on the type and number of remaining units. This continues every turn until one player is eliminated. Each turn you get more resources and a set of upgrades ranging in price.
Despite such a simple premise the game is actually quite complex and the decisions in it are really tough sometimes (especially that once you place your units you're pretty much committed). Some units are hard counters to others but may be weak to a combination of units or the counter might be flipped with specific upgrades (you can kinda customize your units by selecting 4 out of 8 possible upgrades for each, you can change the choice of possible upgrades between games). With limited resources there's also always the question of choice: Should I upgrade my existing units? Should I get more units? Should I commit to more of the units I have or unlock new ones?
It's really great because cheap units can sometimes counter expensive ones so just going for those late-game giants might not be the best course of action. There are some really nifty quirks too that you pick up as you get more experienced, like placing screening chaff units in the back, not in front (this way they can avoid being wiped immediately and you want them trickling in to the front to screen for slower and more expensive units as the game progresses) or dropping a sacrificial flanking unit to draw away some of the enemy forces.
In any case, I easily recommend it to any fan of strategy games. Try it and you won't be disappointed.
Tested the game for over 50 hours now. It is super addicting since matches are typically rather short (at least they do feel really short sometimes) and win or lose (currently I think I lose more than I win) you kinda wish the game could go on a bit longer as you constantly want to refine your strategy.
At least now I'm at a stage that I rarely lose to some real snowball and I guess it's gonna get better with experience as I still have problems with judging the correct counter depending on my opponent's unit composition and positioning. There's just too many things to think about and too little resources to be able to do everything you want and bad decisions can spiral out of control really quickly.
I'm kinda surprised at the lack of reception on TL.net. In any case, if anyone is interested I'd like to share my thoughts after exploring a game a bit more. 150 hours in, I've dropped down MMR, climbed back up, tried all the game modes and features.
Right now it's pretty firmly sitting at the #1 spot for me for the Game of the Year. It has all the hallmarks of great games:
easy to learn but hard to master
balance is very good overall (not surprising since all players have access to the same units but you can customize them a bit so not all units will work the same for all players - same units but with different possible upgrade paths per player)
game is good for casual and competitive play (although emphasis is definitely on competitive play and it seems that more and more streamers and pros are flocking to it - Day9, AgameAnx, Endozoa and more)
great features already built-in, easy to find top player matches to spectate if you feel like it, there's even the "insight" system where you can predict who'll win and the amount of insight points you get (or lose) depends on how early you made the prediction, who predicted the other outcome etc. Kinda like Liquibet on steroids already caked into the game.
It's one of those games that when you try it for a bit you can't stop thinking about it. I'm even having trouble watching tournaments because whenever I see something cool there I want to immediately jump into the game and try it out myself. It's also way, way deeper than it seems at first glance. Despite not having a huge amount of units and it being an auto-battler (for the most part) there's so much strategic depth to it that it's mind-boggling. Meta is constantly shifting and evolving as there aren't really any super clear cut paths to victory, each game will be vastly different from the previous one and there are so many ways to play it's bonkers. You can play super aggressively, defensively, use flanks heavily, skew the match by abandoning one side and focusing all forces on the other, using your beacon to order your units to move in a way that your opponent doesn't suspect...
I guess a lot of it has to do with the fact that even though it's a game of rock-paper-scissors with some clear hard counters but also a lot of wiggle room. You can use soft counters instead of hard counters or use your units not in the exact way they're supposed to be used as a counter or a combination of units or, if you're being countered yourself, you can just double down on what you're doing - I mean, the enemy has a counter for what you have, but does it counter MORE of your stuff?
A month later, after playing a lot more of the game I can still wholeheartedly and strongly recommend it to anyone who's into strategy games.
I played maybe 30h of it a couple of weeks ago and it is a fun little game, definitely addicting with the "one more game" thing going on. The fights can get crazy with tons of units on the screen and there's potential for combacks and cool tech switches.
I have made it to the internets (as the victim but still)!
In any case, I have news from the devs and the game will be free on release (later this year). Right now the in-game shop (introduced last patch) only has emotes, avatars, profile picture frames etc.
Just a quick update on the state of the game since it'll be officially out of early access and launched next month. Balance is currently fairly good, devs are still working out some minor kinks. The community is pretty healthy with regular automated tournaments and community-organized ones (last week there was a tournament organized by one of the top players that gathered $300 prize for the winner from donations).
And the stream with commentary from one of the recent automated tournaments:
Oh, there's already a Mechabellum thread , I take the liberty to bump it since the game went actually out of early access only 2 months ago. I've been playing since the 1.0, and it's so fun, despite it's my first auto battler. Hope this game lasts a few years. Any mechagosus here?
Another bump since recently in random 2v2's I've been paired with someone from TL (Praise the Sun!).
The game is really slept on but has awesome potential. I'm now about 1k hours in, 2nd season post release and it's going fairly strong with small (2-3k) but stable playerbase. There are automated tournaments as well as cash prize tournaments and various communities around the game.
One good thing about the game is that the devs are actually playing it and there even was a tournament where game devs were squaring off against the players at the top of the ladder and they put up a good fight.
If you're looking for a strategy fix you can look no further.
I am currently playing a little bit too much of this game. The matches are short (10-20min) with just the right mix between skill and luck. The auto-battler part makes it easy to play and do something else at the same time if that's Your inclination.
Yeah, it's prettty addictive. I picked up the game a few weeks ago and been now figuring out the basics. It's interesting how small adjustments can change the outcome big time sometimes.
I hope the player counts stay high enough that the game can be developed further. I would love to see them exploring some map variations and such.
Currently struggling against the carry arclight stuff, apparent it's somewhat in the fashion on the upper MMRs too. I guess I'm going to have to play that a bit to see where it has vulnerabilities.
I finally picked this one up last night and it's great! I haven't won a match yet; still just grabbing things more or less at random to get a feel for how the units interact, but even having no real idea of what I'm doing the game is already lots of fun.
On January 21 2025 16:38 Bacillus wrote: Yeah, it's prettty addictive. I picked up the game a few weeks ago and been now figuring out the basics. It's interesting how small adjustments can change the outcome big time sometimes.
I hope the player counts stay high enough that the game can be developed further. I would love to see them exploring some map variations and such.
Currently struggling against the carry arclight stuff, apparent it's somewhat in the fashion on the upper MMRs too. I guess I'm going to have to play that a bit to see where it has vulnerabilities.
Yeah arclight mass is very strong but only if they have levels. The key to winning is keeping them at low levels even at the cost of burning some points on skills You will use only once.
On January 21 2025 16:38 Bacillus wrote: Yeah, it's prettty addictive. I picked up the game a few weeks ago and been now figuring out the basics. It's interesting how small adjustments can change the outcome big time sometimes.
I hope the player counts stay high enough that the game can be developed further. I would love to see them exploring some map variations and such.
Currently struggling against the carry arclight stuff, apparent it's somewhat in the fashion on the upper MMRs too. I guess I'm going to have to play that a bit to see where it has vulnerabilities.
Yeah arclight mass is very strong but only if they have levels. The key to winning is keeping them at low levels even at the cost of burning some points on skills You will use only once.
Yeah, the games I've played, the arclight stuff has felt pretty punishing. I'm experimenting a lot with all kinds of ideas and combinations and it's pretty easy to end up with a dud of a round where you misplace something or fail to anticipate your opponents' big switch or so. Against a lot of other stuff you can still turn it around in a few rounds usually, but against arclights it has felt really snowbally once they find some footing.
Maybe I have to start building some a bit more consistent patterns at some point, but for now I'm having quite a bit of fun just fumbling around and experimenting with all the weird corners of the tech tree. Recently I've been trying out some tarantula mines and next it might be some typhoon homing missiles. Sandstorm worms are also something I've tried out, but haven't encountered on any opponent yet.
Speed specialist seems like a natural pick for me, but I'm not always quite sure how much help the extra speed is if your opponent just punches a bit harder than you do.
Everybody has his own style, but for me starting units are more important than the leader skill. I hate stormcaller with passion, so I try to avoid at all cost. I want to have at least one unit that can hold the line and soak the damage in starting lineup: tarantula/sabertooth/sledgehammer. Will only go with steel ball/mustang if I have no better option and the skill fits nicely (level up or additional points).
Been struggling quite a bit on breaking down late game defences with huge number of ranged units chucking down at my army. Basically I'm not particularly good against players who just mind their own business and build some sort of optimized composition rather than react to all the little skirmishes I try to create around the map. I keep chipping away at them round after round until they reach critical mass and then I struggle to deliver the final blow.
Until certain point I can sort of reason improvements and enemy weak points, but it obviously gets harder at later rounds. I guess some heavy duty artillery, better chaff distribution and some smart tech should help. I should probably focus on building some unsolvable carry units rather than trying to react to everything my opponent does or might do. Also, I shouldn't neglect the whole army buffs so much.
EPT![[image loading]](https://assets-prd.ignimgs.com/2023/04/04/mechabellum-1680634492225.jpg)
