Beyond Protocol

Post Date: 00:31 11-01-2009
Rating: 9
Author: rtejada
Comment: Ive been a Beyond Protocol Tester for a couple months until it went live. I have beta tested and played many RTS, MMO, MMORTS games in my life.. including Starcraft, Eve online, Saga MMORTS, Ballerium, every sony game you can imagine from infantry to vanguard.

And i have to say.. Beyond Protocol has made me forget all about those other games. It is the one game me and my family of MMO and RTS hardcore gamers have looked out for a long time. Basically if you are an SC, Eve online, Saga, or Ballerium player... this is the game that combines it all. In my opinion a 9/10.

Gameplay: Well what is it? Basically you play it like starcraft + simcity.. you build it, you mine, you design. There are dozens of dozens of planets in many systems and it only keeps EXPANDING from there.. as player base grow, so do systems to accomodate the new players, even those that lose a war and decide to respawn, can be shifted to new respawn planets! An estimated total systems (with anywhere form 6-20 planets in them) are in the thousands!

As a player where are you? you start off in one planet in a system that has players similar to your level whether new or respawn. Wormholes connect to other systems that connect to even more systems that will eventually center around a few systems where we can all meet in the middle no matter level. BP invokes a system that protects its newbie players form getting massacred by older and more experienced levels throguh thier wormhole system that only conenct to a system if it is opened by the newbies inside.. so you get time to build yourself up, create allies, or even secure the system and form a guild/alliance for yourself.
The systems are endless.

Building: As said before, if you ever palyed starcraft or saga, the possibilities of comat are endless. It starts off with ofcoruse mining and building, technology and designing. The design mechanic you must see with yourself.. through mineral mining and alloying (combining minerals to fit your attributes) you can create an infinite number of designs. Ranging from customizable weapons, armors, shields, engines, and even hull designs. It can lead to infinite possibilty. The game also runs a sort of Eve Online aspect in terms of researching in a random special tech tree. As you go you constantly train specials that allow improvement to weapons, engines, buildings, you name it. There are even specials that allow you to do special things form cloaking to hyperspace! One problem that people think they might meet is the advantage of older players.. well it has bene handled through a tech tree system where after a certain number.. the older players start rolling for techs every 24 hrs.. meanwhile the latecomers or newbs can keep constantly researching and catch up. As they hit hte rolls, they get rolling at a faster rate so in the end, you will gradually catch up. Currently there are 6 years of content. So no worries there.

Combat: If you have ever played any SC, Saga, or even seen Eve online massive fleet battle. This is jsut like that. Although graphics are not nearly as good as the new Eve online set, it is much more suited to Saga and 3d SC. But it gives you every strategy and combat there is. You can do everything from hit and runs, to tanking, to DPS, formations, ambushes, carriers. You name it. The game allows a diversity of play and a combination of fleets. You can have anti missile/fighter ships, AOE ships, radar/jamming ships. just like eve online but you just get huge armies and can reach thousands upon thousands of units. (if you have the resources ofcourse). Buildigns can also be loaded with weapons and armor, planets can be taken over or bombarded by ships with bomb weapons, space stations can be built. And this is only the beginning.

Playerbase: BP is a persistent online strategy game. Basically your empire is running 24/7. So are you scared about getitng attacked? possible. But BP actually sends you email warning, can be sent in text to your phone or email. Aside from that.. your homeworld can always be set to be invulnerable for as long as you are offline. Not enough? allies/guildies, ships, wormhole guards, buildigns will still fight back. Still not enough? you can run full invulnerability! all prodcution stops but specials keep researching so you dont lose precious research time.

BP can cater to the casual gamer or to the hardcore gamer. Some say the playerbase is small.. not at all, there are many guilds now and new players arrive everyday. There was a needed balance change that caused some players to leave due to thier inability to adapt after they fully took advantage of a fault in gameplay. But major gameplay change was needed for that aspect. Ofcourse these players like to linger and shout about how much they hate the game and will make the world know it.. but all games have those spiteful players. Anyway, dont let them push you away and try it out for yourself.

As for the DEVS.. their commitment is unprecedented in any beta or game ive ever played. Being able to actually talk to the devs and give constructive input from chat to forums is a big plus in my book. Aside from that.. a senate system is actualyl about to come up. The senate is a system given by the devs where if a player takes control of a system, he becomes an emperor. When 7 emperors omce in the game, which is on the horizon, a senate opens up where they can make proposals for change. That is then passed by a vote among emperors and set to DEVS to review and then put to a vote! The vote is done by the PLAYERS. players that own planets or are kings/barons/dukes can cast vote dependent on planetary control. If it passes... the devs put it in!! what game has that? none. No game has that ability to impose change. Not throguh whining but through lobbying and hardwork, and reasoning witht he palyerbase.. you can mold the game to your will.

There is alot mroe to dicuss about the game.. like thier alias system where you can log into other players accounts(priveleges issued by accoutn owner ofcourse), see deisgns, help in defense, or have the DEVS look at your accoutn if you got a bug. Genius! but.. as i said before, there are tons of things to do and you can be a warmonger, a trader, a builder, a designer, a politician! And new content is on the horizon from rumored asteroid belts/space mining, new ways to explore, new ships, the game has tons of potential.

But anyway, me and my family have become a big fan of BP. But dont take my word for it or any others, try it for yourself. It is a combination of SC/Eve online/SAGA. An MMORTS that you have to atleast try. The game may be confusing at first.. it has a learning curve as bad as Eve online, but if u be patient and ask the helpful community.. be prepared to become an addict.

Post Date: 22:11 26-11-2008
Rating: 7
Author: lordxorn
Comment: **Warning Honest Appraisal of Beyond Protocol**
When I firs heard about a game like Beyond Protocol (now reffered to BP) I was very eager to get in and try it during the Beta. This didn"t happen until they offered the pre-orders access.
Since then I have been part of the Black Hand guild, and participated in massive battles accross several system with custom units that I designed.

This has all been great, and the impressive scope of the game and ambition gives credit to the indie development team. This is a great triumph over other games rules by corporate decisions! So I praise the Devs in their accomplishment.

The game is so massive in scope I have to break it down into different parts, as it would be unfair to pass a blanket judgment.

Graphics- Graphics compared to today"s standard can be considered average to above average. The only game that can come close to a being a benchmark would be Sind of a Solar Empire. But then you can"t build on planets there, nor can you customize the textures of your ships like you can in BP. The scope is amazing because you can zoom all the way out to the Galactic view like in Spore (only not as pretty), and back down to planet level where you build your cities.
The lighting effects are decent and there are some nice details, like the terrain on a planet is what you get when you view it from space. Not some generic map.
The weapons effects are generalized between the different classes of weapons, with customizable colors. Explosions are satisfying enough, however bigger ships don"t break into pieces first as you would expect from a capital ship or space station.

City Building--This stage is like Sim City but not quite as complex. You are allowed only so many allowable build points for buildings, that going over will penalize you financially. The basic buildings available now are Command Center,Housing, Power Generators, Factories, and Research Labs, Defense Structures.
Some players have coined term "Cash Colony" which is a optimum size of colony that reaps the best income ratio for getting your infrastructure. Beyond this you can develop cities to be production, or research colonies. The limit is really your Facility Points and space on a planet. You are guaranteed to run out of fac points first.
Colony management is a balance of Population, Jobs, Power, and Taxes. Special Tech research allows you to make better housing, and power generators, thus allowing you to support higher populations which in turn bring more taxes, and smarter researchers .
With the special tech you research you can design your own custom buildings any way you like. You can max out your production of factories or add cargo, defense turrets, radar, and power to make them a uber factory.

Designers-- This is perhaps the most controversial part of the game, and in my opinion the part that needs the most work. Approximately one month from live the designers were completely rehauled, ultimately rebalancing the game. To this day, they are still having problems with the designers and recently had to strip weapons and components from units due to an exploit.
Many strides have been made to make the designers more user friendly and in many ways the devs have achieved this. Some glaring shortcomings are for example when you are trying to design an engine, the bars have a certain range of possible numbers. The bars turn color to indicate the difficulty ( I think this was their purpose) of the attribute you are trying to assign. However trying to put a number that is made possible by the devs, you get a cost that is no way practical. Why not just hard limit the attribute if it is ridiculously expensive, this way you can enable higher numbers only through special techs.
Other than some of these short comings, the designers give a player a tremendous freedom over other games. The only other current game that can come even close to the complexity and customizability is Gal Civ 2.
The next component that is tied closely to the Designers is research. In BP special tech can be compared to character level in traditional mmorpgs. The higher your special tech level, the more powerful components and ships that you can design. The special tech tree is a big random mass where you generally research three at a time, and can only pick one guaranteed special, like an ultra rare.
Combat-- This is where all the fruits of your labor can be come victorious or defeated, in glorious battle across the two spectrums of the playing field, planetary combat and space combat. There is nothing more satisfying then seeing your own designs sweep the field of all hostile fleets due to superior design and planning.
Everything we have talked about so far combines in a culmination of a bristling fleet of corvettes and fighters, or battleships and carriers. From setting up your mining infrastructure of space stations, mineral hauler, trade networks, and production facilities. How you set all this up will determine your succes son the battle field.
But then again how well of a tactical commander you are depends on how you emphasize your tactical strengths and weakness. For exammple, a corvette fleet with powerfull forward facing, but slow firing projectile turrets are not effective against a numerous fleet of planetary defense fighters. Something I learned well, the fighters simply stayed out of the jaws of my corvettes and slowly damaged components rendering my beast a useless whale in the vastness of space. One thing about the combat system is you can form your fleet in formations based on numerous factors like size and manuveur. You can also (eventually) target components of ships like a radar, effectively knocking out all weapons .Can"t hit what you can"t see. Or an engine, can"t hit what you can"t point your weapon at. So even a mighty Battleship can be humbled by a well planned attack executed by only fighters. So make sure you plan for these situations.

I have only scratched the surface of the potential of BP, and hope to have portrayed an honest review. The devs have really started a new genre of MMORPG/RTS so I think they have done an exemplary thing here. The devs also honestly do work with the community to bring about improvements, sometimes to the detriment of the game. (Changes that necessarily weren"t needed) The Senate is one feature giving players the power to bring about change after the launch.

Post Date: 14:25 25-11-2008
Rating: 10
Author: FightOYoLife
Comment: I Realized that I have not yet rated, nor reviewed this game that I love so much!

It really is the best strategy game I have ever played, and I've played most anything that purports itself to be an RTS of any kind!

I think launch was the best thing that could have happened for it though. The beta community was small and after a while people got used to simple bugs. Now that people are paying for it and the Galactic Senate is going to be functioning, I foresee this game just getting better. Even in the last few weeks it's grown by leaps and bounds. Alright, I realize none of that was really subjective...

Custom design just about everything
Weapons, armor, radar, shields, engines, paint jobs, engine burn colors, all of which are custom designed and compose each unit and facility in the game. If you can't find a unique strategy in this game, you're not trying hard enough!

Massive game board
The galaxy starts off with several star systems, each containing, on average 15 planets, each capable of being a production center, a storage colony, or a battleground, and as the community grows, so will the galaxy, interconnecting and offering new strategic options, so there are always new routes to explore.

Multi-player like never before
With this being an MMO RTS, players need to interact. I have never seen more ways to do this in an RTS. You can not only ally other players, and/or form guilds with them, but you also alias them, which means give them login rights to your account! This helps to bypass the whole time zone/work/having a real life deal, because when you're not on, your friend can be. I can't tell you how much of a game saver that's been for me! Of course then there's chat and diplomacy aplenty.

With some minor improvements and a larger player base, I believe this game will finally make the MMORTS genre a successful one!

Post Date: 06:40 20-11-2008
Rating: 9
Author: Nytran
Comment: Best space mmorts out there!

Post Date: 03:51 21-08-2008
Rating: 10
Author: fredythetedybear
Comment: This game is one of the best MMORTS game that i have ever played because it has the most versatile strategies than any other game i have played so far.

Post Date: 15:49 12-07-2008
Rating: 10
Author: brentenec
Comment: It looks awesome

Post Date: 05:08 31-03-2008
Rating: 10
Author: Krackers87
Comment: I have been waiting forever for a decent mmorts with a focus on empires. I cant believe how cool this looks.

Post Date: 14:52 29-02-2008
Rating: 10
Author: avacore
Comment: This game seems very interesting and I love the fact that there are no hard restriction on how big you can become.
Most games gives you huge cost for just getting a little bit better or makes you work tens of hours just for a little percentage increase. The limit of a game should be what you can handle, I mean after a certain point you probably won't be able to handle the size of the empire but some will, and that's what makes this game so great

Post Date: 19:20 11-02-2008
Rating: 10
Author: Vineyea
Comment: Finally a breath of fresh air in the mmo genre! A game you can play as long as you want and also doesn't demand your unwavering attention. Tired of it? Get up and go play while your civilization keeps building! Thank you Dark Sky Entertainment!

Post Date: 21:26 25-01-2008
Rating: 9
Author: Vimes
Comment: I am seriously impressed with this game and the developers. The scale of the galaxy and the scope for player created content is incredible. The only aspects we havent tested yet are the factions and the senate, two very innovative areas with the aliasing and resource sharing of factions and the RPG potential for the senate. MMORTS is alive and kicking in 2008!

Post Date: 22:37 22-01-2008
Rating: 7
Author: Varian
Comment: I have heard much about this game form couple other of the beta testers and itching to sink my teeth intot the complexity that the game has to offer. Sound just what I was looking for ^_^

Post Date: 21:22 29-11-2007
Rating: 10
Author: marcbyrne
Comment: I am currently a beta tester for this game and I am very impressed. There are so many options and so much depth to it. For all of you who got your start in strategy gaming from the Master of Orion series, this game brings to the genre everything you ever thought would make an excellent addition to the game experience.

Research is very open ended. You are given special projects that allow you to expand your scientific abilities. For example, a new special project may give you the ability to develop longer ranged beam weapons. Using your creativity, the parameters set by you special research progress and the minerials you gather on your planets, you can design and develop your own weapons, enginines and other components and then design new facilities and vehicles with them.

They also have a very detailed espionage system and of course the ability to set up colonies not only on planets, but in spacestations as well.

This is working out to be a great game with plenty of long term potential. I highly recomend checking out their website and staying up to date as this game approaches release this spring.