Carrier Command 2

Unless you've got 8 people who are all unemployed this game is not going to be your cup of tea. At first I didn't mind how tedious it was, until I got softlocked out of my first save when the barge wouldn't pick up items and deliver to my ship. Second playthrough I got stuck in terrain, couldn't get out. Third playthrough I started to notice how long it was taking to get between islands, and then I had that thought in my mind: "What if the barge softlocks me again? Why am I wasting my time on a game that's going to take me 50 hours to complete? Why is the AI taking things way faster than me? Why can't I reinforce the islands easier? Why am I playing this game." Rough game, sure it's intended to be rough, but good lord if it doesn't take 30 years to do anything that can be taken away from you in an instant.

I never played the original Carrier Command - my first exposure to the franchise was Bohemia's [i]Gaia Mission[/i], which I thought was a cool concept that felt half-baked. CC2 is the fulfilment of that game, with far more fleshed out features and gameplay, a full first person perspective, and cooperative and competitive multiplayer. Carrier Command 2's art style is charmingly retro and evokes the feeling of 80's-90's vehicle sim games the game emulates in part. But the game is properly a real time tactics game, played from the perspective of an aircraft carrier crew. You command various UAVs and UGVs, and even pilot them directly, launched from your carrier to conquer an archipelago in a race against the AI (or your friends) trying to do the same. Every island you capture can produce resources to expand your arsenal, and everything you use from your vehicles to your ammunition is limited. You therefore need to be strategic about which islands you capture and in what order. The AI can multitask and has some better weaponry off the bat, so you're at a disadvantage. To win, you need to exploit its predictability, striking at the right moment to win back islands and ultimately sink the enemy carrier. While the AI has its thumb on the scale, it's not as directly aggressive so you can prolong the final confrontation (so long as you're playing on a large map) to when you're ready. But you do need to act fast and manage the game's simple but numerous mechanics carefully, otherwise you'll lose all your valuable units. It's also possible to run out of fuel or ammunition at an inopportune moment because you neglected your logistical efforts, leading to an embarrassing delay or withdrawal, all the while your opponent gains ground. It's an intentionally clunky game. Managing your units is never as precise as you'd like, and there's only so much of it you can refine by taking direct control of a unit, but everything you do manage yourself is vital. Having more hands lowers the difficulty substantially, but if you're playing alone you can still manage as long as you're prepared for some mental multitasking and frantic scrambling between the various stations on the carrier bridge. But I really, [i]really[/i] like it. It's immersive, involved, and makes you feel attached to your combat effort in a way normal RTS games just don't. The balance is delicate: You have to plan carefully since your units won't do anything without your orders, and you can only fine tune commands one at a time. Or you can take direct control of a unit for precise handling, at the cost of situational awareness and the ability to manage everything else. Moving between carrier stations is quick enough not to be aggravating, but slow enough that you always need to be on your toes - thinking "What do I need to be handling right now?" That constant engagement and chaos is great, as is the satisfaction of pulling off an insane strategy by the skin of your teeth. With air, naval, land, missile, logistical, and intelligence layers to every combat engagement, randomly generated islands and archipelagos to fight over, and a fairly broad arsenal, CC2 has enough depth to remain interesting as long as you'd like. Once again, adding fellow humans into the mix only improves things. Custom games offer a number of choices to setup your game just the way you'd like, even letting you conquer islands without enemy carriers present, or go up against multiple teams of enemies. There are also mod tools, though I haven't really felt the need to delve into what's there just yet. This would be the game I'd wish would have more in the way of visual customization and personalization for that reason alone - your units are all going to be directly managed by you at points, and their loadouts are going to reflect your playstyle and the needs of the moment. So it's sad there isn't anything in that regard - not a dealbreaker but certainly an opportunity lost. Would be such a great thing if I could just pick my carrier's color scheme. Alas. Really, this is a great game. There are a number of features I'd wish for, but as is the game feels feature complete. There's still patchwork going on, so maybe there will be more to come, but for now I see no reason not to recommend Carrier Command 2, especially on sale. I can't say anything about the VR performance, but I can say the game runs great on my Steam Deck. There's a whole lot more I could praise as well, from the units themselves to the shifting weather to various small details, but the greatest thing I can say is that every time I finish playing CC2, I want more of it.

"Helm, I said starboard. STARBOARD. That’s LEFT! ...No wait—never mind. We’re dead." Carrier Command 2 is an absolute beast of a game. You command a high-tech floating fortress, coordinating air, sea, and ground units in real-time warfare. It’s deep, complex, and surprisingly fun, especially with friends who are just as confused as you are, but willing to pretend otherwise. The controls are detailed and immersive. Everything feels like it has a physical presence, buttons, levers, screens - and that’s part of the charm. But make no mistake: if you try to master everything at once, your brain will eject itself out the nearest hatch. This isn’t a flaw, it’s just a game that demands you take your time. Focus on one station, one task, one meltdown at a time. Multiplayer is where it truly shines. Nothing builds friendship quite like screaming, "WHO LAUNCHED THE MANTA WITHOUT FUEL?!" across voice chat. Would I recommend it? Yes. Would I trust any of my crew again? Absolutely not.

Good things about this game: -Unique RTS, I don't know of anything else like it on the market -It is very fun and feels cool to stand on the bridge of the carrier and manually operate the controls for everything -10x better with friends -Everything feels realistic, even if it probably isn't -Carrier is very detailed- you never need to leave the bridge, but you can walk around and visit the different cabins, the flight deck, the vehicle storage, etc -Lots of different weapons from dumb bombs to cruise missiles -8 different types of deployable vehicle, each with a different role -You can target and fire weapons on one vehicle from a different vehicle. For example, you can fire the carrier's cannon from an orbiting aircraft. Trust me, this is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ epic. -The feeling of dopamine releasing in your brain when you hit an enemy boat with a torpedo from 5km away -The feeling of dopamine releasing in your brain when you dive bomb the enemy carrier with a manta loaded with heavy bombs -The feeling of dopamine releasing in your brain when you absolutely ♥♥♥♥ on an enemy hanger from 10km away with a cruise missile before they can even think about launching their aircraft -Shoot your friends with the island CIWS turrets when they try to show off their "sick helicopter tricks" -The aircraft have a self destruct system you can use when your friends are doing "sick helicopter tricks" -The boat has a self destruct system that you can troll your friends with Bad things about this game: -Ground vehicles are borderline unnecessary (you can still use them if you want though, they can be fun) -The VR mode is so crap it's basically unplayable, which is a real shame because this game would be perfect for VR -Singleplayer is overwhelming if you don't know what you're doing -Some of the game mechanics are initially confusing/frustrating to learn -Lots of waiting around traveling between islands, refitting vehicles, repairs, producing new munitions, etc. (thankfully this can be fixed with mods) -The AI, particularly for the ground units, can be pretty dumb -SLOW BARGES (also can be fixed with mods) -The boat has a self destruct system your friends can troll you with Solid 8.5/10

As a solo player, this game needs some serious work in both terms of tutorial and accessibility. the ai units (Your own units) suck ass hard, the enemy ai and actual ship layout is trash for a solo captain... if you happen to have people, maybe? I dont so its a no from me.

---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☑ Eargasm ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☑ Potato ☐ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Game Size }--- ☑ Floppy Disk ☐ Old Fashioned ☐ Workable ☐ Big ☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive ☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it ☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data ---{ Difficulty }--- ☐ Just press 'W' ☐ Easy ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☑ Significant brain usage ☐ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☐ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☐ Isn't necessary to progress ☑ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☐ No Story ☑ Some lore ☐ Average ☐ Good ☐ Lovely ☐ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☐ Average ☐ Long ☑ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☑ Worth the price ☐ If it's on sale ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☑ Never heard of ☐ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8 ☐ 9 ☑ 10

This is not a singleplayer game, it's also barely supported. requires too much micro management.

I would love a better option to play this game utilizing LAN with local friends. A game license for personal use to LAN game or at least throw me a discounted 4 pack on steam. Thank you for your hard work, thumbs up all around from me!