Gratuitous Space Battles: Difference between revisions

''This is a time for war. Huge war, galaxy-spanning war, where the cries for mercy from the citizens of captured worlds will reverberate around the bridge of your flagship. A time for honor, for glory, for huge profits for people in the defense industry''. }}

 

 

The game is rather unique among space battle sims in that the player does not actually give any orders during the battle itself; rather, the player can only make ship designs, dictate their starting position within the fleet, and modify each ship's AI before unleashing them on the enemy. After each battle, the player can analyze the results in order to tweak ship designs and fleet deployment before fighting again. Victories bring the player "Honor," which can be used to unlock hulls, components, and even other races.

{{quote| "This galaxy was created in a weekend by the one true god, and he has no room in it for the likes of heathen aliens such as you. If your species is not listed in the holy book of the one true god, then it's pretty clear you are a mistake, and the order is here to rectify mistakes. For is it not written (depending on translations) that the total destruction of all alien species with devastating radioactive cannons and nuclear space-missiles is the will of the one true god?"}}

* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: Each faction has a design/color combination to make them highly distinctive, save the Alliance and Nomads, who lack a uniform color scheme but still follow a distinct design pattern.

** The Rebels have arrow-like, boxy gunmetal-gray ships, also somewhat reminiscent of ''their'' [[Star Wars|namesake]].

** The Tribe's ships are green and gray, with rounded and organic-looking hulls, and the Order features bright red-painted ships that seem to be held together by some kind of weird energy/tractor beams that seem impractical but ''[[Rule of Cool|looks totally freaking awesome.]]''

** The Swarm's ships look like birds of prey and are painted a bright golden color, with inexplicably car-like fighters.

* [[Death of a Thousand Cuts]]: Even ships with [[Overly Long Gag|gratuitously]] heavy armor can be brought down by weapons with little or no armor penetration thanks to the "Lucky Hit" mechanic combined with a very high volume of fire. Repair systems can mitigate this, though, provided the armored tank ship doesn't get too unlucky, and provided the repair module doesn't run out of supplies.

* [[Deflector Shields]]: Capable of absorbing an awful lot of damage, are completely immune to weapons with a lower shield penetration than their resistance value (unlike armor), and recharge relatively quickly while they're up, but once they're down, they're gone for good for the rest of the battle. Also, fighters can easily get inside them and bypass their defense, and they can be destabilized by certain special weapons and go temporarily offline.

* [[Easy Logistics]]: Generally played straight, especially in the campaign, but certain missions, challenges, and campaign planets have "supply limits" which reduce the number of modules that can be brought to that battlefield.

* [[The Empire]]: Ancient, oppressive, and ruled by a thousand-year old Emperor who is officially "under the weather."

{{quote| That last impact vaporized the ship's galley. Looks like it's take-out food tonight, guys.}}

* [[Enemy Exchange Program]]: In the campaign, any enemy vessels left over when you win a battle will switch over to your side. You can't build any more of them, but they make for good garrison/militia units.

* [[Excuse Plot]]: It's called '''''Gratuitous''' Space Battles'' for a reason.

* [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong]]: The Parasites.