Just released: Battle Mines!

Discussion in 'Other Games' started by Psiweapon, Feb 23, 2013.

  1. Psiweapon

    Psiweapon Member

    So, one of the projects I'm involved in and for which I've been pushing pixels for over a year is finally open for players to register.

    It's called... BATTLE MINES!

    It's a MMO post-apocalyptic empire-building webgame, focused mainly on two things: Building and Combat.

    In this game, you control a grid-based city, and through tech research, industry, and CANNON SALVOS, you must vanquish your opposition to emerge as the most dangerous city-state in a post-apocalyptic world, ready to bomb back to the stone age anyone who does so much as looking funny at you.

    Playstyle Freedom
    You can play it any way you want. You can make your city into a peaceful, tree-hugging utopia; an industrial paradise churning out manufactured goods and tons of pollution, or even a bleak, broken desolate land with just cannons, missiles and the essential buildings to properly enslave your neighbours. Or, Glob forbid, you could even develop a balanced, healthy land :eek:

    Instant Gratification
    No need to wake up at 3 AM to check if your fleet was curbstomped on the other side of the galaxy. No progress bars telling you that the 5th level of the Warehouse will take 3:17:46 (and counting) to finish. Just gather your resources, and whatever you spend them on is immediately achieved.

    Global Politicking
    Vote in the global senate! Lobby for restrictions on uranium refining, or an anti-communist resolution, or make sure that human rights are properly ignored worldwide so your vassals will stay put under your military-industrial boots, custom-tailored for Oppression.

    Devastating Warfare
    Level your enemies' lands with a rain of uranium munitions! End their lucky streaks with a humbling, healthy dose of atomic hellfire delivered via ICBM! Build a Doomsday Device, and witness the other players gawk in fear and awe as it nears completion, while they miserably plot against you.

    Cutthroat Trading
    Rip your neighbours off with outrageous trades! Go on a fit of rage when someone offers better rates than you - and then, bomb them back to the dirt age so they don't ruin your business.

    Pixel Art
    Nearly every graphical game asset has been painstakingly pixelled by yours truly, behold:

    So.... what about you drop by www.battlemines.com and give it a whirl?

    EDIT: Whyever did my screenshots get substituted for two giant GOOGLE logos?!
    EDIT 2: Because your boss takes anti-hotlinking measures, bub.
     
    Kazeto and Daynab like this.
  2. Daynab

    Daynab Community Moderator Staff Member

    Congratulations! always good to see projects being completed.
     
    Kazeto likes this.
  3. Psiweapon

    Psiweapon Member

    Hey, thanks a lot!
    Since the previous screenshots I posted are gone (thanks to anti-hotlinking measures from my boss) here is a screenshot of how the map screen looks from my account, hosted at photobucket:

    [​IMG]w
     
    Kazeto likes this.
  4. Essence

    Essence Will Mod for Digglebucks

    Played through the tutorial. At the end, it booted me back out with "invalid login", and when I logged in again, I had to play the tutorial over again. Fast-clicked through it again, and it let me in. Playing now. :)

    Edit: I'm not a big fan of this kind of game in general (by which I mean games where you're on a timer and have to wait for more resources/turns/whatever) but this one seems like a pretty good variant of the genre.
     
    Kazeto likes this.
  5. Psiweapon

    Psiweapon Member

    Hey, that's not cool, even if you managed to get to play in the end! Kicking the report up to the dev.

    Me neither! I've only played a few strategy webgames. I played Ogame before it was a big thing, and I got tired of it quite quickly. I also played a spanish webgame called Shogun's Fate, in that one I stayed a couple of months because I was playing some friends.

    But in between, back in the day, I played a couple hobby webgames by the guy who's made this one and they're made from a different stuff, that's why I teamed up with him.

    Battle Mines is vicious, even unforgiving. Right now everyone's n00b shields are up, but after a week, the slugfests will begin... then we'll start seeing uranium miners, and with them uranium munitions, and the real devastation wil start.
     
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  6. rasteroid

    rasteroid Member

    Hello, I'm the developer of Battle Mines!

    Psi's my main art dude, without him the game would be not a lot to look at, but still pretty fun eh?

    Here's the official bbcode, feel free to ask me questions!




    [​IMG]

    ATTENTION, APOCALYPSE SURVIVORS

    Hear this important announcement!

    Do you like combat, trade, espionage, and empire building?
    Do you enjoy compelling backstory, memorable characters, and wryly intelligent humour?
    Do you long for a balanced multiplayer web game with real strategic elements, not just ever-larger numbers?

    If so, stop right there! We have the game you are looking for.

    Erik Walle's Battle Mines, from newcomer Red Asteroid Games, is now up and free to play.

    Featuring:

    - A detailed MMO universe, gripping environment and unique cast
    - Achievement, exploration, social and conflict-based goals
    - Realistic player-driven micro and macroeconomic systems
    - Play online in minutes a day, be entertained for months

    Build up your city! ~ Enrich uranium for "research" purposes! ~ Unleash volleys of cannonfire! ~ Vote in the senate!

    It's all here, a game 7 years in the making. It's so good, I put my name in the title.

    http://battlemines.com


    Will you create a farming utopia...​
    [​IMG]
    ...or an industrial metropolis?​
    [​IMG]
    Explore, finding friends and enemies​
    [​IMG]
    The plucky camel assists with trading​
    [​IMG]
    Mighty Psiweapon's player profile​
    [​IMG]

    http://battlemines.com
     
    Daynab likes this.
  7. Essence

    Essence Will Mod for Digglebucks

    ...and here's mine!

    Ess'Profile.JPG


    That's right, that says Master of Battle Mines. I have the highest score in the game...until Psiweapon takes it back from me. You should try it, it's actually really badass!
     
  8. rasteroid

    rasteroid Member

    We are adding some changes this week to make it easier for new players to settle in.

    There is basically no other game like it on earth.. thinking of coining a new genre.
     
  9. rasteroid

    rasteroid Member

    Hey there guys.

    I'm getting wise to this marketing game, so here are some Gaslamp-exclusive gift codes to get the ball rolling.

    The special currency of Battle Mines is called simply Gold, here I'm including 5 codes for 10 Gold and 5 more for 5 Gold. 10 Gold (~$10 value) is enough to give you the "full" game experience. It will buy you two things:

    1. Autoharvest (cost: 5 Gold), which allows you to automate building harvests while you are away.
    2. Terraforming (cost: 5 Gold), which lets you change the composition of your land and unlocks the upper tech tree.

    If you get a 5 Gold code, you will have to pick which one you want (unless you can throw in a few bucks; you also get a little free Gold at the start). If you want terraforming, be sure to save your Gold until you can advance up the tech tree a little ways.

    10 Gold codes

    N1VHLPCNC8KE4PZ3
    CNJH69SAO5EUHH4Q
    CLSL5J1JQJ3XW7HA
    UNIK41LJJ5DHICYW
    1T76DNHA1YUNKWL3

    5 Gold codes

    63JLCHM8C1QL5SUE
    574YVZJAF5XMNDXZ
    3KS5HI6MHXWUU9I6
    36DW8CYFY8FB5N9K
    CBADLC9VDN7HNKTY


    To use your code, first create an account at http://battlemines.com
    Then go to the Account page and enter the code.

    Only one code in this batch will work per user. Please don't create multiple accounts.

    If you use a code, please mention it in this thread, and later on it would be great if you returned to post feedback!

    Thank you!
     
  10. Psiweapon

    Psiweapon Member

    C'mon guys, give it a try, it's a blast!

    Essence joined and he's since been one of the top players!
     
  11. rasteroid

    rasteroid Member

    Couple more screens up:

    World to explore
    [​IMG]

    Starter city
    [​IMG]

    Stormy Night
    [​IMG]
     
  12. Psiweapon

    Psiweapon Member

    C'mon! Join the game and GIVE ME A FREAKING CHALLENGE ALREADY!! :burliness::burliness::burliness:
     
  13. TheKirkUnited

    TheKirkUnited Member

    So I started playing and find it interesting thus far, though I've only played for an hour or two. I attempted to use the codes you posted so that I could activate auto harvest before I put it up for the day but found that all of the codes had already been claimed. :(

    Ah well. I'll just have poke my mines I guess.

    I picked sand to start with just for the hell of it and am somewhat chagrined to learn it's one of the hardest terrains to start on. I can get observatories/light towers up fairly quickly but food is in short supply and trading sand has yielded no interest thus far.

    All in all it's pretty interesting though.
     
  14. rasteroid

    rasteroid Member

    I'm not surprised the codes went so fast, this game is taking off. Here are another few 5-gold codes:



    6CQD2DLEN64YKP59
    HH41691D4FDDIS79
    YDVD24CQE50D3AYA





    We've just created a new landing page, which I think does a much better job of explaining the game up front.

    Please check it out, feedback hugely appreciated! http://battlemines.com
     
  15. TheKirkUnited

    TheKirkUnited Member

    It would be nice if folks would post about taken codes as instructed but I suppose that's expecting a bit much.

    I took the second code from your new batch: HH41691D4FDDIS79

    I'm starting to get the hang of the game. Starting in a sand environment hasn't been as crippling as thought at the start. Having lots of early outposts is very helpful in establishing a trade network and the light houses alleviate the aridity penalty somewhat though I'll never have the GM that a Bauxite player can achieve.

    What's really making it work is my fast expanding spy network. Spies cost one glass each (or 4 sand) and can steal from players via corruption. Between my trade network and the resources I'm skimming from other players I've been able to advance my technology and build some useful buildings, though I dread the day my noob shield fails, for my coal supplies are momentarily short and I've yet to construct a bunker.

    High hopes for the future of this game though. Time will tell.
     
  16. Daynab

    Daynab Community Moderator Staff Member

    Keep in mind these forums are public, so it could even be people not registered here.
     
  17. Essence

    Essence Will Mod for Digglebucks

    Yeah, it really is a very well-balanced act Battle Mines has going on.

    Sand gets resources through corruption and trade by building outposts and sending spies.
    Bauxite gets a food bonus and can make more of it's own mines for improved production.
    Iron makes more mines and cannons, making it easier to vassalize weak neighbors and get tithes and vassal trades.
    Coal basically every needs all the time in huge quantities, so coal players can get some ridiculous trades and they ignore a few common penalties that other players have to deal with.
    Uranium you can't start with, but in the late game wartime becomes hugely powerful (you auto-win a battle if you use uranium ammo and they don't), so terraforming into Uranium is a sweet option.

    Bascially, from what I understand, as long as you don't get actually completely destroyed (hull reduced to zero), you can't ever lose any of the gold you've invested unless you do something stupid like buy a bonus item and then don't immediately put it to good use. (LIke I did. I bought a diamond drill with gold thinking "+2 production bonus, awesome!" and it was destroyed in battle less than 24 hours later. Don't do that. :p )

    The interesting realization I'm just coming to is that the only thing in Battle Mines that you can't lose to a powerful opponent in combat and/or one or more of the Horsemen is your technology. So it makes sense to lay low and quietly build tech, keeping up just enough of a defense (2+ Churches!) that your opponents aren't tempted to try to vassalize you, until you get all of the tech you want. Then you can go bonzai either building doomsday crap or warring it up.
     
  18. Godwin

    Godwin Member

    I'm interested, took code 6CQD2DLEN64YKP59. thanks :)
     
  19. rasteroid

    rasteroid Member

    This thread almost comes up higher than the game itself on a google for Battle Mines. :)

    Thanks Gas Lamp forum peoples. Still listening with gigantic ears for any feedback at all, especially things you don't like.
     
  20. Essence

    Essence Will Mod for Digglebucks

    Well, how about some jerkwad going on a killing spree and taking out 80% of my city just before the Rainy weather came and logging on to find out that not only did I only have a couple of mines and cannons left out of my glorious metropolis but I had also just lost 45 items to the rain and my pollution was so high that my workers had rioted and torn down almost all of what was left after said jerkwad's killing spree and OH BY THE WAY BLACK HORSEMAN SAYS HI ON TOP OF ALL OF IT.

    I know I'll recover eventually, and I like the game enough that I'm certainly going to stick around, but holy crap, that kind of setback is going to be enough to make a lot of people quit on the spot. I built two churches so that people wouldn't attack me because I was an easy vassal, but all that did was make him destroy 2/3 of my city in the attempt to get rid of the churches, and then the rains and the Horseman and the riots did in most everything else.

    Maybe there should be some sort of increasing cost to attacking the same target over and over and over and over and over and over? Or maybe increase the wait time between attacks for each attack you make (1 min --> 5 min --> 30 min --> 1 hour, and then it stays at one hour until you go 24 hours without attacking the same person?) Or make defensive shots free, so you can't ever attack without risk? Maybe make a one-square building that gives you free defensive shots, so that it's not likely to be destroyed in any one volley but can be wiped out if you get unlucky?

    Dunno. What happened to me was extreme, and I get that, but it feels unfair.
     
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