Escalation will amplify the backstory of the Substrate, an enemy cabal dedicated to the complete annihilation of human race, through two new campaigns that will give gamers the option of commanding either side.
The first original campaign will also be "fleshed out further based on the game's background lore, " and new maps for both single-player and multiplayer modes will be much bigger than those in the original updates. The expansion will also have added a new "strategic zoom" option that will give a big-picture outline of the battlefield.
Stardock's RTS Ashes of the Singularity is a splendid technical achievement, but it fell a bit short as a single-player encounters because of "drab" maps and a brief, "forgettable" campaign. That's what somewhat the studio aims to address with the game's first update, entitled Escalation, that is set to come out in November.
Take control of an entire world's resources to build up enormous armies, research new techs, and exterminate all those who stand in your way! This new, massive-scale real-time tactical game will have you governing vast armies and fighting a war on multifold fronts against your opponents.
Scenarios
- Implosion - Race against three enemies to be the first to crack the defenses of a crashed Post-Human and their experimental Turinium Generator.
- Eruption - Cut off from your factories, you must command a single Hyperion Dreadnought and a scattering of defensive structures to turn the tides of battle.
- Mountaintop - Exploit your resource-heavy advantage and create massive forces to climb the mountain to the enemy entrenchment and wipe them out.
- Turtle Wars - Hold off the frigates swarming from indestructible factories and survive the siege. Reprogram the factories to your advantage before the enemy crosses the mountain and finishes you off.
Maps
- Crack The Shell - Hold the high ground and the Turinium against your enemies in this asymmetrical 3-player map, best for 2v1 matches.
- Turtle Wars - Enjoy a longer duel with your enemy on this epic-scale 2-player map. The open landscape with select chokepoints encourages huge armies and larger battles.
- Eruption - Choose your path wisely - one leads to the lone Turinium Generator, the other two resources in this small 2-player map.
- Implosion - One valley with an abundance of resources stands at the center of this large, asymmetrical map fit for a 4-player free for all with huge armies.
"We really resisted strategic zoom during the betas," Stardock CEO Brad Wardell said. "We use strategic zoom in Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations but there is a downside-you alienate players who dislike abstract representations of the battlefield.
With Escalation, we ultimately decided that we can't be all things to all people. There is no way you can find a global war via a mini-map. You need to be able to zoom out and see the world abstractly too."
