Battlefleet Gothic: Armada - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Dominic Tarason)
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is almost here – due on January 24th – and the space-naval strategy sequel looks to be a tad bigger and more ambitious than its predecessor. In the very seriously narrated info-dump trailer below (it sounds like the man is speaking in ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME), it lays out what its new single-player side entails. While there are twelve playable factions, the story side of the game contains just three campaigns – Imperial, Necron & Tyranid – though each has their own distinct systems and even narrative style. Take a look at the shape of ships to come below.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 seems to have grand strategy ambitions, judging by the new campaign trailer above. Where the first game features a single, Imperium-only campaign that linked the space battles together, Armada 2 boasts three ‘grand’ campaigns for five out of the 12 playable factions, full of systems and worlds waiting to be conquered before fuelling the endless war.
The combined forces of the Imperium, the Necron Empire and the Tyranid Hive each get their own campaigns, stories and accompanying mechanics. The tyranids, for instance, can seed worlds with their gruesome spawn before invading them, laying the groundwork for their visit, and rather than settling worlds, they simply consume them. The galaxy is big buffet.
On the grand strategy spectrum, it looks closer to Total War than Europa Universalis, with the main focus being building up fleets of warships and sending them into real-time space battles. There’s the hint of empire management, too, and you’ll need to think about where you’ll expand. Worlds have different attributes, including shipyards and research stations, while some might be hive worlds, agricultural worlds or some other type, each with different bonuses.
While the factions fight over territory, there’s another threat waiting in the wings. Not unlike Total War: Warhammer’s Chaos invasion, 40K’s own Chaos menace is gearing up to swallow the galaxy, so their arrival needs to be prepared for by fortifying worlds and recruiting new leaders to command an armada powerful enough to stop them.
Focus also announced a second preorder beta, kicking off on January 15 and running until launch. It will feature the first sectors in the Imperium and Necron Empire storylines, as well as multiplayer and skirmish battles.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is due out on January 24.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 launches January 24, 2019, bringing all the chaos and destruction of Warhammer 40,000 fleet battles .
On top of skirmish and multiplayer, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 comes with three full grand campaigns letting you control humanity’s combined Imperial forces, the ancient re-awakening Necron empire, or the ravenous extra-galactic horde of the Tyranid Hive Fleets.
https://youtu.be/rnAEk0Kj8Y4 Our new campaign trailer breaks down every facet of the 100+ hours that can easily be spent in Armada 2’s single-player offerings. Every campaign is also playable in co-op, with two players controlling a split fleet in each battle.
Prepare for the second pre-order beta, running January 15 up until launch! This will be your first chance to go hands-on with the campaigns as the first sectors of the Imperial and Necron storylines will be available to play.
This second beta will also feature all the multiplayer and skirmish options, including :
The 12 playable factions
The 80+ subfactions
Ranked play
Updated custom map options with special environmental effects from the first beta
The team has worked hard on your feedback from the first Beta and this second Beta will bring a lot of balance tweaks and bug fixes. Expect more details on January 15, and join us for a Dev livestream on Focus Twitch channel to discuss the update and give us your opinion!
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 Campaign Pre-order Beta begins January 15, featuring the start of the Imperial and Necron campaigns. The game launches on January 24.
Today, we'd like to thank you very much for playing Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2's first Pre-Order Beta!
In this first beta, you were able to play as any of the twelve factions in the game in both single and multiplayer battles, as well as the prologue of the campaign, which introduces you to the story, and shows players the Fall of Cadia for the first time.
Throughout the beta, you provided very valuable feedback about gameplay balance, lore inconsistencies, and other parts of the game. Now, it's our job to dig through this feedback. We can't promise that everything you suggest will be taken on board, but we'll be playing close attention to all suggestions and we will certainly be reading it all.
Please make sure that you post any feedback you still have on either Steam or on the Focus Home Interactive forums. We'll be looking at it whenever you post it, and it's all extremely valuable.
We'll be hard at work on this until the next Pre-Order beta, which currently launches in early January. We'll have more information on that soon!
We're happy to announce that Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2's first Pre-Order Beta is live!
As announced earlier today in our Overview trailer Part 2, all players who have pre-ordered will now automatically receive access to a week-long beta ending on December 12.
This first open Beta will feature the skirmish mode in multiplayer and against AI, as well as the basics of Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2’s epic battles with the campaign prologue.
Please keep in mind that this is an actual Beta and we'd love to hear your feedback about the game. Don't expect an entirely polished experience as we're still working on ironing out technical issues and balancing.
You can post your feedback about the game in the Steam Discussion or the official forum.
It's your first time playing the Battlefleet Gothic: Armada, and you're feeling a little overwhelmed? That's understandable, there's a lot for you to take in when you first launch the game.
We've written a handy little guide to help new players get to grips with what to do when they first launch the game, and introduce the basic key mechanics, as well as showing you the easier factions to play.
Quick Start Guide
[Solo - Prologue]
Firstly, you'll need to learn how to play the game. To do this, follow the steps below:
Click New Campaign
Click Launch Prologue
This launches a short series of missions set during the Fall of Cadia. Here, you'll learn how to move, select units, how stealth works and how to bring war upon your enemies.
Please note that you are unable to save during the prologue.
Once the prologue is completed, you'll be ready for battle! In the Pre-Order Beta, skirmishes are available vs AI players, as well as against other human players in 1v1 and 2v2 modes.
[Battle mode]
To start setting up a skirmish, you will need to select Battle on the main menu. From here, you'll be able to play any of the twelve factions featured in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2.
For players new to the game, we recommend playing one of the less micro-intensive factions, such as The Imperial Navy, Chaos, Necrons or T'au.
To complete the faction selection, you have access to sub-factions. It only changes in most cases the fleet color. Few sub-factions also grant you access to new skills (see bellow).
Once you've selected your faction and sub-faction, you'll need to also select two skills and upgrades. The locked skills you see here unlock when you play multiplayer matchmaking.
Then, select your fleet. For new players, we recommend using one of the premade fleets, to get a feeling for how that faction plays. You will also be able to create you own custom fleet. But let's do this later, when you will be at ease with the game.
You also have opportunities to tweak the match to your liking before starting. To open the Skirmish map settings, click on the wheel button on the down-left corner of the screen.
You can disable victory by Domination or change the amount of points required for victory.
You can add environmental effects such as Space Titans, should you want to discover them in your skirmish.
Battle difficulty and enemy faction selection
When playing against an opposing AI, you are able to choose against which faction to play. To do so, click on the Launch button (the big one, you can't miss it). A pop-up will allow you to choose the enemy faction as well as its difficulty. Indeed, you can reduce (or increase) the difficulty of your opponent by changing the fleet points they have available.
"I have some friends on Steam playing the Beta too, can I play with them?"
Yes, of course! To do this, you'll need to invite them to your battle. From the Battle menu, you'll simply click "Invite Player" on the right side of the screen. After inviting them, you can play against them, or with them in a 2vAI mode. In 2VAI, each player will have 600 fleet points available to them.
After the release of the first Battle Overview Trailer last week, we are proud to present our hotly-anticipated follow-up, releasing alongside the start of the first beta later today for all players who pre-ordered the game on Steam.
We currently aim at 6pm CET for the release of the Beta.
In this new gameplay video, you’ll learn more about the specific skills and tactics that make up the epic space naval combat of Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2, from battle-turning abilities, to alternate ways to destroy your enemies, and new battlefield complications that make every fight unique.
This is the perfect opportunity for you to get an early look at Warhammer 40,000’s spectacular battleships and experience all of the original tabletop’s 12 factions and their playstyles.
The first open Beta will feature the skirmish mode in multiplayer and against AI, as well as the basics of Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2’s epic battles with the campaign prologue. Our second pre-order beta will start in early January, running up to the launch of the game on January 24 - we'll have more details on that are coming soon.
At release, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 will feature three fully-fledged campaigns playable in both solo and co-op that will thrust players into the heart of the 13th Black Crusade as the Imperium, Necrons and Tyranids, alongside 1v1 and 2v2 skirmish and ranked multiplayer.
Greetings, Admirals, and welcome back to the devblogs for Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2. Today we’re talking customisation - how your fleet is your own, both in gameplay terms and the aesthetics of your ships. Significant changes have been made since the first game, so read on!
The first and clearest way to customise your fleet is, of course, to change which ships are in it. There are six classes of vessel in total, with multiple configurations of each hull usually available. However, not every faction has access to every class - the Adeptus Mechanicus have lighter ships plus the massive Ark Mechanicus Battleship, while the Imperial Navy can field vessels of any weight category. Your custom fleet is only limited by the points allowed in the match you’re going to play - the composition, weapon choices, abilities, admiral skills, and more are all yours to choose.
Each faction has eight Admiral Skills and ten Fleet Upgrades to choose from. Admiral Skills are special abilities given to your flagship only, making them limited but extremely powerful, able to flip a battle on its head with the correct timing. Fleet Upgrades affect all or a sub-section of your ships, changing weapons, engines, stealth, or some other element to let you play your way. The difference in building a fleet around the correct upgrades and skills can be significant.
Tyranid Fleet Creation
Faction selection also governs your admiral portrait, of which there are hundreds in the game, unlocked through victories. You can pick from those you’ve unlocked for a faction and it will be displayed in multiplayer matches. You must also pick a subfaction to assign to your fleet.
Subfactions govern the colour scheme of your ships, with plenty to choose from for each faction, picked from recognisable Warhammer 40,000, chapters, traitor legions, septs, craftworlds, and so on. Over 80 subfactions are available in total, with at least six per faction, so some are brand new to the universe, added to help flesh out our single-player campaigns.
Each is different, not only in the colour schemes of your ships, but some also bestow new admiral skills to choose from as well. This is not true of every subfaction - the balancing and complexity of more than 80 new admiral skills would be impossible - but allows for a light sprinkling of additional flavour where it seemed most appropriate. Every subfaction is available from the start of the game, so you’re free to match your tabletop army or try something new.
Fleet selection menu
We hope you enjoy all the cool ways to customise your fleet in Armada 2, alongside the 12 factions and the unique elements of the three massive campaigns that make designing and fielding your fleets there totally different.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 releases on Steam 24 January 2019. You can already pre-order for Beta Access December 5 to 12, and a 10% discount!
Returning Battlefleet Gothic: Armada players on Steam instead benefit from a 25% loyalty discount on their preorder of Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2’s space battles look absolutely ridiculous. This time, it’s living up to the name, letting you field a proper armada of cosmic cathedrals and grotesque alien hives, not just a few ships. The fights shown off in the latest video, then, are big, messy and teeming with ships. And explosions by the boatload.
All 12 of the tabletop factions are duking it out this time, each with their own quirks. Their ships, movement, even how they sneak up on their foes differ depending on who you’re playing.
“Be it unique ways of moving through space or weird, alien weaponry and ships, each faction feels distinct from its peers,” reads the post accompanying the video. “Even those that share similarities such as the Aeldari Corsairs and Asuryani Craftworlds or the Tau Protectorate Fleet and Merchant Fleet have differences in what they can field. This makes your faction selection, and choice of ships, armaments, admiral skills, and fleet upgrades totally customisable and massively impactful.”
It looks like a lot to manage, so I’m wondering how Tindalos Interactive has tweaked things like the pace, balance and UI to make up for the big jump in scale. It looks faster, but that might just be for the purposes of the video. I really enjoyed the first one, despite being once again disappointed that the Space Marines got top billing and their own campaign, so I’m looking forward to getting back in the admiral’s seat. Or throne of bones.
A beta is coming next month, and Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is due out on January 24.
Space-naval combat returns in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2, improving on every facet of the first game to make a bigger, better experience for admirals everywhere, and an even greater adaptation of the original board game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Today’s Battle Overview trailer is the first in a three-part series that will teach you the huge number of options at your disposal in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2. Get everything you need to know ahead of the first beta phase, scheduled from December 5 to December 12.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGQ439zS2Ik With more factions and more ships come bigger battles, with larger fleets clashing to control the Eye of Terror and the surrounding region of space dubbed the Aegis Occularis. All twelve factions from the tabletop game are now represented, and each has unique ships, new mechanics, and much more to show off.
Be it unique ways of moving through space or weird, alien weaponry and ships, each faction feels distinct from its peers. Even those that share similarities such as the Aeldari Corsairs and Asuryani Craftworlds or the Tau Protectorate Fleet and Merchant Fleet have differences in what they can field. This makes your faction selection, and choice of ships, armaments, admiral skills, and fleet upgrades totally customisable and massively impactful.
In the trailer you’ll see how all this combines with the layout of maps, capture points, the enemy fleet, and the various phases of battle to create a challenging and spectacular simulation of space combat. Prioritise targeting weapons or engines, kill crews with boarding actions to turn enemy ships into floating hulks, or go all out on ramming enemy ships and committing to close-quarters battles.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 releases January 24, 2019, on PC. Pre-orders receive a 10% discount ahead of launch, 20% if they own the original Battlefleet Gothic: Armada. Beta testing begins in early December for all pre-orders.
The "pre-order beta" for Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2, the Warhammer 40K spaceship RTS, starts early next month, and this week players were given a closer look at exactly how multiplayer and skirmish modes will work.
The game will have 1v1 and 2v2 matches—both ranked and unranked—as well as skirmishes against the AI. In regular multiplayer and skirmishes, players will fight on a randomly-generated map with five capture points and various environmental effects, publisher Focus Home Interactive said in a blog post.
Some of those effects are the same as in the original Battlefleet Gothic: Armada, but many will be new—a fleet of space titans migrating through the area will deal damage to any nearby ship, for example, or pulsing solar radiation might render shields useless.
In skirmish and casual multiplayer you'll be able to customise the probability of each effect, the point totals of each fleet (basically how strong they are), and the victory conditions for capture points.
For ranked 1v1 multiplayer, environmental effects are turned off and player fleets are set to a maximum of 1,200 points—for 2v2, it's 600 points per player. That's higher than in the first game, which should enable "larger, more action-packed battles".
Capture point locations will be randomised "to make every battle different", plus logic under-the-hood will "ensure battles will never be unfair". You'll also be able to pick between pre-defined fleets that match different playstyles or build your own from scratch.
Lastly, publisher Focus Home Interactive said that the ranked-only progression system would give players both "cosmetics" and "new options for skills and fleet upgrades". This won't feel "like a power reward for playing more, but simply new options and ways to play", it added. We'll find out more in the beta. It will also have a campaign mode at launch.
