4 ms·

How playable is it? It seems that there are many complaints about the district system and the beaver AI being not so bright.

by jfim 4y ago

jameshart 4y ago
All part of what makes it an accurate simulation of Californian water management.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
yonaguska 4y ago
For an early access game, it is more polished than many games post release. Even with the incredibly scant tutorial. You can get at least 10 hrs out of the game before you even get to needing to be concerned about districts. And there are YouTube tutorials explaining how to set all that up once you do get there.
wishfish 4y ago
It's extremely playable. If they had called this a full release, and not early access, I would have believed them. The district system is a pain at first. It's different than every other city builder and tycoon system out there. But you do get used to it. It does make you think about how goods are distributed across the wide map and plan accordingly. I never really noticed too much of a problem with the AI. The game seems a bit rigid in how tasks are queued. An emergency with immediate required tasks will require you to pause or cancel other tasks since the AI won't recognize that it's an emergency. But I never really had any problems with beavers not doing what they were supposed to do. Overall, it's a great game. Structuring the water systems is deeply satisfying. There's no better feeling than when you build a large reservoir. And no better feeling of relief when the dry season ends and the rivers start flowing again. And the water system makes for a good puzzle engine. I don't think there's any mods yet, but there are several custom maps from the community which create some lovely puzzles. There's a custom map with water sources surrounding the map. Which creates a problem of too much water instead of too little. Thus requiring you to find ways quickly to manage the flow, and do much of your building in the dry season when you finally get a little relief. That puzzle essentially reverses the normal gameplay loop. The game is remarkably flexible in the number of different possibilities it offers.
- wishfish 4y ago
  I should add: the aesthetics of the game are also great. It's all water-powered (and sometimes wind-powered) wooden gears and buildings. I'd call it steampunk in looks, but I guess it's more waterpunk (?). The building system is also great. It's modular. You can save space in the narrow canyons by putting a bakery on the ground level, stack a couple of houses on top of it, and then put a roof garden on top. And then a network of stairs and walkways to connect everything. It's much more flexible than the usual city builders and there's some fairly creative ways of building a vertical beaver city that can fit into a narrow box canyon.
solardev 4y ago
Very! Even in early access, it's wonderful. Easily one of my favorite games of the last decade or two, and I don't even play city builders much. Cities Skylines also has water simulation (topo, dams, flow rates, pollution dispersion, floods, etc.) but it's not a huge part of the game. Water is integral to the beaver game and it's just a really fun way to think about how it affects civilizations.

How playable is it? It seems that there are many complaints about the district system and the beaver AI being not so bright.

by jfim 4y ago

How playable is it? It seems that there are many complaints about the district system and the beaver AI being not so bright.

jameshart 4y ago

All part of what makes it an accurate simulation of Californian water management.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

yonaguska 4y ago

For an early access game, it is more polished than many games post release. Even with the incredibly scant tutorial. You can get at least 10 hrs out of the game before you even get to needing to be concerned about districts. And there are YouTube tutorials explaining how to set all that up once you do get there.

wishfish 4y ago

It's extremely playable. If they had called this a full release, and not early access, I would have believed them. The district system is a pain at first. It's different than every other city builder and tycoon system out there. But you do get used to it. It does make you think about how goods are distributed across the wide map and plan accordingly. I never really noticed too much of a problem with the AI. The game seems a bit rigid in how tasks are queued. An emergency with immediate required tasks will require you to pause or cancel other tasks since the AI won't recognize that it's an emergency. But I never really had any problems with beavers not doing what they were supposed to do. Overall, it's a great game. Structuring the water systems is deeply satisfying. There's no better feeling than when you build a large reservoir. And no better feeling of relief when the dry season ends and the rivers start flowing again. And the water system makes for a good puzzle engine. I don't think there's any mods yet, but there are several custom maps from the community which create some lovely puzzles. There's a custom map with water sources surrounding the map. Which creates a problem of too much water instead of too little. Thus requiring you to find ways quickly to manage the flow, and do much of your building in the dry season when you finally get a little relief. That puzzle essentially reverses the normal gameplay loop. The game is remarkably flexible in the number of different possibilities it offers.

wishfish 4y ago
I should add: the aesthetics of the game are also great. It's all water-powered (and sometimes wind-powered) wooden gears and buildings. I'd call it steampunk in looks, but I guess it's more waterpunk (?). The building system is also great. It's modular. You can save space in the narrow canyons by putting a bakery on the ground level, stack a couple of houses on top of it, and then put a roof garden on top. And then a network of stairs and walkways to connect everything. It's much more flexible than the usual city builders and there's some fairly creative ways of building a vertical beaver city that can fit into a narrow box canyon.

solardev 4y ago

Very! Even in early access, it's wonderful. Easily one of my favorite games of the last decade or two, and I don't even play city builders much. Cities Skylines also has water simulation (topo, dams, flow rates, pollution dispersion, floods, etc.) but it's not a huge part of the game. Water is integral to the beaver game and it's just a really fun way to think about how it affects civilizations.