Hah, how ironic...one of the things I did during the couple of days without internet access is play through Vasteel once again (played Fallial). I'll try to give a very thorough breakdown of how the game works (WARNING: spoilers ahead...):
Basically, this game is a strategy/arcade hybrid. You can choose which character you're going to play as, Fallial (the 49th emperor of Belose) or Stefan (his rebellious younger brother). The idea is, regardless of which character you play as, to conquer all enemy planets. At first, a planet is a single map, and often somewhat small. The first battle is the same for both characters, and then the planets are different for each character.
Each character has their own Production Unit, or "base", on each map. For each map of a planet, your objective is to destroy this base by fighting your way through enemies. All of the machines are called ATACs (the manual gives the meaning of this acronym, I don't quite remember what it means). Each character starts out with a squad of ATACs and a certain number of cities and factories under their control. As the game progresses, the balance of controlled cities and factories becomes in the opponent's favour. Contrary to popular belief, the factories on the maps CANNOT make new ATACs, only the Production Unit can.
Each ATACs is designed for a specific type of combat and movement. Some are aquatic ATACs, some are desert ATACs, etc. Then there is a class of ATAC called "ALL", which simply means that the ATAC can function in any environment with average ability. Some are very powerful in their chosen environment but extremely weak outside of it (example: Stefan's "Leech"...a savage killer in the deep sea but a sitting duck on land).
Combat is arcade-style. In combat, you have three main attack methods: missle fire, machine guns, and close combat. This applies to the majority of the ATACs. However, there are also transport ATACs...these work differently. There's two types of transports, one that holds a single ATAC and only has machine guns (no missles nor close combat ability) and the other is a massive battleship that only has cannons (no machine guns or close combat).
All throughout each map, there are cities and factories. There are two ways to capture these: either by destroying the core, or by defeating the enemy ATAC stationed there. The core is a round energy cannon that kicks your ass if you don't fight wisely. The Production Unit also has a core, but it moves around and hits a lot harder...requires a bit more strategy to defeat. Once a city or factory is captured, you can use them to replenish an ATAC's hitpoints and weapons store. It takes a full game turn (in other words, after your turn and then after the enemy's turn) to get this replenishment. Cities will restore 25% of your hitpoints and weapons, while factories will restore 100% of your hitpoints and weapons. If the core has been destroyed, it too will replenish itself over the next few turns.
You also have two types of environments: planet surface and space. Your first three planets will be single-map surface areas. After that, each planet starts with a space area and then to the planet surface. Capturing cities, factories, and the production unit in space areas is much more difficult than on the surface for some reason.
Once you destroy the core of the production unit, you've won the map.
Fallial's strongest ATACs are his space and all-terrain models. Of particular note are the Stormer, the Dagger, and the Scythe for the all-terrain models and the Redhulk and the all-powerful (but terribly expensive) Reaper for the space models. Fallial lacks desert ATACs of any quality until late in the game (when the Sphynx becomes available) but he does have a decent selection of tropical ATACs. His selection of arctic ATACs is decent but most of them are slow. Fallial has the best battleships in both space and on land (the Bertha in space and the Destroyer on land...both are true killing machines).
Stefan's strongest ATACs are his desert and aquatic models. Of particular note are the Leech (this thing WILL kick your butt in the deep sea), the Poorboy, and the Blueclaw for aquatic ATACs and the Bile and the Marauder for the desert (he has a "boxing" ATAC designed for the desert which kicks ass but I forget its name). Stefan lacks good arctic ATACs until late in the game (when the Shredder becomes available) and his all-terrain models are somewhat lacking (the Electro, available late in the game, is a very good all-terrain machine). Stefan does have two very good space ATACs, the Explorer (available from the first space map) and the Strype (available later in the game), but they're no match for Fallial's Reaper.
The strategy for both characters is quite different, and varies from map to map. Here's some examples:
For Fallial, it's best to focus on big powerful ATACs in smaller numbers and preferrably ones that carry huge amounts of missles (such as the Squidgit, which is tough, fast, and armed to the teeth). In space levels where the Reaper is available, it's best to save up money to buy one rather than buying lesser machines...a Reaper in your army and nothing stands a chance (you can take on the production unit core head-on and win without worry). The Destroyer on land is an extremely effective killer, with its first three cannons able to fire at once on one target, delivering three shots at once and cutting down most ATACs in mere seconds. But you need mastery over Fallial's ATACs before committing to a smaller force. They may be tough, but even the small fries on Stefan's side can be a pain until you get used to the game. Of course, once you're comfortable with the big machines, you'll be a juggernaut.
Big players, such as the Scythe and the Stormer, will easily conquer city after city with little resistance. Of course, master Fallial's small-fry space machines (like the Intruder) and you can conquer half the map before the enemy even knows what's going on. Try to avoid Fallial's Grunt-class ATACs...they may be cheap but they're awful slow and weak. The exception to this is the Sand Grunt, which is quite useful on sandy maps.
For Stefan, the best thing to do is deploy smaller ATACs in mass numbers and have just a few heavy machines. Stefan's Scouts are small and light but can really move and they're armed with tons of missles (a Scout in the right hands can wipe out a Stormer!). The Blender is a very effective front-line unit when you bring them out in force, since their firing time is very quick and they move fast enough to dodge incoming missles. Stefan excels in the desert though...the Bile is an extremely powerful machine with tons of hitpoints and very powerful missles (bad in close combat though). The Marauder (which you get later on in the game) can really give a beating as well. Tropical ATACs like the Grinder are very useful for many maps, but lesser tropical ATACs such as the Nutcase and the Phreak are better suited for mass deployment. As mentioned before, the sea is where Stefan's ATACs shine the most, with a whole series of claw-type aquatic machines and his dreaded Leech, which moves extremely fast in the water and is armed with heavy-damage missles. In space, Stefan is at a real disadvantage, but bringing out a few Explorers makes things go better (they're somewhat expensive at first). Scouts work surprisingly well in space. Get a few Replicas as well, and arm the front line with some Protobots. As for battleships...well, here's where you don't want to rely on them, because Stefan's battleships are quite "teh sux0r". The Carrier is a pretty decent land battleship, but never EVER use the Toaster, as it is extremely weak. His space battleships aren't much better. In general, try to avoid transports with Stefan unless necessary.
There are quite a few fun things you can do to outwit the computer, many of which are due to technical details of the combat engine:
-In levels with trees or obstacles that cannot be shot through, position yourself so that your opponent wastes their missles shooting at you but hitting the obstacle instead. Then move in for the kill.
-When defending a city, dodge the enemy missles and let the city's defences do the hard work for you.
-When defending a factory, there are two laser cannons directly below you (this is true of both characters). Hide behind the large circular obstacle near them and let the lasers nail the invader for an easy win.
-Missles fire at different rates. For slow-firing ATACs, press fire before you wish it to actually be fired, then aim...with practice, you'll be able to shoot-and-evade very well with slow-firing ATACs.
-On mountains or in asteroid fields, let the rocks do the damage for you! (Be careful in asteroid fields though...they come from all directions.)
-You can normally only build six new units per turn. However, if you have a battleship that can hold 3 ATACs placed at the build points, you can build more than 6 per turn. Make sure you still have one space unoccupied though or the game won't let you build anything (obvious bug).
-When right on top of the enemy's Production Unit, place either a battleship or a powerful ATAC on the upper-left hex. That's where the computer always builds new ATACs first, so any new ATAC built by the computer will be put there...and into the hands of death. This is especially true when playing as Fallial...place a Destroyer on that hex and nothing he builds will survive five seconds.
As for effects...it's very true, Vasteel has quite a few graphical effects that are just simply incredible for this little machine...I have no idea how they pulled off most of them. Most of them are seen on the space maps though...the "Space Vacuum" combat area simply has to be seen to be believed...it looks like Genesis-style parallax!
If anyone wants any more information on this game, including strategies or whatnot, feel free to let me know...this is a game I know VERY much about.
