MENACE - tacticool sci-fi RPG from devs of Battle Brothers featuring legs

[gerey]

Is it that hard to not support racemixing games with your money?

Yes, but fixing the game should be relatively easy, unless these characters play a big part in the overarching narrative.

Even if I don't want to buy it, I might still want to pirate it.

[maidenhaver]

[maidenhaver]

Is it that hard to not support racemixing games with your money?

Yes, but fixing the game should be relatively easy, unless these characters play a big part in the overarching narrative.

Even if I don't want to buy it, I might still want to pirate it.

Just replay Front Missions.

[gerey]

Just replay Front Missions.

There's Kriegsfront Tactics to look forward to, and with the MeoW translator I can finally give Front Mission: Alternative and the Gasaraki games a go.

[Lord of Riva]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 3265480934

I don't think she is uglyified, it's also sci-fi so the only objection I would have is "women in combat roles" which is not a Hill i am going to die on.

[TKVNC]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 3265480934

I don't think she is uglyified, it's also sci-fi so the only objection I would have is "women in combat roles" which is not a Hill i am going to die on.

Sub-Saharan features = ugly

Women fighting, as @rusty_shackleford states, will always be offensive as long as men are routinely forced into the military to die, while women are allowed to flee.

[Lord of Riva]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 3265480934

I don't think she is uglyified, it's also sci-fi so the only objection I would have is "women in combat roles" which is not a Hill i am going to die on.

Sub-Saharan features = ugly

Women fighting, as @rusty_shackleford states, will always be offensive as long as men are routinely forced into the military to die, while women are allowed to flee.

I would **** her.

Yes, I am well aware of the social issue when it comes to reality and how unrealistic it is. Just as I don't mind a character like "lara croft" even though it's nonsensical for the real world (but so are most parcour games for men as well), I don't mind it here either.

[TKVNC]

I would **** her.

You'd better be black...

[Lord of Riva]

I would **** her.

You'd better be black...

Bad luck I'm a red-head, translucent nearly. Didn't we talk about that already? Vergil mentions it in nearly every thread.

[maidenhaver]

Look, I just don't trust a european developer riding high on gibsmedats and a cult classic.

[TKVNC]

I would **** her.

You'd better be black...

Bad luck I'm a red-head, translucent nearly. Didn't we talk about that already? Vergil mentions it in nearly every thread.

Miscegenation

[Lord of Riva]

Look, I just don't trust a european developer riding high on gibsmedats and a cult classic.

True, that is more of a valid point.

We can't see it here at this point but Europe is peak woke atm. We are lagging behind you guys all the time (first when you ******* implemented wokeness and now when getting rid of it)

[Tangerine]

Hopefully it won't be that hard to edit out all the swarthy portraits and voicelines.

Is it that hard to not support racemixing games with your money?

Support? Money?

[Vergil]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 3265480934

I wonder if she randomly stops being playable cuz she on her break

[Red7]

Hopefully it won't be that hard to edit out all the swarthy portraits and voicelines.

Is it that hard to not support racemixing games with your money?

how are negro shocktroopers with near 0% chance to survive constitute race mixing promotion tho

ulgy vags, boss vags or **** would be unacceptable tho

[1998]

This will be interesting. I wonder how many key people from BB are still majorly involved in that one.

Dev Diary #9 - Perks and Promotions

The goal of this Dev Diary is to explain how the performance of Squadleaders and Pilots improves over the course of the game. Instead of the classic experience point system, MENACE works with deliberate promotions to unlock perks.

Promotion Points and Mission Rating
Promotion Points are earned through completing missions, fulfilling bonus objectives, exceeding mission requirements, or completing events. Unlike OCI components, Promotion Points are rewarded for each individual mission, so even if you fail an operation, you will gain Promotion Points.

Mission Rating Factors:
Persistent Factors: Logistics (supply points used), casualties (lost elements), and mission difficulty.
Optional Factors: Speed of completion, civilian casualties, collateral damage, and destroyed enemy elements.
Higher ratings yield more points. Promotion Points accumulate like other resources and can be spent after each mission.



Promotion and Demotion
Unlike a classic experience system, promoting a character is a deliberate decision by the player and does not happen automatically.
Ranks: Promotions range from 1 (Lance Corporal) to 8 (Master Gunnery Sergeant).
Cost Scaling: Each consecutive promotion for the same character is more expensive than the previous one, making it costlier to focus on a single character rather than distributing Promotion Points among multiple leaders.
Strategic Choices: Players must decide when and whom to promote, rather than funneling kills and experience into favored units.
Comeback Mechanic: High-ranking promotions are costly, but new characters can be hired and ranked up, allowing them to catch up to veterans over time.
Demotion
Demoting a character is possible, with a small portion of Promotion Points refunded, though the affected leader will not be pleased.

A promotion-based system aligns with the game's military setting, giving the player, as commander of the Impetus, full control over who deserves a promotion.



The Perk Tree
Each Squadleader and Pilot has an individual Perk Tree.

Perk Structure
Unique Perks: Automatically unlocked and exclusive to each character.
Regular Perks: Shared across multiple trees, but with unique combinations per character.
Four Tiers: Unlocking higher tiers requires a specific number of total perks, regardless of their tier level.
Perks do not necessarily become more powerful with each tier, but some require deeper investment. While some characters lean toward certain roles, perks allow flexible builds and varied playstyles without locking characters into rigid roles.

Perks can be passive or active, unlocking tactical combat abilities.



Currently, there are over 40 perks in the game, alongside unique character perks, with more planned. This system gives players ample room for experimentation, supporting diverse builds and strategies. The ultimate goal is maximum replayability and build freedom.

[Finarfin]

Still funny how the "generic" white man with the "generic" name and look still mogs the two that are supposed to be "badass and cool"

[Irenaeus]

Looks awful. Not even Mr. T over there can save this.

[Yuzo]

Demo is out:


Some first impressions/notes:

► The Good

• Sound effects and music are not bad.
• Performance seems fine.
• Vehicles have directional armor. Turning and reversing cost extra AP, but let you keep your strongest armor facing the enemy.
• Shots are calculated individually and missed shots still contribute to suppression. Neat. More squad members in a squad means more shots of their primary weapons per action.
• Cover is 8-directional. If the target is exposed from the side a diagonal shot will have a better chance to hit than a frontal attack.
• Suppression comes from normal attacks rather than a specific "Suppression" ability and is very important. Suppressed units lose 30 AP and have their accuracy halved. Pinned squads lose all their AP and hit the deck but they can crawl 2(?) tiles for 0 AP.

► The Bad

• Awful dialogue, some of the voice acting makes it even worse. Separate volume sliders are available at least.
• Mouseover doesn't preview cover of tile unless squad is standing.
• It's not clear to me what kind of outcome I can expect from a shot. Will the enemy take losses? Will they be suppressed or pinned? What is the hit probability of a shot with "Good" accuracy vs "Medium"? More information in general would be welcome.
• Starting a new game generates a random operation of a handful randomly generated missions, each mission has a random item category it will roll random rewards from which you can pick one. You may also get assorted random loot.
  My first mission reward was to choose from 2 vehicle weapons I already had. Since I only had the one vehicle I might as well have gotten nothing.
• Diversity^TM is our strength

► The Rest

• No in-game tutorial, game directs you to a guide on Steam. Some of this info should really be in tooltips instead.
• Ammo is limited for both primary and secondary weapons, except for the vehicle mounted laser which works on a heat system. No melee, no sidearms, no resupply while on mission (that I've seen).
• 100 AP action economy feels pretty restrictive. 40 AP per shot, 20 AP to crouch ("deploy") or stand up, ~20 AP per tile moved + diagonal penalty. Deploying is required to fire most secondary weapons and gives a bonus to both defense and accuracy. You can't move while deployed.
• Grenades seem to do very little damage/suppression. Enemies are quite resilient in general.
• Each squad leader starts with one (unique?) perk, more can be unlocked with Promotion points. You get some points to start out with, more are earned by completing missions. Points go to a shared pool, it's up to you to distribute them between the SLs as you see fit.
• Other than the SL every squad has faceless but named (and renameable) troops. Primary weapons and armor have a per soldier cost: if you want to take your best gear you may need to reduce the squad size of some of your squads to stay under the Logistics limit. Supposedly replacements are not unlimited, but I never got that far (if it's even relevant to the demo at all).
• The off map airstrikes take a long time to arrive, you better keep your targets immobilized or you will destroy a lot of sand and not much else.
• Besides the basic carbine and fatigues that are unlimited, you only start with one of each from a handful of weapon and body armor types.
• Turns alternate one unit at a time, a new round starts once every player unit spent their turn. Once you spend AP with a squad other squads become unavailable until your next turn. Leftover AP does not carry over. No Overwatch or Interrupt mechanic to save AP for.
• If you lose a squad it seems to be treated as a skipped turn, giving the enemy a free turn to act.

The demo sits at 86% positive on Steam with around 400 reviews, but I was left disappointed. I stopped playing after about an hour. Maybe they can improve things for the full release...

Early Access for MENACE launches on February 5, 2026

Oh.

[Cloharp7]

I was looking forward to this game. I am currently reading Nick Cole's "Strange Company", and I was getting the crave for a sci-fi mercenary company simulator.

I am still going to try the demo, but at the moment my alarm bells are blaring.

Also, this: https://bsky.app/profile/overhypestudios.bsky.social .

Still, they have a twitter account as well, so at least I can entertain the possibility/delusion they just want to be on as many platforms as they can and nothing more, but that is a red flag to me.

[rusty_shackleford]

StopSupportingLibtards

[Cloharp7]

StopSupportingLibtards

I am on a daily blacklisting spree on steam, what else do you want me to do @rusty_shackleford !?!?!?

[sheet]

Most of these developers made BlueSky accounts at the same time, around Nov 2024-January 2025 because Trump got elected. People only use the platform to libtard circle jerk like they could when Twitter cranked down on any non-approved posts in 2020

[Cloharp7]

Most of these developers made BlueSky accounts at the same time, around Nov 2024-January 2025 because Trump got elected. People only use the platform to libtard circle jerk like they could when Twitter cranked down on any non-approved posts in 2020

And this is exactly why I use their presence on Bluesky as an indicator. If they have a twitter account as well, I am extremely suspicious of them, but I do not blacklist them outright at least, if not I would have to blacklist Steam itself I guess.

And since 90% of the games I saw on the market have a Bluesky presence, the picture I have of the gaming industry is pretty bleak atm.

[sheet]

Oh yeah, I'm all on board with "guilty unless proven innocent" regarding developers. I've ignored like 1200 games on Steam. It makes the front page very clean.
My list of acceptable publishers is very short.

[Cipher]

Just replay Front Missions.

There's Kriegsfront Tactics to look forward to, and with the MeoW translator I can finally give Front Mission: Alternative and the Gasaraki games a go.

I really hope that one doesn't have woke garbage. I am really looking forward to it, as much as I was looking forward to play Menace and I was really dissapointed.

[Acrux]

Just replay Front Missions.

There's Kriegsfront Tactics to look forward to, and with the MeoW translator I can finally give Front Mission: Alternative and the Gasaraki games a go.

I really hope that one doesn't have woke garbage. I am really looking forward to it, as much as I was looking forward to play Menace and I was really dissapointed.

I really strongly recommend MissionForce:CyberStorm if you're looking for a strategic mech game. Nothing else holds a candle to it.
https://github.com/juanitogan/rbxit/wiki/CyberStorm-1

[gerey]

Nothing else holds a candle to it.

Not even the sequel, tragically.

[DecadeRiptide]

Every time I see the capsule art for this game I think of the Traveller books.

The covers for those books look really nice

[roldet]

Anyone played the demo? Game looks good such a shame with the dogshit casting