BYOND Strategy Tech Tree #180 & #181

I've been playing a lot of Star Trek: Conquest lately.  I'm not sold on the hand-cramping arcade mode of combat and it's sort of a wonder why the license doesn't have higher production values, but I like the budget-priced territorial dispute overall.  I think I finally figured out when to use the simulation mode instead of the instant battle results too.  Go me!

On an unrelated note (says the writer of an ADD digest column), those of you not watching the Starcraft II analysis offered by Sean "Day[9]" Plott might want to at least check it out on "Funday" Mondays.  He's been challenging people to win with strange builds and send in the replays.  It's been pretty entertaining. =)

This edited version of Along The Tech Tree comes to you from BYOND Strategy, a guild run by unpaid volunteers on a game/development portal and software engine called BYOND.  Tech Tree focuses on recent developer activity.  For play suggestions, visit the guild.

Metamorphman's Ataxx variant, hexWar, has received multiple updates.  Details on the hub page reveal them to be minor changes made just in time for the extended deadline of BYOND Casual's Imagination Competition.

A forfeit button has been added.  Perhaps it's a hint, but I'm not exactly intimidated after having watched Mr. Podunkian's playthrough of STREEMERZ 2.  That was just mean. ;)

JP submitted a chess-like board game to IainPeregrine's Game in a Day event using the themes "base" and "metamorphosis".  Rather than putting Kings in check, the goal is to have more pieces on the opposing side of the board.  Meanwhile, Kings have the ability to change the abilities of adjacent allies.

D4RK3 54B3R's entry to The BYOND Cartidge Classic II is a strategy RPG called The Blades of Litamora.  Players shall lead a band of progressing mercenaries through turn-based tactical combat.  Multiple items, enemies and locations are planned.

Unable to submit an entry to the GiaD, Acebloke has challenged himself to release seven games in seven days.  A list of unreleased projects offers some hints of what's to come.  It's rather long, but it includes multiple RTS projects along with a city simulation.  There's even another entry to his Wargames series.

Previously removed while the lone test server was down, Mecha Destroyer JD's Ultra Strife is again listed in the guild.  He's not just hosting sessions.  The RTS is also available for download and it includes a help file.  There shouldn't be any more accessibility issues.

I don't normally list items quite this mundane in the Gamasutra edition.  (Yeah, that's debatable.)  However, I should have listed Ultra Strife earlier this week so the call for testers would have been more visible.  Instead, I simply made some bookmarks and patted myself on the back for being a good little digest columnist.  GAH!

Sorry, Mecha Destroyer JD!

I actually worked on my racing combat board game, StarScurrier!  Woohoo!  I got quite a bit done too.  I even redesigned it.  Again.  Twice.  Mainly I had to compromise between my desire to have simultaneous turns and the need for certain actions to have a specific order.  I also simplified the resource distribution quite a bit.

Meanwhile, I released a quick update to Fused Finale during the Imagination Competition's deadline extension.  The rhythm action game's music generation has been slightly tweaked and a map was edited in response to feedback.  (Thanks, guys!)