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Time of Defiance Preview

Time of Defiance is an upcoming massively multiplayer strategy game that's geared toward hardcore strategy and sci-fi fans.

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It almost seems odd that while there are plenty of massively multiplayer role-playing games on the market, there aren't a similar number of massively multiplayer strategy games. Strategy games, both real-time and turn-based, remain a popular genre, but attempts to translate that popularity into a massively multiplayer game have generally failed in the past. English studio Nicely Crafted Entertainment's upcoming game Time of Defiance will attempt to deliver the strategic depth and epic scope that hardcore strategy gamers are looking for.

Your home island--essentially a floating rock that's tethered in space by a gravity beam. That building to the right is your ship constructor.
Your home island--essentially a floating rock that's tethered in space by a gravity beam. That building to the right is your ship constructor.
Time of Defiance is set on the northern continent of the planet of Nespanona, or, at least, what's left of it. The entire planet has virtually collapsed into its core, and the fragments that remain are anchored in place by powerful gravity generators. There are thousands of these floating islands in the game, though they're spread out over a staggeringly huge 14 million square-kilometer map. (By comparison, that's roughly 50 percent larger than the entire United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.)

These floating islands are the strategic focus of Time of Defiance, as they're the only source of minerals and resources available. They're also the only land, so you'll construct outposts and colonies on them to expand the size of your empire. The vast void between the floating islands acts like a gigantic atmospheric ocean that you have to explore.

You start the game with a home island and a small fleet of ships, including scouts and mineral transports. Your first job is to dispatch scouts to neighboring sectors to locate nearby islands. Once some nearby islands have been claimed by your empire, you can go about the process of mining them for resources. Meanwhile, at the home island, you'll slowly build up your defenses. Over time, you'll establish trade routes, and you'll construct warships to protect your empire. Eventually, you'll encounter a neighboring empire, and that's when things get interesting. You can deal with your opponents by using force, but a key aspect of the game is diplomacy. This means that you can forge protective alliances with your neighbors, or you can team up with them to prevent someone else from winning the game. Since you're dealing with actual human beings, though, the chances for betrayal are very real.

Waging war isn't a simple task.
Waging war isn't a simple task.
This is a game that's geared toward serious strategy and sci-fi fans who are willing to tackle the steep learning curve and are also willing to invest the considerable amount of time required to play. It's an extremely slow-paced experience, as everything happens in real time and takes place over vast distances. For instance, it takes about 10 minutes just to send a ship to the nearest neighboring island, which is a relatively miniscule distance on the map. (It can literally take days to send a ship across the entire continent.) So if you need warships, you need to build them well beforehand, because it can easily take hours to construct a small task force. In other words, this is a game where you'll find yourself with a lot of time on your hands. If you're looking for a quick deathmatch game, you probably won't find it here. But if you're the kind of player who likes to micromanage everything and spends lots of time pondering the big strategic picture, Time of Defiance will most likely appeal to you.

Games vary in length, but the average server runs game sessions that least from two to three weeks. Since you obviously can't play nonstop from beginning to end, your ships and facilities have a certain amount of built-in autonomy so that they'll continue their tasks and will defend themselves when you're not around. You can also arrange to have the game notify you via e-mail if someone attacks you. Otherwise, your best defense is the fact that the game is so large (and time-consuming to traverse) that your enemies likely won't be able to roll over your entire empire while you're asleep.

Time of Defiance is currently available in Europe, but, as with many online-only games, the developers continue to tweak and fiddle with the gameplay. At this point, there still seems to be room for improvement. Joining a game, for instance, seems like it should be streamlined. Currently, you must visit the official Web site to get a listing of servers, then you can join a game through your Web browser, and then you'll receive an e-mail with the server's IP address, the server ID, and your user ID. At this point in time, you must write all this down, because when you launch the game you have to type this information in manually, rather than having a convenient in-game server browser. The developer is reportedly trying to ease the steep learning curve, so, in the meantime, the game has an interactive assistant that provides helpful hints and reminders. You may also be able to find guides and walk-throughs on the Internet, but, for the most part, Time of Defiance still seems to require a great deal of patience.

The empire view gives you an intelligence update on ship sightings. This zoomed-out view should give you an idea of just how big the map is.
The empire view gives you an intelligence update on ship sightings. This zoomed-out view should give you an idea of just how big the map is.
Nicely Crafted and publisher Oxygen Interactive plan on incorporating the traditional subscription model that's frequently used in massively multiplayer online role-playing games, like EverQuest, though specific pricing for US customers hasn't been announced yet. The US version of Time of Defiance is expected to ship early next year.

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