Countryballs Conquest Reviews

dope

Fun game, i like trying to 100% it. i think its most fun to form new things.

This is one of those "I wish we had neutral ratings" type reviews, with the added note that I do enjoy the game. There's just a TON of room for improvement and I hope the dev continues to work on the game some. This game is easily worth the $5 IMO if you're looking for a game that's very streamlined and gives an approximate experience of some more popular Victorian era grand strategy games. My single biggest complaint is that the game is entirely about conquest (hence the name) but has mechanics set up to slow your ability to conquer. Now, that's not the worst thing in the world, except that there's practically nothing else in the game to do. There's no prestige or industrial scores, there's no power rankings to climb. There's just conquest, and the game is set up to prevent you from doing the one thing you're allowed to do in the game? Like other GSG's, you gain infamy when you conquer territory. Aside from the places on the map you can colonize, there are no peaceful ways to acquire territory other than through conquest. And because the game is so streamlined, there is much else to do in the industrial/political/scientific/cultural categories. Increases in infamy cause other nations to dislike you, which is mitigated by using a diplomatic action to increase relations with them over the course of a few turns. Here's the rub: increases in infamy ALSO decreases your income and manpower replenishment. It doesn't say how much it is reduced, but presumably the more infamy the greater these things are reduced. This is a nice way to abstract the diplomatic and economic ramifications of becoming an international pariah, but because there's nothing else in the game to do it just means you're hitting "end turn" a bunch while you're waiting for your manpower to replenish, with no other goals to shoot for. At the end of the day, like most GSGs, Countryballs Conquest is about making your own fun. How many turns does it take to form Germany or Italy (which I believe are the only formables in the game at the moment). How quickly can I expand to the borders of other historic empires like the Swedish Empire, Japanese Empire, or the Roman Empire? Stuff like that. Again, for $5? Great purchase. The game is well streamlined for a quick GSG experience. But the biggest sin is that it makes you want more depth after you've played it for a bit, and might make you reinstall Victoria 2.