Battle Isle / 2018-07-05 06:40:08

Battle Isle is a turn-based, hexagone-mapped, tactical war game. It was developed and published by Blue Byte in 1991 to great successes (and many data disks and sequels and ports). It is a very nice game because it is very easy to play and the difficulty is quite gradual... although some missions seem impossible to me . The beauties of Battle Isle are its controls that are intuitive and easy-to-use, its graphics that are nice and varied with many different units, and its game mechanics that are quite realistic.

Story

Battle Isle is about the war of the Drulls against Skynet Titan on the planet Chromos. The Drulls are looking for a leader to command their their armies (ground, air, and sea) to defeat Skynet Titan over 16 missions. (You can play other 16 missions against another player as well as many more missions from the data disks.) They build Battle Isle as a game to find this leader (think The Last Starfighter or Ender's Game) and, of course, you have been chosen!

Across 16 missions, you must use the different units and resources given to you to devise a tactic that will bring you to victory: either by destroying all enemy units or by invading the enemy's headquarters. To win, you must combine the different forces and units at your disposal, which vary mission-to-mission: ground, air, and see units.

Units

Strategies

CONRA

No deep strategy here, just use the T-3 Scorpions and the T-4 Gladiators (in the HQ) to attack the enemy units and one of the R-1 Demons to assault and occupy the HQ.

PHASE

Similary to CONRA, no need for a deep strategy here. Make good use of the Fav Buster to attack enemy units at a distance by protecting it with the T-3 Scroption and T-4 Gladiator.

EXOTY

Beware of the Enemy's HG-12 Angel. Attrack the enemy on the southernmost bridge and destroy its units methodically. In particular, use the T-7 Crusader and Fav Buster in combination, with the Crusader protecting the Buster. The units at the North East should be brought back to attack enemy units from behind. 

MOUNT

It is relatively easy to occupy the two depots and, then, it is just an attrition war... 

FIGHT

The best strategy is to use a SC-T Provider to transport some R-1 Demons as fast as possible to occupy the depot at the South. This depot contains invaluable units, in particular two T-7 Crusaders and one HG-12 Angel! In the meantime, you can also send R-1 Demons and T-3 Scorpions to block the exit of the other depot, on the East, so that the Enemy cannot use its units... Then, it is just a matter of using the T-7 Crusaders carefully to destroy all enemy units . 

RUSTY

FIFTH

VESUV

A difficult one! A working strategy is to use the R-1 Demons to take the eastern depot as fast as possible, using the SC-T Provider to provide cover by positioning it southwest, right next to the entrance of the depot. The SC-T Provider blocks the enemy T-3 Scorpion that may reach the depot first. Meanwhile, use the factory to build two HG-12 Angels, which will provide cover to the ground units.  Then, use the remaining units to create a fixing point between the western depot, the central mountain, and the HQ. The R-1 Demons should take the western depot as fast as possible. Finally, use the SC-P Merlin to create a depot (with 30 units of energy!) next to the factory.

From that point on, it is a matter of destroying systematically the enemy units, using the HG-12 Angels first, then the ground units (fixing any damaged units).

MAGIC

This one requires a good start! Use the two SC-T Providers and the R-1 Demons to reach as fast as possible the factories on the north-east and south-west. While one of the SC-T Providers drives to the south-west factory, drop off a unit of R-1 Demons, backed up by the T-3 Scorpions to block the depot in the center of the map. For the south-west factory, wait for the Enemy to take it before occupying it: thus gaining an additional unit of R-1 Demons.

In the north-east, build a HG-12 Angel to destroy any units coming through the bridge and use the T-7 Crusaders to block the access: this tactic will keep the Enemy stuck while it is destroyed.

In the south-west, build a CAS Firebird and seek and destroy any units in the south.

In the center, attack the depot and any enemy units, using the cover of the AD-9 Sphinx and the AD-5 Blitzs to protect your units from air attacks.

SPACE

These missions are getting tougher and tougher! They seem to be more and more like chess: the opening makes the difference between victory or defeat. Here, the opening consists in storming as fast as possible the factoring in the north-west to build at least one HG-12 Angel to be positioned after the bridge. The rest of the force should be used to keep the enemy's at bay in the center. From then on, the game consists in destroying the enemy's units from afar with the HG-12 Angel while preventing them to come close to the HQ...

VALEY

TESTY

TERRA

SLAVE

NEVER

RIVER

Artificial Intelligence

Playing against the computer is fun and challenging. The computer generally plays well but relies on numerical superiority rather than cunning to win... Also, the computer is not to smart for several things:

• It goes for "high priority targets", like the SC-P Merlin, rather than following a strategy.
• It takes over depots and factories even if a R-1 Demons unit is nearby (thus giving up its R-1 Demons).
• It does not seem to build anything in factories.