![]() Weapon ranges are quite short, and maps are very small, so nearly everything is under threat at all times. Here's another key difference from Company of Heroes: Resource points can be taken and exploited at any time – they're not attached to distinct map areas that can be cut off. Because static defenses are so weak, no source of resources is ever secure, so you must constantly move to either defend your refineries or threaten your opponent's. Taking flags gives you victory points, while taking iron and oil mines gives you resources. Or maybe you'd prefer Lech Kos in his gorilla-like mech, a powerful mid-to-late-game melee combatant that’s able to take down all but the largest enemy mechs on his own. Take Michal Sikorski's cavalry unit instead and Polania's speed comes to the fore, with Sikorski leading flank attacks to devastate slow enemies. Polania, for example, has a powerful harasser in the early game with its sniper Anna on the field, as she can hit hard at a distance and her bear Wojtek carries supplies to heal friendly infantry. Iron Harvest's range of characters fills a variety of roles across every faction, enabling strategies that wouldn't otherwise work for that group. Heroes, in particular, are not new to RTS games but are a neat addition to the tactical RTS formula. With such short matches, the sheer speed of your actions provides an advantage over others, and all else being equal, in my experience a faster player will usually beat a more strategic player. Because of that, 1v1 matches usually take a little more than 20 minutes to play out, and generally you can just add 10 minutes per extra pair – up to 3v3 matches at 40 minutes. The tactical RTS is a subgenre where the majority of your time is spent telling units what to do, as opposed to base building, and Iron Harvest definitely focuses on fighting. The outcome of a fight between any given pair of units is simple enough that the importance of strategic actions, like economic management, is greater than in other tactical games because each spare unit of iron or oil could mean victory or defeat. ![]() However, the interactions between units are ultimately too simple, and almost any form of defense requires you to babysit your units. The tactical elements are there: Flanking, cover, and positioning matter quite a bit in individual battles. Iron Harvest has the appearance of a highly tactical RTS, rather than a strategic one, but it's really somewhere in between. The adage that "the best defense is a good offense" is well-used here. Defense is far less important than offense, and though you can build bunkers and mines they're too static for the fast-moving matches and rarely see play. You must capture points to get resources, and can win the game by getting enough victory points or by destroying the enemy base. Iron Harvest's basic rules are familiar: You build a very simple base composed of only three kinds of buildings. Rusviet, for example, has to rely on infantry or heroes for anti-armor since their mechs aren't very good at it. The balance between the factions is pretty good, though some factions suffer in specific ways more than others. There are three factions: Light, fast, harassing Polania with its long-range units fearsome Saxony with its damage-resistant mechs that rarely give up ground and Rusviet, the fierce, close-range fighters who specialize in finding and exploiting an enemy's weak points. As it stands at launch the bigger ideas are fun, but the deliberate balancing just isn't there yet. There are only six maps at launch, for example, though more are promised in the coming month. Like I said in the single-player review, this is a very ambitious game, and the multiplayer has that same ambition – but it’s not quite as well realized here. It tries a new mix of balance of strategy, tactics, and speed that works in some ways, but is frustrating in others. Iron Harvest's multiplayer is a unique take on the tactical real-time strategy game.
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