Children of a Dead Earth

Children of a Dead Earth for PC is a very ambitious game that combines the traits typical for space simulators and strategy games. The title was developed by an independent studio, Q Switched Productions. The main objective of the developers was to make sure their game obeys the laws of physics and the current scientific knowledge.

Plot

In Children of a Dead Earth for PC the player assumes the role of an admiral who leads a space fleet. During the story campaign for singleplayer that is divided into missions, the player can observe the phases of Solar System falling into civil war.

Mechanics

The gameplay of Children of a Dead Earth for PC is based on two pillars: space ship construction and interplanetary conquests. What distinguishes the game from similar titles is the focus of the developers on making the game conform to the current scientific knowledge. When designing and building the vehicles, the player must decide about the fuel type and about materials used for building new modules. He can select what weapons will be installed on the ship and how many layers will the armor have – and all of that (especially the mass and the size) impacts the behavior of the ships in space. The technology used in the game, including rockets, magnetic sails and plasma cannons, are all based on actual military and scientific documents.

The conquest of the Solar System is hard not only because player must know the basic principles of how laser weapons and thrust engines work. Another obstacle is the necessity to plan every longer trip – similarly as in real time, the journeys must be planned while considering the impact of gravity of various planets. For example, in order to save fuel when traveling from Mars to Pluton, the player can use the orbit of Jupiter as a space launcher. One must also take into consideration that the Solar System was recreated in 1:1 scale and the game is based on the “N-Body Simulator” which is used by NASA to plan trajectory of the flight of space probes.

Game modes

PC version of Children of a Dead Earth contains the above mentioned singleplayer campaign and a sandbox mode. The latter enables the player to freely create new vehicles and fight against the artificial intelligence.

Technical aspects

Children of a Dead Earth takes place in a three-dimensional environment. The graphics of the game aren’t impressive, but the complicated rockets and ships models are worth mentioning. What’s an interesting aspect of the title is its support to modifications created by the players by using the Steam platform and the Steam Workshop service.

Last updated on October 5, 2016