Whether it’s the tactile feedback of Starfield and Outer Wilds, or the far-reaching decision-making of Stellaris and Homeworld, nothing beats taking control of virtual starships. This is something Nebulous: Fleet Command perfectly understands, as it has some of the most hardcore ship design and combat simulations I’ve ever seen. Colossal space battles take center stage, and it’s up to you to make even the smallest of choices to come out on top. Best of all, developer Eridanus Industries just dropped the game’s biggest update yet.
In Nebulous: Fleet Command, you’re given complete control of a fleet of starships. The real-time and space strategy game demands an awful lot of you, with complex radar screens and densely detailed subsystems at your disposal, but it’s an immensely rewarding experience.
You need to take complete control of each unit. That means you decide on minute details like munitions storage, power supplies, electronic warfare capabilities, and armaments. If you’re a fan of Homeworld or Stellaris, you’ll easily find a lot to love in Nebulous: Fleet Command, and the newest update is the perfect excuse to give it a try.
According to Eridanus Industries, The Carriers Update is the “largest we’ve ever done” and adds a mountain of new mechanics and features to the space fleet game. As the update’s name implies, the main new feature is carrier ships. These new ships are bigger fleet carriers and can have massive container bank hangers that help them carry spacecraft of their own.
You also have new ships to use in conjunction with these carriers, as three new spaceframes per faction – the fighter, bomber, and scout – have been added to the game. There’s also the shared utility skiff design, giving you even more control over your growing fleet. “Every spaceframe has a set of unique weapons and capabilities which can be configured in the new fleet editor module,” Eridanus Industries writes. “They also have unique maneuvering characteristics, giving each a different edge in different situations.”
It’s not just extra spacecraft, though, as the new customizable loadouts feature gives you even more control over each ship. This feature helps you “tailor them for different missions in the middle of battle” according to Eridanus Industries, as you can now configure a set of weapons and modules to each craft. These can be selected in battle as you need them, which is perfect to help you adapt on the fly.
When you come to defend your fleet, you’ll also have an array of new weapons. Eridanus Industries has added new rockets, unguided bombs, and plenty of missle tweaks as well. A new submunition dispenser warhead also replaces the existing rocket and mine containers, which should help you craft “more complex and capable submunition weapons than the old prebuilt ones.”
Lastly, Eridanus Industries has overhauled the AI and added new tutorials, which should help both old and new players alike. The AI opponent rewrite adds new tactics “from bow tanking to cruise missile strikes,” alongside complex knowledge of the map space and how to maneuver it. Two new tutorials will help you get to grips with operating carriers, while a seventh mission has been added to the basic tutorials to walk you through an entire skirmish battle.
Eridanus Industries has launched Nebulous: Fleet Command’s The Carriers Update on Steam for free. You can check out the game right here.
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