A second alien fleet appears at the edge of our solar system about two hours into my first game. Terra Invictawhich leaves early access today, but I don't have time to worry about them because I'm busy fighting the Protectorate for the keys to Mozambique. The Protectorate is a secret organization that believes that humans are incapable of defeating alien creatures in the game. Thus, they believe that we should strive to become better wimps by appeasing invaders in exchange for continuing to exist as a subordinate species.
It's basically Saruman sucking up to Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. It turns out that I am Gandalf (I play for the Resistance). My immediate goals include getting some fancy nuclear spaceships to punch Johnny Vulcan in the face. They won't pass! (I'll stop mixing up my sci-fi analogies before I give you a migraine.) However, before I can build a defensive fleet, I need a space station in Earth orbit with solar panels and a shipyard. Before I can build all this, I will need various resources and technologies, including a rocket program. To obtain these things, I need to secretly lead various countries – preferably rich/stable, well-armed countries with high GDP and scientific research output.
There are countries like those in the old colonial heartland of Europe, not to mention the States or China. But the “control points” of these larger economies are virtually impossible to penetrate and capture with my current resources and advisors – that is, secret agents. In any case, a clutch of rival shadowy factions have already run their phantom fingers across France, Spain and the UK. So I'm in East Africa trying to create momentum by bringing together poorer countries with fewer institutional protections against coercion. The problem is that this bunch of spineless Neville Chamberlains have come up with the same idea. Tell me, “friend,” when did the Commissioner of the Protectorate, Kiran Banerjee, give up the cause of madness? (The last one, I promise.)
Many thousands of words of criticism could be written about the geopolitical simulation Terra Invicta, which simulates and tabulates modern Earth and then advances time to embrace the growing alien presence and human colonization of our solar system. Filled with paradoxical hustle and bustle and complex, speculative world-building, it is both beautiful and rather bleak in its unblinking orbital perspective. As with all maps, the game's top-down depiction of Terran life is itself an ideological apparatus that will be interesting to unravel. The launch version of Earth depicts the current war in Ukraine – I still haven't advanced the timeline beyond today, but I imagine the sim will be updated to match the situation there – while allowing you to immediately point the camera at resource-hungry comets following their documented orbits.
It's a universe that thrives, boils and dies regardless of your input, shaped by conflict between NPC factions and the more planned intervention of aliens constantly sending fleets from the void. You stop the clock and all the embedded lines and colors come to life: The Earth spins in a stream of nighttime light pollution; notifications about things like wildfires or scientific advances fill the left feed; emerging events, such as global changes in public opinion, shift the ground underfoot. The outer reaches seem lonely, but at the same time already conquered, with landing sites and “conjugate orbits” already designated for visiting spacecraft.
Although the game takes place in real time with pause, Terra Invicta is currently more of a turn-based simulation. There are regular assignment stages where you assign tasks to your advisors; I spent most of my time in between these steps, cautiously intervening in the investment priorities of the countries under my control and worrying about what else I should be doing.
While I currently don't find Terra Invicta to be as overwhelming as, say, Europa Universalis V, it's a massive grand strategy game that moves at a glacial pace and completely immerses you in tables, icons and numbers. There are a few solid, context-sensitive tutorials, as well as a number of narrative challenges on your first run, but they're tough rocks to grab and rarely lifted from the roaring river.
Here's one way to make it easier on yourself: It's Risk to start with, but you've got your math homework scattered throughout it. The main thing is to send advisors to the most accessible countries and capture control points so that you can force them to create Boost and other materials for your global goals.
There are obvious general things you need to do to maintain your parasitic underground empire: direct each country's investments so that they are prosperous, happy, and safe from military attack or subversion. Your agents also need to be developed. These are upgradeable characters with dozens of stats and traits (including a loyalty value that doesn't necessarily reflect their loyalty) who can be placed on corporate boards to change their abilities. Something to think about! But again, keep thinking of it as a risk until you understand the rest of it.
A slightly simpler logic applies here: it's easier to change countries if you already own their neighbors. In addition to trying to turn East Africa into a Resistance enclave, I absorbed all states below Kazakhstan. I want Kazakhstan because it already has a Cosmodrome – a relic from the Soviet Union – but it's much easier to hack than Russia or China. I need the surrounding countries, including Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, to act as a meat shield if any other organizations try to steal my prize.
Do I like Terra Invicta? I think so, which seems odd considering I spent most of my eight hours helplessly watching the simulation do its thing. I'm excited to see how things will evolve and change as more and more aliens arrive, and I'm looking forward to the space combat aspect where you'll puzzle over the different propulsion technologies and combat minutiae, such as the relationship between armor protection and fuel consumption. I daresay there may be a full review at the end of this playthrough – as long as I can keep the Protectorate out of Mozambique.
