Isaiah 188

Isaiah 188 is a strategy game about the Supremacy War, with three faction campaigns and a Solar Conquest mode. The campaigns cover the war’s critical battles, but only the United Nations campaign is available in Early Access. In Solar Conquest, you choose a faction and starting scenario, then try to conquer the solar system, moving between a system-wide view and individual battlefields.

Solar Conquest

Solar Conquest begins in 2257, with planets following realistic orbits whose positions and relative distances change as the game advances. Each world has its own orbital grid, and the game presents delta-V management in an accessible way rather than requiring you to adjust trajectories manually. You research units, recruit armies in orbit, build defense and construction stations, and construct ground defenses that can destroy landing dropships.

You can build 10 ship types, from cruisers and supply ships to fleet carriers. Fleets and armies can travel between worlds, and every world is connected. To take a planet, you bombard its defenses, land troops and conquer its multiple Control Zones through ground battles.

Space combat

Space battles use Newtonian fly-by combat, accounting for relative velocities. Weapon ranges depend on whether enemy ships can dodge or intercept attacks at a given distance; distances are measured in light milliseconds, or hundreds of miles, and battles can end in seconds. Captains and crews handle the fighting, while you make key decisions before combat begins.

The three weapon types are missiles, railguns and lasers or particle beams. Nearby enemy fleets can also be attacked with megaton strikes, which use radiation to damage ships in space. Ships do not have a single health bar: hits cause superficial, critical or catastrophic damage depending on their type.

Ground battles

Ground combat takes place on hex grids, where you plan maneuvers and attacks. Each faction has nearly 20 unit types, and army composition matters: for example, heavy tanks are ineffective on Europa. Flanking, terrain and damage types all affect the outcome.

As units level up during combat, they grant customizable bonuses to allies. Emergent AI and terrain generation vary the battles, and you can call in powerful orbital strikes if you have ships in orbit. Battles also take place among the clouds of gas giants.

The factions

• The Martian Commonwealth (MCVCM): Its military has a technological edge over Earth, built on a focus on AI and genetic engineering.
• The United Nations Solar Expeditionary Force (UN-SOLEXFOR): Earth’s people are fractured and the planet is sick, but the faction draws on ten thousand years of warrior culture, a population of thirteen billion and the wealth of its corporate council.
• The Haptha Garden Song: A strange alien presence that has appeared beyond Neptune, spreading spores across the stars. Its aims are unknown.