Epicinium Title


Epicinium is a strategy wargame where nature is a finite resource. Is it worth winning a war when you end up conquering nothing but dirt and ash? Now live on Kickstarter!

Epicinium is currently in closed beta. The beta version offers a work-in-progress look at the multiplayer portion of the game. Join our Discord community to follow its progress, find other players and have a chat with the developers.

Combat destroys grass and crops, and trees are trampled as tanks drive towards your opponent to level their cities. Industry accelerates global warming to ludicrous levels, causing more destruction the longer the game goes on. At the end of the game, the winner is scored for how many grass and forest tiles remain on the map.

Epicinium is being developed for Windows, MacOS and Linux by A Bunch of Hacks, an indie gamedev co-op comprised of Daan Mulder and Sander in 't Veld.

If you want to stay up-to-date with the latest developments and events regarding Epicinium, you can sign up to our mailinglist via the website.

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Hi there!

We'd like to thank each and every one of our backers so far. Your pledge, no matter how large or small, is truly appreciated, thank you!! If you haven't backed yet, we can only finish this game with the help of our amazing backers on Kickstarter, become one of them. <3

Developer match livestream

Next Friday, Sander and Daan will brawl against each other in a live developer match. We will play three games, with the total number of points determining the winner. Sander will be streaming the event from his perspective on his Twitch channel, talking about some of the strategies he uses as well as answering your questions from chat. The stream will start at 21:00 CET on Friday, so see you then!

Another thing: we just updated our FAQ page on Kickstarter. We answered some frequently asked questions about ports to mobile and Switch, language support and the open-source release. Look for that here.

Social stretch goals - new modes!

Our announcement tweet has been retweeted enough times (54 at the time of writing) to unlock Correspondence Mode! In this asynchronous multiplayer mode, players can come online and submit their orders at any time. This allows you to be part of multiple matches at the same time, playing your turns whenever you see fit. With this mode also comes the functionality to save and load games, including versus AI games.

Correspondence mode unlocked


The next social stretch goal to be completed is the Battle Royale mode. In this zany mode, up to eight players will start with a couple of units on a large open map. Instead of being caused by extreme global warming, Death will immediately appear on the edges of the map and slowly but steadily make its way towards a random location. At the end of each turn, all units, buildings and trees inside a tile affected by Death are destroyed. Players can capture neutral City tiles scattered around the outside of the map, but they may be forced to pack their bags and settle elsewhere once Death arrives. This continues until only one player remains, or until the dark void consumes everything...

Death as it is in the game right now


The Battle Royale mode requires only 4 more people to share our announcement on Facebook. Get on that, peeps!

Environmental gameplay strategies (appendix)

As promised in our last update, we will illustrate Epicinium's balanced environmental gameplay further by describing two (hypothetical) gamer profiles, both with equal ratings in the game. Let me introduce you to Cut-Throat Cloë and Considerate Caroline.

Cut-Throat Cloë
Rating 27.6
Average win points 31 / 100
Winning rate 80%

Wastes no time and goes straight for the kill with a tank rush. Sometimes that's over quick, but other times it escalates into a full-blown cold war, at which point she likes to bring sappers into the mix for those extra explosions. This is all paid for by her massive amounts of industry that accelerate those nasty weather effects, but she's too busy winning to notice. Wears an eye patch that serves no purpose but to intimidate viewers of her live stream.

If Cloë wants to improve her rating she'll need to win with more points, by directing her tanks through the desert and rubble instead of through those last remaining grass and forest tiles, and by concentrating her bombardments on the enemy cities instead of just wherever she sees a target. Also switching just a few of those industry tiles for less polluting towns would save a few points each game.

Cut-Throat Cloë, securing the win! destroying last remaining grass tiles to earn 1 point


Considerate Caroline
Rating 27.6
Average win points 76 / 100
Winning rate 38%

Careful not to waste any precious points, she always seeks the most beautiful green spots to place her towns for income. She fights preferably with riflemen and the starting militia, but brings gunners into the fray when it becomes necessary. She often gets overwhelmed by early attacks before she's set up her towns. Usually pours herself a nice glass of water before a match, taking care to place it away from her computer in case she spills it.

If Caroline wants to improve her rating with this strategy, she will need to play it that much smarter. She'll need to learn how to use the Focus ability to defend against early tanks, and how to sneak units into enemy territory unseen, to surprise her opponents with a sneak attack when they're fighting elsewhere. She can also consider changing up her set ways once in a while, to catch her opponents unaware with a strategy they would never expect from her.

All right, have a great rest of your week, don't forget to back us on Kickstarter and we'll speak with you during the dev match on Friday, where you can see these strategies in action.

Cheers,

Sander & Daan (A Bunch of Hacks)

Epicinium, on Kickstarter now: live Q&A tonight - unique environmental mechanics

Epicinium, on Kickstarter now: live Q&A tonight - unique environmental mechanics

News

We're coming to Kickstarter Live tonight! You can submit your questions and subscribe to be reminded now. In this devlog, we elaborate on Epicinium's...

Epicinium now live on Kickstarter!

Epicinium now live on Kickstarter!

News

Environmental strategy game Epicinium is now live on Kickstarter! Besides getting the game on release, backing our Kickstarter can also get you other...

Epicinium, environmental strategy game, is coming to Kickstarter

Epicinium, environmental strategy game, is coming to Kickstarter

News

Epicinium, simulturneous wargame in which nature is a finite resource, is coming to Kickstarter on November 1st. Epicinium is a strategy game with fast...

From Open Beta to Closed Beta + v0.29.0 released

From Open Beta to Closed Beta + v0.29.0 released

News

As we are getting closer towards our crowdfunding campaign, we have opted to end the Open Beta. Instead, we will hold a Closed Beta via Discord. In this...

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Epicinium beta 0.28.2 (Windows 64-bit)

Epicinium beta 0.28.2 (Windows 64-bit)

Demo

Binaries for beta version 0.28.2, with animation speed controls, improved animations and bugfixes.

Epicinium beta 0.28.2 (Windows 32-bit)

Epicinium beta 0.28.2 (Windows 32-bit)

Demo

Binaries for beta version 0.28.2, with animation speed controls, improved animations and bugfixes.

Epicinium beta 0.28.2 (Mac OS X)

Epicinium beta 0.28.2 (Mac OS X)

Demo

Binaries for beta version 0.28.2, with animation speed controls, improved animations and bugfixes.

Epicinium beta 0.28.2 (Linux 64-bit)

Epicinium beta 0.28.2 (Linux 64-bit)

Demo

Binaries for beta version 0.28.2, with animation speed controls, improved animations and bugfixes.

Epicinium beta 0.28.2 (Linux 32-bit)

Epicinium beta 0.28.2 (Linux 32-bit)

Demo

Binaries for beta version 0.28.2, with animation speed controls, improved animations and bugfixes.

Epicinium beta 0.28.0 (Windows 64-bit)

Epicinium beta 0.28.0 (Windows 64-bit)

Demo

Binaries for beta version 0.28.0, with Discord integration and a UI rework with new iconography.

Post comment Comments
Armcoon
Armcoon

Hey, I followed this game. :D But I click too fast, so I click wrong button(Report) at first time...Sorry. :(

Reply Good karma Bad karma+4 votes
UnarmedLad Creator
UnarmedLad

So that was you! >:-(

Nah, just kidding. Thanks for the follow, Armcoon! :-D I hope you enjoy the game. Please let us know what you think, we're always looking for feedback.

Reply Good karma+4 votes
Armcoon
Armcoon

Er~Currently my problem is nobody online at my country timeline. :/ So have singleplayer skirmisher at future update?

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UnarmedLad Creator
UnarmedLad

Unfortunately, Epicinium is not yet well-known enough for there to be players online at all times. Please spread the word to help us get there! :-)

We already have online singleplayer against AI. Just start a lobby and click on the "+" icon in the player list to add an AI opponent. There are three AIs at the moment: TutorialTurtle (passive), QuickQuack (aggressive with only riflemen) and HungryHippo (aggressive with a variety of units), and three different difficulty settings. Good luck!

Reply Good karma+3 votes
Armcoon
Armcoon

Oh~Thanks. :) I have last one question, can you add offline mode later? Because I can't play this without wifi... :p

Reply Good karma Bad karma+3 votes
SLiV9
SLiV9

Hi Armcoon!

Yes, we plan to add an offline versus AI mode and possibly singleplayer maps, but for now we're focussing on online multiplayer.

Reply Good karma Bad karma+4 votes
Armcoon
Armcoon

Okay~Thanks. :D

Reply Good karma Bad karma+3 votes
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