Homeworld junkies rejoice, brilliantly brutal sci-fi strategy sim Nebulous is finally getting its singleplayer campaign

Hooded Horse and Eridanus Industries are finally adding a singleplayer narrative campaign option to Nebulous: Fleet Command, the outrageously nerdy space navy strategy game that makes Homeworld look like bashing rubber ducks together in a star-spangled bathtub. The first act of that campaign launches on May 29th, and puts you in charge of a fleet operating behind enemy lines in a wartorn star system, over the course of 17 missions.

You know what this means, don’t you? It means I have to remember how to play Nebulous: Fleet Command, a year on from my last session. Let me experiment with pushing these dashboard buttons REACTOR PURGE INITIATED hang on, I’ve got this WARNING: TORPEDO TUBE BLOCKED, LAUNCH IMMINENT oh fak fak fak run! Run on through to the next paragraph, before they seal off the deck!

If you’re new to Nebulous, it’s the brainchild of former US Navy officer Liliana, who has sought to translate everything she knows about training cadets, jamming radar, and damage reporting into a game of asteroids and starfighters. Its UI is both elegantly utilitarian and overwhelming in the sheer range of things it asks you to account for – everything from the intricacies of missile behaviour to how a ship should angle itself to protect critical systems during an approach.

It’s got a comfy narrated tutorial, but the current early access build is otherwise broken between skirmish missions and multiplayer, and the multiplayer community scares the hell out of me. As such, I’ve been itching to get my mitts on the promised narrative campaign, trailered above, which again recalls Homeworld in its usage of spacey hand-drawn art. I could do with some funkier SFX for the voicework, mind – I want to hear the sizzle of starfire when I’m bantering with my carriers. Here’s some blurb:

Players must take command of an Alliance fleet operating behind enemy lines in a dangerous bid to create an opening for the main invasion fleet, with only a rag-tag collection of ships at their disposal – including an aging and retrofitted Fleet Carrier.

The Bethel Star System is in open rebellion, and players must launch a daring strike to destroy enough industry and enemy forces to distract from the main assault. The first act of the campaign comprises of 17 networked missions, ranging from tactical puzzles and small skirmishes to major clashes against OSP forces as it escalates its response to the invasion. The campaign can be played in co-op, with players dividing the available ships among themselves.

While it’s not clear when the next part of the campaign will land, the May update does include a campaign editor, which lets players stitch together their own stories from battle maps with primary and secondary objectives, pre-defined elements such as spawn patterns and available ship types. There’s “a node-based script editor that can power cutscenes, trigger events such as the arrival of reinforcements and the completion of objectives, define AI behavior, and more!” Lastly, the update will overhaul the game’s graphics with 4K ship models and textures, plus improved decals and damage shaders.

I interviewed Eridanus Industries Liliana last year. Amongst other things, Liliana touched on the ambience of shipboard life and the working relationships between crew, which is not something many naval strategy games dig into. I’d love the campaign to expose more of that, while perhaps offering some commentary on the politics of real-world seapower, but let’s face it, I’ll likely be too busy panicking about point defence ammo to think about context. Read more on Steam.