I'm still working through this mammoth of a TC, but I'll just say that this has been an excellent experience so far. Given the post-apocalyptic setting, nostalgia seems to be a central theme of the TC. From the significant changes to the map, the aspirations of the new factions, the graphics changes by Sharky including the excellent new wireframe ship icons, and the new follower system adding that little bit of depth on top of the planet descriptions and faction hails from vanilla, all help to build this "same but different" feeling, both for the people in this new, harsh galaxy, and you as the player playing in it.
It is a lot harsher than vanilla. Fighters are actually a threat and will run you down, nearly everything has less health, there are FRICKIN KAMIKAZE CARGO DRONES???????? Excellent, excellent. I was in joy as a freaking cargo drone just blew up in my face and sent me back to the menu screen.
I was a bit lukewarm about some of the balance changes done in Brave New Void, as I felt that the desired outcome of those changes were hampered by clashing with the existing weapons layouts of most ships. But in White Dwarf, these changes are more expansive, and they can truly breathe in their own new playground. Capital ships are much more rare, and other ships are made more potent. There's also less gating of tech, it feels like. Or maybe that's just because many faction things from vanilla are now freely available and with new items taking their place as faction-specific equipment. Five pondered that perhaps she went too far in making this more difficult after receiving feedback that BNV was too easy. Perhaps that is the case, but for the time being I am appreciating how dangerous the game once again feels.
If you enjoyed EV Nova, and don't mind seeing it shaken up into a colder, harsher reality, I strongly recommend you give this a try. It is a bit buggy, but it also pushes the EV Nova engine to do things no previous TC has done before. Despite only learning about this project this year, it feels like I have had a multi-year wait pay off. For the first full-fledged TC in years, it feels like it might be the best. A strong performance that I am thankful to Five and Sharky for delivering.
