If y'all get Ashes make sure you get the SECOND game. The one that looks like it should be an expansion but is in fact a standalone. That is the newest and most supported version. One of the boneheaded moves by Stardock was to create a second entire game as a standalone expansion (at nearly full price) and created a lot of unneeded confusion.

Also, a word of caution. Ashes is not like other RTS's. You are fighting a WAR, not just a battle. You have to have a different mindset as opposed to AoE or StarCraft. Meaning at some point you will be fighting multiple separate battles across the map at once. You could be charging up the middle as both of your flanks are getting crushed. You can't let yourself be sucked into micro managing a single battle all the time. Took me a little while to get used to that. It's great though and again, I wish it had caught on like I was hoping it would have when I pre-ordered it.

So turns out I was wrong. Active debugging and periodic small updates continue for Ashes:Escalation but devs did confirm that work has begun on a sequel.

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Yep. You will definitely want to read the prelude book, Dawn of the Singularity by David Simpson.

We are in pre-production on the sequel which introduces the third faction and has organics, tanks, walking units, etc. But it won't be out for awhile.

In the meantime, we're still supporting the first game with updates and new stuff but the story itself won't get continued until the sequel.

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I am a fan of Stardock so definitely keeping an eye on this as it develops. I'm relatively excited. My biggest complaint about this game is getting addressed. More content. And I don't mean maps.

Its a terrific game! You have to find high ground or bottleneck locations with diverse defense structures and tons of healing bays. Defend is the name of this game as far as im concerned.