Silica takes flight as RTS-FPS hybrid adds air units in major update
Bohemia Interactive’s Silica, a hybrid title bringing RTS and FPS gameplay together, is currently in Early Access on PC and has just launched a major update with a massive impact on the title: Air units are now available for all factions, adding a completely new dynamic to the battles on the planet Baltarus.
Both human factions have gained access to four air vehicles: a fighter, a bomber, a gunship, and a dropship. For now, they once again share this common pool of units, but the diversification of the two human sides to the triple-conflict on Baltarus is a point on the developer’s agenda that’ll come up once the new air gameplay is in the right spot.
That's a whole lot of bugs.
Bohemia Interactive
The aliens have obtained five air units to play around with: the wasp, dragonfly, firebug, defiler, and colossus. I’m getting some massive Starship Troopers and StarCraft vibes when looking at these guys, which you can do by watching the official air units trailer below:
You can read our Silica preview from a few months ago to get a general idea of what this game is all about, but much has already changed and improved since then thanks to the continuous stream of patches put out by developer Dram.
In essence, Silica puts one player in strategic control of a faction, which means they’ll construct buildings, produce units, and order troops around on the battlefield in the style of a RTS. Those soldiers, though, are not AI-powered entities – they are other players, who can use the vehicles and advanced troop types (in the form of classes they can spawn as) the commander produces in FPS-style gameplay. Human factions and aliens play completely different, but the outcome is always the same: Massive battles with lots of fun for the commanders as well as the soldiers.
Now, of course, it’s not only giant alien creatures and powerful tanks that dominate the battlefield – players will need to keep an eye on the sky as well.
