Fragile? You bet!

Background
I have been a heavy strategy gamer and tend to prefer the slow but sure type of game and have no qualms with micromanagement. I have read reviews of a near copy of this game on the Amiga though never actually played that game. I will also add the caveat that it’s been a while since I played this game. It really is that old and the Amiga game is ancient.

Performance
The minimum requirements are very modest. No 3D card is required. Multiplayer gaming has some extra requirements but doesn’t use the internet. The game ran smoothly on my system even when the action became quite extreme. I do not remember any significant bugs.

The Game
Fragile Allegiance is a real time space strategy game that is fast paced and has modest detail. It requires a lot of micromanagement.

This game is terribly similar to an old Amiga game that I wouldn’t have remembered so well except for the fact that it was so overhyped.

The basics are simple and interesting enough. You start on an asteroid and build your colony up using mined resources. You colonise other asteroids mainly for the mined resources that are so vital to winning the game. You build defences, ships and missiles for warfare. All the asteroids move during play.

This game comes one disk. You play the leader of your colony, which may eventually become an empire of colonies. You squash the other colonies.

Installation of the game was simple and without problems.

There was no campaign, only single and multiplayer games.

There is no storyline or plot to speak of.

Graphics
I found the graphics to be a little poor even when this game was a new release. It’s all reasonably easy to see but not at all attractive. The ships fly around your asteroid rapidly so you can’t see how many you have at a glance and the ships all look rather similar. The building structures are similarly boring and everything looks far too dull with blacks, greys and browns. The asteroids on the main map don’t even look real.

Sound
The music was mediocre but the other sounds effects were OK, not great, just OK.

Gameplay
The interface was clumsy reminding me now of the terrible Star Wars - Rebellion interface but maybe that’s too mean. The worst problem though is the difficulty of managing your multiple asteroids at once. You generally end up mining them dry just so you don’t have to manage another asteroid.

There are a reasonable number of rather similar units and quite a few structures as well. You can build structures that influence the movement of your asteroid but it ends up feeling rather like billiards and your asteroid can be badly damaged if you make a mistake with this. The mined resources run out far too quickly.

There was no research and no real diplomacy.

The game is predisposed to attack and any who sit on a well-defended asteroid are doomed. A good missile strike followed by fleet invasion (if needed) will ruin even the best defences. The short combats are reasonably good.

The computer AI is an enigma to me. I only ever played the easiest setting and found it far too difficult. I might not be the world’s best strategy gamer but I’m not the worst either. Before very long the computer is ramming missiles your way and that’s when you might as well restart the game (or preferably sell it off like I did). Maybe the AI is really that smart or maybe it cheats like mad. I’ll never know. It certainly could have an edge in base and unit management though being able to be several places at once.

Multiplayer
One way to avoid the difficult AI would be to try the multiplayer mode. I never did this as I had no idea about multiplayer at the time but I will quickly admit that this game would likely be much more fun played in this way. I doubt that it would make up for the poor graphics and shallow gameplay though.

Comments
Woof. Why do I ‘woof’? It’s a dog.

The original Amiga game had very good reviews and a lot of hype. What happened with this one?

Comparisons
Most similar to the old Amiga game. There are (thankfully) no other games I’ve seen like it.