Maelstrom: The Battle for Earth Begins

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Maelstrom: The Battle for Earth Begins

Maelstrom is a real-time strategy game (with some third-person shooter moments) released for Windows in February 2007. It was made by KD Vision in Russia and published by Codemasters. The game is set in 2050 after a planet-wide ecological disaster that left much of Earth underwater and started a fierce fight over the remaining resources.

Factions and conflict
- Remnants: A guerrilla army led by James Buchanan. They are mobile and rely on stealth and specialized units. They gather Salvage, Solar power, and Fresh Water to build bases and fight.
- Ascension: Hi-tech survivors led by Arlan Khan. They use powerful, versatile units and can morph some vehicles to different forms. They harvest DNA, Solar power, and Hydrogen.
- Hai-Genti: Alien bio-constructs led by Mammon and overseen by the Overseer. They have no vehicles and use eggs to spawn units from Inception Spores. They gather Biomass and Mutagen.

Key gameplay ideas
- You build bases, collect resources, and produce units to defeat enemies. You can also command hero units directly in a third-person view for extra range and vision.
- Terraforming matters. Remnants and Ascension can reshape the land to create hills and trenches for defense. Hai-Genti cannot terraform but can flood areas with Mutagen Pumps.
- Resources differ by faction:
- Remnants: Salvage, Solar power, Fresh Water.
- Ascension: DNA, Solar power, Hydrogen.
- Hai-Genti: Biomass, Mutagen.
- Bases and infrastructure:
- Remnants build Havens on Survivor Compounds; Salvage comes from wrecks and compounds. Vehicles can be amphibious with upgrades.
- Ascension uses Vanguard units to build bases anywhere. DNA is harvested by a Manipulator, and Solar and Hydrogen come from their buildings and pumps. Shields can regenerate.
- Hai-Genti bases are simple: Inception Spore, Biomass Farm, and Mutagen Pump. Eggs hatch into units from the Spore, and Biomass can create stronger units called Bio-thralls. Mutagen also acts as water and heals units in water.
- Growth and upgrades:
- Ascension vehicles can morph to suit different roles.
- Remnants focus on mobile, specialized units and use Salvage to keep fighting.
- Hai-Genti can evolve their Spore to bigger stages, with the elder spore able to call a titanic melee unit called the Titan, at a high cost in water and biomass.

Overall, Maelstrom blends base building, resource management, and battlefield control across three very different factions, with Terraforming and third-person hero play adding distinct twists to a post-apocalyptic Earth.