Designing your fleet
Airships: Conquer the Skies puts you in charge of building steampunk airships and land vehicles from a large set of modules. You pick weapons, armour, structures, equipment and resources, and the near endless combinations let you shape each craft around a tactic you have in mind. Layout matters: a design that works against one kind of foe may struggle against another, so exploring the design space of different crafts is a big part of the game. The vehicles are detailed, with sailors moving around doing their individual jobs to keep things running during a fight.
Fighting together
Battles are fought with a small fleet that you steer with high-level commands, swooping, soaring, ramming and boarding enemy ships to gain the upper hand. Ships and terrain are fully destructible, so vessels can catch fire, explode, break apart and fall, which makes positioning and target choice matter as much as raw firepower. Steam features Online Co-op and Online PvP, and the game includes Multiplayer matches online or via LAN, so a group can either team up or fight each other. There are also Missions, including ones you create yourself, and Conquest mode for building an empire.
Before you start
Expect a mix of building and real-time strategy rather than direct unit control: you design the vehicles, then command them in battle. The game carries tags for 4X, RTS, wargame and grand strategy, so there is a strategic layer alongside the combat. You will face varied opposition, including giant aerial kraken, fleshcracker mechs, huge venomous spiders and clockwork wasps, and defeating them brings rewards. The game is moddable, so extra content can be added beyond what ships in the base package.